Pittsburgh Page #4

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- How do you do, sir?

- How do you do? This is my daughter.

- How do you do?

- Glad to know you, Miss Prentiss.

- What's your proposition?

Go ahead and tell him, Cash.

Your company is the biggest

consumer of coke in Pennsylvania.

You've been buying coal, paying freight

and coking at your plant.

If we coke at the mines,

we can get it to you $3 a ton cheaper...

than you're getting it now.

It'll make a lot of difference

at the end of a month.

Then how about a contract to furnish

your next year's supply of coke?

Can you keep

those furnaces going?

- Well, uh-

- Sure, we can keep 'em going.

Well, we can talk business.

What's the output of your mine?

- We haven't got one right now.

- You contract your coal.

- What's the size of your coking equipment?

- We haven't any equipment.

You come here without a mine, no equipment

and expect me to give you a contract?

If you'd give us the contract first,

we could get credit to set up the ovens.

We'll put what we know about the coke

and coal business up against anybody.

I'll be very glad to sign

a contract with you...

providing you bring me proof

that you have the coal...

the equipment

and the ability to deliver.

Roughly, that would

require a backing of...

oh, about a quarter

of a million dollars.

Quarter of a million dollars?

Well, I'm surprised that should

present a problem to you, Mr. Markham.

- Come on, Pitt.

- Wait a minute. How long are ya gonna be here?

- 'Til about 6.00.

- I'll be back at 5.00.

Come on, Cash.

What're ya up to?

Where'd you get that?

Prentiss sure doesn't

bother to dot his "I".

"Morgan Prentiss. "

What're you gonna do, Pitt?

Forge a cheque?

Why, I wouldn't do

a thing like that.

I was just gonna sign his name

to a contract that says we have a deal...

to deliver coke to

Prentiss Steel Company.

Then I suppose you're going to the colliery

and flash it in front of Wilson...

and bamboozle him into furnishing

the cash and equipment?

No, I was gonna take it to the bank.

But your idea's better.

And to cinch it, I'll give him 50 percent.

Well, maybe only 40.

There's no tellin' where this'll end. It'll

run into the thousands, maybe millions.

We'll be rollin' in dough!

Would you gentlemen roll me $4

on last week's rent?

Pay her off.

Cash, you wouldn't object to

a few thousand bucks, would ya?

I wouldn't object to just four.

Two's all I can spare,

Mrs. Higgins.

You millionaires oughtn't to have any

trouble digging up the other $2 by tonight.

Two bucks! Why, we'll be smoking

$2 cigars before long.

Maybe you will.

Count me out, Pitt.

What's the matter with you?

Wanna be a hunky all your life?

I just don't like it.

Maybe you're afraid.

Nobody's gonna get hurt.

If you weren't so selfish,

you'd think what it'll mean to others.

What about the guys we'd be giving jobs

to, and paying a living wage for a change?

Free hospitalization if they're sick.

Won't cost 'em a dime.

Look, Cash, you know

what this money can mean to us?

Doc Powers can have a new lab.

A place to develop all those drugs

and things he's been workin' on.

What do ya say?

Where ya goin'?

I said, where ya goin'?

With you.

I love ya, Cash.

- So help me, Hannah, I love ya.

- Sing Sing, here we come.

Hey, Doc, where are ya?

We did it, Doc. We put 'er over.

Show him the contract, Cash.

Get an eyeful, Doc.

Signed, sealed and delivered.

Boys, I can't tell you

how happy I am for you.

What we told you

about the new lab goes.

You and Junior will have a joint so big,

you'll have to have a guide.

Bust open this bottle, Cash.

The fireworks is gonna start right here.

And finish in the biggest nightclub

in town. You're going along, Doc.

- Who, me?

- Yeah, wheelchair and all.

Gonna get all those chorus cuties

to autograph that plaster shank of yours.

- Where's Hunky? Isn't she here yet?

- No, I don't think she's coming.

- Not coming?

- Why not?

That's something

you'll have to find out yourself.

You bet I will. I'll go get her.

I'll be right back.

We put it over, Hunky. Prentiss gave us

the green light to go ahead.

- Where do you think you're going?

- Oh, I don't know.

- New York, Philadelphia, Chicago-

- Wait a minute.

You're part of this outfit.

We're partners.

And we've got the brass ring

right in our hand.

There are no brass rings. I know,

I've been on too many merry-go-rounds.

Believe me, I've tried to catch them.

There just aren't any.

There are on this one, Countess.

I tell ya, we're on our way up.

And we're goin' up together,

you and me.

Why, I'd still be diggin' coal

if you hadn't sunk the spurs into me.

I need you.

I'm crazy about you.

I've heard that before too.

From now on we're gonna be together,

no matter what.

No matter what.

It was wasn't easy,

those first days.

But you both rolled up your sleeves

and went to work like two demons.

You boys nursed those coke ovens as though

they were newborn babes with the colic.

And you went to bed at night proud in knowing

that you'd done an honest day's work.

Markham & Evans looked pretty good when those

wagons started rolling to the steel mill.

Hard work meant

happiness and success.

And when you got your first cheque, you didn't

forget that you were all three partners.

And now, instead of beans and red-eye,

it was champagne and fancy roast chicken.

Of course, Mrs. Higgins' rooming house

couldn't hold you now.

Josie picked out a new apartment

for you and Cash.

And I moved too, into that

new laboratory you boys promised me.

The company

couldn't stop growing.

And you did that on only

50 percent of the profits...

for old Wilson at the colliery

was holding you to a strict accounting.

Success like that was bound

to make changes in all of us.

But the greatest change

was in you, Pittsburgh.

- Good morning, Miss Fordham.

- Good morning, Mr. Markham.

- Mr. Milgrane is waiting to see you.

- Who?

- Mr. Milgrane.

- Oh, come on in, boys.

- Good morning, Mr. Prentiss. Did I keep you waiting?

- Yes, you did.

I don't want any third assistants working

on my duds. Are you Migraine himself?

The name is Milgrane, Mr. Markham.

Milgrane and Milgrane.

I'm both of them. Carlos.

These aren't the terms

we agreed on.

Our understanding was that I could renew

at the same figure.

- You can.

- The latest imported worsteds. Very smart this season.

- But I've already talked with Wilson.

- I've got to see him!

- It's important!

- Wilson said you had no right to make a proposition like that.

And he hasn't! I invested a great deal

of capital in this venture.

I'm entitled to a fair return. The price is up

to you and all the other companies.

Wilson, you've already made more money

than you ever made before.

- It's still cheaper than coking your own coal.

- I won't be held up!

Don't waste your breath on this two-bit

chiseller, Prentiss. Our deal sticks.

- Make me up six of these in assorted colors.

- Nice and conservative.

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