Mrs. America (2020) s01e07 Episode Script
Bella
1
I was pregnant,
and I was scared.
(coughs, inhales)
This is
my deathbed confession.
- The Positive Woman looks upon
her femaleness and her fertility
as part of her purpose,
her potential, and her power.
She starts with the knowledge
that America is the greatest
country in the world,
and she must do her part
to keep it that way.
[applause]
Now the women's
liberation movement
they like to characterize
the, uh,
Positive Woman as negative
- [women murmuring]
- as "Anti,"
when in fact,
the opposite is true,
because the Positive Woman
is pro-family and pro-life
- [women murmuring]
- and pro-American.
[murmuring continues]
There's a question?
H-How does the Positive Woman
cope with threats
to our nation's security
both within our borders
as well as outside?
- [lowered voice] My mother's
now your mother's ringer.
Unbelievable.
- You're referring, no doubt,
to our current political crisis?
Well, our last election
was a rout.
[scoffs] There's no other way
of describing it.
The liberals now control
the courts
and the legislative
and executive branches
and the media.
And in Jimmy Carter, well,
we have a president who is
weak on foreign policy,
is complacent in the face
of the growing red menace,
and he is ill-prepared
to deal with the nuclear genie
that is well and truly
out of the bottle,
not to mention that within weeks
of his inauguration,
the First Lady ruthlessly
lobbied Indiana
to become the 35th state
to ratify the ERA.
- Your mother seems
- She's been like this
since the election.
- [whispers] Shh, shh.
- So thank you very much.
Uh, this is just a small
appetizer from my new book,
"The Power
of the Positive Woman,"
and if you want the full meal,
you'll need to buy a copy
from me for $8.95.
Thank you.
- [women murmuring]
[camera shutter clicks]
Oh, thank you.
[applause subsides]
Hi!
[lowered voice] Phyl,
sit up straight, sweetheart.
- You were wonderful.
- Oh, you were, too.
- We should eat something before
we head off to the theater.
- I can't believe I drove
all this way from Boston
for "The King and I."
- I thought I was coming in
for "A Chorus Line."
- "The King and I" is a classic.
- Clive Barnes called
"A Chorus Line"
an occasion of joy.
- [chuckles] Oh, Clive Barnes.
- "Like a rainbow
after a thunderstorm."
- Is Clive Barnes a weatherman?
- Oh, she's spent
one semester at Princeton,
and she's already spouting
this liberal nonsense
like it's gospel.
- You have just a bit
of perspiration right there.
- Oh.
- That's perfect.
- You're a traitor to your sex
by waging war against women!
- [women gasp and scream]
Ramones:
Hey, oh, let's go
Hey, oh, let's go
They're formin'
in a straight line
They're goin'
through a tight one
The kids are losin'
their minds
Blitzkrieg bop
Hey, oh, let's go
- Well, I'mI'm glad it wasn't
a cherry pie,
because it would've stained
my dress.
["A Fifth of Beethoven"
by Walter Murphy playing]
[horn honks,
vehicles passing in distance]
- Is ittongue?
- Mm. And some kind of
fish spread.
- That's a whitefish spread.
It's an old Cossack
family recipe
from her father's butcher shop.
Say you're on a diet.
That's what I always say.
- You are always on a diet.
- [chuckles]
- And we're here
to cheer her up.
How bad is she?
- [sighs] Just
don't comment on her hair.
I'm happy you're here
to give her some good news.
- I hope she sees it that way.
It's not even a paid position.
- I really thought
she would win.
[footsteps approach]
- No one's eating.
Is someone sick?
- [both laugh]
[door closes]
- I'm not interrupting.
I just came out to sneak myself
a sandwich.
- Oh, excuse my hair. I haven't
been able to find anyone
as good as Lily in the city.
- You haven't found anyone
as good in New York City.
- Uh, well, it was a walk
from the House Beauty Parlor
to the Capitol
that really made my hair shine.
[chuckles]
No one's touched the liver.
- Mmm. Did Bella tell you that
we're going to Southern Italy
next month?
- Yeah, we're taking
a food tour,
see who makes the better salami.
- [laughs]
- It's called salumi.
- No, no, "salumi"
is the umbrella term
for all cured meats.
- I have been waiting 25 years
to get you back there.
- [chuckles]
I'd like to, uh,
make a toast to Midge
on being the first female
assistant to the president.
I can't believe
it was only five years ago
you were my assistant
at the convention,
running around,
delivering papers.
- Cheers.
[glasses clink]
- Cheers.
- You clearly have Carter's ear.
Use it wisely.
- Iusing it wisely.
I have asked the president
to resurrect Jill's commission,
which means the first ever
national women's convention
is back from the dead.
- [stammers] The one that I
- Funded with your bill. Yes.
It's scheduled for November.
Just need to find
the right person to run it.
Not this November.
[glass clatters]
That's not enough time.
Uh, it's designed to be run like
a political party convention,
only it's bipartisan
uh, an even bigger undertaking.
It takes years to plan.
- Which is why I've asked
the president to appoint you
as Presiding Officer
of the commission.
- Only you could pull off
something this ambitious.
We could get so much done.
- I would certainly be
the right man for the job.
[laughter]
[glasses clink]
- Cheers.
[footsteps approach]
- You're still up.
[sighs] It's late.
Come to bed.
- Hmm.
- That was a great slogan.
- Hmm. It was.
But Bella Abzug won with it.
The most socialist, anti-war,
radical libber
had the same slogan as me.
- Don't make it personal.
Come to bed.
[pats hand]
[sighs]
[footsteps depart]
[telephone ringing
in distance]
- I want you to imagine
a group of Native Alaskan women
getting on a bus in Fairbanks,
Appalachian women
getting on a bus in Beattyville,
homemakers getting on a bus
in Toledo.
They're all traveling
to represent their state,
all of them yearning to have
a voice in government,
to vote on issues that affect
their lives.
[indistinct conversations
in distance]
It's easier to imagine
if your eyes are closed.
When the state meetings
are over,
all these buses,
hundreds and hundreds of them
with women
from all walks of life,
make their way to Houston.
We have very limited resources.
Do we wanna spend our money
on these buses,
or on pretty skirts to decorate
tables on the convention floor?
- Fine. No table skirts.
Everyone, open your eyes.
You're gonna give
a 10-minute meditation
on every line item
in the budget?
- No, just the table skirts
felt frivolous.
- Moving on. Coretta Scott King
has agreed to join
the commission
and chair
the minority rights committee.
- Oh.
[applause]
That's fabulous.
- Uh, we have one more spot.
As much as I hate to say it,
I think we should appoint Betty
as our final commissioner.
- Betty Friedan? No.
- Uh, I know she's divisive
and a pain in the ass,
but she is a pioneer.
- Who almost singlehandedly kept
lesbians out of the movement
for a decade.
- And we've been making
a big push at the state meetings
to approve
a gay rights resolution.
- If the resolution makes it
on the agenda in Houston,
will the president still get up
onstage for opening ceremonies?
- I'll make sure of it.
- If Betty is on that stage,
it'll send a message
that we're not welcome.
I'll resign.
- So now we're not gonna have
people we disagree with
participate?
- Not if we want Houston
to be inclusive.
- You wanna be inclusive
by excluding?
Would you listen to yourself?
- You cannot appoint her.
- Okay. Okay, let's calm down.
- This is just how we talk
in New York City.
- The West Side
of New York City.
[laughter]
- This is exactly
what I warned would happen
with the Democrats in charge.
It's a federally funded festival
for frustrated feminists.
- They're gonna ram
a whole platform
of lefty issues
down our throats.
- Yes.
- Will the libbers use this
to get those last three states?
- Well, they put that Marxist
Bella Abzug in charge,
so I would guess yes,
but that doesn't mean
we're gonna roll over
and let them win.
- They are truly the horribles.
- Mm-hmm.
- Deviants and murderers.
Get ready to see
our hard-earned dollars
go to fund abortion on demand,
lesbianism,
shelters for beaten wives.
- Well, I think the husband will
be more inclined to beat her
- [baby fussing]
- if he thinks she's gonna
get a vacation
funded by his tax dollar.
- But, uh, we should organize
a counter rally
to protest the convention.
Grab the attention of the press.
- No. No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, wait a minute.
I do have a strategy.
Now Bella Abzug's commission
is holding meetings
in every state this summer,
where they will elect
representatives
to go to this
national convention in Houston,
and each of these state meetings
will be our battleground.
Now we need to get ourselves
elected so that we can get seats
at the convention.
- Why shouldn't
conservative women have a voice
on women's issues?
- Well, that's right.
That's exactly my point.
- So anyone can run,
not just the liberals?
- Yes, it's called
the electoral process.
- Well, it's, um
it's kind of like
the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest
thousands of women
from every state competing
for a spot
on the national competition
to see who has the best recipes.
- And we have
to get pro-family bakers,
or we'll be stuck with a bunch
of liberal recipes
in our cookbook
and force-fed ERA brownies,
abortion cookies,
and lesbian pies
till Kingdom come.
- Yes, well, every metaphor
has its limits, Rosemary.
- Well, if we're going to war,
we'll need protection.
I have some men that would be
willing to help,
make sure we're not harmed.
- Do you really think
it's that dangerous?
- Look at what they did
to Phyllis.
- Oh! It doesn't hurt a bit.
But we do need to be smart
about this.
Because if we're gonna take over
their conference
by winning seats,
they can't see us coming.
- Frankly, Phyllis,
I have concerns
about you being the leader
of this operation.
You're a lightning rod.
- I think she has a point.
Well, clearly, you're a target,
given yourpirate status.
WhatWhat if you get pied again
or worse?
- I am not a pirate.
- I only meant let us
do the work on the ground,
and you can recover
and strategize from home.
- Yeah, well, I can see
the wisdom in that.
- Well, I think it's clear
who should be out front.
- I have done a pretty good job
of running the Illinois chapter
of STOP ERA.
I would be honored to take
your place on the front lines.
Yes.
- Congratulations, Rosemary.
You've just been drafted.
- [chuckles] Well
since STOP ERA and Eagle Forum
are so closely tied
to your name and image,
I think it might be a good idea
for me to create
an ad hoc organization
with myself as president,
just to be sure the libbers
don't see us coming
until it's too late
like you said.
- The South Carolina office
was burglarized?
- In broad daylight. The staff
was there. The door was open.
- By who?
- Some group calling themselves
Citizen's Review Committee.
Find out what they took.
- I'm not your assistant.
Judy, what'd they take?!
- It was like
"The Pink Panther."
First, I created a diversion.
- I don't wanna know.
The Eagle Forum
is a law-abiding organization.
- Well, Eagle Forum is,
but the Citizen's Review
Committee
- Don't look at me.
I was setting up
our hospitality suite.
- We should have
a training manual like this.
We could write our own.
- Maybe even steal
their typeface to make it
look like we're an official part
of their commission.
- "The Citizen's Review
Committee hospitality suite
"will be under
24-hour security supervision
and can only be accessed"
Get this.
"using
the secret hand signal."
- What kind
of secret hand signals?
[laughter]
- According to this,
the head of this new group
is housewife Rosemary Thomson.
- Who also happens to be head
of the Illinois chapter
of STOP ERA and on the board
of the Eagle Forum.
- They're trying to kill
this national convention
just like they've been trying
to kill ERA. I'm worried
- Don't be.
We have 1,400 delegate spots.
What's three ultra conservatives
getting elected from Georgia?
- At what number
should we start worrying?
- If they get 20%,
they'll have real power.
- [blowing whistle]
- So every time the libbers
would try to read
the ERA resolution
- [blows whistle] You can
hear it on the recording.
- Well, I'll send copies
to Senator Helms
to include their propaganda
in the Congressional Record.
Where's the recording
of the Texas meeting?
- Oh, I
- I'll need every single one
of those recordings, Pamela.
I need to know what's going on.
[slams cabinet shut]
- They swept
the Missouri meeting.
The entire delegation
was taken over by the Antis.
They did well in Hawaii, too.
- How is that even possible?
- Well, there's an LDS
cultural center out there.
All these Mormons
came over on boats.
Why didn't Mildred warn us
in advance?
Isn't that her job?
- Was. She quit when you threw
your lunch at her.
- I didn't throw it at her.
It was just a little cole slaw.
- The slaw that broke
the camel's back.
[indistinct conversations,
telephone rings in distance]
- [laughing]
[indistinct conversations]
[typewriter keys clacking,
telephone ringing]
This is not a good time.
- I could have predicted
what happened in Missouri.
[horns honking in distance]
And let me tell you something.
Whoever is organizing this
Citizen's Review Committee
is even more cunning
than Phyllis Schlafly.
- It is Phyllis Schlafly.
The Citizen's Review Committee
is the Eagle Forum,
is STOP ERA.
It's all the same people.
- Oh. Well, if I was fooled,
everyone's fooled.
But you want to get advice
from Jean Stapleton.
[as "Edith Bunker"]
Oh, ain't that smart?
- She's Edith Bunker.
She's on the commission
because she's a celebrity.
- Well, I'm a celebrity,
and my fans
are not gonna show up
I have a lot of fans
unless I'm there.
- Then get your ass to Albany
and run to represent
New York state.
- Wellmaybe I will!
[under breath] Gosh.
[indistinct conversations]
[typewriter keys clacking,
telephone ringing]
- We have a big problem
in Albany.
- Is Jesse Helms going to be
at the state dinner?
- Mm.
- Make sure you corner him
and find out where Phyllis
is getting her funding
and reassure
- The First Lady that
we've got things under control
while finding private time
for the president
with Anwar Sadat. Yes, I know.
- Doesn't she clean up well?
- Oh.
- You're so beautiful.
- I feel like a chandelier.
- [chuckles]
- What's our plan?
- Chinese, followed
by a drag show in Dupont Circle.
- Mm! My perfect man.
- Words I never thought
I'd hear you say.
- Be good.
[door opens]
[footsteps depart]
- [Bella
shouting indistinctly]
You were supposed to monitor
any activity on the ground!
Who are you?
- I put a report on your desk.
Did you even look at it?
- What happened?
- Citizen's Review Committee
is busing people to Albany
Mormons, thousands of 'em.
You're fired.
- She didn't mean that.
We're just frustrated
with the situation. I
- Yes, everyone's frustrated.
One person is fired. Go.
- [exhales deeply]
Morale is already low.
- We are in a crisis.
Nothing gets our side mobilized
more than Phyllis Schlafly.
She's in hiding.
I need to draw her out.
Judy, could you get me a flight
to Normal, Illinois?
- I don't think you should go.
- You don't trust
I know what I'm doing?
- You've been having outbursts.
- I'm under a lot of stress.
- If you have an outburst
with Phyllis
in front of thousands of people,
that's how she got to Betty.
- Oh, so you think
I'm Betty now.
If you're so concerned,
come with me.
- I'm scheduled to speak
at the California meeting.
- You know, that's the
difference between you and me.
You wanna preach to the choir.
[door opens]
[telephone rings,
indistinct conversations]
- [baby fussing]
- Of course I'm gonna run
in my home state.
Aren't these meetings open
to all women?
- He's got Tommy's eyes.
- And Buck's hairline.
[laughter]
- Ah. Anytime.
[receiver clatters]
Well
the press is crowing
about a showdown.
And where Bella Abzug is,
Gloria Steinem's not far behind.
- So does this mean you can
come out and run
in the elections with us?
- Well, the cat's out
of the bag.
They know that the, uh,
Citizen's Review Committee
is my work, and
can't let my ladies down.
- Oh. I'm so relieved.
I've never run for anything
in my life.
- You know,
I think I should, uh,
make a speech from the floor,
something to make Bella
really squirm.
It's gonna be fun.
- [chuckles]
- I'm expecting a package.
Did you see anything
in the mail?
- Well, who's sending you
a package, Phyl?
- A boy?
- Photographer's here.
- Oh.
[footsteps depart]
- Well, this is a bit early,
even for you.
- Well [sighs]
It's the only time
all of the children are home.
[exhales deeply]
It's warm in here.
I'd take the blanket off him.
[dog barking in distance]
[footsteps depart]
- Hmm-hmm-hmm!
- Smile!
[camera shutter clicks]
[The Association's "Cherish"
playing]
[clicking continues]
- Bruce, tuck in your shirt.
- Oh. Sorry.
- Get in, Aunt Eleanor.
- Oh, honey, I don't have
my Christmas sweater on me.
- You can have mine. I don't
even wanna be in this photo.
- Let's get a few more
on the count of three.
Onetwothree!
- John, you're slouching.
[click]
Liza
Phyl.
You don't know how many times
I've wished that
- Who's Liza?
- It's a nickname.
You don't know
how many times
- "Phyl" is already a nickname.
Why
- It's not important.
- It's important enough
for you to keep it from me.
- 'Cause I knew you'd react
like this. Doesn't matter.
- No, it matters to me.
I happen to like
your given name.
As much as I
- Do you know how hard it is
to be Phyllis Schlafly, Jr.
on campus?
- Oh, there are a lot
of, uh, students
with famous parents
at Princeton.
- Not famous for being
public enemy number one
of women's liberation.
I've changed my name.
- To what?
- JOHN, BRUCE, ROGER:
Liza.
- That's not a very pretty name.
[click]
To the hope in my heart
each time I realize
- II think we're taking
a break.
- Oh, thank you.
- Thank you.
- You knew?
- It wasn't my news to share.
That I am not gonna be the one
to share your schemes
- I'm sorry. I didn't realize
my name was such a burden.
- I feel like Hester Prynne
whenever I introduce myself.
People laugh at me.
You're famous. Good for you,
but it's embarrassing for me.
- That's enough, Phyl.
- Busloads of my friends
are headed
to the state meeting tomorrow.
They're feminists.
They're interested in hearing
what Bella Abzug has to say.
You know, they all wanna be
Gloria Steinem, not
- I said that's enough, Phyl.
Now apologize to your mother
right now.
- You know, my mother
worked at the library
for 25 years, 5 days a week,
and on Sunday afternoons.
And on Saturdays,
she worked at my high school
so that I could have a proper
Catholic school education.
Now, uh, my classmates laughed
and joked about my mother
working at the school,
but I held my head high,
knowing that, uh, she was doing
what was necessary
so that my life could be better,
and I never, ever thought,
let alone said, that I was
ashamed or embarrassed of her.
How many times I've wished
that I could hold you
You don't know
how many times
I've wished that I could
mold you into someone
Who could cherish me
as much as I
- I've decided to go
to Berkeley.
cherish you
And I do
Cherish you
And I do
Cherish you
Cherish is the word
- [women chanting]
- [cheering]
- Did you talk to her
this morning?
- How many times are you
gonna ask me?
- I just hope she's okay.
- Well, if she wasn't planning
on coming,
she should've given me
the bullhorn.
- She's coming.
[horn honks]
[crowd chattering]
- [chuckles]
[door opens]
- Yeah, Bella!
- Bella!
[women cheering loudly]
- How are you?
- [cheering continues]
- Go home, Bella!
- Go back to New York!
- We don't want you here!
- Has Schlafly arrived?
- We'll know when she gets here.
All the trees will wilt.
- [laughs]
- Boo! Boo!
- Go home! Go back to New York!
- [laughs]
- [cheering continues]
- Go back to New York, Bella!
Go home!
[footsteps approach]
- Phyllis? I was just gonna
pick up Anne from school.
Are you feeling all right?
Are you unwell?
Dr. Albert says
that erratic sleeping,
sweating is often
- It's not that.
I'm fine.
- I do know for me that I didn't
know what was happening.
- I did not get into this fight
to lose.
Not to that hideous battle-axe.
I can't
I just
Why does she get to be
inside the White House?
- You don't want to go to that
women's convention anyway.
Going to Houston
a week before Thanksgiving?
We always have so much to do.
- Oh, were you planning to spend
Thanksgiving with us?
- Wellwhat do you mean?
- Well, I know it's been
our tradition,
but Fred and I have been
so selfish with your time,
and I know Robert's kids
and Daniel's kids
love their Aunt Eleanor
as much as mine do.
- Oh. I'll
I'll check with them.
- Good. It's only fair.
[women cheering]
- [sighs]
You can wait in here.
[crowd chattering]
- Shh!
- Hello. I'm Bella.
- We know who you are.
- Let's see your sign.
So you're not going for wit.
Okay. But you spelled
my name right. That's good.
You wouldn't believe
how many people
spell "Abzug" incorrectly.
It's phonetic.
Where's your queen?
- She's been held up in traffic.
- In Normal, Illinois?
She's not coming, is she?
Oh.
You don't know it yet.
Let me tell you the truth
about Phyllis Schlafly.
She's a liar, a fearmonger,
and a con artist,
but worst of all,
she's a goddamn feminist.
She might be one of the most
liberated women in America.
- Excuse me, but you don't know
anything about Phyllis.
Before she took up our cause,
we were the punchline of jokes
on late night talk shows,
made to feel guilty
for being proud homemakers,
wanting to stay home
with our children
instead of going to work
in an office.
- We don't want to be
working girls.
- She's been our savior,
our Joan of Arc.
- Everything we know,
we learned from her.
- What have you learned
from her?
- So many things
she's taught us.
- Has she taught you how
to lobby legislators?
- [scoffs] Of course.
- Has she taught you how to
draft a press release? A speech?
- Yes.
- How to answer
reporters' questions,
get the television interview?
- Yes.
- How to create a budget
and balance it?
- Yes.
- Congratulations.
You're working girls.
- [amplified voice]
Before we begin the voting,
it is my distinct honor to
present our keynote speaker,
former U.S. Representative
- Be sure to give Phyllis
my best regards.
- Bella Abzug!
[cheers and applause]
[loud cheers and applause
continue]
- [amplified voice]
Thank you. Thank you.
[loud cheers and applause
continue]
Ah.
Wow, it's great to be here.
When our country's forefathers
wrote the Constitution,
they overlooked
our foremothers
[laughter]
which is why
I've come here today
to the great state of Illinois.
[loud cheers and applause]
[applause]
- Thank you. Thank you.
[applause continues]
[Bella speaking indistinctly]
it's because of
all of your hard work.
[cheering continues]
[chuckles] Good, good, good.
- I heard you got
four standing ovations.
- Actually, five
six, if you count this one.
[laughs]
She never even showed
when she heard I was coming.
[telephone ringing,
typewriter keys clacking]
How was California?
- We finally passed
the resolution
to decriminalize prostitution.
Flo and I are happy about that.
- Ah, that's sweet, you think
that's ever gonna make it
on the agenda.
But good news.
26 states have voted to approve
a gay rights resolution.
It's no longer the stepchild
of the movement.
- I can't wait to hear
the anti-change women
get up and preach
about the dangers of perverts
teaching in our schools
right before the vote.
- That's politics.
They're winning seats
fair and square.
- They're busing Mormons
to New York from out of state.
They're rigging the system,
and you're doing nothing
to stop them.
- What would you have me do?
- Kick them out.
- They'll rake us over the coals
for being partisan.
We'll become the assholes.
- They're gonna bring
bloody fetus banners
and tell us what we can
and cannot do with our bodies,
and we' the assholes.
- We have to compromise.
- Like we did with McGovern?
We finally have a place
that's ours,
and they're going to ruin it.
- I've spent almost 10 years
in this town.
I know what I can get done
and what I can't
something you've never
had to learn.
- I've learned that
I'm not willing to sit
on another convention floor
getting called
a murderer of babies.
I'm not willing
to let women speak
who are getting funded
by the Birchers.
I'm sick of shrinking our dreams
to appeal to the middle.
This was supposed
to be our Eden,
and you've let the snakes in.
You were a bigger radical
than me when we met.
- And you were a dilettante
who wanted to play politics.
[footsteps depart]
[breathing heavily]
[exhaling deeply]
[fan whirring, clock ticking]
[closes drawer]
[click]
[The Runaways' "Cherry Bomb"
playing]
Can't stay at home,
can't stay at school
Old folks say,
"You poor little fool"
Down the streets
I'm the girl next door
I'm the fox
you've been waiting for
Hello, Daddy, hello, Mom
I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-
cherry bomb
Hello, world,
I'm your wild girl
I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-
cherry bomb
Hello, Daddy, hello, Mom
I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-
cherry bomb
- Phyllis?
Phyllis? Is anybody here?
Oh, there you are.
[cassettes clacking,
tape player button clicks]
- GLORIA: We must come
together as sisters,
white, black, brown,
heterosexual, and lesbian.
Lesbian rights are human r
[click]
- What are you doing? I'm in the
middle of something important.
- Why didn't you show up
yesterday?
- It was a strategic decision.
For your information,
I have had an inspired idea.
- I know you don't like
to lose.
- Oh, I'm not losing.
I'm winning.
- We got trounced.
You left us to be humiliated
in front of Bella Abzug
and 2,000 libbers.
- Lesbian rights
are human rights.
- MAN: Glory be to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Ghost
- I'm putting these libber
quotes all together on one tape,
including, uh, some sermons
that Lottie Beth sent me.
- BELLA: Don't people realize
that most women are working
[tape stutters]
to destroy the home,
family, and religion.
[click]
- But that's not exactly
what she said in her speech.
- Yes, but she said those words.
- Yes, butbut in a
in a different way.
You're just taking them
out of context.
- She said them.
Now the kidsthey call these,
uh, music compilations.
They're like movie soundtracks,
and they make them
for their sweethearts,
but you can also make them
for people
who are not your sweethearts.
If we're gonna mobilize
more people,
we need them to know how truly
horrible those libbers are.
- Yeah, in their own words.
That's devious.
[cassettes clacking]
- Are you angry with me?
- I'll tell the girls
you had food poisoning.
[tape player button clicks]
- GLORIA: Lesbian rights
affect all of us.
- MAN:
"You shall not lie with a male
as with a woman.
It's an abomination."
- BELLA: We fight
for reproductive freedom!
- MAN: "Before I formed you
in the womb, I knew you."
- GLORIA: Women at home
work harder than anyone,
and they work 99.6 hours a week
without pay.
A man would have to pay
a housekeeper $14,000 a year,
not including
part-time prostitution.
- So that's the Horribles tape.
- I miss Gloria.
- We're the Horribles?
- These tapes are everywhere.
They're spreading like wildfire
across the churches.
- This must be how the swept
Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi
last weekendthis tape.
- It's not just that they've
mobilized more people.
They've emboldened the Klan
to crawl out from under a rock.
- The Klan is showing up?
- Mississippi will be
represented
by an all-white delegation
in Houston.
That includes the wife
of the Grand Dragon
of the Mississippi Klan.
- They're not even hiding.
- Can you ask the president
for more money for security?
- Delicately, I will.
- Use this to bury
Phyllis Schlafly.
- I've waited years for proof
that she's in bed with the Klan.
- Uh
Uh, given all that's happening,
I-I think, um
I think it'sunwise
to keep a gay rights resolution
on the agenda.
- You can't do that.
It was approved in 30 states.
- Believe me, this is
the hardest part of my job.
- I got you this job.
- Carter appointed me.
- Because I begged him.
Mrs. Carter thought you were
pushy and loud.
- You know that's code
for Jewish
- And I fought for you.
- and Italian.
- I thought you would fight
for me.
- You want me to release
hundreds of lavender balloons
on the convention floor
that say, "We are everywhere"?
You're not even out
of the closet!
- Well, maybe if I could hold
Jean's
I can't even hold her hand
while we walk down the street
without getting the shit
kicked out of me.
You're fearless. That's why
I got you this appointment.
That's why I got into politics
at all.
Because you went down
to Mississippi at 28 years old
to defend Willie McGee.
You risked your life
- Sorry I let you down.
I tried to stop the Antis,
but they're coming to Houston,
they're bringing the Klan,
and my job is to keep
our women safe.
Your job is to make sure
the president
is standing on that stage.
- The president isn't coming.
[door opens]
[door slams, footsteps depart]
[horn honking in distance]
- Picked up the things
from your office.
- Aw. What's this?
- Uh, it's from
the South Dakota meeting.
Someone sent you a miniature
Mount Rushmore statue,
remade with the Suffragettes.
- [laughs]
Oh, Wisconsin?
- Yes.
You know what goes nicely
with this cheese?
From the Kentucky meeting.
- Kentucky?
- Mm-hmm.
- This could be poisoned.
- Well, I'll be your taster.
- Did you run into Bella?
- Uhno.
No, she was in a meeting.
- I haven't gone this long
without speaking to her and
What's this?
- Uh
- Huh.
- [chuckles]
- [laughs]
They thought I would wear this?
- How could you let a Klansman
guard our hospitality suite?
- [sighs] Well, we didn't know
he was a Klansman.
They don't walk around in hoods.
Talk to Lotte.
- Well, you should've
vetted him.
- You're right,
and I-I got a bad feeling
from a lot of the men
driving buses
into Mississippi and Alabama.
I should have said something.
I'm so stupid.
It's all right.
It's all right.
I'veI've fixed it. I've, uh,
denied any association.
- Well, I think we need
to go further.
- TheThe Grand Dragon
of the Klan in Mississippi
has already gone on record
saying he collaborated with us.
The only way to make it
absolutely clear
that we don't tolerate
hate groups is to put out
a press release denouncing them
once and for all.
- Now that is a very smart idea.
- With Lotte.
- All right.
Now look, this, uh, certainly
is a setback,
but, uh, given what
we're up against,
I think it is remarkable
how well we've done,
and, uh, Jacquie Davison
called me,
and she's been elected,
and Ann Patterson isis going,
but I think we should
count ourselves lucky
that we don't have to go
to this crooked extravaganza
right before Thanksgiving.
- WelluhI have to go.
- What?
- I won.
- Oh.
- I didn't know you won.
- Well, it took them a while
to count the ballots.
I just got the call
a few days ago.
- They didn't call me
till this morning.
- Me, too.
- We all won.
I can't believe it. [laughs]
- We all won?
[laughter]
- Oh. Umit was too bad
you got food poisoning
and couldn't run, too.
- Oh, yes. Yes. It's, uh
Ooh.
Well, anyway, I'm
I'm too busy to go.
- I-I think we should go.
They need to see us.
They need to see good people
who are against the ERA,
that our cause is just,
and it has nothing to do
with hate or prejudice.
- That's right.
Plus the government
is paying us.
It's kind of like a job.
- Delegate-at-large?
- Oh,
it's a very prestigious honor.
- What the hell does it
even mean?
- Whatever we want it to.
I made it up. [chuckles]
- I'm busy.
I'm writing articles
for a new magazine
called "Working Women."
It's like "Ms." but not dull.
- Come to Houston. You
You don't get the credit
you deserve
'cause you're difficult.
- And you're ruthless,
and you don't listen.
- To you.
I don't like a know-it-all.
- Well, I admit I do have
very strong instincts.
- [chuckles]
- And I'll be honest with you.
My instincts tell me
there's only one issue
that you should make a priority
at your convention
equal pay for equal work.
That's what Phyllis understands.
She has one message,
and she sticks to it.
- Make it about everything,
it winds up being about nothing.
As my father used to say,
you only pluck one chicken
at a time.
- [laughs] Yeah,
was your father a butcher?
- Mm-hmm.
- Oh.
Oh, and don't let them make it
about lesbianism.
It's not our fight.
- Gloria doesn't
understand that.
She has a vision of Houston
as being some
magical feminist Woodstock.
- Well, sure, why not?
She's not going to get blamed
if it's a failure.
It'll be you, and they won't say
that Bella Abzug
couldn't pull it off.
They'll say that women
just can't
pull off this sort of thing.
And it'll be another 150 years
until they let women gather
like this again.
Do you wanna stay for dinner?
I'm making soup from scratch.
I can't remember the last time
I had people over.
- Uh, Marty's expecting me.
- Mm.
- Does it bother you that
no one calls you a radical
anymore?
- The movement is getting
down to Middle America.
[drains wineglass]
We're mainstream.
That's a good thing.
[horns honking in distance]
[boat horn blows]
[siren wailing in distance]
[knock on door]
- You never pick up your phone.
- Why are you holding
a flashlight?
- It's not a flashlight.
It's a torch.
- Oh.
- Don't you have
any imagination?
[door closes]
[horn honks in distance]
After months of sitting silently
in our meetings,
eating all our food,
Sey Chassler finally had
a good idea
a relay from Seneca Falls
to Houston
in the weeks leading up
to the convention,
women athletes of all ages,
and I thought,
instead of a baton, why not
a torch like Lady Liberty?
- Women on the move.
- That's good. That's good.
Write that down.
- I'm not writing that down.
- Have you spoken to Midge?
- [sips]
Yeah. I've spoken to Midge.
- Midge remembers my defense
of Willie McGee as heroic.
I was eight months pregnant
when I went down to Jackson.
- With Egee?
- It was the first Supreme Court
petition I'd ever written.
It was my first trip
to the South.
It was the first time
I got a death threat.
They said, "Willie McGee's
white woman lawyer should be
executed along with him
in the electric chair."
I slept, disguised,
above a brothel
because vigilantes
stalked the hotels.
The whole time,
I was scared shitless.
I lost the baby.
Stress, the doctor said.
They got to me.
I left Mississippi
before the case was over.
I had so much still to do.
There is so much still to do.
[slaps lap]
- Fear never moved mountains.
- What's right is right.
I have to do right by Midge.
But if I put lesbian rights
back on the agenda,
it's true.
We have to keep the Antis out.
I'll do my best.
What if we let them in?
What if we let everyone in?
Let the chips fall
where they may.
- What do you mean, everyone?
Not Schlafly's people.
- Everyone, everyone.
What's really revolutionary
about a group of people
in a room agreeing
with each other?
- The whole thing could blow up
in our faces.
I invited Betty to be
a delegate-at-large.
[laughter]
[Argent's "Hold Your Head Up"
playing]
And if it's bad
Don't let it get you down
You can take it
And if it hurts
Don't let them see you cry
You can make it
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up,
woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head high
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up,
woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up,
woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up,
woman
Hold your head up, woman
- I put the leftovers
in the freezer.
Do you need anything else
before I leave?
- Oh, no, thank you, Willie.
I'llI'll see you tomorrow.
- Okay. See you tomorrow.
[footsteps depart]
[dial tone]
[touch tones sounding]
[line connects]
[line rings]
[ring]
- Lottie Beth Hobbs.
- It's Phyllis.
- You're working late.
- Hmm. I've been
reading your book. You, uh
say some pretty powerful things
about hate.
Now I don't hate anybody,
and if we're gonna continue
to work together
- You need to understand
that to love completely
requires
learning to hate properly.
It is to love what God loves
and to hate what God hates.
- I want to be clear
about something.
We can't have anything to do
with the Klan.
- Goes without saying.
- But, uh, you know,
I am tolerant,
and I let be against women's lib
for the reasons of their choice.
Now about this idea you had
for a counter-rally
at the end of their convention
at Houstonit's a good one.
- You needn't sell me
on my own idea.
- But I would call it
a pro-family rally.
And I think if we pooled
our resources,
we'd have a pretty good shot
at matching their crowds,
don't you think?
- Yes.
But if outside groups
want tolend support,
we can't control it.
- So we make a rule.
There's no official group name
on any of the signs or buses.
- Understood.
- Now if we pull this off,
Houston will be the death knell
of the women's liberation
movement.
Let's blow it up.
[receiver clatters]
Tom T. Hall: Well
Me and Jesus
Got our own thing goin'
Me and Jesus
Got it all worked out
Me and Jesus
Got our own thing goin'
We don't need anybody
To tell us
what it's all about
Me and Jesus
Got our own thing goin'
[rhythmic clapping]
Me and Jesus
Got it all worked out
Me and Jesus
Got our thing goin'
We don't need anybody
To tell us
what it's all about
(laughter)
How did you come to write
The Feminine Mystique?
I thought there was
something wrong with me
because I didn't have
an orgasm waxing
the kitchen floor.
-(laughing)
-(audience claps)
What is Devs?
What is Devs?
What is Devs?
What is Devs?
(horn honks)
What is Devs?
What is Devs?
What is Devs?
MAN: I had no idea
what I would find
when I went searching
for my father.
They flashed the Zodiac Killer,
and my heart stopped.
WOMAN: He believes
he is the son of the Zodiac.
COLIN: They had come
highly recommended
by a mutual vampire
associate of ours,
but nevertheless,
I found it prudent
-to run the traditional
credit checks
-(yawns)
and reference protocols.
Suffice it to say,
I am part of the 33%
who find it necessary to utilize
my complementary credit check
every year.
(snoring)
(hisses)
(up-tempo music plays)
(laughing)
(squeaking)
I was pregnant,
and I was scared.
(coughs, inhales)
This is
my deathbed confession.
- The Positive Woman looks upon
her femaleness and her fertility
as part of her purpose,
her potential, and her power.
She starts with the knowledge
that America is the greatest
country in the world,
and she must do her part
to keep it that way.
[applause]
Now the women's
liberation movement
they like to characterize
the, uh,
Positive Woman as negative
- [women murmuring]
- as "Anti,"
when in fact,
the opposite is true,
because the Positive Woman
is pro-family and pro-life
- [women murmuring]
- and pro-American.
[murmuring continues]
There's a question?
H-How does the Positive Woman
cope with threats
to our nation's security
both within our borders
as well as outside?
- [lowered voice] My mother's
now your mother's ringer.
Unbelievable.
- You're referring, no doubt,
to our current political crisis?
Well, our last election
was a rout.
[scoffs] There's no other way
of describing it.
The liberals now control
the courts
and the legislative
and executive branches
and the media.
And in Jimmy Carter, well,
we have a president who is
weak on foreign policy,
is complacent in the face
of the growing red menace,
and he is ill-prepared
to deal with the nuclear genie
that is well and truly
out of the bottle,
not to mention that within weeks
of his inauguration,
the First Lady ruthlessly
lobbied Indiana
to become the 35th state
to ratify the ERA.
- Your mother seems
- She's been like this
since the election.
- [whispers] Shh, shh.
- So thank you very much.
Uh, this is just a small
appetizer from my new book,
"The Power
of the Positive Woman,"
and if you want the full meal,
you'll need to buy a copy
from me for $8.95.
Thank you.
- [women murmuring]
[camera shutter clicks]
Oh, thank you.
[applause subsides]
Hi!
[lowered voice] Phyl,
sit up straight, sweetheart.
- You were wonderful.
- Oh, you were, too.
- We should eat something before
we head off to the theater.
- I can't believe I drove
all this way from Boston
for "The King and I."
- I thought I was coming in
for "A Chorus Line."
- "The King and I" is a classic.
- Clive Barnes called
"A Chorus Line"
an occasion of joy.
- [chuckles] Oh, Clive Barnes.
- "Like a rainbow
after a thunderstorm."
- Is Clive Barnes a weatherman?
- Oh, she's spent
one semester at Princeton,
and she's already spouting
this liberal nonsense
like it's gospel.
- You have just a bit
of perspiration right there.
- Oh.
- That's perfect.
- You're a traitor to your sex
by waging war against women!
- [women gasp and scream]
Ramones:
Hey, oh, let's go
Hey, oh, let's go
They're formin'
in a straight line
They're goin'
through a tight one
The kids are losin'
their minds
Blitzkrieg bop
Hey, oh, let's go
- Well, I'mI'm glad it wasn't
a cherry pie,
because it would've stained
my dress.
["A Fifth of Beethoven"
by Walter Murphy playing]
[horn honks,
vehicles passing in distance]
- Is ittongue?
- Mm. And some kind of
fish spread.
- That's a whitefish spread.
It's an old Cossack
family recipe
from her father's butcher shop.
Say you're on a diet.
That's what I always say.
- You are always on a diet.
- [chuckles]
- And we're here
to cheer her up.
How bad is she?
- [sighs] Just
don't comment on her hair.
I'm happy you're here
to give her some good news.
- I hope she sees it that way.
It's not even a paid position.
- I really thought
she would win.
[footsteps approach]
- No one's eating.
Is someone sick?
- [both laugh]
[door closes]
- I'm not interrupting.
I just came out to sneak myself
a sandwich.
- Oh, excuse my hair. I haven't
been able to find anyone
as good as Lily in the city.
- You haven't found anyone
as good in New York City.
- Uh, well, it was a walk
from the House Beauty Parlor
to the Capitol
that really made my hair shine.
[chuckles]
No one's touched the liver.
- Mmm. Did Bella tell you that
we're going to Southern Italy
next month?
- Yeah, we're taking
a food tour,
see who makes the better salami.
- [laughs]
- It's called salumi.
- No, no, "salumi"
is the umbrella term
for all cured meats.
- I have been waiting 25 years
to get you back there.
- [chuckles]
I'd like to, uh,
make a toast to Midge
on being the first female
assistant to the president.
I can't believe
it was only five years ago
you were my assistant
at the convention,
running around,
delivering papers.
- Cheers.
[glasses clink]
- Cheers.
- You clearly have Carter's ear.
Use it wisely.
- Iusing it wisely.
I have asked the president
to resurrect Jill's commission,
which means the first ever
national women's convention
is back from the dead.
- [stammers] The one that I
- Funded with your bill. Yes.
It's scheduled for November.
Just need to find
the right person to run it.
Not this November.
[glass clatters]
That's not enough time.
Uh, it's designed to be run like
a political party convention,
only it's bipartisan
uh, an even bigger undertaking.
It takes years to plan.
- Which is why I've asked
the president to appoint you
as Presiding Officer
of the commission.
- Only you could pull off
something this ambitious.
We could get so much done.
- I would certainly be
the right man for the job.
[laughter]
[glasses clink]
- Cheers.
[footsteps approach]
- You're still up.
[sighs] It's late.
Come to bed.
- Hmm.
- That was a great slogan.
- Hmm. It was.
But Bella Abzug won with it.
The most socialist, anti-war,
radical libber
had the same slogan as me.
- Don't make it personal.
Come to bed.
[pats hand]
[sighs]
[footsteps depart]
[telephone ringing
in distance]
- I want you to imagine
a group of Native Alaskan women
getting on a bus in Fairbanks,
Appalachian women
getting on a bus in Beattyville,
homemakers getting on a bus
in Toledo.
They're all traveling
to represent their state,
all of them yearning to have
a voice in government,
to vote on issues that affect
their lives.
[indistinct conversations
in distance]
It's easier to imagine
if your eyes are closed.
When the state meetings
are over,
all these buses,
hundreds and hundreds of them
with women
from all walks of life,
make their way to Houston.
We have very limited resources.
Do we wanna spend our money
on these buses,
or on pretty skirts to decorate
tables on the convention floor?
- Fine. No table skirts.
Everyone, open your eyes.
You're gonna give
a 10-minute meditation
on every line item
in the budget?
- No, just the table skirts
felt frivolous.
- Moving on. Coretta Scott King
has agreed to join
the commission
and chair
the minority rights committee.
- Oh.
[applause]
That's fabulous.
- Uh, we have one more spot.
As much as I hate to say it,
I think we should appoint Betty
as our final commissioner.
- Betty Friedan? No.
- Uh, I know she's divisive
and a pain in the ass,
but she is a pioneer.
- Who almost singlehandedly kept
lesbians out of the movement
for a decade.
- And we've been making
a big push at the state meetings
to approve
a gay rights resolution.
- If the resolution makes it
on the agenda in Houston,
will the president still get up
onstage for opening ceremonies?
- I'll make sure of it.
- If Betty is on that stage,
it'll send a message
that we're not welcome.
I'll resign.
- So now we're not gonna have
people we disagree with
participate?
- Not if we want Houston
to be inclusive.
- You wanna be inclusive
by excluding?
Would you listen to yourself?
- You cannot appoint her.
- Okay. Okay, let's calm down.
- This is just how we talk
in New York City.
- The West Side
of New York City.
[laughter]
- This is exactly
what I warned would happen
with the Democrats in charge.
It's a federally funded festival
for frustrated feminists.
- They're gonna ram
a whole platform
of lefty issues
down our throats.
- Yes.
- Will the libbers use this
to get those last three states?
- Well, they put that Marxist
Bella Abzug in charge,
so I would guess yes,
but that doesn't mean
we're gonna roll over
and let them win.
- They are truly the horribles.
- Mm-hmm.
- Deviants and murderers.
Get ready to see
our hard-earned dollars
go to fund abortion on demand,
lesbianism,
shelters for beaten wives.
- Well, I think the husband will
be more inclined to beat her
- [baby fussing]
- if he thinks she's gonna
get a vacation
funded by his tax dollar.
- But, uh, we should organize
a counter rally
to protest the convention.
Grab the attention of the press.
- No. No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, wait a minute.
I do have a strategy.
Now Bella Abzug's commission
is holding meetings
in every state this summer,
where they will elect
representatives
to go to this
national convention in Houston,
and each of these state meetings
will be our battleground.
Now we need to get ourselves
elected so that we can get seats
at the convention.
- Why shouldn't
conservative women have a voice
on women's issues?
- Well, that's right.
That's exactly my point.
- So anyone can run,
not just the liberals?
- Yes, it's called
the electoral process.
- Well, it's, um
it's kind of like
the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest
thousands of women
from every state competing
for a spot
on the national competition
to see who has the best recipes.
- And we have
to get pro-family bakers,
or we'll be stuck with a bunch
of liberal recipes
in our cookbook
and force-fed ERA brownies,
abortion cookies,
and lesbian pies
till Kingdom come.
- Yes, well, every metaphor
has its limits, Rosemary.
- Well, if we're going to war,
we'll need protection.
I have some men that would be
willing to help,
make sure we're not harmed.
- Do you really think
it's that dangerous?
- Look at what they did
to Phyllis.
- Oh! It doesn't hurt a bit.
But we do need to be smart
about this.
Because if we're gonna take over
their conference
by winning seats,
they can't see us coming.
- Frankly, Phyllis,
I have concerns
about you being the leader
of this operation.
You're a lightning rod.
- I think she has a point.
Well, clearly, you're a target,
given yourpirate status.
WhatWhat if you get pied again
or worse?
- I am not a pirate.
- I only meant let us
do the work on the ground,
and you can recover
and strategize from home.
- Yeah, well, I can see
the wisdom in that.
- Well, I think it's clear
who should be out front.
- I have done a pretty good job
of running the Illinois chapter
of STOP ERA.
I would be honored to take
your place on the front lines.
Yes.
- Congratulations, Rosemary.
You've just been drafted.
- [chuckles] Well
since STOP ERA and Eagle Forum
are so closely tied
to your name and image,
I think it might be a good idea
for me to create
an ad hoc organization
with myself as president,
just to be sure the libbers
don't see us coming
until it's too late
like you said.
- The South Carolina office
was burglarized?
- In broad daylight. The staff
was there. The door was open.
- By who?
- Some group calling themselves
Citizen's Review Committee.
Find out what they took.
- I'm not your assistant.
Judy, what'd they take?!
- It was like
"The Pink Panther."
First, I created a diversion.
- I don't wanna know.
The Eagle Forum
is a law-abiding organization.
- Well, Eagle Forum is,
but the Citizen's Review
Committee
- Don't look at me.
I was setting up
our hospitality suite.
- We should have
a training manual like this.
We could write our own.
- Maybe even steal
their typeface to make it
look like we're an official part
of their commission.
- "The Citizen's Review
Committee hospitality suite
"will be under
24-hour security supervision
and can only be accessed"
Get this.
"using
the secret hand signal."
- What kind
of secret hand signals?
[laughter]
- According to this,
the head of this new group
is housewife Rosemary Thomson.
- Who also happens to be head
of the Illinois chapter
of STOP ERA and on the board
of the Eagle Forum.
- They're trying to kill
this national convention
just like they've been trying
to kill ERA. I'm worried
- Don't be.
We have 1,400 delegate spots.
What's three ultra conservatives
getting elected from Georgia?
- At what number
should we start worrying?
- If they get 20%,
they'll have real power.
- [blowing whistle]
- So every time the libbers
would try to read
the ERA resolution
- [blows whistle] You can
hear it on the recording.
- Well, I'll send copies
to Senator Helms
to include their propaganda
in the Congressional Record.
Where's the recording
of the Texas meeting?
- Oh, I
- I'll need every single one
of those recordings, Pamela.
I need to know what's going on.
[slams cabinet shut]
- They swept
the Missouri meeting.
The entire delegation
was taken over by the Antis.
They did well in Hawaii, too.
- How is that even possible?
- Well, there's an LDS
cultural center out there.
All these Mormons
came over on boats.
Why didn't Mildred warn us
in advance?
Isn't that her job?
- Was. She quit when you threw
your lunch at her.
- I didn't throw it at her.
It was just a little cole slaw.
- The slaw that broke
the camel's back.
[indistinct conversations,
telephone rings in distance]
- [laughing]
[indistinct conversations]
[typewriter keys clacking,
telephone ringing]
This is not a good time.
- I could have predicted
what happened in Missouri.
[horns honking in distance]
And let me tell you something.
Whoever is organizing this
Citizen's Review Committee
is even more cunning
than Phyllis Schlafly.
- It is Phyllis Schlafly.
The Citizen's Review Committee
is the Eagle Forum,
is STOP ERA.
It's all the same people.
- Oh. Well, if I was fooled,
everyone's fooled.
But you want to get advice
from Jean Stapleton.
[as "Edith Bunker"]
Oh, ain't that smart?
- She's Edith Bunker.
She's on the commission
because she's a celebrity.
- Well, I'm a celebrity,
and my fans
are not gonna show up
I have a lot of fans
unless I'm there.
- Then get your ass to Albany
and run to represent
New York state.
- Wellmaybe I will!
[under breath] Gosh.
[indistinct conversations]
[typewriter keys clacking,
telephone ringing]
- We have a big problem
in Albany.
- Is Jesse Helms going to be
at the state dinner?
- Mm.
- Make sure you corner him
and find out where Phyllis
is getting her funding
and reassure
- The First Lady that
we've got things under control
while finding private time
for the president
with Anwar Sadat. Yes, I know.
- Doesn't she clean up well?
- Oh.
- You're so beautiful.
- I feel like a chandelier.
- [chuckles]
- What's our plan?
- Chinese, followed
by a drag show in Dupont Circle.
- Mm! My perfect man.
- Words I never thought
I'd hear you say.
- Be good.
[door opens]
[footsteps depart]
- [Bella
shouting indistinctly]
You were supposed to monitor
any activity on the ground!
Who are you?
- I put a report on your desk.
Did you even look at it?
- What happened?
- Citizen's Review Committee
is busing people to Albany
Mormons, thousands of 'em.
You're fired.
- She didn't mean that.
We're just frustrated
with the situation. I
- Yes, everyone's frustrated.
One person is fired. Go.
- [exhales deeply]
Morale is already low.
- We are in a crisis.
Nothing gets our side mobilized
more than Phyllis Schlafly.
She's in hiding.
I need to draw her out.
Judy, could you get me a flight
to Normal, Illinois?
- I don't think you should go.
- You don't trust
I know what I'm doing?
- You've been having outbursts.
- I'm under a lot of stress.
- If you have an outburst
with Phyllis
in front of thousands of people,
that's how she got to Betty.
- Oh, so you think
I'm Betty now.
If you're so concerned,
come with me.
- I'm scheduled to speak
at the California meeting.
- You know, that's the
difference between you and me.
You wanna preach to the choir.
[door opens]
[telephone rings,
indistinct conversations]
- [baby fussing]
- Of course I'm gonna run
in my home state.
Aren't these meetings open
to all women?
- He's got Tommy's eyes.
- And Buck's hairline.
[laughter]
- Ah. Anytime.
[receiver clatters]
Well
the press is crowing
about a showdown.
And where Bella Abzug is,
Gloria Steinem's not far behind.
- So does this mean you can
come out and run
in the elections with us?
- Well, the cat's out
of the bag.
They know that the, uh,
Citizen's Review Committee
is my work, and
can't let my ladies down.
- Oh. I'm so relieved.
I've never run for anything
in my life.
- You know,
I think I should, uh,
make a speech from the floor,
something to make Bella
really squirm.
It's gonna be fun.
- [chuckles]
- I'm expecting a package.
Did you see anything
in the mail?
- Well, who's sending you
a package, Phyl?
- A boy?
- Photographer's here.
- Oh.
[footsteps depart]
- Well, this is a bit early,
even for you.
- Well [sighs]
It's the only time
all of the children are home.
[exhales deeply]
It's warm in here.
I'd take the blanket off him.
[dog barking in distance]
[footsteps depart]
- Hmm-hmm-hmm!
- Smile!
[camera shutter clicks]
[The Association's "Cherish"
playing]
[clicking continues]
- Bruce, tuck in your shirt.
- Oh. Sorry.
- Get in, Aunt Eleanor.
- Oh, honey, I don't have
my Christmas sweater on me.
- You can have mine. I don't
even wanna be in this photo.
- Let's get a few more
on the count of three.
Onetwothree!
- John, you're slouching.
[click]
Liza
Phyl.
You don't know how many times
I've wished that
- Who's Liza?
- It's a nickname.
You don't know
how many times
- "Phyl" is already a nickname.
Why
- It's not important.
- It's important enough
for you to keep it from me.
- 'Cause I knew you'd react
like this. Doesn't matter.
- No, it matters to me.
I happen to like
your given name.
As much as I
- Do you know how hard it is
to be Phyllis Schlafly, Jr.
on campus?
- Oh, there are a lot
of, uh, students
with famous parents
at Princeton.
- Not famous for being
public enemy number one
of women's liberation.
I've changed my name.
- To what?
- JOHN, BRUCE, ROGER:
Liza.
- That's not a very pretty name.
[click]
To the hope in my heart
each time I realize
- II think we're taking
a break.
- Oh, thank you.
- Thank you.
- You knew?
- It wasn't my news to share.
That I am not gonna be the one
to share your schemes
- I'm sorry. I didn't realize
my name was such a burden.
- I feel like Hester Prynne
whenever I introduce myself.
People laugh at me.
You're famous. Good for you,
but it's embarrassing for me.
- That's enough, Phyl.
- Busloads of my friends
are headed
to the state meeting tomorrow.
They're feminists.
They're interested in hearing
what Bella Abzug has to say.
You know, they all wanna be
Gloria Steinem, not
- I said that's enough, Phyl.
Now apologize to your mother
right now.
- You know, my mother
worked at the library
for 25 years, 5 days a week,
and on Sunday afternoons.
And on Saturdays,
she worked at my high school
so that I could have a proper
Catholic school education.
Now, uh, my classmates laughed
and joked about my mother
working at the school,
but I held my head high,
knowing that, uh, she was doing
what was necessary
so that my life could be better,
and I never, ever thought,
let alone said, that I was
ashamed or embarrassed of her.
How many times I've wished
that I could hold you
You don't know
how many times
I've wished that I could
mold you into someone
Who could cherish me
as much as I
- I've decided to go
to Berkeley.
cherish you
And I do
Cherish you
And I do
Cherish you
Cherish is the word
- [women chanting]
- [cheering]
- Did you talk to her
this morning?
- How many times are you
gonna ask me?
- I just hope she's okay.
- Well, if she wasn't planning
on coming,
she should've given me
the bullhorn.
- She's coming.
[horn honks]
[crowd chattering]
- [chuckles]
[door opens]
- Yeah, Bella!
- Bella!
[women cheering loudly]
- How are you?
- [cheering continues]
- Go home, Bella!
- Go back to New York!
- We don't want you here!
- Has Schlafly arrived?
- We'll know when she gets here.
All the trees will wilt.
- [laughs]
- Boo! Boo!
- Go home! Go back to New York!
- [laughs]
- [cheering continues]
- Go back to New York, Bella!
Go home!
[footsteps approach]
- Phyllis? I was just gonna
pick up Anne from school.
Are you feeling all right?
Are you unwell?
Dr. Albert says
that erratic sleeping,
sweating is often
- It's not that.
I'm fine.
- I do know for me that I didn't
know what was happening.
- I did not get into this fight
to lose.
Not to that hideous battle-axe.
I can't
I just
Why does she get to be
inside the White House?
- You don't want to go to that
women's convention anyway.
Going to Houston
a week before Thanksgiving?
We always have so much to do.
- Oh, were you planning to spend
Thanksgiving with us?
- Wellwhat do you mean?
- Well, I know it's been
our tradition,
but Fred and I have been
so selfish with your time,
and I know Robert's kids
and Daniel's kids
love their Aunt Eleanor
as much as mine do.
- Oh. I'll
I'll check with them.
- Good. It's only fair.
[women cheering]
- [sighs]
You can wait in here.
[crowd chattering]
- Shh!
- Hello. I'm Bella.
- We know who you are.
- Let's see your sign.
So you're not going for wit.
Okay. But you spelled
my name right. That's good.
You wouldn't believe
how many people
spell "Abzug" incorrectly.
It's phonetic.
Where's your queen?
- She's been held up in traffic.
- In Normal, Illinois?
She's not coming, is she?
Oh.
You don't know it yet.
Let me tell you the truth
about Phyllis Schlafly.
She's a liar, a fearmonger,
and a con artist,
but worst of all,
she's a goddamn feminist.
She might be one of the most
liberated women in America.
- Excuse me, but you don't know
anything about Phyllis.
Before she took up our cause,
we were the punchline of jokes
on late night talk shows,
made to feel guilty
for being proud homemakers,
wanting to stay home
with our children
instead of going to work
in an office.
- We don't want to be
working girls.
- She's been our savior,
our Joan of Arc.
- Everything we know,
we learned from her.
- What have you learned
from her?
- So many things
she's taught us.
- Has she taught you how
to lobby legislators?
- [scoffs] Of course.
- Has she taught you how to
draft a press release? A speech?
- Yes.
- How to answer
reporters' questions,
get the television interview?
- Yes.
- How to create a budget
and balance it?
- Yes.
- Congratulations.
You're working girls.
- [amplified voice]
Before we begin the voting,
it is my distinct honor to
present our keynote speaker,
former U.S. Representative
- Be sure to give Phyllis
my best regards.
- Bella Abzug!
[cheers and applause]
[loud cheers and applause
continue]
- [amplified voice]
Thank you. Thank you.
[loud cheers and applause
continue]
Ah.
Wow, it's great to be here.
When our country's forefathers
wrote the Constitution,
they overlooked
our foremothers
[laughter]
which is why
I've come here today
to the great state of Illinois.
[loud cheers and applause]
[applause]
- Thank you. Thank you.
[applause continues]
[Bella speaking indistinctly]
it's because of
all of your hard work.
[cheering continues]
[chuckles] Good, good, good.
- I heard you got
four standing ovations.
- Actually, five
six, if you count this one.
[laughs]
She never even showed
when she heard I was coming.
[telephone ringing,
typewriter keys clacking]
How was California?
- We finally passed
the resolution
to decriminalize prostitution.
Flo and I are happy about that.
- Ah, that's sweet, you think
that's ever gonna make it
on the agenda.
But good news.
26 states have voted to approve
a gay rights resolution.
It's no longer the stepchild
of the movement.
- I can't wait to hear
the anti-change women
get up and preach
about the dangers of perverts
teaching in our schools
right before the vote.
- That's politics.
They're winning seats
fair and square.
- They're busing Mormons
to New York from out of state.
They're rigging the system,
and you're doing nothing
to stop them.
- What would you have me do?
- Kick them out.
- They'll rake us over the coals
for being partisan.
We'll become the assholes.
- They're gonna bring
bloody fetus banners
and tell us what we can
and cannot do with our bodies,
and we' the assholes.
- We have to compromise.
- Like we did with McGovern?
We finally have a place
that's ours,
and they're going to ruin it.
- I've spent almost 10 years
in this town.
I know what I can get done
and what I can't
something you've never
had to learn.
- I've learned that
I'm not willing to sit
on another convention floor
getting called
a murderer of babies.
I'm not willing
to let women speak
who are getting funded
by the Birchers.
I'm sick of shrinking our dreams
to appeal to the middle.
This was supposed
to be our Eden,
and you've let the snakes in.
You were a bigger radical
than me when we met.
- And you were a dilettante
who wanted to play politics.
[footsteps depart]
[breathing heavily]
[exhaling deeply]
[fan whirring, clock ticking]
[closes drawer]
[click]
[The Runaways' "Cherry Bomb"
playing]
Can't stay at home,
can't stay at school
Old folks say,
"You poor little fool"
Down the streets
I'm the girl next door
I'm the fox
you've been waiting for
Hello, Daddy, hello, Mom
I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-
cherry bomb
Hello, world,
I'm your wild girl
I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-
cherry bomb
Hello, Daddy, hello, Mom
I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-
cherry bomb
- Phyllis?
Phyllis? Is anybody here?
Oh, there you are.
[cassettes clacking,
tape player button clicks]
- GLORIA: We must come
together as sisters,
white, black, brown,
heterosexual, and lesbian.
Lesbian rights are human r
[click]
- What are you doing? I'm in the
middle of something important.
- Why didn't you show up
yesterday?
- It was a strategic decision.
For your information,
I have had an inspired idea.
- I know you don't like
to lose.
- Oh, I'm not losing.
I'm winning.
- We got trounced.
You left us to be humiliated
in front of Bella Abzug
and 2,000 libbers.
- Lesbian rights
are human rights.
- MAN: Glory be to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Ghost
- I'm putting these libber
quotes all together on one tape,
including, uh, some sermons
that Lottie Beth sent me.
- BELLA: Don't people realize
that most women are working
[tape stutters]
to destroy the home,
family, and religion.
[click]
- But that's not exactly
what she said in her speech.
- Yes, but she said those words.
- Yes, butbut in a
in a different way.
You're just taking them
out of context.
- She said them.
Now the kidsthey call these,
uh, music compilations.
They're like movie soundtracks,
and they make them
for their sweethearts,
but you can also make them
for people
who are not your sweethearts.
If we're gonna mobilize
more people,
we need them to know how truly
horrible those libbers are.
- Yeah, in their own words.
That's devious.
[cassettes clacking]
- Are you angry with me?
- I'll tell the girls
you had food poisoning.
[tape player button clicks]
- GLORIA: Lesbian rights
affect all of us.
- MAN:
"You shall not lie with a male
as with a woman.
It's an abomination."
- BELLA: We fight
for reproductive freedom!
- MAN: "Before I formed you
in the womb, I knew you."
- GLORIA: Women at home
work harder than anyone,
and they work 99.6 hours a week
without pay.
A man would have to pay
a housekeeper $14,000 a year,
not including
part-time prostitution.
- So that's the Horribles tape.
- I miss Gloria.
- We're the Horribles?
- These tapes are everywhere.
They're spreading like wildfire
across the churches.
- This must be how the swept
Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi
last weekendthis tape.
- It's not just that they've
mobilized more people.
They've emboldened the Klan
to crawl out from under a rock.
- The Klan is showing up?
- Mississippi will be
represented
by an all-white delegation
in Houston.
That includes the wife
of the Grand Dragon
of the Mississippi Klan.
- They're not even hiding.
- Can you ask the president
for more money for security?
- Delicately, I will.
- Use this to bury
Phyllis Schlafly.
- I've waited years for proof
that she's in bed with the Klan.
- Uh
Uh, given all that's happening,
I-I think, um
I think it'sunwise
to keep a gay rights resolution
on the agenda.
- You can't do that.
It was approved in 30 states.
- Believe me, this is
the hardest part of my job.
- I got you this job.
- Carter appointed me.
- Because I begged him.
Mrs. Carter thought you were
pushy and loud.
- You know that's code
for Jewish
- And I fought for you.
- and Italian.
- I thought you would fight
for me.
- You want me to release
hundreds of lavender balloons
on the convention floor
that say, "We are everywhere"?
You're not even out
of the closet!
- Well, maybe if I could hold
Jean's
I can't even hold her hand
while we walk down the street
without getting the shit
kicked out of me.
You're fearless. That's why
I got you this appointment.
That's why I got into politics
at all.
Because you went down
to Mississippi at 28 years old
to defend Willie McGee.
You risked your life
- Sorry I let you down.
I tried to stop the Antis,
but they're coming to Houston,
they're bringing the Klan,
and my job is to keep
our women safe.
Your job is to make sure
the president
is standing on that stage.
- The president isn't coming.
[door opens]
[door slams, footsteps depart]
[horn honking in distance]
- Picked up the things
from your office.
- Aw. What's this?
- Uh, it's from
the South Dakota meeting.
Someone sent you a miniature
Mount Rushmore statue,
remade with the Suffragettes.
- [laughs]
Oh, Wisconsin?
- Yes.
You know what goes nicely
with this cheese?
From the Kentucky meeting.
- Kentucky?
- Mm-hmm.
- This could be poisoned.
- Well, I'll be your taster.
- Did you run into Bella?
- Uhno.
No, she was in a meeting.
- I haven't gone this long
without speaking to her and
What's this?
- Uh
- Huh.
- [chuckles]
- [laughs]
They thought I would wear this?
- How could you let a Klansman
guard our hospitality suite?
- [sighs] Well, we didn't know
he was a Klansman.
They don't walk around in hoods.
Talk to Lotte.
- Well, you should've
vetted him.
- You're right,
and I-I got a bad feeling
from a lot of the men
driving buses
into Mississippi and Alabama.
I should have said something.
I'm so stupid.
It's all right.
It's all right.
I'veI've fixed it. I've, uh,
denied any association.
- Well, I think we need
to go further.
- TheThe Grand Dragon
of the Klan in Mississippi
has already gone on record
saying he collaborated with us.
The only way to make it
absolutely clear
that we don't tolerate
hate groups is to put out
a press release denouncing them
once and for all.
- Now that is a very smart idea.
- With Lotte.
- All right.
Now look, this, uh, certainly
is a setback,
but, uh, given what
we're up against,
I think it is remarkable
how well we've done,
and, uh, Jacquie Davison
called me,
and she's been elected,
and Ann Patterson isis going,
but I think we should
count ourselves lucky
that we don't have to go
to this crooked extravaganza
right before Thanksgiving.
- WelluhI have to go.
- What?
- I won.
- Oh.
- I didn't know you won.
- Well, it took them a while
to count the ballots.
I just got the call
a few days ago.
- They didn't call me
till this morning.
- Me, too.
- We all won.
I can't believe it. [laughs]
- We all won?
[laughter]
- Oh. Umit was too bad
you got food poisoning
and couldn't run, too.
- Oh, yes. Yes. It's, uh
Ooh.
Well, anyway, I'm
I'm too busy to go.
- I-I think we should go.
They need to see us.
They need to see good people
who are against the ERA,
that our cause is just,
and it has nothing to do
with hate or prejudice.
- That's right.
Plus the government
is paying us.
It's kind of like a job.
- Delegate-at-large?
- Oh,
it's a very prestigious honor.
- What the hell does it
even mean?
- Whatever we want it to.
I made it up. [chuckles]
- I'm busy.
I'm writing articles
for a new magazine
called "Working Women."
It's like "Ms." but not dull.
- Come to Houston. You
You don't get the credit
you deserve
'cause you're difficult.
- And you're ruthless,
and you don't listen.
- To you.
I don't like a know-it-all.
- Well, I admit I do have
very strong instincts.
- [chuckles]
- And I'll be honest with you.
My instincts tell me
there's only one issue
that you should make a priority
at your convention
equal pay for equal work.
That's what Phyllis understands.
She has one message,
and she sticks to it.
- Make it about everything,
it winds up being about nothing.
As my father used to say,
you only pluck one chicken
at a time.
- [laughs] Yeah,
was your father a butcher?
- Mm-hmm.
- Oh.
Oh, and don't let them make it
about lesbianism.
It's not our fight.
- Gloria doesn't
understand that.
She has a vision of Houston
as being some
magical feminist Woodstock.
- Well, sure, why not?
She's not going to get blamed
if it's a failure.
It'll be you, and they won't say
that Bella Abzug
couldn't pull it off.
They'll say that women
just can't
pull off this sort of thing.
And it'll be another 150 years
until they let women gather
like this again.
Do you wanna stay for dinner?
I'm making soup from scratch.
I can't remember the last time
I had people over.
- Uh, Marty's expecting me.
- Mm.
- Does it bother you that
no one calls you a radical
anymore?
- The movement is getting
down to Middle America.
[drains wineglass]
We're mainstream.
That's a good thing.
[horns honking in distance]
[boat horn blows]
[siren wailing in distance]
[knock on door]
- You never pick up your phone.
- Why are you holding
a flashlight?
- It's not a flashlight.
It's a torch.
- Oh.
- Don't you have
any imagination?
[door closes]
[horn honks in distance]
After months of sitting silently
in our meetings,
eating all our food,
Sey Chassler finally had
a good idea
a relay from Seneca Falls
to Houston
in the weeks leading up
to the convention,
women athletes of all ages,
and I thought,
instead of a baton, why not
a torch like Lady Liberty?
- Women on the move.
- That's good. That's good.
Write that down.
- I'm not writing that down.
- Have you spoken to Midge?
- [sips]
Yeah. I've spoken to Midge.
- Midge remembers my defense
of Willie McGee as heroic.
I was eight months pregnant
when I went down to Jackson.
- With Egee?
- It was the first Supreme Court
petition I'd ever written.
It was my first trip
to the South.
It was the first time
I got a death threat.
They said, "Willie McGee's
white woman lawyer should be
executed along with him
in the electric chair."
I slept, disguised,
above a brothel
because vigilantes
stalked the hotels.
The whole time,
I was scared shitless.
I lost the baby.
Stress, the doctor said.
They got to me.
I left Mississippi
before the case was over.
I had so much still to do.
There is so much still to do.
[slaps lap]
- Fear never moved mountains.
- What's right is right.
I have to do right by Midge.
But if I put lesbian rights
back on the agenda,
it's true.
We have to keep the Antis out.
I'll do my best.
What if we let them in?
What if we let everyone in?
Let the chips fall
where they may.
- What do you mean, everyone?
Not Schlafly's people.
- Everyone, everyone.
What's really revolutionary
about a group of people
in a room agreeing
with each other?
- The whole thing could blow up
in our faces.
I invited Betty to be
a delegate-at-large.
[laughter]
[Argent's "Hold Your Head Up"
playing]
And if it's bad
Don't let it get you down
You can take it
And if it hurts
Don't let them see you cry
You can make it
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up,
woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head high
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up,
woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up,
woman
Hold your head up, woman
Hold your head up,
woman
Hold your head up, woman
- I put the leftovers
in the freezer.
Do you need anything else
before I leave?
- Oh, no, thank you, Willie.
I'llI'll see you tomorrow.
- Okay. See you tomorrow.
[footsteps depart]
[dial tone]
[touch tones sounding]
[line connects]
[line rings]
[ring]
- Lottie Beth Hobbs.
- It's Phyllis.
- You're working late.
- Hmm. I've been
reading your book. You, uh
say some pretty powerful things
about hate.
Now I don't hate anybody,
and if we're gonna continue
to work together
- You need to understand
that to love completely
requires
learning to hate properly.
It is to love what God loves
and to hate what God hates.
- I want to be clear
about something.
We can't have anything to do
with the Klan.
- Goes without saying.
- But, uh, you know,
I am tolerant,
and I let be against women's lib
for the reasons of their choice.
Now about this idea you had
for a counter-rally
at the end of their convention
at Houstonit's a good one.
- You needn't sell me
on my own idea.
- But I would call it
a pro-family rally.
And I think if we pooled
our resources,
we'd have a pretty good shot
at matching their crowds,
don't you think?
- Yes.
But if outside groups
want tolend support,
we can't control it.
- So we make a rule.
There's no official group name
on any of the signs or buses.
- Understood.
- Now if we pull this off,
Houston will be the death knell
of the women's liberation
movement.
Let's blow it up.
[receiver clatters]
Tom T. Hall: Well
Me and Jesus
Got our own thing goin'
Me and Jesus
Got it all worked out
Me and Jesus
Got our own thing goin'
We don't need anybody
To tell us
what it's all about
Me and Jesus
Got our own thing goin'
[rhythmic clapping]
Me and Jesus
Got it all worked out
Me and Jesus
Got our thing goin'
We don't need anybody
To tell us
what it's all about
(laughter)
How did you come to write
The Feminine Mystique?
I thought there was
something wrong with me
because I didn't have
an orgasm waxing
the kitchen floor.
-(laughing)
-(audience claps)
What is Devs?
What is Devs?
What is Devs?
What is Devs?
(horn honks)
What is Devs?
What is Devs?
What is Devs?
MAN: I had no idea
what I would find
when I went searching
for my father.
They flashed the Zodiac Killer,
and my heart stopped.
WOMAN: He believes
he is the son of the Zodiac.
COLIN: They had come
highly recommended
by a mutual vampire
associate of ours,
but nevertheless,
I found it prudent
-to run the traditional
credit checks
-(yawns)
and reference protocols.
Suffice it to say,
I am part of the 33%
who find it necessary to utilize
my complementary credit check
every year.
(snoring)
(hisses)
(up-tempo music plays)
(laughing)
(squeaking)