A play in one act by Kerr Lockhart 201 925 5288CHARACTERS, BRIAN - Early 30s - Film enthusiast who has made his hobby into his living. More comfortable with his research materials and technical equipment than with people. A bit shy and star-struck — anxious to make certain his celebrity guests feel valued and respected. Not comfortable with sex talk ANGELA - Late 60s- Early 70s, Still beautiful, former ingenue. Quit acting for a happy personal life and never regretted it. Gracious, agreeable, but nobody's fool DAVID - Early 70s. Former granite-jawed leading man, still a bit slick. Although knowledgeable, he is right at the edge of being a know-it-all, Used to dominating his leading ladies and his directors, though a bit surprised he is not working as much lately. Late spring - Early summer 2018 ‘A post-production house in greater Los AngelesA small, but not tiny recording studio, Sound baffling on the upstage wall. A simple table, preferably wood, heavy and stable. Three chairs at the table, three mikes on booms at each place with pop filters on each mike, plus headphones, a pad and a pen at each of the two places not occupied by BRIAN, 32, a film buff and producer of special features for DVDs. He is consulting asstack of notes. On a side table is a pitcher and cups in rubber holders so they won't make sound. Enter ANGELA and DAVID, both in their early to mid-70s. Although they look their age, you are not surprised to learn they were film stars more than forty years ago. ANGELA Indicating David ‘Look who I met on the stairs! BRIAN Here they are, the famous lovers. Angela and David demur I'm Brian Bedloe, I’m the producer on this reissue and I'll be doing the commentary with you. ANGELA Offering hand Angela, Nice to meet you, Brian. I'm so glad you're here. I don’t know what I have to say about the picture after all these years. DAVID Offering hand Hi there, I'm David. BRIAN 1 figured. ANGELA I’m not sure what I remember about this picture. It was an awful long time ago. BRIAN You wouldn’t know that from looking at the two of you. You're both just the same as you were.ANGELA God bless you for a liar, but PIL take it BRIAN Please, have a seat. ANGELA Picking up headphones tentatively Are these for us? BRIAN Yes, but not just yet. First, through that glass (he points in the direction of the audience) is Joel, our engineer, ANGELA Hello, Joel. DAVID Hi, Joel. BRIAN Wave at Angela and David, Joel, just like you're a regular person, and not an anti-social audio engineer. That's it, Joel, you almost look human. Joel can hear everything we say, but we can’t hear him unless he pushes his mike button, and Joel hates to push his mike button, Don’t you, Joel? (Pause) Didn’t your mother tell you it’s not polite to stare? ANGELA Don’t mind him, Joel, you seem very nice. BRIAN Keep talking so Joel can get a level. ANGELA Oh my goodness, what should I say? I don’t know what to talk about, and here Tam, I’m supposed to talk about myself for two hours while I watch a movie and I don’t want to say “testing 1 23” but here I am saying “testing 1 23”BRIAN OK, got it. David? DAVID Crooning Fly-- me to the moon, and let me play-- among the stars-- BRIAN (Cut out the nonsense.”) Lovely, David. DAVID Alright, I'll play nice, Hello folks, this is David Grafton, I was born in Hohman, Indiana and attended Purdue where I majored in dry martinis and dirty blondes. ANGELA How dirty? DAVID How dirty do you think? BRIAN I think we've got the levels. ANGELA Now I'm starting to feel nervous. BRIAN Nothing to feel nervous about. This is digital media. We can stop at anytime, we can take something out if you like, put something else in, I mean, within reason, We only have the studio until five o’clock. But the point is, you don’t have to be perfect all the time. DAVID But that’s what she’s used to being. ANGELA So gallant, No, it’s true, I was always asking for extra takes-~BRIAN ‘Angela, don’t misunderstand me ~ I love hearing those stories. But let’s save them for when we're recording the commentary, ANGELA Oh yes, of course. That's a good idea. BRIAN Joel, can we get picture up? (We hear soundtrack music through the earphones) Ah, there it is They all focus on the screen, which is a little above the heads of the audience in the theater. ANGELA Oh, no. Hides her face on the desk. BRIAN What? What is it? DAVID Didn’t you know? Angela is famous for never wanting to watch her own performance. She went to dailies one time and one time only. The moment she saw herself on the screen, she ran out and she never went back again. I had to tell her how she was doing. BRIAN Angela, are you going to be able to do this? We're supposed to watch the movie together and talk about it, Imean, you're going to have to look at the sereen. I thought you knew-- ANGELA op. [ knew, I knew. [just couldn’t think about it DAVID Angela, sweetheart, we'll get you through it, I'l get you through it, ANGELA Oh, David--6 DAVID You're going to love it. You have no idea how good you are on film. BRIAN People love you. That’s why we're even producing this track. They love this movie. ANGELA All right, deep breaths BRIAN ‘Are you alright? ANGELA Good ahead, let’s get started, You said we only have so much time-~ BRIAN —-Until five. ANGELA T’'ma professional. I ean do this DAVID We're right here beside you. ANGELA You know, Brian, this is why I got out of the movies and went back to the theater. It became impossible to avoid seeing clips on talk shows and award shows. And I can’t help it - When I sce myself up there, all I can see is what I’ve done wrong, the things I should have done better-- BRIAN ‘Again, Angela, let’s make this part of the commentary. I’m sure the fans would love to hear about it. ANGELA ‘My fans? By now, they’re probably all in the old age home, babbling and drooling BRIAN I'm insulted. I’m a huge fan of yours.ANGELA You're sweet. All right, let’s go and get started. BRIAN Joel, picture please. DAVID Brian, I’m dry as a bone. Do you have any water or anything? BRIAN Oh, I'm sony. Goes to the sideboard, pours out water for all three of them, carefully placing the insulated holders on the table. We don’t use plastic bottles or anything that can make a sound, Be careful setting them down. ANGELA Looking at the screen I've always wondered what those numbers are, BRIAN What? ANGELA On the bottom of the screen. It’s like a stopwatch or something. DAVID The time code. You don’t know about time code? BRIAN Is used to locate specific frames in the program for editing and for synchronizing the sound. ANGELA ‘And what did you call it~ stop time? DAVID Not stop time. That’s tap dancing, sweety.BRIAN SMPTE! time code. Or just time code. ANGELA Oh, that’s time code! J always thought -- (breaks off) DAVID What? What did you always think? ANGELA Well, I-- Oh, now it sounds silly. DAVID Come on. ANGELA I'd heard the expression “time code” before, of course I'd heard it, But since I never went near the dailies or the editing, I didn’t realize~ I always thought it was something to do with how each generation talks differently and has different ideas and ways of behaving. DAVID ANGELA Well, you know, David. When we were young, we would dress up to go on an airplane. And men still held the door for ladies. Or the way people our age still write “Dear so and so” even thought it’s just an e-mail. That's our way, our code, from our time. That’s what I thought “time code” was about, How things change over time, but most of us don’t. We just adapt to the new codes. DAVID My dear, you're a poet, No, just ignorant DAVID In ignorantio, veritas. [ minored in Latin, + Pronounced “sumpty"BRIAN Well, we've all leamed something today, Are we ready? Shall we start? ANGELA Toe! looks ready. DAVID Joel looks like he wishes it was already over, BRIAN Everybody put their headphones on. David and Angela do, Can everyone hear alright? ‘Thumbs up. Brian's eyes are fixed on the screen. Then, Hello, this is Brian Bedloe from “More and More Movies” and I’m sitting here with the stars of Turner's Cross, Angela Beaulicu-- Indicates she should speak. ANGELA Breathily Hello, everybody. BRIAN ~- and David Graflon. DAVID ‘Hi, ther BRIAN And we're here recording in 2018 to talk about the film, the titles of which are unspooling in front of us now, first released - can you believe it? - fifty years ago in 1968, Turner s Cross. The exteriors you're seeing now were shot in Brighton Cove in midcoast Maine,ANGELA Ob, my God, that was the coldest summer I ever spent in my life. I spent the whole summer in a hooded sweatshirt. Angela pulls her clothes tight around her now. DAVID Actually, it could get quite warm, but it’s true, you never took that sweatshirt off, at least not during the last part of the shoot, BRIAN And now we see the remarkable rock formation where the famous love scene was filmed- As Ang e she has a terrible tremor. She knocks the cup over. la reaches for her water, we s ANGELA Oh BRIAN Angela, are you alright? ANGELA It’s nothing, I just knocked my water over. Let's keep going, Lights fade during the following speech. BRIAN The project began with a first novel called “Come What Come May” by a 28-year-old literature professor named Charles Colville. It sold as most first novels do, which is to say abysmally, but a copy found its way into the hands of producer Lawrence Manchest to black Lights fade in on— DAVID and when I got out of the water, which was barely above freezing, there were four women who swaddled me in thick towels and took me over to this enormous portable heater.ANGELA If either of us had gotten sick, they would have had to shut down production, you know, and there was no money for that. BRIAN ‘Now we're coming up to the scene that put Turner § Cross on the map, and is probably the key to its enduring popularity. The scene on the promontory-- DAVID The nude scene ANGELA The love scene~ BRIAN Nudity, even partial nudity, was still pretty rare in films in 1968, Even female frontal nudity and male frontal nudity would unquestionably have earned an X rating. Angela, how did you feel when you read this scene in the script and realized what it called for? ANGELA Well, you know Brian, I believe that Larry Manchester recruited me deliberately because I had been doing some nudity in the theater before this and he made an educated guess that I wouldn’t mind as much as an established film actress would. BRIAN Well, did you? ANGELA The thing is, I don’t see nudity as necessarily erotic. At least it wasn’t in the plays I was doing. It was just a thing you learned to do in the theater like juggling or improvising. BRIAN Being naked was a skill, DAVID Angela was very skilled at that.ANGELA ‘At being comfortable and making other people comfortable. Whatever jollies you derive from my naked body is up to you. I’m not offering it to you just because it’s there, It’s just... there. BRIAN How much did director Jack Dugan help you with the experience? ANGELA To be frank with you, Brian, Jack was a sweet guy, but he knew nothing about handling a ‘twenty-two-year-old actress in her first film. I had never even done a love story in the theater before. My theater work in New York was very political -- it was the sixties, you know ~~ and I had done maybe only three or four stage kisses in my entire career. Shakespeare, probably. DAVID A film kiss is not at all like a stage kiss. ANGELA No, it’s not. And Jack assumed I knew all about it. BRIAN So who helped you with your first on-camera love scene? ANGELA Well, Karen Longworth, who played my mother, gave me a lot of good advice and she-- DAVID I did. I got Angela through it. BRIAN ‘You did, David. (Question implied.) DAVID Jack was afraid to even stage the scene. He was kind of old-school and was too embarrassed. He kept putting it off ANGELA Which was another problem, because it was already September by the time we got to this and there were only a few hours of high sun by then, and it was really getting very chilly,BRIAN Sorry to interrupt, but just look at that spectacular scenic cinematography by Barry Jensen. He ‘was nominated for it. DAVID I don’t mean to be contrary, Brian, but that shot was probably a second unit. And honestly, it’s hard not to make the Maine coast look good. It’s very photogenic. BRIAN Back to the staging of the scene-- ANGELA Oh, would you look at that. I’m indicating all over the place. This is why I can’t look at my films. Oh, that’s terrible. BRIAN What do you mean by “indicating”? DAVID “Indicating” is an acting term for lazy or unfelt acting, where you try and show an idea or a emotion through some physical thing, an expression or a gesture, but it’s mechanical, it’s not authentic, it’s imposed from the outside. Simple example ~- actor wants to show that he’s lost, so he puts his hand up to his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun and looks to the horizon. Often there isn’t even any sun in the shot. They’re not feeling the sun, they’re just using a gesture from a game of charades to indicate “Where am 1?” BRIAN I didn’t see Angela doing charades there. ANGELA No, it can be subtler than that. I was heaving my bosom to try and indicate that I'm in love, The thing of the scene is that while the girl is intending to have sex with the boy, she’s not as interested in the sex as she is in the boy. DAVID And there was no dialogue or business to cover that.ANGELA That's the problem, When you're trying to convey information, you can’t be your character, you can’t be in the moment, you become a sort of co-narrator or screenwriter. BRIAN And now we begin cross-cutting between your characters. David, your character Colin has suggested this rendezvous, while Angela’s character Janice has been sort of “hinty” and indirect about whether she would come. At this point, we don’t know. You're on the east side of the point, and you're just hoping she'll show up. And here’s Janice coming from the west, with that wonderful tentative walk that tells so much, ANGELA Thank you. BRIAN Were these alternating scenes shot on the same day’? DAVID If memory serves, Brian, these two locations are about fifty miles away from each other. The odds of getting a great piece of landscape that works walking east and a great piece of landscape for someone walking west right next to each other is pretty remote. They might have been shot the same week, but I BRIAN And now your eyes meet. This is really enhanced by the score by Albert Chalmers. ANGELA Oh, God, here comes the run, That damned run became such a cliche. It was in every commercial for deodorant, tampons, mouthwash, furniture polish, I don’t know what. DAVID You weren’t around for it, Brian, but the slow motion lover's run was what they'd call today a meme. ANGELA Not a meme, David, a trope. DAVID itis, they ran it straight into the ground. Oh, you're right, it’s a trope. WhatBRIAN That wasn’t the fault of Turner s Cross. You were the first, DAVID ‘We sure made it popular. BRIAN Was it in the script that you shed parts of your clothing on the way? DAVID Oh, who remembers after all these years? ANGELA No, David, you put that in. I guess you knew I didn’t mind shucking my duds back then. Angela's tremor starts again. DAVID There's an expression I haven't heard in a while. BRIAN Tdon’t think I’ve ever heard it. What does that ANGELA What I want to know is how did we come to stage this on a rock outcropping? I mean, look, there’s all that soft moss all over the place and we're right on the hardest DAVID I think that was Barry. He needed a spot that would remain in the sun for however long it took to get the scene BRIAN This was all done in one day? DAVID Ithad to be. We were getting to the end of the schedule,ANGELA Thad to get back to New York. In fact, I left early. Jack was upset that he had a couple of in-between shots and things where he had to use my double, DAVID ‘We didn’t have a double. We had to hire a local girl that was about your shape and put a wig on her. BRIAN Is she credited? DAVID I don’t think so. BRIAN ‘What was her name? DAVID Oh, who remembers every single girl you BRIAN And here the scene begins in earnest, Nowadays actors talk about wearing moleskin patches and socks and such. Did you have anything like that on the set for this? ANGELA Oh, my god, I had no idea that I- DAVID The short answer, Brian, is no. We had no budget, and more to the point, we didn’t have any what-do-you-call-em-- protocols or even precedents for a scene like this. We were making it up as we went along. Me, Angela, Jack, Barry, the crew. ANGELA Startled at what she is seeing on sereen 1 didn’t think they were supposed to show so much. I mean, I had an understanding with Jack— DAVID That's what you get for refusing to look at the footage.ANGELA hope my grandson doesn’t get a hold of this. Jared, don’t watch this movie DAVID If he’s heard that waming it’s already too late. BRIAN A Iot of close shots here -- hands on arms, back, lower back, chest, stomach -- never a master shot in the whole sequence. Were those all you two? DAVID Nobody else. ANGELA As we've said, Brian, there wasn’t anyone else there. I hope this doesn’t sound the wrong way, but I'm glad I shaved, BRIAN ‘You were shaved? ANGELA Oh no, we didn’t do that then. No, I mean to say, trimmed. Neat. Tidy. DAVID In those days, girls didn’t always-- Well, maybe we should talk about something else. BRIAN Well, David, Angela wasn't alone in her daring. You're displaying quite firm and trim gluteus maximi, if that’s the proper form for the plural DAVID It’s not, and I didn’t do anything special to achieve that, except to be twenty-four years old. BRIAN How did they avoid shooting body parts that couldn’t be shown at the time? DAVID They didn’t. They just kept the camera running and took all the unusable bits out in the editing,BRIAN By unusable, you mean— DAVID The stuff you're not allowed to transport across state lines. BRIAN Now at the moment which is the first, well climax isn’t the appropriate word-- DAVID ¢ citadel is breached, so to speak. BRIAN The shots are strictly on your faces. And they’re alternating angles. You had to do all these movements at least twice. ANGELA Tension in her voice now ‘Much more than twice. BRIAN Again, I don’t mean to be prurient, but the millions of fans of this film want to know -- David is actually between your legs in this scene without any, any, protection, so to speak -- no moleskins or leotards. ANGELA It felt like hours, BRIAN That must have been difficult between the two of you. ANGELA That barely describes it ~ I mean, hardly describes it, oh dammit! It was godawful! DAVID (Mock umbrage) Having me between your legs for hours was godawful? I think I’m offended! ANGELA You know what I mean. It was beyond awkward, And you were completely out there,BRIAN You weren’t worried about sunburn? DAVID Tt wasn’t at the top of my mind. BRIAN And there’s the exact moment of -- ANGELA Can’t help being the actress, despite being upset There I go rolling my eyes— BRIAN That was, of course, simulated, I mean, you didn’t actually DAVID Brian! BRIAN Ie’s just that film fans DAVID Are dirty-minded pigs. ANGELA No, it wasn’t - I mean, he didn’t It didn’t-- Not completely. BRIAN ‘And now your weight shifts and the music rises. ANGELA That wasn’t all, BRIAN Tthought you said20 ANGELA Now she sees it Oh, my God, David, look at your knee. DAVID ‘My knee? What? Did you develop an erotic fixation on my knee? ANGELA Look what you're doing. You're holding my leg open. I’m wide open. DAVID That’s how you have to stage the scene ANGELA That's not staging. I'm completely exposed. DAVID You can’t see anything! ANGELA On the film, no. But you've got me wide open and pinned me down, and oh, my god, it’s coming back to me. BRIAN He didn’t ANGELA Not inside, Right next to. Right against me. I could feel everything. DAVID That’s a lie, We faked it. I was six inches away from you at least. ANGELA Teould feel every inch of you against my-~ against me, DAVID No, you couldn't!ai ANGELA David, you bend to the right! DAVID Ido not. ANGELA Not your right, my right. Your left. DAVID This is ridiculous. You could have seen-- ANGELA Believe me, I did all I could not to look! But I felt it! To the left! DAVID You must be mixing this up with one of your avant-garde plays! ANGELA Nothing of the kind. And you even lefl me a souvenir when the scene was over which the wardrobe lady helped me wipe off. Clearly you found it all very exciting! Literally! DAVID If you want to accuse me of something ANGELA You raped me, David. You may not have put it-- But you raped me, and Jack and Barry and everyone helped. You all raped me, You used my body to get yourselves off. It didn’t even matter how I felt or who I was or if I was even there. There were some boobs and some ass and a, a you-know and you held me down so I was completely helpless, and you raped me! DAVID I did not rape you! ANGELA ‘And now my helplessness and my fear are committed to film forever as the basis of some goddam romantic fantasy for the whole world!22 DAVID. I did not rape you! How are you coming up with this now? ANGELA ‘must have blocked it out. DAVID I don’t think you're remember it the way ANGELA Don’t worry, David, I’m not going to have you arrested. I can’t even sue you. Not after fifly years, not to mention cinematic immortality. But I’m not going to continue this lie, I’m done. I’m going! BRIAN ‘Angela! Ms. Beaulieu! We-- DAVID Angela, please, I~ ANGELA Thave nothing to say to you, David, nothing! Goodbye, Brian. I'm sorry there’s not going to be any commentary by me, but you'll have to do without. I know I can’t stop people from watching this movie, but I’m not going to be an accomplice to my own violent assault. And that’s what it was, make no mistake. I don’t want to be a victim, but I'm not going to be a damned fool, either! She slams the door on the way out and the lights fade out... Lights fade in. Brian and David are at the table. BRIAN Hello, and welcome to the commentary track for that great romantic classic of more than years ago, Turner & Cross. I’m Brian Bedloe of “More and More Movies” and beside me to help with this commentary is one of the stars of the film, David Grafton. DAVID Hi, folks.23 BRIAN We wanted to have David’s lovely co-star Angela Beaulieu with us today to contribute her perspective, but as is well known in the industry, Angela never looks at any film of herself, and I'm afraid Turner & Cross is no exception. DAVID It’s true. She went howling out of the room on the first day of dailies. BRIAN That's too bad, because she’s missing some wonderful acting, namely her own. DAVID Hey, what about— BRIAN And, of course, your acting, too, David, which is pretty spectacular in this film. As we watch these opening establishing shots, which were made near Brighton Cove, Maine, why don’t you tell us how you first became involved in this project? Pause David? Pause David, tell us about how you first came to read the seript. DAVID Suddenly Oh, God, I did it. Iraped her. I goddam raped her. He dissolves in tears. Blackout, END OF PLAY