Well, it's...
...not good, it's not bad.
That's all for tonight.
- Wait. - Hold it!
Come back here, girls.
I want you all to take your minds off the show.
Get out and relax.
Forget it till 10:00 tomorrow morning.
I don't know. I think it'll do.
But I want you to come back tomorrow...
...to give the best performance that you ever gave in your lives.
Company dismissed.
- Dismissed, girls. - Company dismissed!
Go on out and have a good time.
You really was elegant, Miss Brock.
Pansy, did anyone telephone me?
Phone?
No, ma'am. Nobody at all.
- You're sure? - I certainly is. Yes, Miss Brock.
- Have a little supper with me, huh? - I would have.
- But you thought of it too late. - I've been thinking of it all day.
Well, I'm not a mind reader. I've got a date.
- I'm free tomorrow night. - Then it's a date.
Don't forget, now.
I gotta get the stuff for the party. Do you mind?
I'll see you at the hotel, room 1061, and make it snappy!
She says for you to wait. She'll be out in just a minute.
Good night, Mr. Marsh.
I said, "What is it? A duck?"
Andy, you're terrible. You know any more?
I've got a lot more...
Andy?
- Yes, sir? - Go on, yes man. Papa give you liver.
Shut up. This may be important.
Oh, it can't be, darling. He's calling you.
Hurry up!
Sit down, Andy.
Anything wrong, chief?
Everything's wrong, Andy.
No, you're a great director, Mr. Marsh.
Maybe I was, but...
...right now I'm a sick man.
They told me I was sick when I started, but I started anyway.
Andy, I'm going to finish, and I'm gonna have a show.
I know what they'll say. They'll like it. They've got to.
"Marsh is a wizard. He turns them out like clockwork.
The guy isn't human. He's a machine."
Well, I'm not a machine, Andy.
And for the first time, I'm counting on someone else. I've got to.
I'm counting on you. And tomorrow night, we're gonna give them a show.
The greatest show Julian Marsh ever put on.
What are you doing? Got a date tonight?
No.
Come on home with me, will you? I'm lonesome.
Taxi.
Pat! What are you doing in Philadelphia?
Got my passport and dropped over.
- Business or pleasure? - I don't know yet, but it's a job.
Say, what about one of those cozy midnight suppers one reads about?
I've been hoping you'd come out.
- Oh, dear, I have a date. - Well, break it.
- I'd like to, but I can't. - Well, you can try.
It's with the company and we open tomorrow. I really should be on hand.
I understand. Let me drive you to the main event.
All right.
Taxi.
Congress Hotel.
Forget something, Dorothy?
Congress Hotel.
Oh, Abner. Isn't this car big enough for two? Move over.
You ain't gonna have another spell, are you?
I'm tired. Dress rehearsal is no picnic.
A little party'll do you good.
Don't just being with me cheer you up?
Oh, tremendously.
I'm practically hysterical right now.
Oh, don't be afraid of me. I got strength.
I used to be the intercollegiate champion hop, skip and jumper.
- Come on now, hurry up. - Here I come.
Give the little boy a big hand.
Right across your big mouth.
Please!
I tell you, I don't even know my own strength. Wait a minute.
Just look here.
Oh, you're too, too divine.
Tomorrow you've got to give a performance, not an exhibition.
Well, you'd never know it from the manuscript.
I beg your pardon.
She's right.
- Let's dance. - I don't want to.
- Come on, I wanna dance. - Stop mauling me.
Let me alone. You're not funny to me tonight.
- I've got half a mind... - You're telling me.
Do you wanna cramp your act?
In a star, it's temperament, but in a chorus girl, it's just bad taste.
What is this, target practice? Why can't you let me alone?
Wisecracks, I'm sick of them! I'm tired of you.
Tired of all of you, do you hear?
Why, Dorothy.
You know, you better hop on your Kiddie Kar and go back to Cleveland.
Excuse me, it's the tight shoes.
Shut up!
- Where are you going? - Maybe she needs me.
- Are you going to be a sucker for that? - Sucker! You listen to me.
$ 70,000 is a lot of money to pay for a pack of insults.
So you've been calling me a sucker behind my back, eh?
Well, I ain't a sucker for anybody.
Dorothy don't mean that to me!
If not for me, she wouldn't have had a show to star in.
She better not try to give me the air now.
Now...
So that's it, is it? You small-town big shot.
- Now don't start... - Shut up!
So I better not give you the air, eh?
Well, that's exactly what I'm giving you right now.
Now get out of my room, you sucker! Get out!
Try and make me!
- Don't do that again! - Get out!
Get out!
No place for anybody whose insurance ain't paid.
Wait for me.
And the next time you come to a lady's apartment, act like a lady.
Please!
We've located Mr. Denning for you.
Get him for me, will you?
Oh, now what?
- Hello, Dorothy. - Hello, Pat...
Pat, I can't stand it any longer.
I've gotta see you.
- Yes, but... - Please don't ask me why.
Just come quickly, please.
All right, dear. I'll be right over.
Come in.
Sorry, Julian.
More trouble.
- What's up? - Dorothy's out of the show.
Definitely, once and for all, she's out.
Well, let me have it. What happened?
She threw me out of her room. That's what.
Now you want to throw her out. What is this? A game?
- You can't do it. - Oh, no?
Brock's in my show and that's final.
If Dorothy stays in...
...this show don't open tomorrow night. That's final.
Why, you potbellied sap.
I resent that.
You've sunk $ 70,000 already, and you're gonna toss that away...
...because of a dame?
That's my funeral, ain't it?
And the funeral of 200 other people: chorus girls, boys, electricians.
You wouldn't be that mean, would you?
Well, I think she ought to apologize.
Why, of course she'll apologize. She'll be sorry by morning.
I wish you wouldn't take it like this.
Back in New York, they're calling you "The Angel of Broadway."
- Sure. - Are they?
Well...
...I guess maybe I can overlook it, if she apologizes.
But it must be tonight.
That's final.
What's the matter? You don't seem to be warming up at all.
Oh, don't, Terry! Please!
Come on, this is no way to act.
You've got me wrong, Terry. I'm not acting.
I just don't like to be pawed, that's all.
Come here, honey. Why, you don't know...
- Must have been a fuse. - Yeah, a fuse named Charlie.
Peggy!
Go get her, Terry!
Come on, let's have another drink.
- Going down? - No, sir. Up.
If he cramps our show now...
We fixed him once before, and we can do it again. Let's get Marsh.
- What? - Mr. Denning. Is he here?
- You know he is. What do you want? - Mr. Denning.
Can't leave him alone for five minutes, can you?
Please, Miss Brock. This is important.
What's the matter?
Oh, Pat, there's going to be trouble. I saw...
Oh! So it's "Pat" to him, but it's "Mr. Denning" to me.
You bet there's gonna be trouble.
- Let's see what it's about. - I know what it's about!
She's been spying on us.
- Spying? I wasn't spying... - You were!
You were peeking through the keyhole. You were, because I saw you.
She's jealous.
You want him, but you won't get him!
- Wait a minute. - Wait for what?
More spying and double-crossing?
- Let me go! Let me... - Wait a minute.
- Oh, Miss Brock! - Dorothy...
You pushed me, didn't you?
Dorothy, what's the matter with you?
- My ankle. - What is it?
My ankle.
- Get the house doctor right away. - All right.
Please send the house doctor to Miss Brock's apartment.
Yes, thank you.
Get her shoes off, quick.
There, there, now.
Pat, it's swelling.
- Answer the door, it's the doctor. - All right.
- You sent for me? - Yes, doctor. Right in there.
- Oh, doctor. It's her ankle. - Which one?
- A glass of water, please. - Yes, doctor.
Is your name Denning?
I want to talk to you. Where is she?
- She's had an accident. - What?
She fell and twisted her ankle. It may be a break.
What are you talking about?
How bad is it?
- Can't tell definitely. - Maybe it's only a sprain.
Looks like a fracture. Can't tell till the x-rays are made.
- Will she be able to go on tomorrow? - Go on?
- She's got the show tomorrow night! - Not a chance.
She's got to! Do something, doctor!
Get her a pair of crutches.
Don't stand there gaping.
Oh, get out! Get out!
- I still don't know why you're here. - lf it was your business, I'd tell you.
A broken ankle, huh?
It's too bad it wasn't her neck.
May I have your attention?
- Quiet, quiet! - Quiet, please!
There'll be no performance tonight.
Wait a minute. Wait!
Our star, Miss Brock, has had an accident. She's broken her ankle.
Don't leave the theater until you're dismissed. Get that, Andy?
Hold the company here for further instructions.
- Stick around, everybody. - Don't anybody leave the theater!
You gotta think of something, someone. There must be some way out of this.
Dillon just phoned. He's got everything fixed.
- Up to and including Brock's ankle. - No, he's going through with it.
He's going through with what?
He found someone to take Brock's place, and he's on his way here with her now.
- Where? - I don't know.
Come on, Marsh.
No such luck.
Now, there's a Kiddie Kar I could really go for.
Anytime Annie. Well, lay me low.
Your new leading lady, folks. I guess I saved the day all right this time.
We'd better go in and talk it over with Marsh.
- You have a big investment in this show. - You're telling him?
I appreciate your help, but she won't do.
Sure! She didn't wanna do it at first, but I convinced her.
She's all set. Why, she'll be sensational.
- How about letting me talk? - All right.
Let's quit kidding, Mr. Marsh.
Abbie, all those things sounded swell at breakfast...
...but I can't carry this show.
I know that as well as you do.
I appreciate your honesty.
Swell, because you've got somebody here who can carry your show.
A great little trouper.
Aren't I capable of selecting my own cast?
But you'd never pick her. I say she can swing it.
How can you lose? You gotta try her.
- Who is she? - Sawyer.
Yes, Peggy Sawyer.
She can dance rings around Brock.
Your show's half dancing. She'd kill them.
Nobody ever heard of her. She's a raw kid from the chorus.
Listen, I've been waiting years for a chance like this...
...and if I give it up to someone else, believe me, she's gotta be good.
- Send her in. - Do you mean it?
Yes, send her in.
Mac!
- Oh, Mac! - Here.
- Andy! - Yes, sir.
- Get Sawyer. - Yes, sir.
- The boss wants to see you. - Who, me?
Not your brother. Come on.
- Lorraine, will you hold that? - Go ahead.
Well, here she is.
Experience?
Just this show, Mr. Marsh.
You know the songs and dances? Can you play the lead tonight?
The lead?
Sure, you can. Don't let him scare you.
I'll give you a chance because I've got to.
Andy, send Jerry in.
I'll have a live leading lady or a dead chorus girl.
Get out of here. I don't want anybody in for the next five hours.
- Good luck, honey. - Come on, you.
Pick it up right after the number. There's your cue. Speak.
Jim, they didn't tell me you were here. It was grand of you to come.
No, it's impossible. Impossible.
You're greeting the man you love. Your entrance speech!
Make it mean something. Put feeling into it!
Listen, like this:
"Jim, they didn't tell me you were here.
It was grand of you to come." Let me hear it.
Jim, they didn't tell me you were here. It was grand of you to come.
No, it won't do.
Look, have you ever been in love?
Did you ever have a man hold you in his arms and kiss you?
Now you're in the spirit of the thing. You love this man.
Now, give it all you've got. Let me hear it.
Jim, they didn't tell me you were here.
It was grand of you to come.
That's better. Let me hear it from the beginning.
Go over there and make your entrance again.
All right.
Jim, they didn't tell me you were here.
It was grand of you to come.
I can't! I can't...
Look here.
You can't, but you will.
Please, Mr. Marsh.
You want this chance or don't you?
All right. Let's try it again.
All right, it's fair, only fair.
Come in.
Only an hour before the curtain.
Okay, Jerry, that's all.
You let me down, Sawyer, and I'll...
Come on, lie down and relax.
The wardrobe woman will have to come in to fit your costumes.
But rest all you can, because you're definitely going on tonight.
Julian, how about it?
All right, the show goes on. Wardrobe, everybody.
Everybody, makeup.
- Oh, Billy. - Hello.
I brought some coffee. You can use a little, huh?
Oh, Billy, I'm so excited, I think maybe I'm dreaming.
Oh, no, you're awake, all right. Don't worry about that.
Billy, what's going to happen to me?
You'll be a hit. You'll be the biggest thing that ever hit Broadway.
Oh, I hope so.
Say, I know so.
And I'm for you too. You know that.
Even if...
Even if what?
Oh, honey.
I've been for you ever since the day you walked in on me in my BVDs.
I wanted to tell you, ever since I first saw you, how I feel about you.
I don't know how to say it.
But you know what I mean, don't you?
I guess it does sound kind of funny at that, the way I say it.
But the lines are new for me, at least off-stage.
Well, I guess maybe I can read between the lines, Billy...
...but I wanna hear you say some more.
It was grand of you to come.
- They told me I'd find you here. - Miss Brock!
You can't talk to her, nobody can. It's Marsh's orders.
I wanna see her alone.
I know, but...
It's all right, Billy.
So you're going to take my place.
I'm sorry, Miss Brock.
You're nervous, aren't you?
Well, don't be.
The customers out there want to like you.
Always remember that, kid.
I've learned it from experience.
And you've got so much to give them:
Youth and beauty and freshness.
Do you know your lines?
And your songs?
And your dance routine?
You're a cinch.
But it's tough on you, Miss Brock.
Come here.
Peggy, isn't it?
You know, Peggy, when I started for the theater tonight...
...I wanted to tear your hair out.
And then I started thinking.
Well, after all, I've had my chance.
And now it's your turn.
I've had enough.
For five years it's kept me away from the only thing I ever wanted.
And a funny thing...
...a broken ankle was the thing that made me find it out.
You know, Peggy, most anyone can have success with the proper breaks.
As for me...
...I'll take Pat and vaudeville...
...or whatever goes with him.
We're being married tomorrow.
I'm so glad.
Come in.
You've gotta hurry, miss.
Come right in, boys. Right over here.
Overture, places, girls!
I think it looks very nice now.
Do I look all right?
You look adorable.
Now, go out there and be so swell that you'll make me hate you.
Thanks.
Remember, girls, I want a straight line all the way through.
Marguerite, you're first. Give me a big smile.
Get ready. All right, curtain.
Come on, all right. Get Sawyer.
When she comes out, I don't want any of you to say a word to her.
Here she comes.
All right, break up. Pay no attention to her.
Sawyer, you listen to me, and you listen hard.
200 people, 200 jobs...
...$200,000, five weeks of grind, blood and sweat depend upon you.
The lives of these people who've worked with you.
You've got to go on and give and give and give.
They've got to like you, understand?
You can't fall down, because...
...your future, my future and all we have is staked on you.
Now I'm through.
Keep your feet on the ground, your head on your shoulders...
...and go out. Sawyer, you're going out a youngster...
...but you've got to come back a star.
- There she is. - There's your cue.
Good luck, honey.
Well, honey, we couldn't lose them, and least of all, Jimmy.
Why, Jim, they didn't tell me you were here.
It was grand of you to come.
All aboard the Niagara Limited!
Come on, let's go!
That's your light change.
All right, snap into it. Hurry up, kids.
Get going. Take it away!
Break this up. Come here.
You got by, but you're not through yet.
The toughest part's coming. Don't be a flash in the pan.
There isn't an actor here who doesn't know what you're going through.
Now you gotta rest. Rest and relax.
Save it, because you're gonna need it.
I've been watching you for a couple weeks.
If you're nice to the right people, you'll get along.
- You know these routines? - Quiet, please.
Mike, dim those first three borders, will you? Hurry up.
Places, everybody, for the finale.
She's a hit, Abner. She's a hit!
Who's a hit?
Peggy Sawyer.
Did you do as I told you?
No, I didn't.
But I'll take her right out. Come on, Fifi.
Well, hurry.
Directors make me sick. Take Marsh.
Name all over the program, gets all the credit.
If it wasn't for Sawyer, he wouldn't have a show.
She'll have Broadway in her pocket in a week.
- You're right. - Marsh will say he discovered her.
Some guys get all the breaks.