Park Row Page #4

I think I have a story...

Made a few notes...

I'll give it to you right off the cuff.

Torts...arm...what is this?

Part of that statue...

the gift from France.

What about it?

It's on display now

in Madison Square.

We'll go over it later...

Right now I've got to write

the Brody follow-up.

Stir up the members of the Dead Rabbits, too...

Get them over there.

You'll have 3 rival gangs

congregated in 'The Tombs'.

Yes, Brody belongs to all of them.

What's the matter?

Must we have a riot,

just to get a story?

I didn't say I wanted a riot.

Man jumps off a bridge and dies...

there's nothing they can do about it.

If he lives, they throw him in the clink!

In this case...Brody's a hero...

You can't deny that.

There won't be any riot.

Is this all you have?

The Republican anti-saloon movement

in New Jersey is spreading.

Democratic majority in the House

to reduce the number of employees.

This is just a little party capital...

during fall elections.

I want something controversial.

There's a rumour that 'The Globe'

is getting Brody out of 'The Tombs', tonight.

So?...well...we're back to Mr Mitchell again.

You like him, don't you?

I respect him.

Brody broke the law.

Take my word for it...

'The Globe' isn't strong enough

to free him.

Tell me something about this stallion

bristling with news.

Where'd he come from?

Who are his parents?

Is he married? Engaged? Divorced?

How'd he get a start?

What does he want?

All I can tell you about him is that every year

produces one great newspaperman.

The stock isn't as good

as your first issue.

Wrapping paper...I made the rounds

of the shoe shops.

You know what's very exciting, Mr Mitchell...

You came out with Brody's jump

this morning...

Tonight you have another edition

with his release.

2 issues in the same day!

Remarkable.

Only page 1 has been changed, though.

Once I get my hands on enough

type, paper and ink...

I'll come out with 2..3...

maybe even 4 editions a day.

Just change the front page.

You know, Mr Mitchell...I've been giving you

a great deal of thought...

Me too...a lot of thought.

Don't you like what you've been

thinking about?

Is that the only dress you've got?

Oh, it's good makeup, Miss Hackett...

nice form, nice balance...

Pretty as a perfect front page.

Thank you.

But you remind me of the obituary column.

You're always in black!

The copy's in...how come you're not in bed?

I couldn't sleep.

I've been going over

these notes you scrawled.

How come you left your cuff here?

Oh, I have an extra cuff.

Eiffel?...Is that the same Eiffel

that's building that tower in Paris?

Yes.

What did he have to do

with the statue?

He built the iron frame.

de Lesseps...

You've been eating at

'Dinny's Beef & Bean' again!

The same de Lesseps

that built the Suez Canal?

Yes...he had something

to do with the Suez.

What's this about a subscription?

The Franco-American Union

raised 1 million francs...

for Barthaloldi to build a monument...

How much is that?

$350,000

Why'd they build it?

To cement the friendship

of 2 great republics.

France and the United States...

A gift from a people to a people.

Not from a government.

So the people of France actually donated

their own money to build the statue?

That's right.

What's this about a torch

in Madison Square?

Congress passed a resolution,

accepting the statue.

But declined to grant a subsidy

for the necessary base.

The head's at The Battery...

the body's on South Street...

Doesn't have a leg to stand on,

has she?

No, Mitch...she needs a pedestal.

How much would that cost?

$100,000

I am annoyed, because you gentlemen

seem to lack imagination and circulation ideas.

This Mitchell has run the first front page

editorial cartoon to appear in newspapers.

Would YOU have run a cartoon

on the front page, Miss Hackett?

Plaster 'The Star'

with penny valentines?

No thank you.

I'd rather see my paper in Hades,

than commit a frowsy woodcut to the pages.

But at least the idea

would have been born here.

That's what I'm driving at.

He came out with 2 editions yesterday.

On butcher paper.

Wrapping paper used for shoes...

Heaven knows what kind of paper

he'll use tomorrow.

Now he's offering to publish

the name of every subscriber...

No matter how small or large the amount

Pennies or dollars.

Rich people or poor people.

Mr Wiley...there's a German in this country

experimenting with a machine...

...to compose foundry type.

Find him, and get him.

You mean Mergenthaler?

Yes, that's his name.

Do you know where he is?

Yes, he's working on his machine

at 'The Globe'.

Ottmar Mergenthaler?

He's at 'The Globe'?

Gten Morgen!

Wie geht es Ihnen?

Herr Mergenthaler?

Mein Name ist Frulein Hackett...

...von 'The Star'...

If you don't mind,

I prefer to speak English.

Of course.

You know, I knew a Herr Mergenthaler

in Wrttemberg.

You have been to Wrttemberg?

That is where I am from.

In Germany "Merkantaler"

In America Mergenthaler...

It's easier to say.

I like the people there...

But I don't like Stuttgart!

Who likes Stuttgart?!

You know there's some talk on the street about

the greatest invention in printing since Gutenberg.

If it works.

IF it works!

The whole idea is to enter the dream

of all printers.

A machine that will end the hard

and slow work of setting type by hand.

This is now my dream, too.

Well i suppose you know that Mark Twain

is also working on a typesetting machine.

The Paige Patent.

I know.

I've heard Mark said

it will be able to do everything...

...except drink, smoke and go on strike.

Can yours?

It's so complicated,

perhaps it will even talk.

I shall try to follow the conversation.

Perhaps you will have

the answer i am looking for.

I call this 'blower machine'.

I call it that because the matrices up here

are moved down to here.

They are blown down by an air-blast,

when I touch one of these keys.

You mean you cast your own type,

when you touch those keys?

Then a bar of lead is melted...

...so that the justifier forces hot lead

against the metal.

And it forms the type.

The face of the type is in perspective.

How long would it take you to set up

a column of type?

As long as takes 12...15..maybe even 20

of your printers by hand.

Then it would be no trouble at all to get out

more than 1 issue a day?

Nothing.

With 10, 20 maybe 40 of these machines...

I could have a circulation of a million daily...

maybe 2 million.

The big problem now is to separate

the paper from the metal...

It sticks together

and the type is not clear.

Oh..we must solve that problem!

I'm going to help you all I can,

Mr Mergenthaler.

I've a great newspaper.

And once we baptise this new machine,

we'll make newspaper history.

I have a lot of room for you

in Composing.

My men could move this machine over

without turning a wheel.

I'll give you all the support you need...

money, parts, assistance...

What's the matter?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes