Sunset Boulevard Page #19

ARTIE'S VOICE

Stick 'em up, Gillis, or I'll

let you have it!

Gillis turns.

D-5 AT THE SODA FOUNTAIN

Artie Green and Betty Schaefer sit having a sandwich

and a milk shake. With his forefinger and a sound

effect, Artie riddles Gillis' body. Gillis walks

INTO THE SHOT.

GILLIS:

Hello, Artie. Good evening,

Miss Schaefer.

BETTY:

(Excitedly)

You don't know how glad I am

to see youl

ARTIE:

Walking out on the mob. What's

the big idea?

GILLIS:

I'm sorry about New Year's. Would

you believe me if I said I had

to be with a sick friend?

ARTIE:

Someone in the formal set, no

doubt, with a ten-carat kidney

stone.

BETTY:

Stop it, Artie, will you?

(To Gillis)

Where have you been keeping your-

self? I've got the most wonderful

news for you.

GILLIS:

I haven't been keeping myself at

all. Not lately.

BETTY:

I called your agent. I called the

Screen Writers Guild. Finally your

old apartment gave me some Crestview

number. There was always somebody

with an accent growling at me. You

were not there. You were not to be

spoken to. They never heard of you.

GILLIS:

Is that so? What's the wonderful

news?

BETTY:

Sheldrake likes that angle about

the teacher.

GILLIS:

What teacher?

BETTY:

Dark Windows. I got him all

hopped up about it.

GILLIS:

You did?

BETTY:

He thinks it could be made into

something.

GILLIS:

Into what? A lampshade?

BETTY:

Into something for Barbara Stan-

wyck. They have a commitment with

Barbara Stanwyck.

ARTIE:

Unless you'd rather have Sarah

Bernhardt.

BETTY:

This is on the level. Sheldrake

really went for it.

GILLIS:

O.K. Where's the cash?

BETTY:

Where's the story? I bluffed it

out with a few notions of my own.

It's really just a springboard.

It needs work.

GILLIS:

I was afraid of that.

BETTY:

I've got twenty pages of notes.

I've got a pretty good character

for the man.

ARTIE:

Could you write in plenty of back-

ground action, so they'll need an

extra assistant director?

BETTY:

Shut up, Artie.

(To Gillis)

Now if we could sit down for two

weeks and get a story.

GILLIS:

Sorry, Miss Schaefer, but I've

given up writing on spec.

BETTY:

I tell you this is half sold.

GILLIS:

As a matter of fact. I've given

up writing altogether.

Max has appeared in the door.

MAX:

Mr. Gillis, if you please.

GILLIS:

Right with you.

Max leaves.

ARTIE:

The accent! I've got it: this guy

is in the pay of a foreign government.

Get those studs. Get those cuff-links.

GILLIS:

I've got to run along. Thanks any-

way for your interest in my career.

BETTY:

It's not your career -- it's mine.

I kind of hoped to get in on this

deal. I don't want to be a reader

all my life. I want to write.

GILLIS:

Sorry if I crossed you up.

BETTY:

You sure have.

GILLIS:

So long.

He leaves.

ARTIE:

(Patting her hand)

Babe, it's like that producer says:

In life, you've got to take the

bitter with the sour.

D-6 THE ISOTTA, PARKED OUTSIDE

Gillis comes from Schwab's, gets into the car.

Max takes off.

NORMA:

What on earth, darling? It took

you hours.

GILLIS:

I ran into some people I knew.

NORMA:

Where are my cigarettes?

GILLIS:

Where are your...?

He realizes he's forgotten them, takes the dollar

and hands it back to her.

GILLIS:

Norma, you're smoking too much.

DISSOLVE TO:

D-7 LIVING ROOM, NORMA

DESMOND'S HOUSE

(EARLY AFTERNOON)

Start on a tiny GILLIS' VOICE

parasol being Whenever she suspected I

twirled...Norma was getting bored, she

peeks out from one would put on a live show

side of the parasol, for me: the Norma Desmond

a bandanna tied Follies. Her first number

around her head with was always the Mack Sennett

a rabbit's-ear bow. Bathing Beauty.

She bats her eyes,

winks roguishly.

THE CAMERA PULLS BACK to reveal that Norma's black

pyjama trousers are rolled up over her knees and her

black stockings rolled down below them. The whole

effect approximates a Mack Sennett bathing costume

pretty effectively. She points at a leather pour.

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