All About Eve Page #4

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EVE:

Thank you.

She sits. A short lull.

MARGO:

Would you like a drink? It's right

beside you...

KAREN:

I was telling Margo and Lloyd about

how often you'd seen the play...

They start together, and stop in deference to each other.

They're a little flustered. But not Eve.

EVE:

(to Margo)

No, thank you.

(to Lloyd)

Yes. I've seen every performance.

LLOYD:

(delighted)

Every performance? Then - am I safe

in assuming you like it?

EVE:

I'd like anything Miss Channing

played...

MARGO:

(beams)

Would you, really? How sweet-

LLOYD:

(flatly)

I doubt very much that you'd like

her in 'The Hairy Ape'.

EVE:

Please, don't misunderstand me, Mr.

Richards. I think that part of Miss

Channing's greatness lies in her

ability to choose the best plays...

your new play is for Miss Channing,

isn't it, Mr. Richards?

MARGO:

Of course it is.

LLOYD:

How'd hear about it?

EVE:

There was an item in the Times. I

like the title. 'Footsteps on the

Ceiling'.

LLOYD:

Let's get back to this one. Have you

really seen every performance?

(Eve nods)

Why? I'm curious...

Eve looks at Margo, then drops her eyes.

EVE:

Well. If I didn't come to see the

play, I wouldn't have anywhere else

to go.

MARGO:

There are other plays...

EVE:

Not with you in them. Not by Mr.

Richards...

LLOYD:

But you must have friends, a

family, a home-

Eve pauses. Then shakes her head.

KAREN:

Tell us about it - Eve...

Eve looks at her - grateful because Karen called her "Eve."

Then away, again...

EVE:

If I only knew how...

KAREN:

Try...

EVE:

Well...

Birdie comes out of the bathroom. Everybody looks at her

sharply. She realizes she's in on something important. She

closes the door quietly, leans against it.

EVE:

Well... it started with the play

before this one...

LLOYD:

'Remembrance'.

MARGO:

Did you see it here in New York?

EVE:

San Francisco. It was the last week.

I went one night... the most important

night in my life - until this one.

Anyway... I found myself going the

next night - and the next and the

next. Every performance. Then, when

the show went East - I went East.

BIRDIE:

I'll never forget that blizzard the

night we played Cheyenne. A cold

night. First time I ever saw a

brassiere break like a piece of

matzos...

Eve looks at her unsmilingly, then back to her hands.

KAREN:

Eve... why don't you start at the

beginning?

EVE:

It couldn't possibly interest you.

MARGO:

Please...

Eve speaks simply and without self-pity.

EVE:

I guess it started back home.

Wisconsin, that is. There was just

mum, and dad - and me. I was the

only child, and I made believe a lot

when I was a kid - I acted out all

sorts of things... what they were

isn't important. But somehow acting

and make-believe began to fill up my

life more and more, it got so that I

couldn't tell the real from the unreal

except that the unreal seemed more

real to me... I'm talking a lot of

gibberish, aren't I?

LLOYD:

Not at all...

EVE:

Farmers were poor in those days,

that's what dad was - a farmer. I

had to help out. So I quit school

and I went to Milwaukee. I became a

secretary. In a brewery.

(she smiles)

When you're a secretary in a brewery -

it's pretty hard to make believe

you're anything else. Everything is

beer. It wasn't much fun, but it

helped at home - and there was a

Little Theater Group... like a drop

of rain in the desert. That's where

I met Eddie. He was a radio

technician. We played 'Liliom' for

three performances, I was awful -

then the war came, and we got married.

Eddie was in the air force - and

they sent him to the South Pacific.

You were with the O.W.I., weren't

you Mr. Richards?

(Lloyd nods)

That's what 'Who's Who' says...

well, with Eddie gone, my life went

back to beer. Except for a letter a

week. One week Eddie wrote he had a

leave coming up. I'd saved my money

and vacation time. I went to San

Francisco to meet him.

(a slight pause)

Eddie wasn't there. They forwarded

the telegram from Milwaukee - the

one that came from Washington to say

that Eddie wasn't coming at all.

That Eddie was dead...

(Karen puts her hand

on Lloyd's)

...so I figured I'd stay in San

Francisco. I was alone, but couldn't

go back without Eddie. I found a

job. And his insurance helped... and

there were theaters in San Francisco.

And one night Margo Channing came to

play in 'Remembrance'... and I went

to see it. And - well - here I am...

She finishes dry-eyes and self-composed. Margo squeezes the

bridge of her nose, dabs at her eyes.

BIRDIE:

(finally)

What a story. Everything but the

bloodhounds snappin' at her rear

end...

That breaks the spell. Margo turns to her-

MARGO:

There are some human experiences,

Birdie, that do not take place in a

vaudeville house - and that even a

fifth-rate vaudevillian should

understand and respect!

(to Eve)

I want to apologize for Birdie's-

BIRDIE:

(snaps in)

You don't have to apologize for me!

(to Eve)

I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings.

It's just my way of talkin'...

EVE:

(nicely)

You didn't hurt my feelings, Miss

Coonan...

BIRDIE:

Call me Birdie.

(to Margo)

As for bein' fifth-rate - I closed

the first half for eleven years an'

you know it!

She slams into the bathroom again. At that precise instant

BILL SAMPSON flings open the door to the dressing room. He's

youngish, vital, undisciplined. He lugs a beat-up suitcase

which he drops as he crosses to Margo-

BILL:

Forty-five minutes from now my plane

takes off and how do I find you? Not

ready yet, looking like a junk yard-

MARGO:

Thank you so much.

BILL:

Is it sabotage, does my career mean

nothing to you? Have you no human

consideration?

MARGO:

Show me a human and I might have!

KAREN:

(conscious of Eve)

Bill...

BILL:

The air lines have clocks, even if

you haven't! I start shooting a week

from Monday - Zanuck is impatient,

he wants me, he needs me!

KAREN:

(louder)

Bill-

MARGO:

Zanuck, Zanuck, Zanuck! What are you

two - lovers?

Bill grins suddenly, drops to one knee beside her.

BILL:

(smiling)

Only in some ways. You're prettier...

MARGO:

I'm a junk yard.

KAREN:

(yells)

Bill!

BILL:

(vaguely; to Karen)

Huh?

KAREN:

This is Eve Harrington.

Bill flashes a fleeting look at Eve.

BILL:

Hi.

(to Margo)

My wonderful junk yard. The mystery

and dreams you find in a junk yard-

MARGO:

(kisses him)

Heaven help me, I love a psychotic.

Bill grins, rises, sees Eve as if for the first time.

BILL:

Hello, what's your name?

EVE:

Eve. Eve Harrington.

KAREN:

You've already met.

BILL:

Where?

KAREN:

Right here. A minute ago.

BILL:

That's nice.

MARGO:

She, too, is a great admirer of yours.

BIRDIE:

Imagine. All this admiration in just

one room.

BILL:

Take your mistress into the bathroom

and dress her.

(Birdie opens her

mouth)

Without comment.

Birdie shuts it and goes into the bathroom. In a moment we

hear a shower start to run. Eve gets up.

KAREN:

You're not going, are you?

EVE:

I think I'd better. It's been - well,

I can hardly find the words to say

how it's been...

MARGO:

(rises)

No, don't go...

EVE:

The four of you must have so much to

say to each other - with Mr.

Sampson leaving...

Margo, impulsively crosses to Eve.

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