Scandal Sheet

I know how you feel, lady.

Just take your time

and tell me what happened.

He had this meat ax, her blood all over it.

My brother-in-law had it.

Blood all over his hands, all over his shirt.

I can't talk about it, Officer.

I know it's rough, lady,

but I have to have the facts.

He comes staggering out in the hall.

He says, "I did it. Call the cops."

And then he...

Snap it up, Captain.

Lieutenant Davis just blew in.

What's he going to do, Officer?

- I'm not a cop, lady.

- But you said...

All I said was,

"I had to ask you some questions."

I'm from the Express.

You made me go through all that.

Why, you're not decent! You're not human!

- Sorry, lady. All part of the job.

- Well, well, Lieutenant Davis.

- Say, this must have been a homicide.

- Hi, Lieutenant. Wait till you hear it.

- A messy one.

- You keep pulling stuff like this, McCleary,

and so help me, if it's the last thing I do,

I'll run you in! Now, that's a warning!

This is KL-75263. Get me Plaza-52099.

You know, that wasn't a bad-Iooking dame.

Too bad the guy used an ax on her head.

Spoiled some pretty pictures for me.

Hey, Mark, have you put on the gloves

with those stockholders yet?

Hi. No, I'm just taping up my hands.

Well, you can tell them we got

another neat and gory one coming up.

Hatchet murder. Lower East Side tenement.

Wrapped up an exclusive interview

with an eyewitness.

You got plenty of art?

Yeah. Biddle grabbed all he could

of the body.

A dame, very messy.

Got a great hysterical close-up of her sister.

I'll even write the caption for you.

"I seen him with a bloody meat ax."

Good. With that, I can sell papers.

Give it to rewrite and we'll get it in the final.

Hold on. What do you want?

Mr. Madison called down

from the boardroom again, Mr. Chapman.

You hear that?

I'm letting them stew in their financial juices.

Well, don't overdo it. I like this job.

You've never gone backwards

with me before, have you, kid?

If we leave here, we'll bounce into

a bigger setup. I'll see you when you get in.

As one of the largest stockholders

in this corporation,

I would like to know

why the New York Express,

once a distinguished

and respected newspaper,

has been allowed to become

a cheap and depraved publication.

Why has an editor been allowed

to turn a decent journal into this?

A disgusting tabloid!

Pandering to the passions

of the base morons!

I demand an explanation, Frank Madison.

Well, Mrs. Rawley, I...

In defense of Mark Chapman, I...

Mr. Madison, I'd like to handle

my own defense, if you don't mind.

Just as you say, Mark.

Mrs. Rawley, I think you

and the other stockholders should know

that your publisher hired me

as executive editor

with full rights to transform this newspaper.

He did this for a very simple reason.

He was fed up with operating at a loss.

Why did Mr. Madison hire me?

Well, he felt it was time that the Express

buried its antiquated negative approach,

such as this.

But who won?

And become a positive newspaper.

We're in a business, ladies and gentlemen,

a business of satisfying the hunger

of the public for thrills, escape and news.

Here's where I took over

your highly respectable white elephant.

Instead of headlining a UN story,

we gave them a vice story.

Obviously, they went for it.

We played down

the presidential appointments

and concentrated

on the "Gorilla Man" killings.

Here's what happened.

Thirty or forty thousand new readers.

Why, in a year, circulation's up over 110%.

And when we reach 750,000,

we'll have to pay you a big bonus.

I'm not sure I like this at all.

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