Aren't you tired? No.
There's so much of it.
Do you think we'll live here all the time, Pop?
Want to?
Sure. I like it.
Why did we always live in California?
Oh, I was born there, got married there,
just went right on living there.
Did Mother ever come with you to New York?
No. I was here by myself once for three days.
You still think of her, Tommy?
Sort of. Not all the time.
Just sometimes.
How old was I when she died, Pop?
You were four years old.
A long time.
You ever going to get married again?
Maybe. Want me to?
I don't care. I like it fine this way.
But Grandma says you're getting tougher
and tougher to have around the house.
(CHUCKLING)
She does, does she?
Any more complaints from Grandma?
She says you're too picky and choosy.
Where are we going?
To meet Grandma at Saks.
Hey, Pop, look at that.
What's he supposed to be doing?
That's a statue of Atlas, Tommy.
He's carrying the world on his shoulders.
No kidding? That's what Grandma says you're doing.
And she wishes you'd leave the world alone a while.
Oh, yeah? Looks like I'm gonna have to slug Grandma.
Hey, we're late. Grandma's going to slug us.
Come on.
I just love waiting for people.
I always say there's nothing as much fun as standing around
waiting for people who are always late.
Well, we're late, Ma,
because I've been carrying the world around on my shoulders.
It's kind of heavy. You can't walk too fast.
Put it down gently, dear, and give me some money for your son's shoes.
Now I'll thank you, Tommy, to keep your mouth shut hereafter.
I told Pop he was getting tougher
and tougher to have around the house, too.
How much are shoes in New York?
Better give her 10 bucks.
Wish me luck, Ma. I'm going up to the magazine now.
Good luck, Phil. I hope it's something you want this time, and not too far away.
It'll be right here. Otherwise, Minify wouldn't have
gone through all the trouble to get us the apartment.
Does Mr. Minify always tell you what to write?
Don't you ever think up what to write yourself?
Well, yeah, I think sometimes for myself.
Well, I'm late. Have fun.
Boys' shoes?
Fourth floor. Yes?
WOMAN: Toy department, please? Second floor.
WOMAN: Thank you.
MAN 1: Right in there. MAN 2: Thank you.
Smith's Weekly, please.
Reception room. Sixth floor. Right in there.
MAN 3: Going up. MAN 4: Twelve, please.
Yes. I did have an appointment.
I'm sorry. I have no record of it.
I spoke with his secretary day before yesterday,
and she said to come in this morning.
He'll be in himself in a half hour.
If you don't mind waiting, I'll try again.
Yes, please?
I have an appointment with Mr. Minify.
Name, please? Schuyler Green.
Telegram for Mr. Pendleton.
Through the door, second office to the right.
Thank you.
Schuyler Green to see Mr. Minify.
Thank you. Mr. Minify is expecting you.
Mr. Herman will call for these.
Janet.
For Mr. Minify.
Follow me, please. Thanks.
Yes, please? Miss Dettrey's expecting me.
RECEPTIONIST: Just a moment, please.
Mr. Green. Oh, Mr. Green.
Mr. Minify's on the long distance.
He'll be through in a moment.
Won't you sit down? Thanks.
Have you seen the last issue? No. Thank you.
MINIFY: Mr. Green out there yet?
Yes. Mr. Green is here.
Good. I'll be right out.
Come in. Come in. Glad you're here, Green.
This is all right now, Miss Miller. Get it off airmail special.
Glad to see you. Come on in.
Thanks.
Sit down.
Finding your way around?
Almost. Good.
Mother and kid like New York?
Fine. They like the apartment, too. Thanks.
Had a bit of luck. Probably the last apartment left in Manhattan.
Getting to know people here? Well, not yet.
I'm always a little bit slow about that.
We'll fix that up right away. How about tonight at my place?
Having some people, couple of girls and some people.
Thanks. Some other time.
Nonsense. I won't ask you another time. Here's the address.
Miss Miller, don't disturb me till I call you, for anything.
Tell Mrs. Minify Mr. Green's coming to dinner.
Now, get good and comfortable.
There. Because I'm going to talk to you
for about an hour.
Maybe two. I've had an idea.
Do go into the bar, won't you?
I'd love a martini. Why don't we get you one.
Fine. MINIFY: Jessie.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
Schuyler Green I've been telling you about. My wife.
Oh, don't be silly, John. I know Mr. Green.
I've read everything he ever wrote.
You just never stop talking. Get him a drink.
What'll you have? A martini.
Good.
Kathy, this is Mr. Green.
My niece, Miss Lacy, and Bill Lacy.
How do you do? How do you do?
You better clear things up now, Jessie,
or it'll never get straightened out.
Well, Mr. Green...
Kathy and Bill have been divorced for a couple of years, Green.
Calls herself Miss Lacy and confuses everybody.
All very friendly, very civilized, and very dumb.
Likes your stuff, though.
Please sit down, Mr. Green.
Bill, would you get me another? Sure.
Way it was before all right? Just right. Thank you.
I haven't read everything you've written, Mr. Green,
but what I have has been... Thanks.
What do people call a guy whose first name is Schuyler?
Phil. Good.
Then I don't have to say "Green" all the time.
Too haughty, last names, and Schuyler is impossible.
That bad? I wouldn't call a dog Schuyler.
John.
It was my mother's name.
My middle one.
I started signing my stuff Schuyler Green
when I was on the college paper at Stanford.
It sounded better to me, I guess, than Philip.
Like Somerset Maugham instead of William,
Sinclair Lewis instead of Harry.
Somerset, Sinclair, Schuyler, all S's.
Maybe that means something.
Yes.
Do you mind telling people what you're writing now, Mr. Green?
No, not at all.
Well, I'm not writing anything just now, but...
Let me tell her.
I've asked him to do a series on anti-Semitism.
Break it wide open. Been wanting to do it for some time.
Do I get a credit line? You?
Yes. For what?
Well, don't you remember back around Christmas of last year,
that Jewish schoolteacher resigning? I was the one...
Why, sure. I knew somebody was after me, but I forgot who.
John, the Jacksons are here.
All right.
I'm always stealing ideas without knowing it, Phil.
That's what keeps the magazine original.
(BOTH CHUCKLING)
Funny, your suggesting the series.
Is it? Why?
Oh...
Lots of reasons.
You make up your mind too quickly about people, Mr. Green.
Women, anyway.
I saw you do it when you sat down.
(CHUCKLES)
As apparent as all that?
You cross-filed and indexed me...
A little too well bred, self-confident,
artificial, a trifle absurd, typical New York.
No, I didn't have time for all that.
Oh, yes, you did. I even left out a few things.
Faintly irritating upper-class manner, over-bright voice.
All right, all right, I give up. You win.
I'm sorry. I couldn't resist it,
because it's only partly true.
Is this your first trip east?
No, it's not my first trip.
Every other time I've been here, though,
I've had a plane or railroad or boat ticket for tomorrow.
Are you going to stay?
I think so.
You're getting a pretty complete story on me.
Now it's your turn.
Well, you know I'm divorced.
I help run a nursery school. I'm called Miss Lacy.
Do you want just anything?
Just anything.
JESSIE: Dinner.
Dinner?
No reading comics at the table, Tommy. Put it away.
Let me finish. I'm right at the end.
No making mysteries at the table, either, Phil.
Mysteries?
You haven't even mentioned your assignment.
Oh?
He wants me to do a series on anti-Semitism.
You don't sound very enthusiastic.
I'm not.
Will he insist on your doing it?
Oh, no, he's not that kind of an editor.
Ma, what do you do to just eggs to make them taste this way?
Pray over them.
Have a good time last night?
Yeah.
You know, you need new people as much as you need new places.
I mean, everybody does, not just you.
Thought it was a good bunch to start on.
Funny thing. It was a girl, Minify's niece,
who suggested that series on anti-Semitism. It was funny.
You don't say.
Why, women will be thinking next, Phil.
What's anti-Semitism? Hmm?
What's anti-Semitism?
Oh, that's where some people
don't like other people just because they're Jews.
Oh?
Why? Are they bad?
Some are, sure. Some aren't. It's like everybody else.
What are Jews, anyway? I mean, exactly.
Well, you remember last week when you
asked me about that big church? Sure.
I told you there were lots of different churches.
Yeah.
Well, the people who go to that particular church
are called Catholics, see.
And there are people who go to other churches,
and they're called Protestants.
Then there are others who go to still different ones,
and they're called Jews.
Only they call their kind of churches synagogues or temples.
And why don't some people like those?
Well, that's kind of a tough one to explain, Tom.
Some people hate Catholics and some hate Jews.
And no one hates us, 'cause we're Americans.
(CLEARS THROAT)
Well, no, no. That's...
That's another thing again.
See, you can be an American and a Catholic,
or an American and a Protestant, or an American and a Jew.
But, look, Tom, it's like this.
One thing's your country, see? Like America,
or France, or Germany, or Russia, all the countries.
The flag is different, the uniform is different,
and the language is different.
And the airplanes are marked different?
Differently, that's right.
But the other thing is religion,
like the Jewish, or the Catholic, or the Protestant religions.
See, that hasn't anything to do with the flag,
or the uniform, or the airplanes.
You got it? Yep.
Don't ever get mixed up on that.
I got it.
Some people are mixed up.
Why?
It's 8:30, Tommy. You'd better get going.
You'll be late for school. Yeah, yeah, you'll be late.
Finish your milk.
Thanks, Grandma. Bye.
(SIGHS IN RELIEF)
That's all right, Phil. You're always good with him.
That kid's going to wreck me yet.
Did you and Dad have to go through this sort of stuff with me?
Of course we did.
Are you very disappointed, Phil?
Yes, I am. I was almost sure
he'd hand me the Stassen story or Washington.
I wasn't looking for an easy one, Ma,
but I did want something that I could really make good on.
I'd so like the first one here to be a natural,
something I know they'd read.
You mean there's enough anti-Semitism in real life
without people reading about it?
No, but this one's doomed before I start.
What could I possibly say that hasn't been said before?
I don't know.
Maybe it hasn't been said well enough.
If it had, you wouldn't have had to explain it to Tommy just now,
or your father and I to you.
It would be nice sometime not to have to explain it
to someone like Tommy.
Kids are so decent to start with.
Home for lunch?
No.
Think I'll take a walk.
You're quite a girl, Ma.
You seem surprised. Yes.
Why? I didn't think you were going to do it.
You have a bad poker face, Phil.
I saw you were disappointed in the assignment
the minute I mentioned it. That's why I didn't push it.
What changed your mind? A couple of things.
Uh-huh. I may put my niece under contract, inspiration department.
No, it wasn't that.
It was my kid.
I had to explain it to him this morning. It was kind of tough.
It's really each house, each family that decides it.
Anyway, I want to do it, very much.
I couldn't be more pleased.
I'll need some facts and figures
from your research department.
What?
I said, I'll have to get facts, figures from your research people.
Now, wait a minute. Hold on.
I've got 18 hacks on this magazine who can do this series
with their left hands chock full of facts, figures and research.
I don't need you for that.
What do you think I brought you here for? Facts and figures?
Use your head. Go right to the source.
I want some angle, some compelling lead,
some dramatic device to humanize it so that it gets read.
You don't want much. You just want the moon.
With parsley. Suggestion.
There's a bigger thing to do than to go after the crackpot story.
It's been done plenty.
It's the wider spread of it that I want to get at.
The people that would never go near an anti-Semitic meeting
or send a dime to Gerald L. K. Smith.
All right.
I'll knock it around.
Give my best to the research department.
So long.
You don't happen to want my niece's phone number, do you?
Regent 7-0-4-9-3. We're having dinner together.
I always like to go right to the source.
Fresh coffee, sir?
Thank you.
You're a very flattering listener.
Well, I've been interested.
No, it's more than that.
Your face takes sides as if you were voting for and against.
When I told you about my longing to have a nice home,
like other children, you looked happy.
When I told you about Uncle John
offering to send me to Vassar, you looked bleak.
How did your parents take it
about Mr. Minify giving you an allowance
and the pretty clothes and all the rest?
Oh, they said they wanted Jane, my sister, and me
to have the things that would make us happy.
And did they?
Yes, I think so.
I quit being envious
and snobbish.
I felt right and easy.
Now you're looking all dubious again.
Please, don't think that I'm just sitting here
approving and disapproving.
It's not that. It's just that...
Well, I...
We've certainly covered a lot of ground.
Are you engaged to anybody now, or in love or anything?
Not especially.
(CHUCKLES) Are you?
Not anything.
Dance?
Oh, by the way,
what was the point of your ex-husband
being asked up to the Minifys' when you were there?
They trying to bring you together?
Could be. Aunt Jessie does it every once in a while.
Did you ask me to dance?
(TYPEWRITER CLACKING)
MRS. GREEN: Oh, Phil, Miss Lacy.
Okay.
He'll be right here.
(CHUCKLES) He's still at it.
Hi. How's the big outside world?
Still there? Everybody having fun?
No, no, I'm fine.
Just wish I were dead, that's all.
Oh, thanks, Kathy. I'm in my stubborn streak now.
If it won't budge, I won't.
Well, that's great.
At the rate it's going now do you think you'd like me with white hair?
Yeah. I'd think you'd look dandy with white hair.
I'll be right here, still trying.
Oh, please do. If you don't call, I just keep wondering why you don't.
So it works out as an interruption either way.
Well, I'm a working girl myself.
How many interruptions a day do you want?
Oh, I'll thank you to call me five or six times a day.
It's your fault I'm in this jam, anyway.
Okay. Bye.
Why don't you take some time off, Phil?
You've been at it day and night now for almost a week.
You know me, Ma.
When I'm like this, I wouldn't be any fun for Kathy or anybody else.
I'm certainly no fun for myself.
No ideas at all yet?
Sure, plenty of ideas, but they all explode in my face after an hour.
So they just don't stand up.
When you get the right one, there's a kind of a click happens inside of you.
It hasn't happened yet. It doesn't look like it's going to either.
I'm bored with the whole thing,
bored with myself, as a matter of fact.
Hey, Ma. Do you think I'm losing my grip?
You know, writers do. Maybe it's my turn.
(CHUCKLES) You better not. You wouldn't be able to make a nickel at anything else.
(CHUCKLES) Thanks. You can go now. That's a big help.
Bring those things in with you, will you?
Isn't it always tough at the start, Phil?
Never like this.
Never. I've tried everything.
Anti-Semitism in business, labor, professions.
It's all there, all right, but I can't make it give.
I've tried everything, separately and together.
Every time I think I'm getting on the edge of something good,
I go into it a little deeper, and it turns into the same old drool
of statistics and protest.
It's like beating your head against a concrete wall.
Gee, I wish Dave were here.
Dave Goldman? Yeah.
He'd be the guy to talk it over with, wouldn't he?
Yes, I guess he would. Still overseas?
Yeah. Looks like he's stuck there, too. He'd be just the one, though.
Hey, Ma, maybe that's a new tack.
So far, I've been digging into facts and evidence.
I've sort of ignored feelings.
How must a fellow like Dave feel about this thing?
That's good, Phil.
Over and above what we feel about it,
what must a Jew feel about this thing?
Dave. Can I think my way into Dave's mind?
He's the kind of fellow I'd be if I were a Jew, isn't he?
We grew up together. We lived in the same kind of homes.
We were the gang. We did everything together.
Whatever Dave feels now,
indifference, outrage, contempt,
would be the feelings of Dave not only as a Jew
but the way I feel as a man, as an American, as a citizen.
Is that right, Ma?
Sit down and write him a letter now.
Hey, maybe I've broken this logjam, Ma. Maybe this is it.
Put it down to him just like you said it to me.
Now, what do I say?
What do I say?
"Dear Dave, give me the lowdown on your guts
"when you hear about Rankin calling people kikes.
"How do you feel when you hear about Jewish kids
"getting their teeth kicked out
"by Jew-haters in New York City?"
Could you write that kind of a letter, Ma?
It's no good, all of it. It wouldn't be any good if I could write it.
There isn't any way you can tear open
the secret heart of another human being, Ma. You know that.
Yes, I guess you're right, but there must be some way.
There must!
Hey, don't you get started.
I don't want to depress the whole family.
You look tired, Ma. Why don't you go to bed?
One good thing came out of this, anyway.
Reminded me I owe Dave a letter. I'll write him anyway.
And I'd like a little more sympathy around here
now that you see how tough it is.
Sympathy? (CHUCKLING) Oh, no.
But I think it's worth it, Phil, if that's any consolation.
It's mighty small, Ma, mighty small,
but I'm in no position to dicker.
Good night, baby.
(GROANING)
Tommy?
(MRS. GREEN GASPING)
Ma!
(GASPING)
Is it your heart? Does it seem like your heart?
Wait.
You all right? Seem any easier?
Passing.
Well, I'll get a doctor.
I'll phone Kathy. No.
She'll know the right one.
Wait.
I never realized pain could be so sharp.
You let me phone Kathy. She'll know a heart man.
What time is it?
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
Come on.
Come back and hold my hand.
Sure, sure.
(BUZZING)
Will she die, Pop? Will she?
Well, she'll die someday, Tom,
just like you or me or anybody.
The doctor said she might be fine for years if she's careful.
Your grandma's not young, Tom.
And all that packing and unpacking tired her out too much.
I'll bet we can run this place between us.
Sure.
Say, Pop, what are we going...
It's scary, Tom, I know.
I was scared last night myself, plenty.
But we'll take good care of her.
She might be fine until you're grown up and married and have kids.
(DOORBELL BUZZING)
Well, that's the doctor.
Will you make your own breakfast and get off to school?
Sure. We'll run this place just fine.
You get going now.
I told your mother the truth.
People with hearts outlive everyone else if they take care.
This may prove to be what we call false angina
instead of the true angina.
You keep her in bed for a few days,
and then we'll get her to the office and really see.
No use getting too technical until we really know.
Doctor, are you sure?
I never minimize at a time like this, Mr. Green.
I don't frighten, but I don't minimize.
Right now, it's nothing to worry about.
MRS. GREEN: Phil.
Go ahead. I know the way out.
I'll keep dropping in for the next few days.
Thank you.
Everything okay?
No need to look like Hamlet. I feel wonderful.
Well, don't crowd things. You feel like talking?
Ever know me when I didn't, except last night?
Now I really believe the doctor for the first time.
Good. So do I.
Tommy get off all right? Sure he did.
Fixed his own breakfast. Did a good job of it, too.
I'll be up tomorrow. No, you won't.
Yes, I will. No, you won't.
Get any sleep? Sure.
Eyes like poached eggs.
Get some sleep today, Phil. Don't try to work, please.
Well, you don't need to worry about that, Ma.
I've decided. I'm going to phone Minify.
You know, there's a certain virtue
in knowing when you're licked.
Well, I'm licked. And I might as well accept it gracefully.
I decided last night.
When?
When I was sitting here, holding your hand, waiting for the doctor.
Why?
Well, I was scared, Ma, just like I used to be
when I'd get to wondering what I'd do
if anything ever happened to you.
It all came back. I was a kid again, and my ma was sick.
Now, Phil.
I wanted to ask, is it awful? Are you afraid?
But there are some questions nobody can ask
and they can't be answered.
I'll know the answer to those two only when I feel it myself,
when I'm lying there.
And that's the way it is with the series, Ma.
I can't really write it.
But you did get the answers before, Phil.
Every article you ever wrote, the right answers got in somehow.
Yeah, but I didn't ask for them.
When I wanted to find out about a scared guy in a jalopy,
I didn't stand out on Route 66
and stop him so I can ask a lot of questions.
I bought myself some old clothes and a broken-down car
and took Route 66 myself.
I lived in their camps, ate what they ate.
I found the answers in my own guts, not somebody else's.
I didn't say, "What does it feel like to be an Okie?"
I was an Okie. That's the difference, Ma.
On the coal mine series,
I didn't sit in my bedroom and do a lot of research, did I?
I didn't go out and tap some poor grimy guy on the shoulder
and make him talk. I got myself a job. I went down in the dark.
I slept in a shack.
I didn't try to dig into a coal miner's heart. I was a miner.
Ma... Maybe.
Hey, maybe.
I got it!
The lead, the idea, the angle.
This is the way. It's the only way.
I'll... I'll be Jewish.
I'll... Well, all I got to do is say it.
Nobody knows me around here. I can just say it.
I can live it myself for six weeks, eight weeks, nine months.
No matter how long it takes. Ma, it's right this time.
It must be, Phil. It always is when you're this sure.
Listen, I even got the title.
"I Was Jewish For Six Months."
It's right, Phil.
Ma, this is it.
That click just happened inside of me.
Well, it won't be the same, sure it won't, but it ought to be close.
I can just tell them I am and see what happens.
It'll work. It'll work fine, Phil.
Dark hair, dark eyes. Sure, so is Dave.
So have a lot of guys who aren't Jewish.
No accent, no mannerisms. Neither has Dave.
Name, Phil Green. Skip the Schuyler.
Might be anything. Phil Green.
Ma, it's a cinch.
Oh, Phil, this is the best medicine I could have had.
Look, will you keep my secret if you meet any new people?
It has to be without exceptions if it works at all.
If you're Jewish, I am, too, I guess.
Hey, take it easy. Don't get excited. I got to phone right away.
Why don't you have Kathy come over here?
How did you know I wasn't going to phone Minify?
Dope. Nobody phones a magazine editor with that look on his face.
Oh, Phil, it's nice. It's attractive.
Well, it's not done yet. Those packages are pictures.
The last of our books just came.
You have a fireplace. It works, too.
Mine's only fake. How's your mother?
I spoke to Dr. Craigie and he said she'd be fine.
Oh, she's all right.
What's the angle? Tell me fast.
I will. Just a minute. I want to check up on Ma.
Good. Give her my love.
She's sleeping like a baby.
Good. Don't worry about her.
Let's have a drink. No, thanks.
Just some sherry. All right.
You're still not telling me. I know.
It's funny. I thought I'd spill it out the minute you got inside the door.
You sounded so excited.
I am.
It must have been really something to get you like this.
There will be stumbling blocks and holes, but I don't care.
I'll lick... Lick them when I get to them.
Kathy.
Phil.
Phil, wait, now.
You go over there and let me sit here for a minute.
What is it, Kathy?
Nothing.
I was just thinking.
Marriage can be such a good way to live, Kathy.
All these years, I've kept hoping.
I've kept hoping, too.
But when you've made a mistake once, you're afraid.
You're not afraid now.
No, Phil.
Darling.
What are you smiling at? Nothing.
Come on, no secrets.
I was just thinking.
I was just playing that old game.
All women do it, trying out the name.
Say it out loud.
Mrs. Schuyler Green.
Well, how does it sound?
It sounds just fine.
How does it look on me?
I like it.
Kathy, you're not sorry about Tom?
Oh, Phil, I'm glad.
It's almost as if my marriage hadn't been wasted,
as if I'd had a son growing up for me.
(INAUDIBLE)
I knew you'd get it, but who'd ever think that...
But can you get away with it? Yeah, sure,
if you and Kathy and Mrs. Minify won't give me away.
I haven't told Kathy yet.
I'll take care of Mrs. Minify.
When do you start? What's the matter with right now?
Fine. I'll get you an office and a secretary right away.
But what about the secretary.
She'd have to know, wouldn't she?
Yeah. Well, why?
Supposing I were really Jewish and you gave me this assignment.
What difference would it make to her or anybody?
You're right, Phil. I'm excited about this.
They'll read this all right. Mr. Minify.
Mr. Weisman is waiting in the dining room.
Yes. What about lunch?
Chance to meet the whole staff at one clip.
Irving Weisman is lunching with us.
Might be wise for you to know.
Yeah, he's the big industrialist, isn't he?
Yes. Come on.
He's a colorful fellow. Old friend of mine.
I know you'll like him.
BILL: The picture of the Empire State Building. Look at this.
JOE: I know. But it was over here. Yes.
BILL: Over to the left. That's what I'm talking about.
Sorry we're late. We're very sorry, Irving.
Mr. Phil Green, Mr. Irving Weisman.
Mr. Weisman. How do you do?
Lou Jordan, our personnel manager.
Joe Tingler, demon photographer. Yeah, yeah!
Bill Payson, art editor.
Bert McAnny, the best layout man
this side of the Mexican border.
And last is a kind of dessert, Phil.
Anne Dettrey, our fashion editor,
clever, beautiful, and dangerous.
Eats men alive.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Sit down beside her.
I thought it was Schuyler Green.
No, that's my writing name.
Mr. Green is going to do a series on anti-Semitism for us.
Really? Again?
Not again. For the first time.
We're going to split it wide open.
Do you mind my saying, as an old friend,
I think it a very bad idea, John?
The worst, the most harmful thing you could possibly do now.
Not at all. Why is it a harmful idea?
Because it'll only stir it up more. That's why. Let it alone.
We'll handle it in our own way.
The hush-hush way?
I don't care what you call it.
Let it alone.
You can't write it out of existence.
We've been fighting it for years.
We know from experience the less talk there is about it, the better.
Sure. Pretend it doesn't exist
and add to the conspiracy of silence.
I should say not. Keep silent and let Bilbo
and Gerald L.K. Smith do all the talking?
No, sir. Irving, you and your let's-be-quiet-about-it committees
have got just exactly no place.
We're going to call a spade a dirty spade.
And I think it's high time and a fine idea.
So do I. I couldn't agree with Mr. Minify more.
You sound pretty hot about it, Mr. Green.
Well, I feel pretty hot about it.
I don't think it has anything to do
with the fact that I'm Jewish myself.
Right office? Mr. Green?
Yes, sir. This is your office.
I'm your secretary, Miss Wales.
Elaine Wales is the name.
How do you do?
Mind if we get right to work?
Not at all.
You know about the series I'm doing?
Yes, sir. Good.
The first thing I want to start is a file.
I want you to write form letters to clubs, resorts,
interviews for jobs, apartments for lease,
application for medical schools, and so forth.
I got a whole list here somewhere.
Yes, sir.
Write the letters on blank stationery.
And send two to each address.
One of them I want it to sign Schuyler Green,
and the other Philip Greenberg.
See what I mean? Yes, sir.
And have the replies sent to my home address.
I'll give you that later.
Yes, sir.
Of course, you know that it will be yes to the Greens
and no to the Greenbergs.
Sure, but I want it for the record.
Now, if your name was Saul Green
or Irving or something like that,
you wouldn't have to go to all this bother.
I changed mine. Did you?
Wales? No, Green's always been my name. What's yours?
Walovsky. Estelle Walovsky.
And I just couldn't take it. About applications, I mean.
So one day, I wrote the same firm two letters,
same as you're doing now.
I sent the Elaine Wales one
after they'd said there were no openings to my first one.
I got the job, all right.
Do you know what firm that was?
Smith's Weekly.
No.
(CHUCKLES) Yes, Mr. Green.
The great liberal magazine that fights injustice on all sides.
It slays me. I love it.
Mr. Minify know about that?
Oh, he can't be bothered thinking about small fry.
That's Mr. Jordan's department, hiring and firing.
But if anybody snitched,
you know there'd be some excuse for throwing them out.
So anyway, I thought maybe you had changed yours sometime.
I mean, when I heard you were Jewish.
You heard it?
Why, sure.
Is this the list? Yeah.
When?
Well, when you finished luncheon
and went back to Mr. Minify's office,
it kind of got around.
She'll be up and about and fit as a fiddle day after tomorrow.
You wouldn't mind if I had her see a good internist,
just to be on the safe side? Not at all. Good idea.
I'll make an appointment if you wish.
I always use Mason Van Dyck or James Kent.
Or if you have some good man you'd like.
One of the editors at the magazine recommended someone.
Doctor... Dr. Abrahams.
Abrahams?
Yes, J. E. Abrahams, Mount Sinai Hospital, Beth Israel, or both.
Yes, yes, of course.
Well, if you should decide to have your mother
see Van Dyck or Kent, I'll arrange it.
Why? Isn't this Abrahams fellow any good?
No, nothing like that. Good man, completely reliable.
Not given to overcharging and stringing visits out,
the way some do.
Do you mean the way some doctors do,
or do you mean the way some Jewish doctors do?
(CHUCKLES) I suppose you're right.
I suppose some of us do it, too, not just the chosen people.
If Abrahams doesn't impress me, I'll try Van Dyck or Kent.
I've no special loyalty to Jewish doctors
simply because I'm Jewish myself.
No, of course not.
A good man's a good man.
I don't believe in prejudice.
I see.
Well...
Good evening.
Evening, Mr. Green. Evening, Mr. Olsen.
Say, Mr. Green,
why don't you fill out one of them cards at the post office better
or watch for the mailman and tell him?
Well, what's the matter with this way?
It's the rules.
Leave that alone.
It's nothing I can help, Mr. Green. It's the rules.
The renting agent should have explained.
That is, excuse me, if you are.
Excuse me, nothing.
This is my place for two years,
and don't touch that card.
(BOTH CHUCKLING)
You don't mean that we're going to have dinner here?
I do, indeed.
So we can talk. Talk?
You sit there.
I'm not going to let you get going on another thing.
You don't even get dinner until you tell me the angle.
I've been trying to guess what it is all day long.
Have you really? Yes, I have.
I kept thinking, "Suppose I were he,
"and I had to find an angle? What would I do?"
Well, what would you do?
Well, I got just no place.
Some of the ideas you told me I thought were excellent,
but you threw them out and kept hunting.
You'll see why just as soon as I tell you.
Phil, tell me.
All right. Here it is.
I'm just going to let everybody know that I'm Jewish, that's all.
Jewish?
But you're not, Phil, are you?
Not that it would make any difference to me, but you said,
"I'm going to let everybody know,"
as if you hadn't before and would now.
So I just wondered.
Not that it would matter to me one way or the other.
Phil, you're annoyed.
No, I'm not. I was just thinking.
Well, don't be so serious about it. You must know where I stand.
I do.
It's just that you caught me off guard,
you know, not knowing too much about you,
because you always make me talk about myself all the time,
so that for a minute there, I wasn't very bright on the uptake.
Well, anyway, you don't think much of my angle?
I do. It's...
It's what? It's just that I...
I think it'll mix everybody up.
People won't know what you are.
Of course, after the series is finished, they'll know,
but even so, it'll keep cropping up. Won't it?
All right.
Let it.
I must be out of my head. "Let it" is right. Who cares?
I was just being too practical about things.
That's what comes from being a schoolteacher.
Now tell me more.
Well, to begin with,
you and the Minifys will have to promise not to give me away,
but, really, no exceptions for anything, okay?
Okay.
What about the people at Smith's? Won't they talk?
They're not in on it, only Minify.
They think you're Jewish?
Look, Kathy, I don't think you understand.
If this thing is going to work,
the only chance is to go whole hog at it.
It's got to go right through everything.
Of course.
I hadn't really seen it before.
I didn't mean to be so sharp.
I'm sorry.
Dinner?
Fine.
You sit there. I'm doing the serving myself.
More coffee? Only take a minute to heat it.
No, thanks.
Well, I think I'd better be getting along.
So soon?
I should look in at Ma before she gets to sleep.
Of course.
You have to get to the school pretty early, don't you?
Yes.
I had a pretty full day at the magazine, too.
Yes.
It was a mighty fine dinner.
I'm glad you liked it.
My car's downstairs. Let me run you home.
No, thanks. I think I'll walk.
It's a lovely night.
Yes, it is.
It's lovely.
I'd better be getting off.
Don't bother. I know where my hat is.
It's no bother.
I'll call you sometime tomorrow.
All right.
Good night.
Good night, Phil.
WOMAN: Mary said to come right over and that
it'll be perfectly all right to bring you.
She's cooked a big dinner, so there's plenty...
I forgot something.
Darling! I'm so glad you came back. Kathy. What are we doing?
What am I doing to us? It's my fault, dear.
I'm always weighing and judging.
I'm such a solemn fool.
No, I should have said the angle was fine right away.
And it is, darling. It is. It's wonderful.
I don't know what happened.
It started the minute you spoke. I felt insulted.
If I were Jewish, that's the way I would
have felt and I couldn't let you off.
I couldn't make it any easier for you.
All through dinner, I tried to reach you,
tell you I was sorry, and I couldn't.
I don't know what happened to me when you told me,
except that a whole beautiful evening was spoiled.
I wanted you to come back.
Darling.
But really, Mr. Minify, I never make it a policy
just to hire... It... Well, it's...
It's a question of personality.
Please understand, Mr. Minify.
If a girl's personality is the type that fits in...
It's just by chance, you mean,
that we haven't one secretary named Finkelstein or Cohen?
In the city of New York? Come off it, Jordan.
Miss Miller, take a help wanted ad.
"Expert secretary for editorial department, national magazine.
"Exacting work, good pay.
"Religion is a matter of indifference to this office."
Got that? Yes, Mr. Minify.
In any other ad you run, be sure to use that last line.
That's all, Miss Miller. Good afternoon, Jordan.
By the way, if you should have to fire Miss Wales,
for any reason whatever at any time,
remember, I'd like to review the case myself first.
Good afternoon, Mr. Minify.
I'm ashamed of myself and this magazine, too.
The sloppy, slovenly notion that
everybody's busy doing bigger things.
Well, there just isn't anything bigger
than beating down the complacence of
essentially decent people about prejudice.
Yes, I'm ashamed of myself. Go on back to work.
PHIL: "I believe that I've given a clear
"and accurate picture of my qualifications,
"and I would very much appreciate
"your immediate consideration and reply. Sincerely yours."
Better ask for an immediate reply on all of them.
Don't bother to do it today, though. It's too late.
Tomorrow will be all right.
Mr. Green, have you any idea when you'll start dictating the series itself?
I would like to get the decks cleared.
Well, I think I'll type it out myself to start with.
I'm not much good on dictating actual copy.
Well, that'll be all, Miss Wales.
You'd better get along home.
All right.
Mr. Green, is it true about Mr. Jordan?
What true about Mr. Jordan?
Well, he's telling everybody about Mr. Minify's ad.
He thinks it's a wonderful thing, he says.
He does, huh?
And I thought I'd ask you if it's really true that the ad says right out...
Right straight out, Miss Wales.
And it's going to be in all the papers tomorrow.
Practically inviting any type at all to apply?
Any type? What do you mean?
Mr. Green, you don't want things changed around here, do you?
Even though you are a writer, and it's different for writers.
Different for writers? How?
Well, I mean, just let them get one wrong one in here,
and it'll come out of us.
It's no fun being the fall guy for the kikey ones.
Now, look, Miss Wales, we've got to be frank with each other.
You have a right to know right now
that words like yid, and kike, and kikey,
and nigger, and coon make me kind of sick no matter who says them.
But I only said it for a type.
Yeah, but we're talking about a word first.
But, Mr. Green, that doesn't mean a thing.
Why, sometimes I even say it to myself, about me, I mean.
Like if I'm about to do something and I know I shouldn't,
I say, (LAUGHING) "Don't be such a little kike." That's all.
But let one objectionable one get in here...
Well, just a minute. What do you mean by objectionable?
Loud and too much rouge...
They don't hire any loud, vulgar girls here.
What makes you think they're going to suddenly start?
It's not only that.
Mr. Green, you're sort of heckling me.
You know as well as I do, the sort
that starts trouble in a place like this
and the sort that doesn't, like you or me,
so what's the sense of pinning me down?
You mean, because we don't look especially Jewish,
because we're okay Jews,
because with us, it can be kept nice and comfortable and quiet?
I didn't say... Now, listen, Miss Wales,
I hate anti-Semitism,
and I hate it when it comes from you or anybody who's Jewish,
just as much as I hate it when it comes from a Gentile.
Me? Why, Mr. Green...
See you tomorrow, Miss Wales.
Good night.
Why don't you go home?
I'm slowly going crazy.
ANNE: Hi, there!
Hello, Miss Dettrey.
How can you stride down the hall with such energy and vitality
at the end of the day? I'm bushed.
Getting the book to bed gets worse every issue.
I didn't know you called it "the book" around here.
Oh, we do. We do. We're sophisticated New Yorkers, Mr. Green.
By the way, do you happen to be thirsty?
I do, and I'm just in the mood
to hear the story of your life.
Why, Mr. Green, I think this can be arranged, if you play your cards right.
You know a nice bar we can go to?
This couldn't happen to a nicer girl.
And he liked it. And that's how
I got to be fashion editor in the first place.
Hello, Jim. How are you? Oh, fine.
Don't look now. But I think we've got visitors.
Just when I was getting to the really tender part of my life, too.
Mind if I sit with you charming people?
No. Sit down, Bert. Sit down.
Only got a minute. May I? Certainly.
You two seem to be having such fun
over here, I couldn't resist it.
We just love to spread merriment.
Our hearts are God's little garden,
just an occasional weed, here and there.
Well, Anne, another issue gone to press.
I swear I don't see how we do it every week.
Well, we're just brilliant, Bert.
Every morning, I get up and I say to the mirror,
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, tell me
"who's the most brilliant of them all?"
What does the mirror say?
That mirror ain't no gentleman, Mr. Green.
Well, Green, how's the series coming?
Well, I'm still just getting stuff together. There's plenty of it around.
You know, when I was stationed at Guam,
our C.O. Used to talk to us about it.
Quite a liberal, that fellow.
You were in public relations, weren't you?
What makes you say that?
I don't know.
You just seem like a clever sort of a guy.
What makes you think I wasn't a GI?
Huh?
Now, for goodness' sake, Green, don't get me wrong.
Why, some of my best friends... I know, dear.
And some of your other best friends are Methodist,
but you never bother to say it.
Now, look, Anne.
Skip it.
Flag the waiter, Phil, and be a dear?
Well, if you'll excuse me, I've got to run.
I'll be seeing you.
(SIGHS)
Little drip.
(MOCKING) "Now, for goodness' sake, Green, don't get me wrong."
Really believes it, too.
Disapproves of the poll tax and Bilbo.
Comes right out and says so, brave as anything.
He's just a drip, let's face it.
That imitation was wonderful.
Got a million of them. Well, we're back to laughs, anyway.
Say, I'm having a flock of people up tomorrow night.
What about pressing your black tie and coming up?
Sure. Like it fine. Can I bring my girl?
Of course.
What'll you have, sir?
More of the same. Thank you, sir.
Wait here, will you? I'll be right back.
Surprise.
Well, that's what I call timing.
I saw your cab drive up. I just couldn't wait.
(WHISTLES)
Oh, brother.
Oh, it's nothing.
Little lady comes in twice a week and whips them up for me.
Been with the family for generations.
Look at you. First time I've seen you in dinner clothes.
Good enough to eat with a spoon.
Come on, dear, let's go.
Oh, I told Ma today all about us.
Phil, was she pleased? Was she?
She was delighted. She got very emotional. For Ma, anyway.
She dropped one of her best dishes and broke it,
and blamed it all on Tommy.
I called my sister Jane this morning,
I sort of blurted it out in the telephone,
and she squealed, "Kathy!"
As if she'd given up all hope that anyone would ever ask me again.
Darling, she's aching to meet you.
In fact, they're giving a big party for us next Saturday.
Won't we have to let Jane in on it?
I don't know. I hadn't thought.
I hadn't, either, until now, but won't we?
My own sister. Your mother knows.
Well, I know, dear, she had to,
but Jane and her husband don't.
You know, if you want to keep a secret...
But wouldn't it be sort of exaggerated with my own sister?
Your sister-in-law, almost.
Darling, I do think it would be inflexible of you.
Well, I suppose it would, inside the family.
They won't tell anybody else, will they?
Oh, they'd never breathe it.
They want to fight this awful thing as much as you and I do.
Darling, I'm going to be the proudest girl on the block.
I don't have to kiss you in public.
I've got a nice dark taxi outside.
Well, what are we waiting for? Come on.
Don't just stand there.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
She's awfully attractive, isn't she?
Yeah. She looks really beautiful.
She certainly does, and she likes you a lot.
I'll scratch her eyes out if she makes a play for you.
That's no way to talk.
Relax. You haven't got a thing to worry about.
Hello, Anne. Hello, Anne.
Can I get you something? Food, drinks,
some certified checks, spending money, an emerald?
It's a lovely party, Anne.
It will be better when it thins out a bit.
I think I can get Sasha to play and Ethel to sing.
Good. Stick around.
Say, Phil, Professor Lieberman just came in.
Would you and Kathy like to meet him?
Lieberman, I should say so.
Hey, I'm scared. What does one say
to a world-renowned physicist?
Just "Hello, toots."
Come on. He's a wonderful guy.
Watch your elbow.
I'm not happy till I'm out in my boat.
I love that. I bought myself a new one.
You ought to join me one day. You look tired and drawn.
Say when. It'll do you good.
Well, let's say... Professor,
two people want to meet you, but are scared.
They'll introduce themselves.
That'll make them open their mouths, anyway.
Anne. You're on your own, kids.
Fine friend.
Come on, Fred. I want them to be alone.
Professor, this is my fiancée Kathy Lacy.
How do you do, Professor? I'm Phil Green.
As a matter of fact, John Minify
has been wanting to get us together.
Oh, yes, yes.
Yes, he told me he did.
How do you do? I'm doing a series for him on anti-Semitism.
For or against?
Well, he thought that we might hash over some ideas.
What sort of ideas?
Palestine, for instance. Zionism.
Which? Palestine as a refuge, or Zionism as a movement for a Jewish state?
The confusion between the two, more than anything.
Good. If we agree there's confusion, we can talk.
We scientists love confusion,
but right now, I'm starting on a new crusade of my own.
You see, my young friends, I have no religion, so I'm not Jewish by religion.
Further, I'm a scientist, so I must rely on science,
which shows me I'm not Jewish by race,
since there's no such thing as a distinct Jewish race.
There's not even such a thing as a Jewish type.
Well, my crusade will have a certain charm.
I will simply go forth and state flatly, "I'm not a Jew."
With my face, that becomes not an evasion,
but a new principle, a scientific principle.
For a scientific age.
Precisely.
There must be millions of people nowadays
who are religious only in the vaguest sense.
I've often wondered why the Jewish ones among them
still go on calling themselves Jews.
Can you guess why, Mr. Green?
No, but I'd like to know.
Because the world still makes it an advantage not to be one.
Thus, for many of us, it becomes a matter of pride
to go on calling ourselves Jews.
So you see, I will have to abandon my crusade before it begins.
Only if there were no anti-Semites, could I go on with it.
And now I would like to try another little scientific experiment.
I wonder if you would leave me alone
with your very beautiful fiancée
while you went and got me a plate of food?
Well...
Both in the interest of science.
Anything for science, Professor.
I'm John Minify's niece Kathy Lacy.
And a little onion.
There. Now go play with that, Fred. Thank you.
This is not my third trip around, Miss Dettrey.
It's for Professor Lieberman.
Who's counting? Shall I fix him some caviar?
Caviar.
It's all deductible from my income tax, dear.
I have to give parties to see what the women are wearing. Get it?
You old crook.
Young crook, please.
Okay.
How do you like my girl, Anne?
She's lovely.
Is it serious or just the first-find careless rapture?
Serious, all right. We're going to be married any minute.
My congratulations, you willful, headstrong fellow, you.
When did all this happen?
First time we looked at each other, I guess, third day I came to New York.
Tall buildings and subways and traffic didn't scare you at all?
Not a bit. I brushed the hay and straw out of my hair
and fell right in love with a city girl.
You could crawl right into The Saturday Evening Post, couldn't you?
Have you met her family yet, her sister and the rest?
No, not yet. Do you know them?
Slightly. You going to meet them soon?
Next week, I think. Why?
I'd just like the newsreel rights. That's all.
Well, what do you mean? What's the matter with them?
Nothing. I just think it's a fine idea to meet the family first, don't you?
It saves wear and tear afterwards.
Nice party.
It's even nicer here.
I've been thinking, maybe it would be better
if you didn't tell your sister after all, huh?
Not tell her? Why?
Well, the whole business depends on my not making loopholes
whenever it's convenient.
I've already told her.
You did? When? Mmm-hmm.
Tonight. I called her from Anne's.
Jane made me promise to let her know
the minute you said you'd be free for Saturday.
You know, it takes time to make arrangements for a big party.
What'd she say when you told her?
Oh, she thought it was the cleverest way in the world to do research.
You'll love her. And Harry, too. They're grand people.
But she promised?
I wouldn't tell her until she had. And Harry.
She just asked that you skip the whole thing for the party.
She didn't mean to deny it, just not to bring it up. And I said...
You said no. What?
You said, "No, he won't skip the whole thing for the party."
No, I didn't. I said I'd ask you.
I'd never say yes without asking you.
You mean, you think I should?
(CHUCKLES) Darling, why do you always lose your sense of proportion
whenever the subject comes up?
That was what was so wonderful
about Professor Lieberman tonight.
He certainly feels the problem as deeply as anyone else,
yet he did have a sense of humor about it.
And besides, you know those suburban groups,
Connecticut, Darien, up there.
It would just start a whole mess
for Jane and Harry for nothing.
And if it were a mess for something?
But, Phil, you're not Jewish.
It would just ruin the party for Jane if she had problems with it.
Why can't I make you see that? I know I promised.
No exceptions.
And you were being reasonable to stretch it to Jane.
But it just seems so silly to start a thing for her up there when it's not true.
Why not tell Jane just to call off the party?
Well, it would seem so queer.
Her only sister getting married,
and if you were, I'd manage.
Thanks.
Now, Phil, I'm not asking you to make loopholes where it counts,
at the office, meeting people, like at Anne's tonight,
but to go up to Connecticut to a party...
And if we were to use my house next summer...
And besides, Jane and Harry...
I thought you said they were so grand.
They are, but they can't help it
if some of their friends are...
And besides, it would just make...
A thing, a mess, an inconvenience.
Well, it would.
For Jane and Harry, or for you, too?
I'd be so tensed up all the time,
I wouldn't have any fun either.
Oh, Phil, if everything's going to be so tensed up and solemn, I...
I think I'd better go now.
MRS. GREEN: Wake him up no matter what he says. Tell him to hurry.
Don't worry. I'll get him.
Pop.
Pop, get up. It's for you.
Grandma said to wake you.
Uh-huh.
Hello. It's for you.
What for? Telephone.
Okay.
Get up!
It's late, isn't it?
Mmm-hmm.
Here's your bathrobe.
I don't want it.
I said put it on.
Hey, Pop, here are your slippers.
Finally roused him.
Hello.
Dave...
Dave! Where are you? When did you get in? It's Dave!
Hey, this is wonderful. Where are you?
(LAUGHING)
La Guardia. Just now.
I had a break and got assigned to a plane with my C.O.
And I haven't had breakfast. Get it?
Well, grab yourself a cab and get right over here, will you?
Okay. So long. Hey, Ma.
Can you summon up some of your famous hotcakes?
We used to eat a stack apiece in the old days.
I guess the old magic still works.
Can I have some, too, Grandma?
How many breakfasts can you eat in one day?
Okay. I never have any fun.
You're going to be late for school if you don't hurry.
I know what time school starts.
And besides, I don't like fruit.
You like bananas, don't you?
Well, bananas are different.
Say, Pop! Huh?
Are we Jewish?
Jimmy Kelly said we were. Our janitor told his janitor.
Well, what did you say to Jimmy Kelly?
I told him I'd ask you.
You remember that movie that Kathy and I took you to?
Sure.
And how you asked if things like that really happened?
Kathy said they were pretending.
Yeah, well, I'm pretending that I'm Jewish
for the stuff that I'm writing now.
Oh, you mean like a movie or a game?
Yeah, something like that.
Look, Tom, I'd like it if you'd promise not to tell anybody it's a game.
Would you promise that?
Okay. Sure. All right.
What'll you tell Jimmy, Tom?
Well, I'll say I haven't any information.
Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Maybe that's not such a good idea
to say you haven't any information.
Maybe you better say that you'd asked me,
and I said I was partly Jewish, okay?
Okay. Okay.
But not tell him it's the movie part?
Have some more, Dave?
Doctor, Doctor, please, you're hitting a nerve.
Good. Then I can go do my marketing.
And I'll thank you two hulks to at least pile
the dishes in the sink while I'm gone.
Dave, it's wonderful.
Do you really think you'll bring Carol
and the kids east and live in New York?
We can all be together. That's the plan.
You know, I can be eastern representative of the firm. Big job.
Best break I ever had.
It all depends, of course, if I can find a place to live.
I'm going to spend my terminal leave
just to look and look and look,
and try to find a place big enough for Carol and the kids.
We'll find you something if we have to dynamite.
Meantime, you'll stay here.
Sure, Tommy can sleep on the sofa in the living room.
Now, wait a minute... No arguments, please.
You're talking to a civilian, Captain.
You win. You know, my C.O. Had to move in
with an uncle he hasn't seen since the First World War.
I'll help with the cooking.
Not while I'm conscious, you won't. Goodbye, boys.
Don't settle all the problems today. Save some for tomorrow.
Boy, I'm loaded.
You know, I used to dream about doing this, Phil.
What about this series you're doing?
I've talked about myself enough.
Come on. Give.
We'll get to it later.
What's eating you, Phil?
Who, me?
You expecting a call?
You keep looking out toward the phone every few minutes.
It's that obvious?
I... I had a scrap with my girl.
I guess I wanted her to be the one to phone.
That's another department.
I'm doing a series on anti-Semitism with a special angle.
That's interesting.
Interesting? Don't you want a good, stiff series
in a big national magazine?
Me? Sure.
You sound bored.
I'm anything but.
It's just that... Well, I'm on the sidelines of anti-Semitism.
It's your fight, brother.
Okay, I get it.
Listen, I don't care about the Jews as Jews.
It's the whole thing, not the poor, poor Jews.
Well, you know what I mean.
Don't force me to make with the big words.
Anyway, what's this special angle you've got?
Well, I've been doing it for a while.
I'm saying I'm Jewish, and it works.
Why, you fool.
You crazy fool.
And it's working?
It works. It works too well.
I've been having my nose rubbed in it and I don't like the smell.
Yeah. I can guess.
You're not insulated yet, Phil.
It's new every time, so the impact
must be quite a business on you.
You mean you get indifferent to it in time?
No, but you're concentrating a lifetime thing into a few weeks.
You're making the thing happen every day. Going out to meet it.
The facts are no different, Phil.
It just telescopes it, makes it hurt more.
(PHONE RINGING)
Hello?
No. Sorry.
Wrong number.
You want to talk about it?
No. It's just one of those things.
I'm probably wiser staying on my own.
After seven years alone, you lose the instinct for marriage.
Baloney.
You and Carol ever get off on tangents much?
Who doesn't?
Go on and call her, you big dope.
So, you're right, and she's wrong. So what?
So she has to telephone you first?
Who makes such rules, the Supreme Court?
Go on and call her and stop licking your wounds.
Listen.
Meet me at the office between 5:30 and 6:00.
I'll phone her. I'll get Anne Dettrey.
She's a girl who works at the office.
We'll have a big celebration.
Okay.
Hey, can you imagine what it's gonna be like me married again,
you and Carol here, all of us together? How about that, huh?
First, I've got to imagine a roof
over Carol's head. Go on. Get going.
I'm going to start looking right away.
How long do we have to wait?
I'll take you to your table as soon as it's ready, sir.
How about these other people?
They're getting in without waiting.
They had reservations, sir.
Who do you have to know to get a reservation?
Me, madam.
Oh, Captain, I'm expecting a call. I left word that I'm here.
Will you call me when it comes? Down at the end.
Your name, sir? Phil Green.
Yes, sir. Thanks.
DAVE: Have you ever been to Paris? ANNE: Yes, I have.
DAVE: Well, there's a lovely restaurant
on the Boulevard Montparnasse...
Yes. ...and we had delicious pressed duck.
Anyone we know?
Know what I'm having, gentlemen? What?
More fun than you can shake a stick at.
You want me to send the waiter out to get a stick just for a test?
No, thanks. None of those things work for me.
Once I tried to let a smile be my umbrella. I got awful wet.
Another time, I kept a stiff upper lip for about a week.
People just thought I was having my face lifted.
Tell me something, gentlemen,
tell me why it is that every man who seems attractive these days
is either married or barred on a technicality?
Your timing is rotten, but your instincts are just great.
Here's to my instinct.
Pardon me.
Oh, pardon me.
You know, I don't like officers.
Well, neither do I. I don't blame you.
What's your name, bud?
Dave. Dave Goldman. What's yours?
Never mind what my name is.
I told you I don't like officers.
I especially don't like them if they're yids.
Sorry, sir. He's terrible when he gets all tanked up. Sorry.
What's the matter with you, anyway? Come on, leave him alone.
Let's take a walk.
Come on. Sit down.
Take it easy, boy.
I'm terribly sorry this happened, sir. He won't bother you again.
I was just coming over to tell you there's a call for you.
Telephone, Mr. Green. A lady.
Oh, thanks.
Come on, let's eat, Anne.
You have a caller for Mr. Green? Yeah.
Hello, Kathy? Where are you?
I'm up at Jane's.
I came up to have it out with her.
I couldn't call you until I'd fixed everything up.
Darling, I was wonderful.
I said all the things you would have wanted me to say.
You would have been proud of me.
Why can I make myself clear to Jane and Harry
when it's you I want to be clear with?
Well, I told you, baby, sometimes I can be such a solemn fool.
I'm hard to get along with.
The party's tomorrow. Will you take the 3:00 train?
And I'll be waiting for you at the station.
Darling, I can breathe again now that I've talked with you.
I can scarcely wait until tomorrow.
Good night, baby.
Oh, Kathy, I love you, darling.
And I love you more than ever.
Goodbye.
Welcome to Darien. How are you?
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
Oh, hurry, Harris. Come on, they're parched.
Your mother must be so proud of you, Mr. Green.
Well, yes, I hope so.
You enjoying yourself, Phil?
Having a fine time. Jane...
Does your mother just adore everything you write?
Well, not everything. No, not exactly.
Oh, she must.
Some people have all the luck.
Yes, he's kind of nice.
Nice? If I thought there were any more around like that,
I'd go up into the hills myself
and catch him with my bare hands.
Oh, you would? Yes, I would.
My dear, he's divine. How long was he around loose?
About three days.
Mind if I steal Kathy away?
Jane, you look beautiful.
So do you. It's a wonderful party, isn't it, dear?
It's going beautifully, my dear. I haven't seen the Bascoms.
Oh, didn't I tell you, Joe called and said
he had that dreadful arthritis
he's always getting, and they said they were so sorry.
And where are the Howards and the Berlicks?
Or are they coming later for dinner?
Um, no. They all decided to go to Hot Springs at the last moment.
I thought I mentioned it.
Jane, dear, I'm in this just as deeply as Phil.
I feel just as strongly about it as he does.
But, darling, what do you mean?
You know what I mean.
Just a little careful screening? Just the safe ones?
Oh, darling, you're mad. You're getting
a little hipped on this series, too.
Mr. Green, tell me, do you get your ideas first and then write
or do you write first and then get your ideas?
Well, I... I'm afraid I don't think I quite understand what you mean.
Excuse me. Excuse me.
Darling, I'm afraid I'm going to have
to spirit you away for a minute. Oh?
Would you excuse us? Why, certainly, my dear.
You make such a charming couple.
And we all wish you great happiness.
Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back.
Oh, no, no, no!
Kathy? KATHY: Jane?
Kathy, wait a minute. Where are you going?
Phil and I are going to disappear for a minute.
I want to show him the house before it gets dark.
And we both need a breather.
Of course. Give us all a chance to talk about Phil without whispering.
But he's won everybody. Has it been awful, Phil?
No, I'm coming back for more.
Good boy. Harry says this sort of thing
is a kind of mental bankruptcy,
but we women love it, don't we, Kathy?
We certainly do. Come on, darling.
See you later. Goodbye.
I feel pretty much of a fool over the fuss I kicked up beforehand.
Can't imagine why Jane even bothered
to ask if I'd lay off for the party.
They all asked about the series, thought it was fine.
Not one lifted eyebrow in the bunch.
Hey, Miss Lacy, you're not even listening.
That's right. I was thinking about you, how wonderful you are.
Darling, there it is.
Aren't you supposed to carry me across the threshold or something?
(CHUCKLING) That's only if you refuse to marry me,
in which case I take you and throw you in.
Well, it's lovely.
It has a kind of quiet all its own.
Did you do it all yourself?
Every bit of it.
We can redo the nursery.
That was when Bill and I hoped we'd have a child.
Could be Tom's room.
Will he like the country, Phil?
He'll be crazy about it.
You and Bill live here long?
Bill and I have never lived here.
Never? Why not?
Well, it's hard to explain.
I love this house deeply,
and I started to build it
when things first began to go wrong between Bill and me.
And somehow it became a symbol to me of many things.
Sometimes when you're troubled and hurt,
you pour yourself into things that can't hurt back.
Can you understand that?
Sure.
I've done it myself with work.
Well, I poured all my hopes into this place,
and when it was finished,
I somehow knew that Bill and I were finished.
I knew I couldn't live here with someone I didn't really love.
It was always more than just a house to me, a place I owned.
It meant everything I hoped for,
marriage, children, good life.
I knew I couldn't live here alone. I knew that for sure.
And you've never lived here at all?
No, never. No one has.
I stay up at Jane's, and I come down here and walk through the house,
poke at the curtains a bit, sit out here.
And for a long while, I hated it, really hated it.
But I could never let it go,
and now I know why.
I was right not to settle for second best.
I was right to keep hoping, because it's all come true.
Darling, you and I are going to be so happy here.
This house and I, we were waiting for you.
I was always waiting for you, I think.
KATHY: Coffee, coffee, coffee.
Anne, will you bring the cream and the mints?
ANNE: Mints? Where? Right there.
How do you want your coffee, Dave?
Black? Fine.
Why don't you play that piece that you know, dear, and make it a perfect evening?
You know, she plays beautifully.
Darling, you keep on thinking I play beautifully.
Well, you do.
Anne, would you put the radio on? Sure. Okay.
You know something, Anne, these two act like an old married couple,
and two days before the wedding. It's kind of indecent.
And depressing.
At least give a little nervous flutter once in a while, Kathy,
or the bellboys won't make jokes to each other
as they carry up your bags.
Well, is the honeymoon place a secret?
Mmm. Big dark secret. We're going to the White...
(EXCLAIMS) Don't tell him where. He's nosy.
Liable to turn up at odd hours pretending he's the house detective.
Oh, I'd love that.
I've always wanted to tell a house detective what for, haven't you?
We're going to Flume Inn. Do you know it?
What? Flume Inn on your honeymoon?
Oh, no, you wouldn't. You're kidding.
No, we're not.
Well, what's the matter with Flume Inn?
Well, it's restricted, that's all.
Restricted?
Darling, I'm sorry. I didn't realize when I sent the wire.
Oh, that's all right, baby. It's not your fault.
So that's how it is. Restricted.
Are you sure, Anne? Have you been there recently?
No, and I'm sure.
But they confirmed the reservation.
I'm not going to let them off the hook.
Darling, we can open the cottage. We won't have to tell Jane...
Oh, sure, sure. You can always go somewhere.
(PHONE RINGING)
Those nasty little snobs aren't worth fretting over.
There must be something to do besides accepting this.
You can't pin them down, Phil.
They never say it straight out or put it in writing.
They'll worm out of it one way or another. They usually do.
Phil. It's Tom. He wants you. He sounds frightened.
Hello, Tom. What's up?
What?
Tom, listen, there's a bottle of medicine in the cabinet.
Get it and give some to Grandma right away.
Yeah, I'll be there in five minutes.
What's happened? Sounds like a stroke.
DAVE: Well, I'll get a cab. Anne, find Dr. Abrahams' name
in this directory, and ask him to get down there right away.
J. E. Abrahams.
I'm going with you.
(CLICKING TONGUE)
Hmm?
Oh!
She is magnificent. Never complains.
Just keeps worrying about my school if I'm down here all day.
Maybe we ought to hire a part-time maid, Kathy...
Ever try drying dishes and keeping your mouth shut?
It goes much faster.
Cheer up, darling. Postponing a wedding
isn't the worst thing in the world.
Well, I suppose it isn't.
Just a week, two at the most, Abrahams said.
Well, might as well break the news, folks.
I'm afraid I won't be here for it.
What? Why, Dave, you got to be.
I don't think Phil could get married
without you, and I couldn't either.
Why? What happened? Nothing. That's just it.
I can't abandon my family forever
or find a house or an apartment.
If it was just me alone, I'd sleep in the subway,
but I've got Carol and the kids to think about. I've got to go back.
There's no two ways about it. I'm licked.
Yeah, but that means the job, your whole future.
I'll live. I did before.
Why, Dave, that's terrible.
I spoke to Carol on the phone last night.
I told her I'd give it one more day,
but I know there isn't a chance.
She's lonely, too. I've got to go back, big job or not.
What is it, Phil?
Oh, nothing.
Come on, Phil, let's you and I get out of the house for a while.
Kathy won't mind, and you know Ma's out of danger now.
You need some air.
I'm going.
I'm going up to Flume Inn. What?
I'm going to use those plane tickets we had for this afternoon.
I'll be back later. Phil, what for?
You're wasting your time. Sure.
But there must be a time once when you fight back, Dave.
I want to make them look me in the eye and do it.
I want the satisfaction.
I can't explain it, but I want to do it for myself.
Phil, they're nothing more than...
Let him do it, Kathy.
You have to face them once. I did it once at Monterey.
They are more than nasty little snobs, Kathy.
You call them that, and you can dismiss them. It's too easy.
They're persistent little traitors
to everything that this country stands for
and stands on. You have to fight them.
Not just for the "poor, poor Jews," as Dave says,
but for everything this country stands for.
Anyway, I'm going.
See you later.
CLERK: I think you'll find this room more comfortable, Mrs. Brewster.
Thank you. I have a reservation,
a double room and bath, today through Thursday.
In what name, please?
Green. Philip Green.
Yes, Mr. Green.
My wife will be here tomorrow.
Oh, yes.
One more thing. Yes?
Is your hotel restricted?
Well, I'd hardly say it was restricted.
Then it's not restricted?
Would you excuse me a moment, please?
(INAUDIBLE)
How do you do, Mr. Green? How do you do?
In answer to your question, may I inquire, are you...
That is, do you follow the Hebrew religion yourself,
or is it that you just want to make sure?
I've asked a simple question.
I'd like to have a simple answer.
Well, you see, we do have a very high-class clientele,
and, well, naturally.
Then you do restrict your guests to Gentiles?
Well, I wouldn't say that, Mr. Green.
But in any event, there seems to be some mistake,
because we don't have a free room in the entire hotel.
But if you'd like, perhaps I can fix you up at the Brewster Hotel,
down near the station.
I'm not staying at the Brewster.
Look, I'm Jewish, and you don't take Jews.
That's it, isn't it?
I never said that.
If you don't accept Jews, say so.
Don't raise your voice to me, Mr. Green.
You speak a little more quietly, please.
Do you or don't you?
Mr. Green, I'm a very busy man.
Now, if you want me to phone for a cab,
or a room at the Brewster, I'll do so, otherwise...
Otherwise what?
(BELL DINGS)
(DOOR OPENS)
Tommy?
Oh, Phil. Hello.
It was bad. I can tell by your face.
Dave was right. It was a waste of time.
How's Ma?
She's fine. She's asleep.
Tom's out playing.
Where's Dave? He's gone out with Anne.
He packed all afternoon.
They decided to have a last night on the town.
They'll wind up here later.
How about some coffee?
No, thanks.
Tired, darling?
No.
I'm just thinking about Dave.
I suppose you're thinking about the cottage, Phil.
Yes, I did think about that.
So have I. You must know that.
And it wouldn't work, Phil.
It would just be too uncomfortable for Dave,
knowing he'd moved into one of those neighborhoods.
Darling, don't you see that? It's detestable, but that's the way it is.
It's even worse in New Canaan.
There, nobody can sell or rent to a Jew.
And even in Darien, where Jane's house is and my house is,
there's sort of a gentleman's agreement when you buy...
Gentleman's? Kathy, you can't...
You're not going to fight it, Kathy.
You're just going to give in, play along,
just let their idiotic rules stand.
I don't play along, but what can one person do?
You can tell them to go jump in the lake. What can they do?
Plenty. Ostracize him.
Some of the markets not deliver food, not even wait on him.
Phil, the series will be over by the time we get there.
Phil, face facts.
You expect us to live in that cottage once I know all this?
You can't make over the whole world. You know I'm on Dave's side.
Well, I'm not on Dave's side or any side, except against their side.
Kathy, do you or don't you believe in this?
Because if you do, how can you talk about...
Tom, will you please? Kathy and I are talking.
But, Pop, I...
Tom, what is it? What's the matter?
Did you have a fight? Argument with one of the guys?
(CRYING) They called me a dirty Jew and a stinking kike,
and they all ran off.
Oh, darling, it's not true. It's not true.
You're no more Jewish than I am. It's just a horrible mistake.
Kathy!
Come with me, Tom. We'll talk about it in here.
Take it... Take it easy, sport.
Want some water?
No, thanks.
Where did it happen?
Jimmy in it? Somebody sock somebody?
No. They just yelled. It was at our corner.
One was a kid from school.
They were playing hop, and I asked could I play, too.
The school one said no dirty little Jew could play with them.
And they all yelled those other things.
I started to speak, and they all yelled,
"Your father has a long, curly beard," and turned and ran.
Why did they, Pop? Why?
Come on, drink some of this.
Did you want to tell them that you weren't really Jewish?
No. That's good.
See, there's a lot kids just like you, Tommy, who are Jewish,
and if you said it, it'd be sort of admitting
that there was something bad in being Jewish
and something swell in not.
They wouldn't fight. They just ran.
Yeah, I know.
There's a lot of grownups just like that, too, Tom.
Only they do it with wisecracks instead of yelling.
Okay? Sure.
Attaboy.
You want to go and read or something while I talk to Kathy?
Okay.
Oh...
Let's keep this to ourselves till Grandma's well, huh?
Okay.
Phil, I've got something to tell you.
I'm pretty tired of feeling wrong.
Everything I do or say is wrong about anything Jewish.
All I did just now was to face facts about Dave and Darien,
and to tell Tom just what you told him the other...
Not just what. You've only assured him
that he's the most wonderful of all creatures,
a white, Christian American.
You instantly gave him that lovely taste of superiority,
the poison that millions of parents
drop into the minds of millions of children.
You really do think I'm an anti-Semite.
No, I don't, Kathy. You do.
You've thought it secretly for a long time. No.
It's just that I've come to see
that lots of nice people who aren't,
people who despise it and detest it and deplore it
and protest their own innocence,
help it along and then wonder why it grows.
People who'd never beat up a Jew.
Or yell "kike" at a child.
People who think that anti-Semitism is something away off
in some dark, crackpot place with low-class morons.
That's the biggest discovery I've made
about this whole business, Kathy.
The good people, the nice people.
You mean you're not going to Darien this summer
even though you're finished by now?
Let's save that for another time.
I hate it, I hate it, I hate everything about this horrible thing!
They always make trouble for everybody! Even their friends.
They force people to take sides against them.
Quit it! Quit that!
They didn't suggest this series,
they didn't give me the angle!
They haven't got a single thing to do
with what's happened between you and me.
Don't shout at me.
I know what you're thinking about marrying me.
I saw it on your face when I said that to Tom.
And don't treat me to any more lessons of tolerance.
I'm sick of it!
I'm not going to marry into hothead shoutings and nerves,
and you might as well know it now.
Kathy.
I'm sorry I shouted. I hate it when I do it.
It's not just the shouting, Phil. It's everything.
You've changed since that first night I met you at Uncle John's.
It's no use, Phil.
Now I know why I drew back when you told me the angle.
You're doing an impossible thing.
You are what you are for the one life you have.
You can't help it if you were born Christian instead of Jewish.
It doesn't mean you're glad you were.
But I am glad. There. I've said it.
It'd be terrible. I'm glad I'm not.
I could never make you understand that.
You could never understand that it's a fact,
like being glad you're good-looking
instead of ugly, rich instead of poor,
young instead of old, healthy instead of sick.
You could never understand that.
It's just a practical fact,
not a judgment that I'm superior.
But I could never make you see that.
You'd twist it into something horrible.
A conniving, an aiding and abetting
a thing I loathe as much as you do.
It's better to finish it now, get it over with right now.
I...
I hate you for doing this.
We could've been so happy.
We had so much to enjoy and so much to share.
And I hate you for taking it away from both of us.
I hate you for that.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
DAVE: What do you know? He's asleep. This early.
On your last night? Nonsense. Come on, let's wake him up.
Let the poor guy alone.
It's against my deepest principles.
Hey, Phil, come on, wake up. It's us.
Let the poor lug alone.
I told you, I never let any man alone.
Hey, I thought we were expected, sleepyhead.
Where's Kathy?
She left early.
My, you look nice in pajamas.
Get on a dressing gown. I'll close my eyes if you're modest.
You go get the ice cubes so he can get dressed.
He wouldn't let any dame see his ratty bathrobe. And he's right.
Go on. Don't trifle with your luck.
I don't think any man should ever wear coats and ties.
They look just wonderful in shirts and pants and in pajamas!
What's wrong, Phil?
Skip it.
Flume Inn?
Tommy got called "dirty Jew" and "kike"
by some kids down the street.
Came home pretty badly shaken up.
Now you know it all.
That's the place they really get at you, your kids.
Now you even know that.
Well, you can quit being Jewish now. There's nothing else.
My own kids got it without the names, Phil.
Just setting their hearts
on a summer camp their bunch were going to
and being kept out.
It wrecked them for a while.
The only other thing that makes you want to murder is...
There was a boy in our outfit, Abe Schlussman.
Good soldier. Good engineer.
One night, we got bombed, and he caught it.
I was ten yards off.
Somebody said, "Give me a hand with this sheeny."
Those were the last words he ever heard.
Good morning.
Oh, good morning.
Miss Wales, here it is, the first three installments, edited and ready to go.
Send every ten pages downstairs.
Have it set up in galley immediately.
Tell them I'm in a hurry, a big hurry.
How long is that much gonna take you?
Well, it's no more than 10,000 words.
I guess I can have it finished by tonight.
I am pretty fast.
"I Was Jewish For Eight Weeks."
Why, Mr. Green, you're a Christian.
But I never...
Well...
But I've been around you more than anybody else. And I never once...
What's so upsetting about that, Miss Wales?
You mean there is some difference between Jews and Christians?
Look at me. Look at me hard. I'm the same man I was yesterday.
That's true, isn't it?
Why should you be so astonished, Miss Wales?
You still can't believe that anybody would give up
the glory of being a Christian for even eight weeks, can you?
That's what's eating you, isn't it?
And if I tell you that that's anti-Semitism,
your feeling that being Christian is better than being Jewish,
you're gonna tell me that I'm heckling you again,
or that I'm twisting your words around,
or that it's just facing facts,
as someone else said to me yesterday.
Face me now, Miss Wales. Come on, look at me.
Same face, same eyes, same nose, same suit, same everything.
Here. Take my hand. Feel it!
Same flesh as yours, isn't it?
No different today than it was yesterday, Miss Wales.
The only thing that's different is the word Christian.
Of course I'll see him. Send him right in.
Good morning.
Thanks for seeing me, John. I'm sorry to break in on you like this.
I turned the first half over to Miss Wales for typing.
I'll finish the rest of it by the end of the week.
Good. I want to clear out.
Completely?
Yeah, completely.
Going back to California?
As soon as we get packed.
Will the office help me get train reservations?
Yes. What about future assignments?
I'll let you know.
(INTERCOM BUZZING)
I don't want to be disturbed for anything.
Sorry about you two. Kathy told my wife this morning.
She seemed pretty upset.
I'd have liked it to go on, Phil.
It seemed so right, you two.
Anything I can do? Can I be of any help?
Talk is useless, I know, but maybe someone who knew the both...
Thanks, John. Thanks a lot.
I'd better be getting back. I'm clearing out of the office tonight.
I'll finish the last three installments
at home and I'll bring them in.
We'll have one more session.
Hey, I'm looking for you.
It's the gol-darnedest idea for a series this magazine has ever run.
No kidding, Green. I couldn't put these 10 pages down.
The whole place is buzzing with it. Now, about artwork.
Photographic treatment's my hunch. What do you think?
Okay. No pictures of my kid or me or my mother, understand?
Now, stop pushing me around. That's the trouble with you Christians,
you know, too aggressive, loud, pushing.
Everybody's got a copy but me.
When's my turn to see it, Phil?
The place is in a frenzy over the wonderful plot.
Though, what plot there can be to a series on anti-Semitism escapes me.
This is something. It's hot, all right.
You fooled me, Phil, completely.
Though I did want to say a couple of times,
how have you lived this long spending this much juice on it all the time?
I get it now. Everything.
This is dynamite. Wait till you read the rest of it.
Boy, if everybody would act it out just one day of the year,
it'd be curtains on the thing overnight.
Well, I gotta go. Minify ordered everything stopped for this.
See you later.
It's a wonderful notion, Phil. Congratulations.
Hey, you look kind of beat. I worry about you.
I'm fine.
Uh-huh.
It's over with you and Kathy, isn't it?
Phil, I guessed it last night, but I wasn't sure.
It is over, isn't it?
Everything's so rotten, Phil. With me, too.
Look, if you're free tonight, come on down
to my place and listen to my troubles.
How about it?
Okay. Thanks.
We'll have dinner.
Feeling better? Yeah.
Good.
You almost smiled a minute ago.
You take your coffee black, don't you? And one lump.
I remember from the party.
You do?
You're quite a girl, Anne. I don't think I told you that before.
Me? Sure. Everybody loves Anne.
You said you weren't very happy. Do you want to talk about it?
Nothing bores any man so much as an unhappy female.
Now, look, Anne, we're good friends.
Somehow, even in this short a time,
we've been through quite a bit together.
It's been good for me to be able to be with you tonight.
I wish you would talk to me.
All right, I'll talk.
We've been skirting it all evening.
Let's bring it out and clear the air.
Do you mind if I say something about you and Kathy?
Let's don't.
All right, Phil. Mind your manners. Be a little gentleman.
Don't let the flag touch the ground.
This sort of honorableness gets me sick, Phil.
It's just that I think you're pretty straight, and she's...
Anne, drop it.
Okay.
I'm a cat and this is dirty pool.
But I'm intolerant of hypocrites.
That's what I said, Phil. Hypocrites.
She'd rather let Dave lose that job than risk a fuss up there.
That's it, isn't it? She's afraid.
The Kathys everywhere are afraid of getting the gate
from their little groups of nice people.
They make little clucking sounds of disapproval,
but they want you and Uncle John to stand up and yell
and take sides and fight. But do they fight?
Oh, no. Kathy and Harry and Jane and all of them,
they scold Bilbo twice a year
and think they've fought the good fight for democracy in this country.
(SIGHS)
They haven't got the guts to take the step from talking to action.
One little action on one little front.
Sure, I know it's not the whole answer,
but it's got to start somewhere.
And it's got to be with action,
not pamphlets, not even with your series.
It's got to be with people, nice people, rich people, poor people,
big and little people.
And it's got to be quick.
But not Kathy. She can't. She never will.
She doesn't rate you, Phil.
Phil, do you hate me for saying this?
No.
I'd like to say one thing more
if there's time.
If two people are right for each other,
they usually discover it in time.
If I had a kid I loved, I'd want him to be brought up
with people who felt the way I did about the basic things.
You proposing, Anne?
Maybe.
Maybe I am.
Hello.
Oh, Dave. Hello.
Thank you for coming.
It was good of you.
You know about Phil and me?
Yes.
I want to ask you something,
and I want you to answer me honestly.
Go ahead.
Do you think I'm anti-Semitic?
No, Kathy, I don't.
Phil does. Does he?
You know I'm not anti-Semitic.
You're a Jew, and you know it.
Why can I make it clear to everybody but Phil?
Why, I was the one who suggested the series.
Did you know that?
No, I didn't.
I hate this thing just as much as he does. Why can't he see it? Why?
Why, tonight at dinner, a man told a vicious little story,
and I was ill, I was sick with rage and shame.
But Phil actually makes...
What kind of story, Kathy?
Oh, it was just a story. It had nothing...
Well, suppose you tell me anyway.
Well, it was just a vulgar little joke that a man told at dinner.
It has nothing to do with this.
Well, take it easy, Kathy. Maybe it has. What kind of a joke?
I can take naughty words, you know.
But why?
Oh, all right. It was a man named Lockhardt,
and he tried to get laughs with words like "kike" and "coon,"
and I despised him, and everybody else...
What did you do, Kathy, when he told the joke?
What do you mean?
I mean, what did you say when he finished?
I wanted to yell at him. I wanted to get up and leave.
I wanted to say to everyone at that table,
"Why do we sit here and take it when he's attacking everything that we believe in?
"Why don't we call him on it?"
And what did you do?
I just sat there. I felt ashamed.
We all just sat there.
Yeah.
And then you left and got me on the phone.
Later, after dinner was over, I said I was ill, and I am. I'm sick through.
I wonder if you'd feel so sick now, Kathy, if you had nailed him.
There's a funny kind of elation about socking back.
I learned that a long time ago.
Phil's learned it.
And I haven't?
Lots of things are pretty rough, Kathy.
This is just a different kind of a war.
And anybody who crawls away is a quitter just as much as...
I didn't say that.
You did.
Somebody told a story.
Sure, a man at a dinner table told a story,
and the nice people didn't laugh.
They even despised him for it, sure. But they let it pass.
And behind that joke, there's Flume Inn
and Darien and Tommy and those kids...
And if you don't stop with that joke, where do you stop?
Is that what you mean?
That's right.
Where do you call the halt?
I've been getting mad at Phil because he expected me to fight this,
instead of getting mad at the people who help it along,
like Lockhardt.
Not just old Lockhardt. At least he's out in the open.
What about the rest of the dinner guests?
They're supposed to be on your side.
And they didn't have to...
No, they didn't, and I didn't.
That's the trouble. We never do.
It all links up, Dave.
Phil will fight. He can fight.
He always will fight.
And if I just sit by
and feel sick, then I'm not a fit wife for him.
It was always on those deeper issues that we had our quarrels.
Always.
And I never knew it until now.
Sure.
A man wants
his wife to be more than just a companion, Kathy,
more than his beloved girl,
more than even the mother of his children.
He wants a sidekick, a buddy to go through the rough spots with.
And, well, she has to feel that the same things are the rough spots,
or they're always out of line with each other.
You're not cast in bronze, sweetie.
You're nice and soft and pliable,
and you can do anything you have to do, or want to do with yourself.
Can I?
But it's got to be more than talk.
(DOOR SHUTS)
Now, don't scold, Phil.
I couldn't sleep, so I sneaked into your room
and stole the first two installments.
Come here.
Thanks, Ma.
I think maybe I'd rather have that than almost anything.
I wish your father could have read this, Phil.
He'd have liked it.
He'd have liked this.
"Driving away from the inn, I knew all about every man or woman
"who'd been told the job was filled when it wasn't.
"Every youngster who'd ever been turned down
"by a college or a summer camp.
"I knew the rage that pitches through you
"when you see your own child shaken and dazed.
"From that moment, I saw an unending attack by adults
"on kids of seven and eight and 10 and 12.
"On adolescent boys and girls trying to get a job
"or an education or into medical school.
"And I knew that they had somehow known it, too.
"They, those patient, stubborn men
"who argued and wrote and fought
"and came up with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
"They knew the tree is known by its fruit
"and that injustice corrupts a tree,
"that its fruit withers and shrivels
"and falls at last to that dark ground of history
"where other great hopes have rotted and died,
"where equality and freedom remain still the only choice
"for wholeness and soundness in a man or in a nation."
Your father would have liked to have you say that, Phil.
Not enough of us realize it, Ma.
The time's getting short.
Not enough people, and the time's running out.
You mean Kathy?
Well, not just Kathy.
All the Kathys
everywhere.
You know something, Phil?
I suddenly want to live to be very old.
Very.
I want to be around to see what happens.
The world is stirring in very strange ways.
Maybe this is the century for it.
Maybe that's why it's so troubled.
Other centuries had their driving forces.
What will ours have been when men look far back to it one day?
Maybe it won't be the American century after all,
or the Russian century, or the atomic century.
Wouldn't it be wonderful, Phil,
if it turned out to be everybody's century,
when people all over the world, free people,
found a way to live together?
I'd like to be around to see some of that, even the beginning.
I may stick around for quite a while.
(DOOR CLOSES)
Hi, Dave.
Hello? Mr. Case. Dave Goldman calling.
I'm sorry to call you at this late hour, but I can take that job.
I'm bringing my family from California immediately.
I've got a house.
Thanks. So am I.
She's going to live up there all summer at her sister's,
and if anybody dishes anything out,
she'll be right there to dish it back.
Yes, sir.
I think I'll stick around for a long time.
(DOOR SHUTS)
Thanks, Dave.
ENGLISH - US - PSDH