"Here comes Mr Norwood, Ma." "Evening, Tom." "─ Evening, sir." "How you feeling today?" "─ A little better, thank you, sir." "That's good, because you need to get your cotton up." "Bad fall weather will be coming soon." "How are you, Lilly?" "Alright, sir." "Where's your boy, Marvin?" "He ain't picking today, sir." "─ I see he's not." "Yes, sir .. he .." "─ Where is he?" "Well .." "Marvin started school, Mr Norwood." "The devil he has .." "Did you hear that, Scott?" "─ Yeah." "Tom, you can't afford to let Marvin go to school now." "You need him here." "Yes, sir." "Yep, I've heard about him and his books .. studying at night." ""Abraham Lincoln" stuff, eh?" "You put Marvin back in the field tomorrow." "They are my orders." "─ But Marvin is going to be something." "I ain't .." "I ain't never been nothing." "Nothing." "I want him to go to school, sir." "─ Now don't get upset." "Your crop comes first." "You'll do what I said." "Put Marvin back in the field." "─ Yes, sir." "Suppertime, is it Tom?" "─ Yeah." "Hello, Sis'." "─ Hello, Marvin." "I'm home, Ma." "─ Hello, Marvin." "I brought the paper, Pa." "─ Thank you, son." "How did you come out today?" "─ I'm getting the arithmetic down pat." "How you feeling?" "─ Alright, I guess." "Let me fix you up again." "─ Would you, son." "Better, now?" "Sure .. yes, better." "Pa has got some bad news for you, Marvin." "─ Now, Lilly .." "What is it?" "We'll talk about it after supper." "You and Mr Norwood have another row?" "A little fuss, nothing much." "Just a little fuss." "About me?" "Put it on my arm, will you, son?" "Don't you worry about Mr Norwood, Pa." "Yeah, we'll talk about it after supper." "You just sleep and rest." "Go on now." "Close your eyes and rest I tell you." "Is that better?" "─ Hmm." "There is a great piece in the paper, Pa." "The speech the Governor made." "All about education." "What did he say?" "─ I'll read it to you later." "It tells how he plans everybody to have a chance." "The rich and poor." "To have a chance." "That's fine son .. that's fine." "Is that alright?" "─ Yeah." "Listen, Pa." ""Our wealth lies in our people."" ""The hundreds and thousands of our people."" ""The poor and the downtrodden."" ""Who, through education .."" "Yoo-hoo!" "Howdy, Marvin." "─ Howdy, Betty." "Can I come in?" "How is he?" "─ He's sleeping." "Ma sent me over to get some coffee for supper." "You'd better go back outside until I get on my breeches." "I ain't ashamed if you ain't." "Close your eyes and go in the kitchen, then." "I see my Pa every morning that way" "Howdy, Mrs Blake." "─ Hello, Betty." "Ma said, could she borrow some coffee for supper?" "Sure." "Get ready for supper." "Come on, get ready." "Tom." "Wake up, Tom." "─ No, let him sleep." "Look at them." "Him and the baby." "They're sound asleep." "Wake up, Tom." "Tom .. wake up." "Wake up, Tom." "Tom." "Tom!" "Oh!" "Marvin .." "Liza." "He . .he's dead." "No, Ma .. no." "Pa." "Pa." "Wake up." "Marvin .. get some help." "Get Mr Norwood." "Oh, Ma .." "All the kids at school laughed at him too, because he's a Peckerwood." "And it's so awkward." "But he's the smartest boy in school." "They'll tell you that." "I can't pick cotton in his place, can I?" "No." "But it will nearly break his heart .." "White is pearl white, and books won't change him." "Who are you two arguing about?" "We're not arguing, Miriam." "─ Marvin Blake, mother." "Daddy wants to keep him from .." "I remember him." "A nice, quiet boy." "Mr Norwood." "Come quick, please." "Pa is lying there on the bed, right still." "His hands are limp." "He's dead." "Bert, get my car." "─ Yes, sir." "I'll run along and see what I can do." "Let's go, Marvin." "Tom Blake, of all people .." "And so, all Israel shall be saved." "The Lord gave." "And The Lord hath taken away." "Mr Norwood said to tell you to ride in his car." "Why, thank you." "Come on, Marvin." "─ No, Ma." "You go with Liza." "Looks like he's giving you something, don't it?" "Well, he ain't." "He ain't." "He'll use Marvin." "He'll use Marvin for his own ends." "He'll keep on robbing you of everything." "What you need Lily is a .. protector." "Right now you do." "You need a head of the house." "I need a cook." "It's a little sudden, Lily." "But .." "That's how it is." "Marvin Blake, how do you spell "fabulous"." ""F A B U L O U S." ─ Fine." "Marvin Blake." "Congratulations." "So, you're Norwood's man now, ain't you?" "Bought body and soul and educated by him." "Sure he is." "Your account is overdrawn already Mr Fisher." ""Pa", Marvin." "Ain't you ever going to call me "Pa"?" "A man's go to eat." "He can't work without eating." "Mr Norwood can't keep feeding you, unless you bring in enough cotton to pay him." "Who said he couldn't?" "Why is the cotton coming in so short, lately?" "What are you doing with it?" "What do you mean by that?" "─ What do you think I mean?" "Now Jake, Marvin didn't mean a thing." "I guess he means we're stealing it." "We want a sack of flour and a side of beef, credit or no credit." "I can't give it to you." "─ Well, we aim to get it." "Can't you charge it to yourself the way you did before, Marvin?" "Alright, Ma." "And a stick of that striped candy for the baby." "Alright." "Hello, Marvin." "How about a little light, honey?" "Excuse me, Ma." "That's all, I guess." "Best for us to get along, Pa." "He's got a little business." "Come on." "Goodbye, "son"." "Don't be late for supper, brother." "Goodbye, Ma." "Your folks stay close to you, don't they." "Cigarette?" "─ No thanks." "Don't smoke .. don't drink .." "You'll be a preacher yet, won't you, Marvin?" "Or something different." "But you'll have to get loose from them." "You don't like me, do you?" "─ Why, of course." "Well then, come close." "I won't bite you." "Why are you so serious?" "Always thinking." "What about?" "─ I don't know." "Hoo .. aren't you hot here in the store?" "No, I'm alright." "Cool." "A crowd of us is going swimming down at the lake." "It's beautiful down there." "The water is blue and deep and .. and it's windy." "Get Daddy to let you off and come with us." "Why, I can't do that." "I got to work." "You don't have any fun, do you." "Fine." "The tenants trust you." "You're sort-of one of them." "You keep your eyes open." "Poke about." "Get all the information you can." "Your stepbrother Jake Fisher is in it." "The Clinton boys too." "I know it." "And you're living right among them." "You keep your eyes open." "Sock Fisher." "Amount still due. 72 dollars." "Joe Wright." "Amount still due. 64 dollars." "There is gratitude for you." "Every last one in my debt, yet they steal my cotton." "Mister Marvin." "Mister Marvin!" "Miss Betty Wright said to tell you to be sure and come to her party tonight." "Yeah, I know about that." "─ Yes, sir." "Look here, Marvin." "After all, you're getting up out of the poor-white class." "You attended school, a good bookkeeper." "A sort of right-hand man to me now." "And Betty is a sweet little .." "Well .. a tenant girl." "I know." "But you don't want to get tangled up with her." "Not if you're going anywhere in this world." "You are sort-of on the Planter side now." "And we're the people who keep the country going." "Well, you know what I mean." "─ Yes, sir." "I know." "Well, I've got to get back to the cotton mill." "Say." "Maybe it would be a good idea for you to Betty's party tonight anyhow." "My tenants will all be there." "You keep your eyes open." "Listen." "They'll talk." "Somebody will say something." "Something about the stealing." "A good idea .. you go." "I've got to have evidence .. evidence." "Hello Marvin." "Glad to see you again." "How are you?" "The boys are glad to see you, Marvin." "I knew we could count on him." "Marvin." "How are you, Betty?" "─ I thought you were never coming." "Want to dance?" "─ Sure." "That would be fine." "We'll have him on our side." "Marvin." "What's the matter?" "─ Oh, nothing." "That's a pretty dress." "Yes, Pa bought it for me." "And these slippers." "He said the cotton was coming in fine this year." "Yes, they are pretty too." "As pretty as her?" "─ Who?" "You know." "Sure." "It's been ten days since I've seen you." "I've been busy, lately." "There has been a Sunday in between." "Did you miss me?" "You know." "Hi hi." "You are mighty sweet, Betty." "Let's dance again." "Excuse me, Betty." "Hey, Marvin, I want to see you a minute." "Come on out here on the edge of the field." "Come on." "I reckon we'll be alone here." "I want to ask you something." "It's about this here cotton business." "─ What?" "Ain't no use beating the devil around the stump." "You know what I'm talking about." "There is cotton-stealing going on over at Norwood's." "No-one wants to call in stealing." "I call it taking back what yours." "Lane Norwood done the stealing." "Been doing it for years." "Now, in hard times we've got to get our chance back." "Speak up." "The cat got your tongue?" "─ No, uncle Joe." "Well, the whole point and purpose of my talking is .. we want you in with us." "Well, say something." "─ I don't know what to say." "Then listen to what I say." "We got a lot of cotton stored up." "Call it stolen cotton if you want to, but we've got it." "But it won't do us no good unless we get a man on the selling end of the business." "Kyle Jackson down on the levy is ginning for us." "But we can't sell it unless we got an agent." "Now .. we want you go to Memphis like a regular cotton grower." "Set up an office and .." "That's ambition for you." "There's a good, fat commission in it for you, too." "You see the point now?" "Yes." "You know a lot about business." "You got a good head on that pair of shoulders." "Norwood knows it." "That's why he sent you to school." "Give you learning." "Now, you're under obligations to him." "He uses you." "He uses you to cheat us, your own folks." "Keeping his books for the store." "Well, we want to use you." "We want you to help us." "Well, say something." "─ I don't know." "Hey .. don't make up your mind tonight." "Think about it." "I'll get in touch with you in a day or two." "And I know Tom Blake's boy will stand by his folks." "Go on back to the dance." "Betty is waiting for you." "No thanks, uncle Joe." "I believe I'll walk on down the road." "Oh, shucks." "Come on .." "Where's Marvin?" "Gone on down the road, looking at the stars." "Come on in .." "If any action is to be taken." "It must be done now." "Marvin." "This is Mr Carter, District Attorney." "Glad to meet you." "─ Glad to meet you, Marvin." "Mr Carter's come over to talk to you about this cotton stealing." "Get any news last night?" "─ No sir." "Nothing yet." "They are a slick lot, Carter." "Slick." "You've got your hands full to catch them." "I'll leave him with you, Marvin." "Maybe the two of you can work out some scheme." "Call me at the Gin if you need me." "I'll see you at supper." "Have a seat, Mr Carter ─ Thanks." "Can I be of some help, Mr Carter?" "─ Well, I don't know." "How long you worked for Mr Norwood?" "Four or five years now." "You see, he sent me to school." "Yes, I know about that." "Nice of him." "Yes, he's been awfully nice." "They all have." "All of them?" "─ Yes, sir." "The whole family." "Norwood, and Mrs Norwood and Madge?" "─ Yes, sir." "All nice to you?" "And Madge is nice?" "─ Yes, sir." "Look here, Blake." "Do you know anything about this cotton stealing?" "No, sir." "─ Yes you do." "Well, Mr Carter .." "─ It's alright." "I know how you're fixed." "You're caught between two sides, aren't you?" "Yes, sir .." "I reckon so." "Well, I'm not going to put any of your folks behind the bars just yet." "Let me look at your ledger there." "─ Yes, sir." "Mister Marvin." "If you don't mind, sir." "I'd like to get my seed money for the shopping." "I'd like to let you have something, Boyd." "But you still owe the store something like fifty dollars." "You lack one bale of paying out." "─ Yes, sir." "I see." "I sort of thought, I'd have something coming .. to buy some things." "You ought to be able to make some more cotton." "Four or five more bales, easy." "Then you'd have more than enough to pay out." "Then you could have a big time, Christmas." "Yeah, I see." "That's right, Mr Marvin." "He took it easy." "─ Nothing else for him to do." "Same old system." "Thirty, forty percent interest, and carrying charges." "A devil of a situation." "The big fish and the little fish." "The weak and the strong." "And what is to be done about it?" "Yes, sir." "I been thinking myself a lot, lately." "It seems like some way could be found, Mr Carter." "But there don't seem to be anywhere to start." "Stealing and cheating and fighting." "Both sides." "We must find some way, Blake." "─ I wish we could." "Excuse me a minute, will you." "Howdy, Marvin." "─ Howdy, Betty." "What can I do for you?" "Five pounds of sugar, please." "Mister Storekeeper." "There you are." "Sorry you didn't like the party last night." "Oh, I like it alright." "We had a lot of fun after you left." "─ Did you?" "They had a lot of fun." "─ Oh." "Marvin, what did Pa want to see you about last night?" "Nothing much." "Didn't he?" "─ No." "Yes, he did." "I didn't come down here for the sugar really." "Pa sent me to get you to come down to the house this evening." "He wants you to come." "It's awfully important." "He's got something to tell you." "What is it?" "I don't know." "Alright .. tell him I'll come." "Hello." "The same old thing I want." "Cigarettes." "Sorry to interrupt your little tête-à-tête." "This is Miss Madge, Betty." "I guess you know Betty alright." "She used to be your sweetheart, didn't she?" "Oh." "I guess I'll be going." "Nearly forgot my sugar." "Got a surprise for you." "I'm giving a party too." "A big one .." "Saturday night." "I got a jazz band coming up from Memphis." "─ Well, that's fine." "I want you to come." "And be my boyfriend." "Honest?" "─ Sure." "It will be a bit formal, but you needn't doll up." "Just something dark and nice." "Well, thanks." "Thanks, Miss Madge." "You'd look nice." "All dressed out." "Wouldn't you." "And don't call me "Miss Madge"." "See you on Saturday." "My cigarette." "It will be keen." "I'll be seeing you." "Don't work too hard." "We're going to dance the "Peckerwood Wiggle", or whatever you call it." "And I want you to lead the field." "─ Well, I'd be glad to, Madge." "Cute." "I'd like to kiss you, but I just washed my hair." "Bye!" "Don't forget." "Eight o'clock." "I'm counting on you." "Hey .. is he coming?" "Well, if he is coming, he ought to be here by now, I reckon." "I never did see no sense in letting him in on it, no how." "Well, stealing cotton is one thing, and selling it is another." "Now if we can get him mixed up in the stealing end of it, just once." "He's got to stick by us to save his own hide." "Joe's right, Jake." "─ Why, sure he is." "Here he comes now." "Hiya, Marvin." "You join us on the spot." "─ Hi, uncle Joe." "it's alright now, boys." "We've got a businessman with us." "Come along, you." "─ Wait a minute." "Where you all going?" "─ Oh, just for a little walk." "Come on." "A stroll down the road." "─ What's the idea?" "We'll keep four or five sacks in here, Marvin." "Let me carry one of those, uncle Joe." "Well I don't care if you do, Marvin." "What's the matter, uncle Joe?" "I can't get it down on my back." "How do you like stealing cotton from old Norwood?" "That's a right sizeable pile of cotton, Marvin." "Kyle Jackson's Gin will soon by plumb full." "You are on the right side now, Marvin." "Just keep your mouth shut about that Memphis business." "We're going to send you up there to be our agent." "There's money in it for you." "Big money." "I reckon we'd better make ourselves scarce." "Seems like day is about breaking." "So long until the next meeting, boys." "Is this here the home of Mr Lane Norwood?" "Who wants to know, may I ask?" "Well, we was sent for, and here we is." "You're here alright." "Marvin, show them around to their rooms in the back, will you." "And draw water for them, Marvin." "Be a chambermaid for a bunch of yellow saxophone students." "[ singing ] "He'd hung down .. oh Lord."" ""I hear your talking, Lord."" "That Norwood girl, ain't got a bit of soul, she ain't." "But she's sure got a body." "Some body." "Give me it out here." "Look who's there." "Yeah, look at him." "Look at him." "Trying to be somebody." "Marvin, you're late." "─ I hurried as fast as I could." "Come on, darling." "They're waiting for you." "Don't be bashful, Marvin." "It's a lot of fun." "Ladies and gentlemen." "And now for the surprise of the evening." "We're going to dance the Peckerwood Wiggle and Marvin Blake will lead the field." "Choose your partners." "Will the ladies please stand on the right, and the gentlemen of the left." "Step forward and back." "They making fun of us." "If I had me a gun, I'd make him wiggle." "I'd let him have it right between the eyes." "Look at him." "Hugging up to the high and mighty." "My .." "You look nice in your new suit." "─ Well, I wanted you to think so." "I've got a surprise for you." "─ What's that?" "You're going to come and live with us." "─ What?" "─ Uhuh." "Father said he wanted you nearby." "Got a room all fixed for you, upstairs." "No fooling?" "─ Father needs you here." "Close to his business." "Love me, honey." "I do love you, Madge." "I love you more than anything in this world." "There is nobody but you." "But I never dreamed you'd like me." "─ But you are sweet, Marvin." "Of course I like you." "Imagine." "Here you are." "With me, Lane Norwood's daughter." "Up in the world." "Going somewhere." "Oh, darling." "I will be something." "I'll make you proud of me." "I love you, Madge." "Not so fast, honey." "Just love me." "Love me." "[ singing ] "Did you ever hear the story?"" ""About Willie the Weeper."" ""He made his living, as a chimney sweeper"." ""He had a dope habit, and he had it bad."" ""Listen, while I tell you about a dream he had."" ""Na, na, na .."" "Your head is full of plans." "Isn't it, darling?" "Full of plans." "I hear music and dancing, ain't it, son?" "─ Yeah." "Folks cutting up big and loud, Pappy." "And lights shining." "The great glory of the white man." "[ singing ] "In the black of night long."" ""There goes my true love."" "Liza." "Liza!" "Well, did you have a good time at the big party?" "A wonder you come back to the poor folks after cutting a shine with them big-guns." "And become a cussed fool, making fun of poor folks." "They're turning you into a lousy spy." "─ That's a lie." "Give him his duds." "I don't want you in my home." "─ Your home?" "Go and live with Norwood." "You think so much of him and that stuck-up girl of his." "Get out before I break your neck." "Open that door!" "So, you've moved into Norwood's house, have you?" "Yes." "Just for the busy season, maybe." "The Cotton Gin's running at night now." "I got a lot of bookwork to do." "Yeah." "I heard Sock and Jake throwed you out of your house." "They're both sore-tailed anyhow, so don't you mind them." "We all know how it is." "Here you are." "You better charge that, Marvin." "My credit is still good." "Yeah, you've got a little coming to you on the books." "Yeah .. a little bit." "Don't let the busy season last too long, Marvin." "Remember, that Memphis job will be open in two or three weeks." "Well, I've been thinking, uncle Joe." "─ No, no." "Think some more." "You go plenty of time." "Here .." "Some of the boys got kind of het up when they hear you going to live at Norwood's." "Said it looked a might little suspicious." "Shucks, I said." "Can't you see how everything works for our side?" "And Marvin right now with Norwood." "And he'd know every thought and move Norwood makes." "If Norwood starts to go after us with the Sheriff or the law .." "Marvin will know it, won't he?" "Like a flash, he'll let us know." ""That's right" they said." ""Never thought of that"." "So now Marvin, everybody tickled to death to know that you're going to be right .." "Well .. in the camp of the enemy." "Day and night." "Thanks." "─ Shucks." "No thanks." "The brunt of everything is on you, now my boy." "And we know you won't go back on us." "Say." "There's a meeting tonight, down at our house." "You'd better be there." "Soon as you get your supper, come on over." "Betty will be expecting you." "What's it all about, uncle Joe?" "Business." "What else?" "─ Oh, I can't go tonight." "Why can't you?" "Well .. well, I've got to work on the books with Mr Norwood." "We need you tonight, Marvin." "─ I've got an awful lot of work to do." "Well, I'll put the meeting off for a day or two." "Well I wish you would." "─ You'll be there then?" "I'll see .. yeah, put it off." "You better come the next time, Marvin, as some folks get suspicious mighty easy." "Mighty easy." "But Daddy, I need a new roadster." "The old one rattles like a wagon." "With this stealing and everything, we'll be lucky if we're all not riding a wagon." "No action from Carter, none from the Sheriff." "Why can't Marvin get some evidence against these fellows?" "Don't worry, honey." "You're bound to catch them soon." "Well, I suppose I'll have to send to Chicago for a mail-order detective." "He's in the dining room." "Mr Norwood." "Mr Norwood, a Peckerwood just shot down one of the planters over in Swain County." "What?" "─ He's expected to die." "We got Ezzy Daniels and the bloodhounds." "We're meeting at the crossroads down the road a mile." "They want you come and lead the posse." "Marvin, get my coat." "─ Yes, sir." "Let me go, Daddy." "─ No." "You stay here." "Lane, be careful." "─ Now don't worry." "Come on, Neal." "Take this, Marvin." "Marvin." "Bill." "Help me, Marvin .. don't let them get me." "Why did you do it?" "─ I lost my head." "He wouldn't give me a cent for my cotton." "Said I owed him money." "Shush." "Run .. run, Bill .. run!" "Marvin, Marvin." "What you hanging back for?" "Why don't you come with the boys?" "Here he is boys!" "Come on." "Come on, bring the dogs here." "Come on." "Get him!" "─ There he is!" "No .. stop it!" "No .. no .." "[ Gunshot!" "]" "Look there .. a fire." "It's my house, Marvin." "─ No, no." "It's your store." "Hurry." "Hurry." "The books, Marvin." "The safe .." "Don't go in there!" "Marvin!" "The safe is blown open." "Somebody stole the books." "The accounts gone?" "Then I'm ruined." "You hear, Marvin?" "Ruined!" "Which one of you fired my store?" "Who stole the books?" "I'll find out so help me, and when I do, somebody will go to the Penitentiary" "And he'll go to stay!" "I guess there's nothing more we can do." "I'll fix them for this." "Every last one of them." "They can't get away with this." "The Clinton boys are at the back of this." "And that no-account Jake Fisher." "Don't you worry, Daddy." "Don't you worry." "You got spunk, Marvin." "Real spunk." "Everything is going to be alright, dear." "─ But I'm ruined." "Ruined!" "Books burned." "Accounts gone." "─ I've a copy of the accounts, Mr Norwood." "What?" "─ Yes, sir." "I made a duplicate set." "Thank God." "My boy .. you've saved me." "Saved me." "Ha, well that makes everything right." "Why, the store can be built again." "And the accounts .." "Let's go in and have some coffee." "─ We have some on the stove, dear." "My boy, you've brought the blood back to my heart." "Cheer up." "Don't look so sad." "Don't you understand?" "You've made everything right." "Made everything right?" "No." "No." "What happened out there in the woods tonight wasn't right." "Nothing can make that right." "Come now, Marvin." "Come on my boy." "You are all in." "The coffee will do you good." "Better luck next time." "─ I'll see you at Carmen's, Thursday." "I'll give you a ring." "Do you hear?" "Marvin." "Hello, Marvin." "What you do?" "─ Nothing." "Oh." "Come on down to lunch." "We'll be all alone." "Pa just phoned from town and said he was conferring with Mr Carter." "He and mother won't be back until late." "─ Well, I'm not hungry." "Thanks." "Oh come on, Marvin." "[ Radio ] "Go forth in this spirit, through all the affairs and duties of life."" "Here, drink some scofflaw wine." "It will take the blues away." "Here's to .. well, here's to the future." "[ radio ] "For love is the greatest thing in the world."" "[ Radio ] "And love is the hope of the world."" "The hope of the world!" "[ radio. music ]" "Don't be so blue, darling." "Hmm." "Doesn't this wine warm your tummy?" "Yes, thanks." "Today is your afternoon off, isn't it?" "─ Yes, ma'am." "Well, you can go now." "I'll take care of everything." "Oh, thank you, Miss Madge." "Have a good time." "─ Yes, ma'am." "Drink your wine." "You're not hungry, are you?" "No." "─ I'm not either." "Don't you just love Sunday afternoons?" "Everything quiet." "Nobody at home .. to disturb you." "There's something I got to tell you." "You were going away, weren't you?" "Packing to leave?" "Oh, honey-lamb, you mustn't do that." "What would father say if he came back and found you gone?" "And I would cry .. cry .." "You're for father, aren't you?" "And you're going to help him find the men who burnt his store." "Oh, Madge, I don't know .." "I don't know." "Come up to my room, will you." "I want to talk to you about something." "Turn your back and look at those snapshots for a minute." "While I get into something more resting." "Turn your back." "[ Madge singing ] "Did you ever hear the story about."" ""Willie the weeper."" ""He made his living, as a chimney sweeper."" ""He had a dope habit, and he had it bad."" ""Listen, while I tell you about a dream he had."" "Marvin." "Madge." "Who is it?" "Oh .. what do you want?" "Is Marvin home?" "Here?" "─ I'll call him." "Marvin!" "You want to see me, Betty?" "─ I've got something important to tell." "What is it?" "Pa wants you to come down to the house." "Quick as you can." "What's the matter?" "Oh, he said come quick as you could." "They are all upset." "They are talking about you." "Please come." "I want to talk to you, too." "Alright, Betty." "Wait just a minute." "Wait a minute, boys." "All of you heard what Norwood said last night." "About them that burnt his store." "How he's going to put them behind the bars." "Well, y'all know that early this morning, the Sheriff come .." "Arrested my boys, Cleve and Ross." "And .." "Sock Fisher's Jake." "They are all in jail over there in town now." "I didn't know that, uncle Eph." "I swear I didn't." "When did it happen?" "─ That ain't the point." "Now, Norwood don't know nothing." "He'll never know nothing." "He arrested the boys on suspicion." "We'll get a lawyer and fight him." "He can't prove nothing." "And that ain't the point, though." "The point is .." "Marvin here." "Marvin Blake." "Tom Blake's boy." "Marvin's the point, here." "Everybody knows that Norwood .." "Had our accounts set out on his books." "The amount of money he's been suckering away from us all, don't they?" "Well." "The books is burnt up .. ain't they?" "Ain't they, Marvin?" "─ They're gone." "The safe was blown open." "─ Yeah." "The books is burnt up." "And we don't owe him nothing." "─ We sure don't." "We're square with him for the first time in our lives." "The fire squared us." "That ain't the point, though." "The books is burnt up." "But Marvin here has got a copy of them." "That's what we are talking about." "Alright." "Speak up, Marvin." "Tell us." "I've got nothing to tell." "Wait a minute." "Marvin." "There is another set of books, ain't there?" "Suppose there is?" "You made a copy of them, didn't you?" "Maybe so." "─ Maybe so?" "Where are they?" "─ I won't tell you." "Has Norwood got them?" "Or has Carter got them?" "Ain't you going to tell us?" "No." "How can I tell you?" "I'm working for Mr Norwood." "He's hired me." "I can't go back on him like that." "But you can go back on us, your own folks." "You can give us away and cause us to be put behind the bars." "I didn't do that." "I didn't know those boys were in jail." "I can hardly keep my hands off you, Marvin Blake." "If you weren't Tom's boy, I don't know what I'd do." "Well, you may not have told on the boys, but you're siding with Norwood, ain't you?" "Ain't you?" "─ Come here, Marvin." "Sit on my bed, son." "I've knowed your Daddy, son." "There weren't a better man who ever walked behind a plough." "He ought to be here today." "He wouldn't be proud of you, neither." "Not with all your learning and your sense." "And you're walking high and mighty with Norwood .. and the planters." "I ain't proud of you." "But we love you just the same." "We know how hard it's been on you." "How you are pulled both ways." "But son." "There ain't but one way that's right." "And that's ours." "All you got to do to know it." "Is to remember your Daddy." "Didn't Norwood work him to death?" "Send him to his grave before his time?" "That's what he done, son." "I know something about it." "If you go up there to Norwood's house." "Somewhere, you'll find an old ledger." "In that book, is writ down the records." "Of how Norwood cheated your Daddy." "Charged him high rates." "Took everything." "Made him give up all he had from his own hand." "From his own mouth." "Made you and Liza and your Ma .." "Go to bed hungry .. many a night." "Please, uncle Eph." "─ I don't want to hurt you, son." "But you got to stand with us." "We want you to let us have that other set of books." "They'll be thrown in the fire, and burned up, too." "My record wiped clean." "And .. we can all make a new start, maybe." "Norwood's got plenty." "He's made his plenty out of the sweat of all of us." "Give us the books." "Will you do it?" "Come on, Marvin." "We were going to send you to Memphis, boy." "Let me alone, won't you." "I'm not crooked." "I'm not spying on you." "And I'm not going to play Mr Norwood crooked, either." "I won't give you the books." "I know what's in his mind." "It's that Norwood girl." "He's tagging around on her coat-tails hoping someday he'll tie up with her." "Shut up!" "Alright, Marvin .. we've done ask you for the books." "We've done ask you to be on our side." "You won't." "But I reckon you will, when you get a bit of time to think about it." "We're going to give you a little time." "But if you ain't delivered them books to us here, by tomorrow at sundown .." "You won't be on Norwood's side and you won't on nobody's side." "We done told you, now." "Marvin!" "1915." "1916." "What are you doing, Marvin?" "Alright, what is it?" "─ This." "What?" "─ There." "What do you mean by that?" "─ That's what I mean." "There, in these records." "1917." "Credit balance due: 185 dollars." "Interest and carrying charges: 210 dollars." "Balance due from Blake." "My father worked for you for 15 years." "One year like another." "And the money that might have bought him a little happiness you took away." "He's dead .. and you worked him to death." "Now look here." "Sit down Marvin, let me talk to you." "You're all excited, and no wonder." "I'm on edge myself." "Who's been talking?" "─ I've been thinking, that's all." "Where are you going?" "─ Please let me go." "Marvin, now don't be all upset." "You've known my method all along." "You know I have to do that." "It's not all one-sided like that." "There's many a thing I did for your father." "Things not entered on the book." "Yes, yes." "I've argued up and down with myself a thousand times." "But I know this and these books prove it." "You killed my father." "You .." "Now, Marvin .." "Marvin!" "What's the matter, Daddy?" "─ Nothing, nothing." "Now go to sleep." "Now, you've got to listen to reason." "I've done a lot for you." "I saw you had good stuff in you." "It's why I helped you." "No, Mr Norwood." "─ You ought to appreciate it." "No, you helped me, so I'd help you." "─ Now, Marvin. ─ I'm quitting!" "If I owe you anything I'll pay you back someday." "No you're not." "Now get some sleep and tomorrow you'll feel better." "I don't blame you for being all mixed up." "So much happened in the last few days." "But everything is going to clear up now." "Now we've got a lot to do getting things straightened out." "We've got to work on the old accounts tomorrow." "Clear up the year's work." "And say, I want you to get that duplicate set of books for me in the morning." "We'll start early." "You hear me now?" "Marvin, you won't leave me, I tell you." "Marvin!" "Daddy, let me talk to him, please." "Well, alright, Madge." "See what you can do with him." "He's got some crazy idea about leaving." "Forgotten everything I've done for him." "Wants to walk out." "You're going to stay right here, Marvin." "Sure you are." "You wouldn't slide out now." "─ I've got to, Madge." "You're not that ungrateful." "─ Ungrateful?" "That's what I said." "Hasn't Daddy made you what you are?" "You're not going out that door, I tell you." "I can't stay." "Don't you understand?" "I don't belong here." "You're a fool!" "Alright." "Alright." "A fool, that's what I am." "Marvin!" "Marvin .. wait!" "Please wait." "Marvin." "Please listen to me." "You're not going off .. you're not." "─ Yes, I am." "But where, darling?" "This is your home now." "No, I'm leaving it." "I'll go somewhere, I don't .." "You see?" "I won't let you go." "What a mess." "You've got to stick by Daddy, Marvin." "You're like his own son, almost." "The only help he's got." "Please stay .. please, for my sake." "I didn't mean to speak hard to you." "Honest I didn't." "Remember that other night we sat here?" "You talked about your future." "Your work, what you'd be." "You said." "You said you loved me, then." "─ Madge." "I knew what was in your mind that night, Marvin." "I knew .. and then you said you loved me, and .." "And I'll say now .." "What I wouldn't say then." "And what I'll say now is .." "I love you too, Marvin .." "I do." "If you love me and want to get somewhere in this world, you'll stick by Daddy." "Why, hello." "─ Good morning, Mr Carter." "You're out early." "─ Yes, sir." "You look serious." "What's on your mind?" "─ I want to see you." "You look all in." "Come into my office." "Sit down." "Well .. you must have some hot news about that stealing?" "Well, no sir." "Not exactly." "Well, what is it?" "You know that duplicate set of accounts I left with you?" "─ Yes." "Well, I've been ordered to deliver them today." "You're lucky you took my advice." "I mean, lucky for Norwood." "After the fire, I guess he needs them." "No, you see." "It's the other side." "Uncle Joe Wright and all the others." "They gave me until sundown tonight to deliver the books to them." "Hmm .." "I see." "Well, what are you going to do?" "─ That's what I wanted to see you about." "Last night, Mr Norwood told me that he wanted me to give him the books today." "I never saw such a mess." "I've tried to forget it but I can't." "Something's got to be done, Mr Carter." "That's what I wanted to see you for." "Well, as a citizen I could call a meeting of the tenants and the landlords." "If you will handle it." "─ Me?" "Well, I couldn't do that." "─ Why, you're the very man to do it." "You know every phrase of the question." "And they all know you do." "They know you're honest and do what's right." "Why, you're the very man to do it." "I couldn't." "─ Sure, you could." "You stay here with me for a few days." "They won't bother you here." "We'll get out placards calling for a meeting in the courthouse on Thursday." "And we'll have a showdown." "The planters wouldn't come." "The tenants might, but the planters wouldn't." "Yes they will." "I'll write a personal letter to each of the planters." "I guess after all the trouble there's been, they'll come alright." "Here, let's get busy." "We'll get out a placard." "Mass meeting .." "What's this meeting all about?" "Sock, here, ought to know, as it's Marvin that's going to tell us." "It had better be good news, good news he tells us." "Well, he can't sit here, with Carter always." "The problem before this meeting is not to fix guilt." "But to try to find some way to remedy the unfortunate situation .." "Existing between tenant and planter." "Look here, Carter." "We didn't come here to listen to a lot of idiotic junk." "We're here to get at who stole cotton, and how much." "And what are we going to do about it." "Gentlemen .. gentlemen." "We're lucky at this time to have someone with us .." "Who is qualified in every way to deal with the question involved." "He knows both sides of the question." "And there is no-one here, I'm sure, who doubts his honesty and integrity." "I turn this meeting over to Marvin Blake." "Yes, there's been trouble." "Plenty of it." "Stealing and murder and burning and lynching." "You all know about it." "And that's why we're here, to see if we can't do something about it." "The planters are against the tenants." "And the tenants are against the planters." "Each side fighting against the other." "The planters furnish the mules and the land and the feed and the implements." "And he carries all the risk of the flood and the drought." "And all through hell and high water." "I reckon a planter's got the right to charge high interest." "But the poor tenant keeps asking .." "Where does he come in?" "Times without number, I've seen him out there in the field." "A man and his wife and poor, skinny little boys and girls that ought to be in school." "And a little measly baby that needed its mother." "But she didn't have time." "She had to pick cotton." "And if she did have time, she didn't have any milk for the baby." "And why?" "Because she didn't have the right kind of food and attention, that's why." "All day long out there in the cotton fields in the hot sun and dust." "The Gin blowing its whistle out yonder in the hot, baked land." "Work .. working for what?" "Nothing." "Nothing but the long summer." "The long winter." "And in the end, the graves." "When settling time comes, they got nothing left." "When the advances are paid, and the interest is taken out." "Nothing!" "For a year's sweat." "A man and his whole family." "You can't blame the tenant for standing up, and asking where does he come in." "And the answer is, he don't come in." "He's got nothing left." "He's had a little old shack down there in the cotton patch to live in." "The stores where they can have some sowbelly meat, and compound lard .." "And molasses and cornmeal all the year." "Some cheap shoes and no-account dress stuff." "Charge them four of five prices for it." "He's used all his credit and he's in debt." "No wonder he gets sore and tries to settle matters some other way." "Steal, if necessary." "How can you blame him?" "Lately, I've been living where things are different." "Where folks talk about buying new car because the old one's a little scratched." "Where money is spent like water." "Four hundred dollars for a jazz band." "And that money was sweated out of the blood of my people." "Shut up, you fool!" "Wait a minute, wait a minute!" "Let the boy finish." "Let's hear what he's got to say." "Maybe I am a fool." "I don't know." "But I do know this." "You can't forever take from the land and give nothing back to it." "Not if you want to make cotton." "You've got to play fair with the land." "You got to give it fertilizer and work and the plough and attention." "A man is made out of the same dirt as the earth is, and he's got to have attention." "You got to play fair with him." "If the planter wants to rob the farmhand." "You can't blame the farmhand for wanting to steal back from him." "Look at Mr Scott over there." "He tries to play fair with his tenants, and everybody knows he don't have trouble." "Not like some of the others." "Why can't they all play fair?" "Marvin Blake will now tell you about his scheme for co-operation." "Co-operation." "Well in this co-operative scheme." "─ Co-operation!" "Whose kind of co-operation?" "Not you tenants, you Peckerwoods." "Norwood has the floor for the moment." "You talk about getting together." "Coöperation." "Well, I'd like to see you do it." "And I refuse to sit here and listen to the ravings of a schoolboy .." "Who knows nothing of what he's talking about." "He does, too." "He ought to, Norwood." "You learned him." "Be quiet!" "Marvin Blake is right about one thing." "He's right when he says we planters take all the risks." "Stand for everything." "When you're sick, when your crop fails, when you're down and out." "Who do you come to for credit, for help?" "Does John D Rockefeller help you?" "Does Wall Street hear your cries?" "No." "You come whining to us planters." "We look after your young ones, your granddaddies and yourselves." "And what do you do?" "You go about in the night burning the very store that feeds you." "And stealing cotton from us who keep you alive." "Stealing bread out of your own mouths." "If you had sense enough to see it." "We build your tenant houses." "Put screens on the doors to keep flies and typhoid fever away from the children." "Give you gardens so they can have balanced food." "And what do you do?" "Mess up the house." "Spit on the floor." "Let your gardens burn up in the sun." "I helped you buy a milk cow." "So that you could have milk for your children." "And you did like Marvin Blake's father." "Complained." "Saying she didn't give much milk." "You wouldn't feed her." "Yeah .. talk about co-operation." "Alright, co-operate then." "But don't come bellyaching, accusing us planters of every crime under high heaven." "If you quit lying around the front of my store." "Sleeping in the sun like a gang of hound-dogs." "And go to work, straighten up your shoulders, get some manhood in you." "Then, we might talk about co-operating." "Alright, Marvin Blake." "Go ahead with your scheme." "Don't let me stop you." "No, you won't stop me Mr Norwood." "Your speech sounds like all the right is on your side, don't it." "Well, you've got the cart before the horse." "Why don't my folks keep up their house?" "Why don't they have a garden?" "Why haven't they got milk for their children?" "Why don't they live like you planters?" "Why?" "The same old answer." "Because everything belongs to you planters." "In their hearts, something always belongs to somebody else, and always will." "From generation to generation." "Let the boy finish." "─ Let's hear what he has to say." "How, here's the new-term contract." "In which the landlord and tenant agree to work on a co-operative basis." "These terms are for a one-year trial." "You already received copies of these through the mail." "I'll sign." "Gentlemen, I think we ought to all go in this." "For a trial anyhow .." "I will." "─ I will, too." "─ I'll not sign." "Don't you do it, Daddy." "Don't let a Whickerbill white get the best of you." "Mr Norwood is going to ask for a True bill against the Clinton boys for burning his store." "Well, I'm going to ask for a True Bill against him." "For extortion and fraudulent collection, and mishandling the accounts." "They might put me in jail, too." "I don't know." "For helping you steal." "You told me what to put down in your books and I put it down." "But so help me, I'll testify against you." "Against my own self if it comes to that." "Those Clinton boys stole cotton alright." "I saw them do it." "But you stole their crop, because I helped you do it." "You belong in jail as much as those boys do." "And if you don't mind, I'll send you there." "It's catching, George, you'd better give in." "─ No, no!" "Don't you go out that door, Mr Norwood." "If you do, I'll tell everything I know." "You sign one of these contracts." "If you don't, I'll tell." "And you know what I'll tell." "You know what the Governor of this state will do to you." "And everyone else that followed the bloodhounds that night." "There won't be enough money in all the banks to get you out from behind the bars." "Stop!" "Alright, Mr Norwood?" "Alright." "Marvin." "Marvin is a great boy, ain't he?" "There, you sure did my heart good, Marvin." "Come on." "We'll all ride home together." "─ I can't." "I got to go and see Mr Carter." "I'll I see you Sunday, Betty." "Yes." "Sunday." "Great stuff, boy." "It means a new day in this neighbourhood." "You know, I've been thinking." "I'll need a partner, one of these days." "Oh, here is Mr Norwood." "You win, Marvin." "Thank you, Mr Norwood." "T-G"