secretary style

i went to see hitchcock last night, i wasn't hugely impressed by the film (helen mirren did her usual sterling turn, anthony hopkins very good as hitch) but i did enjoy toni collette's character, peggy robertson




her character reminded me of other personal assistants / secretaries i've seen and admired in the (old school) movies

for example, eve arden as the "sardonic" legal secretary maida rutledge in anatomy of a murder

eve arden looking sardonic, as maida rutledge

one of her lines from the film (jimmy stewart's small town lawyer character likes to go fishing),
If this refrigerator gets any more fish in it, it will swim upstream and spawn all by itself. 

like most "secretary / personal assistant" roles, it's very second fiddle.  this film is all murder defence, courtroom drama and a very sultry, girdle-less (shocking for the times) lee remick.
she does have some killer lines though!
Paul Biegler: You're fired.
Maida Rutledge: You can't fire me until you pay me.

other favourites,
thelma ritter in all about eve as Birdie Coonan - she plays Bette Davis/Margot Channing's maid/personal assistant, with some great lines

"I haven't got a union. I'm slave labor."

 She's the first to clock Anne Baxter / Eve Harrington as the cynical grasping climber she is, and gives many sardonic glances and steady looks

"What a story. Everything but the blood hounds snapping at her rear end."