(1945) Directed by: Mexico City,
1936. Meanwhile, backstage,
the commotion continues (you can see the well-endowed, Jane
Russell, is one of the extras in the backstage commotion). A
detective is questioning Eddie in his/his wife's dressing
room. He assumes Eddie killed his wife since they had a
petty argument earlier. First he shows Eddie the gun that
was found at the scene of the crime, but he has never seen
it before. Then the film cuts briefly to a shadow of a
scruffy looking man climbing up a ladder to the rafters
above the stage to hide, then back to Eddie's dressing room.
The coroner states to the detective that she wasn't shot;
she was strangled. Eddie cries in his hands saying, 'I don't
believe it..I just don't believe it!' Eddie is being
questioned continuously, and he emphatically states, 'I
loved her...you don't kill the woman you love'. However, the
detective does not believe him and he is taken down to the
police station for further questioning. Next scene, all the
performers are being questioned as to their where abouts
during the time of the murder, and no one seems to know
anything except one middle aged lady who thinks she got what
was coming to her. She wasn't asked to explain as her
husband did not agree. Again, the camera cuts to the scruffy
looking man up in the stage rafters looking down on the
people being questioned. In a while, everyone
but Tony the Clown and another male performer are are
closing up the stage area, getting ready to leave. The other
fellow leaves and Tony the Clown turns out the lights, when
all of a sudden he hears something on top of the stage. He
calls out, 'Hey, who goes there!' Then something big falls
with one big thump behind the curtain. Tony runs to look and
he see someone he recognizes. Tony kneels down and
says, 'Say, I know you! You're Flamarion...The Great
Flamarion!' Flamarion mumbles under his breath, 'The Great
Flamarion'. Tony says, 'I'm Tony the Clown...I played on the
same bill with you in Pittsburg'. Flamarion says, 'Water',
and Tony runs to get him a glass of water. Tony offers to
get a doctor for Flamarion, but Flamarion wants to die. Tony
asks why he wants to die. Flamarion sadly says, 'Because I
killed Connie...she shot me and I strangled her.' Tony says,
'But they're holding her husband!' Flamarion says, "He is
innocent.' Tony says, 'You better tell the police yourself
because they may not believe me'. Flamarion says, I'll be
dead by the time the police arrive and I want to tell you,
Tony, why I killed Connie.' So Tony props the head of
reclined Flamrion onto his lap on the stage floor. Flamarion
asks, 'You remember my act in Pittsburg, with my two
assistants, Connie and Al Wallace?... The camera fades to the
Pittsburg stage show of Flamarion's vaudeville act. A couple
(Connie and Al Wallace) dressed in evening clothes are
embracing in a ritzy looking room at a table with a
champagne bottle and glasses. There is a sudden knock on the
door. Connie makes Al hide. Then enters sharp-shooter,
Flamarion (dressed in a top hat, tails, and spectacles)
shooting the door open. The audience applauds, and Flamarion
mechanically moves about the stage. Connie holds a champagne
glass and Flamrion shoots it out of her hand. Connie picks
up the champagne bottle and Flamarion shoots off the top
half. Then he shoots her cigarette to light it. Next,
Flamarion shoots off one of her shoulder straps of her dress
and then a decorative garter-belt thing on her thigh(like
what betty boop wears-can't think of the name of the thing
at present). Then the man comes out of the closet, but ends
up doing a kind of dance in front of the mirror as Flamarion
shoots at him. Flamarion's bullets shatter the lights that
line the edge of the mirror. The act ends with Flamarion
shooting 3 things off Connie's headband and the toupe' off
the man who comes into the room with the bill. As Flamarion
exists with Connie, he shoots all the lights out in the
room. The audience gives an outstanding applause as
Flamarion, Connie and Al take turns bowing. The cutains close and
you hear Flamarion scolding Al stating that he was one beat
off and came into his line of fire. Al says it will never
happen again, but Flamarion is angry and states that he has
to be absolutely sure of his assistants. Flamarion walks off
to his dressing room with Connie following after him. Connie
assures Flamarion outside his dressing room that Al will do
as she says. She goes on to say that she too is concerned
with the act and how her life would be empty without it
(while touching his hand). Flamarion states her personal
feelings are of no concern to him, and those who don't go by
his rules are out! He shuts his door. Inside his room, his
voice narrates, 'I picked Connie and Al up as a 3rd rate
dancing act 6 months ago and always thought of them as a
happily married couple.' In Connie and Al's
dressing room, Connie walks in to find Al drinking hard
liquor. Connie says, 'Okay lush, that'll be enough of
that...you heard Flamarion..maybe you like sleeping on a
park bench, but I don't!' Al says, 'Afraid it will cramp
your style?' Connie standing behind the dressing screen and
says, 'Even a moron oughta be able to stooge for a few gun
shots'. Al then says, 'So now I'm a moron...you've changed
your tune since we got married.' Connie says, 'There's an
easy way out of this', but Al interrupts, 'If you think I'm
gonna let you go so another man can have you-that it is not
going to happen.' He also cited all the unscrupulous things
she has done in the past like cheating an insurance company
over a diamond ring, and giving some man a quick shuffle in
order to steal bank bonds, etc. Al assured Connie that she
won't get away from him so fast. She mumbles, 'I'll get away
some how'. Al replies, 'You haven't got a
prayer'. Next scene, we see
Flamarion sitting in the semi-dark, strengthening his eyes
by shooting at a swinging gadget with a bee bee gun, when he
hears a knock at his door. Its Connie Wallace seeming
urgent. Although he says he does not want to be disturbed,
he opens the door and asks what is it. Connie enters telling
Flamarion that she thinks she knows why Al is drinking,
Flamarion states he is not interested in why, but that it
hurts the act. Connie says that Al is jealous of him.
Flamarion asks sternly, 'Am I to be responsible for his lack
of ambition?...has he any idea of how hard I worked to get
where I am?' Connie then reveals that when the bullets
release her shoulder strap and garter belt, she tells
herself they are his hand...every bullet.' (then gazes
dreamily into his eyes) Flamarion now says they both have to
leave the act before they perform in San Francisco. Connie
says, 'Okay, see how the act goes without us in Frisco.
Flamation says, Okay, since it will be hard for me to get
assistants on such short notice, they can stay on till then.
Connie acts totally grateful and leaves. On the beautiful, art
deco train, speeding along, Flamarion goes to enter his
cabin only to find Connie sitting semi-reclined on his bed.
She says, 'I could hardly wait till you got here.' He
demands, 'How did you get in here?' Connie asks, 'Wouldn't
you rather know why than how?' The angered Flamarion states,
'I'm not interested!' (this part is amusing if you watch for
scenes lacking visual continuity--there must have been 2
takes as in the 1st one, Flamarion's cabin has a window over
the bed, and in the 2nd take there is no window). Connie states, 'I know
all about Alma!' Flamarion exclaims, 'You went through my
suitcase!?' Connie claims that she's just a woman in love
and had to find out why he was afraid of her. Flamarion
claims he's not afraid of anything. Connie says, 'Yes, you
are...you're afraid of your heart.' Flamarion angrily states
that he has had nothing to do with a woman in 15 years.
Connie says, 'Isn't that silly...just because you were
burned once!' Flamarion keeps demanding that she leave.
Connie goes on to say that she needs to stay in his cabin
because Al beats her and she hasn't any other place to stay.
Flamarion expresses disinterest in her domestic problems.
Connie unbuttons the top buttons of her blouses top prove
it. Flamarion stops her and says he'll call for her to get
another room, but she says the train is sold out. Connie
finally says. 'Al is on the war path because he knows I love
you! Flamarion (turned away from her) says, 'That settles
it-when we arrive in San Francisco, you'll both leave the
act.' Connie says, 'I'm honest and what do I get-you fire
me!' Flamarion says, 'That's right.' Connie leans gently on
his shoulder from behind, and says, 'Its not nice to have
one's heart kicked around...well, thanks for the lesson!
(and she goes for the door). Finally Flamarion says, 'Okay,
you can stay.' Then Connie says, 'I figured out what's the
matter with you...you're asleep...and maybe this'll wake you
up. Then she plants a kiss on his mouth. As he exits his
cabin, she sits back comfortably with a 'that'll get him'
smirk on her face. In the train corridor Flamarion narrates,
'It struck me like lightning-not since my days in the army
with Alma have I been so close to a woman. One look in the
mirror would've told me I am not for her-that something else
was going on'. (scene cuts to him looking out from the back
of the moving train). Flamarion narrates, 'It seemed as
though a new life had begun. In reality, it was the
beginning of the end.' Next scene is in a
fancy, schmancy Chinese restaurant in San Franncisco with
Flamarion waiting for Connie to arrive. He is sitting at a
private table for two that has a semi-transparent or beaded
curtain around the top. He gives the waitress extra money
stating that this is a very special evening. When Connie
enters under the curtain, she says softly, 'Hello Darling'.
He is his usual gentleman self. He tells her 'Remember what
you said on the train...that you could hardly wait till I
got there?' And how he just felt the same way. He says,
'Look, my hands are shaking.' She says, 'They were steady as
usual during the act. The she takes his hands in hers from
across the table and says, 'I love your hands.' Flamarion
takes her hands in his and kisses them. He is looking soley
at her hands and does not see the look of disgust on her
face as he kisses her hands. Then she says to him, smiling,
'Champagne and orchids...you think of everything!' He gives
her a boxed gift he got on Grand Street, the first gift he
has gotten a woman in 15 years. She is delighted. It is a
lovely jeweled, sequenned robe, but she asks Flamarion to
hold onto it for her as Al would know she could never afford
something like that. Then they discuss their act and how Al
worries Flamarion. That one slip in front of the mirror
could be fatal. Flamarion offers to
tell Al about how they feel about eachother and / or perhaps
send him away by giving him money. Connie said that no one
has been able to talk Al out of anything and in order for
her to stay around, that he'd have to keep Al around too.
Then she says, 'Don't worry, I'll think of
something'. The scene cuts back to
Flamarion on the floor telling the story to Tony the Clown.
Flamarion says, 'She sounded so convincing...I believed her
because I wanted to ...but what I did not know, was on the
same bill, was a bicycle act. He was tall,
good-looking... The scene cuts to the
bicycle act and you can see a portion of Connie standing in
the wings backstage waiting, The camera cuts to backstage
where Eddie meets Connie. They realize they will both be
there for 2 weeks and plan to meet at a corner bar the next
day. After Eddie exits the scene, another stage person,
Cleo, approaches Connie and asks her if collecting men is
still her hobby. Connie says, "Can you think of a better
one?" Cleo says(while clutching a poodle in each arm), "I'll
take my dogs every time; you don't have to wait up for
them!" The scene cuts to
Flamarion and Connie in his room and she is wearing the
sequenned robe... To be
continued...
Starring:
Erich Von Stroheim
Mary Beth Hughes
Dan Duryea
Anthony Mann
(Probably the grandpa of Michael Mann who directed 'ALI'
in 2001)
The scene opens at a vaudeville variety show in a small
theater. A Spanish dancer is twirling around to a
guitarist's song, and is dancing with a long scarf. Next
act, a clown (Tony the Clown) with big shoes is doing silly
antics, when gun fire is heard several times from back stage
along with a woman's piercing scream. The clown tries to
keep his act going, but there is such a commotion, no one in
the audience pays attention to him. Someone comes out onto
the stage and says there is nothing to worry about, the show
is over and everyone's money will be refunded at the box
office. The audience exits.
Mary Beth's Film, Radio & TV debues
Mary Beth stories from Readers
Visit historical Alton, IL - Mary Beth's birth place.
Visit Sepulveda, CA/North Hills - Where Mary Beth Lived.
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