Blue in the Face Page #6

have taken it out.

- Is this your mission in Brooklyn?

- I don't consider it a mission.

It's more like a hobby. Something to do

with my friends. It's fun to do.

And it's very satisfying. It's also...

It used to be I would see a bag like that...

and just shrug and think,

"Well, there's that bag."

And now I see a bag and I think,

"You're comin' out, pal."

Once there was a major league

baseball team in Brooklyn.

But that was a long time ago.

Jackie Robinson,

Brooklyn's famed number 42...

baseball's first Negro

in the major leagues...

continues to captivate fans

nationwide with his daring play.

Boy, when they moved

the Dodgers out of Brooklyn...

I don't believe

there ever was a worse day.

Maybe when the war

was declared.

But other than that, I don't think that

Brooklyn ever experienced a worse day...

than when they moved

the Dodgers to California...

and the wrecking ball

hit Ebbets Field.

There was nothing like it.

The stadium, the ball park...

was like a little old

country club.

The fans all knew each other,

and the Dodgers' Symphony...

was a group of workin' guys

that went out...

played the trombone, the trumpet, the drums

and generally made fools out of themselves.

Everybody loved them

and they didn't care.

The ballplayers

all lived in Brooklyn!

They weren't all from Brooklyn,

but they lived on Bedford Avenue...

and they used to rent apartments right around

the stadium, right around Ebbets Field.

Everybody knew 'em in the neighborhood.

"Hey, Duke Snider!

Jackie! How're you?" You know, whatever.

It was like a family thing.

Now, no more baseball

in Brooklyn.

Hey, Auggie, it's a lot of money.

I'd be crazy to turn it down.

After 19 years,

youre just gonna walk away?

I can't believe it.

It's dollars and cents.

The store's been losing money

for years. You know it as well as I do.

But you've got

plenty of money, Vin.

All those real estate deals

out on the island.

I mean, you just

write this place off on your taxes.

Too late.

We're already in contract.

Hmph. So

the Brooklyn Cigar Company...

is gonna become

a health food store?

Times change, Auggie.

Tobacco's out.

Wheat germ's in.

You know, it may not be

such a bad thing for you, either.

I mean, uh, maybe it's time

you moved on too.

I don't wanna see you turn into an

old man sitting behind that counter.

Everybody has to grow old.

What difference does it make

where it happens?

No more free cigars,

huh, Auggie?

You really should

think this thing through before you...

let it happen, Vincent.

I mean, sure. It's a dinky,

little nothing neighborhood store.

But everybody comes in here.

I mean, not just the smokers. The kids

come in, the school kids for their candy.

Old Mrs. McKinna comes in

for her soap opera magazines.

Crazy Louie

for his cough drops.

Frank Diaz

for his El Deario.

Fat Mr. Chin

for his crossword puzzles.

I mean, the whole neighborhood

comes in here.

It's a hangout.

And it helps to keep

the neighborhood together.

Twenty blocks from here...

12-year-old kids are shootin'

each other for their sneakers.

I mean, you close this store

and it's one more nail in the coffin.

You'll be helpin'

to kill off this neighborhood.

You're trying to make me feel guilty.

Is that what you're doin'?

No. I'm just

givin'you the facts.

You can do

what you want with them.

That Auggie,

he's gonna drive me crazy.

Just when I get the deal together,

he comes in playin' those f***in' violins.

Brooklyn! Hmph.

Brooklyn. I'm supposed

to care about Brooklyn.

I don't even live in this

sh*t hole of a town anymore.

Hiya, Vinny.

Jackie!

In the flesh, sport.

Jackie, the greatest

ballplayer of them all.

I used to pray for you

every night when I was a kid.

I was the man

that changed America, Vinny.

And I did it all right here,

in Brooklyn.

Oh, they spat at me.

Cursed me.

Made my life

a never-ending hell.

And I wasn't allowed

to fight back.

It takes its toll,

being a martyr.

I died when I was

53 years old, Vinny.

Even younger

than you are now.

But I was a hell

of a ballplayer, wasn't I?

The best, Jackie.

You were the best there was.

Things changed after me.

Not just for black people.

For white people too.

After me, well, white people

and black people...

never looked at each other

in the same old way anymore.

And it all happened

right here, in Brooklyn.

Yeah, then they...

moved the team away.

Almost broke my heart. What'd they do

a dumb thing like that for?

Dollars and cents,

Vinny.

Ebbets Field

may be gone now...

but what happened there

lives on in the mind.

That's where it counts, Vinny.

Mind over matter.

There are more important

things in life than baseball.

But, Brooklyn looks good.

More or less the same it was

the last time I saw it.

And Prospect Park over there.

Still as beautiful as ever.

Say, Vinny, they don't still

make those Belgian waffles, do they?

Ah, man! What I wouldn't give to sink

my teeth into a Belgian waffle!

Two scoops of pistachio ice cream,

some bananas on top.

Hmph. Boy,

do I miss those things.

Belgian waffles, sure.

They still make 'em.

Just go down two blocks

to the Cosmic Diner.

Jackie, they'll make you

all the Belgian waffles you want.

Thanks, sport.

Don't mind if I do.

A day in Brooklyn just wouldn't be complete

without stopping in for a Belgian waffle.

Would it?

Every day 7,999...

Belgian waffles are eaten

in the restaurants of Brooklyn.

The, the waffle culture

in Belgium is, um, is complex.

Waffles generally are made in huge

batches, and then they're eaten cold.

They're not a breakfast food. Uh, they're

like cookies or something, or raisin bread.

They're that kind of food. You eat

them with coffee in the afternoon.

The Belgian waffle as it's known here, with

great piles of strawberries and whipped cream...

is something that Belgians

are never failed to be amazed by.

I think Belgians

kind of like Belgian waffles.

But to them, Belgian waffles

seem distinctly American.

They've got that big Hollywood

overproduction to them, which Belgians...

It's kind of foreign to Belgians

to overdo things quite in that way.

Cigarettes are sort of like

a reminder of your mortality in a way.

Like each puff is like

a passing moment, a passing thought.

You know, you smoke.

Smoke disappears.

It reminds you that

to live is also to die somehow.

I don't know, I'm gonna miss 'em.

But anyway, last one is with you, Auggie.

Boom!

Sh*t.

It's out, man. Got a light?

Adios.

Adios, amigo.

Adios, "cigarrettos. '

L. S. Equals M. F. T.

Loose stomach

means full toilet.

Or something like that.

When we were kids, that's what

we used to say about Lucky Strikes.

Yeah, there it is.

What'd I tell you?

I love this too.

"It's toasted."

Oh, boy.

They sure do

take us for a ride, huh?

- How's it taste?

- Tastes great.

There he goes.

Thirty seconds over Tokyo.

Bombs away.

- Want a smoke?

- No, thanks. I quit.

Ebbets Field,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes