WEBVTT Kind: captions; Language: en 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Now I'll take you down and introduce you to Mr. Hardin. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:06.001 As soon as I can. 00:00:07.001 --> 00:00:08.001 You have to wait. That's all I can say. 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:09.000 All right, goodbye. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:13.001 You the gentleman who's been complaining about the lack of office help? 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:16.000 You don't get someone to sit at that desk pretty soon. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:17.001 You'll have to dig me out from all this paperwork. 00:00:17.001 --> 00:00:19.001 I have somebody for you right now. 00:00:19.001 --> 00:00:21.000 You better have four hands. 00:00:21.001 --> 00:00:26.000 She's 22, graduate from secretarial school, honors student, 00:00:26.001 --> 00:00:29.000 conscientious, loyal, eager to work. 00:00:29.001 --> 00:00:29.001 Go on. 00:00:29.001 --> 00:00:31.000 I don't believe it. 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:32.001 She's outside. Would you like to meet her? 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:34.000 Sure. Bring her in. 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:37.000 And tell her to have her pencil shined so that we can get started. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:44.001 Miss Mary Newton, Mr. Kurt Hardin, I think you'll find your work cut out for you. 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:45.001 How do you do? 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:48.001 How do you do? 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.000 You should have seen his face. 00:00:55.001 --> 00:00:58.001 He just looked at me like he couldn't believe it. 00:01:01.001 --> 00:01:02.001 What did he say? 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.000 He said, how do you do? 00:01:05.001 --> 00:01:06.001 He said it twice. 00:01:07.001 --> 00:01:09.001 And then he turned around and went back to his desk 00:01:09.001 --> 00:01:11.001 and said he'd see me tomorrow. 00:01:12.001 --> 00:01:14.000 Well, what did the other guy do then? 00:01:14.001 --> 00:01:15.001 Mr. Nelson? Yeah. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:19.000 He smiled like there was some sort of a joke. 00:01:19.001 --> 00:01:21.001 And then he took me down to the medical office. 00:01:23.001 --> 00:01:27.001 Did anybody say anything about you being the first colored girl in the office? 00:01:28.001 --> 00:01:30.000 They didn't have to. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:32.000 You could see it in their faces. 00:01:33.001 --> 00:01:36.001 The way the girl in Mr. Nelson's office looked at me. 00:01:38.001 --> 00:01:40.001 Maybe you just imagined all of it. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:42.001 Well, that's a crazy thing to say, Mama. 00:01:43.001 --> 00:01:45.000 Why should she imagine it? 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:46.000 It's the truth. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:48.001 You just don't understand. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:51.001 Yes, I understand. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:55.001 You may not think I understand, but I do. 00:01:57.001 --> 00:02:02.000 You think I can't understand because I'm your mother and I'm older, but I do. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:14.000 What you're going through isn't new. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:21.000 When I was a young girl, I had to leave high school to get a job. 00:02:22.001 --> 00:02:26.000 I would have given anything to work in a shop, but 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.000 it just wasn't done where I lived. 00:02:29.001 --> 00:02:34.001 Nobody ever heard of a nigger working in a shop where white girls and white 00:02:34.001 --> 00:02:36.000 women came in to buy things. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.001 So I got a job cleaning house. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:47.000 And I cleaned house and cried at nights until I got married. 00:02:48.001 --> 00:02:53.001 Maybe my mother had something she wanted very bad and couldn't have, and cried 00:02:53.001 --> 00:02:55.000 about all night. I don't know. 00:02:57.001 --> 00:03:03.001 But now I have you, children, and I've watched you grow up and finish school. 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:08.000 And now Mary's working in a shop and crying her eyes out 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:09.001 because she can't work in an office. 00:03:11.001 --> 00:03:15.001 Well, maybe she can work in an office, and if she can, I don't want to see her 00:03:15.001 --> 00:03:17.001 throwing away the chance because she's afraid. 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:22.000 Maybe those people hate her. Maybe some of them do. 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:27.001 And maybe she's imagining a lot of it, dreaming of trouble to hide her fears. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:31.000 And if this is the way it is, then she's got to find out. 00:03:31.001 --> 00:03:34.001 And the only way to find out is to go to work tomorrow. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:44.001 Or else, when she has her own kids, she's going to have to watch them 00:03:44.001 --> 00:03:49.001 get hurt and cry and be afraid. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:58.000 And she'll always wonder if she couldn't have suffered it for them and maybe 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:00.000 made their lives a little easier. 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:05.000 The way I sometimes wonder now. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:22.001 Good morning. 00:04:28.001 --> 00:04:33.001 Mr. Nelson. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:34.001 Yes? 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:37.001 I'm resigning. 00:04:38.001 --> 00:04:38.001 Seriously? 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:39.000 Seriously. 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:41.001 [...] 00:04:43.001 --> 00:04:47.000 I appreciate your getting here on time to tell me. 00:04:47.001 --> 00:04:49.000 You know exactly why I'm quitting. 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:56.001 I think you may receive a personal invitation from Mr. Todd Dennis of Dennis 00:04:56.001 --> 00:05:00.000 Industries to present your case to him personally. 00:05:01.001 --> 00:05:02.001 That it should come to this. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.001 Tell him I'd like to see her right away. Let's squash this. 00:05:07.001 --> 00:05:09.000 And get Lyle Ross on the phone. 00:05:11.001 --> 00:05:12.000 Oh, uh, Beth. 00:05:15.001 --> 00:05:17.000 May I ask you a personal question? 00:05:17.001 --> 00:05:17.001 Of course. 00:05:19.001 --> 00:05:21.000 Where do you stand on all this? 00:05:22.001 --> 00:05:24.000 You've heard the policy discussion. 00:05:25.001 --> 00:05:26.001 How do you feel? 00:05:27.001 --> 00:05:31.000 Well, honestly, Mr. Dennis, I wonder where everybody's been. 00:05:31.001 --> 00:05:35.001 I mean, doesn't anybody in this company read the newspapers or go to the movies? 00:05:36.001 --> 00:05:38.000 I think it's about time we woke up. 00:05:39.001 --> 00:05:41.001 You can be a great help to us right now. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:42.000 How? 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:46.001 By giving the new girl a chance. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.000 By making sure that she gets a chance. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:52.001 You mean by being especially nice to her? 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:54.000 No, not especially nice. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:56.001 Just plain, ordinarily nice. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:05:59.001 Common, garden variety nice. 00:06:00.001 --> 00:06:03.000 You have a certain amount of prestige here. Use it. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:05.000 Well, I wouldn't want the other girls to think I 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:06.001 was doing it just because I was the boss. 00:06:07.001 --> 00:06:09.001 Don't you start being frightened, too. 00:06:10.001 --> 00:06:11.001 Think about it. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:13.000 It's not an order. 00:06:14.001 --> 00:06:17.000 Just a random comment on humanity. 00:06:19.001 --> 00:06:24.000 I'm sorry you want to leave, Miss Wright. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:27.001 Up to now, you've been an asset to the company. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.001 I'm sorry too, Mr. Dennis. Up to now, I've enjoyed working here. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:34.000 I suppose you'll be looking for another job. 00:06:34.001 --> 00:06:36.001 In a plant that doesn't hire Negroes, of course. 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.001 In a plant that doesn't hire them to work in the office with me. 00:06:39.001 --> 00:06:41.000 Well, that's going to be more and more difficult. 00:06:41.001 --> 00:06:43.000 I think you understand my position. 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:46.001 I know your position. I don't understand it. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:48.000 It's not difficult to explain. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:49.001 I know. I've heard it all before. 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:55.001 Surely you don't expect us to adjust our policies to meet your approval. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:59.001 Frankly, I'd rather not work than to work under your new policy. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:01.000 Rather not work. 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:12.001 Well, you're lucky. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:13.001 How do you mean? 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:17.000 Lucky you can afford that alternative. I can't afford it. 00:07:17.001 --> 00:07:19.001 Neither can most of the people working here. 00:07:19.001 --> 00:07:22.000 Look, Mr. Dennis, I just don't understand why my leaving has 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:24.000 suddenly taken on such importance. 00:07:24.001 --> 00:07:27.000 I wish I felt flattered by all the tension. 00:07:28.001 --> 00:07:29.001 But I'm afraid I don't. 00:07:30.001 --> 00:07:31.000 I'm afraid I don't. 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:37.001 [...] 00:07:37.001 --> 00:07:42.000 The fact is, your leaving the company is much more important 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:43.001 than a personal matter. 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:46.000 For me or for you. 00:07:48.001 --> 00:07:53.000 I'm not going to even attempt to argue with your prejudices. 00:07:54.001 --> 00:07:58.000 I know that in a few minutes here, I can't change whatever has made you think the 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.000 way you've been thinking for a lifetime. 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:05.000 But if you don't mind, I'd like to put the shoe on the other foot. 00:08:05.001 --> 00:08:07.000 You're a popular girl here. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:09.000 Probably with good reason. 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:13.001 What you do, quitting that is, they set an example for a lot of other 00:08:13.001 --> 00:08:15.000 girls who can't afford your independence. 00:08:16.001 --> 00:08:18.001 I'm responsible for this company. 00:08:19.001 --> 00:08:24.001 That means I'm responsible to the stockholders, to the people working here, to 00:08:24.001 --> 00:08:28.000 myself, even to the whole country, indirectly. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:33.000 It's too late to crawl back into a shell. 00:08:33.001 --> 00:08:35.000 I'm afraid I don't understand, Mr. Dennis. 00:08:35.001 --> 00:08:36.000 That's right. 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.000 What's the difference? 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:46.000 I'm going to ask you to stay on here at Dennis, in spite of how you feel. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:48.001 To give us... 00:08:48.001 --> 00:08:50.001 To give this girl... 00:08:50.001 --> 00:08:53.001 To give yourself even a chance to find out if we're right. 00:09:02.001 --> 00:09:06.000 You're putting me in a pretty tough spot, Mr. Dennis. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:07.001 Well, it may not be as tough as you think. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.000 You're making it awfully difficult to refuse. 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:16.000 It would have been so much easier if you just bawled me out. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.000 This is something that has to be handled reasonably. 00:09:22.001 --> 00:09:23.001 Will you give it a try? 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.001 I think it's only fair to warn you. 00:09:30.001 --> 00:09:31.000 [...] 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:32.001 I may do all the wrong things. 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:34.001 You may be sorry if I stay. 00:09:35.001 --> 00:09:37.000 Well, every day I'm in business. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:39.000 I'm taking chances. 00:09:40.001 --> 00:09:42.000 I'm willing to take this one. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:54.000 I'll think about it, Mr. Dennis. 00:09:56.001 --> 00:09:58.001 I will say this, though. It's the first time 00:09:58.001 --> 00:10:00.000 I've stopped to think about it at all. 00:10:01.001 --> 00:10:02.000 Thank you. 00:10:49.001 --> 00:10:52.000 Hi. I'm Miss Meryl. 00:10:53.001 --> 00:10:56.001 Hello, Mary. The secretary is usually in here. 00:10:56.001 --> 00:10:57.000 Will you join us? 00:11:04.001 --> 00:11:06.001 I'll give you a hand. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:09.000 Anybody? This is Mary. 00:11:09.001 --> 00:11:11.000 [...] 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:11.001 [...] 00:11:13.001 --> 00:11:14.000 [...] 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:27.001 What department are you? 00:11:28.001 --> 00:11:29.000 I'm watching the program. 00:11:29.001 --> 00:11:30.001 Worked for Kurt R. 00:11:30.001 --> 00:11:31.000 [...] 00:11:32.001 --> 00:11:37.000 There was no mass walkout. No one quit. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:39.001 A few girls even tried to help out. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:48.000 Presentment turned to curiosity. 00:11:49.001 --> 00:11:51.001 Then curiosity became interest. 00:11:59.001 --> 00:12:02.001 In time, Mary was no longer the new girl. 00:12:03.001 --> 00:12:05.001 And new girls no longer meant trouble. 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:11.001 So we all settled down again to the difficult business of making a living. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:49.001 [...] I'm waiting for you. 00:13:21.001 --> 00:13:51.000 I'm waiting for you. 00:13:51.001 --> 00:13:58.000 I'm waiting for you.