Alexander Carr

Jimmy MacDonald: It'll be kinda hard to face that... gang, tomorrow morning from behind a desk.
Mr. J.B. Baxter: It would be just as hard to face them from in here, if you didn't *belong* here - uneasy lies the head...
Betty Casey: He *does* belong in here, Mr. Baxter.
Mr. J.B. Baxter: Now what is the joke this time?
Betty Casey: He belongs in here because he thinks he belongs in here, because he thinks he...
Mr. J.B. Baxter: Oh, that's all very deep dish and high fallutin', but from a practical...
Betty Casey: It is practical, Mr. Baxter. It's the most practical idea you ever had. He belongs in here because he thinks he has ideas. He belongs in here until he proves himself or fails and... then... someone else belongs in here until he prove himself or fails and somebody else after that and somebody else after him and so on and so on for always. Oh... I don't know how to... put it into words like Jimmy could, but... all he wanted, all any of them want is a - is a chance to show - to find out what got while they're still young and burning like a short cut or a stepping stone. Oh, I know they're not gonna succeed, at least most of them won't, they'll all be like Mr. Waterbury soon enough, most of them, anyway. But they won't mind it. They'll find something else, and they'll be happy, because they had their chance. Because it's one thing to muff a chance once you've had it... it's another thing never to have had a chance. His name's already on the door.
Mr. J.B. Baxter: [looking to the door] Well, if anything decided me. That would be it.
Betty Casey: Mr. Baxter
[smiling joyously]
Mr. J.B. Baxter: Now you've talked enough. Desks have already been moved and the name is painted on as you so skillfully pointed out, so we'll try it for a *very* short time, you understand? At no advance in salary, you understand?
Jimmy MacDonald: Yes, sir.
Mr. J.B. Baxter: And for a *very* short time.
Jimmy MacDonald: Yes, sir.
Mr. J.B. Baxter: After all, this is a business institution, not a cultural... project.
Jimmy MacDonald: You'll never be sorry

---

Mr. E.L. Waterbury: I've been watching you for some time, Mr. MacDonald.
Jimmy MacDonald: Yes, sir. Used to make me kinda nervous.
[squirms in his shirt]
Mr. E.L. Waterbury: Not nervous any more?
Jimmy MacDonald: No, sir.
[squirms in his shirt]
Mr. E.L. Waterbury: Are you a drinking man, then?
Jimmy MacDonald: Sir?
Mr. E.L. Waterbury: This is part of your yesterday's work. I believe your number's 112.
Jimmy MacDonald: Yes, sir.
Mr. E.L. Waterbury: The Contometer Computing Machine is almost fool-proof, Mr. MacDonald. Yet, you managed to miss your total by a little matter of $11,000 on this one sheet. To what do you attribute that?
Jimmy MacDonald: I... er... I don't know, Mr. Waterbury.
Mr. E.L. Waterbury: You're familiar with simple arithmetic, aren't you ? I mean, you know the difference between addition, subtraction and... possibly even multiplication?
Jimmy MacDonald: Yes, sir.
[incredulous]
Jimmy MacDonald: I'm pretty good at it.
Mr. E.L. Waterbury: Have you troubles at home, then? Ya henpecked? Suffering from a broken heart? Had yer teeth examined lately? Do ya play the races? Or are you purely and simply incapable of doing your work?
Jimmy MacDonald: Well I... I guess it's the contest, Mr. Waterbury - the Maxford House contest. I had no idea it was hurting my work.
Mr. E.L. Waterbury: How much is the prize?
Jimmy MacDonald: The *first* prize is $25,000.
Mr. E.L. Waterbury: Unnh
[smiles ironically]
Mr. E.L. Waterbury: I used to think about $25,000 too, and what I'd do with it. That I'd be a failure, if I didn't get a hold of it. And then one day I realized that I was *never* gonna have $25,000, Mr. MacDonald.
[reflecting]
Mr. E.L. Waterbury: And then another day... uhh... a little bit later - *considerably* later -

---

Mr. J.B. Baxter: Well that sounds very deep dish and high falutin'.

---

read more quotes from Alexander Carr...