By Sidney Lumet Page #2

drinkers, all of them. You know that. And bang, someone's

lying in the gutter. Well nobody's

blaming them for it. That's the way they are by

nature, you know what I mean? Violent. Where are you going? Human life don't mean as much

to them as it does to us. Look. They're lushing it up

and fighting all the time and if somebody gets killed,

so somebody gets killed. They don't care. Oh sure, there are some

good things about them too. Look, I'm the first

one to say that. I've known a couple who were

OK, but that's the exception, you know what I mean? Most of them, it's like

they have no feelings. They can do anything. What's going on here? I'm trying to tell you. You're making a big

mistake, you people. This kid is a liar. I know it. I know all about them. Listen to me. They're no good. There's not a one of

them who is any good. I mean, what-- what's

happening in here? I'm speaking my piece

and you-- listen to me. We're-- we're-- this kid

on trial here, his type, well don't you know about them? There's a-- there's

a danger here. These people are dangerous. They're-- why? Listen to me. Listen to me. I have. Now sit down and don't

open your mouth again. I was only trying to tell you. [music playing] SIDNEY LUMET: If you

asked me specifically, when you did "12

Angry Men," were you interested in justice system? Absolutely not. I was interested in

doing my first movie, and I was very impressed

that Henry Fonda wanted me to direct it because

he had seen something I had done Off-Broadway. It was the most obvious motives. "12 Angry Men," I think it

changed the law in England. Great. That isn't why I did it. I wasn't out to change

the law in England. Oh, this is Miss Lovelace,

Miss Eva Lovelace. She's come all the way

from Vermont to see you. How do you do, Miss Lovelace? Would you have a part

for me, Mr. Easton? I would like to start my

career under your management because I reverence the things

you've done in the theater. When you brought

the Old Vic over, I wanted to give up

"Death of a Salesman" to come here and see them,

but then we couldn't find a replacement, so I couldn't. Well where'd you do "Salesmen?" In Ordway, Vermont. Oh. SIDNEY LUMET: All I was ever

interested in was the next job, you know, and when I

got it, that was heaven. [cheers] TRAIN CONDUCTOR: Final call

for the Silver [inaudible]. So glad you could

make it, doll. So glad you could make it. TRAIN CONDUCTOR: All aboard! [horn] Come on, Kelly. She wouldn't let me go! [horn] SIDNEY LUMET: I don't

think there's really any conflict between

being really dirt poor and having a good time. BOY: Hep, hep Blacky. Five, six, seven. Come on out, Blacky. Hep, hep, Blacky. One, two, three. Hep, hep Puddinghead. Come on out, Puddinghead. I got you. You're behind the barrel. Hep, hep, KO 1,2, 3. Come here, KO. SIDNEY LUMET: You

don't know that you're dirt poor at the time. That's just the norm. Having a quarter

pound of boiled meat shredded into two pounds of

potatoes to feed the family, is-- that's the

way you ate meat. Everybody around me

lived the same way, so again, that was the norm. So you're going along

and living your life and then all of a sudden

this other exciting thing comes in, which is

work and creativity. That kid ought to

drop that junk of his. [screams] [music playing] SIDNEY LUMET: It was all

about feeding a family. During the Depression, my

sister and I shared a bed I think until I was about 11 . You buy clothes that

are too big for you so you can grow into them. You did have a toilet. You did not have a bath tub. You bathed in the kitchen. There would be the sink

and the wash basin, and that's what you

used as a bath tub. And this was every

poor kid's life. When the problem

is that desperate, everything else is a luxury--

morals, to hell with unfair. You know that great line of

Brecht's from the "Threepenny Opera," first feed the face,

then tell me right from wrong, that says it. [music playing] They're gonna get you. Do you hear? They're gonna tear you down. How do you like

that, old stinkpot? SIDNEY LUMET: My father

read me "Hamlet" in Yiddish before I ever heard

it in English. [music playing] He was a wonderful actor. During the Depression, my father

was doing a Jewish soap opera-- we had a radio station, WEVD--

which stood for, by the way, Eugene V Debs because

so much in Jewish life was involved with socialism

then-- and 15 minutes, five days a week, and he wrote

it, whatever directing there was to do with it. My mother was in it. I was in it. I was five. He played two parts. $35 a week and that got

us through the Depression. That fed us. I'm glad to have it. And the show was

a tremendous hit. And having a big

hit then, my father started, as so many

other Jewish actors did, would rent a theater

for two weeks before Passover and

through the Passover week and wrote a dramatization of the

characters in the radio show, in the soap opera. It was called the

"Brownsville a Zayde," which means the grandfather

from Brownsville. [music playing] There were 12 Jewish

theaters on 40 week seasons. That's extraordinary. And I'm talking

about big theaters. I mean, the theaters

I acted in as a kid, they sat 1,800 people. It was a remarkable life, it

in itself and my being in it. When I was in it, it was

already on the downhill side, past its glorious days. And its glorious days

happened, really, because of the enormous

Jewish population in New York. If you weren't my

son, there's not a manager in the business

who would give you a part, your reputation stinks so. As it is, I have to humble

my pride and beg for you, say you've turned

over a new leaf, although I know it's a lie. I never wanted to be an actor. You forced me on a stage. That's a lie. You left it to me

to get you a job and I have no influence

except in the theater. When the Jewish theater was

coming to an end, my father already, his mind was racing. He was a survivor. And oh I know what. Maybe if-- Sidney's talented. Maybe if I bring

him up to Broadway, there'll be something there. I was considered one of the two

best kid actors on Broadway, so I worked all the time. Between "Dead End" and when

I enlisted in the army, I did 14 Broadway plays. That's a lot. It also shows that

they were mostly flops. But I worked all

the time and worked in radio, where the checks

were really terrific. I wasn't a star, it was

just work that I loved, that I adored. It kept me off the streets. People always worry

about kid actors. There's nothing wrong with

being exposed to creativity as soon as possible. My father, he taught me

about work-- you work-- and the discipline

of work and the lack of self-indulgence in work,

also the preparation for trouble in show business. Yes, maybe life overdid

the lesson for me. I made the dollar worth too

much and that mistake ruined my career as a fine actor. I've never admitted this

to anyone before, lad, but tonight I'm so heartsick, I

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