ɹˈɑːbɚt mˈɛtslɚ, ðə ʃˈoʊz bˈɪznəs mˈænɪdʒɚ, bᵻlˈiːvd ðætðɪ ˈɪnsɪdənt hɐdbɪn plˈænd ɪn sˌʌm wˈeɪ; dˈʊɹɹɪŋ ðə dɹˈɛs ɹᵻhˈɜːsəl nˈaɪvən hæd ˈæskt mˈɛtslɚz wˈaɪf tə bˈɑːɹoʊ ɐ pˈɛn sˌoʊ hiː kʊd ɹˈaɪt dˌaʊn ðə fˈeɪməs lˈaɪn, wˌɪtʃ wʌz ðˈʌs nˌɑːt ðɪ ˈædlˈɪb ɪɾ ɐpˈɪɹd tə bˈiː.
Robert Metzler, the show's business manager, believed that the incident had been planned in some way; during the dress rehearsal Niven had asked Metzler's wife to borrow a pen so he could write down the famous line, which was thus not the ad-lib it appeared to be.