All About Eve Page #15

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KAREN'S VOICE

It was a cold weekend - outside and

in. Bill didn't come at all. Margo

didn't know where he was and didn't

care - she kept saying. Somehow we

staggered through Sunday and by the

time we drove Margo to the station

late Monday afternoon, she and Lloyd

had thawed out to the extent of being

civil to each other...

INT. COUPE - NIGHT

Lloyd driving. All three in the front seat.

KAREN:

What time is it?

LLOYD:

When you asked a minute ago it was

five-forty-two. It is now five forty-

three. When you ask a minute from

now, it will be-

KAREN:

I just don't want Margo to miss her

train. As it is, she'll barely make

the theater...

LLOYD:

Five-fifty-five. We'll be at the

station in plenty of time...

MARGO:

That little place just two hours

form New York. It's on my list of

things-I'll-never-understand. Like

collecting shrunken Indian heads...

KAREN:

Of all people you should know what

it means to want some peace and

quiet-

MARGO:

Peace and quit is for libraries.

The car swerves - suddenly and slightly.

KAREN:

Lloyd, be careful...

LLOYD:

Just a little skid, that's all.

This road's like glass.

MARGO:

Karen and I just don't want an

accident-

LLOYD:

I have no intention of having an

accident!

MARGO:

It's not important whether you do.

We are wearing long underwear.

They all laugh. Suddenly the car slows and stops - with that

hissing sound that can mean only one thing - no gas.

LLOYD:

Now what's this...?

He tries to start it again. No luck. He turns on the dashboard

lights. The gas gauge reads empty.

LLOYD:

But it can't be! We can't be out of

gas! I filled it myself yesterday!

(to Karen)

Wasn't it full when you drove to

Brewster this morning?

KAREN:

(very low)

I guess I didn't look. You know I

don't pay attention to those things...

LLOYD:

Incredible.

Futilely, he runs the started again.

MARGO:

(crisply)

How much time have we?

KAREN:

Roughly ten minutes.

MARGO:

How far to the station?

KAREN:

Three or four miles...

MARGO:

Any houses or farms around where we

can borrow gas?

KAREN:

(looking)

None in sight, there aren't many

along this back road...

MARGO:

Not many car either, not much chance

of a lift...

A moment of silence.

LLOYD:

Well. No sense my just sitting here.

I'm going to walk up about half a

mile, just in case.

He starts out of the car. The cold comes in like a knife,

the women react.

KAREN:

You'll break your neck on that ice.

LLOYD:

(grins)

What a way to die - trying to get an

actress to the theater in time.

Tell Max I want to be buried with

royalties...

KAREN:

Don't joke about such things.

MARGO:

(quietly)

How fortunate that I have an

understudy so ready, so willing and

so able to go on.

LLOYD:

The audience will want its money

refunded, believe me.

MARGO:

Thank you, Lloyd. Godspeed.

Lloyd starts down the road. He slips once, recovers, waves

and keeps going.

KAREN:

He always looks so pathetic whenever

he does anything physical-

MARGO:

It seems to me that walking, for

most people, is not very dangerous.

KAREN:

(smiles)

I just never think of Lloyd as

anywhere but indoors and anything

but sitting down.

MARGO:

Be brave. He'll come back - with or

without gas.

They tuck the fur car robe around them. A pause. Margo turns

on the radio... it's "Liebestraum."

MARGO:

Do you want it on?

KAREN:

It doesn't matter.

MARGO:

I detest cheap sentiment.

She turns it off. Another pause.

MARGO:

Karen.

(Karen says "hm?")

I haven't been pleasant this weekend.

KAREN:

We've all seemed a little tense

lately...

MARGO:

Come to think of it, I haven't been

very pleasant for weeks. For that,

I'm truly sorry. More than any two

people I know, I don't want you and

Lloyd to be angry with me...

KAREN:

We're never deeply angry, we just

get sore. The way you do. We know

you too well...

MARGO:

So many people - know me. I wish I

did. I wish someone would tell be

about me...

KAREN:

You're Margo. Just - Margo.

MARGO:

And what is that? Besides something

spelled out in light bulbs, I mean.

Besides something called temperament,

which consists mostly of swooping

about on a broomstick screaming at

the top of my voice... infants behave

the way I do, you know. They carry

on and misbehave - they'd get drunk

if they knew how - when they can't

have what they want. When they feel

unwanted and insecure - or unloved.

There's a pause.

KAREN:

What about Bill?

MARGO:

What about Bill?

KAREN:

He's in love with you.

MARGO:

More than anything in this world, I

love Bill. And I want Bill. I want

him to want me. But me. Not Margo

Channing. And if I can't tell they

apart - how can he?

KAREN:

Why should he - and why should you?

MARGO:

Bill's in love with Margo Channing.

He's fought with her, worked with

her, loved her... but ten years from

now - Margo Channing will have ceased

to exist. And what's left will be...

what?

KAREN:

Margo. Bill is all of eight years

younger than you.

MARGO:

Those years stretch as the years go

on. I've seen it happen too often.

KAREN:

Not to you. Not to Bill.

MARGO:

Isn't that what they always say?

She turns the radio on again. A piano nocturne...

MARGO:

I don't suppose the heater runs when

the motor doesn't?

KAREN:

Silly, isn't it? You'd think they'd

fix it so people could just sit in a

car and keep warm...

Margo nods, get some cigarettes out of her bag. She offers

one to Karen. They light up.

MARGO:

About Eve. I've acted pretty

disgracefully toward her, too.

KAREN:

Well...

MARGO:

Let's not fumble for excuses, not

here and now with my hair down. At

best, let's say I've been

oversensitive to... well, to the

fact that she's so young - so feminine

and helpless. Too so many things I

want to be for Bill... funny

business, a woman's career. The

things you drop on your way up the

ladder, so you can move faster. You

forget you'll need them again when

you go back to being a woman. That's

one career all females have in common -

whether we like it or not - being a

woman. Sooner or later we've all

got to work at it, no matter what

other careers we've had or wanted...

and, in the last analysis, nothing

is any good unless you can look up

just before dinner or turns around

in bed - and there he is. Without

that, you're not woman. You're

something with a French provincial

office or a book full of clippings -

but you're not a woman...

(she smiles at Karen)

...slow curtain. The end.

A pause. There are tears in Karen's eyes.

KAREN:

Margo.

(she hesitates)

Margo, I want you to know how sorry

I am about this...

MARGO:

About what?

KAREN:

(indicating their

predicament)

This. I can't tell you how sorry I

am!

MARGO:

Don't give it another thought, one

of destiny's many pranks. After all,

you didn't personally drain the

gasoline out of the tank...

She snuggles down into her furs. Karen flashes an unhappy

look at her. She, too, snuggles down...

EXT. THEATER ALLEY - CURRAN THEATER - NIGHT

The snow has been shoveled to either side of the alley, making

a lane. The performance is just over.

Addison, his back to us, stands looking toward the stage

door. A few actors, on their way out.

ADDISON'S VOICE

Eve, of course, was superb. Many of

the audience understandably preferred

to return another time to see Margo.

But those who remained cheered loudly,

lustily and long for Eve... how

thoughtful of her to call and invite

me - that afternoon...

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