All About Eve Page #14

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BILL:

You've been all through that with

Lloyd-

MARGO:

The playwright doesn't make the

performance - and it doesn't just

happen! And this one didn't - full

of fire and music and whatnot, it

was carefully rehearsed I have no

doubt, over and over, full of those

Bill Sampson touches!

BILL:

I am sick and tired of these paranoiac

outbursts!

MARGO:

Paranoiac!

BILL:

I didn't know Eve Harrington was

your understudy until half past two

this afternoon!

MARGO:

Tell that to Dr. Freud! Along with

the rest of it...

She turns away. Bill grabs her, pulls her down on the bed.

He holds her down.

BILL:

No, I'll tell it to you! For the

last time, I'll tell it to you.

Because you've got to stop hurting

yourself, and me, and the two of us

by these paranoiac tantrums!

MARGO:

(struggling)

That word again! I don't even know

what it means...

BILL:

(firmly)

It's time you found out. I love you.

(Margo says "Ha!")

I love you. You're a beautiful and

intelligent woman-

(Margo says "A body

with a voice")

a beautiful and intelligent woman

and a great actress-

(he waits; Margo says

nothing)

at the peak of her career. You have

every reason for happiness-

(Margo says "Except

happiness")

every reason, but due to some strange,

uncontrollable, unconscious drive

you permit the slightest action of a

kid-

(Margo sneers "Kid!")

kid like Eve to turn you into a

hysterical, screaming harpy! Now

once and for all, stop it!

Margo seems quiet. He gets up. She sits up.

MARGO:

It's obvious you're not a woman.

BILL:

I've been aware of that for some

time.

MARGO:

Well, I am.

BILL:

I'll say.

MARGO:

Don't be condescending.

BILL:

Come on, get up. I'll buy you a drink.

MARGO:

(with dignity)

I admit I may have seen better days,

but I am still not to be had for the

price of a cocktail - like a salted

peanut.

BILL:

(laughs)

Margo, let's make peace.

MARGO:

The terms are too high.

Unconditional surrender.

BILL:

Just being happy? Just stopping all

this nonsense about Eve - and Eve

and me?

MARGO:

It's not nonsense.

BILL:

But if I tell you it is - as I just

did. Were you listening to me?

(Margo nods)

Isn't that enough?

MARGO:

I wish it were.

BILL:

Then what would be enough?

(Margo doesn't answer)

If we were married?

MARGO:

I wouldn't want you to marry me just

to prove something.

BILL:

You've had so many reasons for not

wanting to marry me... Margo, tell

me what's behind all this.

MARGO:

I - I don't know, Bill. Just a

feeling, I don't know...

BILL:

I think you do know but you won't or

can't tell me.

(Margo doesn't say)

I said before it was going to be my

last try, and I meant it. I can't

think of anything else to do. I wish

I could.

(a pause)

We usually wind up screaming and

throwing things as the curtain comes

down. Then it comes up again and

everything's fine. But not this time.

(he takes a breath)

You know there isn't a playwright in

the world who could make me believe

this would happen between two adult

people. Goodbye, Margo.

No word from her. He starts away.

MARGO:

Bill...

(he stops)

...where are you going? To find Eve?

BILL:

(smiles grimly)

That suddenly makes the whole thing

believable.

He goes out. Margo, alone, sit for a moment sadly. Then she

begins to cry...

INT. RICHARDS' STUDIO APARTMENT - DAY

One large room, a small foyer with a door to the corridor. A

stair up one wall to a narrow balcony from which a couple of

bedroom open.

Karen is painting. Earnestly but badly. A still life of an

orange, an avocado, an eggplant and three bananas.

KAREN'S VOICE

On the day of the audition, my biggest

worry was to keep a banana looking

part of an eggplant... then Lloyd

came home.

(in the b.g., Lloyd

lets himself in)

It was right after his brawl with

Margo...

Lloyd slams the door, flings his hat away, strides in, peeling

off muffler and overcoat.

KAREN:

Lloyd, what happened...?

LLOYD:

Up to here! That's where I've got

it - up to here! Of all the star

ridden, presumptuous, hysterical-

KAREN:

Margo, again...

LLOYD:

And again and again! Two hours late

for the audition, to begin with-

KAREN:

That's on time for Margo.

LLOYD:

Then a childish, heavy-handed routine

about not knowing Eve was her

understudy-

KAREN:

It's just possible she didn't...

LLOYD:

Of course she knew! For one thing,

Addison told her how superbly Eve

had read the part-!

(suddenly softening)

Karen, let me tell you about Eve.

She's got everything - a born actress.

Sensitive, understanding, young,

exciting, vibrant-

KAREN:

Don't run out of adjectives, dear.

LLOYD:

Everything a playwright first thinks

of wanting to write about... until

his play becomes a vehicle for Miss

Channing...

KAREN:

Margo hasn't done badly by it.

LLOYD:

Margo. Margo's great. She knows it.

That's the trouble. She can play

Peck's Bad Boy all she wants, and

who's to stop her? Who's to give

her that boot in the rear she needs

and deserves?

He starts up the stairs to the bedroom.

KAREN:

(murmurs)

It's going to be a cozy weekend.

LLOYD:

(pauses)

What is?

KAREN:

We're driving out to the country

tomorrow night. Just the four of us.

Bill, Margo, you and I...

LLOYD:

Well. We've spent weekends before

with nobody talking...

(continues up stairs)

...just be sure to lock up all blunt

instruments and throwable objects...

As he goes into one of the bedrooms, Karen sits thoughtfully

on a couch. She muses...

KAREN'S VOICE

Newton - they say, thought of gravity

by getting hit on the head by an

apple. And the man who invented the

steam engine, he was watching a tea-

kettle... but not me. My Big Idea

came to me just sitting on a couch...

She lies down, folds her hands behind her head.

KAREN'S VOICE

That boot in the rear to Margo.

Heaven knows she had one coming.

From me, from Lloyd, from Eve, Bill,

Max, and so on - we'd all felt those

size fives of hers often enough...

but how? The answer was buzzing around

me like a fly...

She sits up. She smiles. The smile fades...

KAREN'S VOICE

I had it. But I let it go. Screaming

and calling names is one thing - but

this could mean...

She shakes her head, crosses to her easel, resumes work on

the bananas. She slows down, then stops.

KAREN'S VOICE

Why not? Why, I said to myself, not?

It would all seem perfectly

legitimate. And there were only two

people in the world who would know.

Also, the boot would land where it

would do the most good for all

concerned-

She puts the brush away and crosses to the phone which is by

Lloyd's work chair. As she crosses:

KAREN'S VOICE

And after all, it was not more than

a perfectly harmless joke which Margo,

herself, would be the first to

enjoy...

She looks in a leather phone book, pick up the phone and

ials.

KAREN'S VOICE

...and no reason why she shouldn't

be told about it - in time.

There's an answer at the other end.

KAREN:

(into phone)

Hello... will you call Miss Eve

Harrington to the phone, please?

Not at all... thank you.

And as she waits we...

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - NIGHT

Open country. Preferably no houses in sight. Plenty of snow.

Lloyd's car drives along.

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