tell him I said so

RESUME BARTHA, MRS. BARTHA AND SIDNEY

The THREE SHOT favoring Bartha and Sidney.  Both Sidney and Bartha are now aware of Mrs. Bartha's curiosity.

SIDNEY (pointedly):  Neither does Hunsecker.
(fractional pause) -- He likes to use the real names...

A moment of chill silence.  Then Bartha gets to his feet, signals for a waiter.  As Sidney rises also:

WIFE:  Where are we running?  What am I missing here?

BARTHA:  Waiter, the check.
(to wife):  This man is trying to hold a gun to my head!

WIFE (abruptly):  That's the horse!  Shotgun -- Shotgun in the fifth!

She quickly studies her newspaper again.  As quickly, Bartha leans across the table and snatches it out of her hands.  In doing so, he upsets the glass of champagne, which contains only a few drops.

SIDNEY AND BARTHA

Bartha turns challengingly to Sidney.

BARTHA (sternly):  What do you want to tell my wife, Sidney...?

WIFE

She is brushing her lap with her napkin.

WIFE (indignantly):  He wants to tell me that you poured champagne all over my lap.

RESUME BARTHA AND SIDNEY

Bartha ignores her, again challenges Sidney.

BARTHA:  Go on, tell her, I'm waiting!

SIDNEY (flustered):  What are you talking about?  Are you nuts or what?

The Waiter arrives in picture beside them, puts the check on the table and goes.  Bartha picks it up.

RESUME WIFE

Still mopping her dress with her napkin, she waits for her husband to speak.

BARTHA 

He glances unhappily at his wife.

BARTHA:  Lorry, I can't let this man blackmail me...

MRS. BARTHA, BARTHA AND SIDNEY

A THREE SHOT favoring Mrs. Bartha, her husband and Sidney in foreground.

WIFE:  blackmail...?

Sidney decides to retreat.  He turns, starts to go.  But Bartha blocks his way, holding Sidney and explaining to the Wife.

BARTHA:  He wants me to print a dirty smear item for keeping his mouth shut.

A momentary pause.  Then:

WIFE:  About what?

RESUME BARTHA

He is uneasy, ashamed of himself.

BARTHA:  Foolishly, Lorry, and I hope you'll understand... this cigarette girl...I was kidding around with her...this girl, I mean...I was kidding around and she took it seriously.  It was a case of bad judgment, Lorry, bad taste...and I'm just sorry, Lorry, that's all...

RESUME WIFE

She says nothing.

RESUME BARTHA, SIDNEY AND MRS. BARTHA

The ANGLE favoring Bartha and Sidney, Mrs. Bartha in foreground.  Bartha now turns on Sidney.

BARTHA:  Your friend Hunsecker -- you can tell him for me -- he's a disgrace to his profession.  Never mind my bilious private life -- I print a decent, responsible column -- that's the way it stays!  Your man -- there's nothing he won't print if it satisfies his vanity or his spite!  He'll use any spice to pepper up his daily garbage!  Tell him I said so and that, like yourself, he's got the morals of a guinea pig and the scruples of a gangster!

Sidney tries to brazen it out, sneering:

SIDNEY:  What do I do now?  Whistle "The Stars and Stripes Forever?"

Mrs. Bartha slides along the seat, reaching for her fur.

MRS. BARTHA

CAMERA PULLS BACK with her as she collects her belongings, slides out between the tables and comes forward, passing Sidney to her husband.

WIFE (lightly):  What you do now, Mr. Falco, is crow like a hen -- you have just laid an egg.

She presents her fur to her husband, and turns her back, inviting him to put it around her shoulders.

BARTHA AND WIFE

ANOTHER ANGLE, favoring Bartha.  He has not fully understood the significance of his wife's gesture.  He studies her.  She confirms his hopes as she adds:

WIFE:  Leo, this is one of the cleanest things I've seen you do in years...

With the fur around her shoulders, she turns and takes her husband's arm with some pride.  They walk away.  CAMERA EASES BACK to include Sidney.  He is angry at himself --

 more for the failure of his efforts at blackmail than any sense of shame at the attempt.

-----------------------------
{excerpt, shooting script for Sweet Smell of Success -- released, 1957, director -- Alexander Mackendrick, screenplay written by Ernest Lehman (who also wrote "The Sound of Music" and a bunch of other good ones) and Clifford Odets (acclaimed playwright)}

Nickel-and-dime P.R. desperado "Sidney Falco" is portrayed by Tony Curtis.
After the above encounter, the next hapless New York City newspaper columnist he buttonholes is played by David White, the actor who played Larry Tate, Darrin's boss in "Bewitched." ...

(First time I saw this, in a second-run theater in either Boston or Cambridge, this "columnist" looks up at Sidney Falco from a nightclub booth & inside my head I was like, "It's Larry Tate!  That's Larry Tate!")

-30-