LIBBY: Previously on Masters of Sex...
Herb Spleeb.
"When life kicks you to the kerb, call Herb."
Herb's a divorce lawyer,
very interested in renting office space.
I'm offering you an opportunity
to participate in the work. As a subject.
I can bring men back to life.
I was wondering if you could use my help.
I would like to contribute.
I have secondary impotence.
I can function when I'm by myself.
It's when I'm with a partner...
I'm good at this job.
I know how to make women feel good about themselves.
So do that for me.
Make me feel good.
Mr Tally is a partner
at Williams and Kulick Public Relations.
The two of you come on,
both scientists and yet looking
like the nice couple next door,
and suddenly I trust you.
Us on TV?
Our father was a monster.
But our monster was a sick alcoholic.
You've always been weak.
A gutless, pathetic man.
(BOTH GRUNTING)
(COUGHING)
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
VIRGINIA: It's healing nicely.
Makeup will cover that.
Makeup?
I'm not gonna walk around wearing makeup.
No, for the shoot tomorrow.
Cover it, so you can't see it on camera.
Have you spoken to him since?
Your brother?
I... I wrote him.
Wrote?
I intend to write to him.
He left town, didn't I tell you?
He and Pauline went back to Kansas City.
No, you didn't mention that.
I'm going to make it right with him.
Do you think that's what made the difference the other night?
You were so...
Everything. Upset, angry, repentant.
That you could feel. I mean, really feel...
You were so charged up, blood pumping and...
Virginia, please.
Can we not analyse it?
Yes. Yes, of course. We don't have to talk at all.
Is that what you'd like?
I'd like you to tell me how it was the other night.
For you.
To see you hurt like that, you mean?
No, what happened after that.
The sex.
It was good.
Tell me.
It was very good.
How did I...
How did I feel inside you?
Hard. (GRUNTS)
It's all right, Bill.
It'll happen next time. How do you know?
Because it happened before.
Well, it was clearly not the beginning of an upward trend, Virginia.
It was a blip. An anomaly. Bill.
(SIGHS)
Bill, it's all right.
Really. It's all...
(SIGHS)
She's got you wrapped around her little finger.
She said she was nervous
about taking her Eiffel Tower on the bus.
Daddy.
(GASPS) Wow!
Would you look at that masterpiece?
Your French presentation's today, Bug?
I told you. Twice.
(SIGHS) I'm so sorry, Tessy.
I've had a lot on my mind. (GEORGE CHUCKLES)
Do you have my barrette?
Beret.
And I sure do,
Audrey picked it out.
I'll trade you. Go try it on in the car.
Have a good day, sweetie.
(TESSA SINGING)
Listen, if I could grab you for a minute...
(HENRY GROANING)
You got to make her stop
with that stupid song, Dad.
Help me out, sport, put that in the back seat.
I need a word with your mom.
If you'll let me start the engine?
(CHUCKLES)
Have a good day, Henry.
He told me that you let him drive on Sunday.
It was in a parking lot.
No. I wasn't going to scold you.
I think that it's nice that you're spending so much time with them.
It's Audrey's doing.
She's really encouraged me.
Well, please be sure to tell your wife how grateful I am to her.
(CAR HORN HONKING)
Better go. The natives are getting restless.
Actually, Gini, if you have a sec... I don't.
CBS is sending a camera crew
to interview Bill and me today,
so we can talk later,
when I drop the kids off at your place this weekend?
(SIGHS)
So, what made you choose keys?
Why not a magic shop or a watch repair or something?
It's a business with a lot of foot traffic.
Everyone needs keys, right? Yeah.
And on average, it takes four minutes to make one,
which is pretty much the time it takes
to put down ten bucks on the third race at Fairmont Park.
(LAUGHS) CBS.
CBS is here?
Oh, yeah. They're filming a piece today.
On what?
Don't get your knickers in a knot.
They're way more interested in nookie than in a bookie.
That rhymed. (CHUCKLES)
How's it going?
That's quite a lighting package.
I'm not really sure the building's electrical system's
has got the juice to support it.
We got our own generator. It's downstairs.
They picked up a local crew from the CBS affiliate.
Roger's bringing his own cameraman from New York.
Oh, we were hoping...
Is there a role for Lester in all of this?
Absolutely. Student.
He's going to be learning from some real pros.
Roger Corwin came up the ranks at the network,
worked with all the big guns.
He really knows what he's doing.
I'm not sure I can say the same.
I'm sure that you've had to explain the work dozens of times before this.
Yes, my colleagues in the medical profession
who have a basic understanding of the science.
Bill, to be fair, also to members of the board,
who needed things spelled out in layman's terms.
That was your forte, not mine. We did it together.
Well, the task here is much the same,
capture the layman's interest.
You have to be personable enough
to make the audience want to invite you into their home.
Like Fuller Brush men.
They're not the only ones who know that a smile
and some direct eye contact make all the difference.
Ask anybody who heard the first debate on the radio,
and they'll tell you Nixon took it on substance.
But the polls of television viewers
shows that Kennedy came out ahead.
Why? Because of that smile,
that confidence, that twinkle in his eye.
Now, wouldn't you rather spend the next four years looking at him
than some sweaty Dick Nix...
What is that on your cheek?
Oh, I got into a scrape.
Are you wearing concealer? Um...
Okay, never mind. We'll have the makeup man take a look at it later.
And may I ask...
Would you be open to wearing a different tie?
What's wrong with this one?
Bill always wears a bow tie.
It's not a fashion choice.
It's a matter of practicality,
so it stays out of the way during exams.
SHEP: Well, of course.
But you're not performing any exams today, are you?
I just wonder if a straight tie
might look a little less, uh...academic.
I could see if Libby would bring one by.
Bill's wife.
Oh, yes, of course.
And that's a great plan getting her on camera as well.
Viewers will be more receptive
to the sexual nature of the work
if they understand that it was conducted by a doctor
who's also a real family man.
Uh... Oh !
There's Roger.
Excuse me.
I am not a salesman.
(SIGHS)
WOMAN: Good morning, Doctor.
Jefferson City was a bust.
Twenty-six women showed up.
I've seen more fat in a can of pork and beans.
They took my last brochure, so I'm here to load up.
The King is dying.
Long live the Queen?
The King of Hollywood.
Clark Gable had a heart attack yesterday.
Changing a goddamn tyre.
What was Clark Gable doing changing his own tyre?
Because we're not talking some namby-pamby Cary Grant.
He's Gable.
He's got a set of balls between his legs,
not a strip of goose fat.
(CHUCKLES)
I was 22 when I saw Gone with the Wind.
Ended up going back the next day and the next,
then twice a week later.
Me and every other girl in town.
(SCOFFS) Gable. What was it? The moustache?
Because, see moustaches don't look good...
It was the scene on the staircase,
where Rhett carries Scarlett up to bed,
against her will?
Never saw it.
You've never seen Gone with the Wind?
"This is one night, Scarlett,
"you're not turning me out of your bed."
(SCOFFS)
He wanted her so much that he just took her.
God ! So sexy.
Yeah.
And every girl in that theatre...
Well, we watched it over and over,
trying to get every detail of it to fix in our brains
because we instinctively knew
that was the fantasy
that was gonna carry us through many lonely nights.
You want to get carried up a staircase?
For a guy who dips his wick as much as you do,
you really don't get women at all.
Um... (CHUCKLES)
I think there may be a couple dozen satisfied ladies out there
who would say that I am every bit a real man as your Gable.
How many pairs of slippers you own?
Two.
That'll be all, ladies.
You don't think I'm a man's man?
I'd be interested in seeing you prove it.
Um...
Jeez, Flo...
I got an early morning,
and you and I did it two times last week.
Tonight, you're going to enter my house uninvited,
and over my strenuous objections,
you're going to have your way with me.
You want me to break in?
You couldn't maybe leave the door open?
I'm just saying, it would be easier.
Okay, that's good.
That's good.
Now, try and reformulate the question in your answers.
So, for example, if I say,
"What initially led you to this work, Dr Masters?"
You'd say, "What initially led me to this work was..."
That way, in the final piece
you won't have to listen to me off-camera,
feeding you all the questions.
Got it?
What initially led me to this work was...
Not now... Not now, Dr Masters.
We're still setting up some lights,
and we have to adjust some sound levels.
And I understand we're waiting on a tie.
Do we have that tie?
Anyone?
Protesters were dropped. Two officers.
You heard?
So sad.
I heard he may not make it.
Who said he's not gonna make it?
I just heard it on the radio coming in.
Did something happen to him after the arrest?
Clark Gable was arrested?
Martin Luther King was arrested down at Atlanta yesterday,
at a sit-in, at a lunch counter,
along with 52 other people.
I didn't realise. That's terrible.
Yeah, it's going to be busy today.
Lots of people calling to find out what we know.
You coming?
I can't today.
I have to do something upstairs, for my husband.
I'm sorry.
ROGER: Okay, why don't we begin by you telling us please,
how you two first met?
Oh, I'm sorry.
Glenn, I think we're going to want to go
a smidge tighter on the day.
Dr Masters and I met when he was on the faculty
of Washington University School of Medicine.
And I was working at the hospital as a secretary.
Uh, it's okay if you want to smile, Dr Masters.
Dr Masters was then in the early stages
of observing subjects engaged in sexual behaviour,
monitoring their physical responses,
and he felt
the process of interviewing potential participants
might be well served
by having a woman working alongside of him.
Isn't that right, Bill?
Okay, when you say "sexual behaviour,"
what exactly do you mean?
And I think we should have Dr Masters field this one.
Well, masturbation, for one.
Can't say "masturbation".
Auto-manipulation, then. Mmm-mmm.
I think we want to leave out anything
that suggests solo behaviour.
So, Ulysses is a dildo?
What did you think?
Our female subjects were having intercourse
with a Greek leader in the Trojan War?
CBS doesn't like dildos.
CBS doesn't have to use a dildo.
But Dr Masters and Mrs Johnson's participants did.
Do.
So, all of this is footage of women using dildos?
A significant portion of it.
It's not as if we were shooting footage
to promote hand washing or good oral hygiene.
Frankly, I don't know how you propose
we cut together an overview of their work,
without the suggestion...
Actually, I wasn't proposing
you and I do anything together.
ROGER: In addition to individuals,
uh, you also observed married couples
They weren't always married.
Well, often they were, remember?
ROGER: Look, if you say "couples",
then the natural assumption is that they were married.
And what exactly were you doing
during these sessions with these couples?
During these sessions,
we monitored and tracked all changes
in both subjects' bodies,
and in so doing,
we were able to identify four stages
of sexual response.
Bill.
(BILL CLEARS THROAT)
Arousal,
plateau,
orgasm and...
Sorry to stop you again, Doctor.
But orgasm's a problem.
For some people, yes.
No, I mean for the censors.
It's one of the four stages.
You're gonna have to call it something different.
"Climax?"
No, "climax" is not one of the stages.
(SIGHS) "Climax" won't work anyway.
"Peak", maybe?
"Peak" could be good.
You know what I could use?
Do you have any shots
of patients coming into the exam room,
maybe he unbuttons his shirt,
she unzips her dress,
maybe they smile at each other?
And then you pan over to that Geiger counter thing,
with the needle jumping all over the place.
Innuendo.
Innuendo, I can get away with.
I wasn't making From Here to Eternity.
Although it is an excellent movie.
I was filming the truth of people being sexual.
If you sanitise it, you're completely undercutting
Dr Masters and Mrs Johnson's intentions,
which are to encourage an honest discussion
about what really happens to the body during sex.
Look.
You're close to it.
I respect that.
You're invested. Good for you.
But if can be honest with you,
you're not the best guy to say how to put this stuff on TV.
Ridiculous, this nonsense with the censor.
It's like having to explain a recipe
without mentioning a single ingredient.
I don't even think this belongs to me.
It doesn't.
Someone must've left it behind at a dinner party.
There weren't any to choose from. (SIGHS)
Oh, your shirt is soaked through, Bill.
It's hot in front of those lights.
If I can't use the correct scientific terminology,
I'm just going to come off like a sweaty degenerate,
groping for sexual euphemisms.
Well, you can't see it with the jacket on.
What do you think they'll ask me?
You?
Yes, they're supposed to interview me. Oh, that's right.
I'm sure they'll just want you to tell them
I don't touch myself at the dinner table
Do you expect them to ask about our private life?
No, that was... Of course they won't.
I'm... I'm sorry.
Look, Lib, you don't have to go through this.
I don't want you to feel uncomfortable.
I don't feel uncomfortable.
I might be good at it.
Libby!
Uh, they're wondering if you're ready.
Well, it certainly is a different look for you.
As Henry David Thoreau said,
"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes."
Why don't you wait in here, Libby?
They'll come get you when you're ready.
Oh ! We're wearing the same colour, you and I.
Do you think it'll look like a uniform? (CHUCKLES)
What all of Bill Masters' women wear?
Not to worry. They're shooting in black and white.
MAN: Speeding.
Take one.
Action.
ROGER: Why don't you talk a bit about the reaction
when people find out this is the work you do?
The reactions to our work really run the gamut,
from outrage and indignation
to intense curiosity.
Often in the same person. Yes.
I do find that I'm very popular at dinner parties
once everyone learns what it is I do.
Don't you find that everyone wants the seat next to yours, Bill?
No.
Um, I...
I'd like to make clear that the, uh...
(CLEARS THROAT) ... prurient angle of the work holds no interest to us.
The goal is to provoke conversations about human sexuality
that are not conducted in hushed whispers.
The vocabulary of sex,
words this broadcast, uh, won't permit,
should be commonplace,
spoken as you would refer to, say, um...
A sneeze or a hiccup. Yes, exactly.
Censorship perpetuates shame,
which in turn fosters ignorance
and ignorance prevents change.
So you see, it's a dangerous trajectory
to shy away from the language of the body.
While this programme may have...
I believe we have spoken on the phone before.
"Mrs Johnson is unavailable at the moment. May I take a message?"
That's me.
I thought I recognised your voice. Hmm.
Listen, if I could just grab a minute with her.
It's kind of a crazy day around here, as you can see.
Can I ask you something? Off the record?
Did she tell you to take a message
automatically every time I call?
Because I almost never reach her.
Oh, no, she owes calls to nearly everyone.
Best chance of getting through is saying
you can orgasm listening to the traffic report on the radio.
She never stops working, that one, round the clock.
Well, good to know it's nothing personal.
I'll let her know you're here.
DR MASTERS: ... pretence that procreation is our only goal.
Pleasure is a human need.
It drives us the way hunger does. Yes.
Or fear. It can blind us,
or sustain us, it can be a frustration.
Or a source of tremendous relief.
ROGER: And the benefit of being a male/female team?
Can you speak to that?
Uh, well, it's an advantage, obviously.
Try to incorporate the question, Bill.
Oh! Um...
Mrs Johnson and I are tremendously advantaged by the fact
that she's a man and I'm a woman.
(LAUGHS) The other way around.
Yes, of course.
Well, you can see the benefit.
We have tendency to finish each others sentences.
When we see eye to eye, which is not always.
We have different strengths.
Certain patients might be more comfortable with her than me.
Or vice versa.
It doesn't always break down by gender as one might expect.
ROGER: And what of the common misperception that you two are a couple?
Well, we tell people we're married to the work.
Just not each other.
ROGER: Okay, that's good.
Betty around?
The girl who sounds like Wisconsin?
She had to go downstairs for something.
My key to the washroom doesn't work, which is ironic,
'cause keys are my business.
I see, you're reading the sports page there.
You like the ponies? (CHUCKLES)
Used to.
I'm reformed.
My wife won't stand for it.
And why is that?
You don't want your man to have a little fun?
Oh, he's... I'm not his wife.
No, I'm waiting for my husband.
He's the subject of...
All of this.
So, you're Dr Masters' wife, huh?
You're a patient?
I'm Virginia's ex.
Funny, I didn't expect you to look the way you do.
Oh !
I'm just saying, you're a looker.
They should put you on the camera.
(CHUCKLES)
Yes, well, that's why I'm here.
They wanted a few words
with the woman behind the man.
Well, the woman behind the man
behind the woman behind the man.
Sweetheart, if that were a race,
no way would you be finishing in the money.
You are very right, sir.
When Betty comes back,
will you tell her that Dr Masters' wife decided to go home.
Nice to meet you.
Likewise.
Try 500 KLRT.
MAN ON RADIO: ...was fired today after piloting the Yankees
to 10 American League pennants
and seven world championships.
Okay. We'll wait to hear.
Thank you.
GLENN: I can't find anything.
Is there any news?
That was Tom.
The police in Atlanta are dropping charges on about a dozen of them,
but they're gonna hold Dr King and the rest.
He's still got that trumped-up charge hanging over his head.
That "driving without a licence" bullshit.
I'm sorry.
You can swear in front of her.
We're waiting on a statement from Atlanta.
Do you know when you'll hear?
Yeah. Could be late.
(PHONE RINGING)
Congress of Racial Equality.
No, nothing I'm afraid.
We're still waiting for news from Atlanta.
LESTER: So I said to him, I said "No, I didn't shoot intake interviews
"because that's when Dr Masters and Mrs Johnson
"were determining whether or not a participant
"fit the criteria for a particular study.
"It was only once they did that's when I turned the camera on."
Then he said, "Is there any footage that I could cut together
"to suggest an intake interview?"
Which is offensive on three levels.
First of all, he's going to cut my footage?
Second of all, isn't that a little misleading?
And third of all, third of all...
Maybe they know what they're doing. What?
You really believe that?
I hired Shep to do a job
we're not capable of doing ourselves.
Last time I tried to explain the work of my matter
I got my hat handed to me, literally.
And if their methods aren't exactly what ours might be,
well, then, we push back when we can,
but we allow them enough latitude
to do the job we brought them in to do.
So, the end justifies the means.
I know you, Dr Masters, as well as I think anyone can.
That doesn't sound like something you really believe.
It's easy to be idealistic
when your life's work isn't at stake.
Isn't that exactly the time to be idealistic?
To hold on to your principles? Be true to yourself?
I don't need a lecture from you, Lester.
Maybe you do.
Maybe you need someone who will tell you,
you look very weird in that tie.
I've given you my time.
Whatever talent I have.
I've given every bit of myself to this.
Even my body, as humiliating as that experience was.
So don't tell me I don't have any stake in how this turns out.
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
VIRGINIA: It's not a good time, George.
I told you that this morning.
They need me back in there.
Well, I've been trying for a week, Gin. It's never a good time.
You're afraid I'm gonna ask you for money or something.
Are you?
No.
I'm flesh. I got a gig.
Six weeks backing Floyd DeSouza.
Floyd DeSouza?
♪ It's not the heat it's the humidity? ♪ (SIGHS)
It's a very big hit overseas.
Which is where the tour's headed.
Well, that is wonderful, George. Yup.
London, Paris, Rome, Madrid.
And Audrey's going with you? She is.
We want the kids to come, too. (LAUGHING)
I'm serious.
To Europe?
For six weeks?
Uh-uh. Absolutely not. Why not?
Because it's... It's crazy, George.
Because they've never been on a plane before
or to a big city
or even with you for more than three consecutive nights,
but now you want to trot them off to Europe for six weeks.
You'll take them out of school too?
Well, they get a week off at Thanksgiving, three at Christmas.
So they'd be missing two weeks,
and they get a chance to see Europe.
Tessa could see the Eiffel Tower in person.
Have you mentioned this to them?
No, I wanted to discuss it with you first.
Well, thank you for that, at least.
But, no. My answer is no.
So you'd rather that they come home from school every day to a babysitter.
They love Pam.
A babysitter
and hope that they can stay up late enough to see their mother.
I know the hours you're keeping, Gini.
I know that you're working around the clock.
But there's no good argument that says
waiting for their mother to get home from work
is better for them than being with their father for six weeks
and letting him show them a little piece of the world.
FLO: Who's there?
It's me, Austin.
You're not the man from across the street, are you?
The one I've seen watching me
through the curtains?
Yes, that's me.
I can see into your bathroom. Not the bathroom.
The bedroom.
I can see into your bedroom.
(FOOTSTEPS PATTERING)
Promise me you're not going to hurt me.
Of course I'm not gonna...
Grab me by the hair.
Really? Mmm-hmm.
Like this? Harder.
You sure? Mmm-hmm.
Drag me up the stairs.
Drag you up the stairs?
If you do, I'll scream.
Someone'll hear you and they'll call the police,
and they'll take you away to jail.
Any time you want to jump in here.
Uh, but I'll be acquitted.
When the jury sees you, they'll understand
why I couldn't control myself.
Well, I'm not gonna let you take me upstairs.
Okay, so you want to do it here?
Even though I know you want me in that bed,
the bed you've watched me make love in.
So wait, we do go upstairs?
Not if I have any say in it.
I'm confused.
I'm going upstairs, locking the door behind me
and calling the police.
You just try to kick it down.
Even if you get in, I'll never give in to you.
Are you coming?
Oh ! Bill and Virginia, Bernadette and Kyle.
Bernadette and Kyle, Bill and Virginia.
Hello, nice to meet you.
It's Dr Masters.
I'm not sure exactly how this is going to work.
Oh, well, Dwight says that your cameraman didn't get any footage
of you conducting any intake interviews.
So we're gonna have Kyle and Bernadette sit in,
as if they're a couple coming to you for help.
Help with what?
ROGER: With their sex life.
We don't help couples have sex,
we observe them having sex.
In that whole process,
that's definitely gonna be part of the story, certainly.
Um, but I think the centrepiece is the work you're doing
that goes beyond educating the public
as to how the body works
and puts that knowledge to practical use with treatment.
We've talked about this.
We haven't gotten to the point where we're treating dysfunction.
We're still in the very early stages of that.
All we really need is just a few shots of you two talking to a couple.
And over the top of that we're gonna hear something like,
"Masters and Johnson's study
"is poised to break new ground
"in the treatment of sexual dysfunction."
And you are poised,
so we're not saying anything that isn't true. Exactly.
ROGER: This is only gonna amount to no more than 15 seconds of actual screen time.
It's just a visual.
Frankly, we can't use the footage you already have, it's just...
It's too graphic.
I wouldn't allow it anyway.
The understanding I have with my patients
is that footage is completely confidential,
for research purposes only,
not as a calling card
for services we don't actually provide.
ROGER: That's the case for working with a couple
whose privacy you're not actually violating,
who've actually signed up to be filmed.
And are you a couple?
We met just now in the lobby.
Turns out, we went to the same high school.
So you've hired actors?
VIRGINIA: Will you excuse me?
Where are you going? Just for a moment.
Virginia.
Bill, what is the problem here?
If your own patients won't participate...
But they're led to believe
that I exploit other patients for my own purposes?
Really? You don't see that as a problem?
Well...
You've never been to court?
Had any reason to modify his visitation? No.
And he's been responsible while they've been in his custody?
For the most part.
(SIGHS)
Yes, he has been responsible.
Any reason to think that might change?
That they wouldn't be safe with him or with the new wife?
No.
You offering them something better?
Well, we always spend the holidays together.
We have a lot of Christmas traditions.
They would be missing all of that.
So they swap one Christmas for six weeks in Europe?
I think they'd come out ahead, don't you?
And would it be such an awful thing for you?
I mean, I've seen the way you run around here, the hours you keep.
The second you're through, the way you bolt for the elevator,
probably racing straight home
for tuck-in time, am I right?
Of course I'm right. You're a mother.
I know mothers.
Most of them could use a little break every now and then.
Maybe one way to look at this is that
your ex is offering you a little vacation, too.
Uh, I... I don't want a vacation
from my children, Mr Spleeb.
Look, you could say no.
I could? Yeah.
Technically, you have the right.
But I would caution you against it.
Why give him reason to revisit, uh, a custody arrangement,
which, on the whole, is working for both of you?
You see, you push back on this, on a reasonable request,
something your kids are gonna derive benefit from,
you could be opening up a whole can of worms.
I don't think you wanna do that.
Maryanne said we're out of formula.
Go.
You, too, Donner. And Harlan.
We're not gonna hear anything tonight. See you in the morning.
Good night.
Night.
There's no point in you staying either.
Oh, I don't mind.
I'm leaving myself.
Oh ! Well...
I was expecting to go home with my husband, so I got a lift in.
I need to call a cab.
Next, he'll have us pretending to wire them up.
Actors!
He needs cutaways, Bill.
The entirety of your story cannot be told
with the two of you sitting behind a table,
talking about things that can't be shown on TV.
A re-enactment is a happy medium.
I'm not happy about any of this.
It's fake, all of it,
what I'm pretending to be,
the fact I'm selling something that doesn't even exist.
I am not a salesman, Shep.
Well, then, Bill, you're the only one,
because we are all selling something.
I sold you on me, on what I could do for you.
John Rock sold more than the birth control pill,
he sold an idea,
of pleasure without permanent consequence.
He kicked open the door for you,
but you've got to walk through it,
stake your claim and say,
"I'm in the pleasure business, too."
That is not my business. I don't have a business.
I have a study, a practise,
and I haven't cured one single case of sexual dysfunction.
Yet, yet.
But you will.
And if you don't, you tried.
You got to reach for it, Bill,
even if it's outside your grasp.
It's the reaching that people respect.
Look, these two presidential candidates,
they may not deliver a single thing that they've promised.
I guarantee you history will judge them
djust as much for the nobility of their goals
as for what they actually achieved.
But before any of that can happen,
one of them has to come in first.
You gotta be first, Bill.
That's what all of this is about.
LIBBY: There's usually news at the top of the hour.
(STATIC OVER RADIO)
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
This is the station you listen to?
There won't be any Martin news on this station.
(CHANGES STATION)
It'll be here, if anywhere.
He's not going to get out.
They want to make an example of him, is that it?
No, they'll likely offer him a deal
'cause they'll realise all they're doing
is shining a spotlight on the cause.
But Dr King won't take it.
He said, "Let us not fear going to jail.
"If the officials threaten to arrest us
"for standing up for our rights,
"we must show that we are willing
"and prepared to fill up the jails of the South."
He said that tonight?
In Durham, back in February.
At a sit-in organised by the SCLC.
Oh.
You know what the SCLC is, right?
Of course, the...
The South Carolina Liberation...
Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
(SCOFFS)
Do you enjoy that?
Testing me?
Because you do it a lot.
Sometimes I can't tell if you're hoping I'll pass or fail.
Why would I want you to fail?
Maybe because it'd make it easier for you to chalk me up
to being some silly, fly-by-night do-gooder.
It's like you're hoping to discover
underneath it all, I'm really just a dilettante.
A militant?
A dilettante.
You don't know what a dilettante is?
I don't.
Well, I, for one, don't think that makes you stupid.
I don't think you're stupid.
I think you're uninformed.
On some of the specifics, yes.
But I understand what the fight is about, and I believe in it.
Why?
I want to hear your reasons.
Another test.
You know what I think?
I think you don't want to say "thank you" to me
and seem like you mean it.
What's this about?
Hey, boy, what business you got in this neighbourhood?
We're fine, officer.
Let me see your licence and registration.
I break some kind of law?
It's really not necessary, officer.
I know this gentleman. He's with me.
What do you mean, "with you"?
He's a co-worker of mine, and he was kind enough to drive me home.
If that's the case,
why don't you head on in, and he can be on his way?
Because I've invited him inside, that's why?
Are you coming, Mr Franklin?
Get that out of my face.
You better watch yourself, boy.
Stop it. Stop it. Let him go.
You have no cause, officer.
Mr Franklin, are you coming?
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)
You're not eating?
These sesame noodles aren't half bad.
You mind me asking you something?
The boys and I were kind of wondering.
What it's like watching folks go at it all day long?
I'm sorry?
My girl, Maxine and I we once went to the zoo saw two chimps doing it
had to go home to bed, we were hot and bothered.
I'm guessing watching it all alongside a woman like Virginia...
Mrs Johnson is my professional colleague,
despite what people assume.
We explained that.
Honestly, I don't think people assume it.
I mean, no offence.
But a girl like that, a guy like you...
Excuse me?
I know how it is.
My Maxine, she's a real dish.
I get "the beauty and the beast" thing all the time.
ROGER: Okay, everyone, the break is over.
Back in the conference room in 10.
Make sure Jeremy powders you up.
You got a real shine going there.
I know Bill keeps a box of extra shirt buttons in here somewhere.
ROBERT: What do you reckon that babysitter thought?
You bringing a Negro man into your house?
Well, she's not...
She's a neighbour, just helping out for today.
You heard what I told her. We work together.
A Negro man in a torn shirt?
Elaine is not a gossip.
Her daughter Sissy married a Mexican man.
Here, we go. Shirt, please.
It'll make this easier.
No, ma'am.
Fine, I will sew with you in it.
Go sit by the light.
Not in this room. Not there.
VIRGINIA: Now, doesn't that sound exciting?
And we get to miss school on top of it?
No spinning, Henry.
Yes, we'll have to check with Ms Braddock and Mrs Alexander,
and you'll both promise me that you'll do your homework on the plane.
We get to go on a plane, too?
How else do you think we'd get there, ding-dong?
What did I say about calling your sister names, Henry?
This is a special treat, having dinner here with your mom,
so you behave, okay?
Pam, do you mind giving us a few minutes?
Oh, sure, no problem.
What about I go find some crispy green beans?
No almond cookies for you, Tessy,
until you eat your greens.
You know the rules.
Now you know, six weeks is a very long time,
so you both have to promise me that you'll be responsible.
Because you know how sometimes
Daddy forgets to feed you dinner on time.
TESSA: Audrey remembers.
She makes us eat vegetables all the time.
HENRY: Mom, can you tell her I get to stay up till 10:00 on the trip?
She's so strict about bedtimes.
But she lets you watch Have Gun - Will Travel.
That's because she likes it, too.
She was a gunfighter in her past life.
And an opera singer.
Even though she has the worst voice.
You should hear her, Mom.
She and Dad sing in the car, and it sounds awful.
You think she told me to pick France for my project
because she knew we were going there?
Could be.
What are you doing for Christmas?
You're gonna have a tree?
Oh, I don't know, Goosey.
We will have Christmas when you're back.
Who's going to give you presents?
You will send me letters and postcards,
from every place you go,
and you'll tell me everything you're seeing and everything you're doing,
and that will be my present.
There you go. Try it.
Button's too big. It won't fit in the holes.
Are you sure?
I should go. I have smaller ones.
I got a momma three doors down from mine
who can fix it.
What would she think of you being here?
She wouldn't like it very much.
She'd say I was just looking for trouble, which I'm not.
You've gone looking for it before.
That time you stole those tyres.
What did that feel like?
To put a brick through a plate glass window?
That was a long time ago. I know better now.
Those are the mistakes you make when you're a dumb kid.
I never got to be that.
Dumb, maybe, but never a kid.
They called me the little grown-up,
and I was so proud of that,
being good and following the rules.
Anything to be the teacher's pet.
But you then grow up, and there's no teacher to please.
Just some idea of what people expect from a pretty girl.
Make a nice home, you raise well-behaved children.
Don't make waves, don't make trouble,
and keep your voice down.
And you go along like that,
and your wanting to be good makes you quiet,
so quiet that you forget the sound of your own voice.
People forget that you're there.
Your husband forgets that you're there.
Maybe you aren't.
Then you meet someone who doesn't like you very much,
who doesn't think that you're kind or good,
who thinks that you're ignorant,
prejudiced, even.
Which maybe, deep down, you are.
And this thing that you've been afraid of forever,
someone thinking ill of you, it is...
It is almost a relief.
Because at least someone is seeing you.
You're not invisible.
You got nerve.
Making an argument that being discounted makes you feel alive.
I can tell you it doesn't. I'm sorry. I didn't mean...
There are white women who want coloured men
because they don't like themselves very much,
like they're lowering themselves.
Do you think I'm like that?
Are you?
I don't know.
I don't know who I am.
I don't know what I am.
I don't know why I want what I want,
but I just think...
What?
If you would...
Kiss me, then maybe I could figure it out.
You've got a neighbour across the street,
a policeman down the block,
and two little ones sleeping down the hall.
And you,
on the other side of that plate glass window.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
So you enjoyed that?
It kind of ruins it when I have to tell you
what to do every second.
Don't I get points for not knowing the right way
to take advantage of a woman?
Oh, lighten up, Austin.
You've never played games in the bedroom before?
Mmm. Sure.
Sleeping Beauty.
The milkmaid and the stable boy.
(LAUGHING)
The professor and the foreign exchange student.
But I just don't understand playing at this.
You haven't always been this good-looking, have you?
Weren't you ever a pimply-faced beanpole?
Didn't you want to smack some girl
for looking right through you?
Screw the indifference out of her
by making her want you in spite of herself?
I think maybe...
That's your story.
Huh !
Maybe it is.
Maybe I want to be Scarlett for a change of pace
because I've been Rhett for a very long time.
Waiting to be wanted, not wanting to be ignored.
It makes you do the damndest things.
Well, now that you realised that about yourself...
When has self-awareness
ever changed a person's behaviour, huh?
Has it ever changed yours?
Nope.
Sorry.
I'm not ready for this to be over.
So, you can keep coming.
Even if the game is pretending
it's about more than just job security.
Although I have to say,
it would be nice if you gave a damn.
Bill?
Bill.
What're you doing?
They gone?
I had to get that goddamn thing off.
The shirt, too.
Soaked through.
We cannot present ourselves
as the saviours of the sexually dysfunctional
without having cured a single patient first.
Including me.
Virginia, where are you?
What do you mean?
I'm here.
I'm sorry.
(SIGHS)
It's been a long day.
You think people are gonna welcome us into their living rooms?
You, certainly, but me?
You did well, Bill.
Roger said so.
I don't have a twinkle.
What?
What Shep said about Jack Kennedy.
The twinkle in his eye that wins people over,
gets them to invite him in.
I'm not personable. I don't smile.
You smile, Bill. I've seen you smile.
I'm the guy with sweat on his brow,
with makeup stains on his collar.
I'm the one who's uncomfortable in his own skin.
Stop, please.
Why would people wanna watch me?
Because you have something important to say.
But they have to wanna look at me first,
find something attractive in me.
You don't think that you're attractive?
I find you attractive.
Why?
What is it that you want me to say?
What do you want, Bill? What do you want to hear?
What more reassurance can I give you?
I'm here.
I'm not at home.
I'm not putting my kids to bed.
I'm here with you.
Maybe you should.
(SIGHS) No, I'd understand.
How can you possibly want to be with me?
With... With this?
Someone who looks like this?
All the makeup in the world...
I'm the guy who doesn't smile!
I can't twinkle!
I can't fuck!
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
No, just...
Shh.
I'm here. (SOBBING)
Shh.
It's all right.