Ten Cents a Dance Page #4

you scared me to death.

Can you use an assistant bookkeeper?

What's all this?

It's none of your business.

You attend to your affairs

and I'll attend to mine.

What is that?

Corned-beef and cabbage.

Smell of cheap cooking.

Did you have dinner out, honey?

No, I was too busy.

But I have some nice apple pie left

over and coffee. Would you like some?

No, thanks, I um...

I had dinner with some

friends of mine in town.

Oh, tell me about it. Who were they?

Well, er... it was just business.

You wouldn't be interested.

I gotta get myself some dinner clothes.

I was the only one there

that wasn't dressed.

Gee, I'm dying to see you in dinner clothes.

Oh, it isn't that.

Only if you want to get up in the world,

you've got to know the right people.

To know the right people

you gotta dress up for it.

It's simply a matter of business.

I'm gonna hit Carlton for a raise.

I think I deserve one.

Gosh, a raise would be nice, wouldn't it?

I'll get it.

If I don't, something will turn up.

Something's got to turn up.

Oh... I know what you've been doing.

You've been trying to make

two and two equal five.

The funny part of it is two

and two do equal five.

That is if you finagle around long enough.

I played you a dirty trick

when I asked you to marry me.

Yes, I'll never forgive you.

No, I mean it.

A man has no right to get married

unless he can support a wife.

Have you heard any complaints

from the junior member?

That's why I feel so rotten about it.

You never complain.

Oh, forget it, darling.

You know, if you asked

me to make three wishes,

I couldn't think of anything in the world

I would want right now.

Yes, I could too!

What's that?

Dinner clothes for you.

What's the use of talking about it?

Let's forget about it, Barbara.

Oh, don't touch that. My goodness,

the paint is still wet.

What's the idea? Why all the camouflage?

The room was kind of dark and I thought

I'd brighten it up a little.

What's the use of trying to change brown

monstrosities into pink monstrosities?

I wish we could move out of this dump.

It's driving me crazy.

Hello, I want to speak to Mr. Carlton.

Hmm?

Oh, tell him it's Miss

Stuyvesant Astor Fish.

Hello, Mr. Carlton?

Oh, no, you don't know me.

No, I'm one of the girls

at the Palais des Danses.

Hm-hmm.

Well, I just thought you

might be interested to know

that we have one of our old

girls back in the job.

Oh, no, she's not here steady.

No, just once in a while.

Oh, no, she doesn't know I'm calling.

No...

No, I've got no special reason for calling.

No, it's because when I'm not

dancing I'm a girl scout.

And this is my good deed for the day.

Yeah... oh, don't mention it.

Barbara... I told Ma

I won't come home for supper tonight.

I told her I'd go out with you.

You didn't tell her that...

Oh, no, no.

I don't want anybody to

know I've come back here.

I'm a girl scout. Keep my trap shut.

How does it feel to be back?

I hate this place.

It's a swell way to pick

up a little loose change.

It's only until Eddie gets a raise.

Why didn't you tell Eddie

you're working here?

If I told Eddie, he'd die.

Aw, it's not that bad.

Gee whiz, it's legal.

Are you gonna stick around?

Yeah, Eddie's going to go to a convention.

Convention? How do you know?

How do I know? He told me.

Oh!

The poor kid had to rent a dinner suit.

My, how nice you look, Eddie.

It's the first time I've

seen you in a dinner suit.

It's the first time I've worn it.

My old one was all shot.

What time do you want him, sir?

Just tell him to wait.

This is the place, is it?

Oh, yes, this is the place.

The music, oh, the music's divine.

So soft you can hardly hear it.

Let's go.

Alright, let's.

Hello, darling.

What's this?

Oh, that. We always have small pox

around the first of the month.

Saves you a lot of time

with the collectors.

Collectors? What for?

Do we owe any money?

Not much. A little here and there.

But don't you worry about that.

Why haven't I heard about it before?

First time I ever heard anything about it.

Who were you telephoning?

I was trying to get you at the office.

The office? What for?

I wanted to find out when

you'd be home for dinner.

How many times have I told you

never to telephone me at the office?

You never can tell when those

switchboard girls are listening in.

Suppose they do listen in. They're

liable to find out that I'm married.

Are you ashamed of it?

Oh, no, of course not.

It's this place I'm ashamed of.

Things like that.

All right, I know I'm a piker.

I don't make much.

But it seems to me like forty dollars a

week oughta keep a dump like this going.

Well, it would, Eddie.

Only you don't give me forty a week.

What do you want me to do?

You want me to walk to work?

Would it help any if I gave up cigarettes?

I gotta have something to

keep on going, don't I?

You seem last week you took...

Yeah, last week I got myself a dress suit.

I had to have one.

I need clothes.

So do you.

What's happened to your hair?

Well... I guess the last permanent

wave I got wasn't so permanent.

Marriage oughtn't make people sloppy.

Aw, what's wrong with you, Eddie?

What's eating you?

Come on and tell me.

You wouldn't understand.

There's a lot of things I don't understand.

When we were first married I wanted to hire a

radio station and broadcast it to the world.

Now you act as though marrying

me was some sort of a crime.

What's that?

What kind of a house is this?

Oh, the house is all right, I...

I guess the light company figures that

people with small pox don't need any light.

I'll call them up and

tell them a few things.

Information.

Don't bother, Eddie.

They're only interested in one thing.

Why we haven't paid the light bill

in the past two months.

Well why haven't we?

If you'd pay attention to these things instead of spending

all your time trying to paint a lot of junk pink.

Oh, don't cave in like that, please, Eddie.

I don't mind the lights going out.

It's fun.

All those silly little troubles.

Don't you worry about it. I'll go

down in the morning and pay the bill.

Oh, what's the use.

Maybe it's better if we don't

have any light around here.

It hides all the ugly things.

Ugly?

Yes, ugly. Ugly!

Everything's ugly around here.

A fine place to come home to after I've

worked hard at the office all day.

I'm here all day. I don't mind it.

Well I do!

I'm going out!

Wait a minute, Eddie.

I forgot to tell you Mrs. Carney

invited us for dinner tonight.

No, thanks.

It's bad enough smelling that junk

without trying to eat it.

Where are you going?

I don't know.

Anywhere. Anywhere just so I can get

the paint in this place out of my system.

Hello?

Hm-hmm.

Oh, yes.

Where are you phoning from?

The office?

What's wrong?

Shortage? How much?

Any idea who?

Eddie!

What are you doing?

What's wrong?

Everything.

I gotta get out of here.

I gotta get out of town.

Why? What happened?

I'm in a jam.

If I'm not out of here in 48

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