Term
| HELSA: I never paid much attention to the cabarets. |
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Definition
From the hallway, C., we hear voices. Elsa enters followed by Ken De La Maize and Nikki Crandall. Ken is a handsome man in his mid-forties. His clothes and tan are Hollywood. |
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ELSA: This is the library. We'll hold the audition here, Ken. |
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Definition
Ken looks around the room, crosses to wing chair, and moves it a few inches. |
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Definition
| .Ken moves the chair back a few inches. |
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| ELSA: You can move it around any way you like. |
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Definition
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| ELSA: I am of solid Bavarian stock, Mr. O'Reilly. Snow is in my blood. |
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Definition
| But not in your heart, dear Elsa (To Nikki.) This lady is the most generous patron of our art aive today. |
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Definition
| Without you, Elsa, there wouldn't be more than thirty or forty shows on the Great White Way. She backed twelve last season. |
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| ELSA: Well, I do like to dabble. Now Ken, suppose...(Helsa exits.)...Marjorie is trudging up the hill. Soon we'll all be together once more, won't we, Ken? |
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Definition
| Yes. It'll be good to see Roger and Bernice again. |
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| ELSA: All . . . together, right, Ken? |
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Definition
| (A bit bewildered by her attitude.) Yes. |
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| ELSA: And when I come back, I want to hear all about Hollywood. What it's like. |
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Definition
| Just dump the garment district in the middle of an orange grove. That's Hollywood. |
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ELSA: (As she goes.) How picturesue! (O'Reilly follows her out.) |
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Definition
| Of course there is an ocean somewhere. |
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| NIKKI: You never saw the ocean? |
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Definition
| Certainly I saw the ocean. I was at a party in Santa Monica one night and someone pulled open the drapes. Drink? |
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Definition
| You were about to tell me in the cab which show you were with in Washington. |
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Definition
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Definition
| Bob Alton. The choreographer. |
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| NIKKI: This was the road company. Jimmy Arnemann staged it. |
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Definition
| Oh. And you closed in Washington? |
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| NIKKI: No, I left the show in Washington. |
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Definition
| Not to come up here for a backer's audition, I hope? |
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| NIKKI: Oh no, I've got . . . other things on the fire. |
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Definition
| And you're a singer/dancer? |
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Definition
| Yes, I kind of thought that whhen I watched you get off the train. |
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| NIKKI: I walk like a duck, you mean? |
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Definition
| No, you tripped over your suitcase. |
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Definition
| And with whom did you study dance? |
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| NIKKI: Well, see, I'm from Chicago . . . |
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Definition
| I know Chicago quite well. |
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| NIKKI: Actually south of there. You know Kankakee? |
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Definition
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| NIKKI: I studied there with Natasha Dubrovitska. |
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| NIKKI: Jeepers, this is a swell house, isn't it? |
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| NIKKI: I'll bet they have some swell houses in Hollywood. |
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Definition
| Ostentatious, but . . . "swell," yes. |
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| NIKKI: You live out there? |
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Definition
| I'm hoping this enterprise will bring me back to New York. |
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| NIKKI: You're not working on any movies right now? |
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Definition
| I've just finished a picture. "Moonlight in Rio." |
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| NIKKI: "Moonlight in Rio"? You shot a movie in Brazil? |
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Definition
| No, I shot it in Culver City. Except for the beach. The beach I shot in Oxnard. |
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Definition
| Alice Faye, Dick Powell, Phil Silvers, Ann Miller, Patsy Kelly, George Brent, Lauritz Melchior, Jascha Heifetz, and Borah Minnevitch. |
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| NIKKI: Oh sure, I saw that. |
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Definition
| You probably did; but this one hasn't been released yet. |
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Definition
| Ahhhh, it's good . . . good to be back. |
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| The theater. That event as ancient as man and as mysterious and inspiring as the nature man once sought to imitate or appease in his earliest rituals . . . rituals we now call--the theater. Not moving pictures, but life. Life distilled to a pure clear ring of truth. Never forget that. It is your heritage. |
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| NIKKI: I guess. But I've only done musical comedy. |
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Definition
| Yes. Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my sherry upstairs and into the bathtub. Get rid of some of the Union Pacific Railroad I've brought with me. |
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| NIKKI: Sure, go ahead. I want to look over the lead sheets anyway. (She drops her purse on piano. It makes a very loud thud. She smiles at Ken.) |
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Definition
| See you later. (He exits C.) |
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