[bright instrumental music]
♪ ♪
[jazzy music]
- Luggage is all in.
- Oh, well, are you sure you don't want to change your mind?
After all, state dinner with the prime minister of Japan.
- I hung up my diplomatic shoes long ago.
I'll pass on this busman's holiday.
This is Julia's moment.
- Besides, Paul and I have plans of our own.
- Try and behave yourselves. - [chuckles]
- Yes, I know, like asking a lion not to roar.
[chuckles] - I'm so proud of you.
- Mm. - Mwah.
- OK, let's load in.
Benny, you take the first two-hour shift.
Russ, you are up next.
Julia, you navigate in shotgun, followed by me.
- Fair warning, I am known to have no sense of direction.
But my general instinct is to head south.
♪ ♪
- Give our regards to Lyndon and Lady Bird.
- ♪ 100 bottles of Bordeaux on the wall ♪
♪ 100 bottles of Bordeaux ♪
- Doesn't she look just divine?
- Oh, hush.
I want her unvarnished opinion,
not your financially motivated one.
Well? - Well, you look gorgeous,
but gorgeous is a given and maybe not the whole point.
[whispering] - What does it look like?
- A bunch of daffodils.
[normally] - Perhaps it's not obvious
to the uninitiated,
but a hothouse flower, I am not.
- Of course you're not.
- There is a dinner being given
in honor of the Knopf Publishing House,
which I founded with my husband 50 years ago.
I want a dress that says that.
- Uh...
- Formidable, consequential,
and elegant.
- Maybe Chanel.
I'll see what I can do.
- [humming "God Bless America"]
[phone ringing]
- [vocalizing]
Child residence.
- Child residence number one, perhaps,
but I am looking at Child residence number two.
- Simca.
- Painter, photographer, diplomat.
You are an architect too, Paul.
- To anyone but a real architect.
- Nonsense.
This is perfection absolue.
Ah, the proportions.
- Well, I am rather proud of it.
- And I have the ideal contractor.
And in a year, it'll be ready.
And you will spend all your time here.
- Oh, I would love that,
as much time as we can.
Things are busy here too.
- Oh, yes. Good to hear that.
Can Julia spare a moment?
- Julia isn't here.
She's at the White House.
- The White House?
- She was invited to do a television special
about the making of a state dinner
with the president
and the prime minister of Japan.
[laughs] I know.
It kind of takes your breath away.
- Apparently, Theodore Roosevelt
and Mark Twain spent time at this place.
- Together?
- Not that I know of.
We're part of history, my dear.
- Well, I don't know what those two men
plan to do while in residence, but...
my plan is to call Paul,
order room service, and head to bed.
- Well, take time to look at the view too.
- [chuckles]
Oh.
- Bernard wrote speeches for Adlai Stevenson, you know.
That's the closest I ever got to the White House.
Not very close.
You know what I wish right now?
I wish we had daughters, you and I,
daughters to whom we could say, look what your mothers did.
Look where your mothers are.
- That's funny.
I was just thinking I wish my father were alive.
[stately music]
- Mrs. Child, Gretchen Fletcher.
Mr. Morash, Gretchen Fletcher.
Mrs. Naman, Gretchen Fletcher.
- Oh, no, that's me. I'm Alice Naman.
- I'm so sorry. - It's no problem.
- On the contrary, it's against protocol
to misidentify any official visitor to the White House.
- Well, we're all for protocol here.
- In what context?
- Whatever. Life.
[laughter]
- Hmm.
Let me be the first to welcome you.
I'm the deputy White House chief of protocol.
The mission of our office is to advance
the foreign policy goals of the United States
by creating an environment for successful diplomacy.
- It's like a recipe, isn't it, Gretchen?
Protocol.
The closer you follow it, the less likely you are
to burn the house down.
[laughter]
- OK, I will be accompanying you
through your schedule over the next two days.
You'll meet with members of the White House staff.
We've allotted for two visits to the kitchen
to track the preparation of the meal.
- Oh, that's splendid.
- You'll note the ceremonial arrival
of the prime minister,
all culminating, of course, at dinner tomorrow night
with the president and the first lady.
And you are?
- Avis DeVoto, Gretchen Fletcher.
- Avis DeVoto.
No.
I'm afraid your security clearance has hit a snag.
all: A snag?
- You haven't been cleared for this level of access.
- Who are you, Avis DeVoto?
- I've done a few things in my life of which I'm proud.
It's the anti-war agitation, isn't it?
- You'd have to ask the Secret Service.
- Can you introduce me? - No.
But I can offer you the 10:00 a.m. White House tour.
It's very informative.
- Oh, no.
She's come all this way.
- No, it's fine, really.
It's a badge of honor.
And you've got a show to make.
I will take that informative 10:00 tour
and get a next train back to Boston.
- We're very pleased to have the rest of you here.
I haven't seen your show, Mrs. Child,
but the briefing book suggests that America...
trusts you.
- Well, trust is the key to diplomacy.
[laughter]
Shall we get on with it?
[bowling pins clatter]
[upbeat music playing over speakers]
♪ ♪
- You've done this before, have you?
- Well, not for years.
You learn a lot of skills in the foreign service,
not all of them useful.
I was on the team...
briefly.
- Were you?
Well, that's imbalanced.
No, you first. - All right.
♪ ♪
- These lanes are well-oiled.
You don't see that in most local alleys.
Well, you know what?
The truth is, I don't feel much like bowling anymore.
- Oh, well, we may have come to the wrong place.
- Well, bowling was an excuse.
You know, we roll a few frames poorly, like men do.
Have a few beers, tell a few off-color jokes,
like men do,
talk about baseball,
mowing the lawn, barbecuing.
- These men sound awful.
- A few more beers, and the talk
would turn to more substantial things.
- Such as?
- I don't know, our marriages.
You seem to have the best marriage I know,
maybe the only really good marriage.
You know how bowling is essentially
a thing you do alone together?
That's me and Tilly.
That's my marriage.
- Well, I'm sorry to hear that.
- Well, she doesn't like being with other people,
slightly agoraphobic.
That didn't matter in the old days at GBH.
No one invited us anywhere, anyway.
Now with Julia and "The French Chef,"
my life has gotten much bigger,
and hers has gotten smaller.
And most of the time, she just spends the days
with her twin sister.
- Oh, the knitter?
- I'm the third wheel in my own marriage.
- While we're waiting for all of these crazy lights
to be set up... - Yes. [chuckles]
- Why don't you two take the time
to get to know each other?
- Well, I already know Julia.
There's no introduction needed there.
This is my first time on the television.
A social secretary is invisible, usually speaking.
- There are no cameras right now, Bess, just us.
So tell me,
what does a social secretary of the White House
do every day?
- Oh, all the unimportant things, the invitations,
the decorations, the seating plans.
- Well, that sounds marvelous.
- If you like throwing dinner parties.
- [laughs] I do.
[laughter]
- But I'll tell you a secret.
I may have the most important job in the world.
- Really? - Mm-hmm.
- Now, how's that?
- At tomorrow's dinner with the prime minister,
nothing will be decided
and no business will get done,
and yet, because of it, these two men who carry
the weight of the world on their shoulders
will begin to trust each other.
And so the next day, it will be easier
to reach agreements that make the world better and safer.
- Just because they broke bread together?
- Exactly.
That's what I do every day.
- Well, that seems to be what so many women do
behind the scenes:
smooth the way without anyone paying particular attention.
- Isn't it just?
[laughter]
[urgent orchestral music]
♪ ♪
- Well done.
♪ ♪
- This is Henry Haller, renowned Swiss chef
who arrived at the White House just two years ago
to cook for the president and Mrs. Johnson.
Right now, Chef Haller is preparing
tomorrow's dinner in honor of the prime minister of Japan.
How many guests are you expecting, Chef Haller?
- 120.
- Well, that's a lot of appetites.
- It is, and we do this three or four times a week
with no mistakes.
- Like a Swiss watch.
- Precisely.
- It's quite a responsibility.
- I don't think about that.
I think only, it must not be too salty
and the prime minister of Japan is allergic to strawberries.
- Oh, that's good to know. [chuckles]
Well, I believe you may have one of the most important jobs
at the White House, Chef.
- No, no, I just make the stew.
- Well, dinners at the White House
are in good hands with Chef Haller at the helm
of the most consequential kitchen in the world.
- Cut.
[whispering] That was great. - These are sloppy.
Are you rushing to get upstairs?
Is that it?
Do it again.
[indistinct chatter]
[knock at door]
- Alfred.
Come in.
- Judith.
- So exciting about tomorrow night.
- I heard you spent yesterday morning
dress shopping with my wife.
- She can't do it alone anymore,
and she so wants to look just right for the event.
Isn't the dress perfect?
- I haven't seen the dress.
I could hire someone to babysit Blanche for $2 an hour.
I don't need my best editor wasting her time.
- I'm happy to lend a hand, and all the work gets done.
- I'm taking you off her list entirely.
- Oh, no.
No, don't do that.
Please, Alfred.
Blanche has no other options but me.
- Retirement,
fading away,
which she's doing anyway.
[doorbell rings]
- What are you doing here?
- That's a long, crazy story
better told with a stiff drink on a soft couch.
- Who is that, Stanley?
Tell them to go away.
Uh-oh. - Uh-oh?
- Uh-oh.
- Who are you?
Well, one of you must know who she is.
- I--
I am a student of Professor Lipschitz.
Cum laude.
- Sweetheart, how laude is irrelevant.
- It's not as bad as it looks.
- [scoffs] Really?
- I'm not in love with her or anything.
- How old is she?
- She's 25. She knows nothing.
- I do go to Harvard. - I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
It was a terrible mistake,
a one-time-- I won't ever see her again.
- Really? - Except in lab twice a week.
- That's supposed to make me feel better?
- It makes me feel a lot worse.
- Stop talking.
This is who you replace me with,
a person who means nothing to you?
Oh, Stanley, you can do better than that.
[door creaks and slams]
[glasses clink] - To a day.
- [laughs] both: To a day.
[jazzy music playing]
- But how strange life is and how marvelous sometimes.
- Hmm. - Two years ago,
I thought I was done doing useful things.
- Tell me about it.
- Then you called.
- And you answered.
- Thank you,
both of you, for bringing me with you.
And to think I thought this show was a dead end.
Some dead end.
- It would be none of us without all of us.
- I'll drink to almost anything
but particularly to that.
♪ ♪
[Frank Sinatra's "One for My Baby" playing]
- ♪ It's quarter to 3:00 ♪
♪ ♪
♪ There's no one in the place ♪
- Give me five minutes.
- You have three.
Then I splash vermouth in your face
and leave you with the check.
♪ ♪
- ♪ So set 'em up, Joe ♪
- I'm a very closed-off man, Avis.
And you opened me up
to feelings, love,
also sex.
I like that a lot.
Then you were gone, and...
she was right there.
- This is the worst apology I've ever heard.
I know why men cheat, Stanley.
- Of course you do.
The cheating was not about you,
how I feel about you.
It was about me.
You still mean everything to me.
Isn't that what really matters?
- No.
No, it isn't.
The fact that it changes nothing for you doesn't help.
It changes things for me.
You're...emotionally dangerous.
- You made a mistake once.
I let myself be vulnerable, and you hurt me.
- That's true, but that was at the beginning.
And the beginning is different from now.
- It is.
You're right. Good point.
But...
- ♪ I could tell you a lot ♪
- This is not me,
not all of me, anyway.
- [sighs] You...
stupid idiot.
That's what breaks my heart.
What I have to do
breaks my heart.
♪ ♪
You have to go.
♪ ♪
♪ You'd never know it ♪
♪ But, buddy, I'm a kind of poet ♪
♪ And I got a lot of things I'd like to say ♪
- Hey, Benny and Lloyd are already on the South Lawn
getting ready for the arrival of the prime minister
and the military band, all the pomp and circumstance.
[laughter]
- It's incredible.
- I'll meet you in the famous kitchen right after?
- Deal.
- Biggest day of our lives.
- It is.
[laughter] OK, let's do this.
[bright orchestral music]
- [sighs]
We really might have slept in at this point.
- For two hours.
My beautiful ankles are starting to hate these shoes.
- And for the record, I could eat a horse.
OK, no more grousing.
Let us remember what a momentous day this is,
what an opportunity, and remain grateful.
- Agreed.
- Oh, poor Warren Harding,
condemned to a forgotten hallway for eternity.
- So are we.
And we're not responsible for Teapot Dome.
- Oh, Gretchen, just the woman we wanted.
- Chef Haller is still not ready for you.
- Of course. Then we wait.
- But your colleague Russell
is getting some wonderful footage.
- Oh, that's splendid, and meanwhile,
might we trouble you for a modest cup of--
- Well, manners are not the same
as protocol, apparently.
- Well, they could all learn a thing or two from Paul.
In his years of diplomacy, he knew how to make
everyone feel special.
- This is fun, isn't it?
- For me too. I don't get to do this.
Believe it or not, Julia doesn't like Italian food.
- No. Pizza.
Everybody likes pizza.
- You would think, right?
So who's older, you or Millie?
- I am by two minutes.
Millie says that's why she's more fun.
- A riot.
- Charlie's older, but we might as well have been conjoined.
That's how it's felt my whole life.
He's attached to me with invisible cords.
- It's like in one of those sci-fi movies.
Hunter doesn't understand.
- Well--
no, I don't.
- Millie and I can't help it, but it makes him jealous.
- Well, Julia was the same way.
Used to drive her crazy.
- Is that why you fired my sister?
- No.
That's why I hired her,
so I could share something with the two of you.
I fired her because she's completely talentless.
Who knew?
- I knew. You could have asked me.
[laughter]
- I guess.
- [chuckles]
- Oh, look. I figured this out.
Look.
Just put there.
And then you roll it.
See, it rolls right off.
That's it.
[tender music]
[indistinct chatter, grill sizzling]
[upbeat music playing over speakers]
♪ ♪
[bell dings]
- Thank you for agreeing to meet me here.
- You have three minutes, same as I gave Stanley.
After that, I throw a--
oh, coffee's too hot.
Just talk fast.
♪ ♪
- I just wanted to tell you how much I admire you.
The way that you stood up to Stanley,
you have so much poise and dignity.
It's frankly inspirational.
♪ ♪
- That's what you wanted to say,
not, I'm sorry for sleeping with your boyfriend?
- No, no, that--that--that too.
I'm definitely sorry about that.
Although if I hadn't slept with Stanley,
I never would have met you.
- On the plus side, Mrs. Lincoln.
- Will you be my mentor?
- Your mentor?
- In life, my mentor in life?
♪ ♪
- I don't know, Stacy. I hate you.
- Well, yeah, sure, now,
but in time.
♪ ♪
- And frankly, it's tough to mentor someone
with such low self-esteem.
- Wait, you think that I have low self-esteem?
- Why else would you sleep with your professor?
- A lot of my friends are sleeping with the professors.
- Then how do you know what you're being graded on?
♪ ♪
- You are like a genius.
You know that? - Oh, my God.
- Can we do this again sometime,
continue this conversation?
♪ ♪
- Why don't you give me a few days
to stop wanting to strangle you?
- Fair enough.
- Chef Haller and his staff now have only a few hours
to complete this feast
for the president of the United States,
the prime minister of Japan, and 120 invited guests.
And this is the first course, Chef Haller.
- Yes, a fish stew: lobster, scallops, shrimp, and clams.
- Oh, a taste of New England.
May I? - Oh.
- [whispering indistinctly]
- Thank you. [chuckles]
And that's wonderful.
And this will be followed by what, Chef?
- The loin of lamb.
- Ah, the filet mignon of the lamb.
This is one of your specialties, I understand.
- The president and the first lady
are fond of this dish.
- Yes, well, I can see why.
It's just beautiful.
And you prepare this simply.
- Very simply. The lamb does not need much.
- No, I quite agree.
What a treat your guests will be in for tonight.
- And cut.
- Ah.
Well, that was perfect.
And may we stay a few minutes more
to watch your team at work, Chef?
- Absolutely not.
And please stop touching my knives.
The stew is too salty.
You didn't notice?
- Well--
- We don't want to interfere with your preparation, Chef.
Perhaps when everything is ready,
we could return to film the moment
the food leaves the kitchen.
- Who are you?
- I'm Alice Naman. I'm the producer.
- You wanted to film Chef Haller.
I permitted you to film Chef Haller.
Chef Haller has allowed you to taste his food.
He has watched you touch his knives.
Chef Haller has smiled at the camera for two days.
He has put up with you long enough.
Now, go, and let Chef Haller do his job.
- Yes, well, thank you, Chef Haller,
for giving us so much of your time.
- Out!
- Mm. - Yeah. Yeah.
- All right, show me your pies.
[camera shutter snaps] Beautiful.
- I made "The French Chef" for you, you know.
- You did?
- Well, that pilot was the first thing
I ever did that you liked.
I wanted to make you happy
and to have something to talk about when I got home.
- And then I would cook for you,
make you the things Julia made.
- Oh, those were our best nights.
- Mm-hmm. - [chuckles]
- OK.
I think we're ready for the oven.
- Russell, if you and Benjamin want
to start moving your equipment into the state dining room,
the guests will be arriving in about 30 minutes.
- All right.
- A timeline of the evening's events.
- Oh, yes.
Tony Bennett?
Oh, I love Tony Bennett.
- Me too. - [laughs]
- You can film whatever you want,
whatever your director's eye sees.
- Oh-- [laughter]
- I'm sorry if we had upset Chef Haller in any way.
I know that he's under tremendous pressure.
- Well, pressure is what we live with every day.
Pressure is the job.
- Oh, my.
And when should we head over?
- Over to where?
- To dinner, for the dinner.
- You're not guests at the dinner, Mrs. Child.
- Oh.
No, no, I was told that-- I have a letter.
- I'm sorry if there was some confusion,
but you were invited to shoot a documentary,
not as dinner guests of the president.
- It's part of the program we're filming.
I conclude by sampling the food that's been prepared.
- I have no idea what you're talking about.
There are no seats for you at dinner.
[liquid pouring] - Ugh.
Are you sure you don't mind?
- Oh, no.
I may take mine off, too, in a moment.
- [sighs]
- Oh, I know this is limited consolation,
but we're getting some great stuff.
Tony Bennett just sang "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."
- Good choice, Mr. Bennett.
- Yeah.
Got to go.
- I say we break into the kitchen,
murder Chef Haller with his own knife,
and grab whatever food we can.
I feel like I'm going to faint.
- Better that than the fish stew, Alice.
Believe me.
- I figure it's been a long day.
- Oh. - Shrimp and grits.
- Oh. - Oh, you're a saint.
- What's your name?
- I'm Zephyr Wright.
- Well, I don't understand.
With all this going on tonight,
and you've made this just for us?
- I made it for the president and the first lady
on the second floor in the private kitchen.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson don't really care
for all the fancy food.
They'll eat this after when they go up for bed.
- Mmm. I can understand why.
This is amazing.
- That's what Lady Bird says.
- Hmm.
It's salted to perfection.
So, Zephyr, Chef Haller is the face
of the White House kitchen, but you are the genius.
- We should be doing the show about you.
- Oh, I don't think so.
I'm happy with how things are.
It was a pleasure to meet you.
- Is she still at the White House?
- Dining with the president.
Tonight's the big night.
Simca?
- I am not a vain person.
- Of course you're not.
- I am embarrassed to feel such trouble.
But how can you possibly find your light
when she's such a bright star?
- Well, it was hard for me, too, for a time.
I find that I've come to terms with it.
- Oh, you're a much finer person.
- Well, you can't make her shine less brightly.
But that light illuminates us too.
And she'll never leave you behind.
- Mm, I don't know. [chuckles]
- No, I'm telling you,
she loves you, and she needs you.
- I don't want what she has.
I don't.
A television program.
But I don't want her to have it either.
Those are my recipes she's famous for.
- Yes, they are.
- [scoffs]
[bottle thuds sharply]
I ran out of wine now.
- The truth is, Simca,
we would not be where we are if it weren't for her.
So this is just our burden.
But I'll tell you what.
You and I can be charter members
of the Julia's Shadow Club.
And you can call me anytime you've lost your way
and I'll buck you up because I'm a fan.
- [chuckles] Thank you, Paul.
But I'd rather see her fall on her face once in a while.
- We took our name from it,
a name that still no one can pronounce.
[laughter]
Thankfully, we didn't take his golf game.
[laughter]
A man of infinite erudition, impeccable taste,
peerless business acumen,
our founder and still our captain, Alfred Knopf.
[applause]
- You know, I am a man who prefers the written
to the spoken word, so let me say simply
that I am supremely proud
of what you and I have accomplished together.
I am bullish on American letters.
And I look forward to the next 50 years at Knopf.
[applause]
I believe it's time for dessert.
- I'd like to say a few words if that's OK with you, Alfred.
Thank you.
Alfred, here's to you and this remarkable place
where we all work.
We tell stories.
More important, we decide which stories get told.
The ones we do not choose are, over time, forgotten,
which means we have a very consequential job
to decide what is remembered.
Blanche Knopf is the cofounder of this house.
It was her influence that brought Sigmund Freud,
Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir,
and Thomas Mann to this country.
She championed German writers
who spoke up against the Nazis.
She was a champion of women writers
wherever she could find them.
And no one could recognize a unique voice
or guide it better than Blanche.
[gentle music]
She has taste and discernment
that is without equal in the world of publishing.
It is no disservice to her husband
or any of the men with whom she works
that she towers above them all.
♪ ♪
And so I propose a toast.
♪ ♪
A toast!
♪ ♪
To Blanche Knopf,
who has always seen what no one else could.
all: To Blanche Knopf.
♪ ♪
- And rags to riches.
Yes. - Well, that was an evening.
- Oh.
- The president and the prime minister
got along swimmingly.
Everything went precisely according to plan.
Those are my favorite words in the English language,
"according to plan."
- You really know how to throw a party.
- And on behalf of the Office of Protocol,
I want to thank you for playing your part
and making it possible for us to tell our story.
This is for you, a token of our appreciation.
Our guests love them.
The napkins have the logo.
- Oh, yes. - Oh.
- You shouldn't have.
- If you stay a minute, I can place you
in a strategic position where you can catch
the president as he heads up to the residence.
He may even stop and chat for a minute if you're lucky.
- That'd be amazing. [chuckles]
- Well, perhaps while Russ is doing that,
Julia can interview Zephyr Wright from the kitchen.
It would be wonderful to include the perspective
of an ordinary citizen who works at the White House.
- Oh, pity.
She's not on the list.
- Right.
Got it.
Well, we will just wait here for you, Russ.
- Maybe when you're done,
I can get a minute to talk about Hollywood.
- Oh, but you're at the White House.
- Oh, it's a dead-end job.
No one stays for the second term.
- Well, GBH is...
- Some women just do better with men.
- This is pretty good.
- Hunter's wife, Tilly, made it.
It's a bit of a story.
- Men just take and take and take and take...
whatever they want.
And the world says, go right ahead.
You're a man.
You want it?
It's yours.
- Yes, they're the worst, men.
I hate them myself.
- You didn't see this. - Mm-mm.
- Don't be stingy.
[operatic music playing]
♪ ♪
Thank you.
♪ ♪
[sighs, sniffs]
I want love.
- Of course.
- But I'd prefer respect.
- Mm, respect is hard to come by.
- Bernard wasn't like that.
♪ ♪
And you're not like that, are you?
Like most men.
Why is that?
♪ ♪
- I really don't know how to answer.
- Well...
you're not exactly Clark Kent, Paul.
But you're a man among men.
♪ ♪
- Here, eat before it gets cold.
- Ugh, I just need a hot bath,
and my whole outlook will shift.
- [chuckles]
- I just wanted to say good night.
- Oh.
- Oh, Zephyr, how lovely to see you again.
You were our absolute savior tonight.
- It's my pleasure.
I'm heading to the bus stop, Ms. Naman.
Walk with me.
- I'll meet you back at the hotel.
- Just tickles me.
I'm so impressed.
- Ugh, oh, no.
- I am.
How old are you?
- I'm 25.
- My, oh, my. - Hmm.
- A young Black woman in a position
of such important influence over how people think.
- Thank you.
It doesn't always feel that way, though.
Most of the time, it just feels pointless.
- They've got a paved road,
and we're always climbing a mountain...
- Hmm. - Just to get
to the same place. - Yes.
Yes, exactly.
- I understand.
Believe me.
And yet here you are.
- [chuckles]
- But now,
don't you be disappointed in me, Alice.
- What? I'm not. Why would you--
- Because I keep silent,
because I'm happy to be silent
and invisible.
- I just wanted the world to know you.
- You've found a wonderful way to make your voice heard.
So have I.
You speak loudly, and I whisper.
I say nothing in Chef Haller's kitchen.
And I cook for the president
and his family and his friends.
- You don't have to explain.
- We talk, the president and I,
when no one else is there,
about many things,
consequential things.
He gave me the pen he used to sign the Civil Rights Act.
- I had no idea.
- Of course not.
What would people say if they knew?
You make me proud, Alice.
I wish I'd had the kind of path that you had.
I did what I could,
and I got lucky.
Food gave me a voice,
just like with you and Julia.
- Hmm.
[brakes squealing]
- I look forward to seeing the program.
[bus driver speaking indistinctly]
- Thank you.
- We'll both fight the fight...
in our own ways.
[bright music]
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
♪ ♪
- Sorry about the way they treated you two.
I just--I didn't know it was my place to say.
- No, of course not. And we had a job to do.
The job is what counts.
Respect is just gravy.
And given the heaviness of Chef Haller's gravy,
perhaps a thing best forgotten at this White House.
- OK.
Thank you.
- ♪ And please don't forget to change your town ♪
It's getting late.
I will take the first leg of the drive in the morning.
Good night. - Good night, Russ.
- Yes, good night, Russ.
- ♪ When you lose your money ♪
♪ Please don't lose your mind ♪
- The world isn't very kind to women, is it?
- ♪ When you lose your good gal ♪
- No.
Most of us can't do anything about it.
But you have a spotlight.
♪ ♪
- Yes, I do.
♪ ♪
- It's too late for "by women, for women."
But it is not too late.
♪ ♪
- Thank you, Alice.
♪ ♪
- When will we see the galleys
for "Keepers of the House," Albert?
- Next week, week after, the latest.
- Very good.
Well, thank you all for last night.
That was splendid.
Well, nothing more for me.
- I'd like to say a few words.
I'm going blind.
That's not exactly news, but there it is.
For the past year, all my work has actually been done
by Judith. - Blanche, that's--
- No.
- She has covered for me
so I could pretend to do this job that I love.
It is the only thing I love...
Except for Judith.
Thank you
for acknowledging last night
my part in building this house.
But firms and office buildings, that's Ozymandias stuff.
What will last
is the books.
And I have put a piece of myself
in each of them.
Invisible...
But not silent.
And that's enough for me.
- I want to hear everything, every detail.
- Well, it'll be a remarkable program, I think,
but the whole visit had the strangest effect on me.
- Hmm.
- At first, I was... disappointed.
- Wh--
- Oh, apparently, at the White House,
I am very small potatoes.
- Well, that can't be true.
They invited you.
- No, it is. And it doesn't matter.
As you always used to say, in the diplomatic corps,
we are smaller than our purpose.
In the end, it was invigorating.
- Well, that is very vague but splendid news.
- Mm. [chuckles]
What about you, Paul?
Did you get along?
- I did.
I accomplished a lot of small things that...
seemed to be very much appreciated.
Felt good to be Paul Child this week.
- I should think so.
It's a wonderful thing to be.
- I spent time with Hunter and his wife,
with Avis, with Simca.
- Gosh, you social butterfly.
- Mm.
- And then here's a nice topper.
We got a call from an old friend.
- Really? Who?
- Do you remember Frank Bludger from our old OSS days?
Apparently, he's in town for his niece's wedding,
and he wants to see us.
He already knew that you'd been at the White House.
He told me you're a true patriot,
and I agreed.
Turns out, he's in the FBI, which...
fits for Frank, don't you think?
Jul?
- He's not here for his niece's wedding.
- My,
you do have your finger on the pulse of things,
don't you?
- Yes, he's here to see me.
He's been following me for months.
- [scoffs]
- The FBI wants information about radical behavior at WGBH.
- At GBH?
I would have thought you'd tell him to go to hell.
For months?
Why didn't you say something, Jul?
- He blackmailed me.
[dramatic music]
He said that if I didn't help...
♪ ♪
He would make public the accusations
made against you when you retired...
the communism,
the homosexuality.
♪ ♪
- I'm sorry you've been afraid all this time.
♪ ♪
- Well, I don't want to be.
I want to take them all on,
all these men.
Who are they, anyway?
- Julia...
♪ ♪
I'm not afraid.
♪ ♪
Let them say what they want.
They have no power over me.
I am a contented man.
♪ ♪
- I love you so much.
♪ ♪
I married the right guy.
- [laughing] Yes, you did.
♪ ♪
Frank may not have considered this, but...
♪ ♪
We still have a few tricks up our sleeves
from our old OSS days.
♪ ♪
Shall we beat them at their own game,
you and I, yes?
- Yes.
Oh, yes.
- Let the games begin.
- ♪ God bless America ♪
♪ Land that I love ♪
♪ Stand beside her and guide her ♪
♪ Through the night with the light from above ♪
♪ From the mountains to the prairies ♪
♪ To the oceans white with foam ♪
♪ God bless America ♪
♪ My home, sweet home ♪
♪ From the mountains to the prairies ♪
♪ To the oceans ♪
♪ White with foam ♪
♪ God bless America ♪
♪ My home ♪
♪ Sweet home ♪
♪ God bless ♪
♪ America ♪
♪ My home ♪
♪ Sweet ♪
♪ Home ♪
♪ ♪