A Face in the Crowd Page #2

J.B. (to shoe shine boy):

You like him?

Shoe shine boy:

Yes, sir.

J. B.:
(to Marcia)

By golly, I think you've got yourself

quite a fella there, quite a fella.

MARCIA :

I'd sure like to use him on

our Early Bird Show from 7 to 8.

Would you let me, Uncle J. B?

J. B.:
(into phone)

Hello? Get me the jail, Gladys.

GLADYS (on phone):

The jail?

J. B.:

That’s right, the sheriff.

(to Marcia) Or should I say, our future mayor?

That boy may be bashful, Marcia,

but he's pretty sweet on you.

MARCIA:

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The only thing I'm interested in...

is running the best radio program

in North East Arkansas.

J. B.:

Hello, Big Jeff?

SHERIIFF:

Rhodes?

J.B.:

Yes.

SHERIFF:

That’s the thing, J. B...

I was only holding him

on a drunk and disorderly.

J. B.:

You've no idea which way

he was headed?

SHERIFF:

There's only two ways out of town,

and I can hardly see him going west,

because he come from jail in West Pickett.

He'll be on the east road.

MARCIA :

Let’s go after him.

(Cut to:
Inside J.B.’s car; through the windshield, we see Lonesome on

the road up ahead.)

MARCIA :

There he is.

(calling from car window)

Hey! Morning!

Hi!

We've been looking for you.

LONESOME:

Yeah? What for?

MARCIA:

This is my uncle, Mr. Jeffries,

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who owns our radio station.

(Lonesome leans in through the passenger-side window.)

J.B.:

Well, how's it feel to be

a free man in the morning?

(Lonesome turns his head and spits in disgust)

J.B.:

Where you headed now?

LONESOME:

Port St Joe, Florida.

J. B.:

That’s a long walk.

What’s down there?

LONESOME:

Oh, plenty of water and

plenty of fishing bridges...

and snapper boats,

and tarpon rolls...

(While he says this, he is leaning into the car, looking intenntly at

Marcia, only a few inches from her face. She looks down, closes the

sides of her dress collar together.)

J. B.:

You know, I've always wanted

to catch me a tarpon.

LONESOME:

What’s to stop you?

J. B.:

I can't afford it.

I've got a radio station,

newspaper, printing business...

I'm president of the Kiwanis...

I can't afford it.

LONESOME:

Come on, Beanie.

MARCIA :

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Wait! We want to talk to you…

LONESOME:

Listen, I ain't got but four or five days

to make it to St. Joe.

Unless I steal somebody's car.

J.B.:

Wait a minute, we've got a job

for you.

Every morning on our station,

7 to 8 .

LONESOME:

I don't want no job.

J.B.:

Why not?

LONESOME:

Too much like work, man.

MARCIA :

Do you have any money?

LONESOME:
(pats his guitar case)

Mamma will always get me a meal.

I can sleep in a jail.

MARCIA :

Come on, try it for a day.

How about if you had a plane ticket?

You can put it in your pocket...

if you ever want to go,

you just go.

LONESOME:

Well...

Okay. I'll try it for one day.

J.B.:

I'll turn around. (He does)

Let’s go.

J.B.:
(to Marcia)

Take him to the hotel

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and get him a room.

And you better clean him up

a bit.

LONESOME:

See you around, Beanie. (Beanie shrugs)

J.B.:

Get in the back. (Lonesome climbs into the front next to Marcia)

(Cut to Lonesome’s room in the motel. Marcia is unpacking while

Lonesome is splashing in the sink and singing in the bathroom)

MARCIA:

Would you mind closing the door?

LONESOME:

My goodness, ain't we fussy!

MARCIA:
(after pulling a bra from the jumble of

clothes in Lonesome’s suitcase)

This wardrobe you got, I think

I better send it to the laundry for you.

LONESOME:

I'll wash it myself. That way I can

cut out any time I feel like it. (He pulls out a bottle of whiskey)

MARCIA:

So early in the morning?

LONESOME:

How would you like to sorta

get acquainted early in the morning?

MARCIA:

We really do have to hurry.

LONESOME:

I bet you never sat on bed

with a man before.

MARCIA:

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Really!

Look, I'll meet you downstairs.

(Cut to the radio station, where Lonesome is on the air)

LONESOME:

Ladies,

or I guess I should say, girls...

the boss lady of this here program just shoved

a piece of paper at me...

says I ain't got

but three more minutes.

That’s what I've got

against working...

it’s tangled up

with the word "hurry".

Back in my little old town of Riddle,

we had a cousin named Harry...

they all called him Hurry 'cause

he was always running someplace.

Till one day he fell down a flight

of steps and broke his fool neck. (He laughs)

We put a sign on his grave

that said...

"He was in such a hurry,

he couldn't wait to get here."

Shucks, I was just getting ready to add on

a verse about being a free woman.

I bet a lot of you dream of that...

with all them breakfast dishes

piling up in the sink...

and cranky husbands

to get off to work.

Ain't it a shame how they

get on about everything...

(Crosscut to an older couple eating breakfast, listening to Lonesome’s

show; as he says the next line, the man looks up to see his wife

glaring at him)

because they ain't got the gumption

to take it out on their boss?

MAN TO HIS GLARING WIFE:

Well, good-bye, dear,

I'm late for work.

LONESOME:

I hate to talk against

my own kind but I never have seen

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a man yet who could appreciate

how hard you women has to work.

They think running water over a dish

is all there is to it.

They never see you clean the grease

out of the sink...

or wiping out of the oven

the gravy...

or the apple juice that sizzles over

the side of the dish onto your grill.

OLD LADY CLEANING HER OVEN:

Now how would he know that?

MARCIA:
(Later, reading fan mail with two female workers

in the radio office.)

Listen to this.

"Dear Lonesome, though I never

set eyes on you..."

(to J.B. as he comes in. Female fans are crowded outside the office

door)

Listen. "I know you must be

saintly looking.

Only a saint could understand the

burdens of a housewife like you do."

Morning, Bob (to a man who enters)

They all say the same. They love

his voice, they love his guitar, they love his ideas.

They should know

some of them.

J.B.:

You're not fooling me,

you're proud of him. Let’s work in my office.

MARCIA:

Well, listen, there hasn't been mail like this

since you started the station.

(They go into J.B.’s office, where Lonesome is asleep in J.B.’s chair

with his feet up on J.B.’s desk.)

J.B.:
(Answering phone)

Hello.

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MARCIA:

Shh!

J.B.:

Oh, hello, Wayne.

Huh? Oh, so you like the fella?

Okay, I guess we can put you down

for three one-minute spots.

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