Woman of the Year Page #3

speak eloquently enough.

Twenty years ago,

she was the youngest leader...

...in the feminist movement.

Today she's a tremendous force

in the battle...

...to preserve and extend democracy.

Let us draw from her the inspiration

to use the freedom we have won...

...to defend the freedom of all.

- Well...

- Miss Harding.

You'd better park the car

and meet us at gate 2.

It made me feel very strange,

having Tess call me "aunt."

I've come to regard myself

so completely as her mother.

See, my sister died

when Tess was a little baby.

- Tess was once a baby?

- To begin with.

She and her father were in China.

I went out to take care of her.

And him.

- Interesting place, China.

- Yes.

Especially if you're a maiden aunt

teaching a Chinese nurse...

...things you don't know about.

Which reminds me...

...the Chiang Kai-shek's are having

an anniversary soon. I must tell Gerald.

- Hope we haven't ruined your day.

- No, not at all.

Kept me off the streets

and out of poolrooms.

- What's the matter, Sam?

- Nothing.

- Sure?

- Well, I can't quite figure you out.

What are you trying to prove?

Why am I here?

- Well, Sam...

- Nurmo could've driven you here.

Why did you ask me?

Thought you might want

to kiss me goodbye.

They're holding the plane for us.

Goodbye, Gerald. See you Monday?

- What time?

- Send you a wire?

Yeah, but you do it.

Don't have the little corporal do it.

Goodbye.

Could I drop you somewhere,

Miss Whitcomb?

Drop the "Miss Whitcomb."

Sounds like a reproach.

Bet it has been,

to fellas who didn't know better.

Just for the record, Sam,

it wasn't that exciting.

There was only one

who should've and didn't.

The others did and shouldn't have.

- Going by my hotel?

- Right by. Which one is it?

- I warn you. I'll talk your ears off.

- It won't hurt.

What point are you trying

to make, Sam?

Maybe there isn't any point.

You like your work, don't you?

More all the time.

I don't know why, either,

unless it's because I like people.

I like meeting them

and writing about them.

Unimportant people, though. Guess

that makes me an unimportant guy.

That makes you

a very important guy, Sam.

Not because you rate a byline,

but because you have a heart...

...a job you like to do and a future.

You're just a normal

human being, Sam.

Go on leading your normal human life.

That sounds fine.

How do you go about arranging it?

You mean, how do you go about

arranging it?

Yeah.

Well, I'd say marry the girl.

All right, I will.

He comes out and starts

peppering me with light lefts.

I'm taking it, see? I'm waiting

for an opening with me right cocked...

...but it don't come.

First round, pepper.

Second round...

- Hello, Sammy.

- Hi, Pinkie. Back booth empty?

Well, if it ain't, I'll empty it.

Two Scotches, on the house.

You'll like this place.

Tess Harding, Pinkie Peters.

He's telling me who you are.

You write for Sammy's paper.

I read your column all the time.

I don't understand it, but I read it.

- It that from the right bottle?

- The best we have, sir.

Don't give them

the cockamamie bar stock.

No. No, sir.

Well...

...what can I do for you?

Skip your story of your fight

with Braddock.

Sure.

The Carnera fight, maybe?

No. Another Scotch, maybe.

Good idea.

- Make mine a double.

- Me too.

Sure.

Well, we're alone. Talk.

You do have something to talk about?

Yeah, yeah. You.

I'd like to know what you like

and don't like...

...and how you feel about being you.

I feel very good about it. Always have.

I like knowing more about

what goes on than most people.

- And telling them.

- Yeah, and telling them.

Thanks, Joe.

Lot of drink in these.

I don't know.

Well, I just mean

if you're not used to them.

Oh, don't worry about me.

As a diplomat's daughter, I've had

to match drinks with a lot of people.

From remittance men

to international spies.

And I may say I've never

wound up under the table.

Reminds me of my year at college.

We used to bet on drinking.

Make a contest out of it. Kid stuff.

Imagine.

Silly.

Lots of people make the error...

...of grouping Pareto

and Spengler together...

...because they both feel that democracy

is through, whereas actually...

...Spengler is the philosophical basis

for Fascism.

Or... No, he's not.

Pareto is.

While Spengler...

Well, actually, they both are.

That is, at least, basically.

Well, it's about the same thing.

Were you there at the end?

In Madrid, I mean.

After I came back,

I wrote a series of articles...

...which finally blossomed

into a regular column.

And I've lived happily ever after.

Did you live happily ever before?

How do you mean?

Well, I wanna know the story,

you know, behind the story.

The girl without a country

and how she grew up.

She grew up by remote control.

I've read Uncle Tom

in the Argentine and...

The Argentine.

Argentine.

And I read Huckleberry Finn

going down the Yangtze.

- Did it seem like the Mississippi?

- I've never seen the Mississippi.

So then I grew older, and I went

to school in Switzerland...

...and in Leipzig and the Sorbonne,

and then I became quite busy...

...and my father decided to come home.

So I decided to come home with him.

That isn't when you came home.

I was there the day you came home.

It was in the ballpark.

- That was fun.

- Yeah.

Fun being with the people

instead of telling them, wasn't it?

I had a kind of an idea that it had

something to do with being with you.

With me? Really? Why?

- Look, Sam...

- I'm looking.

What do you see?

- Right now?

- Right now.

A little gal I ran into at the ballpark,

name of Tessie.

I know you by the freckles

on your nose.

You're the first to mention

those since I was 12.

You mind? Trouble is, you can't

see them most of the time.

Maybe you bring them out.

Look, Tess...

I'm looking...

...Sam.

Maybe you better take me home.

Do you feel you'd like some air?

We're coming up

for the 14th round, see.

I come out bobbing and weaving.

I'm as fresh as a daisy.

I'm giving it to him with lefts

and a hard right and...

This is good.

This is better.

Tess.

- Something I've gotta get off my chest.

- I'm too heavy.

No.

Then what?

I love you.

- You do?

- Positive.

That is nice.

Even when I'm sober?

Even when you're brilliant.

This is it.

You're telling me.

Say, would you like me to wait?

Why don't you let him go.

You can get another cab.

Just drop your hat anywhere.

Joint doesn't look half bad

when it's empty.

Know what?

No, what?

How about a nice cold glass of milk?

- I think that might be a good idea.

- Back in a flash.

- Like it?

- Beautiful.

It's a little too high to reach.

I'm not.

Sit down, Sam.

I won't be staying very long.

I feel so nice and relaxed. Don't you?

No.

Sam, you're just a bundle of nerves.

I think it's getting kind of late now.

No, it isn't.

All right, it isn't.

I think I better get the milk.

Lilly Dache?

Why, Sam.

Just an old snood I had reblocked.

Rate this script:4.0 / 5 votes