The West Point Story

No, no, no!

You have no step

unless you get your leg up.

All right, come on, watch.

Give me that dicer.

Hit it, the last 16 bars. Now, watch.

- What time you got?

- Ten to 3.

Take over, Eve. Last chorus.

All right, well, pick up.

Hello, Jerry. Bix.

Ran out, huh?

Well, look, give me a $20 parlay...

...from Laughing Boy in the seventh

to Happy Eve in the eighth.

You heel.

Can't even pay a hotel bill.

In debt up to your ears, and it's horses.

Horses every second you're awake.

Horses, horses, horses.

I don't drink or smoke.

You, Elwin Bixby, a man of talent,

a genius of Broadway.

The brightest future of anybody

in show business.

Take five, kids.

Had hit after hit, season after season...

...now beating out a time step

in this broken-down saloon.

Take 10, sweetheart.

Take 10?

I've been taking 10

ever since I've known you.

Watching you fight your way

to the bottom.

- I don't fight, baby. I'm a lover.

- Don't change the subject.

You fought with Ziegfeld, Harris,

Hammerstein, Eberhart, always battling.

But you know who you're really fighting?

Yourself.

Where do we go from here?

We'll land right on our feet,

and when we do:

That tune went off my hit parade

long ago.

Sorry, but here goes the bride.

Eve, Eve, you haven't heard

the whole story.

Heard it? I could put it to music.

"Meet me at the city hall. This is it.

We'll have our honeymoon in Bermuda."

"Had to postpone it."

- Something happened to the money.

- Something always happened to the money.

Answer it. It's probably your bookie

with another sure thing.

- Hello.

- Bix, old boy. How are you, fella?

I've been combing the town for you.

Where you been? How do you feel?

When did you start being interested

in the state of my health?

Oh, now, Bix.

You know I've always been interested

in how you're doing.

Listen, I've got a proposition for you.

Go blow your brains out, you thief.

Eberhart.

- Harry Eberhart?

- Yes, offered me a job.

You fool.

The only producer in town

who'll give you a job and you insult him?

I wouldn't work for that chiseler

if you put a gun in my back.

Well, that does it.

Pick up the phone when you roll out of bed

around 2 tomorrow afternoon.

Call my two-room,

cross-ventilated basement.

Ask for Eve.

She won't live there anymore.

Oh, now...

Sit down, sit down, sweetheart.

You're overheated.

- Bix, I'm leaving.

- Yeah, sure, sure.

I've been offered a job to do a single

and help stage the dances...

...at a hotel in Las Vegas.

Eve, you can't do that.

You're my feet, you're my memory.

I couldn't work without you.

You better start getting used to it.

All right, Eve, Eve.

So help me, word of honor, word of honor,

no more horses.

- Word of honor?

- Yeah.

You don't know what it means.

Sorry, Bix. I gotta pack.

- I'll be up to your place as soon as I finish.

- Won't do any good.

Save yourself the bus fare.

You might need it.

Bix, every year at West Point,

the cadets put on a musical...

...the 100th Night Show.

They call it that

because it's a kind of a celebration.

The winter's over,

only a hundred days till June.

Well, I made a special trip up there

to look over the show.

It's wonderful what those kids have done.

Of course, some of the material

was amateurish.

But I've seen a lot worse on Broadway.

Bix...

...l'm gonna help those boys.

That's why I sent for you.

- Did you say something?

- I didn't say anything.

You know, Bix, you and I have done

a lot of shows together.

I can't think of a man

with more on the ball.

That's why I gave you such a big build-up

with those cadets.

Don't you talk to me about West Point.

That is the greatest collection...

...of big-headed, salute-happy,

station-house characters in any man's army.

I took it for four years from those muzzlers

from Camp Dix to the Rhine.

And all the way, nothing but trouble.

And how do they get that way?

They have a special factory up there

for putting square heads into brass hats.

West Point?

But, Bix, I'm asking this

as a personal favor.

Why should I do you any favors?

Bix, I've got a nephew up there,

Tom Fletcher.

The kid's written the music

and he's putting on the show.

He's my only sister's boy.

The kid's dad died when he was 3.

There isn't anything in this world

I wouldn't do for that boy.

As a friend, go on up there

and whip that show into shape.

Now, suppose...

...you tell me the real story.

All right.

I've got a big musical for the fall.

Can I put it on?

Not without a leading man.

And where am I gonna find

a good-looking guy that can sing?

Don't tell me, don't tell me.

- West Point.

- Exactly.

My own nephew, Tom.

Oh, a tremendous voice.

Believe me, and the chump

wants to be an Army officer.

Now, what kind of a career is that?

I tell you, I've tried every angle

to get that kid out of there.

Now, come on, Bix, go on up there.

Give them that stuff.

Let that kid get a taste of applause.

Get under his skin.

You can make him listen.

He'll make us a fortune.

- Who'll wind up with it?

- We will.

Harry, you got your start

robbing a blind man.

Six years, you sat on

the broad end of your back...

...collected the dough, took the bows

for hits that I made for you.

You fired me and had me blackballed

with every producer in town.

And now, when you need me...

Now, wait just a minute, Bix.

Just one minute.

- What did you do to me?

- Do to you?

- Jan Wilson?

- Yes, Jan Wilson.

You stole her out of my own show,

right from under my very nose.

Stole her? I found her.

Now, Bix, Bix, you stole her.

You signed her to a personal contract

and then sold to the pictures.

- Of course I did, to give her a break.

- And never even cut me in.

Cut you in?

You chiseler.

- You had her buried in the chorus.

- Now, all right.

Let's let bygones be bygones, shall we?

Now, I know that you've been

having a little trouble lately...

...so here's my proposition:

I'll give you 5000 as an advance

against 2 percent of the gross.

- lf you'll get the b...

- No, there is no if.

I will not steal your nephew

out of West Point.

Get yourself another boy.

- Oh, Bix?

- Yes?

- How's Eve? Seen her lately?

- Yeah, why?

Nice girl. I heard she'd been having

kind of a hard time.

You know, a friend of mine

owns a hotel in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas?

Friend of yours?

That's throwing them in there

pretty low, even for you.

Five thousand against 2 percent

of the gross if you deliver that boy.

- Ten thousand.

- Seventy-five hundred.

That should straighten out

a lot of troubles for you and Eve.

You got a deal.

Detail.

Forward, hut.

Isn't this wonderful?

Think of this place,

its history, its tradition.

Think of all the great men

who came from here.

General Grant, Eisenhower, Pershing.

Benedict Arnold. He tried hard

to give this joint to the British.

I think he should

have his case reviewed.

Look at that scenery, those buildings.

Alcatraz on the Hudson.

And get a load of this weather. Cold enough

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