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.
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.