All language subtitles for So Big (1932)

Tell Mr MacDonald to put
that in the safe for me.

Yes, sir. I sure will, sir.

The gentlemen are starting a new
game in the back, Mr Peake.

They told me to ask you.
How about a little revenge?

That there's a lucky chance
still waiting for you.

Tell them there's a
beautiful lady also waiting.

Their cash will be just
as good tomorrow.

Perhaps the cards won't be, Mr Peake?
- That will be my hard luck, Jeff.

You ain't had none lately, sir.

I sure wish I had your rabbit's foot.

Well, Jeff.

How will this do as a substitute?

Thank you, Mr Peake.

A ten-dollar bill ain't ever
brought me no bad luck yet.

Where is your mama, little girl?

I haven't any mama.

You poor lonely little dear.

Do you live in the hotel?

We do when father's business is good.

And I am not lonely.

Don't you want to come and
play with my little girl?

She would like that.
Wouldn't you, Agnes dear?

No thank you very much.
I'm waiting for my father.

He would be disappointed
not to find me here.

You precious pet.

Come along, dear.

Daddy.

Why do strange ladies always
want to kiss me, father?

How could anyone help
wanting to kiss my Celia?

That's how people catch
mumps and measles, isn't it?

Sometimes.

But not generally from kind ladies.

Kind ladies always make me
feel like an orphan in a play.

How would you like to
see one .. tonight?

Fanny Davenport in Sappho.

Remember her in Camille?
- I cried.

Afraid I did too, Selina.

I'd love to act like Fanny Davenport.

You can.

Play-acting through life
is just living Selina.

I want you to realize this
whole thing called 'life' ..

Is just a grand adventure.

The trick is to act in it and
look down at the same time.

And remember.

No matter what happens.

Good or bad.

Is just so much velvet.

What is the new vegetable, father?

Shush.

It's called asparagus.

Aspa grass?

No, no.

Asparagus.

Asparagus.

Is it good?
- Uhuh.

And good for you.

Look.

Yes. Look.

Selina, aren't we funny-looking?

I know I am.

And Julie Hempel,
the size of your bustle.

It doesn't seem possible the
styles have changed so.

Well.

I won't have to worry about the
new styles for next season ..

With father's business as bad as it is.

I'm sorry to hear that, Selina.

I don't think you've ever told me
just what your father's business is.

Oh.

Just business, Mrs Hempel.
In the market.

My husband complains about
the market too sometimes.

Why mother, Selina doesn't mean
a meat market like father's.

It's stocks and that kind of thing.

Isn't it, Selina?
- Uhuh.

I must hurry before father gets home.
- Won't you stay for supper?

No thanks. I can't this evening.

We are having prairie chickens that
a farmer west of town brought father.

Don't tempt me.

This is Monday.

And on Mondays we have cold mutton and
cabbage at Mrs Tebbit's boarding house.

Well, silly. Why not stay?

If I'm not home, father is disappointed
and Mrs Tebbit makes eyes at him.

I know just how it must be after
that wonderful Palmer House Hotel.

We don't mind it for a change.
You meet such interesting people.

Just like in a play.

Goodbye, Mrs Hempel.
- Goodbye, Selina.

You know, the bustle did
hide a multitude of sins.

What is it, Mary? What's the matter?
- It is Mr Peake, ma'am.

He has been shot.

Shot?

Yes, ma'am. Shot dead in
Mike MacDonald's gambling room.

It was an accident.

Easy there on the corner.

Mrs Tebbit, what's the matter?

What's the matter?

It ..

It's your father.

Father.

[ Door knocks ]

Yes?

Here is a letter for you, Miss Peake.

Thank you, Mrs Tebbit.

Mr Hempel brought it in his carriage.

Mr Hempel?

He is my butcher, you know.

I asked him point blank why his daughter
hadn't called since your bereavement.

She used to come so often.

He said she had ..

Gone away for the winter.

To her aunt in Kansas City.

Without even seeing you.

I can't get over it.

But.

Some people are like that
when you are in trouble.

Mr Pool, how beautiful
everything is here.

Beautiful?

What is beautiful?

This. The cabbages.

Cabbages is beautiful?

Cabbages is beautiful.

Well, they are. They're beautiful.

They are like jade and burgundy.

Is .. is Mrs Pool expecting?

There is a Mrs Pool, isn't there?

Sure.

But my Maartje is through expecting.

Three children is enough for
a farmer these hard times.

Oh yes. Of course.

It will be nice to have them for pupils.

You mean it won't be nice to have
them for pupils, or they won't be, or ..

Well, all won't be.

Dear me, why not? Which ones won't?

Katya goes to school.
Jozina goes to school.

And Roelf, he helps by the farm.
- How old is Roelf?

Twelve.
- And not at school?

He helps by the farm.

Doesn't he like school?
- But sure.

Then for pity's sake why doesn't he go?

Roelf helps by the farm.

Cabbages is beautiful.

Maartje.

Here is the schoolteacher.

How do you do, Mrs Pool.

Pleased to meet you.

Come and lay off your things.

This is Jacob Pogadunk.

He helps by the farm.

How do you do, mister ..

Mr Pogadunk.

Hello teacher.

Beautiful cabbages.

Oh.

Which is Jozina and which is Katya?

Now you two stay downstairs.

How neat and clean everything is.

Nobody has ever used it
since my old Ma's funeral.

What a lovely old chest.

I had that when I was
married fourteen years ago.

My wedding chest.

I was seventeen then.

You are only thirty-one?

Almost.

I'm not so young as you.

What on earth is this?

A drum.
- A drum?

For heat your room.
- Maartje.

Something is burning already.

You ain't ate nothing.
Like you wasn't hungry.

I'm not very.
Can I help you with anything?

No. You sit down and
make yourself at home.

Katya, Jozina, you go to bed at once.

Goodnight.

You got to have rich bottom lands.

Even with regular fertilizer.

Else you get little, tough,
stringy vegetables.

Regular fertilizer costs too
much to put on our farm.

What's regular fertilizer, Mr Pool?

Regular fertilizer is ..

It's regular fertilizer.

What is in it?

What's in it?

Dried blood.

What does it mean, 'dried blood'?

Dried blood.

It is dried blood.

They put it on the fields to make the
cabbages and onions and radishes grow.

Anyway.

Cabbages is beautiful.

I think I'll go up to my room.
I am very tired.

It was the ride I suppose.
- Sure. Go up.

I got my bread to set yet and whatnot.

Roelf.

Go and fetch the teacher's trunk.

Stop that reading all the time.

Why, he's been reading the dictionary.

Sure.

The last teacher gave it to him.

It has got more in it than
a hundred thousand words.

And all different.

I want you to realize this
whole thing called 'life'.

Is just a grand adventure.

The trick is to act in it and
look down at the same time.

And remember.

No matter what happens.

Good or bad.

It is just so much velvet.

[ Door knocks ]

Come in.

Isn't that too heavy for you?

This is a good place
for it, don't you think?

At the foot of the bed.

Thank you, Roelf.

Cabbages.

Fields of cabbages like you said.

They are beautiful.

Is it this cold every morning?

The stove heats good
after you get it started.

Let's see.
First you put in the kindling.

Then some kerosene and then corncob.

And then you light it.

Only sometimes it don't catch so easy.

I'd better come and do it for you.

I'm afraid I'm not a very good fireman.

I am.

I can see you are.
It's getting warmer already.

Here's your schoolbooks.

Thank you, Roelf. And for the fire too.

What's this?

Just a picture.

For me?

How nice.

Did you make it?

I like to draw pictures.

Now I see why you said
cabbages were beautiful.

In your picture they really are.

I must go now.

I'm sorry you can't stay to school,
Roelf. Wouldn't you like to?

Pa needs me by the fields.

This time of year is the hardest.

Roelf.

I have a book called Ivanhoe.

Would you like to read it?

Well, I don't get much time.

You wouldn't have to hurry.
Read it in the evenings in your house.

Instead of your dictionary.

Perhaps I can get all the
chores done before supper.

Some night.
- You will try, won't you?

And Roelf.

I have another book called
the Three Musketeers.

Goodbye. I got a lot
of work to do today.

Who is that?

The widow Paarlenberg.

She is rich like anything.

Look.

Look when she makes eyes at him.

At him? Who?

Pervus De Jong.

He is very good looking, isn't he.

Sure.

Widow Paarlenberg, she is stuck on him.

Shush.

The collection this Sabbath morning.

Is for our foreign missions among
the ignorant heathen in China.

On Wednesday evening.

The regular weekly prayer meeting.

Will give place to the
annual church social.

To be held in the Sunday
school of this edifice.

In the basement.

The supper baskets.

To by contributed by the
ladies of the congregation.

Will be raffled off as usual.

Proceeds this year.

Going towards the purchase
of a new church organ.

The organist will now
play hymn number 43.

Number 43.

What am I bid?

What am I bid? What am I bid?

Thirty cents? Thirty cents?
- Thirty-five.

Thirty-five cents?
Shame on you gentlemen.

Who will make it forty?
Who will make it forty?

Forty cents.
- Forty cents.

Remember.

The lucky gent gets the fair owner of
this large basket as his supper partner.

Who will make it forty-five?
Who will make it forty-five?

Sold.

To Gerrit Ponds.

Katrina Hinkledorf's
basket for forty cents.

And there's mince pie in it, gentlemen.

Hey, what?

I am so sorry but there's such a crowd.

I can't get my lunchbox through.

That lunchbox?

Yes, for the raffle.
I am the schoolteacher, Selina Peake.

Yes. I saw you on Sunday in church.

You did? I didn't think you ..

Did you?

Here, wait. I will be back.

Look what we have here.

The widow Paarlenberg's basket.

The widow Paarlenberg's
basket, ladies and gentlemen.

I don't know what's in it.

Who has eaten the widow's chicken
and cake don't have to know.

What am I bid?

What am I bid? What am I bid?

Come. Speak up young
men of High Prairie.

Hey you. Pervus De Jong.

Pervus De Jong.

What am I bid?

What am I bid? What am I bid?

Thirty cents.
- Fifty cents.

Johannes Ambulle bids fifty cents.

Did I hear you bid yet, Pervus De Jong?

Did I hear you bid yet?

Gents. I am going to whisper a secret.

It isn't chicken in this basket.

It is roast duck.

Eighty cents.

Eighty cents for a roast duck.

Pervus De Jong.

Did I hear you say a dollar?

And how goes it the school teaching?

It goes pretty well.

Did I hear you say a dollar,
Pervus De Jong?

You are awful little to be a
schoolteacher, ain't you?

Little?

I'm bigger than you are.

I did not.

So.

To Gores Von Buren.

For eighty cents.

Here's a dainty little titbit.

If you ain't feeling especially hungry.

But the lady herself
goes with it, gents.

Miss Selina Peake. That's who.

Miss Selina Peake.

What am I bid?

What am I bid for this
lovely little tooth bowl?

Five cents.

I am bid five cents.

Who will make it five and a half?

One dollar.

One dollar.

Pervus De Jong bids one dollar.

Gents.

You get the ribbon, the lunch
and the girl to eat it with.

A dollar and a half.

One-sixty.
- Three dollars.

No. He shouldn't do that. He's saving
that money for a set of paints.

Five dollars.

Five.

Five. Five.

And ten cents.

Six.

Six-fifty.

Let him have it.
It's only jelly sandwiches.

Ten dollars.
- Ten dollars.

Gents, I am bid ten dollars.

Ten once.

Ten twice.

Gone.

To Pervus De Jong.

Whatever made you do that?

All that money when you might
have been eating breast of duck.

Why did you?

I don't know.

But you looked so little and they
were making fun of you. Laughing.

I think that's a very foolish reason
for throwing away ten dollars.

I can make it easy on my next trip
to Haymarket. If I can figure some.

But them fellows who buy
vegetables are too smart for me.

They can do figures in their heads.

Just like that. So quick.

I'll teach you how. I'll teach you.

What do you mean, you will teach me?
- Why, evenings.

What will you take for pay?

Pay?

I don't want any pay.

I tell you what.

My farm is just this side of the school.

I can start for you on the fire
mornings and thaw the pump.

But Roelf Pool does that
for me every morning.

But.

Couldn't you come to Pool's
place for lessons say ..

Three evenings a week?

There is nobody home to stay in for.

And if you are sure ..
- I'd love to do it.

I would love to.

Roelf, why don't you eat?

Look. It is pork.

Nice fat pork.

I cooked it myself.

[ Door knocks ]

That will be Pervus De Jong
for his lesson from teacher.

Them lessons by schoolteacher.

Must go good by him.

Now then, we will parse this sentence.

'Bl�cher arrived on
the field of Waterloo ..'

'Just as Wellington was receiving
the last onslaught of Napoleon'.

'Just' may be treated as a modifier
of the dependent clause.

That is ..

That is just ..

I have forgotten where we were.
It was such a terrible clatter.

Excuse me.

Here.

Why, it's arbutus. How lovely.

I got them in Updike's woods.

You went way up there after them?

You said once you loved arbutus.

What's the matter?

Matter?

Nothing.

How do you mean?

You looked at me so funny then.

Your eyes.

And your face is all red like tomatoes.

Really?

I'm a little tired.

It must be spring fever.

Already I saw a robin.

Spring comes quick this year.

Perhaps we had better let the rest
of the lesson go until next time.

Maybe I can't come next time.

What with planting and plowing and such.

You think I've done pretty good?

So far?

That is correct, isn't it?

I keep forgetting.

Do you think I have done pretty well?

Very well.

Especially with your arithmetic.

I get through too late in the fields to
come again until the crops are well up.

I am sorry.

So am I.

It will seem kind of lonely at nights.

Sometimes I keep wishing.

I mean sometimes, I have ..
- We had ..

We'd better finish the rest of this
lesson as you can't come for a while.

But if you are tired ..
- No. I'm not really.

Let's see. Where were we?

By them fellows you call
Napoleon and Wellington.

Oh yes.

Oh yes.

'Just as Wellington was receiving
the last onslaught of Napoleon'.

We'll go on from there.

'Just' may be treated as a modifier
of the dependent clause.

That is ..
- Selina.

Wake up.

Little sleepyhead.

Wake up.

You are a farmer's wife now.

Is it morning?

It is still dark.

Already it's 4 o'clock.

Breakfast, little Selina. Breakfast.

Just think.

We've been married eight hours.

Yep.

Time goes quick.

All yesterday's work, I got to do.

And all today's.

I know.

There is really such a lot
of work to do, isn't there.

Of course, you know your kitchen is a
sight with those blotchy grey walls.

That hanging lamp the Pools gave
us can go over the kitchen table.

We must fix up the porch. It'll be nice
to sit out there when summer comes.

And your wagon, Pervus.

You must have your wagon painted.
You will, won't you?

Yep. Sometime.

Now we have breakfast.
- I'll hurry and dress.

Pervus.

Yeah?

You haven't said good morning.
- Good morning.

Pervus.

Kiss me.

And Pervus.

Huh?

Keep your back turned.

Oh.

Selina.

Selina.

Come here at once.

Pervus.

Pervus.

Pervus.

Pervus!

What can be the matter, doctor? Maartje
ain't been sick before in her life.

A farmer's wife don't have time maybe.

Oh well. Maybe a good night's rest.
- A year wouldn't be enough.

Your wife is run down, Klass.
That's all.

Maybe she needs a tonic
like I read in the almanac.

I get some when I go to Haymarket.

When the machine's run
down it don't need tonic.

It needs new parts.

We can't give your wife those.

But rest will help.

Keep her off her feet.

Keep my Maartje off her feet?

And out of the fields
if it isn't too late.

Goodbye.

I got to get along.

They are expecting a baby
up at Pervus's place.

It might be here any time now.

It's been a great year for the stork.

Come on, Molly. Your oats are waiting.

You should be ashamed to sit on the
porch with your Ma on her back upstairs.

Get inside. There is
housework to be done yet.

It's a ten-pound boy.

My wife. Is she alright?

Stood it like a soldier.

Go in. She has been asking for you.

He is awful red, ain't he?

Your Ma is dead.

It kills everybody.

That's what it does.

Everybody that touches it.

I hate radishes, I hate onions.

And I hate cabbages and I hate
the ugly ground they grow in.

Roelf.

Go outside, once.

You ought to be ashamed
with your Ma upstairs dead.

I do, I tell you.

I hate farmers. All of them.

And I hate you.

How big is my baby?

How big is my man?

So .. big!

Mother's little So-Big.

Is getting to be a great big man.

Hello, Roelf. How are you?

Alright.

You haven't been over lately.

So-Big has missed you.

Isn't he getting to be a great big boy?

Uhuh.

I suppose you'll be making
a farmer out of him.

A farmer of my baby?

No, Roelf.

Dirk is going out in the
world and do things.

So am I.

I've come to tell you goodbye.

Goodbye?

I'm going away.

I understand.

I heard your father was marrying
the widow Paarlenberg.

It's not that so much.

It's everything.

I've been wanting to get
away for a long time.

Where are you going?

Just away.

Anywhere.

Chicago maybe.

Here's the books that belong to you.

No. Keep them please. I want you to.

And Roelf. You'll need money, won't you?

Wait here a minute.

So long.

Roelf.

Roelf.

What, another?

Now, Pervus.

Oh no.
- Come on.

You remember. Once you say ..

Farm work is grand.

Oh, I did.

It could be.

You won't listen to me.

Farm work is slave work.

All night.

We load wagons with carrots.

At 4 o'clock I drive.

To make enough that we buy
tomato plants for summer.

Why won't you put in asparagus?
- Asparagus?

And wait three years for a crop?

But one planting lasts for
ten years once it's started.

You plant it in rows instead of beds.

Over four of five acres.
- Four or five acres? Where?

In the clay lands maybe? In west 16?

We can under-drain and use fertiliser.
- Fertilizer costs money.

You sold your father's ring
for potash and drainage.

Did it help?

I think maybe we stick by
cabbages and potatoes.

Don't you see if you don't give the soil
something it won't give you anything.

It just takes from you the
same as you take from it.

Until it's drained every bit
of strength from your body.

If we talk all night my body will be
no good for a big day's work tomorrow.

But Pervus, I've tried so long
to show you the new way.

You are running this farm the same way
your father ran it seventy years ago.

If it's good enough for my
father it's good enough for me.

Good afternoon, Reverend Dekker.

What's this I hear about you going
to Haymarket with the garden stuff?

A woman. Alone.

No. Not alone. Dirk is going with me.

Mrs De Jong.

The Haymarket is no place
for a decent woman.

There is drinking. Card playing.

All manner of wickedness.

The daughters of Jezebel on the
streets going among the wagons.

Really?

People all over High Prairie
are talking about it.

You must not go.

I am sorry if they talk.

But Dirk and I must live.

What you doing, kid? Playing leapfrog?

I had to pick this up.

It's all dirty now.

Does your mama know you are out?

Sure. She brought me out here.

She's just putting the
horses in the stable.

Yeah?

What's your name, cute-trick?
- Dirk.

Huh? What's that again?

Dirk.

I can't make any sense of it.
Can you, Mabel?

It sounds like 'dirt' to me.

Stands to reason nobody
will name a kid that.

No.

We were just talking to the kid.

Asking him his name
and like that. You know.

His name is Dirk. D-I-R-K.
It's a Dutch name.

We're from out High Prairie way.

I am Mrs De Jong.

I am Elsie. Elsie from Chelsea.

She is Mabel. Mabel from the stable.

Come on, kid. Let's quit gabbing.

Wait a minute now, Elsie.
- Alright.

What you doing down here anyway?

I'm here to sell my vegetables
tomorrow morning from the farm.

Where is your man?

My husband died a week ago.

Say. You and the kid ain't going
to sleep out here, are you?

Why not?

For the love of Mike.

Here. Take this and get
the kid a decent roost.

Oh.

We don't mind sleeping here.

But thanks just the same.

Mabel.

Go on. Take it.

Really, I ..

I couldn't.

Say.

I always thought I'd had a tough break.

But gee, I ain't never had
to sleep in no wagon yet.

Goodnight to you.
- Goodnight.

Goodnight, Mabel.

Gee, you are a darling.

Goodbye.

Come on, Dirk. Bedtime.

Up he goes.

Are we going to sleep
here all night, Mumsie?

Right here. Just as snug
as a bug in a rug.

Come on, Dirk.

Right there.

That's it.

I liked Mabel the best. Didn't you?

She was the nicest.

Yes, dear.

How big is my boy?

How big is my son?

So ..

Big.

Your first short dress.

At it again.

What a sentimental generation
yours must have been, mother.

Sure it was.

Your father gave me these.

Pressed flowers.

They went out with the tandem
bicycle, didn't they.

I suppose they did.

Your college diploma.

I had to slave and sweat
four years for that.

And going to an architects
office at $35 a week.

Architecture is the most thrilling
thing in the world, Dirk.

Steel and stone and brick.

With engines throbbing
like a heart inside.

People flowing in and out.

Part of a city.
A piece of actual beauty.

Yeah.

I've spent the past week
drawing wash-rooms.

For a glue factory.
- But ten years from now ..

If I'm a good boy and
keep my nose clean.

Maybe they'll let me design a building
that looks like a big vanilla sundae.

That's not my idea of success.

What is, So-Big?
- To be rich.

To make a lot of money while I'm young.
So I can enjoy it while I'm older.

No. Believe me, Dirk.
That isn't success.

This is success.

The thing Roelf Pool did. He drew
this when he was just a little boy.

Very promising.

Roelf made good on the promise. He's now
one of the greatest sculptors in Europe.

Why, only yesterday I saw a photograph
of his latest work in a German gallery.

He won first prize. Same as last year.

But if you are rich you can
buy the things Roelf does.

That's almost as good as
creating them, isn't it?

[ Telephone ]

I'll get it, mother.

Hello?

Hello.

Yes. I can be there in about an hour.

Alright, dear.

Goodbye.

Mother, I am awfully sorry. I won't be
able to have dinner with you tonight.

They .. they want me at
the office right away.

I understand, dear.

You run along.

A farmer's hands are
never very decorative.

Honey. I'll be late if I don't hurry.

Goodbye, dear.

Goodbye, So-Big.

The duck.

Lyonnaise potatoes.

Yes, madam.

And the De Jong asparagus.

Yes, madam.

Don't tell me. You grow asparagus
in window boxes outside your office?

My desk isn't near a window.

No, really.

Are you any relation to
these asparagus people?

Why ..

Of course not.

The name De Jong is as common in
Holland as Smith is in America.

What show would you like to see?

I would rather go somewhere and dance.

The Casino?

That's too expensive for
a poor architect's clerk.

I will treat you.
- No you won't, Paula.

You are a proud, stubborn Dutchman.
But I like you, Dirk.

That makes it mutual, Paula.

How much do they pay you
at Hollis and Sprague?

If I'm not being impertinent.

You are being very impertinent.

$35 a week.

You know, Dirk.

You have all the earmarks
of a successful man.

The way you stand, talk.

And don't talk.

The way you look at people.

All the earmarks.

Except money.
- You could have that too.

If you would only stop dobbing
around as an architect's office boy.

And get into a real business.

For instance?

Well.

My husband has made a fortune
in the bond business.

And no-one ever accused
him of being a mental giant.

Nor me.

But you have youth, energy.

And plenty of charm.

Is that all?

I am serious, dear.

Five years in the bond business
with the right connections.

And you would clean up.

I wonder.

Why not try it and find out?

You mean, go to your husband with my
hat in my hand and ask him for a job?

Oh no, darling.

Come to me.

With your hat off.

My personal recommendation might
carry a lot of weight with my husband.

It always has.

Lovely weather we are having, Mrs Storm.

Yes, Mr De Jong.

And I think it's going
to be even lovelier.

[ Buzzer ]

Yes?

Miss O'Mara is here.

Alright, Send her in.

Just sit down, Miss O'Mara.
I'll be with you in a second.

Please sit down.
- Sure.

Now, Miss O'Mara.

This drawing we want is for a
national advertising campaign.

To get women interested in bonds.

To make women bond-conscious.
- I see.

Now, my idea was something like this.

A little old lady sitting in
front of a fireplace and ..

Aren't you trying to do my job?

What?

You hire me to get an idea
for a drawing and to draw it.

I was just ..

Just giving you my ..

I think you will like mine better.

After I've had a day
or two to work it out.

How much do you ..

What do you expect to
get for this drawing?

Fifteen hundred dollars.

Nonsense. We're not prepared
to pay anything like that.

Sorry. That happens to be my price.

Anyhow, it's been nice meeting you.

Goodbye, Mr De Jong.
- Wait a minute.

I suppose if that's
your regular charge ..

We could afford to pay it.

Could you?

But I must say you top-notchers
get crazy prices for your work.

They aren't any crazier than
the prizes you top-notchers get.

But still, fifteen hundred
dollars is quite a lot of money.

I think so too.

Anything over nine dollars seems
quite a lot of money to me.

I used to get 25 cents a
piece for sketching hats.

Epstein Brothers.

But now you have arrived.
You are successful.

Arrived? Heavens, no. I haven't started.

Who gets more money than
you do for a drawing?

Nobody, I suppose.
- Well then.

Well then ..

In a minute I will be telling
you the story of my life.

Goodbye, Mr De Jong.

When you get something
definite worked out ..

May I see it?
- Sure.

Drop around to my studio
in a week or so.

[ Door knocks ]

Dirk, is that you?

Come in. I'm not sleeping.
I am just reading.

I'm awfully glad you came.

I haven't seen you in over a week.

I'm a slave to big business, darling.

Just a slave.

Sit down here the way you used to.

I'm all in.

The fellows at the club are trying
to make a polo player out of me.

I know. You ache all over,
but a nice kind of ache.

I used to feel that way after
I worked in the fields all day.

You didn't like my mentioning
that, did you. I am sorry.

I didn't say it to annoy you.

I know you didn't, mother.

Dirk.

Do you know what the society editor
of The Tribune called you today?

No. What?

She said you were one of
the jeunesse dor�e.

Gosh.

I remember enough of my French at
school to know it means 'gilded youth'.

Who me?

Say, I'm not even spangled yet.

Dirk.

I don't want you to be one
of those gilded youth.

That isn't what I worked
in the sun and cold for.

I'm not reproaching you.

I didn't mind the work.
Forgive my even mentioning it.

I don't want my son to be one
of those jeunesse dor�es.

Not my son.

Listen dear. That's foolish.

You talk like a mother in a
melodrama whose son has gone wrong.

Gilded youth.

I work like a dog.
Earn every cent I get.

What is it you sell in that big
mahogany office of yours, Dirk?

I never did understand it.

Bonds, mother.
You know perfectly well.

Bonds?

Are they hard to sell? Who buys them?

That depends.

Everybody buys them.

I don't.

Mainly because when I had spare money it
went back in the farm for improvements.

Dirk De Jong.

In the bond business.

The way you say it, it sounds
like some low criminal pursuit.

Not at all, my dear.

Only, I was just thinking.

It doesn't sound very thrilling.

I make more in a month than I
made in a year as an architect.

That's thrilling enough for me.

What are you going to do
with all this money, Dirk?

Why don't you marry?

Well.

There is nobody I want to marry.

No-one who's free to marry, you mean.

I mean.

No-one.

Not even the woman who made you change
jobs and go into her husband's firm?

I don't know what you are talking about.

I gave up architecture
because I didn't like it.

Oh.

I see.

And you are never going
back to architecture?

Your profession?
- No, mother.

Dirk.

You can't desert her like that.

Desert who?

Beauty.

Self-expression.
Call it whatever you like.

You wait.

Someday you will want her.

And she will turn her back on you.

She won't be there.

What a solemn face.

Yes. It must be.

Is that better?

Sure.

How big is my boy?

How big is my son?

So-Big.

Goodnight, mother.

Sleep tight.

Goodnight.

So that's what we get for
fifteen hundred dollars.

A picture of a pretty girl.

I hope you didn't expect me to draw
a picture of a woman buying bonds.

No. Dumb as I am, I realized that the
very first time I came to your studio.

I'm getting punch drunk.

I guess I'll knock off.
- You're losing your light anyhow.

School is over, Ruth.

See you in the morning.
- Yes, Miss O'Mara.

Gee, I must look like the
end of a hard winter.

That's my cue to say
something complimentary.

Uhuh.

I am waiting.

How is this?

You are just about the most
attractive girl I have ever met.

Very good. Kind-of a stereotype, but ..

Still effective.

Time out while I work
up a maidenly blush.

Now, this is your last chance.

I'm not going to ask you
this question anymore.

How about having dinner
with me some night?

I'd love to.
- When?

Sometime in the distant future.

Say tonight?

Perfect.

Where would you like to go, the casino?
- Let's not go, but say we did.

Those upper crust places make me jitter.

How about Thompson's Lunch?

I am still a hunchback from sitting
in those one-armed chairs.

Let's go to a hotel.

Full of all sorts of people.

Actors, gamblers, thieves.

Bootleggers, ladies and ..

Women. That's my dish.

Name your hotel.

It must be sufficiently from Texas.

The Blackstone.
The last word in elegance.

We're practically there.
- No we're not.

You must excuse me for a minute.
I have got some work to do on myself.

I don't think that's necessary.
- Matter of opinion.

Dallas, how about some
clams or a fruit supreme?

Then the breast of a guinea
hen under glass and ..

Suppose you take that.

Me.

I'd like.

Steak.

A baked potato.

And some of that special
De Jong asparagus.

I'll go for that too.

Don't tell me you spend your
idle moments growing asparagus?

Not me.

My mother grows that stuff.

Well, good for her.

There is a woman I'd like to meet.

You know, you seem like much too
nice a fellow to sit behind a desk.

Punching buttons.

I haven't been a high-powered
executive for long.

I used to be an architect.

Why did you give it up?

Nothing in it.

What do you mean?

Nothing in it?
- No money.

Who cares?

Gee.

I would rather plan the back door
of a beautiful building than ..

Than sell all the bonds ever engraved.

Listen, Dallas.

What do you think of me anyway?

You are a nice young man.

That's like telling a
fellow he means well.

Sorry. But you asked for it.

What happens to men who
fall in love with you?

What do they do?

They usually tell me about it.

Then what?

They seem to feel better and
we become great friends.

Don't you ever fall in love with them?

I almost always do.

But it never takes.

I could give you a lot of
things you haven't got.

Even if I am just a nice young man.

You'll have to send them by express.

I'm going to Paris in a few weeks.

To Paris? What for?

To study.

I want to do portraits.

Oils.

Can't you do them here?

Nope.

Is it because I'm a successful
businessman that you don't like me?

But I do like you.

Though you don't find me attractive.
- You're an awfully attractive man.

Dangerous, that's what.
- Don't be the wide-eyed ing�nue.

You know very well what I mean.
You've got me and you don't want me.

If I were a successful architect instead
of a successful businessman ..

Would it make any difference?
Is that it?

Or must a man be an
artist to interest you?

Good Lord, no.

I'll probably marry some
horny-handed son of toil.

And if I do.

The horny hands will win me.

I like them with their scars on them.

There is something about a
man who has fought for it.

The look in his eye.

The feel of his hands.

You haven't a mark on you, Dirk.

Not a mark.

You gave up being an architect as it was
an uphill disheartening job at the time.

I don't say you should have kept on.

For all I know you were
a terrible architect.

But if you had kept on.

If you'd loved it enough to keep
on fighting and struggling.

Why, that fight would
show in your face today.

In your eyes and your whole being.

In the name of heaven, Dallas.
- Listen. I'm not criticising.

But you are all smooth and ..

And I like them bumpy.

That sounds terrible.

It isn't what I mean at all.

It isn't ..
- Never mind.

I think I know what you mean.

Dallas, if I thought you ..

If I thought you would ..

I'd go back to Hollis and Sprague and
begin all over again at $35 a week.

Don't.

You know, all Pool's work
has such noble simplicity.

Such a feeling of power.

I can't understand why
he hasn't turned up yet.

He'll be here.

No real artist ever
knows what time it is.

So true.
- Pardon me.

Smith.
- Yes, madam?

Tell Mr De Jong I'd
like to speak to him.

Mr De Jong left about ten minutes ago.

Thank you.

[ Door knocks ]

Could I interest you in
Fuller brushes, lady?

Nope. I use a comb.

Come on in.

Shouldn't you be at
Roelf Pool's reception?

Yes. But I started thinking
of you and sneaked out.

Come and meet a chap
who never got there.

I don't want to butt in
if you have company.

I want you to meet him.

Mr Pool.

Mr Dirk De Jong.

How do you do, sir?

Dirk De Jong.

Not ..

Say, don't you know me?

I am Roelf Pool.

Gee, I ought to know you.

I don't mean that.

I say, I knew you when
you were almost a baby.

You are Selina's Dirk, aren't you?

Yes. That's right.

See.

Just a little girl who fixes
up surprises for her friends.

Where did you two meet each other?

In Paris.

Roelf and I took the town apart
and put it together again.

Say, isn't this fine.

I was just taking Dallas
out to meet your mother.

Come on along.

I would like to if you're
sure I'm not intruding.

Don't be silly. We'd love to have you.
- Sure.

You know, your mother is my chief reason
for this first trip back to America.

I am as excited as a
boy about seeing her.

This is the grandest
place I have ever seen.

It's like a painting.
- Yes. It's nice.

It smells clean and earthy.

Hello, Mina.

Where is mother?

By the fields.

You want I should fetch her?
- Please.

This bring her.

That bring her.

Somehow this place makes me feel ..

As if I were in church.

Look.

Two lumps, Dirk?

Three.

And you have done all the famous
men of Europe, haven't you Roelf.

Think of it.

You have seen the world and
you have got it in your hands.

Little Roelf Pool.

And you did it all by yourself
in spite of everything.

Why are you smiling?

I just remembered.

Cabbages are beautiful.

What a fine life you've had too, Selina.

A full life.

A rich one and successful.

I?

Why, Roelf.

I've been right here all these years.

Just where you left me when
you were a little boy.

I think the very dress I have on
might be the same I was wearing then.

I have been nowhere.

Done nothing.

Seen nothing.

And when I think of all the
places I was going to see.

And all the things I was going to do.

You have been everywhere
in the world, Selina.

Seen all the places of
great beauty and light.

Remember, you told me ..

That your father once said
when you were a little girl.

There are only two kinds of people
in the world who really matter.

One kind is wheat.

And the other kind is emeralds.

You are wheat, Selina.

And you are emerald.

And you are the reason for it all.

There.

That's what I mean when I
say I want to do portraits.

Not portraits of ladies with pearls.

And a lily hand half-hidden
in the folds of a satin skirt.

But portraits of men and women who
are really distinguished-looking.

Distinguishably American.

Like your mother.

A fine, splendid face.

All lit up with a light
that comes from inside.

Her jawline.

Like that of the women who came
over on the Mayflower, or ..

Crossed the continent
in a covered wagon.

And her eyes.

And that gorgeous
battered old hat of hers.

And her hands.

She is beautiful.

..t-g..