All About Eve Page #17

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KAREN:

Eve. I've heard the most wonderful

things about your performance-

EVE:

Mostly relief that I managed to

stagger through it at all...

ADDISON:

She was magnificent.

KAREN:

(pleased)

Then you've heard too.

ADDISON:

I was there. An eyewitness.

KAREN:

(staggered)

You were there? At the play - last

night?

ADDISON:

(smiles)

A happy coincidence.

EVE:

(quickly)

We're having lunch with a movie talent

scout.

KAREN:

They certainly don't waste much time.

EVE:

Nothing definite yet - it's just to

have lunch.

ADDISON:

They'll be wasting this much of their

time at any rate. Eve has no intention

of going to Hollywood.

He turns to Karen, changing the subject.

ADDISON:

From the smartness of your dress, I

take it your luncheon companion is a

lady?

KAREN:

(smiles)

Margo.

ADDISON:

Margo? Lunching in public?

KAREN:

It's new Margo. But she's just as

late as the old one.

ADDISON:

She may be later than you think...

As he speaks, he crosses to pick up an evening paper, opens

it as he comes back.

ADDISON:

(handing it to her)

Why not read my column to pass the

time? The minutes will fly like

hours...

(he takes Eve's arm)

...and now we must join our sunburned

eager beaver.

He goes up the stairs with Eve. Karen glances after them

curiously, then at the column.

It is headed:
"Things I Promised Not To Tell" by Addison

deWitt. Her expression becomes increasingly horrified. She

drops the paper and rushes out...

INT. MARGO'S LIVING ROOM - DAY

Addison's column quivers in Margo's hand as she strides about

reading it. Karen sits miserably.

MARGO:

(declaiming)

"...my hat which has, lo, these many

seasons become more firmly rooted

about my ears, is lifted to Miss

Harrington. I am once more available

for dancing in the streets and

shouting from the housetops."... I

thought that one went out with

Woollcott...

(she skips part of

the column)

Down here... here, listen to this -

"... Miss Harrington had much to

tell - and these columns shall report

her faithfully - about the lamentable

practice in our Theater of permitting,

shall we say - mature - actresses to

continue playing roles requiring a

youth and vigor of which they retain

but a dim memory-"

KAREN:

I just can't believe it.

MARGO:

It gets better! "- About the

understandable reluctance on the

part of our entrenched First Ladies

of the Stage to encourage, shall we

say - younger - actresses; about

Miss Harrington's own long and

unsupported struggle for opportunity-

"

KAREN:

I can't believe Eve said those things!

Margo crumples the paper as if it were Eve's neck.

MARGO:

(pacing)

In this rat race, everybody's guilty

till they're proved innocent! One of

the differences between the Theater

and civilization...

(she hurls the paper

away)

...what gets me is how all of those

papers in town happened to catch

that particular performance!

KAREN:

(weakly)

Lloyd says it's a publicity release...

MARGO:

The little witch must have had Indian

runners out snatching critics out of

bars, steam rooms and museums or

wherever they hole up... well, she

won't get away with it! Nor will

Addison deWitt and his poison pen!

If Equity or my lawyer can't or won't

do anything about it, I will

personally stuff that pathetic little

lost lamb down Mr. deWitt's ugly

throat...

She pauses in midair to look at... Bill. He has come up the

stairs tow at a time, stands at the landing.

BILL:

(quietly)

I came as soon as I read that piece

of filth. I ran all the way...

Margo suddenly starts to cry. She turns from him. Bill takes

her in his arms. He holds her...

BILL:

Bill's here, baby. Everything's all

right, now...

Margo says nothing, just hides in his embrace. He soothes

her, pets her... he looks over at Karen.

KAREN:

I guess at this point I'm what the

French call 'de trop'...

BILL:

(smiles)

Maybe just a little around the edges.

Karen smiles back, waves, and goes out.

INT. RICHARDS' APARTMENT - DAY

Karen's having some lunch. Lloyd, still in his robe, sits

opposite her having some coffee and a cigarette. A copy of

the interview before him.

LLOYD:

(is saying)

It's Addison, from start to finish,

it drips with his brand of venom...

taking advantage of a kid like that,

twisting her words, making her say

what he wanted her to say-

KAREN:

Where'd you get all that information?

LLOYD:

(put out his cigarette)

Eve.

KAREN:

Eve?

LLOYD:

She's been to see me, as a matter of

fact she left just before you came

in - you just missed her...

KAREN:

That was a pity...

LLOYD:

(gets up)

She wanted to explain about her

interview, wanted to apologize to

someone - and didn't dare face

Margo...

KAREN:

I wonder why.

Lloyd wanders about - he seems to be searching for words,

for a position to maintain...

LLOYD:

She started to tell me all about it

and she couldn't finish, she cried

so...

He's over by a window, his back to her. Karen eyes him

curiously, waiting for the payoff...

LLOYD:

(finally)

You know, I've been going over our

financial condition - if you'll pardon

the expression...

KAREN:

That's quite a change of subject.

LLOYD:

(walks again)

What with taxes coming up - and since

I'm a playwright and not an oil well

operator - well, I've been thinking...

KAREN:

I'm trying hard to follow you.

LLOYD:

If - instead of waiting until next

season to do 'Footsteps on the

Ceiling', which is in pretty good

shape - and if Margo can be talked

into going on tour with 'Aged in

Wood' - we could put 'Footsteps...'

into production right away...

KAREN:

I'm beginning to catch up.

LLOYD:

If we could cast it properly, that

is...

KAREN:

(carefully)

Maybe get some younger actress for

the part? Someone who'd look the

part as well as play it?

LLOYD:

(smiles)

You've got to admit it would be a

novelty.

KAREN:

Now you're quoting Addison. Or Eve.

A pause.

LLOYD:

Eve did mention the play, you know.

But just in passing - she's never

ask to play a part like "Cora," she'd

never have the nerve...

KAREN:

Eve would ask Abbott to give her

Costello.

LLOYD:

No, I got the idea myself - while

she was talking to me...

KAREN:

With gestures, of course.

LLOYD:

(wistfully)

For once, to write something and

have it realized completely. For

once, not to compromise-

Now Karen explodes. She rises.

KAREN:

Lloyd Richards, you are not to

consider giving that contemptible

little worm the part of "Cora."

LLOYD:

Now just a minute-

KAREN:

Margo Channing has not been exactly

a compromise all these years, half

the playwrights in the world would

give their shirts for that particular

compromise!

LLOYD:

(angry)

Now just a minute!

KAREN:

It strikes me that Eve's disloyalty

and ingratitude must be contagious!

Lloyd's full of anger and guilt. He snaps back.

LLOYD:

All this fuss and hysteria because

an impulsive kid got carried away by

excitement and the conniving of a

professional manure slinger named

deWitt! She apologized, didn't she?

KAREN:

On her knees, I have no doubt! Very

touching, very Academy-of-Dramatic

Arts!

LLOYD:

That bitter cynicism of yours is

something you've acquired since you

left Radcliffe!

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