His Girl Friday

Wait a minute. Copyboy!

Make it snappy and hurry back - Where’s the rest of this story?

- M0/'n/hg Post. - M0/'n/hg Post.

City desk? Just a moment. I’II connect you - Just a moment, please.

If anybody asks for me, I’m down at the courthouse

- M0/'n/hg Post. Elevator! Going down!

- Hello, Hildy. Oh, hi, Skinny

Hello, Ruth. Hello, Maisie - Hello, Hildyi

Tell me, is the lord ofthe universe in? - Yes, he’s in.

- In a bad humor. Somebody must have stolen the crown jewels

- Shall we announce you? Oh, no, no, l’ll blow my own horn

Even ten minutes is a long time to be away from you.

What did you say? - Huh?

- WMM- Goon

- Uh - Well, go ahead.

I just said even ten minutes is a long time to be away from you

l’d like to spoil him just once. Sure you don’t want me to go in with you?

- No, I can handle it. lfthings get rough, remember I’m here

l’ll come a-runnin’, partner

- Well, hello, Jim. Well, hello, Hildy

- How are you? Hi, Hildy! Welcome back!

Hello, Hildy. How ya been? - Hi, Hildy.

Oh, hello, Beatrice. How’s “Advice to the Lovelorn”?

Fine. My catjust had kittens again - lt’s your own fault.

Hello, Hildy. Glad to see you back - Glad to see you.

Hi, Tim. Mildred, he still around? - Oh, hello, Hildy.

A little more around the chin, boss

- What do ya want? Your ex-wife is here. Do you want to see her?

Well... Well, hello, Hildy

Hello, Walter - Hi, Hildy.

Oh, hello, Louie. How’s the tixed slot machine king?

Oh, I ain’t doin’ that no more. I’m retired. Ya know what I mean?

Say, Walter - Hello, Hildy - I’m busy, Duffy.

- Get going. I’m busy. I thought you ought to know

the governor didn’t sign that reprieve - What?

Tomorrow morning Earl Williams dies and makes a sucker out of us.

- Well, what are you gonna do? Get the governor on the phone

- Can’t locate him. He’s out tishing. How many places to tish are there?

At least two -the Atlantic and Pacitic

All right. That simplities it, doesn’t it? - Oh, yeah.

Get him on the phone - And tell him what?

Quiet, Duffy, he’s thinking

Tell him if he’ll reprieve Earl Williams we’ll support him for senator.

- What? The M0/'n/hg Post will be behind him hook, line and sinker.

You can’t do that! - Why not?

Because we’ve been a Democratic paper for over 20 years.

All right, after we get the reprieve we’ll be Democratic again.

- Oh, Walter- Go on, Duffy! Get going!

Remember, the Mom/hg Pos! expects every city editor to do his duty

You too, Louie. Get outta here - Okay, boss.

Well, Walter, I see you’re still at it

Would you mind ifl sat down?

There’s been a lamp burning in the window for you, honey. Here

Oh, I jumped out that window a long time ago, Walter.

Oh, may I have one of those?

Thank you

And a match

Thank you

Well, well, how long is it? - How long is what?

You know what. How long is it since we’ve seen each other?

Oh, well, let’s see

I spent six weeks in Reno, then Bermuda

Oh, about four months, I guess Seems like yesterday to me.

Maybe it was yesterday, Hildy

Been seeing me in your dreams?

No, no, Mama doesn’t dream about you anymore.

You wouldn’t know the old girl now - Ah, yes, lwould.

l’d know you anytime, anyplace - Anyplace, anywhere.

You’re repeating yourself, Walter. That’s the speech you made the night you proposed

I notice you still remember it - Of course I remember it.

If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have divorced you

Sort of wish you hadn’t done that, Hildy - Done what?

Divorced me. It makes a fellow lose all faith in himself

Gives him a - almost gives him a feeling he wasn’t wanted.

Oh, now look, Junior, that’s what divorces are for

Nonsense. You’ve got an old-fashioned idea

divorce is something that lasts forever till death do us part.

Just a few words mumbled over you by a judge.

We’ve got something between us nothing can change.

Mmm, well, I suppose you’re right in a way - Sure, I’m right.

I am fond of you, you know - That-a-girl.

I often wish you weren’t such a stinker _Eh _

Latin, I suppose. You must meet my mother She’d like that phrase.

Then why did you promise not to fight the divorce

and do everything you possibly could to gum up the whole works?

I meant to let you go, but you know how it is

You never miss the water till the well runs dry.

Oh, a big, fat Iummox like you hiring an airplane

to write, “HiIdy, don’t be hasty Remember my dimple. Walter

Delayed our divorce 20 minutes while the judge went out to watch it

I don’t want to brag, but I’ve still got the dimple, and in the same place.

Look, Hildy, I only acted like any husband that didn’t want to see his home broken up

- What home? Don’t you remember the home I promised you?

Sure, I do. That was the one we were to have right after the honeymoon.

That honeymoon

Was it my fault? Did I know that coal mine was gonna have another cave-in?

I intended to be with you on our honeymoon, Hildy. Honest, I did

All I know is that instead of two weeks in Atlantic City with my bridegroom,

I spent two weeks in a coal mine with John Kruptzky.

You don’t deny that, do you, Walter? - Deny it? I’m proud of it!

We beat the whole country on that story - Suppose we did?

What I came up here to tell you

is that you must stop phoning me a dozen times a day, sending me 20 telegrams -

I write a beautiful telegram, don’t I? Everybody says so.

Are you going to listen to what I have to say? - Look, what’s the use of fighting, Hildy?

I tell you what - come back to work on the paper

If we find we can’t get along in a friendly fashion, we’ll get married again

- What? Certainly. I haven’t any hard feelings

Oh, Walter, you’re wonderful in a Ioathsome sort of way.

Now please be quiet long enough for me to tell you what I came to say

- We’II have some lunch - I have a lunch date already

- Well, break it. I cannot break it

- Take your hands off me! What are you playing, osteopath? - Temper, temper.

Oh, listen, Walter, you are no longer my husband and no longer my boss.

And you’re not going to be my boss - What’s that supposed to mean?

- Just what I say. You’re not coming back to the paper?

You are right, Mr. Burns for the first time today.

Uh-huh. Got a better offer, huh? - You bet I’ve got a better offer.

All right, go on. Take it. Work for somebody else

That’s the gratitude I get! - Stop hamming.

What were you five years ago? A college girl from a school ofjournalism. A doll-faced hick!

You wouldn’t take me if I hadn’t been doll-faced

I thought it’d be a novelty - a face around here a man could look at without shuddering.

- Listen, Walter - I made a great reporter out of you, Hildy

But you won’t be half as good on any other paper. We’re a team!

- You need me, I need you, the paper needs both of us!

- Sold, American! Oh, all right, go ahead

Listen, Walter, please - Mm-hmm.

The paper’s gonna have to get along without me. So are you.

Just didn’t work out, Walter

Butnotyou. You had to marry me, spoil everything

I wasn’t satisti

I suppose I proposed to you? - Well, you practically did.

Making goo-goo eyes at me for two years until I broke down. “Oh, WaIter.”

If you’d have been a gentleman you’d have forgotten about it.

- Why, you - You’re losing your eye

You used to pitch better than that

Hello. Yeah. What?

Sweeney? What can I do for you?

What? Wait a minute. I’m not Sweeney. I’m Duffy

Listen, Sweeney, you can’t do that to me! Not today of all days!

Jumping Jehoshaphat! Now listen, Sweeney, this is no time

Yes, if you have to, you have to

365 days in the year, and this has to be the day

- Dead? He mightjust as well be

The only man on the paper that can write and he picks today to have a baby!

He didn’t do it on purpose, did he?

I don’t care! He’s supposed to be covering the Earl Williams case. And where is he?

Walking up and down in a hospital. Is there no sense of honor in this country?

Haven’t you got anybody else? - No.

No, there’s nobody else on the paper that can write

This will break me

Unless - Hildy

No. Not a chance. Don’t bother me - You gotta help me just this once.

Get outta here, Duffy. I’m busy! Now look - Save your breath.

That’s what I’m afraid of- Anytime, anyplace, anywhere!

This is bigger than anything that ever happened to us! Don’t do it for me. Do it for the paper.

Forget the other offer. l’ll raise you 25 bucks a week

Listen to me, you bumble-headed baboon - Thirty-tive bucks and not a cent more.

Walter, are you gonna listen? - Good grief!

How much is that other paper gonna pay you? - There isn’t any other paper.

Oh. Well, in that case, the raise is off You go back to your old salary.

- Trying to blackjack me - I want to show you something

- I’m busy. It’s a ring. Take a good look

You know what it is? It’s an engagement ring

Engagement ring?

Uh-huh

I tried to tell you right away, but you would start reminiscing

I’m getting married, Walter

and I’m also getting as far away from the newspaper business as I can get

- What? I am through

Get married all you want, but you can’t quit the newspaper business

- Oh, why not? I know what quitting would mean to you

You can’t sell me that, Walter Burns - Who says I can’t?

You’re a newspaperman - That’s why I’m quitting.

- I want to go someplace where I can be a woman - You mean be a traitor.

- A traitor to what? A traitor to journalism

- You’re a journalist, Hildy! Ajournalist? Now, what does that mean?

Peeking through keyholes? Chasing after tire engines?

Waking people up to ask them if HitIer’s gonna start another war?

Stealing pictures off old ladies?

I know all about reporters, Walter

so a million hired girls and motormen’s wives will know what’s going on.

why, |

Oh, what’s the use?

Walter, you wouldn’t know what it means to... well, to want to be respectable

and live a halfway normal life

Where’d you meet this man?

- Bermuda. Rich, huh?

He’s not what you call rich Makes about 5,000 a year

- What’s his line? He’s in the insurance business

Insurance business? - Uh-huh.

That’s a good, honest business, isn’t it? - Oh, certainly, it’s honest.

It’s also adventurous. It’s romantic

Listen, Hildy, I can’t picture you being surrounded by policies.

He doesn’t treat me like an errand boy either He treats me like a woman.

I don’t know from water buffaloes but I do know about him.

He’s kind and sweet and considerate - Mm-hmm.

He wants a home and children

Uh, Baldwin. Bruce Baldwin