Trapeze Page #2

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The rigging will have to be different.

We need a third bar and another set

of wires eight feet from the centre bar.

I want the apron

extended another four feet.

And the platform

should be dropped six inches.

Of course, the tension will have to be

checked for my takeoff.

I'd like it to be ready first thing

in the morning, so if you'll get to it...

- Did you hear what I said?

- Sure.

You said the spotlight will be on you

when you do a flyaway at the finish.

Oh, shut up. Shut up!

- Is there something better to put it on?

- That depends. What are you selling?

- Hey, there's a picture of you.

- Don't just stand there. Order something.

- Beer.

- Make it two.

Clark, Segrist, Concello,

Codona, Amadori and... and Ribble.

The only six men in the world

that ever threw a triple.

There'll never be a seventh. When

circus was real, flying was a religion.

Now what have you got? Pink lights,

ballet girls, blue sawdust. A lot of hoopla.

You'll never throw a triple. You know

why? Because you drink too much.

...so after I got 'em, I thought about

the snakeskin-shoe business.

But how many pairs of shoes

can you get from a trio of pythons?

- Are you happy with Chikki?

- I'm not unhappy. Eat the soup.

- Stop mothering me.

- Why? Isn't that what all loves come to?

Mike, why don't you shave

at least every other day?

Shave, eat... I'm getting

a regular life since you came back.

That boy. Is he trapeze?

He wants to be a flier.

Has he talent?

Could be great. Just great.

You know, Mike, I often wondered

why you never became a catcher.

When did you start wondering?

About three minutes ago?

You got to learn to tumble,

my boy. Like me.

Mike, you like that boy. Team up with him.

Catch him. Nobody can do it better.

Before he becomes this great catcher

he might change the rigging for my act.

- Don't let your partners hear it's your act.

- You said he could be great.

He could be the seventh man

in the world to do a triple.

Oh, Mike, Mike...

You spent years on the triple.

Look what it did to you!

Now you can have a good flying act

without it. Don't let the triple kill it.

- It's in him. Why shouldn't he do it?

- For what?

To pull a shoulder? Break his back?

I'll show him what I did wrong.

We'll be the greatest in the business.

- For how long?

- You want him to swing on a single bar?

Not with that kind of talent. I'd rather

see him cutting hair in a barber's shop.

Now, tomorrow we'll...

Now, tomorrow you'll get down to

business. You'll do no more drinkin'.

Watch. The man that photographed

my fall was your best friend.

He can keep you

from making the same mistake.

I'm breaking from the bar too late.

First somersault OK. Second OK.

Third somersault - short.

That's the boner that cost me the triple.

Not big, but fatal.

So we'll start at the beginning and make

each move perfect before we try the next.

I'll run it again for you.

Take a natural set now. That's it.

Hold it, hold it. Break! Break full!

Keep your head up. Don't bend those legs.

What are they made of, rubber?

That's it. Down the hill.

Right, back up. Now hold it. Now break!

Go.

Hold it. Hold it.

Now take a natural set. Natural.

Good. Great!

No!

No, no, no! Too late. Too late.

You'll bust your neck. It always happens

when you break too late. Let's try it again.

Hit it.

You got to learn to miss a trick

as well as catch it.

Landing in the net that way, you'll break

your neck just as easy as hitting the floor.

Now you watch that.

Bring those knees up more.

Hug your chest.

When you do a triple you gotta be

a tight little ball. Let's do it again.

That's better.

You're late again. If you can't make

those easy ones, we'll never get to a triple.

Mike?

Hit it!

Next time you try a double,

get that time right.

The clock inside you always knows what

time it is. Keep it tickin' alongside mine.

We'll never get a triple until we

keep the same time. Let's try it again.

Have the confidence that I'll be there

to take you. Here's what you're doin'.

You got your legs here. Here's your body.

That's the position you come in to me in.

When I take you by the legs, fine, but you

get that whip in the end and I lose you.

Now, if you come in to me like this, we get

that beautiful smooth rideaway. Got it?

The double cutaway to the stick,

that's a different story entirely.

Good, good, good!

You're beginning to look like a flier.

- How about the triple?

- I'll tell you when you're ready.

- Monsieur Bouglione!

- You're in, Mike. I buy this act!

- Monsieur?

- Yes?

Everybody wants me to do more

in the act, so I must have a new costume.

- Do you like it?

- Uh-huh.

I'm glad you like it. My partners

will need a little advance to pay for it.

I have to sell tickets, not buy costumes.

Costumes sell tickets, don't they?

Costumes like this?

That we'll never know.

The bill is already full. Your act is out.

- We're out? But we had an agreement.

- Perhaps you'd like to show it to me?

Ingrato mascalzone!

Non te la caverai, sai?

Lo ti faccio causa, capito? Disgraziato!

Non sei degno di avere un'artista

come me. Vigliacco, brutto mascalzone!

Don't shout. Ask yourself

which is the better act.

Trapeze is always good business.

Chikki, where are the flames? I was

promised I would have fire on that hoop.

- It will take time.

- "Time"?

Is opening night next year?

I want flames now.

Last year it was jumping through knives.

Now you want fire.

You must go back to Mike.

I will kill Chikki for you.

Mr. Bouglione, you will have the act I

promised. If I say flames, it will be flames.

Even if I was crazy enough,

the horse is not.

That's your affair.

I am offered flames, I expect flames.

Rosa,

you are not watching the horse.

Now, gently.

- Late time.

- I got off late?

Too late off the board.

- How was the kip?

- You're kipping too early.

I had a bad grip on the bar.

- Monsieur Bouglione?

- Eh? What? Yes?

I apologize, monsieur.

You are right. It is a skilful act.

Don't put your head down.

But is skill enough?

Can the people appreciate it?

- Kip still wrong?

- You're too late.

People like spangles,

you know, monsieur?

- They are good for the imagination.

- You think about this act?

- You already have an act.

- Not at the Cirque d'Hiver.

What about your partners?

Don't you mind losing them?

Let them show me the agreement,

monsieur.

No. Mike Ribble always has a two act.

A two act is what he wants. Nothing else.

And you, monsieur. Do you care

what the act is so long as they look?

That act might be great.

But the great ones are not easy to keep.

- How was my head?

- Keep your head up.

- They are always moving on.

- With you in it, I could keep this act, eh?

If I were a part of it,

I would be very loyal to you, monsieur.

If you can become part of it, I would

appreciate your loyalty, mademoiselle.

- Was I slow on the break?

- You broke too late.

- What did he say to the costume?

- New ones for all of us?

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