A Face in the Crowd Page #5

MARCIA:
(to Mel)

He’s telling the truth about the one shirt,

but I have yet to see the Bible.

MEL:

When he talks about walking the night,

I couldn't write it that well.

LONESOME:

Come out here.

Don't be scared of this,

at least no more than I am.

(He leads out a nervous black woman)

MEL:

Hey, a colored woman.

In Memphis, that takes nerve.

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MARCIA:

I told you, he's his own man.

LONESOME:

You just tell folks

the same thing you told me.

WOMAN:

You see, it’s my house...

LONESOME:

It burnt down.

She's got seven young ones, and no insurance…

BLACK VIEWER:

Helen, look who they're having

on television, now. It’s about time.

LONESOME:

She just walked around and around, because

she didn't have no place else to go.

WOMAN:

I didn't know a single

living soul in Memphis.

LONESOME:

Are you kidding?

What’re you gonna bet you've got 20,000

friends out there?

And each one’s willing to prove it to you

by sending half a buck...

so you can get on back to Millington and build a decent house

for them brats of yours.

Now, please, nobody send in no

more than for bits, cause

you might not be able to spare it.

(Cut to a lady in a bar who laughs and dumps out her purse)

(on the TV)

Miz Cooley, maybe you think --

CUT TO men playing poker, one says)

Every pot over $10, let’s

cut in half for that house of hers.

LONESOME:

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And they're gonna be looking out for you,

ain't you, folks?

CUT back to black viewer’s house – the whole family has gathered to

watch now.

CUT TO Lonesome’s hotel room, next morning, where he is asleep. Knock

on door.

LONESOME:

Yeah, door’s open, com’on in.

Marcia and Abe Steiner rush in

MARCIA :

Lonesome! You should see how

the money is pouring in!

STEINER :

Young man, you’ve graduated from sustaining --

you've got a client!

LONESOME:

What in the ever-lovin’ world is that?

STEINER:

It’s a mattress company,

that means you get your thousand dollars a week .

MARCIA:

Get his shirt. Stand still, you slob.

STEINER:

Here, get your hand in here.

(At the TV STUDIO, Lonesome on the air )

LONESOME:

Here it comes. (a wheelbarrow full of coins is brought in – cut to a

big, admiring audience oohing and whistling)

That sure is prettier music than

a cigar box guitar.

30

There's eighteen thousand

five hundred...

and forty-one...

(Mel is there, grinning)

of these things so far,

and we ain't hardly started.

(audience applauds)

Miz. Tooley says thank you...

you good people.

(Cut to her back stage with her kids)

You folks are building a house.

Ain't nothing you can't do when you

let the best side of you take over.

Oh, I see the old clock-watcher

going this way.

He wants me to make sure

I leave time for the commercial.

You didn't know I had a sponsor,

did you?

Neither did I till I woke up

this morning.

(pointing to large photo of Luffler)

He's a good looking scoundrel,

ain't he?

(Audience laughs)

(Lonesome leans toward poster of Luffler)

What?

Yeah, I've got the commercial

on me somewhere. Let’s see...

(goes through paper notes in his pockets, and reads them, Intercut

with audience reaction)

Johnny Longshot’s tip

for the Daily Double...

No. No, that ain't it.

"Lonesome...

darling, you ain't forgetting

your little Arkansas Annie...?

No, that surely ain't it.

This is it, this is it.

(reading awkwardly)

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Friends "comma" why not invest

in sleep insurance "question mark".

That is what you will be doing

when you buy your...

Luffler Easy-Rest

mattress "period".

(Cut to Luffler watching, shocked, in his office – secretaries watching

through window into his office giggle)

It comes in six tasty flavors...

Well, that’s about enough

commercials.

Personally, when I'm dog-tired,

I can sleep on the floor.

One of the best night’s sleep

I ever had was in a box car.

They say that a firm mattress

is better for your spine...

but now, if you’re gonna follow that all the way, ain't it

better to just go ahead and sleep on the floor?

(Steiner back stage grimaces)

But if you softies insist

on sleeping on a bed...

I reckon you can do worse

than a Luffler Easy-Rest.

End of commercial.

Maybe also the end

of Lonesome Rhodes. (He laughs his big laugh)

(CUT TO an outdoor restaurant, where Steiner is talking to Marcia and

to Lonesome, who is signing an autograph)

STEINER :

Seriously, I was on the phone

with Mr. Luffler for half an hour.

I'm sure he's seen us

and hasn't even looked around. (cut to Luffler at another table with

lawyer types)

He says he's got a loophole

in his contract...

and if you kid his commercial once

more, he's going to walk right through it.

(As Marcia and Lonesome walk out, they pass Joey De Palma)

JOEY:

Hey, hiya, Lonesome.

(Joey grabs Lonesome.)

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Oh, hey, hey. Hey! Boy, I almost forgot.

I got you a month’s food ticket at the White Owl for the plug

you gave this morning.

LONESOME:

Yeah?

JOEY:

Yeah, I guess you didn't know

I do a little shlockmeistering on the side.

MARCIA:

Shlockmeistering!

JOEY:

Yeah, all you gotta do is slip in a remark about these

Products one in a while and they pay you in kind.

A case of beer, free drinks

at the Yellow Rose Cafe, all that jazz...

I tell you, boy, it mounts up.

MARCIA:

Isn't that illegal? Stealing time

from regular sponsors?

JOEY:

Illegal?

Honey, nothing's illegal

if they don't catch you.

(Lonesome and Joey laugh.)

LONESOME:

See you around, Joey.

JOEY:

Okay, see you around, Lonesome.

MARCIA:

Who was that?

LONESOME:

That’s Joey De Palma, Luffler's office boy.

MARCIA:

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He won't be an office boy long.

(TV STUDIO:
Lonesome sits disconsolately on a mattress in front of

Luffler’s portrait)

LONESOME:

Mr. Luffler told me he don’t like me to talk nasty about his mattress.

Shucks, I said you could get a good

night’s sleep on one of them...

if you're real tired.

(laughter from audience, which is even bigger than last time)

There I go again.

I just can't seem to get my mouth around some of them

things they want me to say.

But, I'll try.

(Audience claps and cheers. Lonesome reads from a page he is handed.)

And now, a message of importance.

(He looks disgusted and drops the paper)

Now, you good people ain't so dumb

you don't know what’s important.

The atom bomb's important,

things like that.

A Luffler mattress

won't break your back...

but it sure ain't no

world-shaking message.

(Backstage, Marcia laughs, but Mel looks serious)

Just in case you won't be seeing me

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