well, you're begging, and that's a whole lot worse.
shove me up.
have you put any real pressure on those people of yours to pay those mortgages?
then foreclose!
they're not my children.
are you running a business or a charity ward?
not with my money!
so i suppose i should give it to miserable failures like you and that idiot brother of yours to spend for me.
gives you an idea of the baileys.
mr. chairman, i'd like to get to my real purpose.
wait for what? i claim this institution is not necessary to this town. therefore, mr. chairman, i make a motion to dissolve this institution and turn its assets and liabilities over to the receiver.
i'll go further than that. i'll say that to the public peter bailey was the building and loan.
peter bailey was not a business man. that's what killed him. oh, i don't mean any disrespect to him, god rest his soul. he was a man of high ideals, so-called, but ideals without common sense can ruin this town. now, you take this loan here to ernie bishop.  you know, that fellow that sits around all day on his brains in his taxi. you know.  i happen to know the bank turned down this loan, but he comes here and we're building him a house worth five thousand dollars. why?
a friend of yours?
you see, if you shoot pool with some employee here, you can come and borrow money. what does that get us? a discontented, lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class. and all because a few starry-eyed dreamers like peter bailey stir them up and fill their heads with a lot of impossible ideas. now, i say.
i'm not interested in your book. i'm talking about the building and loan.
sentimental hogwash! i want my motion.
george, there is a rumor around town that you've closed your doors. is that true? oh, well, i'm very glad to hear that.  george, are you all right? do you need any police?
well, mobs get pretty ugly sometimes, you know. george, i'm going all out to help in this crisis. i've just guaranteed the bank sufficient funds to meet their needs. they'll close up for a week, and then reopen.
i may lose a fortune, but i'm willing to guarantee your people too. just tell them to bring their shares over here and i will pay them fifty cents on the dollar.
if you close your doors before six p.m. you will never reopen.
oh, tell the congressman to wait. go on.
oh, they are, are they? even though they know the baileys haven't made a dime out of it.
well, you are not me.
the bailey family has been a boil on my neck long enough.
come in here.
you like it? i'll send you a box.
george, now that's just what i like so much about you. george, i'm an old man, and most people hate me. but i don't like them either, so that makes it all even. you know just as well as i do that i run practically everything in this town but the bailey building and loan. you know, also, that for a number of years i've been trying to get control of it.  or kill it. but i haven't been able to do it. you have been stopping me. in fact, you have beaten me, george, and as anyone in this county can tell you, that takes some doing. take during the depression, for instance. you and i were the only ones that kept our heads. you saved the building and loan, and i saved all the rest.
the envious ones say that, george, the suckers. now, i have stated my side very frankly. now, let's look at your side. young man, twenty- seven, twenty-eight.  married, making, say.  forty a week.
forty-five. forty-five. out of which, after supporting your mother, and paying your bills, you're able to keep, say, ten, if you skimp. a child or two comes along, and you won't even be able to save the ten. now, if this young man of twenty-eight was a common, ordinary yokel, i'd say he was doing fine. but george bailey is not a common, ordinary yokel. he's an intelligent, smart, ambitious young man  who hates his job – who hates the building and loan almost as much as i do. a young man who's been dying to get out on his own ever since he was born. a young man.  the smartest one of the crowd, mind you, a young man who has to sit by and watch his friends go places, because he's trapped. yes, sir, trapped into frittering his life away playing nursemaid to a lot of garlic-eaters. do i paint a correct picture, or do i exaggerate?
my point? my point is, i want to hire you.
i want you to manage my affairs, run my properties. george, i'll start you out at twenty thousand dollars a year.
you wouldn't mind living in the nicest house in town, buying your wife a lot of fine clothes, a couple of business trips to new york a year, maybe once in a while europe. you wouldn't mind that, would you, george?
oh, yes, george bailey. whose ship has just come in – providing he has brains enough to climb aboard.
oh, confound it, man, are you afraid of success? i'm offering you a three year contract at twenty thousand dollars a year, starting today. is it a deal or isn't it?
sure, sure, sure. you go on home and talk about it to your wife.
in the meantime, i'll draw up the papers.
okay, george?
one-a.  one-a.  one-a.
how does slacker george feel about that?
bad ear.
bailey.
take me back there. hurry up. come on, look sharp.
take me back.
oh, so that's what the reporters wanted to talk to you about?
yes. they called me up from your building and loan. oh, there's a man over there from the d.a.'s office, too. he's looking for you.
george, could it possibly be there's a slight discrepancy in the books?
you misplaced eight thousand dollars?
have you notified the police?
they're going to believe that one. what've you been doing, george? playing the market with the company's money?
what is it – a woman, then? you know, it's all over town that you've been giving money to violet bick.
not that it makes any difference to me, but why did you come to me? why don't you go to sam wainwright and ask him for the money?
well, what about all your other friends?
i see. i've suddenly become quite important. what kind of security would i have, george? have you got any stocks?
bonds? real estate? collateral of any kind?
yes.  how much is your equity in it?
look at you. you used to be so cocky! you were going to go out and conquer the world! you once called me a warped, frustrated old man. what are you but a warped, frustrated young man? a miserable little clerk crawling in here on your hands and knees and begging for help. no securities – no stocks – no bonds – nothing but a miserable little five hundred dollar equity in a life insurance policy. you're worth more dead than alive. why don't you go to the riff-raff you love so much and ask them to let you have eight thousand dollar? you know why? because they'd run you out of town on a rail.  but i'll tell you what i'm going to do for you, george. since the state examiner is still here, as a stockholder of the building and loan, i'm going to swear out a warrant for your arrest. misappropriation of funds – manipulation – malfeasance.
all right, george, go ahead. you can't hide in a little town like this.
bill? this is potter.
happy new year to you – in jail! go on home – they're waiting for you!