Christmas in July (1940)

Harry Hayden: Mr. Waterbury

Quotes 

• 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 - I realized something else - something I'm imparting to you now, Mr. MacDonald. I'm not a failure. I'm a success. You see, ambition is all right if it works. But no system could be right where only half of 1% were successes and all the rest were failures - that wouldn't be right. I'm not a failure. I'm a success. And so are you, if you earn your own living and pay your bills and look the world in the eye. I hope you win your $25,000, Mr. MacDonald. But if you shouldn't happen to, don't worry about it. Now get the heck back to your desk and try to improve your arithmetic.