On the Bowery (1956)

Gorman Hendricks: Self

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Quotes 

• Ray Salyer, Himself : I got to have another drink.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Yeah, you gotta have flop too.

  Ray Salyer, Himself : That's for sure.

• Ray Salyer, Himself : Well, that's that. These guys sure took off, didn't they.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Sure. They didn't see any more in evidence, so, naturally, they're going to go.

  Ray Salyer, Himself : Anything for a drink, huh?

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Yeah, I reckon.

  Ray Salyer, Himself : Oh, well. That's the way it goes.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Well, it's the Bowery way.

• Ray Salyer, Himself : I was thinking about that most of the places you go there's always a place you can get a day's labor.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Down here, you can get a job dish-washin', for a day.

  Ray Salyer, Himself : That's what I need now - a day's work, not a full week's work.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Well, there are plenty of jobs, according to all I hear. But, you got to be there when they're open, that's all.

• Ray Salyer, Himself : We won't spend too much. I want to save some for a flop.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Crazy if you don't.

  Ray Salyer, Himself : [to bartender]  A glass of beer and a glass of Muscatel, please.

• Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Have you heard from your family lately?

  Domino-Playing Immigrant : I don't hear from them. I don't depend on them, you see. I live on old man's pension, sit here a couple of hours a day, then I go out and have my whatever I feel like have, then - sit down on the bar, drink, and have again, you see. That's my life.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Well, it sounds like a quiet one and a normal one. That would be what I'd want right now.

• Gorman Hendricks, Himself : What are you doing today, anything?

  Ray Salyer, Himself : Aw, I was lucky today, Gorman. I was up on the corner, got a job on a truck, made a few dollars.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : I can think of a whole lot more pleasant ways to make a buck than working.

• Gorman Hendricks, Himself : What are you going to do tonight?

  Ray Salyer, Himself : Well, the guys was telling me that the Bowery Mission opens up here about 6:30 or 6:00 or something like that. A fella can go down there and wash and shave, get himself cleaned up, attend service and then they'll give him a place to sleep. I figured I go down there and do that. You know, it'll keep me out of the alleys and gin mills. Cause I don't want to drink anymore.

• Ray Salyer, Himself : If I go on up there, then I'll be engaged until time to go to bed and I won't be, you know, tempted to drink.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Well, after all, a man's mind is his own. If you don't want to drink, you don't want to drink. I'll offer it to you again, if you say no, okay.

  Ray Salyer, Himself : Well, I'll tell you one thing, Gorman, I'd like to have the drink; but, I don't want it.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Well, pal, I'm going across the street to the Confidence and pour two or three in me, to carry me through the night.

  Ray Salyer, Himself : Two or three won't do you any good, boy.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Oh, you'd be surprised. They're going to be doubles.

• Ray Salyer, Himself : I drank too much of that stuff.

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : What's the trouble?

  Ray Salyer, Himself : Well, you know the story. I came in with money after working all summer, started drinking that mess, one thing lead to another, drank a lot, spent a lot, wound up in the alley over there with nothing in the world. No clothes. No money. Nothin'!

• Gorman Hendricks, Himself : How do you expect to get out there? You haven't got any money.

  Ray Salyer, Himself : No. But, if I get cleaned up, maybe I can get a day's work, you know, and then hitch-hike or maybe I'll ship up the line on the railroad and just walk on down the tracks instead of going to work. Ship out in the other direction until I get there.

• Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Look, I don't hand malarkey out. When I tell a man something, I keep my word!

• Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Hey, what's the matter with you, anyway? You went out of that place like a turpentined cat.

• Gorman Hendricks, Himself : Get off this Bowery and stay off the place.

• [last lines] 

  Gorman Hendricks, Himself : I know he's going to be alright. I got him a good job. And the kid's gonna come through. He wanted to get off the Bowery and I did the best I could to help. And that's all any man can do.

  Drunk #5 : Let me tell you something: he'll be back.