A Face in the Crowd Page #4

right here in town.

So why don't you kids

go to his place for a ducking?

J. B will be proud

to have you.

LONESOME:

(Poolside with Marcia at J.B.’s house)

22

Can you hear them?

Can you hear them, splashing?

That’s your curly-headed

little darlings, enjoying...

J.B. Jeffries' kind of hospitality.

J.B.’s HOUSEKEEPER :

Mr. Rhodes, telephone.

MARCIA :

SHHH -- He's on the air.

(She answers the phone call. To Lonesome:)

It’s the Memphis TV Station,

he says Mr. Steiner told him about you.

LONESOME:

Well, shucks, I can talk

to him right here on the air.

All these folks out here are my friends,

I ain't got nothing to hide from you.

(into phone)

Hello there, partner.

What’s that? You want me to come on TV in

Memphis? With this kisser of mine?

All I got to say is

you're a brave man.

$500 a week, huh?

Confederate?

MARCIA :

$500 a week!

LONESOME (to Marcia)

SHH -- We can do better than that.

Partner, leaving Pickett is like

leaving my own flesh and blood kin.

Now, if I've got to take leave

of these good folks...

I'd rather try it gratis, for nothing

for a couple of weeks...

and if you ain't satisfied,

or if I get homesick for Arkansas...

why, back I come and

nobody gets hurt.

23

But, now if we find we get along...

you make it – oh --

a thousand dollars a week…

Yeah, you get the idea.

And transportation for yours truly

and my little Girl Friday...

not to mention Monday, Tuesday,

Wednesday, Thursday, Marcia Jeffries.

(AT THE TRAIN STATION)

Little Old lady (Marcia kisses her):

I'm glad you're going with him,

take care of him.

MARCIA:

I'll sure try.

J.B. (pointedly):

Take good care of yourself. (Marcia looks at him seriously)

CONDUCTOR :

Board!

LONESOME:

Marcia!

(He comes to get her)

Come on, honey.

We'll be late, come on.

The train will leave.

Come on.

CONDUCTOR :

Board!

LONESOME:
(as they board the train, waving his hat to the

crowd):

Bye!

Bye, Lucy! So long, Luther!

You write to me, now.

I'll be thinking of you.

(to Marcia):

Am I glad to shake that dump!

24

(Marcia is shocked)

I was only kidding, honey...

you should know me better

than to believe everything I say.

(yells to fans) Bye! Bye!

Good-bye and God bless

you good people!

Crowd cheers and band plays “Auld Lang Syne” as train pulls away. We

see Lonesome leaning out, looking forward)

CUT TO:
Marcia and Mel BACKSTAGE AT THE TV STUDIO in Memphis)

LONESOME:
(being made up)

If I'd known you'd put lipstick

on me, I'd have never come.

MARCIA :

Oh, stop complaining,

you look beautiful.

Lonesome, this is Mel Miller. The station's

assigned him as your writer.

LONESOME:

Writer?

You're gonna have an easy job. Boy, ‘cause

I don't do much reading.

MEL:

I’ll just block out the continuity for you.

LONESOME:

What are you, eastern college?

MEL:

No, as a matter of fact, I went to school over

in Nashville.

I was Vanderbilt‘44 .

LONESOME:

OK, Vanderbilt ‘44 .

DIRECTOR :

Mr. Rhodes, we're ready for you now.

MAKE-UP MAN (as Lonesome wipes off make up)

25

Hey, what are you doing

to that make-up?

DIRECTOR, to Lonesome on stage:

Now listen, foot up here like this, and relax

(Marcia and Mel head for seats in the audience)

MAN IN BOOTH:

Ten seconds, ready on one,

stand by two...

DIRECTOR :

Just be natural, easy

and relax, real country.

Now, when that red light is on,

that camera is on you.

Now, put this in your mouth. (A PIECE OF HAY)

(He steps behind camera. to camera man) I think that straw's gonna be

a nice touch.

ANNOUNCER :

Here he is, a newcomer

to Memphis Television...

but sure to become an old friend.

"A Face in the Crowd",

starring that Arkansas traveler...

Lonesome Rhodes.

LONESOME:
(looking wary)

What do you want?

(into camera)

Howdy.

You know, I never have seen myself

on one of these things before. (looks in monitor)

So if I start to admire myself

on this... uh,

What do you call it?

DIRECTOR:
(whispers)

Monitor.

LONESOME:

Yeah, monitor. Show the folks

what I'm talking about, will you? (turns the camera around)

26

The director said

all I had to do was...

He said I had to act like

I was looking straight at you...

But what he forgot to say was there'd be

a great big old red eye looking straight at me.

You know, it does look

kind of familiar, though...

It reminds me of my Uncle Abernathy

after a night of drinking...

that fine old five star

corn liquor.

He put a star on the bottle

for every day it aged.

(Director motions to Lonesome to play his guitar, and he starts

to strum and sings)

“If the ocean was moonshine

and I was a duck...

I'd dive...” (He stops)

I got too hot a fire in my boiler

to sing this morning.

(Backstage, Abe Steiner looks concerned)

What’s the matter with you

big city fellas anyhow?

Don't you ever go to bed

around here?

Last night, I settled down

for my 12-hour nap in the hotel...

and moly hoses, what a honking...

and lights a-flashing and

gals a-giggling on the street!

So I called down to the desk on this telephone, like

they've got in every room.

"What’s going on here?" I says to the clerk.

"It ain't New Year's Eve,

by any chance?"

"No," he says...

"It’s just ten o'clock at night

in Memphis".

So I pulled back on my duds and went

out to take a look-see at what all the commotion was.

Hey, Mr. Cameraman,

move that redeye a little closer.

MAN IN BOOTH:

He's only been on two minutes and he’s already telling us what to do.

LONESOME:

I want to talk face to face

with them friends of mine out there.

27

Which one of these holes

do I look in?

One thing I could see right off

about a big city...

there's a whole lot of people

in trouble out there.

You don't see it much in the daytime

when everyone's hustling and bustling around...

rushing from where they is

to where they ain't...

but it’s at night, you know,

late at night...

around four o'clock in the morning

is what I call "the dividing line".

All you've got left

is folks in trouble.

But I want to tell you good people something that

happened to me this morning, just before the sun was ready to come up.

I'm going to tell it to you, and see if

it don't happen to you the same way it happened to me.

And if it don't move your hearts the way I thin it will,

you're just a bunch of

big city pickle hearts.

I'll pack up my one shirt and

the Bible my daddy gave me...

and my cigar box guitar...

and I'll just get me

on home to Riddle.

(He goes back stage)

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