Major Barbara Page #14

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I must have, uh, 2,500

a year for two years.

At the end of that time,

if I'm a failure I go.

But if I'm a success and stay on,

you must give me the other 5,000.

What other 5,000?

To make the two years

up to 5,000 a year.

The 2,500 is only half pay, in

case I should turn out a failure.

The third year I must have,

uh, 10% of the profits.

Ten per... Do you know

what my profits are?

Enormous, I hope!

Otherwise, I shall require 25%.

But, Mr. Cusins, this is a

serious matter of business.

You're not bringing any

capital into the concern.

What? No capital?

Is my mastery of Greek no capital?

Is my access to the subtlest thought...

the loftiest poetry yet

attained by humanity no capital?

My character? My intellect?

My life? My career?

And what Barbara calls my soul?

Are these no capital?

- Say another word, and I double my salary.

- Be reasonable.

Mr. Undershaft, you have my

terms. Take them or leave them.

Very well. I note your

terms, and I offer you half.

- Half?

- Half.

You call yourself a gentleman,

then you offer me half?

I don't call myself a

gentleman, but I offer you half.

This to your future partner,

your successor, your son-in-law?

Leave me out of the

bargain please, Dolly.

You're selling your own soul, not mine.

Come, I'll go a step further for Barbara's sake.

I'll give you three-fifths, but that's my last word.

- Done!

- Done in the eye.

[Sighs]

By the way, Mac, I'm a classical

scholar, not an arithmetical one.

Is three-fifths more than half or less?

More, of course.

I'd have taken 250.

How you can succeed in business...

when you're willing to pay all that

money to a university professor...

who obviously isn't worth a

junior clerk's wages, well...

What'll Lazarus say?

He'll be blamed for your rapacity

in money matters, poor fellow...

as he's hitherto been blamed for mine.

You're a shark of the

first order, Euripides.

So much the better for the firm.

Dolly, old fellow, think.

Think before you decide.

Do you feel that you're a

sufficiently practical man?

It's a huge undertaking.

An enormous responsibility.

All this mess of business

will be Greek to you.

I think it'll be much

less difficult than Greek.

[Vehicles Rassing]

[Train Whistle Blows]

- Bill!

- Hello, Judy!

What you think of it? Got

meself a job... 3.10 a week!

How's that for salvation, eh?

Barbara.

You understand, don't you, that I

had to decide without consulting you.

If I had left this choice to you, you'd

sooner or later have despised me for it.

Your father's challenge has beaten me.

Dare I make war on war?

I dare. I must!

I will.

And now, is it all over between us?

Silly baby Dolly.

How could it be?

Then you... You...

Oh, for my drum!

Take care, Dolly, take care.

Oh, if only I could get away from

you, from Father, and from it all.

- And leave me?

- Yes.

But I can't.

I was happy for a moment

in the Salvation Army...

but as soon as our money ran

short it all came back to Bodger.

Undershaft and Bodger.

Their hands stretch everywhere...

and as long as that lasts

there's no getting away from them.

Turning our backs on them

is turning our backs on life.

Do you know what would have happened

if you'd refused Papa's offer?

- I wonder. - I should have given you up

and married the man who'd accepted it.

After all, my dear old mother's

got more sense than any of you.

I felt like her when I saw this

place, felt that I must have it...

that never, never,

never could I let it go.

Only she thought it was all the houses

and kitchen ranges and linen and china.

But it was really all the

human souls to be saved.

Not weak souls in starved bodies...

sobbing with gratitude for

a scrap of bread and scrape...

but souls that are hungry...

because their bodies are full.

My father shall never throw it in my teeth

again that my converts were bribed with bread.

I have got rid of the bribe of bread.

I have got rid of the bribe of heaven.

Let God's work be done

for its own sake...

the work that he had

to create us to do...

because it cannot be done

except by living men and women.

Then the way of life lies

through the factory of death.

Yes, through the raising of hell

to heaven and of man to God...

through the unveiling

of an eternal light...

in the valley of the shadow.

Oh, did you think that my

courage would never come back?

Did you believe that I was a deserter...

that I, who have stood in the streets

and taken my people to my heart...

and talked of the greatest and

holiest of things with them...

could ever turn back

and chatter foolishly...

to fashionable people about

nothing in a drawing room?

Never, never, never, never!

Sooner than that I'd sweep

out the gun-cotton sheds...

or be one of Bodger's barmaids.

Major Barbara will die with the colors!

Glory, hallelujah.

[Barbara] Mamal Mamal

- Well, what did she say?

- She's gone right up into the skies!

- Mama!

- Well, Barbara, what do you want?

A house in the village

to live in with Dolly!

6:
00 tomorrow morning, Euripides!

I'll see the whole place blown up with

its own dynamite before I get up at 5:00!

Here! Remember my tip, mate.

Stop her jaw, or you'll

die afore your time!

Wore out, that's what

you'll be! Wore out!

[All Laughing]

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