The Roaring Twenties Page #4

in a little hick town?

If you weren't from out of town,

I'd give you a ticket.

- Get out there and move it.

- Sorry, officer. I'll move it right away.

Hey, Joe.

Come on, let's sit down.

See, buster, it's easy.

All you gotta do is pay off.

- With what?

- Sucker money.

Ever since Prohibition, it's been floating

around, waiting to get picked up.

- Now, a bright guy like you...

- Look, will you stop conning me?

Tell me what goes on. Right now.

You've been nice. You took a rap I couldn't

afford. It would've put me out of business.

I'd hate to see someone like you

banging his head against a stone wall.

The liquor business is gonna grow big,

and it's gonna grow fast.

So get in line, buster.

Hack drivers are a dime a dozen.

- But you gotta know people.

- I know people.

- It takes money.

- I can get it, if you start small.

Tell me.

What's in this for you?

What's your take?

Nothing.

That story about the guy

in the cell was a sad one.

I'd hate to have somebody

tell me that about you.

Why?

I once knew a soldier like you

who went to France.

He never came back.

I never got over it.

That's why.

Is that all of it?

If you don't like that story,

I'll try to think of another one.

It'll do for now.

And so the Eddie of this story

joins the thousands and thousands...

...of other Eddies throughout America.

He becomes a part of a criminal army,

an army that was born of a marriage...

...between an unpopular law

and an unwilling public.

Liquor is the password in this army.

And it's a magic password that spells the

dollar sign as it spreads from city to city...

...from state to state.

The public is beginning to look upon the

bootlegger as an adventuresome hero...

...a modern crusader who deals

in bottles instead of battles.

And so, because

of the grotesque situation...

...this new kind of army grows and grows...

...always gaining new recruits

who care nothing about tomorrow...

...just so long as money is easy today.

I'll take two dozen of those.

- Got a little bad news for you, Eddie.

- Yeah? What?

Little price hike.

It's up a dollar a bottle from here in.

Oh, you don't say. No kidding.

Well, you're not gonna make

a sucker out of me.

I can make this tiger-sweat myself.

I've got a bathtub too.

Come on, Danny.

So long, fellas.

This is the real stuff.

They can't fool me.

By now, the Prohibition law

is firmly a part of American life...

...but so is the evasion of that law.

College students, male and female...

...and even high-school boys and girls

who never drank before...

...find themselves willing and able to buy

hard liquor with the greatest of ease.

The hip flask becomes an integral part

of the national scene...

...at football games, in automobiles.

In the meanwhile,

the supply of good alcohol...

...fails to keep up with

the ever-increasing demand for liquor.

But in the undercover liquor industry,

crude stills make their appearance.

Wood alcohol is recooked, and the product

of this loose and ineffective process...

...is put on the market in

a constantly swelling flood.

- Hi, Danny.

- Hi, Danny boy.

Hi, Lloyd.

Holy smoke, Eddie, another one?

Yeah, sure. We'll get more as

fast as Lloyd can pick them up.

Soon we'll have so many cabs,

we'll have to pick up passengers again.

That might not be a bad idea.

- Which one is Bartlett?

- Me. Why?

Hally told us to come here and see you.

Oh, yeah. When did you get out?

Yesterday.

- What were you up for?

- Stickup.

- You drive?

- Why not?

- What about you?

- I worked in a bank.

Oh, I see.

Took a few samples, huh?

Sort of.

Can use you in the office.

- What was your rap?

- They didn't have a thing on me.

I was framed.

Sorry. Can't use you.

- Say, now...

- Beat it.

Look, I don't care what you did before,

or if you've got a record a mile long.

But remember this. When you're working

for me, you keep your nose clean.

- You hear?

- Sure.

All right.

This is Danny Green.

- Danny, show them the layout.

- Glad to meet you, fellas.

- Some of my best friends are in jail.

- All right, Danny. All right.

Lloyd, let's go in the office.

Do you have a prejudice against

hiring honest citizens?

In this booze business,

you can't hire any geraniums.

A couple of years in the stir

seems to ripen them for the job. Come on.

I tell you, he's on his way

over there right now.

Hello. Two cases, yeah.

- Send it right up.

- How you doing?

- They lap it up faster than we can deliver.

- That means you gotta deliver it faster.

Here you are, big and good-looking.

Buy yourself a new set of law books.

Wait a minute, Eddie.

This is too much for what I did.

Buying a couple of taxicabs

doesn't rate this.

You saved me dough. Take it.

It's a beginner. Hang on to my shirttails...

...you'll be using that for wallpaper.

- Listen, Eddie...

...you should use those cabs as cabs.

You're on the wrong track.

This dough says I'm not.

While the gravy's flowing, I'm gonna be

there with my kisser under the faucet.

This isn't my kind of law.

I started out to be a corporation lawyer.

- This is a corporation. It's making money.

- Yeah.

Eddie, for you.

Yeah? Yeah?

Oh, no. No, no. Sorry.

No, can't use it.

Don't be a sap. You want to chase

ambulances for the next 10 years?

Take what you can get while you can get it.

Nobody's gonna drop it in your lap.

Chuck, here's a grand from Moore.

- How'd you make out?

- Okay.

- Did you get that dough from Masters?

- Can't collect from a guy you can't catch.

Anybody who can put on a $ 100,000

musical comedy can afford to pay me.

I'll get it.

I'll see you later.

Don't think everything's all wrong because

you're not starving to death, you hear?

Yeah? Sure. Sure, it's good stuff.

- We just got it off the boat.

- This is bonded stuff, 12 years old.

- Masters here?

- Who wants to see him?

- Me.

- Just a minute. You can't go in there.

Take it easy. Take it easy. It's a hot night.

Here. Buy yourself a couple of suds.

- Hello, Masters.

- Hello.

You've seen this before.

How about paying attention to me?

Eddie, I don't need any liquor

right now. I got plenty.

I know, you haven't paid for it.

Seven hundred bucks.

I'm not taking any runaround.

You know I'm always good for it.

I'll send you a check tomorrow.

Oh, no. I'll take the cash right now.

Well, wait till this number's over.

That's a pretty cute bundle you got

on the end of the line there.

Maybe I could wrap it up for you.

I think I can wrap that up myself.

Hi, Mineola.

Remember me?

Bartlett, your dream soldier?

Oh, yes, I remember.

- You haven't changed.

- You have.

Three years make a big difference.

- My character has changed, hasn't it?

- It's filled out.

I have to change.

Will I see you after the show?

- I have an engagement.

- How about tomorrow night?

- I'm busy.

- Then Thursday or Friday.

- I'm busy then too.

- Busy all week?

- Yes.

- Do you mind if I drive by and blow my horn?

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