His Girl Friday Page #28

MED. CLOSE SHOT MAYOR TAKING IN DOOR

McCue comes in to him. Murphy and Endicott come in.

MAYOR:

(to McCue)

Have you seen Sheriff Hartman?

MCCUE:

It's hard to say, Your Honor. The

place is so full of cockroaches.

MURPHY:

Say, Your Honor, what effect's this

jail-break going to have on the

colored voters?

CLOSEUP THE MAYOR

MAYOR:

Not an iota. In what way can an

unavoidable misfortune of this sort

influence the duty of every citizen,

colored or otherwise?

MED. SHOT INCLUDING GROUP

ENDICOTT:

Your Honor, is there a Red Menace or

ain't there?

The Sheriff comes scooting in.

MAYOR:

(to the Sheriff)

Hartman, I've been looking for you!

He closes in on the Sheriff, followed by the reporters.

MURPHY:

So have we!

ENDICOTT:

What's the dope, Sheriff?

MURPHY:

Who engineered this getaway?

CLOSE SHOT:

HARTMAN:

Just a minute! We've got him located.

ENDICOTT:

Williams?

MURPHY:

Where is he?

HARTMAN:

Where he used to live. You can catch

the Riot Squad -- it's just going

out.

The boys beat it, fast.

MAYOR:

Pete, I want to talk to you!

HARTMAN:

I ain't got time, Fred, honest. I'll

see you after.

MAYOR:

Did you actually give Williams that

gun?

HARTMAN:

(a wail)

The professor asked me for it -- I

thought it was for something

scientific!

MAYOR:

Pete, I've got a mighty unpleasant

task to perf --

The Sheriff suddenly nudges him for quiet, and the Mayor,

turning, sees:

ANOTHER ANGLE FEATURING SCHWARTZ

coming in and going to the phone. He is whistling.

SCHWARTZ:

Hiya, Your Honor.

(into phone)

Schwartz calling.

(to the Mayor)

How about it, Your Honor? Any

statement on the Red uprising

tomorrow?

MAYOR:

What Red uprising?

HARTMAN:

There'll be no Red uprising!

SCHWARTZ:

(into phone)

Gimme rewrite --

(to the Mayor)

The Governor says the situation calls

for the militia.

MAYOR:

You can quote me as saying that

anything the Governor says is a tissue

of lies.

SCHWARTZ:

(into phone)

Hello, Jake. Here's a red-hot

statement from the Governor. He claims

that the Mayor and the Sheriff have

shown themselves to be a couple of

eight-year-olds playing with fire.

CLOSEUP SHERIFF AND MAYOR

SCHWARTZ' VOICE

Quote him as follows: "It is a lucky

thing for the city that next Tuesday

is Election Day, as the citizens

will thus be saved the expense of

impeaching the Mayor and the Sheriff."

That's all -- call you back.

MED. SHOT SCHWARTZ

He hangs up and starts out.

SCHWARTZ:

Nice to have seen you, Mayor.

He exits, whistling.

MAYOR:

We've got to go somewhere private,

Pete. I've got to talk to you straight

from the shoulder.

They start out.

MED. SHOT SHERIFF AND MAYOR

As they start for the door it opens. As they exit Hildy

enters, almost crossing them but not quite noticing them as

she starts pounding her hands together and pacing up and

down Press Room.

MED. SHOT MAYOR AND SHERIFF

as they start down the hall, CAMERA TRUCKING WITH THEM.

HARTMAN:

(beside himself)

Now, listen, Fred. Just give me a

few hours before you make any

decisions. I'll get results. I'm

doing everything humanly possible.

I've just sworn in four hundred

deputies.

MAYOR:

Four hundred! Do you want to bankrupt

this administration?

HARTMAN:

(pleadingly)

I'm getting them for twelve dollars

a night.

MAYOR:

Twelve dollars! -- For those rheumatic

uncles of yours?

(gesturing)

Out shooting everybody they see for

the fun of it?

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