- Jim. - Hi, Captain.
How long you been on the mainland?
Too long. Honolulu's gonna look good to me.
- Where you been? - Hollywood.
I sold them my book.
Oh. Did you write them a movie?
No, I didn't want to stay.
You're punchy.
Going home to the islands when you could have stayed in Hollywood
with all them actresses around?
I gave it some thought.
Play some casino?
I'm your pigeon.
How many passengers this trip?
There's just one besides you.
Hey.
Did you ever meet this Marlene Dietrich up close?
About from here to there.
- Is she sexy? - Very.
You know, I saw that picture of hers three times,
where she sang that song and had those long black stockings
and that black garter belt.
That gal hasn't got a thing out of place.
Say, your other passenger isn't so bad.
Oh.
Company's got strict rules.
Business and pleasure don't mix.
Building tens.
Why'd the police bring her aboard?
Taking this with the big casino.
Cops just wanted to make sure she got out of town.
Why?
What are you gonna do, put her in a book or something?
Maybe.
Stay away from that one, son. It will cost you.
She takes guys like you to the cleaners.
Might be worthwhile.
Too expensive.
You know, when a lady's down to her last five bucks,
a landlubber like you is made to order for her.
And this lady knows her business.
Except she ain't no lady.
You mind if I have some coffee?
Help yourself.
Miss Stover, Mr. Blair.
- Hello. - How do you do?
Captain, you ever been in Leesburg, Mississippi?
No.
Must've been your brother then.
You mean there's somebody there looks like me?
Your twin.
Well, what's he do, run the town?
Nope, he stands in front of the courthouse
and scratches himself and gawks at the girls,
makes dirty jokes, and think he's quite a guy.
You know, Captain, when a sailor runs off at the mouth,
he ought to have a napkin handy to wipe his chin.
Yeah?
Jim Blair.
I'd like to apologize for that gabbing in the wardroom.
Go drown yourself, will you?
I'd like to try that apology again, Miss Stover.
It's not important. I've heard gutter talk before.
Well, I'm really sorry it happened.
Well, maybe you'd like to do me a favor.
Drowning myself is out.
No, you can go living,
but stop pounding that typewriter all night
so I can get some sleep.
Chalk up one more apology.
The rest of the trip home, I'll do my writing in the daytime.
What kind of things do you write?
Fiction, magazines mostly.
Do you ever buy any ideas,
like, say, part of somebody's life story?
Yours?
Maybe.
Your story's been done.
Who, me? Mamie Stover? Don't be silly.
I've never talked to a writer in my life.
Only the names and geography change,
the people don't.
Let's see, you're, uh, twenty...
Six.
Any family?
My father, still lives in Leesburg.
Well, that makes it simple.
Back in 1930, in 1933,
Mamie Stover was going to graduate from Leesburg High,
the best-looking girl in her class, but not the happiest.
Cinderella, but no gown, no coach.
She never had any pretty clothes because her father, Tom Stover
drank up the few bucks he made.
Pop's name was Gus, and he didn't drink.
He didn't do much of anything.
But Gus Stover's daughter had one thing, her looks.
The men said she was "hot as a smokestack."
And all this attention worried Mother Stover.
Mom died a week before graduation.
Who sponsored the beauty contest, Mamie, the Legion or the Elks?
You make it sound like it happens every day.
Well, it does.
I worked newspapers that sponsored beauty contests.
I know all about these shapely Cinderellas and their yearning hearts,
and what happens to most of them.
The only thing I can't understand is why they don't go home.
And marry some have-not like my old man?
I went home once, about a year later.
I'd saved up a couple hundred dollars, made a big splash.
I wanted them all think I was rich and I'd made good.
I sure got a boot out of my old man.
He told them all down at the courthouse that I was gonna buy him
a big house and servants one of these days.
And now the door is closed?
I closed it.
There's only two kinds of people that go home
the failures that crawl in the back way
and the successful ones that ride down Main Street
in a big car while a band plays "Welcome Home."
I'll wait for that car.
"Leaning against the ship's railing,
she looked out toward the horizon
as if to penetrate what lay beyond.
'I like to stand here,' she told him.
'It does me good,
makes me realize I have to look ahead.
Only ahead, never back.'"
I thought you said my life's been written before.
Basically, it has, but you make it different.
You're an interesting character study, Mamie.
- Like a fish in a bowl? - Oh, of course not.
Look, if you object, I'll get rid of it.
No, don't tear me up!
No, don't.
Having a story written about you is almost as good as being a cover girl.
You'll pardon me while I read about myself.
Oh, ha!
What?
Are you able to sleep?
Never can the last night out.
Do you feel like answering 20 questions?
I'll try.
- Okay, I will meet you up on deck. - Right.
Is that your Honolulu moon?
Yep, do you like it?
I don't trust it.
I used to wait for the moon to come out when I was a kid,
so as I could wish.
- Never worked. - It will.
The island's a good place for wishing, for building a new life.
Yeah? Like how?
I'll stake you to room rent and help you get a job
in the sugar business or a pineapple cannery.
How much would I make?
Thirty dollars or so.
Be another have-not.
No, Jimmy.
I'm gonna get my chance at the big money.
Once, for a couple of days, it was so close I could almost taste it.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've got a job when we dock.
A girlfriend of mine has it practically set.
Doing what?
It's a place called the Bungalow. They got 20 or 30 girls.
Well, that's great.
Mamie Stover, the Anglo-Saxon bombshell among the hula-hulas.
It's okay with me, as long as the money rolls in
and as long as I get to go home someday
and look down on all those people that looked down on my folks and me.
- Is that too much to ask? - No, just tough to get.
Getting the honky-tonk off your back might be a big job
when it comes time to go home.
What am I supposed to do?
I told you, I'll do whatever I can to help.
Whatever you can?
Jimmy, will you take me with you to your house on the hill?
I could handle it, honest, if you'd just give me a little time.
You could dress me up and teach me how to behave.
Life's not that simple.
You can't be transported to a hilltop by magic
or on the back of somebody else.
In other words, the answer's no.
The answer is no.
That's what I thought.
- Is that a friend of yours? - Yes.
- She somebody special? - Annalee?
Yeah, kind of special.
Hilltop.
Yes.
- All set, Miss. - Thank you.
Look, Mamie, I know I don't owe you a thing,
but I'd feel better if you take this as a loan,
something for you to lean on until you get set.
I shouldn't take it, Jimmy, but I will.
Some people can afford to be respectable, but I can't.
Well, so long.
Thanks for the money and the boat ride.
Thanks for everything, Herbert.
- Thank you, Miss. - Good-bye.
Good-bye.
Jimmy!
I almost pulled your ship in with my hands.
- I'm so happy you're home. - Me, too.
Maybe I didn't realize it until now, but this is where I belong.
When you come out of the ether, Mr. Jim, please say hello to me.
Hello, Aki.
Hey, honey.
Me and my friend think you're cute.
Go mend your rifle, soldier.
- Is Miss Davis here? - Miss who?
Davis, Jackie Davis.
Jackie? Oh, yeah, sure.
She will be right down.
Where you from, Seattle?
No, why?
They all come from there. Best dancers.
Mame!
Jackie!
Hi!
What a relief to find you.
How are you, honey? How are you, Mame?
Nothing wrong that a healthy job won't cure.
Good.
Well, the face and figure's still the same.
You oughta be a cinch.
Come on in and let the boss just look you over.
Hey, don't you think I oughta freshen up a bit?
Huh-uh. Let's get to her before we open for business.
No sense in you losing a night.
Well, is there any kind of special story I give her?
Act like you're back in grammar school and she's the teacher.
Come in.
Mrs. Parchman, this is the friend I told you about, Mamie Stover.
Where are your manners, Jackie?
Sorry.
Miss Stover, this is our manager, Mr. Adkins.
- How do you do, Miss Stover? - How do you do?
Put your suitcase down.
Hold still, please. Get used to being inspected.
If you work for me, people will be paying good hard cash to look you over.
Harry?
I believe so.
Turn around.
Yeah. That'll do.
Physically, you appear satisfactory.
You will have to dress a little more...
Flamboyantly.
Yes, flamboyantly.
Have to to attract attention,
sell more dances,
more whiskey and champagne.
You ever been in trouble with the police?
No.
Harry?
I don't believe her.
Well?
Well, I mean, no convictions.
One more thing, the Bungalow is a respectable place.
We sell drinks and dances and social entertainment.
Is that understood?
Yes.
Well, Jackie, I guess your friend's hired.
Dress her up properly and have her in the chicken patch
15 minutes before we open.
- Yes, Mrs. Parchman. - There'll be two more new hostesses.
I want them to hear our rules at the same time.
Come on, honey.
Close the door.
Your attention, ladies.
If you please, Harry.
There are four don'ts.
Break any one of them and you'll be running into me.
Shiver, shiver, shiver.
If any of you objects to obeying Mrs. Parchman's rules,
we want to know it now.
What's he gonna do, slap my wrist or something?
Did you say something?
You, Miss Stover?
Who, me? No. No, sir.
If any of you are the kind that has to have a boyfriend on the outside
or if you're the kind that wants to chisel with some two-bit taxi driver
or you think that you're good enough to mix with the island's blue bloods,
then the sooner you get out of here, the better.
My rules are not unfair, just good business.
I can't operate profitably unless I get strict obedience.
Rule number one, you will live here on these premises.
It's the only way I can be certain you're staying out of trouble,
not giving my place a bad name.
No outside boyfriends.
Those kind of tie-ups bring nothing but trouble
and they take your mind away from your job.
Three, no swimming at the beach at Waikiki
or going into any of the hotels.
Once you begin hobnobbing
with those across-the-tracks people, the complaints will start.
This is a legal business, but I can't afford complaints.
Four, no bank accounts.
Bank accounts attract attention,
the attention of the income tax people.
Now, these are my rules.
Live up to them, work hard at your jobs, and you can earn big money.
Thirty percent on everything you sell.
Break any of these rules
and you can expect to explain to Mr. Adkins.
All right. Charlie, Henry, open up.
Well, get set, honey. They come swarming in here like locusts.
Remember, sell, sell, sell.
Whiskey and champagne.
Smile it up, you new ladies. Smile it up.
Remember, smiles means money.
Smiles means money.
- Hi. - Good morning, Miss Annalee.
- Aki. - Hi.
- I met the mailman. - Oh, thanks.
Coffee? Eggs? Bacon?
Well, just coffee.
My bulges won't allow two breakfasts.
That's the wrong point of view. You bulge nice.
Thank you.
Open your mail. I'm not company.
- Just a bunch a bills. - No, I peeked.
The second one feels crinkly inside.
It's from Mamie Stover, the girl on the boat.
Well, there's $100 I never expected to get back.
Attractive way to send an invitation.
You going?
Of course not.
Why not?
Now, stop trying to unload me.
That'll be the day.
Remember to watch your dough and don't let 'em clip you.
Quit it, I've been around.
When they start pressing for champagne,
tell 'em it makes you belch, then order beer.
Excuse me, buddy.
More tickets, Gladys. Gimme a whole strip.
- Come on, come on, hurry it up. - Take it easy, Tarzan.
You mean to say you used up all those tickets already?
Sure, sure. Tear it off. Give me another strip.
- Thanks. - You must be kidding.
Bet he ain't 100 pounds soaking wet.
Those little guys make the best dancers.
Uh... yeah. How many?
Three dollars' worth.
- Well, that won't last you long. - Long enough.
Where will I find Mamie Stover?
You won't, not with three bucks' worth of tickets.
Would ten be an improvement?
Twenty would be insurance.
Sold.
Ask the boss for Mamie.
Mrs. Parchman, the one on the stool, she keeps track of the girls.
Thanks.
I, uh... I beg your pardon.
What can we do for you?
Well, I'd like to see Mamie Stover.
We don't permit social calls.
Well, this isn't social.
My mistake.
Mamie's tied up at present,
a private party in one of the champagne rooms.
All right if I wait?
We have many other hostesses, you know.
I'd rather wait.
Mamie isn't beer or whiskey, champagne only.
I like champagne.
All right.
Take a seat in the cocktail lounge.
Scotch and soda.
Protect your tickets, partner. They steal you blind in these joints.
Thanks.
Mister, you gonna quit making with the hands?
Stop beefing. You got six bucks' worth of my tickets, haven't you?
Quit it, jerk.
You will have to behave, Mister.
Are you gonna make me, four-eyes?
If I have to.
Stand back, honey, while I eat him alive.
Go on, make it louder. Louder!
Don't go away. I'll get some more tickets!
Time for you.
Ten tickets.
Hello, honey. You waiting for Mamie?
- Jimmy. - Yep.
You sure surprised me.
When did you turn brick-top?
A couple of months ago.
It sells lots more tickets.
They've been calling me Flaming Mamie.
You don't like it, do you?
Sure. It's one of my favorite colors.
Say, what about this hundred?
Why did you return it?
Some guys you just don't clip, that's all.
Thanks. I like that.
I hear this lonely hearts music a dozen times a night.
We can do without that.
Sit down.
How have you been?
Fine.
You?
I'm doing pretty good.
Your time's up, Mister.
And so is my money.
Look, Mamie.
Suppose I got a ticket back to the mainland with this hundred.
No, thanks, Jimmy.
Well, you don't like working here, do you?
Liking your job isn't what counts, not with me.
You know that.
If you say so.
Drink?
Oh, that's just watered stuff.
They cut one bottle in half,
send up both, and charge you double.
Well, at least they keep the labels.
Look, Jimmy, I...
I get 30 percent back in commissions, so I'd like to pick up this tab.
Nothing doing.
I'm here 'cause I want to see you.
Why?
'Cause you need more material for your story or you feel sorry for me?
Neither one, Cinderella.
The story didn't gel, so I called it off.
And about feeling sorry for you, why?
Anyone as sure of herself as you are,
sure of what she wants and how to get it doesn't need sympathy.
Well, that doesn't mean you'd be willing
to see me once in a while, you know, outside this place?
Why not?
That's wonderful, Jimmy. Wonderful.
I haven't had anybody I could talk to or ask for advice or anything.
I'm a good listener but a lousy adviser.
Not in my book.
We're not supposed to have outside dates, but I think I've got a way to work it out.
I'll bet on it.
No bet, you'd win.
- How about tomorrow? - Fine.
Why don't I pick you up?
Honey, no hunk of man is worth the risk.
This isn't a risk, it's an investment.
I need somebody on the outside to help handle things for me.
Always an angle.
Well, why not? They pay off.
If Adkins gets wise, he'll beat those angles black and blue.
The way I feel these days,
I could take Adkins and his goon squad in the same ring.
Your date can't be that expensive.
Comic.
Now don't forget to alibi for me if anything comes up.
I can't talk you out of going?
- Nope. - Okay.
Anybody asks, I say you went to the dentist.
Bertha goes for things hygienic.
Okay.
Rise and shine, lady. Not a stool pigeon in sight.
This is a rough way to keep a date.
Climb over and keep me company.
I need the elbow room.
I got something I want to show you.
Twenty-two hundred dollars!
That's more money than my old man made in several years.
It's more than I've ever seen in one bundle.
You mean to tell me you made all that selling phony champagne?
Mm-hmm. That, plus the dances and my sitting-out time.
Leesburg, get out your loudest band.
Here comes Mamie Stover.
Yes, ma'am. The Cotton Queen comes home in style.
Beat those drums for your Mississippi Cinderella.
I'm glad you're going home, Mamie.
No, not yet, Jimmy. This is only the beginning.
Why, I'm averaging $40 and $50 a night for my cut.
That kind of arithmetic may never get you home.
Sure it will, but there's no rush.
Besides, you stop trying to chase me out of town.
Remember, you're talking to Bertha Parchman's number one girl.
Rich, too.
Bertha's even having a song written about me.
What, an up-to-date version of "Ten Cents a Dance"?
No. I'm gonna be famous.
Well, if I'm coaxed, I might buy a copy.
If I'm coaxed, I might autograph it.
Here we are.
Here's one of the reasons my island's different, Mamie.
Just you and me and the ocean, huh?
And a picnic lunch.
I didn't know you played golf.
Oh, not too often.
Just mornings and afternoons.
Where do you play?
The country club.
She play too?
Who?
The girl on the dock.
Oh, Annalee. Sure, she plays a good game.
Very hard to play?
Just aggravating.
Here, you unroll these mats while I lock up.
Jimmy, will you do me a favor?
I don't know.
I need a check for $200 made out to my father, Gus Stover.
Well, that's pretty thoughtful.
Hmm-mm. Strictly selfish.
Pop will show that money down at the courthouse and the barber shop
and all over town, brag me up as the biggest success story of the year.
It's worth a lot more than $200 to me.
Okay, Cinderella, sold.
One check to Gus Stover for 200.
Thank you, Jimmy.
Gee, that will leave me with 2,000 even, won't it?
On the nose.
Trouble is, I hate to keep that much money around.
Bank it.
Hmm-mm. It's against the house rules.
Bertha says the income tax people watch us pretty close.
She should know.
Jimmy, why don't you keep my money in your bank account?
No, ma'am, nothing doing.
You know, you're a pretty strange guy.
You said you thought you understood me, but you don't.
I'm only trying to make you my friend.
I want to trust you with my money.
There isn't anything closer between friends than that, is there?
Is there?
You could rent a safety deposit box and keep it there for me, couldn't you?
You and your money.
Am I holding up progress on the year's best-seller?
I haven't written anything decent in a week.
Then let's chase the cobwebs and shoot some golf.
Well, I... I can't right now.
What's wrong, Jimmy?
Not a thing.
My being here embarrasses you.
Where'd you get that idea?
Knowing you.
Are you expecting somebody?
Why would that embarrass me?
Is it Mamie Stover?
Yes. I sent Aki to pick her up.
She phoned that she had to see me.
Business or pleasure?
That's not funny.
No, no, it isn't.
We haven't had a real laugh in a long time, have we?
Oh, Annalee, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap.
Lately I've been putting all the wrong words down on the paper
and saying the wrong ones, too.
It'll come out all right, I guess.
When you wind up your meeting, I will be at the club.
Well, you don't have to leave.
I can't risk having you hate me for staying.
Hey, you. Close the door.
Mr. Blair is waiting.
I'm back, Mr. Jim.
Yeah, and the door's still open.
Hi.
Huh! What a welcome.
Your servant treats me like I'm his servant
and you light up like a burned-out bulb.
What does this mean?
From Leesburg, Mississippi to Mrs. James Blair.
I didn't think you'd mind.
"My dear daughter, tell your husband
how much I appreciated his check for $200."
Please, Jimmy, let me explain.
That's what I'm waiting for and it better be good.
When I sent the check, I had to write something.
I had to give my old man some explanation about why I left San Francisco.
Well, I've been leaving too many cities lately.
I wanted to keep him hoping, Jimmy,
so I told him that I was married to some guy
with a lot of money, and that he could keep bragging me up downtown
about how I was gonna buy him a house, and, you know, servants and mint juleps.
You had no right to do it.
I know.
At least you could have mentioned it first.
Well, I was afraid you'd say no.
Jimmy, he doesn't write very often, maybe four or five times a year.
Only when I send the money. You know. Wouldn't it be all right?
Here's your letter.
Maybe I could keep the writing down to two or three times, okay?
Okay.
Gee, this is sure a nice house you got here.
You know, it's the first home I've been in in several years.
Boy, this is the way to live
high up, looking down.
What did you want to see me about?
I am due at the country club.
Miss Hilltop?
I don't like that name.
I didn't mean it that way.
I wish I could trade places with her.
You know, there's different rights for different people.
There's all kinds of don'ts for me
and not a single don't up here on the hilltop.
There's lots of them on every hilltop in the world.
Not the kind that keep you from breathing.
You could breathe back in Leesburg.
I'm holding a lot of money for you, Mamie.
Take it and go home in style.
Make the biggest splash in the town's history.
Settle down there with the same rights as everyone else.
If you stay here, even if you make a million dollars,
you will still have to live with those don'ts.
Not me.
I'm gonna break every single one of them wide open.
I'm gonna live in a house just like this, maybe even bigger.
You just wait and see.
Jimmy, with enough money, you can buy anything.
With a million dollars, you can build a hilltop
higher than anybody else's.
Okay, it's your million and your life.
What is it you wanted?
I think I know how to make that million.
Did you ever stop and think what's gonna happen when the war comes?
Yes, people will die, thousands and thousands of them.
Yeah, but some will get rich.
Look, there are dirty names for people like that.
I'm used to dirty names.
- Let me tell you my idea. - Oh, quit it.
I'm sick of listening to your ideas.
And I'm fed up with playing caretaker to your bank account.
Every time you open your mouth, you talk about money--
big money, small money, money, money.
"I'm averaging 40 and $50 a night for my cut."
"There isn't anything closer between friends than money."
What kind of a yardstick is that?
Don't you ever get sick of measuring everything,
every human emotion in terms of money?
No, Jimmy, I don't get sick of it.
But that's something only another have-not would understand.
The difference is I was born with nothing and raised on lots more of the same.
When you talk about money, you're slumming.
When I talk about it, it's because I'm just plain scared.
Mamie.
Mamie, wait, don't go.
I'm sorry.
I'm a stupid, bigoted, opinionated jackass.
Oh, no, Jimmy.
No, you're nice. Always nice.
It's me who isn't.
The girl with the angles.
I like 'em.
Jimmy, your date, you gotta go. You're gonna be late.
Oh, what a catch he is.
Now get downstairs.
- Don't, honey, don't! - He'll kill you, too.
Let go of me!
Kill you!
Better than to kill you, too.
P-47s!
Boy, you're wacky. They're P-36s.
- Bet you four trading cards. - Bet you.
Don't you realize it's Sunday?
One minute, will you, Ma?
Give me a hot one, Lou.
You're off pretty soon, ain't ya?
A few more minutes.
Fine time for target practice.
We interrupt to bring you an emergency warning.
Listen carefully.
The island of Oahu is being attacked by enemyplanes.
The center of the attack is Pearl Harbor.
We are under attack. Do notgo out on the streets.
- Shut that door. - And keep calm.
I want the Bungalow. I mean 7-3-3-4-9.
I'm sorry, sir, all the circuits are...
This is the real McCoy...
It will only take a few seconds.
The Party of the Rising Sun
has been seen on the wings of these planes.
They are attacking Pearl Harbor.
Keep your radio on and tell your neighbors to do the same.
Go on, get down to the storeroom, everybody!
- They'll land... - Get down there.
Mame!
Are you crazy?
You waiting here to get your head blown off?
This is the break we've been waiting for.
Come on, screwball.
No, wait, Jackie, wait. Come here.
Look down there, see?
They're all running, scared.
Getting out, well, not me.
I'm going to buy real estate with every dollar I can raise.
I will get it for ten cents on the dollar.
Keep stalling, you'll wind up buying real estate in a cemetery.
- Ah, come on, kid! - Okay.
Jim! Jim!
Where is he? Where's Mr. Jim?
What's the matter with you?
Where's Mr. Jim?
Gone. He's gone.
Stand by, all militarypersonnel and police reserve.
Report for duty at once.
I repeat, stand by, all militarypersonnel.
Where, Aki? Where did he go?
I don't know.
Aki, you do know.
Tell me.
Mamie Stover.
Jimmy!
Oh, darling.
I couldn't get through on the phone.
I didn't know if you were all right.
You came after me. Nobody else but me, just me.
I guess I don't have it anymore.
I meet a couple of thousand guys a year.
Half of 'em swear they've got me in their blood,
not one of them crumbs shows up to prove it.
- This is Jimmy. - Who else?
Come on, kid, before Bertha starts asking for us.
You're coming with me, the hilltop is safer.
No, the store room's the safest place.
- It's bomb-proof. - Then get going.
Amen to that. Come on.
When the all-clear sounds, I will try and phone you.
I won't be home. I will be in the Army.
Why? Can't you wait till they call your number?
They've been calling it all morning. Now go on. Get down in the basement.
If you hear of any more bargains like this, let me know.
Strictly cash.
This is no bargain. This is stealing.
That's what I mean.
Well, all-all I have to do is wait a couple of months
and I get 10,000 for the place.
Well, you do that, Mister. Good-bye.
I tell you what, make it 4,500 and it's a deal.
Quit it. I will laugh myself to death.
Twenty-eight hundred cash, now take it or leave it.
I haven't got time to haggle.
Four thousand.
Say, wait a minute.
- It's cash? - Strictly.
Okay, I want to get over to the mainland. I don't want any part of this war.
You know, I was intending to put another building up here someday.
Well, don't worry about it, Mister. I'll do it for you.
- You sleep good nights? - Like a baby.
Come on, let's sign those papers.
Sorry I'm late, Aki.
I was afraid no pass for you, Mr. Jim.
My last one. Scuttlebutt says we ship out tomorrow.
Did you bring Miss Stover to the house?
Yes.
Why don't you like her? You don't, do you?
It is rude for a servant to discuss the acquaintances of his employer.
We've been together too many years
for you to suddenly start spouting etiquette
or call yourself a servant.
I thought we usually like the same people.
Yes, sir, usually.
You're a snob.
Yes, sir.
Dreaming?
Hmm-mm. Scheming.
Guess what?
No hints?
Okay, one.
Stomam Company, Incorporated.
What's that?
That's me. Me, Jimmy.
S-T-O for Stover and M-A-M for Mamie.
Sto-Mam Company, Incorporated.
I'm a corporation, since yesterday.
Now you can buy and sell all the real estate in Honolulu.
No, no, buying and renting.
And guess who my biggest tenant is?
- Who? - Uncle Sam.
Come here, landlord.
They're renting everything in sight.
Including me.
Oh, I'm gonna miss you a lot when you're gone, Jimmy.
I think I'm gonna miss you more than that, Cinderella.
It will make coming home that much nicer.
You know, all morning while I was waiting for my CO to okay my pass,
I kept wondering and worrying whether Aki was able to reach you.
I guess I like being with you.
In private places, just you and me and the scenery.
No people.
Hey, the private places was your idea,
your Bungalow rules and regulations.
Yeah, I know, seems like today oughta be different.
Wanna go somewhere and dance?
You mean some place they don't sell tickets?
- Yes. - Okay.
Aki? Aki?
Call the Halekulani Hotel.
A table for two on Diamond Head Terrace.
Yes, sir.
Vince.
Two Rum Collins.
I don't think we should have come here, Jimmy.
I don't think your friends approve of me.
You mean my ex-friends.
Wouldn't it be better if we left?
You stay right where you are.
I just don't like them staring at you.
Well, if they do, I will dump the table in their laps.
Oh, no, Jimmy, please.
Let them stare if they want to, but don't do anything embarrassing,
not in a place like this.
You're the lady in this crowd, Cinderella.
You just give me time and I will be.
You will be so darn proud of me, you'll bust.
I'm busting already.
- How about a dance? - Okay.
It sure feels good not to have to collect tickets.
Is it good manners to kiss?
The best.
That someone you know?
Jimmy, I've got to go.
What for? I've got two more hours.
I'm not supposed to be on this side of town.
- It's against the rules. - Hey, relax.
There are no rules tonight, remember?
Harry Adkins doesn't take any excuses.
He's Bertha's muscle man.
Muscle man? You mean he'd hurt you?
- Jimmy, please. Let's go. - Sit down. I want to know.
He ever hit you?
Please don't argue with him.
Barroom fighting is his business.
I beg your pardon, Soldier.
Miss Stover and I have some business to discuss.
Sit down with us first, Mr. Adkins. I have something funny to tell you.
Thank you, some other time, maybe. Our business can't wait.
Now, don't be rude.
This won't take long.
You know, when I saw you coming in, I said to Miss Stover,
"Look who's here, Harry Adkins.
Who will they let in next?"
A cockroach like Adkins shouldn't be allowed
in the same room with human beings.
I'm not looking for trouble with you, soldier.
I know, I know, only with women.
You're a tough guy who can lick any girl his weight.
Sometime, when you're out of uniform, look me up and I'll tell you about it.
You just take off the glasses and I will take care of the uniform.
Please, Jimmy.
Hit him again for me, Jimmy!
Lock him up.
Wait a minute, what for? What for? Take your hands off him.
- Take it easy, Miss. - Don't tell me what to do.
- Stay out of this, Mamie. - Why don't you arrest the right guy?
He came barging in here and threatened to beat me up.
- Beat you up? - Yes, me.
That's his specialty, beating up girls.
He works at the Bungalow.
Take your hands off him!
Okay, Sergeant, release him.
What about this, Mister?
She's a liar.
Mister, where I come from, we don't call ladies names.
She's no lady, she's a tramp, and she's on the wrong side of town.
At ease, soldier, at ease. I'll take over.
- Sergeant? - Yes, sir?
I think he beats up women, what do you think?
Yes, sir. I think he does, too.
What kind of a gag is this?
Shut up, Mister.
Sergeant, I'm gonna take another look around at things.
Meanwhile, why don't you and your partner
take this gentleman outside and discuss things?
Yes, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Let's go talk, Mister.
Well, good night, soldier.
Have a pleasant evening.
- Good night, Miss. - Thanks, Captain.
My apologies, Mr. Blair, I must ask that you and this lady leave.
- Well, you can take your apologies-- - Don't, Jimmy.
We don't like it here anyway.
Go on, soldier.
One fight a night is all I can allow you.
There's not gonna be any fight, Captain. We're leaving.
Thank you, sir.
You run a real sloppy joint here, don't you, boy?
You can't lick the whole island, Jimmy.
I got a number on my back and they all know it.
There aren't gonna be any more numbers on your back.
You're quitting Bertha's tonight.
I love you, Mamie.
Not just in private, but anywhere and everywhere.
No, Jimmy, not me.
I can't let you do that.
You mustn't ruin your life for me.
Now, don't argue.
After the war's over, we can get married.
The world's a big place with lots of room for us,
but no more Berthas.
Wherever I'm being sent, I want to know that you're mine,
exclusively mine.
Jimmy, I am.
I am.
And good-bye, Bungalow.
Oh, yes, tonight, right now.
Jimmy, I'm so crazy, dopey, happy.
This can't be happening to me, not to me.
I love you, Cinderella.
Let's have a letter from you once in a while, Aki.
Yes, sir.
- Keep safe, Mr. Jim. - I will.
Mamie, I can arrange to have money sent to you.
I won't need any, Jimmy, I will be fine. I just want you to be all right.
I will be. I'll write as often as I can.
I will, too, every day. Every single day.
Would you rather leave Honolulu and wait somewhere else?
Right here, as long as it takes.
That's a contract, Cinderella.
This makes it legal.
Around this way, it almost looks like the real thing.
You know how it's always been with me, Harry.
The business comes first.
And Mamie Stover is business?
Especially Mamie.
She brings them in, you know that.
She's that special that she can break the rules and get me beaten up?
I can't afford to have trouble with the Military Police.
Once I'm placed off limits, it's good-bye Bungalow.
Suppose I take a trip to one of the other islands for a few days,
maybe a week, until it's forgotten.
That won't help.
I'm sorry, Harry, but we have to part company.
Here's two months' pay.
After five years, it's, "Here's your severance pay
and good-bye," just like that?
I've had your things packed.
Okay with me, Bertha.
I've been fed up anyway.
Gets monotonous spending all your time with an ugly old--
Don't you say it, Harry.
Don't say it.
Mamie! You did it, kid!
- You did it. - Tell us how you worked it.
- You were wonderful. - Mamie, you sweetie pie.
Hey, do you know he's got a broken lip?
- With a chair, busted his head. - What's all this about?
Listen to Abe Lincoln Stover.
You free us slaves and want to know what it's all about.
Bertha gave old Four-Eyes the gate.
- Out, finished, scrammed. - You're kidding!
Ladies, please, please!
Not so flamboyant.
This is not a house of bedlam.
Mamie, I'd like a moment of your time.
Finish dressing, ladies.
Never mind the lecture, Bertha. You can't fire me, I quit.
Fire you?
What for?
Have a snort. Help yourself.
- No, thanks. - This isn't the watered stuff.
No, I'm not drinking.
Well, I am.
With Harry gone, I don't have to mind my Ps and Qs anymore.
Wonder why we're always trying to be something we're not.
What's the matter with trying?
If you pitch hard enough, you can make it.
That's what I used to think.
Harry told me I was different so many times,
I began to believe the liar.
Well, all that's past now.
I'm going to show Mr. Adkins I needed him around here like a hangover.
Mamie, I'm gonna build you into the biggest thing
this business ever saw.
And I'm boosting your cut to 35 percent.
The pardon came too late, Bertha, because I'm leaving.
I only came in tonight to pack my things.
Seriously?
Absolutely.
I'm going to prove you can be something you're not supposed to be.
- Who's the salesman? - What do you mean?
I mean, who's the guy who talked you into
walking out on a gold mine?
His name doesn't matter.
No, I guess it doesn't.
They all give you the same pitch.
"I love you." Ugh!
"Be mine, exclusively mine."
"I can't stand sharing you with anyone else."
- What's wrong with that? - Nothing. Not a thing.
How many guys who prance in here every night
have some broad sitting around back home,
hanging on a promise that will never be kept?
Well, this one will.
'Cause we're getting married right after the war,
maybe even sooner.
Or maybe never.
Oh, tie it off, Bertha.
What would you know about anything like this?
You never met anybody like Jimmy.
Jimmy?
My salesman's name was Phillip.
Phillie boy. 1918, the last war.
Good old Phillie boy.
He could promise you the whole world in six-syllable words.
What would I know about anything like this?
You're looking at a broad who waited all through a war...
and then got brushed off.
Jimmy's not like that.
Neither was good old Phillie boy.
What am I complaining about?
The girl he married has got old Phillie boy
and a one-way ticket to a crummy four-room apartment.
But I've got a half-a-dozen annuities and another fortune coming up.
The boom's started, Mamie, and it'll grow through this war.
A million spenders coming through the island every few months.
Well, I'd better get packed.
I tell you what.
I'll, uh...
I'll make it 40 percent.
I can't figure anyone walking away from money like this.
I wish I didn't have to, Bertha...
but it was Jimmy's last leave
and he wanted me to promise, and I promised.
Naturally. Look, I'll get you a mailing address
in a good part of town in case he writes to you.
What he doesn't know won't hurt him, will it?
No, I guess not.
Look at it this way, Mamie.
Suppose your Jimmy is on the level, like you say he is.
Suppose when he gets back home, you can show him a bank book
with another 50 or 100,000 in it.
You think he'll object?
Show me a guy whoever objected to a dowry.
Forty percent, Mamie,
the biggest cut in the place.
Make it 50.
Okay, 50...
but that's confidential, just between us.
Yes.
Want a drink?
Yeah.
Hey, Captain, tell 'em to hurry up and get them doors open.
There's a war on!
Too much jewelry on, Peaches.
Take some of it off.
- Nina... - Are you the proprietor, Madam?
I have that privilege.
I'm Captain Sumac,
in command of the Military Police detail for this area.
It's a great pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir.
What can I do for you?
We've received complaints from servicemen about overcharging.
The Bungalow? That's preposterous.
I'm not here to debate it, Madam.
I'm here to tell you that if these complaints continue,
your establishment will be placed off-limits.
Well, you have my word, my most solemn word,
there'll be no further complaints.
Ladies, I want you to hear Colonel...
What was the name? Summer?
- Sumac. - Sumac.
Eldon Sumac, and it's Captain.
Thank you very much, sir.
I'm delighted that Captain Sumac is here to see the high type of our personnel.
Would you like to stay with us and judge for yourself?
Yes. Yes, I think I will.
Wonderful.
Miss Stover, show Captain Sumac into the cocktail lounge.
Glad I'm getting a chance to thank you for the other day.
Huh. I just did that to make my sergeant happy.
He enjoyed talking things over with Mr. Adkins.
You tell your sergeant that he talks good.
Oh, can I buy you a drink?
Yeah, thanks. Soda pop only.
- I'm on duty. - Two soda pops.
- Soda pop? - Mm-hmm.
You don't have to go the soda pop way.
Oh, I can take it if you can.
Charlie, Henry, open up the door.
Smile, ladies, smile.
Make our heroes welcome.
Smile, smile, smiles will make 'em welcome.
Come on. Smile, everybody.
The usual, Gladys, the usual.
Don't your ship ever sail, Tarzan?
I got no ship. I'm on special duty.
Where, here?
Quit making me nervous and give me some tickets.
I'll tell you what, Tarzan, I'll throw in some extras
if you tell me what you do with all these tickets.
Come on, come on, you're not old enough.
Do you know how long you'll be stationed in Honolulu?
Well, quite a while, I hope.
Well, if you mean me, I don't think it'll do you much good.
You know, we don't do business with officers.
Oh...
What do you do with yourself in the daytime?
Rest up for the nighttime.
Four tickets, Mister. Pay now.
Oh, honey, this is on the house.
All right.
Well, Okole maluna, and thanks again for the other day.
To you.
Captain, do you play golf?
Middle 80s.
What's that?
My average score.
I shoot 84, 85, thereabouts.
They let you play at the country club?
Congress says I'm an officer and a gentleman.
Would they let you bring a friend,
you know, somebody that wanted to learn the game?
When and what time, pupil?
Tomorrow morning would be just swell, teacher.
♪ Whenever you're watching A hula girl dance ♪
♪ You gotta be careful You're tempting romance ♪
♪ Don't keep your eyes On her hips ♪
♪ Her naughty hula hips ♪
♪ Just keep your eyes On the hands ♪
♪ Remember She's telling a story to you ♪
♪ Her opu is swaying But don't watch the view ♪
♪ Don't concentrate on the swing ♪
♪ It doesn't mean a thing ♪
♪ Keep your eyes on the hands ♪
♪ And when she goes Around the island ♪
♪ Swinging hips so tantalizing ♪
♪ Just keep your eyes Where they belong ♪
♪ Because the hula has a feeling ♪
♪ That'll send your senses reeling ♪
♪ It makes a weak man strong ♪
♪ Your eyes are revealing ♪
♪ I'm fooling no one ♪
♪ No use in concealing ♪
♪ We're having some fun ♪
♪ But ifyou're too young to date ♪
♪ Or over 98 ♪
♪ Keep your eyes on the hands ♪
♪ They tell the story ♪
♪ Keep your eyes ♪
♪ On the hands ♪
Now, lesson number one is the grip.
The left hand, shake hands with it like that.
Overlap the little finger of the right hand like that.
Try it.
No, no, no, that's not it.
What do you say we try it the way they do it in the movies?
Like this?
Just relax and get comfortable, pupil.
Not too comfortable, huh?
You won't learn anything that way.
Neither will you.
I don't know any other way to teach.
Oh, sure you do.
Just pretend I'm one of the fellas.
Sound, very sound advice.
Now, sir, pay very close attention to lesson number one.
Darling, first ofall, you've got to stop sending me money
and worrying about how I'm making out.
All those buildings I bought and rented are paying offlike slot machines.
You were right, I should have quit the Bungalowlong ago.
And now for the big, big news.
Your Mississippi Cinderella knows how to playgolf.
I've already had two lessons,
and where do you think I play, Mr. Corporal Blair?
Why, naturally, the country club.
Do your reading in the library, Corporal.
We're moving out.
On your feet!
Get going!
More of a lonely hearts expression, Mamie.
Madam, if you please.
Now, Miss Stover, not lonely hearts.
Give me that come-hither look.
That's it. Yes, yes, provocative, definitely provocative.
Steady, steady. Excellent.
- Excellent. - You finished?
Yes.
I'm going to have this photograph blown up so it will be six or seven feet high.
You know, I wonder how I'd do if I opened a place of my own.
Oh, don't bluff me, Mamie.
You don't have the kind of money a place like this takes.
That, plus.
My rentals are bringing in 4,000 a month.
As it happens,
I was going to raise you to 60 percent.
You did say 70, didn't you?
Yes, 70.
Ah, Bertha, you're a doll.
See you in the chicken patch.
Might as well get my own pin-up.
Can't tell the girls without a photograph, men.
Wow, is that Mamie flaming or is she flaming?
Say, where's this line go, Mac?
What difference does it make, dog-face? Just fall in.
Any line this long has to be for whiskey, watermelon, or women.
- Hey! - 99!
Come on, champ, it's drinking time.
If I'd judged the roll better on the seventh, I'd have had another par.
How do you like that?
She finally breaks the hundred and bellyaches.
That's me.
Wait will I write Jimmy.
Let's skip the corporal today.
He's a sergeant now.
Quiet, lady, I still outrank him.
Not with me.
Hello, George.
Two of the usual, please.
You know, Mamie, the trouble with you is
you're passing up a real good thing,
me, for a very small maybe.
How are your wife and children, Eldon?
Why remind me? They're way back East, 6,000 miles away.
So's your sergeant, only he's west of here.
The poet who said, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder,"
he was running off at the mouth.
That's like asking a hungry man to just look at a sirloin steak
but keep thinking about the one he's got home in the icebox.
I'm against starvation, Mamie.
Yeah, my instincts told me that the first golf lesson.
Sure, I'm run-of-the-mill, common clay.
But so are you.
We can both spot a penny rolling the wrong way.
It'd be a lot easier doing the spotting together.
Let's talk about something else, shall we?
Don't let this blue blood atmosphere go to your head, Mamie.
I'm just doing some simple arithmetic.
Listen, this war might last another few years, you know.
We're both here for the duration,
a long, long way from my family and your Jimmy.
Quit it, Eldon. You're way off base.
That's kind of sudden and unbecoming, isn't it?
I mean, this injured innocence routine.
You're not the type to have stars in your eyes
or kid yourself into believing that some guy
is coming back here to marry you.
It just doesn't go with selling tickets.
Hey, get a load of my new pin-up.
Get your own, man, get your own.
Flaming Mamie belongs to me.
Just let me look, boy. Looking ain't touching.
That ain't for real, it can't be.
Man, that's the realest real you ever seen.
- Where'd you get it, Mike? - That's a Honolulu broad.
A C Company replacement had a lot of prints made
when he was in Honolulu last month.
He's selling them for two bucks a copy.
Boy must be making a million.
I gotta buy me one of those for my lonesome nights.
How do you like it, Sarge?
Boy, if I ever get to Honolulu, I'm heading straight for Flaming Mamie's
and see if she is real.
That pain?
No, sir.
Here?
No, sir.
Fine.
We can check you out today.
- Any chance of a furlough, Major? - Of course.
For a shoulder wound, I always recommend a week.
Sergeants ten days.
Okay, let's go!
It's your deal.
Ah-ah-ah. Shuffle the cards.
Gin.
♪ Ifyou dance with Mamie Take a chance with Mamie ♪
♪ The chances are you'll find Romance with Mamie ♪
♪ There are no stars in the sky ♪
♪ For the stars are all in Mamie's eyes ♪
♪ Anylad for Mamie Would go mad for Mamie ♪
♪ And give up all he ever had for Mamie ♪
♪ Fellas who try to resist ♪
♪ Ought to hire a psychiatris... ♪
Hello, honey, you waiting for Mamie?
Jimmy!
Oh, darling! Oh, my darling!
I'm not your darling.
I'm just another GI off that line outside.
Oh, no, Jimmy.
How many?
Please. Listen, please listen.
Here, collect your tickets.
Jimmy, I know I'm wrong.
I didn't realize how wrong,
but I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.
Not with me, you won't.
Jimmy, don't say that.
I-I didn't mean to hurt you.
I thought you'd understand.
I just wanted to make all the money I could so we--
Anything for a dollar, Mamie. The Flaming Cinderella.
No more, never again.
I swear, never again.
We will go away, anyplace you say.
We'll start all over again,
make the kind of life you said we could build.
That's long past for us.
You don't need me.
I do, Jimmy, I do.
Oh, please, Jimmy, please.
Mamie. Mamie, please.
Please sit down.
I know when I came here, I was filled with bitterness and hate,
but now that's all gone.
Suddenly I realized you don't understand.
All your life, you've dreamed and prayed for money
and now you've got it,
and you will always want more and more.
I don't rate sitting in judgment of you
or the privilege of being bitter and hating.
Anyway...
I couldn't hate you.
Not you.
Or love me either.
We're different, Mamie.
We don't think the same about how life should be lived.
But she does. Annalee thinks the same.
It is Annalee, isn't it?
I don't know.
I don't know if Annalee would even see me.
Is that why you came by here first?
To brush me off
and tell me that once a tramp always a tramp?
Oh, no, Mamie.
That was the idea, but no more.
One of these days, if we ever run into each other,
the words would be different.
Easier and friendlier.
Your time's up, Mister.
Yeah, I guess it is.
I don't need to get to the hilltop on anybody else's back.
I'm there now, on the highest hill on the island.
And the biggest house.
Jimmy...
♪ Anylad for Mamie ♪
♪ Would go mad for Mamie ♪
♪ And give up all he ever had for Mamie ♪
♪ Fellas who try to resist ♪
♪ Ought to hire a psychiatrist ♪
♪ Oh, the glow that lights the skies up ♪
♪ The lines of traffic that she ties up ♪
♪ When she rolls those big brown eyes up ♪
♪ Oh, happy, happy, happy day ♪
♪ Willows weep for Mamie ♪
♪ Lovers leap for Mamie ♪
♪ Van Winkle woke up From his sleep for Mamie ♪
♪ Line starts to form on the right ♪
♪ Ifyou want to see Mamie tonight ♪
Mamie.
Nothing's changed, Mamie.
You're still not welcome in San Francisco.
I'm just passing through. I'm on my way home.
- Mississippi? - Leesburg.
Looks like you didn't do too good in Honolulu.
If I told you I made a fortune and given it all away,
would you believe me?
No.
I didn't think you would.
Is it all right if I head out for the airport?
Hop in, we'll give you a lift.
Thank you.
Subtitled by Captions, Inc.