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Sweet Smell of Success Page #19
- NOT RATED
- Year:
- 1957
- 96 min
- 740 Views
Sidney finds this analysis hard to take. Again he tries to
laugh his way out of it.
SIDNEY:
(cynical)
Mary, don't try to sell me the
Brooklyn Bridge. I happen to know
it belongs to the Dodgers.
Mary, smiling, decides "to let him off the hook". She takes
the spike and the column and passes it across to Sidney's
side of the desk, as she returns briskly to her business.
MARY:
(affably)
I don't mind you looking at the
proof of the column in advance, as
long as J.J. doesn't know. But
don't do it like a boy stealing gum
from a slot machine.
Sidney doesn't like this; but, on the other hand, he does
want to look at the column. After only a momentary struggle,
he picks the column off the spike and reads.
SIDNEY:
Who put this item in about the
comic?
(reading)
"If there's a more hilarious funny
man around than Herbie Temple at
the Palace, you'll have to pardon
us for not catching the name. We
were too busy screaming." Does this
Temple have a press agent?
MARY:
No. It's one of J.J.'s occasional
beau gestes. Evidently the fellow's
funny, so he gave him a plug.
He goes to the door, grinning.
SIDNEY:
What's your favorite ribbon to go
around your favorite chocolates?
MARY:
Let's wait till Christmas - it's
more legitimate then.
She looks after Sidney, thinks about him for a moment. Then
she types.
Sidney comes down 47th Street from Broadway, making for the
stage door entrance of the Palace theatre. He walks
confidently into the alleyway, paying no attention to the
old doorman gossiping with the shoeshine boy at the chairs
next to the entrance. The doorman turns, protesting:
DOORMAN:
(calling out)
Hey!
LAP DISSOLVE TO:
Sidney, without halting, looks back towards the Doorman,
addressing him with the patronizing manner of a superior.
SIDNEY:
Herbit Temple here yet?
DOORMAN:
Yeah, but you can't come in now!
SIDNEY:
I'm in, Sonny Boy!
He is already on his way into doorway.
INT. BACKSTAGE OF PALACE THEATRE
The movie will soon by finished and the comedian who opens
the stage show is ready and made-up in the wings. He sits
with his agent, (AL EVANS) a small, worried, bespectacled
man, who waves an unlighted cigar as big as himself. They
converse in loud whispers, talking against the muffled and
echoing sound of the film sound track, silhouetted against
the ghostly, distorted images on the big screen seen at a
EVANS:
I didn't waste words, Herbie, take
my word. I says, "look, Figo, I'm
not selling you a dozen eggs, I'm
selling you HERBIE TEMPLE", I says,
so don't gimme your lip!
The comedian, Herbie Temple, looks up. Sidney comes through
a fire-proof door which separates the stage from the
corridors to dressing room. In background two chorus girls
in costume are squeezed into a telephone booth. Sidney
joins the comedian and the agent; he smiles to the comedian,
while he addresses the agent.
SIDNEY:
Hiya, Al!
The agent looks from Sidney to Temple, surprised and
displeased.
EVANS:
Since when did you two get
acquainted?
Sidney has clearly never met Evans; blandly he chooses to
regard the agent's remark as an introduction; he offers his
hand with generous amiability.
SIDNEY:
How do you do, Mr. Temple...
The comic accepts the hand doubtfully.
EVANS:
(uncertain)
Delighted.
SIDNEY:
I'm Sidney Falco.
TEMPLE:
(still dubious)
Yeah, delighted...
Evans stands up, warns the comic.
EVANS:
Watch this guy, Herbie, he's a
press agent.
Temple's smile congeals.
TEMPLE:
You watch him, Al, I s...s...stutter!
SIDNEY:
(in no way discouraged)
Temple, I caught your act the other
night and -
TEMPLE:
Did you now? On which bounce?
SIDNEY:
- and I just had to drop by and
tell you how great I thought you
were.
TEMPLE:
(dryly)
Cheers. What time is it, Al?
EVANS:
You got ten minutes.
(to Sidney)
Hope you don't mind, Falco: we're
busy and if -
Sidney stands up.
SIDNEY:
No, I don't mind. I'm busy too.
TEMPLE:
(scowling)
Good! We're all off to Utica, so
excuse me, Mr. Frannis-on-the-
Portisan.
Sidney moves toward the doorway onto the corridor. The
chorus girls have now vacated the phone booth.
SIDNEY:
But can I ask one impertinent
question here? With no criticism
intended, because I know, Al, you
earn your ten percent, how come you
let a sock act like Herbie Temple
tip-toe through town without a
publicity build...?
Smiling wise, Evans shakes his head.
EVANS:
We're not buying it, Falco - no
fish today.
Sidney presses, as if annoyed.
SIDNEY:
I'm not selling. I'm just curious,
that's all.
Temple turns away from Sidney, leaving him to Evans.
TEMPLE:
Answer the man, Al, if he asks you
a question. Quick, before he
thinks up another!
Evans moves to Sidney, trying to shepherd him out the way he
came.
EVANS:
Mr. Temple doesn't believe in press
agents - does that answer you
something?
ANOTHER ANGLE:
Evans makes the mistake of laying a hand on Sidney's elbow.
Sidney doesn't like people touching him. He reacts in
anger, as we have seen before - fixes a burning eye on Evans.
SIDNEY:
Take your hand off, lump!
(more politely, to Temple)
No one believes in press agents,
Temple, when they make claims they
can't perform. I got nothing to
sell - I didn't come here to
peddle - but if I tell a client
that Hunsecker will give him space,
it's not just talk!
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"Sweet Smell of Success" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Sep. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/sweet_smell_of_success_524>.
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