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Allan has written a play based on Leonie, his wealthy lover. She helps him get it produced. Starring: Barbara Murray, Richard Morant, Sheila Gish.
Allan has written a play based on Leonie, his wealthy lover. She helps him get it produced. Starring: Barbara Murray, Richard Morant, Sheila Gish.
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00:00Transcription by CastingWords
00:30Transcription by CastingWords
01:00Transcription by CastingWords
01:29Transcription by CastingWords
01:59Your magazine articles are all very well.
02:02All very well.
02:03Oh, brilliant.
02:05You don't need me to tell you that, but this...
02:09What we must do now is to get it put on.
02:12Oh, that's another matter entirely.
02:14I'm under no illusions.
02:15The obstacles to actually getting a play put on are daunting.
02:19And vulgar.
02:19I'm about to enter the world of impresarios.
02:24Little men with velvet on their collars and murder in their hearts for anything that could remotely be construed as art.
02:30You are afraid they will cause it?
02:32Do you know I never cease to marvel at the way you know things like that?
02:37Well, you don't write yourself, and yet...
02:39Oh, if only I could.
02:41And yet you understand things instinctively.
02:44You have a passion.
02:45I swear you're the only woman in London who goes to Paris to see a new play rather than buy a new dress.
02:52Oh, I have been known to come back with a new dress as well.
02:56But at last, my only talent is appreciation of the arts.
03:02Being separated from Frederick gives me free reign to indulge it.
03:06Appreciation of the arts, I meant.
03:12I know what you meant.
03:22What I can't understand is how any husband could bear to live apart from you.
03:26Oh, Frederick is so busy running his newspapers and his politics and his steamship companies.
03:31We hardly ever saw each other even when we lived in the same house together.
03:34Lenny, wouldn't it really be more sensible to...
03:37You know, you really must leave this with me.
03:40I want to read it over and over again.
03:42Is it your only copy?
03:43No, no, I have others.
03:45It's wonderful.
03:47The point is, who are you going to get to play it?
03:51I mean, who on earth can play it?
03:52The part of Nona, for instance, your whole play hangs on?
03:55I don't know.
03:56We shall have to find somebody.
03:58We shall have to find people for all of them.
03:59Ah, but will they do it justice?
04:01Oh, I'll work with them.
04:02I'll tutor them.
04:03I'll grind it into them.
04:04Oh, come on.
04:07I sound as if I'd had 20 plays on already, don't I?
04:10Alan Wayworth, the battle-scarred theatrical veteran.
04:13The wounds at the front he got from his critics and those at the back he got from his friends.
04:17No, don't be cynical.
04:19It doesn't become you.
04:21Oh, it's all going to be so interesting.
04:24Hold on.
04:25I shall have to find a theatre first and a manager who will believe in me.
04:29I know one or two.
04:30Alan, what do you mean you would speak to them?
04:34The thing is, to get them to read it.
04:37I think I could certainly do that.
04:38Oh, my dear Lynn.
04:42Oh, they're bound to like it if they've got any sensibility at all.
04:46There are so many lovely things in it.
04:49This scene here, for instance, these lines of knownness.
04:51I think they're the loveliest in the play.
04:56Come with me, and I will show you what is beautiful in these people, what is lovely in their lives, and how they gain grace by simply being what they are.
05:06They take what is terrible in life, and make it count for good.
05:12And they touch nothing that they do not adorn.
05:17Oh.
05:19Who on earth are you going to get to do her?
05:23Oh.
05:24If only you were a nightly.
05:26Oh, that is the last thing I am.
05:28There is no comedy in me.
05:30Is there any tragedy?
05:31Oh, there's a little of that in everyone.
05:34Don't you think?
05:34You're Nona, Vincent.
05:38She really is tremendously well drawn.
05:41Those lines, they really are summing up of her own character.
05:44All the grace, the beauty, and the goodness.
05:46She's real to you, then?
05:47Oh.
05:49It's almost as if I knew her as a friend.
05:51I can't tell you how much I like the girl.
05:54You do realize that she's based on you.
05:57On me?
05:58In my mind, she even looks like you.
06:01Oh, she ought to look a lot better than that.
06:03She has your face, your voice, your hair.
06:05She moves in the same bewitching way as you.
06:07Her personality is like yours.
06:10Well, then, I'm afraid she'll damn your play.
06:12Oh, I think not.
06:14You have any one chance.
06:16Find a magnificent actress who can overcome the disadvantages you say you have given the character.
06:22Oh, but, Alan, it is a magnificent part.
06:25It's the kind of part that some clever, serious girl could make a name with.
06:28Make my play, too, I hope.
06:30Well, naturally, the part of Nona is your play.
06:32That's why she's got to be superb.
06:34It's make or break.
06:36Where the devil do I find her?
06:37Or supposing, of course, I ever need her.
06:41Courage, dear author.
06:43It will happen.
06:44When do you leave for Germany to see your mother and sister?
06:49Uh, next week, I'm afraid.
06:52Oh, sir.
06:53Wouldn't it be more convenient for everyone if they lived in England?
06:57Yes, it would, really.
06:58Shall they be gone now?
07:00I promised them three months.
07:01I shall be lost without you.
07:06Oh, it'll be intolerable.
07:09If there is any news, I shall dispatch you an extravagant telegram.
07:14Oh, yes, do, please.
07:16I shall walk on hot coals until I hear something, good or bad.
07:19Oh, it's all going to be so exciting.
07:22Come with me, and I will show you what is beautiful in these people.
07:37What is lovely in their lives, and how they came.
07:47Much the same as usual, you know, my dear Mrs. Osweger.
07:50The theatre doesn't really change a great deal.
07:52And people still complain that plays are too short,
07:55that seats are too dear,
07:56and that the press of carriages in the streets of theatre time makes everyone late.
07:59You theatrical managers have much to endure.
08:03Oh, indeed we do.
08:04I saw Edward Compton the other night
08:06in that piece about the American Millionaire.
08:08Now, what do you suppose he meant by that he extraordinarily overcame?
08:11That dear lady must remain a secret between him and his tailor.
08:14Now, he is an actor-manager, and therefore law unto himself.
08:17I'm simply a manager of a much humbler species of animal.
08:20Ah, but a much better judge of a play, I should have thought, Mr. Loder.
08:25You are not influenced by whether there is a part for you or no.
08:28Well, I think I'm fairly sound on what will go.
08:32Ah, it has just occurred to me, since you happen to be here.
08:36Yes.
08:37Well, I was lent a play the other day.
08:40Oh.
08:41I was very much impressed by it.
08:43Then, of course, I am maybe an amateur.
08:46Oh, you do yourself less than justice.
08:48I just wondered whether it might be worth your while casting an eye over it.
08:53For you, dear lady, I should be delighted.
08:56Oh, would you really?
08:58Now, where did I put it?
09:00I have been reading it.
09:01I must have left it somewhere.
09:03Um, is, uh, is this it?
09:06Why, why, so it is.
09:08How clever of you.
09:11Should you think it to be worthy of production,
09:14I would wish to be allowed to invest in it.
09:17Oh.
09:18Quite heavily.
09:20Ah.
09:21Well, in that case, I shall take it away and give it my best attention.
09:25You're most kind.
09:31Have another muffin.
09:33Thank you, I will.
09:38Loda, putting Lona, instant rehearsal, love, Elle.
09:51Mr. Wayworth, madam.
09:55Oh, God, I've missed you.
09:58Ah, my dearest.
10:04And the play, How, Why, William?
10:06Isn't it tremendous?
10:08Three months of silence since you first gave it to him, and now suddenly...
10:11You've been so lucky.
10:12It could have been three years.
10:14Oh, I'm not complaining.
10:15Except that a quicker reply would have given me the excuse to come back to you sooner.
10:21Evidently, Loda has been looking for the right girl to play Nona Vincent,
10:33and he believes he has found her in a girl called Byret Gray.
10:36She's appearing at the moment at the opera comic, Loda's Theatre in the Strand.
10:42We are to have his fox tonight.
10:45And you are to watch her.
10:47But he climbed to the very top, and I heard harps in the air.
10:55My, my master builder!
10:59What did you think of her?
11:11I would prefer to have seen her in something else.
11:14I saw her in another Ipsen play last year.
11:17She played the right head as she was pretty good.
11:19Yes, but Nona Vincent is nothing like Hedda Garbler.
11:21And she's certainly nothing like this weird little Norwegian harpy in her climbing boots.
11:25Yes, but he does go to indicate her range, don't you think?
11:27Possibly.
11:29Well, Mr. Weyworth?
11:30Oh, yes, yes.
11:32Very good.
11:32Well done.
11:33I'm aware of that I was talking about, Miss Gray.
11:36Yes, she has intelligence and strength, even a certain distinction.
11:39But for Nona Vincent, well, not everyone can play Nona.
11:43Oh, Violet Gray can, Mr. Weyworth.
11:45Take it from me.
11:46I've had my honor for a very long time.
11:47She's a very promising young actress.
11:49I have arranged for us to get around afters for a moment so that you could meet her.
11:54Oh, is that a good idea?
11:56Well, it doesn't commit you to anything.
11:59Though if you really feel that she won't do, I can't think of anyone else who will.
12:04Come in.
12:11Our little bird of prey, as she calls herself in the play, Mrs. Alsiger and Mr. Weyworth.
12:15How do you do?
12:16How do you do?
12:17How do you do?
12:18May I say, Miss Gray, how much we enjoyed your performance tonight?
12:21That's very kind of you, Mrs. Alsiger.
12:24Please.
12:25Oh, thank you.
12:26I felt I was a little damp tonight.
12:29Perhaps it was the rain outside.
12:31A damp audience is very difficult to lift.
12:35What do you think of the play itself, Miss Gray?
12:38I think it's excellent.
12:40Oh, even if I did not, I would never speak ill of any play in which I was appearing.
12:46You are not yet appearing in my play.
12:48What did you think of that?
12:50I find it interesting.
12:53Tell me, is it based on personal experience?
12:57I know, of course, in a sense that everything is, but the particular incident, did it really happen?
13:04Not in that way, no.
13:06In what way?
13:07I should like to talk to you about that.
13:09Mr. Epson says a personal situation underlies all of his plays.
13:13I believe my role in this one is based on a striking young Austrian girl he met in the Alps.
13:18I'm sure she was not as striking as your performance of her, my dear.
13:20Well, now we must leave you to get changed. You'll be locked in.
13:23Of course.
13:24Goodbye, Mr. I.
13:26Goodbye, Mr. Weyworth.
13:28Goodbye, Miss Gray.
13:36Well, Mr. Weyworth, what do you say now?
13:38Well, she is certainly nothing like the part, but I dare say we can make her soon.
13:42Of course we can.
13:43Come along.
13:44I shall always love you.
13:49Nothing can alter that.
13:52Only reach out and I shall come to you across oceans and continents.
13:57Richard opens his mouth to reply, but can find no words.
14:05He turns abruptly and exits Opie.
14:09Nona stands quite still looking out over the audience, her eyes brimming.
14:15The curtain falls.
14:17A good reading.
14:20A good reading.
14:21Most informative.
14:23Now, refreshments are on their way.
14:25Is that right, Arthur?
14:26Good, good.
14:27And in the meantime, I know that our author, Mr. Weyworth, has several things that he'd like
14:31to say to us all.
14:32Please.
14:33Oh, thank you.
14:34Well, nothing that you haven't already concluded for yourselves, I'm sure.
14:40It's a delicate play, very much of our time.
14:44The central question is whether, even in our enlightened age, a woman of grace and sensibility
14:50and breeding can defy the rules without losing the very happiness for which she's reaching.
14:56Of course, the whole play hinges totally around the character of Nona Vincent.
15:01I was never so disconcerted in my life.
15:03Oh, why?
15:05Oh, I suppose I have a very good opinion of my own play.
15:07And therefore, you expected all the actors to be tremendously grateful to you for their
15:12beautiful parts in your lovely piece.
15:14Yes, I suppose you could put it like that.
15:16And they weren't in the least bit thrilled or grateful.
15:18Not in the least.
15:19Half of them didn't really like their parts at all, and the others felt they needed a
15:22great deal of alteration.
15:24Even Loder started to see places where, as he said, cuts could be made.
15:28I can see that rehearsal rooms have more in common with a butcher shop than a temple of
15:31the arts.
15:32My dear, it is the common fate of playwrights to be unappreciated.
15:36And now you're laughing at me?
15:37No, I am not.
15:39And if I am, I have laughed at Arthur Beniro in exactly the same way.
15:44I remember him describing the second Mrs. Tankery to me as the best play he never wrote.
15:52And what of Miss Gray?
15:53What are her sentiments?
15:54Well, there again, I mean, I didn't exactly expect her to fall on my neck with gratitude.
15:59But I did expect some sort of recognition on her part of the enormous opportunity to play
16:04officer.
16:04A great opportunity is also a great responsibility.
16:07Perhaps it weighs heavily upon her.
16:10Certainly, if something does.
16:11Miss Morty, do.
16:15You look solemn, Miss Gray.
16:30Miss Gray.
16:31Certainly, I do not feel light-hearted, Mr. Weyward.
16:34Why not?
16:35Surely you are doing what you like best, and that is always agreeable.
16:38The first act is beginning to take shape very well.
16:41I begin to see the size of my task.
16:43The character of Nona is grand, but elusive.
16:48Well, she towers over your play, yet I feel she could slip through my fingers.
16:52Well, if there is anything you do not understand, ask.
16:55Ask me, ask me anything you can think of.
16:58You see, there is nothing I don't know about her.
17:00The managing side she has to her character.
17:03Are people not likely to find that unsympathetic?
17:07She has no managing side to her.
17:09No, no, she manipulates no one.
17:12Oh.
17:14It seems to me that she dominates Richard's life from the moment they meet.
17:18No, on the contrary.
17:19Her influence over Richard stems entirely from her kindness and his response to it.
17:25Am I to understand that our kindness is not a weapon?
17:28Absolutely not.
17:29No, it's utterly genuine.
17:31Oh.
17:33Well, is it so hard to believe in disinterested kindness prompted by love?
17:37Can love ever be disinterested?
17:39Oh, yes, I think you can.
17:41You have only to think of the case in the Times last week.
17:44The Indian mother who starved to death, feeding her children rather than herself.
17:49Yes.
17:51Oh, dear.
17:52You must think me very cynical to have seen that interpretation.
17:57Perhaps the fault lies in myself.
17:59Perhaps I should make my intention clearer.
18:00Oh, no, no, no.
18:01Now that I know it's there, I shall find it.
18:04Dig, girl, dig.
18:05That's what Aunt Claire was always telling me.
18:07An actress needs a shovel, not a fan.
18:09Aunt Claire?
18:10Yes.
18:10I'm her great-aunt, actually.
18:13Looked after the child ever since her parents died 20 years ago.
18:16I hear you're a fellow dramatist.
18:19Stuff and nonsense, Mr. Wayworth.
18:21The wicked girl will exaggerate.
18:24I wrote the pantomime at the Drury Lane one year, that's all.
18:27Nothing in your category.
18:28It is an exceedingly good pantomime.
18:31I still remember it.
18:32Oh, it was good of its kind.
18:34I don't deny that.
18:35But this is what I really do.
18:38Children's books.
18:41Oh, of course.
18:42Clara Gray.
18:43Oh, I used to devour you.
18:46A jolly good yarn without too much moralising, as I seem to remember.
18:49Oh, that's what children like.
18:50They're not all saints yet, thank heaven.
18:53What do you think of this one, then?
18:55Ruining your play, is she?
18:57On the contrary.
18:59She is going to be the making of it.
19:01She would take up acting.
19:03It's a great responsibility to me.
19:05Her only other relative is a cousin in India.
19:08Husband's in the Viceroy's service.
19:10What could I do?
19:11Single-handed against the call of the drama.
19:13Would you like some tea?
19:15I should think you'd rather have some whiskey, wouldn't you?
19:17As a matter of fact, I would.
19:19I knew it.
19:21Just like her father.
19:22He'd a better head for whiskey than any man I've ever met.
19:26I only wish my lady here had some of his toughness.
19:28Well, I should like some tea.
19:30And if you two are going to disgust me as if I weren't here, I shall go and see if Jenny is ready with it yet.
19:37Please, help yourself.
19:39Would you like some water?
19:44Oh, thank you, no.
19:46I'm only half Scottish, but that's the half that drinks.
19:49To you, Miss Grey.
19:50To your play, young man.
19:56Violet, is she really a good actress?
19:59Oh, she's outstanding, but surely you must have seen her yourself.
20:03She suffers so.
20:05It does not come easily to her.
20:07Nothing worth doing ever comes easily.
20:09But this one in particular, this part, she's worse than I've ever known her.
20:13She doesn't sleep.
20:15I hear her pacing her room.
20:17It is a very demanding role.
20:19No.
20:20No, there's more to it than that.
20:25There's a cup for you, too, Mr. Weyworth.
20:27Should you change your mind?
20:29Oh, you spoil me outrageously.
20:43Toilers in the vineyard must replenish their strength.
20:47You look rather tired tonight, my dear.
20:50Would you finish later than usual?
20:52No, I took Miss Grey home.
20:55Oh?
20:56Did she ask you to?
20:57No, she told me about her great-aunt.
21:00She sounded interesting.
21:01I wanted to meet her.
21:02And was she?
21:03Yes, she was.
21:04Very.
21:09It's getting it right.
21:11Trying to get it right.
21:12That takes it out of one, you know.
21:14Oh, Loda's all right at the mechanics of it, and so are the other actors.
21:17Miss Grey is particularly good at all that.
21:19But it's the spirit of the thing, the interior of it.
21:23They haven't got it.
21:24It's up to me to show it to them.
21:26And how do you go about doing that?
21:28Oh, I talk to them.
21:29I go on at them ceaselessly.
21:32How is Miss Grey coming along with that side of it?
21:35I go on at her more than anyone.
21:40Certainly I'm afraid she won't make Nona much like you.
21:43So much the better for your play.
21:48Why don't you take her in hand?
21:51Tutor her a little.
21:52Oh, don't be upset.
21:54The girl is an accomplished actress.
21:57I couldn't teach her a tale.
21:59Her great-aunt is really the most tremendous character.
22:02You'd enjoy her.
22:03I'm sure they'd be simply thrilled if you called on them one Sunday.
22:07Have some claret, too.
22:09I had Bowles bring it up from the rarest part of the cellar.
22:16Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
22:18That is all for the day.
22:19Come and talk tomorrow morning, Charles.
22:27You need to feel you stupid again.
22:28Miss Grey, I'm sorry.
22:44I didn't mean to be harsh.
22:47It's not you.
22:48You're being very kind.
22:50It's just that I'm not getting anywhere near it.
22:52I'm not giving you what you want.
22:54You must think me incredibly stupid.
22:58I assure you, I think nothing of the kind.
23:00I think you're very talented and most conscientious.
23:03And if I sometimes seem to go on at you,
23:05it's because I can see you have it in you to be tremendous.
23:09And because you're the cornerstone of my play.
23:11That's another thing that makes me nervous.
23:13Can it be right so to construct a play
23:18that the whole weight of it rests on one poor, nervous little actress?
23:24Well, that's it.
23:25What?
23:25The way you said that.
23:27Now, if only we can find that kind of sincerity in Nona.
23:32Sincerity is what I try for.
23:34All the time.
23:36And what have you been doing to my leading lady, pray?
23:47I'm simply trying to work it out with her.
23:50But I am afraid all I succeed in doing is distressing her.
23:53Oh, I'm sure you don't do that.
23:55You do, however, worry the rest of the cast.
23:59Oh, dear, do I?
24:01How?
24:02You spend no time with them or on them.
24:03You devote all your attention to Miss Gray.
24:05Oh, they're all very good.
24:06They don't need my attention.
24:08Then why not tell them?
24:09It'll make a difference.
24:10Very well.
24:11She'll do it now.
24:14Oh, uh, by the way, Mrs. Elsiger has asked
24:17if it would be possible to see a rehearsal.
24:19She's never, ever seen before.
24:20Well, it's against my strict practice.
24:22Yes, I know.
24:22I know Mrs. Elsiger's the sort of woman
24:24for whom rules were made to be broken.
24:27You're a very lucky young man.
24:29That is not what I was going to say.
24:32Smuggle her into my box tomorrow.
24:33But Tilly, she must keep very quiet
24:35and remain out of sight.
24:41Only reach out and I shall come to you
24:44across oceans and continents.
24:47No, no, no, Jack.
24:50Listen, it's far too soon, though we should come.
24:58She's going to be very good.
25:00She never stops trying for it.
25:02That final scene was the best it's ever been.
25:03It was real.
25:05Well, that's because you're here,
25:06working your magic for us.
25:07In return for which, I think that I, for one,
25:09should be allowed to take you out to dinner.
25:11We'll go to the Café Royal this evening.
25:13It's a very sweet uproar and dear,
25:15and I know you're going to be
25:16an enormously successful author
25:18who will dine constantly at the Café Royal.
25:22Don't you think it's rather a waste
25:23when I have the best cook in London at home?
25:26No, it's no use appealing to thrift in my nature.
25:28I am determined.
25:30I'll tell you what.
25:31You can take me to tea at the Netto's.
25:33And then we'll have a tray sent up later at home.
25:38Oh, I'm so thrilled
25:40at having seen at last what goes on at a rehearsal.
25:42I shall be asking questions all night.
25:46Oh, I'm sorry.
25:50Mr. Loder told me I should find you here.
25:52You know Mrs. Alsager, of course.
25:54Of course.
25:55How nice to see you, Mrs. Alsager.
25:56And you too, my dear.
25:58Have you been watching the rehearsal?
26:00Oh, I know it is forbidden fruit.
26:03I had a rendezvous with Mr. Wayworth here.
26:05We were going to take tea at the Netto's.
26:07Would you care to join us?
26:08Well, that's very kind of you.
26:09I would have loved to.
26:10But you see, I have this arrangement with my aunt.
26:12We're practicing for a musical evening.
26:14We're to give next Sunday.
26:16I trust your piano will not distract you from my play.
26:19No, it refreshes me for it.
26:22You know I would never let anything come before that.
26:26There you are, you see.
26:28What author could ask for greater dedication than that?
26:31What I really wanted to ask you was whether you felt that last bit just now was any better.
26:36Oh, yes.
26:37Yes, it was hugely improved.
26:39In fact, it was the best I've ever seen it.
26:41You moved me tremendously.
26:43Oh, good.
26:44Good.
26:44Well, I'm going to stick to that line then.
26:47Goodbye, Mrs. Alsager.
26:48Goodbye, my dear.
26:49Goodbye.
26:50Will we see you tomorrow?
26:52Oh, indeed you will.
26:53And all the tomorrows we have until we have done what we have to do.
26:57Yes.
27:04She's in love with you, you know.
27:07Oh, rubbish.
27:10How could you possibly know a thing like that?
27:13For someone who claims to be a depicter of women, you don't know very much about them.
27:18Certainly not as much as they know about themselves.
27:21I see.
27:23So you have mysterious devices not available to us poor men with which you learn each other's secrets.
27:28And they have told you that Violet Gray is mad with passion for me.
27:31It may not be a joking matter to her.
27:34I may not know a great deal about women, but I do know that love is never a joking matter for man or woman.
27:40It is often painful enough when it is open and admitted to the world, but when it must keep silence, when circumstances prevent it.
27:45Aaron, please.
27:46It will do no good.
27:48You promised.
27:49Oh, I know I promised, but I find it more and more difficult.
27:53As I have told you, Frederick will never agree to a divorce.
27:57It's a matter of his pride and also of his public position.
28:02Public position?
28:03Oh, yes.
28:04He's a politician, isn't he?
28:05He's a great deal more than that, Alan, my dear.
28:07Well, you sound as though you sympathize with him.
28:09I live in the world as it is.
28:14I take what happiness I can, and I try not to ask for more.
28:20Oh, it could be so marvelous.
28:23My dear.
28:25My life would be bleak without you.
28:32But we are well enough as we are.
28:35We are bound together by our love.
28:38Who knows what marriage could do to that?
28:43I was thinking mainly of you.
28:45Well, then, please don't.
28:47I am old enough to make my own decisions, and you are too young to lecture me about them.
28:54She's in love with you, you know.
28:59What?
29:01Didn't you know?
29:03Oh, yes, of course I knew.
29:07Hundreds of women are in love with me.
29:09Practically every woman I meet becomes my helpless slave the moment I look at it.
29:12It's true, all the same.
29:14I noticed it yesterday.
29:16I think you are suffering from an excess of romantic theater.
29:20I recommend a course of dull, factual reading.
29:22I bring you in some of those Ibsen plays you're so fond of appearing in.
29:25Mr. Shaw, the critic of the sanity of you, says that irony is a very inferior, dramatic tool.
29:32You haven't forgotten Aunt Clara expects you for dinner tonight.
29:36No, I haven't forgotten Aunt Clara expects me for dinner tonight.
29:40And Mr. Shaw is not invariably right about everything.
29:43He knows a great deal more about music than he does about theater.
29:45Everybody back on stage rack, too, please.
29:48Come on, we've got a lot to do.
29:49The, um, the character of Nona, she, um, she is supposed to be a great deal like Mrs. Alcega, you know.
30:02Suppose by whom?
30:04Well, children, we march steadily towards the guns.
30:06Only another two weeks.
30:08Hey, hey, steady.
30:11What brought that on?
30:12Nothing.
30:13It happens to all of us.
30:19Is it true?
30:20Do they all get like that?
30:21Oh, some of them.
30:23How do you think it's going?
30:24Hard to say at this stage.
30:25We're beginning to lose the play, of course.
30:27What?
30:27Oh, don't worry.
30:28We'll get it back.
30:29You don't mind, do you?
30:36But you two are absolutely perfect for the young doctor and his wife in my next book.
30:40And I enjoy doing the illustrations.
30:43She's shameless.
30:45I do believe it's the only reason she invited you to dinner.
30:48Oh, it's one reason.
30:50The other is that I like handsome young men in the house.
30:52To feed a man and make him comfortable is a respectable way in which respectable ladies
30:59can make love to attractive young gentlemen.
31:01Aunt Clara, you're a wicked old lady.
31:04I know.
31:06And it was a most tremendously good dinner.
31:08I know that, too.
31:10It's getting very late for Jenny.
31:13I'll get the coffee.
31:14Oh, no coffee for me, my dear.
31:16Tea?
31:18No.
31:22I am afraid he's going to look a very wild-eyed young doctor.
31:28I am aware that I am not exactly the picture of tranquility at the moment.
31:31You suffer now, do you?
31:33Oh, I can't help it.
31:34I try to be philosophical about it, but it's no use.
31:37Anxiety surges through my veins as if it had taken the place of my blood.
31:41And the nearer the day it gets, the worse it becomes.
31:43That's what Violet's always like beforehand.
31:45You, uh, you started to say something the last time we met about her being worse than usual this time.
31:54She's become very fond of you.
31:57On top of all that, she's terrified of letting you down.
32:01If you were fond of her, you'd reassure her on that point.
32:04Are you fond of her?
32:09Aunt Clara, you're a wise old lady, and I think you know.
32:12What do I know?
32:14The theatre is a strange place.
32:15Artificial.
32:16It's a hothouse.
32:18Now, when your niece gets it wrong, starts to do things badly today, which she did beautifully yesterday, I almost hate her.
32:24And when she does things well, as only she can do them, I am ready to lay my life at her feet.
32:29Both emotions are deceptive.
32:32They belong to the hothouse.
32:34I must answer your question in a cool winter, when summer birds have flown.
32:39Don't you start quoting your own lines at me, young man.
32:42That's the height of self-satisfaction.
32:44Oh, so you've read the play too, then?
32:47Of course I've read it.
32:49Who do you think advises her in these matters?
32:52What did you think of it?
32:53Well, I evidently thought well enough of it to advise her to take the part.
32:58Needs cutting, of course, and reshaping here and there.
33:00Oh, it too, Clara.
33:04I think Violet could have the greatest success of her life in it, or the greatest disaster.
33:11I hate to think of her being hurt or humiliated in any way, but I sometimes wonder if disaster wouldn't be the better.
33:21Don't say that.
33:22Why do you say that?
33:23Because then she'd be out of it all.
33:25She's not really suited to the life.
33:27But her talent is prodigious.
33:29Oh, her talent.
33:30It's her temperament.
33:32She hasn't got the steel.
33:34The theatre will kill her.
33:35My play won't kill her.
33:37Your play will decide it.
33:39One way or the other.
33:40I'm afraid there's no demerara sugar.
33:45He seemed to have run out.
33:47Hmm.
33:48You wouldn't have made him look so angelic if you'd known what he was really like.
33:53Sure you won't have some coffee, Aunt Clara?
33:56Quite sure, my dear.
33:58Old bones sleep lightly enough without coffee.
34:01Good night, my dear.
34:03Don't be late.
34:04Good night, Mr. Weyworth.
34:07Remember what I said.
34:11What did she say?
34:12Oh, simply that I was to stop being nervous.
34:15Oh, that.
34:17That's easier said than done.
34:25How long have you known Mrs. Arsager?
34:29About a year.
34:30Eighteen months, I suppose.
34:31Why?
34:32She doesn't like me.
34:34Oh, on earth can you say that?
34:37She hardly knows you.
34:38In any case, why shouldn't she like you?
34:39I told you, she loves you.
34:41She's possessive about you.
34:44She wouldn't like any woman who had to work with you as closely as I have to.
34:47Oh, my dear.
34:47You're her fairy prince, her...
34:50Chopin, if you like.
34:52You represent everything she had to give up when she settled for her millionaire magnet.
34:57She needs an element like you in her life.
35:00Oh, great heavens.
35:01Can you women talk about nothing else but each other?
35:03Ah, then she does talk about me.
35:05Only to say how much she admires your talent and how good you are in the play.
35:08So, she had watched the rehearsal that day.
35:15How could you?
35:17You know how we feel about that.
35:19She watched me stumbling and blundering around in your play like a fool.
35:23You might have spared me that, Alan.
35:25Really, you might.
35:26Violet, she knows a great deal about the theatre.
35:28Right.
35:28Her opinion is valuable.
35:29Besides, she was instrumental in getting the play among the first places.
35:32That gives you no right to let her spy.
35:34It wasn't spying.
35:35It was an interest, a desire to help.
35:37I could do without her help.
35:39Well, perhaps I can't.
35:40This is no way to be going on a few days before opening.
35:53I'd better go.
35:56It's nerves.
35:58I talked a lot of nonsense.
36:00Please forget it.
36:01There's nothing to forget.
36:03Who knows?
36:04It may actually be good for the play.
36:06I do believe you'd actually swallow arsenic if you felt it would be good for your play.
36:12It's desperately important to you, isn't it?
36:15Don't talk about it anymore.
36:17My leading lady needs a sleep.
36:19I'll see you tomorrow.
36:24Good night.
36:31Good night, Alan.
36:35Mr. Wayworth, madam.
36:38Alan.
36:40My dear.
36:41What have you been doing with yourself?
36:43You're going to be wretched.
36:44Oh, I didn't sleep all night.
36:48The preview's only five days away, and then the first night.
36:51Preview?
36:52Yes, it's a new idea of Herbert Lotus.
36:55The night before the first night, he's going to present it in front of an audience.
36:58A professional audience of people who know the theatre.
37:00Is that a good idea?
37:02Yes, he seems to think so.
37:03He says that since we haven't tried the play out in the provinces, it'll be good for the
37:08company to have the feel of a knowledgeable audience before it goes in front of the critics.
37:12That is why you couldn't sleep?
37:16Not particularly the preview, no.
37:17No, it's the whole thing, the desperate chancellors of it all, the possibilities of disaster.
37:26Does the play really work?
37:27Is the character of Nona drawn strongly enough?
37:29Have I given Violet enough to work on?
37:31Or have I betrayed her with thin writing?
37:32Oh, God.
37:35At five o'clock I got up and I went out into Hyde Park.
37:38I've been there ever since.
37:39Have you had any breakfast?
37:40No.
37:41Then you must have some at once.
37:42But, Lenny, I couldn't eat, only.
37:44You must.
37:45You will help no one by starving yourself.
37:48Some breakfast for Mr. Wayworth, please, Bowles.
37:50Very good, madam.
37:51Amen.
37:52I understand.
37:56You must be in a dreadful state.
38:00Anxiety for another is even worse than anxiety for oneself.
38:05I know.
38:06For another?
38:08My dear.
38:10You are nervous about Nona Vincent.
38:14But you are infinitely more nervous for Violet Gray.
38:18But Violet Gray is Nona Vincent.
38:19No, she isn't.
38:20Not a bit.
38:21What?
38:22But you said yourself the other day at the rehearsal.
38:24I said she would be very good.
38:25I did not say she would be Nona Vincent.
38:27But if she isn't my character, how can she be good?
38:29You've stunned repeatedly.
38:31I doubted Mr. Ibsen would have approved of her head a garbler,
38:33but she was immensely successful.
38:35My actress is my...
38:36Your actress is your...
38:37My what?
38:41Your very good friend.
38:44Just at this moment,
38:46you are in love with her.
38:47I am not.
38:48You will be.
38:56If she pulls you through and makes a success of it,
39:01you are ready to adore her.
39:03If she does that,
39:05you will adore her.
39:07But I thought your feeling was that she won't pull me through.
39:10I'll pray for her.
39:13Please do.
39:16I'm afraid my prayers are all that I can offer.
39:20I received a letter from my sister in Torquay.
39:24Apparently she has been taken ill.
39:26I'm obliged to go down there and spend a few days with her.
39:29But you'll miss the first night.
39:33My dear,
39:34I shall make every effort to be back in time,
39:37both for the preview and for the opening night.
39:40Mr. Wayworth's breakfast, madam.
39:41Thank you, Bowles.
39:50Oh, splendid Bowles.
39:52I don't think a man was ever so miserable.
40:02So many people depending on me.
40:04So much guilt if I fail.
40:06I don't see why you should feel guilty, my dear.
40:08Guilty about it.
40:10All the people I let down.
40:12All the actors.
40:14How about Loder?
40:15Mr. Loder is a professional manager.
40:17The theatre is his business.
40:18Exactly.
40:19It's all very well for you to be philosophical about it.
40:21You've got no money at stake.
40:22Perhaps I have a great deal more than money at stake.
40:29Be honest, lady.
40:30What do you think will happen?
40:33To the play, do you think?
40:34Yes, of course, to the play.
40:37It's a beautiful play, my dear.
40:40Even if it were not to succeed,
40:43it will still have been worth doing.
40:49She's managed it.
40:51Mrs. Elsack is in her box.
40:52Oh, good.
40:55Now, you know what I feel.
40:57What I want for you.
40:58Yes, yes.
40:59You promise not to watch the performance.
41:01Oh, no, no, no, no.
41:02That's agreed.
41:03No, I'll be back just after the end.
41:06Tell Aunt Clara not to worry.
41:08Fine.
41:09It's not a play at all.
41:14It'll fall to pieces in front of an audience.
41:16Now, sit down and bear up.
41:19Remember your ancestry.
41:22Here.
41:24A little of the spirit of Bannockburn's what's required.
41:26Confess it, Aunt Clara.
41:29You're nervous yourself.
41:30I come of a sterner generation.
41:33I would die sooner than admit it.
41:35Come with me,
41:44and I will show you what is beautiful in these people,
41:48what is lovely in their lives,
41:50and how they gain grace by simply being what they are.
41:55They take what is terrible in life and make it count for good,
41:59and they touch nothing that they do not adore.
42:03Mr. Weyworth.
42:16Mr. Weyworth.
42:17What?
42:18Mr. Weyworth.
42:19Yes?
42:19Time to go if you want to catch the final curtain.
42:23What?
42:24You shouldn't have let me sleep.
42:25The best thing that could have happened to you.
42:27Well, I've barely got time to do it.
42:30You'll find a handsome on the rack of the corner.
42:33How was it?
42:38Did it go?
42:39Did it go?
42:40The play's all right.
42:42What's the matter?
42:43In Violet Grave.
42:44What's the matter with her?
42:45She wasn't in it.
42:46What do you mean she's not in it?
42:47She didn't bring it off.
42:48She wasn't.
42:49No, now.
42:49What do you mean she failed?
42:50Yes, she failed.
42:51Damn it.
42:52Audience sensed it in her first 20 minutes.
42:55Good night, Arthur.
42:58I see.
43:00And yet, you say the play worked.
43:02Yes, she didn't.
43:04Oh, they made allowances.
43:06No allowances that'll be forthcoming tomorrow night.
43:09The last thing they'll be prepared to accept is such a lack of correspondence between her and the role.
43:13You mean the critics, sir?
43:15Look, I had William Archer of the world in tonight.
43:17Now, he's an old friend of mine.
43:19And he promised to give me an opinion without prejudice to anything he may write tomorrow.
43:22Well, he says he won't do.
43:26Not with Violet Grave.
43:27Oh, God, no, no.
43:29Good night, Mr. Mayor.
43:29Good night.
43:30He says he can see the play is there, but she's not bringing it out.
43:34Pointed out that Shaw is merciless to all leading ladies at the moment.
43:37And Clement Scott of the telegraph has got gout again.
43:42He's savaging anything less than flawless.
43:45Well, what do we do?
43:47What the devil do we do?
43:48Oh, God, poor Violet.
43:51Where is she?
43:51No, she's never called too much straight out.
43:53Let's go to her.
43:54Oh, much better not, dear boy.
43:55She knows she's better without anyone tonight.
43:57Yes, but we were to have dinner together.
43:59Oh, not dinner, dear boy.
44:00Really not.
44:01Well, then what?
44:03Prayer.
44:04Pray for a miracle before tomorrow night.
44:07Oh, yes, sir.
44:11Oh, good Lord.
44:13I'd completely forgotten.
44:14Lady Alcica's still waiting for me in a box.
44:18The play worked tremendously, Alan, as I knew it would when I read it.
44:24You must be very proud.
44:26Lainey, how was Violet?
44:29Well, it was an interesting performance.
44:31Oh, Lainey, please.
44:33I'm looking for guidance.
44:34Was she good?
44:35Was she bad?
44:35Did she help the play or hinder it?
44:38Well, certainly the play would have been better if she had been better.
44:42I see.
44:44She does what she can.
44:45She has a great talent, and she looked beautiful.
44:49But?
44:53She doesn't understand Nona Vincent.
44:55She doesn't see the woman you meant.
44:57She gives you someone else, and that hurts the play.
45:01The woman I meant.
45:04Oh, God, if only she got to know you.
45:06I'm having some friends round to supper afterwards.
45:11They've seen the play, too.
45:12Won't you join us, Alan?
45:13No, I won't, thank you.
45:16I must go and see Violet.
45:17Oh, I know everyone says I shouldn't, but I must.
45:21That's what hurts most of all.
45:23The thought of what I've done to her.
45:24You've done nothing to her, Alan.
45:26She took the part because she wanted it.
45:28I simply can't stand the thought of her suffering out there in front of that audience.
45:33Of what they're going to say about her tomorrow.
45:34I simply can't stand it.
45:36Well, then you must go to her, mustn't you?
45:48It's as I thought.
45:49She won't see you.
45:52She says she can't face you.
45:55She's made herself unwell.
45:57If she doesn't get some sleep, she simply won't be able to go on tomorrow.
46:00That's what I wanted to tell her myself.
46:02She mustn't blame herself.
46:04But she does.
46:06She says she injures your play, that she ruins it.
46:13Tell her it doesn't matter.
46:15It doesn't matter a straw.
46:18There are more important things in life than theatre.
46:21Now, she's not to make herself ill over this.
46:24She went out early, sir.
46:26But I'm sure that she would be happy for you to wait here if you wish to.
46:30I won't, thank you, boss.
46:33Did she say where she was going?
46:34I'm afraid not, sir.
46:36My dear, I have been so wanting to call.
46:40But I know you have been busy.
46:43Won't you sit down?
46:45And I know this is not the most convenient moment to call with your first night tonight.
46:51It is the worst moment you could possibly have chosen.
46:54Had you not told Aunt Clary it was desperately urgent.
46:56It is.
46:57Very well.
46:58Well, my dear, I'm aware you think I monopolize Alan Weyworth.
47:06I have no right to resent that.
47:09It is true I am very fond of him.
47:13But I have no right to be any more than that.
47:16If I were not married, it might be a different matter.
47:19But I am, and well, there we are.
47:21Mrs. Alsiger, you don't have to defend yourself to me.
47:26It is very easy for a woman of my age and resources to fascinate a younger man.
47:31I never said that.
47:33Oh, I have set myself out to be bewitching.
47:36Of course I have.
47:38But I have done it for his own good.
47:41He needed confidence and warmth.
47:45Someone to have faith in.
47:47And a refuge when the world battered him over much.
47:51I have provided those things.
47:55He loves you.
47:56He believes he does.
47:59He's also ready to love you.
48:01Not now.
48:02You can make him happy.
48:04I cannot.
48:06That is why I am here.
48:08I make him happy?
48:10He will loathe me for what I have done to his work.
48:12The character you are playing.
48:14Nona Vincent.
48:15He based on me.
48:16I know.
48:17I have resisted that.
48:19How could you do otherwise?
48:20You didn't really know me, and what you did know you didn't like.
48:23Mrs. Alsiger, please.
48:24Oh, my dear.
48:26I would have done exactly the same.
48:29Miss Gray.
48:31I think we both want the same thing.
48:33All I want.
48:35No, not all.
48:36Obviously, I want to succeed.
48:38But the main thing I want is Alan's happiness.
48:45Your success and his happiness, I think, are dependent on each other.
48:50Now, can you believe that I only want his happiness, too?
48:55Yes.
48:57Yes, I think I can.
49:02He has, of course, idealized me.
49:05Both in his mind and in his play.
49:07But I believe I know how he sees me.
49:10How he thought I would work in his play.
49:12Now, will you listen to me?
49:17Yes.
49:27Oh, well.
49:29Good luck, Arthur.
49:30Thank you, Mr. Lerner.
49:31What are you doing here?
49:36I thought the arrangement was that you stayed away until the end, as you did last night.
49:39I got this note from Violet.
49:40What?
49:40See the performance tonight, but don't come near me till it's over.
49:48The devil's a girl, a devil.
49:50I've no idea.
49:50It's totally unlike her.
49:52Where will you be?
49:53I'll be with Laini Elsegur in the box.
49:56You must act as your conscience dictates.
50:01But remember this.
50:03I love you.
50:05I shall always love you.
50:07Only reach out, and I shall come to you across oceans and continents.
50:18Goodbye.
50:19Goodbye.
50:37It's completely what you did out there tonight.
50:50It's completely different than anything she ever did in rehearsal.
50:56Oh.
50:57She was living tonight.
50:59That little trick to the head.
51:00Oh.
51:00And because she was living, she was normal.
51:03She made the plane.
51:04I'll run you six months at least.
51:06Oh, in your perfection.
51:19I've never seen anything like it.
51:20You're the toast of London.
51:21What happened?
51:22She came to see me.
51:24Who?
51:24Mrs. Elsegur.
51:25Alan, she saved me.
51:27Oh, how?
51:28Oh, by letting me look at her, by talking to me, by letting me know her.
51:32Yes.
51:33What did she say?
51:34Oh, kind things.
51:35Wonderful, intelligent things.
51:38She's exquisite.
51:39She's soothed my nerves and lit up my imagination.
51:42And for the first time in my whole study of the part, I had my model.
51:46She showed me by herself, Mrs. Elsegur, the very qualities in Nona that you know I could
51:52have a grasp or understand.
51:54She kissed me when she went away.
51:55I must hug her and thank her.
51:57Where is she?
51:58She caught the late train down to Torquay, sir.
52:02She said she expected to be away for some months.
52:04I'm to send a great many things after her.
52:07Did she leave a message?
52:08Yes, sir.
52:09She left her address for you, so that you'll know where to send the wedding invitation,
52:14she said.
52:22I'm to send a great many things, so that you'll know where to send the wedding invitation.
52:52I'm to send a great many things, so that you'll know where to send the wedding invitation.
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