The Elephant Man

BLACK:

FADE IN:
ABSTRACT DREAM

CLOSE-UP of a gold framed miniature portrait of JOHN MERRICK'S

MOTHER (tune or melody over her picture, heartbeat), which

DISSOLVES TO CLOSE-UP of real Mother smiling A shadow comes

over her face. CLOSE-UP of elephant ears, trunks, faces

moving.

Dark, heavy feet stomping elephant trumpet, rearing up.

Powerful hit and the Mother falls. Darker. Trunk slides over

Mother's face and breasts and stomach, leaving a moist trail.

MOTHER’S POV of elephant's mouth, eyes, skin. Mother's face

twists and freezes in a blurred snap roll.

BLACK again. Knock, knock sound. Curtain opens to horrified

faces.

CUT TO BLACK AND SILENCE

CIRCUS:

FADE IN TO steam shooting out of a huge old half-rusted

calliope. The music is very loud and raucous. Moving up and

back we see the black awning entrance to the freak tent,

where FREDERICK TREVES, Resident Surgeon and Lecturer on

anatomy at the London Hospital, is standing with his back to

us observing the posters of the freaks.

Coming along a muddy walkway at the side of the tent is

Treves' wife, ANNE, and their two DAUGHTERS. The shrill over-

whelming music seems to engulf her.

She looks discomfited, vulnerable, and protective of her

daughters. The girls, oblivious to any fear, are finishing

their chocolate sweets.

CLOSE-UP of Treves looking at a poster.

He hears:

#1 DAUGHTER

Poppa!

Treves turns and looks down to a chocolate-covered face. He

smiles at the children and Anne.

Anne sees the dirty faces and begins cleaning one of them.

The other daughter looks into the freak tent.

#2 DAUGHTER

Poppa... may we go in there?

ANNE:

Alright... Your turn.

She turns the girl away from the freak tent and begins

cleaning her face.

Her kerchief pulls and distorts the little daughter's face.

Suddenly the girl sees a ring of elephants in the distance.

#2 DAUGHTER

Oh,look M-ummy! Elephants!

ANNE:

Oh, elephants! We'll go see them.

She stands.

ANNE:

(to Treves)

You won't be long?

TREVES:

I'll join you shortly.

She takes the children off toward the elephants.

Treves watches them go for a moment, then turns and we go

with him into the dark freak tent. He pauses to pay admission

at a small booth, then disappears within.

DARKNESS. We hear what could be the trumpeting of an elephant.

Treves parts the black canvas and enters the main part of

the tent. Off to his left he sees a man wrapped in a black

cape, holding a conch shell aloft and blowing powerfully

into it. The tent is dimly lit with flickering oil lamps.

People mill about through the weaving corridors. To Treves'

right, he sees a sign reading, "The Deadly Fruit of the

Original Sin," over a small, very dark corridor.

Treves enters the passage and disappears into the shadows.

The corridor has a series of flaps and turns to disorient

the spectator.

Treves carefully pushes his way through and arrives at the

inner chamber.

In a roped-off space stands a small stage set at eve-level,

with curtains on three sides. On the stage is a bell jar

filled with grey-murky fluid lit from behind with casts an

eerie glow in the chamber. Suspended in the fluid is the

life-sized body of a baby-doll with the attached head of a

large snake. At the join of head and body is a blob of

unidentifiable organic matter. It is obviously phony, but

the effect is still very disquieting. At the bottom of the

jar, in the muck, sits an apple with two large bites out of

it. Behind the jar is a painting on the order of a religious

triptych, portraying Adam on one side, Eve on the other, and

the tree flowering over the jar.

Treves' impassive face is bathed in the watery glow. He

studies the strange object with a critical eye. In the passage

we hear movement, and an OLDER GENTLEMAN enters. He seems

visibly impressed with "The Deadly Fruit of the Original

Sin."

OLDER MAN:

A wicked birth...

After a moment, Treves quietly leaves the inner chamber.

As he pushes his way through the corridor, the noise grows

and becomes a cacophony of strange sounds. He exits and hears

a booming roar and the rush of air as a series of twelve

candles, mounted in a row on a ten-foot stand, are blown out

by "THE INCREDIBLE WIND-MAN." His BARKER steps up and talks

to the people.

BARKER:

Ladies and Gentlemen, his lungs are

larger than this mammoth blacksmith's

bellows. So great is his power of

exhalation, rivaling even that of

the Great North Wind, that he will

now challenge two grown men to attempt

to hold the bellows shut as he applies

the mighty blast of his herculean

breath! Are there any volunteers?

A few people raise their hands. The Barker scans the crowd

and then points over the heads of the volunteers to TWO MEN

toward the back.

BARKER:

Ah! I see two likely lads! Come

forward! Come forward! Pit your

strength against the Mighty Wind-

Man!

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