The Shining Hour

Good morning.

- Good morning. - Sleep well?

No.

- Good morning. - Good morning.

- Sleep well? - Still no.

- Good morning. - Good morning.

- Sleep well? - You bet, how about you?

You bet.

My gosh, it's getting so a man is afraid to read the front page nowadays.

- That's the way I feel about the sport page. - Oh, from Brooklyn, eh?

Say, it said here Olivia Riley is going to Middle Island...

get married I'd mean, ever get a look at her?

- Only in pictures. - I've seen her dance.

- You have? - Yes, I couldn't look at my wife for a week.

- But wait till you hear who she's marrying. - Who?

Believe it or not Henry Linden.

- Lin, of the farm board? - That's the one.

Can you imagine a dame like that even knowing a man like Linden?

Oh well, after all, a man can't worry about the farmer's problems all the time.

Yeah but marrying her. What will he be? Her third or her fourth, eh?

First, so tell me.

Oh, yeah? Well, what about prince what's his name? And the guy in the nightclub and...

Oh, don't ask me brother. I married the first woman I ever met, 30 years ago.

- Your breakfast is ready Mr. Linden. - Thank you.

Lin...

Relax gentlemen, I'm not Henry Linden.

I'm his brother, good morning.

Good morning.

- Sleep well? - Sir?

- Room and bath please. - Certainly.

David Linden, any relation to...

Brothers Mr.Linden in?

He's out of town but we expect him back this evening.

Thanks. Oh, is miss Olivia Riley live here?

- Yes sir. - Is she in?

I believe she and Mr. Linden are attending the same house party on long island.

- May I leave word that you called? - Well miss Riley doesn't know me.

You sure to find them both at the Sirocco tonight.

- Miss Riley dances there, you know. - So I've heard, thanks.

Can I have your? Ah, he ain't nobody.

Why, he ain't even dressed right to get in here.

- Only formal dress admitted sir. - Good idea.

Your clothes sir, the management makes no exceptions.

- This table is reserved sir. - That's very thoughtful of you.

- Thank you. - Thank you sir.

Ladies and gentlemen, at this point, following an old Franklin custom,

I give you...

That's right, that's right children. Enjoy it, it's expensive.

I give you van Stillman and Olivia Riley.

- A table Mr. Linden? - Not tonight, thanks Maurice.

Thank you Mr. Linden.

- Miss Riley, have you Ok those proofs yet? - I have not.

They make me look like John I. Sullivan without the beard.

- John I. Sullivan didn't have a... - Neither have I, look, I'll pose again.

Miss Riley, I'm chairman for the national committee...

For the preservation of American family morals,

- and we do so want your cooperation. - As a member or an example?

We want you to be a contributing patrons as a national movement...

I should've known. Well, you write me a letter about it,

and my secretary will take care of it for you.

- But I'd like to tell miss Riley. - Lady, nobody tells miss Riley.

I can't get used to it.

All my life, I've wanted to meet a farmer, I finally do and you're it.

- You can't kiss me, you're a city slicker. - Not me, I'm all hick and a yard wide.,

and I've come to this big city to get me a wife.

- Here we go again. - Oh but why not Olivia? Why not?

Oh, it's not fair to keep asking me that, you know all my best answers.

Well, there's one good thing about the lindens, we can wait.

Long enough for a Riley to stick her chin out?

- Are we going to start that all over again? - We're not going to stop Henry.

This is a real world we're living in, not just a popular song.

And the distance between the Wisconsin lindens and the 10th Avenue Rileys...

Is a lot more than a couple of thousand miles.

- It's as far as from me to you. - No, it's as far as from here to the moon.

I can just see myself, tell me Mrs. Linden, what school in Switzerland did you attend?

Frankly Mrs. Esterbild, I couldn't quite make it.

I was too busy all day dipping shirts in the laundry and...

All night picking my old man up out of the gutters.

When I finally landed that job in the chorus, I was just plain busy.

- You talk as if you were scared. - You bet I'm scared.

Wouldn't you be if you were Maggie Riley, that's my real name by the way Maggie-

and you met a man you liked as much as I like you and he asked you to marry him?

Wouldn't you be scared?

Honestly, no. I'd jump at the chance.

Oh, come on, how about it?

Oh darling, we're right back where we started.

Oh Henry, if only I liked you a little less or loved you a little more.

- Come on honey and get dressed. - Ok.

- You had your two pieces for today. - Oh, I'm sick of that.

I want to eat what I want when I want.

I can see I've been using the wrong attack.

Wisconsin is pretty famous for its potatoes.

Oh, I haven't eaten one in 7 years.

Sometimes we roast them...

Spread them all around a crackly young pig just dripping in its own gravy.

Hot biscuits too, peach pie with thick cream, nothing heavy, mind you, just filling.

Oh, stop it.

- Olivia? - Yeah?

According to the morning gazette, we're going to be married.

The gazette said the cubs would win the world series.

And if you pay extra, the New York papers are only two days late in Wisconsin.

Have you got a front porch and rocking chairs and fireflies?

The best.

What about your brother and his wife?

And your sister Hannah. Oh, she'd hate me on sight.

Look darling, my sister Hannah hasn't asked you to marry her, I have.

And she'll love you. Why, she's been more a mother than a sister to David and me.

- I'm not exactly a mother's choice. - You're mine.

My first and my last.

But why? What makes you want me?

Just knowing and I want you.

More importantly than I've ever wanted anything before in my life.

Ok Henry, heaven help you, you're stuck.

- 17 C sir, to the left sir. - Thanks, I think I can find it.

- Where's miss Riley? - She hasn't arrived yet sir.

- Mr. Linden? - He'll be with miss Riley sir.

Thank you.

I beg pardon Mr. Franklin, there's somebody at the...

Front door sir that I haven't seen before.

If it sea biscuit, it's alright, I invited him. Just take his bit and saddle

- I don't think it is sir. - No, it isn't.

- Hello, do I know you? - I don't think so. I'm David Linden.

I wasn't invited to this party. I came looking for my brother.

Very natural but Mr. Linden, you arrive at one of the rare moments...

When your brother is not here. I'm Roger Franklin, a bitter rival of his.

These are a few of Olivia's friends, if you read the papers, you know their names.

Their faces don't matter. Come on, let's have a drink.

Friends and non Wisconsins...

Take it easy Bertie, we've got guests.

Why don't you send out for the guest exterminator?

- Appropriate, don't you think? - Perfect Bertie.

Bertie, this is David Linden. Brother.

- Big man, isn't he? - Very big.

Is he nice?

That I wouldn't know, but he looks sort of nice.

Well, then you please remind him that nice big men don't hit nasty little men?

Oh, we don't hit nasty little men, we use ant paste.

- Hello Olivia. - Hello Henry.

I'm so sorry we're late, but it was a very special occasion.

We're engaged.

Hey come on, to the bar everybody.

Future Mrs. Linden wishes to be launched in champagne.

David, for the love of Mike...

What are you doing here? Why didn't you let me know you were coming?

- Olivia, this is David. - How do you do?

How you do?

I'm sorry I wasn't here when you hit this den of lions, did they mangle you horribly?

Oh, not badly but I can still feel their breath on the seat of my pants.

How's Hannah and Judy?

Oh, fine.

Where are you staying? How long you going to be here?

I don't know how long I'm going to be here, I flew east to talk to you.

To talk to me?

Suppose I go sober up some of my guests?

- It was nice meeting you. - Thank you.

- Isn't she beautiful? - Very beautiful.

Oh, let's cut out the monosyllables. What in the name of Linden brings you here?

- The name of Linden Henry. - Oh, very melodramatically put.

Alright, let's get it over.

I imagine the library will be empty, it's farthest away from the bar.

You're not in love with Henry Linden, you don't even think you are this time.

- How do you know that? - I know you.

- You don't know Henry Linden. - I know the type.

He's one of the love will come after marriage boys.

Wait till he finds out he was just one of your moods, like the rest of us.

And what mood were you, Roger, I don't remember.

Ambition.

I put you where you are, remember that?

What can he do for you?

You don't need his money, he's no younger than I am, what is he got that you want?

You've never heard of it.

What he's got is called quality.

- So has the Lincoln memorial. - And he loves me.

That's the greatest compliment I've ever had.

That, plus the promise that my life, for the first time, will become sane and normal.

Until you get bored and begin to notice the rippling muscles and clear blue eyes or...

- Nearest hired man. - That's what I mean.

You expect the worst, all of you do, all the time.

He expects the best and I'm never going to let him down.

Get that into your nasty little mind. I'm never going to let him down.

Bookworms.

- Friends of yours? - Friends of each other I hope.

Alright David, what's on your mind?

Well, it hasn't anything to do with my mind, I'm here on an errand.

- Sort of an errand of bad will. - Hannah asked you to come.

She's worried about you.

I've never been in better health in my life.

- She's not worried about your health. - Oh, my mind perhaps?

She feels if you came home for a while, perhaps your sense of values...

Would become her sense of values, is that it?

Your point or rather Hannah's point, doesn't make any difference...

Is that Olivia is not good enough for the lindens.

My point is, there isn't a Linden good enough for her.

And as points go, it's a pretty shabby one Henry.

You're no judge of that David.

Well, perhaps not but you should be.

You have eyes and ears, look around at her friends, listen to what they say.

The cream of cafe society, so witty, so gay and so brittle.

- I'll take the village halfwit back home. - Now, that's enough David.

Why you behaving like a naive little schoolboy?