Original subtitles

Darling, you can't expect her voice to be perfect.

I mean, it's been a year.

And after all, we do open Saturday night.

Oh, cut it out, Marla.

She's had a tough time.

Her voice'll be fine by Saturday.

Did I say something nasty?

Oh, dear, and I try so hard.

Sometimes would you try putting yourself

in Barbara Sonderman's place?

I always do.

Sopranos! Oh...!

♪♪

♪♪

It's quittin' time.

How was I, Paul?

Good as you ever were, Barbara.

No, better.

Honey, quit punishing yourself.

It's all there.

You'll be great tomorrow for the dress rehearsal.

How nice to have somebody who really believes in you again.

How long have I been pounding the keyboard for you?

- Five years. - It's more like six.

Baby, we all get scared.

Talent, it's a mystery.

But you've got it.

Saturday night you'll have 'em all cheering.

They'll need an extra dressing room for the flowers.

- I guarantee it. - Thanks, Paul.

- Bye-bye. - Bye.

♪♪

What is it, Barbara?

- Andy! - What's wrong?

You okay, Miss Sonderman?

Uh, yes, fine, Grady.

I thought I heard a shot.

- A shot? - Yeah, in the theater.

No, I just knocked over a lamp.

Yeah? Well, it sounded like a gun to me.

The bulb exploded.

We don't want anything happening to you.

Nothing will happen to me, Grady.

My contract doesn't allow it.

With a spirit like that, Saturday's got to be

- your lucky night. - Thank you.

Barbara... what did happen out there?

I think somebody tried to kill me.

Good morning, Peggy.

Good morning, Joe.

- Oh, Brownie called. - Yeah? Any luck?

She said the opera's been sold out for over a month,

but she managed to scare up one ticket

for opening night Saturday.

Good old Brownie.

She said you wouldn't think so when you got her bill.

Not this time... It's worth it to see

Barbara Sonderman's first performance in over a year.

There's only one thing, Joe.

You'll be seeing her before that.

- Meaning what? - She called you.

Barbara Sonderman?!

- Carmen herself. - About what?

She didn't say; she just said it was important.

And I take it you accepted for me.

Joe, I know how much you love opera...

and beautiful women.

You know, after all these years, Peggy,

you're really getting to know me.

You're due in her dressing room at 3:00.

She's having a rehearsal now.

Meanwhile, I, uh, did a rundown on the lady.

Some gal... A string of broken hearts

from Rome to London and all points west.

So I've heard.

Joe...

Los Angeles is still open.

I'll try to be careful.

♪♪

Okay, folks, now, tomorrow we're gonna have two rehearsals...

10:00 in the morning, 2:00 tomorrow afternoon.

Please be on time for both, will you?

Thank you very much.

Who is it?

Joe Mannix.

Oh, yes.

Come in, please.

Hello, Mr. Mannix.

Miss Sonderman.

I always thought private detectives

wore felt hats and pencil moustaches.

Well, I could send out for them.

That won't be necessary.

Actually, Miss Sonderman, I didn't expect to see you

until Saturday night.

You're coming to the opening?

Yes.

A private detective who goes to opera?

Unless there happens to be a hard rock concert at the Bowl.

Would it bother you if I changed while we talk?

Not at all.

I hope you won't be disappointed on Saturday.

I used to be a very good Carmen...

before I stopped singing.

Why did you stop?

My voice started to go.

You have any idea what that means to a singer, Mr. Mannix?

Some.

Death.

Like an early death.

Hm.

Miss Sonderman, uh... you didn't call me here

because you've had trouble with your voice.

No.

Yesterday, after the run-through,

someone tried to kill me.

Kill you?

I was alone on stage.

There was a shot.

It just missed me.

Did you call the police?

- No. - Why not?

It's been a long year.

I've waited a long time.

I've got my voice back,

and I want my return Saturday night

to be the best performance of my career.

I'm not going to have it postponed

or cancelled for anything.

Not even if your life's in danger?

The only life I have, Mr. Mannix, is singing.

Do you have any idea who shot at you?

None.

How about Karl Henning?

What have you been reading?

Back issues... Newspapers, magazines.

Publicity.

Waste of a lot of good trees.

Not all of it.

You graduated from high school

and you went to study

with an internationally known voice coach.

You had your operatic debut in Carmen at La Scala.

Great success.

"The best young soprano in years."

Well, that's what Newsworld said.

And then, uh, along came Karl Henning.

What did Newsworld say about Karl?

He had too much money;

you had too much temperament... boom!

Boom is right.

We kept exploding in each other's face.

That was a long time ago, and I haven't seen Karl in years.

And, you know, if he shot at me...

it was an awfully delayed reaction.

Hm.

Does anybody else know about the shooting?

Andrew Jordan.

He should be waiting outside.

I advised her to go to the police, Mr. Mannix.

I still think she should.

What Andy is, is, um...

well, I guess you could say he's my honorary uncle.

I've known Barbara since she was a child.

In Santa Marina; that's a little town up north.

He's an investment banker.

But I'm his real investment... aren't I, Andy?

She has a great gift, Mr. Mannix.

I heard her sing the first time

the day she graduated from Santa Marina High.

16, and all legs.

Oh-ho-ho, all voice, my dear,

right from the start.

It was Andy who persuaded my father

to send me to Rome to study.

She would have withered in Santa Marina.

Poor Daddy, he...

he thought singing was all right for a girl,

if she did it in the kitchen while she cooked.

Your father was a policeman, as I remember.

Cop.

Daddy always said he was a small-town cop.

He never even heard me sing.

Andy was going to bring him to Italy for my debut.

- Now, Barbara... - What happened?

Well, a week before Barbara sang at La Scala,

- her father was killed. - How?

It was a hit-and-run car.

Oh, Barbara!

Ah.

Oh, excuse me.

Hello, Marla.

You were fabulous today.

Absolutely fabulous.

Joe Mannix, my understudy, Marla Vaughan.

Hello.

How do you do?

You know, I heard the wildest rumor last night.

Really?

Of course, I didn't believe a word of it.

I mean, you know people at parties.

I said, "Darling, I know Barbara,

"and she'll open Saturday night,

even if she has to sing on crutches."

Are you with the media, Mr. Mannix?

No.

You look like you're with the media.

Doesn't he, Barbara?

Mr. Mannix is a private detective.

Oh.

Well, then it's true, darling.

What is?

That you're being threatened.

Who told you she was being threatened?

I can't remember exactly, and...

and besides, I was sort of zeroed in on the host.

You remember him, don't you, darling?

Karl Henning?

Somebody shot at Barbara?

At your party last night, somebody told Marla Vaughan

that Barbara was being threatened.

Marla... Oh, yes, Barbara's understudy... in the red dress.

- Or almost in it. - Mm.

She, uh, say who told her about the threat?

She couldn't remember.

She was concentrating on you.

Mr. Mannix, I had over 100 guests at that party.

20 of them I know, the rest are freeloaders.

Can I fix you a drink?

No, thanks.

But I can tell you one thing.

Barbara Sonderman's beautiful, intelligent, a great talent.

We had quite a year together.

It was... what's the word? Unforgettable.

But little old Barbara is also the kind of woman

who would walk through a brick wall

if what she wanted happened to be on the other side.

Mm-hmm.

What would you say is on the other side?

Publicity.

You're saying the shot

at the theatre was a publicity stunt?

If there was a shot.

She didn't call the newspapers.

She's smarter than that.

She hires a detective instead.

But the story will leak.

Sorry, Mr. Henning, but I don't buy that.

That's because you don't know little old Barbara.

But you do, darling, don't you?

Intimately.

Isn't that how you know her?

I was just answering a few questions for Mr. Mannix.

How nice.

Mr. Mannix, this is Angela Talbot, my fiancée.

- How do you do? - Hello.

And how long have you known Barbara, Mr. Mannix?

I met Miss Sonderman for the first time today.

Oh.

Try two days.

Maybe you'll know her intimately, too.

Mr. Mannix is a private investigator, dear.

Oh, is she breaking up somebody's marriage?

Not exactly.

Somebody tried to kill her last night.

Oh.

I take it they missed.

Yes.

Just my luck.

Oh, hey, I'm sorry.

I... I didn't mean that.

I don't want Barbara hurt.

It's just that I'm jealous.

She's famous, smart...

and what am I?

I'm stupidly rich.

And beautiful.

Mr. Mannix,

Angela and I are getting married next month.

It's going to be a good marriage,

and a happy one.

And that's what Barbara can't stand...

Someone else's happiness.

So, you can tell her for me,

if she tries to break this up, I will stop her.

I'll stop her dead.

Peggy, uh, Angela Talbot... Check her out...

Root, branch and bank account.

Right.

Oh, and, uh, Karl Henning, too.

Henning?

With two yachts and a jet, I'd say he's rich.

Well, find out how rich.

I'll be back in a couple of minutes.

You just got here.

Ever since I left the Music Center,

somebody's been following me.

He's outside.

I'm going out the back way.

Keep looking straight ahead.

Hey, I'm clean. What is this?

You've been tailing me all day... why?

I've been thinking about buying a new car like yours.

You better talk straight,

or you won't be talking at all for a while.

Who are you? Easy.

Anthony Spinner.

That's right, Mannix.

I'm one of the tribe.

Private eye like you, bonded and all.

This is an Illinois license.

I like the California sunshine.

Who hired you to follow me?

Karl Henning.

Henning? Why?

He likes to know exactly

who's hanging around with his girlfriend.

Angela Talbot?

I said girlfriend.

She's the bride.

Then who?

Barbara Sonderman.

Who was it, Joe?

Someone with bad news.

What kind of bad news?

According to our friend out there,

my client's been holding back on me.

Who is he?

His I.D. said he was a private investigator.

But you think he's a phony.

Anthony Spinner, Illinois.

Check him out, Peggy.

Right.

What exactly did he say, Joe?

Well, that Barbara Sonderman and Karl Henning

still have that old flame burning,

only this time in... secret.

And you believe him?

I'm trying not to.

Why don't you ask the lady her side of the story?

Yeah, call her, Peggy.

Tell her I want to see her.

It's important, huh?

Right.

Joe...

you really like her, don't you?

That's right, Peggy.

I don't care what he told you.

He's lying.

I'm not Karl Henning's girl.

I'm not his anything.

Spinner's a hired hand.

He's a private detective like I am.

What's his percentage in lying?

Ask him.

Does Karl Henning hate you?

Karl's a gambler.

He doesn't hate.

He calculates.

He's got the idea that you're trying

to break up his engagement to Angela Talbot.

Are you?

Leave me alone.

I've answered enough questions.

You're paying me to do a job.

I'm trying to do it.

Are you trying to break them up?

What for?

He's welcome to Angela... and her money.

- I've an idea he needs it. - Why?

'Cause he's drawn pretty thin.

Oh, they're not about to repossess his yacht,

but Angela Talbot's family represents a lot of ready cash.

And he's not going to let anything rock his marriage.

Are you trying to say it might have been Karl

who fired that shot at me... to scare me off?

It's possible.

It's also ridiculous.

Now look, Barbara, somebody pulled that trigger.

There has to be a reason.

I'm tired, I've had a long day,

and I've got an early rehearsal.

Sure.

Joe?

I'm sorry.

I don't get angry at people I don't care about.

I like you.

Very much.

From the second you walked into my dressing room

without a felt hat and a pencil moustache.

Maybe I was a little rough on you, Barbara, but...

somebody wants you dead, and I've got to find out why.

Okay?

Okay.

Now, uh,

during this year, did anything happen,

when you stopped singing, that could explain the shot?

Nothing I know of.

I hid.

I pulled the shades down and sat... alone.

I tried to put my life together again.

How?

Writing about it.

My own autobiography, sort of.

One or two publishers have asked to see it.

Mm-hmm.

Would there be anything in it somebody wouldn't want known?

You mean juicy?

Mm-hmm.

No.

Just my own personal history.

Santa Marina, my father,

La Scala, Rome.

Could I see it?

If you can read my handwriting.

It's in my desk.

Who is it?

Andy.

Oh, Andy!

Just stopped by on my way to the airport.

Good evening, Mr. Mannix.

Jordan.

You're not leaving town.

What about the opening Saturday?

Oh, I'll be back in time.

Wouldn't miss it for the world.

I've got some business to take care of.

Um, any progress?

Loose ends.

Well, I still think Barbara should go to the police.

Now can't you convince her of that?

She never listens to any advice I give her.

Only financial, Andy.

He may be right, Barbara.

This guy's a real pro.

Wore used hiking boots, oversized.

No way of tracing the footprints.

Yeah, it figures.

You want me to leave a man behind,

just to make sure nothing happens to Miss Sonderman?

No, thanks. I've, uh, got a better idea.

Joe, I think I ought to call the maestro

or Grady or somebody to take...

No, Barbara, you cannot call the maestro

or the company manager.

Now, if nobody knows where you are for the time being,

you'll be safe, hm?

Anything else, Joe?

Mm...

Yes, Peggy, yeah.

You can go home.

He's stubborn and opinionated, Miss Sonderman.

But listen to him.

He's right an awful lot of the time.

I will.

Good night.

- Thanks, Peggy. - Good night, Peggy.

You know, I guess it's just beginning

to sink in for the first time.

Somebody really does want me killed.

I don't think so.

Well, Joe, a firebomb was thrown at me tonight.

Not at you.

But I was shot at, wasn't I?

But you weren't hit.

Luck.

No, it wasn't luck.

I'm beginning to think that that firebomb was meant for the desk,

not you.

They don't want you dead,

just frightened.

But why?

Barbara...

was the manuscript in your desk

the only copy you had?

Yes.

But I told you, it was mostly about myself.

Barbara...

you can't write a book about a life like yours

and not involve other people.

You're not an island, you're populated.

Somebody didn't want that book published.

Why?

Let's start back a little.

Now, you, uh... you said your father was a cop.

And he was killed by a hit-and-run driver

about a week before you opened at La Scala.

Yes.

I loved him, Joe.

He didn't know anything about opera, or art,

and La Scala might have been a place they made pizza but...

everything he had, he gave me.

And that included, beside his love,

every penny he had.

Mm. To study in Italy?

Mm-hmm.

$10,000.

Everything he had in his pension fund.

How long was your father on the police force in Santa Marina?

Mm, eight years.

I think we'd better go up there.

To Santa Marina?

Mm-hmm.

The arrow keeps pointing in that direction.

North.

I sent for the files, Miss Sonderman.

I really didn't have to.

I remember the circumstances clearly.

You see, I handled the details personally.

It's a tragedy, you know.

Your dad was really well-liked.

Chief, you were the one that notified Miss Sonderman...

and arranged about the money?

Yeah, his pension fund.

What was left after the funeral expenses.

I figured you'd want it done right.

Oh, yes, of course.

You were very kind, thank you.

It cost only a little more than $500, but still it was nice.

I sent you the rest.

Everything left in the pension fund.

That's after the $10,000 was withdrawn.

What $10,000?

Well, the money my father took out of the pension fund,

two months before he died.

There must be some mistake, Miss Sonderman.

There was little less than $2,600

in your dad's pension account.

That's all the money he had?

As far as I know.

Joe, you knew, didn't you?

We came up here because of that $10,000.

It was just too much for a policeman to accumulate

in a pension fund in eight years.

You mean... honestly.

There's no way that money could have

come out of that pension fund, Barbara.

Now if it didn't,

if it was blackmail or a payoff,

it would explain maybe why you've been pressured,

maybe even why your father was killed.

You didn't know my father.

He wouldn't have touched that kind of money.

Maybe not to buy a set of golf clubs or a big car.

But, uh, for you... he just might have.

Me?!

Yeah, he had a kid,

a kid with a rare gift.

Somebody must have said: "Nils, that daughter of yours,

"she's got a golden voice and a big future

if you can get her to Europe to study."

Futures are expensive.

He didn't have the money to bankroll it.

So he did something he'd never done

in all his years as a cop.

He took.

They waved money in front of him and, uh...

he took.

What did he have to sell?

Well, I don't know, Barbara.

But whatever it was,

I think it could be the reason he was killed.

We pay, don't we?

Sooner or later, the man comes along...

he collects.

It happened right here, stretch of road,

eight, nine miles outside of town.

What was Sonderman doing out there?

Looking for a runaway boy.

Jeffrey Blake.

Nils, I guess, figured the kid was hitchhiking.

Evidently he stopped the car for some reason,

got out, started across the road.

From here to here.

Then what happened?

I figure the hit-and-run came from here,

speeding around the curve, hit Nils at this point.

What about the boy?

Turned out he was already on his way back home.

One of those bad breaks.

Yeah.

Could I see the file on the case, Sergeant?

Sure.

It's right over here.

You know, we conducted an investigation.

There wasn't anything.

A hit-and-run, that's all that turned up.

And a dead cop.

Huh.

"Local Police Officer Hit-and-Run Victim".

I did a piece myself on all those cars coming

lickety-split off that road Henning built out there.

Karl Henning?

Right.

Where did the road go?

Out into the marsh.

Henning had a geologist's report that

under the marsh there was oil.

Was there?

No.

But it took a pile of money to put that road in.

Word got around Henning was running pretty tight on cash

before he quit drilling, and he was having trouble

getting financing for it.

But it didn't last.

Money came in from somewhere.

But the talk was,

the money had a smell to it.

Hmm.

Uh... what kind of smell?

Underworld.

Henning isn't a man to be particular.

A year later he found oil in the channel,

got his leases cleared, and he was back in business.

Now the town's cheering him on.

Everybody's figuring to be rich, fat,

and happy as a clam on a windy day.

Then it was mainly Henning's cars

using the road where Nils Sonderman was killed?

That's right.

Yeah.

Sonderman was looking for a runaway boy that day...

Jeffrey Blake.

Do you know if Blake is still living here in town?

Jeff? Why, sure.

He's working for Henning Enterprises.

Been three, four years now.

Hm.

Well, thank you, Mrs. Kramer.

No... Ms.

Got to keep with it.

Of course.

Can I help you, Mister?

Yes. I was told I could find Jeff Blake

here at this loading area.

Is he around?

Sure thing.

I'd like to talk to him.

Not on company time.

Chuck... it's all right.

I'll vouch for Mr. Mannix.

Sure thing, Miss Talbot.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm. Isn't Santa Marina a little bit

out of your territory, Mr. Mannix?

Well, when I'm working on a case, I cover a lot of ground.

Is Mr. Henning around?

No, he's in Sacramento for the day.

I'm Jeff Blake.

Oh, Jeff, this is Mr. Mannix.

He's a private investigator.

He's representing a friend of ours.

So answer all his questions, hm?

Sure, Miss Talbot.

Shoot, Mannix.

Jeff, some years ago, you ran away from home

and a local policeman named Nils Sonderman

went looking for you,

got himself killed by a hit-and-run car.

Yeah, that was a real bummer for Sonderman.

I mean, a thing like that happening after he found me.

After he found you?

Well, yeah.

Can you, uh, show me where?

Sure.

You're sure this is where Sonderman picked you up?

Pretty sure.

Yeah.

Look, it was a long time ago.

Things change.

This road's been abandoned

since they built that highway down there.

But, uh... yeah...

Nils found me right about here,

trying to thumb a hitch to Sacramento.

Why Sacramento?

My old man works up there.

I didn't get to see him all that summer,

and I got this idea in my head...

Hike to Sacramento, spend the summer with him.

Pretty dumb, huh?

What was I supposed to do, sit around his office all day?

Anyway, Nils got to me.

Man, he sure fanned my tail for me, too!

For taking off?

More for scaring the daylights out of my mom.

I haven't run away since.

Did, uh, Nils drive you home?

He was about to.

He'd just about convinced me to go back with him.

I started to get in the car,

when another car came along that road.

Right there.

Nils started acting kind of strange.

Because of the car?

Because of the two guys in it, I think.

- Nils knew them. - Did you?

Uh-uh.

Could you describe what either one

of the two men in the car looked like?

Look, Mr. Mannix, I was just thinking

about what was waiting for me at home.

Well, what happened then?

Well...

I remember the car pulled alongside,

and the two guys looked at Nils,

and he said to me, "Go on, Jeff, beat it home.

I got some business to take care of."

Then he kind of give me a shove to get started.

So I took off.

You're sure you can't remember

what either one of the two men looked like?

They just didn't register.

I guess I haven't been too much help to you, huh?

Ah, you been just fine, Jeff.

Let's go.

Hang on, I think we're in trouble.

♪♪

Well, you seem to be in one piece, Mr. Mannix.

You're going to have a sore gut

and a variety of black and blue marks

for a week or so, but that's about the damage.

How is the boy Jeff Blake coming along?

He was banged up pretty badly, but he'll walk out of here, too.

Joe, what are you doing out of bed?

Standing.

Shouldn't he be resting, Doctor?

Not here.

We need the room.

Peggy, I'm fine.

Fine?

Get practically killed, and he's fine.

He was lucky this time.

And I came chasing all the way up here

to sit in on the reading of his will.

Well, you can just chase yourself right back to L.A.

and keep an eye on the store.

I'll see that you get to the airport, Mrs. Fair.

Thank you, Doctor.

And my cab down here comes out of my expense account?

Fine, as long as you get out of here so I can get dressed.

Take care, Joe.

Joe, are you all right?

Fine, I'm just fine, never better.

Andy called me to tell me what happened.

I was so worried.

I heard about it when I got off the plane.

Joe... was it an accident?

About as much of an accident as the one that killed your father.

Mr. Jordan, as one of the leading investment bankers

here in Santa Marina, I imagine you followed

Karl Henning's business career pretty closely.

Yes, I have.

Thank you.

Some years ago, when Henning's oil wells came up dry,

there were some rumors that he was being refinanced

by underworld money.

Joe!

He kept it well hidden, Barbara.

There's no way you could have known.

Is that true?

Why do you ask?

Your local newspaper editor seems to think

there was some heat in all that smoke.

Well, she's not a source I'd go to for accurate information.

However, Henning did approach several people I knew

to arrange a loan.

Bankers here in Santa Marina?

Yes.

Did they stake him?

- No. - Why not?

Well, it appeared Mr. Henning's operating capital had come

from an investment trust in the Midwest.

There were allegations... Unproven, of course...

The trust was an underworld front.

What happened?

They turned Henning's application down.

What did Henning have to say about that?

Oh, he denied having anything to do with the investment trust.

Joe, what does all this have to do with my father?

I think he found out that Henning's money came

from that particular trust.

It was hot money.

They fed it into legitimate businesses.

They invested with speculators like Henning.

I think your father was about to blow the whistle on him,

so they paid him off to keep quiet.

And he took the money for my sake,

to... to give me a career.

I'm afraid so, Barbara.

Maybe that's why they killed him.

Wasn't the kind of motive they could trust.

What do we do now?

Well, Jeff Blake said he saw two men in the car

when he was with Nils.

He didn't recognize either one of them but, uh...

I'm beginning to have an idea who one of them might have been.

Karl Henning.

♪♪

Stay here.

♪♪

Stay here.

He may need help.

♪♪

Hold it, Spinner.

Now lose the gun.

Stop!

Right there!

Oh, thank you, Barbara.

I never meant to kill him.

Oh, Andy, don't blame yourself.

The police understood, it was self-defense.

He would have used that crowbar.

That's why I pulled the trigger.

Sorry, Jordan.

I've been thinking about it.

It just doesn't wash.

What are you talking about?

You.

I think you killed Spinner

before he could point a finger at you.

Joe!

You think I killed him deliberately?

I just couldn't buy Karl Henning being the murderer.

He wouldn't have tried to kill Jeff Blake.

That's where the thinking went all wrong.

But Jeff saw the men my father talked to.

He was a witness.

Isn't that why they tried to kill him yesterday?

Yeah... but they weren't afraid of him

until I showed up and started asking questions.

But Jeff worked for Henning.

He would have known if it was Henning in the car.

How about you, Jordan?

Do you think he might have recognized you?

Andy?!

At least one of the killers had to be from Santa Marina,

had to be the contact man who bribed your father.

Are you saying I gave Nils that $10,000?

That's exactly what I'm saying.

There were two men in that car.

Spinner had to be the second man.

By the way, Jordan, uh...

uh, what does Spinner do

when he's not posing as a private eye?

Syndicate soldier?

Because that bank in Chicago is a Syndicate front.

My guess is that you're representing that bank.

First, my father...

and then you tried...

I never tried to hurt you, Barbara.

What else have I ever had?

I thought I was helping Nils give you what you wanted...

A marvelous life.

Can't you see it was for you?

Did you kill him for me, too?

They didn't trust Nils.

You don't know what they're like.

I tried to convince them.

That's why they sent Spinner here.

And then...

I thought...

with Nils gone...

I'd be all you had.

Can't you see?

All this because of what they thought might be in my book?

They were afraid that your book might start someone thinking.

Why didn't they just kill me?

How long have you been in love with her, Jordan?

Forever.

Thank you.

Beautiful.

Joe, I...

New York, London, Rome, Paris...

We're just on different time schedules.

You couldn't settle for standing in the wings, could you...

waiting for the curtain to fall?

It's not exactly my style.

It's what I have to do.

It's what my father gave his life for.

I know.

Three minutes to overture, Miss Sonderman.

Good-bye, Barbara.

Places, please.

Two minutes to overture.

Come on, kids.

Hurry up.

Better hurry to your seat, Mr. Mannix,

you'll miss Miss Sonderman.

I already do.