Joe Fish Ties The Knot
or
Last Gillnet on Grangers Wharf
a post-historic fiction of tragic romance
by Jamie Jobb
Notes on Settings
“Joe Fish Ties the Knot” is an expressionistic dream play. The set should be designed and lit accordingly – dimly, with fixed profile spots highlighting various playing areas. An amount of dark claustrophobia should be inherent in these settings – after all, Joe is a recluse. Playing areas should be divided into level platforms so players may move up and down from boat to dock to home to road to bar doors without moving far. The playing areas:
Joe’s House – upstage right – BED in foreground with TV visible on TABLE. Two WINDOWs one overlooks Nonni’s house, another to the backyard. Interior DOOR leads to bathroom and rest of house. Exterior DOOR frame leads to Buckley/Snake Road.
Nonni’s Kitchen – upstage left – with big WINDOW looking across Buckley. PHONE, MIRROR and TABLE in foreground with STOVE in background. Apple TREE in window. Exterior DOOR frame.
Joe’s Clipper “Rosalia” – downstage right – bare bones Monterey Clipper with hull and deck visible to audience. STOVE, net GEAR and NETS on deck. HATCH cover.
Grangers Wharf – downstage left and center – docks with GILLNETS drying and Felucca’s VAT steaming down left just out of the wing. At wing is PHONE BOX and front edge of Huck’s ARK as well as another DOOR to another ARK. Wharf becomes Cannery Row Lovers Point in last act.
Snake Road – center – painted into platforms running from water up to bar doors.
Railway Crossing – downstage center – marker with flashing lights and painted tracks of Transcontinental Railroad.
Mike’s Truck/Edsel with GRILL/HEADLIGHTS embedded on Snake Road between Wharf and Lounge. Truck in first act, Edsel in second. Projected motion effects around fabricated vehicle frame. Headlights work!
St. Catherine’s Cemetery – mid stage right – on Snake Road. HEADSTONES for Papa, Mama and Mike Fish.
The Devil’s Lounge – upstage center – at end of Snake Road in Crockett. Bar DOORS imply a speakeasy entrance with downward steps inside doors. In Act III, these doors become entrance to Napa State Hospital. NOTE: Live jazz combo could set up under/behind the upstage structure. If so, players should be lit so that their shadows bounce around the set as they play. Drums, piano, and guitar of The Hot Choys would be under the set, while Woz Bok would play his sax on stage at the doors to the Lounge.
One big GILLNET – growing up from wharf vats and racks, arching along proscenium and rigged so it’s able to drop down at interval.
Notes on Characters
Giuseppe Paolo Pescatori – aka “Joe Fish” – A “Shoreline rat”, although he lives in family home at 220 Buckley. Everyone calls him “the recluse of Buckley Street”. It’s getting hard to make a living fishing the gillnets in Carquinez Strait. Unable to play ball, he doesn’t have much else to do. No further skills beyond fishing, which he hates. Only one friend. Guilty Catholic: his first wife divorced him, then his father, mother and brother die … victim of gossip. Avoids town. Sicilian-American male (39-47).
Michelangelo Benito Pescatori – aka “Mike Fish” – Joe’s recently-departed big brother, second-oldest son of Sicilian fisherman found dead in the water off Bodega Bay on May 30, 1953. Joe’s last ally in the family and his former roommate. The one who taught him to fish, they are the two biggest men in family of nine children. Their mother had died four years earlier, a devastating loss now for Joe. Mike and Mom are not nearby. Mike remains in play as a ghost and narrator of the story. Sicilian-American male (42).
Norma Jeane Mortensen Russolini – aka “Marjorie Stengel”, “Norma Jeane Walker” and “The widow across the road” from 220 Buckley – On fifth anniversary of husband Nino’s death at sea, she returns to town. He was a Sicilian fisherman; she worked in the cannery. Norma Jeane, who was adopted, now needs to care for her mother-in-law Nonni who’s ill and all alone. Norma Jeane wants to be a mother, but doesn’t know how. She again starts working at the cannery, trying to resettle on Grangers Wharf. Norma Jeane always seems to have more than one man hanging on, with at least one of them oblivious to it all. Caucasian female (27-35).
Mariaelena Russolini – aka “Nonni” – Norma Jeane’s mother-in-law/town gossip has resided at 219 Buckley Street since the place was built. She appreciates the in-home care but senses Norma Jeane may have returned to town for other reasons. Norma Jeane is always eyeing the house across the street, even when she lived there, married to Nino. Italian female (60-68).
Felucca Lateen – Mythic market fisherwoman from the marshes of Carquinez Strait. An apparition, she maintains local fishing nets with her often-steamed tanning vat. St. Catherine may be the patron saint in town, but Felucca is the saint of the Strait. Gypsy female (28-36).
Samuel William Rogers Simms – aka “Huck” – The African-Italian fisherman and pianoman who lives on El Hembre Creek on his “Ark” with a pet beaver Claude and his pet monkey, Darwin, who’s run away more than once. Huck became Joe’s unreliable second-hand-man after Mike died. Huck gets around. African-Italian male (30-38).
Capt. Ralph Waldo Walker – aka “Ring” – former Alhambra High team captain, now captain for County Sheriff. Norma Jeane’s other love interest in town. Head of large Portuguese family. A bit of a racist, Walker arrests Huck who has been set up by Woz Bok who has found a new piano player. Joe calls him “Waldo”. Portuguese-American male (40-48).
Woz Bok – Beebop bandleader, old school pal and hunting/fishing buddy of Ring Walker. Performs at sock hops and bars as “Woz Bok and His Hot Choys”, a notorious dance band based out of The Devil’s Lounge in Crockett … Woz is often found at center of much Contra Costa mischief. Models himself after Sinatra and Elvis. Portuguese-American male (40-48).
VOICES: Frances Fish, Station Attendant, Women’s voices.
Joe Fish Ties The Knot
or
Last Gillnet on Grangers Wharf
PROJECTION: “Once Upon a Time – 1918”
AUDIO: Railway crossing bell.
Steam locomotive takes its sweet time.
FRANCES (off): Yeeeoowwwww!
AUDIO: Bell clang continues as train rattles rails.
FRANCES (off): Mike – Mike!
MIKE (off): What?
FRANCES (off): I’m hurt.
MIKE (off): What happened?
FRANCES (off): Cinder from that train.
MIKE (off): How bad?
FRANCES (off): Just missed my eye.
MIKE (off): Lemme see.
Beat.
FRANCES (off): My cheek really stings.
MIKE (off): Let’s find Mama.
AUDIO: Locomotive fades away. Bell clang stops.
LIGHTS UP
The CLIPPER “Rosalia” – Early morning. Fog.
MIKE emerges from wheelhouse onto deck.
PROJECTION: “1953”
AUDIO: Fog horn.
MIKE (to us): I don’t wannabe here tellin’ you this.
Because it’s not true. Most of it. We just made it up.Only true parts are the fish. The nets. The knots.
And the location. Where it actually didn’t happen.Which is here – on The Shoreline – where we grew up.Our hometown came to life for California’s Gold Rush.Fifty years later, Papa moved here to fish the Straiton a marsh built overnight by silt from those gold mines.Our family immigrated from the northwest coast of Sicily,where everybody knew how to fish for steady money.Most of us settled on Grangers Wharf to do just that.Our Shoreline became San Francisco’s backbone.where the young city got its goods.Not only the fish, but alsoThe fruit. The nuts. The vegetables.The coal. The gas. The steel.The sugar. The flour. The lumber.The lead. The copper. The dynamite.The bricks. The canned goods. The cement.The dairy products. The chemicals. The mineral water.Not to mention all the laborneeded to produce that wealthso far away from our island home.So let’s return to Grangers Wharf in the middle of the Twentieth Century.Back in the day of Bogie and Hoagy after World War II.The house where we were born burned down three years after The Bomb.Since then it’s harder for us Pescatoris to catch a living in our gillnets.
LIGHTS
MIKE enters wheelhouse, starts engine.
AUDIO: Clipper "putt-putt" motor.
JOE wakes up as Mike kicks his shoe.
MIKE: Get movin’ lover boy. Who you think ya’re – Garbo?
JOE (bad accent): “I vant to be alone.”
MIKE: Not on our boat ya don’t! Get to work.
Joe gets up to stretch, turns on stove.
AUDIO: Stove sputters to life.
MIKE: Get my coffee. (beat) Mister Heffner.
JOE: Hey Playboy – you didn’t want her.
MIKE: Why would you?
JOE: She’s All About Eve – grabbed my Adam’s apple.
MIKE: That’s why we call it The Devil’s Lounge.
Pause.
Joe heats coffee.
JOE: Why you always drag me along?
MIKE: You’re lotsa laughs, lover boy.
JOE: Lousy bar partner. Hate drunks.
MIKE: You’re my skirt bait. You show up, ladies line up.
JOE: She’s no “lady”.
MIKE (beat): She was wearin’ culottes.
Joe turns away.
Mike grabs him by shoulders, flashes big smile.
MIKE: Ya got the looks, I got the smarts.
JOE (pulls away): You got the clap.
MIKE: Watch your mouth, dago.
Joe rummages around wheelhouse.
MIKE (to himself): I’d know that right away.
Mike picks up Look Magazine.
Joe re-enters with pot of cioppino.
MIKE (reads): Don’t forget – you’re named after a saint.
JOE: Who ain’t?
MIKE: Two saints – Giuseppe ... Paolo. (beat) Pescatori.
JOE: You know I never use that drivin’ license name.
MIKE: Like Papa said – “Be proud to be Pescatori!”
Joe puts cioppino pot on stove,removes coffee pot, pours Mike cup of coffee.
Pause.
JOE: You eat?
MIKE: Yeah.
Mike turns magazine page.
MIKE: Wanna drive my new Ford when it comes out in ‘57?
JOE: Four years?
MIKE: Everybody’s talkin’ about it. (shows magazine) “Toolin’ Up in Detroit”.
JOE: Your mystery Ford – sour-puss grill. Looks like a drown guppy.
MIKE: That’s the one! Then alla skirts’ll chase me. I won’t need ya, Joe Fish.
JOE: What’ll they call it?
MIKE: The Edsel Ford – named after Henry’s little brother. Use the grill
for hotdogs.
JOE: Manual or automatic?
MIKE: Who cares, you won’t be drivin’. You’ll be home watchin’ Howdy Doody.
JOE: Don’t drive stick.
MIKE: Ya don’t drive period. Especially stick. I need to give ya lessons
up on Snake Road.
JOE: To the moon, Mike. To the moon.
Joe fills his bowl with cioppino.
MIKE: Hard enough to keep a license for fishin’, let alone another one for drivin’.
JOE: Who needs a car? You got your truck.
MIKE: Gotta get rid of that Chevy. Can’t even make it to Crockett.
JOE: I hate Snake – we buried Mama and Papa up there.
MIKE: We need to go pay our respects. (beat). Flowers must be dead by now.
JOE (looks toward water): We need to catch more fish.
Distracted Joe spills fish-bits from bowl onto deck, ignores his mess.
Mike glares at him.
Joe ignores Mike.
MIKE: Papa always called you “babbaluci”. You never knew what
it meant … (bad “accent”) Ya “Baby Snail” ...
JOE: You know I hate that.
MIKE: … Won’t go anywhere. Hide in your shell.
LIGHTS on Nonni’s KITCHEN.
NONNI prepares a big pot on stove
while “talking” silently on telephone ...
MIKE: You need a new wife.
JOE: Who’d want me?
MIKE: Don’t sell yourself short, Big Guy. (regards mess) Ya gotta lot
to offer a wife.
JOE: Who’d wanna know me? Can’t make a high school ball team.
MIKE: Ya gotta make the effort with women, Joe. Whaddya want:
Lana Turner? Kim Novak? (pause) Marilyn Monroe?
JOE: Nobody wants a salty dog that smells like fish.
MIKE: Get a blonde mama who smells like fish.
Mike begins pulling net, removing tangled flotsam.
He collects debris in bucket.
Joe continues eating.
In her KITCHEN,
Nonni continues silently on phone ...
JOE: So ya beat him up pretty good?
MIKE: Had no choice. Family honor. Portagee punk. Keep away from our sister.
JOE: He shoulda known Frances is off limits.
MIKE: He ain’t from here. Now he knows to keep his paws off her. Nobody
messes with a girl that’s got one bad eye and five bad brothers.
JOE: Don’t he go to John Swett – star ballplayer?
MIKE: He ain’t from Shoreline – Connie Mack, third base.
JOE: He hurt bad?
MIKE (points to his head and knee): Got a good bump and a limp outta the deal.
JOE: Yeah?
MIKE: And he ain’t usin’ that left arm for awhile, that’s for damn sure.
JOE: Ran off quick – like Darwin?
MIKE: Had the nerve to call me “net nigger”. Sumbitch works
in a sugar mill for Chrissake! I cracked his cube!
JOE: I’da helped if I’da been there.
MIKE: Wouldn’t it be funny if that was true?
Mike continues removing flotsam.
Joe remains seated, continues eating.
… Nonni hangs up phone.
(beat)
FADE OUT on Nonni’s KITCHEN.
MIKE: I don’t count on you when you’re off chasin’ skirt.
JOE: Quicker’n ya can say Jackie Robinson.
MIKE: That nigger’s ruinin’ baseball!
JOE: Like some Greek poacher. Don’t mess with our family, Zorba.
MIKE: Damn minorities don’t know their place. (beat) Everybody
can’t be Sicilian.
JOE: We ain’t slaves.
MIKE: You sure ain’t “Joey Wino”.
LIGHTS on
DEVIL’S LOUNGE
WOZ BOK hands CASH to RING WALKER in uniform.
Ring hands big ENVELOPE to Woz.
They both enter Lounge doors.
FADE OUT
JOE: Ring Walker knows I don’t drink. Portagee punk – smokes Kools!
MIKE: He ain’t cool.
JOE: Disgrace to his uniform.
MIKE: Coach Campos didn’t check out the true facts – that’s for goddamn sure.
You coulda made that team, but Coach believed Ring’s Portagee lie.Their best hitter! I guess they didn’t want ten Italians on one squad. (pause)You didn’t like high school that much anyway. Can’t play ball if yadon’t stay in school.
JOE: School’s stupid.
MIKE: You wanna spell that out for me, Loverboy? (beat) S – c – h – o - o/
JOE: Shut up.
Mike continues removing flotsam, including a BASEBALL.
Joe remains at table.Mike tosses ball onto deck.
Pause.
Joe regards ball.
JOE: Won’t get married again. That’s for damn sure.
MIKE: I told ya to avoid that bitch. Dotty’s no friend of the truth.
JOE: Wouldn’t it be funny if that was true?
MIKE: (beat) Everybody knew except you. I don’t know one Santos who’s honest.
Joe stops eating, puts down bowl.
JOE: Nobody named Santos likes me.
MIKE: What do you expect – Ladies Of The Chorus? She set a trap for you Joe!
JOE: All that “Rosie-the-Riveter” bullshit.
MIKE: Stick your neck into somethin’ ya can’t back out of and you’ll get caught
in your own net every time. You should know that Giuseppe Pescatori!
Mike hauls up short section of gillnet
removes a piece of flotsam.
MIKE: Like some dumb King – somebody’s Big Fish?
JOE: No Business Like Show Business.
MIKE: You sayin’ I was drunk?
JOE: You don’t remember …
MIKE: You said it, I didn’t.
AUDIO: Fog horn.
LIGHTS on
WHARF
HUCK SIMMS and FELUCCA LATEEN enter
with net which they drop into tanning vat …
JOE: I don’t get women. They never know how to help me out.
MIKE: Mama was too good to us. She made our nets – she paid our debts.
Beat.
Joe gets up from table, picks up ball,taps flotsam bucket with his foot.
JOE: Our nets are always trouble. We shoulda blessed “Rosalia” like Tom said.
MIKE: I’ll believe that when you join St. Catherine’s – and they let you lead
the Columbus Day parade.
Joe picks up BASEBALL BAT, sets his feet and swings
AUDIO: Loud crack of bat.
Ball splashes into water.
clock for Paul DiSilva? Huh? (beat) You don’t remember Crockett,Nineteen Thirty-Eight. You couldn’t go. They called it “The Sugar War” – workers clubbin’ each other with baseball bats. The town reeked of tear gasand blood. Tom and Papa wanted to see what was goin’ on so they fired up his old Evinrude. Tide was goin’ out, so we got there fast.
Felucca stirs her
tanning vat ...
MIKE: Sheriff blocked Snake and the railroad to keep outsiders away.
But nobody was guardin’ Shoreline. So we tied up and walked right into town. Papa made us keep our distance, up by the high school while AFofL and CIO cracked skulls down at the sugar plant. He knew it wouldn’t helpto have three dago gillnetters jump in and try to calm things down.
JOE: Got no dog in that catfight.
MIKE: You got that right. (beat) Turns out that day made American History:
The Taft-Hartley Act got voted in after that.
JOE: Don’t vote – work on a boat.
Pause.
MIKE: If they’re gonna help sugar workers, why can’t they help us?
JOE: We don’t get a union.
MIKE: We got one – ain’t worth joinin’. Like the can-can workers.
JOE: Union wages – tough way to make a livin’.
MIKE: Givin’ to a union’s like givin’ to church. Everybody wants ten percent.
Costs too much to work.
Felucca continues to tend her vat ...
Huck exits into ARK.
JOE: We got our house. Huck’s stuck with Darwin and his Ark’s
crap-hole plumbin’.
MIKE: The State’s talkin’ about shuttin’ down the Strait again.
JOE: For Huck’s shithole?
MIKE: No. They wanna outlaw gillnets all together.
JOE (thinks about it): That’d kill us.
MIKE: You got that right.
AUDIO: Fog horn.
… Felucca exits into Ark.
FADE OUT on Wharf.
JOE: What’re we ‘spozed to do ... if we can’t catch fish?
MIKE: There’s enough salmon here to keep San Francisco fed into the next
century. Pellesini can will his business to his grandchildren. After he’s gone, they’ll make out like arsonists at a fire sale. Smoked salmon on Market Street!
JOE: Nobody can take our nets away.
MIKE: If we could afford a proper boat, we’d go to Alaska like Papa wanted.
JOE: Long trip – strange waters.
MIKE: Work two months on Bristol Bay and you’re off the rest of the year?
That’s good math.
JOE: Don’t rub it in, Mister Snake Road Scholar.
Mike picks up “Old Man and the Sea” and begins reading.
Joe puts down baseball bat and tends net.
Pause.
MIKE (reads): You idiot!
JOE (turns around): Now what’d I do?
MIKE: Not you … (shows book) Ernest Hemin'way.
JOE (can’t read cover): What’sit … ?
MIKE: “The Old Man and The Sea” – Listen to this: (reads) “Do you believe the
great DiMaggio would stay with a fish as long as I will stay with this one? (pause) I am sure he would because he is young and strong. (pause)Also, his father was a fisherman.”
JOE: Bull … shit.
MIKE (reads): “A fish won’t get in trouble if she keeps her mouth shut.”
unquote – East Coast sportfishin’ dandy! Ernest Hemin'way don’t know beans from buckshot about fishin’ for a livin’. (pause) Spend all day to catch one fish? We’d starve on Hemin'way’s boat.
JOE: DiMaggio’s got crab pots. (beat) Fisherman’s Wharf.
MIKE: Gave up gillnets when they left Pittsburg.
JOE: Hemin'way can’t make a livin’ on the water. Everything rots.
MIKE: Hell, he’s just a writer. From Cuba! What the hell’s he know – cigars?
JOE: Beach bum. A Pescatori don’t fish for sport.
AUDIO: Fog horn.
LIGHTS on
DEVIL’S LOUNGE
RING and WOZ
exchange envelopes at entrance to
the night club.
FADE OUT
Mike tosses down book,
picks up rope,
starts to tie knots.
MIKE (holds up rope knotted into a clove hitch): What kinda knot?
JOE: A hitch.
MIKE: What kinda hitch?
JOE: Pipe … hitch?
MIKE: Ya sure?
JOE: Half?
MIKE: Ya don’t sound too convinced.
JOE: They all look alike, Mike.
MIKE: Clove.
JOE: Clove hitch?
MIKE: Clove hitch! Joe, ya gotta know this stuff. I’m not gonna be around forever.
JOE: Don’t remind me, Mister Boy Scout – ya coulda been killed by the Nazis.
MIKE (upset): You didn’t fight Hitler!
JOE: You were in The Pacific, Mike. On a supply boat.
MIKE: Every single one of your brothers enlisted in the Navy. You
avoided the War!
JOE: Got a bleedin’ ulcer for my – whatchamacallit – “draft determent” (sic).
Now fully steamed, Mike tries to remain composed.
MIKE: At Papa’s funeral, Mama gave ya The Evil Eye. Ya know why?
Joe looks toward Cemetery.
Joe hangs his head.
MIKE: Hell Joe, you got to stay home – with Mama! Uncle Armando never got his
citizen papers so they relocated that dago out to Orinda where he couldn’tspy for Mussolini! (beat)
JOE: Nobody told me why he moved.
Pause.
MIKE: Everybody knows you don’t appreciate your War privilege. And The Wharf
don’t call ya “Joey-the-Riveter” for nothin’. Ya’d still be married if ya’d learn to keep your goddamn pants on. I told ya not to work with so many women all at once. Ya couldn’t handle the smell. (pause) And ya didn’t play ball. Ya’da been better off at War – with us.
Mike looks into water,
looks to sky,
checks his watch.
MIKE: Time to pull.
Joe wipes his mouth as he and Mike pull net.
Net contains only a few trapped salmon.
AUDIO: Fog horn.
LIGHTS
Nonni's KITCHEN – Twilight.NONNI alone on phone,does not notice NORMA JEANE approach.
NONNI (on phone): No, she didn’t. That’s so unlike Katrina – not on
Fourth of July! (beat) I don’t know. (pause) Ya don’t say. I needto call her …
Norma Jeane holds an open can of beer,enters without knocking.
NONNI (looks up): Norma Jeane!
NORMA JEANE: Nonni!
NONNI (to phone): Call ya back … (to Norma Jeane) Don’t Bother to Knock!
Nonni hangs up.
They hug.
NORMA JEANE: Got here fast as I dared.
Nonni gathers herself.
NONNI: Ya take the train?
NORMA JEANE: Missed it. Had to take the bus. Just made it. Late again.
NONNI: Of course.
They both laugh,
Norma Jeane sips her beer.
NONNI: Bus Stop … must’ve been hot.
Nonni tugs Norma Jeane’s blouse, underarm.
NORMA JEANE: Some Like It Hot. (touches Nonni’s hand) How you feelin’?
NONNI: Not too bad. (beat) Today.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: I missed you so much, Nonni.
NONNI: Me too – today’s a good day. You’re here.
NORMA JEANE: Let’s make sure all our days stay good from now on.
Nonni looks out window,
Norma Jeane puts down beer,
checks pantry.
NORMA JEANE: You hungry?
NONNI: When’d YOU learn to cook?
NORMA JEANE: Worked three years in a Lodi diner, O’Henry’s Full House.
Had to make ends meet.
NONNI: Sure.
NORMA JEANE: After Nino died.
NONNI: God rest his soul.
NORMA JEANE: Honest – I can cook now.
NONNI: Well, I’ll be dipped!
NORMA JEANE: So, are you hungry?
NONNI: All the time.
NORMA JEANE: Well you came to the right place. (beat) I hope you’re a
heavy tipper.
Nonni chuckles as Norma Jeane puts on apron, goes to stove.
NORMA JEANE: Now I’ll take care of all those things that’re too hard
for you to do.
NONNI: I need to get to the Courthouse tomorrow.
NORMA JEANE: We’ll walk.
NONNI: That’ll be nice.
NORMA JEANE: I miss Main Street.
NONNI (serious): Ya don’t feel bad about going back to Court?
NORMA JEANE: Nonni, it was Probate for Christ’s sake. They don’t lock you up
in Probate!
NONNI: Sounds terrible – the “bait” part.
NORMA JEANE: Remember. Three years ago when we settled Nino’s estate in Probate.
NONNI: Nino? (dimly) He’s coming back home?
NORMA JEANE: No.
Pause.
LIGHTS on Joe’s House
Joe turns on tv ...
Norma Jeane sees Joe through window.
NORMA JEANE: Nino’s not coming back.
NONNI: I know, (pause) it’s just sometimes – it’s like he's still here.
Norma Jean steps back from window.
NORMA JEANE: I know something’s coming. I can feel it.
NONNI: It’s odd. I don’t feel at all funny talking about this.
NORMA JEANE: Me too …
NONNI: You can say anything to me. You’ll always be my daughter-in-law.
NORMA JEANE: I’m Your Impossible Dreamer who always wants blue roses
at her wedding. (aside) Nobody tells you How To Marry A Millionaire …
NONNI: Another wedding – who?
Pause.
Norma Jeane turns from window.
NORMA JEANE (lost): Nobody.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: You know we tried to give you a grandson, Nonni.
NONNI: I know.
NORMA JEANE: More than once. (beat) I wanna love, and be loved –
More than anything in this world.
NONNI (aside): You’re only As Young As You Feel.
Norma Jeane returns to stove to cook.
… Joe exits into bathroom,
FADE on Joe’s House.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: What’s happened to Giuseppe – across the road?
NONNI: Three years after Rosalia died, God rest her soul, he loses his big brother
Michelangelo to the same sea that brought them from Italy. No wonder he hates his boat. It makes him seasick. Yet it’s the only thing that makes his living.
NORMA JEANE (not listening): He’s always been so quiet.
NONNI: We don’t see much of Joe, now that Mike’s dead.
NORMA JEANE (now hears it): His brother – died?
NONNI: On Bodega Bay. Heart attack, they said.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: That’s too too sad ... I always liked those Pescatori boys.
NONNI: Joe – he’s the ornery one. Like Huck’s chimp Darwin. Rascal
stole my apron.
NORMA JEANE: Joe don’t look ornery.
NONNI: Dotty Santos left him, called him “Joey-the-Riveter” after he lost
control of his “drill” in Richmond. (pause) But everyone knows she set him up with help from her conniver sisters. When a Portagee turns on ya, the whole family turns on ya.
Beat.
NORMA JEANE: Joe sure is a lousy dresser. I don’t like men who wear loud
clothes with checked suits, big muscles and pink ties. They make me nervous.
NONNI: Forget his clothes. He always got hand-me-downs.
NORMA JEANE: Why?
NONNI: Joe was the eighth of nine kids. Rosalia was a baby factory the minute
she landed on Shoreline. He’ll only get new clothes when he gets married again.
NORMA JEANE: I’d like to have lots of babies like that.
Pause.
Norma Jeane continues cooking.
NONNI: Why don’t ya get Joe to tie the knot, settle down – raise a dozen babies?
NORMA JEANE (wistfully lost): Maybe I will.
NONNI: Live right across the road.
NORMA JEANE: Fine men are like fine wine. They improve with age!
NONNI: Giuseppe don’t drink.
NORMA JEANE: First time I met him, I thought he was an Italian actor.
Turns out, he’s scared of me. (pause) I can fix that!
NONNI: You could have an arranged marriage. Like my mother and her’s before
that. Just let the family choose who ya marry. Takes all the fuss out of it.
NORMA JEANE (beat): Orphans don’t get their marriage fixed. You need
parents for that.
Pause.
NONNI: Sorry – I forgot!
NORMA JEANE: Anyway, who’s The Prince and The Showgirl in that kind
of arrangement? I wish I had a family to find my Gentleman Caller.
NONNI: You’ve got me – I’m all the family ya need.
NORMA JEANE: I know (beat) but Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Norma Jeane plates food for Nonni.
Pause.
Norma Jeane looks out window at apple tree.
NORMA JEANE: That apple we planted – it’s sure gotten bigger.
NONNI: Two bushels last year. Felucca and Huck got tired of my pies.
NORMA JEANE: When I was away, I’d think of that tree. (beat) It reminds
me of you.
NONNI: Me too – of Nino.
NORMA JEANE: We planted it for you, Nonni. It was Nino’s idea.
NONNI: It started bearing fruit right after he died.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: One day in Lodi, I was making an apple pie.
I cut into one big apple and more than half of it was rotten.Brown as dirt! Turns out the seeds had sprouted insidethe core and the roots of the seeds were digging intothe apple meat. (beat) Those roots were eatingthe apple alive!
Pause.
Norma Jeane puts down plate on table.
Nonni takes one bite and grimaces.
NONNI: Well, mmm.
NORMA JEANE: Sorry. I never could cook for you. I hate garlic.
(cries) – Makes me smell awful!
NONNI (eats cautiously): No, no! It’s good.
NORMA JEANE (still cries): Perfume won’t cover it up!
Nonni continues “eating”.
Norma Jeane gathers herself, returns to stove.
Nonni secretly spits out her bite into her napkin.
NONNI: There there, Norma Jeane – We’re home now.
Nonni continues “eating”.
NORMA JEANE: Do you have any pills?
NONNI: Still having trouble getting to bed …
LIGHTS
The CLIPPER “Rosalia” – Early morning. Fog.Frozen in place: JOE and HUCK remain on deck pulling net.MIKE on Snake Road at CEMETERY.PROJECTION (news headline):“Fisherman Found Dead In Bodega Bay”
MIKE (to us): I don’t miss it, the life at sea.
You can get killed in an instant. I did.Got knocked right off my boat. Drowned.
(Hard pause.)
People thought I had a heart attack. “A seasoned son of a salmon fisherman would never fall off his own boat,” they said. But, an ill wind got rid of me at forty-three. I turned my back on the sea – and that was that!
For the longest time, Joe thought I’d been murdered – he wanted revenge.He stalked Sheriffs Captain Ring Walker, under the false impression thatRing had plotted against him again. But the Sheriff knew Ring wasnowhere near Bodega Bay that day. Don’t matter much,far as I’m concerned.
(Pause.)
Now I get to watch the story with you. It’s “expressionistic” as we say.It’s a dream, a memory, a myth. (beat) A piece of silk blown away in a breeze.
[GAG: silk scarf in a breeze blows away from Mike.]
Like I said: this fiction is absolutely untrue.And it didn’t happen right here. {pause) But this much is true:
Joe hates fish and boats. Hates the smells.Rough waves, rough water makes him sick.But our Papa was a fisherman and his Papabefore him – at least four generationsback home in Sicily.
You can’t turn your back on blood,much less your own name.
So Joe’s got no choice. He has to fish.Whether he wants to – or not.
LIGHTS
MIKE disappears.
AUDIO: Clipper’s putt-putt engine.
JOE and HUCK finish securing net.With net secure, Joe holds up rope, tied into a clove hitch.
JOE: Which kinda knot?
HUCK: A … hitch.
JOE: What kind?
HUCK: A pipe – half hitch.
JOE: Clove.
HUCK: They all look alike, Joe!
JOE: Worthless.
HUCK: You know I’m bad with knots. (beat) You get seasick, same difference.
JOE: Can you tie a sheet bend?
HUCK: It’s all too damn confusing.
JOE: I figured it out and I’m no Boy Scout.
HUCK: Who am I – “The Old Man And The Sea”?
JOE: “A fish won’t get in trouble if he keeps his mouth shut.”
Pause.
HUCK: I’m not your big brother, “Joey-the-Riveter”.
Hard pause.
JOE (turns to water): Gettin’ harder to catch the Kings.
HUCK (plays along): We’re gettin’ fished out.
JOE: Goddam Greek poachers.
HUCK: What you wanna do? Go to Mexico to chase wild vaquita?
JOE: Vaquita?
HUCK: Mexican dolphin.
JOE: You’re cruel.
HUCK: You wanna fish crabs? Haul pots in the Bay likea DiMaggio?
JOE: Gettin’ tired of gillnets.
HUCK: How many kids you want? (laughs) Haul crabs!
Pause.
JOE: You got crabs, Huck?
HUCK: You got the clap, Joe!
JOE: You sleep with a creek monkey for Chrissake.
HUCK: If everybody believes that, I’m not gonna lie about it. I also got me a pet
beaver. She swims over every night for supper.
JOE: I know – you and your “Ark”. Read me from the Bible, Huck.
Huck pulls net, begins removing flotsam, including a net-CORK.He tosses cork onto deck.Joe picks up BASEBALL BAT and cork,he throws up cork, bats it into distance.AUDIO: Loud “sweet spot” bat crack.
HUCK: Who’re you – Mickey Mantle?
JOE: Casey Stengel.
HUCK: Must be tryin’ to impress some dame.
JOE: Yeah, right. Casey Stengel on Monterey clipper, hitting corks into the Strait.
Joe tosses down baseball bat.
LIGHTS on Nonni’s KITCHEN.
NORMA JEANE alone,
preening in mirror ...
HUCK: I’m tellin’ you, Ring Walker laid a trap for you. Put that
wine bottle there for Coach Campos to see and you took the bait!
JOE: Thought it was grape juice – like communion.
HUCK: Never trust a Portagee.
JOE: Now you tell me.
HUCK: You thought they were your friends, but you found out the hard way
– the Santos ain’t saints! (beat) Portuguese are very closed people.You can’t marry into their family.
JOE: Well?
HUCK: Hell of it is – you hate wine.
JOE: Makes me seasick.
HUCK: Everything makes you seasick. (beat) I’ll take all the wine you
can’t handle.
JOE (remembers something): Hang on.
Joe drops below deck.Huck regards baseball bat,but does not pick it up.Joe returns with wine bottle.
JOE: Mike left this bottle for special occasions … called it his
“Estate Bottle”. Take it. You and Felucca can have it. His gift.
HUCK (up to sky): Thanks, Mike.
SPOT on Mike in Cemetery
MIKE “tips his hat” to Huck.
FADE OUT
Huck takes bottle.
Pause.
HUCK: You’re too gullible, Joe. Your brothers ain’t around now to bail you out.
JOE: Big shots. Whipped ‘em all.
HUCK: Yep, there’s a sucker licked every minute.
JOE: Sez you, piano-man.
HUCK: You need to get out more.
JOE: I get stage feet (sic) talkin’ to strangers.
HUCK: Let ‘em talk to YOU.
Pause.
JOE: Got everything I need here on the Wharf.
Joe bats another cork into water.
AUDIO: “Sweet spot” bat crack.
HUCK: Like Nino’s widow – Russolini. She came back. Didn’t you see her?
JOE (tries to lie): Didn’t notice.
HUCK: Can you believe she married Nino just to get out of that orphanage?
JOE (stunned): She’s an orphan?
HUCK: Yeah! Norma Jeane Russolini – until she married Nino,
she never had a real last name.
… Norma Jeane still preening
at Mirror.
FADE OUT
JOE: I can’t get married again. God was too pissed last time.
HUCK: God don’t care about your divorce, Joe!
JOE: You know God’s not happy when he excommunicates your ass.
AUDIO: Loud crack of bat.Joe hits another cork into water.Beat.
JOE: How’s she smell?
HUCK: Like a fish.
JOE: What kind?
HUCK: A ripe King.
Joe puts down his bat,
goes to wheelhouse.
JOE: We need to make money.
HUCK: Let’s head to Bristol Bay. There’s enough salmon up there to
support a family for a year on two-month’s work. Why don’t we go?
JOE: Too far away – I get seasick.
HUCK: You always get seasick.
JOE: Not true.
Pause.
HUCK: Joe, are you depressed?
JOE: No. I’m just Blue Class (sic).
HUCK: Why don’t you leave Shoreline?
JOE: Why you ask so many goddam questions?
HUCK: Dunno – Why was Tennessee Williams born in Mississippi?
As he goes below deck, Joe tosses a crude gesture toward Huck.
Pause.
HUCK (aside): What’m I doing out here with this bum? I don’t belong on a boat.
My fingers need a piano. (beat) We set these damn nets, then we pull ‘em back in. Then we do it all over again (pause) Endless repetition, same old riff. This work ain’t jazz. Might as well be caged in a factory. Lot easier to make ends meet in a night club.
Joe returns to deck with rope.
JOE: What am I gonna do? Can’t set nets all by myself. I relied on Mike.
(hands rope to Huck) – Now I gotta rely on you – a piano-manwho sleeps with a gypsy, a creek monkey – and a pet beaver.
HUCK: Felucca, Darwin and Claude-the-Beaver. My happy family.
JOE: Funny how nobody’s ever seen your Darwin.
HUCK: We keep him on a short leash.
Huck takes rope.
JOE: Tom can do this job all by himself – not me.
HUCK: Yeah, but you can’t afford to pay me.
JOE: Can’t afford to pay myself. Pellesini won’t honor his IOUs.
HUCK: I ain’t your man, Joe. Nothing’s more boring than fishing for no pay.`
Can’t you do something else?
JOE: You make a bundle playin’ for the Hot Choys.
HUCK: Woz Bok is no friend of mine. Owes me fifty bucks.
JOE: Told you not to trust a man with a saxophone.
Pause.
HUCK: Let’s talk about trust, ya wanna? Ring Walker royally screwed you,
Joe – deliberately lied to Coach Campos, then he got Sal DiSilva to say he saw you drinking wine on the Wharf. Just another “dago wino”. What an insult!
JOE: I don’t drink.
HUCK: Then they said you were under-aged and in possession of “contraband” –
on school grounds. Only Dotty Santos ever treated you worse than that.
JOE: I do alright.
HUCK: Bombshells and bimbos – izzat all you want outta life?
Pause.
HUCK: Home-wreckers don’t wanna stay home. Kinda defeats the purpose.
JOE: I can’t support you – and a wife.
Huck prepares to dock.Joe enters wheelhouse, takes wheel.
HUCK: When the new ferry comes in next year, you can sell “Rasalia”
and walk right to the ferry – then you can work anywhere:San Francisco, Oakland, Vallejo.
JOE: Doin’ what?
HUCK: Unskilled labor, like me. I get gigs when I need ‘em.
AUDIO: Clipper putt-putt engine shuts down.
JOE: No thanks. I’m too good for gigs.
Pause.
HUCK: Wish this fog would lift so we could see some stars.
JOE: You got your head in the clouds.
HUCK: I just like lookin’ up there at all that far-away light. It makes ya wonder.
JOE: Let’s go home.
HUCK grips his wine bottle tightly,
jumps off Clipper onto Wharf.
He puts down bottle, ready to tie off.
JOE throws rope to Huck.
LIGHTS
The WHARF – Early evening, moments later.FELUCCA is closing down her fireand tanning vat.Pause.JOE and HUCK enter with netwhich they drop into vat.
FELUCCA: Took long enough. Dinner’s cold.
HUCK: We ate.
JOE: He ate. I’m goin’ home.
HUCK: What about this weekend?
JOE: Don’t know yet.
HUCK: Joe, I gotta know! Woz Bok plays Devil’s Lounge Saturday night.
It’s too good a gig for me to turn down.
JOE: Jazz is for jerks.
HUCK: I could get you in. No cover.
FELUCCA (grabs Huck): Dinner’s cold.
HUCK (to her): We ate. (to Joe): I can’t help you this weekend.
JOE: What’m I gonna do?
HUCK: Figure it out, Einstein.
Joe heads toward his HOUSE.Huck shows Felucca wine bottle,Felucca snuggles into Huck’s chest.NORMA JEANE enters Wharf.
NORMA JEANE (to Joe): Hey Slugger!
Joe grimaces; continues on home, without comment.
Norma Jeane shrugs.
FELUCCA (to Huck): You shouldn’t be so rough on Joe.
HUCK: He can’t afford to pay me!
FELUCCA: He will. (tugs Huck’s belt) Huck, I’m tired of waiting.
Felucca seductively pulls Huck as she backs into Ark.
NORMA JEANE (suddenly): Oh ... Hi.
Felucca and Huck stop in doorway as
Norma Jeane heads past them toward PHONE BOOTH.
NORMA JEANE: Remember me?
FELUCCA (beat): Norma Jeane Russolini. Is that really you?
NORMA JEANE: In my very own altogether flesh.
HUCK: We thought you’d gone to Monterey, Cannery Row.
NORMA JEANE: No – Lodi. Nonni needs me now. She’s turned for the worse.
FELUCCA: I know.
NORMA JEANE: We have the cannery here, so.
HUCK (blurts): They took you back?
Felucca elbows Huck’s ribs.
NORMA JEANE: Ring Walker put in a good word for me. He knows everybody.
FELUCCA: We know.
HUCK: He’s The Law! (pause) Hey, you shouldn’t call Joe “Slugger”.
Reminds him of his nets – and baseball.
NORMA JEANE: I don’t understand.
HUCK: On our nets – we have to fix lead slugs to weigh ‘em down in the water.
“Slugger” is a bad nickname for a fishin’ man.
NORMA JEANE: I’ll apologize to him. (beat) Whaddaya doin’ these days, Huck?
HUCK: Oh, I’m helpin’ Joe fish when I can. And I’m playin’ piano for
The Hot Choys at Devil’s Lounge Saturday night. Maybe Ring can bring ya?
NORMA JEANE: I’ll see. I’m probably stuck here. Nonni has most of her trouble
at night.
FELUCCA: I know she’s awful glad to have you back in town.
HUCK: Yeah, and she’s not the only one – (feels Felucca tug him) Goodnight!
NORMA JEANE: Good night.
HUCK and FELUCCA disappear backwards through Ark door.Norma Jeane turns to Phone Box and dials a number.AUDIO (live): a lonely saxophone.
LIGHTS on Joe’s House:
Joe turns on tv,
it glows.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): Can’t talk long.
Joe leaves room.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): Hard to say.
Joe enters with tv dinner.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): She’s not the same.
Joe sits down.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): I’m not the same.
Joe eats.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): They look for trouble.
Joe removes shoes, pants.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): Caught the wrong guy again?
Joe gets into bed.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): You know I can’t sleep.
Joe watches tv.
NORMA JEANE (into phone, emphatic): I need my pills!
TV flickers.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): Get them for me.
Joe watches tv.
NORMA JEANE (into phone, unenthused): Toot-toot – Saturday night!
TV flickers.
FADE OUT
Joe’s HOUSE – Another evening.Frozen in place: JOE on bed, watching tv.MIKE on deck of CLIPPER “Rosalia”.PROJECTION (news headline):“Joltin’ Joe Enters Baseball Hall of Fame”
MIKE (to us): Maybe if we’d moved to San Francisco,
Joe could’ve been somebody, instead of“Joey-the-Riveter” or just “Joe Fish”.Made a Big Name for himself like Joe DiMaggio.Our family traditions would be crabpots andbaseballs – instead of gillnets and IOUs.As it turned out, Joe never was the sameafter he got caught in Norma Jeane’s net.I don’t need to be alive to know that.She was the girl he always wanted:this beautiful blonde with huge eyes,heaving bosoms and a smile that couldsink battleships. Break hearts.Tough to watch your brother lose it allover one blonde bombshell – with a lit-fuse.
LIGHTS
NORMA JEANE exits Nonni’s KITCHEN.She holds journal,an apple anda Miles Davis album.She knocks on Joe’s door.Joe gets up to open door.Clearly he has dressed up for her:Gray suit and gray tie with blue polka dots.
JOE (opens door): Hello.
NORMA JEANE (offers apple): Wanna bite?
Joe takes apple, puts it down without biting.
She looks him over, points to his tie,
but does not touch it.
NORMA JEANE: Exactly in the middle of your knot – there’s a blue polka dot!
Clearly Joe hasn’t noticed this.
He looks down but can’t see.
He tries to find his tie in a reflection.
NORMA JEANE: Did it take you long to tie it like that?
JOE (perplexed): Can’t say it did.
She enters.
Awkward pause.
NORMA JEANE: Hey, I didn’t mean to call you “Slugger” the other night.
JOE: ‘Sall right.
NORMA JEANE: Huck told me it’s not a nice thing to say to a sailor. Anyhow,
I’m sorry. I won’t ever say that again.
She circles him.
NORMA JEANE (teases): I know your name, but … who are you? You’re Italian.
(gets closer) Do you act? Are you that famous Italian actor?
JOE: Ya know my brothers. I’m Giuseppe Pescatori. I fish.
NORMA JEANE: Oh – I just heard about what happened to Mike. Sorry
about that too.
She pulls away, stops moving.
Beat.
JOE: Got my own boat now – Rosalia.
NORMA JEANE: Your Mama’s name?
JOE: Yes.
Norma Jeane looks out window.
JOE: Nice … night.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE (blurts): Take me dancing – Saturday night! Huck’s playin’ piano.
JOE: Not goin’ anywhere near Crockett.
NORMA JEANE: You’re not goin’? Or you can’t go?
JOE: Crockett’s full of bars, bums, showgirls and union thugs.
NORMA JEANE: Are you afraid of Snake Road?
JOE: I got Mike’s Chevy. The truck.
NORMA JEANE: Let’s go!
JOE: Chevy won’t make it. It’s a stick (beat) We’ll go when
I get his Edsel – automatic.
Joe bumps Norma Jeane’s shoulder, deliberately.He seems to want to tease her too.She takes it erotically.
NORMA JEANE: I know: I get too emotional – (pouty lips) in all the wrong places!
JOE (unsure what to say): It’s OK.
NORMA JEANE: I can be smart when it’s important, but most men don’t
like it. (sniffles) Ya know, I’m not here for kicks and giggles!
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: You come from a big family – I’m an orphan.
JOE: Mike’s the only brother who’d work with me.
NORMA JEANE: We’re Misfits, we are.
JOE: I don’t know about that.
NORMA JEANE: I like your seriousness. (beat) I can spot a phony.
Norma Jeane reaches out to touch back of Joe’s neck.He does not notice, but pulls away at the same moment,leaving her off balance.
Awkward pause.
NORMA JEANE (composes herself): I know your oldest brother. Tom’s a
marvelous man, charming gentleman, typical Italian – warm, lusty and friendly as hell!
JOE (now corrects her): … We’re Sicilian.
NORMA JEANE: OK ... Typical Sicilian. Nino introduced us. I also met your
Papa, but I didn’t know Mike that well.
JOE: Tom thinks I’m immature.
Norma Jeane again almost connects with Joe’s collar.
JOE: Papa thought I was a bum.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE: Men are like wine. They improve with age.
JOE: I’m forty years old.
NORMA JEANE: You’re only a dozen years older than me. (beat) People
might say that we have “age incompatibility” unquote. But I don’t believe that for one minute!
JOE (clearly confused): Huh?
She moves closer, but still they do not touch.
NORMA JEANE: I mean, Let me age you like wine. (whispers in his ear)
I adore older men! (beat) You wanna scratch my Seven-Year Itch.
Joe freezes, unsure what to say. Or do.
NORMA JEANE: I always felt I was a nobody and the only way for me
to be somebody was to be – well, somebody else! (all pouty lips) I want to love – and be loved! (beat) More than anything in the world.
Joe still frozen.
NORMA JEANE (tries again): Love makes me feel all dressed up and ready to go!
Pause.Joe regards his feet.Norma Jeane waits.
JOE (finally): Never got new clothes – hand-me-downs.
NORMA JEANE: I know. Nonni told me you’ll only get new clothes when you
get married again.
Pause.Joe has nothing to offer.
NORMA JEANE: I want somebody to not only love me ...
Pause.
Norma Jeane circles him.
NORMA JEANE: … I want my man to teach me how to love!
JOE (“surrounded”): Can … you cook?
NORMA JEANE (looks Joe straight in eye): I worked in a Lodi diner
after Nino died.
JOE: Used to watch you and Nino through my window.
Pause. Norma Jeane stops circling.
NORMA JEANE: I used to watch you too, watching.
JOE (looks away): Glad you’re back.
NORMA JEANE: You know my favorite song? Ella Fitzgerald.
“I Got A Crush On You”.
She begins to hum it.Joe moves to bed,sits with hands in lap.Norma Jeane stops humming.Pause.
JOE: So, ya wanna – (can’t believe his own mouth) get married?
Norma Jeane goes to bed and sits next to Joe.
NORMA JEANE: I can smell the look on your face, cowboy! (half joking): I’d
say – marriage is our only solution.
JOE (meekly serious): Would ya promise to obey me?
NORMA JEANE: I want six kids – obey that!
Norma Jeane goes to window, looks out.Pause.
NORMA JEANE: You’ll send me flowers every time.
JOE: Don’t have flowers. Can’t pick ‘em out.
NORMA JEANE: I want roses – blue roses for my wedding. Like Tennessee
Williams said – it’s impossible now, but they’ll figure out how to growthem some day. (poses) Quote “That long-delayed but always expected something to live for” unquote. (beat) Then everybody will talk about us!
JOE: Don’t like gossip.
Joe picks up album,
turns it over, unable to read it.
JOE: Who’s this?
NORMA JEANE: You never heard of The Prince of Darkness – Miles Davis?
JOE: Don’t get jazz.
NORMA JEANE: You gotta better yourself, Joe! Get educated to a world
beyond your little Grangers Wharf.
She takes album from Joe, slowly puts it on turntable.Music starts to play as she again circles him, dancing.
AUDIO: Miles Davis-sounding theme, trumpet solo.
Norma Jeane continues circling,suddenly she stops moving and gets serious.
NORMA JEANE: I never finished school. So I always try to better myself
by reading and writing. Right now I’m reading Kafka and Thomas Mann.
JOE: I don’t like educated women.
NORMA JEANE: Why not?
JOE: They always wanna know what you’re thinking.
NORMA JEANE: Don’t you wanna better yourself?
JOE: I don’t have time to better myself. (snaps) Useless to talk about it.
NORMA JEANE: What’da ya mean?
JOE: Can’t read. (beat) Never finished school.
Pause.
NORMA JEANE (sheepish): Listen, I wanna read you somethin’ from my journal.
NORMA JEANE opens journal,flips through pages, searching.Finally finds it.
NORMA JEANE: My poems are kinda sad. (beat) But so is life.
AUDIO: Miles Davis-style trumpet continues.
Pause. Joe stares out window, uncertain.
NORMA JEANE (reads): “Life –
I am both of your directionsat once ...Somehow remaininghanging downwardthe most almost but ...strong as a cobwebin the wind – I exist morewith your cold glistening frostBut my beaded rays have colorsI’ve seen in paintings ...Ah life,they have cheated you!”
Long awkward pause.
JOE: Does the cannery know?
NORMA JEANE: Know what?
JOE: Ya tell poetry?
NORMA JEANE: I wrote that myself! I’ve been working on that poem since eighth
grade. They take a very long time for me to write. And I don’t read ‘em to just anybody. (turns page) I’m still looking for the shape of this one – call it “My Bare”.
JOE remains uncomfortable.
NORMA JEANE (reads): “My bare
derriereis out therein the airwhere I’m not awareof severalVivaldi ConcertosplayingHandel ConcertosplayingBenny Goodman solos… all playingmy PAIR !!!”
Norma Jeane suddenly shakes her bosoms.
Pause.
Joe turns toward window, fully embarrassed.
Pause.
On the other hand, he is curious.Joe continues to look out window.
JOE: No dame would go for me.
NORMA JEANE: I would!
Joe turns toward her.Pause.Norma Jeane pulls half-mask out of purse.She puts it on.Joe gathers himself,sits on edge of bed.Norma Jeane takes off his shoe… and sock.
JOE: You smell like fish.
NORMA JEANE: Whaddya expect? (whispers in his ear) I work in the cannery.
JOE: Do you glow in the dark – like The Fire?
NORMA JEANE: Whaddaya mean?
JOE: The sardine schools in Monterey Bay?
NORMA JEANE: Wait and see!
She sucks on Joe’s big toe.He holds himself very stiff.Pause.Suddenly Norma Jeane stands andbegins to unbutton her blouse.Slowly.
NORMA JEANE (unbuttons slowly): I always smell better (on exit)
… after a bath!
As she skips into bathroom, she tosses blouse,then her bra out the open door.
NORMA JEANE (off): Then I want champagne … and potato chips.
AUDIO (off): water running in tub.
LIGHTS
MIKE steps from shadows onto Wharf.
MIKE (to us): And so ... they were married. And Darwin ran away
with the brassiere.
MIKE exits.
AUDIO: Sudden music in darkness!Live Music, The Hot Choys, coming from under the stage.LIGHTS pulsate to drum beat.PROJECTION: “Woz Bok and The Hot Choys”.
AUDIO: Landline phone busy signal.Norma Jeane exits phone booth.Ring stands outside booth, holding small envelope.
She hands Ring and large envelope.He hands her his envelope.Norma Jeane starts to leave, Ring stops her.
RING: Saturday night.
NORMA JEANE: I might.
RING: I’m right, you know it.
Pause. He pulls her close.
She pulls back awkwardly.
NORMA JEANE: I can’t do this forever, Ring.
RING: You know I’ve got a spot for you, soon as we fix the kitchen.
NORMA JEANE: I won’t work in your joint.
RING: You won’t have a choice.
NORMA JEANE: I’m married.
RING: That don’t matter.
Woz enters.
WOZ: We better get going.
RING: Hang on. (to Norma Jeane as she exits) Saturday night. Don’t be tight.
LIGHTS
The DEVIL’S LOUNGE – Saturday night.PROJECTION: “The Devil’s Lounge”AUDIO (off): Steady beat of The Hot Choys suddenly halts.Frozen in place: RING WALKER and WOZ BOK at Bar Doors.MIKE stands alone on WHARF.
MIKE (to us): Nineteen Fifty-Five was an odd year for popular music.
Big Bands had all died out after The War.Disappeared like Vaudeville. Like gaslight.Smaller combos now tried to fit into night clubs –Jazz mostly: Brubeck. Monk. Sinatra.
Nobody knew that screwball named Elvis.Tough times for tunes and musicians who play ‘em.
The Devil’s Lounge is the perfect name for this rat hole.Nothin’s taboo at The Devil’s Lounge. No vice. No virtue.
Prohibition may have ended twenty years ago,but The Lounge still runs on Speakeasy Rules:
If you don’t know about it, you won’t find it.If you find it, you gotta know the doorman.And even when you know the doorman,you gotta have the right password!Then you can’t have a good timewithout some cold hard scratch.
LIGHTS
AUDIO: Live music starts up again, but squelched.
MIKE disappears.
RING and WOZ spring to life.
Woz holds large envelope.
Ring hands Woz small envelope.
RING: Tonight – and last week.
WOZ (counts, inside envelope): OK.
RING: So, we’re all clear?
WOZ (finishes count): Paid in full.
RING: And you got the goods for me?
Woz hands Ring big envelope.
RING (looks into envelope, beat): When can we get the next batch?
WOZ: Next Saturday.
RING: OK – Norma Jeane coming tonight?
WOZ: She don’t say.
RING: Don’t say. Or won’t say?
WOZ: Y’allways know what to expect from Norma Jeane.
RING: Tits like granite, brain like Swiss cheese!
WOZ: She said she’d call when she gets the chance. (beat)
Her and her phone calls.
RING: We’ll see if she has the guts to show up. The dago’s bride comes home
again. (beat) She’s in for a real surprise this time.
WOZ: I’ll be surprised if she don’t surprise alla y’all.
RING: When you live outside The Law – ya gotta have friends inside it.
WOZ: Got that right, Captain.
RING: Catch ya later.
RING descends into The Devil’s Lounge.Woz remains at Bar Doors asHUCK enters with sheet music.
WOZ: Thanks, man. Always showin’ on short notice.
HUCK: I need the gig. Darwin can’t shoplift everything.
WOZ: Your creek monkey?
HUCK: Darwin? (beat) He’s a chimpanzee!
WOZ (holds back chuckle): Sorry, Huck. Can’t keep track of y’all’s zoo …
Got last week’s cash here.
Woz opens envelope, hands Huck $50.
HUCK: Great!
WOZ: Clears that off my books.
HUCK: Thank God – salmon run stinks.
Pause.
WOZ: Trouble is – Mississippi’s on door tonight. I just found out from Ring.
Last minute change – I gotta use Charlie on keys – you can’t get in.
HUCK (holds back): So, I get paid – but can’t work!
WOZ: I wouldn’t put it that way, but yes. (beat) That’s how it’s shakin’ down.
Pause.
HUCK (aside): Might as well live in Mississippi! (loses it) Goddamn!!!
Pause.
WOZ: I can’t always land gigs for ya, Huck. Some bouncers don’t wanna
black man – who’s also dago and a wharf rat – on stage. They think you’re an unnecessary security risk.
HUCK: I’ve heard that sorry tune before.
WOZ: Have they never heard of Congo Square? New Orleans Louisiana!
(shrugs) Gotta dance with the one that brung me.
HUCK: “Until a better man comes along” unquote.
WOZ: Huck, they don’t want yo’ ass on stage tonight.
HUCK: Hide me in a bad light.
WOZ: Ya know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout. He’s The Doorman! It ain’t me
what makes the Club Rules.
HUCK: Yeah. My ass ain’t black enough – or white enough?
WOZ: Yup and Mississippi don’t want yo’ ass!
HUCK: And I don’t want Miss-Sippi’s ass!
WOZ: Beebop Shebop! Take the Money and Run.
Woz is laughing; Huck is not.Woz enters the Devil’s Lounge.Pause.Huck stands there.AUDIO: Slow distant solo saxophone.
LIGHTS
THE WHARF – Saturday night, simultaneously.Huck has disappeared.FELUCCA peeks out Ark door to seeNORMA JEANE dials Wharf Phone,grocery bag at her feet.
LIGHTS on Joe’s House:
Joe wakes up.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): Whatchya got on in the Middle of the Night?
Joe gets out of bed.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): Can’t wait!
Joe leaves room.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): I feel sorry for ya – wearin’ hot pants all day.
Joe returns.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): Ever wanna wear a skirt?
Joe gets back in bed.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): See ya soon!
Joe watches tv.
NORMA JEANE (into phone): Don’t call me “Baby Doll”!
Joe leaves bed,
exits into bathroom.
Norma Jeane hangs up.Felucca closes Ark door.Norma Jeane heads to Joe’s House with grocery bag.Norma Jeane enters Joe’s House.Pause.Felucca reopens Ark door,rushes to Phone Box,dials.AUDIO: Phone rings.
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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.
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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
