Stand Up and Cheer! Page #4

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A fantastic idea.

Mr. Secretary, I've been an interested

follower of your career-

a great career.

Your future is still ahead of you.

It pains me to see you give it up.

Thanks, Mr. Harly, but I don't think

now is the time to talk about...

my department or the career.

- Yes, I did promise you a little rest, didn't I?

- Yes, you did.

Well just let me say one thing more.

How would you like to be...

the greatest figure

in the amusement world-

a king in your own domain,

free from political whims and obstacles?

- What do you mean?

- I mean simply this.

Resign as secretary of amusement,

and I'll build you a magnificent theater...

in every important city in America...

and in time extend them to London and Paris.

- You're not by any chance

trying to bribe me, are you?

Well, I think we can use

a prettier word.

Let us say "a foundation

for artistic achievement. "

Look here, Harly.

I don't know what's behind all this...

but I do know the only artistic thing to expect

from your gang is an artistic trimming.

You're passing up a great opportunity,

Mr. Secretary.

Yeah? Well, I've gotten

where I am today...

- by passing up great opportunities.

- Mmm.

Yes, yes, I know. But styles in songs

change,just as they do in clothes.

Now we've got to understand that

and keep ahead of the times.

One month it's "mammy" songs,

another hot songs or torch songs or-

Well, now, the country's crying for

hillbilly tunes, and it's up to us to deliver.

The public must be pleased.

Now, if we stick to that, before we're through,

we'll make 'em stand up and cheer.

That, gentlemen...

is the complete record

of all our efforts.

The work has been gigantic

and the results little or nothing.

Ah, but I know far better than you

that our slow progress...

is not due to any lack

of zeal or effort on your part.

We have come face-to-face

with an unseen foe-

some phantom force

is strangling our every move.

It's spreading discord and ill will

in the hearts of our people.

I know some of you have brought to

this very meeting letters of resignation.

Now get me clearly.

I will not accept those resignations!

How many of you will give me your word

right here to stand by your posts come what may?

- Jacobs.

- I'm with you.

- Bailey.

- Count on me.

- Feeley.

- I always enjoy a good fight.

- Ah, that's fine. Turner.

- I think you're-

- That's your final word?

- No, sir.

I can't believe, Mr. Secretary, that you

don't know what you're asking of these men.

There's a wave of rapidly growing

resentment against this department.

That resentment will soon

take definite shape against us.

If you have any regard

for the people in this room...

people who have given

their utmost to make you a success...

I say, if you have any feeling for them,

you have but one course-

- to close this department immediately!

- Turner, you're through now!

Will you kindly leave, and if there are

any other weaklings among you...

will you kindly go now.

Friends, I'm grateful

for the show of confidence.

I only hope your daring

will be rewarded with success.

Come on!

Let's get to work!

Larry, you were magnificent.

Do you think so?

What's the matter?

- But it was an act,just an act.

- An act?

- Yeah, I was acting every second. I didn't mean a word I said.

- You didn't?

- But you said-

- I know I said. I said-

I said a lot of things,

but you get this, Mary.

Turner's right. The department's doomed.

We haven't got a chance.

I didn't want them to know,

but I can't run out without telling you.

I'm through. I'm quitting!

Do you understand?

- What's really the matter? This isn't like you.

- It is just like me-

a me that you didn't know,

a me that I've been hiding from you.

I've stood all I can! I'm going

back to Broadway before it's too late.

But why?

Because back on Broadway

I've only the public to please.

Down here there are senators,

congressmen, cabinet officers...

snoopers, investigators

and professional reformers...

and a million and one selfish interests.

- I tell you, I'm through. I'm washed-up.

- Well.

That'll make interesting copy

for the newspapers, won't it?

I can see the headlines now.

"Famous Producer Returns A Failure. "

"Lawrence Cromwell Loses His Grip. "

"Even With The Support OfThe Government,

The Show Was Just Too Big. "

All right, I won't go back to Broadway.

I'll quit, but I won't go back. I don't have to.

I've got a little farm up in New England,

away from everybody.

- What'll you do there?

- Do what-What do I have to do!

What is this mania always to do something?

Maybe I'll just live.

You can't run away from yourself.

Wherever you go,

you've got to take you with you.

- What does that matter?

- If you quit and run away now...

you'll have to spend

all the rest of your days with a failure.

I know you too well to imagine that would

make you anything but miserable and unhappy.

Well, who cares?

I do.

Mary.

- Are you in love with me?

- Terribly.

- How much is that?

- Enough to go back to that little farm with you.

- Even if I go a quitter?

- Yes.

Although it'd almost kill me.

You see, I'm proud too.

I wouldn't want to spend all the rest

of my life with a failure, either.

Oh, Mary, Mary.

There's no sense to all this.

I was gonna tell you

I loved you too, but-

- Is it so hard to say?

- It's hard to live up to.

- Then you don't love me.

- The answer's not so simple, Mary.

You see, Mary.

I belong in show business.

And show business and a home don't mix.

Excuse me, Mr. Cromwell, but they're holding

that number for you on the audition stage.

Tell them to go ahead without me!

Can't you see I'm busy?

Yes, sir.

Do you want me

to look at it for you?

Oh, I don't care.

All right, Larry.

Larry, whether you're a quitter,

slightly insane or-

or ill-tempered, I love you.

You're the only man

I've ever wanted.

And when I want something,

I don't give up as easily as you do.

Hotch-cha-cha-cha-cha!

Hotch-cha-cha-cha-cha!

What, no reception?

It's mutiny. That's what it is, mutiny.

And me, who once mingled

with the elite. Am I mortified.

Hotch-cha-cha-cha-cha.

Hotch-cha-cha-cha-

Mr. Durante, is that you?

That's me. Look at me.

I'm a wanderer-

a gypsy, a strange Indian

whose taboo and to be for two...

without a toupee.

Yassuh, but, my goodness,

how you done shrunk up.

- My goodness-

- They cut me down. That's what they did.

They cut me down.

Me, who was once a mass of virility...

masculinity and trigonometry.

E Pluribus Aluminum.

The last time I seen you,

you was just as wholesome...

and standard-sized as you could be.

Yeah, they asked me to concentrate

and am I concentrated.

Oh, the mortification.

Once a Rembrandt, now a watercolor.

I could hide my face in shame.

They cut me down.

Lookee there, Mr. Durante,

you got a tail too!

I got a sad tale.

Where is it?

There's one in every office. Where is it?

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