Original subtitles

Well, we're moving on up, moving on up, to the east side, moving on up, to a

deep...

Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, thank you. By the way, Mr. Jefferson, you might as

sharp this evening.

Oh, thank you.

Oh, now tell me, what'd you do wrong now?

Oh, nothing, Otis. Did not tell you I got that interview tonight?

No, what kind of interview?

Regal Magazine. You ever heard of Regal Magazine?

It's a black magazine that deals with successful black people.

In fact, they even think about putting my picture on the cover.

Why, shut your mouth!

So when you see a bunch of women over there fighting by Junebug's stand, you

better hurry over there and grab a copy before they're all sold out.

I'll be first in line. All right.

Hey, Mr. Jefferson.

Oh, Lord, Amanda, how's it going?

Everything is beautiful.

Oh, you sure is sharp today.

Yeah, well, you know me.

Uh -oh.

What you done done wrong now?

Nothing. What's the matter, everybody? Can't somebody get dressed up without

having done something wrong?

No.

It's all right, baby.

The way you look, you can bump me any time.

So, like I said, Otis.

Oh, oh, oh, yeah.

Anyway, they told me to come over here and take pictures of my employees in my

store. You want to be in them? Oh, come on, Mr. Jefferson. I don't work for you.

So what? You've been around here longer than I have.

I know they want to talk to you.

Me?

What would anybody want to know about me?

Well, nothing but they want to know about me.

Oh. See that look?

My employees, they're going to say anything because I paid them. But I want

to hear the truth from a close personal friend who loves me for me. I agree. You

got any of them?

Come on, Elvis, it'll be fun.

Oh, Mr. Jefferson, I can't. I mean, what is there I can say about you that ain't

already been said, especially by you?

What difference does it make to say whatever pops into your mind? I'll tell

what, I'll write it all out for you. How's that? No, I'll tell you what.

If it'll make you look good, I'll do it anyway in spite of you. Great, okay.

I'll see you here at 10 .30 tomorrow morning. Later. Good enough.

See you tomorrow, Mrs. Jefferson.

Good luck.

Oh, Louise.

Did you see the pictures in here of the Ellis Estate in Connecticut?

Aren't they fabulous?

Yes, I did. They're beautiful.

Ah, gee.

It must be great to have enough money to build your own private world, somewhere

to escape to, to get away from the noise, the people, the aggravation.

But... Dearest, what about our house on Cape Cod?

Yeah, but nobody knows about that.

Well, I'm ready.

Miss Jefferson, what do you think about these earrings?

Oh, they're all right. Why?

They're just so old -fashioned. I mean, they don't say nothing.

This is the first time my picture's going to be in a magazine, and I'm stuck

with these earrings.

Well, Florence, if you really hate them so much, why on earth did you buy them?

I didn't. They're yours.

This is so exciting.

Imagine a cover story on George in a magazine like Regal.

It sure is going to be inspirational for people to read about a street kid from

Harlem who made good for change.

Speaking of Harlem, shouldn't Mr. Jefferson be back by now? Oh, don't

about him. George wouldn't miss this for the world.

Believe me.

Well, I don't blame him. When they did that little piece on my promotion in the

New York Times, it was the greatest single moment of my life.

Tom, are you forgetting about our wedding night?

Oh, it was okay.

Didn't make the Times, though.

That's because there are no funnies in the New York Times.

Uh, Helen, When the interviewer gets here, please remind me to mention about

Health Center's new arts and crafts exhibition.

The children worked on it so hard this year.

Don't worry, Louie. Just consider it mentioned.

If Mr. Jefferson lets y 'all get a word in edgewise.

But it's a 3 ,000 -word article. I've heard him use that many calling up the

time and the temperature.

Well, you just leave George to me. This might be the only time the help center

would get any coverage like this, and I don't intend to miss it.

Besides, I'm sure George won't mind.

Oh, of course not. But you know, formal interviews actually have a humbling

effect on most people.

I have a feeling that George, for the first time in his life, might just come

totally speechless.

Ah, yeah.

He could use to be in a sex object in this business.

I mean, look, women bring me their lingerie. What am I going to say? No?

But then again, I had a feeling about the Susan B. Anthony dollar, too.

Hey, Weiss, look who I ran into downstairs in the lobby.

Dave Carter from Regal Magazine. My wife, Louise Jefferson.

How do you do?

Sister.

This is Helen Willis.

Sister. Enchante.

Florence Johnston.

Ah, yes, sister.

And, uh... Helen's husband, Tom.

Brother.

God, thank you.

No problem.

Now, first of all, I'd like to apologize, Mrs. Jefferson. We had

taking a few pictures first, but my photographer ran into a little problem,

he'll be running late.

Oh, that's all right. Would you like some champagne before we start? Or some

hors d 'oeuvres?

Oh, yes, a little champagne would be nice.

You're coming right up.

What made you decide to do a feature on George and Louise to begin with, Mr.

Carter? Well, quite simply because they've personified the image that Regal

Magazine is looking for.

Black, contemporary, upwardly mobile.

In other words, people who succeeded in breaking the stereotypical molds that

have been cast, not only by the media in general.

But I'm sorry to say that I've also been perpetuated by some of our very own

periodicals. What are you talking about? George did all that?

Oh, yeah.

You see, the point is we're trying to accentuate the positive here. The new,

culture. And those are all the things that Jeffersons represent. They're

happening.

So to speak.

You're going to miss me when I'm gone, Weez.

And again, Mrs. Jefferson, I'd really like to apologize for the absence of my

photographer. Believe me, I know what an inconvenience this must be to you.

Especially tonight, of all nights.

Why? What's tonight?

Why, it's the opening of Monet Asselin's new play, Beyond the Rain at the Black

Repertory Theater.

Well, of course you're going, aren't you? I mean, it's been sold out for

Oh!

Beyond the Rain?

Is that tonight?

Wheezy, I thought you told me it was next week.

Oh, no, it's tonight.

Now, the Jumia Boubacar showing of East African tapestries will be opening a

week from tonight. That's right. Every time Ash and I have a Boubacar in town.

It throws me.

Well, I'll try and speed things along as best I can.

Now, Mrs. Jefferson.

Thank you.

Let's see.

You were born in New York City and your maiden name is Mills.

Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.

Say, you wouldn't happen to be related to Josh Mills, the famous black composer

of the 1920s? He wrote Ice House Blues and My Time is Your Time?

Oh, yes.

I'm afraid not.

Oh. Well, then it must be Russell Mills, the fashion designer.

Nope.

Sorry.

I guess I'm just your everyday, regular old run -of -the -mill.

How about you, Mr. Jefferson?

Any famous relatives?

No, I'll be the first.

Well, it's really not important.

It's just that sometimes we like to put a little hype behind some of our lesser

-known features. It makes the readers feel more involved.

If they want to get the readers involved, Miss Jefferson, why don't you

them about the help center?

Oh, you're involved with that? Please, tell me all about it.

Oh, well, the Help Center.

It's a non -profit organization. Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Help Center.

I thought you said Health Center.

It's a new spa some brothers open up on 8th Avenue.

I'm sorry.

No, this is the Help Center.

You see, we... But getting back to the article, Mr. Jefferson, what I want from

you, well, all of you, really, are stories.

And little anecdotes about lifestyle.

Well, that's why I was telling you about the helicopter.

Entertaining stories, Mrs. Jefferson. You know, the kind of stories our

can get into.

For instance, Mr. Jefferson tells me that not long ago you actually ran into

Sammy Davis Jr.

What was he like? Oh, fine.

But what I'm... Hey, wait a minute. You want entertaining stories about me? Ha!

I know just the guy. This guy knows more about me. Oh, now, George, I... Not

you, Willis. I'm talking about Otis. Oh, is he another friend of yours? Yeah.

He's a shoeshine man in front of my Harlem store. Now, if you want to be

entertaining... Uh, just a second, Mr. Jefferson.

Did you say this was a shoeshine man?

Yeah, that's right. Weas, you remember old shoeshine Otis, right?

Everybody remembers Otis.

Excuse me a minute, Mr. Jefferson.

May I speak to you for a moment?

Yeah, sure, why?

Mr. Jefferson, do you realize that we're going to be shooting outside of your

Harlem store tomorrow?

Yeah, so? So does Otis' character.

I mean, you're not seriously thinking about letting him stay there, are you?

not? Well, he's a shoeshine man.

So what's wrong with that, Mr. Jefferson?

We just went through all this, didn't we? I mean, how's it gonna look if we do

cover shot of your store with some old shoeshine man shuffling back and forth

front of it?

Oh, no, Otis ain't like that. He's a nice guy. He's a stereotype, Mr.

A handicap.

He's exactly the kind of person the media uses as a modern -day bullwhip to

the rest of us in our place.

But he just... Don't get caught up in that mentality, brother.

Remember, image, man.

Image.

Yeah, but look, I already told him he could be in the interview. What am I

supposed to tell him now?

Well, I guess that depends on where your priorities are, Mr. Jefferson.

I'm sure you'll work it out.

Okay, now, Sammy Davis Jr.

Tell me, was this a chance meeting or is he a close, personal friend of yours?

Hey, Otis, thank God you're still here.

I do, Mr. Jefferson, every day.

No, no.

That's not what I meant. I meant... Oh, God, man, I'm just messing with you.

You're having that, aren't you?

Yeah, sure you are.

What are you doing around here this time of night?

The store's just been closed about half an hour.

Yeah, I know, Otis. I came to talk to you. See, look, you got to promise you

won't say nothing until I'm finished, okay?

I got a little bad news.

Oh, man, you talk about bad news. Now, you take my wife, went downtown... No,

no, hold on, hold on, hold on.

Remember that interview I was telling you about for tomorrow?

Yeah. Well, I had to cancel.

Man, I thought you had some bad, bad news. I wasn't studying about that mess

anyhow.

I'm going to see there's more to it than that.

I'm going to have to ask you to move.

Move?

Move where?

Look, it's only for one day, Otis.

Hold it, hold it. You promised you'd let me finish, okay?

Look, this isn't easy for me either, you know. I mean, I wasn't going to come

down here and lie to you and try to trick you into leaving.

But I respect you too much for that, you know?

So I figure it's better if I came down here in person and told you the truth.

It'd be better than somebody else coming along and telling you something else.

Oh, I see. All right. Well, what is the truth?

Well, the truth is this sidewalk is haunted.

Haunted? Yeah, it's true, Otis. I'm telling you. See, it all started back

the time...

When the pilgrims bought Manhattan from the Indians for $24 in beads.

See, most of the Indians sold because in those days, $24 in beads went a long

way. Oh, yeah, I remember that.

So anyway, there was this one tribe that didn't want to sell, and they were

called the Harlem Indians.

See, things were real tough for the Harlem Indians. I mean, it was tough for

them to find work, tough to find a place to live.

And people were scared when he had to cross 110th Street, which was then

the 110th Trail.

So eventually the pilgrims evicted him, right?

But the chief, who used to live right here, put a curse on the place.

So now, once every few years, he comes back and goes after whoever it is that's

standing on his property.

That's me.

Oh, then you know this story. Great. Then I'll see you in a week. Later.

Oh, no. Hold it, Mr. Jefferson.

What's wrong now? You need help, son?

Pretty bad.

You've been talking to me for a while. Oh, man.

Now, the first question is, about what time was it when you stopped thinking I

had good sense? Come on.

Don't put me through this. Can't you just move because I asked you? It's only

for tomorrow.

Yeah, it's got something to do with that magazine, eh?

Magazine? What magazine? My magazine? The magazine I was telling you about?

Well,

yeah.

Well, they want to photograph the chief.

Don't stop that. I don't need no more talk about no more Holland Indians.

okay. Okay, there ain't no chief, all right? Well, the truth is, well,

they sort of feel that you just don't present the right image, that's all.

Uh -huh.

Look, it's not my doing. I'm the one that wanted you in the interview,

Oh, yeah. Now, did they say what it was about me that don't sit right with them?

No.

Well, you know, so I just figured it's probably because you were a shoeshine

man. Oh, a shoeshine man.

Hey, Roy, Junebug, y 'all come over here and dig this and check this out. Oh,

come on, old man. You got to understand where this magazine is coming from.

I mean, they are trying to present a positive side of black people for

Oh, I see. And according to them, I ain't a part of this image. Because

shoeshining ain't positive.

No, just stereotypical. Oh, that's all.

Oh, man.

I was worried a while that I wasn't even black no more.

At least now I can be colored by reasons of insanity.

Man, I'm not saying that you're crazy. All I'm saying is that you are doing

something that everybody associates with black people. That's all.

And we got lots of stereotypes.

Yeah. And we got, like, eating watermelon, right? Okay. Like, tap

Like, we all look alike, right?

Being poor.

Yeah, there you go. Being poor.

Well. Being poor. Well.

That's what y 'all starting to stay away from, ain't it?

Hey, I picked up a copy of that big magazine in New York State.

It ain't all poor folk in there, as far as I can see.

Well, yeah, I guess you could say being poor is a stereotype to a certain

extent, sure.

I mean, that's the way they present us in the movies, right, in books, in TV.

Yeah, maybe.

What do you mean, do they do?

Let me ask you a question.

What's that?

Who is they?

What do you mean, who is they?

You said, you know they do.

Well, who is they?

Who writes it that way?

Black folks?

No, white folks.

Oh, and who on this magazine is trying to move me out of the way? Them same

white folks?

No, black folks.

Well, then it looks like to me that the only they doing the stereotyping in this

case is us.

Say what?

Well, it's a black magazine, isn't it?

Yes, though.

Well, then what are y 'all trying to hide me from?

Oh, come on, Lewis, you're missing the whole point. No, I ain't missing the

point.

No, the point is, y 'all see some old dumb shoot -shine man up there on TV,

you say, oh, hell, they're making fun of us. They're laughing at us. They must

be the oldest out there in the street.

And they've got proof now that we're all like that.

Well, that's the way they think. Whose fault is that, mine?

Shoot, I'm just trying to make a living, man.

What y 'all trying to say is... We're going to prove white folks wrong by

they're right in the first place.

No, you're confusing the issue. Oh, no, I ain't confusing the issue. You're

confusing the issue. And that magazine's confusing the issue. You're so worried

about somebody maybe feeling ashamed of you that you run right out and do it for

them. And that's where the stereotyping comes in. And ain't nobody doing it to

us but us.

Oh, so I suppose there ain't no such thing as stereotype, right?

Well, I reckon if you believe anything hard enough, I can be most anything.

I mean, now, you can call Junebug over here a newsboy.

You can call Mary here a singing and dancing girl.

I'm a boot black.

And you ain't doing nothing but taking in people's laundry.

Mr. Jefferson, look, just because you look like somebody, don't make them a

stereotype.

May make them unfortunate, maybe.

But it don't make them no stereotype.

Oh, I know what you're trying to say.

But just because somebody likes to eat or sing, shine, choose to make a living,

don't give you no right to say they ain't a good image.

You ain't got the right, neither does that magazine.

Well, I mean, what kind of image are we supposed to follow then? I'm saying

there ain't no one image to follow, Mr. Jefferson. There never has been, never

will be.

That's what we're supposed to do. Make your own image and follow that.

You see, that's how come we get ourselves so messed up.

Sitting around waiting for somebody to tell us how to think and think what's

right instead of using common sense.

Perfect example of that is what happened here about 15 years ago.

What was that?

That's when everybody was running around wearing their sheikahs and blowing

their hair out and hollering about, back to Africa? Yeah, I'm talking about you,

Rudy. And then you done, yeah.

Back to Africa? Shoot, man.

You take them up in the Catskills, most of them be dead in half a week.

No, but just because somebody came down and said, y 'all supposed to do that,

they did it.

That was what being black men in them days.

That was the image.

Well, it worked, didn't it? I mean, we got more rights, we did more things.

Man, we had worked because we worked together, everybody rich and poor.

And that's the way it's got to always be if you're talking about survival.

Because the minute we start choosing up sides amongst ourselves, brother, that

is the last minute for all of us, period.

Oh, so you're saying this magazine... Oh, man, I know that magazine's doing

How else are we going to tell people that we're making progress, Otis?

You show them.

Look, I think it's good that people know we ain't all out here shining shoes,

but I am.

And if I ain't shamed of it, I don't see why you should be.

All that does is split us up.

Look, I didn't mean to hurt you. Mr.

Jefferson, I know you didn't mean nothing.

That magazine don't mean to either.

Y 'all just looking for answers.

Everybody does, even me.

Yeah, well, when you find the answer, would you let me know?

Well, come on.

Come on. I'll show you what words mean. Excuse me. Excuse me, Doc, please.

Sit down there.

What's that?

A piece of coral.

We got it from Australia.

So where's the answer?

Well, you see, coral is a little tiny animal when it's living.

And it looks like fuzz.

In fact, if you don't study it up real close, you probably can't even see it.

Maybe take the old... 1 ,000 of them to build this much.

And they live in it together.

Probably take them 10 years to do this much.

So what do you say? Well, down there they got this great barrier reef, see?

About 1 ,200 miles long, 50 miles wide, probably the largest structure ever

built in the world.

Larger than the Great Wall of China?

Oh, yeah, much like that, Mr. Jefferson, but they did that.

Probably took them a million years. Fish ate at them, stars blew them down, but

they kept going.

When the old ones died, new, younger ones kept building right on top of them.

Now, Mr. Jeff said, you live like the coral.

You're doing something there.

Now, me, I've been shining shoes off and on for 40 years.

But I put two young ones through college doing it. You understand what I'm

saying?

Definitely. Man, I must be pretty stupid. No, now, that little coral and

animal can do all that.

Can you imagine what we all can do if we work together?

If we're willing to work together.

Right. Right.

Okay, so how do we get started?

What do we got to do? What's the answer?

Mr. Jefferson, if I knew the answer, would I be sitting here shining shoes?

But I'll tell you a secret. What's that?

Even the black call does it. And they really look alike.

Actually, I was upset about being passed over for king of the senior prom.

Well, where in the world is Mr. Jefferson?

I don't know. He said he was only going to run out for a few minutes.

Well, it sure ain't like it. The photographer's here and everything.

And Lord knows that child likes to have his picture taken.

You can even see him in the background on my driver's license.

Well, I don't know where he went or what he's doing, but if I know George, you

can bet he's up to some mischief.