The Cabin in the Cotton
Bette Davis said in an 1987 interview with Barbara Walters that "I'd like to kiss you but I just washed my hair" was her all-time favorite movie line. In 1977, she had used it in her acceptance speech when she won the American Film Institute (AFI) Lifetime Achievement Award, except she used the word "love," instead of "like": "I'd love to kiss you, but I just washed my hair.",Ms. Madge enters the Dry Goods store owned by her father (at about 10.78 minutes), and asks Marvin to a party that begins at 8:30. While Madge is running to her home after saying the famous line,"I'd like ta kiss ya but I've just washed my hair," she tells him the party is at 8:00. So the party goes from 8:30 to 8:00 for no reason.,Madge: I'd like to kiss you, but I just washed my hair.,PROLOGUE: FOREWOOD: "In many parts of the South today, there exists an endless dispute between the rich land-owners, known as planters and the poor cotton pickers, known as tenants or 'peckerwoods'. The planters supply the tenants with the simple requirements of every day life and in return the tenants work the land year in and year out. A hundred volumes could be written on the rights and wrongs of both parties, but it is not the object of the producers of 'The Cabin in the Cotton' to take sides. We are only concerned with an effort to picturize these conditions.",Featured in Hollywood: The Great Stars (1963),Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)
(1851) (uncredited)
Written by Stephen Foster
Played during the opening credits
Reprised on guitar as background music,With all the emphasis on Bette Davis in this film, it is easy to overlook the musical interest. I counted four different musical groups, each assigned to a different "class". There was the marching band at the funeral (black used at a poor white event), the jug band (white, at the poor white party), the jazz band (black, at the rich white party), and the blues singer. This is a surprisingly rich array of styles.

Interestingly, only the blues singer (Clarence Muse) is credited.,