Ida Tarbell Page #23

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ROCKEFELLER:

I do, your honor.

JUDGE:

(to the prosecution)

Very well. You may proceed.

And so begins the “Trial of the Century” with John D.

Rockefeller as the chief protagonist. The age of monopoly is

now on trial. But that’s another story.

The familiar clacking of a typewriter takes us to...

INT. FARMHOUSE - RURAL CONNECTICUT - DAY

Where we find Ida at work in her study. A KNOCKING at the

door pulls her out of her reverie. She goes to answer it.

AT THE FRONT DOOR

REVEAL:
a shy young woman of about 20, clutching a notebook

and pen. She smiles nervously up at Ida. Awed.

YOUNG WOMAN:

Hello. Are you Ida Tarbell?

IDA:

Yes. Who are you?

YOUNG WOMAN:

(extending a hand)

Sorry. My name is Penny Miller, from

Meadville. I’m studying journalism at

Allegheny College.

119.

YOUNG WOMAN (CONT'D)

I was hoping maybe I could interview you

for the school magazine.

IDA:

Penny Miller from Meadville?

YOUNG WOMAN:

Yes, m’am.

Ida smiles fondly at her. She could be looking at the younger

version of herself.

IDA:

Right. Well, I suppose you’d better come in

then.

Ida opens the door, and the girl steps inside.

IDA (V.O.)

So you want to be a journalist?

YOUNG WOMAN (V.O.)

Yes, I‘d like to be. I read your series in

McClures, and I was greatly inspired by it.

IDA (V.O.)

Really? Tell me more about that.

We float through the house now, as the years fall away in an

instant. Visitors long gone. As we hear...

OLD IDA (V.O.)

Here then, is the record of my day’s work,

still unfinished at 86 years of age.

The walls become more crowded with her books and manuscripts.

Framed photographs, magazine covers, awards taking over every

inch of space. The collected treasures of a writing life.

We continue floating to where we find Ida...

Now an old woman of 86, hunched over a typewriter. Working on

her memoirs.

CLOSE ON:
A pair of knobbly hands. Less nimble than before.

Still pecking away at the keys...

OLD IDA (V.O.)

No one is more surprised than I am to find

that I am still here, still able to work.

This despite mutinous fingers, tremulous

hands and my ever dimming eyesight.

Ida continues to type...

120.

OLD IDA (V.O.)

But there are small satisfactions too, and

I find it a surprising joy to be still at

my desk every day, with everything I ever

needed:
a room to write in, something to

write about, and all day to do it.

CAMERA PULLS UP AND BACK

Ida framed at her writing desk, still clacking away.

And there she remains. Working. Content. Indomitable.

FADE OUT:

THE END:

TITLE:
In 1911, the Supreme Court of The United States ruled

that The Standard Oil Company was an illegal monopoly. It was

subsequently broken up into 34 new companies, including

Exxon, Mobil and Conoco-Phillips.

TITLE:
John D. Rockefeller gradually withdrew from business,

devoting himself to philanthropy and The Rockefeller

Foundation. He died in 1937, two months shy of his 98th

birthday. He never spoke in public about Ida Tarbell.

TITLE:
“The History of the Standard Oil Company” would be

hailed as a landmark work in the history of investigative

journalism. It is ranked No.5 in the Top 100 greatest works

of 20th Century American journalism.

TITLE:
Ida Tarbell continued writing and publishing up until

her death in 1944. She lived to be 86 years of age.

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