


All About Eve (1950)
by Joseph Mankiewicz.


FADE IN:

INT. DINING HALL - SARAH SIDDONS SOCIETY - NIGHT

It is not a large room and jammed with tables, mostly for
four but some for six and eight. A long table of honor, for
about thirty people, has been placed upon a dais.

Diner is over. Demi-tasses, cigars and brandy. The overall
effect is one of worn elegance and dogged gentility. It is
June.

The CAMERA, as it has been throughout the CREDIT TITLES, is
on the SARAH SIDDONS AWARD. It is a gold statuette, about a
foot high, of Sarah Siddons as The Tragic Muse. Exquisitely
framed in a nest of flowers, it rests on a miniature altar in
the center of the table of honor.

Over this we hear the crisp, cultured, precise VOICE of
ADDISON deWITT:

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	The Sarah Siddons Award for
	Distinguished Achievement is
	perhaps unknown to you. It has been
	spared the sensational and
	commercial publicity that attends
	such questionable "honors" as the
	Pulitzer Prize and those awards
	presented annually by the film
	society...

The CAMERA has EASED BACK to include some of the table of
honor and a distinguished gentleman with snow-white hair who
is speaking. We do not hear what he says.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	The distinguished looking gentleman
	is an extremely old actor. Being an
	actor - he will go on speaking for
	some time. It is not important what
	you hear what he says.

The CAMERA EASES BACK some more, and CONTINUES until it
discloses a fairly COMPREHENSIVE SHOT of the room

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	However it is important that you
	know where you are, and why you are
	here. This is the dining room of
	the Sarah Siddons Society.
	The occasion is its annual banquet
	and presentation of the highest
	honor our Theater knows - the Sarah
	Siddons Award for Distinguished
	Achievement.

A GROUP OF WAITERS are clustered near the screen masking the
entrances of the kitchen. The screens are papered with old
theatrical programs. The waiters are all aged and venerable.
They look respectfully toward the speaker.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	These hollowed walls, indeed many
	of these faces, have looked upon
	Modjeska, Ada Rehan and Minnie
	Fiske; Mansfield's voice filled the
	room, Booth breathed this air. It
	is unlikely that the windows have
	been opened since his death.

CLOSE - THE AWARD on its altar, it shines proudly above five
or six smaller altars which surround it and which are now
empty.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	The minor awards, as you can see,
	have already been presented. Minor
	awards are for such as the writer
	and director - since their function
	is merely to construct a tower so
	that the world can applaud a light
	which flashes on top of it and no
	brighter light has ever dazzled the
	eye than Eve Harrington. Eve... but
	more of Eve, later. All about Eve,
	in fact.

THE CAMERA MOVES TO: CLOSE - ADDISON deWITT, not young, not
unattractive, a fastidious dresser, sharp of eye and
merciless of tongue. An omnipresent cigarette holder projects
from his mouth like the sward of D'Artagnan.

He sits back in his chair, musingly, his fingers making
little cannonballs out of bread crumbs. His narration covers
the MOVE of the CAMERA to him:

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	To those of you who do not read,
	attend the Theater, listen to
	uncensored radio programs or know
	anything of the world in which we
	live - it is perhaps necessary to
	introduce myself. My name is
	Addison deWitt.
	My native habitat is the Theater -
	in it I toil not, neither do I
	spin. I am a critic and
	commentator. I am essential to the
	Theater - as ants are to a picnic,
	as the ball weevil to a cotton
	field...

He looks to his left. KAREN RICHARDS is lovely and thirtyish
in an unprofessional way. She is scraping bread crumbs,
spilled sugar, etc., into a pile with a spoon. Addison takes
one of her bread crumbs. She smiles absently. Addison rolls
the bread crumb into a cannonball.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	This is Karen Richards. She is the
	wife of a playwright, therefore of
	the Theater by marriage. Nothing in
	her background or breeding should
	have brought her any closer the
	stage than row E, center...

Karen continues her doodling.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	... however, during her senior year
	in Radcliffe, Lloyd Richards
	lectured on drama. The following
	year Karen became Mrs. Lloyd
	Richards. Lloyd is the author of
	'Footsteps on the Ceiling' - the
	play which has won for Eve
	Harrington the Sarah Siddons
	Award...

Karen absently pats the top of her little pile of refuse. A
hand reaches in to take the spoon away. Karen looks as the
CAMERA PANS with IT to MAX FABIAN. He sits at her left. He's
a sad-faced man with glasses and a look of constant
apprehension. He smiles apologetically and indicated a white
powder with he unwraps. He pantomimes that his ulcer is
snapping.

Karen smiles back, returns to her doodling. Addison mashes a
cigarette stub, pops it out of his holder. He eyes Max.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	There are two types of theatrical
	producers. One has a great many
	wealthy friends who will risk a tax
	deductible loss. This type is
	interested in Art.

Max drops the powder into some water, stirs it, drinks, burps
delicately and close his eyes.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	The other is one to whom each
	production mean potential ruin or
	fortune. This type is out to make a
	buck. Meet Max Fabian. He is the
	producer of the play which has won
	Eve Harrington the Sarah Siddons
	Award...

Max rests fitfully. He twitches. A hand reaches into the
SCENE, removes a bottle of Scotch from before him. The CAMERA
follows the bottle to MARGO CHANNING. She sits at Max's left,
at deWitt's right. An attractive, strong face. She is
childish, adult, reasonable, unreasonable - usually one when
she should be the other, but always positive. She pours a
stiff drink.

Addison hold out the soda bottle to her. She looks at it, and
at him, as if it were a tarantula and he had gone mad. He
smiles and pours a glass of soda for himself.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	Margo Channing is the Star of the
	Theater. She made her first stage
	appearance, at the age of four, in
	'Midsummer Night's Dream'. She
	played a fairy and entered - quite
	unexpectedly - stark naked. She has
	been a Star ever since.

Margo sloshes her drink around moodily, pulls at it.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	Margo is a great Star. A true Star.
	She never was or will be anything
	less or anything less...
		(slight pause)
	... the part for which Eve
	Harrington is receiving the Sarah
	Siddons Award was intended
	originally for Margo Channing...

Addison, having sipped his soda water, puts a new cigarette
in his holder, leans back, lights it, looks and exhales in
the general direction of the table of honor. As he speaks the
CAMERA MOVES in the direction of his glance...

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	Having covered in tedious detail
	not only the history of the Sarah
	Siddons Society, but also the
	history of acting since Thespis
	first stepped out of the chorus
	line - our distinguished chairman
	has finally arrived at our reason
	for being here...

At this point Addison's voice FADES OUT and the voice of the
aged actor FADES IN. CAMERA is in MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT of him
and the podium.

		AGED ACTOR
	I have been proud and privileged to
	have spent my life in the Theater -
	"a poor player ... that struts and
	frets his hour upon the stage" -
	and I have been honored to be, for
	forty years, Chief Promoter of the
	Sarah Siddons Society...
		(he lifts the Sarah
		 Siddons Award from its
		 altar)
	Thirty-nine times have I placed in
	deserving hands this highest honor
	the Theater knows...
		(he grows a bit arch, he
		 uses his eyebrows)
	Surely no actor is older than I - I
	have earned my place out of the
	sun...
		(indulgent laughter)
	... and never before has this Award
	gone to anyone younger than its
	recipient tonight. How fitting that
	it should pass from my hands to
	hers...

EVE HANDS: Lovely, beautifully groomed. In serene repose,
they rest between a demi-tasse cup and an exquisite small
evening cup.

		AGED ACTOR
	Such young hands. Such a young
	lady. Young in years, but whose
	heart is as old as the Theater...

Addison's eyes narrow quizzically as he listens. Then,
slowly, he turns to look at Karen...

		AGED ACTOR
	Some of us a privileged to know
	her. We have seen beyond the beauty
	and artistry-

Karen never ceases her thoughtful pat-a-cake with the crumbs.

		AGED ACTOR
	-that have made her name resound
	through the nation. We know her
	humility. Her devotion, her loyalty
	to her art.

Addison's glance moves from Karen to Margo.

		AGED ACTOR
	Her love, her deep and abiding love
	for us-

Margo's face is a mask. She looks down at the drink which she
cradles with both hands.

		AGED ACTOR
	-for what we are and what we do.
	The Theater. She has had one wish,
	one prayer, one dream. To belong to
	us.
		(he's nearing his curtain
		 line)
	Tonight her dream has come true.
	And henceforth we shall dream the
	same of her.
		(a slight pause)
	Honored members, ladies and
	gentlemen - for distinguished
	achievement in the Theater - the
	Sarah Siddons Award to Miss Eve
	Harrington.

The entire room is galvanized into sudden and tumultuous
applause. Some enthusiastic gentlemen rise to her feet...
Flash bulbs start popping about halfway down the table of the
Aged Actor's left...

Eve rises - beautiful, radiant, poised, exquisitely gowned.
She stands in simple and dignified response to the ovation.

A dozen photographers skip, squat, and dart about like water
bugs. Flash bulbs pop and pop and pop...

THE WAITERS applaud enthusiastically...

AGED ACTOR, Award in hand, he beams at her...

EVE smiles sweetly to her left, then to her right...

MAX has come to. He applauds lustily.

ADDISON's applauding too, more discreetly.

MARGO, not applauding. But you sense no deliberate slight,
merely an impression that as she looks at Eve her mind is on
something else...

KAREN, nor is she applauding. But her gaze is similarly fixed
on Eve in a strange, faraway fashion.

ADDISON, still applauding, his eyes flash first at Margo and
then at Karen. Then he directs them back to Eve. He smiles
ever so slightly.

The applause has continued unabated. EVE turns now, and moves
gracefully toward the Aged Actor. She moves through
applauding ladies and gentlemen; from below the flash bulbs
keep popping...

As she nears her goal, the Ages Actor turns to her. He holds
out the award. Her hand reaches out for it. At that precise
moment - with the award just beyond her fingertips - THE
PICTURE HOLDS, THE ACTION STOPS. The SOUND STOPS.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	Eve. Eve, the Golden Girl. The
	cover girl, the girl next door, the
	girl on the moon... Time has been
	good to Eve, Life goes where she
	goes - she's been profiled,
	covered, revealed, reported, what
	she eats and when and where, whom
	she knows and where she was and
	when and where she's going...

ADDISON has stopped applauding, he's sitting forward, staring
intently at Eve... his narration continues unbroken.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	... Eve. You all know all about
	Eve... what can there be to know
	that you don't know...?

As he leans back, the APPLAUSE FADES IN as tumultuous as
before. Addison's look moves slowly from Eve to Karen.

KAREN, she leans forward now, her eyes intently on Eve. Her
lovely face FILLS THE SCREEN as the APPLAUSE FADES ONCE MORE -
as she thinks back:

		KAREN'S VOICE
	When was it? How long? It seems a
	lifetime ago. Lloyd always said
	that in the Theater a lifetime was
	a season, and a season a lifetime.
	It's June now. That was - early
	October... only last October. It
	was a drizzly night, I remember I
	asked the taxi to wait...

				    DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. NEW YORK THEATER STREET - NIGHT

Traffic is not heavy, the shows have broken some half-hour
before. The rain is just a drizzle.

There are other theaters on the street; display lights are
being extinguished. Going out just as Karen's taxi pulls up
is: MARGO CHANNING in 'AGED IN WOOD'. The marquis display
below includes "Max Fabian Presents" and "By Lloyd Richards."

The taxi comes to a stop at the alley. Karen can be seen
through the closed windows telling the driver to wait. Then
she gets out. She takes a step, hesitates, then looks about
curiously:

		KAREN'S VOICE
	Where was she? Strange... I had
	become so accustomed to seeing her
	there night after night - I found
	myself looking for a girl I'd never
	spoken to, wondering where she
	was...

She smiles a little at her own romanticism, puts her head
down and makes her way into the alley.

EXT. ALLEY - CURRAN THEATER - NIGHT

Karen moves toward the stage door. She passes a recess in the
wall - perhaps an exit - about halfway.

		EVE'S VOICE
		(softly)
	Mrs. Richards...

Karen hesitates, looks. Eve is barely distinguishable in the
shadow of the recess. Karen smiles, waits. Eve comes out. A
gooseneck light above them reveals her...

She wears a cheap trench coat, low-heeled shoes, a rain hat
stuck on the back of her head... Her large, luminous eyes
seem to glow up at Karen in the strange half-light.

		KAREN
	So there you are. It seemed odd,
	suddenly, your not being there...

		EVE
	Why should you think I wouldn't be?

		KAREN
	Why should you be? After all, six
	nights a week - for weeks - of
	watching even Margo Channing enter
	and leave a theater-

		EVE
	I hope you don't mind my speaking
	to you...

		KAREN
	Not at all.

		EVE
	I've seen you so often - it took
	every bit of courage I could raise-

		KAREN
		(smiles)
	To speak to just a playwright's
	wife? I'm the lowest form of
	celebrity...

		EVE
	You're Margo Channing's best
	friend. You and your husband are
	always with her - and Mr.
	Sampson... what's he like?

		KAREN
		(grins)
	Bill Sampson? He's - he's a
	director.

		EVE
	He's the best.

		KAREN
	He'll agree with you. Tell me, what
	do you between the time Margo goes
	in and comes out? Just huddle in
	that doorway and wait?

		EVE
	Oh, no. I see the play.

		KAREN
		(incredulous)
	You see the play? You've seen the
	play every performance?
		(Eve nods)
	But, don't you find it - I mean
	apart from everything else - don't
	you find it expensive?

		EVE
	Standing room doesn't cost much. I
	manage.

Karen contemplates Eve. Then she takes her arm.

		KAREN
	I'm going to take you to Margo...

		EVE
		(hanging back)
	Oh, no...

		KAREN
	She's got to meet you-

		EVE
	No, I'd be imposing on her, I'd be
	just another tongue-tied gushing
	fan...

Karen practically propels her toward the stage door.

		KAREN
		(insisting)
	There isn't another like you, there
	couldn't be-

		EVE
	But if I'd known... maybe some
	other time... I mean, looking like
	this.

		KAREN
	You look just fine...
		(they're at the stage
		 door)
	... by the way. What's your name?

		EVE
	Eve. Eve Harrington.

Karen opens the door. They go in.

INT. BACKSTAGE - CURRAN THEATER - NIGHT

Everything, including the doorman, looks fireproof.

Eve enters like a novitiate's first visit to the Vatican.
Karen, with a "Good evening, Gus -" to the doorman, leads the
way toward Margo's stage dressing room. Eve, drinking in the
wonderment of all the surveys, lags behind. Karen waits for
her to catch up...

		EVE
	You can breathe it - can't you?
	Like some magic perfume...

Karen smiles, takes Eve's arm. They proceed to Margo's
dressing room.

EXT. MARGO'S DRESSING ROOM - CURRAN THEATER - NIGHT

No star on the closed door; the paint is peeling. A type
written chit, thumbtacked, says MISS CHANNING.

As Karen and Eve approach it, an uninhibited guffaw from
Margo makes them pause.

		KAREN
		(whispers)
	You wait a minute...
		(smiles)
	... now don't run away-

Eve smiles shakily. At the same moment:

		MARGO'S VOICE
		(loudly; through the door)
	"Honey chile," I said, "if the
	South had won the war, you could
	write the same plays about the
	North!"

Karen enters during the line.

INT. MARGO'S DRESSING ROOM - CURRAN THEATER - NIGHT

It is a medium-sized box, lined with hot water pipes and
cracked plaster. It is furnished in beat-up wicker. A door
leads to an old-fashioned bathroom.

Margo is at the dressing table. She wears an old wrapper, her
hair drawn back tightly to fit under the wig which lies
before her like a dead poodle. Also before her is an almost
finished drink.

LLOYD RICHARDS is stretched out on the wicker chaise. He's in
his late thirties, sensitive, literate.

Between them, by the dressing table, is BIRDIE - Margo's
maid. Her age is unimportant. She was conceived during a
split week in Walla Walla and born in a carnival riot. She is
fiercely loyal to Margo.

Karen enters during the line Margo started while she was
outside. Lloyd chuckles, Birdie cackles.

		KAREN
	Hi.
		(she goes to kiss Lloyd)
	Hello, darling-

		MARGO
	Hi.
		(she goes right on - in a
		 think "Suth'n" accent)
	"Well, now Mis' Channin', ah don't
	think you can rightly say we lost
	the wah, we was mo' stahved out,
	you might say - an' that's what ah
	don' unnerstand about all these
	plays about love-stahved Suth'n
	women - love is one thing we was
	nevah stahved for the South!"

		LLOYD
	How was the concert?

		KAREN
	Loud.

		BIRDIE
	Lemme fix you a drink.

		KAREN
	No thanks, Birdie.

Karen laughs with them.

		LLOYD
	Margo's interview with a lady
	reporter from the South-

		BIRDIE
	The minute it gets printed they're
	gonna fire on Gettysburg all over
	again...

		MARGO
	It was Fort Sumter they fired on-

		BIRDIE
	I never played Fort Sumter.

She takes the wig into the bathroom. Margo starts creaming
the make-up off her face.

		MARGO
	Honey chili had a point. You know,
	I can remember plays about women -
	even from the South - where it
	never even occurred to them whether
	they wanted to marry their fathers
	more than their brothers...

		LLOYD
	That was way back...

		MARGO
	Within your time, buster. Lloyd,
	honey, be a playwright with guts.
	Write me one about a nice, normal
	woman who shoots her husband.

Birdie comes out of the bathroom without the wig.

		BIRDIE
	You need new girdles.

		MARGO
	Buy some.

		BIRDIE
	The same size?

		MARGO
	Of course!

		BIRDIE
	Well. I guess a real tight girdle
	help when you're playin' a lunatic.

She picks up Lloud empty glass, asks "more"? He shakes his
head. She pours herself a quick one.

		KAREN
		(firmly)
	Margo does not play a lunatic,
	Birdie.

		BIRDIE
	I know. She just keeps hearin' her
	dead father play the banjo.

		MARGO
	It's the tight girdle that does it.

		KAREN
	I find these wisecracks
	increasingly less funny! 'Aged in
	Wood' happens to be a fine and
	distinguished play-

		LLOYD
	- 'at's my loyal little woman.

		KAREN
	The critics thought so, the
	audiences certainly think so -
	packed houses, tickets for months
	in advance - I can't see that
	either of Lloyd's last two plays
	have hurt you any!

		LLOYD
	Easy, now...

		MARGO
		(grins)
	Relax, kid. It's only me and my big
	mouth...

		KAREN
		(mollified)
	It's just that you get me so mad
	sometimes... of all the women in
	the world with nothing to complain
	about-

		MARGO
		(dryly)
	Ain't it the truth?

		KAREN
	Yes, it is! You're talented,
	famous, wealthy - people waiting
	around night after night just to
	see you, even in the wind and
	rain...

		MARGO
	Autograph fiends! They're not
	people - those little beast who run
	in packs like coyotes-

		KAREN
	They're your fans, your audience-

		MARGO
	They're nobody's fans! They're
	juvenile delinquents, mental
	detectives, they're nobody's
	audience, they never see a play or
	a movie, even - they're never
	indoors long enough!

There is a pause. Lloyd applauds lightly.

		KAREN
	Well... there's one indoors now.
	I've brought her back to see you.

		MARGO
	You've what?

		KAREN
		(in a whisper)
	She's just outside the door.

		MARGO
		(to Birdie; also a
		 whisper)
	The heave-ho.

Birdie starts. Karen stops her. It's all in whisper, now,
until Eve comes in.

		KAREN
	You can't put her out, I
	promised... Margo, you've got to
	see her, she worships you, it's
	like something out of a book-

		LLOYD
	That book is out of print, Karen,
	those days are gone.
	Fans no longer pull the carriage
	through the streets - they tear off
	clothes and steal wrist watches...

		KAREN
	If you'd only see her, you're her
	whole life - you must have spotted
	her by now, she's always there...

		MARGO
	Kind of mousy trench coat and funny
	hat?
		(Karen nods)
	How could I miss her? Every night
	and matinee - well...

She looks to Birdie.

		BIRDIE
	Once George Jessel played my
	hometown. For a girl, gettin' in to
	see him was easy. Gettin' out was
	the problem...

They all laugh. Karen goes to the door, opens it. Eve comes
in. Karen closes the door behind her. A moment.

		EVE
		(simply)
	I thought you'd forgotten about me.

		KAREN
	Not at all.
		(her arm through Eve's)
	Margo, this is Eve Harrington.

Margo changes swiftly into a first-lady-of-the-theater
manner.

		MARGO
		(musically)
	How do you do, my dear.

		BIRDIE
		(mutters)
	Oh, brother.

		EVE
	Hello, Miss Channing.

		KAREN
	My husband...

		LLOYD
		(nicely)
	Hello, Miss Harrington.

		EVE
	How do you do, Mr. Richards.

		MARGO
		(graciously)
	And this is my good friend and
	companion, Miss Birdie Coonan.

		BIRDIE
	Oh, brother.

		MARGO
	Miss Coonan...

		LLOYD
		(to Birdie)
	Oh brother what?

		BIRDIE
	When she gets like this... all of a
	sudden she's playin' Hamlet's
	mother...

		MARGO
		(quiet menace)
	I'm sure you must have things to do
	in the bathroom, Birdie dear.

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

She goes into the bathroom.

		MARGO
	Dear Birdie. Won't you sit down,
	Miss Worthington?

		KAREN
	Harrington.

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

		EVE
	Thank you.

She sits. A short lull.

		MARGO
	Would you like a drink? It's right
	beside you...

		KAREN
	I was telling Margo and Lloyd about
	how often you'd seen the play...

They start together, and stop in deference to each other.
They're a little flustered. But not Eve.

		EVE
		(to Margo)
	No, thank you.
		(to Lloyd)
	Yes. I've seen every performance.

		LLOYD
		(delighted)
	Every performance? Then - am I safe
	in assuming you like it?

		EVE
	I'd like anything Miss Channing
	played...

		MARGO
		(beams)
	Would you, really? How sweet-

		LLOYD
		(flatly)
	I doubt very much that you'd like
	her in 'The Hairy Ape'.

		EVE
	Please, don't misunderstand me, Mr.
	Richards. I think that part of Miss
	Channing's greatness lies in her
	ability to choose the best plays...
	your new play is for Miss Channing,
	isn't it, Mr. Richards?

		MARGO
	Of course it is.

		LLOYD
	How'd hear about it?

		EVE
	There was an item in the Times. i
	like the title. 'Footsteps on the
	Ceiling'.

		LLOYD
	Let's get back to this one. Have
	you really seen every performance?
		(Eve nods)
	Why? I'm curious...

Eve looks at Margo, then drops her eyes.

		EVE
	Well. If I didn't come to see the
	play, I wouldn't have anywhere else
	to go.

		MARGO
	There are other plays...

		EVE
	Not with you in them. Not by Mr.
	Richards...

		LLOYD
	But you must have friends, a
	family, a home-

Eve pauses. Then shakes her head.

		KAREN
	Tell us about it - Eve...

Eve looks at her - grateful because Karen called her "Eve."
Then away, again...

		EVE
	If I only knew how...

		KAREN
	Try...

		EVE
	Well...

Birdie comes out of the bathroom. Everybody looks at her
sharply. She realizes she's in on something important. She
closes the door quietly, leans against it.

		EVE
	Well... it started with the play
	before this one...

		LLOYD
	'Remembrance'.

		MARGO
	Did you see it here in New York?

		EVE
	San Francisco. It was the last
	week. I went one night... the most
	important night in my life - until
	this one. Anyway... I found myself
	going the next night - and the next
	and the next. Every performance.
	Then, when the show went East - I
	went East.

		BIRDIE
	I'll never forget that blizzard the
	night we played Cheyenne. A cold
	night. First time I ever saw a
	brassiere break like a piece of
	matzos...

Eve looks at her unsmilingly, then back to her hands.

		KAREN
	Eve... why don't you start at the
	beginning?

		EVE
	It couldn't possibly interest you.

		MARGO
	Please...

Eve speaks simply and without self-pity.

		EVE
	I guess it started back home.
	Wisconsin, that is. There was just
	mum, and dad - and me. I was the
	only child, and I made believe a
	lot when I was a kid - I acted out
	all sorts of things... what they
	were isn't important. But somehow
	acting and make-believe began to
	fill up my life more and more, it
	got so that I couldn't tell the
	real from the unreal except that
	the unreal seemed more real to
	me... I'm talking a lot of
	gibberish, aren't I?

		LLOYD
	Not at all...

		EVE
	Farmers were poor in those days,
	that's what dad was - a farmer. I
	had to help out. So I quit school
	and I went to Milwaukee. I became a
	secretary. In a brewery.
		(she smiles)
	When you're a secretary in a
	brewery - it's pretty hard to make
	believe you're anything else.
	Everything is beer. It wasn't much
	fun, but it helped at home -  and
	there was a Little Theater Group...
	like a drop of rain in the desert.
	That's where I met Eddie. He was a
	radio technician. We played
	'Liliom' for three performances, I
	was awful - then the war came, and
	we got married. Eddie was in the
	air force - and they sent him to
	the South Pacific. You were with
	the O.W.I., weren't you Mr.
	Richards?
		(Lloyd nods)
	That's what 'Who's Who' says...
	well, with Eddie gone, my life went
	back to beer. Except for a letter a
	week. One week Eddie wrote he had a
	leave coming up. I'd saved my money
	and vacation time. I went to San
	Francisco to meet him.
		(a slight pause)
	Eddie wasn't there. They forwarded
	the telegram from Milwaukee - the
	one that came from Washington to
	say that Eddie wasn't coming at
	all. That Eddie was dead...
		(Karen puts her hand on
		 Lloyd's)
	... so I figured I'd stay in San
	Francisco. i was alone, but
	couldn't go back without Eddie. I
	found a job. And his insurance
	helped... and there were theaters
	in San Francisco. And one night
	Margo Channing came to play in
	'Remembrance'... and I went to see
	it. And - well - here I am...

She finishes dry-eyes and self-composed. Margo squeezes the
bridge of her nose, dabs at her eyes.

		BIRDIE
		(finally)
	What a story. Everything but the
	bloodhounds snappin' at her rear
	end...

That breaks the spell. Margo turns to her-

		MARGO
	There are some human experiences,
	Birdie, that do not take place in a
	vaudeville house - and that even a
	fifth-rate vaudevillian should
	understand and respect!
		(to Eve)
	I want to apologize for Birdie's-

		BIRDIE
		(snaps in)
	You don't have to apologize for me!
		(to Eve)
	I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings.
	It's just my way of talkin'...

		EVE
		(nicely)
	You didn't hurt my feelings, Miss
	Coonan...

		BIRDIE
	Call me Birdie.
		(to Margo)
	As for bein' fifth-rate - i closed
	the first half for eleven years an'
	you know it!

She slams into the bathroom again. At that precise instant
BILL SAMPSON flings open the door to the dressing room. He's
youngish, vital, undisciplined. He lugs a beat-up suitcase
which he drops as he crosses to Margo-

		BILL
	Forty-five minutes from now my
	plane takes off and how do I find
	you? Not ready yet, looking like a
	junk yard-

		MARGO
	Thank you so much.

		BILL
	Is it sabotage, does my career mean
	nothing to you? Have you no human
	consideration?

		MARGO
	Show me a human and I might have!

		KAREN
		(conscious of Eve)
	Bill...

		BILL
	The air lines have clocks, even if
	you haven't! I start shooting a
	week from Monday - Zanuck is
	impatient, he wants me, he needs
	me!

		KAREN
		(louder)
	Bill-

		MARGO
	Zanuck, Zanuck, Zanuck! What are
	you two - lovers?

Bill grins suddenly, drops to one knee beside her.

		BILL
		(smiling)
	Only in some ways. You're
	prettier...

		MARGO
	I'm a junk yard.

		KAREN
		(yells)
	Bill!

		BILL
		(vaguely; to Karen)
	Huh?

		KAREN
	This is Eve Harrington.

Bill flashes a fleeting look at Eve.

		BILL
	Hi.
		(to Margo)
	My wonderful junk yard. The mystery
	and dreams you find in a junk yard-

		MARGO
		(kisses him)
	Heaven help me, I love a psychotic.

Bill grins, rises, sees Eve as if for the first time.

		BILL
	Hello, what's your name?

		EVE
	Eve. Eve Harrington.

		KAREN
	You've already met.

		BILL
	Where?

		KAREN
	Right here. A minute ago.

		BILL
	That's nice.

		MARGO
	She, too, is a great admirer of
	yours.

		BIRDIE
	Imagine. All this admiration in
	just one room.

		BILL
	Take your mistress into the
	bathroom and dress her.
		(Birdie opens her mouth)
	Without comment.

Birdie shuts it and goes into the bathroom. In a moment we
hear a shower start to run. Eve gets up.

		KAREN
	You're not going, are you?

		EVE
	I think I'd better. It's been -
	well, I can hardly find the words
	to say how it's been...

		MARGO
		(rises)
	No, don't go...

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

Margo, impulsively crosses to Eve.

		MARGO
	Stick around. Please. Tell you what
	- we'll put Stanislavsky on his
	plane, you and I, then go somewhere
	and talk.

		EVE
	Well - if I'm not in the way...

		MARGO
	I won't be a minute.

She darts into the bathroom. Eve sits down again.

		KAREN
	Lloyd, we've got to go-

Lloyd gets up. Karen crosses to pound on the bathroom door.
She yells - the shower is going...

		KAREN
	Margo, good night! I'll call you
	tomorrow!

Margo's answer is lost in the shower noise. Karen crosses to
kiss Bill. She's joined by Lloyd.

		KAREN
	Good luck, genius...

		BILL
	Geniuses don't need good luck.
		(he grins)
	I do.

		LLOYD
	I'm not worried about you.

		BILL
	Keep the thought.

They shake hands warmly. Karen and Lloyd move to Eve.

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

		EVE
	I'll be at the old stand, tomorrow
	matinee-

		KAREN
	Not just that way. As a friend...

		EVE
	I'd like that.

		LLOYD
	It's been a real pleasure, Eve.

		EVE
	I hope so, Mr. Richards. Good
	night...

Lloyd shakes her hand, crosses to join Karen who waits at the
open dressing room door.

		EVE
	Mrs. Richards.
		(Karen and Lloyd look
		 back)
	... I'll never forget this night as
	long as I live. And I'll never
	forget you for making it possible.

Karen smiles warmly. She closes the door. They leave.

		KAREN'S VOICE
	- and I'll never forget you, Eve.
	Where were we going that night,
	Lloyd and I? Funny the things you
	remember - and the things you
	don't...

INT. MARGO'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

Eve sits on the same chair. Bill keeps moving around. Eve
never takes her eyes off him. He offers her a cigarette. She
shakes her head. He looks at his watch.

		EVE
	You said forty-seven minutes.
	You'll never make it.

		BILL
		(grins)
	I told you a lie. We'll make it
	easily. Margo's got no more
	conception of time than a halibut.

He goes to the dressing table, picks up Margo's pocketbook,
opens it. He finds a letter. He glances at it, puts it back.

		BILL
	She's been carrying that letter
	around for weeks. I've read it
	three times...

There's a sudden sharp yelp from the bathroom.

		MARGO'S VOICE
	You're supposed to zip the zipper -
	not me.

		BIRDIE'S VOICE
	Like tryin' to zip a pretzel -
	stand still!

Bill grins.

		BILL
	What a documentary those two would
	make... like the mongoose and the
	cobra-

He sprawls on the chaise, closes his eyes. A pause.

		EVE
		(finally)
	So you're going to Hollywood.

Bill grunts in the affirmative. Silence.

		BILL
	Why?

		EVE
	I just wondered.

		BILL
	Just wondered what?

		EVE
	Why.

		BILL
	Why what?

		EVE
	Why you have to go out there.

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

		EVE
	Is it the money?

		BILL
	Eighty percent of it will go for
	taxes.

		EVE
	Then why? Why, if you're the best
	and most successful young director
	in the Theater-

		BILL
	The Theatuh, the Theatuh-
		(he sits up)
	- what book of rules says the
	Theater exists only within some
	ugly buildings crowded into one
	square mile of New York City? Or
	London, Paris or Vienna?
		(he gets up)
	Listen, junior. And learn. Want to
	know what the Theater is? A flea
	circus. Also opera. Also rodeos,
	carnivals, ballets, Indian tribal
	dances, Punch and Judy, a one-man
	band - all Theater. Wherever
	there's magic and make-believe and
	an audience - there's Theater.
	Donald Duck, Ibsen, and The Lone
	Ranger, Sarah Bernhardt, Poodles
	Hanneford, Lunt and Fontanne, Betty
	Grable, Rex and Wild, and Eleanora
	Duse. You don't understand them
	all, you don't like them all, why
	should you? The Theater's for
	everybody - you included, but not
	exclusively - so don't approve or
	disapprove. It may not be your
	Theater, but it's Theater of
	somebody, somewhere.

		EVE
	I just asked a simple question.

		BILL
		(grins)
	And I shot my mouth off. Nothing
	personal, junior, no offense...
		(he sits back down)
	... it's just that there's so much
	bushwah in this Ivory Green Room
	they call the Theatuh - sometimes
	it gets up around my chin...

He lies down again.

		EVE
	But Hollywood. You mustn't stay
	there.

		BILL
		(he closes his eyes)
	It's only one picture deal.

		EVE
	So few come back...

		BILL
	Yeah. They keep you under drugs out
	there with armed guards...

A pause.

		EVE
	I read George Jean Nathan every
	week.

		BILL
	Also Addison deWitt.

		EVE
	Every day.

		BILL
	You didn't have to tell me.

Margo, putting on an earring, buzzes out of the bathroom
followed by Birdie. Bill sits up.

		MARGO
		(en route)
	I understand it's the latest thing -
	just one earring. If it isn't, it's
	going to be - I can't find the
	other...

She grabs her pocketbook, starts rummaging. Out comes the
letter...

		BILL
	Throw that dreary thing away, it
	bores me-

Margo drops it in the wastebasket, keeps rummaging.

		EVE
		(concerned)
	Where do you suppose it could be?

		BIRDIE
	It'll show up.

		MARGO
		(gives up)
	Oh well...
		(to Birdie)
	... look through the wigs, maybe it
	got caught-

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

		MARGO
		(she's been looking)
	Where's my coat?

		BIRDIE
	Right where you left it...

She goes behind the chaise. She comes up with a magnificent
mink.

		BILL
		(to Margo)
	The seams.

Margo starts to straighten them.

		MARGO
		(to Eve)
	Can't keep his eyes off my legs.

		BILL
	Like a nylon lemon peel-

		MARGO
		(straightens up)
	Byron couldn't have said it more
	graciously... here we go-

By now she's in the coat and has Eve's arm, heading for the
door. Bill puts his arms around Birdie.

		BILL
	Got any messages? What do you want
	me to tell Tyrone Power?

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

Bill kisses her cheek. She kisses Bill.

		BIRDIE
	Kill the people.
		(to Margo)
	Got your key?

		MARGO
		(nods)
	See you home...

Margo and Eve precede Bill out of the door...

EXT. LAGUARDIA FIELD - NIGHT

American Airlines baggage counter. The rain has stopped, but
it's wet.

Margo, Eve, and Bill are stymied behind two or three couples
waiting to be checked in. Margo's arm is through Bill's. They
become increasingly aware of their imminent separation. Eve
senses her superfluity.

A lull. Bill cranes at the passenger heading the line, in
earnest conversation with the dispatcher. He sighs.

		MARGO
	They have to time it so everybody
	gets on at the last minute. So they
	can close the doors and let you
	sit.

The man up ahead moves on.

		BILL
	Ah...

		EVE
	I have a suggestion.
		(they look at her)
	There's really not much time left -
	I mean, you haven't had a minute
	alone yet, and - well, I could take
	care of everything here and meet
	you at the gate with the ticket...
	if you'd like.

		BILL
	I think we'd like very much. Sure
	you won't mind?

		EVE
	Of course not.

Bill hands Eve the ticket. Margo smiles gratefully at her.
Eve smiles back.

EXT. PASSAGE AND GATE - LAGUARDIA - NIGHT

It's covered, with glass windows. Margo's arm is in Bill's.

		BILL
	She's quite a girl, that what's-her
	name...

		MARGO
	Eve. I'd forgotten they grew that
	way...

		BILL
	The lack of pretense, that sort of
	strange directness and
	understanding-

		MARGO
	Did she tell you about the Theater
	and what it meant?

		BILL
		(grins)
	I told her. I sounded off.

		MARGO
	All the religions in the world
	rolled into one, and we're Gods and
	Goddesses... isn't it silly,
	suddenly I've developed a big
	protective feeling for her - a lamb
	loose in our big stone jungle...

Bill pauses and pulls her to one side. Some passengers go by.
A pause.

		MARGO
	Take care of yourself out there...

		BILL
	I understand they've got the
	Indians pretty well in hand...

		MARGO
	Bill...

		BILL
	Huh?

		MARGO
	Don't get stuck on some glamour
	puss-

		BILL
	I'll try.

		MARGO
	You're not such a bargain, you
	know, conceited and thoughtless and
	messy-

		BILL
	Everybody can't be Gregory Peck.

		MARGO
	- you're a setup for some gorgeous
	wide-eyed young babe.

		BILL
	How childish are you going to get
	before you quit it?

		MARGO
	I don't want to be childish, I'd
	settle for just a few years-

		BILL
		(firmly)
	And cut that out right now.

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

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

He starts to kiss her, stops when he becomes aware of Eve
standing near them. She has his ticket in her hand.

		EVE
	All ready.

She hands Bill his ticket, they start toward the gate.

INT. BOARDING GATE - LAGUARDIA - NIGHT

The D.C. 6 in the b.g. A few visitors. Bill hands his ticket
to the guard, turns to Eve.

		BILL
	Thanks for your help... good luck.

		EVE
	Goodbye, Mr. Sampson.

Bill puts his arms around Margo.

		BILL
	Knit me a muffler.

		MARGO
	Call me when you get in...

They kiss. Margo's arms tighten desperately. Bill pulls away,
kisses her again lightly, starts for the plane. Margo turns
away. Eve puts her arms through Margo's.

Bill pauses en route to the plane.

		BILL
	Hey - junior...

Margo turns to look at him with Eve.

		BILL
	Keep your eyes on her. Don't let
	her get lonely. She's a loose lamb
	in a jungle...

Eve looks at Margo. Margo smiles.

		EVE
	Don't worry...

Bill waves, climbs aboard. The door is closed behind him, the
departure routine starts...

Margo and eve turn to go. They walk down the passage. As they
walk, Eve gently disengages her arm from Margo's and puts it
comfortingly about her...

		MARGO'S VOICE
	That same night we sent for Eve's
	things, her few pitiful
	possessions... she moved into the
	little guest room on the top
	floor...

INT. DINING HALL - NIGHT

MARGO slides her fingers reflectively up and down the sides
of the almost empty highball glass.

		MARGO'S VOICE
	... she cried when she saw it - it
	was so like her little room back
	home in Wisconsin.

ADDISON eyeing her quizzically. He offers her the whiskey.

MARGO shakes her head, absently. She looks down at her glass
again. Then, she raises her eyes to look at Eve.

		MARGO'S VOICE
	... the next three weeks were out
	of a fairy tale - and I was
	Cinderella in the last act. Eve
	became my sister, lawyer, mother,
	friend, psychiatrist and cop - the
	honeymoon was on...

INT. MARGO'S LIVING ROOM - DAY

It's one floor above street level. A long narrow room,
smartly furnished - including a Sarah Siddons Award.

MARGO'S NARRATIVE overlaps into the scene which is a SILENT
ONE.

Eve sits at a smart desk. She is just arranging a stack of
letters which she carries to Margo with a pen. Margo sits
comfortably by the fire with a play script. She hands the
scrips up to Eve, shakes her head and holds her nose. Eve
smiles, takes the script, hands Margo the letters to sign.

Birdie comes in with a tea tray which she sets on a low table
before the fire.

The phone rings.

Birdie and Eve both go for it. Eve gets there first. By her
polite but negative attitude, we know she is giving someone a
skillful brush-off.

Birdie glares first at her, then at Margo.

Margo leans her head back, closes her eyes blissfully...

Birdie slams the double door to the landing on her way out...

INT. BACKSTAGE - CURRAN THEATER - DAY

From the wings. The audience is never visible. Eve in the
f.g. Margo and company taking a curtain call. Tumultuous
applause... the curtain falls. The cast, except for Margo and
two male leads, walk off. The curtain rises again...

EVE, watching and listening to the storm of applause. Her
eyes shine, she clasps and unclasps her hands...

THE STAGE, Eve again in the f.g., but closer. Again the
curtain falls. This time the two men go off. Curtain rises on
Margo alone. If anything, the applause builds...

EVE, that same hypnotic look... there are tears in her eyes.
The curtain falls offscene, then rises again -

MARGO, the curtain falls again between her and CAMERA...

BACKSTAGE, the curtain just settling on the floor. Margo
starts off.

		STAGE MANAGER
	One more?

		MARGO
		(shakes her head)
	From now on it's not applause -
	just something to do till the
	aisles get less crowded...

She walks as she talks and winds up at Eve - still in the
wings. Eve's eyes are wet, she dabs at her nose.

		MARGO
	What - again?

		EVE
	I could watch you play that last
	scene a thousand times and cry
	every time-

		MARGO
		(grins)
	Performance number one thousand of
	this one - if I play it that long -
	will take place in a well-padded
	booby hatch...

She takes Eve's arm, they stroll toward her dressing room.

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

		MARGO
	You certainly can. Especially if
	you're me between now and tomorrow
	morning...

		EVE
	I mean the performance. Except for
	you, you'd think he'd never even
	directed it - it's disgraceful the
	way they change everything
	around...

		MARGO
		(smiles)
	Well, teacher's away and actors
	will be actors...

		EVE
	During your second act scene with
	your father, Roger Ferraday's
	supposed to stay way upstage at the
	arch. He's been coming closer down
	every night...

		MARGO
	When he gets too close, I'll spit
	in his eye.

They're at her dressing room by now. Margo's been unhooking
her gown, with Eve's help. They go in.

INT. MARGO'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

It's undergone quite a change. A new carpet, chintz covers
for the furniture, new lampshades, dainty curtains across the
filthy barred window.

Birdie waits within. She's listening to a fight; she shuts it
off as they enter.

		MARGO
		(entering)
	You bought the new girdles a size
	smaller. I can feel it.

		BIRDIE
	Something maybe grew a size bigger.

		MARGO
	When we get home you're going to
	get into one of those girdles and
	act for two and half hours.

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

Margo's out of her wig and dress by now. She gets into her
robe, sits at the dressing table. Eve's on the chaise, by the
discarded costume.

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

		MARGO
		(turns, looks)
	Well, you've done so much... what's
	new?

		EVE
	The curtains. I made them myself.

		MARGO
	They are lovely. Aren't they
	lovely, Birdie?

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

		MARGO
	Just because you can't even work a
	zipper. It was very thoughtful,
	Eve, and I appreciate it-

A pause. Eve rises, picking up Margo's costume.

		EVE
	While you're cleaning up, I'll take
	this to the wardrobe mistress-

		MARGO
	Don't bother. Mrs. Brown'll be
	along for it in a minute.

		EVE
	No trouble at all.

And she goes out with the costume. Birdie opens her mouth,
shuts it, then opens it again.

		BIRDIE
	If I may so bold as to say
	something - did you ever hear the
	word "union"?

		MARGO
	Behind in your dues? How much?

		BIRDIE
	I haven't got a union. I'm slave
	labor.

		MARGO
	Well?

		BIRDIE
	But the wardrobe women have got
	one. And next to a tenor, a
	wardrobe woman is the touchiest
	thing in show business-

		MARGO
		(catching on)
	Oh-oh.

		BIRDIE
	She's got two things to do - carry
	clothes an' press 'em wrong - an'
	just let anybody else muscle in...

As she talks, Margo hurries to the door and out after Eve.

INT. BACKSTAGE - CURRAN THEATER - NIGHT

Margo pops out, looks for Eve, then stares in amazement.

EVE, near the wings. She stands before a couple of cheval
mirrors set up for cast members. She has Margo's dress held
up against her body. She turns this way and that, bows as if
to applause - mimicking Margo exactly...

MARGO watches her curiously. Then she smiles.

		MARGO
		(calling)
	Eve-

EVE, startled, whips the gown away, turns to Margo.

MARGO smiles understandingly.

		MARGO
		(quietly)
	I think we'd better let Mrs. Brown
	pick up the wardrobe...

Wordlessly, Eve brings it toward her...

INT. MARGO'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Margo's asleep. A bedside clock with a luminous dial reads 3
A.M. exactly. The phone rings. Her head comes up out of the
pillow, she shakes it. She fumbles, switches on a lamp, then
picks up the phone.

		MARGO
	Hello..

		OPERATOR'S VOICE
	We are ready with your call to
	Beverly Hills...

		MARGO
	Call, what call?

		OPERATOR'S VOICE
	It this Templeton 89970? Miss Margo
	Channing?

		MARGO
	That's right, but I don't
	understand-

		OPERATOR'S VOICE
	We are ready with the call you
	placed for 12 midnight, California
	time, to Mr. William Sampson in
	Beverly Hills...

		MARGO
	I placed...?

		OPERATOR'S VOICE
	Go ahead, please...

		BILL'S VOICE
		(a loud, happy squawk)
	Margo! What a wonderful surprise!

Margo jumps at his vehemence. As she does so, the SCREEN
WIPES DOWN DIAGONALLY LEFT TO RIGHT, so that Margo remains in
the lower right-hand diagonal of the screen and Bill is
disclosed in the upper left. He, too, is in bed, reading. His
clock says midnight.

		BILL
		(continuing)
	What a thoughtful, ever-lovin'
	thing to do-

		MARGO
		(dazed)
	Bill? Have I gone crazy, Bill?

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

		MARGO
	That I am...

		BILL
	Then you're crazy.

		MARGO
		(nods in agreement)
	When - when are you coming back?

		BILL
	I leave in a week - the picture's
	all wrapped up, we previewed last
	night... those previews. Like
	opening out of town, but
	terrifying. There's nothing you can
	do, you're trapped, you're in a tin
	can-

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

		BILL
	You in a hurry?

		MARGO
	A big hurry, be quick about it - so
	good night, darling, and sleep
	tight...

		BILL
	Wait a minute! You can't hang up,
	you haven't even said it-

		MARGO
	Bill, you know how much I do - but
	over the phone, now really, that's
	kid stuff...

		BILL
	Kid stuff or not, it doesn't happen
	every day, I want to heat it - and
	if you won't say it, you can sing
	it...

		MARGO
		(convinced she's gone mad)
	Sing it?

		BILL
	Sure! Like the Western Union boys
	used to do...

Margo's eyes pop. Her jaw and the phone sag.

		MARGO
	Bill... Bill, it's your birthday.

		BILL
	And who remembered it? Who was
	there on the dot, at twelve
	midnight...?

Margo knows damn well it wasn't she.

		MARGO
		(miserably)
	Happy birthday, darling...

		BILL
	The reading could have been better,
	but you said it - now "many happy
	returns of the day..."

		MARGO
		(the same)
	Many happy returns of the day...

		BILL
	I get a party, don't I?

		MARGO
	Of course, birthday and welcome
	home... who'll I ask?

		BILL
		(laughs)
	It's no secret, I know all about
	the party - Eve wrote me...

		MARGO
	She did...?

		 BILL
	She hasn't missed a week since I
	left - but you know all that, you
	probably tell her what to write...
	anyway, I sent her a list of people
	to ask - check with her.

		MARGO
	Yeah... I will.

		BILL
	How is Eve? Okay?

		MARGO
	Okay.

		BILL
	I love you...

		MARGO
		(mutters)
	I'll check with Eve...

		BILL
	What?

		MARGO
	I love you too. Good night, darling-

		BILL
	See you...

Margo hangs up. Bill hangs up. He replaces the phone, picks
up his book... SLOW WIPE until ONLY MARGO is on screen. She
puts her phone away. She gets a cigarette. She lights it. She
rolls over on her back...

INT. MARGO'S BEDROOM - DAY

Margo is propped up in bed, still reflective. Birdie comes in
with her breakfast tray and a "hi" which gets a "hi" from
Margo. She starts on some petty chores. Margo takes a sip of
orange juice...

		MARGO
	Birdie-

		BIRDIE
	Hmm?

		MARGO
	You don't like Eve, do you?

		BIRDIE
	Do you want an argument or an
	answer?

		MARGO
	An answer.

		BIRDIE
	No.

		MARGO
	Why not?

		BIRDIE
	Now you want an argument.

		MARGO
	She works hard.

		BIRDIE
	Night an' day.

		MARGO
	She's loyal and efficient-

		BIRDIE
	Like an agent with one client.

		MARGO
	She thinks only for me...
		(no answer from Birdie)
	... doesn't she?

		BIRDIE
		(finally)
	Well... let's say she thinks only
	about you, anyway...

		MARGO
	How do you mean that?

Birdie stops whatever it is she's doing.

		BIRDIE
	I'll tell you how. Like - let's see
	- like she was studyin' you, like
	you were a play or a book or a set
	of blueprints. How you walk, talk,
	think, eat, sleep-

		MARGO
		(breaks in; sharply)
	I'm sure that's very flattering,
	Birdie, and I'm sure there's
	nothing wrong with that!

There is a sharp, brisk knock. Eve comes in. She's dressed in
a smart suit. She carries a leather portfolio.

		EVE
	Good morning!

Margo says "good morning," Birdie says nothing. Eve shows off
the suit, proudly.

		EVE
	Well - what do you think of my
	elegant new suit?

		MARGO
	Very becoming. It looks better on
	you than it did on me.

		EVE
		(scoffs)
	I can imagine... you know, all it
	needed was some taking in here and
	letting out there - are you sure
	you won't want it yourself?

		MARGO
	Quite sure. I find it just a bit
	too - too "Seventeenish" for me...

		EVE
		(laughs)
	Oh, come now, as though you were an
	old lady... I'm on my way. Is there
	anything more you've thought of-?

		MARGO
	There's the script to go back to
	the Guild-

		EVE
	I've got it.

		MARGO
	- and those checks or whatever it
	is for the income tax man.

		EVE
	Right here.

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

		EVE
		(smile)
	That's my job.
		(she turns to go)
	See you at tea time...

		MARGO
	Eve...
		(Eve turns at the door)
	... by any chance, did you place a
	call from me to Bill for midnight
	California time?

		EVE
		(gasps)
	Oh, golly. And I forgot to tell you-

		MARGO
	Yes, dear. You forgot all about it.

		EVE
	Well, I was sure you'd want to, of
	course, being his birthday, and
	you've been so busy these past few
	days, and last night I meant to
	tell you before you went out with
	the Richards - and I guess I was
	asleep when you got home...

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

		EVE
	Mr. Sampson's birthday. I certainly
	wouldn't forget that. You'd never
	forgive me.
		(she smiles shyly)
	As a matter of fact, I sent him a
	telegram myself...

And she's gone. Margo stares at the closed door. Then at
Birdie. Birdie, without comment, goes out. Margo, alone,
looks down at her orange juice. Absently, she twirls it in
its bed of shaved ice...

INT. DINING HALL - SARAH SIDDONS SOCIETY - NIGHT

MARGO, reflectively twirling her highball glass. The applause
continues. She lifts her glass to drink. Her glance meets
Karen's. She raises the glass in a silent toast.

KAREN smiles wanly at Margo's toast. Then the smile fades as
she looks reflectively back to Eve...

		KAREN'S VOICE
	I saw Eve quite often after our
	first meeting, but we never really
	talked again - until the party
	Margo gave for Bill when he
	returned from Hollywood...

INT. MARGO'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

It's January. The bed is littered with fur coats. Through the
open door, from the floor below, the murmur of a party at a
late hour. No hilarity.

		KAREN'S VOICE
	It's always convenient at a party
	to know the hostess well enough to
	use her bedroom rather than go
	where all the others have to go...

Karen is making repairs at Margo's dressing table. Eve
enters, carrying a magnificent sable coat which she drops on
the bed.

		KAREN
	Now who's show up at this hour?
	It's time people went home - hold
	that coat up...
		(Eve holds it up; Karen
		 whistles)
	... whose is it?

		EVE
	Some Hollywood movie star, her
	plane got in late.

		KAREN
	Discouraging, isn't it? Women with
	furs like that where it never gets
	cold...

		EVE
	Hollywood.

		KAREN
	Tell me, Eve - how are things with
	you? Happy?

Eve melts into warmth. She beams, sits on the bed. Karen has
spun around on the dressing table stool.

		EVE
	There should be a new word for
	happiness. Being here with Miss
	Channing has been - I just can't
	say, she's been so wonderful, done
	so much for me-

		KAREN
		(smiles)
	Lloyd says Margo compensates for
	underplaying on the stage by
	overplaying reality...
		(she gets up, gets her
		 coat)
	... next to that sable, my new mink
	seems like an old bedjacket...
		(throws it over her
		 shoulder)
	... you've done your share, Eve.
	You've worked wonders with Margo...

She starts out.

		EVE
		(hesitantly)
	Mrs. Richards.

		KAREN
		(pauses, smiles)
	Karen.

		EVE
	Karen...
		(she picks at the
		 coverlet)
	... isn't it awful, I'm about to
	ask you for another favor - after
	all you've already done.

		KAREN
		(crosses to her)
	Nobody's done so much, Eve, you've
	got to stop thinking of yourself as
	one of the Hundred Neediest
	Cases... what is it?

		EVE
	Well... Miss Channing's affairs are
	in such good shape... there isn't
	enough to keep me as busy as I
	should be, really - not that I've
	ever considered anything that would
	take me away from her... but the
	other day - when I heard Mr. Fabian
	tell Miss Channing that her
	understudy was going to have a
	baby, and they'd have to replace
	her...

She looks down at the coverlet once more.

		KAREN
	... you want to be Margo's new
	understudy.

		EVE
	I don't let myself think about it,
	even-
		(she looks up, rises as
		 she speaks)
	- but I do know the part so well,
	and every bit of the staging,
	there'd be no need to break in a
	new girl-
		(suddenly afraid, she
		 sits)
	- but suppose I had to go on one
	night? To an audience that came to
	see Margo Channing. No, I couldn't
	possibly...

		KAREN
		(laughs)
	Don't worry too much about that.
	Margo just doesn't miss
	performances. If she can walk,
	crawl or roll - she plays.

		EVE
		(nods proudly)
	The show must go on.

		KAREN
	No, dear. Margo must go on.
		(she sits beside Eve)
	As a matter of fact, I see no
	reason why you shouldn't be Margo's
	understudy...

		EVE
	Do you think Miss Channing would
	approve?

		KAREN
	I think she would cheer.

		EVE
	But Mr. Richards and Mr. Sampson-

		KAREN
	They'll do as they're told.

Eve smiles a little. A pause.

		EVE
	Then - would you talk to Mr. Fabian
	about it?

		KAREN
	Of course.

		EVE
	You won't forget it?

		KAREN
	I won't forget.

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

She hugs Karen, leaves. She nearly collides with Birdie on
her way in.

		BIRDIE
	The bed looks like a dead animal
	act. Which one is sables?

		KAREN
		(pointing)
	But she just got here...

		BIRDIE
	She's on her way. With half the men
	in the joint.
		(she hold up the coat)
	It's only a fur coat...

		KAREN
	What did you expect - live sables?

		BIRDIE
	A diamond collar, gold sleeves -
	you know, picture people...

They start out.

		KAREN
	Bill says actors out there eat just
	as infrequently as here-

		BIRDIE
	They can always grab oranges off
	trees. This you can't do in Times
	Square...

Through the open door, we see them go down the stairs and out
of sight.

INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING AND STAIRS - NIGHT

Karen and Birdie come down the stairs to Bill, Max, Addison,
a blonde young lady named MISS CASWELL (Addison's protegee-of
the-moment) - and, at the feet of Bill and Addison... Eve.
They are all seated on the steps.

Birdie goes through and down the stairs to the first floor.
Karen remains with the others.

Addison is holding forth:

		ADDISON
	Every now and then, some elder
	statesman of the Theater or cinema
	assures the public that actors and
	actresses are just plain folk.
	Ignoring the fact that their
	greatest attraction to the public
	is their complete lack of
	resemblance to normal human beings.

		MISS CASWELL
		(as Birdie and the sables
		 pass)
	Now there's something a girl could
	make sacrifices for.

		BILL'S VOICE
	And probably has.

		MISS CASWELL
	Sable.

		MAX
		(to Miss Caswell)
	Did you say sable - or Gable?

		MISS CASWELL
	Either one.

		ADDISON
	It is senseless to insist that
	theatrical folk in New York,
	Hollywood and London are no
	different from the good people of
	Des Moines, Chillicothe and
	Liverpool. By and large, we are
	concentrated gatherings of
	neurotics, egomaniacs, emotional
	misfits, and precocious children-

		MAX
		(to Bill)
	Gable. Why a feller like that don't
	come East to do a play...

		BILL
		(nods)
	He must be miserable, the life he
	lives out there-

		ADDISON
	These so-called abnormalities -
	they're our stock in trade, they
	make us actors, writers, directors,
	et cetera in the first place-

		MAX
	Answer me this. What makes a man
	become a producer?

		ADDISON
	What makes a man walk into a lion
	cage with nothing but a chair?

		MAX
	This answer satisfies me a hundred
	percent.

		ADDISON
	We all have abnormality in common.
	We are a breed apart from the rest
	of the humanity, we Theater folk.
	We are the original displaced
	personalities...

		BILL
		(laughs; to Eve)
	You don't have to read his column
	tomorrow - you just heard it. I
	don't agree, Addison...

		ADDISON
	That happens to be your particular
	abnormality.

		BILL
	Oh, I admit there's a screwball
	element in the Theater. It sticks
	out, it's got spotlights on it and
	a brass band. But it isn't basic,
	it isn't standard - if it were, the
	Theater couldn't survive...

		MISS CASWELL
		(to a passing butler)
	Oh, waiter...

The butler goes right by.

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

		MISS CASWELL
	Well, I can't yell "Oh, butler,"
	can I? Maybe somebody's name is
	Butler...

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

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

		MAX
		(getting up)
	Leave me get you one...

		MISS CASWELL
		(pitching)
	Oh, thank you, Mr. Fabian.

Max leaves with her empty glass.

		ADDISON
	Well done. I see your career rising
	in the East like the sun...
		(to Bill)
	... you were saying?

		BILL
	I was saying that the Theater is
	nine-tenths hard work. Work done
	the hard way - by sweat,
	application and craftsmanship. I'll
	agree to this - that to be a good
	actor, actress, or anything else in
	the Theater, means wanting to be
	that more than anything else in the
	world...

		EVE
		(abruptly)
	Yes. Yes, it does.

		BILL
		(goes on)
	It means concentration of ambition,
	desire, and sacrifice such as no
	other profession demands... And
	I'll agree that the man or woman
	who accepts those terms can't be
	ordinary, can't be - just someone.
	To give so much for almost always
	so little...

Eve speaks almost unaware of what she says. She looks at no
one in particular, just off...

		EVE
	So little. So little, did you say?
	Why, if there's nothing else -
	there's applause. It's like - like
	waves of love coming over the
	footlights and wrapping you up.
	Imagine...
	To know, every night, that
	different hundreds of people love
	you... they smile, their eyes shine
	- you've pleased them, they want
	you, you belong. Just that alone is
	worth anything...

She becomes aware of Addison's strange smile, of Bill's looks
of warm interest. She's embarrassed, she turns away - then
scrambles to her feet as Margo approaches with Lloyd from the
direction of the pantry.

Margo's had too much to drink. Her fake smile fades as Eve
gets up. She's unpleasant and depressed.

		MARGO
	Don't get up. And please stop
	acting as if I were the queen
	mother.

		EVE
		(hurt)
	I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-

		BILL
		(sharply)
	Outside of a beehive, Margo, your
	behavior would hardly be considered
	either queenly or motherly!

		MARGO
	You're in a beehive, pal, didn't
	you know? We're all busy little
	bees, full of stings, making honey
	day and night-
		(to Eve)
	- aren't we, honey?

		KAREN
	Margo, really...

		MARGO
	Please don't play governess, Karen,
	I haven't your unyielding good
	taste, I wish I'd gone to Radcliffe
	too but father wouldn't hear of it -
	he needed help at the notions
	counter...
		(to Addison)
	I'm being rude now, aren't I? OR
	should I say "ain't I"?

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

Max has come up with Miss Caswell's drink.

		LLOYD
	How about calling it a night?

		MARGO
	And you pose as a playwright. A
	situation pregnant with
	possibilities - and all you can
	think of is everybody to go to
	sleep...

		BILL
	It's a good thought.

		MARGO
	It won't play.

		KAREN
	As a nonprofessional, I think it's
	an excellent idea. Undramatic, but
	practical...

As she speaks, she makes her way to Lloyd's side.

		MARGO
	Happy little housewife...

		BILL
	Cut it out.

		MARGO
	This is my house, not a theater! In
	my house you're a guest, not a
	director-!

		KAREN
	Then stop being a star - start
	treating your guests as your
	supporting cast!

		ADDISON
	Hear, hear...

		LLOYD
	Now let's not get into a big hassle-

		KAREN
	It's about time we did! It's about
	time Margo realized that what's
	attractive on stage need not
	necessarily be attractive off.

		MARGO
		(suddenly)
	All right! I'm going to bed.
		(to Bill)
	You be the host. It's your party.
	Happy Birthday, welcome home, and
	we-who-are-about-to-die-salute-you.

She starts upstairs.

		BILL
	Need any help?

		MARGO
		(pauses, smiles)
	To put me to bed? Take my clothes
	off, hold my head, tuck me in, turn
	off the lights, tiptoe out...? eve
	would. Wouldn't you, Eve?

		EVE
	If you'd like.

		MARGO
	I wouldn't like.

She goes up, exits out of sight. A pause. Miss Caswell
reaches up to take the drink out of Max's hand.

		MAX
	I forgot I had it.

		MISS CASWELL
	I didn't.

Bill gets up and goes after Margo...

		ADDISON
	Too bad! We'll miss the third act.
	They're going to play it off stage.

Eve turns away abruptly, in sudden tears.

		LLOYD
	Coming?

		KAREN
	In a minute...

She crosses to Eve, puts an arm around her.

		KAREN
	You mustn't mind Margo too much,
	even if I do...

		EVE
	But there must be some reason,
	something I've done without
	knowing...

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

		EVE
	If I thought I'd offended her, of
	all people-

		KAREN
	Eve. I'm fond of Margo too. But I
	know Margo. And every now and then
	there is nothing I want to do so
	much as to kick her right square in
	the pants.

		EVE
		(smiles)
	Well - if she's got to pick on
	someone, I'd just as soon it was
	me.

Karen smiles back. She joins Lloyd and Max.

		LLOYD
	Max is going to drop us...

		ADDISON
	I've often wondered, Max, why you
	bother with a chauffeur and
	limousine in New York City.

		MAX
	In my case it's necessary. Too many
	taxi drivers write plays.

		ADDISON
	And too many of them are produced.

		MISS CASWELL
	Let's go sit by the piano.

		ADDISON
	You have me confused with Dan
	Dailey. You go sit by the piano.
		(to Eve)
	And you come sit by me.
		(to the others)
	Good night.

They laugh, say "good night," and start downstairs. As Eve
crosses to Addison:

		EVE
	Karen...
		(Karen pauses)
	... you won't forget, will you?
	What we talked about before?

		KAREN
		(smiles)
	No, Eve, I won't forget...

She follows the men downstairs. CLOSE UP of an old engraving
of Mrs. Siddons as 'The Tragic Muse' which hangs among other
theatrical mementos on the stair wall...

INT. DINING HALL - SARAH SIDDONS SOCIETY - NIGHT

The applause continues. Margo sits back in her chair now,
picking at a bit of fingernail polish...

		MARGO'S VOICE
	Bill's welcoming-home-birthday
	party... a night to go down in
	history. Like the Chicago Fire - or
	the Massacre of the Huguenots. Even
	before the party started, I could
	smell disaster in the air...

INT. MARGO'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

The same night as the previous sequence, but before the party
has started. Margo is all dressed except for jewelry. She
stands before her dressing table putting it on. She sips at
an enormous Martini...

		MARGO'S VOICE
	I knew it, I sensed it even as I
	finished dressing for that blasted
	party...

Birdie comes in.

		BIRDIE
	You all put together?

		MARGO
	My back's open.
		(Birdie goes to work on
		 it)
	Did the extra help get here?

		BIRDIE
	There's some loose characters
	dressed like maids and butlers.
	Who'd you call - the William Morris
	Agency?

		MARGO
	You're not being funny, I could get
	actors for less. What about the
	food?

		BIRDIE
	The caterer had to back for hors
	d'oeuvres-
		(she zips Margo)
	Voila.

		MARGO
		(laughs)
	That French ventriloquist taught
	you a lot, didn't he?

		BIRDIE
	There was nothing he didn't know.
		(she starts tidying the
		 room)
	There's a message from the
	bartender. Does Miss Channing know
	we ordered domestic gin by mistake?

		MARGO
	The only thing I ordered by mistake
	is the guests.
		(Birdie cackles)
	They're domestic, too, and they
	don't care what they drink as long
	as it burns... where's Bill? He's
	late.

		BIRDIE
	Late for what?

		MARGO
	Don't be dense. The party.

		BIRDIE
	I ain't dense. And he's been here
	twenty minutes.

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

Her glance meets Birdie's. She turns and strolls out.

INT. THIRD FLOOR LANDING - NIGHT

Margo speeds up going down the stairs.

INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - NIGHT

Margo shows up again deliberately as she reaches the landing.
Sound of Bill and Eve laughing together from the living room.
Margo strolls toward it casually.

We see Eve seated, looking up fascinated at Bill as he talks -
out of the laughter...

		BILL
	"Don't let it worry you," said the
	cameraman, "Even DeMille couldn't
	see anything looking through the
	wrong end-"
		(Eve chuckles)
	So that was the first and last time-

Eve sees Margo approach. She gets up. Bill turns.

INT. MARGO'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

As Margo strolls up, very off-hand.

		MARGO
	Don't let me kill the point. Or
	isn't it a story for grownups?

		BILL
	You've heard it. About when I
	looked through the wrong end of a
	camera finder.

		MARGO
		(to Eve)
	Remind me to tell you about when I
	looked into the heart of an
	artichoke.

		EVE
	I'd like to hear it.

		MARGO
	Some snowy night in front of the
	fire... in the meantime, while
	we're on the subject, will you
	check about the hors d'oeuvres? The
	caterer forgot them, the varnish
	wasn't dry or something...

		EVE
	Of course.

She leaves. A short lull. Margo looks into cigarette boxes.
Bill eyes her curiosity, crosses to the fire.

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

		MARGO
	I thought you were going to be late-

		BILL
	When I'm guest of honor?

		MARGO
	I had no idea you were even here.

		BILL
	I ran into Eve on my way upstairs;
	she told me you were dressing.

		MARGO
	That never stopped you before.

		BILL
	Well, we started talking, she
	wanted to know all about Hollywood,
	she seemed so interested...

		MARGO
	She's a girl of so many interests.

		BILL
	It's a pretty rare quality these
	days.

		MARGO
	She's a girl of so many rare
	qualities.

		BILL
	So she seems.

		MARGO
		(the steel begins to
		 flash)
	So you've pointed out, so often. So
	many qualities, so often. Her
	loyalty, efficiency, devotion,
	warmth, affection - and so young.
	So young and so fair...

Bill catches the drift. Incredulously.

		BILL
	I can't believe you're making this
	up - it sounds like something out
	of an old Clyde Fitch play...

		MARGO
	Clyde Fitch, thought you may not
	think so, was well before my time!

		BILL
		(laughs)
	I've always denied the legend that
	you were in 'Our American Cousin'
	the night Lincoln was shot...

		MARGO
	I don't think that's funny!

		BILL
	Of course it's funny - this is all
	too laughable to be anything else.
	You know what I think about this -
	this age obsession of yours - and
	now this ridiculous attempt to whip
	yourself up into a jealous froth
	because I spent ten minutes with a
	stage-struck kid-

		MARGO
	Twenty minutes!

		BILL
	Thirty minutes, forty minutes! What
	of it?

		MARGO
	Stage-struck kid... she's a young
	lady - of qualities. And I'll have
	you know I'm fed up with both the
	young lady and her qualities!
	Studying me as if - as if I were a
	play or a set of blueprints! How I
	walk, talk, think, eat, sleep!

		BILL
	Now how can you take offense at a
	kid trying in every way to be as
	much like her ideal as possible!

		MARGO
	Stop calling her a kid! It so
	happens there are particular
	aspects of my life to which I would
	like to maintain sole and exclusive
	rights and privileges!

		BILL
	For instance what?

		MARGO
	For instance - you!

		BILL
	This is my cue to take you in my
	arms and reassure you - but I'm not
	going to. I'm too mad-

		MARGO
	- guilty.

		BILL
	Mad! Darling, there are certain
	characteristics for which you are
	famous - on stage and off. I love
	you for some of them - and in spite
	of others. I haven't let those
	become too important to me. They're
	part of your equipment for getting
	along in what is laughably called
	out environment - you've got to
	keep your teeth sharp. All right.
	But you will not sharpen them on me
	- or on Eve...

		MARGO
	What about her teeth? What about
	her fangs?

		BILL
	She hasn't cut them yet, and you
	know it! So when you start judging
	an idealistic dreamy-eyed kid by
	the barroom, Benzedrine standards
	of this megalomaniac society - I
	won't have it! Eve Harrington has
	never by word, look, thought or
	suggestion indicated anything to me
	but her adoration for you and her
	happiness at our being in love! And
	to intimate anything else doesn't
	spell jealousy to me - it spells a
	paranoic insecurity that you should
	be ashamed of!

		MARGO
	Cut! Print it! What happens in the
	next reel? Do I get dragged off
	screaming to the snake pit?

		EVE'S VOICE
		(quietly)
	Miss Channing?

Bill and Margo look off. Eve is in the room. They have no way
of knowing how long she's been there.

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

		MARGO
	Thank you, Eve. I'd like a Martini -
	very dry.

		BILL
	I'll get it.
		(he crosses to Eve)
	What'll you have?

Eve, involuntarily, looks to Margo.

		MARGO
	A milkshake?

Eve smiles, turns to Bill.

		EVE
	A Martini. Very dry, please...

Bill smiles back and starts across the landing toward the
pantry. As he crosses the stairs, Karen, Lloyd and Max come
up from the street level below. General greetings. Bill
continues up to pantry. Eve and then Margo come up to add
their welcome...

		EVE
		(to Karen)
	May I have your coat?

		KAREN
	Don't bother, I can take it up
	myself...

		EVE
	Please...

Karen yields with a "thank you, Eve-." Eve goes up with the
coat. Lloyd looks after her approvingly.

		LLOYD
	I like that girl. That quality of
	quiet graciousness...

		MARGO
	... Among so many quiet qualities.

They start for the living room.

		KAREN
	Margo, nothing you've ever done has
	made me as happy as your taking Eve
	in...

		MARGO
	I'm so happy you're happy.

		MAX
	Look, you haven't been running a
	settlement house exactly - the
	kid's earned her way. You had a
	pretty mixed-up inventory when she
	took over - merchandise laying all
	over the shop...

		LLOYD
	You've got Margo mixed up with a
	five-and-ten-cent store...

		MARGO
	Make it Bergdorf Goodman... and now
	everything is on its proper shelf,
	eh, Max? Done up in little ribbons.
	I could die right now and nobody'd
	be confused. How about you, Max?

		MAX
	How about me what?

They've come to a halt near the fireplace.

		MARGO
	Supposed you dropped dead. What
	about your inventory?

		MAX
	I ain't gonna die. Not with a hit.

		KAREN
	This is the most ghoulish
	conversation...

Bill brings two Martinis. He hands one to Margo.

		MARGO
		(it drips ice)
	Thank you.

		BILL
	Nothing, really...

		MARGO
	The kid - junior, that is - will be
	right down. Unless you'd like to
	take her drink up to her...

		BILL
		(smiles)
	I can always get a fresh one. Karen
	- you're a Gibson girl...

He hands Eve's drink to Karen. Max has wandered off. Other
guests are arriving. Margo gulps her drink, hands Bill the
empty glass. He puts it on a passing tray. Margo takes a
fresh one at the same time.

		LLOYD
	The general atmosphere is very
	Macbethish. What has or is about to
	happen?

		MARGO
		(to Bill)
	What is he talking about?

		BILL
	Macbeth.

		KAREN
		(to Margo)
	We know you, we've seen you before
	like this. Is it over - or just
	beginning?

Margo surveys them all.

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

She downs the drink, hands the empty glass to Bill, and
leaves them. She passes two women, gabbing by the piano. As
they see her:

		WOMAN #1
	Margo, darling!

		WOMAN #2
	Darling!

		MARGO
		(passing)
	Darlings...

She arrives at the landing just as Addison comes up with Miss
Caswell. Margo takes a drink from a passing tray.

		MARGO
		(to Addison)
	I distinctly remember striking your
	name from the guest list. What are
	you doing here?

		ADDISON
	Dear Margo. You were an
	unforgettable Peter Pan - you must
	play it again, soon. You remember
	Miss Caswell?

		MARGO
	I do not. How do you do?

		MISS CASWELL
	We never met. That's why.

		ADDISON
	Miss Caswell is an actress. A
	graduate of Copacabana School of
	Dramatic Arts.
		(his glance is attracted
		 by Eve coming downstairs)
	Ah... Eve.

		EVE
		(deferentially)
	Good evening, Mr. deWitt.

		MARGO
	I had no idea you knew each other.

		ADDISON
	This must be, at long last, our
	formal introduction. Until now we
	have met only in passing...

		MISS CASWELL
	That's how you met me. In passing.

		MARGO
		(smiles)
	Eve, this is an old friend of Mr.
	deWitt's mother - Miss Caswell,
	Miss Harrington...
		(the two girls say hello)
	Addison, I've been wanting you to
	meet Eve for the longest time-

		ADDISON
		(murmurs)
	It could only have been your
	natural timidity that kept you from
	mentioning it...

		MARGO
	You've heard of her great interest
	in the Theater-

		ADDISON
	We have that in common.

		MARGO
	Then you two must have a long talk-

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

		MISS CASWELL
	You won't bore him, honey. You
	won't even get to talk.

		ADDISON
		(icily)
	Claudia dear, come closer.
		(she does, and he points)
	This is Max Fabian. He is a
	producer. Go do yourself some good.

		MISS CASWELL
		(sighs)
	Why do they always look like
	unhappy rabbits?

		ADDISON
	Because that is what they are. Go
	make him happy.

Miss Caswell drapes her coat over the rail, heads for Max.
Addison puts Eve's arm in his.

		ADDISON
		(to Margo)
	You mustn't worry about your little
	charge. She is in safe hands.

		MARGO
	Amen.

Eve smiles uncertainly at Margo as he leads her away. Margo
looks after them. She downs her drink...

INT. MARGO'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

It's many Martinis later. Most of the guests have gone. The
party has reached that static state - everyone's assumed more
or less permanent places.

Birdie passes, carrying a cup of coffee. CAMERA FOLLOWS her
to the piano where Margo sits on the bench beside the
pianist. He is just finishing "Liebestraum" and she stares
moodily into a Martini. Birdie halts beside her with the
coffee. Margo looks up. Birdie holds out the coffee. Margo
takes the onion out of the Martini, drops it into the coffee
and waves Birdie away. Birdie goes. "Liebestraum" comes to an
end. The pianist tries to ease into a more sophisticated
rhythm. Margo stops him.

		MARGO
		(quietly)
	"Liebestraum."

		PIANIST
	I just played it.

		MARGO
	Play it again.

		PIANIST
	But that was the fourth straight
	time.

		MARGO
	Then this will be five. I suppose
	you think I'm too drunk to count.

		PIANIST
	No. You're just crazy about
	"Liebestraum."

		MARGO
	"Liebestraum."

		PIANIST
	Look, Miss Channing... it's kind of
	depressing. If you don't mind my
	saying so, everybody's kind of
	dying on the vine...

		MARGO
	My dear Horowitz. In the first
	place, I'm paying you union scale.
	Second, it's my piano. Third, if
	everybody doesn't like kind of
	dying on the vine, they can get off
	the vine and go home.
	"Liebestraum."

Unhappily, he plays "Liebestraum." Margo sips her Martini,
stares down into it again. Bill tiptoes up.

		BILL
		(whispers)
	Many of your guests have been
	wondering when they may be
	permitted to view the body. Where
	has it been laid out?

		MARGO
		(somberly)
	It hasn't been laid out, we haven't
	finished with the embalming. As a
	matter of fact, you're looking at
	it. The remains of Margo Channing.
	Sitting up. It is my last wish to
	be buried sitting up.

		BILL
		(trying to kid her out of
		 it)
	Wouldn't you feel more natural
	taking a bow?

		MARGO
	You know nothing about feelings,
	natural or unnatural.

		BILL
	Then without feeling, your guests
	were also wondering whether the
	music couldn't be a shade more on
	the - shall we say, happier side?

		MARGO
	If my guests do not like it here, I
	suggest they accompany you to the
	nursery where I'm sure you will all
	feel more at home.

Bill is about to get mad - when Max bustles up.

		MAX
	Margo. You by any chance got
	bicarbonate of soda in the house?

		MARGO
		(sympathetic)
	Poor Max. Heartburn?
		(Max nods)
	It's that Miss Caswell. I don't
	know why she doesn't give Addison
	heartburn.

		BILL
	No heart to burn.

		MARGO
	Everybody has a heart - except some
	people.
		(she finishes her drink,
		 stands up)
	Of course I've got bicarb. There's
	a box in the pantry. We'll put your
	name on it. Max Fabian. It'll say
	there. Always. Just for you.

		MAX
		(touched)
	Let the rest of the world beat
	their brains out for a buck. It's
	friends that count. And I got
	friends.

		MARGO
	I love you, Max. I really mean it.
	I love you. Come to the pantry.

She takes off. Max waits to set Bill straight.

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

He starts off after Margo. As the CAMERA PANS with Bill we
see Margo going into the pantry with Max following her. Bill
joins Addison and Miss Caswell on the stairs.

INT. PANTRY - NIGHT

It's a good sized one. In the b.g., the caterers are packing
dishes, glassware, etc. Margo crosses to a cupboard. She
finds the bicarb.

		MARGO
	Here you are, Maxie dear. One good
	burp and you'll be rid of that Miss
	Caswell...

		MAX
	The situation I'm in ain't the kind
	you can belch your way out. I made
	a promise...

		MARGO
	Miss Caswell?
		(Max nods)
	What?

		MAX
	An audition for the part we're
	replacing. What's-her-name, your
	sister...

He adds water to the bicarb.

		MARGO
	Well, if she can act, she might not
	be bad. She looks like she might
	burn down a plantation...

		MAX
		(mixing)
	I feel right now like there's one
	burning in me.

		MARGO
	When's the audition?

		MAX
	A couple of weeks.

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

		MAX
	Would you?

		MARGO
	Anything to help you out, Max.

		MAX
	This is real cooperation. I
	appreciate it.

		MARGO
	Not at all. And you could do me a
	big favor, if you would-

		MAX
	All you got to do is name it.

		MARGO
	Give Eve Harrington job in you
	office.

Max burps.

		MARGO
	You get quick action, don't you?

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

		MARGO
	You said yourself my inventory was
	in good shape - all of my
	merchandise put away. To keep her
	here with nothing to do - I'd be
	standing in her way... and you need
	her, Max.

		MAX
	But what could she do?

		MARGO
	She'd be a great help - read
	scripts, interview people you have
	to see, get rid of the ones you
	don't have to... you'd be a man of
	leisure-

		MAX
	Well...

		MARGO
	Think of your health, Max - more
	time to relax out in the fresh air
	at a race track...

		MAX
	I don't know if this would be a
	wise move...

		MARGO
	Promise.

		MAX
	I promise.

		MARGO
		(happily)
	That's my Max.

Lloyd enters, looking for her.

		LLOYD
	There you are, both of you. Max,
	Karen has decided it's time to go.

		MARGO
	Where is she?

		LLOYD
	Up in the room.

		MAX
	If you'll excuse me-
		(to Margo)
	I'll tell Miss Caswell...

He goes out. A pause.

		MARGO
	Who's left out there?

		LLOYD
	Too many. And you've got a new
	guest. A movie star from Hollywood.

		MARGO
	Shucks. And my autograph book is at
	the cleaners.

Another pause.

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

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

		MARGO
	When you do, let me in on it.

		LLOYD
	I will.

Another pause.

		MARGO
	How's the new one coming?

		LLOYD
	The play? All right, I guess...

		MARGO
	"Cora." She's - still a girl of
	twenty?

		LLOYD
	Twentyish. It isn't important.

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

		LLOYD
	How do you mean?

		MARGO
	Don't be evasive.

		LLOYD
	Margo, you haven't got any age.

		MARGO
	Miss Channing is ageless. Spoken
	like a press agent.

		LLOYD
	I know what I'm talking about,
	after all they're my plays...

		MARGO
	Spoken like an author.
		(abruptly)
	Lloyd, I'm not twentyish. I am not
	thirtyish. Three months ago, I was
	forty years old. Forty. Four oh.
		(smiles)
	That slipped out, I hadn't quite
	made up my mind to admit it. Now I
	feel as if I'd suddenly taken all
	my clothes off...

		LLOYD
	Week after week, to thousands of
	people, you're as young as you
	want...

		MARGO
	... as young as they want, you
	mean. And I'm not interested in
	whether thousands of people think
	I'm six or six hundred-

		LLOYD
	Just one person. Isn't that so?
		(Margo doesn't answer)
	You know what this is all about,
	don't you? It has very little to do
	with whether you should play "Cora"
	- it has everything to do with the
	fact that you've had another fight
	with Bill.

A pause. Margo closes the box of bicarb.

		MARGO
	Bill's thirty-two. He looks thirty
	two. He looked it five years ago,
	he'll look it twenty years from
	now. I hate men.
		(she puts the box down)
	Don't worry, Lloyd. I'll play your
	play. I'll wear rompers and come in
	rolling a hoop if you like... let's
	go say good night.

They exit into the dining room. As they open the swinging
door, the CAMERA REMAINS in the doorway. Margo and Lloyd walk
toward the stairs. In the b.g., Eve is talking to the group.
How much she says is dependent on how long it takes Margo and
Lloyd to reach her.

		EVE
		(in the b.g.)
	Imagine... to know, every night,
	that different hundreds of people
	love you... They smile, their eyes
	shine - you've pleased them, they
	want you, you belong. Anything's
	worth that.

Just as before, she becomes aware of Margo's approach with
Lloyd. She scrambles to her feet...

		MARGO
	Don't get up. And please stop
	acting as if I were the queen
	mother.

And as Margo speaks - or before - we

FADE OUT.

FADE IN:

EXT. N.Y. THEATER STREET - DAY

Margo gets out of a cab in front of the theater and goes in.
It's Friday afternoon - no performance.

		MARGO'S VOICE
	What was it the wise man said -
	"This, too, will pass away"? Two
	weeks later - the day of the
	audition - all was well with Bill
	and me, the world and me-

INT. LOBBY AND FOYER - CURRAN THEATER - DAY

Margo comes from the street through the lobby ( a few people
buying tickets) and into the deserted foyer. She spots
Addison sprawled on one of the sofas.

		MARGO
	Why so remote, Addison? I should
	think you'd be at the side of your
	protegee, lending her moral
	support...

		ADDISON
	Miss Caswell, at the moment, is
	where I can lend no support - moral
	or otherwise.

		MARGO
	The ladies' - shall we say -
	lounge?

		ADDISON
	Being violently ill to her tummy.

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

She heads for the auditorium.

		ADDISON
	Miss Caswell got lucky too late.
	The audition is over.

		MARGO
		(stops)
	Over? It can't be. I've come to
	read with her. I promised Max.

		ADDISON
	The audition was called for 2:30.
	It is now nearly four.

		MARGO
		(lightly)
	Is it really? I must start wearing
	a watch, I never do, you know...
	who read with Miss Caswell? Bill?
		(he shakes his head)
	Lloyd?
		(he shakes his head)
	Well, it couldn't have been Max!
	Who?

		ADDISON
	Naturally enough, your understudy.

		MARGO
	I consider it highly unnatural to
	allow a girl in an advanced state
	of pregnancy-

		ADDISON
	I refer to your new and unpregnant
	understudy. Eve Harrington.

		MARGO
	Eve! My understudy...

		ADDISON
		(keenly)
	Didn't you know?

		MARGO
		(quickly)
	Of course I knew.

		ADDISON
	It just slipped your mind.

A moment of silence.

		MARGO
	How... how was Miss Caswell?

		ADDISON
	Frankly, I don't remember.

		MARGO
	Just slipped your mind.

		ADDISON
	Completely. Nor, I am sure, could
	anyone else present tell you how
	Miss Caswell read or whether Miss
	Caswell read or rode a pogo stick.

		MARGO
	Was she that bad?

As Addison speaks, he rises with excitement.

		ADDISON
	Margo, as you know, i have lived in
	the Theater as a Trappist monk
	lives in his faith. I have no other
	world, no other life - and once in
	a great while I experience that
	moment of Revelation for which all
	true believers wait and pray. You
	were one. Jeanne Eagels another...
	Paula Wessely... Hayes - there are
	others, three or four. Eve
	Harrington will be among them...

		MARGO
		(flatly)
	I take it she read well.

		ADDISON
	It wasn't reading, it was a
	performance. Brilliant, vivid,
	something made of music and fire...

		MARGO
	How nice.

		ADDISON
	In time she'll be what you are.

		MARGO
	A mass of music and fire. That's
	me. An old kazoo and some sparkles.
	Tell me - was Bill swept away, too,
	or were you too full of Revelation
	to notice?

		ADDISON
	Bill didn't say - but Lloyd was
	beside himself. He listened to his
	play as if someone else had written
	it, he said, it sounded so fresh,
	so new, so full of meaning...

		MARGO
	How nice for Lloyd. And how nice
	for Eve. How nice for everybody.

Addison, of course, knows exactly what she's doing. He senses
the approaching typhoon, he whips it up...

		ADDISON
	Eve was incredibly modest. She
	insisted that no credit was due
	her, that Lloyd felt as he did only
	because she read lines exactly as
	he had written them.

		MARGO
	The implication being that I have
	not been reading them as written.

		ADDISON
	To the best of my recollection,
	neither your name nor your
	performance entered the
	conversation.

Miss Caswell appears, uncertain, in the b.g.

		ADDISON
	Feeling better, my dear?

		MISS CASWELL
	Like I just swam the English
	Channel. Now what?

		ADDISON
	You next move, it seems to me,
	should be toward television.

Margo, abruptly, starts for the auditorium. Addison smiles.
He takes Miss Caswell's arm.

		MISS CASWELL
	Tell me this. Do they have
	auditions for television?

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

He takes her toward the street.

INT. THEATER - CURRAN THEATER - DAY

The curtain is up; the set, covered, is a bedroom in a
deteriorating Southern mansion.

There is no one in the theater but Max, seated on the aisle
about two-thirds down, and Eve with Lloyd and Bill on the
stage. She is seated; they stand between her and auditorium.
There is some ad lib talk among the three which we cannot
make out. Margo marches down the aisle with a steady pace.

She passes Max smiles a sickly, hopeful smile. She ignores
him as if he were a used paper cup. She disappears through
the door which leads backstage.

Max whistles. Lloyd turns. Max indicated the door and puts
his hands to his head in despair.

Margo walks out of the wings on stage. Bill and Lloyd turn to
her. Eve rises.

		MARGO
		(cheerily)
	Terribly sorry I'm late, lunch was
	long and I couldn't find a cab -
	where's Miss Caswell, shall we
	start? Oh, hello, Eve...

		EVE
	Hello, Miss Channing.

		MARGO
	How are you making out in Mr.
	Fabian's office?
		(over the footlights to
		 Max)
	I don't want you working the child
	too hard, Max - just because you
	promised. As you see, I kept my
	promise, too...

Max slumps in his seat. By the time Margo turns back to them,
the others have exchanged swift looks.

		BILL
	It's all over.

		MARGO
	What's all over?

		BILL
	The audition.

		MARGO
		(pleased astonishment)
	Eve?
		(she turns to her)
	How enchanting...
		(to Lloyd and Bill)
	Wherever did you get the idea of
	having Eve read with Miss Caswell?

		LLOYD
	She's your understudy.

		MARGO
	Eve? Eve, my understudy? But I had
	no idea...

		LLOYD
	I thought you knew... She was put
	on over a week ago-

		MARGO
	It seems almost inconceivable that
	I haven't seen her backstage, but
	with so many people loitering
	around... well, well. So Eve is not
	working for Max after all-
		(out to Max again)
	- Max you sly puss.

Max submerges further in his seat.

		EVE
	Miss Channing, I can't tell you how
	glad I am that you arrived so late.

		MARGO
	Really, Eve? Why?

		EVE
	Well, if you'd been here to begin
	with, I wouldn't have dared to read
	at all...

		MARGO
	Why not?

		EVE
	... and if you'd come in the
	middle, I'd have stopped, I
	couldn't have gone on-

		MARGO
		(murmurs)
	What a pity, all that fire and
	music being turned off...

		BILL
	What fire and music?

		MARGO
	You wouldn't understand.
		(to Lloyd)
	How was Miss Caswell?

		LLOYD
	Back to Copacabana. But Eve. Margo,
	let me tell you about Eve-

		EVE
		(breaking in)
	I was dreadful, Miss Channing,
	believe me - I have no right to be
	anyone's understudy, much less
	yours...

		MARGO
	I'm sure you underestimate
	yourself, Eve. You always do.
		(to Lloyd)
	You were about to tell me about
	Eve...

		LLOYD
	You'd have been proud of her.

		MARGO
	I'm sure.

		LLOYD
	She was a revelation...

		MARGO
	To you, too?

		LLOYD
	What do you mean?

		MARGO
		(the ice begins to form)
	I mean, among other things, that it
	must have been a revelation to have
	your twenty-four-year-old character
	played by twenty-four-year-old
	actress...

		LLOYD
	That's beside the point.

		MARGO
	It's right to the point. Also that
	it must have sounded so new and
	fresh to you - so exciting to have
	the lines read as you wrote them!

		BILL
	Addison-!

		MARGO
	So full of meaning, fire and music!

		LLOYD
	You've been talking to that
	venomous fishwife, Addison deWitt-

		MARGO
	- in this case, apparently, as
	trustworthy as the World Almanac!

		LLOYD
	You knew when you came in that the
	audition was over, that Eve was
	your understudy! Playing that
	childish game of cat and mouse...

		MARGO
	Not mouse, never mouse! If anything
	- rat!

		LLOYD
	You have a genius for making
	barroom brawl out of a perfectly
	innocent misunderstanding at most!

		MARGO
	Perfectly innocent! Man have been
	hanged for less! I'm lied to,
	attacked behind my back, accused of
	reading your silly dialogue
	inaccurately - as if it were Holy
	Gospel!

		LLOYD
	I never said it was!

		MARGO
	Then you listened as if someone
	else had written you play - whom
	did you have in mind? Sherwood?
	Arthur Miller? Beaumont and
	Fletcher?

Max has edged his way to the stage.

		MAX
		(from below)
	May I say a word?

		LLOYD
	No!
		(to Margo)
	What makes you think that either
	Miller or Sherwood would stand for
	the nonsense I take from you -
	you'd better stick to Beaumont and
	Fletcher! They've been dead for
	three hundred years!

He stalks into the wings. Bill's reaction to the fight is
typical. He lights a cigarette, stretches out on the covered
bed. Eve stands frozen with fear. Margo yells after Lloyd
into the wings.

		MARGO
	And they're getting better
	performances today than they ever
	got! All playwrights should be dead
	for three hundred years!

Lloyd comes out of the door leading to the auditorium. The
battle goes on without a pause. As he yells back, he crosses
to Max at row A, center.

		LLOYD
	That would solve none of their
	problems - because actresses never
	die! The stars never die and never
	change!

He starts up the aisle with Max.

		MARGO
	You can change this star any time
	you want! For a new, fresh,
	exciting one fully equipped with
	fire and music! Any time you want -
	starting with tonight's
	performance!

Now it's Max who stops and shouts back at her.

		MAX
	This is for lawyers to talk about,
	this concerns a run-of-the-play
	contract, and this you can't
	rewrite or ad lib!

		MARGO
		(from the stage)
	Are you threatening me with legal
	action, Mr. Fabian?

		MAX
	Are you breaking the contract?

		MARGO
	Answer my question!

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

		MARGO
	I didn't hear you.

		MAX
		(yelling)
	I said I'm a dying man!

		MARGO
	Not until the last drugstore has
	sold its last pill!

		LLOYD
		(from the top of the
		 aisle)
	I shall never understand the weird
	process by which a body with a
	voice suddenly fancies itself a
	mind! Just when exactly does an
	actress decide they're her words
	she's saying and her thoughts she's
	expressing?

		MARGO
	Usually at the point when she's got
	to rewrite and rethink them to keep
	the audience from leaving the
	theater!

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

Max has already walked out unhappily. Lloyd now slams out.
Margo glares after him, then turns to Bill who smokes his
cigarette peacefully on the bed.

		MARGO
		(quiet menace)
	And you, I take it, are the
	Paderewski who plays his concerto
	on me, the piano?
		(Bill waves his cigarette;
		 he's noncommittal)
	Where is Princess Fire-and-Music?

		BILL
	Who?

		MARGO
	The kid. Junior.

		BILL
		(looks lazily)
	Gone.

		MARGO
	I must have frightened her away.

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

		MARGO
		(paces up and down)
	Poor little flower. Just dropped
	her petals and folded her tent...

		BILL
	Don't mix your metaphors.

		MARGO
	I mix what I like.

		BILL
	Okay. Mix.

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

		BILL
	What a body, what a voice.

		MARGO
	The ex-ship news' reporter. No
	body, no voice, all mind!

		BILL
	The gong rang. The fight's over.
	Calm down.

		MARGO
	I will not calm down!

		BILL
	Don't calm down.

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

		BILL
	I'm trying terribly hard.

		MARGO
	Well, you needn't. I will not be
	tolerated. And I will not be
	plotted against!

		BILL
	Here we go...

		MARGO
	Such nonsense, what do you all take
	me for - little Nell from the
	country? Been my understudy for
	over a week without my knowing,
	carefully hidden no doubt-

		BILL
		(sits up)
	Now don't get carried away-

		MARGO
		(going right on)
	- shows up for an audition when
	everyone knew I'd be here... and
	gives a performance! Out of nowhere
	- gives a performance!

		BILL
	You've been all through that with
	Lloyd-

		MARGO
	The playwright doesn't make the
	performance - and it doesn't just
	happen! And this one didn't - full
	of fire and music and whatnot, it
	was carefully rehearsed I have no
	doubt, over and over, full of those
	Bill Sampson touches!

		BILL
	I am sick and tired of these
	paranoiac outbursts!

		MARGO
	Paranoiac!

		BILL
	I didn't know Eve Harrington was
	your understudy until half past two
	this afternoon!

		MARGO
	Tell that to Dr. Freud! Along with
	the rest of it...

She turns away. Bill grabs her, pulls her down on the bed. He
holds her down.

		BILL
	No, I'll tell it to you! For the
	last time, I'll tell it to you.
	Because you've got to stop hurting
	yourself, and me, and the two of us
	by these paranoiac tantrums!

		MARGO
		(struggling)
	That word again! I don't even know
	what it means...

		BILL
		(firmly)
	It's time you found out. I love
	you.
		(Margo says "Ha!")
	I love you. You're a beautiful and
	intelligent woman-
		(Margo says "A body with a
		 voice")
	- a beautiful and intelligent woman
	and a great actress-
		(he waits; Margo says
		 nothing)
	- at the peak of her career. You
	have every reason for happiness-
		(Margo says "Except
		 happiness")
	- every reason, but due to some
	strange, uncontrollable,
	unconscious drive you permit the
	slightest action of a kid-
		(Margo sneers "Kid!")
	- kid like Eve to turn you into a
	hysterical, screaming harpy! Now
	once and for all, stop it!

Margo seems quiet. He gets up. She sits up.

		MARGO
	It's obvious you're not a woman.

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

		MARGO
	Well, I am.

		BILL
	I'll say.

		MARGO
	Don't be condescending.

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

		MARGO
		(with dignity)
	I admit I may have seen better
	days, but I am still not to be had
	for the price of a cocktail - like
	a salted peanut.

		BILL
		(laughs)
	Margo, let's make peace.

		MARGO
	The terms are too high.
	Unconditional surrender.

		BILL
	Just being happy? Just stopping all
	this nonsense about Eve - and Eve
	and me?

		MARGO
	It's not nonsense.

		BILL
	But if I tell you it is - as I just
	did. Were you listening to me?
		(Margo nods)
	Isn't that enough?

		MARGO
	I wish it were.

		BILL
	Then what would be enough?
		(Margo doesn't answer)
	If we were married?

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

		BILL
	You've had so many reasons for not
	wanting to marry me... Margo, tell
	me what's behind all this.

		MARGO
	I - I don't know, Bill. Just a
	feeling, I don't know...

		BILL
	I think you do know but you won't
	or can't tell me.
		(Margo doesn't say)
	I said before it was going to be my
	last try, and I meant it. I can't
	think of anything else to do. I
	wish I could.
		(a pause)
	We usually wind up screaming and
	throwing things as the curtain
	comes down. Then it comes up again
	and everything's fine. But not this
	time.
		(he takes a breath)
	You know there isn't a playwright
	in the world who could make me
	believe this would happen between
	two adult people. Goodbye, Margo.

No word from her. He starts away.

		MARGO
	Bill...
		(he stops)
	... where are you going? To find
	Eve?

		BILL
		(smiles grimly)
	That suddenly makes the whole thing
	believable.

He goes out. Margo, alone, sit for a moment sadly. Then she
begins to cry...

INT. RICHARDS' STUDIO APARTMENT - DAY

One large room, a small foyer with a door to the corridor. A
stair up one wall to a narrow balcony from which a couple of
bedroom open.

Karen is painting. Earnestly but badly. A still life of an
orange, an avocado, an eggplant and three bananas.

		KAREN'S VOICE
	On the day of the audition, my
	biggest worry was to keep a banana
	looking part of an eggplant... then
	Lloyd came home.
		(in the b.g., Lloyd lets
		 himself in)
	It was right after his brawl with
	Margo...

Lloyd slams the door, flings his hat away, strides in,
peeling off muffler and overcoat.

		KAREN
	Lloyd, what happened...?

		LLOYD
	Up to here! That's where I've got
	it - up to here! Of all the star
	ridden, presumptuous, hysterical-

		KAREN
	Margo, again...

		LLOYD
	And again and again! Two hours late
	for the audition, to begin with-

		KAREN
	That's on time for Margo.

		LLOYD
	Then a childish, heavy-handed
	routine about not knowing Eve was
	her understudy-

		KAREN
	It's just possible she didn't...

		LLOYD
	Of course she knew! For one thing,
	Addison told her how superbly Eve
	had read the part-!
		(suddenly softening)
	Karen, let me tell you about Eve.
	She's got everything - a born
	actress. Sensitive, understanding,
	young, exciting, vibrant-

		KAREN
	- don't run out of adjectives,
	dear.

		LLOYD
	- everything a playwright first
	thinks of wanting to write about...
	until his play becomes a vehicle
	for Miss Channing...

		KAREN
	Margo hasn't done badly by it.

		LLOYD
	Margo. Margo's great. She knows it.
	That's the trouble.
	She can play Peck's Bad Boy all she
	wants, and who's to stop her? Who's
	to give her that boot in the rear
	she needs and deserves?

He starts up the stairs to the bedroom.

		KAREN
		(murmurs)
	It's going to be a cozy weekend.

		LLOYD
		(pauses)
	What is?

		KAREN
	We're driving out to the country
	tomorrow night. Just the four of
	us. Bill, Margo, you and I...

		LLOYD
	Well. We've spent weekends before
	with nobody talking...
		(continues up stairs)
	... just be sure to lock up all
	blunt instruments and throwable
	objects...

As he goes into one of the bedrooms, Karen sits thoughtfully
on a couch. She muses...

		KAREN'S VOICE
	Newton - they say, thought of
	gravity by getting hit on the head
	by an apple. And the man who
	invented the steam engine, he was
	watching a tea-kettle... but not
	me. My Big Idea came to me just
	sitting on a couch...

She lies down, folds her hands behind her head.

		KAREN'S VOICE
	That boot in the rear to Margo.
	Heaven knows she had one coming.
	From me, from Lloyd, from Eve,
	Bill, Max, and so on - we'd all
	felt those size fives of hers often
	enough... but how? The answer was
	buzzing around me like a fly...

She sits up. She smiles. The smile fades...

		KAREN'S VOICE
	I had it. But I let it go.
	Screaming and calling names is one
	thing - but this could mean...

She shakes her head, crosses to her easel, resumes work on
the bananas. She slows down, then stops.

		KAREN'S VOICE
	Why not? Why, I said to myself,
	not? It would all seem perfectly
	legitimate. And there were only two
	people in the world who would know.
	Also, the boot would land where it
	would do the most good for all
	concerned-

She puts the brush away and crosses to the phone which is by
Lloyd's work chair. As she crosses:

		KAREN'S VOICE
	And after all, it was not more than
	a perfectly harmless joke which
	Margo, herself, would be the first
	to enjoy...

She looks in a leather phone book, pick up the phone and
dials.

		KAREN'S VOICE
	... and no reason why she shouldn't
	be told about it - in time.

There's an answer at the other end.

		KAREN
		(into phone)
	Hello... will you call Miss Eve
	Harrington to the phone, please?
	Not at all... thank you.

And as she waits we...

				    DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - NIGHT

Open country. Preferably no houses in sight. Plenty of snow.
Lloyd's car drives along.

		KAREN'S VOICE
	It was a cold weekend - outside and
	in. Bill didn't come at all.
	Margo didn't know where he was and
	didn't care - she kept saying.
	Somehow we staggered through Sunday
	- and by the time we drive Margo to
	the station late Monday afternoon,
	she and Lloyd had thawed out to the
	extent of being civil to each
	other...

INT. COUPE - NIGHT

Lloyd driving. All three in the front seat.

		KAREN
	What time is it?

		LLOYD
	When you asked a minute ago it was
	five-forty-two. It is now five
	forty-three. When you ask a minute
	from no, it will be-

		KAREN
	I just don't want Margo to miss her
	train. As it is, she'll barely make
	the theater...

		LLOYD
	Five-fifty-five. We'll be at the
	station in plenty of time...

		MARGO
	That little place just two hours
	form New York. It's on my list of
	things-I'll-never-understand. Like
	collecting shrunken Indian heads...

		KAREN
	Of all people you should know what
	it means to want some peace and
	quiet-

		MARGO
	Peace and quit is for libraries.

The car swerves - suddenly and slightly.

		KAREN
	Lloyd, be careful...

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

		MARGO
	Karen and I just don't want an
	accident-

		LLOYD
	I have no intention of having an
	accident!

		MARGO
	It's not important whether you do.
	We are wearing long underwear.

They all laugh. Suddenly the car slows and stops - with that
hissing sound that can mean only one thing - no gas.

		LLOYD
	Now what's this...?

He tries to start it again. No luck. He turns on the
dashboard lights. The gas gauge reads empty.

		LLOYD
	But it can't be! We can't be out of
	gas! I filled it myself yesterday!
		(to Karen)
	Wasn't it full when you drove to
	Brewster this morning?

		KAREN
		(very low)
	I guess I didn't look. You know I
	don't pay attention to those
	things...

		LLOYD
	Incredible.

Futilely, he runs the started again.

		MARGO
		(crisply)
	How much time have we?

		KAREN
	Roughly ten minutes.

		MARGO
	How far to the station?

		KAREN
	Three or four miles...

		MARGO
	Any houses or farms around where we
	can borrow gas?

		KAREN
		(looking)
	None in sight, there aren't many
	along this back road...

		MARGO
	Not many car either, not much
	chance of a lift...

A moment of silence.

		LLOYD
	Well. No sense my just sitting
	here. I'm going to walk up about
	half a mile, just in case.

He starts out of the car. The cold comes in like a knife, the
women react.

		KAREN
	You'll break your neck on that ice.

		LLOYD
		(grins)
	What a way to die - trying to get
	an actress to the theater in time.
	Tell Max I want to be buried with
	royalties...

		KAREN
	Don't joke about such things.

		MARGO
		(quietly)
	How fortunate that I have an
	understudy so ready, so willing and
	so able to go on.

		LLOYD
	The audience will want its money
	refunded, believe me.

		MARGO
	Thank you, Lloyd. Godspeed.

Lloyd starts down the road. He slips once, recovers, waves
and keeps going.

		KAREN
	He always looks so pathetic
	whenever he does anything physical-

		MARGO
	It seems to me that walking, for
	most people, is not very dangerous.

		KAREN
		(smiles)
	I just never think of Lloyd as
	anywhere but indoors and anything
	but sitting down.

		MARGO
	Be brave. He'll come back - with or
	without gas.

They tuck the fur car robe around them. A pause. Margo turns
on the radio... it's "Liebestraum."

		MARGO
	Do you want it on?

		KAREN
	It doesn't matter.

		MARGO
	I detest cheap sentiment.

She turns it off. Another pause.

		MARGO
	Karen.
		(Karen says "hm?")
	I haven't been pleasant this
	weekend.

		KAREN
	We've all seemed a little tense
	lately...

		MARGO
	Come to think of it, I haven't been
	very pleasant for weeks. For that,
	I'm truly sorry. More than any two
	people I know, I don't want you and
	Lloyd to be angry with me...

		KAREN
	We're never deeply angry, we just
	get sore. The way you do. We know
	you too well...

		MARGO
	So many people - know me. I wish I
	did. I wish someone would tell be
	about me...

		KAREN
	You're Margo. Just - Margo.

		MARGO
	And what is that? Besides something
	spelled out in light bulbs, I mean.
	Besides something called
	temperament, which consists mostly
	of swooping about on a broomstick
	creaming at the top of my voice...
	infants behave the way I do, you
	know. They carry on and misbehave -
	they'd get drunk if they knew how -
	when they can't have what they
	want. When they feel unwanted and
	insecure - or unloved.

There's a pause.

		KAREN
	What about Bill?

		MARGO
	What about Bill?

		KAREN
	He's in love with you.

		MARGO
	More than anything in this world, I
	love Bill. And I want Bill. I want
	him to want me. But me. Not Margo
	Channing. And if I can't tell they
	apart - how can he?

		KAREN
	Why should he - and why should you?

		MARGO
	Bill's in love with Margo Channing.
	He's fought with her, worked with
	her, loved her... but ten years
	from now - Margo Channing will have
	ceased to exist. And what's left
	will be... what?

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

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

		KAREN
	Not to you. Not to Bill.

		MARGO
	Isn't that what they always say?

She turns the radio on again. A piano nocturne...

		MARGO
	I don't suppose the heater runs
	when the motor doesn't?

		KAREN
	Silly, isn't it? You'd think they'd
	fix it so people could just sit in
	a car and keep warm...

Margo nods, get some cigarettes out of her bag. She offers
one to Karen. They light up.

		MARGO
	About Eve. I've acted pretty
	disgracefully toward her, too.

		KAREN
	Well...

		MARGO
	Let's not fumble for excuses, not
	here and now with my hair down. At
	best, let's say I've been
	oversensitive to... well, to the
	fact that she's so young - so
	feminine and helpless. To so many
	things I want to be for Bill...
	funny business, a woman's career.
	The things you drop on your way up
	the ladder, so you can move faster.
	You forget you'll need them again
	when you go back to being a woman.
	That's one career all females have
	in common - whether we like it or
	not - being a woman.
	Sooner or later we've all got to
	work at it, no matter what other
	careers we've had or wanted... and,
	in the last analysis, nothing is
	any good unless you can look up
	just before dinner or turns around
	in bed - and there he is. Without
	that, you're not woman. You're
	something with a French provincial
	office or a book full of clippings -
	but you're not a woman...
		(she smiles at Karen)
	... slow curtain. The end.

A pause. There are tears in Karen's eyes.

		KAREN
	Margo.
		(she hesitates)
	Margo, I want you to know how sorry
	I am about this...

		MARGO
	About what?

		KAREN
		(indicating their
		 predicament)
	This. I can't tell you how sorry I
	am!

		MARGO
	Don't give it another thought, one
	of destiny's many pranks. After
	all, you didn't personally drain
	the gasoline out of the tank...

She snuggles down into her furs. Karen flashes an unhappy
look at her. She, too, snuggles down...

EXT. THEATER ALLEY - CURRAN THEATER - NIGHT

The snow has been shoveled to either side of the alley,
making a lane. The performance is just over.

Addison, his back to us, stands looking toward the stage
door. A few actors, on their way out.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	Eve, of course, was superb. Many of
	the audience understandably
	preferred to return another time to
	see Margo.
	But those who remained cheered
	loudly, lustily and long for Eve...
	how thoughtful of her to call and
	invite me - that afternoon...

He starts to walk toward the stage door.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	... and what a happy coincidence
	that several representatives of
	other newspapers happened to be
	present. All of us - invited that
	afternoon to attend an understudy's
	performance...

He goes in the stage door.

INT. BACKSTAGE - CURRAN THEATER - NIGHT

More activity than last time, the performance being just
over. Addison comes through the door, picks his way toward
Margo's dressing room.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	... about which the management knew
	nothing until they were forced to
	ring up the curtain at nine
	o'clock. Coincidence. Also every
	indication of intrigue, skulduggery
	and fraud...

The door tot he dressing room is open just a bit. Addison
pauses beside the door to listen.

		BILL
		(from within)
	... you were better than all right,
	kid, you gave a performance, you
	rang a bell-

Addison uses his cane to swing the door open farther, so that
both he and WE can see as well as hear.

INT. MARGO'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

Bill faces Eve, who wears Margo's costume. She is a ravishing
sight. Her eyes shine up to his radiantly:

		BILL
		(continuing)
	- little things here and there, it
	doesn't matter. You can be proud of
	yourself, you've got a right to be.

		EVE
		(quietly)
	Are you proud of me, Bill?

		BILL
	I'll admit I was worried when Max
	called. I had my doubts.

		EVE
	You shouldn't have had any doubts.

		BILL
	- after all, the other day was one
	scene, the woods are full of one
	scene sensations. But you did it.
	With work and patience, you'll be a
	fine actress. If that's what you
	want to be.

		EVE
	Is that what you want me to be?

		BILL
	I'm talking about you. And what you
	want.

		EVE
	So am I.

		BILL
	What have I got to do with it?

		EVE
	Everything.

		BILL
		(lightly)
	The names I've been called. But
	never Svengali.
		(he pats her shoulder)
	Good luck.

He starts out. Addison ducks.

		EVE
	Don't run away, Bill.

		BILL
		(stops)
	From what would I be running?

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

		BILL
		(curiously)
	I'm for it.

		EVE
	Then face it. I have. Since that
	first night - here - in the
	dressing room.

		BILL
		(smiles)
	When I told you what every young
	actress should know.

		EVE
	When you told me that whatever I
	became, it would be because of you-

		BILL
	Your make-up's a little heavy.

		EVE
	- and for you.

		BILL
		(slowly)
	You're quite a girl.

		EVE
	You think?

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

		EVE
	You hear all kinds of things.

		BILL
	I'm only human, rumors to the
	contrary. And I'm as curious as the
	next man...

		EVE
	Find out.

		BILL
		(deliberately)
	Only thing, what I go after, I want
	to go after. I don't want it to
	come after me.

Tears come to Eve's eyes. She turns away slowly.

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

He walks out. Addison ducks to avoid being seen. Eve glares
after Bill, tears the wig from her head, throws it on the
dressing table. Her glance is caught by a pair of scissors.
Swiftly, she snatches them up and in a sharp, vicious gesture
she slashes the wig. Addison knocks politely at the door. Eve
turns.

		ADDISON
	May I come in?

		EVE
	Certainly, Mr. deWitt...

		ADDISON
		(entering)
	I expected to find this little room
	overcrowded, with a theater full of
	people at your feet...

		EVE
	I consider myself lucky they didn't
	throw things.

She starts creaming her face, removing make-up.

		ADDISON
	Of course your performance was no
	surprise to me. After the other day
	I regarded it as no more than - a
	promised fulfilled.

		EVE
	You're more than kind. But it's
	still Miss Channing's performance.
	I'm just a carbon copy you read
	when you can't find the original...

		ADDISON
	You're more than modest.

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

		ADDISON
	A revolutionary approach to the
	Theater. However, if I may a
	suggestion...

		EVE
	Please do.

		ADDISON
	I think the time has come for you
	to shed some of your humility. It
	is just as false not to blow your
	horn at all as it is to blow it too
	loudly...

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

		ADDISON
	We all come into this world with
	our little egos equipped with
	individual horns. If we don't blow
	them - who will?

		EVE
	Even so. One isolated pretty good
	performance by an understudy. It'll
	be forgotten tomorrow.

		ADDISON
	It needn't be.

		EVE
	Even if I wanted to - as you say -
	be less humble, blow my own horn...
	how would I do it? I'm less than
	nobody.

		ADDISON
	I am somebody.

Eve rises. She eyes him steadily.

		EVE
	You certainly are.

She goes into the bathroom.

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

Eve does so.

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

		EVE
		(from the bathroom)
	I'd love to! Or should I pretend
	I'm busy?

		ADDISON
		(smiling)
	Let's have a minimum of pretending.
	I'll want to do a column about you-

		EVE
	I'm not enough for a paragraph.

		ADDISON
	- perhaps more than one. There's so
	much I want to know. I've heard
	your story in bits and pieces...
	your home in Wisconsin, your tragic
	marriage, your financial attachment
	to Margo - it started in San
	Francisco, didn't it?
		(no answer; Addison
		 smiles)
	I say - your idolatry of Margo
	started in San Francisco, didn't
	it?

		EVE
	That's right.

		ADDISON
	San Francisco. An oasis of
	civilization in the California
	desert. Tell me, do you share my
	high opinion of San Francisco?

		EVE
	Yes. I do.

		ADDISON
	And that memorable night when Margo
	first dazzled you from the stage -
	which theater was it in San
	Francisco? Was it - the Shubert?

		EVE
		(a slight pause)
	Yes. The Shubert.

		ADDISON
		(grins happily)
	A fine old theater, the Shubert.
	Full of tradition, untouched by the
	earthquake - so sorry - fire... by
	the way, what was your husband's
	name?

		EVE
	Eddie...

		ADDISON
	Eddie what?

Eve sticks her head and naked shoulder around the door.

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

		ADDISON
	I can wait. Where would you like to
	go? We'll make this a special
	night...

		EVE
		(trustingly)
	You take charge.

		ADDISON
	I believe I will.

She closes the door. He leans back, lights a cigarette.

EXT. 52ND STREET - NEW YORK - NIGHT

A cab drives up to "21."

		KAREN'S VOICE
	Some of the morning papers carried
	a little squib about Eve's
	performance. Not much, but full
	praise...
	I couldn't imagine how they found
	out about it - but Lloyd said Max's
	publicity man probably sent out the
	story...

Karen gets out of the cab, pays and goes in.

		KAREN'S VOICE
	... at any rate, I feel terribly
	guilty and ashamed of myself - and
	wanted nothing so much as to forget
	the whole thing. Margo and I were
	having lunch at "21" - just like
	girlfriends - with hats on...

INT. LOBBY - "21" - DAY

Karen consults her watch and the doorman as she enters.

		KAREN
	Has Miss Channing come in?

		DOORMAN
	Not yet, Mrs. Richards...

Karen sees Eve who waits as Addison hands his hat, coat, and
cane to an attendant. She smiles, crosses to her.

		KAREN
	Eve. I've heard the most wonderful
	things about your performance-

		EVE
	Mostly relief that I managed to
	stagger through it at all...

		ADDISON
	She was magnificent.

		KAREN
		(pleased)
	Then you've heard too.

		ADDISON
	I was there. An eyewitness.

		KAREN
		(staggered)
	You were there? At the play - last
	night?

		ADDISON
		(smiles)
	A happy coincidence.

		EVE
		(quickly)
	We're having lunch with a movie
	talent scout.

		KAREN
	They certainly don't waste much
	time.

		EVE
	Nothing definite yet - it's just to
	have lunch.

		ADDISON
	They'll be wasting this much of
	their time at any rate. Eve has no
	intention of going to Hollywood.

He turns to Karen, changing the subject.

		ADDISON
	From the smartness of your dress, I
	take it your luncheon companion is
	a lady?

		KAREN
		(smiles)
	Margo.

		ADDISON
	Margo? Lunching in public?

		KAREN
	It's new Margo. But she's just as
	late as the old one.

		ADDISON
	She may be later than you think...

As he speaks, he crosses to pick up an evening paper, opens
it as he comes back.

		ADDISON
		(handing it to her)
	Why not read my column to pass the
	time? The minutes will fly like
	hours...
		(he takes Eve's arm)
	... and now we must join our
	sunburned eager beaver.

He goes up the stairs with Eve. Karen glances after them
curiously, then at the column.
It is headed: "Things I Promised Not To Tell" by Addison
deWitt. He expression becomes increasingly horrified. She
drops the paper and rushes out...

INT. MARGO'S LIVING ROOM - DAY

Addison's column quivers in Margo's hand as she strides about
reading it. Karen sits miserably.

		MARGO
		(declaiming)
	"... my hat which has, lo, these
	many seasons become more firmly
	rooted about my ears, is lifted to
	Miss Harrington. I am once more
	available for dancing in the
	streets and shouting from the
	housetops." ... I thought that one
	went out with Woollcott...
		(she skips part of the
		 column)
	Down here... here, listen to this-
	"... Miss Harrington had much to
	tell - and these columns shall
	report her faithfully - about the
	lamentable practice in our Theater
	of permitting, shall we say -
	mature - actresses to continue
	playing roles requiring a youth and
	vigor of which they retain but a
	dim memory-"

		KAREN
	I just can't believe it.

		MARGO
	It get better! "- About the
	understandable reluctance on the
	part of our entrenched First Ladies
	of the Stage to encourage, shall we
	say - younger - actresses; about
	Miss Harrington's own long and
	unsupported struggle for
	opportunity-"

		KAREN
	I can't believe Eve said those
	things!

Margo crumples the paper as if it were Eve's neck.

		MARGO
		(pacing)
	In this rat race, everybody's
	guilty till they're proved
	innocent! One of the differences
	between the Theater and
	civilization...
		(she hurls the paper away)
	... what gets me is how all of
	those papers in town happened to
	catch that particular performance!

		KAREN
		(weakly)
	Lloyd says it's a publicity
	release...

		MARGO
	The little witch must have had
	Indians runners out snatching
	critics out of bars, steam rooms
	and museums or wherever they hole
	up... well, she won't get away with
	it! Nor will Addison deWitt and his
	poison pen! If Equity or my lawyer
	can't or won't do anything about
	it, I will personally stuff that
	pathetic little lost lamb down Mr.
	deWitt's ugly throat...

She pauses in midair to look at... Bill. He has come up the
stairs tow at a time, stands at the landing.

		BILL
		(quietly)
	I came as soon as I read that piece
	of filth. I ran all the way...

Margo suddenly starts to cry. She turns from him. Bill takes
her in his arms. He holds her...

		BILL
	Bill's here, baby. Everything's all
	right, now...

Margo says nothing, just hides in his embrace. He soothes
her, pets her... he looks over at Karen.

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

		BILL
		(smiles)
	Maybe just a little around the
	edges.

Karen smiles back, waves, and goes out.

INT. RICHARDS' APARTMENT - DAY

Karen's having some lunch. Lloyd, still in his robe, sits
opposite her having some coffee and a cigarette. A copy of
the interview before him.

		LLOYD
		(is saying)
	- it's Addison, from start to
	finish, it drips with his brand of
	venom... taking advantage of a kid
	like that, twisting her words,
	making her say what he wanted her
	to say-

		KAREN
	Where'd you get all that
	information?

		LLOYD
		(put out his cigarette)
	Eve.

		KAREN
	Eve?

		LLOYD
	She's been to see me, as a matter
	of fact she left just before you
	came in - you just missed her...

		KAREN
	That was a pity...

		LLOYD
		(gets up)
	She wanted to explain about her
	interview, wanted to apologize to
	someone - and didn't dare face
	Margo...

		KAREN
	I wonder why.

Lloyd wanders about - he seems to be searching for words, for
a position to maintain...

		LLOYD
	She started to tell me all about it
	- and she couldn't finish, she
	cried so...

He's over by a window, his back to her. Karen eyes him
curiously, waiting for the payoff...

		LLOYD
		(finally)
	You know, I've been going over our
	financial condition - if you'll
	pardon the expression...

		KAREN
	That's quite a change of subject.

		LLOYD
		(walks again)
	What with taxes coming up - and
	since I'm a playwright and not an
	oil well operator - well, I've been
	thinking...

		KAREN
	I'm trying hard to follow you.

		LLOYD
	If - instead of waiting until next
	season to do 'Footsteps on the
	Ceiling', which is in pretty good
	shape - and if Margo can be talked
	into going on tour with 'Aged in
	Wood' - we could put 'Footsteps...'
	into production right away...

		KAREN
	I'm beginning to catch up.

		LLOYD
	If we could cast it properly, that
	is...

		KAREN
		(carefully)
	Maybe get some younger actress for
	the part? Someone who'd look the
	part as well as play it?

		LLOYD
		(smiles)
	You've got to admit it would be a
	novelty.

		KAREN
	Now you're quoting Addison. Or Eve.

A pause.

		LLOYD
	Eve did mention the play, you know.
	But just in passing - she's never
	ask to play a part like "Cora,"
	she'd never have the nerve...

		KAREN
	Eve would ask Abbott to give her
	Costello.

		LLOYD
	No, I got the idea myself - while
	she was talking to me...

		KAREN
	With gestures, of course.

		LLOYD
		(wistfully)
	For once, to write something and
	have it realized completely. For
	once, not to compromise-

Now Karen explodes. She rises.

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

		LLOYD
	Now just a minute-

		KAREN
	Margo Channing has not been exactly
	a compromise all these years, half
	the playwrights in the world would
	give their shirts for that
	particular compromise!

		LLOYD
		(angry)
	Now just a minute!

		KAREN
	It strikes me that Eve's disloyalty
	and ingratitude must be contagious!

Lloyd's full of anger and guilt. He snaps back.

		LLOYD
	All this fuss and hysteria because
	an impulsive kid got carried away
	by excitement and the conniving of
	a professional manure slinger named
	deWitt! She apologized, didn't she?

		KAREN
	On her knees, I have no doubt! Very
	touching, very Academy-of-Dramatic
	Arts!

		LLOYD
	That bitter cynicism of yours is
	something you've acquired since you
	left Radcliffe!

		KAREN
	The cynicism you refer to, I
	acquired the day I discovered I was
	different from little boys!

The phone has been ringing. Lloyd snarls into it.

		LLOYD
	Hello!
		(he quiets down)
	... hi, Margo... no, not at all,
	Karen and I were just chatting...
	hmm?... why - why, yes, I'm sure we
	can and I'm sure we'd love to...
	right... 11:45ish. See you then...

He hangs up. He smiles - suddenly, there's peace.

		LLOYD
	Margo - and Bill - want us to meet
	them at the Cub Room tonight, after
	theater. For a bottle of wine.

		KAREN
		(smiles)
	Margo in the Cub Room. I couldn't
	be more surprised if she'd said
	Grant's Tomb.

		LLOYD
	I'm glad Bill's back.

		KAREN
	They'd die without each other.

A pause.

		LLOYD
	Darling, I didn't promise Eve
	anything. Just said I thought she'd
	be fine for the part, but there
	were some practical difficulties...

		KAREN
	Such as?

		LLOYD
		(grins)
	You - for one. I told her you were
	set on Margo playing the part - and
	I certainly wouldn't make a change
	without your approval.

Karen smiles happily.

		KAREN
	That's fine. Fine and dandy. I'd
	enjoy nothing more. Just refer all
	of Miss Harrington's future
	requests to me...

INT. CUB ROOM - STORK CLUB - NIGHT

Margo, Karen, Bill and Lloyd are ensconced happily at a table
in the rear of the room. A bottle of fine wine is being
poured. Their mood is equally bubbly.

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

		MARGO
	Hear, hear...

		BILL
	But you may quote me as follows.
	Quote. Tonight Miss Margo Channing
	gave a performance in your
	cockamamie play, the like of which
	I have never seen before and expect
	rarely to see again. Unquote.

		MARGO
	He does not exaggerate. I was good.

		BILL
	You were great.

As they look at each other, they reflect the understanding
that has hit them both at last.

		LLOYD
	It's been quite a night. I
	understand that your understudy -
	Miss Harrington - has given her
	notice.

		MARGO
		(eyes still on Bill)
	Too bad.

		BILL
		(eyes still on Margo)
	I'm broken up about it...

The wine has been poured by now.

		LLOYD
	For some reason you can't just pick
	up champagne and drink it.
	Somebody's got to be very witty
	about a toast.
		(he lifts his glass)
	For instance...

		BILL
		(abruptly)
	I'm going to propose the toast.
	Without wit. With all my heart.

Lloyd lowers his glass. There's a little pause.

		BILL
	To Margo. To my bride-to-be.

		MARGO
	Glory Hallelujah.

		LLOYD
	Well of all-

		KAREN
	Margo!

		BILL
	Drink.

They drink, then burst into a flurry of questions.

		KAREN
	When? When are you going to do it?

		BILL
	Tomorrow we meet at City Hall at
	ten-
		(to Margo)
	- and you're going to be on time.

		MARGO
	Yes, sir.

		LLOYD
	City Hall, that's for prize
	fighters, and reporters - I see a
	cathedral, a bishop, banks of
	flowers...

		BILL
	It's only for the license. There's
	a three-day wait - blood tests,
	things like that...

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

		LLOYD
	Three days, that's for the
	bourgeois - I see a midnight
	elopement, waking up a village
	person...

		KAREN
		(to Margo)
	What are you going to wear?

		MARGO
	Something simple. A fur coat over a
	nightgown...

		BILL
	The point is - in the cathedral, a
	ball park or a penny arcade - we
	want to have you two beside us our
	nearest and dearest friends.

Lloyd fills all the glasses.

		LLOYD
	There are very few moments in life
	as good as this. Let's remember it.
		(he lifts his glass)
	To each of us and all of us...
	never have we been more close - may
	we never be farther apart.

They drink. A waiter approaches with a note.

		WAITER
	Mrs. Richards?

		KAREN
	Yes?

		WAITER
	For you.

Karen stares at it curiously, then opens it.

		LLOYD
	Very discreet. A note right out in
	the open like that. Next time tell
	your lover to blow smoke rings - or
	tap a glass...

		MARGO
	Lloyd, I want you to be big about
	this... the world is full of love
	tonight, no woman is safe...

		KAREN
		(angrily)
	This beats all world's records for
	running, standing and jumping gall!

She whips the note to Margo, who reads it aloud.

		MARGO
		(reading)
	"Please forgive me for butting into
	what seems such a happy occasion -
	but it's most important that I
	speak with you. Please" - it's
	underlined - "meet me in the
	Ladies' Room. Eve."

		BILL
	I understand she is now the
	understudy in there.

		MARGO
		(looking about)
	Pass me the empty bottle. I may
	find her... why, look. There's
	Rasputin.

Addison sits near the entrance, at a banquette table for two.
A crumpled napkin and a wine glass indicate Eve's place. He
nibbles daintily at some blini.

Margo hails a passing captain.

		MARGO
	Encore du champagne.

		CAPTAIN
	More champagne, Miss Channing?

		MARGO
	That's what I said, bub.

		LLOYD
		(to Karen)
	After all, maybe she just wants to
	apologize...

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

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

		LLOYD
	Go on - find out...

		MARGO
	Karen, in all the years of our
	friendship, I have never let you go
	to the Ladies' Room alone. But now
	I must. I am busting to know what
	goes on in that feverish little
	brain waiting there...

		KAREN
	Well... all right.

She gets up and goes. The CAMERA takes her past Addison's
table. He rises in polite surprise.

		ADDISON
	Karen! How nice...

She walks past him without a word. He smiles, looks toward
the group. He raises his glass in a toast.

Margo responds to the toast by waving an onion with a grand
flourish, then eating it.

		BILL
	Very effective. But why take it out
	on me?

He eats one in self-defense.

INT. LADIES' ROOM - STORK CLUB - NIGHT

Never having been, I can't say what it looks like. It is to
be hoped that there is an outer and inner room. We are
concerned with the outer.

There is an attendant in charge, and a constantly changing
flow of ladies who pause to make various repairs. All cafe
society - including one young drunk stretched out under a
mink coat and a wet towel.

There are two chairs - or a banquette - in a corner. Eve
waits there. She rises as Karen approaches.

		EVE
	I was wondering whether you'd come
	at all..

		KAREN
	Don't get up.
		(she smiles grimly)
	And don't act as if I were the
	queen mother.

		EVE
	I don't expect you to be pleasant.

		KAREN
	I don't intend to be.

		EVE
	Can't we sit down? Just for a
	minute...

She sits down. Karen remains standing.

		EVE
	I've got a lot to say. And none of
	it is easy.

		KAREN
	There can't be very much-

		EVE
	Oh, but there is-

		KAREN
	- and easy or not, I won't believe
	a word.

		EVE
	Why shouldn't you?
		(a pause)
	Please sit down.

Karen sits, reluctantly and rigidly.

		EVE
	You know, I've always considered
	myself a very clever girl. Smart.
	Good head on my shoulders, that
	sort of thing, never the wrong word
	at the wrong time... but then, I'd
	never met Addison deWitt.
		(another pause)
	I remember once I had a tooth
	pulled. They gave me some
	anaesthetic - I don't remember the
	name - and it affected me in a
	strange way. I heard myself saying
	things I wasn't even thinking... as
	if my mind were someplace outside
	of my body, and couldn't control
	what I did or said-

		KAREN
		(leading her on)
	- and you felt just like that
	talking to Addison.

		EVE
		(nods)
	In a way. You find yourself trying
	to say what you mean, but somehow
	the words change - and they become
	his words - and suddenly you're not
	saying what you mean, but what he
	means-

		KAREN
		(sharply)
	Do you expect me to believe that
	you didn't say any of those things -
	that they were all Addison?

		EVE
	No! I don't expect you to believe
	anything. Except that the
	responsibility is mine. And the
	disgrace.

		KAREN
	Let's not get over-dramatic.

		EVE
		(smiles grimly)
	You've really got a low opinion of
	me, haven't you? We'll I'll give
	you some pleasant news. I've been
	told off in no uncertain terms all
	over town. Miss Channing should be
	happy to hear that. To know how
	loyal her friends are - how much
	more loyal they are than she had a
	right to expect me to be...

She turns away from Karen. Karen's embarrassed.

		KAREN
	Eve... don't cry.

		EVE
		(turned away)
	I'm not crying.

		KAREN
	Tell me. How did your lunch turn
	out - with the man from Hollywood?

		EVE
	Some vague promises of a test,
	that's all - if a particular part
	should come along, one of those
	things-

		KAREN
	But the raves about your
	performance-

		EVE
	- an understudy's performance.

		KAREN
	Well. I think you're painting the
	picture a little darker than it is,
	really. If nothing else - and don't
	underestimate him - you have a
	powerful friend in Addison.

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

		KAREN
	He can help you.

		EVE
	I wish I'd never met him, I'd like
	him to be dead... I want my friends
	back.

This time she does cry. Softly, miserably. Karen looks about.
A pause. She puts an arm around Eve.

		KAREN
	Eve. I - I don't think you meant to
	cause unhappiness. But you did.
	More to yourself, perhaps - as it
	turned out - than to anyone else...

		EVE
	I'll never get over it.

		KAREN
		(smiles)
	Yes, you will. You Theater people
	always do. Nothing is forever in
	the Theater. Love or hate, success
	or failure - whatever it is, it's
	here, it flares up and burns hot -
	and then it's gone.

		EVE
	I wish I could believe that.

		KAREN
	Give yourself time. Don't worry too
	much about what people think,
	you're very young and very
	talented...
		(she gets up, her hand
		 still on Eve's shoulder)
	... and, believe it or not, if
	there's anything I can do-

Eve has reached up to take Karen's hand. She holds it now, as
she turns slowly to face her.

		EVE
	There is something.

Karen stares down at her. Eve's eyes burn into tears. Karen
is caught, fascinated by them.

		KAREN
	I think I know...

		EVE
	Something most important you can
	do.

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

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

		KAREN
	After all you've said... don't you
	know the part was written for
	Margo?

		EVE
	It could have been - fifteen years
	ago. It's my part now.

		KAREN
	You talk just as Addison said you
	did.

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

		KAREN
	I don't think anything in the world
	could make me say that.

She turns away again, but Eve's grip is like a vise.

		EVE
	Addison wants me to play it.

		KAREN
	Over my dead body...

		EVE
		(cold, relentless)
	That won't be necessary. Addison
	knows how Margo happen to miss that
	performance - how I happened to
	know she'd miss it in time to call
	him and notify every paper in
	town...
		(Karen stops struggling)
	... it's quite a story.
	Addison could make quite a thing of
	it - imagine how snide and vicious
	he could get and still write
	nothing but the truth. I had a time
	persuading him...
		(she smiles, now)
	... you'd better sit down. You look
	a bit wobbly.
		(Karen sits)
	If I play "Cora," Addison will
	never tell what happened - in or
	out of print. A simple exchange of
	favors. And I'm so happy I can do
	something for you - at long last...
		(Karen covers her face
		 with her hands)
	Your friendship with Margo - your
	deep, close friendship - what would
	happen to it, do you think, if she
	knew the chap trick you'd played on
	her - for my benefit? And you and
	Lloyd - how long, even in the
	Theater, before people forgot what
	happened - and trusted you again?
		(now Eve gets up)
	No... it would be so much easier on
	everyone concerned, if I were to
	play "Cora." And so much better
	theater, too...

Karen looks up slowly.

		KAREN
	A part in a play. You'd do all that
	- just for a part in a play.

		EVE
		(smiles)
	I'd do much more - for a part that
	good.

She leaves. Karen is alone.

INT. CUB ROOM - NIGHT

Eve enters and slides in beside Addison.

		ADDISON
	Hungry?

		EVE
	Just some coffee.

		ADDISON
		(pours)
	I'm not surprised. After all that
	humble pie...

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

		ADDISON
	Heart to heart? Woman to woman?
	Including a casual reference to the
	part of "Cora" - and your hopes of
	playing it.

		EVE
	I discussed it very openly. I told
	her that I had spoken to Lloyd -
	and that he was interested.

		ADDISON
	She mentioned, of course, that
	Margo expects to play the part?

		EVE
	Oddly enough - she didn't say a
	word about Margo. Just that she'll
	be happy to do what she can to see
	that I play the part.

Addison puffs at his cigarette, bemused.

		ADDISON
	Just like that, eh?

		EVE
	Just like that.

		ADDISON
		(thoughtfully)
	Do you know, Eve - sometimes I
	think you keep things from me.

Eve's feelings are hurt.

		EVE
	I don't think that's funny.

		ADDISON
	It wasn't meant to be.

		EVE
	I confide in you and rely on you
	more than anyone I've ever known!
	To say a thing like that now -
	without any reason - when I need
	you more than ever...

		ADDISON
		(breaks in)
	I hope you mean what you say, Eve.
	I intend to hold you to it.

Their eyes meet.

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

They both look as Karen passes them on her way back to her
table.

GROUP, as Karen joins them. Another bottle of champagne has
come and almost gone - there's a fine, cheery feeling among
them. Margo, in particular, is cheery. A pause. Karen downs a
glass of champagne.

		LLOYD
	- well? What happened?

		KAREN
	Nothing much. She apologized.

		MARGO
	With tears?

		KAREN
	With tears.

		MARGO
	But not right away? First the
	business of fighting them off, chin
	up, stout fella...

		KAREN
	Check.

		MARGO
	Very classy stuff, lots of
	technique-

		LLOYD
	You mean - all this time - she'd
	done nothing but apologize? What'd
	you say?

		KAREN
	Not much.

		MARGO
	Groom-
		(Bill says "huh?")
	- may I have a wedding present?

		BILL
	What would you like? Texas?

		MARGO
	I want everybody to shut up about
	Eve. Just shut up about Eve, that's
	all I want. Give Karen more wine...
		(blissfully)
	... never have I been so happy.
	Isn't this a lovely room? The Cub
	Room. What a lovely, clever name.
	Where the elite meet. Never have I
	seen so much elite - and all with
	their eyes on me. Waiting for me to
	crack that little gnome over the
	noggin with a bottle. But not
	tonight. Even Eve. I forgive Eve...
	there they go.

They all look.

ADDISON AND EVE, they get up and go without looking back.

GROUP, they watch for an instant.

		MARGO
	There goes Eve. Eve evil, Little
	Miss Evil. But the evil that men do
	- how does it go, groom? Something
	about the good they leave behind -
	I played it once in rep in Wilkes
	Barre...

		BILL
	You've got it backwards. Even for
	Wilkes-Barre.

		MARGO
	You know why I forgive Eve? Because
	she's left good behind - the four
	of us, together like this, it's
	Eve's fault - I forgive her...

Karen's reactions are, of course, most important. Knowing
what she's done to Margo - wondering how to do what she must.

		MARGO
	... and Bill. Especially Bill. Eve
	did that, too.

		LLOYD
	You know, she probably means well,
	after all...

		MARGO
	She is a louse.

		BILL
		(to Lloyd)
	Never try to outguess Margo.

		MARGO
	Groom.

		BILL
	Yes, dear.

		MARGO
	You know what I'm going to be?

		BILL
	A cowboy.

		MARGO
	A married lady.

		BILL
	With the paper to prove it.

		MARGO
	I'm going to have a home. Not just
	a house I'm afraid to stay in...
	and a man to go with it. I'll look
	up at six o'clock - and there he'll
	be... remember, Karen?

		KAREN
		(quietly)
	I remember.

		MARGO
		(to Bill)
	You'll be there, won't you.

		BILL
		(grins)
	Often enough to keep the franchise.

		MARGO
	A foursquare, upright, downright,
	forthright married lady... that's
	for me. And no more make believe!
	Off stage or on... remember, Lloyd.
		(Lloyd nods)
	I mean it, now. Grown-up women
	only, I might even play a mother -
	only one child, of course, not over
	eight...
		(they all smile)
	Lloyd, will you promise not to be
	angry with me?

		LLOYD
		(smiles)
	That depends.

		MARGO
	I mean really, deeply angry...

		LLOYD
	I don't think I could be.

		MARGO
	Well. I don't want to play "Cora."

		KAREN
		(explodes)
	What?

Margo misinterprets her vehemence.

		MARGO
		(hastily)
	Now wait a minute, you're always so
	touchy about his plays, it isn't
	the part - it's a great part. And a
	fine play. But not for me anymore -
	not a foursquare, upright,
	downright, forthright married lady.

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

		MARGO
	It means I've finally got a life to
	live! I don't have to play parts
	I'm too old for - just because I've
	got nothing to do with my nights!
		(then quietly)
	I know you've made plans. I'll make
	it up to you, believe me. I'll tour
	a year with this one, anything -
	only you do understand - don't you,
	Lloyd?

Lloyd never gets to answer. Because Karen, before anyone can
stop her, bursts into hysterical laughter...

		LLOYD
	What's so funny?

		KAREN
	Nothing...

		BILL
	Nothing?

		KAREN
	Everything... everything's so
	funny...

Margo removes the champagne glass from in front of Karen...

FADE OUT.

FADE IN:

INT. THEATER - CURRAN THEATER - DAY

Karen is seated unobtrusively in a rear lower box. Lloyd sits
beside Max up front.

On stage, the play is "on its feet." Eve plays a dramatic
scene with a young man. They carry "sides" but do not consult
them.

As she speaks, Eve moves upstage, turns to face the young man
who is forced to turn his back to the auditorium.

Bill calls a halt. He indicates to Eve that she was to have
remained downstage.

Eve seems to be at a loss. She looks at Lloyd.

Lloyd rises, says that he told her to make the change.

Bill comes down to the footlights to tell him to stick to
writing, he'll do the directing. It mounts swiftly to a
screaming fight. Bill throws the script out into the
auditorium, takes his coat and stalks off.

Eve runs after him. Max retrieves the script. Lloyd remains
adamant. Karen has risen in dismay.

Eve drags Bill back. Without looking at Lloyd, he takes the
script from Max, tells the actors to pick up where they left
off.

Eve whispers to Lloyd from the stage. Lloyd smiles,
mollified, sits down again with Max.

Karen walks up the side aisle, out of the theater...

		KAREN'S VOICE
	Lloyd never got around, somehow -
	to asking me whether it was all
	right with me for Eve to play
	"Cora"... Bill, oddly enough,
	refused to direct the play at first
	- with Eve in it. Lloyd and Max
	finally won him over... Margo never
	came to a rehearsal, too much to do
	around the house, she said. I'd
	never known Bill and Lloyd to fight
	as bitterly and as often... and
	always over some business for Eve,
	or a move or the way she read a
	speech... but then I'd never known
	Lloyd to meddle as much with Bill's
	directing - as far as it affected
	Eve, that is... somehow, Eve kept
	them going. Bill stuck it out - and
	Lloyd seemed happy - and I thought
	it might be best if I skipped
	rehearsals from then on...

INT. RICHARDS' BEDROOM - NIGHT

It is a lovely, large room. Two double beds, not alongside
each other and each with an extension phone beside it. In
addition to the door to the living room, there are two more -
to separate dressing rooms and baths. Lloyd is asleep. But
not Karen. She turns restlessly, finally sits up, lights a
cigarette.

		KAREN'S VOICE
	It seemed to me I had known always
	that it would happen - and here it
	was.
	It felt helpless, that helplessness
	you feel when you have no talent to
	offer - outside of loving your
	husband. How could I compete?
	Everything Lloyd loved about me, he
	had gotten used to long ago...

The phone jangles suddenly, startling her. It wakes Lloyd up.
Karen answers.

		KAREN
	Hello... who?... who's calling Mr.
	Richards?

INT. ROOMING HOUSE - NIGHT

A girl, in a wrapper, at a wall phone. Her hair's in curlers.
She's frightened.

		GIRL
	My name wouldn't mean anything. I
	room across the hall from Eve
	Harrington, and she isn't well.
	She's been crying all night and
	hysterical, and she doesn't want a
	doctor...

RICHARDS' BEDROOM, Lloyd is sitting on the edge of the bed,
looking over...

		LLOYD
	Who is it? What's it all about?

		KAREN
		(into phone)
	Did Miss Harrington tell you to
	call Mr. Richards?

Lloyd picks up his phone.

ROOMING HOUSE

		GIRL
	No, Eve didn't say to call him, but
	I remembered I saw Mr. Richards
	with her a couple of times - and I
	thought they being such good
	friends...

RICHARDS' BEDROOM

		LLOYD
		(into phone)
	Hello...hello, this is Lloyd
	Richards. Where is Eve? Let me talk
	to her-

ROOMING HOUSE

		GIRL
	She's up in her room, Mr. Richards.
	I really hate to bother you like
	this, but the way Eve's been
	feeling - I'm just worried sick
	what with her leaving for New Haven
	tomorrow, and everything...

RICHARDS' BEDROOM

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

ROOMING HOUSE

		GIRL
	I'll tell her, Mr. Richards.

She hangs up. As she moves from the phone, the ANGLE WIDENS
to disclose Eve at the foot of the stairs. The girls smile at
each other. They go upstairs, arm in arm.

RICHARDS' BEDROOM, Karen is still in bed, phone still in her
hand. She hangs up, swings her legs out, puts out her
cigarette, gets into a robe. The open door and light of the
dressing room tell us where Lloyd is.

Karen walks to the door, starts to say something, changes her
mind. She crosses to a table, lights a fresh cigarette, comes
back to the door.

		KAREN
		(finally)
	Aren't you... broadening the duties
	of a playwright just a bit? Rushing
	off in the middle of the night
	like a country doctor?

No answer except the opening and closing of drawers.

		KAREN
	What would you do if, instead of
	Eve, the leading man had called up
	to say her was hysterical?

Still no answer. Her tension increasing, Karen goes back to
the table, snubs out the fresh cigarette, then strides
swiftly back to the open door.

		KAREN
	Lloyd, I don't want you to go!

Now Lloyd appears. He's in flannels, and a sport shirt with
no tie. He's confused and guilty and tortured.

		LLOYD
	I didn't think you would! It seems
	to me, Karen, that for some tine,
	now, you've been developing a deep
	unconcern for the feeling of human
	being in general-

		KAREN
	I'm a human being, I've got some!

		LLOYD
		(goes right on)
	- and for my feelings in
	particular! For my play, my career -
	and now for a frightened,
	hysterical girl on the eve of her
	first night in the Theater!

He goes back into his room.

		KAREN
	Have you forgotten about Eve? What
	she is, what she's done?

		LLOYD
	Old wives' tales, born of envy and
	jealousy! And a phobia against
	truth!

		KAREN
	Then tell me this isn't true! That
	your concern for your play and
	career is one thing - and that poor
	frightened hysterical girl another -
	and that your concern for her has
	nothing to do with either your play
	or your career!

Lloyd comes out wearing a jacket. He crosses to the door,
Karen after him.

		KAREN
	That first, last, and foremost -
	your reason for going now is that
	you want to be with Eve! Three in
	the morning or high noon - play or
	no play - wife or no wife!
		(Lloyd stops at the door)
	Isn't it true, Lloyd?

Lloyd goes out. Karen looks after him, despairing.

EXT. SHUBERT THEATER - NEW HAVEN - DAY

The theater is but a few doors from the TAFT HOTEL. The
marquee announces a new play by Lloyd Richards, presented by
Max Fabian, opening tonight.

Addison and Eve stand before the theater admiring her photo
on a lobby display. None of the actors are starred.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	To the Theater world - New Haven,
	Connecticut, is a short stretch of
	sidewalk between the Shubert
	Theater and the Taft Hotel,
	surrounded by what looks very much
	like a small city. It is here that
	managers have what are called out
	of-town openings - which are
	openings for New Yorkers who want
	to go out of town...

They start for the hotel - Eve's arm through Addison's.

		EVE
	What a day - what a heavenly day...

		ADDISON
	D-day.

		EVE
	Just like it.

		ADDISON
	And tomorrow morning you will have
	won your beachhead on the shores of
	Immortality...

		EVE
		(grins)
	Stop rehearsing your column...
	Isn't it strange, Addison?
	I thought I'd be panic-stricken,
	want to run away or something.
	Instead, I can't wait for tonight
	to come. To come and go...

		ADDISON
	Are you that sure of tomorrow?

		EVE
	Aren't you?

		ADDISON
	Frankly - yes.

They've arrived in front of the hotel.

		EVE
	It'll be a night to remember. It'll
	bring to me everything I've ever
	wanted. The end of an old road -
	and the beginning of a new one...

		ADDISON
	All paved with diamonds and gold?

		EVE
	You know me better than that.

		ADDISON
	Paved with what, then?

		EVE
	Stars.

She goes in. Addison follows her.

INT. CORRIDOR - TAFT HOTEL - DAY

Addison accompanies Eve along the corridor to her door.

		EVE
	What time?

		ADDISON
	Almost four.

		EVE
	Plenty of time for a nice long nap -
	we rehearsed most of last night...

		ADDISON
	You could sleep, too, couldn't you?

		EVE
	Why not?

They've arrived at her door. She opens it.

		ADDISON
	The mark of a true killer.
		(he holds out his hand)
	Sleep tight, rest easy - and come
	out fighting...

		EVE
	Why'd call me a killer?

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

He turns to go. After a few steps-

		EVE
		(calling)
	Addison-
		(he pauses)
	- come on in for just a minute,
	won't you? There's... I've got
	something to tell you.

Addison turns curiously, and enters behind her.

INT. EVE'S SUITE - TAFT HOTEL - DAY

Old-fashioned, dreary and small. The action starts in the
living room and continues to the bedroom.

Addison closes the door, crosses to a comfortable chair.

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

		EVE
	Max is paying for it. He and Lloyd
	had a terrific row but Lloyd
	insisted... well. Can I fix you a
	drink?

She indicates a table elaborately stocked with liquor,
glasses, etc. Addison's eyebrows lift.

		ADDISON
	Also with the reluctant compliments
	of Max Fabian.

		EVE
	Lloyd. I never have any, and he
	likes a couple of drinks after we
	finish - so he sent it up...

		ADDISON
	Some plain soda.
		(Eve starts to fix it)
	Lloyd must be expecting a record
	run in New Haven...

		EVE
	That's for tonight. You're invited.
	We're having everyone up after the
	performance.

		ADDISON
	We're?

		EVE
	Lloyd and I.

She carries the soda to him, sits on an ottoman at his feet.

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

He sips his soda and puts away, carefully avoiding a look at
Eve. As he looks back-

		EVE
	Addison...

		ADDISON
		(blandly)
	She's always been so fantastically
	devoted to Lloyd. I would imagine
	that only death or destruction
	could keep her-

		EVE
		(breaks in)
	Addison, just a few minutes ago.
	When I told you this would be a
	night to remember - that it would
	bring me everything I wanted-

		ADDISON
		(nods)
	- something about an old road
	ending and a new one starting -
	paved with stars...

		EVE
	I didn't mean just the Theater.

		ADDISON
	What else?

Eve gets up, crosses to look out over the Common.

		EVE
		(her back to him)
	Lloyd Richards. He's going to leave
	Karen. We're going to be married.

For just a flash, Addison's eyes narrow coldly, viciously.
Then they crinkle into a bland smile.

		ADDISON
	So that's it. Lloyd. Still just the
	Theater, after all...

		EVE
		(turns; shocked)
	It's nothing of the kind! Lloyd
	loves me, I love him!

		ADDISON
	I know nothing about Lloyd and his
	loves - I leave those to Louisa May
	Alcott. But I do know you.

		EVE
	I'm in love with Lloyd!

		ADDISON
	Lloyd Richards is commercially the
	most successful playwright in
	America-

		EVE
	You have no right to say such
	things!

		ADDISON
	- and artistically, the most
	promising! Eve dear, this is
	Addison.

Eve drops her shocked manner like a cape. Her face lights up -
she crosses back to the ottoman.

		EVE
	Addison, won't it be just perfect?
	Lloyd and I - there's no telling
	how far we can go... he'll write
	great plays for me, I'll make them
	be great!
		(as she sits)
	You're the only one I've told, the
	only one that knows except Lloyd
	and me...

		ADDISON
	... and Karen.

		EVE
	She doesn't know.

		KAREN
	She knows enough not to be here.

		EVE
	But not all of it - not that Lloyd
	and I are going to be married.

		ADDISON
		(thoughtfully)
	I see. And when was this unholy
	alliance joined?

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

		ADDISON
		(increasingly tense)
	Was the setting properly romantic -
	the lights on dimmers, gypsy
	violins off stage?

		EVE
	The setting wasn't romantic, but
	Lloyd was. He woke me up at three
	in the morning, banging on my door -
	he couldn't sleep, he told me -
	he's left Karen, he couldn't go on
	with the play or anything else
	until I promised to marry him... we
	sat and talked until it was light.
	He never went home...

		ADDISON
	You sat and talked until it was
	light...

		EVE
		(meaningly)
	We sat and talked, Addison. I want
	a run of the play contract.

		ADDISON
		(quietly)
	There never was, there'll never be
	another like you.

		EVE
		(happily)
	Well, say something - anything!
	Congratulations, skol - good work,
	Eve!

Addison rises slowly, to his full height. As Eve watches him,
as her eyes go up to his, her smile fades-

		ADDISON
	What do you take me for?

		EVE
		(cautiously)
	I don't know what I take you for
	anything...

		ADDISON
		(moving away)
	It is possible - even conceivable -
	that you've confused me with that
	gang of backward children you've
	been playing tricks on - that you
	have the same contempt for me that
	you have for them?

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

		ADDISON
	Look closely, Eve, it's time you
	did. I am Addison deWitt. I'm
	nobody's fool. Least of all -
	yours.

		EVE
	I never intended you to be.

		ADDISON
	Yes, you did. You still do.

Eve gets up, now.

		EVE
	I still don't know what you're
	getting at. Right now I want to
	take my nap. It's important that I-

		ADDISON
		(breaks in)
	- it's important right now that we
	talk. Killer to killer.

		EVE
		(wisely)
	Champion to champion.

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

		EVE
	Addison, will you please say what
	you have to say plainly and
	distinctly - and then get out so I
	can take my nap!

		ADDISON
	Very well, plainly and distinctly.
	Although I consider it unnecessary -
	because you know as well as I, what
	I am about to say.
		(they are now facing each
		 other)
	Lloyd may leave Karen, but he will
	not leave Karen for you.

		EVE
	What do you mean by that?

		ADDISON
	More plainly and more distinctly? I
	Have not come to New Haven to see
	the play, discuss your dreams, or
	to pull the ivy from the walls of
	Yale! I have come to tell you that
	you will not marry Lloyd - or
	anyone else - because I will not
	permit it.

		EVE
	What have you got to do with it?

		ADDISON
	Everything. Because after tonight,
	you will belong to me.

		EVE
	I can't believe my ears...

		ADDISON
	A dull cliche.

		EVE
	Belong - to you? That sound
	medieval - something out of an old
	melodrama...

		ADDISON
	So does the history of the world
	for the past twenty years. I don't
	enjoy putting it as bluntly as
	this, frankly I had hoped that you
	would, somehow, have known - have
	taken it for granted that you and
	I...

		EVE
	... taken it for granted? That you
	and I...

She smiles. Then she chuckles, then laughs. A mistake.
Addison slaps her sharply across the face.

		ADDISON
		(quietly)
	Remember as long as you live, never
	to laugh at me. At anything or
	anyone else - but never at me.

Eve eyes him coldly, goes to the door, throws it open.

		EVE
	Get out!

Addison walks to the door, closes it.

		ADDISON
	You're too short for that gesture.
	Besides, it went out with Mrs.
	Fiske.

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

She goes to the phone.

		ADDISON
	Don't pick it up! Don't even put
	your hand on it...

She doesn't. Her back is to him. Addison smiles.

		ADDISON
	Something told you to do as I say,
	didn't it? That instinct is worth
	millions, you can't buy it, cherish
	it, Eve. When that alarm goes off,
	go to your battle stations...

He comes up behind her. Eve is tense and wary.

		ADDISON
	Your name is not Eve Harrington. It
	is Gertrude Slescynski.

		EVE
	What of it?

		ADDISON
	It is true that your parents were
	poor. They still are. And they
	would like to know how you are -
	and where. They haven't heard from
	you for three years...

		EVE
		(curtly)
	What of it?

She walks away. Addison eyes her keenly.

		ADDISON
	A matter of opinion. Granted. It is
	also true that you worked in a
	brewery. But life in the brewery
	was apparently not as dull as you
	pictured it. As a matter of fact,
	it got less and less dull - until
	you boss's wife had your boss
	followed by detectives!

		EVE
		(whirls on him)
	She never proved anything, not a
	thing!

		ADDISON
	But the $500 you got to get out of
	town brought you straight to New
	York - didn't it?

Eve turns and runs into the bedroom, slamming the door.
Addison opens it, follows close after her... he can be seen
in the bedroom, shouting at Eve who is offscene.

		ADDISON
	That $500 brought you straight to
	New York - didn't it?

INT. BEDROOM - DAY

Eve, trapped, in a corner of the room.

		EVE
	She was a liar, she was a liar!

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

Eve throws herself on the bed, face down, bursts in tears.
Addison, merciless, moves closer.

		ADDISON
	Fourth. There was no Eddie - no
	pilot - and you've never been
	married! That was not only a lie,
	but an insult to dead heroes and to
	the women who loved them...
		(Eve, sobbing, puts her
		 hands over her ears;
		 Addison, closer, pulls
		 them away)
	... Fifth. San Francisco has no
	Shubert Theater and North Shore,
	you've never been to San Francisco!
	That was a stupid lie, easy to
	expose, not worthy of you...

Eve twists to look up at him, her eyes streaming.

		EVE
	I had to get in, to meet Margo! I
	had to say something, be somebody,
	make her like me!

		ADDISON
	She did like you, she helped and
	trusted you! You paid her back by
	trying to take Bill away!

		EVE
	That's not true!

		ADDISON
	I was there, I saw you and heard
	you through the dressing room door!

Eve turns face down again, sobbing miserably.

		ADDISON
	You used my name and my column to
	blackmail Karen into getting you
	the part of "Cora" - and you lied
	to me about it!

		EVE
		(into the bed)
	No-no-no...

		ADDISON
	I had lunch with Karen not three
	hours ago. As always with women who
	want to find out things, she told
	more than she learned...
		(he lets go of her hands)
	... do you want to change your
	story about Lloyd beating at your
	door the other night?

Eve covers her face with her hands.

		EVE
	Please... please...

Addison get off the bed, looks down at her.

		ADDISON
	That I should want you at all
	suddenly strikes me as the height
	of improbability. But that, in
	itself, is probably the reason.
	You're an improbable person, Eve,
	and so am I. We have that in
	common. Also a contempt for
	humanity, an inability to love or
	be loved, insatiable ambition - and
	talent. We deserve each other. Are
	you listening to me?

Eve lies listlessly now, her tear-stained cheek against the
coverlet. She nods.

		ADDISON
	Then say so.

		EVE
	Yes, Addison.

		ADDISON
	And you realize - you agree how
	completely you belong to me?

		EVE
	Yes, Addison.

		ADDISON
	Take your nap, now. And good luck
	for tonight.

He starts out.

		EVE
		(tonelessly)
	I won't play tonight.
		(Addison pauses)
	I couldn't. Not possibly. I
	couldn't go on...

		ADDISON
		(smiles)
	Couldn't go on? You'll give the
	performance of your life.

He goes out. The CAMERA REMAINS on Eve's forlorn, tear
stained face. Her eyes close... she goes to sleep.

INT. DINING HALL - SARAH SIDDONS SOCIETY - NIGHT

THE STOPPED ACTION of Eve reaching out for the award. The
applause and bulb-popping still going on.

		ADDISON'S VOICE
	And she gave the performance of her
	life. And it was a night to
	remember, that night...

THE ACTION picks up where it left off. Eve accepts the award
from the Aged Actor, kisses him tenderly, folds the award to
her bosom and waits for quiet.

She speaks with assurance, yet modestly and humbly.

		EVE
	Honored members of Sarah Siddons
	Society, distinguished guests,
	ladies and gentlemen: What is there
	for me to say? Everything wise and
	witty has long since been said - by
	minds more mature and talents far
	greater than mine. For me to thank
	you as equals would be presumptuous
	- I am an apprentice in the Theater
	and have much to learn from you
	all. I can say only that I am proud
	and happy and that I regard this
	great honor not so much as an award
	for what I have achieved, but as a
	standard to hold against what I
	have yet to accomplish.
		(applause)
	And further, I regard it as
	bestowed upon me only in part. The
	larger share belongs to my friends
	in the Theater - and to the Theater
	itself, which has given me all I
	have. In good conscience, I must
	give credit where credit is due. To
	Max Fabian-

MAX sits erect, beaming proudly.

		EVE'S VOICE
	- dear Max. Dear, sentimental,
	generous, courageous Max Fabian -
	who took a chance on an unknown,
	untried, amateur...

EVE, after applause greets Max.

		EVE
	And to my first friend in the
	Theater - whose kindness and
	graciousness I shall never
	forget... Karen - Mrs. Lloyd
	Richards...

KAREN resumes her doodling as applause breaks out for her...

		EVE'S VOICE
	... and it was Karen who first
	brought me to one whom I had always
	idolized - and who was to become my
	benefactor and champion. A great
	actress and a great woman - Margo
	Channing.

MARGO, part of Eve's tribute has been over her CLOSE-UP. She
smiles grimly in reaction to the applause.

EVE looks to her right, waits for the applause to die.

		EVE
	My director - who demanded always a
	little more than my talent could
	provide-

BILL, seated at the speakers' table. He has his award before
him - a smaller one. He puts out a cigarette expressionlessly
as the applause breaks out.

		EVE
	- but who taught me patiently and
	well... Bill Sampson.

LLOYD sits beside Bill. He, too, has a smaller award. As Eve
speaks, he throws her a brief glance.

		EVE'S VOICE
	And one, without whose great play
	and faith in me, this night would
	never have been. How can I repay
	Lloyd Richards?

EVE waits for the applause to die.

		EVE
	Hoe can I repay the many others? So
	many, that I couldn't possibly name
	them all...

ADDISON smiles approvingly.

		EVE'S VOICE
	... whose help, guidance and advice
	have made this, the happiest night
	of my life, possible.

EVE stares at the award for an instant, as if fighting for
self-control.

		EVE
	Although I am going to Hollywood
	next week to make a film - do not
	think for a moment that I am
	leaving you. How could I? For my
	heart is here in the Theater - and
	three thousand miles are too far to
	be away from one's heart.
	I'll be back to claim it - and
	soon. That is, if you want me back.

Another storm of applause. Much ad lib shouting as Bill and
Lloyd are summoned to pose beside her for more pictures.
People are thronging out. The Aged Actor shouts above the
hubbub...

		AGED ACTOR
	A good night to all - and to all a
	good night!

Eve disengages herself from the photographers, makes her way
toward Addison's table... Bill and Lloyd follow. CAMERA
FOLLOWS Lloyd to Karen. They kiss. He gives her the award.

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

Max bustles into the SHOT.

		MAX
	Come on! I'm the host, I gotta get
	home before the guests start
	stealing the liquor...

She and Lloyd follow Max. Addison and Eve are on their way.
Lloyd goes right by. Karen pauses at Eve.

		KAREN
	Congratulations, Eve.

		EVE
	Thank you, Karen.

Karen goes. Eve is being constantly congratulated. Some ad
lib about seeing her at Max's party...

		MAX
		(to Addison)
	I'm giving her a very high-class
	party. It ain't like a rehearsal,
	she don't have to be late.

		ADDISON
	As soon as the peasants stop pawing
	her.

Max hurries out. Margo and Bill step into the SHOT. Eve turns
from a well-wisher to face her.

		MARGO
	... nice speech, Eve. But I
	wouldn't worry too much about your
	heart. You can always put that
	award where your heart ought to be.

Eve looks at her wordlessly. Margo and Bill leave. Addison
and Eve are alone. The tables about them are empty. Suddenly,
her face becomes expressionless, her eyes dull... she glances
at the table.

		EVE
	I don't suppose there's a drink
	left...

		ADDISON
	You can have one at Max's.

		EVE
		(sits)
	I don't think I'm going.

		ADDISON
		(sighs)
	Why not?

		EVE
	Because I don't want to.

		ADDISON
		(patiently)
	Max has gone to a great deal of
	trouble, it's going to be an
	elaborate party, and it's for you.

		EVE
	No, it's not.
		(she holds up the award)
	It's for this.

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

		EVE
	Exactly.
		(she gives him the award)
	Here. Take it to the party instead
	of me.

		ADDISON
	You're being childish.

A well-wisher rushes up to Eve with an "Eve, darling, I'm so
happy!" Eve rises, thanks her graciously. Then she pulls her
wrap over her shoulder.

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

		ADDISON
		(curtly)
	Very well. I shall drop you and go
	on to the party. I have no
	intention of missing it...

They exit from the room, now empty of everything but tables,
waiters, and the usual banquet debris.

EXT. PARK AVENUE - NIGHT

Eve gets out of taxi in front of a fashionable apartment
hotel. She doesn't say good night to Addison, she enters the
hotel as the cab drives off. She hasn't the award with her.

INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE EVE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Smart, but not gaudy. Eve crosses from the elevator to her
apartment. She lets herself in.

INT. EVE'S HOTEL APARTMENT - NIGHT

A small foyer, from which one door leads to the leaving room,
another to the bedroom. The bedroom and living room do not
connect except through the foyer.

All the lights are out. Eve turns them on in the foyer, the
same as she enters the bedroom. There are some new trunks, in
various stages of being packed. Eve tosses her wrap on the
bed, goes through the foyer to the living room.

She turns on the light in the living room. CAMERA FOLLOWS her
to a smart small bar where she fixes a stiff drink. As she
turns from the bar, she stares - starts in fright - and drops
the drink.

A young girl, asleep in a chair, wakes with a jump. She
stares at Eve, horror-stricken.

		EVE
	Who are you?

		GIRL
	Miss Harrington...

		EVE
	What are you doing here?

		GIRL
	I - I guess I fell asleep.

Eve starts for the phone. The girl rises in panic.

		GIRL
	Please don't have me arrested,
	please! I didn't steal anything -
	you can search me!

		EVE
		(pauses)
	How did you get in here?

		GIRL
	I hid outside in the hall till the
	maid came to turn down your bed.
	She must've forgot something and
	when she went to get it, she left
	the door open. I sneaked in and hid
	till she finished. Then I just
	looked around - and pretty soon I
	was afraid somebody'd notice the
	lights were on so I turned them off
	- and then I guess, I fell asleep.

		EVE
	You were just looking around...

		GIRL
	That's all.

		EVE
	What for?

		GIRL
	You probably won't believe me.

		EVE
	Probably not.

		GIRL
	It was for my report.

		EVE
	What report? To whom?

		GIRL
	About how you live, what kind of
	clothes you wear - what kind of
	perfume and books - things like
	that. You know the Eve Harrington
	clubs - that they've got in most of
	the girls' high schools?

		EVE
	I've heard of them.

		GIRL
	Ours was one of the first. Erasmus
	Hall. I'm the president.

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

		GIRL
	Lots of actresses come from
	Brooklyn. Barbara Stanwyck, Susan
	Hayward - of course, they're just
	movie stars.

Eve makes no comment. She lies wearily on the couch.

		GIRL
	You're going to Hollywood - aren't
	you?
		(Eve murmurs "uh-huh")
	From the trunks you're packing, you
	must be going to stay a long time.

		EVE
	I might.

		GIRL
	That spilled drink is going to ruin
	your carper.

She crosses to it.

		EVE
	The maid'll fix it in the morning.

		GIRL
	I'll just pick up the broken glass.

		EVE
	Don't bother.

The girl puts the broken glass on the bar. She starts to mix
Eve a fresh drink.

		EVE
	How'd you get all the way up here
	from Brooklyn?

		GIRL
	Subway.

		EVE
	How long does it take?

		GIRL
	With changing and everything, a
	little over an hour.

She carries the drink over to Eve.

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

		GIRL
		(smiles)
	I don't care if I never get home.

The door buzzer sounds.

		EVE
	That's the door.

		GIRL
	You rest. I'll get it...

She goes to the door, opens it. Addison stands there, the
Sarah Siddons Award in his hands.

		ADDISON
	Hello, there. Who are you?

		GIRL
		(shyly)
	Miss Harrington's resting, Mr.
	deWitt. She asked me to see who it
	is...

		ADDISON
	We won't disturb her rest. It seems
	she left her award in the taxicab.
	Will you give it to her?

She holds it as if it were the Promised Land. Addison smiles
faintly. He knows the look.

		ADDISON
	How do you know my name?

		GIRL
	It's a very famous name, Mr.
	deWitt.

		ADDISON
	And what is your name?

		GIRL
	Phoebe.

		ADDISON
	Phoebe?

		GIRL
		(stubbornly)
	I call myself Phoebe.

		ADDISON
	Why not? Tell me, Phoebe, do you
	want some day to have an award like
	that of your own?

Phoebe lifts her eyes to him.

		PHOEBE
	More than anything else in the
	world.

Addison pats her shoulder lightly.

		ADDISON
	Then you must Miss Harrington how
	to get one. Miss Harrington knows
	all about it...

Phoebe smiles shyly. Addison closes the door. Phoebe stares
down at the award for an instant.

		EVE'S VOICE
		(sleepy; from the living
		 room)
	Who was it?

		PHOEBE
	Just a taxi driver, Miss
	Harrington. You left the award in
	his cab and he brought it back...

		EVE'S VOICE
	Oh. Put it on one of the trunks,
	will you? I want to pack it...

		PHOEBE
	Sure, Miss Harrington...

She takes the award into the bedroom, sets it on a trunk. As
she starts out, she sees Eve's fabulous wrap on the bed. She
listens. Then, quietly, she puts on the wrap and picks up the
award.

Slowly, she walks to a large three-mirrored cheval. With
grace and infinite dignity she holds the award to her, and
bows again and again... as if to the applause of a multitude.

				    FADE OUT.

THE END
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