The CLIPPER “Rosalia” – Afternoon.
Frozen in place: JOE and NORMA JEANE in wheelhouse.MIKE remains on WHARF.
PROJECTION: “Years Pass – 1954-1962”
MIKE (to us): A lot can happen in nine years.
Hell, a lot can happen in nine months.Salmon can return home from the seatoward freshwater pools where they spawnin gravel beds to start life all over again.In nine months, people can fall in love.Get married; tie the knot.Go to work; work and work.Try and try; again and againto make their own family.Build their own little Love Nest.But no marriage surviveswhen the knots failand the nets rip apart.Or poison kills the spawn.Ask my brother Joe.Ask his wife – Norma Jeane.Like Hemin'way said: “The sea’s an angrydame who gives and takes her favors. Andif she does wild and wicked things to you,she can’t help it.” (pause) What does thatOld Man know about The Sea?All Joe knows about fishin’ for a livin’ is this:What worked for our father won’t work for him.
LIGHTS
AUDIO: Wind gusts and putt-putt engine.
Mike disappears.
Flags in blustery winds.Joe and Norma Jeane spring to life.
JOE: … and that’s all there is to The Doghouse.
NORMA JEANE: Pretty complicated, I’d say.
Norma Jeane sips a beer.They exit wheelhouse.Joe opens hatch for her to see “engine” below deck.
JOE: Here she is – Rosalia’s heartbeat.
NORMA JEANE: So this is your “putt-putt motor” unquote?
JOE: Two horse.
NORMA JEANE: Looks very strong. (purrs) “Potato. Potato. Potato”.
JOE: That’s how she sounds.
NORMA JEANE: She’s a real beauty.
JOE: Sure 71 Hicks Heavy-Duty Marine from Yuba in Benicia.
NORMA JEANE: I just love a technical man. And you’ve got such
strong self-confidence. I don’t have any at all. (beat) It makes mefeel good that you have enough for both of us!
Norma Jeane reaches for Joe’s cheek.He turns away.Pause.They return to wheelhouse.Joe puts down his bowl.Norma Jeane looks into bowlsees that it’s not empty.
NORMA JEANE: You didn’t eat!
JOE: I’m not hungry.
He is.
Awkward pause.
JOE: Thought it’d be harder.
NORMA JEANE: Whaddya mean, being so – Love Happy!?!
JOE: No, gettin’ a marriage license.
NORMA JEANE: No big deal to the County Clerk.
JOE (sheepish): You said Let’s Make It Legal.
NORMA JEANE: Yeah. We tied the knot.
Pause.
JOE: Official now.
NORMA JEANE: You Were Meant For Me!
JOE: What about Nonni?
NORMA JEANE: She wants a proper Sicilian wedding – so she can
dance the Tarantella with you.
JOE: You know I don’t dance.
NORMA JEANE: You will.
Norma Jeane socks Joe’s chin with a soft fist.
They freeze in place.
LIGHTS
MIKE (to us): Somethin’ else I forgot to tell:
Norma Jeane never said a word to Joeabout a single one of her dozen “rotten apples”Her so-called” miscarriages”.Or “abortions”.To her, both words meant the same thing.And she didn’t believe either expression would lead topolite conversation at home about the abuse her bodysuffered – dancin’ alone with the kindness of strangers.Hard to argue with that.Besides, how could Joe ever find outsuch miserable informationif she didn’t tell him herself?LIGHTS
JOE’s HOUSE – Evening.
JOE and NORMA JEANE sort througha big stack of unread MAIL.
Joe picks up a letter,turns it over, can’t read it,but knows it looks odd.
He hands it to Norma Jeane.
JOE: Who’s this?
NORMA JEANE (looks): Throw it away.
JOE (points): What’s it say?
NORMA JEANE: Marjorie Steiner.
JOE: “Marjorie Steiner?”
NORMA JEANE: One of my maiden names.
JOE: One?
Pause.
JOE: How many you got?
NORMA JEANE: In Lodi, they called me “Mona”.
JOE (getting rattled): Who else?
NORMA JEANE: Don’t worry. Everybody calls me Norma Jeane Pescatori now.
JOE: Brand new name.
NORMA JEANE: I’m Norma Jeane Fish.
JOE: Not Russolini.
NORMA JEANE (distant): Never thought of it that way.
JOE: Nino’s dead five years.
NORMA JEANE: I didn’t mean that. I meant (beat) Nonni, ya know.
JOE: Yeah.
NORMA JEANE: She’s my only Mama. Russolini’s my maiden name, really.
Pause.
JOE: Papa and Mama didn’t know you at all.
NORMA JEANE: Not as your wife.
Joe puts down letters, sits with them on bed.
NORMA JEANE: Really, deep down, you know (beat) I didn’t wanna marry Nino.
JOE: Always liked the guy.
NORMA JEANE: I had to do it – got me out of the orphanage.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: Nino wasn’t all that kind – as a man.
She looks out Joe’s back window.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: Why don’t you keep your nets in the basement?
They look awful strange – strung out there in the backyard. (beat)Creepy. (beat) Like spider webs.
JOE: The nets?
NORMA JEANE: Can we keep the nets in the basement?
JOE: They’re three hundred feet long – need to dry out. (beat) They don’t fit.
NORMA JEANE (comes close): You don’t like a tight fit? (moves back)
What guy doesn’t like … (pouty lips) a tight fit?
JOE (flustered): When they dry – after Felucca tans ‘em. (beat) The nets.
Norma Jeane tugs at Joe, awkwardly.
He gets up, continues to resist her tease.
NORMA JEANE (off balance): I’m just kidding, Joe.
Joe picks up and opens another letter.He tosses envelope.Norma Jeane picks up envelope.
NORMA JEANE (reads): “State of California. Fish and Game?”
Joe tries in vain to read letter.He turns it over absent-mindedly,tries to “read” the blank backside.
Pause.
Norma Jeane takes letter from him.She reads it silently.
Long pause.
He is confused.Norma Jeane looks at Joe.
Beat.
NORMA JEANE: This is not good news.
JOE: Should we sit down?
NORMA JEANE (does not sit): The State says (pause) It’s – very complicated.
JOE: Are they closing the cannery?
NORMA JEANE: It’s worse. (beat) You’re supposed to …
JOE: What?
NORMA JEANE (reads): The State is considering the feasibility (pause)
of banning all gillnets.
JOE: Our nets?
NORMA JEANE: Here – in the Strait.
JOE: When?
NORMA JEANE: They don’t say. (scans letter) ... Soon.
JOE: Why?
NORMA JEANE (reads): Not enough salmon.
JOE: Bull – shit!
NORMA JEANE (holds out letter): Read it Joe!
Hard pause.
JOE: Ya know I don’t read-n-write like you do.
NORMA JEANE (wanders): It’s true, I always try to better myself. But I
get embarrassed by my stupid spelling mistakes. (now lost) This yearI read Joyce, Beckett, Whitman, Hemingway. I want to get at theTruth of people (beat) Don’t you just love the Italian Renaissance?
JOE (angry): What about the nets?
NORMA JEANE (still distant): Was it Milton or Byron – who said: (dramatic)
“The happy ones are not yet born.”
JOE (confused): Huh?
NORMA JEANE (comes back): I wish we could just sit down and read together!
JOE (fist in hand): Forget school – read my letter.
NORMA JEANE: You’d enjoy my books.
JOE: I like my tv.
Joe grabs Norma Jeane’s wrist, twists it.
JOE: Read me the goddamn letter!
BLACKOUT
AUDIO: Odd stumbled rumblings of a physical struggle.
JOE (off): I’ve had enough of your nudity.
AUDIO: More struggle.
NORMA JEANE (off): My bra! (beat) In a window? Joe, that’s nuts!
AUDIO: More tumble.
JOE (off): What kinda wife does that to her husband?
AUDIO: Loud slap.
NORMA JEANE (off): Yeeeoowwwww!
AUDIO: Striking piano chord.
LIGHTS
Joe’s HOUSE - Later that evening.Frozen in place: NORMA JEANE and JOE.MIKE in wheelhouse of The CLIPPER “Rosalia”.
MIKE (to us): Joe wanted his second marriage to work.
And, he certainly didn’t mean to hurt her.It was just a slap.It only happened once.But it shamed them both.Deeply.I know Joe wouldn’t repeat the deed.He felt Mama’s Evil Eye upon him.And he dreamed Papa stood up in his casket.Joe had never felt more ashamed of himself.Now he knew he could never let her go.LIGHTS
NORMA JEANE starts to undress, her back to JOE.
NORMA JEANE: One thing you must know about me ...
Norma Jeane hangs her bra in window.
Pause, Joe freezes in horror.
NORMA JEANE: … I don’t suntan because …
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: … I wanna feel blonde all over!
JOE (flabbergasted): Why show off like that?
Norma Jeane skips to exit quickly into bathroom, without closing door.
NORMA JEANE (off): I enjoy my own skin.
JOE: Hang a (spits word) “brassiere” in public? That’s not how Sicilian
wives behave.
NORMA JEANE (off): I am not Sicilian!
JOE: Matter of honor.
NORMA JEANE (crosses her heart): Scout’s honor!
JOE: Don’t show off your body like that.
NORMA JEANE (off): It’s not my body, Joe. It’s my bra!
JOE: Same difference.
Norma Jeane closes door.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE (sticks head out door): You think I’m every man’s fantasy –
Mae West, Theda Bara and (pouty lips) Bo Peep all rolled into one.
Norma Jeane giggles and kicks outone bare leg through door frame.She fully exits into bathroom,then slams door.
NORMA JEANE (yells through door): I keep my undies in the icebox!
Joe is quite upset.
He opens door, but does not go in.
NORMA JEANE (off): You just want me to stay home to cook and clean?
Don’t go to work. No ambition. Get married. Make babies?
Joe turns away from door.
NORMA JEANE (off): That’s not me, Joe.
AUDIO (off): Shower water runs.
JOE: I don’t get you.
NORMA JEANE (off): I’m too inhibited to be spontaneous right now, Joe Fish.
JOE: I’m tryin’ to be sincere.
NORMA JEANE (off): “There’s nothing more dangerous than sincere
ignorance.” – George Burns, unquote!
Pause.
JOE: Who you callin’ stupid?
NORMA JEANE (off): “Sick people have such deep sincere attachments.”
– William Faulkner, unquote.
JOE: What’s that supposed to mean?
NORMA JEANE (off): “Sometimes I wonder what the nighttime is for.”
– Elia Kazan, unquote.
JOE: How many guys you got?
NORMA JEANE (off): One (beat) Joe Fish, unquote.
She slams bathroom door.
He sits on bed.
AUDIO (off): Shower water continues to run.
Pause.
JOE (to himself): What the hell’s going on here?
Joe goes to bathroom door,puts an ear up to listen.Suddenly, Norma Jeane opens door.Joe awkwardly falls back onto bed.Norma Jeane in bathrobe,stands in doorframe silhouette.She brushes her teeth.
NORMA JEANE (removes brush): Joe Fish, I don’t care for this Monkey Business!
JOE (meekly): I don’t want you naked in my window.
AUDIO: A knock at front door.
Norma Jeane continues to brush teeth,slowly shuts bathroom door.Joe recovers to answer knock.He opens front door.HUCK enters.
HUCK: Where were you?
JOE: What time is it?
HUCK: Seven-thirty.
JOE: Got into a little beef with Norma Jeane. Being naked seems
to hypnotize her.
Huck sees Norma Jeane’s bra.
He picks it up, absent-mindedly.
Joe doesn’t notice.
HUCK (examines bra): She’s an odd fish – no net for her.
JOE (weary): She sure knows a lotta guys. Screws up her lips
like some guppy suckin’ wind. Looks like my Edsel Ford.
Now Joe turns to see Huck holding bra.
JOE (suddenly shocked): Huck, put that down!
Huck drops now radioactive bra onto bed.
HUCK (regards his fingers): Sorry … thought it was Felucca’s.
JOE: How’d HER (can’t stand the word) “brassiere” get here?
HUCK (recovers): You know the ladies (beat) always sharing clothes.
JOE (sarcastic): Maybe your damn Darwin did it.
Bathroom door opens, Norma Jeane enters in bathrobe.
NORMA JEANE: Hi-ya Huck!
HUCK (looks at ceiling): Hi.
Awkward pause.
HUCK (to Joe): Meet me at The Wharf.
JOE: Five minutes.
Huck exits quickly.Norman Jeane sits on bed.She rubs lotion on her legs.
JOE (steamed): Hope you’re satisfied.
NORMA JEANE: What’re you talking about?
JOE: You know.
NORMA JEANE (plays dumb): No, I do not know.
JOE: You egged him on.
NORMA JEANE: Who?
JOE: Huck Simms.
NORMA JEANE: Felucca’s man?
JOE (corrects her): My fishin’ partner.
NORMA JEANE: Not my type.
JOE (befuddled): You got a “type”?
NORMA JEANE: I don’t care for him.
JOE (still confounded): Huck’s a good man.
NORMA JEANE: Even if you didn’t know Huck Simms (beat)
I wouldn’t go out of my way to sleep with him.
Pause.
Joe begins to boil.
JOE: What’s the hell’s the matter with you?
After you get what you want – you don’t want it.
NORMA JEANE: Huh?
Pause.
JOE (grows livid): Women in this country – I don’t understand ‘em.
Norma Jeane backs away from him.
JOE: They talk on the phone, walk the streets at night with men, get divorces,
hang their underwear in public ...
Joe raises his hand.
Joe swings …
Norma Jeane ducks to avoid his swat.
They freeze.
LIGHTS
MIKE remains in place on WHARF.
MIKE (to us): It only happened once.
AUDIO: Sustained piano chord.
MIKE (to us): It won’t happen again.
FADE OUT
Nonni's KITCHEN – Next evening.
NONNI alone on phone.
NONNI (into phone): They’re both very mysterious – far-off – distant people.
I don’t know why they ever got married in the first place! (pause) Yeah,right across the road. (looks up) Gotta go!
NORMA JEANE approaches front door.
She enters with a black eye
and a grocery bag full of beer.Nonni hangs up.
NONNI (to Norma Jeane): What the hell happened to you?
NORMA JEANE (deadpan): Got hit by hot charcoal from a choo-choo train.
NONNI: I heard you got involved in some fireworks Saturday night at
Devil’s Lounge.
Pause.
Nonni holds Norma Jeane’s face, examines her eye.
NONNI: Looks like that “hairbrush had eyes” unquote.
Norma Jeane pulls away.
Pause.
She goes to refrigerator, deposits beer.
NORMA JEANE: Joe’s so boring ... (sips)
NONNI: Wouldn’t it be funny if that was true?
Hard beat.
NORMA JEANE: ... I could scream!
NONNI (beat): Black eye’d make me scream. If you were playing poker, I’d say
you played your best game – with his worst hand.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: At some point we had to get out of bed and start talking.
But Nonni the more I talked, the madder he got. (pause)It’s as if he doesn’t want me to be myself! He’s more worriedabout my bra than he is my life.
NONNI: What the hell’s your brassiere got to do with anything? (beat)
You certainly don’t need one.
NORMA JEANE: There’s no Pillow Talk. All he talks about is fish. And
his “Rosalia”.
NONNI: He’s a Pescatori!
NORMA JEANE: I guess I’ve always been terrified to be anybody’s wife (poses)
“There’s such a high price for negligence in this world.” – TennesseeWilliams, unquote.
NONNI: You always depend on the kindness of strangers.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: But not when they slap you around!
NONNI: You don’t seem to be in much pain, you still takin’ your pills?
NORMA JEANE: It’s all on the inside, Nonni. He knows men won’t say
much to me. But they keep watching me all the time.
NONNI: So – you gonna leave him?
NORMA JEANE: No. Joe won’t ever hit me again, I know that for sure.
NONNI: Joe hates everything about The Asphalt Jungle. The cars,
the streets, the fights. (beat) The confusion … He sees life from the shoreline.Through Rosalia’s eyes. Keeps him calm.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: I know he’d like to punch some of these people around here.
Captain Ring Walker in particular.
NONNI: Nobody likes Ring for good reason. His Papa was a no-account judge.
Ring’s “apple” didn’t fall far from that tree. None of Judge Walker’s boys amounted to a hill of beans! One’s still rottin’ in San Quentin.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: I always liked Ring’s dad.
NONNI: He was a ladies man too.
NORMA JEANE: Just like his son.
NONNI: You oughtta know!
NORMA JEANE (confesses): I know you could tell I copied my love letters to Nino.
(pause) Sylvia Plath (beat) The stuff about “staying put – according to habit” unquote.
Norma Jeane goes to window, looks at Joe’s House.
NORMA JEANE (wistful): Joe can’t ever read my love letters. (beat)
Men … they don’t get me at all.
NONNI: Oh yes, they do!
NORMA JEANE: You know what I mean.
NONNI: Let the man talk softly – you’ll carry his big stick!
NORMA JEANE: If that’s all it took, we’d still be married (blurts) We’re Not
Married! He gets so mad -- I call him The Fireball! He calls me The Fire – sardines he means! (pause) We Clash By Night … (lost) But he’s so very unselfish in bed. (beat) To the moon, Alice. To the moon!
Pause.
NONNI: Men don’t understand you at all.
NORMA JEANE: I know.
NONNI: Like a barrel over Niagara!
NORMA JEANE: I gotta flirt. It’s my calling!
NONNI: Don’t be a Naughty Flirt!
NORMA JEANE: I try my best.
NONNI: Does Joe think so?
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: Nobody ever loved me more than Joe.
NONNI: Not even Nino?
NORMA JEANE: No – (realizes what she just said) – but close. (beat)
When it comes to women, nobody’s crazier than Sicilian men!Especially when you can’t have all their babies! Right?
NONNI (plays along): Right.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: I just hate to fight with anybody. When you win, you lose. (beat)
You know – in your heart, I mean.
Hard pause.
NORMA JEANE: What if Joe kicks me out?
NONNI: You’re always welcome here. You know that. (beat) Just watch
those pills.
Norma Jeane looks toward Joe’s bed.
LIGHTS
LIGHTS FADE
NORMA JEANE: I’m never going back to his house!
NONNI: I’m right across the road.
BLACKOUT
AUDIO: Miles Davis style solo trumpet, thenodd rumbles -- a physical struggle.Something breaks.
RING (off): You won’t blackmail me!
NORMA JEANE (off): IRS won’t be happy! I’ve got solid proof.
RING (off): What makes you think they’ll believe “Norma Jeane Walker”?
NORMA JEANE (off): You won’t steal my ID again!
RING (off): Oh yeah?!?
AUDIO: Two loud blows from fists.A body falls.Papers flutter to floor.
NORMA JEANE (off): Yuuuuggg!
RING (off): Watch your step “Marjorie Steiner”!
MUSIC: striking piano chord.
LIGHTS UP
MIKE at bar doors of DEVIL’S LOUNGE.
MIKE (to us): What kind of man would beat his wife?
Would he beat his dog too? His kids? His friends?
Or maybe the son of a Judge out to get him?How far would Joe go before he runs out of steamin these, The Best Years of Our Lives?
The War did not defeat him because he did not attendThe War. Nonni knows all Joe’s burden comesfrom The Wharf and the tough life he made there.
“One man will do – until a better one comes along” unquote.In order to form a more perfect union, unquote.
MIKE descends into The Devil’s Lounge.
LIGHTS
AUDIO: Coin drop. Dial tone.
Dial spins and clicks.
JOE in his House sits on edge of bedand silently stares through window.
Meanwhile across the roadNONNI in her KITCHEN chats on phone.FELUCCA at Wharf talks on PHONE BOX.
FELUCCA (into phone): She took a powder!
NONNI (into phone): Where’d she go?
FELUCCA (into phone): Hitched to Crockett.
NONNI (into phone): Can ladies do that?
FELUCCA (into phone): She’s No Lady.
NONNI (into phone): She’s his wife ...
FELUCCA (into phone): … living her Dangerous Years ...
NONNI (into phone): … at the Devil’s Lounge.
FELUCCA (into phone): Bartender from Hercules puts dynamite in the drinks!
BLACKOUT
AUDIO: Constant clang of crossing bell.
Distant steam locomotive takes its sweet time.
FELUCCA (off): Darwin. Darwin!
Pause.
NORMA JEANE (off): Joe’s right – I don’t know what I want from life.
Pause.
AUDIO: Chimpanzee screeches.
FELUCCA (off): Darwin, come back with that match box!
AUDIO: Dynamite explodes.
LIGHTS
The CLIPPER “Rosalia” – Early next morning.HUCK unties rope on WHARF,leaps on deck to cast off.JOE exits wheelhouse.AUDIO: The Clipper’s putt-putt engine.
JOE: Where was she?
HUCK: Crockett.
JOE: Crockett?
HUCK: Devil’s Lounge.
JOE: Who was she with?
HUCK: Joe, I’m sorry.
JOE (grabs him): What’d you see?
HUCK: I didn’t see nothin’ – really!
JOE: If I know Norma Jeane, you saw plenty.
HUCK: I just saw her go in!
JOE (shakes Huck’s shoulders): Come on.
HUCK: Couldn’t get in myself! They wouldn’t let my black ass play.
Joe lets Huck go.
Pause.
JOE: Music’s not an honest livin’.
HUCK: Joe, she’s Kryptonite!
JOE: Whaddaya mean?
HUCK: She has tricks in her pocket. She has things up her sleeve.
Huck rolls up his sleeve.
Pause.
JOE: Hate musicians. Don’t speak English.
HUCK: Bad enough I’m black, but being dago too. Two strikes, I’m out.
JOE: What’d ya expect – hang out in honky-tonks.
HUCK: You hate cops – not musicians. Norma Jeane loves everybody.
JOE (beat): No fun bein’ married to a stop light.
HUCK: She always tries to shine men on. (beat) Dumb blonde.
JOE: Dumb like a fox. She said she needs flowers if I don’t take a bath.
HUCK: She don’t know what she’s missing, Joe.
JOE: She’ll see the light.
HUCK: She’s just “confused”. You’re The Sicilian Stallion!
LIGHTS
The DEVIL’S LOUNGE – Saturday night.
HUCK has disappeared.MIKE stands at the doors.
MIKE (to us): The Shoreline’s second Sugar War started
when Norma Jeane wandered up Snake Roadto hitch a ride to Crockett that Saturday night.
Joe was furious to know
she’d slipped out on him.
He hated playin’ The Fool.This time he had to do somethin’!He was goin’ out of his mind.
JOE gets out of bed,puts on pants,leaves House,enters CHEVY truck,turns on headlights.
AUDIO: Truck engine cranks up. Gears grind.
PROJECTION: Snake Road “chase” video.
MIKE descends toward Cemetery.
MIKE (to us): Joe got into my truck and
ground those Chevy gearsall the way to The Devil’s Lounge.
JOE moves up Snake Road to Bar Doors,as RING exits through them.Joe gets out of Chevy.
MIKE (to us): Got there just in time to confront Ring Walker.
Both of ‘em had been itchin’ for this fightfor a very very long time.
AUDIO: Live squawking saxophonepunctuatesQuick stylized fight/choreography:
Joe Fish vs. Ring Walker (footwork to be devised).Fight continues as JOE and RING disappeardown into The Devil’s Lounge.
LIGHTS
The CLIPPER “Rosalia”.
MIKE on deck.
MIKE (to us): Of course, there’s no prize for a
never-ending Portuguese bullfight like that one.Both boys got in their licks before they wound upbattered and scattered in their ever-lasting stand off.
They’d both gotten too old for fisticuffs, sothey eventually abandoned the Devil to his Lounge.Ring sped off without his siren wailin’.But the Chevy’s gears were shot.So Joe had to walk home – alone.
As he meandered back to townon Snake Roadthrough the jungleabove Shoreline,Joe said to himself:
JOE (aside): “This must be how Tarzan feels – without the rope.”
Pause.
MIKE (to us): Eventually Joe wandered into
St. Catherine’s Cemetery,where he met me and the morning.
He surely didn’t intend to be here,hangin’ without a knot.
LIGHTS
The CEMETERY – Early morning.JOE walks toward Mike’s headstone.He whistles.
MIKE remains on deck of the CLIPPER “Rosalia”.
[Joe freezes in place each time Mike speaks.]
MIKE (to us): He’s not gonna hear me up there.
Joe takes step forward, freezes.
MIKE (to us): But I’m gotta tell him anyway.
Joe takes another step.
JOE (to headstone): Mike – Hope ya can hear me.
Joe takes step forward, freezes.
MIKE (to Joe): I never left.
Joe takes another step.
JOE (to headstone): Feels like Mama and Papa
don’t hang around here much anymore.I know you’re still with me, Mike.
I like that.
But it don’t help me read.
(Long pause.)
We got a problem with “Rosalia”.The State sent a letter.
Fish and Game.
They wanna take our nets.Norma Jeane read it. But she’s gone now.She turned out worse than Dotty Santos.
(Joe stands up.)
Oh, and you shoulda given me those drivin’ lessonsI fried the brakes and wore out the clutchtakin’ the Chevy up Snake.
Pause.
Joe gets down on one knee.
JOE (to headstone): I’d like to pray,
if you don’t mind.Lord, Mama, Papa, Mike …help me do the right thing.I always get dumb thoughts.
I wanna bring Norma Jeane homefor good this time! (beat)
But I don’t think I should.
Joe freezes in place.
MIKE (to Joe): There’s no more life for us on Shoreline, Joe.
It’s fished out!
Joe gets up, turns away from headstone,looks toward water.
JOE (to himself): Talkin’ to a gravestone. (beat) This’s nuts.
Joe freezes in place.
MIKE (to Joe): Come on, Joe.
Joe takes a step back.
JOE (to himself): Norma Jeane’d do somethin’ like this ... buy flowers
for the dead.
Joe freezes in place.
MIKE (to Joe): Time to move on, Joe Fish.
Joe turns to headstone, freezes.
MIKE (to Joe): Forget her. Leave Shoreline.
Joe addresses headstone.
JOE (to headstone): Mike, I don’t wanna go. But I gotta leave Shoreline.
(turns away, aside) I got no peace without her.
Joe steps toward his House, freezes.
MIKE (to Joe): You got no peace WITH her either.
Joe turns again to headstone.
JOE (to headstone): Yeah, Mike – you’ll be proud of me.
WOZ BOK stands framed in DEVIL’S LOUNGE doorway.He plays a lonely saxophone solo!
SLOW FADE OUT
End of Act Two
[SET CHANGE: Edsel replaces Chevy.]
THE WHARF – Evening.
Frozen in place: WOZ and RING gaze across The Creek.
MIKE at wheelhouse of CLIPPER “Rosalia”.
MIKE (to us): History’s a simple song sung by an odd mockin’bird:
“Once upon a time … years pass … then one day.”But who gets to tell The Hometown Story?Who speaks the unbearable truth of Time?Like Norma Jeane said:“We ain’t here for kicks and giggles.”
PROJECTION: Reflections of fire flicker across scrim.
Mike leaps from deck onto Wharf.
He points across The Creek.
MIKE (to us): Somethin’ smelled fishy about the massive fire that destroyed
our Shoreline landmark – The Alhambra Mineral Water plant.The place had been sold and shuttered two years beforea quote “sudden, deadly shift in the wind” unquote sparked“The Blaze of Suspicious Origins” that burned it to the ground.
The Gazette reporter called it: “The Alhambra Water Fire!”
The Plant sat near The Cannery across The Creek from The Wharf.A good place for temporary storage of relics, ruins and illegal paperwork.Shoreline gossip said Ring and Woz needed that fireto snuff out fake public records and other incriminatin’ evidenceof forgery, extortion, bank fraud and tax evasion along The Wharf.Plus the stink of big-time Mob corruption at The Devil’s Lounge.The Gazette demanded the Grand Jury investigate, now thatJudge Walker was gone. Let’s see how all that transpired.
LIGHTS
MIKE disappears.WOZ and RING spring to life.
AUDIO: Sirens. Firetrucks.
WOZ (sniffs deeply, beat): Ah, the Sweet Smell of Success!
RING: Pumper trucks came from Port Chicago, Concord – Crockett.
WOZ: Big fire.
RING: Big building.
Pause.
WOZ: Always wondered how they got such a long name across the top.
(spreads out his arms) Coulda seen that sign from Mount Wanda!Ever wonder how long it took to paint that?
RING (both hands indicate): “Alhambra … Natural … Spring … Water.”
WOZ: It’s a landmark. No doubt.
RING: WAS a landmark.
WOZ: You got that right.
Pause.
RING: Gotta be arson.
Pause.
RING: Around the time of the fire – I saw Huck over there.
WOZ: No foolin’?
RING: Didn’t you see him too – I thought you saw him?
WOZ: Maybe.
RING: Sure ya did.
Pause.
RING: Not hard to miss Huck Simms – that Black dago!
WOZ (beat): He ain’t black.
RING: You know what I’m telling you.
Beat.
WOZ: Maybe somebody else saw him?
Ring does not respond, gazes across the marsh.
Pause.
WOZ (nervous): Better check all y’all’s records.
RING: You bet we will (beat) And I’ll count on you as my star witness.
Woz sticks his hands in his pockets,
looks up toward The Devil’s Lounge.
WOZ (vague): Of course ... y’all’ll be careful with those records, I’m sure.
(beat) It costs a lot to keep ‘em safe and secure.
Pause.
RING: Dad’s bailiff says there’s a long docket with tons of time for somebody
on top the Arson charges: extra counts of Grand Theft. Forgery. Bank Fraud. Witness Tampering.Narcotics Trafficking. Misuse of Public Funds. Impersonating an Officer. And a whole bunch of IRS trouble added onto the DA’s charges.
WOZ (nervous): They’d rather be buried under Huck’s shithole Ark.
RING: You got that right.
Pause.
RING: State AND Federal charges! Somebody’s gotta do hard time for this.
Unless we get him declared nuts first – file him away withNorma Jeane in Napa State Hospital?
WOZ: That’d handle his credibility problem.
RING (beat): Not all that difficult to commit somebody with a busted reality!
Pause.
RING: Huck can’t be trusted – for his own safety. You know that, I know that.
WOZ: Can’t be trusted on his own. Just like Norma Jeane.
RING: Somebody’s gotta do the time – somewhere. (beat) I dunno, you tell me.
WOZ (chuckles): White Man’s Burden.
RING: They’re all good people. But the exceptions always rule.
As they exit, a very troubledFELUCCA sticks her head out of Ark door.
She looks to see if the coast is clear,then rushes to Phone Box,begins to dial.
BLACKOUT
AUDIO: Solo uptempo saxophone. Dialing sounds
WOMEN’S VOICES (off): Come on, Joe – Come on!
JOE (off): Who are you?
WOMEN VOICES (off): We’re your Mamas – Your Hot Choy Mamas!
JOE (off): My Mama’s Rosalia!
WOMEN VOICES (off): Come on, Joe! Come on!
AUDIO: Saxophone changes tempo.
JOE: Mama!
WOMEN VOICES (off, trailing): Come on, Joe!
VOICES fade out.
AUDIO: Saxophone tones turn into chimpanzee call.
HUCK (off): Darwin?
FELUCCA (off): Where are you, monkey shine?
HUCK (off): We got bananas!
FELUCCA (off): You wannum roasty marshmallows?
LIGHTS
NAPA STATE HOSPITAL (“Wharf”) – Evening.Frozen in place: JOE in Edsel.
NORMA JEANE in Joe’s bed.
PROJECTION: “Napa State Hospital”.
MIKE appears in wheelhouse of CLIPPER “Rosalia”.
MIKE (to us): Some fairly famous people call our town home.
Writer John Muir inspired the national park system.Mayor Cappie Ricks brought us into the 20th Century.George Miller compounded our interest in Congress.Judge Wake Taylor was a student hero at Berkeley – markmy words, his name’ll be up there on the Courthouse someday!
Our local heroes and waterfront misfitsalways come back home – eventually.
Even if they can’t be someone’s hero,or don’t wannabe famous anymore.
Nobody really escapes the Shoreline– if they’re born here.
Especially anybody who’s unskilled labor.The handy ones who work their own boats.Set their own nets.Bend their own backs,break their own hearts.
The ones who can’t afford to have a nervous breakdown.
LIGHTS
MIKE disappears.
JOE and NORMA JEANE begin to move.(Scrim separates them.)
PROJECTION, simultaneous swirling time-lapse overlays:A) Norma Jeane’s mental chaos, andB) Joe’s Edsel attacks the curves of Snake Road.
AUDIO: “Putt-putt” motor continues.Norma Jeane in nightgown, gets out of bed and “sleepwalks” to Hospital Doors.
[Note: The following passage should be prerecorded and played backduring performance – Joe and Norma Jeane remain mute on stage withtheir words running as “soundtrack”. Although their lips don’t move,they’re having a “psychic” conversation.]
LIGHTS
AUDIO: Distant metallic door closes and echoes.
Live Music: A muted solo saxophone joins motor rhythm.
JOE: I’m not late, am I?
NORMA JEANE: I don’t wanna hear anything.
JOE: Just give me five minutes.
NORMA JEANE: You’re the one who needs to listen.
Pause.
JOE: After nine months, (beat) just give me five minutes.
Norma Jeane holds up her journal between them.
NORMA JEANE (“reads” poem): “I am alone. I am always
alone. (beat) Alone I am – in all ways.”
JOE (beat): Good. You’re doing your poetry.
NORMA JEANE (“reads”): “No matter what – my body is My Body”.
JOE: Where’d ya get the paper?
NORMA JEANE (“reads”): “Every bone in it!”
JOE: Can ya hear me?
NORMA JEANE: If they’re gonna treat me like a nut – I’m gonna act like a nut!
JOE: Norma Jeane?
NORMA JEANE: Dr. Huntleigh told me I’m a very sick girl. (pause) Trouble is
I always end up back where I started. (beat) I never loved anybody much
– and here I am. Starting over again. Alone.
JOE: How can I love somebody who disappears all the time?
NORMA JEANE (big smile): I’m always full of interesting strangers.
Joe is dumbstruck.
NORMA JEANE: Sometimes I feel like I’m two different people. One
of them hasn’t been born yet.
Pause.
JOE: Who the hell else do we have in this world?
NORMA JEANE: I’m the only woman who’s ever been your friend.
JOE: You said you love me – I don’t think ya know what that means.
Williams unquote.
Pause.
JOE: If you were more simple, it’d be easier for me to help you.
NORMA JEANE: “I guess you’re used to girls that like to be lost.”
Blanche DuBois unquote.
JOE: Your clothes are too tight!
NORMA JEANE: Everybody wants a piece of me, Joe!
JOE: You attract the wrong kind of attention.
NORMA JEANE: I’m not ashamed of myself.
JOE: Your mom was nuts too.
NORMA JEANE: I’ve done nothing wrong.
JOE: You read all the time. Dogs never bite you.
NORMA JEANE (blurts): I’ve had twelve abortions!
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: I can’t have babies!
Long pause.
Joe now gets it.
Beat.
JOE: We ain’t smart.
Pause.
JOE: We can’t talk about how we feel.
NORMA JEANE: I can! (beat) We’re headed in different directions, Joe.
JOE: I mean – we’re Blue Class (sic).
NORMA JEANE (suddenly lucid): I’m not so damn dumb! Ring is mixed up
in a tax-fraud insurance scam. If Sheriff knew what was going on,Ring’d be in jail. He knows I can put him behind bars!
JOE: Damn Waldo Walker – why’s he messin’ with you?
NORMA JEANE: I feel like I’m in some kinda prison – for a crime I didn’t commit.
JOE: Nobody takes you away from me.
NORMA JEANE (lost behind scrim): Joe? Joe – Where’d ya go?
JOE: I’m here!
NORMA JEANE: If I’m gonna be alone – I … I don’t wanna be by myself.
(hard beat) I just wanna be wonderful.
JOE: You always have my honest loyalty. You know that.
NORMA JEANE: Go … go back! You’re not gonna make me feel sorry anymore.
JOE: You talk like ya don’t know what you’re saying.
NORMA JEANE: Please, I’m not blaming you, Joe. You can’t have me now,
so you want me. That’s all.
Pause.
Joe backs up.
NORMA JEANE: I never looked at it any different. I just (beat) don’t believe
in the whole thing anymore. (Pause) Marriage.
JOE (befuddled): We got the license.
NORMA JEANE: You don’t understand – You’re not here, Joe!
JOE: I don’t wanna hear anything.
Joe covers his ears.
NORMA JEANE: “I am both of your directions” …
Joe bends over.
NORMA JEANE: “My bare … derriere” …
Joe exits Edsel,
puts his hands on the scrim
(can’t get through).
NORMA JEANE: “Strong as a cobweb in the wind” …
Joe goes to all fours.
NORMA JEANE: “My beaded rays have colors” …
Joe turns away from Norma Jeane.
NORMA JEANE: “I hear Benny Goodman solos” …
Joe stands up again,
AUDIO: A sudden wind
NORMA JEANE: “Life – they have cheated you!”
Joe leans into wind.
NORMA JEANE: Men are like fine wine.
Joe begins to bend.
NORMA JEANE: They … they improve with age.
AUDIO: Wind howls.
NORMA JEANE: Joe – Take me to the Bear Flag.
Joe falls and starts to roll off stage.
JOE (into wind): If you leave – I’ll still be with you!
NORMA JEANE: Don’t leave me!
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: “Blue roses for the Dead”.
BLACKOUT
The CLIPPER “Rosalia” – Morning. Fog.
MIKE stands watch in wheelhouse.Frozen in place: JOE and HUCK with net on deck.
MIKE (to us): Nobody blames Joe for his odd feelin’s toward women.
Particularly after the queer way he earned his nickname,“Joey-The-Riveter”. Just another deceit he suffered at home.
After Joe married Dottie, all his brothers went to War.Each of us got assigned to different Victory ships in the Pacific.Joe stayed home building those ships “with the ladies” – and his wife,the youngest daughter in a brood of five Portuguese beautiesall with husbands away fightin’ somewhere overseas.
Everyone but Joe knew what kinda trouble that spelled.But of course Joe can’t even spell his own name.
(Pause.)
While we were at War, Joe worked alongside his bride,her sisters and other lonely “Rosie-the-Riveters”workin’ warships at Richmond Yards.
There in that hothouse, Joe’s sisters-in-law conspiredto test his marriage against the will of every workin’ womanwhose bed lay empty while her man was away.
But as we know by now, when easy opportunityaroused him, Joe Fish just couldn’t resist!
LIGHTS
MIKE disappears.
JOE and HUCK come to life, pulling net.
AUDIO: Fog horn.
HUCK: I think they’re settin’ me up!
JOE: Who?
HUCK: Hot-shot Sheriffs Captain – Ring Walker.
JOE: Sumbitch – Waldo Walker.
HUCK: Woz Bok is helping him rig it.
JOE (lumpish): Whadda they know?
HUCK: The Alhambra fire.
JOE: So what?
HUCK: Arson … they need a fall guy – me!
JOE: Why you?
HUCK: You know: black – and dago.
BLACKOUT
AUDIO: Loud primal primate screech.
FELUCCA (off): Darwin!?!
AUDIO: Fog horn. (beat) Loud dynamite explosion.
LIGHTS
[SET CHANGE: Ark doors now covered]
NONNI in her KITCHEN on her phone.
JOE now in “NAPA” on Phone Box.
NONNI (into phone): So, you just walked right into Napa State Hospital and
got someone to take you to Norma Jeane. And once you found her,then you just stormed out with her. (beat) Just took her right out the door?Didn’t sign anything? (to herself) Of course not! He can’t read(back into phone) What did you say to them?
Beat.
JOE (into phone): “I Want My Wife.”
Pause.
NONNI (into phone): Joe. (beat) She’s not your wife.
Pause.
JOE (into phone): They knew what I meant.
NONNI (into phone): Yes – you Tarzan, she Jane!
JOE (into phone): Somethin’ Gotta Give.
Pause.
NONNI (into phone): Didn’t they do anything to stop you?
JOE (into phone): Not a goddamn thing.
NONNI (into phone): Surely they did something?
JOE (into phone): They got the hell outta my way.
NONNI (into phone): You didn’t even bother to sign her out? Holy
son of Joseph and Mary!
BLACKOUT
AUDIO: Broken glass crash.
FEMALE VOICE (off): Hey! You can’t go in there.
JOE (off): I Want My Wife.
MALE VOICE (off): Look out, he’s got a ball-bat!
AUDIO: More broken glass.
LIGHTS
JOE now in HOUSE sits on edge of his bed andsilently stares vaguely out his front window.NONNI in her KITCHEN chats on her phone.FELUCCA at WHARF talks on Phone Box.
FELUCCA (into phone): She took a powder – left him in Vallejo.
NONNI (into phone): Do ladies – do that?
FELUCCA (into phone): She’s no lady, she’s his wife-for-life.
NONNI (into phone): Why didn’t Joe tell me she ran off again?
FELUCCA (into phone): He felt ashamed. (beat) He told Huck.
NONNI (into phone): Just my luck. (beat) I’ll never replace his Mama.
FELUCCA (into phone): Joe stopped for gas, had to pee. When he came back,
she was gone. She’s got no trouble hitching rides with those curves.
NONNI (into phone): Where’d she go?
FELUCCA (into phone): Cannery Row.
NONNI (into phone): Nowhere else left to go.
BLACKOUT
AUDIO: Highway traffic.Clanging Bell of gas pump.
STATION ATTENDANT’S VOICE (off): She must be awful mad at you?
JOE (off): I shoulda known.
STATION ATTENDANT’S VOICE (off): She said you’d have to fly through
the forest like Tarzan to find her … Is she nuts?
JOE (off): No. (beat) I am.
LIGHTS
NONNI and JOE in her KITCHEN chatting at her table.
NONNI: Got no choice.
JOE: I know.
NONNI: Gotta leave town.
JOE: Mama’s gone.
NONNI: Got no work ...
JOE: Papa’s gone.
NONNI: … no family
JOE: Mike’s gone.
NONNI: ... no wife.
JOE: She’s gone.
Pause.
NONNI: Go to Monterey.
JOE: Too far away.
NONNI: Go find her, Joe – Call me when you get there.
Pause.
JOE: OK.
NONNI: Oh yeah, Felucca said they’re trying to arrest Huck –
Frame him for the Alhambra Water fire.
JOE: I can’t go if Huck needs me.
NONNI No – they’ve all scattered into the Delta to hide. There’s nothing
you can do here. Go find Norma Jeane!
JOE (ponders): Long drive – It’ll be faster in Rosalia
NONNI: Call her now ...
Nonni gets up, goes to counter.
NONNI: … I’ve got the number.
She opens her address book,hands it to Joe.Joe dials.AUDIO: Phone rings, click.NORMA JEANE’s voice on line.
NORMA JEANE (off): Hello, Bear Flag.
Joe struggles to speak.
NORMA JEANE (off): Bear Flag.
JOE (into phone): … Norma Jeane?
NORMA JEANE (off): Joe – is that you?!?
JOE (into phone): Can you hear me?
NORMA JEANE (off): Joe – I need you!
JOE (into phone): It’s long distance.
NORMA JEANE (off): Joe – I’m broke.
JOE (into phone): What?
NORMA JEANE (off): I can’t be a mother.
JOE (into phone): You told me.
NORMA JEANE (off): Men are like fine wine.
JOE (into phone): I know – we improve with age.
NORMA JEANE (off): Joe, come and get me!
Pause.
JOE (into phone): Promise you won’t run away again?
NORMA JEANE (off): I promise.
been provoked.
NORMA JEANE (off): I can’t wait. See you tonight!
JOE (into phone): Wait for me.
NORMA JEANE (off): “You’re only as good as the night they catch you.”
JOE (into phone): I’ll see you soon.
LIGHTS
HUCK and FELUCCA huddle outside Phone Box.Felucca hangs up.
HUCK: Animal Control picked up Darwin again.
FELUCCA: Damn creek monkey!
HUCK: Not so fast, Felucca! Remember you said never waste time
training Darwin to roast marshmallows?
FELUCCA: Yes.
HUCK: And I said it might come in handy some day?
FELUCCA: Yes.
HUCK: Well – it did.
FELUCCA: What happened?
HUCK: Darwin saved a bunch of papers from the fire. (beat) Boxes of papers.
FELUCCA: No!
HUCK: Yes! Incriminatin’ papers.
FELUCCA: Evidence?
HUCK: Darwin was sitting on two boxes of Ring’s forged forms.
All his black books. The Feds found ‘em – IRS fraud.
FELUCCA: What about us?
HUCK: The DA’s still considering charges.
FELUCCA: Then – we better shove off.
Huck unties Ark from Wharf.
They enter the Ark.
AUDIO: Short montage of aquatic and Shoreline sounds.
BLACKOUT
The CLIPPER “Rosalia” – Evening.Frozen in place: JOE stands watch in wheelhouseas hull rocks up and down.
PROJECTION: “Then One Day – 9 August 1962”AUDIO: Heaving seas and big swells.
LOVERS POINT – MIKE stands near PHONE BOX.
MIKE (to us): Joe Fish left Shoreline thinkin’ he’d never come back.
“Hometown Mama’s Boy Finally Gone For Good,” they said.Joe knew he was no hero at home. They called him a “snail”,– out-of-work, like Papa said – a “babbaluci”!
Only place now left for Joe to go was Cannery Row.
He figured Norma Jeane would end up where canneries still had work.Things there weren’t as bad as they were for canners along Shoreline.Maybe The Fire would return and he could catch sardines in Monterey Bay.
Joe thought she’d be there waitin’ for him.But he didn’t know the half of it.His motor needed time to plowthrough rough Pacific waves.So he got there a day late.
LIGHTS
PROJECTION: “Lovers Point – Cannery Row”
MIKE disappears while NONNIE and JOE come to life.Joe jumps from deck to Lovers Point Phone Box.
NONNIE on her phone in her KITCHEN.JOE on phone at Lovers Point, dialing.
AUDIO: Phone rings, long-distance echo.
NONNI (into phone): Hello?
JOE (into phone): Nonni?
NONNI (into phone): Where are you – Cannery Row?
JOE (into phone): Lovers Point.
Pause.
JOE (into phone): Long Distance. (louder) Ya hear me?
NONNI (into phone): Yes, Lovers Point – Can you hear me?
JOE (into phone): Sure. You said to call.
NONNI (into phone): What took you so long?
JOE (into phone): Rosalia needed another day to get here. Her motor’s old.
Pause.
NONNI (into phone): Did you hear?
JOE (into phone): Hear what?
NONNI (into phone): At The Bear Flag?
JOE (unsure, into phone): What?
NONNI (into phone): They didn’t tell you?
JOE (into phone): No. What?
NONNI (into phone): Did you go there?
JOE (into phone): Just got here. This is the first phone I found.
Pause.
NONNI (into phone): Norma Jeane’s ... not (beat) responding.
JOE (into phone): What?
NONNI (into phone): She’s … unresponsive.
Pause. Joe doesn’t get it.
NONNI (into phone): Norma Jeane died.
Hard pause.
JOE (into phone): No …
NONNI (into phone): Yes!
Beat.
JOE (to himself): … no.
Pause.
NONNI (into phone): She passed at The Bear Flag.
Pause.
JOE (into phone): What … ?
NONNI (into phone): Last night. (pause) Overdose.
Hard beat.
Joe does not move.
NONNI (into phone): Sleeping pills. {pause) I told her …
Joe does not respond.
NONNI (into phone): Like a calendar girl – nude in bed.
Joe covers his eyes.
NONNI (into phone): My neighbor Sadako says the Japs call
it (strains to pronounce it) “Ta-kot-su-bo”.
Joe starts to sit, still holding phone.
NONNI (into phone): It means “to die of a broken heart”.
Phone cord slows Joe’s descent.
NONNI (into phone): It’s a word they used a lot at Manzanar when her
family went there for The War.
Joe does not sit.
NONNI (into phone): I keep losing her, Joe … WE keep losing her.
Long pause.
JOE (absently into phone): “She ain’t here for kicks and giggles.”
Pause.
NONNI (into phone): The lady at the Bear Flag says you can drop by
and get her journals.
JOE (into phone): The poetry?
NONNI (into phone): Yes. You can bring them home.
Pause.
JOE (to himself): Never comin’ back to the Wharf. I’m on a River of No Return.
Pause.
NONNI (into phone): One more thing you better know … (pause)
Man from Fish and Game was here. They wanna buy The Rosalia.
JOE (into phone): Rather let her rot.
NONNI (into phone): Joe!
JOE (into phone): Tell ‘em I ain’t sellin’.
LIGHTS
The CLIPPER “Rosalia” - Evening.
MIKE stands watch in wheelhouse.
MIKE (to us): Joe believed they’d get married again.
But Norma Jeane thought he’d stood her up.She didn’t have the patienceto wait for him another night.
What kinda “hero” strikes out like that?Napa – Vallejo – Lover’s Point.He’d lost her again,this time for good.She slipped right through his net.Strike three – you’re out.
If only he could’ve got there one day sooner,maybe Joe could have stopped her,saved her life – so she couldlive to write another poem.
But “Rosalia” was just too slow.And Norma Jeane couldn’t waitto become the Mama she never knew.
LIGHTS
JOE stands at LOVERS POINT.
AUDIO: Waves pound.
JOE (into phone): Went to Bear Flag. (beat) But Norma Jeane was gone. They
said she left a note.
Hard Pause.
JOE (into phone): Couldn’t read it.
Pause.
NONNI (into phone): Do they say it was suicide?
Pause.
JOE (into phone): Don’t matter – she’s gone.
FADE OUT
AUDIO: Siren fades in distance.
Quick dockside montage
LIGHTS
The WHARF. Late Evening.
HUCK and FELUCCA outside ARK door.
HUCK: They broke down the wrong door!
FELUCCA: The wrong door?
HUCK: The Ark next door! They saw Darwin go in the wrong door!
FELUCCA (laughs): A Wrong Door Raid!
HUCK: You got that right. The Feds nabbed the wrong guy. Turns out they got the
goods on Ring because Darwin’s love of roasted marshmallows. Darwin didn’t start the fire, but he sure knew how to use the heat. The chimp pulled out some boxes of papers to sit on. Those didn’t get burned and they turned out to be the incriminatin’ evidence that led The Feds to the bogus IRS files and Ring’s stash of fake IDs. Somebody confessed to Ring payin’ to set the fire. His own reverse sting got ‘em stung right back.
FELUCCA: No foolin’!
Felucca pulls Huck into the Ark.
HUCK: Felucca Lateen! (off) What’re-you-up-too!
LIGHTS
NONNI in her KITCHEN on the phone.
AUDIO: Phone rings.
NONNI (into phone): Hello, Joe?
JOE (into phone): I talked to the cop that found her.
NONNI (into phone): What’d he say?
JOE (into phone): He wanted to read me the note.
NONNI (into phone): What did IT say?
poem. It’s too sad.
Pause.
NONNI (into phone): Joe – it’s time for you to come on home.
JOE (into phone): Got any apple pie?
NONNI (into phone): Yeah (beat) and Huck’s found you a new roommate.
JOE (into phone): Can she cook?
LIGHTS
MIKE in wheelhouse of The Clipper “Rosalia” - Evening.
MIKE (to us): Maybe if we’d christened our “Rosalia”,
we might have had better luck as Old Men at Sea.Maybe if they’d been in the Columbus Day parade,Norma Jeane and Joe would’ve had it made.But as we now see, that was not meant to be.
After Nonni died, her house was sold andFelucca and Huck disappeared into The Delta.Meanwhile Joe came home to adopt Darwin,the creek monkey.
Darwin and Joe got along greaton Buckley Street there above the Wharf.
Nobody said a word, so it wasvery very quiet around Joe’s House.
Darwin knew how to survive The Creekand make a livin’ on Shoreline.He brought Joe all kinds of new clotheshe found hanging on lines in backyards.
Now and then, Joe and Darwin would ride the tide,avoid Fish and Game, and come home with enough fresh fishto trade for any thing they needed… just to get by.
In our Shoreline full of bums and heroes,nobody seemed troubled byJoe and Darwin pullin’ and settin’the last gillnet out of Grangers Wharf.
Now that Norma Jeane is gone for good,Joe still continues to keep his eyes open for“that long-delayed but always expected
somethin’ to live for”.
Of course, Joe has every right to say that –bein’ that he’s still alive to believe it.
END of PLAY
Apple tree/apple
Ark Doors (2) with covers
Tanning Vat with Steam
Phone Box
Nonni Stove
Nonni Table/Chairs
Nonni Refrigerator
Joe’s bed
Wind Machine
Chevy grill w. headlights *
Edsel grill w. headlights *
WARDROBE PROPS:
Norma Jeane’s bra
Norma Jeane’s half-mask
Norma Jeane’s bathrobe
Joe’s tie
Nonni’s apron
napkin
a piece of silk
PROPS:
“Old Man And The Sea” hardback
Look magazine
flexible rope for knots
salmon gillnets
net-cork floats
baseball and bat
Primus stove
net section with “salmon” attached
flotsam in net
flotsam bucket
wine bottle
Joe’s tv/turntable
Joe’s telephone
grocery bag
Norma Jeane’s journal
Norma Jeane’s beer can
Norma Jeane’s toothbrush
Norma Jeane’s body lotion
Miles Davis album
Nonni’s phone
Nonni’s mirror
large stuffed envelope
small stuffed envelope
Huck’s sheet music
AUDIO (Soundslate?):
Railroad crossing bell
Distant steam locomotive passing
Fog horns
Nautical bells …
Baseball knock
Edsel engine
Clipper putt-putt engine
Sputtering Primus stove
din of underground speakeasy (live)
jazz combo background
radio background: baseball
PROJECTIONS:
“Once Upon A Time – 1918”
“1954”
“Years Pass – 1954-1962”
“Then One Day – 9 August 1962”
“The Devil’s Lounge”
“Fisherman Found Dead in Bodega Bay”
“Joltin’ Joe Enters Baseball Hall of Fame”
snowy programs on Joe’s TV
Public Performances
Mike Fish – Ryan Terry
Norma Jeane – Courtney Shaffer
Nonni Russolini – Iumi Richard Crow [Frances, Women’s voices]
Felucca Lateen – Kimberly Perette [Women’s voices]
Huck Simms – Harlan Bailey
Ring Walker – Ross Richard-Crow [Station Attendant]
Woz Bok – Wayne Roadie
BOOKS
Steinbeck, John. Cannery Row. New York: Viking, 1945.
Heymann, C. David. Joe and Marilyn: Legends in Love. New York: Atria Books, 2014.
Meyers, Jeffrey. The Genius and The Goddess: Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009.
Monroe, Marilyn. Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010.
Taraborelli, J. Randy. Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2009.
Churchwell, Sarah. The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004.
Summer, Antony. Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe. New York: Macmillan, 1985.
Cunningham, Ernest. The Ultimate Marilyn. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 1998.
Cramer, Richard Ben. Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life. New York: Touchstone, 2000.
Clavin, Tom. The DiMaggios: Three Brothers, Their Passion for Baseball, Their Pursuit of the American Dream. New York: Harper Collins, 2013.
Engelberg, Morris and Schneider, Marv. DiMaggio: Setting the Record Straight. St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing, 2003.
Positano, John. Dinner with DiMaggio: Memories of an American Hero. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017.
Collins, Katherine Davi. Nostri Pescatori: Pioneer Italian Fishermen of Martinez. Self-published, 1997.
Jensen, Carol A. Maritime Contra Costa County. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2014.
Perry, Charlene McRae. Martinez: A Handbook of Houses and History. Martinez Historical Society, 2008.
Martinez Historical Society. Martinez: A California Town. Martinez, Ca. RSI Publications, 1986.
Martinez Historical Museum. Martinez. San Francisco: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
Shillinglaw, Susan. A Journey into Steinbeck’s California. Berkeley: Roaring Forties Press, 2006.
Tatam, Robert Daras. Old Times in Contra Costa County. Concord Ca.: Highland Publishers, 1993.
DVD
The Silver Horde (1930) – early docu-fiction about Alaska salmon fishing/canning.
Clash by Night (1952) – set in Cannery Row. Peggy the Cannery Worker (opening scene)
Swing Shift (1984) – a Jonathan Demme picture about Rosie-the-Riveter
Insignificance (1985) – play and film by Terry Johnson.
Chubasco (1968) – story of “son of a son” of a Portuguese tuna fisherman out of San Diego.
Thanks for guidance, inspiration and perspective:
Also thanks to these institutions:
1902 – Mama Rosalia Pescatori moves to Grangers Wharf with daughter Nellie.
1914 – Panama Canal opens. World War I begins.
1915 – First transcontinental telephone call; Vaudeville’s heyday begins.
– Joey Pescatori born on Buckley Street, eighth of nine children.
1916 – National Park Service born, based on essays of Martinez author John Muir.
1918 – Frances Pescatori hit by hot coal from passing locomotive. Family stays.
1920 – Prohibition begins. First radio broadcast: KDKA, Pittsburgh.
1926 – Norma Jeane born, an immediate orphan/foster child.
1929 – Stock market crash, Great Depression sets in.
1932 – “Joey Wino” gets booted from AHS baseball team based on “Portagee” lie.
1933 – Prohibition ends; Vaudeville loses out to The Talkies.
1934 – Bloody Thursday waterfront strike, San Francisco.
1936 – Bay Bridge opens. Hoover dam complete. Remington-Rand/UAW strike.
1937 – Golden Gate Bridge opens. Mae West banned from radio.
1938 – AFL-CIO “Sugar War” in streets of Crockett.
1939 – Joe marries Dotty Santos. Great Depression winds down. World War II.
1941 – Brothers Tom, Mike, Vinnie, Dom go to war. Joe works in Richmond shipyard.
1944 – Dotty divorces stay-at-home “Joey-the-Riveter”.
1945 – Harry Truman drops The Bomb. Adolph Hitler disappears.
1946 – “The Best Years of Our Lives” – Pescatori brothers return from war. Joe fishes.
1948 – Statewide Refinery strike turns violent in Richmond.
– Foster St. house where Joe was born burns down. Family moves to Buckley St.
1950 – California passes Levering Act for loyal oaths. George Miller only no vote!
1951 – Papa Pescatori dies in May. At funeral, Mama gives Joe The Evil Eye.
– Mama dies June 18. Mike and Joe continue to live and fish together.
1952 – Joe and Mike buy their Monterey Clipper, name her “Rosalia”.
1953 – Key System transit strike. Ferry service in decline. Cars get “cool”.
“AT RISE”
1953 – Mike dies and Norma Jeane returns.
1955 – Joe and Norma Jeane marry.
– Joe and Norma Jeane divorce.
– Norma Jeane moves back in with Nonni.
1957 – Joe gets his Edsel.
– Alhambra Natural Mineral Water burns down; Ring suspects Huck.
1958 – Carquinez closed to commercial fishing.
1961 – The Devil’s Lounge.
– Huck takes a fall.
– escape from Napa.
1962 – Joe leaves with roses for Cannery Row; arrives one day late.
– Norma Jeane’s takotsubo broken heart. Joe goes home.
“CURTAIN”
1922 – Yankee Stadium opens. (3:53)
1936 – Rookie Joe DiMaggio goes three-for-six in his first Yankee game.
1937 – Jesse Owens wins 100 meters at Berlin Olympics. (0:44)
1941 – DiMaggio hits safely in 56-straight games, still a record. (2:51)
1947 – Jackie Robinson plays first base for Dodgers. (0:37)
1951 – DiMaggio retires from baseball at 37. (0:55)
1955 – Joseph Paul DiMaggio enters Baseball Hall of Fame. “Enjoy the game.” (3:01)
1956 – Jackie Robinson quits baseball. “Jackie transcends baseball.” (4:10)
1957 – Ebbets Field demolished. (2:48)
1964 – Clay becomes Ali. “I’m no longer a slave.” (1:01)
1965 – Branch Rickey dies. “Baseball ignored it, now we can’t” (2:42)
1968 – Olympic protest: Tommie Smith, John Carlos. “I can’t eat gold medals” (4:33)
1970 – Curt Flood’s “I am a man” letter --
Caution: No part of this dramatic work may be reproduced, for any reason, by any means, including any method of photographic reproduction, without the permission of the author.
This play is fully protected in whole, in part, or in any form, under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America, and all other countries of the Copyright Union, and is subject to a royalty.
All rights – including professional, amateur, motion picture, radio, television, recitation and public reading – are strictly reserved. All inquiries concerning performance should be addressed to the author at Traveling Light Studio (Contact Details below).
First Edition: September, 2018;
Published on Backstage Pass: March, 2022
ISBN:
Library of Congress Catalog Number:
Jobb, Jamie
Joe Fish Ties The Knot or Last Gillnet on Grangers Wharf
It reads great!
ReplyDeleteIt is time to close my eyes ... and perchance to dream of the regular plip-plop sound of the tiny waves as they hit the driftwood logs on the miniature beach.