Stompin' at the Savoy

Pauline:
[to Esther]... My own grandmother tried to pimp me! She was low, and she was rotten, and I thought she was the lousiest b*tch I ever met - 'til I come up against you.

Paul Rothstein:
[while Alice scrubs the floors] So, where is everybody?

Alice:
[rises from the floor and moves to the sink] Your mother went shopping.

Paul Rothstein:
[moves forward, wrapping his arms around Alice's waist] Alone at last.

Alice:
[recoiling from his touch] Boy, quit! And watch where you're walking. I just scrubbed this.

Paul Rothstein:
Alice, I like you. I really like you.

Alice:
What would your mother do if she was on the other side of that door listening? Probably die. I don't know why you keep bothering me.

Paul Rothstein:
Because I like you. And it doesn't matter that you're colored.

Alice:
[tensely] Not much it don't. I'm light, so to you that makes me better. Still colored, but better. A lot of colored people think that way too, Paul. But I don't.

Esther:
[eyeing Pauline as she enters the salon] What are you doing here?

Pauline:
I couldn't take that woman and her uniform no more.

Esther:
You lose your job?

Pauline:
Mmm-hmm.

Esther:
Oh, well, what you gonna do?

Pauline:
I don't know. Find another woman. Maybe retire to Florida. [laughs]

Pauline:
[Angrily marches into Esther's shop and slams the door] You got it all, huh? You just HAD to have him, too?

Esther:
[Quietly] You want to talk about this another time?

Pauline:
[Knocking several materials off of Esther's counter] No, I don't want to talk about it another TIME! You couldn't have cared nothing about him, so why?

Esther:
[Sharply] I DON'T think you want to talk about this now...

Pauline:
And I think you better answer me now!

Esther:
Fine. You want an answer?

Pauline:
Yes!

Esther:
[Moving over to the front window and pointing down the block] Well, just look up and down every street in Harlem!

Pauline:
Look at what?

Esther:
Winos, whores, old people shouting to God and talking to themselves, raggedy and poor, asking for a handout is NOT going to happen to me!

Pauline:
Money. That's all you see. That's ALL you care about!

Esther:
I'm not gonna end up like Alice and Dorothy, waiting for some man to take care of me!

Pauline:
[Loudly] You got the NERVE to stand there and talk about Alice after what you did with that number?

Esther:
I didn't do nothing. The money was mine. *I* played the number.

Pauline:
It would have made SUCH a difference if you'd only given her part of the money!

Esther:
[Coldly] Well, I didn't.

Pauline:
[In disbelief] Damn. You're just like my grandmother. There wasn't nothing she wouldn't do for a dollar. And when she got old and played out, she sold liquor and that's why she kept me around. So men would come up and buy liquor! My own grandmother tried to pimp me! She was low, and she was rotten, and I thought she was the lousiest b*tch I ever met - 'til I come up against you.

Calvin:
I don't have a spot for a singer. Just a hat check girl.

Pauline:
[Rolls her eyes and sighs in annoyance]

Calvin:
Well, don't kill yourself thanking me.

Pauline:
I will when I have something to thank your for.

Calvin:
Little girl, stop playing with me.

Pauline:
[Staring directly into Calvin's eyes] I'm not a little girl, and when I start playing with you, you won't want me to stop.

Pauline:
What you know good, Alice?

Alice:
Hey, Pauline.

Pauline:
When I ask you what you know good, don't be giving me no countrified "Heeeeey!"

Esther:
Are you picking on Alice again?

Alice:
She keep it up, and she'll have me talking all "dicty" like her.

Pauline:
No one could ever call me "dicty." I just don't want you to sound like you caught the last train out of the cotton fields!

Esther:
[Rolling her eyes] Well, everybody wasn't lucky enough to be born in the Big Apple like you, Pauline.

Pauline:
I'm gonna get sick Saturday and see about Amateur Night at the Harlem Opera House.

Alice:
That's where Ella Fitzgerald got started.

Pauline:
Well, then, I guess it's good enough for me!

Esther:
[laughing] Yeah, but are you good enough for the opera house?

Pauline:
Would you drop dead, please?