All about Eve


All about Eve

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The Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement is perhaps unknown to you.

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It has been spared the sensational and commercial publicity

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of such questionable honours as the Pulitzer Prize

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and those awards presented annually by that film society.

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The distinguished-looking gentleman is an extremely old actor.

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Being an actor, he will go on speaking for some time.

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It is not important that you hear what he says.

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However, it is important that you know where you are

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and why you are here.

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This is the dining hall of the Sarah Siddons Society.

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The occasion is the annual banquet and presentation

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of the highest honour our theatre knows,

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the Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement.

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These hallowed walls, indeed many of these faces,

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have looked upon Modjeska, Ada Rehan and Minnie Fiske.

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Mansfield's voice filled this room.

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It is unlikely that the windows have been opened since his death.

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The minor awards, as you can see, have already been presented.

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Minor awards are for such as the writer and director,

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since their function is merely to construct a tower

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so that the world can applaud a light which flashes on top of it.

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And no brighter light has ever dazzled the eye than Eve Harrington.

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Eve... But more of Eve later.

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All about Eve, in fact.

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To those of you who do not read,

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attend the theatre, listen to unsponsored radio programmes

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or know anything of the world in which you live,

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it is perhaps necessary to introduce myself.

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My name is Addison DeWitt.

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My native habitat is the theatre.

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In it, I toil not. Neither do I spin.

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I am a critic and commentator.

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I am essential to the theatre.

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This is Karen Richards.

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She is the wife of a playwright,

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therefore of the theatre by marriage.

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Nothing in her background or breeding should have brought her

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any closer to the stage than Row E.

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However, during her senior year at Radcliffe,

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Lloyd Richards lectured on the drama.

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The following year, Karen became Mrs Lloyd Richards.

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There are, in general, two types of theatrical producers.

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One has a great many wealthy friends who will risk a tax-deductible loss.

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This type is interested in art.

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The other is one to whom each production means potential ruin or fortune.

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This type is out to make a buck.

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Meet Max Fabian.

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He is the producer of the play

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which has won for Eve Harrington the Sarah Siddons Award.

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Margo Channing is a star of the theatre.

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She made her first stage appearance at the age of four

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in Midsummer Night's Dream.

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She played a fairy and entered, quite unexpectedly, stark naked.

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She has been a star ever since.

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Margo is a great star. A true star.

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She never was or will be anything less or anything else.

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Having covered in tedious detail

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not only the history of the Sarah Siddons Society,

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but also the history of acting

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since Thespis first stepped out of the chorus line,

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our distinguished chairman has finally arrived at our reason for being here.

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I have been proud and privileged

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to have spent my life in the theatre,

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a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

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and I've been honoured to be, for 40 years,

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chief prompter of the Sarah Siddons Society.

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39 times have I placed in deserving hands

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this highest honour the theatre knows.

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Surely no actor is older than I.

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I've earned my place out of the sun.

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LAUGHTER

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And never before has this award gone to anyone younger than its recipient tonight.

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How fitting that it should pass from my hands to hers.

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Such young hands. Such a young lady.

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Young in years, but whose heart is as old as the theatre.

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Some of us are privileged to know her.

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We have seen beyond the beauty and artistry

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that have made her name resound through the nation.

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We know her humility, her devotion,

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her loyalty to her art,

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her love, her deep and abiding love for us,

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for what we are and what we do, the theatre.

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She has had one wish,

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one prayer, one dream,

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to belong to us.

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Tonight her dream has come true,

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and henceforth we shall dream the same of her.

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Honoured members, ladies and gentlemen,

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for distinguished achievement in the theatre,

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the Sarah Siddons Award to Miss Eve Harrington.

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APPLAUSE

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Bravo!

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Eve. Eve, the golden girl. The cover girl.

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The girl next door, the girl on the moon. Time has been good to Eve.

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Life goes where she goes.

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She's been profiled, covered, revealed, reported,

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what she eats and what she wears and whom she knows

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and where she was and when and where she's going.

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Eve.

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You all know all about Eve.

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What can there be to know that you don't know?

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When was it? How long?

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It seems a lifetime ago.

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Lloyd always said that in the theatre a lifetime was a season

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and a season a lifetime.

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It's June now. That was early October.

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Only last October.

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It was a drizzly night. I remember I asked the taxi to wait.

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Where was she?

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Strange. I'd become so accustomed to seeing her there night after night,

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I found myself looking for a girl I'd never spoken to,

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wondering where she was.

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Mrs Richards?

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There you are.

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It seemed odd, suddenly, your not being here.

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-Why should you think I wouldn't be?

-Why should you be?

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Six nights a week for weeks

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of watching even Margo Channing enter and leave a theatre.

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-I hope you don't mind my speaking to you?

-Not at all.

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I've seen you so often. It took every bit of courage I could raise.

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To speak to just a playwright's wife?

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I'm the lowest form of celebrity.

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You're Margo Channing's best friend.

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You and your husband are always with her.

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And Mr Sampson. What's he like?

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Bill Sampson? He's a director.

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-He's the best.

-He'll agree with you.

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Tell me. What do you do in between the time Margo goes in and comes out?

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Just huddle in that doorway and wait?

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Oh, no. I see the play.

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You see the play? You've seen every performance of this play?

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Yes.

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But don't you find it...

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Apart from everything else, don't you find it expensive?

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Standing room doesn't cost much. I manage.

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-I'm gonna take you to Margo.

-Oh, no!

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-Oh, yes. She's got to meet you.

-No! No, I'd be imposing on her.

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I'd be just another tongue-tied fan.

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There isn't another like you. There couldn't be.

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If I'd known... Some other time. Looking like this.

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You look just fine. By the way, what's your name?

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Eve. Eve Harrington.

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-Good evening, Gus.

-Good evening, Mrs Richards.

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-Good night.

-Good night, Gus.

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You can breathe it, can't you?

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Like some magic perfume.

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LAUGHTER FROM BEHIND THE DOOR

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Wait right here. Don't run away.

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"If the South had won, you could write plays about the North."

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-Hi.

-Hello!

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"I don't think you can rightly say we lost the war."

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"We was more starved out, you might say."

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"I don't understand all these plays about love-starved Southern women."

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"Love is one thing we were never starved for in the South."

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Margo's interview with a reporter from the South.

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The minute it gets printed, they're gonna fire on Gettysburg again.

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-It was Fort Sumter they fired on.

-I never played Fort Sumter.

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Honeychild had a point. Lloyd, honey, be a playwright with guts.

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Write me one about a nice, normal woman who just shoots her husband.

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-You need new girdles.

-Buy some.

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-Same size?

-Of course.

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I find these wisecracks increasingly less funny.

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-Aged in Wood happens to be a fine play.

-That's my loyal little woman.

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The critics thought so. The audiences certainly think so.

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Packed houses, tickets four months in advance.

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I can't see that Lloyd's plays have hurt you any.

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-Easy now.

-Relax, kid, it's just me and my big mouth.

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It's just you get me so mad sometimes.

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Of all the women with nothing to complain about...

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-Ain't it the truth?

-Yes, it is.

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You're talented, famous, wealthy.

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People waiting around night after night just to see you.

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Even in the wind and the rain.

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Autograph fiends. They're not people.

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Those little beasts that run around in packs like coyotes.

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-They're your fans.

-They're nobody's fans.

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They're juvenile delinquents. They're nobody's audience.

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They never see a play or a movie. They're never indoors long enough.

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Well, there's one indoors right now.

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I've brought her back to see you.

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You've what?

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She's just outside the door.

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The heave-ho.

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But you can't put her out. I promised.

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Margo, you've got to see her.

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She worships you. It's like something out of a book.

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That book is out of print. Those days are gone.

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But if you'd only see her. You're her whole life.

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You must have spotted her by now. She's always there.

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Oh, the mousy one with the trench coat and the funny hat.

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How could I miss her? Every night, every matinee.

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Come in, Eve.

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-I thought you'd forgotten about me.

-Not at all.

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Margo, this is Eve Harrington.

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-How do you do, my dear?

-Oh, brother.

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-Hello, Miss Channing.

-My husband.

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-Hello, Miss Harrington.

-How do you do?

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And this is my dear friend and companion, Miss Birdie Coonan.

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-Oh, brother.

-Miss Coonan.

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-Oh, brother, what?

-When she gets like this,

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she starts playing Hamlet's mother.

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I'm sure you must have things to do in the bathroom, Birdie, dear.

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If I haven't, I'll find something till you get normal.

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Won't you sit down, Miss Worthington?

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Harrington.

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I'm so sorry, Harrington. Won't you sit down?

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Thank you.

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-Would you like a drink?

-I was saying how often you've seen the play.

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No, thank you.

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Yes, I've seen every performance.

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Every performance? Then am I safe in assuming you like it?

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I'd like anything Miss Channing played in.

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Would you really? How sweet.

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I doubt very much that you'd like her in The Hairy Ape.

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Please don't misunderstand me, Mr Richards.

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I think part of Miss Channing's greatness lies in her ability to pick the best plays.

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Your new play is for Miss Channing, isn't it?

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Of course it is.

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-How did you hear about it?

-There was an item in The Times.

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I like the title, Footsteps on the Ceiling.

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Yes, but let's get back to this one.

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-Have you really seen every performance?

-Yes.

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Why? I'm curious.

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Well, if I didn't come to see the play,

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I wouldn't have anywhere else to go.

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There are other plays.

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Not with you in them. Not by Mr Richards.

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But you must have friends, a home, family?

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Tell us about it, Eve.

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If I only knew how.

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Try.

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-Well...

-DOOR OPENS

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Well, it started with the play before this one.

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-Remembrance.

-Remembrance.

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-Did you see it here in New York?

-San Francisco.

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It was the last week. I went one night.

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The most important night of my life, until now.

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I found myself going the next night and the next and the next.

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Every performance.

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Then, when the show went East, I went East.

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Eve, why don't you start at the beginning?

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Oh, it couldn't possibly interest you.

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Please.

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I guess it started back home. Wisconsin, that is.

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It was just Mom and Dad and me.

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I was an only child.

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I used to make believe a lot when I was a kid.

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Acted out all sorts of things. What they were isn't important.

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But, somehow, acting and make-believe

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began to fill up my life more and more.

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It got so I couldn't tell the real from the unreal.

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Except that the unreal seemed more real to me...

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-I'm talking a lot of gibberish, aren't I?

-Not at all.

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Farmers were poor in those days.

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That's what Dad was, a farmer.

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I had to help out.

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So I quit school, went to Milwaukee, became a secretary in a brewery.

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When you're a secretary in a brewery,

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it's hard to make believe you're anything else.

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Everything is beer.

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It wasn't much fun, but it helped at home.

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And there was a little theatre group there,

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like a drop of rain on the desert.

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That's where I met Eddie.

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He was a radio technician.

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We played Liliom for three performances.

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I was awful.

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Then the war came and we got married.

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Eddie was in the air force.

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They sent him to the South Pacific.

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You were with the OWI, weren't you, Mr Richards?

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That's what Who's Who says.

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Well, with Eddie gone, my life went back to beer.

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Except for a letter a week.

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One week he wrote me he had leave coming up.

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I'd saved my money and vacation time

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and went to San Francisco to meet him.

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But Eddie wasn't there.

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They forwarded the telegram from Milwaukee.

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The one that came from Washington.

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To say that Eddie wasn't coming at all.

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That Eddie was dead.

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I figured I'd stay in San Francisco.

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I was alone. I couldn't go back without Eddie.

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I found a job, and his insurance helped.

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And there were theatres in San Francisco.

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And then, one night, Margo Channing came to play in Remembrance,

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and I went to see it.

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Well...

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Here I am.

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What a story.

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Everything but the bloodhounds snapping at her rear end.

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There are some human experiences that do not take place in a vaudeville house!

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And that even a fifth-rate vaudevillian should understand and respect.

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I want to apologize for Birdie.

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You don't have to apologise for me.

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I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings.

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It's just my way of talking.

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You didn't hurt my feelings, Miss Coonan.

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Call me Birdie.

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And as for being fifth-rate,

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I closed the first half for 11 years, and you know it.

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47 minutes from now my plane takes off and how do I find you?

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-Not ready, looking like a junkyard.

-Thank you so much.

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Is it sabotage? Does my career mean nothing to you?

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-Have you no human consideration?

-Show me a human and I might have.

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Airlines have clocks, even if you don't.

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I start shooting a week from Monday. Zanuck is impatient.

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Zanuck, Zanuck! What are you two? Lovers?

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-Only in some ways. You're prettier.

-I'm a junkyard.

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-Bill. This is Eve Harrington.

-Hi.

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My wonderful junkyard. The mystery and dreams you find in a junkyard.

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Heaven help me.

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I love a psychotic.

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-Hello. What's your name?

-Eve. Eve Harrington.

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-You've already met.

-Huh? Where?

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-Right here, just a minute ago.

-That's nice.

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-You're not going, are you?

-I think I'd better.

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It's been... I can hardly find the words to say how it's been.

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No, don't go.

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The four of you must have so much to say to each other with Mr Sampson leaving.

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No, stick around, please.

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Tell you what. We'll put Stanislavsky on his plane,

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then go somewhere and talk.

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Well, if I'm not in the way...

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I won't be a minute.

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Lloyd, we've got to go.

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Good night, Margo.

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-I'll call you tomorrow.

-Not too early.

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-Good luck, genius.

-Geniuses don't need good luck. I do.

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-I'm not worried about you.

-Keep the thought.

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Good night, Eve. I hope I see you again soon.

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I'll be at the old stand tomorrow matinee.

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Not just that way. As a friend.

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I'd like that.

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It's been a real pleasure, Eve.

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I hope so, Mr Richards. Good night.

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Good night.

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Mrs Richards?

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I'll never forget this night as long as I live.

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And I'll never forget you for making it possible.

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And I'll never forget you, Eve.

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Where were we going that night, Lloyd and I?

0:20:400:20:43

Funny, the things you remember

0:20:430:20:46

and the things you don't.

0:20:460:20:48

-So you're going to Hollywood?

-Mm-hm.

0:20:560:20:59

-Why?

-I just wondered.

0:21:010:21:04

Just wondered what?

0:21:040:21:06

Why?

0:21:060:21:07

Why what?

0:21:070:21:09

Why you have to go out there.

0:21:090:21:12

-I don't have to. I want to.

-Is it the money?

0:21:120:21:16

80% of it'll go for taxes.

0:21:160:21:19

Then why? Why, if you're the most successful young director in the theatre...

0:21:190:21:23

The theatre. The theatre.

0:21:230:21:26

What rules say the theatre exists only within some ugly buildings

0:21:260:21:29

crowded into one square mile of New York City?

0:21:290:21:32

Or London, Paris or Vienna?

0:21:320:21:34

Listen, Junior, and learn.

0:21:360:21:38

Do you wanna know what the theatre is? A flea circus. Also opera.

0:21:380:21:43

Also rodeos, carnivals, ballets,

0:21:440:21:47

Indian tribal dances, Punch and Judy, a one-man band, all theatre.

0:21:470:21:51

Wherever there's magic and make-believe

0:21:510:21:54

and an audience, there's theatre.

0:21:540:21:57

Donald Duck, Ibsen and The Lone Ranger.

0:21:570:22:00

Sarah Bernhardt and Poodles Hanneford.

0:22:000:22:02

Lunt and Fontanne, Betty Grable.

0:22:020:22:04

Rex the Wild Horse, Eleonora Duse, all theatre.

0:22:040:22:08

You don't understand them all. You don't like them all.

0:22:080:22:11

Why should you?

0:22:110:22:12

The theatre's for everybody, you included, but not exclusively.

0:22:120:22:16

So, don't approve or disapprove.

0:22:160:22:18

It may not be your theatre, but it's theatre for somebody, somewhere.

0:22:180:22:22

I just asked a simple question.

0:22:220:22:25

And I shot my mouth off.

0:22:250:22:28

Nothing personal, Junior. No offence.

0:22:280:22:31

It's just that there's so much bushwa in this ivory greenroom they call the theatre,

0:22:310:22:36

sometimes it gets up around my chin.

0:22:360:22:39

But Hollywood. You mustn't stay out there.

0:22:390:22:43

-It's only a one-picture deal.

-So few come back.

0:22:430:22:46

I read George Jean Nathan every week.

0:22:480:22:52

Also Addison DeWitt.

0:22:520:22:53

Every day.

0:22:530:22:55

-You didn't have to tell me.

-DOOR OPENS

0:22:560:22:59

It's the latest thing, one earring.

0:22:590:23:01

If it isn't, it's going to be. I can't find the other one.

0:23:010:23:05

Throw that dreary letter away. It bores me.

0:23:050:23:08

-Where do you suppose it could be?

-It'll show up.

0:23:080:23:11

Oh, I give up. Look in the wigs. Maybe it got caught in one.

0:23:110:23:14

Real diamonds in a wig. The world we live in.

0:23:140:23:17

-Where's my coat?

-Right where you left it.

0:23:170:23:20

The seams.

0:23:230:23:25

He can't take his eyes off my legs.

0:23:250:23:28

Like a nylon lemon peel.

0:23:280:23:30

Byron couldn't have said it more graciously.

0:23:300:23:33

Here we go.

0:23:330:23:36

Got any messages?

0:23:360:23:38

What do you want me to tell Tyrone Power?

0:23:380:23:40

Just give him my phone number. I'll tell him myself.

0:23:400:23:44

Kill the people.

0:23:440:23:46

-You got your key?

-See you at home.

0:23:480:23:50

I have a suggestion. There's really not very much time left.

0:23:550:23:59

I mean, you haven't had a minute alone yet.

0:23:590:24:01

And I could take care of everything here and meet you at the gate with the ticket,

0:24:010:24:06

if you'd like.

0:24:060:24:08

I think we'd like very much.

0:24:080:24:09

-Sure you won't mind?

-Of course not.

0:24:090:24:12

She's quite a girl, this whatshername.

0:24:210:24:23

Eve. I'd forgotten they grew that way.

0:24:230:24:25

That lack of pretence, that strange directness and understanding.

0:24:250:24:29

Did she tell you about the theatre and what it meant?

0:24:290:24:32

No, I told her. I sounded off.

0:24:320:24:34

All the religions in the world rolled into one,

0:24:340:24:37

and we're gods and goddesses.

0:24:370:24:40

Isn't it silly? Suddenly I've developed a big, protective feeling toward her.

0:24:400:24:44

A lamb loose in our big stone jungle.

0:24:440:24:47

Take care of yourself out there.

0:24:520:24:54

I understand they have the Indians pretty well in hand.

0:24:540:24:57

-Bill. Don't get stuck on some glamour puss.

-I'll try.

0:24:570:25:01

You're not much of a bargain. You're conceited, thoughtless and messy.

0:25:010:25:04

Everybody can't be Gregory Peck.

0:25:040:25:06

You're a setup for some gorgeous, wide-eyed, young babe.

0:25:060:25:10

How childish are you gonna get before you stop it?

0:25:100:25:12

I don't wanna be childish. I'd settle for a few years.

0:25:120:25:15

And cut that out right now.

0:25:150:25:17

Am I going to lose you, Bill? Am I?

0:25:170:25:20

As of this moment, you're six years old.

0:25:200:25:22

All ready.

0:25:220:25:25

Thanks for your help. Good luck.

0:25:400:25:42

Goodbye, Mr Sampson.

0:25:420:25:45

-Knit me a muffler?

-Call me when you get in.

0:25:450:25:47

Hey, Junior!

0:26:020:26:05

Keep your eye on her. Don't let her get lonely.

0:26:050:26:08

She's a loose lamb in a jungle.

0:26:080:26:10

Don't worry.

0:26:100:26:12

That same night, we sent for Eve's things, her few pitiful possessions.

0:26:250:26:30

She moved into the little guest room on the top floor.

0:26:300:26:33

The next three weeks were out of a fairy tale,

0:26:360:26:39

and I was Cinderella in the last act.

0:26:390:26:41

Eve became my sister, lawyer, mother, friend,

0:26:410:26:45

psychiatrist and cop.

0:26:450:26:47

The honeymoon was on.

0:26:480:26:51

APPLAUSE

0:27:030:27:05

CHEERING

0:27:400:27:43

One more?

0:27:540:27:56

From now on it isn't applause,

0:27:560:27:58

just something to do till the aisles get cleared.

0:27:580:28:02

What, again?

0:28:030:28:05

I could watch you play that last scene a thousand times,

0:28:080:28:12

cry every time.

0:28:120:28:13

Performance number 1,000 of this one, if I play it that long,

0:28:130:28:16

will take place in a well-padded booby hatch.

0:28:160:28:19

I must say, you can certainly tell Mr Sampson's been gone a month.

0:28:220:28:26

You certainly can.

0:28:260:28:28

Especially if you're me between now and tomorrow morning.

0:28:280:28:32

You bought the new girdles a size smaller. I can feel it.

0:28:320:28:35

Something maybe grew a size larger.

0:28:350:28:38

You can get into one of those girdles and act for two and a half hours.

0:28:380:28:41

I couldn't get into the girdle in two and a half hours.

0:28:410:28:45

You haven't noticed my latest bit of interior decorating.

0:28:500:28:54

But you've done so much. What's new?

0:28:540:28:57

The curtains. I made them myself.

0:28:570:29:00

They're lovely. Aren't they lovely, Birdie?

0:29:020:29:05

Adorable.

0:29:050:29:06

We now got everything a dressing room needs except a basketball hoop.

0:29:060:29:10

Just because you can't even work a zipper!

0:29:100:29:12

It was very thoughtful of you, Eve. I appreciate it.

0:29:120:29:16

I'll just take this to the wardrobe mistress.

0:29:160:29:19

Don't bother. Mrs Brown will be along soon.

0:29:190:29:21

No trouble at all.

0:29:210:29:23

May I be so bold as to say something?

0:29:280:29:31

Have you ever heard of the word "union"?

0:29:310:29:33

Behind in your dues? How much?

0:29:330:29:35

-I haven't got a union. I'm slave labour.

-Well?

0:29:350:29:38

But the wardrobe women have got one and, next to a tenor,

0:29:380:29:41

a wardrobe woman is the touchiest thing in show business.

0:29:410:29:45

Oh, oh.

0:29:450:29:46

She's got two things to do - carry clothes and press 'em wrong.

0:29:460:29:49

And don't let anybody try to muscle in.

0:29:490:29:52

Eve.

0:30:000:30:03

We'd better let Mrs Brown pick up the wardrobe.

0:30:050:30:09

PHONE RINGS

0:30:220:30:23

Hello.

0:30:360:30:37

We are ready with your call to Beverly Hills.

0:30:370:30:39

-Call? What call?

-Is this Templeton 89970? Miss Channing?

0:30:390:30:44

Yes, it is, but I don't understand.

0:30:440:30:46

We are ready with the call you placed for 12 midnight,

0:30:460:30:49

California time, to Mr William Sampson.

0:30:490:30:51

-I placed?

-Go ahead, please.

0:30:510:30:54

Margo, what a wonderful surprise.

0:30:540:30:58

What a thoughtful, ever-lovin' thing to do.

0:30:580:31:01

Bill. Have I gone crazy, Bill?

0:31:010:31:05

-You're my girl, aren't you?

-That I am.

0:31:050:31:07

Then you're crazy.

0:31:070:31:09

-When are you coming back?

-I leave in a week.

0:31:100:31:13

The picture's wrapped up. We previewed last night.

0:31:130:31:16

Oh, those previews.

0:31:160:31:18

Like opening out of town, but terrifying.

0:31:180:31:21

There's nothing you can do.

0:31:210:31:22

You're trapped. You're in a tin can.

0:31:220:31:25

In a tin can, cellophane or wrapped in a Navajo blanket, I want you home.

0:31:250:31:30

-You in a hurry?

-In a big hurry, so be quick about it.

0:31:300:31:35

Goodbye, darling. Sleep tight.

0:31:350:31:38

Hey, wait a minute. You haven't even said it.

0:31:380:31:41

Oh, now, Bill. You know how much I do, but over a phone...

0:31:410:31:45

Now, really. That's kids' stuff.

0:31:450:31:48

Kids' stuff or not. It doesn't happen every day and I wanna hear it.

0:31:480:31:52

-And if you won't say it, you can sing it.

-Sing it?

0:31:520:31:55

Sure, like the Western Union boys used to do.

0:31:550:31:58

Bill...

0:32:020:32:05

it's your birthday.

0:32:050:32:07

And who remembered it? Who was there on the dot at 12 midnight?

0:32:070:32:12

Happy birthday, darling.

0:32:120:32:14

The reading could've been better, but you said it.

0:32:140:32:17

Now, "Many happy returns of the day."

0:32:170:32:20

Many happy returns of the day.

0:32:200:32:23

-I get a party, don't I?

-Of course. Birthday and coming home.

0:32:230:32:27

-Who will I ask?

-It's no secret. I know all about the party.

0:32:270:32:30

Eve wrote me.

0:32:300:32:32

-She did?

-She hasn't missed a week since I left.

0:32:330:32:36

But you know all about that. You probably tell her what to write.

0:32:360:32:38

I sent her a list of people to ask, so check with her.

0:32:380:32:41

Yeah, I will.

0:32:410:32:43

-How is Eve? OK?

-OK.

0:32:430:32:46

-I love you.

-I'll check with Eve.

0:32:460:32:49

Hm?

0:32:490:32:51

I love you, too.

0:32:510:32:52

Good night, darling.

0:32:520:32:55

See ya.

0:32:550:32:57

-Birdie.

-Hm?

0:33:400:33:43

You don't like Eve, do you?

0:33:430:33:45

You want an argument or an answer?

0:33:450:33:47

-An answer.

-No.

0:33:470:33:50

-Why not?

-Now you want an argument.

0:33:500:33:52

She works hard.

0:33:530:33:55

Night and day.

0:33:550:33:56

She's loyal and efficient.

0:33:560:33:58

Like an agent with only one client.

0:33:580:34:01

She thinks only of me,

0:34:020:34:06

doesn't she?

0:34:060:34:08

Well, let's say she thinks only about ya, anyway.

0:34:080:34:11

-How do you mean that?

-I'll tell ya how.

0:34:110:34:15

Like...

0:34:150:34:17

Like she's studying you.

0:34:170:34:19

Like you was a play, or a book, or a set of blueprints.

0:34:190:34:22

How you walk, talk, eat, think...

0:34:220:34:24

I'm sure that's flattering. There's nothing wrong with it.

0:34:240:34:27

KNOCK ON DOOR

0:34:270:34:29

Good morning. Well, what do you think of my elegant new suit?

0:34:290:34:33

It looks much better on you than it did on me.

0:34:330:34:36

I can imagine. All it needed was a little taking in here and letting out there.

0:34:360:34:41

Are you sure you won't want it yourself?

0:34:410:34:42

Quite sure. I find it too seventeenish for me.

0:34:420:34:46

Come now, as though you were an old lady.

0:34:460:34:48

I'm on my way. Is there anything more you thought of?

0:34:480:34:50

-That script to take to the Guild.

-I've got it.

0:34:500:34:53

And those checks for the income-tax man.

0:34:530:34:55

Right here.

0:34:550:34:58

It seems I can't think of a thing you haven't thought of.

0:34:580:35:01

That's my job. See you at teatime.

0:35:010:35:04

Eve?

0:35:060:35:08

By chance, did you place a call from me to Bill

0:35:080:35:11

for midnight California time?

0:35:110:35:14

Golly, I forgot to tell you!

0:35:140:35:15

Yes, dear, you forgot all about it.

0:35:150:35:17

I was sure you'd want to, being his birthday.

0:35:170:35:20

You've been so busy lately.

0:35:200:35:22

Last night I meant to tell you before you went out.

0:35:220:35:25

I guess I was asleep when you got home.

0:35:250:35:27

Yes, I guess you were. It was very thoughtful of you, Eve.

0:35:270:35:31

Mr Sampson's birthday, I couldn't forget that.

0:35:310:35:34

You'd never forgive me.

0:35:340:35:36

As a matter of fact, I sent him a telegram myself.

0:35:420:35:45

Bill's welcome-home birthday party, a night to go down in history.

0:36:110:36:16

Even before the party started, I could smell disaster in the air.

0:36:160:36:20

I knew it. I sensed it even as I finished dressing

0:36:200:36:24

for that blasted party.

0:36:240:36:26

You all put together?

0:36:270:36:28

My back's open.

0:36:280:36:30

Extra help get here?

0:36:310:36:32

There's some loose characters dressed as maids and butlers.

0:36:320:36:35

Did you call the William Morris Agency?

0:36:350:36:37

You're not funny. Actors would cost less. How about the food?

0:36:370:36:41

The caterer had to go back for the hors d'oeuvres.

0:36:410:36:43

Voila!

0:36:430:36:45

That French ventriloquist taught you a lot.

0:36:450:36:48

There was nothing he didn't know.

0:36:480:36:51

There's a message from the bartender.

0:36:560:36:58

"Does Miss Channing know that she ordered domestic gin by mistake?"

0:36:580:37:01

The only thing I ordered by mistake is the guests.

0:37:010:37:04

They don't care what they drink as long as it burns.

0:37:040:37:07

-Where's Bill? He's late.

-Late for what?

0:37:070:37:10

Don't be dense. The party.

0:37:100:37:11

I ain't dense. He's been here for 20 minutes.

0:37:110:37:14

Well, I certainly think it's odd he hasn't even come up to...

0:37:140:37:18

-LAUGHTER

-The cameraman said,

0:37:350:37:37

"Even DeMille couldn't see anything looking through the wrong end!" So...

0:37:370:37:41

Don't let me kill the point. Or isn't it a story for grown-ups?

0:37:410:37:44

You've heard it. I looked through the wrong end of the camera.

0:37:440:37:48

Remind me to tell you about the time I looked into the heart of an artichoke.

0:37:480:37:52

-I'd like to hear it.

-Some snowy night in front of the fire.

0:37:520:37:56

Meanwhile, would you check about the hors d'oeuvres, Eve?

0:37:560:37:59

The caterer forgot them. The varnish wasn't dry or something.

0:37:590:38:02

Of course.

0:38:020:38:04

Looks like I'm going to have a very fancy party.

0:38:150:38:17

-I thought you were going to be late.

-Well, I'm guest of honour.

0:38:170:38:21

I had no idea you were even here.

0:38:210:38:23

I ran into Eve and she told me you were dressing.

0:38:230:38:26

That's never stopped you before.

0:38:260:38:28

She wanted to know about Hollywood. She seemed so interested...

0:38:300:38:33

She's a girl of so many interests.

0:38:330:38:35

It's a pretty rare quality these days.

0:38:350:38:37

-A girl of so many rare qualities.

-So she seems.

0:38:370:38:41

So you've pointed out so often.

0:38:410:38:43

So many qualities so often.

0:38:430:38:45

Her loyalty, efficiency, devotion, warmth and affection, and so young.

0:38:450:38:49

So young and so fair.

0:38:490:38:51

I can't believe you're making this up.

0:38:530:38:55

It sounds like something out of an old Clyde Fitch play.

0:38:550:38:58

Clyde Fitch, though you may not think so, was well before my time.

0:38:580:39:02

I've always denied the legend that you were in Our American Cousin

0:39:020:39:05

the night Lincoln was shot.

0:39:050:39:06

I don't think that's funny.

0:39:060:39:08

Of course it's funny.

0:39:080:39:09

This is all too laughable to be anything else.

0:39:090:39:12

You know what I feel about your age obsession.

0:39:120:39:14

And this getting into a jealous froth

0:39:140:39:16

because I spent ten minutes with a stage-struck kid.

0:39:160:39:19

-20!

-30 minutes, 40 minutes. What of it?

0:39:190:39:21

Stage-struck kid, she's a young lady of qualities.

0:39:210:39:24

And I'm fed up with both the young lady and her qualities.

0:39:240:39:28

Studying me as if I were a play or a blueprint.

0:39:280:39:31

How I walk, talk, think, act, sleep.

0:39:310:39:34

How can you take offence at a kid trying to be like her ideal?

0:39:340:39:38

Stop calling her a kid.

0:39:380:39:40

As it happens, there are particular aspects of my life

0:39:420:39:45

to which I would like to maintain sole and exclusive rights and privileges.

0:39:450:39:50

For instance, what?

0:39:500:39:51

For instance, you.

0:39:510:39:53

This is my cue to take you in my arms and reassure you.

0:39:550:39:59

But I'm not going to. I'm too mad.

0:39:590:40:01

-Guilty!

-Mad!

0:40:010:40:02

There are certain characteristics for which you are famous,

0:40:020:40:05

on stage and off.

0:40:050:40:06

I love you for some and in spite of others.

0:40:060:40:08

I haven't let those become too important.

0:40:080:40:11

They're part of your equipment for getting along in what is called "our environment".

0:40:110:40:15

You have to keep your teeth sharp, all right.

0:40:150:40:18

But I will not have you sharpen them on me, or on Eve.

0:40:180:40:21

What about her teeth? Her fangs?

0:40:210:40:23

She hasn't cut them yet and you know it!

0:40:230:40:25

So when you start judging an idealistic, dreamy-eyed kid

0:40:250:40:28

by the bar-room, Benzedrine standards

0:40:280:40:30

of this megalomaniac society, I won't have it!

0:40:300:40:33

Eve Harrington has never by word, look, thought or suggestion

0:40:330:40:37

indicated anything to me but adoration for you

0:40:370:40:39

and happiness at our being in love.

0:40:390:40:41

To intimate anything else doesn't spell jealousy,

0:40:410:40:43

it spells a paranoiac insecurity that you should be ashamed of.

0:40:430:40:46

Cut. Print it. What happens in the next reel?

0:40:460:40:48

Do I get dragged off screaming to the snake pits?

0:40:480:40:51

Miss Channing?

0:40:510:40:53

The hors d'oeuvres are here. Is there anything else I can do?

0:40:550:40:59

Thank you, Eve. I'd like a martini, very dry.

0:41:030:41:06

I'll get it.

0:41:060:41:08

-What'll you have?

-A milk shake?

0:41:110:41:13

A martini, very dry, please.

0:41:140:41:16

LAUGHTER AND CHATTER

0:41:160:41:19

-The party's on the first floor.

-Hi, Bill.

0:41:200:41:23

-Hello, Mrs

-Richards.

-How are you, dear?

-Hello, Eve.

0:41:230:41:26

Good evening, Mr Richards. Mr Fabian.

0:41:260:41:28

-Hello, Eve. Hello.

-May I have your coat?

0:41:280:41:31

Don't bother, I'll take it up.

0:41:310:41:32

-Please.

-Thank you.

0:41:320:41:33

-Hi.

-Hi, Margo.

0:41:330:41:36

-The house looks lovely.

-Thank you.

-I like that girl.

0:41:360:41:39

That quality of quiet graciousness.

0:41:390:41:41

Among so many quiet qualities.

0:41:410:41:44

Shall we?

0:41:440:41:46

-It's made me so happy your taking Eve in.

-I'm so happy you're happy.

0:41:460:41:51

Look, you haven't been running a settlement house exactly.

0:41:510:41:54

The kid has earned her way.

0:41:540:41:56

You had a pretty mixed-up inventory when she took over.

0:41:560:41:58

Merchandise laying all over the shop.

0:41:580:42:01

You got Margo mixed up with a five-and-ten cents store.

0:42:010:42:03

Make it Bergdorf Goodman.

0:42:030:42:05

Everything on its proper shelf, eh, Max? All done up in little ribbons.

0:42:050:42:08

I could die right now and nobody'd be confused.

0:42:080:42:11

How about you, Max?

0:42:110:42:12

How about me what?

0:42:120:42:13

Suppose you dropped dead. What about your inventory?

0:42:130:42:17

I ain't going to drop dead. Not with the heat.

0:42:170:42:21

This is the most ghoulish conversation.

0:42:210:42:24

-Thank you.

-Nothing.

0:42:240:42:26

Max! Mon vieux!

0:42:260:42:28

Fife!

0:42:280:42:30

"The kid" will be down in a minute,

0:42:300:42:32

unless you'd like to take her drink up to her.

0:42:320:42:34

I can get a fresh one... Karen, you're a Gibson girl.

0:42:340:42:38

The general atmosphere is very Macbethish.

0:42:380:42:41

-What has or is about to happen?

-What is he talking about?

0:42:410:42:44

-Macbeth.

-We've seen you like this before.

0:42:440:42:47

Is it over or is it just beginning?

0:42:470:42:50

Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night.

0:42:590:43:03

-Margo, darling!

-How are you?

0:43:050:43:07

Mademoiselle, je vous remercie pour l'invitation.

0:43:070:43:10

Enchantee to you too.

0:43:100:43:13

I distinctly remember, Addison, crossing you off my guest list.

0:43:130:43:16

What are you doing here?

0:43:160:43:17

Dear Margo, you were an unforgettable Peter Pan.

0:43:170:43:20

You must play it again soon.

0:43:200:43:22

-Remember Miss Casswell?

-I do not. How do you do?

0:43:220:43:24

-We've never met. Maybe that's why.

-Miss Casswell is an actress.

0:43:240:43:27

A graduate of the Copacabana School of Dramatic Art.

0:43:270:43:30

Ah... Eve.

0:43:320:43:34

-Good evening, Mr DeWitt.

-I had no idea you knew each other.

0:43:340:43:37

This must be, at long last, our formal introduction.

0:43:370:43:40

Until now, we've only met in passing.

0:43:400:43:42

That's how you met me. In passing.

0:43:420:43:45

Eve, this is an old friend of Mr DeWitt's mother.

0:43:450:43:47

-Miss Casswell, Miss Harrington.

-Miss Casswell.

-How do you do?

0:43:470:43:50

I've been wanting you to meet Eve for the longest time.

0:43:500:43:53

Your natural timidity must have kept you from mentioning it.

0:43:530:43:56

-You know of her interest in the theatre?

-We have that in common.

0:43:560:44:00

Then you two must have a long talk.

0:44:000:44:02

I'm afraid Mr DeWitt would find me boring before too long.

0:44:020:44:05

You won't bore him, honey. You won't even get a chance to talk.

0:44:050:44:08

Claudia, come here.

0:44:080:44:10

You see that man? That's Max Fabian, the producer.

0:44:120:44:15

Now, go and do yourself some good.

0:44:150:44:17

Why do they always look like unhappy rabbits?

0:44:170:44:20

Cos that's what they are. Now go and make him happier.

0:44:200:44:24

Now, don't worry about your little charge. She'll be in safe hands.

0:44:260:44:30

Amen!

0:44:410:44:43

MUSIC: Liebestraum by Franz Liszt

0:44:470:44:50

MUSIC CHANGES TO A JAUNTY TUNE

0:45:190:45:22

-Liebestraum.

-I just played it.

0:45:240:45:27

-Play it again.

-But that was the fourth straight time.

0:45:270:45:30

Then this will be five.

0:45:300:45:33

Many of your guests are wondering when they may be permitted to view the body.

0:45:350:45:40

Where has it been laid out?

0:45:400:45:42

It hasn't been laid out.

0:45:420:45:44

We haven't finished with the embalming.

0:45:440:45:47

As a matter of fact, you're looking at it.

0:45:470:45:50

The remains of Margo Channing

0:45:500:45:54

sitting up.

0:45:540:45:56

It is my last wish to be buried sitting up.

0:45:560:45:59

Wouldn't you feel more natural taking a bow?

0:45:590:46:02

You know nothing about feelings, natural or unnatural.

0:46:020:46:06

Your guests were also wondering whether the music couldn't be

0:46:060:46:09

a shade more on the, shall we say, happier side?

0:46:090:46:13

If my guests do not like it here,

0:46:130:46:15

I suggest they accompany you to the nursery

0:46:150:46:18

where I'm sure you will all feel more at home.

0:46:180:46:22

Margo, you by any chance haven't got any bicarbonate of soda in the house?

0:46:220:46:27

Poor Max. Heartburn?

0:46:270:46:30

It's that Miss Casswell.

0:46:310:46:33

I don't see why she hasn't given Addison heartburn.

0:46:330:46:37

No heart to burn.

0:46:370:46:38

Everybody has a heart, except some people.

0:46:380:46:42

Of course I've got bicarb.

0:46:430:46:45

I've got a box in the pantry.

0:46:450:46:48

We'll put your name on it. "Max Fabian."

0:46:480:46:51

It will stay there always, just for you.

0:46:510:46:55

Let the rest of the world beat their brains out for a buck.

0:46:560:47:00

It's friends that count.

0:47:000:47:02

-And I have friends.

-I love you, Max. I really mean it.

0:47:020:47:07

I love you.

0:47:070:47:09

Come to the pantry.

0:47:090:47:12

She loves me like a father. Also, she's loaded.

0:47:120:47:15

There you are, Maxie dear.

0:47:300:47:32

One good burp and you'll be rid of that Miss Casswell.

0:47:320:47:35

The situation I'm in ain't the kind you can belch your way out of.

0:47:350:47:38

-I made a promise.

-To Miss Casswell? What?

0:47:380:47:42

For an audition for this part we are replacing.

0:47:420:47:44

What's her name? Your sister?

0:47:440:47:47

-One?

-No, two, please.

0:47:470:47:49

If she can act, she might not be bad.

0:47:490:47:51

She looks like she might burn down a plantation.

0:47:510:47:54

Right now, I feel like there is one burning in me.

0:47:540:47:57

-When's the audition?

-A couple of weeks.

0:47:570:48:00

Tell you what. Why don't I read with her?

0:48:000:48:04

-Would you?

-Anything to help you out, Max.

0:48:040:48:07

Now that's cooperation. I appreciate it.

0:48:070:48:10

Not at all. And now you can do me a great favour.

0:48:100:48:14

Just name it.

0:48:140:48:16

Give Eve Harrington a job in your office.

0:48:160:48:19

HE BELCHES

0:48:220:48:23

You get quick action, don't you?

0:48:230:48:25

I wouldn't think of taking that girl away from you.

0:48:250:48:28

You said yourself my inventory was in shape,

0:48:280:48:31

all my merchandise put away.

0:48:310:48:33

To keep her here with nothing to do, I'd be standing in her way.

0:48:330:48:36

-And you need her, Max.

-What will she do?

0:48:360:48:39

She'd be a great help. She'd read scripts,

0:48:390:48:42

interview people you have to see, get rid of those you don't have to.

0:48:420:48:47

You'd be a man of leisure, Maxie.

0:48:470:48:49

-Well...

-Think of your health.

0:48:490:48:51

More time to relax in the fresh air at a racetrack.

0:48:510:48:55

-I don't think it's such a good idea.

-Promise?

0:48:550:48:58

-Promise.

-That's my Max.

0:48:580:49:01

Oh, there you are, both of you.

0:49:020:49:04

Max, Karen's decided it's time to go.

0:49:040:49:06

-Where is she now?

-Up in your room.

0:49:060:49:09

If you'll excuse me, I'll go and tell Miss Casswell.

0:49:090:49:12

-Who's left out there?

-Too many.

0:49:160:49:18

And, besides, you got a new guest. A movie star from Hollywood.

0:49:180:49:21

Shucks! And I sent my autograph book to the cleaners.

0:49:210:49:26

You disapprove of me when I'm like this, don't you?

0:49:300:49:33

Not exactly. Sometimes, though, I wish I understood you better.

0:49:330:49:37

-When you do, let me in on it.

-I will.

0:49:370:49:40

-How's the new one coming?

-The play? Oh, all right, I guess.

0:49:420:49:46

Cora. Still a girl of 20?

0:49:470:49:50

20-ish. It's not important.

0:49:500:49:52

Don't you think it's about time it became important?

0:49:520:49:55

-How do you mean?

-Don't be evasive.

0:49:550:49:58

Margo, you haven't got any age.

0:49:580:50:00

Miss Channing is ageless. Spoken like a press agent.

0:50:000:50:04

I know what I'm talking about. They're my plays.

0:50:040:50:07

Spoken like an author.

0:50:070:50:10

Lloyd, I'm not 20-ish. I'm not 30-ish.

0:50:100:50:13

Three months ago I was 40 years old.

0:50:130:50:16

40! 4-0.

0:50:160:50:18

That slipped out.

0:50:210:50:23

I hadn't quite made up my mind to admit it.

0:50:230:50:26

Now I suddenly feel as if I've taken all my clothes off.

0:50:270:50:31

To thousands of people you're as young as you want.

0:50:340:50:37

As young as they want, you mean.

0:50:370:50:40

I'm not interested whether thousands of people think I'm six or 600.

0:50:400:50:43

Just one person, isn't that so?

0:50:430:50:46

You know what this is all about.

0:50:490:50:51

It has little to do with whether you should play Cora.

0:50:510:50:53

It has everything to do with you having a fight with Bill.

0:50:530:50:56

Bill's 32. He looks 32.

0:50:560:51:00

He looked it five years ago. He'll look it 20 years from now.

0:51:000:51:04

I hate men.

0:51:040:51:06

Don't worry, Lloyd. I'll play your play.

0:51:080:51:11

I'll wear rompers and come in rolling a hoop, if you like.

0:51:110:51:15

Who'd show up at this hour? It's time people went home.

0:51:190:51:23

Hold that coat up.

0:51:250:51:27

SHE WOLF WHISTLES

0:51:280:51:30

-Whose is it?

-Some Hollywood movie star.

0:51:300:51:33

-Her plane got in late.

-Discouraging, isn't it?

0:51:330:51:36

Women with furs like that where it never even gets cold.

0:51:360:51:40

Hollywood.

0:51:400:51:42

Tell me, Eve. How are things going with you? Happy?

0:51:440:51:48

There should be a new word for happiness.

0:51:480:51:50

Being here with Miss Channing has been a... I just can't say.

0:51:500:51:54

She's been so wonderful, done so much for me.

0:51:540:51:57

Lloyd says Margo compensates for underplaying on stage

0:51:580:52:01

by overplaying reality.

0:52:010:52:04

Next to that sable, my new mink seems like an old bed jacket.

0:52:050:52:09

You've done your share, Eve.

0:52:090:52:11

You've worked wonders with Margo. Good night.

0:52:110:52:14

-Mrs Richards?

-Karen.

0:52:140:52:17

Karen.

0:52:170:52:19

Isn't it awful? I'm about to ask you for another favour,

0:52:190:52:22

after all you've done already.

0:52:220:52:24

Nobody's done so much.

0:52:240:52:26

Stop thinking of yourself as one of the hundred neediest cases.

0:52:260:52:30

-What is it?

-Miss Channing's affairs are in good shape,

0:52:300:52:34

so there isn't enough to keep me as busy as I should be.

0:52:340:52:37

Not that I'd consider anything that would take me away from her.

0:52:370:52:40

But the other day when Mr Fabian told Miss Channing

0:52:400:52:44

that her understudy was going to have a baby and they'd have to replace her...

0:52:440:52:48

You want to be Margo's new understudy?

0:52:480:52:50

I don't let myself think about it even.

0:52:500:52:53

But I do know the part so well, and every bit of the staging,

0:52:530:52:56

there'd be no need to break in a new girl.

0:52:560:52:59

Suppose I had to go on one night

0:53:000:53:03

to an audience that came to see Margo Channing.

0:53:030:53:06

Oh, no, I couldn't possibly!

0:53:060:53:08

I wouldn't worry too much about that.

0:53:080:53:10

Margo just doesn't miss performances.

0:53:100:53:12

If she can walk, crawl or roll, she plays.

0:53:120:53:15

The show must go on.

0:53:150:53:17

No, dear. Margo must go on.

0:53:170:53:19

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be her understudy.

0:53:190:53:23

-You think Miss Channing would approve?

-I think she'd cheer.

0:53:230:53:26

But Mr Richards and Mr Sampson?

0:53:260:53:29

They'll do as they're told.

0:53:290:53:31

Then would you speak to Mr Fabian about it?

0:53:310:53:34

-Of course.

-You won't forget?

0:53:340:53:37

I won't forget.

0:53:370:53:39

I seem to be forever thanking you for something, don't I?

0:53:410:53:45

The bed looks like a dead animal act.

0:53:530:53:56

-Which one is sable?

-But she just got here.

0:53:560:53:59

Well, she's on her way with half the men in the joint.

0:53:590:54:03

-It's only a fur coat.

-What do you expect? Live sable?

0:54:030:54:06

Diamond collar, gold sleeves. You know, picture people.

0:54:060:54:10

Every now and then, some elder statesmen of the theatre or cinema

0:54:120:54:15

assures the public that actors and actresses are just plain folks,

0:54:150:54:19

ignoring the fact that their greatest attraction to the public

0:54:190:54:23

is their complete lack of resemblance to normal human beings.

0:54:230:54:26

Now there's something a girl could make sacrifices for.

0:54:260:54:30

-And probably has.

-Sable.

0:54:300:54:32

-Sable? Did she say sable or Gable?

-Either one.

0:54:320:54:36

We all have abnormality in common.

0:54:360:54:39

We're a breed apart from the rest of humanity, we theatre folk.

0:54:390:54:43

We are the original displaced personalities.

0:54:430:54:46

You won't have to read his column tomorrow, Eve. You just heard it.

0:54:460:54:50

-I don't agree, Addison.

-That's your particular abnormality.

0:54:500:54:54

I admit there's a screwball element in the theatre.

0:54:540:54:57

It sticks out, it's got spotlights on it and a brass band.

0:54:570:55:01

But it isn't basic. It isn't standard.

0:55:010:55:03

If it were, the theatre couldn't survive.

0:55:030:55:06

Oh, waiter.

0:55:060:55:08

That isn't a waiter, my dear. That's a butler.

0:55:080:55:10

Well, I can't yell out "butler", can I?

0:55:100:55:12

Maybe somebody's name is Butler.

0:55:120:55:15

You have a point. An idiotic one, but a point.

0:55:150:55:18

I don't want to make trouble. All I want is a drink.

0:55:180:55:22

-Leave it to me.

-I'll get you one.

-Thank you, Mr Fabian.

0:55:220:55:27

Well done. I can see your career rising in the east like the sun.

0:55:270:55:31

-You were saying?

-The theatre is nine-tenths hard work.

0:55:330:55:38

Work done the hard way, by sweat, application and craftsmanship.

0:55:380:55:42

To be a good actor or actress, or anything in the theatre,

0:55:420:55:46

means wanting to be that more than anything else.

0:55:460:55:49

Yes. Yes, it does.

0:55:490:55:51

It means a concentration of desire or ambition and sacrifice

0:55:510:55:55

such as no other profession demands.

0:55:550:55:57

And the man or woman who accepts those terms can't be ordinary,

0:55:570:56:01

can't be just someone.

0:56:010:56:03

To give so much for almost always so little.

0:56:030:56:06

"So little?"

0:56:060:56:08

"So little," did you say?

0:56:080:56:10

Why, if there's nothing else, there's applause.

0:56:110:56:15

I've listened backstage to people applaud.

0:56:150:56:18

It's like...

0:56:180:56:20

Like waves of love coming over the footlights and wrapping you up.

0:56:200:56:25

Imagine, to know every night

0:56:250:56:27

that different hundreds of people love you.

0:56:270:56:30

They smile, their eyes shine, you've pleased them.

0:56:300:56:34

They want you. You belong.

0:56:340:56:37

Just that alone is worth anything.

0:56:380:56:41

Don't get up. And please stop acting as if I were the Queen Mother.

0:56:550:56:59

-I'm sorry, I didn't...

-Outside of a beehive, Margo,

0:56:590:57:02

your behaviour is hardly queenly or motherly.

0:57:020:57:05

You're in a beehive, pal.

0:57:050:57:07

We're all busy little bees, full of stings, making honey day and night.

0:57:070:57:12

-Aren't we, honey?

-Margo, really.

0:57:120:57:14

Please don't play governess, Karen.

0:57:140:57:17

I haven't your unyielding good taste.

0:57:170:57:20

I wish I could have gone to Radcliffe, too,

0:57:200:57:23

but Father wouldn't hear of it.

0:57:230:57:25

He needed help behind a notions counter.

0:57:250:57:27

I'm being rude now, aren't I? Or should I say, ain't I?

0:57:270:57:32

You're maudlin and full of self-pity. You're magnificent.

0:57:320:57:35

How about calling it a night?

0:57:350:57:38

And you pose as a playwright.

0:57:380:57:40

A situation pregnant with possibilities,

0:57:400:57:43

and all you can think of is "go to sleep."

0:57:430:57:45

-It's a good thought.

-It won't play.

0:57:450:57:49

As a non-professional, I think it's an excellent idea.

0:57:490:57:52

Excuse me.

0:57:520:57:54

Undramatic, perhaps, but practical.

0:57:540:57:57

-Happy little housewife.

-Cut it out.

0:57:570:57:59

This is my house, not a theatre.

0:57:590:58:02

In my house you're a guest, not a director.

0:58:020:58:04

Then stop being a star and treating your guests as your supporting cast.

0:58:040:58:08

-Let's not get into a big hassle.

-It's about time we did.

0:58:080:58:11

Margo has to realise what's attractive on stage need not be attractive off.

0:58:110:58:15

All right!

0:58:150:58:17

I'm going to bed.

0:58:170:58:19

You be host. It's your party.

0:58:260:58:28

Happy birthday. Welcome home.

0:58:280:58:31

And we who are about to die salute you.

0:58:310:58:33

Need any help?

0:58:330:58:35

To put me to bed? Take my clothes off, hold my head?

0:58:410:58:45

Tuck me in, turn out the lights and tiptoe out?

0:58:450:58:49

Eve would, wouldn't you, Eve?

0:58:500:58:53

-If you'd like.

-I wouldn't like.

0:58:530:58:55

-Oh, I forgot I had it.

-I didn't.

0:59:020:59:05

Too bad. We're going to miss the third act.

0:59:120:59:15

They're going to play it offstage.

0:59:150:59:18

-Coming, Max?

-In a minute.

0:59:210:59:23

Eve, you mustn't mind Margo too much, even if I do.

0:59:260:59:30

There must be some reason, something I've done without knowing.

0:59:300:59:34

The reason is Margo and don't try to figure it out. Einstein couldn't.

0:59:340:59:37

But if I thought I'd offended her, of all people...

0:59:370:59:40

Eve... I'm fond of Margo, too.

0:59:400:59:43

But I know Margo. And every now and then,

0:59:430:59:45

there is nothing I want to do so much as kick her right square in the pants.

0:59:450:59:50

Well, if she has to pick on someone,

0:59:500:59:53

I'd just as soon it was me.

0:59:530:59:55

-Max is going to drop us.

-Good night.

0:59:581:00:00

-Good night.

-Good night.

1:00:001:00:03

Mrs Richards?

1:00:031:00:04

You won't forget, will you? What we talked about before?

1:00:041:00:07

No, Eve. I won't forget.

1:00:071:00:09

Why so remote, Addison?

1:00:351:00:37

You should be at the side of your protegee, lending her moral support.

1:00:371:00:40

Miss Casswell is where I can lend no support, moral or otherwise.

1:00:401:00:44

In the ladies', shall we say, "lounge"?

1:00:441:00:47

Being violently ill to her tummy.

1:00:471:00:48

It's good luck before an audition. She'll be all right once it starts.

1:00:481:00:51

Miss Casswell got lucky too late. The audition is over.

1:00:511:00:54

It can't be. I came here to read with Miss Casswell. I promised Max.

1:00:541:00:58

The audition was at 2.30. It's now nearly four.

1:00:581:01:01

Is it really? I must start wearing a watch. I never have, you know.

1:01:011:01:04

Who read with Miss Casswell?

1:01:041:01:07

-Bill?

-No.

-Lloyd?

-No.

1:01:071:01:09

-Well, it can't have been Max. Who?

-Naturally enough, your understudy.

1:01:091:01:13

It's unnatural to allow a girl in an advanced state of pregnancy...

1:01:131:01:16

I refer to your new and unpregnant understudy, Miss Eve Harrington.

1:01:161:01:21

Eve? My understudy?

1:01:211:01:24

-Didn't you know?

-Of course I knew.

1:01:241:01:27

It just slipped your mind?

1:01:271:01:29

How was Miss Casswell?

1:01:331:01:36

Frankly, I don't remember.

1:01:361:01:38

-Just slipped your mind?

-Completely.

1:01:381:01:41

Nor can anyone else present tell you how Miss Casswell read,

1:01:411:01:44

or whether Miss Casswell read or rode a pogo stick.

1:01:441:01:47

Was she that bad?

1:01:471:01:50

Margo, I have lived in the theatre as a Trappist monk lives in his faith.

1:01:501:01:54

I have no other world, no other life.

1:01:541:01:57

Once in a great while, I experience that moment of revelation

1:01:571:02:00

for which all true believers wait and pray. You were one.

1:02:001:02:03

Jeanne Eagels another, Paula Wessely, Hayes.

1:02:031:02:06

There are others, three or four.

1:02:061:02:08

Eve Harrington will be among them.

1:02:081:02:11

I take it she read well.

1:02:111:02:13

It wasn't a reading, it was a performance.

1:02:131:02:15

Brilliant, vivid, something made of music and fire.

1:02:151:02:19

How nice.

1:02:191:02:21

In time, she'll be what you are.

1:02:211:02:24

A mass of music and fire.

1:02:241:02:27

That's me. An old kazoo with some sparklers.

1:02:271:02:30

Tell me, was Bill swept away, too?

1:02:331:02:36

Or were you too full of revelation to notice?

1:02:361:02:39

Bill didn't say.

1:02:391:02:40

But Lloyd listened to his play

1:02:401:02:43

as if it had been written by someone else, he said.

1:02:431:02:45

It sounded so fresh, so new, so full of meaning.

1:02:451:02:49

How nice for Lloyd. How nice for Eve. How nice for everybody.

1:02:491:02:54

Eve was incredibly modest. She insisted that no credit was due her.

1:02:541:02:58

That Lloyd felt as he did only because she read his lines exactly as he'd written them.

1:02:581:03:02

The implication being that I did not read them as written?

1:03:021:03:05

Neither your name nor your performance entered the conversation.

1:03:051:03:10

DOOR OPENS

1:03:101:03:11

Ah! Feeling better, my dear?

1:03:141:03:18

Like I just swam the English Channel. Now what?

1:03:201:03:24

Your next move, it seems to me, should be towards television.

1:03:241:03:28

Tell me this. Do they have auditions for television?

1:03:311:03:35

That's all television is, my dear. Nothing but auditions.

1:03:351:03:39

Oh, Margo, darling.

1:03:441:03:46

Mm-hm!

1:03:511:03:52

Terribly sorry I was late. Lunch was long and I couldn't find a cab.

1:03:561:04:00

-Where's Miss Casswell? Oh, hello, Eve.

-Hello, Miss Channing.

1:04:001:04:04

How are you making out in Mr Fabian's office?

1:04:041:04:06

Now, Max, I don't want you working this child too hard

1:04:061:04:09

just because you promised.

1:04:091:04:11

As you see, I kept my promise, too.

1:04:111:04:14

It's all over.

1:04:141:04:16

-What's all over?

-The audition.

1:04:161:04:19

Eve read with Miss Casswell.

1:04:191:04:22

Eve? How enchanting.

1:04:221:04:24

How did you get the idea of letting Eve read with Miss Casswell?

1:04:241:04:27

-Well, she's your understudy.

-Eve? My understudy? I had no idea.

1:04:271:04:31

I thought you knew. She started a week ago.

1:04:311:04:33

I've never seen her backstage,

1:04:331:04:36

but with so many people loitering about... Well, well.

1:04:361:04:40

So Eve is not working for Max, after all.

1:04:401:04:42

Max, you sly puss.

1:04:431:04:46

Miss Channing, I can't tell you how glad I am

1:04:481:04:51

that you arrived so late.

1:04:511:04:52

Really, Eve? Why?

1:04:521:04:54

If you'd been here to begin with, I never would have dared to read at all.

1:04:541:04:58

-Why not?

-If you'd come in the middle, I couldn't have gone on.

1:04:581:05:01

What a pity. All that fire and music being turned off.

1:05:011:05:05

-What fire and music?

-You wouldn't understand.

1:05:051:05:08

How was Miss Casswell?

1:05:081:05:10

Back to the Copacabana.

1:05:101:05:12

But Eve, Margo. Let me tell you about Eve.

1:05:121:05:15

I was dreadful, Miss Channing.

1:05:151:05:16

I have no right to be anyone's understudy, much less yours.

1:05:161:05:20

I'm sure you underestimate yourself. You always do.

1:05:201:05:23

You were about to tell me about Eve.

1:05:231:05:25

-You'd have been proud of her.

-I'm sure.

1:05:251:05:27

-She was a revelation.

-Oh, to you too?

1:05:271:05:29

-What do you mean by that?

-Among other things,

1:05:291:05:32

it must have been a revelation to have a 24-year-old character

1:05:321:05:35

played by a 24-year-old actress.

1:05:351:05:36

-That's beside the point.

-It is right to the point.

1:05:361:05:39

Also, it must have seemed so new and fresh to you,

1:05:391:05:41

so exciting, to have your lines read just as you wrote them.

1:05:411:05:45

-Addison.

-So full of meaning, fire and music.

1:05:451:05:48

You've talked to that venomous fishwife Addison DeWitt.

1:05:491:05:52

In this case, apparently as trustworthy as the world almanac.

1:05:521:05:55

You knew when you came in that Eve was your understudy.

1:05:551:05:58

Playing that childish little game of cat and mouse.

1:05:581:06:00

Not mouse. Never mouse. If anything, rat.

1:06:001:06:03

Your genius of yours for making a bar-room brawl

1:06:031:06:05

out of a perfectly innocent misunderstanding at most.

1:06:051:06:08

Perfectly innocent? Men have been hanged for less.

1:06:081:06:11

I'm lied to, attacked behind my back,

1:06:111:06:13

accused of reading your silly dialogue as if it were the holy gospel.

1:06:131:06:16

I never said it was.

1:06:161:06:18

When you listen as if someone else had written your play,

1:06:181:06:21

whom do you have in mind?

1:06:211:06:22

Arthur Miller? Sherwood? Beaumont and Fletcher?

1:06:221:06:26

May I say a word?

1:06:261:06:28

No!

1:06:281:06:29

What makes you think Miller or Sherwood would stand for the nonsense I take from you?

1:06:291:06:33

You'd better stick to Beaumont and Fletcher.

1:06:331:06:36

They've been dead for 300 years!

1:06:361:06:38

All playwrights should be dead for 300 years!

1:06:381:06:42

That would solve none of their problems because actresses never die!

1:06:421:06:46

The stars never die and never change.

1:06:501:06:54

You may change this star any time you want

1:06:541:06:56

for a new and fresh and exciting one,

1:06:561:06:58

fully equipped with fire and music.

1:06:581:07:00

Any time you want, starting with tonight's performance.

1:07:001:07:04

This is for lawyers to talk about.

1:07:041:07:06

This concerns a contract that you cannot rewrite or ad-lib.

1:07:061:07:10

Are you threatening me with legal action, Mr Fabian?

1:07:101:07:15

Are you breaking the contract?

1:07:151:07:17

Answer my question.

1:07:171:07:19

-Who am I to threaten? I'm a dying man.

-I don't hear you.

1:07:191:07:23

I said I'm a dying man!

1:07:231:07:25

Not until the last drugstore has sold its last pill.

1:07:251:07:29

I shall never understand the process by which a body with a voice

1:07:291:07:33

suddenly fancies itself as a mind.

1:07:331:07:36

Just when does an actress decide

1:07:361:07:38

they're her words she's saying and her thoughts she's expressing?

1:07:381:07:42

Usually at the point when she has to rewrite and rethink them

1:07:421:07:45

to keep the audience from leaving the theatre.

1:07:451:07:48

It's about time the piano realised it has not written the concerto!

1:07:481:07:52

And you, I take it,

1:07:571:07:59

are the Paderewski who plays his concerto on me, the piano?

1:07:591:08:04

Where is Princess Fire and Music?

1:08:061:08:08

-Who?

-The kid. Junior.

1:08:081:08:11

-Gone.

-I must have frightened her away.

1:08:161:08:19

I wouldn't be surprised. Sometimes you frighten me.

1:08:191:08:22

Poor little flower. Dropped her petals and folded her tent.

1:08:221:08:25

-Don't mix your metaphors.

-I'll mix what I like!

-OK, mix!

1:08:251:08:28

I'm nothing but a body with a voice. No mind.

1:08:281:08:32

What a body. What a voice.

1:08:321:08:35

That ex ship-news reporter. No body, no voice, all mind.

1:08:351:08:39

The gong rang, the fight's over, calm down.

1:08:391:08:41

I will not calm down.

1:08:411:08:43

Don't calm down.

1:08:431:08:45

You're being terribly tolerant, aren't you?

1:08:481:08:51

I'm trying terribly hard.

1:08:511:08:52

Well, you needn't be.

1:08:521:08:53

I will not be tolerated and I will not be plotted against.

1:08:531:08:57

-Here we go.

-Such nonsense. What do you take me for?

1:08:571:09:00

Little Nell from the country?

1:09:001:09:02

Been my understudy for a week without my knowing it.

1:09:021:09:04

-Carefully hidden, no doubt.

-Now, don't get carried away.

1:09:041:09:07

Arrives here for an audition when everyone knows I will be here,

1:09:071:09:11

and gives a performance out of nowhere.

1:09:111:09:13

You've been all through that with Lloyd.

1:09:131:09:16

The playwright doesn't make the performance. It doesn't just happen.

1:09:161:09:20

Full of fire and music and whatnot.

1:09:201:09:23

Carefully rehearsed, I have no doubt.

1:09:231:09:25

Full of those Bill Sampson touches.

1:09:251:09:28

-I am sick and tired of these paranoiac outbursts.

-Paranoiac?

1:09:281:09:31

I didn't know Eve was your understudy until 2:30 this afternoon.

1:09:311:09:34

Tell that to Dr Freud along with the rest of it.

1:09:341:09:36

No, I'll tell it to you. For the last time, I'll tell it to you.

1:09:361:09:40

Cos you've got to stop hurting the two of us by these paranoiac tantrums.

1:09:401:09:44

That word. I don't even know what it means.

1:09:441:09:46

It's about time you found out.

1:09:461:09:48

-I love you. I love you!

-Hah!

1:09:481:09:50

-You're beautiful and intelligent.

-A body with a voice.

1:09:501:09:53

A beautiful and an intelligent woman, and a great actress.

1:09:531:09:57

A great actress at the peak of her career.

1:09:581:10:00

You have every reason for happiness.

1:10:001:10:02

-Except happiness.

-Every reason.

1:10:021:10:04

But due to some uncontrollable drive,

1:10:041:10:06

you permit the slightest action of a kid...

1:10:061:10:09

-A kid!

-..of a kid to turn you into a hysterical screaming harpy.

1:10:091:10:12

Now, once and for all, stop it.

1:10:121:10:15

It's obvious you're not a woman.

1:10:321:10:35

-I've been aware of that for some time.

-Well, I am.

1:10:351:10:39

I'll say.

1:10:391:10:42

Don't be condescending.

1:10:421:10:44

Come on, get up. I'll buy you a drink.

1:10:441:10:46

I admit I may have seen better days,

1:10:461:10:48

but I'm still not to be had for the price of a cocktail.

1:10:481:10:51

Like a salted peanut.

1:10:511:10:53

Margo, let's make peace.

1:10:541:10:56

The terms are too high. Unconditional surrender.

1:10:561:10:59

Just being happy? Just stopping all this nonsense about Eve?

1:10:591:11:03

-And Eve and me?

-It's not nonsense.

1:11:031:11:06

But if I tell you it is, as I just did, were you listening to me?

1:11:061:11:10

Isn't that enough?

1:11:121:11:14

I wish it were.

1:11:141:11:15

Then what would be enough?

1:11:151:11:18

If we got married?

1:11:181:11:20

I wouldn't want you to marry me just to prove something.

1:11:201:11:23

You've had so many reasons for not wanting to marry me.

1:11:231:11:27

Margo, tell me what's behind all this.

1:11:281:11:31

I don't know, Bill.

1:11:311:11:33

It's just a feeling. I don't know.

1:11:331:11:36

I think you do know.

1:11:361:11:38

But you won't or can't tell me.

1:11:381:11:41

I said before it was going to be my last try, and I meant it.

1:11:421:11:46

I can't think of anything else to do. I wish I could.

1:11:461:11:50

We usually wind up screaming as the curtain comes down.

1:11:511:11:54

Then it comes up again and everything's fine.

1:11:541:11:57

But not this time.

1:11:571:11:59

No playwright in the world could make me believe

1:12:011:12:04

this would happen between two adult people.

1:12:041:12:07

Goodbye, Margo.

1:12:081:12:10

Bill?

1:12:161:12:18

Where are you going?

1:12:201:12:22

To find Eve?

1:12:221:12:24

That suddenly makes the whole thing believable.

1:12:261:12:29

SHE SOBS

1:12:391:12:40

DOOR OPENS

1:12:471:12:48

Lloyd.

1:12:511:12:54

-Lloyd, what's happened?

-Up to here, that's where I've got it.

1:12:541:12:57

Of all the star-ridden, presumptuous, hysterical...

1:12:571:13:00

-Margo again.

-And again and again.

1:13:001:13:02

-Two hours late for the audition.

-That's on time for Margo.

1:13:021:13:05

And then a childish routine about not knowing Eve was her understudy.

1:13:051:13:09

-It's possible she didn't.

-Of course she knew.

1:13:091:13:11

Addison told her how superbly Eve had read the part.

1:13:111:13:15

Karen, let me tell you about Eve.

1:13:151:13:17

She's got everything. A born actress.

1:13:171:13:19

Sensitive, understanding, young, exciting, vibrant...

1:13:191:13:23

You'll run out of adjectives, dear.

1:13:231:13:24

Everything a playwright first thinks of wanting to write about,

1:13:241:13:27

until his play becomes a vehicle for Miss Channing.

1:13:271:13:30

Margo hasn't done badly by it.

1:13:301:13:32

Margo's great. She knows it, that's the trouble.

1:13:321:13:35

She can play Peck's Bad Boy all she wants and who's to stop her?

1:13:351:13:38

Who's to give her that boot in the rear she needs and deserves?

1:13:381:13:42

It's going to be a cosy weekend.

1:13:441:13:46

-What is?

-We're driving to the country tomorrow.

1:13:461:13:49

Just the four of us. Bill, Margo, you and I.

1:13:491:13:53

Well, we've spent weekends before with nobody talking.

1:13:531:13:57

Just be sure to lock up all blunt instruments and throwable objects.

1:13:571:14:01

Newton, they say,

1:14:041:14:06

thought of gravity by getting hit on the head by an apple.

1:14:061:14:09

And the man who invented the steam-engine,

1:14:091:14:11

he was watching a teakettle.

1:14:111:14:13

But not me. My big idea came to me just sitting on a couch.

1:14:131:14:18

That boot in the rear to Margo. Heaven knows, she had one coming.

1:14:191:14:23

From me, from Lloyd, from Eve, Bill, Max and so on.

1:14:231:14:27

We'd all felt those size fives of hers often enough.

1:14:271:14:30

But how? The answer was buzzing around me like a fly.

1:14:301:14:35

I had it.

1:14:351:14:37

But I let it go. Screaming and calling names is one thing,

1:14:371:14:41

but this could mean...

1:14:411:14:43

Why not? "Why," I said to myself, "not?"

1:14:441:14:49

It would all seem perfectly legitimate.

1:14:491:14:51

And only two people in the world would know.

1:14:511:14:54

Also, the boot would land where it would do the most good for all concerned.

1:14:541:14:58

After all, it was no more than a harmless joke

1:14:581:15:01

which Margo herself would be the first to enjoy.

1:15:011:15:04

And no reason why she shouldn't be told about it, in time.

1:15:041:15:08

Hello. Will you please call Miss Eve Harrington to the phone?

1:15:151:15:20

Not at all. I'll wait.

1:15:211:15:23

It was a cold weekend, outside and in.

1:15:251:15:29

Bill didn't come at all.

1:15:291:15:31

Margo didn't know where he was and didn't care, she kept saying.

1:15:311:15:35

Somehow we staggered through Sunday,

1:15:351:15:38

and by the time we drove Margo to the station late Monday afternoon,

1:15:381:15:41

she and Lloyd had thawed out to the extent of being civil to each other.

1:15:411:15:46

What time is it?

1:15:461:15:48

When you asked a minute ago, it was 5.42.

1:15:481:15:51

It is now 5.43. When you ask again a minute from now...

1:15:511:15:54

I just don't want Margo to miss her train.

1:15:541:15:56

As it is, she'll barely make the theatre.

1:15:561:15:58

5.55. We'll be at the station in plenty of time.

1:15:581:16:02

That little place "just two hours from New York."

1:16:021:16:05

It's on my list of things I'll never understand,

1:16:051:16:08

like collecting shrunken Indian heads.

1:16:081:16:11

You should know what it means to want a little peace and quiet.

1:16:111:16:14

Peace and quiet is for libraries.

1:16:141:16:16

TYRES SCREECH

1:16:161:16:17

Lloyd. Please.

1:16:171:16:19

Just a little skid, that's all. This road's like glass.

1:16:191:16:22

Karen and I just don't want an accident.

1:16:221:16:25

I have no intention of having an accident.

1:16:251:16:26

It isn't important whether you do. We are wearing long underwear.

1:16:261:16:31

ENGINE WINDS DOWN

1:16:311:16:33

Now what's this?

1:16:331:16:35

CAR FAILS TO START

1:16:391:16:41

But it can't be. We can't be out of gas.

1:16:501:16:52

I filled it myself yesterday.

1:16:521:16:54

Wasn't it full when you drove to Brewster this morning?

1:16:541:16:56

I didn't look. You know I don't pay attention to those things.

1:16:561:17:00

Just incredible.

1:17:001:17:02

-How much time have we got?

-Roughly ten minutes.

1:17:021:17:05

-How far is the station?

-About three or four miles.

1:17:051:17:08

Any houses where we can borrow gas?

1:17:081:17:10

There's not much along this back road.

1:17:101:17:12

Not many cars either. Not much chance of a lift.

1:17:121:17:15

No sense in sitting here.

1:17:151:17:16

I'm going to walk up about half a mile, just in case.

1:17:161:17:19

MUSIC: Liebestraum by Franz Liszt

1:17:291:17:33

You want it on?

1:17:361:17:38

It doesn't matter.

1:17:381:17:39

I detest cheap sentiment.

1:17:391:17:42

RADIO OFF

1:17:421:17:44

-Karen?

-Mm-hm?

1:17:481:17:50

No, thank you.

1:17:501:17:51

I haven't been very pleasant this weekend.

1:17:511:17:54

We've all been a little tense lately.

1:17:541:17:56

Come to think of it, I haven't been very pleasant for weeks.

1:17:561:17:59

For that, I'm truly sorry.

1:17:591:18:01

More than any two people I know,

1:18:011:18:02

I don't want you and Lloyd to be angry with me.

1:18:021:18:05

We're never deeply angry. We just get mad the way you do.

1:18:051:18:09

We know you too well.

1:18:091:18:11

So many people know me.

1:18:111:18:13

I wish I did. I wish someone would tell me about me.

1:18:131:18:17

You're Margo. Just Margo.

1:18:171:18:20

And what is that? Besides something spelled out in light bulbs, I mean.

1:18:201:18:25

Besides a temperament,

1:18:251:18:26

which consists mostly of swooping about on a broomstick

1:18:261:18:30

and screaming at the top of my voice.

1:18:301:18:33

Infants behave the way I do, you know.

1:18:331:18:35

They carry on and misbehave. They'd get drunk if they knew how,

1:18:351:18:39

when they can't have what they want.

1:18:391:18:42

When they feel unwanted or insecure or...

1:18:421:18:46

..unloved.

1:18:461:18:48

-What about Bill?

-What about Bill?

1:18:491:18:53

He's in love with you.

1:18:531:18:54

More than anything in this world, I love Bill. And I want Bill.

1:18:541:18:59

And I want him to want me.

1:18:591:19:01

But me, not Margo Channing.

1:19:011:19:03

And if I can't tell them apart, how can he?

1:19:041:19:08

Well, why should he and why should you?

1:19:081:19:10

Bill's in love with Margo Channing.

1:19:101:19:12

He's fought with her, worked with her, loved her.

1:19:121:19:15

But ten years from now Margo Channing will have ceased to exist.

1:19:151:19:19

And what's left will be...what?

1:19:191:19:23

Margo, Bill is all of eight years younger than you.

1:19:241:19:27

Those years stretch as the years go on. I've seen it happen too often.

1:19:271:19:32

Not to you, not to Bill.

1:19:321:19:34

Isn't that what they always say?

1:19:341:19:37

I don't suppose the heater runs if the motor doesn't.

1:19:411:19:44

Silly, isn't it?

1:19:441:19:46

You'd think they'd fix it so people could just sit in a car and keep warm.

1:19:461:19:50

About Eve.

1:19:501:19:53

I've acted pretty disgracefully toward her too.

1:19:531:19:56

-Well...

-Don't fumble for excuses.

1:19:571:20:00

Not here and now with my hair down.

1:20:001:20:02

At best, let's say I've been oversensitive to...

1:20:041:20:07

Well, to the fact that she's so young, so feminine and so helpless.

1:20:071:20:12

To so many things I want to be for Bill.

1:20:121:20:15

It's funny, a woman's career.

1:20:161:20:18

The things you drop on your way up so you can move faster.

1:20:181:20:22

You forget you'll need them again when you get back to being a woman.

1:20:221:20:26

That's one career all females have in common,

1:20:261:20:29

whether we like it or not.

1:20:291:20:31

Being a woman.

1:20:311:20:33

Sooner or later, we've got to work at it.

1:20:331:20:36

No matter how many other careers we've had or wanted.

1:20:361:20:40

And in the last analysis, nothing's any good unless you can

1:20:411:20:45

look up just before dinner or turn around in bed and there he is.

1:20:451:20:50

Without that, you're not a woman.

1:20:501:20:52

You're something with a French provincial office or a...

1:20:521:20:56

A book full of clippings.

1:20:561:20:58

But you're not a woman.

1:20:591:21:01

Slow curtain. The end.

1:21:051:21:07

Margo. Margo, I want you to know how sorry I am about this.

1:21:091:21:15

-About what?

-This.

1:21:151:21:17

I can't tell you how sorry I am.

1:21:171:21:20

Don't give it a thought. One of destiny's merry pranks.

1:21:201:21:23

After all, you didn't personally drain the gasoline tank yourself.

1:21:231:21:27

-ADDISON:

-Eve, of course, was superb.

1:21:341:21:36

Many of the audience understandably preferred to return another time to see Margo.

1:21:361:21:41

But those who remained cheered loudly, lustily and long for Eve.

1:21:411:21:45

How thoughtful of her to call and invite me that afternoon.

1:21:451:21:49

And what a happy coincidence that several representatives

1:21:491:21:52

of other newspapers happened to be present.

1:21:521:21:55

All of us invited that afternoon

1:21:551:21:57

to attend an understudy's performance,

1:21:571:22:00

about which the management knew nothing

1:22:001:22:02

until they were forced to ring up the curtain at nine o'clock.

1:22:021:22:05

Coincidence.

1:22:051:22:07

You were better than all right.

1:22:071:22:09

You rang a bell. Little things here and there, but it doesn't matter.

1:22:091:22:12

Be proud of yourself. You've got a right to be.

1:22:121:22:15

Are you proud of me, Bill?

1:22:151:22:17

I admit I was worried when Max called. I had my doubts.

1:22:171:22:20

You shouldn't have had any doubts.

1:22:201:22:22

After all, the other day was one scene.

1:22:221:22:24

The woods are full of one-scene sensations.

1:22:241:22:27

But you did it. With work and patience, you'll be a good actress,

1:22:271:22:31

if that's what you want to be.

1:22:311:22:32

Is that what you want me to be?

1:22:321:22:34

-I'm talking about you and what you want.

-So am I.

1:22:341:22:38

-What have I got to do with it?

-Everything.

1:22:401:22:43

The names I've been called, but never Svengali. Good luck.

1:22:451:22:50

Don't run away, Bill.

1:22:531:22:55

From what would I be running?

1:22:551:22:58

You're always after truth on the stage. What about off?

1:22:591:23:04

-I'm for it.

-Then face it. I have.

1:23:041:23:07

Ever since that first night in here.

1:23:071:23:11

I told you what every actress should know.

1:23:111:23:13

You told me that whatever I became, it would be because of you.

1:23:131:23:17

-Make-up's a little heavy.

-And for you.

1:23:171:23:19

-You're quite a girl.

-You think?

1:23:201:23:23

I'm in love with Margo. Hadn't you heard?

1:23:231:23:26

You hear all kinds of things.

1:23:261:23:28

I'm only human, rumours to the contrary,

1:23:281:23:30

and I'm as curious as the next man.

1:23:301:23:32

-Find out.

-Only thing,

1:23:321:23:35

what I go after I want to go after.

1:23:351:23:37

I don't want it to come after me.

1:23:371:23:39

Don't cry. Just score it as an incomplete forward pass.

1:23:461:23:49

KNOCKING

1:24:091:24:11

Who is it?

1:24:111:24:13

May I come in?

1:24:141:24:16

Certainly, Mr DeWitt.

1:24:171:24:19

I expected to find this room with a theatreful of people at your feet.

1:24:221:24:26

I'm lucky they didn't throw things.

1:24:261:24:28

Your performance was no surprise to me.

1:24:281:24:31

After the other day, I regarded it as no more than a promise fulfilled.

1:24:311:24:34

You're more than kind. But it's still Miss Channing's performance.

1:24:341:24:38

I'm the carbon copy you read when you can't find the original.

1:24:381:24:41

-You're more than modest.

-It's not modesty. I don't try to kid myself.

1:24:411:24:46

A revolutionary approach to the theatre.

1:24:461:24:49

-But if I may make a suggestion...

-Please do.

1:24:491:24:53

I think the time has come to shed some of your humility.

1:24:531:24:56

It is just as false not to blow your horn at all as it is to blow it too loudly.

1:24:561:25:00

I don't think I've done anything to sound off about.

1:25:001:25:03

We come into this world with our little egos equipped with individual horns.

1:25:031:25:07

If we don't blow them, who else will?

1:25:071:25:09

Even so. One pretty good performance by an understudy,

1:25:091:25:13

it'll be forgotten tomorrow.

1:25:131:25:16

It needn't be.

1:25:171:25:20

Even if I wanted to, as you say, be less humble, blow my own horn,

1:25:201:25:25

how would I do it? I'm less than nobody.

1:25:251:25:29

-I'm somebody.

-You certainly are.

1:25:301:25:33

Leave the door open a bit, so we can talk.

1:25:351:25:38

After you change, if you're not busy elsewhere, we could have supper.

1:25:431:25:47

I'd love to. Or should I pretend I'm busy?

1:25:471:25:51

Let's have a minimum of pretending.

1:25:511:25:53

I shall want to do a column about you.

1:25:531:25:55

I'm not even enough for a paragraph.

1:25:551:25:57

Perhaps more than one.

1:25:571:25:59

There's so much I want to know. I've heard your story in bits and pieces.

1:25:591:26:02

Your home in Wisconsin, your tragic marriage,

1:26:021:26:04

your fanatical attachment to Margo.

1:26:041:26:07

It started in San Francisco, didn't it?

1:26:071:26:10

I say, your idolatry of Margo started in San Francisco, didn't it?

1:26:101:26:15

That's right.

1:26:151:26:16

San Francisco, an oasis of civilisation in the California desert.

1:26:161:26:20

Tell me, do you share my high opinion of San Francisco?

1:26:201:26:24

Yes, I do.

1:26:241:26:27

And that memorable night when Margo first dazzled you from the stage,

1:26:271:26:31

what theatre was it in San Francisco? Was it the Shubert?

1:26:311:26:35

Yes, the Shubert.

1:26:351:26:38

Fine old theatre, the Shubert. Full of tradition.

1:26:381:26:41

Untouched by the earthquake. Or should I say fire?

1:26:411:26:45

Tell me, what was your husband's name?

1:26:451:26:48

-Eddie.

-Eddie what?

1:26:481:26:51

I'm about to go into the shower. I won't be able to hear you.

1:26:541:26:58

Well, it can wait.

1:26:581:27:00

Where would you like to go? We must make this a special night.

1:27:001:27:03

You take charge.

1:27:031:27:06

I believe I will.

1:27:061:27:08

SHOWER RUNNING

1:27:161:27:17

-KAREN:

-Some morning papers carried a squib about Eve's performance.

1:27:221:27:26

Not much, but full of praise.

1:27:261:27:28

I couldn't imagine how they found out about it.

1:27:281:27:31

But Lloyd said Max's publicity man probably sent out the story.

1:27:311:27:35

At any rate, I felt terribly guilty and ashamed of myself

1:27:351:27:38

and wanted nothing so much as to forget the whole thing.

1:27:381:27:41

Margo and I were having lunch at 21,

1:27:411:27:44

just like girlfriends, with hats on.

1:27:441:27:46

-Has Miss Channing come in?

-Not yet, Mrs Richards.

1:27:481:27:50

Thank you.

1:27:501:27:52

Oh, Eve! I've heard the most wonderful things about your performance.

1:27:531:27:58

Mostly relief that I managed to stagger through it.

1:27:581:28:00

She was magnificent.

1:28:001:28:01

-Then you've heard, too.

-I was there.

1:28:011:28:03

-You were at the play last night?

-A happy coincidence.

1:28:031:28:06

We're having lunch with a movie talent scout.

1:28:061:28:08

They certainly don't waste much time, do they?

1:28:081:28:10

It's nothing definite. Just lunch.

1:28:101:28:12

They'll be wasting their time at any rate.

1:28:121:28:14

Eve has no intention of going to Hollywood.

1:28:141:28:17

By your smart dress, I take it your companion is a lady?

1:28:171:28:20

-Margo.

-Margo lunching in public?

1:28:201:28:23

It's a new Margo, but she's just as late as the old one.

1:28:231:28:25

She may be later than you think.

1:28:251:28:28

Why not read my column to pass the time?

1:28:311:28:34

-The minutes will fly like hours.

-Thank you, Addison.

1:28:341:28:37

Now we must join our sunburned eager beaver.

1:28:371:28:39

-Goodbye, Karen.

-Goodbye.

1:28:391:28:41

"And so my hat which has, lo, these many seasons,

1:29:031:29:06

"become firmly rooted about my ears, is lifted to Miss Harrington.

1:29:061:29:10

"I am available for dancing in the streets and shouting from the housetops."

1:29:101:29:14

I thought that one went out with Woollcott. Now listen to this.

1:29:141:29:17

"Miss Harrington had much to tell and these columns shall report her faithfully

1:29:171:29:22

"about the lamentable practice in our theatre of permitting,

1:29:221:29:25

"shall we say, mature actresses to continue playing roles

1:29:251:29:28

"requiring a youth and vigour of which they retain but a dim memory."

1:29:281:29:33

-I just can't believe it.

-It gets better.

1:29:331:29:36

"About the understandable reluctance of our entrenched first ladies

1:29:361:29:39

"of the stage to encourage, shall we say, younger actresses,

1:29:391:29:43

"about Miss Harrington's own long and unsupported struggle for opportunity."

1:29:431:29:46

-I can't believe Eve said those things.

-In this rat race,

1:29:461:29:49

everybody's guilty till proved innocent.

1:29:491:29:52

One of the differences between the theatre and civilisation.

1:29:521:29:57

What gets me is how all the papers in town

1:29:571:29:59

happened to catch that particular performance.

1:29:591:30:02

Lloyd says it's a publicity release.

1:30:021:30:04

The little witch must have sent out Indian Runners,

1:30:041:30:06

snatching critics out of bars, steam rooms and museums

1:30:061:30:10

or wherever they hole up.

1:30:101:30:12

She won't get away with it.

1:30:121:30:13

Nor will Addison DeWitt and his poison pen.

1:30:131:30:15

If Equity or my lawyer can't or won't do anything about it,

1:30:151:30:19

I shall personally stuff that pathetic little lost lamb

1:30:191:30:22

down Mr DeWitt's ugly throat!

1:30:221:30:24

FOOTSTEPS

1:30:241:30:25

I came as soon as I read that piece of filth. I ran all the way.

1:30:341:30:39

Bill's here, baby.

1:30:491:30:52

Everything's all right now.

1:30:521:30:54

I guess at this point I'm what the French call "de trop."

1:31:021:31:05

Maybe just a little around the edges.

1:31:051:31:08

It's Addison from start to finish. It drips with his brand of venom.

1:31:201:31:24

Taking advantage of a kid like that, twisting her words,

1:31:241:31:26

making her say what he wanted her to say.

1:31:261:31:29

-Where did you get all that information?

-Eve.

1:31:291:31:33

-Eve?

-She's been to see me.

1:31:331:31:36

She left just before you came in. You just missed her.

1:31:361:31:39

-That was a pity.

-Wanted to explain about the interview.

1:31:391:31:42

Wanted to apologise to someone, and didn't dare face Margo.

1:31:421:31:46

-I wonder why.

-She started telling me all about it and couldn't finish.

1:31:461:31:50

She cried so.

1:31:501:31:52

I've been going over our financial position,

1:31:531:31:56

if you'll pardon the expression.

1:31:561:31:57

That's quite a change of subject.

1:31:571:32:00

What with taxes coming up, and,

1:32:001:32:02

since I'm a playwright and not an oil-well operator,

1:32:021:32:05

I've been thinking...

1:32:051:32:06

I'm trying hard to follow you.

1:32:061:32:08

If instead of waiting until next season to do

1:32:081:32:10

Footsteps on the Ceiling, which is in pretty good shape,

1:32:101:32:13

and if Margo can be talked into going on tour with Aged in Wood,

1:32:131:32:17

we could put Footsteps into production right away.

1:32:171:32:20

I'm beginning to catch up.

1:32:201:32:22

If we can cast it properly, that is.

1:32:221:32:24

Maybe get some younger actress?

1:32:241:32:27

Someone who'd look the part as well as play it?

1:32:271:32:29

You've got to admit, it'd be a novelty.

1:32:291:32:31

Now you're quoting Addison, or Eve.

1:32:311:32:33

Eve did mention the play, but just in passing.

1:32:331:32:36

She'd never ask to play a part like Cora, she'd never have the nerve.

1:32:361:32:39

Eve would ask Abbott to give her Costello.

1:32:391:32:42

I got the idea myself while she was talking to me about the play.

1:32:421:32:45

With gestures, of course.

1:32:451:32:47

For once to write something and have it realised completely.

1:32:471:32:51

For once, not to compromise.

1:32:511:32:53

Lloyd Richards, you are not to consider giving that contemptible little worm the part of Cora!

1:32:531:32:57

Now just a minute...

1:32:571:32:59

Margo Channing's not been exactly a compromise all these years.

1:32:591:33:02

Half the playwrights in the world would give their shirts for that particular compromise.

1:33:021:33:06

Now just a minute...

1:33:061:33:07

Eve's disloyalty and ingratitude must be contagious.

1:33:071:33:11

All this fuss and hysteria because an impulsive kid

1:33:111:33:13

got carried away by excitement and the conniving

1:33:131:33:15

of a professional manure-slinger named DeWitt.

1:33:151:33:17

-She apologised, didn't she?

-On her knees, I've no doubt.

1:33:171:33:21

Very touching. Very Academy of Dramatic Arts.

1:33:211:33:24

That bitter cynicism of yours is something you've acquired

1:33:241:33:26

since you left Radcliffe.

1:33:261:33:28

That cynicism you refer to I acquired the day I discovered

1:33:281:33:31

I was different from little boys.

1:33:311:33:32

PHONE RINGS

1:33:321:33:34

Hello.

1:33:341:33:36

Oh, hi, Margo.

1:33:361:33:39

No, not at all.

1:33:391:33:41

Karen and I were just chatting.

1:33:421:33:45

Hm?

1:33:451:33:46

Why, yes, I'm sure we can and I'm sure we'd love to.

1:33:481:33:52

Right. 11.45ish.

1:33:521:33:54

See you then.

1:33:561:33:58

Margo and Bill want us to meet them at the Cub Room tonight after the theatre.

1:33:591:34:04

Margo Channing in the Cub Room.

1:34:041:34:07

I couldn't be more surprised if she'd said Grant's tomb.

1:34:071:34:10

I'm glad Bill's back.

1:34:101:34:12

They'd die without each other.

1:34:121:34:14

darling, I didn't promise Eve anything.

1:34:141:34:17

Just that I thought she'd be fine for the part but there were practical difficulties.

1:34:171:34:21

-Such as?

-You, for one.

1:34:211:34:23

I told her you were set on Margo playing the part

1:34:231:34:26

and I wouldn't make a change without your approval.

1:34:261:34:28

That's fine. Fine and dandy.

1:34:281:34:30

Just refer all of Miss Eve Harrington's future requests to me.

1:34:301:34:34

The so-called art of acting is not one for which I have a particularly high regard.

1:34:371:34:42

-Hear, hear.

-But you may quote me as follows.

1:34:421:34:45

"Tonight, Miss Margo Channing gave a performance

1:34:451:34:48

"in your cockamamie play, the like of which

1:34:481:34:51

"I have never seen before and expect rarely to see again."

1:34:511:34:56

-He does not exaggerate. I was good.

-You were great.

1:34:561:34:59

It's been quite a night. I understand your understudy,

1:34:591:35:02

a Miss Harrington, has given her notice.

1:35:021:35:04

-Too bad.

-I'm broken up about it.

1:35:041:35:06

You just can't pick up champagne and drink it.

1:35:061:35:09

Somebody's got to be very witty about a toast.

1:35:091:35:12

I shall propose the toast,

1:35:121:35:14

without wit, with all my heart.

1:35:141:35:18

To Margo.

1:35:181:35:20

-To my bride-to-be.

-Glory hallelujah.

1:35:201:35:23

-Margo.

-Drink!

1:35:231:35:25

When? When are you going to do it?

1:35:281:35:29

Tomorrow we meet at City Hall at ten.

1:35:291:35:32

-And you're going to be on time.

-Yes, sir.

1:35:321:35:34

City Hall, that's for prize-fighters and reporters.

1:35:341:35:37

I see a cathedral, a bishop, banks of flowers...

1:35:371:35:39

It's only for the license. There's a three-day wait for blood tests.

1:35:391:35:43

I'll marry you if it turns out you have no blood at all.

1:35:431:35:47

-What are you going to wear?

-Something simple,

1:35:471:35:50

a fur coat over a nightgown.

1:35:501:35:52

The point is this. In a cathedral, a ballpark or a penny arcade,

1:35:521:35:56

we want you two beside us, as our nearest and dearest friends.

1:35:561:36:00

Which we are. Which we'll always be.

1:36:001:36:04

There are very few moments in life as good as this. Let's remember it.

1:36:041:36:08

To each of us and all of us, never have we been more close.

1:36:081:36:12

May we never be farther apart.

1:36:121:36:14

-Mrs Richards?

-Yes.

1:36:171:36:19

-For you.

-Thank you.

1:36:191:36:21

Very indiscreet. A note in the open like that.

1:36:221:36:25

Next time, tell your lover to blow smoke rings or tap a glass.

1:36:251:36:28

Lloyd, I want you to be big about this.

1:36:281:36:30

The world is full of love tonight. No woman is safe.

1:36:301:36:34

Well, this beats all world's records

1:36:341:36:36

for running, jumping or standing gall.

1:36:361:36:39

"Forgive my butting in to what seems such a happy occasion,

1:36:411:36:44

"but it's important that I speak with you.

1:36:441:36:46

"Please," and that's underlined,

1:36:461:36:49

"meet me in the ladies' room. Eve."

1:36:491:36:52

I understand she's now the understudy in there.

1:36:521:36:56

Hand me that empty bottle. I may find her.

1:36:561:36:58

Well, look. There's Rasputin.

1:37:011:37:03

Encore du champagne.

1:37:091:37:10

-More champagne, Miss Channing?

-That's what I said, bub.

1:37:101:37:14

Maybe she just wants to apologise.

1:37:141:37:16

I have no possible interest in anything she'd have to say.

1:37:161:37:19

But what could she say? That's what fascinates me.

1:37:191:37:22

-Go on, find out.

-Karen, during all the years of our long friendship,

1:37:221:37:27

I have never let you go to the ladies' room alone.

1:37:271:37:30

Now I must. I am busting to find out

1:37:301:37:33

what's going on in that feverish little brain waiting in there.

1:37:331:37:37

Well... All right.

1:37:391:37:42

Karen!

1:37:471:37:49

How nice.

1:37:491:37:51

Very effective, but why take it out on me?

1:38:021:38:04

I was wondering whether you'd come at all.

1:38:281:38:31

Don't get up. And don't act as if I were the Queen Mother.

1:38:311:38:34

I don't expect you to be pleasant.

1:38:341:38:36

I don't intend to be.

1:38:361:38:38

Can't we sit down just for a minute? I've got a lot to say and none of it's easy.

1:38:381:38:42

-There can't be very much.

-But there is.

1:38:421:38:44

-Easy or not, I won't believe a word of it.

-Why should you?

1:38:441:38:49

Please sit down.

1:38:491:38:51

You know, I've always considered myself a very clever girl.

1:38:561:39:00

Smart, good head on my shoulders, that sort of thing.

1:39:001:39:03

Never the wrong word at the wrong time.

1:39:031:39:06

But then I'd never met Addison DeWitt.

1:39:061:39:09

I remember I had a tooth pulled once.

1:39:111:39:13

They gave me some anaesthetic. I don't remember the name.

1:39:131:39:17

It affected me strangely.

1:39:171:39:18

I found myself saying things I wasn't even thinking.

1:39:181:39:22

As if my mind was outside of my body

1:39:221:39:24

and couldn't control what I did or said.

1:39:241:39:26

-And you felt just like that talking to Addison?

-In a way.

1:39:261:39:29

You find yourself trying to say what you mean,

1:39:291:39:32

but somehow the words change.

1:39:321:39:34

They become his words.

1:39:341:39:36

And suddenly you're not saying what you mean, but what he means.

1:39:361:39:40

Do you expect me to believe that you didn't say any of those things?

1:39:401:39:43

That they were all Addison?

1:39:431:39:45

I don't expect you to believe anything,

1:39:451:39:47

except that the responsibility is mine, and the disgrace.

1:39:471:39:51

Let's not get overdramatic.

1:39:521:39:55

You really have a low opinion of me, haven't you?

1:39:561:40:00

I'll give you some pleasant news.

1:40:001:40:02

I've been told off in no uncertain terms, all over town.

1:40:021:40:06

Miss Channing should be happy to hear that.

1:40:061:40:09

To know how loyal her friends are,

1:40:091:40:12

how much more loyal than she had a right to expect me to be.

1:40:121:40:16

-Eve, don't cry.

-I'm not crying.

1:40:161:40:19

Tell me, how did your luncheon turn out with the man from Hollywood?

1:40:201:40:25

Some vague promises of a test.

1:40:251:40:27

If a particular part should come along, one of those things.

1:40:271:40:30

But the raves about your performance...

1:40:301:40:32

An understudy's performance.

1:40:321:40:34

Well, I think you're painting the picture a little blacker than it is, really.

1:40:341:40:39

If nothing else, don't underestimate him.

1:40:391:40:41

You have a powerful friend in Addison.

1:40:411:40:43

He's not my friend. You were my friends.

1:40:431:40:46

-He can help you.

-I wish I'd never met him.

1:40:461:40:48

I'd like him to be dead.

1:40:481:40:50

I want my friends back.

1:40:501:40:53

Eve. I don't think you meant to cause unhappiness.

1:40:531:40:58

But you did. More to yourself perhaps, as it turned out, than to anyone else.

1:40:581:41:02

-I'll never get over it.

-Oh, yes, you will.

1:41:021:41:05

You theatre people always do. Nothing is forever in the theatre.

1:41:051:41:10

Whatever it is, it's here, it flares up, burns hot,

1:41:101:41:14

and it's gone.

1:41:141:41:17

I wish I could believe that.

1:41:171:41:19

Give yourself time.

1:41:191:41:20

Don't worry too much about what people think.

1:41:201:41:23

You're very young and very talented.

1:41:231:41:25

And, believe it or not, if there's anything I can do...

1:41:271:41:31

There is something.

1:41:311:41:33

I think I know.

1:41:351:41:37

Something most important you can do.

1:41:371:41:40

You want to play Cora.

1:41:401:41:41

You want me to tell Lloyd I think you should play it.

1:41:411:41:45

If you told him so, he'd give me the part. He said he would.

1:41:451:41:48

After all you've said.

1:41:481:41:49

Don't you know that part was written for Margo?

1:41:491:41:52

It might've been 15 years ago. It's my part now.

1:41:521:41:55

You talk just as Addison said you did.

1:41:551:41:58

Cora is my part. You've got to tell Lloyd it's for me.

1:41:581:42:01

Nothing in the world would make me say that.

1:42:011:42:03

Addison wants me to play it.

1:42:031:42:05

Over my dead body.

1:42:051:42:06

That won't be necessary.

1:42:061:42:08

Addison knows how Margo happened to miss that performance,

1:42:081:42:12

how I happened to know she'd miss it in time to call him and notify every paper in town.

1:42:121:42:17

It's quite a story. Addison could make quite a thing of it.

1:42:171:42:20

Imagine how snide and vicious he could get,

1:42:201:42:22

and still tell nothing but the truth.

1:42:221:42:24

I had a time persuading him.

1:42:241:42:27

You better sit down. You look a bit wobbly.

1:42:281:42:31

If I play Cora, Addison will never tell what happened,

1:42:351:42:39

in or out of print.

1:42:391:42:40

A simple exchange of favours.

1:42:401:42:43

I'm so happy I can do something for you at long last.

1:42:431:42:46

Your friendship with Margo,

1:42:481:42:51

your deep, close friendship.

1:42:511:42:53

What would happen to it

1:42:531:42:55

if she knew the cheap trick you played on her for my benefit?

1:42:551:42:59

You and Lloyd, how long, even in the theatre,

1:42:591:43:04

before people forgot what happened and trusted you again?

1:43:041:43:08

No.

1:43:101:43:11

It would be so much easier for everyone concerned if I were to play Cora.

1:43:121:43:17

So much better theatre, too.

1:43:171:43:20

A part in a play.

1:43:201:43:22

You'd do all that just for a part in a play?

1:43:231:43:26

I'd do much more for a part that good.

1:43:261:43:29

Hungry?

1:43:511:43:53

I'm not surprised, after all that humble pie.

1:43:551:43:59

Nothing of the kind. Karen and I had a nice talk.

1:43:591:44:02

Heart to heart? Woman to woman?

1:44:021:44:05

Including a casual reference to the part of Cora and your hopes of playing it?

1:44:051:44:09

I discussed it very openly.

1:44:091:44:11

I told her I'd spoken to Lloyd, and that he was interested.

1:44:111:44:14

And Karen mentioned, of course, that Margo expects to play the part?

1:44:141:44:18

Oddly enough, she didn't say a word about Margo.

1:44:181:44:22

Just that she'll be happy to do what she can to see that I play it.

1:44:221:44:26

Just like that, eh?

1:44:271:44:30

Just like that.

1:44:301:44:32

You know, Eve, sometimes I think you keep things from me.

1:44:321:44:36

-I don't think that's funny.

-It wasn't meant to be.

1:44:371:44:41

I confide in you and rely on you more than anyone I've ever known.

1:44:411:44:44

To say a thing like that now, without any reason,

1:44:441:44:47

when I need you more than ever.

1:44:471:44:50

I hope you mean what you say.

1:44:501:44:52

I intend to hold you to it.

1:44:521:44:55

We have a great deal in common, it seems to me.

1:44:561:44:59

-Well, what happened? Nothing much.

-She apologised.

1:45:081:45:12

-With tears?

-With tears.

1:45:121:45:14

But not right away. First fight them back, chin up, stout fellow.

1:45:141:45:18

-Check.

-Very classy. Lots of technique.

1:45:181:45:20

You mean all this time she's done nothing but apologise?

1:45:201:45:24

What did you say?

1:45:241:45:25

Not much.

1:45:251:45:27

Groom, may I have a wedding present?

1:45:301:45:33

What would you like? Texas?

1:45:331:45:34

I want everybody to shut up about Eve.

1:45:341:45:37

Just shut up about Eve. That's all I want.

1:45:371:45:40

Give Karen more wine.

1:45:401:45:42

Never have I been so happy.

1:45:421:45:44

Isn't it a lovely room? The Cub Room.

1:45:441:45:47

What a lovely, clever name. Where the elite meet.

1:45:471:45:51

Never have I seen so much elite, all with their eyes on me,

1:45:511:45:56

waiting for me to crack that little gnome on the noggin with a bottle.

1:45:561:46:00

But not tonight. I'm forgiving tonight. Even Eve. I forgive Eve.

1:46:001:46:04

There they go.

1:46:051:46:08

There goes Eve.

1:46:091:46:10

Eve Evil, little Miss Evil.

1:46:101:46:13

But "the evil that men do..." How does that go, groom?

1:46:141:46:17

Something about the good they leave behind.

1:46:171:46:20

I played it once in rep in Wilkes-Barre.

1:46:201:46:22

You've got it backwards, even for Wilkes-Barre.

1:46:221:46:25

Do you know why I forgive Eve? She left good behind.

1:46:251:46:29

The four of us here together, it's Eve fault. I forgive her.

1:46:291:46:33

And Bill, especially Bill. She did that too.

1:46:331:46:38

You know, she probably means well after all.

1:46:381:46:40

She is a louse.

1:46:401:46:42

Never try to outguess Margo.

1:46:421:46:44

-Groom?

-Yes, dear.

1:46:441:46:47

-Do you know what I'm going to be?

-A cowboy?

1:46:471:46:49

-A married lady.

-With a paper to prove it.

1:46:491:46:52

I'm going to look up at six o'clock, and there he'll be.

1:46:521:46:56

Remember, Karen?

1:46:561:46:58

I remember.

1:46:581:47:00

You'll be there, won't you?

1:47:001:47:01

Often enough to keep the franchise.

1:47:011:47:04

No more make-believe, offstage or on.

1:47:041:47:06

Remember, Lloyd? I mean it now.

1:47:061:47:09

Lloyd, will you promise not to be angry with me?

1:47:091:47:13

-That depends.

-No, I mean deeply angry.

1:47:131:47:16

I don't think I could be.

1:47:161:47:18

Well, I don't want to play Cora.

1:47:181:47:21

-What?

-You're always so touchy about his plays.

1:47:211:47:24

It isn't the part. It's a great part and a fine play.

1:47:241:47:27

But not for me anymore.

1:47:271:47:28

Not for a foursquare, upright, downright, forthright, married lady.

1:47:281:47:33

What's your being married got to do with it?

1:47:331:47:35

It means I've finally got a life to live.

1:47:351:47:39

I don't have to play parts I'm too old for

1:47:391:47:41

just because I've got nothing to do with my nights.

1:47:411:47:46

Oh, Lloyd, I'll make it up to you, believe me.

1:47:461:47:48

I'll tour a year with this one, anything.

1:47:481:47:51

Only you do understand, don't you?

1:47:511:47:53

-What's so funny?

-Nothing.

1:47:591:48:02

Nothing?

1:48:021:48:04

Everything! Everything's so funny.

1:48:041:48:06

Lloyd never got around somehow to asking whether it was all right

1:48:171:48:22

with me for Eve to play Cora.

1:48:221:48:24

Bill, oddly enough, refused to direct the play at first,

1:48:241:48:28

with Eve in it.

1:48:281:48:29

Lloyd and Max finally won him over.

1:48:291:48:32

Margo never came to rehearsal.

1:48:321:48:33

"Too much to do around the house," she said.

1:48:331:48:37

I'd never known Bill and Lloyd to fight as bitterly and often,

1:48:371:48:41

and always over some business for Eve,

1:48:411:48:44

or a move, or the way she read a speech.

1:48:441:48:47

But I'd never known Lloyd to meddle as much with Bill's directing,

1:48:471:48:51

as far as it affected Eve, that is.

1:48:511:48:54

Somehow Eve kept them going.

1:48:541:48:57

Bill stuck it out. Lloyd seemed happy.

1:48:571:49:00

And I thought it might be best if I skipped rehearsals from then on.

1:49:041:49:08

It seemed to me I had known always that it would happen.

1:49:101:49:13

And here it was.

1:49:131:49:14

I felt helpless.

1:49:141:49:16

That helplessness you feel when you have no talent to offer,

1:49:161:49:19

outside of loving your husband.

1:49:191:49:21

How could I compete? Everything Lloyd loved about me,

1:49:211:49:25

he'd gotten used to long ago.

1:49:251:49:27

PHONE RINGS

1:49:271:49:29

Hello?

1:49:321:49:34

Who? Who's calling Mr Richards?

1:49:341:49:36

My name wouldn't mean anything.

1:49:361:49:38

I room across the hall from Eve Harrington.

1:49:381:49:40

She isn't well. She's been crying all night and she's hysterical.

1:49:401:49:44

She doesn't want a doctor and...

1:49:441:49:46

Who is it? What's it all about?

1:49:461:49:48

Did Miss Harrington tell you to call?

1:49:481:49:51

Oh, no. Eve didn't say to call him.

1:49:511:49:53

I remember I saw Mr Richards with her a couple of times.

1:49:531:49:56

I thought, they being such good friends...

1:49:561:49:58

Hello, this is Lloyd Richards. Where is Eve? Let me talk to her.

1:49:581:50:01

Hello, Mr Richards. She's upstairs in her room.

1:50:011:50:04

I really hate to bother you this way, but the way Eve's been feeling,

1:50:041:50:08

I've been worried sick, what with her leaving tomorrow for New Haven.

1:50:081:50:12

Tell her not to worry. Tell her I'll be right over.

1:50:121:50:15

-ADDISON:

-To the theatre world, New Haven, Connecticut,

1:50:331:50:36

is a short stretch of sidewalk between the Shubert Theatre and the Taft Hotel,

1:50:361:50:41

surrounded by what looks very much like a small city.

1:50:411:50:44

It is here that managers have what are called out-of-town openings,

1:50:441:50:49

which are openings for New Yorkers who want to go out of town.

1:50:491:50:54

What a day. What a heavenly day.

1:50:541:50:57

-D-day.

-Just like it.

1:50:571:51:00

Tomorrow morning, you will have won your beachhead

1:51:001:51:03

on the shores of immortality.

1:51:031:51:04

Stop rehearsing your column.

1:51:041:51:07

Isn't it strange, Addison?

1:51:071:51:09

I thought I'd be panic-stricken, want to run away or something.

1:51:091:51:13

Instead, I can't wait for tonight to come. To come and go.

1:51:131:51:18

Are you that sure of tomorrow?

1:51:181:51:20

-Aren't you?

-Frankly, yes.

1:51:201:51:22

It'll be a night to remember.

1:51:291:51:31

It'll bring me everything I've ever wanted.

1:51:311:51:34

The end of an old road, the beginning of a new one.

1:51:341:51:36

All paved with diamonds and gold?

1:51:361:51:38

You know me better than that.

1:51:381:51:40

Paved with what, then?

1:51:401:51:43

Stars.

1:51:431:51:45

What time?

1:51:461:51:48

Almost four.

1:51:481:51:51

Plenty of time for a nice, long nap.

1:51:511:51:53

We rehearsed most of last night.

1:51:531:51:56

You could sleep now, couldn't you?

1:51:561:51:58

Why not?

1:51:581:51:59

The mark of a true killer.

1:51:591:52:02

Sleep tight, rest easy and come out fighting.

1:52:021:52:05

Why did you call me a killer?

1:52:051:52:08

Did I say killer? I meant champion. I get my boxing terms mixed.

1:52:081:52:12

Addison, come in for a minute, will you?

1:52:131:52:16

I've got something to tell you.

1:52:161:52:19

Suites are for expense accounts. Aren't you being extravagant?

1:52:281:52:31

Max is paying for it. He and Lloyd had a terrific row,

1:52:311:52:35

but Lloyd insisted.

1:52:351:52:37

Can I fix you a drink?

1:52:371:52:39

Also with the reluctant compliments of Max?

1:52:391:52:42

Lloyd. I never have any.

1:52:421:52:44

He likes a few drinks after we finish, so he sent it up.

1:52:441:52:47

Some plain soda. Lloyd must be expecting a record run in New Haven.

1:52:471:52:51

That's for tonight. You're invited.

1:52:511:52:55

We're having everyone up after the performance.

1:52:551:52:58

"We are?"

1:52:581:53:00

Lloyd and I.

1:53:001:53:02

I find it odd that Karen isn't here for the opening, don't you?

1:53:031:53:06

-Addison...

-She was always so devoted to Lloyd.

1:53:061:53:09

One would think only death could keep her...

1:53:091:53:11

Addison.

1:53:111:53:12

Just a few minutes ago, I said this would be a night to remember,

1:53:121:53:16

that it would bring me everything I ever wanted.

1:53:161:53:19

Oh, yes. Something about an old road ending

1:53:191:53:21

and a new one starting, all paved with stars.

1:53:211:53:23

I didn't mean just the theatre.

1:53:231:53:26

What else?

1:53:261:53:28

Lloyd Richards.

1:53:301:53:33

He's going to leave Karen. We're going to be married.

1:53:331:53:37

So that's it. Lloyd.

1:53:381:53:41

Still just the theatre, after all.

1:53:411:53:44

It's nothing of the kind.

1:53:441:53:46

Lloyd loves me. I love him.

1:53:461:53:48

I know nothing of Lloyd and his loves.

1:53:481:53:50

I leave those to Louisa May Alcott. But I do know you.

1:53:501:53:52

I'm in love with Lloyd.

1:53:521:53:54

Lloyd Richards is commercially the most successful playwright in America.

1:53:541:53:57

-You have no right to say that.

-And, artistically, the most promising.

1:53:571:54:01

Eve, dear, this is Addison.

1:54:011:54:03

Oh, Addison, won't it be just perfect?

1:54:051:54:07

Lloyd and I. There's no telling how far we can go.

1:54:071:54:11

He'll write great plays for me. I'll make them great.

1:54:111:54:14

You're the only one I've told,

1:54:141:54:16

-the only one who knows, except Lloyd and me.

-And Karen.

1:54:161:54:18

She doesn't know.

1:54:181:54:19

She knows enough not to be here.

1:54:191:54:21

But not all of it.

1:54:211:54:22

-Not that Lloyd and I are going to be married.

-I see.

1:54:221:54:26

And when was this unholy alliance joined?

1:54:261:54:29

We decided night before last, before we came up here.

1:54:291:54:32

I trust the setting was properly romantic.

1:54:321:54:36

Lights on dimmers and gypsy violins offstage.

1:54:361:54:39

The setting wasn't romantic,

1:54:391:54:42

but Lloyd was.

1:54:421:54:44

He woke me up at three o'clock in the morning, banging on my door.

1:54:441:54:47

He couldn't sleep, he said. He'd left Karen.

1:54:471:54:50

Couldn't go on with the play or anything else until I promised to marry him.

1:54:501:54:55

We sat and talked until it was light.

1:54:551:54:58

He never went home.

1:54:581:55:00

-You sat and talked until it was light?

-We sat and talked, Addison.

1:55:001:55:04

I want a run-of-the-play contract.

1:55:051:55:08

There never was, and there never will be, another like you.

1:55:091:55:13

Well, say something. Anything.

1:55:141:55:17

Congratulations. Skal. Good work, Eve.

1:55:171:55:19

What do you take me for?

1:55:261:55:28

I don't know that I "take you" for anything.

1:55:281:55:31

Is it possible, even conceivable, that you've confused me

1:55:311:55:34

with that gang of backward children you've played tricks on?

1:55:341:55:37

That you have the same contempt for me as for them?

1:55:371:55:40

I'm sure you mean something by that but I don't know what.

1:55:401:55:42

Look closely, Eve. It's time you did.

1:55:421:55:45

I am Addison DeWitt. I'm nobody's fool, least of all yours.

1:55:451:55:50

-I never intended you to be.

-Yes, you did, and you still do.

1:55:501:55:54

I still don't know what you're getting at.

1:55:541:55:56

But I want to take my nap. It's important...

1:55:561:55:58

-It's important that we talk, killer to killer.

-Champion to champion.

1:55:581:56:01

Not with me, you're no champion. You're stepping up in class.

1:56:011:56:04

Please say what you have to say, plainly and distinctly,

1:56:041:56:07

and then let me take my nap.

1:56:071:56:08

Very well, plainly and distinctly, though I consider it unnecessary,

1:56:081:56:12

because you know as well as I do what I'm going to say.

1:56:121:56:14

Lloyd may leave Karen, but he will not leave Karen for you.

1:56:141:56:18

-What do you mean by that?

-More plainly and more distinctly?

1:56:181:56:22

I have not come to New Haven to see the play, discuss your dreams,

1:56:221:56:26

or pull the ivy from the walls of Yale.

1:56:261:56:29

I came to tell you that you will not marry Lloyd, or anyone else,

1:56:291:56:32

because I will not permit it.

1:56:321:56:34

-What have you got to do with it?

-Everything.

1:56:341:56:37

Because after tonight you will belong to me.

1:56:371:56:40

Belong? To you?

1:56:401:56:44

I can't believe my ears.

1:56:451:56:47

What a dull cliche.

1:56:471:56:49

"Belong" to you?

1:56:491:56:51

That sounds medieval. Something out of an old melodrama.

1:56:511:56:54

So does the history of the world for the past 20 years.

1:56:541:56:57

I don't enjoy putting it this bluntly.

1:56:571:56:59

I'd hoped that you would have taken it for granted that you and I...

1:56:591:57:03

"Taken it for granted?"

1:57:031:57:05

"That you and I...?"

1:57:051:57:07

Now remember, as long as you live, never to laugh at me.

1:57:121:57:15

At anything or anyone else, but never at me.

1:57:151:57:18

-Get out.

-You're too short for that gesture.

1:57:211:57:25

Besides, it went out with Mrs Fiske.

1:57:251:57:27

Then if you won't get out, I'll have you thrown out.

1:57:281:57:31

Don't pick up that phone. Don't even touch it.

1:57:311:57:34

Something told you to do what I said, didn't it?

1:57:341:57:37

That instinct is worth millions. You can't buy it, Eve. Cherish it.

1:57:371:57:41

When that alarm goes off, go to your battle stations.

1:57:411:57:44

To begin with, your name is not Eve Harrington.

1:57:451:57:48

It's Gertrude Slescynski.

1:57:481:57:50

What of it?

1:57:501:57:51

It's true, your parents were poor, and they still are.

1:57:511:57:53

They would like to know how you are and where.

1:57:531:57:56

They haven't heard from you for three years.

1:57:561:57:58

What of it?

1:57:581:58:01

A matter of opinion, granted.

1:58:011:58:03

It's also true that you worked in a brewery.

1:58:031:58:05

But life there was apparently not as dull as you pictured it.

1:58:051:58:09

In fact, it got less and less dull,

1:58:091:58:11

until your boss's wife had your boss followed by detectives.

1:58:111:58:14

She never proved anything, not a thing!

1:58:141:58:15

But the 500 you got to get out of town

1:58:151:58:17

brought you straight to New York, didn't it?

1:58:171:58:21

That 500 brought you straight to New York.

1:58:291:58:31

She was a liar. She was a liar!

1:58:311:58:33

Answer my question. Weren't you paid to get out of town?

1:58:331:58:37

There was no Eddie, no pilot. You've never been married.

1:58:401:58:43

That was not only a lie, it was an insult to dead heroes

1:58:431:58:46

and the women who loved them.

1:58:461:58:48

San Francisco has no Shubert Theatre.

1:58:481:58:50

You've never been to San Francisco.

1:58:501:58:52

That was a stupid lie, easy to expose, not worthy of you.

1:58:521:58:56

I had to get in to meet Margo.

1:58:561:58:58

I had to say something, be somebody. Make her like me!

1:58:581:59:01

She did like you. She helped and trusted you.

1:59:011:59:03

-You paid her back her by trying to take Bill away.

-That's not true!

1:59:031:59:07

I was there. I saw you and heard you through the dressing-room door.

1:59:071:59:11

You used my name to blackmail Karen into getting you the part of Cora.

1:59:111:59:14

You lied to me about it.

1:59:141:59:16

No, no, no!

1:59:161:59:18

I had lunch with Karen not three hours ago.

1:59:181:59:20

As always with women who try to find out things,

1:59:201:59:23

she told more than she learnt.

1:59:231:59:26

Now do you want to change your story

1:59:261:59:27

about Lloyd beating at your door the other night?

1:59:271:59:30

Please, please.

1:59:301:59:32

That I should want you at all suddenly strikes me

1:59:361:59:39

as the height of improbability.

1:59:391:59:41

But that in itself is probably the reason.

1:59:411:59:45

You're an improbable person, Eve, and so am I. We have that in common.

1:59:451:59:50

Also a contempt for humanity, an inability to love and be loved.

1:59:501:59:54

Insatiable ambition and talent.

1:59:541:59:58

We deserve each other. Are you listening to me?

1:59:582:00:01

-Then say so.

-Yes, Addison.

2:00:032:00:06

And you realise and you agree how completely you belong to me?

2:00:062:00:11

Yes, Addison.

2:00:112:00:13

Then take your nap, and good luck for tonight.

2:00:132:00:16

I won't play tonight.

2:00:212:00:23

I couldn't. Not possibly. I couldn't go on.

2:00:232:00:27

"Couldn't go on"? You'll give the performance of your life.

2:00:272:00:31

DOOR CLOSES

2:00:452:00:46

And she gave the performance of her life.

2:00:492:00:52

And it was a night to remember, that night.

2:00:522:00:55

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

2:00:552:00:58

Honoured members of the Sarah Siddons Society,

2:01:052:01:08

distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

2:01:082:01:11

What is there for me to say?

2:01:122:01:15

Everything wise and witty has long since been said

2:01:152:01:18

by minds more mature and talents far greater than mine.

2:01:182:01:23

For me to thank you as equals would be presumptuous.

2:01:232:01:26

I am an apprentice in the theatre,

2:01:262:01:28

and have much to learn from all of you.

2:01:282:01:32

Let me say only that I am proud and happy,

2:01:322:01:36

and that I regard this great honour

2:01:362:01:39

not so much as an award for what I have achieved,

2:01:392:01:42

but as a standard to hold against what I have yet to accomplish.

2:01:422:01:45

APPLAUSE

2:01:452:01:48

And, further, that I regard it as bestowed upon me only in part.

2:01:482:01:52

The larger share belongs to my friends in the theatre,

2:01:532:01:58

and to the theatre itself

2:01:582:02:00

which has given me all I have.

2:02:002:02:03

In good conscience, I must give credit where credit is due.

2:02:052:02:09

To Max Fabian. Dear Max.

2:02:102:02:14

Dear sentimental, generous, courageous Max Fabian,

2:02:142:02:18

who took a chance on an unknown, untried amateur.

2:02:182:02:22

APPLAUSE

2:02:222:02:23

To my first friend in the theatre,

2:02:262:02:30

whose kindness and graciousness I shall never forget,

2:02:302:02:34

Karen. Mrs Lloyd Richards.

2:02:342:02:36

APPLAUSE

2:02:362:02:38

It was Karen who first brought me to one whom I'd always idolised,

2:02:422:02:46

one who became my benefactress and champion.

2:02:462:02:50

A great actress and a great woman,

2:02:502:02:54

Margo Channing.

2:02:542:02:56

CHEERING

2:02:562:02:58

To my director,

2:03:012:03:03

who demanded always a little more than my talent could provide,

2:03:032:03:08

but who taught me patiently and well,

2:03:082:03:12

Bill Sampson.

2:03:122:03:14

APPLAUSE

2:03:142:03:16

And one without whose great play and faith in me,

2:03:162:03:22

this night could never have been.

2:03:222:03:24

How can I repay Lloyd Richards?

2:03:242:03:27

APPLAUSE

2:03:272:03:29

How can I repay the many others,

2:03:292:03:32

so many, I couldn't possibly name them all,

2:03:322:03:35

whose help, guidance, and advice

2:03:352:03:39

have made this, the happiest night of my life, possible.

2:03:392:03:44

Although I am going to Hollywood next week to make a film,

2:03:482:03:52

do not think for a moment that I am leaving you.

2:03:522:03:56

How could I?

2:03:562:03:58

My heart is here in the theatre,

2:03:582:04:01

and 3,000 miles are too far to be away from one's heart.

2:04:012:04:05

I'll be back to claim it, and soon.

2:04:052:04:08

That is, if you want me back.

2:04:102:04:13

APPLAUSE

2:04:132:04:16

Good night to you all, and to all, a good night.

2:04:202:04:23

For services rendered beyond whatever it is of duty, darling.

2:04:302:04:34

Come on, I'm the host.

2:04:392:04:40

I got to get home before my guests start stealing the liquor.

2:04:402:04:44

-Congratulations, Eve.

-Thank you, Karen.

2:04:472:04:49

-Congratulations, Miss Harrington.

-Oh, thank you so much.

2:04:522:04:57

Nice speech, Eve. But I wouldn't worry too much about your heart.

2:04:572:05:02

You can always put that award where your heart ought to be.

2:05:022:05:05

I don't suppose there's a drink left?

2:05:082:05:10

-You can have one at Max's.

-I don't think I'm going.

2:05:102:05:13

Why not?

2:05:132:05:14

Because I don't want to.

2:05:142:05:17

I'm so happy for you, Eve.

2:05:172:05:19

Thank you so much.

2:05:192:05:20

Max has gone to a great deal of trouble.

2:05:212:05:24

This is going to be an elaborate party and it's for you.

2:05:242:05:26

No, it isn't. It's for this.

2:05:262:05:30

-It's the same thing, isn't it?

-Exactly.

2:05:302:05:33

Here, take it to the party instead of me.

2:05:342:05:37

You're being very childish.

2:05:372:05:39

-I'm tired. I want to go home.

-Very well. I'll drop you off.

2:05:392:05:43

I shall go to the party alone. I have no intention of missing it.

2:05:432:05:46

-Who are you?

-Miss Harrington.

2:07:092:07:12

-What are you doing here?

-I... I guess I fell asleep.

2:07:122:07:15

Please don't have me arrested.

2:07:182:07:20

I didn't steal anything. You can search me.

2:07:202:07:22

How did you get in here?

2:07:222:07:24

I hid outside in the hall till the maid came to turn down your bed.

2:07:242:07:27

She went out to get something and left the door open.

2:07:272:07:29

I sneaked in and hid till she'd finished. Then I just looked around.

2:07:292:07:33

I was afraid someone would notice the lights were on, so I turned them off.

2:07:332:07:37

Then I guess I fell asleep.

2:07:372:07:38

You were just looking around?

2:07:382:07:40

-That's all.

-What for?

2:07:402:07:42

-You probably won't believe me.

-Probably not.

2:07:422:07:45

-It was for my report.

-What report? To whom?

2:07:452:07:47

About how you live, what kind of clothes you wear,

2:07:472:07:50

what kind of perfume and books, things like that.

2:07:502:07:54

You know the Eve Harrington Club that they have in most girls' high schools?

2:07:542:07:58

-I've heard of them.

-Ours was one of the first, Erasmus Hall.

2:07:582:08:02

-I'm the president.

-Erasmus Hall. That's in Brooklyn, isn't it?

2:08:022:08:06

Lots of actresses come from Brooklyn.

2:08:062:08:08

Barbara Stanwyck and Susan Hayward.

2:08:082:08:10

Of course, they're just movie stars.

2:08:102:08:13

You're going to Hollywood, aren't you?

2:08:132:08:15

Mm-hm.

2:08:152:08:17

From the trunks you're packing,

2:08:172:08:18

you must be going to stay a long time.

2:08:182:08:20

I might.

2:08:202:08:22

That spilled drink's going to ruin your carpet.

2:08:262:08:29

Maid'll fix it in the morning.

2:08:292:08:31

I'll just clean up the mess.

2:08:322:08:35

Don't bother.

2:08:352:08:36

-How'd you get up here from Brooklyn?

-Subway.

2:08:362:08:39

How long does it take?

2:08:402:08:42

With changing and everything, a little over an hour.

2:08:422:08:45

It's after one now. You won't get home till all hours.

2:08:452:08:49

I don't care if I never get home.

2:08:502:08:52

BUZZER

2:08:522:08:55

That's the door.

2:08:552:08:57

You rest. I'll get it.

2:09:002:09:02

Hello. Who are you?

2:09:092:09:12

Miss Harrington's resting, Mr DeWitt.

2:09:122:09:15

She asked me to see who it is.

2:09:152:09:16

Well, we won't disturb her rest.

2:09:162:09:18

It seems Miss Harrington left her award in the taxi cab.

2:09:182:09:22

Will you give it to her?

2:09:222:09:23

Tell me, how did you know my name?

2:09:242:09:28

It's a very famous name, Mr DeWitt.

2:09:282:09:31

-And what's your name?

-Phoebe.

2:09:312:09:34

-Phoebe?

-I call myself Phoebe.

2:09:342:09:37

And why not?

2:09:382:09:40

Tell me, Phoebe, do you want someday to have an award like that of your own?

2:09:402:09:45

More than anything else in the world.

2:09:452:09:48

Then ask Miss Harrington how to get one.

2:09:482:09:50

Miss Harrington knows all about it.

2:09:512:09:54

Who was it?

2:10:022:10:04

Just a taxi driver, Miss Harrington.

2:10:042:10:07

You left your award in his cab, and he brought it back.

2:10:072:10:11

Put it on one of the trunks, will you? I want to pack it.

2:10:112:10:14

Sure, Miss Harrington.

2:10:142:10:17

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