All About Eve Page #22

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ADDISON:

You sat and talked until it was

light...

EVE:

(meaningly)

We sat and talked, Addison. I want a

run of the play contract.

ADDISON:

(quietly)

There never was, there'll never be

another like you.

EVE:

(happily)

Well, say something - anything!

Congratulations, skol - good work,

Eve!

Addison rises slowly, to his full height. As Eve watches

him,

as her eyes go up to his, her smile fades-

ADDISON:

What do you take me for?

EVE:

(cautiously)

I don't know what I take you for

anything...

ADDISON:

(moving away)

It is possible - even conceivable -

that you've confused me with that

gang of backward children you've

been playing tricks on - that you

have the same contempt for me that

you have for them?

EVE:

I'm sure you mean something by that,

Addison, but I don't know what...

ADDISON:

Look closely, Eve, it's time you

did. I am Addison deWitt. I'm nobody's

fool. Least of all - yours.

EVE:

I never intended you to be.

ADDISON:

Yes, you did. You still do.

Eve gets up, now.

EVE:

I still don't know what you're getting

at. Right now I want to take my nap.

It's important that I-

ADDISON:

(breaks in)

It's important right now that we

talk. Killer to killer.

EVE:

(wisely)

Champion to champion.

ADDISON:

Not with me, you're no champion.

You're stepping way up in class.

EVE:

Addison, will you please say what

you have to say plainly and distinctly -

and then get out so I can take my

nap!

ADDISON:

Very well, plainly and distinctly.

Although I consider it unnecessary -

because you know as well as I, what

I am about to say.

(They are now facing

each other)

Lloyd may leave Karen, but he will

not leave Karen for you.

EVE:

What do you mean by that?

ADDISON:

More plainly and more distinctly? I

Have not come to New Haven to see

the play, discuss your dreams, or to

pull the ivy from the walls of Yale!

I have come to tell you that you

will not marry Lloyd - or anyone

else - because I will not permit it.

EVE:

What have you got to do with it?

ADDISON:

Everything. Because after tonight,

you will belong to me.

EVE:

I can't believe my ears...

ADDISON:

A dull clich�.

EVE:

Belong - to you? That sound medieval -

something out of an old melodrama...

ADDISON:

So does the history of the world for

the past twenty years. I don't enjoy

putting it as bluntly as this, frankly

I had hoped that you would, somehow,

have known - have taken it for granted

that you and I...

EVE:

...taken it for granted? That you

and I...

She smiles. Then she chuckles, then laughs. A mistake.

Addison slaps her sharply across the face.

ADDISON:

(quietly)

Remember as long as you live, never

to laugh at me. At anything or anyone

else - but never at me.

Eve eyes him coldly, goes to the door, throws it open.

EVE:

Get out!

Addison walks to the door, closes it.

ADDISON:

You're too short for that gesture.

Besides, it went out with Mrs. Fiske.

EVE:

Then if you won't get out, I'll have

you thrown out.

She goes to the phone.

ADDISON:

Don't pick it up! Don't even put

your hand on it...

She doesn't. Her back is to him. Addison smiles.

ADDISON:

Something told you to do as I say,

didn't it? That instinct is worth

millions, you can't buy it, cherish

it, Eve. When that alarm goes off,

go to your battle stations...

He comes up behind her. Eve is tense and wary.

ADDISON:

Your name is not Eve Harrington. It

is Gertrude Slescynski.

EVE:

What of it?

ADDISON:

It is true that your parents were

poor. They still are. And they would

like to know how you are - and where.

They haven't heard from you for three

years...

EVE:

(curtly)

What of it?

She walks away. Addison eyes her keenly.

ADDISON:

A matter of opinion. Granted. It is

also true that you worked in a

brewery. But life in the brewery was

apparently not as dull as you pictured

it. As a matter of fact, it got less

and less dull - until you boss's

wife had your boss followed by

detectives!

EVE:

(whirls on him)

She never proved anything, not a

thing!

ADDISON:

But the $500 you got to get out of

town brought you straight to New

York - didn't it?

Eve turns and runs into the bedroom, slamming the door.

Addison opens it, follows close after her... he can be seen

in the bedroom, shouting at Eve who is offscene.

ADDISON:

That $500 brought you straight to

New York - didn't it?

INT. BEDROOM - DAY

Eve, trapped, in a corner of the room.

EVE:

She was a liar, she was a liar!

ADDISON:

Answer my question! Weren't you paid

to get out of town?

Eve throws herself on the bed, face down, bursts in tears.

Addison, merciless, moves closer.

ADDISON:

Fourth. There was no Eddie - no pilot -

and you've never been married! That

was not only a lie, but an insult to

dead heroes and to the women who

loved them...

(Eve, sobbing, puts

her hands over her

ears; Addison, closer,

pulls them away)

...Fifth. San Francisco has no Shubert

Theater and North Shore, you've never

been to San Francisco!

That was a stupid lie, easy to expose, not worthy of you...

Eve twists to look up at him, her eyes streaming.

EVE:

I had to get in, to meet Margo! I

had to say something, be somebody,

make her like me!

ADDISON:

She did like you, she helped and

trusted you! You paid her back by

trying to take Bill away!

EVE:

That's not true!

ADDISON:

I was there, I saw you and heard you

through the dressing room door!

Eve turns face down again, sobbing miserably.

ADDISON:

You used my name and my column to

blackmail Karen into getting you the

part of "Cora" - and you lied to me

about it!

EVE:

(into the bed)

No-no-no...

ADDISON:

I had lunch with Karen not three

hours ago. As always with women who

want to find out things, she told

more than she learned...

(he lets go of her

hands)

...do you want to change your story

about Lloyd beating at your door the

other night?

Eve covers her face with her hands.

EVE:

Please... please...

Addison get off the bed, looks down at her.

ADDISON:

That I should want you at all suddenly

strikes me as the height of

improbability. But that, in itself,

is probably the reason. You're an

improbable person, Eve, and so am I.

We have that in common. Also a

contempt for humanity, an inability

to love or be loved, insatiable

ambition - and talent. We deserve

each other. Are you listening to me?

Eve lies listlessly now, her tear-stained cheek against the

coverlet. She nods.

ADDISON:

Then say so.

EVE:

Yes, Addison.

ADDISON:

And you realize - you agree how

completely you belong to me?

EVE:

Yes, Addison.

ADDISON:

Take your nap, now. And good luck

for tonight.

He starts out.

EVE:

(tonelessly)

I won't play tonight.

(Addison pauses)

I couldn't. Not possibly. I couldn't

go on...

ADDISON:

(smiles)

Couldn't go on? You'll give the

performance of your life.

He goes out. The CAMERA REMAINS on Eve's forlorn, tear stained

face. Her eyes close... she goes to sleep.

INT. DINING HALL - SARAH SIDDONS SOCIETY - NIGHT

THE STOPPED ACTION of Eve reaching out for the award. The

applause and bulb-popping still going on.

ADDISON'S VOICE

And she gave the performance of her

life. And it was a night to remember,

that night...

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