Original subtitles

[Music]

[Music]

ceal officials work to deter the future

of Lan Brothers the fourth largest

Investment Bank in the United States

it's clear to me that either s or

bankruptcy now seems to be inevit the

market reacted in panic we asan dropped

80% the government stepped in as

confidence disappeared throughout the

weekend Treasury Department official

leers of rival banks have been needing

in secret to discuss plans to purchase

or break up Le the big issue we found in

these discussions is that treasury

secretary Hank was a very CLE Friday

thaty would be to enable any of bailout

toket exposure is MiniMed of HS

inance staff wait to discover if a deal

can be struck overnight if no agreement

is reached by 6 a.m. Lan will be

declared bankrupt before markets open

for now just after midnight this is wbny

live in New

York

he had been dreaming of

America the son of a cattle Merchant a

circumcised

Jew with only one piece of luggage

stood as still as a telegraph

pole on dock number four in the port of

New

York than God he

arrived baruk

kashem thank God he left baruk

kashem thank God he's now

finally in America baruk

Hashem

children

yelling the creek of metal and squeak of

pulley and in the midst of it all there

he is silent still just off the boat

wearing his best shoes the ones he'd

never worn the ones he kept in storage

for that moment

when I will be in

America and here it is that moment

immortalized by the cast iron clock up

high on the port Tower 25 minutes past

7 he takes a pencil from his

pocket and a small black notebook he

writes seven and 25 and notices his hand

tremble maybe it's the

emotion or maybe after a month and a

half at se just standing still on dry

land Still rocking his

strange he'd lost 10 pounds and grown a

Sick Beard as sick as a rabbis over the

45 days crossing 45 days spent moving up

and down between cot birth and bow bow

birth and

cot he left L Hara a tea Toler and got

off the boat the New York an expert

Drinker able to Recon from the first sip

Brandy from Ram Jin from

con English ale from Irish

Stout he left the har ignorant of

gambling and got off the boat of New

York a champion at cards and

dice he left

shy

self-absorbed and arrived convinced that

he understood the

world the irony of the French The Temper

of the Spanish the angry Pride of the

Italian Cabin Boy

he left with an idea of America in his

head and got off the boat with America

before him no longer in his mind but

there there in front of his eyes America

barash seen up close on this cold

September Morning America moved like a

musical box for every window that closed

another would open for every cart that

vanished around a corner another would

appear for every customer who got up

from a cafe table another would sit

down

America it was that moment someone

grabbed his

arm a p official dark uniform Wier

star's big

hat where' you come

from

rimpa rimpa where's

rimpa Bavaria Germany uhhuh and your

name H

liman I don't understand name

H H what's H my name

is Henry yes

Henry Henry liman okay Henry liman

welcome to America good luck and stamp

September the 11th

1844 the officer patted him on the

shoulder and went on to stop

another Henry

Liam Henry

Leman Henry Leman looked around

the boat he just stepped off was lying

there like a sleeping giant another boat

was pulling in ready to unload many more

like him maybe Jewish maybe

German maybe wearing their best

shoes and maybe

trembling as he is

trembling he took a deep breath picked

up his suitcase and walking quickly

despite not knowing where to go like so

many others

he stepped into that magical music

box called

[Music]

America

the room is small the floor is wood

slats nailed next to one another in only

count 64 it Creeks when you walk on it

it's Hollow underneath only one door of

glass and wood with the Misa nail beside

it only one door facing directly onto

the

street onto the Ning of the horses and

the dust of the carriages the creaking

of the carts and the noise of the

crowd the handle of red brass doesn't

open well sometimes it get get stuck and

you have to lift it forcefully until

eventually it releases there are

skylights as big as the entire room when

it rains hard the sound is deing but

least there's plenty of light even in

Winter the shop it can't be denied is

small on the right hand side stand rolls

of fabric and uh rough fabric wrapped

fabric folded fabric wool flax jute felt

um cotton most of it's cotton here on

this street in Montgomery Alabama a town

where everything depends on Cotton On

the plant ation fields and the slaves

that work them in this shop has cotton

of every type and quality s Sucka chint

flag cloth betin do skin and finally the

so-called

denim that robust work cloth it doesn't

tear which arrived here in America from

Italy it doesn't

tear uh there's a stool to climb halfway

up the wall and then a ladder to get up

higher up to the Shelf where there are

caps gloves coets aprons pin course up

at the very top Ties on the left side of

the room more clothes jacket shirt slips

pants a couple of coats all the same

colors gray brown and white because this

shop serves only the poor people of

Montgomery those who have only one good

suit for Sunday for the rest of the days

you know head low nothing flashy because

in Alabama you don't work to

live you live to

work and he knows this he knows this all

too

well Henry Neeman for three years now

he's lived to make

money slogging like a donkey behind a

counter of the shop work work work

closing only for shabas and so open on a

Sunday morning when the rest of the town

is closed when the slaves from the

plantations head to mass and fill the

streets old people men women children

they all come in including round head

Deo called round head because of his

perfectly round skull from the Smith and

GAA Plantation now roundhead is an

overseer halfway between the slaves and

the whites and every Sunday he comes

into the shop singing a Psalm wearing

his straw hat at his suit for mask

please come in round head please come in

on Sunday Leman is

open

Lon it might be small but it's

his written in large letters on the

glass

door

H NE

man one

day one day there will be a nice

sign as big as the whole building Henry

Leeman fabrics and Suits but for now and

until the debts are paid he must work

work work people buy his fabric not just

by the yard but by the inch this shop

brings in at most $2.70 a day Henry

calculates on his hand over and over

every day he calculates on his hand that

it would take him at least three more

years to pay the

debts three more years of

inches but then once they're all paid

well

then according to the

talwood on a night before Passover when

all the homets the leaven bread has been

taken from on the

house then the future will reveal

itself remove the hmet says the talmud

and

then it is to be

seen remove the hits and then it is to

be

seen remove the Hamet and then then it

is to be

seen A backet of paint sits in the

street Henry gave him a task by this

afternoon finish the sign so he's

painting for the new sign they chose

yellow at a family meeting the night

before yellow writing on a black

background Henry said it'll be

eye-catching it the bring in customers

smudge letters are unacceptable and he's

right Henry is always right Emmanuel

Leeman 5 years younger than Henry

arrived in America three years ago as

the cast iron clock in the Port of

Baltimore struck noon on September 6

1847

Emmanuel in fact his real name is Mandel

but here in America Everything Changes

even your name im manell a boy who grew

up quickly his hair darker than coal a

mustache like a Prussian Gunner and ATT

temper to match as Henry says manual is

like dynamite you never know when he'll

blow up here he is armed with a

paintbrush wearing an apron so he

doesn't dirty his suit because of course

whilst they paint the shops open and if

someone comes in they can't see a

shopkeeper cover in paint Henry said

that and he's right Henry is always

right the third and last brother also

paints sweating with

concentration he stumbled off the boat a

month ago terrorized by the ocean by the

storms even by the old Rabbi who was

supposed to look after him and bring him

to his brothers in Alabama Maya leemon

just under 20 years years old a copy of

their mother his cheeks pink his skin

smooth not even the trace of a beard as

smooth as a just peeled potato his

brother Emanuel never misses an

opportunity to call out to him in

Yiddish whistling at him like he would a

dog Maya Spud Maya

potato Spud was the name of a dog they

had at home back in rimpa Bavaria Maya

Spud the lemon Brothers then Henry's the

head Emmanuel's the arm and Maya he's

what's needed between them so the arm

doesn't crush the head and the head

doesn't humiliate the arm that's why he

was sent to America not as an equal

partner but to separate occasionally the

other two this new Arrangement ratified

by a new wooden sign big and beautiful

and covering the whole facade Lon

Brothers fabrics and suits every morning

like this morning they get up at 5 in

their three room home they light the

lamps with whale oil and wash with one

pale of water between them it was better

in Germany Emanuel set on his third day

in America after the slap that Henry

laid on his face he never said it again

every morning like this morning while

Montgomery sleeps they pray together

before leaving just as they did in

Bavaria they put on their hats and go

out another day today before they open

the shop Henry the head has an

announcement a queen expand from today

Leeman Brothers will sell not only

fabrics and susies are no longer enough

from today we will also sell everything

that's needed to grow cotton I've done

some calculations the owners of the

plantations need to buy seeds tools

carts emuel the arm raises his gaze I

came to America to sell fabrics and

Suits all business is what we do we sell

whatever it is I don't want to sell

buckets and Spades for slaves we sell to

whoever will buy I won't do it you're

here to do what I want the sign reads

brothers because I said it should the

store is mine I want us to do what you

promised you'll be quiet I'm the one

it's at this point that Maya Spud

stepped forward as smooth as a potato

and spoke to the only customer waiting

in the store Mr Tennyson the pale skin

redhead manager from the

plantation excuse me

sir if we sold seeds and tools would you

buy them seeds and tools Mr Lima well

yes I'd buy them right

away the closest place that sells them

is in Tennessee Maya Smiles Henry Smiles

Emanuel spits on the ground goes out

into the street and starts to change the

sign black and yellow so it'll stand out

from all the others Brothers it sounds

good sounds very good Henry said

barem Henry Leman is always

[Music]

right amen it's the last night of Hanah

as Henry lights the eighth candle

standing around the table with Emanuel

and may it's the last night of Hanukkah

when there's a loud knock on the door of

the lemon

house never seen roundhead to go like

this he's shaking crying calling out

that the cotton is on fire sure

enough in the dark of the night on the

Wind of this strange evening is already

reach their

street smoke everywhere making your eyes

water people with buckets smoking your

throat and nose all of Montgomery is on

the street all of Montgomery is running

four five plantations in Flames Columns

of smoke 100 ft tall like the bell

towers in Bavaria thick dense smoke like

the smoke of the ship from Europe to

Baltimore that Meers still dreams of at

night the sky has turned red a deafening

burst from the end of the road as they

run out to help others run away escaping

holding children in their arms half

naked men and women fleeing falling to

the ground passing out you can't breathe

smoke in the throat nose eyes some

people are cursing some are praying when

the day breaks the plantations are still

Ablaze nothing will remain nothing will

remain nothing will remain it's the last

night of Hanukah as Henry lights the

eighth candle when news arrives that the

cotton is gone everything is lost

everything is

lost and yet at the same time

barem everything now needs to be

rebort seeds tools carts everything

needs to be remade we started seed

toools cards the plantations have no

money well then they will pay with

credit agreements I came to America for

money not for pieces of paper if there's

no money how do you expect them to pay

it's at this point that Maya spot

intervenes again well maybe they give us

something else we give them everything

they need to grow cotton and then when

they harvest next season they pay us in

raw cotton onethird of the Harvest they

give it to us we resell it and we decide

the price Henry Smiles Emanuel Smiles my

smiles

amen it was the last night of Hanukkah

as Henry lit the eighth candle when

something happened that was to change

the lives of everyone Leman Brothers had

always sold fabrics and Suits sometimes

seeds and tools but the fire changed

that from that moment their business

would become raw

cotton Alabama gold it was a good idea a

great idea and it came from a

potato it works like this the lemons

give to the plantation seeds tool cast

the plantations give to the LeMans raw

cotton they fill their stor room with

cotton and at a higher price a little

bit more says Henry double say Emanuel

split the difference a third says M they

sell it onto the Mills the plantation

paays today with cotton tomorrow we

collect cash and the little room with a

handle that sticks and the yellow and

black sign has become busy very busy

with the coming and going of different

people the straw hats from the fields

still come in but so too do the lit

cigars of the northern industrialist

like Teddy Wilkinson a barrel stuffed

into a shirt and tie white beard always

sweating and immediately renamed by mea

perfect hands because he's always

boasting that I have no calluses on my

hands they're perfect I've never touched

a spade I only count money he comes to

Alabama from across the Mississippi to

take the raw material of the South and

turn it into product give me everything

you have I'll pay full price and I'll

take care of how a profit that's my

business my responsibility if you agree

let's sign and they sign Leman Brothers

suppliers of cotton from the south to

the north Teddy binson is often around

buying eight wagons of cotton every time

all they have if you had more I'd take

it dropping stacks of bills on the

counter then he wipes the sweat from his

forehead lights his cigar one of you

must come see my factory sometime and

one day Emanuel accepts the invitation

he wants to understand for himself what

happens in the North to the raw carton 5

days travel to get there and five to

come back we have work to do here are

going off for 10 days someone needs to

go 10 days Maya improvised it's all

right we discussed it I can cover his

word Henry turns away Emanuel Smiles

climbs into his carriage and heads

[Music]

North

the factory is immense with a huge sign

Wilkinson Carton and it's full of people

who work for perfect hand paid people

salaried not slaves I call them my

laborers a building 60 ft high with a

giant stack emerging from the roof that

smokes night and day like the cigar of

perfect

he walks around the middle in his

Immaculate suit the room shakes with the

hellish racket of the steam looms their

mechanical rigs 20 ft long and 12 ft

High combing and stripping the cotton

constantly back and forth comb and strip

and then they lift it up and push it

down long metal canals where women

seated alongside draw out tanks from

there it goes to the Weavers in another

room and then on to another room

producing the fabri here's the product

perfect hand said to him wiping the

sweat from his

forehead the more cotton you can find me

the better I'll buy everything at this

point at least this is how Emmanuel told

it he turned around and looked back at

the machines those eight wagons of

cotton brought from Alabama at full

price the

just ate them up so vicious so greedy

that Emanuel couldn't help but think

that if he'd had another 100 200 a

thousand wagons they would have

swallowed them all barash when Emanuel

finishes his story Henry pretends he

doesn't understand because he's the head

and his brother's the arm and an arm

does not suggest an idea to the head but

Maya Spud can allow himself to connect

the dots with the ingenious Clarity of a

vegetable well okay then if it's as you

say we need to find more cotton neither

of the other brothers respond but Maya

continues if the cotton we receive from

the plantations is not enough we use our

savings to buy more we sell it on the

perfect hands we're guaranteed to make a

profit the other brothers stare at each

other one leaning against the counter

the other perched on a chair head and

arms studying each other if roundhead

sells us cotton for $10 a wagon we sell

it onto perfect hands for 20 that gives

us a profit of 10 multiplied by say 100

wagons that would give us $1,000 more

than twice as much as we make now ,000

the other brothers stare at one another

buying and

reselling we'd have to change the

sign I'll repaint it tomorrow and so the

next morning the bucket of paint

reappears in the street and soon there's

a new sign Leman Brothers cotton and

everything had changed

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

again

it is

hot and the air is

dry on two little wooden benches two

lemon Brothers sit greet thank the door

closes a knock and it opens again

another visitor they both have beards

untrimmed since they started morning

since without knocking yellow fever came

and took their

brother

it is a disease from the

Antilles if I'm not

mistaken that's what Dr Bon said shaking

his head as he entered into the room

turned up the oil lamp and looked at

Henry's face that face now more yellow

than the Leman brother's

sign I can't do nothing for him

now it won't take long before it took

three days and so they sit on two little

wooden benches watching the door close a

knock and it opens again sit greet thank

they decided to observe all the rules of

Shiva and schin just as they did in

Germany all the rules as if they were in

rimar Bavaria no leaving for a week no

preparing food instead relying on their

neighbors they tore their suits just as

prescribed as soon as they return from

the burial in the old Cemetery diet

sweaty

thirsty because it's hot and the air is

dry they recite the Kadesh every day

morning noon and night in a low whisper

with tired eyes and the store with a

handle that sticks remains closed today

and for another week it's been here for

10 years in 10 years it's never been

closed for so long on two little wooden

benches the two remaining Leman Brothers

sit greet

zank Henry is the first

Leman to die in

America

in the months after Henry's death the

lemon Brothers deal with only four

plantations four plantations that's a

little less than 400 wagons of cotton a

year 200 we sell to Teddy Wilkinson the

rest is split between the mill in

Atlanta and the one in Charleston on the

coast four plantations 400 wagons three

Mill buying cotton from us at $12 a

wagon in the beginning $12 seemed like a

good start but in reality once

everything was paid it was very little

because moving raw cotton is expensive

you pay for the horse you pay for the

wagons you pay for the porters in the

end $12 a wagon is nothing to make real

money we' need to receive at least $20 a

wagon and a minimum of 7 800 wagons a

year a minimum which means we need all

10 of the biggest plantations in Alabama

selling cotton to lemons that's when

when the business begins to make sense

of the two remaining Brothers mea is the

less convinced how hard can it be we

just have to present ourselves to the

plantation owners and explain to them

that the deal will benefit them too

because as soon as the Harvest is ready

they get their money back it's Emanuel

his beard still long from morning who

goes to knock on the doors of the

plantation owners sitting down on their

couches in their living rooms he has

dinner on their Verandas listens to

their daughters whilst they play the

piano

[Music]

very good miss your daughter has talents

please play

more he doesn't like Music These

exclamations are uttered through

clenched

teeth Emanuel is no politician his

father used to say to him back in Rea

men you know Kish Kish that means kiss

kiss Emanuel tries but he gets so

frustrated so red in the face when the

plantation owners failed to understand

his offer and say to him I'll think

about it or we'll see or worse why would

I do that with you the other Leman

brother isn't even considered partly

because Emanuel doesn't think vegetables

understand diplomacy and partly because

for some time now Meer has had other

things on his mind ever since the puim

celebration when from behind a table of

fritters he planted a kiss on the

forehead of Barbara

nugas

who people called Babette and whispered

in her ear babet as beautiful as the

mo not the kind of thing you expect from

a potato 19 years old bad little beauty

mark on her right cheek bed hair darker

than the wood of the counter bed the

counter where Maya makes mistakes even

with simple arithmetics thinking of B

forgets to close the store thinking of B

even accidentally breaks his fast trying

roundhead to

thinking of B always Babette her parents

know very well who the LeMans are so do

her eight brothers they walk by the

store like everyone else to store with

the black and yellow sign and the door

handle that gets stuck Babette's tiny

father sits on his

armchair surrounded by his eight Sons

they stand in front of Maya like a

firing squad he's wearing his dark

funeral suit but now with combed hair a

trimmed beard small bunch of flowers and

a cold sweat Emanuel is three step

behind immobile mute unwilling see

that's how you present yourself I'd like

to know young man what it is exactly you

lemons do in your store uh we used to

sell Fabrics Mr Nas but now we don't

anymore Babette and her mother are in

the Next Room leaning with their ears to

the door we no longer sell fabric what

used you have for a store oh we're still

selling Mr Nas what are you selling we

sell cotton Mr Nas isn't cotton a fabric

not when we sell it Mr Nas when we sell

it it's raw well who buys it from you

men who turn it into fabric Mr Nas we're

in the middle right in the middle what

kind of a job is that something that

doesn't yet exist it's something that we

invented what is it we

are

middleman why should I give my daughter

to a middleman because we make money Mr

Nas well we will make money trust me and

with this trust me a miracle occurs my

Spud Smiles so convinced so sure that Mr

nugas and his eight son surrender

actually more than that they believe and

in believing they UST to a potato their

only daughter and their only sister who

bursts in celebrating through the

door most surprised by this Triumph is

Emmanuel he watches his brother with

admiration as he laughs relaxes es jokes

and even courteously offers a

kiss Kish

Kish the morning after 720 days until

the wedding Maya Leeman previously Spud

now Kish Kish is formerly enlisted as a

partner in Leman Brothers it'll be up to

him to build the Rapport and the

relationships knock on the doors of the

plantation owners in his dark funeral

suit listen to their children playing

the piano it won't be hot for him

because he loves music and B bet his

Babette teaches the piano and plays the

piano like no one else in

town March 1857 639 days until the

wedding and thanks to Maya kishish toet

the Sher the plantations that sell

cotton to Lemon go from 5 to 7 September

1857 436 days until the wedding and

thanks to Maya kishish to to the

plantations that sell cotton to Lion go

from 7 to 10

January

1858 342 days until the wedding and

thanks to Maya Kish Kish to be beton to

bethoven the plantations that sell

cotton to Lemon go from 10 to

15 June 1858 177 days until the wedding

and thanks to my aish Kish to to Mo the

plantations that sell cotton to Lemon go

from 15 to

18 December

1858 one day until the wedding and

thanks to May aish Kish to beet and to

Johan

Sebastian the plantations that sell

cotton to Lemon go from 18 to

24 24 producers of raw cotton from

Montgomery to Florida from Montgomery to

South Carolina from Montgomery to New

Orleans plantations plantations

plantations

2,500 wagons a year of raw cotton

$50,000 a year all passing through that

little room in Montgomery with the

handle that still sticks buying and

reselling from the cotton fields here to

the factories here and right in between

the middl men the Brokers Leman Brothers

close today for a wedding reads the sign

hanging on the door and as a wedding

present for his brother Emanuel orders

from New Orleans a beautiful Grand be

Pio musle

do it's a

beehive Emmanuel thought from the

windows of his Carriage as crowds of

every kind slipped around him children

and old people Orthodox Jews and cathol

Catholic priests

Chinese

Italians card readers tambourine players

English gentlemen poets Beggars and

Soldiers the grave Stone buildings the

statues and The Fountains The Gardens

and the gutters it's everything and the

opposite of everything all at the same

time it's completely Shameless and

yet completely

Sublime it's his first time in New

York Bar

hasem New

York where the real money is made the

kind of money that Teddy Wilkinson

counts Emanuel Leman was certain he

needed to see the gigantic New York

cotton fair with his own eyes the New

York Fair what does New York have to to

do with cotton they've never seen a

field of cotton in New York it's mea's

turn to say it's scowling there's work

to be done here you're going away for 10

days but an arm remains an arm even at

40 and within 3 hours Emmanuel was on

his way New York the cotton Fair

occupies an entire neighborhood buyers

and sellers everywhere deal making

tables signs with prices rolls of fabric

and piles of raw cotton clouds of chalk

as the prices are written and

Rewritten

zeros

zeros

zeros the different accents of the

merchants from all over cylindrical

tubes and lit cigars the jangling of

coins the packs of bills and the Jewish

names

Ori

Zar

Goldman Emmanuel walks amongst them he

holds his chin up even though he's no

one because he knows very well that

backing up his last name down there in

Alabama are

2,500 wagons a year of raw carton I'm

looking for carton but the quality I'm

looking for comes only from Alabama

Emanuel hears this coming from a table

to his right where a dozen Jews in silk

ties make deals he hears it clearly

despite the deafening noise of the crowd

excuse me I sell cotton from Alabama a

tall and distinguished man with Snow

White hair and a silver topped cane

stares at

him you have a plantation you no I don't

own one but I sell the carton of 24

plantations the other old men laugh

deeply they sell it to me I sell it to

you and what kind of a business is that

lemon Brothers Brokers the other old men

laugh even more

[Music]

deeply at what price whatever makes

sense for us both no one laughs

anymore all right kid let's

meet I imagine you have an office in New

York not right now sir but next week I

certainly will well when you're

established come see me Louis Sim with

that he lifts up his Cane and signals to

someone in the crowd it's late he wants

to go and out of the crowd in a straw

hat and a white dress comes a girl as

Slender as one of the newly planted

trees down there in rimpa Bavaria the

girl stares at him for a fraction of a

second annoyed amused

curious about the man who is staring at

this is my daughter Pauline he has just

enough time to utter this phrase before

he takes his daughter by the arm and

disappears into the

crowd to his brother three days later

Emanuel says only that at 119 Liberty

Street there's an empty ground floor

that is ready to become an office

because it's in New York Maya only in

New York where we make the big money the

zeros not everything is about money he

said nothing of course about poing sunnd

about a straw hat a white dress he said

nothing except I need to uh return to

New York immediately I'll pack my bags

right away no

Yes actually yes

tomorrow morning the other Leman brother

appeared not to understand a word in

fact he understood perfectly good day

miss you don't know me my name is

Emmanuel Leeman and I I'm going to be

someone and I would like to ask you to

marry me the girl this time wearing a

blue colored dress and no straw hat

stares at him for a long time annoyed

amused curious

before laughing in his

face I'm already engaged uh but not to

Emanuel lieman whoever it is he's not

worth it not like me says who I do you

couldn't make a better marriage and at

the same time strike a greater deal I

sell the cotton of 24 plantations oh

congratulations what does that have to

do with me it will have a lot to do with

you when we are married do I get any say

in this it will be up to your father to

decide the date and is any of it up to

me I don't understand what El is there

to decide when the door to the suntime

house closed violently in his face

Emanuel Lima did not lose heart he gave

himself another appointment to be there

again in not more than a week and put

the flowers back in a bars so he would

not have to Reby

them in the six days that followed

Emanuel met with buyers and sellers of

cotton from all over New York he signed

deals with businessmen from Wilmington

from Nashville from Memphis he saw one

100 tons of cotton Maya visits the

office at 119 Liberty Street you almost

can't believe the size of it as he

arrived they're putting up a new sign

yellow and black just now painted by

three local boys the bucket of paint

still sitting in the street he stops and

stares lemman Brothers cotton from

Montgomery

Alabama he doesn't like the noise he

leaves at first light heading home to

the South Emanuel doesn't have time to

worry about the noise under the new

black and yellow sign come the Roth's

Childs the singers the blumont tals and

Lis snd with his silver topped cane who

wants only Alabama cotton and gets it at

a fair price a very fair price in fact

because good arm knows when to act hello

Miss I came seven days ago my name is

Emanuel Leman I am the principal

supplier of cotton to your your father

and I am asking you to marry me Pauline

sonheim this time wearing a lilac

colored dress stares at him for a long

time Anor amused curious before laughing

in his face

again didn't I already give you an

answer yes but not the one I wanted so

so it will be up to your father to

decide the date when for the second time

the door to the snd house closed

violently in his face emmanu Lima did

not lose hope he gave himself another

appointment and put the flowers back in

the bars in the six days that followed

Emanuel shook the hands of over a 100

industrialists from all across America

all the big players of New York entered

beneath the black and yellow sign or

more precisely and not accidentally all

the friends and all the associates of

Louis sunai hello Miss I came seven days

ago and seven days before that my name

is Emanuel Leman I am one of the richest

Jews in New York and I'm asking you to

marry me Pauline sonheim this time

wearing a turquoise colored dress stares

at him for a long time annoyed

amused curious and is about to laugh in

his face again I understand Miss will'll

see each other in seven days

time by the third month the 24th visit

Pauline sonheim wearing a summer dress

left the door open for him and a maid

waiting in the

entrance M py sun is not at home today

she's waiting for

you in the living room Mr Leman with her

father the business was concluded

swiftly and to everyone's satisfaction

the morning of the celebration

industrialists came from all over the

North and the owners of the 24

plantations in the South Emanuel did not

allow politics to be discussed at the

wedding but still the men from the the

North and the men from the South began

trading insults and then throwing

punches and the reception ended in chaos

that night Emanuel couldn't sleep which

was strange because actually things were

going pretty well he had a wife a base

in Montgomery an office in New York he

had stacks of bills in his safe 24

producers of cotton in the South and 51

buyers in the north cradled by these

thoughts he was about to upstairs when a

cold breeze just for a fraction of a

second caressed his ear there was only

one thing in the world This breeze

seemed to say that could destroy

everything a war between the North and

the South it was only a dark thought the

kind that caresses your ear before sleep

so he shut it out and went upstairs to

bed the first cannon shot of the Civil

War wakes my in Montgomery his first

thought is for his stor rooms of cotton

he throws open the window Montgomery has

gone wild crowds on the streets

celebrating the cartton states claim

inde pendent first P shot of the Civil

War waks Emanuel Lan in New York his

first thoughts are for his bias he goes

to the window New York has gone wild

people in the streets celebrating and

slavery now Constitution and

rights between the world of perfect

hands and the world of routed to North

against South South against North and

caught between the two the middl men

three months into the war and Emanuel

visits his buyers to find factories are

closing down workers are being forced to

go out and fight six months into the war

Maya visits his plantations finds burnt

Fields ruined harvests soldiers lie

where once there was C 6,000 there that

Richmond Kentucky frantically Emanuel

takes St of his 51 one buyers 30 have

closed down completely 10 have stopped

buying and 11 are resisting by the skin

of their teeth and with guns 12,000 dead

that missionary rid frantically Meer

takes stock of his 24 plantations eight

are burnt nine have stopped selling and

seven resist by the skin of their teeth

and with guns 18,000 at fredicksburg the

Leman office at 119 Liberty Street has

its Windows smashed and it sign burned

in the New York Rebellion but Emanuel

can't give up 23,000 at Pittsburgh land

the Leman store in Montgomery is forced

to shut its doors as fighting gets

closer but mea can't give up 30,000 at

chville desperately Emanuel loads 700

tons of cotton onto a freighter heading

for Europe where they will still buy

cotton

46,000 that get bur desperately Maya

moves cotton out of Alabama smuggling it

across state lines up to the north

watches the South disappear six years of

Destruction and yet somehow despite

everything Emmanuel holds on Maya holds

on Emanuel sends cotton overseas somehow

keeps the business going Maya supports

the last Plantation somehow keeps his

hopes alive they do the exact opposite

of one

another holding each other in

balance and when the Tempest

ends and

750,000 are

dead after the blood and the noise after

the chaos amid the Sea of De the Leman

Brothers have somehow

miraculously

survived since the South lost the war

Montgomery isn't the same the Limon

Brothers store is still there of course

with a handle that sticks and the yellow

and black side and Maya's Veranda hasn't

changed in the big house along the

Avenue where Babette teaches piano to

their children Sigmund heti seti

Benjamin as he looks

out Maya can almost still see roundhead

Deon in his old Straw

Hat walking the

streets just as he did not that many

years

ago and yet another age when Alabama

still had

plantations still had slaves Dr bosaw

Who once treated the children of those

slaves for chicken pox now shakes his

head as he once did about yellow

fever

it is not enough to claim Freedom Mr

may now we must all learn to practice

it day and night Maya tries to convince

himself that although the war is lost

the South if you look hard enough still

stands is not dead how much cotton will

you sell me next Harvest Mr Tennison we

sign a contract everything like it was

before what are you talking about Mr

Lima what carton what Harvest I buy from

you at the usual price don't you realize

there's been a war here yes but it's

done it's gone and your Plantation is

still standing and I want to buy open

your eyes Mr

L look

around even what is not destroyed is

still

destroyed we have to start over start

from the bottom rebuild

everything returning home in his

Carriage my looks of the

landscape the closed plantations with

the forel signs broken

fences the slave quarters finally

empty and above all everywhere

silence as if all of Alabama maybe all

of the South were one great

graveyard open your eyes Mr and look

around

we have to rebuild

everything returning in his

Carriage Maya thinks that maybe it's

like that time 15 years ago when the

fire happened when it was up to lemman

Brothers to give life to

Montgomery the next morning in his dark

suit under two flags he's standing

smiling in front of the desk of the

governor of Alabama who through glasses

perched on the pencil thin nose looks at

him perplexed restate your offer Mr

Leman I don't think I understood of

course Excellency we will rebuild from

start to finish slower

please you're asking for State money yes

sir you give us Capital Leman Brothers

slower

please I understood Leman brothers so

cotton with a number one sellers of

cotton Excellency and if you give

us please

so I the governor of

Alabama should give money for rebuilding

to Cotton

Traders we're not Merchants Excellency

we're businessmen who sell

C yes sir we are indeed made from

cotton just like you you had a

plantation at one time I think if a

governor can come from cotton couldn't a

bank also come from cotton Bank yes a

bank we will take the government's money

and invest it safely and securely in the

businesses of the state we will rebuild

the community revive the

economy trust me and with this trust me

a miracle occurs my Leman Smiles so

confined so sure that the governor of

Alabama surrenders actually more than

that he believes and in believing he

entrusts to an exp

potato millions of dollars of capital

and the future of his State and so over

the door the sign changes once more

still Leman Brothers but now next to it

yellow and black bank for Alabama since

the north won the war New York is no

longer the same the war took down the

arrogance of the South and drove out the

shame of slavery all are free now all

are equal Abraham Lincoln won Washington

DC one but

mostly

mostly New York

one New

York always

more always better Emmanuel feels it he

senses it in the air as he rides in his

Carriage with his wife Pauline taking

their children to Hebrew school Milton

philli Harriet and Evelyn each one

perfectly dressed

calmed composed educated they sit in the

classroom with the children of the

singers the scks the Bloons like them

they will be B mitford at the temple and

like them they will learn to ride horses

and just like them they will try the new

sport brought to New York by our Miss

Mary Outerbridge called

tennis and like them they will certainly

learn to play the violin because every

New York family as a child that plays

the violin that's good for the

silhouette you play it standing up in

front of everyone and it as an

instrument of tomorrow it's modern agile

it doesn't get in the way like the

pianos that come from the

south philli

Leeman before he was six years old he

could play the violin he was the best

student at Hebrew school he learned how

to read and write in Hebrew in German in

English and at parties to entertain

everyone there mother taught him how to

point out on the map that little dot

called rimpa Bavarian Philip also knows

how to point out Montgomery Alabama but

that his mother

says less interesting to the guests now

Phillip as you're so good at geography

let all the gentlemen here what cities

your father does business

with

Pittsburgh St Louis Cincinnati Detroit

Milwaukee Chicago that's halfway philli

let the gentlemen hear the others

Portland Seattle bmar

Toronto St

PA concentrate Philip columia Halifax

Oakland have you heard this genius

that's very good Phillip now before you

go and play Let everyone hear what is at

the heart of your father's business

cotton cotton what are you saying philli

I don't know where he gets these ideas

cotton

concentrate the heart of the business

is coffee coffee very good phip now go

play yes coffee because in New York

everything becomes cash everything and

soon cotton once the gold of the South

is old news next to the old New York

Cotton Exchange they open the coffee

exchange Emanuel lemman is a Founder

member the coffee leaves New York signed

contracted paid loaded and and sails

away to Europe to Canada to half the

world but is it

enough it seems to Emanuel as he watches

New York move around him that the world

has grown small it's now so close and so

small he can almost hold the whole thing

in his hand almost he takes St again

Leman Brothers had 24 producers of

cotton now it has 27 producers of coffee

this is good business but could it be

better to stay Rich to get richer Leman

Brothers need something else but what is

it Emmanuel Waits and waits for the

answer to come to him it comes to him so

strong and so clear that the next day at

dawn he had straighted for that little

room in the South with a handle that

still sticks listen Maya I've decided

something and it concerns you you can't

stay here anymore I need need you in New

York no we had an agreement I stay here

in Montgomery with you up there on

Liberties to hell with the agreement

Everything Has Changed there's been a

war Maya the slaves are free carton is

over the south is over I've made a

decision I need you that's it but with

the bank for Alabama I'm rebuilding the

state you can do that from New York you

do it better even you bring the Bank

North the money will work harder for us

go further I am trying to save our home

our home is gone

Maya everything happens in New York

these days it is the center of business

it is the center of everything anyway I

am the eldest and I know what is right

for you and for this business Maya was

about to argue back when in the

rectangle of the doorway Dr Bon appears

he stares at Emanuel and his fine suit

my God it is you Mr Emanuel I did not

recognize

you well you are a New Yorker now yes I

knew it would happen before he even

opened his store your brother en used to

look to the evens and say that this

business was destined to end up in New

York I believe that before he left

Germany he promised that to your father

and from the moment he got off the boat

he fell in love with that

City he was so

certain he was always so certain

inly Dr ban didn't say any more than

this framed in the rectangle of the

doorway looking to the brothers for all

the world like a puppet his strings

being pulled by someone else as if the

words were not his own but written for

him as if they were somehow necessary to

the

story Emmanuel didn't look at his

brother he stared straight at the puppet

mea didn't look at his brother he

couldn't stop staring both of them in

that instant feel a breeze caress their

ear it's a breeze that smells like

morning like a bucket of fresh paper as

three boys gaze up at a

sign a thousand years

ago together then in that moment ahead

an arm and a potato they remained there

in silence saying their goodbyes to the

South and thinking of New

York which was

waiting for both of

them

because Henry is always

right and paruk

kashen nothing else needed to be

[Music]

[Music]

said

[Applause]