Live, until they drop dead...
... from the beautiful Carlou Theater...
... in the heart of sunny Miami Beach, Florida...
... it's the Veterans Day Polio Telethon!
And now, please welcome your hosts...
... the beautiful, the talented, Lanny Morris...
... and Vince Collins!
Do you realize we have to present ourselves...
...in front of these lovely people for the next three days?
Hello, lovely people for the next three days.
- Look at you. You're a disgrace. - What?
Look, your hair's a mess, your shoes aren't shined, your shirt's not pressed.
- Look at your tie. It's not even straight. - Look at yours. It doesn't even clip on.
Now...
...I'm upset.
You know what happens when I get upset.
No, no, no. Please. Please don't hurt me, Vince.
I've had a terrible day already. All sorts of bad things have happened.
I don't wanna be hurt again.
- You've been hurt already, have you? - Been hurt real bad.
And what happened, pray tell?
- Want me to pray or want me to tell? - I think you better pray.
- I saw this stranger - I don't know whether you're...
...singing or speaking. - Leave my pad
- One thing I do know... - And I said, "Baby...
- ... what explanation do you have?" - There's always a woman involved.
And she said:
- Next time? - Next time
And I said, "There will be No next time"
That's what you said last time, Lanny, and the time before that.
You have to make sure there's no first time, then there can't be a next time.
Or a last time.
- That was the last time for me - Let's hope so, Lanny.
Lanny Morris, ladies and gentlemen.
My manager sent me over some of your work.
It's funny how you're really in them a lot.
Whenever I read these interviews where the writer says:
"This is how I felt the morning I woke up to meet the pope"...
..."how I felt when the pope greeted me, how he reminded me...
...so much of my friend Mike"...
...I always think, "Who the fuck is Mike?"
So who are you?
I was a young journalist...
... with a few awards...
... a couple of cover stories...
... and a desperate need to prove myself.
If you look through my work, you'll see I try to present...
...a balanced view of my subjects.
I leave the conclusions to the reader.
I'm not sure we like balance.
Or leaving the conclusions to the reader.
I'm used to being publicized, not analyzed.
It would be your words.
We'd publish it as a transcript:
My questions, your answers.
If you say it, I can use it.
If you don't, I can't.
And they're gonna pay me a million for this?
An excerpt will be published in a magazine as a way...
...of amortizing the investment they'll be making in the book.
They're looking for some...
...provocative stories for the first issue.
Any thoughts on what these provocative stories might be about?
The breakup. Why Lanny and you split.
And the girl.
Maureen.
What happened to Maureen O'Flaherty.
No one had ever been able to pin Lanny Morris...
... or Vince Collins to the girl's death.
All that was clear...
... was that Maureen was found dead in their hotel suite.
It was unthinkable to me that Lanny and Vince...
... could have had anything to do with it.
They were my heroes.
"The reason I consider myself to be a miracle girl...
...is because I had the good fortune...
...to meet Lanny and Vince when I was sick.
Their love of life is what gave me hope...
...and it's hope that gives us the power to live."
Thank you, Lanny.
Thank you, Vince.
Come on, let's hear it for her.
Denise handled publicity for the polio foundation.
And it was her idea to plug the girl's story on the telethon.
The day before, it was my idea to plug Denise at the Miami Versailles Hotel.
Don't stop! Don't stop!
Don't stop!
You can tell a lot about a woman by the way she acts...
... when you're having sex and room service comes in.
Some girls will sit up and light a cigarette...
... like there's nothing funny in the world about her being naked.
"It's obvious we were in the process of screwing...
... so why not let a stranger into the room?"
Come on in.
Then there's the kind that will pull the sheets up...
... and act like they're asleep.
Where would you like it, sir?
Sweetheart, wherever you'd like it.
Then, of course, there's the ones who scrunch real flat...
... thinking that the bed will look empty.
With Denise, it was kind of hard to tell which way she'd go.
Can I have your autograph, Mr. Morris?
Sure.
Should I make it out to Maureen?
I mean, your autograph on the bill.
Okay.
I mean, I'd love to have your autograph.
And maybe a few minutes of your time.
I'm a huge fan and...
...well, I was thinking about...
...writing an article on you for my campus paper.
I'm the editor.
Any interview requests go through me, honey.
You know, it's just a college paper.
Thank you.
No, thank you.
Thank you, Maureen.
I say goodbye to Maureen, knowing I'd see her again...
... close the door and then turn to look at Denise...
... thinking, "I know this girl from every college town we have ever played. "
They're called career girls.
The absolute easiest lays...
... in this great nation of ours.
Since you're reading this, you'd be interested to know...
... that my favorite catches were the intellectuals.
They'd be the ones in the straight black dresses, severe black hair.
Your basic neurotic, eyeglasses, cool jazz, liberal...
..."I'll fuck any black guy as part of my personal apology...
... for racism in America" type.
Anyhow, on this particular night, we're in a club in New Jersey...
... it's the '50s, and I'm mingling with the crowd.
Now, when I say "mingling," what I mean is...
... I was scouting for who I would sleep with.
Didn't matter if the girls came with dates.
That was Reuben's job. Reuben is my valet.
I never figured out how he helped them get rid of their dates...
... but they were always gone by the second show.
Reuben could clean up any situation.
Excuse me, miss. May I say that I think...
...you have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.
Notice I say, "I think you've got the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen."
I haven't seen them yet. I've been staring at your cans.
Now, Lanny.
- I can't believe he just said that. - That is completely unacceptable.
Madam, I apologize. I apologize, ladies and gentlemen...
...for my friend. You cannot speak that way to a stranger.
Look, her husband's not offended.
- He's not? - No, her husband's not offended.
Her husband's not here. This lucky guy is her boyfriend.
And even he's not offended, and do you know why?
Well, I can certainly hazard a guess.
What the hell is that? For chrissake, Vince, this is America.
We don't say, "hazard a guess." We say "yes" or we say "no."
Well, I say "no" to you, Morris.
Excuse me? Could you repeat that?
I don't think the entire audience heard you.
Go back to where you came from, bastard!
I get hecklers all the time, but this schmuck came off personal.
Where did he think I came from?
Bastard! Bastard! He called me a bastard.
Now, it doesn't show from the front, Lanny.
Now, please, would you kindly not mount me? It's very disagreeable.
Vince plunges straight into quoting lines I wrote...
... from a song from our first motion picture.
I happen to be honored to work with this jerk
Is that a compliment?
I never frown with this clown
Never, never, never.
I get a kick from this...
... friend of mine
Fine, but don't give the mike to this kike.
- Well... - Just relax.
It's not often we get topped by a member of our audience, but...
...this gentleman has done the impossible.
What is your name?
- It's Joe. - Joe...
...we were just wondering if you'd be a great sport...
...and help us out on stage. What do you say, folks?
Go on.
Joe here is going to play a crazy high school professor...
...who's about to give Lanny and I our final high school exam.
So if you'll just excuse us while we help Joe change into his...
...crazy-professor outfit.
Lanny, a little costume-changing music...
...if you please.
Step this way.
I'll have a word with him...
...about the way he spoke to your wife.
Completely unnecessary.
Just this way.
You call any Jew on this planet anything you like.
But nobody calls my partner a kike. Do you understand?
Boffing ladies and bashing gentlemen.
I tell you, there was nothing under the sun...
... Vince and I wouldn't do for each other.
Are you finished?
Thank you, Mamie.
I'm sorry about that, Miss O'Connor.
We just needed to be sure you didn't take any notes.
Lanny gave me very specific instructions on that point.
I don't understand why he'd want me to read this.
Why would he ever want anyone to see this side of him?
When you contacted us about meeting Lanny for your book...
...it wasn't simply about letting you know he didn't want to speak with you.
I believe my client wanted you to understand that he, in fact...
...was completing a book of his own which would serve...
...not only as his autobiography...
...but also as the definitive account of the joint careers of Morris and Collins.
You've had, at first hand, a sample of Lanny's writing voice.
Yes, I have.
Such a book, Miss O'Connor...
...this raw, this honest...
...would make your own efforts look...
There's been some very nice...
...translations of the Bible over the centuries...
...but they would run a very poor second in popularity...
...to the discovery of the actual Ten Commandments.
Single best part about teaching grade two is the difference...
...between the bright ones and the dumb ones isn't so obvious.
- What's so great about that? - The results of my work...
...as a teacher aren't so depressing.
Also, there's no homework to correct in the evenings and...
...well, none of the kids know how to use drugs.
Bonnie had come from New York to visit me that summer.
We'd been best friends since kindergarten.
At school we started the Lanny and Vince Fan Club...
... raising almost $200 for that year's telethon.
All of you send in a bit of your allowance.
Just a little bit. A dime, a nickel, a penny.
Every bit helps.
The goal of the telethon that year...
... was $3.9 million, which was a lot of dough at that time.
Thank you, Tom. You're a prince among men.
Whoa, Lanny. There are children watching!
Where does he get his energy?
To remind viewers of the goal...
... we agreed the telethon could run 39 hours nonstop.
The show would begin at 9 p.m. on Friday and finish at noon on Sunday.
We paced it so that Vince and I were together...
... for the kickoff, most of the day Saturday...
... then the big finale on Sunday with us bleary-eyed...
... and weeping as America got ready to go to church.
Lanny, Lanny. What are you doing?
I'm ordering a pizza. I'm starving.
No anchovies on mine, Lanny. Hey, so who are you talking to?
I'm talking to little Suzie from Whittier, California...
...and she is going to donate three weeks of allowance.
- How about that, folks? - Suzie from Whittier, thank you.
Three weeks of allowance.
That's a challenge for all you...
What you have to understand is that Vince and me...
... were essentially a boy-girl act.
I was the tramp, ready for any sort of action...
... and Vince was the gentleman...
... always trying to make me behave myself.
I was pleasure, and he was control.
I was rock 'n' roll, and he was class.
His presence gave America permission to like me.
My deal with the publisher gave me first-class travel...
... a luxury I'd never enjoyed.
Is there any chance of switching to a window seat?
Sorry, we're completely booked in first.
But these center seats are really wonderful. See...
...if you push here... Can I show you?
Sure.
The chair swivels to the left and the right.
And this converts to a full-sized dining table...
...during our Pan Am platinum service...
...with damask linen and silverware by Fornari...
...so you don't have to eat off a tray.
Again, that's only for these center seats.
How does that sound?
At that time, when you traveled first class...
... people would always ask you if you met someone famous on the flight.
- Mr. Morris. - Thank you.
You're welcome.
Though he would later accuse me of engineering this, I didn't.
It just...
... happened.
Reuben. So they... They record these songs...
...in a studio that I am paying for.
Songs that are recorded for me...
...that they are contracted to provide.
- Are you with me here? - Yes, it's just that...
No, it's just that nothing, Irv. Please, let me finish. They record...
I read an interview where Lanny was given credit for insisting his butler...
... travel in the same class and stay at the same hotels as his boss.
The valet's attentiveness was impressive.
Looks like you'll be having dinner with Lanny Morris.
- Hello. - Hi.
We should get a waiter to slide a matchbook under the airplane.
There we go.
That should hold.
This is my friend Reuben.
- Hi. - Hi.
And this is also my friend, technically speaking...
...and business manager, Irv. - Hi.
My name is Lanny.
And what's your name?
Bonnie. Bonnie Trout.
What do you do, Bonnie?
I teach.
And what do you teach?
- Second grade. - Well, we have a lot in common.
You teach second grade, I went to second grade.
- Irv, you went to second grade too? - Many times.
Tell me, Miss Trout...
I don't mean to be impolite...
...but I was wondering...
...how a second-grade schoolteacher affords to fly first class.
Well, I have a pass...
...that allows me free use of the subway on weekends...
...and the hot lunches at school are only 50 cents.
And I'm the mistress...
...of a wealthy married man...
...and when he and his wife go on vacation, he treats me...
...to a first-class trip in the opposite direction.
But look at me, talking only about myself. What do you do for a living?
I'm a French impressionist painter out of Tahiti, mainly.
I'm doing that to pay the bills. My ambition is to be...
...a stockbroker in Paris.
- I don't get it. - Paul Gauguin.
He gave up being a successful stockbroker...
...to become a painter in the South Seas.
You think the average person knows that?
Well, we're not talking about the average person, Irv.
In some ways...
... he had never stopped being a hero to me.
That's why it was impossible to think he might also be a killer.
Well, this has been great.
I'm gonna see you inside your apartment.
- There's really no need. - Don't be silly.
I'm not gonna try to come in.
Promise.
You've been away from your apartment for how long now?
- Ages. - You never know if somebody's...
...broken in while you were gone.
I'll just see you inside your door.
Believe me, I'm... I'm not trying to seduce you.
I have to do the Today show at 7 a.m.
They want me in Makeup at 6:15.
Bonnie had moved to New York for the teaching job...
... a little over a year ago.
I had never visited her and had no idea if this was the right place.
Which floor?
Why...
- Four-D. - Forty?
It only goes up to six.
Four-D...
Four-D, the fourth floor.
Which way?
- Guess. - Why?
It's a test.
A test?
Okay.
This way.
So why didn't we take this elevator?
Doesn't work.
Well...
...good night.
No, I'm going to see you into your apartment.
And then I'm gonna leave you alone until tomorrow.
I never get which key goes in which lock the first time.
Hey, looks like they fixed it.
You okay?
Maybe we should turn on a light.
Well...
I'm going to leave you now.
I have Reuben and Irv waiting in the limousine downstairs...
...and I should get some sleep for the Today show.
So...
It was lovely to meet you, Bonnie.
By the end of the telethon, we had no voices.
Thirty-nine hours of nonstop entertainment.
A telethon was a superhuman feat.
We weren't just heroes, we were gods.
A couple of the boys were there to make sure we got out alive...
... to make the flight to New York.
Everyone. Listen. Listen.
Gentlemen. Gentlemen, please.
Gentlemen, if I could just have your attention.
Everyone, Mr. Collins and Mr. Morris...
...will answer questions at the press conference...
...at the Palace Del Sol.
Gentlemen, there will be plenty of time...
...to answer your questions at the Palace Del Sol.
Thank you, we will answer your questions at the press conference.
Thank you for coming.
We had a full police escort, along with bodyguards who were there...
... to protect us from any thoughts we might have of going AWOI...
... prior to this press conference.
A pair of New Jersey's finest walked on either side of us...
... as we entered the lobby of the hotel.
It was an indication of how legitimate the Mob had gone...
... that they could bring in the local police...
... to guard the façade of their racket.
The local chief was a man named Jack Scaglia.
And of course, the two gentlemen on my right...
...who need no introduction, have come here directly...
...from their record-breaking polio telethon in Miami, Florida.
So the first thing I'd like to announce is that Mr. Sanmarco...
I wish I could tell you...
... that Sally Sanmarco was a slim, 6-foot-6 guy...
... who looked like a prince and spoke with an English accent.
Then I wouldn't be falling back on the stereotype.
The trouble was, Sally was straight out of central casting.
A gangster who looked and talked...
... just like you would expect from the movies.
How did it feel to raise all that money for polio?
It felt great. It felt really great.
From a publicity angle, and in terms of giving him legitimacy...
... this was a huge coup for Sally.
Like I said, we were gods.
We'd only been in the New York area for an hour or so, during which time...
... we were constantly watched by police and reporters...
... which ended up being a good thing for us.
We got you our best bridal suite.
Fucking nice, huh?
People talk about having fancy apartments and hotel rooms...
...on the West Side of Manhattan. What do they see?
Fucking New Jersey. Here, you see New York City.
Unfortunately, Vince and I were acquainted...
... with the dead girl in the bathroom of our hotel suite in New Jersey.
Her last name was O'Flaherty.
Her first name was Maureen.
Karen, we decided to trade apartments, not identities.
Why didn't you make up a name?
Bonnie, I was looking at a five-hour flight.
I didn't wanna make up a life story that wasn't attached to anything.
Well, I returned the offense. I got to pretend I was you.
- What? - You received a package.
Messenger service. I signed your name.
- Who's it from? - No address. Want me to open it?
- Sure. - That's good. I already did.
It's a manuscript.
"Excerpt From the Memoirs of...
...Lanny Morris."
Hey, all your dreams are coming true. He's writing you love letters already.
Bonnie, I need to know what he's written.
- Well, I'll send it to you. - Now. Before he calls me tomorrow.
- Please? - All right.
All right.
Here we go.
"Let me explain to you why two very famous guys just finishing...
...a nationally broadcast telethon ended up in New Jersey."
For years, the Palace Del Sol was one of the centers of Mob prosperity.
Needless to say, a major headliner in the showroom...
... helped legitimize the entire operation.
Give her a kiss. Yeah, beautiful.
One more, guys. That's it. That's great. Thank you.
Vince and I needed help in keeping us up all the time...
... and in the way of thinking in the '50s...
... anything you didn't take with a needle was okay.
It wasn't "serious" serious. It was like running a red light.
Everyone used bennies. Vince added them to his morning coffee like sugar.
Not that you could tell.
When we did finally decide to flatten out...
... we'd take two or three Tuinals, or three or four "Threeinals."
They were really good.
Between the moment you took them and passing out...
... it felt really sexy.
Sure.
- Enjoyed the show. - Thank you.
The walls of the Blue Grotto...
... were made of a mixture of plaster and Styrofoam.
Flammable as all hell. But the boys had learned it was cheaper...
... to give the inspector 200 bucks and a ringside table to our show...
... than to spend thousands of dollars on fireproofing.
Besides, it was always vital in a business enterprise of this sort...
... to have the option to torch the place at a moment's notice...
... should the need present itself.
One night, after our show, we were taken to Sally's office.
We wondered what we had done wrong...
... but what we had done was done good.
Sally started going on about how much he liked us...
... how he thought we were a good fit with his crowd...
... meaning that we brought in an audience of heavy drinkers...
... adulterers and gamblers.
So, what we want is for you boys to come back here...
...three months from now and open our new showroom for us.
A two-week, exclusive limited engagement...
...that we want you to do for us for six weeks.
God help you when a killer takes a shining to you.
I looked at Vince and scratched my nose, which meant our strongest "no."
That's a very great honor, Sally.
- You're damn fucking right it is. - The thing is...
...we're just trying to cut down on the nightclub work at the moment.
We turned down the Sands so we could do a TV special...
...and the only reason we still work the Versailles is out of friendship for you.
- What dates were you thinking of? - We open November 15th.
Sally, any other day we would be here in a flash...
...but, you know, that's the day right after the next polio telethon.
I mean, we always take two weeks off right after that to recover.
- Right, Vince? - At least.
- I mean, we're tired. - That's the way I want you.
After the fucking telethon, we fly you up from Miami...
...hold a press conference, all fucking exhausted...
...so people know what heroes you are.
I'll keep a suite for you with the best hookers I got.
Your own personal cathouse.
And I'll have them send you up...
...a shipment of lobsters and stone crabs.
- You like lobsters? - Love them.
And a case of these...
...special grapefruits...
...that I get special down there.
The most delicious thing you ever tasted in your life.
Juicy, thin skin.
Months later, on the night before the telethon in Miami...
... we got back to our room and found that Sally...
... had been more than good to his word.
Laid out around the room were various crates...
... bearing the addresses of their destination:
Our suite at the Palace Del Sol hotel in New Jersey.
"You like lobsters? See you in New Jersey."
"Thin skin, fucking most delicious fucking thing...
...you ever had in your fucking life."
"What I thought was a box of beach balls turned out to be...
...the thinnest-skinned, dripping-wet grapefruits...
...I'd ever tasted in my life.
The 6-foot crate was filled with fruits of the sea...
...slowly shifting over a bed of ice."
Yeah, this is Lanny Morris. Send up three steaks, all right?
Yeah. Make them rare this time.
- Yeah, rare. - Like bloody.
Bloody. And a couple of bottles of that champagne.
- Make that three. - Three bottles of champagne.
And can you make sure that Maureen delivers them?
Yeah, Maureen.
We called down for Maureen...
... the room-service girl I'd met earlier...
... who wanted the interview for her school paper.
She brought up three steaks, one for her...
... as her last official delivery of the day.
As much as I love lobster...
... seeing all that shellfish nestled on ice in the crate...
... put me in the mood for hooves, not claws.
The interview for Maureen's campus paper went better than expected.
Vince and I popped some Tuinals...
... to insure that we would sleep like babes...
... after we wore off the general horniness that the pills first give you.
Vince bought insurance on his bet by having a few babes on hand.
Well, not exactly on his hand.
That wasn't his preference.
"Not exactly on his hand. That wasn't his preference."
"Not exactly on his hand"? "That wasn't his preference"?
"The Tuinals, coupled with a nice amount of booze...
...guaranteed us the sleep of the dead.
Late the next morning, Maureen was sent packing...
...and Vince and I prepared ourselves for that night's broadcast."
Well, I guess this is one story my kids won't have to give a book report on.
Thanks.
Must be weird to find out...
...that the object of all your adolescent fantasies is a pig.
He's not like that.
Oh, so it's just the way he describes himself.
She was right.
Which was the real Lanny?
I'd find out later that the story of the hookers in the hotel suite...
... was a complete fabrication.
That night, Maureen was alone.
- Hello? - So how did you like the show?
Lanny?
The Today show.
You did watch, didn't you?
- The show. - You didn't watch.
Wow, that's scary.
You see, when you're a star...
...you live in terror, wondering if it's all over yet.
You keep looking for the signs.
You're shooting a scene from a movie on a New York street...
...and a crowd doesn't form.
You meet a girl on a plane and tell her...
...that you're gonna be on the Today show the next morning...
...and she doesn't wake up early to watch.
It's very scary.
Hey, you know, I mentioned you on the air.
- You did? - Yes, I proposed to you on the air.
Your building is probably surrounded with photographers...
- ... at this very moment. - You're kidding.
Yes, I'm kidding.
So...
...what time would you like to meet?
Stanley, this is Bonnie. Bonnie, Stanley.
Nice to meet you.
Is the food almost ready, Stan?
Yeah. I'll bring it right out, Mr. Lanny.
I was very hungry, so I asked Stanley to prepare us something special.
That sounds great.
Tell me, what kind of a meeting...
...does a schoolteacher have to go to during the summer vacation?
I'm exploring the possibility of another job.
- Something in publishing. - How did it go?
Okay.
Have you ever thought about writing a book?
- About what? - Your life.
Sure. When I'm dead.
No, seriously.
It would have to be published after I died...
...when I wouldn't care what anybody thought about me.
So, what would you write about, if you were going to tell the truth?
In my book?
Well, the truth is, I've met four presidents.
They all seemed like they were out of it.
Like they had no idea what was going on.
Even J.F.K. left me unimpressed. I felt like I was with the boss' son.
You don't think you could say that?
Not if I was planning on living in this country. No, no.
I don't think that Judy Garland was such a great singer...
...after she turned 16.
That quiver, you know, it was like she had no control over it.
I would get killed for saying that.
Or that Marilyn Monroe was no better an actress...
...after she studied with Lee Strasberg than before.
I'm saying what really happened.
Having to be a nice guy...
...is the toughest job in the world when you're not.
This is a lamb in tea sauce.
This is twice-cooked pork with shredded, pickled cabbage.
Kung Pao chicken.
And this is Kung Ping Loh Haa...
...lobster in tangerine peel for you and your lovely lady friend.
You shouldn't have done that, Stanley.
I don't eat lobster. I'm Jewish.
But you eat pork.
- Do you have a problem with that? - No, I just thought...
No shrimp, no lobster. They're disgusting. Take it away.
I will pay for the dish, but take it away, please.
I'll change it.
I'm sorry, I...
I should have asked. Maybe you love lobster.
I'm fine.
Have you ever had Szechwan cuisine before?
It's from the northern part of China.
It must be strange for you.
If you complain to a waiter, you're not just some jerk at table five...
...you're Lanny Morris.
I know that everyone dreams about being famous...
...but it would be interesting to know...
...what it's like to relinquish all anonymity.
- Gets me a date. - Does that bother you?
That people only wanna be with you because of who you are?
- As opposed to? - Well...
...the real you.
The real me.
The real me was brought up as a nice middle-class kid...
...which is not the easiest thing...
...when you are extremely poor and living in a slum.
The real me spent most of his time getting the shit kicked out of him...
...and dreaming about something better.
Like being here with someone like you.
Fifteen years ago, he had, for one brief moment...
... made me feel like the most special person in the world.
"The miracle in my life is not that I survived polio...
...and am standing here today.
No. The reason I consider myself to be a miracle girl...
...is because I had the good fortune...
...to meet Lanny and Vince when I was sick."
It was a moment seen by millions of people...
... but felt only by me.
That moment had changed my life.
I was about to find my own way into Lanny's book...
... after he had found such a powerful way into mine.
Checking out today?
Is there a message for Bonnie Trout?
- From one of our guests? - Yes, Lanny Morris.
I'm afraid not.
- Are you sure? - Oh, yes, I'm sure.
Do you need a cab?
I still don't understand why Vince Collins is willing...
...to be involved in such an exposé of himself.
Vince is a realist.
The days of his box-office power are drawing to a close.
Given the amount of money we're offering...
And it's because the investment in Mr. Collins is so large...
...I've compiled a list of questions we'd like the miracle girl to ask.
I don't wanna look at your questions. I have my own approach.
Ms. O'Connor, we're not paying a million dollars for your approach...
...we're paying for what Vince Collins has to say.
To me. What he has to say to me.
Greg, this is not as easy as it looks.
If you go to Vince Collins and ask him a series of questions...
...you'll come back here with a 300-page press book.
Well, as I've always understood this company's policy...
...while the book is being written...
...the relationship between the author and editor is sacrosanct.
This isn't your typical book deal.
We've really just leased an oil well called Vince Collins...
...and granted Ms. O'Connor the right to tap.
I think we have a responsibility to...
...monitor the drilling.
- Hello. - Mrs. O'Flaherty?
Yes.
My name's O'Connor. I'm the one writing the book.
The book will be centered around Vince Collins.
I'll be asking him a lot of questions.
I wanted to know if there were any you'd like to have answered yourself.
Maureen and I planted this tree on her fifth birthday.
Father did most of the digging, of course.
She'd be 38.
I'm 59 myself.
If she were alive now...
...we'd be talking about things, back and forth...
...like two women.
Like you and I are doing.
And Maureen's father?
Frank died six years ago.
He took his own life.
One night, just before he died...
...he dug up the earth around this tree...
...he took the urn with Maureen's ashes in it...
...and spread them around its roots.
So this is my daughter.
This is what I have of her.
- Are you Catholic? - My... My mother was.
Then you will understand my dilemma.
Our faith offers an afterlife.
A daughter needs her mother.
So I have to live out this life as far from sin as I can manage.
I'll never see my husband again.
He's consigned himself to hell.
But what if Maureen killed herself too?
She's in hell, with my husband.
The life I'm trying to lead will bring me to heaven's grace...
...only to hear their screams of torment.
Chief Scaglia, you were in the hotel room...
... when they found Maureen's body in the tub.
So was Sally, so was Lanny, so was Vince.
And there was also a PR lady there from the hotel.
How do you think she died?
She died in an auto accident two weeks later. It was terrible.
No, Maureen.
- How did Maureen die? - She drowned.
- Why? - What do you mean, why?
You and I take baths all the time. We don't drown in them.
You and I do not mix sleeping pills with booze.
- She committed suicide? - Overdose is the official story.
What's the official story on the fact that the staff of the hotel in Miami...
... all seemed to know she delivered room service to the boys' suite...
...three days before and was never seen alive again?
What happened to her?
How did she end up in a hotel room in New Jersey?
Sally never had any problem moving girls around. Okay?
He had two hotels.
- So Sally arranged it? - No, I don't think so.
You see, she was brought up there as a reward for the boys...
...and I think she started to party just a little too early.
She was a student. This was a summer job.
Listen to me...
...the Palace Del Sol was very important to Sally, okay?
He launched his new wing...
...with a push from Lanny and Vince...
...and this stupid girl shows up dead.
She's not gonna come back. We do the best thing for all of us.
We speed up the investigation and we cremate her. Okay?
End of story.
- Here you are. - Here's your lobster.
- Enjoy. - Looks great.
"Sally said, 'I'll have them send you up your own shipment of lobsters.
You like lobster?"'
We said we did because we really did.
You shouldn't have done that, Stanley. I don't eat lobster.
Were there any signs of violence on her body?
No, no. There were some small scratches on the torso.
Why did my daughter die? Did she kill herself?
What had they done to her that would make her do that?
What had they done?
Once upon a time...
... when terrible things happened to people...
... they were left as a mystery.
Even the tabloids kept a distance.
Some things were allowed to be left just the way they were.
Any trouble with the directions I gave you?
- Only the parts where I had to turn. - Sorry.
It's the price of seclusion.
You haven't switched over to cassette?
- Actually, it's my dad's. - And what does he do?
He was a journalist too.
He did a big story on you once.
Followed a little girl who had polio.
You took her under your wing...
...and now she's interviewing you.
He must be proud that his daughter's making such a name for herself.
I'd like to think so.
- He died last year. - Sorry to hear that.
- Would you like some coffee? - Sure.
Are you alone here?
Yes. The thought of having live-in help is a little poisonous to me.
Why's that?
Well, I'd have to talk to them...
...ask them how their family was doing...
...hear about this and that, introduce them to the guests...
...and tell them how their family was doing.
All so that I would seem to be a nice guy...
...which is an awful lot of work...
...considering what I cherish most in life these days...
...is not to have to be Vince Collins.
No Reuben in your life?
How do you know about Reuben?
He was in a lot of the material I've been looking at.
No, I never had a Reuben.
Lanny always paid him directly. He was Lanny's man.
Right.
You know, what I like is to...
...read...
...think.
It's to have the freedom...
...to get up and leave without telling anyone about it...
...any time of day.
Or even having to say goodbye.
To be backstage, surrounded by acrobats, actors, magicians...
...it was intoxicating.
You know, I was only 12 years old.
That's a...
That's a pretty impressionable age.
- To hear all these stories of touring... - My father always told me...
... that nothing had meaning unless it could be put on the record.
Yet things had changed.
As Vince had pointed out at our first meeting...
... it had become fashionable to put yourself into the story.
The question became how far you were prepared to go.