“I wouldn't cover the burning of Rome for you.”
Por qué es buena
The burning of Rome is the ultimate story, and refusing it makes her break final.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
I wouldn't carry his bags to the airport for him now.
00:00 / 05:03
00:00 / 05:03
Hildy Tears Up Her Story, Explained
His Girl Friday · 1940
Capítulo 9 de 18 · 5'03"
Hildy comes back to find Bruce framed and jailed, and she knows who arranged it. She calls Walter and lets him have it — "I wouldn't cover the burning of Rome for you" — then tears up the interview she just wrote. The reporters' marriage bets tell us how likely they think her exit is.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 2:52–3:15
❝ Monólogo · 8 frases Hildy's story read aloud
She turns Earl's motive into an elegy, and the calm sentences carry the irony.
23s - 4:07–4:55
❝ Monólogo · 16 frases Hildy Quits the Paper for Good
48s
Hildy Tears Up Her Story, explained
What happens
In the press room, the reporters trade gallows jokes and make the city edition; they also keep betting on Hildy's marriage. Then word arrives that Bruce has been arrested for a stolen watch he never took. Hildy storms back, finds her things missing, phones Walter and rips into him, and destroys her own interview rather than hand it over.
What's really going on
The last third of the scene is Hildy trying to burn her own bridge, and the film measures how thin that bridge really is. She can call Walter a 'double-crossing chimpanzee' and vow, "I wouldn't cover the burning of Rome for you," but every line is spoken by someone who only minutes ago was filing the story Walter wanted. When she destroys the interview — "I didn't say I wouldn't tear it up. It's all in little pieces now" — she is also destroying her own best work, and she knows it. Her farewell, "I'll be a woman. Not a news machine," names the choice the whole film keeps pressing on her: private life or the paper, and whether anyone here gets to have both.
Key lines & what they mean
- “I wouldn't cover the burning of Rome for you.”
- Hildy's version of quitting for good: even if the biggest story in history broke on her beat, she wouldn't file it for Walter.
- “I'll be a woman. Not a news machine.”
- Her declaration of independence from the job. She wants to be a person again, not a device that turns other people's lives into copy.
- “I didn't say I wouldn't tear it up. It's all in little pieces now.”
- She kept the letter of her bargain and broke its spirit. She wrote the story as promised, then destroyed it — a loophole turned into a rebuke.
- “But the state has a production for use plan too. It has a gallows.”
- The closing lines of her interview, turning Earl's slogan against the system: the machinery of the law is just another thing built to be used.
- “Now, get this, you double-crossing chimpanzee.”
- The insult that opens her call to Walter. It's the moment her anger finally overrides the professional ground rules she usually keeps.
Theme
- Identity — Hildy's 'I'll be a woman, not a news machine' is her attempt to choose a self outside the job, even as the scene shows how tied she is to it.
- Power — Walter's hold over Hildy is exercised through logistics — a framed watch, a missing check — while she answers with threats and torn paper.
Qué aprendes en este capítulo
Puntos de enseñanza
Repasa justo después de verMi nivel3/8
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
Puntos de lengua
Toca una tarjeta para saltar a ese momentoFrases de oro
Una gran frase en sí misma: por qué y cómo usarla“I'll be a woman. Not a news machine.”
Por qué es buena
Two clipped halves set a person against a machine, and the contrast does the arguing.
Registro
literary
Úsala tú
I'll be a father. Not a paycheck machine.
“I didn't say I wouldn't tear it up. It's all in little pieces now.”
Por qué es buena
She beats him with his own bargain, and the loophole is the whole triumph.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
I didn't say I wouldn't change the plan.
“But the state has a production for use plan too. It has a gallows.”
Por qué es buena
Setting a prisoner's slogan beside the gallows makes the state's plan grimly literal.
Registro
literary
Úsala tú
The company has a sharing plan too. It shares the layoffs.
“Now, get this, you double-crossing chimpanzee.”
Por qué es buena
Betrayal slammed into an animal insult, a curse with rhythm and bite.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
Now, get this, you back-stabbing weasel.
Monólogo
Un personaje sostiene la escena: practícalo entero❝ Hildy's story read aloud
"And so into this little tortured mind... ...came the idea that that gun had been produced for use. And use it he did. But the state has a production for use plan too. It has a gallows. And at 7 a.m., unless a miracle occurs, that gallows will be used... ...to separate the soul of Earl Williams from his body. And out of Mollie Malloy's life... ...will go the one kindly soul she ever knew".
She turns Earl's motive into an elegy, and the calm sentences carry the irony.
❝ Hildy's phone tirade
Now, get this, you double-crossing chimpanzee. There won't be an interview or a story. Your check leaves with me in 20 minutes. I wouldn't cover the burning of Rome for you. And if I ever lay my eyes on you again... ...I'll hammer on your monkey skull so it rings like a Chinese gong! You don't know why I'm angry? Get Louie to tell you about his watch. And there's just one other little thing. Hear that? That's the story I just wrote. I know we had a bargain. I said I'd write it. I didn't say I wouldn't tear it up. It's all in little pieces now. And I hope to do the same for you someday. That's my farewell to the newspaper game. I'll be a woman. Not a news machine. I'll have babies, give them cod-liver oil and watch their teeth grow. And if I ever see one of them look at a paper, I'll brain him.
From insult to vow, the tirade covers quitting, cutting off Walter, and starting over.
Siguiente · 10go over the wallLa escena: Earl Williams Escapes the JailIdeas clave
Lo que te llevas- Refusing the burning of Rome is the loudest goodbye possible.
- The loophole in her own promise becomes her weapon.
- The reporters' jokes hide how little they respect anyone.
- Quitting a career is framed as reclaiming a self.
Preguntas frecuentes
La pregunta, luego la fraseWhy is Bruce arrested?
Walter arranges it. Bruce is accused of stealing a watch planted on him, so Hildy is pulled back to the jail and Walter keeps his hands on the story.
Why does Hildy tear up her interview?
It's her way of quitting on her own terms. She said she would write it, and she did — then destroyed it so Walter couldn't use it, keeping the letter but wrecking the deal.
What does Hildy mean by 'not a news machine'?
She means she's tired of being a device that converts other people's suffering into copy. She wants a private life, not a job that owns her.
Why do the reporters keep betting on Hildy's marriage?
They don't believe the newsroom's best reporter can stay away, and they know how Walter operates. The odds shorten as the scene goes on, from six months to three at 3-1.
Why does Hildy suspect Walter of having Bruce arrested?
Bruce's arrest is too convenient — it drags her back to the press room right when Walter needs her on the story. She has seen him bend the law for a scoop before.