Cradle Will Rock Page #5

this happening in theater groups?

I have noticed that

the people in the Federal Theater...

hobnob always with Negroes,

throwing parties with them

left and right.

The problem that I have

personally with the W. P. A...

and with the arts projects

in particular...

is that they seem to be run by people

that are very elitist, very snobby-like.

I've noticed this too.

Personally, I don't think there is any room

to advance, if you don't agree with them,

if you're not the same as them

in politics,

if you don't have,

politics-wise, the same mind.

And besides,

Reds aren't funny.

I just don't think

they're funny.

Ooh, ooh, ooh

What a little moonlight

can do

Ooh, ooh, ooh

What a little moonlight

can do to you

You're in love

Your heart's a-flutterin'

all day long

You only stutter

'cause your poor tongue

Just will not get

outta the way

I... love... you

- Can I have some punch, please?

- Yes, certainly.

And the Negro had the nerve to call me

on the telephone and ask me for a date.

That's with

that Communist program.

- Social equality and race merging.

- That's right!

Punch, Mr. Crickshaw?

Yes. Thank you very much, Miss Huffman.

Ooh, ooh, ooh

What a little moonlight

can do

Wait a while

till a little moonbeam

Comes peepin'through

You'll get sold

You can't resist him

And all you've said

when you have kissed him is

Ooh, ooh, ooh

What a little moonlight

can do

Oh boy, oh boy, I just been grilled.

- I also have been barbecued and frizzled.

- Who's that?

- It's Larry Foreman, the union leader.

- I like this, Marc.

He comes into the jail and sees

all these rich people sitting there.

Say, what's the whole Liberty

Committee doing in the pokey?

- And on the wrong side of the bars?

- That's the one you want.

- He's a Red, an agitator.

- Mr. Mister tries to bribe him, but he tells him to get lost.

He won't sell out his union.

These people are marching on the jail.

Kill him! Lynch him!

And it's going to surround you

No wonder

those storm birds

Seem to circle

around you

Well, you can't climb down

and you can't sit still

That's a storm

that's gonna last

Until the final wind blows

And when the wind blows

The cradle will rock

Bravo!

- Well, I think it is terrific, jack.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Marc, you have written something groundbreaking here.

Never before, to my knowledge,

has an American musical...

dealt with content and social issues

and dramatic themes.

- You are reinventing musical theater.

- Wow! Thank you.

Orson?

Don't overdesign this.

- Keep it pure and keep it simple.

- You have my word, Madam Flanagan.

- I'll be checking in.

- Congratulations, Marc!

Auditions are tonight at 6:00.

Score will be left with the pianist

if anybody wants to learn the songs.

- Thank you. - Augusta, you

make a reservation at Twenty-One?

- Yes, Orson.

- jack, Marc, come with me.

- Madam Flanagan, will you join us?

- At Twenty-One?

Whoo! It's too rich for my blood.

I can see the headlines now.

"Civil Servant Dining At Twenty-One

On Your Tax Dollars. "

- Oh, perils of officialdom.

- Orson.

- Yeah? - What role does a Negro actor

play in this all-white production?

All-white, ridiculous.

You'll play the Reverend Salvation.

- A white Protestant.

- In makeup.

In a world of Amos and Andy, you can play

a white Protestant. Makeup, my friend.

- Subversion!

- Quit worrying, Marc. Don't worry.

- Marc!

- Coming, coming.

- Mr. Houseman, I'm Olive Stanton.

- I know you.

- You're a stagehand.

- And I'm an actress.

I'd like to, with your permission,

sir, if it'd be possible to audition.

Audition?

I don't know.

Are you out of your mind?

We're being investigated by Congress.

- We can't do this play.

- Why not?

Greedy industrialist who's

brought down by the working man.

It's pro-union, yes,

but so is our audience.

- A stage full of marching workers trample the capitalist.

- They don't trample him.

- It's an attack on capitalism.

- Not at all. It's an attack on greed.

It's a good play. It's funny,

it's moving and the music is great.

- So stop fretting.

- I see glass!

- Glass?

- A stage of glass.

Yes!

Don't ask me why, but...

Whoa! There's something

about standing on a surface of glass...

the risk of it,

the potential for injury.

It'll be completely safe, of course.

Thick, safe glass!

Twenty-One Club, please.

- The Cradle Will Rock is spectacular!

- Glass?

Yes. Stage of glass, yeah.

Are you Communist, Marc?

- Perhaps we should talk about the auditions,

- You know, are you Red?

- what we're looking for in each of the roles.

- Officially, no, Orson.

I'm a homosexual. That excludes

me from membership in the party.

I am faithful

to the ideals of the party.

I am faithful

to the party of ideas.

- No, you are faithful to the idea of a party.

- Sparkling wit, jack.

- I thought you were married, Marc.

- No, no. Shh!

- My wife passed away, uh, last year.

- Mm.

Diego!

Diego, are you getting

everything you need?

I need burnt

cypress embers.

Oh. I'll send for some.

You know, Diego, I think at first I was

a bit unrealistic with my expectations.

I am glad

you're taking your time.

Certainly, Michelangelo took his time

with the Sistine Chapel.

I only work three months,

not much.

Three months,

on and off.

I've come to understand a great deal

about art with this experience.

- Mira, vete para el carajo.

- Frida, porta te bien.

Diego, what is that...

emanating from the man

in the center?

That's a recombination of atoms,

the division of a cell.

Those are germs, bacteria, cells...

the wonders of the microscope.

- That's fascinating.

- Mm.

It's so modern.

And this large, uh...

Looks like a magnifying glass of

some kind? People are staring at it.

That's the latest invention...

the television.

- Yes, I know television.

- Beamed visual radio.

Imagine the potential

for education.

And these well-dressed people

here, what is that?

What do you see?

Oh, I get it. Picasso played

this game with me too.

All right.

I see...

high society

at a party of some kind.

- That's it!

- Ha!

The decadent rich.

Above their heads,

that's a syphilis cell.

Syphilis cell?

The rich in general?

- No. In specific.

- You're not talking about me, are you?

- But you don't have syphilis, do you?

- No, of course not.

No, I don't.

Up top there,

is that a war of some kind?

That's a battlefield.

Men in the holocaust of war.

And beneath it,

unemployed workers

being beaten by the police.

Do you like it?

You can't stop the weather

not with all your dough

For when the wind blows

and when the wind blows

The cradle will rock

I gotta run.

My son's birthday.

I need the last audition possible

tonight, all right? Thanks.

- It's yours, Aldo.

- Of Honolulu

Olive, isn't it?

Yeah.

- I'm john Adair.

- I know. You're a great actor. I've been watching you.

Thanks.

Did you like the play?

I liked it.

I thought it was interesting.

Felt it could've gone farther.

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