Manhattan Melodrama Page #2

A yacht,

somebody thought about

and dreamed about and planned...

And built and I won it on a bet.

Baloney.

Caviar. What are cops coming to?

It's rotten.

It's rotten, through and through.

- What is? The caviar?

- No, everything about this place.

The way you won that yacht

and that ridiculous raid.

You knew the cops were coming.

And they knew I knew they were coming,

and I knew they knew I knew they...

Work it out yourself.

It's a silly, stupid farce, and it's not funny.

Yes, but it puts dollars in the kitty, baby,

and that's what counts.

It puts those shiny things on your wrists

and those ones in your ears and...

Who cares about those?

I'm not in love with Cartier's.

I'm in love with you.

Blackie, get out of this.

Take me out of this.

- Quiet, quiet, quiet.

- Blackie, please listen!

All right. Let's go and look at the yacht.

Well, that's something else, again.

Baby, wait till you get a load of this.

Brass rails, soft cushions, moonlight...

Them ships don't look real.

They look like etchings

drawn against the sky.

Why, Spud, there's a bit of the poet in you.

Do I gotta take what she calls me?

Things like that?

Fight your own battles.

I guess this must be her.

Come on, let's have a look at her.

Not a bad-looking layout.

Pretty nice.

They must be expecting us.

Coates said he would phone.

Hey, are we being hijacked?

- Mr. Gallagher?

- Yeah.

- I'm Captain Swenson.

- Captain Swenson. How do you do?

- Miss Packer, Captain Swenson.

- How do you do, Captain?

Mr. Coates phoned me,

said you were the new owner.

Shall I turn the ship over to you,

or will you want me to stay on?

We'll fix that up later on.

We're just looking around now.

- Where's the anchor?

- The what?

The anchor, the anchor.

I guess you think we're a bunch

of land lovers? Where's the anchor?

- Why, it's up forward.

- That's what you say. Show me.

That a boy, Spud. You check the ship up

and see that it's got a bottom in it.

Eleanor and me'll just have to look around.

Blackie, now that you've got this boat,

let's go away, far away.

Let's go to the South Seas or the Orient or

the Mediterranean, anywhere you want to.

We'll have quiet, peaceful days,

nights like this.

Yeah, that'll be just dandy.

We'll work out a lot of crossword puzzles

and play Double Canfield.

Blackie, why don't you take this chance

to get away from those hoodlums

that hang around you like a bunch of flies,

and from gambling houses

and rackets and graft,

and all the rotten,

vicious things about you?

Hey, now wait a minute.

That's my business. That's me.

- That's who you fell in love with.

- You're wrong.

I fell in love with a very little boy

who was playing

with a great big box of matches,

and I don't want that little boy

to get burned.

Yeah, don't worry about your little boy.

Blackie.

Don't, darling.

- What's got into you tonight?

- It isn't tonight, it's every night.

Worrying about you, wondering about you,

hating everything you do,

hating everybody you meet.

Hey, you sure this anchor

belongs up here?

Certainly.

You're enough of a sailor to know that.

Okay, but it sounds kind of goofy to me.

Programs!

Get your programs! Programs!

Programs! Get your programs!

Programs! Get your programs!

Hello, Mabel, how are you?

- Spuddie, look what I found.

- Give me that! Let go of it! Let go of it!

Work, work, work.

That's all you ever think of.

- Come on, midget.

- Spuddie, can I have a hotdog?

Get your programs!

Programs! Get your programs!

Main event on yet?

Yes, Mr. Gallagher, in a couple of minutes.

- Hey! Blackie!

- Jim!

- Well, you old son of a gun!

- Say, you're looking swell!

Gee, I'm glad to see you!

- Say, let's get away from this jam.

- Yeah.

What are you doing up here

with all these common people?

You know, this is the first time

I've seen a fight

since you and I cleaned up

on the O'Malley brothers.

Is Dempsey as good as you?

- You've never seen Dempsey?

- No.

I'll have to have you meet him sometime.

- He's a nice guy.

- That's what I hear.

Say, look, I wish I'd known

you were coming. We'd have sat together.

I'd have made my girl stay home.

She's waiting for me in there.

Firpo. Wait till you hear

what they hand Dempsey.

Say, look, how are things down

on Centre Street?

You know, I hear you're the guy

that really runs

that district attorney's office.

I wish I did.

I've just been handed the toughest...

- Dempsey.

- You know, I've been meaning to call you.

You know anything about a

West Side hoodlum called Pants Riordan?

- I know everything about him.

- Yeah?

Well, I've got an indictment against him.

I can get a conviction, too,

for first-degree robbery.

But everybody's putting the pressure

on me, even the biggest boys in the party.

"Go light on him.

Let him take a plea of third-degree. "

You're not gonna do it.

You don't play ball with those grafters,

Jim.

You never have,

and you're not gonna start now.

Listen to who's talking.

What's that line

about practicing and preaching?

Now, look, pal, you're big stuff, see?

Me, I'm a flash.

I'm the guy with the ready dough.

But you're going places.

- Yeah? Where?

- Well, I'll tell you where.

To a great big house in Washington,

all done up in white paint.

And by the way, change the color

when you move in. I don't like white.

Maybe I'd better go home

and wire Coolidge to move over.

You're a cinch!

Now, look, Jim,

you're the one guy that's on the level,

and everybody knows that.

And that's what pays off in the end.

And you're not gonna let those grafters

shove you behind the eight ball.

You do and I'll punch you right in the nose.

Yeah?

You never saw the day that you could.

Let's get a load of

this Dempsey-Firpo binge, shall we?

Yeah, yeah. But when are we gonna

get together again? Gee, it's been weeks.

What about tomorrow night?

Saturday? I can't. That's my busiest night.

- Sunday?

- No, that's bar association.

- Monday?

- Well, I start the Riordan trial Monday.

That'll keep me tied up

every day and night for a week.

- Well, I'll call you up sometime.

- That's the way it always ends.

Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, boy!

The fight's over! The fight's over!

- Dempsey!

- How do you know?

I bet on him, didn't I?

Boy, did we show that big Spaniard!

I always thought he was a Argentine.

Same thing, dummy.

Argentine's a city in Spain.

And did Dempsey show that big Firp!

Oh, boy!

Wasn't it the greatest fight you ever seen?

I don't know. I didn't get here in time.

Look, I gotta find my gal

before she gets trampled to death.

Okay, kid. We'll get together sometime.

- Yeah. So long.

- Bye-bye.

He should worry if he seen it.

He cleaned up plenty on Dempsey.

Which one was Dempsey?

Well, I don't see

why they let it be all over so soon.

'Cause Dempsey

knocked the other guy out!

Well, but the advertisements said

they were gonna fight for 15 rounds.

I should think we could get

at least part of our money back.

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