All language subtitles for Good Times s05e23 Write on Thelma

Good times! Any time you need a payment.
Good times! Any time you need a break.

Good times!

Any time you're up and under.

Not getting hassled, not getting
hustled. Keeping your head up for water.

Making a way when you can.

Temporary layoffs. Good times!

sweet baby.

Baby, baby, baby, let's give our love a
fairytale. Michael, would you please be

quiet now? Come on. Sorry, Thelma.

Jack

be

nimble, Jack be fast.

Brother Jay is home at last.

one of those Motown Martians with a bad
case of Saturday Night Fever.

Hey, Michael, take off those headphones.

Can't you see your eminent big brother's
talking to you? And stop shaking your

booty like that.

Will you calm down, J .J.? Hey, Michael,
you mean to tell me Thelma ain't

finished writing that play yet?

Nah, she's still got some extra work to
do on it, so be quiet.

Michael, I'm quieter than a mouse
skating across a bowl of Jell -O.

Quieter than the guest of honor at
Ferguson's funeral, Paula.

Michael, we all know that I am the
quietest. No, no, no, Brother J. I am

quietest. I am the quietest.

Oh, yes.

If it got any quieter, we'll have a rock
concert in here.

Hey, Thelma, you just about finished
over here?

Yeah, almost. I gave the first draft to
Mrs. Flick, my teacher. I'm just waiting

to hear from her. Oh, don't worry,
Thelma. From now on, we won't give you

nothing but peace and quiet around here.

Peace and quiet!

Oh, thanks so much.

Hey, y 'all, have I got news for you.
Guess what?

Thelma's still writing.

Okay, listen, but you got to hear this.
My daughter, Penny, has been selected to

play in the Easter pageant.

Hey, congratulations, Penny. Very happy.
And not only that, the costume will be

styled and designed by the one and only
her mother, the star's mother.

What part are you playing, Penny?

I'm a tree.

I wanted to be a bunny, but they ran out
of air.

Oh, a tree, huh? So now when you trace
your roots, all you got to do is take

your shoes.

The important part in the whole play is
where the heroine talks about her dream.

You know, it's... And I can't even hear
myself think with the gun show going on

in here.

Thelma, honey, don't you think you're
going a little bit overboard after all?

You've just been writing a very short
time.

Well, Lona, I have been writing for at
least a dozen years.

Let me show you.

Thelma, writing on the elevator walls
doesn't qualify you to be Alex Haley.

Leave the child alone. She needs
encouragement.

12 years?

Gosh.

Thelma started writing before I was a
kid.

Me too.

What's that?

Those are my private diaries. Private?
Wow.

Come on now.

You know, Bologna, every night for the
last 12 years, I've been writing about

everything that has happened to me. Oh,
my good times, my bad times.

A secret desire? Oh. A boyfriend?

Uh -uh. A family?

All right. Family? Let me see that boy.

Oh! Hey! Give me that book! Give me my
book! Dear Diary, last night me and

Ebay... Give me this diary. What is

wrong with you?

Mrs. Thelma's personal thoughts. Her
innermost feelings.

Interruption. Take it easy there, my
little Shakespearean.

I'll handle this so you can keep
scripting your scribe.

I'm a teacher, Mrs. Flicker.

And this is Penny and her mother, Walona
Woods.

How do you do?

And this is my little brother, Michael.

What it is?

And this is my stupid brother, JJ.

Unpredicated.

Well, I must tell you the wonderful news
or I think I'll die.

Or at least get sick.

from Mr. Nicholson, head of the
community theater.

He has decided to put on your play.

My very own play.

I mean, actors is on stage saying the
words I want to say.

Oh, girl. I can't believe it. Hey, I'll
tell you, this is the greatest thing

that's happened to the ghetto since the
colonel got real.

Out of 83 entries, yours was the play
chosen to be produced.

My dear, Thelma, you are going to be
paid $250.

is remarkable this is only the beginning
for you film today one small script for

chicago tomorrow it's broadway hey

when do we start rehearsals oh now we
haven't even chosen the cast yet and i

think we ought to have a reading of the
play first just so we can hear how it

sounds oh yeah but we can have it right
here if i may be so inconspicuous

to take my services in some small menial
part, such as leading men.

You're an actor.

Oh, my good God.

How do you feel about Stanislavski? They
should have never traded him to the

Rams.

Well, it's all set.

They traded Stanislavski to the Rams.

changes that Mr. Nicholson suggests.

But I thought you said that not even a
word should be changed. It doesn't

to a thing. They're just the normal,
ordinary changes every playwright is

to make.

Well, um... Hold on there.

If I may be so humble and vanishing.

Speaking as the artistic director, I'll
just hand this.

All right.

Look here, dumber. You ain't had a play
published, written, or nothing yet.

The girl's going to offer you $250.
You're going to turn that down. You

not turn that down.

Okay,

Miss Flicka, make any changes you want.
Just go ahead and adjust the position,

change, pay to do whatever's necessary.

Well,

what are the changes?

Now, Mr. Nicholson wondered if you would
mind changing the name of your heroine

from Pauline to something else.

But what's the matter with Pauline?

Oh, that's the name of Mr.

Nicholson's ex -wife.

It was a very messy divorce.

How about changing it to Boom Boom?

Mr. Nicholson suggests Yvonne. That's
the name of his present friend.

Yvonne's fine with us. Just fine.

Right on.

Yes, Yvonne is a very nice name. We'll
change Pauline to Yvonne. All right.

a tiny thing here on page 16. Okay. It
says that Loretta is a, well, I say a

lady of the evening.

Now, Mr. Nicholson feels that it would
be better if you referred to her as a

dancehall girl.

She's what she is.

Mr. Nicholson doesn't want to offend the
audience.

Besides, there was some question about
his ex -wife, Pauline.

Well, okay. She can become a dancehall
girl. That's nice.

Ah, Thelma, you've been an angel about
this.

Here we are.

We're going to celebrate Thelma's hit
play. Come on. Oh,

Thelma. Thelma, just a minute. Just a
minute. If you don't mind, there are

a few more changes. Just a few more,
dear.

Now, you know, throughout the play, you
use a lot of street language.

Now, Mr.

Nicholson knows that people talk that
way, but he feels that there's some

in the audience who might take offense
to it, like his friends.

His friends are going to be there.

So now, on page 22.

case of black oak disease.

Penny, you look so sharp.

Doesn't she look beautiful?

My own tree, honey.

the valve on your flusher? Oh, Bookman,
you cannot change a valve now. We're

getting ready to read my play.

No kidding. You wrote a play? Yeah. Hey,
you got any small parts to fit me?

I beg your pardon.

Small parts to fit you, Booker.

There ain't no part that can fit you.

Well, I guess I'll get diploma so we can
go to work.

can handle little things but when you
want to hit a home run

Perhaps later. Now, shall we start the
play?

Hey, folks, can shorty use the phone?

Yeah, I wanted to call my old lady.

Hey, how come you didn't call her before
you came from work?

Man, are you kidding? My wife would kill
me.

Now, when we start the play, our
heroine, Yvonne, has left Chicago

Creole boyfriend, Eugene, who is a low
-down, dirty, conniving, despicable

gambler.

I'm going to have a tough time acting
that part.

Now, unknown to Yvonne, Madame Lafitte.

Oh, that's me? Yes. Starring Ro?

Yes. Has her eye on Eugene.

Eye on Eugene. Got that in code.

Now, nobody knows about this except
Loretta, a dance hall girl.

And Madame Lafitte's sleazy bar.

Now, as the play starts, we are at
the...

Cafe where Jeffrey, the Jamaican
bartender... All day, all night, mixing

drinks. All day, all...

Is listening to Chops the Trumpet
Player.

Lafitte's dimly lit... You're over here,
dear. Oh, I see. And Madame Lafitte's

dimly lit Bourbon Street Cafe.

Jeffrey, the bar's over here. Loretta,
you come over here.

Yvonne, you make your entrance up
center, please. Center, okay.

Now, remember, this is New Orleans,
1955.

There are a lot of people around.

A jigger of vodka, a shot of yak juice,
and something to hold on to.

I'm coming right up, big boy.

Tell me Mr. Nicholson has a note here
about alcoholic beverages. He's afraid

that some people will find it
objectionable.

All right, good. I'll change it.

Read on. Okay, okay.

love slave.

I am my own man, and I plays the field.

Well, monsieur, you must understand that
if you do not give me your whole heart,

your little Creole butt will be tossed
into the bayon.

Hold it.

Hold it. Yes, there is another note.
Thanks. Yes. Now, Mr. Nicholson suggests

that your little Creole butt is
suggestive.

And I must admit that... Oh, come on,
that's cool.

Yes, dear, yes. Now, we must not argue
with Mr.

Nicholson. Read on.

Yes.

Well, in that case, I better go break
the bad news to Yvonne.

That bank shop gambler, Eugene, is gonna
break poor Yvonne's heart.

Hey, he can't help it if he's loved by
two women.

what he's going through.

Tell me if you're lying.

You're lying.

Eugene,

I have to talk to you.

Not now, baby.

I want to hear Chops sing.

L -R -V, baby.

Well, I'm tired of it.

And I'm going back home.

I'm tired of your phony dreams, too.

Because I have dreams of my own.

Very funny.

Frenchie.

But Yvonne, baby, this is our dream
right here in New Orleans.

It's going to come true. It's right here
in the palm of our hands.

Holding on to dreams that you can touch,
Eugene, are not the best kind of dreams

to have.

You know, my daddy once told me...

You have to reach for dreams that nobody
can see but you.

And those are the kind of dreams that
will give you more than just a pat on

back from your friends.

Yeah. Those are the kind of dreams that
will give you your future.

And they're out there.

They're out there.

And this is one black woman that's going
to reach her dream.

All right.

Word change.

What word change?

Well, you know, he feels that your place
should be for everybody, just not a few

people. It's not universal enough the
way you've written it. It's too heavy,

black. Oh.

Oh, so that's a little word change.

Black. Well, yes, yes. All you have to
do is take it out and put it in. Look,

change it to this. Look, right here,
dear.

This is one woman that's going to reach
her dream. So what's wrong with that?

Everything.

Because the play is not about being
black.

It's about being a woman. And a woman
happens to be black.

So you can tell Mr. Nicholson he can go
butcher up somebody else's play. Tell me

you know what this means.

It means forget about Mr.

Nicholson and forget about doing my
play.

Tell her what she's passing up. I'm
sorry, honey. It's between Thelma and

herself.

Thelma, I think you're making a mistake.

Sometimes compromises are necessary.

I've had to make them all my life.

Do you think I like playing errand girl
to Mr. Nicholson?

I've got to keep my job.

I need it.

So what's wrong with a little compromise
if it puts $250 in your pocket and gets

your play done?

I understand about compromise, Mrs.
Flicker.

But compromise, to a certain point,
becomes surrender.

And I'm not changing another word.

All right, Thelma. I'll tell Mr.

Nicholson.

Thelma.

I wish I had your guts.

on, you know?

I won the battle, but I lost the war.

Mama, listen to me now.

You just keep on trying, you keep on
writing. You understand me?

That's right. Hey, sometimes you win and
sometimes you lose.

Yeah. All right.

And one day...

Just looking out of the window, watching
the asphalt road,

thinking how it all looks and it dies.

Good times, good times, keeping your
head above water, making a

wave when you can.

Temporary layoffs, good times, easy
credit ripoffs, good times.

Good times is videotaped in front of a
studio. your audience.