Original subtitles

Well, we're moving on up, moving on up, to the...

wherever you are.

Careful, Estelle.

No problem at all. I have a passkey. As long as Mr.

Whittondale sends you, I'm sure it'll be perfectly all right.

Ah, here we are.

This is the living room, the dining area, and here is a very large terrace

a lovely view. Oh, really? What can you see?

The outside.

It's a little joke I use sometimes.

Very little.

Would you like to see the bedrooms now?

I assure the Jeffersons won't mind.

Not at all.

The doorman told me they were away at a wedding.

Now, the bedrooms are right this way. Come, come, come.

full of champagne from the wedding.

He's acting a little silly because he drank too much. He'd be acting silly if

didn't drink enough.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Well, I thought it was funny. No, I mean the cigar.

You're not supposed to smoke in here.

Don't worry about it. I won't arrest you. No, the law is the law.

You know, it's a shame to waste it. Why don't you take it?

Okay, thanks.

See you later. Come on, Will. I hope the smoke didn't bother you. Oh, no, not at

all. I wasn't even thinking when I lit it. It's okay. Forget it. All right,

as long as you're sure you're not mad.

Oh,

calm down, George. It was just

a practical joke.

Yeah, but it scared the hell out of me.

You're always shooting your mouth off anyway.

That ain't funny.

Oh, come on, George.

Florence has the day off, and it'll just be the two of us. So?

So, you know what weddings do to me.

That's right.

What are we waiting for?

Oh, I'll never forget our wedding night.

Yeah, we couldn't afford a motel, so we had to stay at my house.

Remember the hard time you had carrying me across the threshold?

Well, it wasn't my fault. Mama wouldn't have locked the door.

Well, at least after we were married a month, we finally had enough money to go

away for the weekend. Yeah.

Then we had to stay at that motel by the railroad tracks. And every hour, the

bed was shaking.

Well, just think how bad it would have been if the trains were running.

The master bedroom has lots to offer. The bathroom has possibilities, too.

Oh, I think so, too.

George, somebody broke into our apartment. Stay back, you junkie.

Mr.

Jefferson, what are you doing? Oh, bust your brains. That's what I'm going to

do. Hold it. Just hold it.

I'm Mr. Curtis.

What? I work for Mr.

Whittendale, remember?

You're the man who rented us our apartment.

Right. What are you doing in there?

Well, you see, I... Get a load of these monstrosities.

Oh, hello.

Uh, who the hell are they?

The foxes. The foxes? Well,

she ain't too bad, but he's a real stiff.

Here, Stella, you hold this end. All right.

Five foot ten inches just right.

Hey, would you mind explaining to me what the... We're just checking on where

put my piano.

I know exactly where you can put it.

Really?

Would you hold this for a second? What? What's the reading?

What? What does it say on the tape measure?

About eight feet. Perfect.

Ow!

Mr.

Curtis, would you please tell us what's going on? Well, I tried calling earlier,

but you weren't home.

How did you get in?

Well, I used my passkey.

Ralph said you were at a wedding.

What gives you the right to come busting in here when ain't nobody home? Well,

this is Mr. Whittendale's building, and the Foxes are friends of Mr.

Whittendale's. They've just moved here from upstate, and they're looking for an

apartment.

But why are they looking in our apartment?

They want to see if they'd like living here.

In this building? In this apartment.

We live here!

Yes, but your lease expires next month. So what? We'll renew it.

Oh, well, I'm afraid it's not really up to you.

You can only renew your lease if Mr. Whittendale wants you to stay.

That's illegal.

Ain't it?

Not at all.

It's on the lease that you signed.

Oh, yeah, we'll see about that.

He does not need painting, Martin. Whoever heard of a brown kitchen?

My mother's kitchen was brown.

That's because she never washed the walls.

Careful, Estelle.

What about the dining room? You want to paint this, too?

No, it looks fine.

Fine? Oh, it should be a warm pink.

What's wrong with the blue?

Oh, it's hideous. That's what's wrong with it.

Oh, hello, Mrs... Jefferson.

Yes.

We were just admiring the dining room.

Such a lovely color.

I found a lease.

Oh, good, George.

No, bad.

Whittendale doesn't have to renew our lease if he doesn't want to.

Just as I said.

You mean Mr. Whittendale would throw us out just like that?

Oh, no, he wouldn't do that.

Thank goodness.

He'll give you at least a week to find another apartment.

Well, have you folks seen enough, huh? Yes, and we love it.

Oh, now, you wouldn't want to move into this apartment.

Why not?

Well, there are a lot of reasons.

Like what?

Like, uh...

See that? There's so many reasons I can't even think of them all.

Well, they can't be very important.

It's a very noisy apartment.

Noisy?

Uh, yes.

From all the traffic on the street.

Jefferson, you're 12 stories up. You can't hear any street noise.

That's because we're up so high, all the noise from the airplanes drowns it out.

And don't forget about the neighbors.

Awful. Always knocking on your door, pestering you. Oh, that's wonderful.

Wonderful. Well, we'll be happy just to have neighbors. We just moved from the

country and our nearest neighbor was miles away.

I never had anyone to talk to.

What about me?

Thank you for showing us the apartment.

Oh, but you... Sir, wait. Yes?

You can always use some extra money, can't you? Well, can't we all?

Out of 500, sir.

Like a symphony. Well, just call me Beethoven.

What's this for?

For you.

All you've got to do is tell Whittendale to let us stay in this apartment.

I'm afraid that's out of the question.

You see, the Foxes are friends of Mr.

Whittendale's.

However, if you're interested, there is a small one -bedroom apartment vacant on

the 3rd.

Get out of here.

Well, it's as good as my apartment.

Oh, George, this is terrible.

We are losing our apartment.

Yeah, I don't want to move out of here. I like this place.

I got my main store downstairs.

Oh, this is awful.

Yeah, and it's all your fault.

My fault?

Yeah, that's right. If you let me make friends with Whittendale like the Foxes

did, he'd be giving us our apartment.

I never stopped you. Yes, you did. Every time I tried to find a new way to make

friends with Whittendale, you said it was dumb.

It was dumb.

Especially when you bought those bicycles because you heard Mr.

his bike in the park every Sunday.

Well, I thought it was a good way for me to casually bump into him.

But instead, you casually bumped into a rosebush, a fence, and a policeman.

Well, it would have worked if you'd have helped me.

I did help you.

I plucked the rose thorns out of your behind.

Yeah, well, you better really help me think of a good way to make friends with

Whittendale now. Or else we could just kiss this apartment goodbye.

Well, why don't you just call him?

Calling Wheezy on the phone? Are you kidding? I can't do that.

Okay, then I'll do it.

Wheezy, look, you don't just be calling Whittendale on the phone just like that.

It's worth a try.

I'll just speak to him as one human being to another and invite him down for

drink. As one human being to another? Are you crazy, Wheezy?

Whittendale ain't no human being.

He's a millionaire banker.

Hello?

Who am I talking to?

Oh, good.

This is Louise Jefferson, apartment 12D.

I just wondered if... You're just making a fool of yourself, Wheezy, trying to

talk to that man.

Oh, you do?

How nice.

I was just saying to my husband, why don't we invite Mr. Whittendale down for

drink? Oh.

Okay.

Goodbye.

You see that? I told you he was wasting your time.

Wheezy, when are you going to listen to me?

He'd be down in 20 minutes.

Say what?

He said he'd love to meet us.

Wheezy, I knew you could do it.

Whittingdale's coming down here.

Do you know what this means?

Sure. The big cheese meets the mighty mouth.

Hey, Wheezy, the place looks great.

Oh, thanks, George. George, I just hope Mr. Whittendale likes the way we're

keeping it. Look, Wheezy, don't worry about Whittendale. I'll use my

on him.

Don't you think we're in enough trouble already?

Now, look, we'll tell him how much we love the apartment and... Wheezy, we

mention the apartment until the time is right.

First, we gotta get to be friends with him.

Oh, that must be him now. Let me handle this.

Bentley, what do you want?

Hello, Mr. J. I've got something I think you'd really like to see.

You know what I'd really like to see? You walking back to your apartment.

Oh, you've seen that before.

What is it, Mr. Bentley? What I have, Mrs. J., is a colony of hymenopteri.

Oh, how nice.

Commonly called an ant farm.

You mean you've got bugs in that case?

Why not? He's got bats in his belfry.

These little creatures have a lifestyle very similar to our own. Oh, you mean

they got nosy neighbors, too?

And ants are so efficient, each one has a definite job.

These are the workers here, and these here are the soldiers.

How can you tell?

By their large mandibles.

Mr. Bentley!

That's their jaws.

And this one here is a queen.

How can you tell by the way he walks?

I don't mean to be rude, Mr. Bentley, but I hate ants.

They give me the willies. Would you mind taking them back to your apartment?

Oh, dear, I was hoping you could take them off my hands. They were a gift, and

haven't the time to care for pets.

Look, Bentley, if you plan on leaving those ants there, you can forget that.

I agree with George, Mr. Bentley. Who would want to live with a bunch of ants?

A bunch of uncles?

Oh, your majesty!

They just come from a broken home.

Perhaps if I get some honey, we could trap them.

The apartment is crawling with ants. And Mr. Whittingdale says he'll throw us

out before our lease is up. Well, he ain't gonna see them if you hurry up and

start the vacuum cleaner.

Are you sure it's okay to suck up a bunch of live ants in the vacuum?

Yeah, you're right. Maybe we should kill them first.

Oh, Weezy, look, these little things can't hurt you.

You can't even see them all.

They flew right into the rug. Start the vacuum!

That's Whittendale. Turn off the vacuum.

I haven't even started it yet.

Good, put it away.

But what about the hands?

Look, Weezy, it'll be all right. Just don't let Whittendale go behind the

Oh.

Mr. Jefferson?

What do you want?

Your wife invited me down for a drink.

You, Mr. Whittendale?

Have been all my life. Oh, pleased to meet you.

I got you again.

That was a good one.

Louise,

this is Mr. Whittendale.

You are... Yeah, the funny guy from the elevator.

Hey, that cigar joke was pretty funny. Right, Louise?

Yeah, that's right.

Well, what about that drink?

You want one? That's why I'm here, isn't it? Oh.

Louise will get it for you. Right, Louise?

Oh, sure.

What do you drink, Mr. Whittendale? What do you have?

Uh, everything.

That's what I drink.

But I'll start with scotch, straight up.

Make that two, Louise. Uh, two.

Right.

I didn't go shopping.

Didn't go shopping?

Oh, hey, hey, hey, that's funny.

Did you hear that one, Weasley?

Oh, uh, yeah.

Here you go. Oh, thanks, Mrs. Jefferson.

Well, here's how.

I'd like to make a toast. Oh, let me get another drink, George, and I'll join

you in that toast.

Oh, you don't have to do that, Mr. Whitney. Why don't you just take my

Oh, but I don't want it. Oh, go right ahead. I wasn't really thirsty anyway.

Well, if you insist.

But, uh, let me make the toast.

Here's to two of the nicest, friendliest people in the building. Oh, I'll drink

to that.

Uh,

Mr. Whittendale, about our apartment. Not yet, we...

Something the matter? Oh, no, I was wondering if it was real wool.

Camel hair.

Oh, yeah?

Oh.

Oh.

I'll get it.

Here it is, honey.

How dare you call me honey?

It's awfully nice of you to invite me down to your apartment.

Mr. Whittendale, George and I can't understand why... Why we haven't invited

you down before.

Oh, don't let it worry you, George.

All my friends are caught up in the rat race, too.

Oh, yeah?

Oh, sure. You know, we used to go to the racetrack two or three times a week,

but now they're all too busy.

Well, I ain't too busy. I'll go to the racetrack with you. You will?

Yeah. If we hurry up, we can still make the second double. Hey, that sounds

great.

I don't have any money on me.

Money? Look, don't worry about money. I got plenty of money.

Here.

$300? Look, don't worry about it. If anybody's good for it, you are.

Maybe your wife would like to go along, too.

No, I don't think so. I figure we go and clean up at the track, and Louise can

clean up here.

Right, Louise?

Right.

Yeah.

Are you feeling okay?

You both have been acting like you got ants in your pants.

What's the matter? It's all right. Don't worry about it. She just laughed so

loud she snapped her girdle.

This guy says the horse can do.

Did you two have a good time? We had a great time.

Even if we didn't win no money.

Say, George, you don't mind if I make myself a drink, do you?

Oh, sure, Mr.

Whittendale. Go right ahead.

Why don't you forget that Mr.

Whittendale stuff, Louise? Just call me Whitty.

How do you like that, Whitty? Whitty.

See, ain't no way in the world Whittendale's going to throw us out of

Did he say that? Say what?

say that he's not going to throw us out of our apartment?

I don't know. I didn't get a chance to ask him yet.

Don't worry about it, Wheezy.

I'll ask him as soon as I take care of these beers.

What beers?

The beers I drank at the track.

Oh, hi, Ralph. Hello, Mrs. Jefferson, ma 'am. Can I help you?

Oh, there you are, Mr.

Whittendale, sir. Oh, hiya, Ralph. Put her there.

No, thank you, sir. I've been burned, or should I say buzzed before.

You know that, Ralph? He's a smart cookie.

Why, thank you, sir. And I came right up here to tell you that your brother just

called from Switzerland.

He's coming home tomorrow afternoon, and he wants you out of his penthouse by

the time he gets here.

Ralph, why did you tell H .L. I was here?

Because I'm a smart cookie, sir, who doesn't want to lose his job.

Wait a minute.

You mean you are not H .L. Whittendale? No, I'm R .S.

Whittendale. You don't own this building? I don't own anything, just the

on my back.

Hey, Ralph.

You looking for me for something? No, sir. I just came to bring a message to

Whittendale. Good afternoon for now, sir.

You know something, Wheezy? That is the first time Ralph ever came to this

apartment. It didn't cost me nothing.

Don't be so sure.

Why don't you both join me in a drink?

Hey, Wheezy, you should have heard my man Whitty at the track, boy.

He had me laughing so hard.

We were standing in line at the betting window, and this guy comes up, he says,

what do you think of Indian Red and the Fifth?

And my man Whitty said, I don't know about him, but I like Johnny Walker and

Quart.

George, we have to talk.

Oh, yeah, Wheezy.

Now's the time.

Hey, Whitty, old buddy. Yeah.

What is it, George?

Well, uh, me and Wheezy have been hearing this rumor that we might have to

out of this building. Really?

I have to move out, too.

You do?

Why would you have to move out of your own building?

George, Whitty here doesn't own this building.

You mean you sold it? Sold it? I never owned it.

Well, what can that be? You're H .L. Whittendale, ain't you? No, H .L. is my

brother. You see, I've been sort of staying up in his apartment while he's

of town, but he wants me out by tomorrow. That's what Ralph came up to

Your own brother throwing you out?

Yeah. You might say I'm the black sheep of the family.

I wouldn't say that.

I finished law school years ago and passed the bar, and I haven't passed

bar since.

Oh, Lord.

We're in trouble now. We... We're going to throw us out of here for sure.

How can my brother throw you out? Don't you have a lease?

Yeah, but it expires next month.

Your brother wants to lease our apartment to friends of his.

Wait a minute, George.

Didn't you tell me that you have a cleaning store in this building?

That's right. And I got a 10 -year contract.

Why? Because there's a clause here which means that as long as your store lease

is in effect, you cannot be forced to leave your apartment.

You sure?

Well, certainly I'm sure. I got straight A's in contract law.

You mean we don't have to leave our apartment?

Not unless you want to.

Oh, that's wonderful.

Hey, old Whitty saved the day. What about that, Wheat? Oh, thank you, Mr.

Whittendale. Oh, don't mention it. Well, I'd better be going.

Oh, George,

about that $300 you gave me. Oh, forget it. No, no, no, I can't, I can't. I'll

tell you what I will do.

I will subtract it from the legal fees you owe me.

Legal fee?

Yeah, for the advice I just gave you.

You mean you're going to charge me for that? Only $500.

So you just owe me $200.

Pay him, George. It was worth it.

Yeah, it sure was.

Thanks.

You know, I better be careful. If business keeps up like this, I might

pay taxes this year.

I was certainly glad to be able to help you. Well, so long, George.

You know,

frankly, I don't know why you want this apartment.

It's crawling with ants.

Well, I'm glad that's settled. We won't have to...

else is great we still got the rest of the day together yeah

what's wrong i think another ant just

bit me well you can't blame the ants wheezy it ain't too often they find

something as sweet as you

The Jeffersons was videotaped in front of a studio audience.