'Gosh we didn't want ice water...'

I'm not sure if it simply meant they were expecting wine or champagne since it was to be an evening of romance between a newlywed couple, or if the bell boy was supposed to have had the ice water to use on Cary Grant to curb his sexual appetite...I have wondered the same thing.

I think it was that since the hotel staff didn't believe they were married, the bellboy was sent up as an "interruption".

I think it means that their lovemaking was overheard by the hotel staff who then sent up some ice water thinking that Dunne and Grant might be hot and thirsty after their night of passion.

I agree with onelastnail. I think the we didn't want ice water, was because they wanted to be left alone and not bugged.

It used to be quite common, before people went away on honeymoons, and when the wedding night meant much more than it does today (not such a big deal to couples that have been living together for months, if not years) for friends to interrupt the wedding night. It is a custom dating back a century or two. (You might like to look up "shivaree.") The interruptions were timed to delay, or intrude upon, important "first night" activities.

My interpretation of the, "Gosh we didn't want ice water." line is that their friends ordered ice water for their room to be delivered by room service (no refrigerators in the rooms in those days, or ice makers available either.) And, yes, the ice water can serve a double purpose: interruption, and a comment that the newly weds might need to be cooled down.

Grant's, "Gosh, we didn't want ice water" in the context of the scene is a reminder to Dunne of how they felt about one another when they were married.