To Please a Lady Page #4

How do you do, sir?

- Miss Forbes.

- Mr. Barrington. Something on your mind?

You know what's on my mind.

This campaign of yours against me

in your column and on the air.

I don't know where you get

your misinformation...

...but these damaging statements

have got to stop once and for all.

- Try those with the ribbons.

- What you don't seem to understand...

...is that organizing a nationwide

private-pension structure like this...

...is a big undertaking.

It takes work, planning, time, money.

Your irresponsible gossip

can keep us from raising it.

If you'll leave us alone...

...we can begin making payments

to our pensioners in weeks.

- You promised payments last year.

- I made no such promise.

You did

or others made promises for you.

That's the way you worked it in Wallstab,

isn't it? The Delaware Mudflat deal?

My name was dragged in,

but I was cleared and you know it.

Only you ignore it, just as you ignore

anything that isn't sensational.

- Lf there isn't a scandal, you'll create one.

- You think this heel is high?

Prying into things that you don't

understand, making trouble...

I'll keep making trouble until the

government indicts you for fraud.

I have nothing to fear.

Oh, but you have.

You've wasted millions.

Now you're trying to finagle more.

You won't get it.

- And you're going to stop me?

- Yes.

You've gotten away with it for years,

but now the walls are closing in.

It's useless to talk to you.

I thought that if we discussed

this personally...

...I might set you straight.

But I see that that's hopeless.

- But I warn you, if these attacks continue...

- You'll sue me?

You'll see what I'll do.

- That was all bluff.

- He tried to frighten you.

I've got him and he knows it.

Type up those notes. I may use them.

- Anything else?

- New clippings.

Check through them.

I'll try on the rest of these shoes.

Nothing here. I see that you're still

keeping track of that race driver.

I was curious as to what happened.

Last I read, he'd been barred off

some track in Arkansas weeks ago.

He was really on the skids.

- Well, you loved that, didn't you?

- He asked for it.

He was big, tough

and so sure of himself.

It looks as though he's through.

Guess what he's doing.

- Working in a thrill circus.

- Thrill circus?

"And the most daring

of the thrill-drivers is Mike Brannan...

...crack auto-racing driver

and famed ex-Marine. "

Here's an ad here too.

"Head-on crash at 60 miles an hour.

Bumper-to-bumper wingovers

at a mile a minute.

Rocket auto in death-defying climax.

Thrill spectacle of the century. "

- Where is this, Gregg?

- You're interested?

Don't be stupid.

The thing's worth a line in the column.

Use it:
Ex-villain heads thrill circus.

"Forty cents general admission

and a chance at the door prize. "

Lmagine risking your neck for that.

He's hit bottom, hasn't he?

How about seeing what's on the wire?

Good.

Ninety, 91, 92...

...93, 94...

...95, 96, 97...

...98, 99, 100.

Here they are, ladies and gentlemen, the

greatest daredevils the world has seen.

Here they come bumper-to-bumper at a mile

a minute and they're not tied together.

Each man is on his own.

And now at 60 miles an hour they're doing

what nobody else would dare do at all.

This is an exhibition

of clockwork timing and supreme skill.

This double-car breakaway over the skis is

something you'll never see anywhere else.

They're warming up

for the big thrills coming later.

Watch them miss by inches

and never scrape a fender.

They didn't have to be taught this one.

They learned how to do it

dodging Sunday drivers.

And now a triple-thrill spectacle.

A human battering ram will attempt

to smack through a flaming wall of fire.

There he is, rushing headfirst

at that blazing mass of fiery timber.

Maybe he can get through, maybe he can't,

but there's no turning back now.

He made it.

And here he comes at breakneck speed

and he'll break his neck if he misses.

Now the greatest exhibition of precision

driving the world has ever seen.

Mile-a-minute speed. It takes

ice-cold nerve and hair-trigger timing.

Performed by that man of many medals,

that famous ex-Marine...

...the greatest auto daredevil of all,

Mike Brannan.

And there he is, ladies and gentlemen.

So far we've only been warming up.

Only warming up.

Here's where the big thrills begin.

Mike Brannan is now giving an exhibition

of hair-trigger balancing.

Driving with one hand,

holding a handkerchief in the other...

...he's keeping the car on two wheels.

Look at that Brannan go.

He's about to attempt a snap roll.

Watch him now. Watch him.

And there he is, back on

all four wheels and driving away.

He's got complete control

of that car all the time.

But you ain't seen nothing yet, folks.

You ain't seen nothing yet.

These feats of skill and daring

get tougher and more dangerous.

He is now about

to attempt the impossible...

...the catapult leap,

85 feet through space, over another car.

He made it.

And here comes a second jump.

Can he do it again? He did.

And now the big event of the evening,

that stupendous super-spectacle...

...the topper of this death-defying

program, the rocket auto...

...driven at breakneck speed through

this solid wall of 20 tons of solid ice...

...built into a barrier

that would baffle a bulldozer.

With dynamite clamped

to the front bumpers...

...Mike Brannan will race

into that wall of ice.

And the dynamite

is set to explode on contact.

Mike Brannan knows the risks,

but he's got the nerve.

All right, light them.

They're lighting the rockets

at the tail of his car.

And there he is, taking off.

Watch him go. He's picking up speed, now.

He'll smash into that wall

going 70 miles an hour.

Can this fearless driver get

through alive? It don't look like it.

But watch it. Watch it.

He made it.

He got through. It's a miracle.

What a guy. And there he is, folks.

Give him a great big hand.

Give him a real hand, folks.

A real big hand.

And that's it for tonight, folks.

Don't forget to come back.

Bring your friends.

How do you get the men

to do these stunts?

- They wanna make a fast buck.

- They must take an awful beating.

Beating, they sure do.

I've done them all myself...

...and I've broken every bone in my body,

including my coccyx.

Looks like I have to start breaking them

again because my star driver quit tonight.

Pardon me, lady. Excuse me.

- See you later, Mike.

- Yeah, sure.

Well, look who's here.

What do you want this time?

I came to see the show.

I've never seen one before.

- Did you see all you wanted?

- I've seen enough.

That's fine,

because that was my last performance.

Don't hurry away, sister.

Been waiting to thank you for that publicity

that was gonna be better than money.

You're welcome. You earned it.

- You doing another column on me?

- You're only worth a couple of lines.

Don't write them.

Been risking my neck with this outfit.

- I hope they pay well.

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