- We see a bustling newsroom. Seriously, we've never seen an office that looks so manic.
- In comes Hildy Johnson, with a spectacular hat.
- Everyone is excited to see her (and not just because of her hat).
- She says goodbye to Bruce Baldwin in the lobby, who's a shy, unglamorous guy that's crazy about her. She's going to meet her ex-husband, Walter.
- We pan in a long single take across the newsroom, following Hildy to the office of Walter Burns.
- Walt is shaving (because that's what you do at work, right?) while talking to Louis, a guy who used to be a "slot-machine king" and still appears to be a gangster.
- They all say hello, but then Duffy the copy editor bursts in to say that some guy named Earl Williams is going to be executed.
- Walter says to get the governor on the phone and bribe him with positive press coverage to reprieve Williams.
- Duffy and Walter are concerned the paper will look bad. Do they care about Earl Williams dying? Maybe a little. Not much.
- Newspapermen: not moral paragons.
- Duffy and Louis vamoose.
- Walter and Hildy banter. This is the first bantering in the film, and it is fine, top class, bantering.
- We learn that they haven't seen each other in four months, and that Hildy is the one who wanted the divorce.
- Why did she want the divorce? Because Walter is kind of a selfish dope (or "stinker" in 40's slang) who ended their honeymoon so they could go cover a story in a coalmine.
- Hildy was also Walter's employee, and he doesn't treat employees that well.
- She's trying and trying to tell Walter that she's engaged, but he talks so much she can't get a word in edgewise.
- The phone rings; it's Duffy, the copy-editor, but Walter pretends it's the reporter Sweeney.
- Walter's trying to convince Hildy that Sweeney's wife is having a baby, and that Walter needs Hildy to write the Earl Williams story.
- Hildy finally manages to tell Walter she's getting married; she shows him the engagement ring. He seems pretty upset about it.
- He tells her she won't be able to abandon the newspaper business—she loves it too much. She doesn't agree.
- Walter asks her about Bruce. She says he's in the insurance business. Walter is snotty about that. (He's often snotty, in a fast-talking, charming kind of way.)
- Hildy says Bruce treats her like a woman, not like a water-buffalo or an errand boy.
- Also that she's marrying Bruce tomorrow. Walter doesn't like that at all.
- He goads her into letting him meet Bruce.
- And they go walking back across the newsroom. Walter doesn't open doors for her. Bruce would open doors for her.
- Walter pretends he thinks a much older guy in the lobby is the one Hildy is marrying. (Because Walter is a stinker.)
- Bruce interrupts, and Walter shakes his umbrella instead of his hand.
- Bruce carries an umbrella and wears rubbers in case it might rain; he plays it safe. Walter pokes fun at him. He's not subtle, but Bruce doesn't get it.
- Walter insists they go to lunch. Hildy tells him it won't do him any good, but he's unfazed.