what do you want?
hello, hildy!
get going, louie. i got company.
i'm busy, duffy.
what?
you're crazy. where's mac?
they can't do that to me!
give me that call on duffy's wire! hello -- mac? burns. where's the governor? -- what do you mean, you can't locate him? mac, you know what this means. we're the only paper in town defending earl williams and if he hangs tomorrow we're washed up! find the governor and when you find him tell him we want that reprieve!.  tell him i elected him and i can have him impeached! sure, you can do it, mac -- i know you can. i always said you were the greatest reporter in the country and now you can prove it. get going! attaboy!
the greatest reporter in the country! first i gotta tell him what news to get! gotta tell him how to get it -- then i gotta write it for him afterward! now if you were a decent city editor --
yeah! well, i do the firing, too. remember that, duffy, and keep a civil tongue in your head.
scram, you guys.
how long is it?
you know what. how long since we've seen each other?
maybe it was yesterday. been seeing me in your dreams?
oh, yes i would. i'd know you any time --
i notice you still remember it.
you know, hildy, i sort of wish you hadn't done it.
divorced me. it sort of makes a fellow lose faith in himself. it almost gives him a feeling he wasn't wanted.
nonsense. you've got the old-fashioned idea that divorces are something that last forever -- till 'death us do part'. why, a divorce doesn't mean anything today. it's only a few words mumbled over you by a judge. we've got something between us nothing can change.
now, that's a nice thing to say.
well, i meant to let you go -- but, you know, you never miss the water till the well runs dry.
well, i don't want to brag, but i've still got the dimple -- and in the same place -- i just acted like any husband who doesn't want to see his home broken up.
was it my fault? did i know that coal mine was going to have another cave-in? i meant to be with you on our honeymoon, hildy -- honest i did.
deny it! i'm proud of it! we beat the whole country on that story.
let's not fight, hildy. tell you what. you come back to work on the paper and if we find we can't get along in a friendly way, we'll get married again.
i haven't any hard feelings.
sure, come on. we'll have some lunch and you can tell me everything.
you can break it, can't you?
sure you can. come on.
what do you mean by that?
you mean you're not coming back to work here?
you've had a better offer, eh?
well, go on and take it. work for somebody else! that's the gratitude i get for --
what were you when you came here five years ago? a little college girl from a school of journalism! i took a little doll-faced mugg --
why should i? i thought it would be a novelty to have a face around here a man could look at without shuddering.
i made a great reporter out of you, hildy, but you won't be half as good on any other paper, and you know it. you need me and i need you -- and the paper needs both of us.
it would have worked if you'd been satisfied with just being editor and reporter. but no! you had to marry me and spoil everything.
well, you practically did! making goo-goo eyes at me for two years till i broke down. and i still claim i was tight the night i proposed. if you'd been a gentleman you'd have forgotten all about it. but not you!
you're losing your eye. you used to be able to pitch better than that. hello.  yeah.  what? sweeney? well, what can i do for you?
sweeney! you can't do that to me! not today, of all days! jumping jehosophat! oh, no, sweeney.  well, i suppose so.  all right. if you have to, you have to. how do you like that? everything happens to me -- with 365 days in the year -- this has to be the day.
sweeney.
not yet. might just as well be. the only man on the paper who can write -- and his wife picks this morning to have a baby!
i don't care whether he did or not. he's supposed to be covering the earl williams case and there he is -- waiting at the hospital! is there no sense of honor left in this country?
there's nobody else on the paper who can write! this'll break me, unless -- hildy!
you've got to help me, hildy.
it'll bring us together again, hildy -- just the way we used to be.
don't mock, hildy, this is bigger than anything that's happened to us. don't do it for me! do it for the paper.
if you won't do it for love, how about money? forget the other offer and i'll raise you twenty-five bucks a week.
all right -- thirty-five, and not a cent more!
great grief! what's that other paper going to give you?
oh! in that case, the raise is off and you go back to your old salary and like it. trying to blackjack --
get married all you want to, hildy, but you can't quit the newspaper business.
who says i can't? you're a newspaper man.
i know you, hildy, and i know what it would mean. it would kill you.
where'd you meet this man?
bermuda.  rich, eh?
what's his line?
the insurance business?
oh sure, it's honest. but somehow, i can't picture you with a guy who sells policies.
he does, does he? how did i treat you -- like a water buffalo?
say, sounds more like a guy i ought to marry. what's his name?
tomorrow? tomorrow.  as quick as that?
i wish you everything i couldn't give you, hildy.
too bad i couldn't see this guy first. i'm pretty particular about whom my wife marries.
say, could i meet him?
you're not afraid, are you?
all right then, come on and let's see this paragon. is he as good as you say?
then what does he want with you?
nothing personal. i was just asking.
after all --
no kidding?
what for?
oh, i'm sorry.
have duffy call me in the restaurant in twenty minutes.
thanks.
i can see right away my wife picked out the right husband for herself.
already married! hildy, why didn't you tell me?
congratulations again, mr. baldwin!
yeah? you'll have to excuse me -- i'm busy with mr. bruce baldwin here. just leave your card with the boy.
i'm very sorry, but i'm busy! look -- -- there's the boy. take your card and leave it with him.
i've just told you i was busy with mr. bruce baldwin!
you're bruce baldwin?
then who are you?
pete davis! well, mr. davis, this is no concern of yours and after this i'll thank you to keep out of my affairs!
this is a pleasure, mr. baldwin, and i'm sorry about the mistake.
oh, i thought there was something funny.  you see, bruce, you don't mind if i call you bruce, do you? after all, we're practically related --
you see, my wife -- i mean, your wife -- that is, i mean hildy -- had led me to expect that she was marrying a much older man.
but i see, she didn't mean old in years. you always carry an umbrella, bruce?
that's right. -- rubbers, too, i hope? a man ought to be prepared for any emergency.
attaboy! come on, bruce.
where are we going? i'm going to buy you two lunch -- didn't hildy tell you?
just wanted to surprise you, i guess. down! after you, bruce! come on, hildy, my treat!
how do you like that? here i am being nice to you and your sweet-heart and that's the thanks i get!
oh -- after you, hildy!
well, i can. i'm hungry. roast beef sandwich -- rare. and some coffee.
good idea. how about you, hildy?
and don't put any rum in it, gus.
well, so you're getting married tomorrow, eh? how does it feel, bruce?
taking the train today -- and being married tomorrow?
mother? but your mother --
oh. your mother -- well, of course, that relieves my mind.
i know i wasn't a good husband, hildy, but you can always count on me.
well, i'll tell you one thing, old man, she never looked at me the way she's looking at you.
anyway, i'm glad you two are going to be happy and have all the things i couldn't give her. you know, hildy is about the best reporter in the country -- and that goes regardless of sex. but all she really ever wanted was a home.
i know you will, bruce. are you going to live with your mother?
that'll be nice. a home with mother. a real honeymoon. in albany, too. ow!
yes, i know.  hildy, will you ever forget the night you brought the governor back to your hotel room and found me taking a bath? she didn't even know i was in town.
how's business, bruce?
i don't blame them.
i sometimes wish i'd taken out insurance -- but, of course, now it doesn't matter. still, i suppose it would have been the smart thing to do.
i see what you mean.
here's luck to the bride and bridegroom.
they would!
get this -- get sweeney off that yarn and out of town on a two weeks' vacation -- and right away.  all right, duffy, keep your shirt on. hildy's coming back.  no. she doesn't know it yet. but she'll be there. i promise you, duffy. and tell louie to stick around.
just sweeney again. one of my best reporters.
his wife had twins and he went out to celebrate and got as drunk as a lord. they can't even find him. i tell you, drink is the ruin of this nation.
so -- sweeney gets twins -- and earl williams gets hanged tomorrow.
it's simple. a poor little dope who lost his job went berserk and shot a cop who was coming after him to quiet him down.
because it happened to be a colored policeman.
especially with an election coming up in a few days.
all you've got to do is talk to him. but the mayor would hang his own grandmother to be re-elected.
how?
yes, you could do it, hildy. you could save that poor devil's life. you could -- but -- -- you're going away. i forgot.
oh -- an hour for the interview. another hour to write it.
i'm an editor. i know what ought to be written, but i can't write it the way you could. it needs a woman's heart --
you see what i had to put up with? she never trusted me! you argue with her -- otherwise you're going on a honeymoon with blood on your hands!
how can you have any happiness after that? all through the years you'll remember that a man went to the gallows because you were too selfish to wait two hours! i tell you, earl williams' face will come between you on the train tonight -- and at the preacher's tomorrow -- and all the rest of your lives!
what do you mean, only an act? haven't you got any feeling?
what do you mean?
all right, hildy, i'm licked. but i'll make you and bruce a business proposition.
maybe you'll be. you're a smart young man. you let hildy do this story for me and you can write out a $100,000.00 insurance policy for me. what do you say?
now you're talking!
what tricks would i pull?
what do you think i am -- a crook?
all right. the check will be certified. want my fingerprints?
you haven't seen anything yet.
hello, my fine-feathered friend. thought i might be hearing from you. what have you got to report?
going all right, eh?
doctor, will you please keep quiet a minute? how do you expect me to get any work done?
well, they haven't finished with me yet but i'm hoping to get my shirt back. oh, no. i'm in the pink of condition. they found two new dimples.
why shouldn't i make hildy my beneficiary? i've got nobody else to leave it to.
well, you'll take care of her. after all, if that doctor's right, i'm going to live for a long time yet. look, bruce, this is a debt of honor. i was a very bad husband: hildy could have got a lot of alimony if she'd wanted to, but she wouldn't take any. she had it coming to her, but she was too independent.
figure it this way: i ought to be good for twenty-five years. by that time, you'll probably have made enough so that the money won't mean anything. but suppose you haven't made good -- don't you think hildy's entitled to a quiet old age without any worries?
and remember this, bruce! i love her, too.
and the beauty of it is she'll never have to know 'till i've passed on. maybe she'll think kindly of me --- after i'm gone.
no, bruce, you didn't come between us. it was all over for her before you came on the scene. for me -- it'll never be over.
don't worry, duffy, you'll have it back by five. thanks, duffy. stick around.
well, bruce, here you are -- certified and everything.
that's all i ask. oh, wait a minute.
don't want to forget this, you know. might start to rain again.
well, anyway, i know hildy's getting a good man.
well, i got to get back. you can find your way out, can't you?
don't thank me. i should thank you. so long.
exclusive? that's great.
never mind that. what's the story?
you'll get it. now what's the story? i'll have the paper send the money right down to you. i swear it on my mother's grave.
i meant on my grandmother's grave. don't be so technical, hildy. what's the story?!
no kidding, hildy. say, this isn't a rib?
that's great work, hildy.  huh? oh, will you stop worrying about the money? i'll see you get it in fifteen minutes.
hold on a minute.
come here. there's a guy waiting in a taxi in front of the criminal courts building. his name is bruce baldwin. can you do your stuff?
then scram! you've got about two minutes.
sorry to keep you waiting. how much was it again? four hundred and fifty dollars? hang on a second.
i need four hundred and fifty dollars in counterfeit money. you know where i can get it?
it's coming right over. i'm sending it over with louis. thanks for the story and good luck on your honeymoon.
yes. where is he?
i know. where is he, i said.
louie, take this lady over to polack mike's and lock her up. see that she doesn't take to anyone on the way.
tell 'em it's a case of delirium tremens.
where do you think you're going?
get bruce out of jail! how can you worry about a man who's resting comfortably in a quiet police station while this is going on? hildy, this is war! you can't desert now!
you drooling idiot! what do you mean, you're getting out! there are three hundred and sixty-five days in the year one can get married -- but how many times have you got a murderer locked up in a desk? -- once in a lifetime! hildy, you've got the whole city by the seat of the pants!
you know! you've got the brain of a pancake! that wasn't just a story you covered -- it was a revolution! hildy! this is the greatest yarn in journalism since livingstone discovered stanley for the new york herald!
don't get technical at a time like this! do you realize what you've done? you've taken a city that's been graft-ridden for forty years under the same old gang and with this yarn you're kicking 'em out and giving us a chance to have the same kind of government that new york's having under la guardia! we'll make such monkeys out of these ward-heelers next tuesday that nobody'll vote for them -- not even their wives!
well, think it then, because it's true! we'll crucify that mob. we're going to keep williams under cover till morning so the post can break the story exclusive. then we'll let the governor in on the capture -- share the glory with him.
you've kicked over the whole city hall like an apple-cart. you've got the mayor and hartman backed against a wall. you've put one administration out and another in. this isn't a newspaper story -- it's a career! and you stand there belly-aching about whether you catch an eight o'clock train or a nine o'clock train! still a doll-faced mugg! that's all you are.
attagirl! why, they'll be naming streets after you -- hildy johnson street! there'll be statues of you in the parks, hildy. the radio'll be after you -- the movies! by tomorrow morning i'll betcha there's a hildy johnson cigar! i can see the billboards now. light up with hildy johnson!
we're going to take him over to my private office. where's our phone?
not if he's inside the desk. we'll carry the desk over. give me duffy!
we'll lower it out of the window with pulleys. quit stallin'.
hildy!
get the lead out of your typewriter and start pounding out a load, will you? snap into it!
all the words you've got.
hello! hello!
call him a love-child, if you want to. duffy!
give him the works. hello, duffy, get set! we've got the biggest story in the world. earl williams caught by the morning post -- exclusive!
fine! now, listen, duffy -- i want you to tear out the whole front page.  that's what i said -- the whole front page! never mind the european war! we've got something a whole lot bigger than that. hildy johnson's writing the lead and i'll phone it over to you as soon as she's finished. oh, duffy! get hold of butch o'connor and tell him i want him to come up here with half a dozen other wrestlers -- right away! tell him we'll run his picture on the sport page for two weeks straight. what? i've got a desk i want moved. never mind what desk!
duffy -- duffy! operator! operator! get me duffy back. somebody cut us off!
what the devil do you want? listen, bruce, you can't come in here now! we're busy! where you been, duffy? stick around! what? what chinese earthquake? the deuce with it.  what's that?
for pete's sake, hildy, they're waiting for the rest of that story!
take the president's speech and run it on the funny page.  what is it, hildy?
you mean the one who drank so much? tillie!
get back in there, you mock turtle!
no -- i was just talking to one of the guys at the office.
come on, hildy, we've got to keep going! sorry, bruce, but --
hildy!
i'll see she's there, bruce, i promise you.
i know how you feel, bruce, but you've got to forgive her. she's only a woman, after all.
ts! ts! ts!
i'll find her, bruce, if i have to put every detective in the city on the job. tell you what -- go over to the missing persons bureau and describe your mother. what does she look like?
that's the kind of stuff they want!
oh, bruce, let me see that money hildy gave you.
there's a lot of counterfeit big bills going around.
oh, this is all right, bruce. i just wanted to be sure.
duffy. good. stick close.
now the moon's out!
fine. three taps is me. don't forget! you're sitting pretty, now. got enough air?
is that better? now breathe deep!
attaboy!
that's the stuff! lam it into 'em, hildy.
hello! duffy, ready? here we go!
"in the darkest hour of the city's history --"
listen, did you impress it on butch that i want him and his gang here right away? you did? every minute counts. all right. duffy's getting old!
well, keep going! we want an extra out on the streets before it's too late!
bruce? oh -- er -- he went out to get the tickets.
railroad tickets.
didn't you hear him? of course he's coming back here. keep going, will you?
duffy!
what's his name?
i'll handle him.
the tribune, eh? watch me!
hello, bensinger.
quite a coincidence, my running into you tonight. isn't it, hildy?
i was having a little chat about you just this afternoon -- with our mister duffy.
i should say not! that was one swell story you had in the paper this morning.
the poem?.  the poem was great!
heartbreaking! how would you like to work for me?
we need somebody like you. all we've got now are a lot of low-brows. like johnson here.
duffy! i'm sending bensinger over to see you. mervyn, isn't it?
of course! roy bensinger, the poet. of course you wouldn't know! you probably never heard of shakespeare, either! put mr. bensinger right on the staff. how much are you getting on the tribune, roy?
i'll give you a hundred and a by- line.
let him have everything he wants. now hustle and write me a story from the point of view of the escaped man. he hides, cowering.  afraid of every light, of every sound.  hears footsteps.  his heart going like that.  and all the time they're closing in.  get the sense of an animal at bay!
exactly!
it doesn't have to rhyme!
i'll keep you in mind.
bon jour!
mademoiselle from armontieres, parlay --
duffy! got this!
a rat from the tribune is coming over to get a job -- bensinger, the guy i told you about. handle him with kid gloves. tell him to get busy writing poetry.  no, we don't want him. stall him along until the extra comes out. then tell him his poetry stinks and kick him downstairs.
you said it! but this'll teach him a lesson. he won't quit his paper without giving notice after this.
tear into it, will you? don't sit there like a frozen robin!
finished!
duffy! all right -- here we go! and got it out as soon as you can. i want this paper out on the streets in half an hour! "so once more the morning post --"
hildy, you think i could? after this story? here! you're just nervous.
who is it?
it's louie!
what's the matter?
what did you do with her?
you been in a fight?
take that mush out of your mouth!
where is she? tell me!
butter-fingers! i give you an old lady to take somewhere, and you hand her over to the cops!
now everything's fine. she's probably squawking her head off in some police station.
was she? did you notice?
it's fate, hildy. what will be, will be.
if he really loves you, you won't have to tell him anything. snap out of it! would you rather have had the old dame dragging the whole police force in here?
look at me, hildy --
if it was my own mother, i'd carry on! you know i would. for the paper!
you stay here. i'll find out everything.
hello -- hello.
who? hello, butch! where are you?
what are you doing there? haven't you even started?
oh, for -- h. sebastian -- butch! listen, it's a matter of life and death! listen!
i can't hear.  you got who? speak up! a what?.  you can't stop for a dame now!
i don't care if you've been after her for six years! butch, our whole lives are at stake! are you going to let a woman come between us after all we've been through?
butch! i'd put my arm in fire for you -- up to here! now, you can't double-cross me!.  she does? all right -- put her on. i'll talk to her.  hello! oh, hello, madam.  now listen, you ten-cent glamour girl, you can't keep butch away from his duty.  what's that? you say that again and i'll come over there and knock your eye out! hello? i'll kill 'em! i'll kill both of 'em! duffy! mousing around with some big blonde annie on my time! that's co-operation! duffy!!
duffy!!!! duffy!!!! well, where is duffy? diabetes! i ought to know better than to hire anybody with a disease. louie.
it's up to you.
beat it out and get hold of some guys.
anybody with hair on his chest. get 'em off the street -- anywhere. offer them anything -- only get them. we've got to get this desk out of here.
you got plenty of money?
i mean real money -- not counterfeit!
and don't bump into anything.
that dumb immigrant'll flop on me. i know it. can you imagine butch doing this to me -- at a time like this?
if louie doesn't come back in five minutes we'll get it out alone. there's millions of ways. we can start a fire and get the firemen to carry it out in the confusion.
come here. see if we can move it.
will you come here?
when i'm surrounded, with my back against the wall, you're not going to lay down on me, are you --
hildy, you just can't leave me out on a limb now. it -- it wouldn't be cricket!
don't open that!
who do you think you are, breaking in here like this?
if you've any accusations to make, hartman, make them in the proper manner. otherwise, i'll have to ask you to get out.
get out!
what is it? here!
i can explain that, hartman. when hildy told me she wanted to interview earl williams i thought it might be dangerous and i gave her a gun to defend herself.
are you trying to make me out a liar?
you're barking up the wrong tree, hartman.
my dear hartman!
the morning post is not obstructing justice or hiding criminals. you ought to know that.
who's under arrest? you pimple-headed, square-toed spy -- do you realize what you're doing?
you'll see nothing of the kind, sheriff.
yes! what are you afraid of hildy? i dare him to move that desk out of here.
hartman, if you take this desk out of this building, i'll put you behind bars.
i'm warning you -- it'll be a federal offense. and you'll be an accessory!
are you referring to me, madam?
oh, trying to frame me, eh! i never saw this woman before in my life!
now, madam -- be honest. if you were out joy-riding, drunk, and got into some scrape, why don't you admit it, instead of accusing innocent people?
come on, sheriff. we've got to get bail.
madam, you're a cockeyed liar! and you know it!
come on, sheriff, we've got to get bail.
you grey-haired old judas!
call duffy!
do you want to get us scooped?
duffy! the morning post just turned earl williams over to the sheriff.
duffy!
hartwell, you're going to wish you'd never been born!
does it? you forget the power that always watches over the morning post.
you're going to be in office for exactly two days more and then we're pulling your nose out of the feed bag.
duffy! get liebowitz!
this is the morning post you're talking to!
bigger men than you have found out what the power of the press is.  president!.  yes -- and kings!
what's this?
what did i tell you? an unseen power! what's your name?
murder, uh?
when did you deliver this first?
out of the mouths of babes.
just a minute. all right, mr. pinkus. let's have your story.
skip all that.
save that for the tribune.
which ought to be about three hours more, i'd say.
and your arrest. you'll each get about ten years, i think.
wait till those two future jailbirds read the morning post tomorrow.
don't tell me you were worried!
uh-uh. as long as we were in there together pitching -- they couldn't lick us. well, it's been a lot of fun.
i mean -- working together. just like the old days. the things we've been through, hildy.
remember the time we broke into the d.a.'s office, and copied fifi randell's diary?
yeah - but that time we stole old lady haggerty's stomach off the coroner's physician. we proved she was poisoned though, didn't we?
in the shoreland hotel. and our only chaperon was the poor old lady's stomach.
sorry, hildy. i didn't mean to be making love to another man's fiancee.
bruce is making the nine o'clock train. i told him you'd be on it -- unless you want to write this story yourself.
suit yourself, kid. this isn't for me to decide. of course, you could make a later train and still be in albany tomorrow morning.
he's going to have you the rest of his life, hildy. can't you give me another hour?
flip a coin.
ready.
well -- what is it?
hildy!
then why are you doing it?
the greatest yarn ever written by anybody. my hat's off to you, hildy!
and what a way to quit. while you're still champion! that's the way to leave, hildy!
what do you mean? bruce'll be waiting for you in albany.
where'd you wire him?
sure.
both jobs are open, hildy. the paper -- and being mrs. walter burns.
sure, it was good -- it was wonderful! only you expected it to be like other marriages. it can't be like other marriages -- we're different! we're a different world. look at what we went through today. i wouldn't trade that for any honeymoon in the world. i bet you wouldn't, either.
that's what makes it romantic. every other married couple goes away on a honeymoon and for two weeks the bride knows just where the groom is, and vice versa. but us -- you never know where i am and i'm not sure where you are. that's romance!
hildy, if that's what you want, all right. we'll even go to -- how about niagara falls?
sure i do. and i'll tell you something else -- i'd like a baby.
sure, i can't last forever. i want a son i can train to take my place on this paper.
well, if she looked like you -- say! my brains and your looks -- that mightn't be such a bad combination.
what's the good of arguing about something that probably doesn't exist? look, hildy, i'm proposing to you. what do you say?
i don't want to rush you. take a couple of seconds.
hello, judge!
now, wait a minute, judge. this isn't a kidnapping. you've got the legal power to perform a marriage ceremony, haven't you?
now don't argue, hildy. how about it, judge?
then go ahead. come on, hildy.
i will.
hildy, from this time on no tricks, no double-crossing -- everything on the level!
how about bruce's?
sure, i can. look at the policy i gave him! "with this ring i thee wed and with all my worldly goods i thee endow: and thereto i plight thee my troth."
hildy, darling!
it'll be heaven!
but, hildy -- i can explain --