All About Eve Page #5

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MARGO:

Stick around. Please. Tell you what

we'll put Stanislavsky on his plane,

you and I, then go somewhere and

talk.

EVE:

Well - if I'm not in the way...

MARGO:

I won't be a minute.

She darts into the bathroom. Eve sits down again.

KAREN:

Lloyd, we've got to go-

Lloyd gets up. Karen crosses to pound on the bathroom door.

She yells - the shower is going...

KAREN:

Margo, good night! I'll call you

tomorrow!

Margo's answer is lost in the shower noise. Karen crosses to

kiss Bill. She's joined by Lloyd.

KAREN:

Good luck, genius...

BILL:

Geniuses don't need good luck.

(he grins)

I do.

LLOYD:

I'm not worried about you.

BILL:

Keep the thought.

They shake hands warmly. Karen and Lloyd move to Eve.

KAREN:

Good night, Eve. I hope I see you

again soon-

EVE:

I'll be at the old stand, tomorrow

matinee-

KAREN:

Not just that way. As a friend...

EVE:

I'd like that.

LLOYD:

It's been a real pleasure, Eve.

EVE:

I hope so, Mr. Richards. Good night...

Lloyd shakes her hand, crosses to join Karen who waits at

the open dressing room door.

EVE:

Mrs. Richards.

(Karen and Lloyd look

back)

...I'll never forget this night as

long as I live. And I'll never forget

you for making it possible.

Karen smiles warmly. She closes the door. They leave.

KAREN'S VOICE

And I'll never forget you, Eve. Where

were we going that night, Lloyd and

I? Funny the things you remember -

and the things you don't...

INT. MARGO'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

Eve sits on the same chair. Bill keeps moving around. Eve

never takes her eyes off him. He offers her a cigarette. She

shakes her head. He looks at his watch.

EVE:

You said forty-seven minutes.

You'll never make it.

BILL:

(grins)

I told you a lie. We'll make it

easily. Margo's got no more conception

of time than a halibut.

He goes to the dressing table, picks up Margo's pocketbook,

opens it. He finds a letter. He glances at it, puts it back.

BILL:

She's been carrying that letter around

for weeks. I've read it three times...

There's a sudden sharp yelp from the bathroom.

MARGO'S VOICE

You're supposed to zip the zipper -

not me.

BIRDIE'S VOICE

Like tryin' to zip a pretzel - stand

still!

Bill grins.

BILL:

What a documentary those two would

make... like the mongoose and the

cobra-

He sprawls on the chaise, closes his eyes. A pause.

EVE:

(finally)

So you're going to Hollywood.

Bill grunts in the affirmative. Silence.

BILL:

Why?

EVE:

I just wondered.

BILL:

Just wondered what?

EVE:

Why.

BILL:

Why what?

EVE:

Why you have to go out there.

BILL:

I don't have to. I want to.

EVE:

Is it the money?

BILL:

Eighty percent of it will go for

taxes.

EVE:

Then why? Why, if you're the best

and most successful young director

in the Theater-

BILL:

The Theatuh, the Theatuh-

(he sits up)

what book of rules says the Theater

exists only within some ugly buildings

crowded into one square mile of New

York City? Or London, Paris or Vienna?

(he gets up)

Listen, junior. And learn. Want to

know what the Theater is? A flea

circus. Also opera. Also rodeos,

carnivals, ballets, Indian tribal

dances, Punch and Judy, a one-man

band - all Theater. Wherever there's

magic and make-believe and an audience -

there's Theater. Donald Duck, Ibsen,

and The Lone Ranger, Sarah Bernhardt,

Poodles Hanneford, Lunt and Fontanne,

Betty Grable, Rex and Wild, and

Eleanora Duse. You don't understand

them all, you don't like them all,

why should you? The Theater's for

everybody - you included, but not

exclusively - so don't approve or

disapprove. It may not be your

Theater, but it's Theater of somebody,

somewhere.

EVE:

I just asked a simple question.

BILL:

(grins)

And I shot my mouth off. Nothing

personal, junior, no offense...

(he sits back down)

...it's just that there's so much

bushwah in this Ivory Green Room

they call the Theatuh - sometimes it

gets up around my chin...

He lies down again.

EVE:

But Hollywood. You mustn't stay there.

BILL:

(he closes his eyes)

It's only one picture deal.

EVE:

So few come back...

BILL:

Yeah. They keep you under drugs out

there with armed guards...

A pause.

EVE:

I read George Jean Nathan every week.

BILL:

Also Addison deWitt.

EVE:

Every day.

BILL:

You didn't have to tell me.

Margo, putting on an earring, buzzes out of the bathroom

followed by Birdie. Bill sits up.

MARGO:

(en route)

I understand it's the latest thing -

just one earring. If it isn't, it's

going to be - I can't find the

other...

She grabs her pocketbook, starts rummaging. Out comes the

letter...

BILL:

Throw that dreary thing away, it

bores me-

Margo drops it in the wastebasket, keeps rummaging.

EVE:

(concerned)

Where do you suppose it could be?

BIRDIE:

It'll show up.

MARGO:

(gives up)

Oh well...

(to Birdie)

...look through the wigs, maybe it

got caught-

BILL:

Real diamonds in a wig. The world we

live in...

MARGO:

(she's been looking)

Where's my coat?

BIRDIE:

Right where you left it...

She goes behind the chaise. She comes up with a magnificent

mink.

BILL:

(to Margo)

The seams.

Margo starts to straighten them.

MARGO:

(to Eve)

Can't keep his eyes off my legs.

BILL:

Like a nylon lemon peel-

MARGO:

(straightens up)

Byron couldn't have said it more

graciously... here we go-

By now she's in the coat and has Eve's arm, heading for the

door. Bill puts his arms around Birdie.

BILL:

Got any messages? What do you want

me to tell Tyrone Power?

BIRDIE:

Just give him my phone number, I'll

tell him myself.

Bill kisses her cheek. She kisses Bill.

BIRDIE:

Kill the people.

(to Margo)

Got your key?

MARGO:

(nods)

See you home...

Margo and Eve precede Bill out of the door...

EXT. LAGUARDIA FIELD - NIGHT

American Airlines baggage counter. The rain has stopped, but

it's wet.

Margo, Eve, and Bill are stymied behind two or three couples

waiting to be checked in. Margo's arm is through Bill's.

They become increasingly aware of their imminent separation.

Eve senses her superfluity.

A lull. Bill cranes at the passenger heading the line, in

earnest conversation with the dispatcher. He sighs.

MARGO:

They have to time it so everybody

gets on at the last minute. So they

can close the doors and let you sit.

The man up ahead moves on.

BILL:

Ah...

EVE:

I have a suggestion.

(they look at her)

There's really not much time left -

I mean, you haven't had a minute

alone yet, and - well, I could take

care of everything here and meet you

at the gate with the ticket... if

you'd like.

BILL:

I think we'd like very much. Sure

you won't mind?

EVE:

Of course not.

Bill hands Eve the ticket. Margo smiles gratefully at her.

Eve smiles back.

EXT. PASSAGE AND GATE - LAGUARDIA - NIGHT

It's covered, with glass windows. Margo's arm is in Bill's.

BILL:

She's quite a girl, that what's-her

name...

MARGO:

Eve. I'd forgotten they grew that

way...

BILL:

The lack of pretense, that sort of

strange directness and understanding-

MARGO:

Did she tell you about the Theater

and what it meant?

BILL:

(grins)

I told her. I sounded off.

MARGO:

All the religions in the world rolled

into one, and we're Gods and

Goddesses... isn't it silly, suddenly

I've developed a big protective

feeling for her - a lamb loose in

our big stone jungle...

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