Mr. Smith Goes To Washington Page #38

PAINE:

(nervously)

--I've used every argument in the

world to try to turn him off. He

just keeps coming back to the dam--

and what he knows--

MCGANN:

Saunders! I'd like to tie her in a

sack and drop her from the Brooklyn

Bridge--

PAINE:

(waving at the three

men)

--now he wants to talk to the

Congressmen from the Willet Creek

districts--he's run their names down--

There is a knock on the door.

TAYLOR:

That's him. Let him in.

PAINE:

(suddenly--alarmed)

Wait a minute--Jim--you didn't ask

*Smith* over here!

TAYLOR:

What do you think?

PAINE:

Jim, you can't come here and pull

that steamroller stuff. Your methods

won't do here. This boy is a Senator,

however it happened, he's a Senator.

This is Washington.

TAYLOR:

Steamroller stuff, Joe? My methods

don't go in Washington? They've done

pretty well by now, haven't they?

PAINE:

Oh, Jim, that's beside the point.

This boy's different. He's honest

and beside he thinks the world of

me. We can't do this to him.

TAYLOR:

Well, what do you want me to do?

Stand around like you chump and let

that drooling infant wrap that Willet

Creek Dam appropriation around my

neck. Either he falls in line with

us and behaves himself or I'll break

him so wide open they'll never be

able to find the pieces.

PAINE:

Jim, I won't stand for it.

TAYLOR:

You won't stand for it?

PAINE:

I don't want any part of crucifying

this boy.

TAYLOR:

Oh, I see. Out steamroller methods

are getting too hard to your sensitive

soul, is that it, Joe? The Silver

Knight is getting to big for us. My

methods have been all right for the

past twenty years, Joe, since I picked

you out of a fly-specked hole in the

wall and blew you up to look like a

Senator, and now you can't stand it.

Well, maybe you won't have to stand

it, Joe. Maybe we can fix it so you

and your Boy Ranger can go home

together.

PAINE:

Jim, you don't have to--

TAYLOR:

Oh, it's all right--it's all right.

It seems a shame, though, to part

company like this after all these

years, especially now with a national

convention coming up. Joe, I've put

everything I have behind you. And so

did all of our friends, but I guess

we'll survive. We'll just have to

find somebody else that's got a little

more sense, that's all. In the

meantime, you explain to Mr. Smith

about Willet Dam. It's your bill--

it's your reputation, and if he can't

find enough facts to break you with,

you just send him to me and I'll

give him a couple of good ones. I'm

taking the next plane home.

PAINE:

Jim, it's just that I like the kid--

I don't want to see you get too rough

on him.

TAYLOR:

I'm glad to see you come to your

senses. You had me scared there for

a minute, thought.

(To McGann)

Let him in.

McGann opens the door, and Jeff stands in the doorway.

TAYLOR:

Come in.

Jeff enters, looking around at the faces he has never seen

before.

PAINE:

Jeff--this is Mr. Taylor.

TAYLOR:

(taking his hand)

Glad to know you, Senator. Meet the

boys--

PAINE:

(quickly)

Congressmen, Radner, Schultz, Diggs--

VOICES OF CONGRESSMEN

How are you, Senator?

Glad to know you.

How do you do?

TAYLOR:

I happened to be passing through,

Senator. I wanted to meet you. Thanks

for coming. Sit down.

Jeff hesitates, looks at the men, his eyes resting on Paine

a moment. More and more puzzled, he takes a chair just a

step away.

TAYLOR:

Well. I hear you've been right on

your toes since you got here. Pitching

right in. Lots of people took you

for dumb--but they're wrong. You're

smart. In fact, *I* think you're

smart enough to understand a situation

when it's explained to you--

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