"Hello, Mother." "Hello, Father." "Aren't they down yet?" "No." "They're just coming." "Oh, it's like that, is it?" "(THUDDlNG)" "Hey, come on, dopey, get up." "Leave me alone." "You'd better get up, Dad's home." "Oh, blimey. I thought it was Sunday." "SALLY: (exclaims) Lose a day and you lose a friend." "Uh, I've got nowt else to lose." "Except me socks, they've gone again." "SALLY:" "If you'd wrap 'em round your neck of a night, you'd know where to find them." "You'll be getting a sock from Dad soon if you don't hurry up." "Ha, ha, ha, funny, aren't you?" "Slow down, Mother, don't drown me." "Hard to sieve, this." "There's enough coal on your back to last us a week." "Are they stirring?" "I don't hear them." "Don't worry, they'll be down in a minute." "Where's yon brush?" "Ee, what a fussbox you are!" "(THUDDlNG) I say, Sal, do you think I could ask him today?" "Well, you've got a tongue in your head, haven't you?" "Would you ask him for me?" "What?" "And him only just home from work?" "Oh, not likely." "But I'm sick of putting it off." "(THUDDlNG)" "All right, Dad, we're coming." "I dare you to ask him this morning." "Come on." "Morning, Dad." "Morning, Dad." "Morning, Mum." "More like afternoon to me." "Ah, give over, Dad." "When I was your age..." "l know, up with the lark." "(whispers) Why don't you ask him now?" "(whispers) No, he's in a bad mood." "I'll do it this afternoon." "Oh, don't be so daft." "Do it now." "Oh." "(SOFTLY) Go on." "(MOUTHlNG)" "What's the matter with thee?" "Well, er..." "Nothing, Father." "Well, get on with your breakfast, then, or you'll be late for your work." "Five years I've been at Marlows now, you know, Dad?" "Well, what about it?" "Oh, nothing, only I..." "What are you driving at?" "Well, I was just wondering when I was going to get that there new suit, that's all." "Ee, lad, what can we do?" "You know we haven't got much coming in." "I know, Ma, but I've never had a proper suit yet." "And me nearly 1 8." "Well, I'm ashamed to go out on Sundays." "Look at Jack Lynsey and t'others." "They can have 'em, why can't I?" "They get them at the Good Samaritan Clothing Club, Harry." "And you know your father doesn't like weekly payments." "You'll have to make do with what you got, lad." "You'll get one when things buck up." "When things buck up. (SCOFFS) lt's all very well talking like that." "Trade's turning corner, paper says so." "I know I'm ashamed to turn corner in these trousers." "The others have suits through Good Samaritan, why can't I?" "I'll tell you why." "Because I'm not shoving no blasted millstone of weekly payments round my neck." "What we can't pay for cash down, we'll do without, see." "But here am I working full-time and no clothes to go out on weekends." "Ah, lad, I've worked all me blooming life." "And what have I got?" "Well, I don't see that just because..." "Now, then, don't set me off now, don't set me off!" "Now, Harry, now, Harry." "But I'm sick of it all, I can tell you." "Nothing to wear and nothing to spend and me working full-time." "Man's work, that's what I'm doing." "And giving up all I earn except for a shilling to spend." "God almighty." "What a life this is." "I come home to rest and what do I get?" "If it isn't you, it's Sal." "Man, do you think blasted money grows on trees?" "(whistle blowing)" "Go on, get off to your work, the both of you." "(DOOR CLOSES)" "The lad's right, you know, Henry." "He isn't fit to be seen in t'street." "You think I don't know?" "But it's not my fault." "I've worked every hour that God sent every day of me life and what have we got to show for it?" "We're worse off now than when we was first wed." "Well, couldn't we manage it somehow?" "You know how you used to feel yourself." "He can't go out on Sundays at all." "I've told you, Mother, I'm having no weekly payments." "We've managed to keep our heads above water so far." "Do you think I want to see you going off every Monday morning to a pawn shop like old Ma Nattle?" "No, not if I can help it." "(indistinct CHATTER) I'm glad you've come." "He won't let us in!" "Out of me way." "Out of me way." "I'll soon settle that!" "Hey!" "Open t'door, let us in out of perishing cold." "WOMAN:" "Come on, son, open the door." "Hurry up, we're perishing." "We've been here for hours and hours." "All ready?" "Take thy hands out of thy pockets." "Slovenliness." "Slovenliness." "Always to be deplored, especially in one so young." "(SNlFFLES)" "Where's thy handkerchief?" "Blow thy nose." "And tell the customers that we can do with less noise." "Hey, he says to make less noise." "And I say if he doesn't let us in, I'm taking me custom somewhere else." "WOMAN:" "Oh, come on, son, open the door." "Hurry up!" "We've been here for hours and hours." "You may let them in now." "(ALL grumbling)" "(ALL shouting lNDlSTlNCTLY)" "(ALL clamouring)" "(coins jingling)" "And now, to business." "Who's first?" "l am!" "(ALL speaking lNDlSTlNCTLY)" "Stop pushing." "l'm first, I'm always first." "Who does all the pawning for her neighbours?" "And who earns all commission, too?" "Out of folks what's too high and mighty to come for themselves." "We'll start with that one, Jack Cramford's best suit." "She couldn't come this week, she's expecting her seventh." "And him only working three days a week." "That explains it." "Satan finds work, you know." "I should have brought my bed." "Let me do this, Mrs Nattle." "It's only me lodger's suit." "I don't see why it should hang up there doing nobody any good." "He doesn't believe in pawn shops." "He doesn't believe in obliging his landlady, blast him." "It's in the pocket." "It's very cold this morning, isn't it?" "Do you know, I didn't sleep a wink last night with me cough." "Wish to God they were open." "I see performance." "I seed you slip your old-age pension book into pocket." "Mmm, well, it doesn't do to tell everybody all you know, does it?" "A still tongue and a wise head." "'Wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove,' the good book says." "Aye, least said soonest mended, Mrs Dorbell." "Though I never knew he took pension books in pawn." "Being against law, as it's printed on book." "And him being a magistrate and a churchgoer." "Oh, I'm surprised at nowt what nobody does." "Be what they may." "Well, he knows if he takes your pension book on pawn, you can't draw your pension till the book is redeemed." "Course, if you can't afford to get your clothes out of pawn, you can always stay at home." "But you can't afford to lose 1 0 shillings a week for the sake of half a crown, can you?" "That's what he lends on pension books." "That'll be interesting to some of my customers, Mrs Dorbell." "And thank you for the hint and the information." "Indeed, you're welcome." "I suppose you haven't got a drop of anything in the house?" "I must get something for me cough." "You know my motto, neighbours obliged." "(coughing)" "Sit you down, lass, make yourself at home." "The usual?" "Drop of hot water?" "No." "Threepence." "Now..." "About that there Irish sweepstake ticket, Nancy." "Have you decided yet?" "Not yet, I want to have a talk with a certain party I know." "(KNOCK AT DOOR)" "Who's that?" "lt's only me." "And me." "MRS NATTLE:" "Come in." "Having a quick one, eh?" "Couldn't wait for us, could ya?" "MRS NATTLE:" "Sit down." "What will it be?" "Three-penneth." "Ah, somebody's been doing themselves well." "Bottle was nearly full yesterday." "So was my old man." "I don't know where he gets his money from." "Now, Mrs Bull." "Three-penneth, you said?" "Aye, look sharp about it, me throat's nearly cut." "You can make it six-penneth if you'll trust me for the other threepence." "Can't afford it, Mrs Bull." "Get away, will ya?" "Some folks know to make money." "Agent for Good Samaritan, pawning for neighbours?" "'Neighbours obliged' did with two lines under it?" "And selling nips." "Threepence, please, Mrs Bull." "Now, what about you, Alice?" "Same for me, dearie." "Well, gals, how are we all this morning, eh?" "Here, have a pinch of Birdseye?" "All right." "I don't know what's coming over folks these days." "Why, what's up now?" "Well, I remember when there's hardly a day passed without a confinement or a laying out to be done." "Aye, young'uns aren't having children as they ought." "And folks that die is being laid out by them as they belong to, which weren't considered respectable in the old days." "I tell you, if my poor old mother was alive to see the goings on in the world today, she'd turn in her grave, so she would." "Ah, the world's never been the same since the old queen died." "Which queen do you mean, Mrs Jike?" "Why, Queen Victoria, of course." "Oh, her." "(KNOCK AT DOOR)" "Who's that?" "Glasses!" "It's Mrs Hardcastle." "Come in." "This is a surprise." "Ee, I didn't know you had company, Mrs Nattle." "Nay, lass, we're all friends here." "Sit down." "Well, I don't want to disturb you." "I'll come again when you're not busy." "I'm in no hurry." "Oh, I'm not busy, just having a quiet five minutes." "Sit you down." "Now, what is it you want?" "Well, Mrs Nattle, our Harry wants a new suit." "Oh, you mean you want a club cheque?" "That's easy settled." "How much do you want it for, Mrs Hardcastle?" "Well, he did say that he wanted it made to measure." "Made to measure, eh?" "Sounds as though he's started courting." "(chuckling)" "Then his troubles begin." "(chuckling)" "You'll get it for three pounds, Mrs Hardcastle." "That's what I had to pay for my old man's." "There'll be three shillings interest, Mrs Hardcastle." "You pay that now." "And it's three shillings a week for 20 weeks." "You understand?" "Aye." "Me husband'll be a good payer." "He doesn't believe in cheques and weekly payments." "Ee, what a job I had talking him into it." "Obstinate as a mule." "You see, he isn't comfortable owing debts." "But what are you to do?" "Children are growing up." "It's time your Sally was getting married, isn't it?" "There's enough fellas got their eye on her." "Sam Grundy, for instance." "By, he's got plenty of brass." "I wouldn't like to think of our Sal having anything to do with a man like that." "Don't you worry, Mrs Hardcastle." "That girl of yours will do all right for herself." "You'll see." "She's a headstrong lass is our Sal." "And she's got a mind of her own." "I do wish I could get her settled with some nice young man." "(playing JAUNTY piano TUNE)" "Same again." "l'm sorry, Ned." "There's no more credit." "What do you mean?" "Them's my orders." "It's nowt to do with me." "Short times been started at some of works already and nobody knows who's going to be next." "Ah, what's that got to do with it?" "You'll get your money." "I'm only doing as I've been told." "LARRY:" "And here around you is the price we have to pay for that system." "And we go on paying for it until we realise that the remedy is in our own hands." "For many years now, we and our fathers before us have..." "What's the idea of keeping me waiting?" "Hmm?" "Oh, it's you." "I thought we was going jazzing tonight." "Why didn't you come into the pub and tell me you was here?" "I suppose you're more interested in listening to the muck he's mouthing." "Who are you talking to, Narkey?" "You kept me waiting." "Aye." "And a fine place you was waiting in, too." "Huh." "Queen of Sheba, eh?" "(SCOFFS) I can get girls ten a penny." "And them as don't keep a fella waiting, neither." "And do you understand?" "I'm getting sick of trailing you around." "And all for nothing." "You're a dirty dog, Narkey." "You're not the only one as is sick." "I'm sick of you and the rest of the crowd you blow around with." "Well, the best thing you can do is to get them that is ten a penny." "Now, come on, Sal, I was only kidding." "Well, I wasn't." "NED:" "All right." "Suit yourself!" "Perhaps you'd sooner listen to his blather." "Look at our lives and the lives of our parents and their parents." "Never-ending labour." "Constant struggle to pay the rent and to buy food and clothing." "Now, we don't set the blame on any one section of the community." "We challenge the system alone which sets man against man and robs all of security." "Now, in every industrial city in the land you'll find places like this where people like us who do the work of the world are forced to spend their days." "And it'll go on like this until we people realise that society has the... the means and the knowledge" "to allow us to become men and women" "in the true sense of those words." "Hear, hear!" "Goodnight, boys." "MAN:" "Goodnight." "Well, Jim, where do we go from here?" "Cross Key lane." "And I hope we don't waste as much breath down there as we've wasted here." "You stop wasting your breath and get packing." "Hi, Sally." "Have I made a convert?" "Well, I heard you speaking." "(chuckling) What did you think of it?" "Oh, I like the way you talk." "You can talk, all right." "Oh, I don't know nowt about politics." "It's the first time I've ever listened." "Ah, that's the trouble." "Talking doesn't seem to do much good." "Do you always do this sort of thing in your spare time?" "I mean, don't you ever go out jazzing or enjoying yourself?" "Well, I enjoy doing this." "Oh, I like to get away sometimes, though." "Aye." "But you need money to get away." "There's not many get out of Hankey Park except through cemetery gates." "And even that costs you money." "No, but where do you go?" "Well, there's Sunday rambles into the country." "Lot of young folks go, you know, from Labour club." "Why don't you come with us sometime?" "Oh, I'd like that." "Oh, but you go, don't you?" "I mean, I don't know anybody there..." "Oh, I'd like to take you." "Funny, isn't it?" "What?" "Well, I mean, us living so near and, uh, this our first time we've spoken." "(CHUCKLES)" "Ah, come on." "How much longer are you going to be?" "All right, I'm coming." "I've got to go now." "But I shan't forget." "Next time there's a Sunday outing, I'll let you know." "Goodnight, Sally." "(indistinct CHATTER)" "What's up with you all?" "What's up?" "Take a look at that." "Put us on three days a week." "Three days a week, eh?" "The paper said that trade was turning corner." "Ee, Harry." "Let's have a look at ya." "Oh, bit of good stuff, Ma." "Hey, you're pinching." "Look at muscles in his shoulders." "Stop mucking me about." "Aye, lad you look lovely." "Turn round and let's have a proper look at ya." "I say, Sal, doesn't he look a masher?" "Aye, he does." "Come on, now, our Harry, upstairs with you and take it off before your Pa comes home." "Take it off?" "What do you mean, Ma?" "I've only just put it on." "Aye, and had a bath, too." "(DOOR opening)" "Hello, who's this?" "(CHUCKLES) I suppose he won't recognise us in street now?" "Ah, give over, Dad." "Where you going?" "Need you ask?" "Swankin' in front of Helen Hawkins." "Well, suit's for Sundays, remember, not for gallivanting about in during week." "Remember it's not paid for." "And be careful where you sit down in it." "(sighs)" "Ee, Harry, you look lovely." "(CHUCKLES)" "Made to measure." "There's nowt in pockets yet." "Never mind, Harry, there soon will be." "Hello, Harry." "Hello, Jim." "Are you happy, Harry?" "Ee, I am." "Would you rather be here with me than with the street corner lads?" "Would you?" "Oh, I'm not going with them no more." "Troubles me, though, having nowt to spend on you, Helen." "There's many a time I'd like to..." "Oh, I want to do things!" "What sort of things?" "Big things." "Gosh, I wish was a boxer or a footballer or something." "I'll get some money one of these days, you see if I don't." "You wouldn't do anything wrong, would you, Harry?" "HARRY:" "No, of course not." "What, then?" "Well, I... I'm having a threepenny treble every week with Sam Grundy." "Whoo, what we could do with..." "Ee, I want nothing, Harry." "Only you." "Just let me get hold of some money and I'll show you." "Look at that train." "I've never been on one in my life." "Neither have I." "Well, Sal, there it is." "Oh!" "I never knew anywhere could be so lovely." "Oh, it doesn't seem as though this and Hankey Park can be in the same world." "Look." "What is it?" "LARRY:" "It's a hawk." "It'll swoop in a minute, you watch." "Ah, what did I tell you?" "It's after a rabbit or something." "How could it see a rabbit from right up there in t'sky?" "(CHUCKLES) I don't know but it can." "Come on, Sal, let's sit down." "Ah." "What are you thinking?" "Oh, just daft thoughts." "Oh, tell me." "Oh, I was just thinking, it's all so lovely up here." "Makes you see things different." "Makes you never want to go back home." "Ah, think of all those poor people in Hankey Park." "The trouble is they never get a chance to see how good life can be." "And then they never learn." "I wish I knew more about things like that." "About people like us." "Living like we do and wanting better things." "You know, nice houses and a steady job." "Why can't we have them?" "(chuckling)" "What are you laughing at?" "Oh, I don't know, I can't explain." "Oh, don't look so sad, Sal." "(sighs) Uh, it's all this, Larry." "Makes me feel sort of sad." "Why?" "Well, I suppose if you've lived in a place that's ugly all your life, things that are beautiful seem out of reach." "And then we get to thinking they're too good for us." "That's the trouble." "That's what we've got to fight." "I wish I could help." "You can, Sal, and you must." "If only everybody'd lend a hand." "Well, Sal, here we are." "All good things come to an end." "Ee, Larry, I never enjoyed myself so much in all my life." "Well, there's plenty more days." "Well, goodnight, Larry." "And thanks again." "Goodnight, Sal." "Hello, Mum." "I thought you'd have been back earlier than this, Sal, love." "Mmm-hmm." "l've kept a bit of supper for you." "Oh, thanks." "Did you have a good day?" "Aye." "Nice folk go on them rambles, don't they?" "Aye." "He's a nice young man is Mr Meath." "l do like him, I do." "Do you really, Ma?" "I do. I reckon he's a gentleman and a credit to the neighbourhood." "Ne'er heed what folks say about Labour men." "Aye, Ma, we had a grand time." "Oh, the mountains, high as you never saw." "And he knows names of all birds." "Oh, well, isn't that nice, now?" "Though I don't see it's much use knowing name of all birds." "Well, it's better than knowing names of horses." "Yes." "I suppose that's what education's like." "Knowing a lot of things that don't really matter." "He paid me fare, Ma." "Ee, I was in a stew when I heard t'others say that fare was two bob and me with only tenpence in me purse." "I think he knew how I was fixed 'cause when I got all bothered, he smiled." "You know the way he smiles, Ma?" "Well, he smiled like that and said he'd got tickets for us both and that it was all right." "Well, he said it different." "He wouldn't have done that, Ma, if he hadn't..." "If he didn't... lt was took for granted when I was a lass that when a lad paid for you to go places he meant summat serious." "(KNOCK AT DOOR)" "(coughing)" "Ooh!" "Oh, I'm sorry I'm late, Mrs Jike." "l had a lot of business to attend to." "Oh, well, come in and sit you down." "Pull the blind down, Mrs Bull." "How's the rheumatics, Mrs Bull?" "It be all right but for a twinge now and again." "Still, I shouldn't worry." "There's a rare lot up at cemetery be glad of a twinge or two." "Now, then, all round the table, girls." "Could I come in, too?" "Why, of course, duck." "Bring your chair up and sit down." "Now, then." "You're not frightened, are you?" "Ee, no." "Nothing like a talk with the dead to cheer yourselves up." "(SHUSHlNG)" "You'll frighten the spirits away." "Now, all hands on the table." "(SOFTLY) No, no." "Now, only just your fingertips." "Touch it." "Are there any spirits present here tonight?" "Answer three for yes and two for no." "Yes, they're here." "Has anyone anything to ask the spirits about?" "I have." "Mrs Nattle has a ticket in the early sweep." "She wants me to go shares." "Ask the spirits if I do go shares, will the ticket draw a horse?" "Will Mrs Nattle's ticket draw an horse?" "Answer three for yes and two for no." "No, it won't." "No?" "Right." "She can keep her old ticket." "l don't want it." "Shh." "Please stop it." "The spirits don't like too much talking." "Any more questions?" "Aye, ask if Jack Tuttle's there." "is Jack Tuttle here tonight?" "Answer three for yes and two for no." "He's here." "Ee, are you there, Jack, lad?" "How are you finding things up there?" "is it anything like you thought it'd be?" "Be careful, Mrs Bull." "The spirits don't like you to be too familiar." "Listen to me, love." "When I laid you out, I found half a crown in your pocket." "I knew you wouldn't want it where thou's gone so I took it." "I'm only telling you so as you won't think I pinched it." "Eh, lord God, forgive me for saying it but it took you a long time to go." "(KNOCK AT DOOR)" "Oh, well, now that's done it." "Now the spirits have gone." "I wonder who it could be at this time of night?" "You know, I'd have bought a share in Mrs Nattle's ticket if the spirits had said I was going to draw a horse." "(GASPS) Fancy me winning £30,000." "I'd buy meself a fur coat." "And I'd be laying you out in a month, drunk to death, fur coat and all." "I'd risk it." "Oh, it's you, Mrs Hardcastle, and Sally, too." "Blimey." "Sit down." "Hello, love." "How are you, Mrs Dorbell?" "MRS DORBELL:" "Ah, me cough is bad again. (COUGHS)" "And I've just come to ease me conscience." "But what's brought you here, lass?" "Have you come to have your fortune told?" "Well, I..." "Well, we did wonder." "is it cards or tea leaves?" "Make it tea leaves. lt's more exciting when you see things in the future the way you do." "I don't know why I've come, Mrs Bull." "I don't believe in it." "Ah, it's only a bit of fun, Sal, and it costs nowt." "Here, there's just enough." "Now, sip that." "No, no, no." "Turn it round three times." "No, upside down." "Strike me pink, look at that!" "What?" "What is it?" "Money." "Lots of money." "And it's in a two." "Two weeks or two months or two years." "But there's money." "Aye, in the bank." "Ee, I do hope it all comes true." "(lNHALES SHARPLY)" "Ooh, I don't like this here." "Do you know a tall dark man?" "Think hard, lass, think hard." "MRS JlKE:" "Whether you do or you don't, the leaves say there is one." "Ain't your colouring, though." "Be on your guard against him, he means danger." "Tall or short, dark or fair, they're all the same if they haven't got any money." "Will you hush, Mrs Bull, will you hush?" "Here he is." "This is the bloke." "I can see him." "You're going to fall in love." "Oh, this all daft, this is." "I'm going and I'm sorry I came." "(EXCLAlMlNG) Oh, well." "Ee, I'm sorry, Mrs Jike." "She's a strange lass is our Sal." "And just as you was going to tell us summat about him, too." "Don't mind her, Mrs Jike." "Tell me mine." "I'll tell you, lass, and I'm no fortune teller." "You'll keep on drawing your old-age pension, then you'll die, I'll lay you out and poorhouse will bury you." "(SNlFFLES)" "(HORN blowing)" "(indistinct CHATTER)" "Racing results, last winner." "Winner." "Winner." "Racing results." "Bring it over here." "I've got one winner home, Jack." "Who's won 3:00?" "Uh, Jackdaw." "That's two up." "Have a look at 3:30, I've played all on Tea Rose." "It's on back page, stop press." "It'll let me down, you bet." "lt won." "lt what!" "What ya doing?" "Let go." "Give me this." "What the... I've got the treble home." "220-to-one chance, he's all in at three-to-one." "Ah, don't talk..." "l really have!" "Here, here, see for yourself." "By gum!" "Hey, what's to do?" "Harry Hardcastle's got a treble home." "Treble big..." "Hey, how much did you have on it?" "Threepence." "What's the odds?" "Threepence on a 20-to-one chance all onto a 20-to-one chance all onto a three-to-one chance." "Here, give me a pencil, someone, quick." "Aye, I've got one." "Here you are." "Here, 20 times threepence... (mumbling)" "Ah, that's five and threepence and then onto another 20-to-one." "That's £5.1 0 and threepence." "£5.1 0 and threepence on a three-to-one." "£5.1 0 and threepence on a three-to..." "Ee, flipping heck." "That's 22 quid!" "For threepence." "Twenty-two quid?" "Good old Harry." "I hope Sam Grundy pays up." "The sky is the limit with him, so he says." "Twenty-two quid." "Twenty-two quid!" "Gosh." "Do you think he's gonna pay me?" "You daft fool, you won't find out standing there." "Come on." "ALL:" "Come on!" "(excited CHATTER)" "MAN:" "Come on, Charlie, where's Sam Grundy?" "(indistinct CHATTER)" "All right, all right, you'll get your money, you'll get your money." "(indistinct CHATTER)" "Well, where is he?" "Where is the lucky fella?" "(indistinct CHATTER)" "So, you thought you'd break bank, eh, lad?" "Stand up alongside of me, son." "You know, young fella, my lad, there are some bookies as has a limit." "You know that, don't you?" "Ah, there are some fellas as calls themselves bookies as would only pay you a fiver on your bet and no more." "But that ain't honest Sam Grundy." "(ALL exclaiming)" "Now, you had a bet with me, didn't you?" "Now, how much were the bet?" "(whispering) Threepence." "Speak up, Harry, my lad." "There ain't nowt to be ashamed of." "There's nobody here wouldn't give a £1 0 note to be in your shoes, eh?" "(ALL laughing)" "Now, how much was the bet?" "Turn to crowd, lad." "Turn to crowd." "Threepence." "And how much do you calculate to draw for your threepence?" "(SOFTLY) Twenty-two quid, Mr Grundy." "Now, Harry, my son." "You can make more noise than that." "Ladies and gents at back can't hear." "Up loud and out with it." "Twenty-two quid!" "MR GRUNDY:" "Twenty-two quid for three pennies." "How many bookies'd paid out that much?" "How many, I say?" "Well, you all know honest Sam's motto." "Charlie?" "Harry, my lad, what's honest Sam's motto?" "Sky's the limit!" "(indistinct muttering)" "MR GRUNDY:" "Charlie?" "Hold out your cap, lad." "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 1 0, 1 1 , 1 2, 1 3," "14, 1 5, 1 6, 1 7, 1 8, 1 9, 20," "21 , 22." "There's honest Sam for you." "What can't speak can't lie." "What about his stake money?" "(ALL CHUCKLE)" "Charlie." "One, two, three." "Aye, that's better." "There you are, my lad. (CHUCKLES)" "(ALL laughing)" "(indistinct CHATTER)" "Hey, Harry, lad." "Isn't that your sister?" "Young Sal Hardcastle?" "Aye." "Aye." "Well, don't forget to treat her." "Give her a couple of quid out of your winnings to buy some new clothes." "And tell her I said so." "And think on. I'll ask her if you've done it next time I see her." "Better go through the house." "(indistinct CHATTER)" "(ALL speaking lNDlSTlNCTLY)" "HARRY: ...20, 21 , 22." "Ee, all that money." "It doesn't seem true." "Here you are, Mother." "Here you are, Dad." "Be able to have a pint now." "Sal..." "No, no, I don't want it." "Oh, go on, don't be so daft." "Look at it, all that money." "I don't know what I'll do with it." "What would you do, Dad?" "It's thy money, son, if it doesn't go one way it'll go another." "You're only young once, lad, and you'll never have as much money as that again." "Why not take that lass of thine away for holiday?" "Me and your ma only had one holiday in our lives, but, hey, it were worth it." "We've never forgotten it." "It was worth it, eh, lass?" "(CHUCKLES) Go on with you, Henry." "Our Father, did you hear her?" "She called you Henry." "Ee, Pa, why don't you kiss her?" "She's blushing." "Ah, I shall, lass." "We had a champion time." "Aye, it's as Dad says, Harry, you'll spend your money on summat or other." "Why, you've enough there to take you to Blackpool." "Blackpool." "Good job you didn't come last week." "Raining cats and dogs all week." "Here's one room." "Married or single?" "We just started courting." "Oh, well, young lady had better have this room." "You can see sea if you stand on chair." "Lovely view we had till Woolworths put up their building." "Well, I hope you'll be comfortable." "Bathroom's at the end of the passage." "I should go out and make most of the sunshine if I were you." "Think you'll be all right here, Helen?" "Ee, Harry, it's grand." "Come on, let's go and have a look at your room." "Say, Helen?" "Look." "(WHOOSHlNG)" "Ee, Harry, do be careful." "Ain't it grand to be rich?" "Come on, let's go out." "(inaudible)" "(SLOW WALTZ playing)" "Fancy all this still being here when we've gone back." "Don't remind me." "Seems as though we've only just come." "I thought living in this place seemed a dream." "Now going back seems a dream." "Going back." "I'm gonna go back and leave all this behind." "Oh, heck. it's a bit thick when you can't do what you want." "All we'd want is a little cottage." "If I could get a bit of a boat, I'll bet I could catch enough fish for us to live on." "Just a room in a cottage would do." "I wouldn't care how small the room was." "If I could get a bit of a garden, I could grow things." "Oh, what's the good of talking about it?" "Talking about what, now?" "HELEN:" "Oh, Hankey Park." "Our home, all of us that's got to live in it." "I want to get away from it all, Harry." "I would've done long ago if I could've found somebody that'd take me in for what I'm earning." "Makes me sick to think about it." "It's living here with all this..." "Clean bed and a room of me own." "Knowing me ma and pa won't come home drunk every night, me having to lie there" "and listen to it all." "Oh, I..." "Never mind, Helen, love." "It won't be like that forever." "I love you, Helen." "I do love you, really." "Aye, and we'll be married as soon as I finish me apprenticeship." "No, really we will." "No kidding." "And I'll have finished it in a few months now." "You'll always love me, won't you, Harry?" "You know me." "Somehow things don't seem so bad when I've got you." "(engine WHlRRlNG)" "(engine STOPS)" "That crane of mine needs fixing again." "You'd better see to it." "A right muck you made of it last time." "If there's anything wrong with the crane, you know where to put the complaint, it'll be passed on to me." "And don't come the ruddy Sergeant-Major stuff." "You're not kidding a Judy when you talk to me." "You know what I mean!" "I know your game." "And it don't kid me." "What are you talking about, Ned?" "Come off it, come off it." "And you know who I mean!" "You've been stuffing her up with that highfalutin' talk of yourn." "And she swallows everything you say." "Who are you referring to, Ned?" "Referring, referring!" "The airs you put on, it makes me sick." "Who the hell do you think you are?" "Don't you think you're making a bit of a fool of yourself?" "Listen to me, what are you going to do about it?" "You ain't making no move to marry her." "What has that got to do with you?" "Me?" "Me as asked her to marry me." "Turning me down for a white-livered rat like you." "If you don't want that dial of yourn smashed in, keep away from Sal Hardcastle." "You understand me?" "I mean it." "If I were you, I'd consult Sal before you make any arrangements for her." "(SCOFFS) You and your ruddy talk." "You've got it coming to you, so help me." "One of these days, you'll open that trap of yourn too much." "Go on, Harry." "What did Larry say?" "Try and remember." "Oh, he just got on with his work." "He wouldn't argue with him." "Ned Narkey wasn't half angry." "You don't like Ned, do you, Sal?" "Him?" "Why, he's a dirty pig." "Him and Sam Grundy's a pair." "Sam Grundy, why?" "Well, he hasn't been..." "Oh, he's always onto me, the fat pig." "'You've no need to work, Sally, could have all you want.'" "Aye, you can do anything when you've got the dough." "They say he's got women all over the place." "That'll do, lad. I know all about it." "I'd want summat to do to let a thing like him or Narkey muck about with me." "Aren't you and Larry going to get... I don't trust that Ned Narkey." "Get some beer inside of him, he'd do anything." "Where's Larry, Jim?" "He's gone to see Labour agent about meetings this weekend." "Has he got another meeting tonight?" "No, no, we're finished for tonight." "Ned Narkey's not been here." "Has he?" "No, he's where he usually is, at pub, I suppose." "Shouldn't think Larry'll be very long." "Thanks, Jim." "Hello, Sal." "What about a little ride?" "Who with?" "Hey, what have you got against me?" "Only wanted you to come for a ride in the car." "Oh, you've taken too many already." "Listen, Sal." "Oh, go on, take yourself for a ride." "You make the street look untidy." "All right." "Hello, Sally, what's the trouble?" "Oh, Larry, I'm so glad you've come." "Our Harry was telling me what Narkey said to you today." "He heard it all." "Oh, take no notice about him." "He's out of patience with himself." "He's a bad one." "LARRY:" "Let's not talk about him." "WOMAN: % Just a song at twilight" "% When the nights are blue... %" "Somebody's got something to sing about." "(CHUCKLES)" "(PANS CLATTERlNG)" "(MAN AND WOMAN arguing)" "Your father's been drinking again, eh?" "I wish you'd would go home, Harry." "I hate you to be about when they're carrying on like this." "I'm not letting you go in till they're finished." "It doesn't half make me sick to think you've got to go in there to sleep." "Well, it isn't my fault, them going on like this." "Never mind, Helen." "We'll be out of this as soon as I finish me apprenticeship." "I'll finish it on Friday and then I'm gonna get a job on full pay." "Think you will?" "Eh?" "(sighs) I mean, I hope it won't be too long before you do, Harry." "Oh, don't you worry." "I'll have one in a day or two." "Then we can start saving up." "But what you afraid of?" "Don't you worry, I..." "Tower Blackpool." "What do you keep it for?" "I don't know." "Daft thing." "LARRY:" "Let's go home, Sal." "I hate standing about back alleys." "There's no need for us to be standing about back alleys." "Not if you don't want." "Let's not kid one another, Sal." "We both want the same thing." "But you know my ideas." "Forty-five bob a week." "What a wage to build a future on." "And look at Marlows, we none of us know when we're going to finish." "What can I offer you?" "You do love me, don't you, Larry?" "Why do you ask that, Sal, when you know?" "Well, then, let's get married." "I can still go on working so as we can have more money." "And I..." "Oh, Larry, I'd do owt for you." "I know you would, Sal." "But it's this place." "We can't ever get away from it." "We'd go on and on but it'd get us in the end." "It gets everybody in the end." "But you can't have everything." "We not only can't, but we don't." "It's wanting decent things and knowing they'll never be yours." "Dreaming about things you can't have don't get you anywhere." "Does it, Larry?" "Besides, it isn't where you live, it's who you live with." "Well, then, Sal, we'll have to start saving up." "That's if you can wait." "Ee, don't worry so, Harry." "You knew you'd have to finish at Marlows when you came out of your apprenticeship, didn't you?" "Oh, it'll be better for us both now and you can get a job on full pay." "Aye, but I've been out for more than three weeks now." "Been around Trafford Park and all over the place." "They don't want nobody." "I don't know what's going to happen." "Well, you don't expect to walk into a job straightaway." "Cor, you haven't been out of work any time yet." "You'll get one soon." "Do you think so?" "Course you will." "You'll see." "I hope you're right." "Aye." "Won't it be grand for us both when I do!" "God, just give me a job." "I don't care if it's only half pay." "If you can't find me a job, I wish you can make Helen see as like it won't be for long." "I mean, if I don't get a job today..." "Oh, God, let me get one soon!" "What with rain and all this here unemployment, I don't know what we'd do without a spark of fire." "Well, you've nowt to grumble at." "What ails you now?" "Well, look at table, full of pawn tickets." "You hadn't a quarter as many customers a year ago." "Oh, things is bad, that's why." "But thank the Lord unemployment or not, they can't touch me old-age pension." "That don't go on short time." "And what a crowd there is at the pawn shop these days." "Queue halfway up the street." "Just like it might be a football match." "Times is bad." "More fool people for worrying." "Well, there's nowt like worry for popping people off." "And that'll be no ill wind for thee, charging like you do for laying folks out." "Ooh, you're a nice one to talk about charging, you old..." "(KNOCK AT DOOR)" "Who's that?" "Don't stand in perishing cold." "Come in." "Ee, what are you doing out at this time of night, love?" "I've only come for..." "Uh, to pawn my wedding ring." "He doesn't know it's a brass one I'm wearing." "He'd murder me if he knew I'd been to pawn shop with it so Mrs Nattle took it for me." "And I've come for..." "There it is." "You wanted half a crown on ring but only ask for two and five." "You see, if I'd got you half a crown, you'd have had threepence interest to find." "But being as it's under half a crown, he can only charge you a penny." "So two and five, with a penny for pawn ticket and tuppence for me trouble leaves two and two." "There you are, lass." "Now, what about money on lad's suit?" "Well, you see, our Dad's finished at pit till further notice." "And our Harry hasn't found a job yet." "It's getting on for nine months since he was out and no sign." "I don't know what we'd do if it weren't for our Sal's bit." "Damn the weekly payments." "You put money in your belly, lass, and make 'em wait." "Take no notice of her." "You wouldn't like your husband to get a summons, would you, now?" "Nay, you'd better take a shilling." "How's your Sal, Mrs Hardcastle?" "Do you know, they're getting wed in a fortnight." "Though they want it kept a secret." "Well, I am pleased." "What did I tell you?" "A wedding in the street, girls." "Did you ever?" "Oh, the weddings today, they're not like the weddings we had when I was a girl." "There was free porter and dancing and singing in the streets from dusk till dawn." "Aye, Larry's a champion lad and that lass of yours is lucky to have got him." "He's not of the strongest, though, and he ought to look after his health a bit more." "All this politicianising in all sorts of weather." "And what's happened with all his talk?" "Talk, all talk. I used to vote for them that gave the most coal and blankets." "Ah, there's none of that now." "Yeah, you old scut, you'd sell your soul for a load of coal, some of you." "Make me sick." "Educated and well-read fellas like Larry Meath, talking till they're blue in the face and you?" "Ah, you give me the belly-ache." "I never bother me head about what doesn't concern me." "I don't understand anything about politics." "But I do understand a load of coal." "(indistinct CHATTER)" "Well, boy, I told you, you can expect nothing else until you start thinking for yourselves." "You're going to wait a long time, they've got nowt to think with." "Well, I still say you can't do without capital." "Oh, we don't want to do without capital." "All I am saying is that it shouldn't be used only as a means of making profit." "Eh, that's a lot of rot." "If it don't make profit, place'd close down." "Without money, you're sunk." "Do you know what money is?" "Of course I know what money is." "Well, what is it?" "Well, money is..." "Eh, that's a daft question." "(ALL laughing)" "Anybody knows what money is." "He doesn't know, the gormless fool." "Ah, shut up, Jim, now, look..." "Pounds, shillings and pence." "Now, that's what they give you in wages." "And when you get your wages, what do you do with it?" "What do they do with it?" "Aye." "Well, they spend it." "On what?" "Well, thee ought to know, they spend it on things they want." "Ah!" "That's the point." "Therefore, you don't work for money but for the things you want, don't you?" "Aye, if I like to put it that way." "Ah, see, so money in itself is no use, is it?" "I mean, you can't eat it or wear it or anything." "If there was nothing to buy, it wouldn't be any use." "If there weren't, no, but there is." "Ah, that's true, but that's because people like you and I, the working people, make the things." "But they can't do without capital." "Oh, you silly daft crackpot," "where's your blasted brain?" "Shut up, Jim." "Look, I'm not suggesting we can do without capital." "All I'm trying to do is show you what capital is." "Aye, but trade's bad here and the world over." "And talking about it won't get us nowhere." "Yes, that's quite right." "It's the same all over the world." "The wheels are coming to a standstill and for why?" "You wanna know why?" "Aye." "Because men are afraid of each other." "Eh, Mother, he's off again." "(ALL laughing)" "Yes, and I shall go on until we do something." "Millions of men in this country want work." "Millions of men in other countries are in the same boat, too." "You can think of it if you like like a huge dam that's already beginning to crack." "And next year or the year after or in 1 0 years' time perhaps, there'll be a catastrophe." "You see, that's the way of world in nature." "It takes a disaster to waken people." "But life will go on." "What we've got to remember is that human conditions are not beyond human control." "I said that man has made these conditions." "Well, he can remake them." "Aye, and rebuild a new and better world." "As soon as he's got the real desire in his heart." "But I still say tha can't do without capital." "(HORN blowing) -(ALL laughing)" "MAN:" "That's 44..." "Mark up eight, boys." "(ALL clamouring)" "MAN:" "Shut up!" "(ALL JEERlNG)" "Keep your traps shut." "Ah, shut up." "Aye, you're not in time office at Marlows now, you know." "Leave the kids alone, man." "Get on with the game." "(ALL laughing)" "Miscued." "Serves him right." "Right." "Here, hold this." "Give us a drag, Harry." "Hand it over here, a minute." "Give us a puff, Harry." "No, he'll chuck it away in a minute." "(SCOFFS) Missed." "(sympathetic chattering)" "Now, then, Harry, save a drag for us." "(indistinct conversation)" "Share and share alike." "Here, have one of these." "(EXCLAlMlNG)" "Where did you get those from?" "Wouldn't you like to know." "Go on, have one." "Thanks, Bill." "Thanks, Bill." "What about you, Sam?" "Thanks, Bill." "Tom?" "You get nowt working for it honest, do you, Charlie?" "You ought to know." "What did you get out of it?" "That's what I say, Charlie." "That's what I say." "You want to try working dodges for a change, like me." "Don't talk to me of honest work." "Had some." "Served me apprenticeship to engineering like all you kids." "Got the push when I were 21 because I wanted full money." "You remember me, don't you?" "It was lads like you what done me out of a job." "Months l were looking for work, till I got tired of being pushed around." "(CHUCKLES) Then I got wise." "You mean you got six months." "So what?" "I got six months." "Look at me now." "Sitting pretty." "I've been in quad, you know." "I'm a jailbird." "Six months I got for half-inching out of a gas metre." "And who was waiting for me when I come out of clink?" "Ask me." "Probation officer." "Wanted to reform me." "So, he got me a job, 1 2 hours a day, 30 bob a week, cleaning out a public convenience." "You know the kind ofjob." "All aid work and tips. (CHUCKLES)" "Aye." "And you know what I told him he could do with it?" "So I told you." "I got wise, started working dodges, and now I'm with Sam Grundy and the only time I take my coat off is when I play a game of pools." "Yeah, and another thing." "Because I've been in clink, they won't have me in the army when there's another war." "(CHUCKLES) That's the kind of mug l am." "There you are. I told you." "But where did you get those fags?" "I'll let you in on it." "Sick I was of picking up fag ends, blast everything, I don't care." "Well, can't we go and get some more now?" "Don't be a fool, you've got to wait till it's dark." "You come with me and I'll show ya." "Are you game?" "Aye." "What about you, Jack?" "Nay, I don't want to go to jail." "Ah, windy." "What about you, Sam?" "Not likely, count me out." "What do you say, Harry?" "Nowt doing." "Why not?" "l've enough on me mind as it is." "(LAUGHS) Take no notice of him." "He can think of nowt but that there girl of his." "You keep your trap shut or I'll fill it for you." "I'm going." "So long, Harry." "Don't let them get you down, lad." "(indistinct CHATTER)" "(inaudible)" "What's the matter, Helen?" "l knew it'd happen." "l knew it'd happen." "Eh?" "(voice shaking) Should never have done it." "I've been afeared for a fortnight." "Went to doctor at dinnertime." "He told me. I'm..." "You know." "What shall we do, Harry?" "What shall we do?" "I don't know what they're going to do." "There's too many at her house as it is." "And I don't know what Dad'll say." "Oh, I wonder..." "When we're married, they could come and live with us, couldn't they?" "Oh, I'm so happy, Larry." "I've never been so happy in me life." "Just fancy, we'll be wed by the end of the month." "And it won't be a bad house." "Not when I've cleaned it up a bit." "Will it, Larry?" "Oh, you don't know what it means to me, Larry." "A house of my own." "I'll scrub it from top to bottom." "There won't be a bug left in it when I've finished with it, not a one." "We'll have to wait a while for the bits and pieces but the parlour will look all right." "What with your books and that walnut table we paid deposit on." "Oh, Larry..." "Why, what's the matter with you?" "There's nothing wrong, is there?" "No, of course not." "Now, listen to me, Larry Meath, there's something hurting you." "What is it?" "We'll have to put it off for a while, Sal." "What did you say?" "l've lost my job." "They gave me the sack yesterday." "They gave you the sack?" "Oh, Larry." "Oh, but you'll get anotherjob." "No, I won't." "There are too many out as it is." "But why can't we be married as we said?" "There's nothing to stop us." "You'll get your dole and I'm working." "No, no, Sal, I couldn't do that." "But Larry, there's nothing for me to live for without you." "You don't know what I'd do for you." "Listen, I'll come and live with you." "Who wants to get married?" "Who cares what folks say?" "No, it's no good, Sal. I couldn't sponge on you, what do you take me for?" "Don't talk like that." "is that all you care for me?" "Oh, why don't some of those pals of yours on council that are always making a mug out of you find a job for you?" "They're all right, they are." "They don't give a damn for us." "They've all landed fine jobs for themselves and I..." "Oh, I'm sorry, Larry." "Anyway, I've still got you." "They can take away ourjobs but they can't take away our love." "Can they?" "(inaudible)" "You're only holding up other people." "It's been explained to you." "That's the position." "There's nothing for you." "What do you mean, there's nowt for me?" "I paid me money in and I'm out of work, aren't I?" "It's no use arguing." "It isn't my fault, is it?" "You've a couple of sons living with you who are working, haven't you?" "Aye." "One's earning 25 shilling a week and t'other two quid when they work a full week." "And my eldest lad, he's going to get... I'm very sorry, but the Means Test Committee have ruled that there's sufficient money coming into your house for your family to keep you." "Swine!" "My eldest lad's going to get wed." "Has he to keep me and my old woman?" "Never in your life." "May as well turn us out into t'street now and have done with it!" "Who's gonna keep us?" "Where's food coming from?" "Well, I'm afraid that's your lookout." "l know it's my lookout." "Quietly, now." "lt's bad enough being out of work..." "Come, lad." "I've paid me money in regular!" "Never had a complaint against me!" "Now, it's no good your waiting." "I've told you before there's nothing for you." "You've been knocked off dole." "Your father's drawing unemployment benefit and your sister's working." "There's no appeal." "If they think they're going to get me to stand by and see wife and kids go hungry, then they're ruddy well mistaken." "Aye, and if they can't find us a job, let 'em damn well keep us till they do." "What the devil we standing here for chewing the rag about?" "What are we gonna do about it?" "Aye, come on all of you, there's big meeting on down at the arches." "Aye, come on." "And who told you about these government economies?" "Who warned you of what was coming?" "Government economies, eh?" "And who did they start economising on?" "Who have they started economising on?" "On you!" "(CROWD agreeing)" "Aye!" "The fellas that can least afford it." "And when they start economising on you, they're robbing your wives and kids of their bread." "CROWD:" "Yeah!" "Well, what are you gonna do about it?" "(ALL talking AT ONCE) I'll tell you what we're gonna do about it." "Now, you listen to me." "We've had enough of this hot air, now let's get down to cases." "We all know what should have been done and what we'd liked to have done." "You had a chance for that in the last general election." "But what you decided then has made these conditions." "You're all living in a democracy." "You're the people who made this means test law." "And now you're behaving like a pack of children just because it doesn't suit you." "(indistinct conversations)" "(GRUNTlNG) Don't let him kid you." "We made our minds up what we're gonna do." "If you think I am going to encourage you to follow this hot-headed maniac, you're mistaken." "Now, I'll tell you what's been arranged." "The Mayor has agreed to receive a deputation of six." "The protest procession can be held as long as we keep off the main roads." "Now, the procession leaders know what route will be taken." "And remember, the police have got theirjobs to do just the same as we've got ours." "We not only don't anticipate any trouble, there's not going to be any trouble." "Kowtowing to the boss class as usual, Larry Meath." "Hand in glove with them, that's what you are." "Listen, you, I'm fed up to the teeth of your blasted blather." "We are going up Main Street." "We're not afraid of the police if you are." "(CROWD cheering)" "Afraid?" "Of course I'm afraid, you fool." "What chance does a half-starved mob like us got against them?" "Ah, next thing you'll be asking us to make a collection for them." "(CROWD laughing)" "Come on, lads, let's get at them." "Hey, lads, you best be careful, they're in a nasty frame of mind." "That's all right, Jim." "We can look after ourselves." "If you take my tip, you'll have nowt to do with it." "They're looking for trouble." "That's what we've got to avoid." "If there's any trouble, it'll spoil our case." "Come on, Jim." "(ALL chattering LOUDLY)" "Come on, lads." "Let's go." "Men have started to march." "Send a further detachment to Clarence Road and remember, do not contact unless the position looks serious." "You know the orders." "We don't move unless they try to come through here." "Look at 'em, lads." "Think they can stop us." "Come on." "Through the arches and onto the main road." "Now then, you know the way to go." "Why can't we go down the main road?" "Because you're going down there." "Hear what he says, lads?" "We can't go down our own roads now." "Ah, come on, boys, we can't go this way." "We've agreed on the route to take." "You white-livered load of rats." "Now is your chance, you follow us." "We are not going to let a ruddy policeman stop us." "(CROWD shouting)" "(ALL shouting)" "(THUNDER clapping)" "LARRY: (WEAKLY) Listen to them shouting." "No." "They've lost the dole." "Get them lined up." "I'm not going to lead them into trouble." "(groaning)" "Nay, lad, rest." "Oh, Larry, Larry, why are you always fighting other people's battles?" "When you've yourself to think of, and me." "Myself?" "I can't go on alone." "Then why do you try?" "You don't understand, Sal." "That's what's caused all this." "Every man out for himself and let everybody else look after themselves." "That's what's wrong with the whole world." "I know, lad. I know." "A little effort from everybody, that's all." "A new start, Sal." "That's all I want." "A new start." "Yes, lad, yes." "Now, rest and be quiet." "Come closer, Sal." "Oh, Sal," "it's so quiet" "and peaceful with thee." "Larry?" "I think it's a sin and a shame, I do." "Fifteen shillings for all the lad's belongings." "Bare-faced daylight robbery, that's what it is." "Buying isn't selling, Mrs Bull." "Do you remember me lodger, Mrs Nattle?" "Which one?" "You know, him I had insured for £1 2.1 0." "Well, what about him?" "Well, he had a harmonium," "£8.1 0 he gave for it, he got in a gentleman's residence, second-hand." "Well, he couldn't play on the thing himself and he kept it locked up so that nobody else could have a go." "Well, 1 0 shillings was all they gave me for it when he died." "Ten shillings and it never played on." "(GASPS) The poor fella'd turn in his grave if he knew." "'Ere, talking about graves, what do you think?" "Sally isn't having him buried." "Not buried?" "What's she going to do with him, then?" "He's to be burnt up, 'created' or some such word." "She says he says it's the proper way." "Well, did you ever?" "That's the first time that's happened in these parts." "Give me a grave proper and Christian-like, I was brought up to read me Bible, so I was." "No, I haven't always been what I should have been in me time but if that's what them there socialist fellas believe in, they ain't getting my vote. (SCOFFS)" "Nobody's going to burn me." "Not if I know it." "lt's not everything that'll burn." "(CHUCKLES) lt's going to cost Sally a tidy penny, this crematorium business, isn't it?" "How much did she have him in for?" "He was never in for nothing." "He didn't believe in insurance." "Well, how is she going to get the money to do all this highfalutin' burying, then?" "That's what I want to know." "That's none of your business." "Have you got a drop of something in the house, Mrs Nattle?" "As though I need ask." "Oh, yes, come on, let's drink to the poor lad's health." "(indistinct CHATTER)" "Albert, tell Sam Grundy I want him, will you?" "Sam Grundy?" "Okay." "I'm telling ya, eight-to-one, he came in last." "Mr Grundy." "Eh?" "Sal Hardcastle wants to see thee outside." "Sal Hardcastle?" "See me?" "Aye." "You sure?" "Aye, that's what she said." "What's up, Sal?" "What do you want?" "I was going to ask you to lend me five quid." "But I'm not so sure I want your help now." "Why, Sal?" "What do you mean?" "l don't like the company you keep." "Company I keep?" "What do you mean?" "Those pals of yours." "Ah, they're no pals of mine." "Nor none of their kidney, neither." "Well, you seem to be enjoying their company." "Come on, Sal." "Take a ride round in my car." "We don't want to talk here where everyone can hear." "I came to borrow five quid and I don't mind who hears it." "I don't want no drives in cars." "Will you lend it?" "I'll pay you back when mill starts at full-time again." "Here, Sal." "Help yourself." "You sure that's enough?" "And you've no call to pay me back." "You may as well know that if I could have borrowed it from someone else, I would." "And I'll pay it back." "Oh, Sal, what's up with you?" "I don't want you to pay it back." "Come on, take it, take it all." "And more if you like and don't be daft." "Go on, Sal, you've got me all wrong." "I'm not trying tricks on with you." "Well, I'd just like to have you for a pal." "You must be sick of having nowt to wear and pinching and scraping week after week." "Blimey, and the things you could have if you wanted." "Anything, Sal." "Anything for the asking." "So, you see, Dad, I'll have to marry Helen." "What's that you say?" "I said I'll have to get married." "And I thought like that we could come and live here and get a bed in back room with Sal." "Till I get a job, like." "You blasted young fool." "Now, Henry..." "You get wed, who the devil do you think is going to keep you?" "l thought, like, that..." "You thought, yeah, you gormless fool." "Don't you think there's enough trouble here without you bringing more?" "Well, I'm not going to have a slut like that in this house." "Hey, I won't have you call her a slut, do you hear?" "Leave her name out of it." "Are you threatening me?" "l am if you call her names." "I'm asking you for nowt." "I'm not the only one out of work in this house, remember." "Ah, you treat me as though I was as kid, just because I've got nowt, I'm out of collar." "You didn't talk like that when I was sharing my winnings with you, did you?" "Once let get hold of some money again and I'll ne'er part with a penny." "I'm supposed to be a man, I am." "Well, look at me!" "Aye, and if there was another war, I'll be a man." "I'll be a ruddy hero!" "You're bringing no wife here, understand?" "Go and live with her folks," "the low lot they are..." "Stop it!" "I don't want to live here, do you hear?" "I wouldn't live here if I got the chance." "You can go to hell!" "I'm leaving." "(DOOR CLOSES)" "What did he say, Harry?" "Will he let us?" "No, and I've left home." "All as he could say was that we was damn fools." "Said he couldn't keep us." "Oh, come on." "Who wants to live there anyway?" "Be a long time before he sees me again." "But who will take us in?" "We've got nothing but except what I'm earning and I'll be confined any day now." "No room at our house." "What'll become of us?" "If only I had known this was going to happen." "(sobbing)" "Oh, quiet down, will you?" "You'll have everybody looking at us." "Now, you leave it to me." "Everything'll be all right." "I'll find a place for us somewhere." "I'll join the army before I'll be beat." "By gum, see if I don't." "Besides, when we're married they'll be bound to give us money at workhouse and I'll stand a better chance of getting a job, being married." "Single blokes don't get a smell in." "I'm glad it's happened the way it has." "We'll be together and that's what I've always wanted." "Just let me get hold of a job, Helen, and I'll show you." "You'll go short o' nowt." "So help me." "Harry, if only you could get a job, I wouldn't care nothing for nobody." "Oh, it'll come." "You see if it won't." "You never know what's in store for us." "Just imagine it, Helen." "I've only to get a job." "Ee, a job." "Well, I'm telling you." "Any more lip out of you and I'll beat you, good-looking." "I don't know what the world is coming to." "Look at that, for God's sake." "(COUGHS)" "How is your poor old cough, Libby?" "Oh, just as usual." "It's not doing me any good." "But thank the Lord me spare room is let." "Aye, vermin and all." "Yes, but how's young Harry Hardcastle going to pay your rent now he's off the dole?" "She's only earning 1 5 shillings a week at the mill when she get a full week in." "(SCOFFS) Just got married in time, they did." "That's what comes of sitting on Dawney's Hill and going for holidays together." "(SCOFFS) I'd like to see the fella that get me on the top of Dawney's Hill." "I bet you would." "That could be a job for you, dearie, when she's confined." "Well, accidents will happen." "(CHUCKLES) lt's one way of getting you a bloke." "I suppose they'll go to their Sally and ask her for a bit of help." "I heard of a party what saw a little piece of business being done between her and a certain person." "Gave her a bundle of notes, he did." "Very nice, I must say." "'l'll pay ya back,' she says to him, when she saw the other party passing." "(SCOFFS) As though we don't know how she'll pay him back." "Aye, and I wouldn't blame her." "From what I can see of wedlock it's nowt but scratching and scraping week after week, trying to make ends meet." "Crikey, they think we're blooming magicians." "And I'm not so sure we're not." "Nice goings-on amongst your own neighbours, I must say." "Very nice indeed." "And him what she was supposed to have married not buried a month." "You leave that lass alone." "You want to know, it was me that put her up to ask Sam Grundy for the money to pay for Larry Meath's funeral." "Now are you satisfied?" "All the same." "He'll be getting his way with her." "(indistinct CHATTER)" "Hi, Sal!" "It's your boyfriend, Sal." "He's no friend of mine." "I'll give him a mouthful if he doesn't leave me alone." "I'm sick of him pestering me." "Hello, Sal." "Where you been hiding all week?" "Oh, what do you want?" "If it's the money, you'll have to wait." "I've said I'd pay you back." "Ah, Sal, it's not that." "I told you I didn't want it back." "I wanted you to come to pictures." "Just something to cheer you up." "I can cheer myself up." "You may as well know you're wasting your time chasing around after me." "I told you plain and straight when I borrowed the money from you that if I could have got it off somebody else, I would." "I want nothing out of you, Sal." "Honest." "Save me." "Then leave me alone." "All as I wanted was to offer you a job." "Aye, what kind of a job?" "Being me housekeeper." "At that house of mine up in Wales, have a grand time, Sal." "Nothing more to worry about." "Everything'd be fair and square and above board." "I've told you, you're wasting your time." "What's the matter, Harry?" "It's Helen." "She's been took bad." "She's asking for you, come on, quick!" "Get in car, Sal." "Take you both there in a couple of shakes." "(EXHALES)" "But Sal, Helen's..." "Oh, come on, then." "(STARTS engine)" "Thank you." "l'll be waiting, Sal." "Sling your hook, Harry." "You aren't wanted in there." "There's nowt to worry about, lad." "It's all over." "WOMAN:" "Aye, it's a girl, Harry." "What does it feel like to be a father?" "(ALL laughing)" "Hey, hey, hey." "What's going on here?" "This isn't a bloody hall." "Here's the proud father." "Oh, I want a word with you, young fella, me lad, come on in." "You can't just turn us out on the street like that, Mrs Dorbell." "I don't want to turn anybody out, dear, but I'm only a poor widow woman." "I have to live on 1 0 shillings a week." "That's me old-age pension." "You can't expect me to be charitable on that, can you?" "No, I'll have to get a lodger that can pay his rent regular and you'll have to go somewhere else now that the baby is born." "Where can we go?" "What can we do?" "We'll be all right when Helen's up and starts work again." "That'll be sometime yet." "And another thing." "Who's going to look after the child when she does get work?" "Don't think I'm going to turn nursemaid in my time of life because I'm not." "I had enough of that with me own family but thank the Lord they're all grown up and out of me sight." "I wouldn't have the trouble of them again, not for a king's ransom." "And another thing, young man." "It's you that ought to be working and not your wife." "Aye, I know, but nobody'll give me a job." "Don't tell me that." "Your Sally could help you, if she wasn't so stuck-up." "Sam Grundy would give you a job." "And your dad, too." "If Sally would do what Grundy wants." "But she won't, no." "She's a heartless hussy." "HARRY:" "You leave our Sally alone!" "MRS DORBELL:" "I want nothing to say to her." "I'm only telling you you'll have to get out, that's all." "LARRY:" "A new start, Sal." "That's all I want." "A new start." "MR GRUNDY: you must be sick of having nowt to wear and pinching and scraping week after week." "Blimey'# and the things you could have if you wanted." "Anything, Sal." "Anything for the asking." "(CLAMOURlNG)" "Everything all right, Sal?" "(starting engine)" "Go on, with you, woman, the fuss you make." "I reckon she might have gone farther and fared worse." "Aye, but it's her father." "He'll murder her when he finds out." "I know him." "He'll think it's such a disgrace." "Everybody will be talking..." "Ah, talk's cheap." "Look here, lass." "Sally'll take no heed." "She's not that kind." "I don't like it." "We've always been respectable." "Ha, ha, so was I." "Only 'cause I never had a chance to be owt else and don't you forget it." "Look here, Mrs Hardcastle, if I had me time to come over again, I'd never turn my nose up at a fat belly." "So long as it had a gold watch chain on it." "(TYRES screeching)" "(engine running)" "You can wait. I won't be long." "(engine STOPS)" "Hello, Mrs Bull." "Hello, Ma." "Oh, you've no need to go, Mrs Bull." "I suppose the whole street knows my business by this time." "Well, I'm not ashamed." "You'd be a damned fool if you was." "Aye, lass, when you get as old as me, you'll have learnt there's nowt worth worrying about except where your next meal's coming from." "By gum, you will." "Have you got a taxi waiting outside?" "Aye." "Why not?" "Ee, Sal." "In front of all t'neighbours." "Have you no feeling from shame?" "Your shame?" "Well, I like that, Ma." "I thought it was my shame the whole trouble was about." "Ee, Sal, you've changed." "You're hard." "Aye, I'm hard." "And by gosh, have I need to be." "Seems to me things always turn out different to what you expect." "I thought I'd have been married by now." "Married?" "Huh." "You've not missed much by missing that." "You marry for love and find you've let yourself in for a seven-day-a-week job with no pay." "And you don't find it out till it's too late." "Well, that's not for me." "I'd best go and get me things." "Ee, I don't know what's come over her." "She isn't the same girl." "You're right." "And none but a fool would expect her to be." "What's the matter with you, lass?" "I'm scared of what her dad's going to say." "What'll become of... lsn't that just the way of the world?" "Your daughter has a settlement made on her and there's you wondering what's going to become of her." "Why don't you ask what's going to become of us?" "(DOOR OPENS)" "Well, you won't be wanting company so I'll be going." "You didn't..." "You didn't get that job, then, Henry?" "Job?" "(SCOFFS)" "Whose is them?" "They're Sally's." "She's here now?" "Aye." "She's upstairs getting her things." "Now, don't lose your temper, Henry." "Well?" "What are these tales I've been hearing about thee and Sam Grundy?" "What about them?" "Have you got the cheek to stand there and tell me they're true?" "Yes." "Nay, Sally, love." "Don't." "It's true, Mother, and I don't care who knows it." "And I'll tell thee summat else." "It's sick I am of codging old clothes to try and make 'em look summat like." "And it's sick I am of working week after week and seeing nowt for it." "And it's sick I am of never having nowt but what's been in pawn shop and crawling with dirt and vermin." "I'm sick of the sight of Hankey Park, aye, and everybody in it." "Don't." "So you go on the loose, would you?" "And make respectable folks like me and your mother the talk of the neighbourhood?" "Damn you, you're not fit to be a daughter of mine." "Yeah, who cares what folks say when there's none I know as wouldn't change places with me if they had the chance." "You'd have me wed, would you?" "Well, tell me where's fellow around here as can afford it." "Them as is working aren't able to keep themselves, never mind a wife." "Look at yourself and look at our Harry." "On workers relief and hasn't even got a bed he can call his own." "Well, can you get our Harry a job?" "No." "But I can." "I've got influence now but I'm not respectable." "Get out." "Get out before I kill you." "Right, and I can do that, too." "You turned our Harry out because he got married." "You're turning me out because I'm not!" "You'd have me like all the rest of the women, working themselves to death and seeing nowt for it!" "Look at Mother." "Look at her." "Well, there isn't a man breathing now Larry's gone as can get me like that for him." "You brazen slut!" "Keep your lying tongue off your mother, do you hear?" "Father, Father!" "Look what you've done." "Keep away from her." "Keep away from her, do you hear?" "Hey, lass, don't cry." "Don't cry." "You neither of you know what you're saying when you get that way." "Haven't I slaved all me life to keep a home for her?" "Haven't I kept respectable for her?" "And God knows, I've nearly been driven to drink with things!" "And now me own daughter tells me she's gone on the loose." "Aye, and proud of it." "Lad, she's only young." "She's only young." "And where would we have been these past months if it hadn't been for our Sal?" "Oh, leave me be." "Leave me be!" "I'm sick of it all!" "Oh, God, give me some work." "Give me some work." "That's for Dad." "There's one for our Harry there, too." "Tell him to take it to t'manager of bus company." "There'll be a job for them both." "Remember, they must say nothing to nobody, how they got 'em." "Oh, I'm sorry about this, Dad." "Things are different now to what we've been used to." "We got to face things as they are, not as we'd like them to be." "Larry was right." "We all want a fresh start." "Well, I've found there's no starting fresh in Hankey Park so I'm getting out quickest road." "May be that's a good job." "(DOOR CLOSES)" "Nay, don't take on so, Henry." "Can't you see?" "She only done it for us." "It was the only way she knew." "I done my best." "Aye, lad." "And that's all that any of us can do." "But things can't go on like this forever, Henry." "One day we'll all be wanted." "The men who've forgotten how to work and the young'uns who've never had a job." "People will begin to see what's been happening." "And once they do, there'll not be no Hankey Park no more."