Original subtitles

Writing has always been a way for me to get inside myself.

A means of expressing the day -to -day challenges of my crisis -filled life.

It was the one thing that could lift me up out of the dark pit where domineering

parents and fickle boys always spoil your plan.

Yeah, writing was my first love.

That is, until I met the major pain of creative writing.

Mitchell, name three writers for the Beat Generation.

Uh, uh, Ginsberg, Kerouac, and, uh, Dirtable?

I said beat, not beatbox.

Drop the dip in 20.

You're in Camper's Wood now, and you're in my creative writing unit. By the time

you leave here, you will be a writer.

Or you'll look smashing in anything sleeveless.

Three. Some people can take the pain out of anything.

Five.

was extremely disappointed by your last inept writing efforts.

Therefore, I've decided to force a little structure into your next

You will attempt to write a scene for a play using three elements which you will

choose from this hat.

Your rough drafts are due next Monday.

Oh, man.

I got Internet, Lollapalooza, and Chitlin.

What did you get?

I got 1945,

wicked potions, and the wrong side of right.

I don't know anything about these.

I'm going to have my mom's friend David Mamet write mine.

Ms. Mitchell, Ms. Dillard, if I had intended this to be a group assignment,

would have booked Hootie and the Blowfish.

Class dismissed.

Spike is tripping. How can he tell us to write a play on Friday and expect us to

turn in on Monday?

What does he think he is? The teacher.

And it's not a play, it's a scene.

Have a productive weekend.

In conclusion, as administrators, it is our duty to the city of Los Angeles to

continue to strive for excellence from our children and our schools.

What do you think, Frank?

Well, it was, um... It was very administrative -like.

He hated it. Oh, he hated such a strong word.

But it is accurate.

It's funny.

All I'm saying is open your speech with a joke.

A joke?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, something like, um...

A vice principal, a stripper, and a goat walk into a bar.

Frank, is this going to be a tasteless joke?

The best jokes are, Dee. Honey, I'm not doing a tasteless joke.

I know a joke.

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Honeycomb. Honeycomb who?

Honey, comb your hair.

Now that's funny.

That's funny.

You know what? Psycho Sykes has gone too far this time.

Do you know he wants me to write some crazy play by Monday?

By Monday, better get cracking.

Mm -hmm.

Do you have any idea what wrong side of right means?

Ooh, that's easy.

It's like when you love a man so much, even when you catch him wrong, you still

try to make his side right.

Oh, like you and J .W.

Watch it, boo.

It was a steamy summer night in 1945 when I arrived in Harlem.

The streets were still wet from an early evening rain.

The only person I knew in the city was my friend Dinah. She was a singer at the

famous Bird's Nest.

Hopes and dreams.

I don't have anything

since I don't have you.

The holiday eat is down the street.

No, Ashley, I'm looking for a friend of mine. Her name is Dinah. She sings here.

bartender named Dinah who thinks she can sing.

Hi, I'm Mae. Hi, Mae.

Don't let Peaches get to you. Come on.

See, Peaches thinks just because she owns the joint, she can diss people

she wants to.

Hey, Dinah, someone's here to see you.

If we could get a job singing in Harlem, I could.

You do sing here, don't you?

Sure. But I didn't say that was a job.

It's not about the dead, Preston.

Then what is it about, Nuck?

It's about you calling me Nuck.

Now, I told you a thousand times. Never showed my name, my pants, my sheets.

Now, let's go.

I warned Curl about abbreviating.

Why don't you leave decent people alone?

Why don't you mind? your own business, country girl.

I'm not scared of you.

My mama didn't raise no fool.

You're real, Curly? Mm -hmm.

No. No!

Please! Somebody!

Anybody! Don't let him do this to me!

Now, how about that drink?

Well, give me a mason jar with your destiny.

shine with a twist.

You're not having anything until I can see some ID.

You're not my daddy. No, but I am the law.

Sure, G -Man.

Sure, he's with me.

Excuse me, but I walked in here by myself.

What? You are kind.

Cute.

Look, doll, you're too nice to be in a roughneck joint like this with a

roughneck like this.

All up in the Kool -Aid, don't even know the flavor.

Can I get you a drink, gorgeous?

Sure, cool, Papa.

Give us something wicked.

One wicked potion coming up.

Have it your way, little lady. It's your life.

Just make sure you don't end up on the wrong side of life.

Well, your rough drafts were indeed rough.

We hope you do better on your final drafts, which are due next Monday.

A kill for a C -.

How do you think you did?

Girl, once I got into the zone, it just flowed. The characters just came to

life. I probably got an A.

Nah, A-, because Psycho likes to play tough.

Why is my A sideways?

Because it's a D?

Ah, the sound of freedom. Be gone.

People shouldn't see things I'm going down.

Look, Mo, the last person that challenged Psycho Psych...

with an honor student on the fast track.

Next thing we knew, she was tying herself to the track.

Excuse me.

I don't get Ds.

I'm sorry, but wasn't it your scene that had the 1930s G -Man and the 1940s

club? Where someone was singing a song that was written in the 1950s?

And the characters were speaking 90s slang?

Come on, man.

You see?

You earned the D.

Actually, the D was much too generous.

How am I supposed to know how they talked back then?

Research. You may want to take a look at Anne Petrie's novel, The Street, or

Walter Mosley's Devil in a Blue Dress.

I saw that movie with Denzel. Yes, the very same movie that Don Cheadle should

have won an Oscar.

But I'm talking about the book, Ms. Mitchell.

Try reading the book.

Right. And this time, make the characters real.

But they are real. I know them.

Make me know them. Make me feel for them.

Make me care.

Where'd your speech go?

Well,

your father's goat joke didn't go over too well.

No kidding.

If it wasn't for Miles' knock -knock joke, I would have bombed.

Still working on your play?

Mm -hmm.

Well, I'll be upstairs choking your father.

It had been raining that day in 1945 when...

I decided to leave the Big Apple.

I didn't want to go back home to Mississippi, but the war was over. The

were home.

I lost my job at the defense plant.

I was broken out of work.

I couldn't leave without thinking about my girlfriend, Donna.

Y 'all better cherish some memories.

Thank you, thank you.

That was a misbehaving. And if there's any talking in my next set, this joint

will be jumping.

Looks like Ella ticked off again.

Who cares?

She's up there singing them old Fats Wallace songs.

don't tell me you stooped to selling hot dresses.

Got anything in there with sequins?

The only thing I have in my suitcase are clothes I'm taking back home to

Mississippi.

Home? Sarah Lewis, you can't go back to the sip after you've lived in the Big

Apple. Stay out of here a week. That cotton ain't going nowhere.

Yeah, you'll find something.

What's happening, Dinah?

What brings you cats, Benny? Oh, we dropped by to hear the singer.

Hey, aren't you guys in that bebop band of admittance?

Ooh, bop, shabam. Thank you, ma 'am.

I want to talk about you.

What's your story, Morning Glory?

Say the riff, McGriff. I'm fixing to catch the next thing smoking.

Please tell me you're joking.

Pardon me, but don't I know you?

Benny Allen?

In the flesh.

You sure know how to welcome a cat home.

May, do you know who this is?

Well, I hope it's not your brother.

Let's see.

This would him be.

What's his name?

Benny. The love of your life.

The one you've been saving yourself for.

Lieutenant Colonel Benny Ellis, ma 'am. Pleased to meet you.

Is that who I think it is? Mm -hmm. The one and only. Often imitated, but never

duplicated. Hey, Sammy, get a little rug for a war hero.

Oh, who's the dame, the tomato, the skirt?

That's Ella, my girl, my chick, my babe.

Enough about her. I'll get us some champagne.

Yeah, yeah.

I'd like to dedicate this next number.

To the Tuskegee Airmen.

Welcome home, Cyborg.

Hoochin more about that hoochin.

You never looked at me that way. I never felt this way about

you.

You are not going to sing to my man in my club over my mic.

Well, then whose mic was I going to sing to him over?

You're fired.

Oh, come on, Peaches. You're just doing this out of spite.

and she's right behind the bar.

You're right.

Dinah, come on up. You're the new singer.

But who's going to take care of the bar?

Little orphan Annie.

How do you feel about working for me?

Hey, he's picking cotton. You dig?

Break a leg.

Literally. See you later. Figuratively.

Come on up.

Let's get out of here.

Yes, I could use some fresh air.

Benny, come back. What about Uncle?

Sorry, Peaches, but with your attitude, you're always going to be on the wrong

side of right.

What does that mean? It means goodbye.

Fox, maybe we can head up the mittens later on.

Maybe.

What you have?

A cold one.

Nah, make you something wicked.

One wicked potion coming up.

This is my first time, folks. I'm a little nervous.

Hit it, Kirk.

Wait.

Peaches lament, and Dinah continues to sing.

The lights dim, and the curtain falls.

The scene you've just heard has received the highest grade I've given all term.

A C.

It was written by Ms. Moesha Mitchell.

Class dismissed.

You set the curve.

Uh, Ms. Mitchell, may I speak to you for a minute?

Sure. Oh, you know, if you come back with an A, people will talk.

Well,

good work.

But I'm convinced that you can do better.

Remember that 90 % of writing is rewriting.

You dig where I'm coming from?

I dig.

highest grade I've gotten so far in Mr. Seitz's class, I guess he's helped me to

improve my writing.

In fact, I like writing that scene so much, I've decided to turn it into a

-hour play.

Scoot over, August Wilson.