diff --git a/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py
index 7c2212c5a02..ca6da1a1f8e 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/inventory/__init__.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class Inventory(object):
     """
 
     __slots__ = [ 'host_list', 'groups', '_restriction', '_is_script',
-                  'parser' ] 
+                  'parser', '_vars_per_host', '_vars_per_group', '_hosts_cache' ] 
 
     def __init__(self, host_list=C.DEFAULT_HOST_LIST):
 
@@ -44,6 +44,13 @@ class Inventory(object):
         # if a list, inventory data will NOT be loaded
         self.host_list = host_list
 
+        # caching to avoid repeated calculations, particularly with
+        # external inventory scripts.
+ 
+        self._vars_per_host  = {}
+        self._vars_per_group = {}
+        self._hosts_cache    = {}
+
         # the inventory object holds a list of groups
         self.groups = []
  
@@ -111,9 +118,12 @@ class Inventory(object):
     def get_groups(self):
         return self.groups
 
-    # TODO: cache this logic so if called a second time the result is not recalculated
-    # if using inventory scripts
     def get_host(self, hostname):
+        if hostname not in self._hosts_cache:
+            self._hosts_cache[hostname] = self._get_host(hostname)
+        return self._hosts_cache[hostname]
+
+    def _get_host(self, hostname):
         for group in self.groups:
             for host in group.get_hosts():
                 if hostname == host.name:
@@ -125,18 +135,24 @@ class Inventory(object):
             if group.name == groupname:
                 return group
         return None
-
-    # TODO: cache this logic so if called a second time the result is not recalculated
-    # if using inventory scripts
+   
     def get_group_variables(self, groupname):
+        if groupname not in self._vars_per_group:
+            self._vars_per_group[groupname] = self._get_group_variables(groupname)
+        return self._vars_per_group[groupname]
+
+    def _get_group_variables(self, groupname):
         group = self.get_group(groupname)
         if group is None:
             raise Exception("group not found: %s" % groupname)
         return group.get_variables()
 
-    # TODO: cache this logic so if called a second time the result is not recalculated
-    # if using inventory scripts
     def get_variables(self, hostname):
+        if hostname not in self._vars_per_host:
+            self._vars_per_host[hostname] = self._get_variables(hostname)
+        return self._vars_per_host[hostname]
+
+    def _get_variables(self, hostname):
 
         if self._is_script:
             host = self.get_host(hostname)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py b/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py
index d5a483404c6..39ca7ed58eb 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/playbook/play.py
@@ -209,12 +209,10 @@ class Play(object):
                     path = os.path.join(basedir, "group_vars/%s" % x)
                     if os.path.exists(path):
                         data = utils.parse_yaml_from_file(path)
-                        print "GROUPFILE: %s" % data
                         self.playbook.SETUP_CACHE[host].update(data)
                 path = os.path.join(basedir, "host_vars/%s" % hostrec.name)
                 if os.path.exists(path):
                     data = utils.parse_yaml_from_file(path)
-                    print "HOSTFILE: %s" % data
                     self.playbook.SETUP_CACHE[host].update(data)
 
         for filename in self.vars_files:
@@ -238,13 +236,11 @@ class Play(object):
                             if self._has_vars_in(filename2) and not self._has_vars_in(filename3):
                                 # this filename has variables in it that were fact specific
                                 # so it needs to be loaded into the per host SETUP_CACHE
-                                print "VF1 UPDATE: %s" % data
                                 self.playbook.SETUP_CACHE[host].update(data)
                                 self.playbook.callbacks.on_import_for_host(host, filename4)
                         elif not self._has_vars_in(filename4):
                             # found a non-host specific variable, load into vars and NOT
                             # the setup cache
-                            print "VF2 UPDATE: %s" % data
                             self.vars.update(data)
                     elif host is not None:
                         self.playbook.callbacks.on_not_import_for_host(host, filename4)
@@ -273,9 +269,7 @@ class Play(object):
                     if host is not None and self._has_vars_in(filename2) and not self._has_vars_in(filename3):
                         # running a host specific pass and has host specific variables
                         # load into setup cache 
-                        print "VF3 update: %s" % new_vars
                         self.playbook.SETUP_CACHE[host].update(new_vars)
                     elif host is None:
                         # running a non-host specific pass and we can update the global vars instead    
-                        print "VF4 update: %s" % new_vars
                         self.vars.update(new_vars)