Crossing Delancey

-Oh, hi. -Hey.

-Do you know them? -I do, yeah.

Okay.

-Hi. -Hi.

-Is everything all right? -Certainly.

Hi, Anton.

-Oh, hi. -How are you?

-Great. Good to see you. -You've finished your book.

-How are you? -You're back.

-I thought you'd still be on tour. -Well, no. Who are all these people?

This is a marvelous party you're having here.

-Does Lionel know you're here? -No, I haven't seen him.

Lionel.

Lionel, how are you?

-Thank you. -Thank you.

See you later.

So you won't be out of a job.

Everybody.

Well, it's quite an aesthetic shock...

...to have gathered you all up for this event.

This diverse group of talent:

The writers and the editors and publishers, huh?

The printed word has survived.

New Day Books has survived!

No, they want us.

They wanna get us very badly.

They want to pull us down and make something clean and ugly...

...and obscenely tall and profitable, huh?

Arise out of our ashes.

-But we are here. -Yeah.

Thanks to all of your creative effort...

... New York's last real bookstore...

...will be around for a good long time to come.

Bless us, everyone!

-All right! -All right!

Congratulations!

Oh, no, no, no. We've hired all these sweet unemployed actors to do that.

Thank you.

So, what do you think? Did we pull it off?

-You're a wonder. -We pulled it off, didn't we?

Where would you have gone if the store had folded?

I don't know. It's unthinkable, isn't it?

Hang on to this woman, Lionel.

Loyalty like this doesn't walk through the door every day.

I guess you've noticed that Izzy has featured you in our window for the past three weeks.

When is this much-publicized reading to take place?

On the 20th.

I'm very loyal to neighborhood authors.

I'm very loyal to powerful women.

Excuse me. Hi.

Look, you don't have to hang around. I'll close up.

-I don't mind. -No, no, no. Go ahead. Go on. Go ahead.

Oh, here. Izzy, come here. Here, take this.

-Come on. Come on. -Lionel.

Always handy to have around the house. Come on.

-What a wonderful party. -Isn't it?

-Good night. -Good night.

Izzy?

I didn't mean to be so glib back there.

Here. You can bill this to me.

All these years I've been coming here, you've always been....

You probably have it already, but what the hell.

Thank you.

Good night.

Good night.

"Izzy, dear, it's women like you who make the world liquid and even...

...still in beauty born."

Hello.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I was gonna say something but I just felt like watching you.

-What's so funny? -Nothing.

Here.

I got this deal on this editing room.

The catch is, I gotta do it all in three days.

Four weeks of work in three days.

Talk about your high-wire act.

You need something to get down?

No, I just thought a little wine, a little talk.

I could spend the night if you want me to.

Where's Katrina?

Chicago.

Okay.

Oh, that's the first edition.

-Is he an obsession? -What?

-See you. -Bye.

Just hold still. One more.

-Hold still. -You're killing me.

-You want me to do it? -You don't have to kill me.

Now, hold still. One more.

-Okay. -That's it?

-I think so. Yeah. -You sure?

You be sure.

You don't want me to run around like an old lady with a beard.

Well, I do see a few more little ones.

-So? -You want me to do them?

-What else? Pull. Pull. -Okay, just two more.

Okay, okay, that's enough.

-How do I look? -Beautiful.

Listen to this one.

I'm in the ocean and the water is a funny color...

...maybe pink or something.

Maybe like something's bled there recently.

And I'm standing, I'm not floating, I'm not swimming, I'm standing...

...and the water level's up to here on me.

And then the next thing I know, it drops way down to here.

It's good luck. Water is good luck.

You're gonna find something good. It's good. It's good.

Gonna find some money. Something good.

Oh, such a lousy bundle of old paper I'm carrying. Here.

-It's too heavy. -Bubbie.

Give me a break. Help me out. Take a load off my back.

Bubbie, this is $500.

-Oh, yeah? That's all? -Where did you get it?

You saw.

You're carrying this around? What's wrong with a bank?

I like this. This I like.

This is my bank. This I trust.

You gave me $500.

-So? -For what?

Do I need a reason to give my grandchild a little something?

You did a good job, you got paid for it.

A hundred dollars for each whisker you pulled.

Good price?

A good price.

-Pull your dress down. -It is down.

Naked legs. What can I do?

I brought you the oranges. I'll bring you over a bag later.

-Don't scream. -How are you feeling?

-Why should I scream? -Hannah's coming.

-Who? -Hannah. She's coming over.

Why should I scream?

It's Hannah. Hannah the shadchan.

You made an appointment with a marriage broker?

Ida. Idela.

This is it. This is my granddaughter.

-Yes, she's a beauty. -Ain't she a beauty?

Excuse me. But I don't know what you think you're doing.

First, you'll listen, then you'll talk.

Very nice. Very nice girl.

She lives by her parents?

No, they live in Florida with Red Buttons.

All the social security checks under one roof.

You can have it.

So, Isabelle, you got your own apartment?

No, she lives alone in a room like a dog.

A dog should live alone, not people. A dog.

It is not a room, it's an apartment. A very nice apartment.

You know, you've been there. There's a bedroom, a bathroom--

Sure, with bars on the windows like a prison.

Someone should crawl in at night, I'm always thinking.

-Stop thinking. -Why not?

-Excuse me, darling. -I got to think.

If I'll wait for you, you'll never do it.

-What are you talking about? -You, I'm talking about. You.

Bubbie, this is not the way I live. This is a hundred years ago.

A girl your age already. How old are you?

-Thirty-three. -None of your business.

I got some nice boys. Fine, respectable boys.

-Not like Nate the butcher. -No.

His mother's a spider.

-He's got some big eye out for her. -Well, she's lovely girl.

She opens her eyes, she looks around, she meets a fella with a little help, huh?

Bubbie, I don't need that.

You'll heat it up. Five minutes in the broiler.

Please, sit down a minute.

-You'll turn it once. That's all. -Listen to me. Sit down.

Okay, okay.

I am a happy person.

I have everything. I have a rent-controlled apartment people would kill for.

Any idea how much that apartment would go for on the open market?

Maybe $1 500 a month.

I have a wonderful, wonderful job. Guess who I called the other day?

Picked up the phone and called on his private number?

Isaac Singer. You know Isaac Bashevis Singer?

He won the Nobel Prize.

I called him on his unlisted number.

He knows me.

I know lots of famous writers and publishers and editors.

I organize the most prestigious reading series in New York.

Me. I do it.

And I have plenty of friends.

Lots of women who are doing tremendous things with their lives...

...and don't need a man to feel complete.

It's not like I'm gonna say no if someone walks into my life tomorrow.

I'm not canceling out that possibility but, Bubbie, please, listen to me.

I am not, I repeat, not holding my breath!

A professor once said, a college professor:

"No matter how much money you got, if you're alone, you're sick."

You listen to me.

Loneliness is a very lousy case.

-Candyce! -I know, I know, I gave in.

But I'm less threatening to the senior women this way.

And then he gives me a copy of his book and I open it up and he's written:

"Izzy, dear, it's women like you who make the world liquid and even...

...still in beauty born."

Oh, I like that.

What I don't now is, is it my move or what?

-Is he married? -Separated.

Very separated.

Is that like very divorced without all the messy paperwork?