(film reel whirring)
("God Save the Queen" by Thomas Arne)
(upbeat classical music)
(hoofbeats clopping)
(horse snorting)
- Our fight is directed against those
that want to keep women
in an inferior position.
- Oh, I'd change my
position for yours any day.
That's what I said to myself
as I sat there in your comfortable parlor.
- But do you reproach me
for having a little money?
- Oh, certainly not.
- It's the dearest wish of my heart
to do something with it for others.
Don't you believe in the
coming of a better day?
That it's possible to do
something for the human race?
(clears throat)
- Well...
What strikes me most, Miss Olive,
is that the human race has
just got to bear its troubles.
- Why, that's what men say
to keep women in the position
they have made for them.
- The position of women is
nothing but to make fools of men.
- Don't you believe in our emancipation?
- I'll tell you after the meeting.
- Your cousin looks
like a genius, my dear.
- He's only a distant cousin.
He's a lawyer from Mississippi.
He left his mother and sisters behind,
and he's come to try to
make his living in New York.
He's not in sympathy, I'm afraid.
- Well, I've often found that people
are only waiting for the light.
Oh, there's our guest of honor.
- Miss Birdseye, what
a pleasure to see you.
- Excuse me but may I ask
you, who is that lady?
- Mrs. Farrinder is the leader,
and you might say the apostle,
of the movement to
emancipate the female sex.
- Oh, I see.
- How nice to see you again.
- Thank you.
- Matthias Pardon, representing the press.
Transcript, don't you know?
Well, I'm hoping Mrs.
Farrinder will give an address.
I 'II write it up for the Transcript.
You know, there is a great
interest in the movement
among the public at large,
and I'm here in the service
of the public at large.
Pro bono publico.
(crowd conversing quietly)
- I beg your pardon.
Are you acquainted with the lioness?
I mean, the renowned Mrs. Farrinder.
Now, has she convinced you
that women are superior to men?
- I guess I know more
about women than she does.
I'm a doctor.
Prance is the name.
- I'm Basil Ransome, hello.
- Men and women are all the same to me.
There's room for
improvement in both sexes.
Neither of them is up to the standard.
(Basil chuckling)
- Mrs. Tarrant, Dr. Tarrant.
- Miss Birdseye.
- Verena, my dear.
- Hello, Miss Birdseye.
- The Tarrants.
Dr. Tarrant, he calls himself.
He's a mesmeric healer.
Miraculous cures.
- If I might request
a few moments silence.
I'll start her up.
Quietly...
Quietly...
It will come, my dear child.
- Is she asleep?
- The spirit will come.
Let it gather.
Let it come.
- The light...
The tide is rising...
Is rising...
I feel...
I hear a calling.
A calling for help.
Uncounted millions have
lived only to be tortured.
To be crucified.
Ages of oppression have rolled over them.
But the day of their delivery has dawned.
This is the only sacred cause.
This is the great, the just revolution.
It must triumph.
It must sweep everything before it.
It will be the greatest
change the world has seen.
And the names of those who
have helped to show the way
and lead the squadrons
will be the brightest
in the tables of fame.
- Do you know my cousin, Miss Chancellor?
- I can't say I know her,
but I guess I know others
like her pretty well.
- When I look at the world,
and at the state that
men have brought it to,
I confess, I say to myself,
"Well, if women had fixed it this way,
"I should like to know what
men would think of it."
(crowd applauding)
- [Verena] They pretend to admire us--
- Do you like it?
- What she's saying?
Nah.
But I suppose she's been
taught all that by her daddy.
- I say that if this is the
best they can do by themselves,
they had better let us come in a little
and see what we can do.
(crowd applauding)
We couldn't possibly
make it worse, could we?
There is a brutal element in the world
which tramples down the feeble
and treads down the weak.
(crowd applauding)
I stand in a place of peace and beauty,
and I look into a wilderness
of poverty and ignorance and misery.
The world is drenched in blood.
- I guess I've heard it all before.
- But she looks so
pretty when she says it.
- I think she looks anemic
and she probably eats too much candy.
Well , I've got work to do.
I don't want the gentlemen
doctors to get ahead of me.
- Oh, nobody'd ever get
ahead of you, Dr. Prance,
I'm very sure.
- Good night, sir.
- Good night.
- I'm only a girl.
A simple American girl.
And of course I haven't seen much
and there's a great deal of life
I don't know anything about,
but there are some things that I feel.
They are in my ears in the
stillness of the night,
and before my face in the
visions of the darkness.
Let us remember in our
trials and discouragements,
that if our lives are
true, we walk with angels.
If we trust one another,
if we are true and gentle and kind,
those regal ideas that struggle
for liberty will come forth
and spread their wings to soar high.
(crowd applauding)
- You speak well, and
no wonder for you speak
in a great cause.
- Isn't she wonderful?
There's money for someone in that girl.
You see if she don't have quite a run.
- Perhaps I could become
a sympathizer after all.
- Will you come and see me?
- Where do you live?
- I know where Miss Chancellor lives.
I'm acquainted with your family,
of course, Miss Chancellor.
I believe your father knew my father,
Abraham Greenstreet, the abolitionist.
- I want to thank you.
Mr. Ransome.
(crowd conversing quietly)
I was certain you would come.
I felt it all day, something told me.
- Mother said I'd better come right on.
- Your mother saw that
I meant what I said.
I was shaken from head to foot.
What power, what power, Miss Tarrant!
(chimes twinkling)
- It's a regular dreamlike place.
- I want to know you.
I felt that as soon as I
heard you speak last night.
There's so much I want to ask you.
- Well, I can't say
much except when father
has worked on me--
- [Olive] I don't care
anything about your father.
- He's wonderfully magnetic--
- It isn't your father,
it isn't your mother.
It's only you , just as you are.
Will you be my friend?
My friend of friends?
Forever and ever?
- My carriage was ordered for three,
and it still hasn't appeared.
You have a visitor.
- Miss Verena Tarrant,
my sister, Mrs. Luna.
- Why, you're on the stage.
What do you do?
Are you an actress?
Do you sing?
- I can never carry a tune.
- Verena has a divine gift.
- Oh.
(gate squeaking)
Olive, we have another visitor.
Our interesting cousin,
whom you so providentially discovered.
(upbeat drum music)
- [Olive] We'll meet again soon.
Very, very soon.
This is only the beginning.
- Why, Miss Chancellor.
Good afternoon.
- I'm so glad my carriage is late,
or you would've missed seeing me.
- Oh, Mrs. Luna, I
would've been disconsolate.
I've come to say goodbye.
I'm going back to New York today.
- Mama!
I wanna go!
- Newton, you know Mama will be back
an hour from now--
- I wanna go, I wanna go!
I wanna go!
- Mama has to go,
Newton dearest.
- I wanna go, I wanna go!
No!
- Miss Tarrant won't be
surprised if I recognize her,
if I take the liberty to speak to her?
- Many gentlemen speak to me.
- We'll see each other again tomorrow.
- Miss, Miss Tarrant, I
know what your ideas are.
You expressed them last night
in such beautiful language,
I am duly ashamed of being a man.
But must you go the moment I appear?
Do you flee before the individual male?
- I like the individual well enough.
- Won't you sit down again?
I'm certain Miss Chancellor'd
be extremely sorry
to part with you.
- You'll just catch
the Charles Street car.
- I would like to interpret for you
the position of women in history.
Now...
Well, what do you say to Helen of Troy?
The fearful carnage she excited,
all without the benefit of the vote.
- Excuse me.
He's a joker.
- He's an enemy.
An enemy of our movement and our sex.
You must fear him.
- Do you?
- I fear his ideas.
Tomorrow, we'll be alone,
and we'll talk and talk.
Just you and I.
- All of Olive's friends are like that.
What an extraordinary young woman, Olive.
Is she your latest discovery?
- Your veil is not put
on straight, Adeline.
Goodbye, Mr. Ransome.
I hope you have a safe
journey back to New York.
Well, I thank you very much for...
- Come away with me and
I'll explain her as we go.
I must get away from here.
We'll meet often.
I've made up my mind :
A winter in New York.
- Look here, Mrs. Luna,
if your sister was not going to like me,
then why in the world did she write to me?
- [Adeline] Because she
thought I'd like you.
(birds chirping)
- "Then when a little
more I raised my brow,
"I spied the master of the sapient throng,
"seated amid the philosophic train.
"Him all admire, all
pay him reverence due.
"There Socrates and Plato both I mark'd,
"nearest to him in rank, Democritus,
"who sets the world at chance,
"Diogenes, with
Heraclitus, and Empedocles,
"and Anaxagoras, and Thales sage.
"Orpheus I mark'd, and Linus,
Tully, and moral Seneca.
"Euclid and Ptolemy, Hippocrates,
"Galenus, Avicen, Zeno and Dioscorides
"well-read in nature's secret lore."
(dramatic music)
(speaking foreign language)
- What's it mean?
- Thou shalt give up.
(speaking foreign language)
It means to renounce everything.
Yourself, your life.
Are you ready for it?
- "I feel I am something of
a novice upon this platform.
"One of a race whose inheritance
has been outrage and wrong.
"Most of my life had been
spent in battling those wrongs.
"But I did not feel as keenly as others
"that I had these rights in
common with other women. "
- [Photographer] Ladies,
no movement please.
- "When we recited her Latin
and Greek to him, he said,
"'Very smart girls, unusually
capable, but can you cook?'
(both laughing)
" I answered with the utmost patience,
"'Well, Mr. Quincy, we want
to go to Harvard College
"'with our brothers. '
"'No, my dear', said he,
'That is not possible. '
"At that, I burst out,
"'Then I wish I were God
that I might kill every woman
"'from Eve down and let
you have a masculine world
"'all to yourselves, and
see how you like that!"'
(laughing)
(waves crashing)
(seabirds calling)
What if I were to ask you to give up
your parents, everything?
Oh, how can I ask you?
I must give up.
- Perhaps you like me too much.
- Of course I like you too much.
When I like, I like too much.
When I was a child
And you were a child
In our kingdom by the sea
We loved with a love
That was more than love
I and my Annabelle Lee
(Verena humming melody)
(hoofbeats clopping)
- "Rediscovery of natural order.
"As in any democracy, we
must establish", come in.
"Cannot resist the vulgar",
oh, thank you , Tim.
Right here.
- 10 cents, please, sir.
- W-would you ask Mr. Richard
if I might settle with him tomorrow?
Thank you.
"Cannot resist the vulgar
temptation to serve themselves."
Serve themselves a bock.
"A true natural leader will
not keep another man down.
"Neither will he set him free."
Free.
"From manner, we pass naturally
to the notions of honor,
decorum :
"Of what is proper and becoming to a man,
"which constitute the deeper
essence of aristocracy.
" It is a sort of primitive uprightness
"that has ripened and expanded
"into a great cleanness and decency.
"A wholly admirable rectitude.
"And it is one of the most pleasant things
"that ever grew up on American soil."
All this must be very dull for you.
- I adore it.
- [Newton] Let me go!
Ow!
Stop it!
Let go!
- Kids, stop it!
Stop it right now!
- Let me go!
- Get that awful brute off my Newton!
- Take your hands off
that boy this instant!
- Stop it, don't you be
calling my son no names!
- It was your little
shrimp that started it.
- Let go right now!
- Are you gonna do it again?
- [Newton] You stink!
- Newton, never start a
fight you can't finish.
- Oh...
Let Mother see.
Oh, poor Newton.
He needs a father's guidance
to help him stand up for himself.
- Mm-mmm.
What do you hear from
Boston, from your sister?
- Can you imagine?
She's brought that red-headed
hoyden into her house to live.
She's educating her.
- Do you mean that rather...
Striking young lady whom I met in Boston?
- Newton, you're too
heavy for Mama, get down.
- No, I don't want to--
- Dori?
Would you come and get him,
please, and give him a bath?
- No!
- Go on, Newton.
- [Newton] No!
- Yes, I remember your
being struck by Verena.
- Verena?
Is that her name?
- If you ask me, I think she cares as much
for the rights of women as
she does for the Panama Canal.
The only right of a woman she wants
is to be able to climb up on something
where men can look at her.
But mark my words:
One of these days, she'll
give her the greatest cut
Olive's ever had in her life.
- Oh?
What will she do to your sister?
- She'll run away with a lion tamer.
She'll marry a circus man.
(Basil chuckling)
Unless of course you want to marry her.
You seem so interested in her.
- Well...
I thank you for an excellent dinner.
- You are not to belong to any Verena.
You are to belong to me.
- The mind rules the body
with a scepter of reason.
Can you feel my hand draw
out the rays of affirmation?
Have you got that, Mr. Pardon?
Shut your eyes.
Repeat after me.
I am the child of reason, and as such,
pure, perfect and without flaw.
- I am the child of reason, and as such,
pure, perfect and without flaw.
- Now, rest your mind from the thought.
Eyes shut.
Shut, shut.
Now, draw back to the thought.
- I am a child of reason, and as such,
pure, perfect and without flaw.
- That is all for today.
This healing must not
strain, but descend gently.
- I am the child of reason.
- I want you to think of green fields.
Nothing but green fields this week.
Our next session will be on Thursday.
Remember to keep her knees warm,
we don't want fluid on her joints--
- We're very grateful to you, Dr. Tarrant.
She's felt a beautiful benefit.
- Have you got that, Mr. Pardon?
- Thank you, Doctor.
- It's time for Miss
Verena to press forward.
I want to see her in a front seat.
- What do you have in mind?
- Her name on the biggest posters,
her portrait in the
windows of all the shops.
I'll tell you straight:
I want to see her in the music
hall, at 50 cents a ticket.
- We shall have to talk
with Miss Chancellor.
- If Miss Chancellor hangs back,
I'm prepared to take hold myself.
Do you understand me?
(bell pealing)
The American public want
to hear Miss Verena,
and they shall hear her.
Good day, sir.
I don't know what everyone's waiting for.
I don't suppose they're waiting
'til she's 50 years old.
There are enough old ones
in the field already.
You know, I've known a
lot of celebrated ladies,
and had the honor of
condensing them into shorthand,
and some of them were quite voluminous.
- Help me concentrate on it--
- But I can tell you this:
There's never been a more
attractive female speaker
before the American public.
- They try to, but does
it mean going to lectures?
- And getting up at nine o'clock.
- Oh, heaven forbid.
(Verena laughing)
- It's a pleasure to see you
in our home, Miss Chancellor.
It quite raises my appetite
for social intercourse.
Verena seems to be having such
a time with those gentlemen.
- I have the most terrible prejudices.
I'm full of wrong ideas.
- It's a privilege to hear you talking.
It's what I call real conversation.
First I catch one thing, then another.
Seems as if I couldn't take it all in.
- Miss Verena has charm.
- Now I hope that those
really gallant gentlemen--
- And there's a great
demand for that nowadays
in connection with the new ideas.
There are just so many who've
fallen dead for want of it.
But Miss Verena ought to
walk right up to the top.
The truth is, she needs
to shed her father.
She don't want him pawing
around her that way
on the platform.
It don't add to the attraction one bit.
Now, I 'II put it to you, Miss Chancellor:
We could run her together.
- Might I tempt you , madam?
The apple fritters are very fine.
- If you sat down and
listened for five minutes,
you would be convinced.
Do offer them over here, Father.
You know how students from Harvard College
are always starving.
- Yes, for truth and knowledge,
and, of course, principally beauty.
- They certainly teach you to talk.
- We don't wanna talk at all.
We wanna listen.
- You should listen to Olive Chancellor.
She knows much more than I do
and she has wonderful ideas.
Go and talk to her.
- [Tom] But we wanna hear you.
- You must speak.
- I can't.
I can't do anything with a small audience.
- Gracie here's a host in himself.
- [Tom] I wish we brought
some of our friends.
- Everyone in the university
wants to hear you.
We are sunk in ignorance and prejudice.
- I didn't realize you
were Harvard University.
- Mr. Burrage is from New York.
He's very fashionable.
He goes out a great deal in Boston.
I've no doubt you know some of the places.
His family's very rich.
Well, he knows plenty of that sort.
But he didn't know anyone like us,
so we told Mr. Gracie,
"Of course, bring him."
- I speak seriously.
I don't want to make money out of it.
- What do you want to make?
- I want to make history.
I wanna help the ladies, in general.
- [Henry] We are ready
to listen and sincerely--
- And Miss Verena in particular.
- Father is here.
(men clapping)
They're asking me to speak.
What do you say?
I know you like me to speak.
- Yes, at the right time
and the right place.
- Now is your chance with Harvard College.
These gentlemen will carry the news.
Make them gasp!
- Would you like me to start her up?
- I'll do it alone, if you prefer.
This might be a good chance
to try without father.
What do you want me to do?
- Oh, come on, give us the whole program.
- I want you to address audiences
that are worth addressing.
Not to exhibit yourself to
(clears throat) individuals.
I want you to touch the heart of nations.
Do as you like, my dear.
I must leave.
- I can see you don't want it.
- Come with me.
- You're angry.
What have I done?
- I'm not angry, I'm anxious and afraid.
Verena, those young
men don't care for you.
They don't care for us.
All they want is to make
us give up everything
we think is sacred.
- No, they don't want that, Olive.
They don't ask as much as that.
- Then go in and speak
for them and sing for them
and dance for them.
- [Verena] Olive, you're cruel.
- Yes, perhaps I am, but
promise me one thing,
and I'll be oh, so tender.
Oh, my poor darling's cold.
I'm selfish and dreadful,
I know it, but...
But promise me that--
- Verena, you'll catch your
death of cold out there.
- Promise me not to marry.
(pen scribbling)
Leave us alone, entirely alone for a year,
and I'll write you another.
- The great thing is
to help her to develop.
That's all we ask of you ,
just let her act out her own nature.
Don't shut down the
cover, Miss Chancellor.
Just let her overflow.
(gentle music)
- Miss Birdseye?
Miss Birdseye.
Good morning , ma'am,
you don't remember me,
but I attended an evening
at your house last year,
at which a young lady
gave a wonderful speech.
I came with Miss Chancellor.
- I remember you now,
and Olive bringing you.
But you live in New York.
Have you come to stay in Boston now?
- Well, I'm here on business
for a day or two, ma'am.
May I escort you a little ways?
- (chuckling) A gentleman from the south
is not required to escort an old Bostonian
around her own city.
- Well, only in chivalry, Miss Birdseye.
Old southern chivalry.
- They didn't show me so much of that
when I was down there in the old days.
They were always round after me.
- Why was that?
On, on account of your
work for the negroes?
- Yes, I carried them the Bible.
- "A Woman of the 19th Century."
- Verena Tarrant spoke on that subject
at the last convention.
- Does she speak often?
- She raises her voice a
good deal in places around,
like Framingham and Billerica.
It's as if she were gathering strength
just to break over Boston like a wave.
- What a great pity she isn't
speaking somewhere tonight.
Tomorrow I have to return to New York.
- Today she's visiting with
her mother in Cambridge.
Olive mentioned that.
- Where in Cambridge does her family live?
- Oh (chuckling) it's in
one of those little streets
that doesn't seem to have much of a name.
(Basil chuckling)
- Well , it must be called something.
Is it a street, a square, a place?
- Yes, that's it.
A place, yes.
Uh...
Monadnoc.
- Monadnoc.
- Monadnoc Place.
- I see.
- But ain't you going
to see your cousin, too?
- Miss Birdseye, I wonder
if you'd be so kind
as not to mention our
meeting to my cousin.
- [Miss Birdseye] You
want me to conceal that--
- I don't want you to conceal anything.
I simply wish you'd let
it pass, not mention it.
- I never did anything of that kind.
Won't Verena tell her?
She tells her most everything.
Their union is so close.
- She won't want her to be wounded.
- Well, you are considerate.
It's a pity you can't sympathize.
- Well, perhaps Miss Tarrant
will bring me around.
You have before you a possible convert.
- In that case, I won't
say a word to Olive
about our meeting.
- Hi.
(hoofbeats clopping)
Whoa, boy, whoa.
Miss Birdseye, I do hope to see you again.
- Well, I'm always about
the streets of Boston.
- 219 West Newton Street.
Good day, ma'am.
(upbeat classical music)
- I've decided to show
you Harvard College,
because it seems to me that I ought to do
something for you in return...
In return for your kind visit.
And the weather is so splendid.
- What an ideal guide.
(water splashing)
Do you still make speeches?
- Olive's told me about you.
That you're a great enemy to our movement.
- If you regard me as an enemy,
it was very kind of you to receive me.
(Verena chuckling)
- A great many gentlemen call.
Everyone's so interested.
In our work, I mean.
- You know, this is where
I ought to have been.
I should have liked to study here.
- Can't expect me to
speak with much admiration
of an institution in which the
doors are closed to our sex.
- Do you advocate a system
of education in common?
- I advocate equal rights,
equal opportunities, equal privileges.
So does Miss Chancellor.
- Oh.
I thought what she wanted
was a different inequality,
simply to turn out the men altogether.
(people singing in Latin)
- Now mind, if you don't
like what's in here,
it isn't my fault.
- Why, is anything against Mississippi?
- [Verena] It's in honor of our young men
who fought in the war.
- Oh, it says they're brave, I suppose.
- Yes.
It says so in Latin.
- Well , so they were.
I ought to know that.
I had to fight them.
(classical music)
(people singing in Latin)
(people laughing)
- I wish you could've seen us in June.
Oh, we just quivered, Mr. Ransome.
It was our convention.
There were delegates from
every state and every city.
Olive had six wonderful women
staying in the house, two in a room.
In the evenings, we sat in the
open windows and we talked.
And we talked...
We ate quantities of ice cream.
(chuckling)
- Well , now, Miss Tarrant,
I am forced to the painful conclusion
that you're simply ruined.
- Ruined?
- Yes.
- Ruined yourself.
(Basil laughing)
Aren't you going to see Olive at all?
She's different now.
She's much happier.
- Why, because of you?
- She'll know you've been here.
- Not unless you tell her.
- I tell her everything.
I do.
If I don't tell Olive, then
you must leave me here.
And there mustn't be anything more.
There must not, Mr. Ransome, really.
- Why, what are you afraid there might be?
Miss Birdseye's hoping it will be.
She's hoping you'll convert me.
Just think how effective,
out of darkest Mississippi ,
I could blaze forth.
First-class proselyte.
- Mr. Ransome, do you
know what strikes me?
The interest you take in me
isn't a bit controversial.
It's just personal.
- [Basil] Are you gonna
tell Miss Chancellor?
(men whistling and catcalling)
- Come hither, come here!
- Over here, over here!
- Good afternoon, madam!
(upbeat classical piano music)
- Ah!
(Verena and Olive clapping)
- I'm very fond of him, yes.
He died not too long ago.
- Yes, I know.
- 130 years ago.
- My son's letters are full of nothing
but you and Miss Tarrant.
And she is everything he says.
It's charming.
- What was it?
- "Lied ohne Worte" by Mendelssohn.
- What does it mean?
- Song without Words.
- She's growing from strength to strength.
Her dedication is unshakable.
It would be a privilege
for me to introduce her
to sympathetic circles in New York.
I hope you'll let me.
It would make me happy.
(chuckling) And it would
make my son very happy.
(upbeat classical piano music)
- She is an original, no doubt.
I can see your attraction for her,
with your collector's taste.
- Oh, Mother, it's a very different affair
from my collect--
- Mrs. Burrage.
- Oh, yes, mister, um...
- Tom Gracie.
- Yes, Mr. Gracie.
How are you?
- Very well, ma'am.
- Are you off to supper?
- Uh, to a tutorial, I'm afraid.
How is the delightful Miss Tarrant?
- Delightful, as always.
- Bundle up, Mr. Gracie, it's chilly out.
- Enjoy the rest of your visit, ma'am.
- Bye.
- Good night.
- Good night, Missy.
- Night night.
- Good night.
- Good night.
- You've been so strange all day.
And yesterday.
Ever since you came back
from visiting your mother.
Your thoughts have been away from me.
- You know, Olive...
I sometimes wonder, if it weren't for you,
if I should feel it so very much.
About not having a vote.
Women being exploited.
- I feel it all the time.
Night and day, I feel it here,
as one feels a stain upon one's honor.
I know how it is for you,
how exposed to men you are.
Many would gladly stop
your mouth by kissing you.
- Olive, you know what you
asked me once to promise you?
- Hmm?
- I will promise now.
I'll take any vow you want.
- I hope with all my
heart you never marry,
but not because you promise me.
I would rather trust you without.
You'll often be asked to marry.
I never will.
(both chuckling)
Don't promise.
But don't fail me.
- "The editor regrets..."
Respectfully yours, too, sir.
(chuckling)
- Thank you , Mary.
Perhaps, Miss Chancellor's
idea for Verena's future
may not coincide with yours, or mine.
- Do you mind?
I know it's not what
you're entitled to expect.
The daughter of a faith healer.
- Oh, I like the girl, Henry.
Quite apart from my liking for you.
(Henry chuckling)
- Well, you haven't met the parents.
- It doesn't in the least matter.
A girl like Verena
makes her own standards,
(upbeat classical music)
(hoofbeats clopping)
- Good evening.
- Dear, how lovely you look.
Good to see you.
- Good evening.
- Good evening.
- Madam.
- Good evening.
Oh, my dear.
(upbeat classical music)
- [Woman] Are you a member?
I didn't know you'd joined.
- [Man] Oh, I haven't.
Nothing would induce me.
- Please come and hear
Professor Gougenheim.
I'll invite you.
He's going to talk about the Talmud.
- [Woman] This woman tonight,
isn't she from Boston?
- [Man] You must be pretty
desperate when you've got to go
to Boston for your entertainment.
- Why, Miss Chancellor, how
very nice to see you again.
May I join you?
Uh, it's very amusing.
We don't have anything so
brilliant in Mississippi.
And how wonderful to see
you and Miss Tarrant,
the heroines, on an occasion like this.
- Do I look like the
heroine of an occasion?
- Well, now you would if you
didn't hide yourself away.
Are you not going into the other room?
- I'm going when I'm asked.
When I'm invited.
- So, are you going to stir
up the fashionable world?
- We carry our work where it is needed,
We have learned to stifle our distaste.
You will understand when
you listen to Miss Tarrant.
- Hmm, Miss Tarrant.
- Why, what do you know about her?
- Don't you remember my
hearing her speak that night
at Miss Birdseye's?
- That was the only time.
- No, I met her again the
next day at your house.
- Mr. Belmont, you really
should be going in.
We're just about to start.
- Thank you.
- Excuse me, Miss Chancellor,
but if you'll do me the
favor to take my arm,
I'll find you a good
seat in the other room.
I recommend you find a seat without delay.
If you've never heard Miss Tarrant,
you'll have one of the greatest
pleasures of your life.
- Oh, Mr. Ransome only comes
to ventilate his prejudices.
- Oh, don't be so rough on me.
(woman laughing)
- The last person I expected
to see at the Wednesday Club.
You never told me you knew Mrs. Burrage.
- Well, I don't.
I never even heard of
her 'til she asked me.
- Then why in the world did she ask you?
- Why, I suppose your sister
had her card sent to me.
Let me find you a place inside--
- My sister, my grandmother.
I know how Olive loves you.
- Uh, the chairs are all filled up,
but we could hear from the doorway--
- [Adeline] We won't be disturbed here.
- Well I don't intend to lose
any of the sport in there, you know.
- Oh, you won't find much sport
at the Wednesday Club.
Isn't it more fun, just
the two of us, tete-a-tete?
- It is the greatest
pleasure and privilege for me
to welcome Miss Verena Tarrant
on her first appearance in New York.
Some have called her a great prophetess,
some a poetess, some a seer.
But I will confine myself to
introducing her to you only
as a young woman with an
extraordinary awareness
of the great question pertaining
to the equality of women.
(crowd applauding)
- There she goes.
She's off.
- You stand on historic ground.
100 years ago, on this ground,
our forefathers poured out their blood
in the name of freedom.
In the name of freedom, I
ask you one simple question :
Do you think any good
can come to a society
where women are treated as slaves?
The public life of the world
will continue in the same--
- It was her son's idea, of course.
Just between you and me,
young Mr. Burrage is in
very thick with Verena.
Verena goes around lecturing
how no one should ever get married.
But I think, in this case,
she's beginning to change her mind.
But first they'll have to deal with Olive,
because she has not changed
her mind about marriage.
- And if you ask me what
offices we may fill ,
I should reply, "Any."
Let us be sea captains and
see how we prove ourselves.
The especial genius of women,
I believe to be intuitive in function,
spiritual in tendency,
electrical in movement.
Try us and you'll see.
I am not here to recriminate,
nor to deepen the gulf
that already yawns between the sexes--
- You know, I've never
understood how Olive can bear
Verena's really low style.
I'm surprised at young Mr. Burrage.
After all, he is a gentleman.
Certainly he can see that she
is not his type of person.
- Let me find you a place inside.
You can stand on a chair,
you can lean on me--
- Sit down, Mr. Ransome.
Surely you wouldn't be so ungallant
as to leave a lady absolutely
alone in a public place?
- That is what I should like to press home
to each of you individually.
Personally.
To give him the vision of the world
as it hangs perpetually before me.
Redeemed.
Transfigured by a new moral tone.
There would be tenderness,
sympathy, generosity,
where now there is only brute
force and sordid rivalry.
- How silly she sounds.
- You can't even hear what she's saying.
- Mr. Ransome, my sister never sent you
an invitation to this place.
Didn't it come from Verena Tarrant?
- If Miss Tarrant sent me an invitation,
I ought to at least return the
courtesy by listening to her.
- If you rise from that seat,
I will tell Olive what I suspect.
- Oh, what do you suspect?
- That the two of you have
been in correspondence.
Have you been seeing Miss Tarrant?
Have you been going to
Boston on secret visits?
- You've lost your head.
- Who shall judge what we
require if not we ourselves?
We require simply freedom.
We require the lid to be taken off the box
in which we have been kept for centuries.
You say it is a very nice,
comfortable, cozy box,
with nice glass sides
so that we can see out.
And that all that is needed
is another quiet turn of the key.
That is very easily answered.
Good gentlemen...
You have never been in the box,
and you do not know how it feels.
(crowd applauding)
Do you know how you strike me?
You strike me as men who
are starving to death,
while at home they have
a cupboard full of bread
and meat and wine.
Or as blind, demented beings,
who let themselves be cast
into a debtor's prison,
while in their pockets they
have the keys of vaults
and treasure chests heaped
up with gold and silver.
The meat and wine,
the gold and silver,
are simply the suppressed
and wasted force.
The genius, the intelligence,
the inspiration of women.
We are the heart of humanity.
Let us have the courage to insist upon it.
(crowd applauding)
(upbeat classical music)
(women laughing)
(people conversing quietly)
Don't you think it's all true?
- No, I don't.
But it doesn't matter what I think.
- Oh, well, if you're so indifferent...
- It's not because I'm indifferent.
- Mr. Ransome here is
about the hardest subject
I've ever met.
He will stand out.
(Henry chuckling)
- Don't mean to say you weren't moved.
- I didn't say that.
- [Verena] What is it?
- Champagne.
- Oh, I can't drink that.
- Is he a great follower?
- He's crazy about our movement.
But if you still wanna
draw me back 5,000 years,
I hope you won't tell Miss Birdseye.
She's very romantic about us.
About our relations.
Yours and mine.
She is sure that I'm going to convert you,
and that you're going
to become a champion.
And that when you get to the top,
it will all have been because of me.
(Basil chuckling)
A sort of marriage between
the South and Boston.
A marriage of ideas.
- You don't want me to disillusion her.
- You mustn't.
Ever.
(people conversing quietly)
- Mrs. Burrage, I thank you so much.
I never saw an entertainment of any kind
which held me more
completely by its charm.
- I'm so glad you were able to come.
Wonderful creature, isn't she?
- Yes.
- Uh, Miss Chancellor is
Miss Tarrant's great friend
and colleague.
Let me introduce mister, uh--
- No, I have the honor to be
a sort of cousin of Miss Chancellor.
That is, if she doesn't repudiate me.
- Oh.
Well, if you're Miss Chancellor's cousin,
take her in to have some supper
instead of going so soon.
- I'm very much obliged.
I never take supper.
These occasions leave me exhausted.
- Oh, I can imagine that.
I 'II leave you to be
quiet with your cousin.
You're in the best of hands, I'm sure.
- I won't disturb you further
than to ask you a single question.
Where are you staying?
I want to come and see Miss Tarrant.
I don't say I want to come and see you
because I have the idea
you would not welcome me.
- Why do you ply to me?
- Well , it seems to me more
decent to go straight to you
for the information I intend to get.
If you won't tell me where you're staying,
perhaps you'll ask Miss
Tarrant herself to do so.
Would she send me word on a card?
- Number 11, West 10th Street.
You're free to come.
- Of course I am.
Why shouldn't I be?
(sighing deeply)
(hoofbeats clopping)
(gentle music)
- Steady.
- It was you who took him
up in the first place.
- [Olive] I thought you would
have married him by now.
- Marry him yourself.
What ever put such an idea into your head?
Do you think I can marry every
man that follows me about?
It must have been you
who encouraged Verena
to send him an invitation
to Mrs. Burrage's.
- Verena, to him?
Why in the world should she?
- Why in the world wouldn't she,
since they're so very close?
- She had seen him twice in
her life before last night.
- [Adeline] Is that what she told you?
- She tells me everything.
- Are you sure?
Are you sure that last night
was only the third time?
- Adeline Luna, what are you insinuating?
- I'm just warning you , that's all.
(loud clanging)
(water pouring)
- Mr. Burrage explains
everything so beautifully.
- Did he try to make love to you?
- I suppose it was meant for love.
He says he likes me for the
same reason he likes old enamels
and old altar cloths.
(Olive laughing)
- Well, you know, Verena,
this isn't our real life.
It isn't our work.
- No, it isn't, certainly not.
- How did you get his address?
Mr. Ransome's?
To enable Mrs. Burrage to invite him.
- [Verena] It was in a
letter I got from him.
- [Olive] I didn't know you correspond.
- He wrote me once.
I never told you.
(loud clanging)
- Why didn't you tell me?
- I knew you wouldn't like it
because you don't like him.
- I don't think of him.
He's nothing to me.
- How you suffer.
- Yes, you can make me suffer.
- I never will.
I found this note when I came home.
He wants to see me.
He says he has so much to say to me.
- Do you want to see him?
- Well , I must confess, I'm curious.
He's so awfully opposed.
I would like to meet
him and make him give in
at just two or three points,
more than I'd like anything in the world.
You needn't be afraid.
I'm strong enough.
(Verena humming happily)
Why do you make me say
such conceited things?
(Verena humming happily)
Look here, Olive Chancellor,
we can go home tomorrow if you want.
- What do you want?
- To do whatever you think is best.
- And if we do stay,
will you be very much of
the time with Mr. Ransome?
- I thought you knew by
now that I'm serious.
That I've dedicated my life.
I don't know why you don't
seem able to trust me.
(loud clanging)
Olive, I'm starving.
Get dressed.
I presume you want to be
President of the United States.
(Basil laughing)
- I certainly do.
However, since I shall no
doubt die poor and unheard of,
nobody'll ever know what
visions of greatness
I stifled and buried.
(Verena laughing)
- You won't die unheard of.
When you start, people had
better look out, with your will.
- What do you know about my will?
- I know it's stronger than mine.
It made me come out with you
when I thought I'd much better not.
- Huh.
- Well , then...
It's settled.
Miss Tarrant will come to us,
and will stay 'til she's tired of us.
- Why do you want her to
visit you , Mrs. Burrage?
You must know that your
son desires to marry her.
- My son firmly believes in your movement.
And Miss Tarrant herself...
I expected success, but I
didn't expect what she...
What you gave us.
I know Henry will never again
care so much for any girl.
Oh, my dear Miss Chancellor.
The poor boy has put
the affair in my hands.
And you see, I put it in yours.
- I think you have never seen
Dr. Tarrant and his wife.
- You mean, they're absolutely fearful?
Yes, Henry's told me
they're quite impossible.
I'm prepared for that.
And we can, we do offer
certain advantages.
I need hardly say that
whatever means we have
are at the disposal of your movement.
You think I don't want
everything we poor women can get?
- And how can I be sure that afterwards,
you would still care so
much about the question
that has all our thoughts, hers and mine?
- You think we're feigning
interest only to get hold of her.
Now, that's not very nice
of you, Miss Chancellor.
Of course, you have to
be tremendously careful.
I dare say, you don't like the
idea of her marrying at all.
It would break up a friendship that has
so much interest for you.
(people conversing quietly)
- Then I'm to understand
as your final word
that you regard us as quite inferior?
- Oh, for public uses, absolutely.
Perfectly weak and second-rate.
But privately, it's another matter.
My plan is to keep you at home
and have a good time with you there.
- You seem to think that
I control Verena's actions
and her desires, and that I'm
jealous of any other relations
she may possibly form.
I can only say your
attitude illustrates the way
that relations between women
are still misunderstood,
and misinterpreted.
It is these attitudes we want to fight,
with all our strength and
all our life, Miss Tarrant.
Verena and I.
- Well, Miss Chancellor, you're
quite a speaker yourself.
- No, I'm not.
I'm awkward and dry.
It is she who is eloquent
and graceful and lovely.
- My son admires her as much as you do.
Of course, he would never obtrude himself.
But suppose he withdraws.
Do you think others would
be as reticent as he?
And would you feel yourself
as safe with these others?
(Olive coughing)
- [Olive] What others do you mean?
- Well, no one in particular.
But, for instance, there is the young man
whom she asked me to send
an invitation to my party.
I believe he said he was your cousin.
Now, he seemed to me
like a possible admirer.
I wonder if I might give
you a word of advice?
My son is gentle, he's good-natured,
and he believes in your ideas.
Miss Tarrant would be,
from every point of view,
safer with him than with others.
Adventurers, exploiters.
Or people who, once they got hold of her,
would shut her up altogether.
(birds chirping)
- Why don't you write out your ideas?
- I have.
Nobody wants to print 'em.
Editors are a mean, timid bunch,
always saying they want
something original.
But they're deadly afraid
of it when it comes.
So I get many letters.
They all start the same way.
"The editor regrets..."
Everyone regrets in New York.
That's all my clients ever do, too.
There must be something
very wrong with me.
What do you think?
- No, I think you'll do pretty well,
except for your opinions.
(Basil laughing)
- You'll pay for that.
One editor sent me back a manuscript,
said my ideas were 300 years out of date.
But, doubtless some
magazine of the 16th century
would've been happy to print them.
(Verena laughing)
Oh, he's right.
On the rights of minorities,
I am 300 years out of date.
But you see, I haven't come too late.
I've come too soon.
- I'm very sorry you can't get published.
You must keep on.
And I hope you do succeed,
even though all you
want is to put us back.
You may denounce me by name if you like,
only don't say anything
about Olive Chancellor.
(Basil scoffing)
- There you are again.
You women, you always think
it's something personal.
You always think it means yourselves.
- [Verena] Yes, that's what people say.
- Well, I don't want to talk about you.
My interest is in my own sex.
Yours evidently can look after itself.
Anyway, I'm tired of
always hearing about women
and their freedom and their
education, their liberty.
(women laughing)
- Woe to American women
when you get going.
- I love American women.
It's only certain examples
of it I can't stand.
Ones that run around
screaming , "Down with men."
"Down with the love
between women and men."
Not you.
(dramatic music)
Shall I tell you?
I don't believe you mean what you preach.
No, no.
It's just your sweet nature.
You always want to please someone.
Miss Chancellor, your parents.
Whoever else is dear to you.
But it's not really you.
You're meant for something different.
You're meant for privacy.
You're meant for love.
For me.
- You paid your visit to Mrs. Burrage.
- Yes, I went through that.
- And what did she say?
- She wants you to stay with her.
She says New York will be at your feet.
- I won't stay.
I won't.
Olive Chancellor...
Take me away.
(fireworks exploding)
(crowd applauding and cheering)
("God Save the Queen" by Thomas Arne)
For is it not the glorious fourth
We celebrate today
This day gave freedom birth
Its flame now fills the earth
No storm from off our banner fled
What glorious light they shed
(blowing breath)
(women laughing)
- Well, I guess I go back a long way.
Not all the way to '76, but near enough.
I have seen changes, I can
tell you , glorious changes.
Verena, come here.
Oh, there have been so many.
Elizabeth Stanton, Susan B. Anthony,
Mrs. Lucretia Mott.
It's like we're one big
army just marching on.
(fireworks exploding)
- Ooh!
Isn't that lovely?
(crowd applauding and cheering)
Columbia's free men brave
Rejoice to do a dare
This day the winds exalt to praise
The stars and stripes in air
- [Verena] Happy Birthday, Miss Birdseye.
(upbeat drum music)
(birds calling)
- Good afternoon.
- Oh.
I guess it's time I should
take my remedy again.
- You must tell me how much you take.
One spoonful or two?
- Well, I guess this time I'll take two.
It's homeopathic.
- Well, I know you wouldn't
take anything else.
- Well, it's generally admitted now
to be the true system.
- One.
- I thought you were Verena.
(Miss Birdseye laughing)
- Two.
Miss Birdseye...
You remember the last time we met?
You very kindly gave me
Verena's address in Cambridge.
- [Miss Birdseye] Well,
here you are again.
So it seems she has shaken you.
- Yes, ma'am.
She has shaken me tremendously.
- We have seven letters
for you, Miss Birdseye.
- Why, Mr. Ransome.
Where in the world were you washed ashore?
- Well, I walked up,
I found the door open,
Miss Birdseye seemed
to think I might stay.
Miss Birdseye, I appeal to you now,
I put myself under your protection.
- Don't we have room for all?
- Well , it was by my letter
that you knew we were here.
The one I wrote just
before we came, Olive.
Don't you remember, I showed it to you?
- This is a charming place.
Only for you it has one defect,
Three-quarters of the
summer residents are women.
- Miss Tarrant said in her note,
this is a place you can
wear your old clothes
and lie on the ground.
Well , I delight to lie on the ground.
All my clothes are old.
I hope to be able to
stay three or four weeks.
(Miss Birdseye laughing)
(gentle music)
They've accepted one of my articles.
- They have?
When does it appear?
- I got a letter from the
editor of the Rational Review,
telling me he should be
very happy to print it,
and he should be very happy
to hear from me again.
Never fear, he shall hear from me again.
Oh, this, this will seem pitiful to you ,
but you see, for me,
this changes the whole
way I look at my future.
- Why, didn't you feel happy
about your future before?
- No, I felt very blue.
But now...
Now I'm building castles in the air,
and I'm putting you in the
biggest and the fairest of them.
- [Miss Birdseye] Where's Mr. Ransome?
I hope you haven't pushed him overboard.
(Verena laughing)
- He's gone off round the other way.
- [Miss Birdseye] I hope he's
going to speak for us soon.
- He's written a very fine
article for the Rational Review.
- Well, it's delightful to see
the way it goes on, isn't it?
Oh, Verena Tarrant,
how cold your lips are.
- There's something I want to tell you.
Mr. Ransome came out to
see me in Cambridge once.
We took a walk and we saw the colleges.
I didn't like to tell you,
but now I want you to know everything.
- [Olive] What is there between you?
How can I believe you?
You've deceived me.
- Olive, it was to spare you.
- [Olive] He wouldn't be here
if you wanted to spare me.
- Do you mean that I brought him here?
I never in my life was more
surprised than when I saw him.
- What has he come for?
- He's come to ask me to marry him.
Help me.
Help me.
- Why not tell him
plainly that you love him?
- Love him?
Olive, how can I love him when he tells me
he wants me to give up everything?
All our work.
Never again to speak in public.
- He asks you that?
In just that way?
- No, it's not that way!
It's very tenderly.
- For heaven's sake, don't grovel!
How does he dare come in here?
Doesn't he know this is my house?
- Of course he won't come into it.
He wants to meet me outside...
For just one hour.
And I've told him I will.
He says he wants to know me better.
- [Olive] Oh, don't leave me.
You'll kill me.
- You must help me, Olive.
(insects chirping)
(gentle music)
Mr. Ransome, you have one hour.
- Hey, ho!
(Basil laughing)
Ho!
Ho!
Here boy, come here, boy!
Nobody listens to me, see?
(water splashing)
Oh!
Dammit.
- [Verena] Are you all right?
- Let me.
Ah.
All right.
Verena, I need your help.
Nice and tight.
That's fine, I've got it.
(seabirds calling)
(gentle music)
(Verena laughing)
(waves crashing)
- Hello!
Hello, Mr. Ransome!
Basil, hello!
(insects chirping)
Olive wants us to leave.
- Well, you tell her it's useless.
I'll follow you anywhere you go.
- If I ask you very nicely to go,
to let me go...
Don't you see what you're doing to her?
- Well, I'm not worried about Miss Olive.
She's a fighting woman
and she's not given me
one inch of odds.
Can't I make you see how much more...
Natural it is...
Not to say agreeable,
to give yourself to a man?
Instead of to a movement
of some morbid old maid?
- Oh, no, no!
- Shh, shh, it's all right.
It's all right.
(Basil sighing)
You know...
I'm going to have to be
tremendously nice to you...
All the rest of our days,
to make up for all this.
Poor Verena.
Come on now.
- Don't you understand?
It's not that he loves you,
but that he hates our cause.
He wants to prove a man only
has to whistle for a woman,
for you to come running!
You're not even listening to me.
- No, I am.
I want you to say all this.
I want to hear it.
I want you to make me hate not
him, but what I feel for him.
- Oh, don't let's talk.
Come and sit here beside me.
Hold my hand.
(waves crashing)
(gentle music)
- You're waiting for someone?
- Why, Dr. Prance, I'm waiting for you.
(Dr. Prance laughing)
Let me help you.
- Why, thank you, sir.
- [Basil] What do you hope to catch?
- "The judge had no sooner taken his seat
"than the officer on
the floor of the court
"called out 'Silence!'
In a commanding tone.
"Upon which another officer in
the gallery cried 'Silence!'
" In an angry manner, whereupon
three or four more ushers
"shouted 'Silence!' in a voice
of indignant remonstrance."
- Oh, don't stop.
I am enjoying it.
Now, go on, it's uh,
"Mr. Pickwick rang the bell."
That's where we were.
- "Mr. Pickwick immediately rang the bell,
"and a coach having been procured,
"the four Pickwickians and Mr. Perker
"ensconced themselves therein,
and drove to Guildhall ,
"Sam Weller, Mr. Lowten
"and the blue bag following in a cab."
- Don't you have to get back to the house?
- I presume you don't know what it's like
to be one of four women shut
up in a small frame house.
And Miss Birdseye doesn't need me.
She's asleep a lot of the time now.
- Has she never wondered why I
don't come up into the house?
Have you never wondered?
- I can't speak for Miss Birdseye,
but I don't wonder, Mr. Ransome.
If I did, I'd never stop, this
being the age of miracles.
(Basil chuckling)
You should hear them
up there in the house,
getting ready for
Verena's great appearance
at the music hall.
The music hall is a pretty big building,
but I guess it's not so big
as Miss Chancellor's ideas.
- I'm surprised Miss Chancellor
doesn't require more effort from you.
- She's given up on me.
She knows where I stand.
- [Basil] Where do you stand?
- I guess the same place where
you are, only I don't matter.
Isn't that strange?
They think women the equal of men,
and yet they're a lot more
excited when a man joins
than when a woman does.
(Basil laughing)
(fire crackling)
What a pity it is that
you can't say, "Damn."
(Olive chuckling)
- Yes.
- Hello.
What?
- Olive will die.
It will kill her.
I can't be with you today.
- One hour.
We said one hour.
- The magic word.
(Basil chuckling)
If you don't want me to
appear in the music hall,
you're just going to have to kidnap me.
- Oh, why sing in the music
hall when you can sing for me?
- Verena!
Verena, hurry, it's Miss Birdseye.
Get back to the house.
- What's happened?
- Sir, it's Miss Birdseye.
- [Basil] Do we know what happened?
What?
(bell pealing)
(women singing somberly)
- She asked to be buried here.
It's the only thing I ever
heard her ask for for herself.
(sighing)
This is a queer place to give it.
And I'm a queer sort of
messenger for that kind of thing,
as I don't cultivate the sentimental side.
I have a message for you.
- From Verena?
- She says she can't meet you for a while,
for three or four days.
She wishes to be quiet and
think things over, she says.
- I understand.
- Well, I don't, but that's no matter.
I'm leaving, Mr. Ransome.
I have to get back and
see my office slate.
- I hope we can go fishing again.
- That will be a treat.
But my place is empty in the city.
I wouldn't have stayed so long
for anyone but Miss Birdseye.
Goodbye, Mr. Ransome.
And good luck.
- I thought Miss Chancellor
would've invited us
to stay for a few days.
- She doesn't want to inconvenience you.
I'll see you very soon in Boston.
You're looking well, Mother.
- I can't say I've been
keeping perfect health,
and the sea air would be very beneficial.
- You have a new dress.
- I was afraid it might
be a little too colorful
for the melancholy occasion.
- We are anticipating great applause
on the occasion of Verena's
appearance at the music hall.
You've chosen a fine subject
for her, Miss Chancellor.
A woman's reason.
A very distinguished subject.
- We shall look forward
to seeing you there.
- And if in the meantime,
I might venture to offer my assistance,
whatever falls within my humble means--
- We shall certainly let you know.
- Uh, Mrs. Tarrant and
I feel it is our duty
to participate in the, uh, coming triumph.
Our sacred duty as parents.
- Bye-bye, dear.
- Bye, Mom.
- [Mrs. Tarrant] Take care.
(dramatic music)
- Giddap.
(people conversing quietly)
- Verena.
Oh, Verena, I must see you today.
You can meet me for 10 minutes--
- I can't.
- You go on, you tell her.
Go on.
- I promised him 10 minutes.
You must believe me, Olive.
My choice is made, you know that.
You must believe me.
- What will you tell him?
- That it's impossible.
That I've thought it over and over,
and I can't, I can't, I can't.
- 10 minutes, that will give me time
to finish my letter to Miss Peabody.
- [Verena] Mr. Ransome.
(birds chirping)
- Verena!
Hoo ooh!
Hoo ooh!
Woo ooh!
(waves crashing)
Has Miss Tarrant returned?
- No, ma'am, not yet.
It's getting late.
I hope they took the boatman with them.
That gentleman from the
South don't look like
he knows much about handling a boat.
- I'm sure he'll take good care of her.
(waves crashing)
- Basil?
(birds chirping)
(dramatic music)
(waves crashing)
- Verena!
Verena!
(breathing heavily)
Oh...
Oh...
(Olive blowing breath)
(birds chirping)
(knocking)
- I'm sorry to disturb you.
I'd hoped for a moment I
might see Miss Tarrant.
- Miss Tarrant has gone away.
I took her to the steamer this morning.
- Oh, yes?
Where is she going?
- I'm not sure I'm obliged to tell you.
- Of course not.
Excuse me for asking.
It is much better that I
should find her for myself.
- [Olive] You won't find her.
- No?
- No, I'm sure of it.
- [Man] You there!
What are you doing in here?
- It's all right, I have
a ticket for the lecture.
For this seat here, C1.
I chose it so I could have the best view.
- The lecture isn't until
seven o'clock this evening.
Please come back at that time.
- [Basil] Has the, uh, orator arrived?
Perhaps I might have a glimpse of her.
- [Man] No, sir, she isn't here.
- I understand she hasn't
been seen in a month.
She's disappeared.
- She will be here punctually tonight.
You have my assurance.
Will you please leave?
(hoofbeats clopping)
(dramatic music)
(crowd conversing quietly)
- It's nerves.
- He's here.
- Don't let anyone in.
- Don't worry, miss.
There's no one's gonna get in here.
- Thank you.
Calm yourself.
This isn't like you at all ,
to be so nervous and morbid.
It's more like me.
We seem to have changed characters.
(dramatic music)
We're together, you and I.
We're together, Verena.
Trust me.
Lean on me.
- [Basil] I'd be obliged
if you take my card in
to Miss Tarrant.
- [Guard] Well I guess it ain't much use.
You're just the very man
she wants to keep out.
- [Basil] I don't think Miss
Tarrant wants to keep me out.
- [Guard] It's not her.
It's the other one, Miss Chancellor.
- Could you ask the organist
to play a little longer?
(loud thumping)
- [Dr. Tarrant] For
goodness sake, keep playing!
(sprightly music)
- I guess you'd better be quiet.
- Quiet?
Is it possible to be more quiet than I am?
- I've seen crazy folks
look a good deal like you.
Now...
I wouldn't lose the lecture if I was you.
Why don't you go and
sit around in the hall
with the rest of the public?
- This lecture won't take place.
- Yes, it will.
As soon as the organ stops.
Why the devil don't it?
Sir!
(crowd shouting loudly)
- There's a lot of
dollars out there waiting.
That's a fact that
should not be overlooked.
- I won't be able to bear it.
My ankles are swelling up.
It's always that way.
- Go and speak to them.
Will you speak to them?
Give her a few minutes.
I'm here.
I'm with you.
(sprightly music)
(crowd shouting loudly)
(crowd booing)
- Ladies and gentlemen...
I crave your patience for my
daughter, Miss Verena Tarrant,
who is with us in close proximity.
(crowd shouting loudly)
Just waiting for the--
- Just trust me.
- The call will come--
- No one.
- To enable her to bring you the message
which you have all come here to hear.
(crowd shouting loudly)
Is it any wonder that she is what she is?
She was nursed in the dark seance room,
suckled midst meditations.
She had sat on the knees of somnambulists,
she has been passed from hand to hand
by celebrated trance speakers.
(crowd shouting loudly)
- Go home!
- I myself have not been lacking
in a certain public notice.
And while we are waiting, you
might be interested to hear
the report--
(crowd booing)
- Why in the name of
goodness don't she go on?
If she wants them to call her,
they've done about enough.
Now, I have to go in for the Transcript.
- You can't go in for anything.
I'm keeping this man out, too.
- Henrietta Stackpole from The Vesper.
May I ask if you're a
supporter of Miss Tarrant's?
- I'm her greatest supporter, madam.
You may quote me in the headline.
- Oh!
How many times have you
heard her speak before?
- [Basil] About seven occasions.
- Do you think she has a message
for men as well as women?
(crowd shouting loudly)
- "A smaller hand and arm,
"when next to a presented,
"dressed in a full-flowing
white illusion sleeve.
"This was said to belong to
Mr. Plimpton's sister, Mary.
(crowd shouting and booing)
"The blossoms were then distributed
"between Mr. And Mrs. Plimpton,
"each receiving a tiny bouquet
from the hand of the spirit.
"The hand then waved, bid adieu,
"and while doing so,
"the slate was projected by another hand,
"upon which were written
the words goodbye."
(crowd shouting loudly)
- [Crowd] We want Verena!
We want Verena!
We want Verena!
We want Verena!
We want Verena!
We want Verena!
We want Verena!
We want Verena!
We want Verena!
We want Verena!
We want Verena!
We want Verena!
- I have never seen anything like this!
What the hell are they doing in there?
This thing has gone on far enough.
- They're perfectly good-natured--
- Why isn't she up there now?
- Oh, it's her father
who's up there.
- [Music Hall Official] If
you don't open up this door,
I'm gonna smash it down!
- Wait, please.
I'll see you tomorrow, if
you'll only go away now.
Let me go out there.
It's only for an hour.
- [Basil] No, you're mine.
You can't take an hour out of it.
- Is anyone aware that
every quarter of a second
is worth $500?
- They can have their money back!
Can't you give them back their money?
- Verena Tarrant, you don't mean to say
you're going to back down?
- Leave us alone.
Leave us alone for a single minute.
Just let me speak to him
and it'll be all right.
Olive?
(dramatic music)
As soon as I saw you , I was paralyzed.
I knew that if I tried to speak,
I'd be the most dreadful failure.
It isn't too late.
Let me go out there.
Please.
Where will we go?
What will we do?
- We shall take the
night train for New York.
In the morning, we'll be married.
- [Olive] I will take her place.
- Are you going to speak?
You can't go out there.
- Ladies and gentlemen,
colleagues and friends,
Miss Verena Tarrant is unable
to speak to us tonight.
(hoofbeats clopping)
What I want to say to you is
that when there is a great cause,
the individual is of no account.
You've come to hear not the
voice of one individual,
however sweet, however harmonious,
but the cry of all women,
past, present and future.
And like the great William
Lloyd Garrison said
in his fight against slavery,
I say we will be as harsh as truth,
as uncompromising as justice.
On this subject, we will not think
or speak or write with moderation.
We will not excuse,
we will not equivocate,
we will not retreat a single inch,
and we will be heard.
(crowd applauding)
(dramatic classical music)