The System Page #2

Probably wondering

what holds you together.

Want your eggs up or down?

- One up and the other down.

You look terrible.

What time did you finally

get to bed last night?

It was near dawn, when I fell asleep.

Your typewriter was still going.

Working on something big, Liz.

Mighty big.

How long will it go on?

You look ten years older

than you did yesterday.

I feel ten years younger.

There isn't any cream.

Do you want milk or evaporated?

I'm doing some pieces

on the local gambling racket.

That's nice, now which do you..

- A crusade!

Who knows?

It might win me a Pulitzer Prize.

Just what we've always wanted!

Oh, so a Pulitzer Prize is nothing, huh?

It might mean a raise for me.

Leona wants to take piano lessons.

She's been talking about it all week.

- She'll have them. On her own piano.

We haven't even finished

paying for the vacuum yet.

You know Liz, being

a newspaper man is pretty important.

It's a responsibility.

I guess I haven't always

thought of it like that.

But people get to depend on you.

Expect you tell them the truth.

Don't they though. I'll give you

milk and evaporated, half and half.

If that's the milkman,

I give you the cream.

No, I like the evaporated!

Oh, Mr. Merrick, come in.

- Thank you.

I thought it'd be the milkman.

He didn't come around this morning,

I ran out of cream.

I'll send you over a prize cow,

gives nothing but the finest cream.

You would too, I betcha.

And come on back to the kitchen,

I'm fixing breakfast.

I haven't seen you in some time.

You're looking mighty good. - Thank you.

You don't mind the kitchen, do you?

- Mind?

When I was kid all we had was a kitchen.

At night, the table used to sleep

two of us, me and my big brother.

He always used to say,

"I guess they're finally going

to have to get me a bed of my own."

"My feet are beginning to

hang over into the sink."

My father, he fooled him.

You know what he did?

Put another leaf in the table.

There's a moral in there some place.

Sit down.

Thank you. Yeah, I guess there is.

You never know when somebody's

going to put a new leaf under your..

pull one up.

A little breakfast. - No, thanks.

I will have some black coffee.

Jerry'll be right down. He's shaving.

He slept late this morning,

he was up half the night.

I know, I stopped by for him at the office

and they told me he was working at home.

Is that about right?

- Just fine.

Careful, it's hot!

You worry about everybody, don't you?

Like everybody was one of your family.

- Oh, really..

I just like to be bossy, I guess.

Jerry's really lucky.

Liz, was that the..

Morning, Jerry.

- Morning.

Sure you won't have an egg, Mr. Merrick?

- No, thank you, Mrs. Allen.

How's your son, Mr. Merrick?

Oh, he's just fine, I had

a letter from him this morning.

He says that he and Jerry Jr

see a lot of each other at school.

Really? - Says he's a fine student.

- Oh!

He wants to be a writer like his dad.

Rex tells me he has already done some

work on the school paper. - That's nice.

He's a lot like his dad in a lot of ways.

Good and bad.

I don't think there's

much bad in either of them.

Depends on your point of view.

Well, I'm going to run to the store now.

If you want any more coffee,

it's over here on the table. - Thank you.

Goodbye, Mr. Merrick.

And come back again when you're

real hungry. - I'll remember that.

Bye!

Fine woman.

- Yes.

Wonderful wife, nice kids, fine house..

What does a man want out of life?

I ask you Jerry, what more does a man

want out of life. - What can you suggest?

What?

You asked me what more can

a man want out of life.

I asked you what can you suggest.

You open for suggestions?

- I listen to everybody.

Part of my job.

I'll tell you something, Jerry,

if you're on the take, I'll go along.

I'll do business.

But it would bust my heart.

No, Johnny. I'm not on the take.

Well, then why?

These articles you're writing.

Suddenly, after all these years.

You ever know me to hurt anybody?

This Gerber kid, do you think that I..

Jerry, I give my right arm up

to here to have that boy back.

I believe you, I know you would.

- But then why?

Make me understand, that's all I ask.

Johnny..

you asked me what more

can a man want out of life.

Because you asked me that,

I don't think I'll ever be able

to make you understand.

I haven't got the kind of words

that Johnny Merrick can..

can take apart and taste them and smell

them and put them back together again and..

and then understand.

All I can do, Johnny, is tell

you I intend to close you down.

Forever.

Smash me?

Smash you.

Sorry, Johnny.

You got a job to do, do it!

You got a job to do.

Do it.

Good morning, Mr. Merrick.

- Morning.

I'm sorry, Sir, but Miss Stuart went

down town.. - Mr. Stuart sent for me.

Mr. Stuart's in the library, Sir.

- Thank you.

Well, Mr. Merrick?

- I got your message.

Message?

Biggest personal ever published,

half the front page in the News Tribune.

Piece mentions no names.

It doesn't mean Father

Gallo at Saint Sophia's.

No, it doesn't.

Oh, it reminds me..

I promised to make a contribution

to Father Gallo's fund.

Fine fellow, Father Gallo.

To me, it reads only way:

"Attention Merrick,"

"This is only beginning. No names yet."

"Let's have a meeting, before I really

get tough. Love and kisses, Stuart."

Your interpretation must remain your own.

Clarkton, I'm sure,

will read it in another way.

Organized gambling is

a menace to the community.

The system must be destroyed.

- How do you spell "system"?

M-E-R

-R-I-C-K.

Twenty years.

It's sure a long time

to make up your mind.

I'm never been an impulsive man.

Alright, Stuart, let's get in

out of the rain. What do you want?

I run a newspaper, Merrick.

My only interest is supplying the public

with stories and information which

will them keep coming back for more.

If I find that my readers..

lose interest in some feature or

series of articles, I.. - You drop it.

Racing results,

they interest your readers?

Allan's articles on gambling,

maybe they don't?

Maybe they don't.

Depending on what?

- On you!

How?

- Your actions.

With your daughter?

Ah, that's better! That's much better.

For a fast minute,

I thought you were sincere.

Jerry Allen is sincere.

You control Allen?

- I do.

But not Felice, huh?

Tell me something,

in this I really want to know.

How do you expect to talk turkey

to Johnny Merrick, when you

can't control your own daughter?

Because I have something

to offer Johnny Merrick,

the day he promises to stop seeing her.

She's a big girl now.

Married and divorced, remember?

I still know what's best for her.

Yeah, you picked out what

was best for her the first time.

Only he had to be carted off

to the looney bin with the DTs.

I mean, maybe I wasn't born a gentleman,

but I know how to drink like one.

It's still a question of family.

You make me sick!

No deal.

One thing.

Once you light the fuse

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