10x18 - Otis

[bunniefuu]

in the sky

a piece of the pie

in the kitchen

on the grill

in the big leagues

It's you and me, baby

with that

in the sky

a piece of the pie

That'd be .,
Mr. Jefferson.

Oh, thanks, Otis.

Here you go.

Keep the change.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you now.

By the way, Mr. Jefferson,
you're mighty sharp
this evening.

Oh, thank you.

Uh-uh. Now tell me, what
did you do wrong now?

Oh, nothing, Otis.
Didn't I tell you I got
that interview tonight?

Uh, no. What kind of
interview?

Regal Magazine.
Ain't you ever heard
of Regal Magazine?

No.
It's a black magazine.

It deals with successful
black people.

In fact, they're even
thinking about putting
my picture on the cover.

Why, shut your mouth!

I'm serious.

So when you see a bunch
of women over there fighting
by June Bug's stand,

you better hurry over there
and grab a copy before
they're all sold out.

I'll be first in line.

GEORGE: All right.

Hey, Mr. Jefferson.

Oh, hello there, Amanda.
How's it going?

Everything is beautiful.
Oh, you sure is sharp today.

Yeah, well, you know me.

Uh-oh. What you
done wrong now?

Nothing. What's the
matter with everybody?

Can't somebody get dressed
up without having done
something wrong?

No.

Uh...

Excuse me, Otis.

It's all right, baby.

The way you look,
you can bump me anytime.

Mm!

So like I was saying,
Otis...

Oh, oh, oh, yeah, yeah.

Anyway. They're supposed
to come over here
and take pictures

of my employees
in my store.
Mmm-hmm.

You wanna be in them?
Oh, come on, Mr. Jefferson,
I don't work for you.

So what? You've been around
here longer than I have.

I know they
wanna talk to you.

Me? Why would anybody
wanna know about me?

Well, nothing. But they
wanna know about me.
Oh.

Now see, now look, my
employees, they're gonna say
anything, 'cause I pay them.

But I want them to hear the
truth from a close personal
friend who loves me for me.

I agree.
You got any of them?

Come on, Otis,
it'll be fun.

Oh, Mr. Jefferson,
I, I, I can't. I mean,
what is there I could say

about you that ain't
already been said,
especially by you.

What difference does it make?
Just say whatever
pops into your mind.

I'll tell you what.
I'll write it all out for you.
How's that?

No, I'll tell you what.

If it makes you look
good, I'll do it anyway
in spite of you.

Great, okay. I'll see you
here : tomorrow
morning. Later.

Good enough. See you
tomorrow, Mr. Jefferson.
Good luck.

Oh, Louise, did you see
the pictures in here of the
Ellis Estate in Connecticut?

Aren't they fabulous?

Yes, I did.
They're beautiful.

Oh, gee, it must be
great to have
enough money

to build your own
private world,
somewhere to escape to.

To get away from the noise,
the people, the aggravation.

But, dearest,
what about our
house on Cape Cod?

Yeah. But nobody
knows about that.

Well, I'm ready.

Miss Jefferson,
what do you think
about these earrings?

Oh, they're all right.
Why?

They're just so old fashioned.

I mean, they don't say
nothing.

This is the first time
my picture's gonna be
in a magazine,

and I'm stuck
with these earrings.

Well, Florence, if you really
hate them so much, why
on earth did you buy them?

I didn't. They're yours.

Oh, this is so exciting.

Imagine a cover story
on George in a magazine
like Regal.

Oh, it sure is gonna be
inspirational for people
to read about

a street kid from
Harlem who made
good for a change.

Speaking of Harlem,
shouldn't Mr. Jefferson
be back by now?

Oh, don't worry about him.
George wouldn't miss this
for the world.

Believe me.

Well, I don't blame him.
When they did that little
piece on my promotion

in the New York Times,
it was the greatest single
moment of my life.

Tom, are you forgetting
about our wedding night.

Oh, it was okay.

Didn't make the
Timesthough.

That's because there
are no funnies
in the New York Times.

Uh, Helen, when the
interviewer gets here,
please remind me to mention

about the Help Center's new
arts and crafts exhibition.

The children worked on it
so hard this year.

Don't worry, Louise.
Just consider it mentioned.

Ha! If Mr. Jefferson
let's you all get
a word in edgewise.

But it's a ,-word
article.

I've heard him use that
many calling up the time
and the temperature.

Well, you just leave
George to me.

This might be the only time
the Help Center will get
any coverage like this

and I don't intend
to miss it.

Besides, I'm sure
George won't mind.

Oh, of course not.

But you know,
formal interviews

actually have a humbling
effect on most people.

I have a feeling
that George, for the
first time in his life,

might just come up
totally speechless.

Oh, yeah. You get used
to being a sex object
in this business.

I mean, look,
women bring me
their lingerie.

What am I gonna say?
No?

But then again I had
a feeling about the Susan
B. Anthony dollar, too.

Hey, Weez, look who I
ran into downstairs
in the lobby.

Dave Carter from
Regal Magazine.

My wife, Louise Jefferson.
How do you do?

Sister.

This is Helen Willis.

Sister.
Enchante.

Uh, Florence Johnston.
Oh, yes, sister.

And Helen's husband Tom.

Brother.

God, thank you.

No problem. Now, first of
all, I'd like to apologize,
Mrs. Jefferson.

We had planned on
taking a few pictures
first,

but my photographer
ran into a little problem,
so he'll be running late.

Oh, that's all right.
Would you like some
champagne before we start?

Or some hors d'oeuvres?

Oh, yes,
a little champagne
would be nice.

Coming right up.

What made you decide to do a
feature on George and Louise
to begin with, Mr. Carter?

Well, quite simply because
they personify the image

that Regal Magazine
is looking for.

Black, contemporary,
upwardly mobile.

In other words, people who
have succeeded in breaking

the stereotypical molds that
have been cast, not only
by the media in general,

but I'm sorry to say,
that have also been
perpetuated

by some of our
very own periodicals.

What's he talking about?
George did all that?
Oh, yeah.

You see, the point is,
we're trying to accentuate
the positive here.

The new, the cultured.

And those are all the things
the Jeffersons represent.

They're what's happening.
So to speak.

You're gonna miss me when
I'm gone, Weez.

Thank you.
And again, Mrs. Jefferson,

I'd really like to apologize
for the absence
of my photographer.

Believe me, I know
what an inconvenience
this must be to you.

Especially tonight
of all nights.

Oh, why? What's tonight?

Why it's the opening of
Monet Ashton's new play,
Beyond The Rain,

at the Black Repertory
Theater.

Well, of course,
you're going, aren't you?

I mean, it's been sold
out for weeks.

Oh.

Beyond The Rain?
Is that tonight?

Weezy, I thought you
told me it was next week.

Oh, oh no, it's tonight.

Now the Jumee Aboobookar's
showing of east African

tapestries will be opening
a week from tonight.

That's right. Every time
Ashton and Aboobookar's
are in town...

...it throws me.

Well, I'll try and speed
things along as best I can.

Now, Mrs. Jefferson...

Thank you.

Let's see. You were born
in New York City

and your maiden name
is Mills.

Is that correct?
Yes, that's correct.

Say, you wouldn't happen
to be related to Josh Mills,

the famous black composer
of the s.

He wrote Ice House Blues,
and My Time Is Your Time.

ALL: Oh, yes...

I'm afraid not.

Oh. Well, well, then
it must be Russell Mills,
the fashion designer.

Oh...

Nope. Sorry.

I guess I'm just your
every day, regular, old,
run of the Mills.

How about you,
Mr. Jefferson?

Any famous relatives?

No, I'll be the first.

Well, it's really
not important.

It's just that sometimes we
like to put a little hype

behind some of our lesser
known features.
Huh.

It makes the readers
feel more involved.
Uh-huh...

If they wanna get
the readers involved,
Miss Jefferson,

why don't you tell them
about the Help Center?
LOUISE: Oh...

Oh, you're involved with that?
Please, tell me all about it.

Oh, well, the Help
Center, it's a non-profit
organization.

Oh, oh. Oh, wait a
minute, wait a minute.

Help Center? I thought
you said Health Center.

It's a new spa some brothers
opened up on Eighth Avenue.

I'm sorry.

No, this is the
Help Center.

You see...

Oh, but getting back to
the article, Mr. Jefferson,

what I want from you...

Well, all of you, really,
are stories and little
antidotes about life style.

Well, that's why I was
telling you about
the Help Center.

You see, we...
Entertaining stories,
Mrs. Jefferson.

You know, the kind of stories
our readers can get into.

For instance, Mr. Jefferson
tells me that not long ago

you actually ran into
Sammy Davis Junior.

What was he like?
Oh, fine. But what
I'm really...

Hey, wait a minute.
You want entertaining
stories about me?

Ha, I know just the guy.

This guy knows more
about me...

Oh, now, George, I...

Not you, Willis.
I'm talking about Otis.

Oh, is he another friend
of yours?

Yeah. He's a shoe shine
man in front
of my Harlem store.

Now if you wanna
be entertained...

Uh, just a second,
Mr. Jefferson.

Did you say this was
a shoe shine man?

Yeah, that's right.
Weez, you remember old
shoe shine Otis, right?

Everybody remembers Otis.

Uh, uh, excuse me a minute,
Mr. Jefferson.

May I speak to you
for a moment?

Yeah, sure. Why?

Mr. Jefferson, do you
realize that we're gonna be
sh**ting outside of your

Harlem store tomorrow?

Yeah. So?
So this Otis character,
I mean,

you're not seriously
thinking about letting him
stay there, are you?

Why not?
Well, he's a...

...shoe shine man.

So what's wrong with that?

Mr. Jefferson, we just went
through all this, didn't we?

I mean, how's it gonna
look if we do a cover
sh*t of your store

with some old shoe shine man
shuffling back and forth
in front of it?

Oh, no, Otis ain't like that.
He's a nice guy.

He's a stereotype,
Mr. Jefferson.

A handicap. He's exactly
the kind of person the media
uses as a modern day

bull whip to keep the
rest of us in our place.

But he's just...
Don't get caught up in
that mentality, brother.

Remember, image, man.
Image.

Yeah, but look,
I already told him he could
be in the interview.

What am I supposed
to tell him now?

Well, uh,
I guess that depends
on where your

priorities are,
Mr. Jefferson.

I'm sure
you'll work it out.

Okay. Now,
Sammy Davis Junior.

Tell me, was this
a chance meeting

or is he a close personal
friend of yours?

Hey, Mr. Jefferson.
Hey, Otis, thank God
you're still here.

I do, Mr. Jefferson,
every day.

No, no. That's not what
I meant. I meant...

Oh, now, man, I'm just
messing with you.

Hand me that other shoe.

Yeah, sure, here you go.
What are you doing around
here this time of night?

Your store's just been
closed about half an hour.

Yeah, I know, Otis,
I came to talk to you.

See, look you gotta promise
you won't say nothing till
I'm finished, okay?

I got a little bad news.

Oh, man, you talk
about bad news.

Now you take
my wife without...

No, no, hold it,
hold it, hold it, hold it.

Remember that interview
I was telling you about
for tomorrow?

Yeah?
Well, I had to cancel.

Man, I thought you had
some bad, bad news.

I wasn't studying about
that mess anyhow.

No, you see, there's more
to it than that.

Uh, I'm gonna have
to ask you to move.

Move? Move where?

Look, it's only
for one day, Otis.

Man, I'm about...

Hold it, hold it!
You promised you'd let
me finish.

Okay? Look,
this isn't easy for me
either, you know.

I mean, I was gonna come
down here and lie to you,
try to trick you into leaving.

But I respect you too much
for that, you know?

So I figured it's better if I
came down here in person
and told you the truth,

it'd be better than somebody
else coming along and
telling you something else.

Oh, I see. All right, well,
what is the truth?

Well, the truth is,
this sidewalk, it's haunted.

Haunted?
Yeah, it's true, Otis.
I'm telling you.

See, it all started back
during the time when the
Pilgrims bought Manhattan

from the Indians
for dollars in beads.
Mmm-hmm.

See most of the Indians
sold because in those days,

dollars in beads
went a long way.

Oh, yeah,
I remember that.

Oh, oh.

So anyway,
there was this one tribe
that didn't wanna sell.

And they were called
The Harlem Indians.
Mmm-hmm.

See, things were real tough
for the Harlem Indians.

I mean, it was tough
for them to find work.

Tough to find
a place to live.
Mmm-hmm.

And people were scared
when they had to cross
th Street.

Which was then called
the th Trail.
Oh, yes.

So eventually the Pilgrims
evicted them, right?
Mmm-hmm.

But the Chief,
who used to live right here,
put a curse on the place.

Mmm-hmm.
So now once every
few years,

he comes back
and goes after
whoever it is

that's standing
on his property.

That's me?
Oh, then you know
this story.

Great. Then I'll see
you in a week. Later.

Oh, no, hold it,
Mr. Jefferson.

What's wrong now?
You need help, son,
pretty bad.

Come up here
and talk to me for a while.

Oh, man, Otis.

Now the first question is,
about what time was it that
you stopped thinking

I had good sense?

Come on, don't put me
through this.

Can't you just move
because I asked you?
It's only for tomorrow.

It's got something to do with
that magazine, ain't it?

Magazine? What magazine?
My magazine?

The magazine I was telling
you about? Oh.

Well, yeah.

What about it?
Well, they wanna
photograph the Chief.

Oh, no,
don't start that.

I don't need no more
talk about no more
Harlem Indian.

Okay, okay. Okay, there
ain't no Chief, all right.
Ah...

Well, the truth is, um,
well, they sort of feel

that you just don't present
the right image. That's all.

Uh-huh.

Look, it's not my doing.
I'm the one that wanted you
in the interview, remember?

Oh, yeah. Now did they
say what it was about me

that don't set right
with them?

No. Well, you know,
so I just figured

it's probably because
you were a shoe shine man.

Oh, oh,
a shoe shine man.

Leroy, June Bug, now come
over here and dig this
and check this out.

Oh, come on, Otis, man, you
gotta understand where this
magazine is coming from.

I mean, they are trying to
present a positive side

of black people
for a change, you know.

So, uh-huh, I see.
And according to them
I ain't a positive image

'cause shoe shining
ain't positive.

No. Just stereotypical.
Oh, that's all.

Well, man, I was worried
for a while there I wasn't
even black no more.

At least now I can be
colored by reason
of insanity.

Otis, man, I'm not saying
that you're crazy.

All I'm saying is that you are
doing something that everybody
associates with black people.

That's all.
Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm.

And we got lots
of stereotypes.
Yeah.

You know we got, like
eating watermelon, right?

Okay. Like tap dancing.
Uh-huh.

Like we all look
alike, right?

Being poor.
There, there you go.

Being poor.
Well, being poor.

Well, well, that's what
you're all trying
to stay away from, ain't it?

Say, I, I picked up a copy
of that Regal Magazine
at June Bug's stand.

And there ain't no
poor folk in there,
as far as I could see.

Well, yeah, I guess you could
say being poor has stereotyped
us to a certain extent.

Sure.
Well...

That's the way they present us
in the movies, right?

In books and TV.

Yeah, maybe.
What do you mean?
You know they do.

Uh, let me ask you
a question.
What's that?

Who is "they"?
What do you mean,
who is "they"?

You said,
"You know they do."

Well, who, who is "they"?

Who presents it that way?
Black, black folks?

No. White folks.

Oh, and who owns this
magazine that's trying

to move me out of the way?

The same white folks?

No, blacks.

Oh, well then
it looks like to me
that the only "they"

doing the stereotyping
in this case is us.

Say what?

Well, it's a black
magazine, ain't it?

Yeah. So?

Well, then what are you
all trying to hide me from?

Oh, come on, Otis, you're
missing the whole point.

No, I ain't missing
the point.

No, the, the point is y'all
see some old dumb shoe
shine man up there on TV.

And you say, 'Oh, hell,
they're making fun of us.
They're laughing at us.'

They must seen Otis
out there on the street.

And they've got proof
now there's more like that.

Well, that's the way
they think.

Who thought of that? Mine?

sh**t, I'm just trying,
trying to make
a living, man.

What you're all trying to
say is, we're gonna prove
white folks wrong

by saying they're right
in the first place.

No, you're confusing
the issue, Otis.

Oh, no, no I ain't
confusing the issue.

You're confusing the issue.

And that magazine's
confusing the issue.

You're so worried about
somebody maybe feeling
ashamed of you,

that you run right out
and do it for them.

And that's where the
stereotyping comes in.

And ain't nobody doing it
to us but us!

Oh, oh, so I suppose
they're ain't no such thing
as stereotype, right?

Well, I reckon if you
believe anything hard enough,
there can be most anything.

Or maybe not.

You can call June Bug
over here a news boy.

You can call
Mary here a singing
and dancing girl.

I'm a boot flat. And you
ain't doing nothing but
taking in people's laundry.

Mr. Jefferson, look, just
'cause you look like somebody
don't make them a stereotype.

It may make them
unfortunate maybe.

But it don't make them
no stereotype.

Oh, I know what
you're trying to say.

But just 'cause somebody
likes to eat or sing,

shine shoes
to make a living,

don't give you no right
to say that they ain't
a good image.

You ain't got the right.
Neither does that magazine.

Well, I mean, what kind
of image are we supposed
to follow then?

I'm saying there ain't no
one image to follow,
Mr. Jefferson.

There never has been,
never will be.

So what are we
supposed to do?

Make you own image
and follow that.

You see, that's how come we
get ourselves so messed up.

Sitting around waiting
for somebody to tell us
how to think.

To think what's right.

Instead of using
common sense.

Perfect example of that
is what happened here
about years ago.

What was that?

That's when everybody
was running around
wearing their sneakers,

and blowing their
hair out and hollering
about back to Africa.

Yeah, I'm talking
about you, Rudy.

The thing you done.
Yeah, yeah.

Back to Africa.

sh**t, man, you take them
up in the Catskills

and most of them would be
dead in half a week.

Yeah, but, you know,
somebody's saying now,
saying,

"You're all supposed
to do that." They did it.

That was worth being a
black man in them days.

That was the image.

Well, it worked,
didn't it? I mean,
we got more rights.

We did more things.

Man, we, it worked because
we worked together.

Everybody,
rich and poor.

And that's the way it's gotta
always be if you're talking
about survival.

'Cause the minute we start
choosing up sides amongst
ourselves, brother,

that is the last minute
for all of us. Period.

Oh, so you're saying this
magazine is...

Oh, man, I know that
magazine's doing it.

Then how else are we
gonna tell people that we're
making progress, Otis?

You show them.

Look, I, I think it's good
that people know we ain't
all out here shining shoes.

But I am.

And if I ain't ashamed
of it, I don't see why
you should be.

All that does is split us up.

Look, Otis, I didn't mean
to hurt your feelings.
I wasn't...

Oh, listen, listen,
Mr. Jefferson, I know
you didn't mean nothing.

That magazine
don't mean to either.

You all just looking
for answers.

Everybody does. Even me.

Yeah, well, when you find
the answer, would you let
me know?

Look, come on, come on,
I'll, I'll show you
what works for me.

Excuse me.
Excuse me, doll face.

Sit down there.

What's that?
A piece of coral.
I got it from Australia.

So where's the answer?

Well, you see coral
is a little tiny animal
when it's living.

And it looks like fuzz.

In fact, if you don't study
it up real close,

you probably
can't even see it.

Maybe takes, oh,
, of them
to build this much.

And they live in it together.

Probably take them
maybe years
to do this much.

So what are you saying?

Well, down there they got
this Great Barrier Reef. See?

About , miles
long, miles wide.

Probably the largest
structure ever built
in the world.

Larger than
the Great Wall of China?

Oh, yeah, much larger
than that, Mr. Jefferson.

But they did that.

Probably took them
a million years.

Fish ate at them,
storm blew them down
but they kept doing it.

When the old ones d*ed,
new younger ones kept building
right on top of them.

Now, Mr. Jefferson,
if you live like the coral,

you're doing
something then.
Mmm.

Now me, I've, I've been
shining shoes off and on
for years.

But I put two young
ones through college
doing it.

You understand
what I'm saying?

Definitely. Man, I must be
pretty stupid.

No, now, now if that
little coral and little animal
can do all of that,

can you imagine
what we all can do
if we work together?

If we're willing
to work together.

Right. Right! Okay, so, uh,
how, how do we get started?

What do we gotta do?
What's the answer?

Mr. Jefferson, if I knew
the answer, would I be
sitting here shining shoes?

But I'll tell you a secret.

What's that?
Even the black
coral does it.

And they
really look alike.

TOM: Well, actually,

I was upset about being
passed over for king

of the senior prom.

Well, where in the world
is Mr. Jefferson?

I don't know. He said
he was only gonna run
out for a few minutes.

Mmm. Well, it sure
ain't like him.

The photographer is here
and everything.

And Lord knows that child
likes to have
his picture taken.

You can even see him
in the background
on my driver's license.

Well, I don't know
where he went
or what he's doing.

But if I know George,
you can bet he's up to
some mischief.