Sunset Boulevard Page #25

locomotives...

E-7a THE MAIN DOOR

Gillis, in the moonlit porch,

is closing the main door

behind him.

E-8 LIVING ROOM

Max looks after Gillis, his

face enigmatic as ever.

DISSOLVE TO:

E-9 GARAGE AND DRIVEWAY

(MOONLIGHT)

Gillis comes into the shot,

gets into the Isotta, drives

it out or the garage and down

the driveway to Sunset, as

quietly as possible.

DISSOLVE TO:

E-10 READERS' OFFICE BUILDING

PARAMOUNT (NIGHT)

Start on a LONG SHOT. THE GILLIS' VOICE

BOOM MOVES FORWARD to the only So we'd started

two lights. They are the door working on it, the

and window of Betty Schaefer's two of us. Nights,

cubicle. Betty sits at the when the studio was

desk, typing. Gillis, his deserted, up in her

coat off, his shirt-sleeves little cubby-hole

rolled up, j.s pacing the floor, of an office.

discussing the construction of

a sentence. The discussion at

a stalemate, Betty suggests

some coffee. Gillis agrees.

From the electric plate on the

shelf beside her, Betty takes

a glass coffee machine. Gillis

seats himself in her chair

and starts typing.

Betty opens the door and comes out on the balcony to

fill the coffee machine from the water cooler stand-

ing beside the door.

BETTY:

I got the funniest letter from

Artie. It's rained every day

since they got to Arizona. They

re-wrote the whole picture for

rain and shot half of it. Now

the sun is out. Nobody knows

when they'll get back.

She moves back into the room.

GILLIS:

Good.

BETTY:

What's good about it? I miss

him something fierce.

GILLIS:

I mean this is good dialogue

along in here. It'll play.

BETTY:

It will?

GILLIS:

Sure. Especially with lots

of music underneath, drowning

it out.

BETTY:

Don't you sometimes hate yourself?

GILLIS:

Constantly. No, in all serious-

ness, it's really good. It's

fun writing again. I'm happy

here, honest I am.

He resumes typing. Betty puts the water on. She

picks up a pack of cigarettes on the desk, finds it's

empty and throws it away, sees Gillis' open gold

cigarette case and lighter on the table by the couch.

Betty reaches for a cigarette. The inscription en-

graved inside the case catches her eye. It reads:

MAD ABOUT THE BOY --

Norma

BETTY:

Who's Norma?

GILLIS:

Who's who?

BETTY:

I'm sorry. I don't usually

read private cigarette cases.

GILLIS:

Oh, that. It's from a friend

of mine. A middle-aged lady,

very foolish and very generous.

BETTY:

I'll say. This is solid gold.

GILLIS:

I gave her some advice on an

idiotic script.

BETTY:

It's that old familiar story,

you help a timid little soul

across a crowded street. She

turns out to be a multimillionaire

and leaves you all her money.

GILLIS:

That's the trouble with you

readers. You know all the plots.

Now suppose you proof-read page

ten while the water boils.

DISSILVE TO:

E-11 AN EMPTY STREET AT THE GILLIS' VOICE

PARAMOUNT STUDIO (NIGHT) Sometimes when we got

stuck we'd make a

Gillis and Betty are walking litte tour of the

down it. From a stage where drowsing lot, not talk-

they are erecting a new set ing much, just wandering

comes a great shaft of light. down alleys between the

They stop at an apple-vending sound stages, or through

machine in the foreground,buy the sets they were get-

themselves a couple of apples ting ready for the next

and walk on. day's shooting. As a

matter of fact, it was

DISSOLVE TO:
on one of those walks

when she first told me

about her nose ...

E-12 PARAMOUNT'S NEW YORK STREET (NIGHT)

Betty and Gillis are walking down it, THE CAMERA

AHEAD OF THEM.

BETTY:

Look at this street. All card-

board, all hollow, all phoney.

All done with mirrors. I like

it better than any street in the

world. Maybe because I used to

play here when I was a kid.

GILLIS:

What were you -- a child actress?

BETTY:

I was born just two blocks from

this studio. Right on Lemon Grove

Avenue. Father was head elec-

trician here till he died. Mother

still works in Wardrobe.

GILLIS:

Second generation, huh?

BETTY:

Third. Grandma did stunt work

for Pearl White. I come from a

picture family. Naturally they

took it for granted I was to become

a great star. So I had ten years of

dramatic lessons, diction, dancing.

Then the studio made a test. Well,

they didn't like my nose -- it slanted

this way a little. I went to a doctor

and had it fixed. They made more

tests, and they were crazy about my

nose -- only they didn't like my acting.

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