Stage 5.
Well, Mr. Amiel is on the camera boom rehearsin' right now.
Very nice.
Say, honey, could you put that other hand up
around your throat? That's good.
- That's better. - Telephone, Mr. Amiel.
Transatlantic, Paris. Jonathan Shields callin' you.
- Who? - Jonathan Shields.
- Number one! - Bring the boom back to one.
I'm sorry, Mr. Amiel just left.
Hello? Yes. Yes!
Who? One moment, please.
- Miss Georgia! - Yes, Ilda.
It's Paris, France. It's him!
I can't hear you.
It's Mr. Jonathan! Jonathan Shields.
I still can't hear you.
Miss Lorrison is out.
No, I don't know.
Uh-uh, no. I don't know where.
No, I don't know who...
Nor where, nor what.
Out is out!
Hello.
What?
Talk a little louder, please. This is a bad connection.
Yes, this is James Lee Bartlow.
Paris?
Mr. Shields?
Oh. Is Mr. Shields paying for this call?
Put him on.
Hello, Jonathan?
Drop dead.
Wonderful.
Hello, hello, hello.
- Hi, Harry. - Harry, how are you?
- Well, Georgia. - Harry.
You know, the five years since my 60th birthday
I've been kissed by more beautiful women
than in all the years before.
That's something you youngsters wouldn't know
anything about, isn't it?
Well, nice to see you.
That waistline is down where was years ago.
I see you're still keeping the same long hours.
A little bit of that, you know, uh, midnight oil.
Good to see you, Jim.
You know, you can always tell a successful author
by a cashmere jacket.
Well, I'm trying to develop a wardrobe like yours, Harry.
After all, you're known as the bull brown of the pictures.
Georgia, darling. Come over and sit down.
Freddie, take this chair, huh.
Jim, congratulations on your, uh, Pulitzer,
Pulitzer, whatever they call it, prize.
Thanks, Harry.
Caught your picture the other night, Fred.
- Great as usual. - Thank you, Harry.
And you, my pretty one, you really made me cry.
Well, then have I flattered you enough?
And so here is why I asked you
to come here in the middle of the night.
Why, uh, Jonathan called you today.
Jim he told me that you told him to drop dead.
Is that Pulitzer, Pulitzer language?
James Lee never wrote a better line.
Well, here it is.
After two years Jonathan's ready to produce a picture.
He wants you to write it, you to direct and you to star.
Now, on the name Jonathan Shields
it's impossible to raise five cents.
But on Fred Amiel
Georgia Lorrison, James Lee Bartlow
I can raise two million dollars by tomorrow noon.
I'm not going to beg you to say "yes,"
I've had two years of begging for Jonathan
and that's enough.
I know you'll never work with him again.
But he can't seem to get it through his head.
Please. A favor to me, not to him.
Will you give me your answer while I get him on the phone?
Good.
Get me the transatlantic operator.
Tell him we're ready to talk with Jonathan Shields in Paris
as soon a she can get him.
- Yes, Sir. - Thank you.
I know you'll never work with him again.
And I don't blame you. Why should you?
You've done enough for him already...
And vice versa maybe.
Fred, you knew him first.
You must have known him for what, 15 or 16...
Eighteen years.
Eighteen years ago at that funeral.
That guy standing next to me.
How was I supposed to know who he was?
We are met, my friends, on a solemn occasion.
This man, Hugo Shields,
whose memory we all Cherish in our hearts,
whose loss we mourn so deeply.
Hugo Shields, one of the pioneers
who built our great motion-picture industry.
One of the madmen who almost wrecked it.
A man of vision.
An artist, who created in a new medium.
A butcher who sold everything but the pig's whistle.
Hugo Shields brought entertainment to millions.
He will never be forgotten.
Stay in line and take it easy. You'll get your dough.
Take it easy.
Thank you, Mr. Shields.
You're Shields?
You were hired to give a performance.
Eleven dollars to act like a mourner.
You didn't do your job, you don't get paid. Next.
Next!
That afternoon I drove into the Hollywood Hills.
I just had to, I guess.
It's me, big mouth.
Did you come for a fight or for your 11 bucks?
The things I said at the funeral they were childish and cheap.
I'm sorry.
- Wait a minute. - Huh, what is it?
- Are you in the business? - Yeah.
What do you do?
Um, little bit of everything, assistant director
on poverty row, four-day quickies
sold a couple of story ideas.
To eat, I work as an extra. I do a little stunt work.
What I aim to be, is a director.
What's stopping you?
Well, I know I can direct better
than most of the hacks that I work for.
The trouble is when it comes to selling myself
you know, telling people how good I am
I, uh, I get tongue-tied.
I'm not that tongue-tied with you.
You are looking for a job? = yeah.
So am I.
Come on in.
If my father had died last year, I'd be a millionaire.
A year from now, he'd have put up a new studio
for me to inherit but
this was the year, so I don't have a dime.
Who paid the crowd at the funeral?
That was the last of the cash.
He lived in a crowd. I couldn't let him be buried alone.
Thanks.
Oh, the, uh, best legal counsel advised me to change my name.
Because the town thought your father was a heel?
He wasn't a heel.
He was the heel.
Ah, we couldn't stand living in the same town together
but I liked him a lot.
He made great pictures. So will I.
You haven't got much to begin with.
No, he brought me up to start at the top.
Say, uh.. How do you start at the bottom?
Are you, uh, gonna change your name?
- Change it? - Hmm.
I'm gonna ram the name of Shields down their throats.
Where are you living?
Until they kick me out, this is my bed and board.
Come on.
Oh, by the way, my name is Fred Amiel.
Eighteen years ago, living was cheap in this town
but jobs were sky-high.
Particularly if your name was Shields.
Some days we'd hit with a quickie
or a western on poverty row and eat well.
Okay, boys. Let's go.
Grab that one.
And some nights we played.
We crashed only the very best parties.
If the actor counts five between each word, he is a good actor.
If he counts ten, he's great! As for directing?
Ha! When you film it like that, you do it in the cutting room.
Some man is in love, cut into a cactus.
The women goes crazy, fade into a wheel.
Montage, montage, montage! But where is your story?
Alright, alright, so I won't argue with you, but look.
I'm taking off my agent's hat
and puttin' on my friendship hat.
And as friend to friend, I tell you that this boy
can be the biggest explosion that ever hit this town.
He could be your next Victor Ribera.
I'm that moon above ♪
♪ makes me need ♪
♪ someone like you ♪
♪ to love ♪
♪ blame your kiss ♪
I as sweet as a kiss can be ♪
♪ and blame all your charms ♪
♪ that melt in my arms ♪
♪ but don't blame me... ♪
Now I've got a full house and you can't have four of a kind.
No, that could never happen.
Not even in one of your B pictures!
Harry, I think you're bluffin'.
Put up or shut up.
Money talks, and I've got money. I raise you 500.
Right back at you.
Five, and five more.
Call.
- Four fours? - Mm-mmm.
Harry, when did you begin to tell the truth?
Don't tell me today. What time today?
♪ And blame all your charms ♪
♪ that melt in my arms ♪
♪ but don't blame me ♪
You know, that Harry Pebbel's a great poker player.
Yeah.
But my father could beat him every time
and I could always beat my father.
Now to get in a game like that, all I need is a...
- You're crazy! - No, I mean it.
All I need is a few hundred dollars
for my first stack of chips.
What's a few hundred dollars to raise
when four substantial citizens pool their resources?
Came the dawn.
- Goodnight, gentlemen. - Goodnight.
- Jonathan! - How much did you win?
- Five hundred? - Seven fifty.
- A thousand? - More than that. Six thousand!
- Jonathan! - I lost.
To be exact, I lost $6,351.
- Who won? - Harry Pebbel.
Harry Pebbel.
Harry, I admit it. I lost the money and I owe it to you.
I wish I could pay you, Harry.
I know it's breaking your heart.
I could give you an IOU.
Yeah, what would I do with it?
You don't run this studio, Harry,
but you are an executive producer.
- B pictures, it's true. - They make money.
You have four producers in your unit, why not five?
If you put me on, say at $300 a week
I could pay you off, slowly, but surely.
Six thousand three hundred and fifty one dollars.
- Alright, you got the job. - I thought so.
Oh, so you're a genius boy, huh?
You think you blackmailed me!
Harry, that's a horrid word.
Well, get this. My unit turns out 18 pictures a year.
I cry for ideas. If you'd have sweat out a story
for me the way you sweat out losing that $6,351 dollars
I'd have hired you anyway.
Why didn't you come to me in the first place?
What are you, proud?
I tried to see you, Harry. I couldn't get in.
Do you know who gave me my first job?
- My father. - Yes, and you're just like him.
Got to angle everything the cute way.
Look, I'll pay you off a hundred a week.
I wouldn't take a dime.
Just bring me a picture I can shoot, genius boy.
You're alright, Harry. One day, you'll work for me.
Get me, uh, get me Joe Clareton in publicity.
And meanwhile, I need an office with a desk for my assistant.
"Shields. Amiel."
That's a big dream, Jonathan.
If you dream, dream big.
Meanwhile, children, beginning this week
you'll be drawing a modest check each and every Thursday.
It's time you two made it legal.
Tell him he's crazy, Kay.
- You're crazy. - Tell him I'm not.
He's not.
Oh, I just happen to have a ring with me.
Uh, Syd Murphy knows a friend who knows a jeweler.
Shall we?
Tell him yes, Kay.
He said to tell me yes.
Hey, she says "yes" very nicely.
The next few years, Jonathan Shields
produced a 11 pictures for Harry Pebbel.
B pictures.
I directed the third and five more after that.
We weren't really picture-makers
we were, uh, second-hand dealers.
But we learned our trade.
Then, one cloudy day, Harry Pebbel
assigned us a little horror called
The Doom Of The Cat Men.
This the sort of thing you had in mind?
Of course, they need freshening up
they've been hanging for quite a while.
- I can't get into this thing. - Don't worry about it.
If they don't turn around too much
a little muslin here will cover it up fine.
This is a matter of fitting. We take care of that.
We have a whole department for that.
This, this may be a problem unless you get a thinner man.
You see, this material is imported.
We can't get it anymore. But don't let that be an obstacle.
Here, the perfect fit.
This will give you the full effect.
You see, lots of character and detail. Plenty of fright.
Need a little puffing up, but it'll be alright.
Of course, you got to visualize it in the lights,
you got to use your imagination.
Shoulder pads will straighten it right out.
This will give you the effect. It'll be good.
- What if... - Suppose we...
Look, put five men dressed
like cats on the screen, what do they look like?
Like five men dressed like cats.
When an audience pays to see a picture like this
what do they pay for?
Well, to get the pants scared off 'em.
And what scares the human race
more than any other single thing?
- The dark. - Of course, and why?
Because the dark has a life of its own.
In the dark, all sorts of things come alive.
Suppose, suppose we never do show the cat men.
- Is that what you're thinking? - Exactly.
No cat men!
Alright.
Now, what'll we put on the screen that'll make
the backs of their necks crawl?
Two eyes shining in the dark.
A dog frightened, growling, showing its fangs.
A bird, its neck broken, feathers torn from its throat.
A little girl screaming, claw marks down her cheeks.
Ah, cut!
Okay, boys, new deal. Wrap it up!
Come on, get that boom light...
This is my first star! I want to give you...
The night of the sneak preview
Harry Pebbel still hadn't seen the picture.
Jonathan and I had made sure of that.
- Hurry, hurry. - Now, Sir.
It stinks, one. Fair, eight.
Good, 24. Very good, 47.
See, we've never had cards like this before.
Give us more like this one.
Excellent, 34. Outstanding, 17.
Ooh, boy, wait till I place these around
the executive dining room. That'll show 'em.
What Harry Pebbel can do.
Be at my office at 10:00 in the morning sharp,
I'll give you your next assignment.
You did alright on this one, genius boy.
Look, I did better than alright, I did a great job at producing.
Tell 'em that in the executive dining.
Oh, when you do remember the name "Shields"
is not spelled P-E-B-B-E-L.
I don't want to give you too much credit.
Just enough to make you hungry for more.
See, by the way, my name is spelled A-M-I-E-L.
Huh?
I was thinking of taking a small bow myself.
A small bow! That never helped anybody.
Get this straight, Fred, we're building the name Shields.
Shields Productions, that's the name
we're gonna ram down their throats,
and it's big enough for both of us.
- Yeah, I know, Jonathan. - Look what we did on this one.
We took a five-cent story, a ten-cent budget
on a two-cent leading man, and we put it over.
Yes, Sir, we're gettin' to know our business, son.
- Yes, mother. - Come on.
Let's go back and get my car, huh.
You know, Fred, when I work on a picture
it's like romancing a girl.
You see her, you want her, you go after her.
The big moment. Then, the letdown.
Every time, every picture, the after-picture blues.
Don't worry. Someday, you'll learn to love 'em and leave 'em.
You think so?
Hey.
Where are you goin'? Why are you turning off here?
This you got to see.
"Crow's nest."
George Lorrison built this.
This is where he died.
I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Can we go home now?
Come on.
So this is how actors used to live, huh.
Cheerful little place, isn't it?
Now, if we can just find out where he keeps the boiling oil.
Mm, the rumpus room.
Jonathan.
Jonathan, will you please tell me what we're doing here?
Are you scouting a location?
Yeah, sure, that's it, for our next Harry Pebbel production.
It could be, uh, the bat men fly again
or how about mama vampire and her three little bloodsuckers.
We don't even have to show the little...
Hold this.
Lorrison's idea of my old man.
Lorrison's last three pictures were for my father.
He gave me my first drink when I was 13.
My first cigar at 14.
And when I was 15...
He taught me the facts of life.
Ah.
He was a great actor.
And a great man.
He was a rat and a drunk.
- Who are you? - His daughter.
I didn't know he had one.
Neither did he, half the time.
- What are you doing up there? - Oh, get out.
"A rat and a drunk,” what kind of a way is that
to talk about your father?
Well, he was my father.
Now, will you shut up and leave me alone?
Go on, blow.
Somebody ought to tan your rear!
You wanna try it?
I changed my mind.
Now, will you get outta here?
Go on, get out!
The next morning, Jonathan received the news
of our next assignment.
Did you see Harry?
Uh huh.
Well, what's our next picture?
Get a good grip on yourself.
- You ready? - Uh-huh.
Our next picture will be The Son Of The Cat Men.
That settles it.
The time has come.
The Faraway Mountain. It's a great book.
Three studios tried to lick it and couldn't.
Well, I can!
Here's my outline, scene for scene.
Right, you know what Harry Pebbel will say.
Yeah. "Look, I've told you a hundred times, genius boy.
"I don't want to win awards, I want to make pictures
that end with a kiss and black ink on the books."
Jonathan... Jonathan, this is my baby.
I found it and I licked it.
I've been nursing it along till I was sure
that we could handle it. Well, now I'm sure.
Remember what you said last night?
We've practiced long enough. It's time we made one for real.
Of course, it should be made on a million dollar budget
and it cries to be shot on location down in Veracruz.
But you producing and me directing
we can make it on a Harry Pebbel budget and still do it right.
You know, for a guy who's tongue-tied
when he tries to sell himself...
Oh, I could always talk to you.
You really want to do this one, don't you, Fred?
I want to direct it so much, I can taste it.
Alright, let's do it.
Let's do it.
I've told you a 100 times, I don't want to win awards.
Give me pictures that end with a kiss
and black ink in the books.
I'll make this picture, Harry, or I'll quit.
This is my baby. I found it, and I licked it.
I want to produce it so much I can taste it!
And I'm handing it to you, Harry Pebbel,
father of the son of the cat men.
Do I produce the faraway mountain or don't 1?
Alright, genius boy.
You've got it coming to you.
Make it and hang yourself.
You feel that way about it why don't you fire me
and get it over with?
Oh, no, I know the talk around the studio.
They say that I need you... That you do all the work
and I get all the credit.
You think I don't know anything.
Well I know one thing...
Every studio in town turned this stinker down.
Go ahead, make it.
It'll lay such a bomb that you'll never
get another job in this industry.
Will I let you produce it?
You're on suspension if you don't.
I had thought my "faraway mountain”
outline was perfect. After three weeks with Jonathan
it was twice as good.
We worked day and night. Kay kept the coffee hot and handy.
And as Jonathan shaped our material
I saw the birth of what Hollywood later came to call
"the Shields touch, Jonathan's magic."
Our toughest problem was a leading man.
On a Harry Pebbel budget, a top star was out of the question.
So I directed tests, a dozen tests.
Action.
So you are Theresa.
And I find you just as your brother told me I would,
alone in the great house
silent, proud, and beautiful.
What is it? Are you afraid of me?
Since I don't wear a stiff suit and tight collar...
Switch over to the next one.
Action.
So you are Theresa.
And I find you just as your brother told me I would,
alone in the great house, proud, silent, and beautiful.
Who's the girl?
Douvane promised that she could make a test with him.
What did she promise? Who is she?
George Lorrison's daughter.
Oh. Why didn't you shoot her face?
She was drunk.
Cut.
This is murder. Syd, let's have that list again.
You're the director, pick your poison.
- Jonathan... - Hmm?
- What about Victor Ribera? - Oh.
- Gaucho? - Mm. Why not?
Sure you'd like him. Who wouldn't?
- Let's have that list, now. - Why can't we get Gaucho?
Because he's a Latin lover, and this is the year for Latin love.
The whole town's crying to get him.
You wouldn't stand a chance.
How do we know until we've tried?
Maybe you could talk him into it, Jonathan.
Syd, what would appeal to a guy like that?
- Gaucho? - Yeah.
Well, if I know Gaucho...
I'll drive.
♪ You smile ♪
♪ luring me on ♪
♪ my heart was gone ♪
♪ you were temptation ♪
♪ if you were willing ♪
♪ if it can never be ♪
♪ pity me... ♪
Jonathan forgot one thing.
He forgot he couldn't drink.
Nice boy.
But does he always take on so much altitude?
Well, he's been working night and day for three weeks.
Besides which, he hardly ever drinks.
Mm.
- He wants me to make a picture? - Yeah.
Then why does he go to all this lovely trouble?
I'm a very simple man.
I read, what I like, I act.
What I do not like, I do not act.
Very simple.
A conference was being held in Harry Pebbel's office
to discuss production plans for The Faraway Mountain.
The suspense was killing me.
Don't worry so much.
- Yes, Mr. Pebbel? - You can go to lunch now.
Thank you.
Why don't you take a look in there?
I'm sure it doesn't matter.
No, I think I'll stay out here and be a nervous character.
- Well, good luck. - Thanks, honey.
Jonathan...
What happened? Didn't he go for Gaucho?
Go for him? He had a hemorrhage!
The first time a star ever said he'd
shine in a Harry Pebbel picture...
I'll say this for Harry. He went to bat for us.
He slugged it out with the front office!
Fred, The Faraway Mountain is gonna be done
just the way we want it, a million-dollar budget.
Location in Veracruz. Von Ellstein to direct.
Uh, Gaucho. Wendy for the girl.
Lance Chapman for my cameraman.
- Von Ellstein to direct? - Well, you're taken care of.
Harry agreed, it-it won't be a separate panel
but your name will be on the screen
assistant to the producer.
- Thanks. - Oh, Fred.
You know this story better than anyone else.
It's your baby. Look, I want you with me on the set all the time.
You don't have to talk to Von Ellstein.
Any ideas you have, you tell me and I'll tell him.
Thanks again. Von Ellstein to direct?
You always said he was the best in the business.
Sure he is.
Fred, I'd rather hurt you now than kill you off forever.
You're just not ready to direct a million-dollar picture.
But you're ready to produce a million-dollar picture?
With Von Ellstein, I am.
You're stealing my picture. It was my idea. I gave it to you.
Without me, it would have stayed an idea.
Alright, Jonathan, let's put it this way.
You gave me your word.
So I did.
Jonathan, just got the starting date from the front office
two weeks from Monday you leave for Veracruz.
Mr. Von Ellstein, I'll get you a reservation a week early.
Right. Mr. Shields, I'll tell you a secret.
I don't like producers,
but for a man who hands me such a script, eh
for him it'll be a pleasure to break my rule.
Today, I shall buy a producer lunch, Mr. Shields, eh?
- Am I included? - By all means, no.
Mr. Shields, today, I see what I thought I would never see.
A script prepared by a producer who thinks like a director.
For 13 years, I've been making pictures...
- Goodbye, Jonathan. - Oh, Fred, I...
So long, Fred.
And this is the first time I've found a script
I can direct exactly as it is.
Shot by shot. Shot by shot.
I always said the boy was a genius.
What are you looking at, the Oscar he got
for The Faraway Mountain?
Oh, I know what you have against Jonathan,
and no wonder.
Look what he did to you, Fred.
He brushed you off his coat-tail
so you had to stand on your own two feet.
And all you've got in the world is one wife
six kids, two Academy Awards
and every studio in town after you.
Why, Jonathan ruined you!
Look what he did to me.
I gave him his chance to do The Faraway Mountain.
And what does he do, four months later, his contract's up
and he walks out of the studio.
And I go right with him.
I know how you feel about him, Georgia.
After all, you're a woman and an actress.
The first time I saw Jonathan,
I wasn't a woman, I wasn't an actress.
The next time I saw him, five years later,
I wasn't an actress, I was a nothing.
We're through for today. If you step outside
we'll sign you off. Nine o'clock people,
please remain, we'll need you in the background
for this next close-up.
Following people, on your way out, please report to wardrobe.
- Uh, Mr. Amiel? - Yeah, what is it, Georgia?
I'm sorry to bother you
but I'd like to sign out early if I could.
They're casting a bit at Shields.
If I could get there by 3:00...
Uh, go ahead, you haven't got much time.
- Good luck. - Thanks, Mr. Amiel.
Gus drove me over. He waited while I changed.
There were few agents in town with fewer clients than Gus.
He was the kind of agent who handled only bit players
and who never could get into a major producer's office.
Gus is still my agent.
Alright, girls, will you come in, please?
Let's line up right across here. That's right.
You stand here, you over here.
Honey, will you come down here?
Thank you.
Now, Mr. Shields, these are the girls for the drugstore bit.
- How about the newborn baby? - Four here at 3:45.
Well, girls, uh, Mr. Shields Mr. Pebbel, and Mr. McDill.
How do you do?
You're the director. The girl on the end alright with you?
Georgia?
Yeah, sure.
- You're it. - Thank you.
Alright, girls, will you come with me, please?
My call came two days later.
By then, I'd memorized my one line.
I'll wait.
Read any... good books lately?
- Cut. - How was it?
- Is that alright with you? - Take it again?
Alright, once again, boys! Here we go!
How's the makeup?
- Alright. Here we go. - Try it again.
Alright, roll 'em.
Speed. Action.
I'll wait.
Read any good books lately?
- Cut! - How was it?
Okay.
Print that. Let's have a test.
- Move in for a close-up. - Alright, new deal, boys.
Your door was unlocked.
For a one day bit, you sure expect a lot of company.
For the kind of company you're talking about,
I don't have to trot over here at 4:00 in the morning.
All I have to do is pick up a phone.
Well, pick one up!
You were under contract to Al Cope.
- Can you hear me? - Yes.
You were under contract, weren't you?
Three years ago, for six months.
Until they found out they had another cluck on their hands.
Did you ever play a real part in a picture?
Last year I played the lead in a little epic
called Jungle Tigress.
I ran it. You played straight man to a chimpanzee.
I've been trying to find...
I've been tryin' to find one decent foot of film on you.
- Is there any? - Yes.
That one line I did for you yesterday.
That was good.
But it's not enough to go by.
I want you to make a test for me.
Alright, Mr. Shields.
Isn't this scene supposed to go something like this?
I'll make a test for you, and you'll be good to me
and I'll be good to you.
Oh, who's kidding who? It's 4:00 in the morning.
As for the test, I don't want it.
I wouldn't be any good anyway.
Just a waste of good film.
But... you're a nice-looking guy
and you did go to a lot of trouble.
And it's getting late, so shall I turn out the light?
You're very generous.
Too generous.
You're a Lorrison, alright.
The queen, my lord, is dead.
She should have died hereafter.
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
creeps in this petty pace from day to day
to the last syllable of recorded time.
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
the way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle.
Life's but a walking shadow.
A poor player that struts and frets
his hour upon the stage...
Oh, will you turn that off and get out!
I wanna get some sleep.
It is a tale told by an idiot.
Full of sound and fury, signifying...
Nothing.
I said "turn it off!" I don't wanna hear it! I hate him!
Make up your mind, you hate him
and you build this shrine to him.
He died over ten years ago
and you've been holding your own private wake ever since.
You can't be a star in a cemetery.
Oh, stop pitching!
Can't you get it through your head I'm one girl
who doesn't wanna be a star?
Because he was a drunk, you're a drunk!
'Cause he loved women, you're a tramp!
But you forget one thing...
He did it with style.
And you...
Put that down.
How many times did you try to commit suicide?
Twice. I told you to put that pipe down!
Too sacred to touch?
Don't waste any sleep over me, Mr. Shields.
The last time I tried to commit suicide
was six months ago.
- There won't be any next time. - Won't there?
No.
People who knew my father give me...
Give me extra work and a line to say now and then.
I drink what I want...
And see who I want.
Who knows?
Someday I may even get married.
To a nice upright assistant assistant.
And make him miserable for the rest of his life...
Because you're a Lorrison.
Haunted, born to live by make-believe.
Look at you, you're acting now.
Playing the doomed daughter of the great man.
Well, let me tell you something,
the acting isn't good enough.
It's a cheap performance of a bit player, not a star.
And that's all it'll ever be, until you can
pull yourself out of this tomb!
Until you can see people as they really are.
Yourself as you really are!
Until you can do this to your father's picture.
And laugh the way he would have laughed!
That's not a god talking, Georgia, that's only a man!
Out!
You!
Ugh!
Miss Lorrison! Miss Lorrison!
You better tell her it's alright.
It's alright, Mrs. Curry.
Goodnight, Georgia.
Goodnight.
It takes two hours to get ready for a screen test.
Two very early in the morning hours.
Hello, honey. Here you are.
- Let's run the scene again. - Thanks, Gus.
"Li think you understand.”
You mean you're through with me. This is the end.
"To put it, bluntly...”
It means that little to you?
"Look, my dear. We are two...
"Look, my dear. We are two civilized people.
Let us act like civilized people.”
They told me about you.
I didn't believe them. You hear...
- "But you're everything.” - Oh, yeah.
Uh, uh, but you're everything they said.
You hear evil. You see evil.
You speak evil. You are evil.
Fine. Fine.
Let's run it again, honey. Here...
- Okay. - Alright.
To put it bluntly.
It means that little to you?
Look, my dear. We're two civilized people.
Let us act like civilized people.
They told me about you. I didn't believe them.
But you're everything they said.
You hear evil. You see evil. You speak evil.
You are evil!
What do you think?
Well?
My dear Jonathan, since you've paid me
a hundred thousand dollars to direct this picture,
quite a lot of pound Sterling,
presumably, you want my kind of picture.
With this girl, I tell you, flatly
it will not be my kind of picture.
- She's impossible. - Quite.
She's wooden, gauche, artificial.
Completely out of the question.
Quite.
Syd?
Jonathan, since you hired me, partly to "yes" you...
- You're fired. - She stinks.
You're hired.
Harry?
I know we can get her for nothing.
For nothing you get nothing. She's nothing.
There were few agents in town
with fewer clients than Gus...
But the few he had he knew well.
Well, I told you not to waste your film.
Gus, check with Harry Pebbel. He's drawing up the contracts.
- She's in? - Of course.
You mean you're gonna give her a part?
The part.
Georgia! Georgia!
Mr. Shields, you're a very stubborn man.
Very, when I'm right.
And I know I'm right about you.
I gave you no help, the test was atrocious,
but bad as it was, it proved one thing.
When you're on the screen, no matter who you're with,
what you're doing, the audience is looking at you.
That's star quality.
Lorrison quality.
Careful, Mr. Shields.
You're looking at me, but you see my father.
He gave me his name, but that's all he gave me.
Don't make a mistake.
Georgia...
No more doomed daughter.
No more whimpering, no more drinking...
- And no more men? - By and by.
Gus, pull yourself together!
I can't help it, Mr. Shields. I'm... a very emotional man.
The picture was to start in six weeks.
And six weeks seemed like forever.
Then, suddenly, with fittings and hairdressing
and makeup tests...
Five of them were gone.
I don't know what to do.
The waist has to be that tight and the train has to be long...
Evelyn, will you tell me what it is that's worrying you?
Would you walk over there, please?
Now, turn.
Mr. Shields, I'm afraid Miss Lorrison
can't carry a dress like this.
It-it takes an enormous amount of poise.
And for this type of the thing, you
have to walk with the assurance
of a grand duchess or
hold yourself like Lilly Langtree, but...
Miss Lorrison will hold herself like Miss Lorrison.
Miss Lorrison happens to be an actress.
Make a wider turn, Georgia.
That's it. Now, come over here.
You're alright. Come here.
Now, sit down. Can you sit down?
- No. - That's perfect.
Alright, now, everybody out now, please.
I wanna talk to my star.
You have one week to go. Nervous?
- A little. - Tired?
Oh, very.
You work very hard, you've been a good girl.
How good?
I'm sending you away.
Palm Springs for the rest of the week.
- Must I? - Absolutely.
You get on that set a week from Wednesday
I want you to sleep, relax
and not think about a thing.
Not even you?
You said no drinking. - One drink.
To Georgia, my star.
- You said no men. - So I did.
Mr. Jonathan, I thought we had agreed.
- You agreed all by yourself. - Don't put words in my mouth.
I don't know who puts the words in your mouth
but they sure come flapping out.
My pavilion for the garden party
it was understood it was to be three feet off the ground.
It was discussed, digested and determined.
Look to build that three feet will cost
with operation charges and additional shooting time
at least $25,000, more or less, and with you, more.
I cannot shoot without it. I will not shoot without it.
I'm building an entire sequence to that one moment.
- I must have the height. - So move your camera up!
I will not cheat the shot! That's not the way I function.
My dear man, I'm not asking you to change..
Jonathan!
I've got something to show you. Come here. I wanna show you.
It's just wonderful.
Look. My new car.
I don't care where you put the camera.
The point I'm making is to put your camera there.
You know, the boom costs me $150 a day.
We talked about boom three weeks ago.
How would you like to drive it around the block?
I'm busy.
A smoother drive you will never have.
Gaucho, I'm busy.
How long would a quick ride take?
Gaucho, I'm busy.
Ah! You're always busy!
Why don't you live a little, hombre? Adios.
Well, 25,000 pounds Sterling, I wanna tell you this...
No, it's seven or eight thousand. Pounds.
Seven or eight thousand pounds and I'm the one who's got to...
I can't be shooting up their noses!
Nobody's asking you to shoot up their noses or...
Gentlemen, there seems to be an honest difference of opinion. - There is.
It looks as though we have to make a compromise.
You bet we will.
The compromise, gentlemen, is this.
Harry, shut your penny-pinching mouth
and build him his platform!
The night before we started shooting
I came back from Palm Springs.
I tried to sleep... I couldn't.
I don't know what drew me to the empty stage.
I guess I was scared.
"To my new star, who will make me very proud of her.
- Jonathan."
It was cold on the set.
And suddenly, my throat was dry.
So dry I, I knew I had to have a drink.
The papers know all about it, I asked the boys to lay off.
But with this one, she'll burn up every column in the country.
I wanted to make a picture with her.
Make a star out of someone this town tossed in the ash heap.
Cross her off, Jonathan.
Let me contact the agents and see who's available.
Alright, Harry, cast it and get it over with.
I'll tell Whitfield to shoot around the part.
- Sorry I'm late. - Get out a release.
We're signing Anne Gavery for the part tomorrow morning.
Every time I go to the morgue, I get the heebie jeebies.
Forget her.
I've covered everything, waterfront, jails, hospitals.
Scraped through the main street booze parlors.
- I told you to forget her. - I have my professional pride.
I thought I knew every rat-hole in town.
Either she's found a new one
or she's far, far away.
Janitor says when she goes off on a bat
she locks her door and leaves for days at a time.
Where would I go for days at a time?
I tried to put myself in her place.
Hello, Georgia.
You-you forgot...
You forgot to tie your tie.
You're sorry, aren't you?
What do you want me to do, wash out your mouth with soap
and send you to bed without your supper?
Why did you do it, Georgia?
Do you know why?
Why?
Because I...
I was afraid I'd louse things up for you.
Because I love you.
I do, you know.
It's cold sitting on the ground.
Georgia, come here.
Sit down.
Georgia, love is for the very young.
"For the very young.” I like that.
Would you marry me, Jonathan?
Not even a little bit.
- That's too bad. - Why?
Because I would make you a good wife.
Well, right now, I don't need a wife.
I need a star.
It's cold not sittin' on the ground.
Alright, let's go near the fire, shall we?
We're, uh, we're signing Anne Gavery for the part.
Oh? She'll be good.
I think she will.
Why, that big ham, she, she couldn't...
Uh, well, she...
Here.
You know, Jonathan, if we were married
I wouldn't take up much room.
Oh, Georgia, hey, go on put those things on.
Your clothes will be dry in a minute.
Hello.
Jonathan, where have you been?
I've been trying to reach you.
Oh, Harry. Uh...
You may have forgotten but you have a picture in production.
- I know. - We have to get a new star.
- Harry... - Jonathan.
Will you just listen to me for one minute and don't interrupt.
- Ha... - Hello?
Hello? Jonathan, are you there?
Hey! Hello? Hello?
- Harry? - Oh, yeah.
Uh, Harry, forget about Anne Gavery.
Jonathan, have you gone crazy? Are you drunk?
I said forget about her. Georgia is right here.
- Georgia? - Everything's fine.
- We're going to use her. - Oh, no, listen to me.
I don't know what you've got in your mind.
But I'm not going to let you make a fool of yourself.
I'll take that chance, Harry.
- It'll happen again... - We'll see ab...
I know. Harry, listen to me.
And I'm not going to let that happen.
Harry, shut up and listen to me!
These are my instructions. Georgia's in.
We'll shoot our first scene in the morning.
You call Whitfield and tell him.
If I were to go to the bank with this, they'd laugh in my face.
Hello? Jonathan, are you there?
- Hello? - Harry.
Everybody knows about this girl.
No studio is going to touch her with the...
Harry, shut up and listen to me!
Don't worry.
Everything's gonna be alright.
I know just how to handle her now.
You know how to handle her...
They're, uh...
They're blue.
Blue is my...
My lucky...
Color.
We were 14 weeks shooting the picture.
The most wonderful 14 weeks I'd ever known.
- Mmm... - Lady of darkness all the way.
Change that, change that line right there.
You see him. Up!
Aah! I mean, they'll throw pennies at us. It's ridiculous.
This is a dramatic moment. The guy that you love is onstage.
You suddenly see him, and you know somebody's gonna kill him.
Not me. If you take it. I-if you're gonna joke about...
Alright, alright, do it. I mean, if you know...
No, you don't want to take the thing seriously.
Alright, I'll try once more and that's all.
That's great. What's all of this mumbo jumbo?
It doesn't make any sense. Look, try it again.
And make love while you're lighting the cigarette.
Make it mean something. Go ahead. Take it.
Alright.
Lighten up. Look up.
That's it. Now, light it all the time thinking, thinking.
That's it.
Yeah. That's a lot better.
Yeah, isn't that much better, huh?
Jonathan was a perfectionist.
When he was in love with a scene
money meant nothing to him.
Fatigue, even less, his or anyone else's.
We did it over and over and over
till we could hardly stand.
Alright, cut! How was that?
Try it again.
Jonathan! For heaven's sake! Fun is fun!
- Jonathan, you've got... - Did they get it?
I don't know. They're still arguing up there.
Oh, brother!
This is amateur night in Dixie!
Oh, they better make up their minds soon
or they're gonna lose baby.
How are you, baby?
You were going to get me into pictures.
It takes a little while, baby.
I worked extra for three years.
- This is good experience. - This is experience?
- Um-hmm. - Ha!
By the time they get me a speaking part
they're going to have to carry me off and on the set.
You look awful pretty when you're mad.
- Thanks a lot. - Alright, folks, wrap it up!
Get extra people outside!
Stage setup, the first thing in the morning!
- Goodnight, Miss Lorrison. - Goodnight, George.
- Goodnight, John. - Goodnight, Miss Lorrison.
I thought that take was good.
It was pretty good, but I wanna get a little more out of Gaucho.
- Happy? - Very.
- Are you, Jonathan? - Very.
- May I buy you dinner tonight? - And tomorrow night.
That's the look I want on that wedding scene.
Can you give me that?
I'll try.
Mr. Shields, we're five over budget.
Today I need to have to have your signature on these sheets
before I can send out the checks.
Goodnight, Jimmie. Hurry up, baby. Hurry up!
Be an angel, bring my car around, will you?
Si, Senor. Si, Senor.
You want me to wash it for you, too?
Oh, Georgia.
You were wonderful in that scene.
- Very lovely. - Thank you.
Every day I watch you grow more and more an actress.
To give truth to a performance...
There's nothing like love.
Love is for the very young.
Ha, love is for the birds!
- Goodnight, Georgia. - Goodnight, Gaucho.
Lila, that wasn't nice!
I guess it all depends on who a girl has dinner with
around here, doesn't it?
Shh! Baby.
She gets to be a star.
I get to park a convertible.
Don't talk like that about Georgia... or Jonathan.
He is a great man.
Ha ha.
There are no great men, buster.
There's only men.
The last two weeks of the picture, I was in a dream.
A bad dream.
Alright, Jonathan! Jonathan!
Action!
They're ready, Miss Lorrison.
She'll be right there.
Uh, Ida.
I don't know what to do.
I feel sick and frightened.
You're tired, honey. You've been tryin' so hard.
Yeah, but they think I'm such a fool,
or temperamental or something, I...
It's alright. It's only a few more days.
Yeah, but I feel like I'm gonna scream and I can't help myself.
Hurry, Miss Lorrison. Please, they're all waiting.
Oh.
We were on the last scene.
We finished a little before dawn.
We're alone now.
And I can talk to you.
Now I can tell you what I...
What I never could tell you before.
You must forgive me, my darling.
You mustn't mind my crying.
Now, that it's too late.
Now, at last, I can tell you.
I love you, Gregory.
I love you. I love you so.
After the opening, there was a party.
It was a lovely, happy, top-of-the-world party.
It was my party and everybody was there.
And everybody made a fuss over me.
Everybody... but Jonathan.
Well, you wouldn't come to my party
so, I brought my party to you.
Jonathan, it was so wonderful.
And everything you wanted for me. Just as you promised.
They applauded, and cheered, and they ooh-ed and aah-ed...
Georgia, go back and enjoy it.
But there's no one to enjoy it with.
Why, that's silly.
Everybody in town is fighting with each other
to be near the new star.
You know what I mean, Jonathan.
Georgia, I have to be alone tonight.
After a picture's finished, something happens to me.
It's a feeling of letdown
of... emptiness.
It's bad. It gets worse. I can't help it.
I know. Syd and Harry have told me about that.
- Oh, but tonight... - I'd only depress you.
I want you to go back, now.
You've got bows to take. Take them!
Darling...
I was afraid you might be angry or resent my coming here
but, but I had to take that chance.
Why, right in the middle of everything
suddenly, I knew one thing so clearly.
The party is where you are.
Depressed or gay or angry
or tender or in any of your moods.
- I know them all. - Georgia...
Oh, let's have our party, darling.
We've got so much to celebrate.
We'll, we'll ice the champagne.
We'll light the fire.
We'll put on the records and dance
and... and I'll help you pull yourself out of this
the way you helped me.
Oh, give me that chance, darling. Please?
Please don't shut me out. Please.
I thought you said you were gonna get rid of her quick.
Now, you go back to your party.
The picture's finished, Georgia.
You're business, I'm company.
Shut up!
Shut up, and get back upstairs!
Oh, I forgot to tell you, Georgia.
I saw the picture.
I thought you were swell.
Goodnight, Georgia.
Stop looking like that.
Remember, I didn't ask you here.
You couldn't stay where you belong, could you?
You couldn't enjoy what I made possible for you, no.
You'd rather have this.
Well, congratulations!
You've got it all laid out for you
so you can wallow in pity for yourself.
A betrayed woman, the wounded Doe with all the dribble that
goes with it, going through your mind right now.
"Oh, he doesn't love me at all. He was lying.
"All those lovely moments, those tender words.
"He's lying. He's cheap and cruel!
That low woman Lila!"
Well, maybe I like Lilas.
Maybe I like to be cheap once in a while.
Maybe everybody does.
Or don't you remember?
Get that look off your face!
Who gave you the right to dig into me
and turn me inside out and decide what I'm like?
How do you know how I feel about you? How deep it goes?
Maybe I don't want anybody to own me, you or anybody.
Get out! Get out!
Get out!
Aah!
I told you I'd never work for him again, and I never will.
I don't blame you, Georgia. Jonathan certainly ruined you.
You were a drunk and a tramp playing bit parts around town
and he made a star out of you.
You had an ironclad contract with Shields Productions.
Iron, I know, because I drew it myself.
Starting at $100 a week, we owned you body and soul.
And the next morning you walked right into this office
and you stood right here with that same look you've got on
your face now, and you threw the bits of your contract
into my face. Jonathan laughed and let you get away with it.
I wanted to take you to court.
But he said "no". So you signed with ANL.
And made them the millions that we should have made.
For the last seven years, you've been in the top ten
in every popularity poll in this country.
Oh, yes, Jonathan sure fouled you up.
You and your Poolutzer, Pulitzer.
"To James Lee Bartlow, whose first book”
so-and-so, so-and-so...
"Graduate of Harvard and the Sorbonne," uh...
"In the year 1949, found him Professor of medieval history
at one of our leading Southern universities.”
Summer is the quietest time of the year
in a college town, and the loveliest.
I was outlining what I hoped would be my second novel.
My first, on which I'd labored seven years, was just out.
Surprisingly, for a scholarly work about early Virginia
my book was enjoying a brisk nationwide sale.
Possibly because it was liberally peppered with sex.
Because, after all, early Virginia
was liberally peppered with sex.
Could that have been why Hollywood had bought it?
Why did I stay away from home that afternoon?
Because Rosemary, my wife, was entertaining the symposium.
A group of factory wives who met bimonthly to enjoy
a little culture and a lot of gossip.
Rosemary had the floor.
She was reading an anthropological paper
on the island of St. Daniels
which we visited the summer before.
"The techniques of courtship, marriage and consummation.
"These are the concern of the anthropologist
"rather than of the sociologist.
They are certainly not for the drawing room."
"The longhorns.
"Dating back to the misty past
of the first Spanish explorers..."
Her paper seemed to be getting a good reception.
Possibly, because it was liberally peppered with sex.
Because, after all, the island of St. Daniels
is liberally peppered with sex.
I started to work.
James Lee doesn't mind one bit. Do you, darling?
He never minds.
Autograph, Miss Rosser?
Dear Miss Rosser, isn't this just like a man?
I just fixed his study with everything
a successful author could want
and there he will sit in a dreary old rocker,
clickety-clack on that dilapidated old portable.
I suppose we'll be losing you to Hollywood now,
Professor Bartlow.
Oh, the James Lee Bartlows in Hollywood.
Isn't that a ridiculous idea?
Besides which, what could Hollywood possibly offer us?
Besides which, Hollywood hasn't, uh, asked us.
- Oh. - What did he write?
Oh, Professor! You-you shouldn't have!
Ha ha ha.
Ladies, look what Mr. Bartlow wrote!
James Lee, you have a very naughty mind.
I'm happy to say.
James Lee, no. There are ladies out there. I can't.
No, James Lee...
I started to work.
Mrs. Bartlow says eat. It'll do you good.
Thanks, Milly.
I started to work.
Hello.
Yes, this is Professor Bartlow.
Who?
Where?
Oh! Oh, yes, put him on.
Hello, Mr. Shields.
Fine, thanks.
I heard on the extension. Hollywood! Jonathan Shields.
Sure, I'm glad you bought the book.
I hope your movie of it makes me as happy as your check did.
Umm, no.
No, I'm sorry. I don't see how I can.
Tell him you're working on your new novel. Now, go on, tell him.
I need all summer to work on my new book.
No, no, don't tell him what it's about.
If you get your hand away.
I'd rather not discuss it until it's finished.
My, just listen to that man talk!
All expenses paid?
You just tell him you'll think it over.
No, it's impossible. I can't come out now.
Say something charming for goodbye.
Goodbye, Mr. Shields.
James Lee, that was not charming.
He has enough charm for all three of us.
He surely rubbed you the wrong way.
He surely did.
Darling.
I don't want you ever to feel sorry
you didn't say "yes" to Mr. Shields.
What if we do spend the whole hot summer here?
It doesn't matter.
Because some day, I just know we'll get to travel
and see all those wonderful places.
So don't you ever feel one bit sorry
you didn't say "yes," James Lee.
Does a trip to Hollywood mean that much to you, Rosemary?
Me?
After all, it was only for two weeks, all expenses paid.
It wasn't as though Mr. Shields wanted me
to write a screenplay for him.
All he wanted was to talk, to get my ideas on his ideas.
- Is this everything? - Yeah, that's all ours.
Good. Here.
How about it, Mrs. Bartlow? Is this bungalow alright with you?
- It's completely enchanting! - Yeah, good.
Oh, and the studio car is yours as long as you're here.
- Thank you. - I've gotta run along now.
I have to meet a fellow from the syndicate.
He's a nice guy, but he hated our last two pictures.
He has sinus. Bye.
- When do I see the great man? - Jonathan?
Oh, drop around the studio tomorrow morning.
Not too early, not too late.
Bye, Mrs. Bartlow.
James Lee, come here!
Hurry up!
Come on.
It's Georgia Lorrison!
Living in the very next bungalow.
Now, what do you know?
That night Rosemary wrote 32 postcards.
Next morning, I mailed them and we went to the studio.
Oh! What!
Well, look here, James Lee.
The dining room at Roanoke.
Just the way we saw it when you wrote it.
Just the way I saw it when I read it.
Look at that chandelier.
- Why, it's Waterford, isn't it? - Yes, Mrs. Bartlow it is.
You know, you write in motion picture terms. You like movies?
The good ones.
How would you like to stay on and write the script?
- No. - Why not?
You look much younger than I thought you would.
Must take pretty good care of yourself.
- I do. - Well, so do I.
I'm here for two weeks only, get your money's worth out of that.
James Lee, there's never been such silver.
Not even in Richmond.
I wouldn't have missed this for anything.
You know, Mr. Shields, James Lee didn't think it proper
for me to come along this morning.
Professor's a man of rigid ideas.
However, we're delighted to have you with us, Mrs. Bartlow.
See, darling? I knew it was just plain sociable
for me to come and say "hello."
And don't you worry, Mr. Shields
I won't be a nuisance.
When James Lee is busy with you, well
I'll be busy with my own work.
What kind of work is that, Mrs. Bartlow?
Well, it's nothing, really.
But I did promise the symposium
I'd do a paper for them on Hollywood.
Of course, I realized that in two weeks I can't
do more than just barely scratch the surface.
Professor, take time to get the feel of things
then we'll get together, huh.
- Shall I phone you? - No, no, let me phone you.
Thank you, Mr. Shields. It was wonderful fun.
I like being a successful author's wife.
It took me a long time to learn the secret.
His work comes first.
- Visit us again, won't you? - Thank you. Goodbye.
"His work comes first."
Yeah, she's the kind that buys dark glasses
with his first salary check.
No wonder it took him seven years to write a book.
Do you have to have him to write your script?
Mmm-hmm.
Do you think you can keep him in Hollywood?
Mmm-hmm.
He kept me, alright.
Two weeks later, I found I'd signed
with Shields Productions
to write a treatment of the proud land.
- So you like my ideas? - Yes.
- All of them? - No.
Who is that? You have his picture is all over the studio.
- That's my father. - Angry little man, wasn't he?
I may as well warn you I don't know how I'll work in an office.
I'm used to an old portable and a soft rocker.
- Superstitious mind? - No.
Supersensitive rear.
I had them flown out. I thought it'd make you happy.
I gather I failed.
Hmmm, you were pretty sure of yourself.
- Pretty sure I'd stay. - Yes, I was.
I know the legend, Jonathan Shields,
the man will do anything to get what he wants.
Ohh, thanks.
Shields pictures incorporated.
Well, I'm flattered you want me and bitter you got me.
Where do I start?
Just read these scripts. See how it's done.
Rough out a storyline, and then we'll get to work.
And, don't worry, some of the best movies are made
by people working together who hate each other's guts.
Then we should make a great movie.
- I usually do. - What about your last two?
I liked them.
I started to work.
Look!
How do you like it?
I'll be right down.
I started to work.
Hello.
What is it, Rosemary?
But, dear, I told you I can't.
I know it's Sunday, but I've only
written half a page all week.
Alright, alright, Rosemary. Where is it?
Yes.
And? Not so fast.
Walking out that way. Well, you were rude.
I don't care how you feel about Jonathan Shields, if you are
a gentleman, there is no justification for boorishness!
He asked me how my work was going.
What was I supposed to say? Great?
Incidentally, who was that overgrown bullfighter
you danced with all night?
You mean Victor Ribera? Gaucho?
Why, I only danced with him twice.
An hour each time.
My, you do get nasty when you're jealous.
Like the time you carried on in St. Daniels
over that charming young governor's aide.
He was too charmin'...
Why, he meant nothin', nothin' at all!
You were even jealous at that Swiss exchange professor
just because he was polite!
He was too polite.
Now, Rosemary, let's get some sleep.
Oh, James Lee Bartlow, you take a good look
at yourself in that mirror.
You've changed since you've come to Hollywood
and I don't mind tellin' you, it's no change for the better.
Have I changed, too?
I dare say I am getting a...
Little too big for my britches.
They're pretty britches.
James Lee, you have a very naughty mind...
I'm happy to say.
Get me Gaucho.
Harry?
Oh, uh, call arrowhead.
Long distance, please. Lake arrowhead, California.
Well, Harry I'm going up the lake with James Lee.
Just the two of us, we're gonna get this treatment written.
- When are you leaving? - In an hour.
The bank called, they want to talk to you.
Oh, tell them I said you could talk to them.
- They're getting tough. - You're getting too old.
You got something there.
Hello, Gaucho? Oh, just a minute.
Harry, you take care of it, will you? You can handle it.
Alright, I'll see what I can do.
Gaucho. Que tal?
Muy bien.
Hey, how are you booked for social life?
Well, get yourself un-booked.
How would you like to squire a genuine Virginia dame?
I said "squire."
Mrs. James Lee Bartlow.
Yeah, Mister is going up the lake with me.
Keep her... keep her occupied, will you, Gaucho
so she doesn't get in our hair.
I started to work.
I worked all day from 7:00 till noon, from 2:00 to 5:00.
There were no interruptions.
In the evenings, we worked together.
Jonathan, that's my best scene!
You've cut it down to three lines!
Look... look, Jonathan I don't think you understand.
The boy's going away, probably to be killed!
- So when the mother speaks... - She doesn't speak.
We move the camera in close on her.
She opens her mouth to talk but she can't.
She's too emotional to be able to speak.
And what she's feeling, we'll leave
for the audience to imagine.
Believe me, Jim, they'll imagine it better
than any words you and I could ever write.
Alright with you?
Yes, Professor.
Now for that last scene.
- Proud of yourself? - A little.
Should be, not a weak scene in the whole treatment.
I'm proud of Rosemary too, she didn't interrupt once
the whole time we were up there.
Pleasant, wasn't it?
I'll tell you the truth, I-I missed her interruptions.
Even when she's a bother, she does it in a gay
naive, Southern belle kind of a way that tickles me.
Say, Jim, how come you never tried to get her down
on paper as one of the women in your book?
- I did try. - Just wouldn't write, eh?
No, funny.
Maybe you just don't know her well enough.
- Good evening. - Fill her up. Do you mind?
Yes, Sir.
Mac, you gotta check the radiator, too, will you?
Okay.
What's her story? Was Gaucho a friend of his?
- Ah that's ridiculous. - Was she gonna marry Gaucho?
Were they going to Mexico to get a divorce?
How about it, were they flying for a Mexican divorce?
I just told you that's ridiculous.
How long was she in love with him?
When was the last time he saw her?
This is it, boys. Gaucho was a close friend of the Bartlows.
He was flying her to the lake to join the Professor.
- His flight plan said Acapulco. - What flight plan?
What's the matter, don't you wanna play ball with the press?
I just told you, Gaucho was a close friend of the Bartlows.
He was flying her to the lake to join the Professor.
Alright, let Mr. Bartlow through to identify the body, come on.
- Just a minute, Mr. Bartlow. - Will you shut up!
You stay out of it. What're you trying to do?
I wish... Oh, I wish an awful lot.
Maybe if I'd been here...
You didn't know about them, did you?
Sorry, Jonathan. Of course, you didn't know.
Look, Jim, I'm not gonna let you brood about her.
She's dead, and you're alive.
You can't do anything about it. Neither can I.
Let's get to work, you and I.
Without Jonathan, I don't know what
I'd have done those next few months.
He put me to work and kept me working.
And when the shooting script of the proud land was finished,
he asked me to stay with him for
production meetings and casting.
If you see Miss Ronley as the star of the proud land,
then, that is what you see.
It was my impression this was a woman of sex, eh?
To me, Miss Ronley has the sex appeal of an angleworm.
- How about that, Jonathan? - Hmm, how about what? Oh?
I like Linda Ronley.
- I wonder, uh... - Yes, Jim?
Though I know it's not my department.
No, go ahead, you're among friends.
All the time we were writing the script, I had one girl in mind.
She lives right next to my bungalow. I think she'd be fine.
- Who? - Georgia Lorrison.
If you'd like me to give her the script, I-i...
Uh, Professor, you have just broken a sacred taboo.
You've mentioned the unmentionable.
- That's enough. - That's alright, Syd.
Georgia is the best.
The best actress. The best box office.
Her last three pictures for Fred Amiel grossed to... Harry?
Seven million, six hundred thousand, domestic.
We try to get her, we'll be wasting our time.
She hates my guts.
Uh, Jim, uh, if you wanna show her the script
there's no way I can stop you.
What am I supposed to do? Thank you for saying "no"?
Well, what are you trying to do?
Fight Jonathan Shields' battles for him?
- It happens to be my book. - It happens to be his picture.
You're the first person I ever knew who began
by hating him and ended up liking him.
Do you always do everything backwards?
Do you still love him?
- Oh, excuse me. - Fred.
Do I still love Jonathan?
Oh, no, you don't get me on that one.
That was a stupid question for a writer.
Don't you know about first love?
You may grow out of it, but you don't get over it.
Oh, I'm sorry, that was stupid of me.
No, no. I wouldn't want to get over
my first love either, quite.
Well, it's time you two met. Fred Amiel, James Bartlow.
- How are you? - Mr. Bartlow?
Guess who we were fighting about.
Jonathan is more than a man. He's an experience.
And he's habit-forming, if they
bottled him, he'd outsell ginger ale.
- Ready, Mr. Amiel. - Oh, thanks, Timmy.
Mr. Bartlow, Georgia let me read your script.
It's a beautiful job. I'd like to talk about your next one.
- When you're ready. - Thank you.
- Goodbye, Georgia. - Goodbye.
- Nice to have met you. - Bye.
Shooting started on the proud land
and everything went well,
until the fourth day, then something happened.
Cut!
Close-up of the girl, eh.
About there. Save all...
Mr. Von Ellstein! Would you come here, please?
Mr. Von Ellstein, am I to understand
that you consider this scene complete?
- I do. - Well, I don't.
You call that directing?
That is what I've been calling it for 32 years.
Oh, there are values and dimensions
in that scene you haven't begun to hit!
Perhaps they're not the values and dimensions I wish to hit.
I could make this scene a climax.
I could make every scene in this picture a climax.
If I did, I would be a bad director.
And I like to think of myself as of of the best.
A picture all climaxes is like a necklace
without a string, it falls apart.
You must build to your big moments.
And sometimes you must build slowly.
Look, when I want a lecture on the aesthetics
of motion pictures, I'll ask for it, and it won't be on my time.
It won't be a cover-up for a shallow and
inept interpretation of a great scene!
To be a director, you must have imagination.
Whose imagination, Mr. Shields, yours or mine?
There is only one answer to that.
You see this picture one way and I another.
It will be done your way, but not by me,
and not by any other director who respects himself.
You know what you must do, Mr. Shields
so that you'll have it exactly as you want it?
You must direct this picture yourself.
To direct a picture, a man needs humility.
Do you have humility, Mr. Shields?
Jonathan the director was a new Jonathan.
He was Patience personified.
He was tolerant, even-tempered, considerate and indulgent..
To his crew, his cast and his writer.
Six months and four days after he started shooting
we saw the picture put together for the first time.
- Nice job at cutting, Tom. - Thank you, Mr. Shields.
- Nice work, Tom. - Thanks.
Beautiful production. Beautifully written, Jim.
Beautifully produced.
Harry, tell Chapman his photography's perfect.
Wonderful wasn't it?
Congratulate Walter on his sets. Lucien on her costumes.
- And Boris on his score. - Yeah, I like the music.
Tell the director he should have his head examined.
He shouldn't have shot the picture
he should've shot himself.
Jonathan, it's not as bad as all that...
I butchered it.
Von Ellstein should have been here, today.
He would have enjoyed this.
I have no tension, no timing
no pace, nothing.
I took a beautiful, sensitive story
and turned it into a turgid, boring movie.
For anyone else's direction I'd never release a picture.
I'd shelve it. Who's got a cigarette?
- Anybody got my pack? - Here you are.
Thanks, Harry. I've made pictures that lost money.
But they had something. This is nothing.
Oh, Jonathan, you're being drastic, I'm sure...
Look, all you've got to do is cut the dead wood out...
Please.
- Harry, shelve the picture. - Shelve it? - Shelve the picture?
Are you crazy?
- We can't do that. - Why not?
Look Jonathan, we're in hock to the bank up to our necks.
We went way over budget. We've got to release it.
Harry, there's your penny-pinching mind again.
Shelve it.
We shelve it, that's the end of Shields Productions.
Goodbye to 17 years' work.
Goodbye to every dime you've got.
How about the money in the sock?
There isn't any sock.
Your last two pictures and this one took care of that.
I know.
And every dime of mine is gone and...
Every dime of Syd's.
That I didn't know.
The, uh, banks turned us down on money for the last retakes.
Syd and I... oh, well.
You were shooting, and who could bother you then?
The hard-headed businessman.
The hard-boiled press agent.
I still won't release a picture of mine that I know is bad.
But, Jonathan, other men do!
Their pictures don't say "Jonathan Shields presents.”
Okay, what story shall I break?
That's easy. "Jonathan Shields lays an egg!"
- What're you gonna do now? - I'm tired, Jim.
- What are you gonna do now? - You mind changing the subject?
I just played my big scene in there, "the great man fails."
What do you want, an encore?
You sound like Sebastian.
Who? Oh, your new book.
You told me once to never let a leading character
feel sorry for himself.
- Not for long. - I was wrong.
It's very comforting to feel sorry for yourself.
- You're coming with me. - What?
I've taken a cabin up at Tahoe I'm going to finish my new book
and you're coming along.
- Why? - Why not?
Besides, I work better when you're around.
Can you wait a while?
- How long? - Five minutes.
It'll take me that long to pack.
You know, that Sebastian of yours
sounds like a great character.
You'll have trouble casting him.
- This is a book, not a movie. - You'll sell it to pictures.
And they'll have trouble casting him.
Gee, things Gaucho could have done with that part.
You know, he was Sebastian. The guy with the world on a string.
Ahh, the big happy baboon.
I begged him, "don't take that plane, Gaucho."
But no, not him. He...
Today is my day for mistakes.
Jim...
I didn't kill Rosemary.
Gaucho didn't kill her. She killed herself.
Whether you like it or not, you're better off.
She was a fool. She got in your way.
She interfered with your work.
She wasted your time. She wasted you.
You're better off without her!
"A sensitive, unforgettable portrait
"of a present-day Southern belle.
"Gay and foolish, naive, shrewd
and heartbreaking all at once.”
Yes, Jim, Jonathan sure destroyed you.
You came out of it with nothing.
Nothing but a Pulitzer prize novel...
And the highest salary of any writer in Hollywood.
Look, folks, you've got to give the devil his due.
We all owe him something, and you know it.
And you've had plenty of years to think it over.
- What do you owe him, Harry? - Plenty.
All the times he told me
to shut my penny-pinching mouth.
To Jonathan I was always just an overpaid bookkeeper.
But without him I probably would still be
putting costumes on cat men.
You know, when they list the
10 best pictures ever made...
There are always two or three of his on the list.
And I was with him when he made them.
Excuse me. Yes?
- Your call from Paris is ready. - Oh.
Hello!
Hello? Yes, Jonathan.
No, I can hear perfectly.
Yes, they're here, uh-huh, all three of them.
Alright, I'll ask them.
Jonathan wants to know,
will you help him get started again?
Will you work with him just this once?
Will you do this picture with him?
Georgia?
Sorry, Jonathan.
No, I can't.
I'm sorry, Jonathan. They're gone.
I-I'm sure it's a great idea, but, Jonathan...
Jonathan, this is costing $4.80 a minute.
Don't tell me your idea, write me. Jonathan, please.
Yeah. Yeah... uh-huh.