Tennessee Johnson (1942)

Marjorie Main: Mrs. Maude Fisher

Quotes 

• all in this scene : [first lines] 

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : There, see that?

  [pointing to the jail cuff clamped around Andrew Johnson's ankle] 

  Blackstone McDaniel : [Andrew quickly looks up from sewing his pantleg and appears startled and nervous]  We didn't see nothin' stranger.

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : [as the group approaches him]  I seed ya sewin' though!

  Mordecai Milligan : First time I ever see a man sew like that.

  Andrew Johnson : I done tailorin'.

  Mordecai Milligan : How much you want to sew the seat in a pair-a britches?

  Andrew Johnson : I wouldn't work here.

  [continues sewing his pants] 

  Andrew Johnson : I'm goin' west.

  [Mordecai nudges Sam on the arm, the group goes inside, and they slyly throw a file out the door for him to saw off the jail cuff] 

• Coke : Where ya comin' from stranger?

  Andrew Johnson : East.

  Sam Andrews : Where ya headin'm

  Andrew Johnson : West.

  Coke : Whaddya want out there?

  Andrew Johnson : Land.

  [Sam chuckles] 

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : Don't talk much, do ya?

  Andrew Johnson : Not unless I get somethin' to say.

• Eliza McCardle Johnson : Oh, that's a fine job Mordecai.

  [referring to the 'A. Johnson - tailor.' sign he's hanging up on Johnson's new shop] 

  Mordecai Milligan : I'm gettin' a brand new pair-a britches for doin' this.

  Eliza McCardle Johnson : Well I thought those old ones of yours would be too much for any tailor.

  [he chuckles and Mrs. Fisher walks outside from cleaning] 

  Eliza McCardle Johnson : Well, Mrs. Fisher.

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : Them cobwebs ain't been swept out since the Burgess moved out west, and I been chokin' and spittin' for weeks t'get the dust outta my lungs.

  Eliza McCardle Johnson : Well aren't you a good neighbor.

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : I ain't been messin' about in there to help that mule head. I'm-a gettin' paid! I'm gonna have the first new dress since the one I wore the day the parson tied me up.

  [Eliza laughs and heads inside to see Andrew] 

• Andrew Johnson : If I hadn't toted that gun, Milligan'd be asleep in his bed in there, not dead in it.

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : That's right, and we're gonna make 'em *pay* for it.

  Andrew Johnson : [begins addressing the crowd]  Put down those weapons!

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : You quittin' on us tailor?

  Andrew Johnson : I ain't never quittin'; from now on, never.

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : Then come along, join the party.

  Blackstone McDaniel : You begin this Andy with your cadence. And your tellin' us to stick up for our rights.

  Sam Andrews : You led the scrimmage when the sheriff Beery started throwin' us out the hall.

  Blackstone McDaniel : You done more-a your share-a fightin' your own self.

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : And who pulled the gun first?

  Andrew Johnson : It'll take me more than all my life... to pay for that.

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : He's quittin' on us. Come on!

  Andrew Johnson : No! Not fighting and shooting, hanging and burning: that ain't the way

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : Eye for eye, tooth for tooth: that's bible!

  Andrew Johnson : So you want to start killing. First you kill, militia comes from Nashville, then they start killing. And the dead they leave are you Maude Fisher; and Dick, you;, and Ebenezer, you; and Ethan, you; and you; and you McDaniel. Yes I told you to fight for your rights, but the constitution ain't to protect the dead, it's to protect the living.

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : Ain't nothin' in it I know of that says not to hang a murderin' sheriff.

  Andrew Johnson : I-it says the law hangs murderers, i-i-it says the people got the right to make the laws - that's us! And that's how we're gonna win our fight election day, and when we win it, we'll-we'll get Cass indicted!

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : How?

  Farmer : Lots of us ain't even got a vote.

  Blackstone McDaniel : You ain't got no vote Andy.

  Andrew Johnson : Well, a-a lot of us have. Come November I'm gonna have my ace paid for and a vote. Then we can elect one of our own sheriff; a common man, one of us!

  Farmer : Now you're talkin' crazy.

  Farmer : Who'll we get?

  Farmer : None of us is fittin'.

  Sam Andrews : Most of us can't hardly read.

  Farmer : We ain't good enough.

  Blackstone McDaniel : We ain't got no rights.

  Andrew Johnson : Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - those are our rights, as well as theirs. It's our fish in the stream, o-our flag on the fort.

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : Hey, what about the tailor? He's fittin'!

  Andrew Johnson : Me? No... no, I-I ain't fit enough.

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : [the crowd gathers around to encourage him]  You can read and write and figure.

  Farmer : And you can speak.

  Farmer : And you can fight.

  Sam Andrews : How 'bout it Andy? You're good enough.

  Eliza McCardle Johnson : [smiles and puts her hand on his shoulder]  And fit enough.

  all in this scene : [individual comments, non-discernable by character]  Eliza's right. / Andy for sheriff! / We can put you in. / Andy's the man. / We'll beat their pants off end let you sew 'em up! /

  [the crowd cheers all together and the scene fades out] 

• Blackstone McDaniel : They put me up to do some introducin' here in Greeneville as some old friends that don't need no introducin'. Now most-a you younger folks didn't know this lady here when she was Miss McCardle a-passin' out books at the library.

  [the crowd applaudes] 

  Blackstone McDaniel : Qnd there's her daughter Martha. You remember her - many of you played in 5he streets with her. And now she's grown up too: married and has a little boy of her own.

  [more applause] 

  Blackstone McDaniel : And I almost forgot - there's a man here too. A man who got his start in politics when a bunch-a us made him run for sheriff. He said he wasn't fit enough! Well, he's been fit enough to be made sheriff, assemblyman, congressman, governor, and now he comes back to his home folks in his own town as senator of the United States. No, I ain't gonna introduce him, not in Greeneville.

  [the crowd cheers as the band plays] 

  Andrew Johnson : Guess Blackstone McDaniel's right; I don't need any introducin' to you, I patched the britches of a lot of ya,

  [crowd laughs] 

  Andrew Johnson : and your fathers' britches before ya!

  Mrs. Maude Fisher : I'm still wearin' that first new dress Andy made me!

  Andrew Johnson : Well it's mighty fine to be home again. My friends, I have been a Jacksonian Democrat all my political life. I hope we will lick the Republicans this Fall and send Abe Lincoln back to splitting rails and in Illinios!

  [crowd cheers] 

  Andrew Johnson : But people here in the south who have threatened to break up this chosen president forget that in our America the verdict of the majority must be accepted.

  [crowd boos] 

  Andrew Johnson : That is what I will say in the Senate in Washington even if Lincoln is chosen president.

  [more boos] 

  Andrew Johnson : [shaking his fist]  I repeat that is what I will say in the Senate whether you back me up here at home here in Tenessee or whether you don't!

  [more boos and the scene fades out]