Episode 15 - It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Valentine's
Photos by Janna Hove
Synopsis by Jim Cej
* * *
Our Cast of Characters
Jason Hardwick - Keaton Abbott
-impresario, owner of the Ferguson Theatre-
Kristi Hansen - Bobbi Smarts
-designer and stage manager-
Delia Barnett - Daisy Darling
-showgirl, born in a trunk-
Tom Edwards - Riff Van Winkel
- song and dance man-
Mark Meer - Lou Tellegen
- famous actor-
Jesse Gervais - Lou Costello
- accountant and guesser-
Vincent Forcier - Barnaby Toughbottom
- strongman-
* * *
- February 10th, 1920 -
* * *
Lou Costello lies unconscious on a couch.
Daisy Darling comes to him.
Is he dreaming or is she real?
Daisy is there for a short visit.
He would like her to stay with him forever.
Daisy says that she can’t stay in his dream forever.
He is appreciated more than he knows,
because no one ever says thank you.
Lou wants to stay in his dream forever.
He never wants to go back to real life.
* * *
Lou Tellegen visits Riff in his dressing room.
He has a bone to pick with Lou.
Wasn’t he supposed to star in The Harry Houdini Story?
Things move fast in Hollywood.
Lou asks him to return to the movie,
to become someone in Hollywood.
As the stunt double.
How much breathing underwater did he do during the war?
But no one must know that he is doing the stunts.
What’s loved more than an unsung hero?
Lou has a contract and a non-disclosure agreement.
Riff is vital to the movie, but expendable.
* * *
Keaton has a new attitude.
He is making plans in his office,
when Bobbi Smarts knocks on his door.
He is thrilled to see her.
She wonders if she is still wanted at the Ferguson.
She left without any notice.
She went to a place where they helped her with her problems,
of hitting people over the head with bottles and drinking.
Bobbi wants to help him get his theatre back.
Keaton tells her that she was away, but she was in his heart.
A lot happened while she was gone.
Almost everyone left him.
He still has the backstage crew and they are getting 90% more,
but he doesn’t have the money to pay them.
Bobbi will help him.
They can do anything together.
* * *
At the Hoboken Pantages,
Barnaby pitches a new, dangerous act to Daisy Darling.
Things are different now with her in a position of power.
Barnaby has to wait while she deals with some paperwork.
Barnaby thinks that he could do an interesting act at her theatre.
He wants to try something new.
Barnaby came close to losing his life,
and close to losing his mind.
Now, he wants to do both.
First he needs some piranhas.
Daisy says that they can afford two.
He will walk across a vat of two piranhas.
From there, he will dive up in the sky
and grab two burning sausages.
Daisy tells him that they are not cleared for fire.
Ok, two extremely hot sausages.
He will eat the sausages and drop into a cannon.
It will spin to a mirror,
and he'll shoot out into his reflection and ends up sitting comfortably.
Daisy is sceptical.
* * *
Lou Tellegen and Riff visit Lou Costello, lying on the couch.
Tellegen explains that Riff will be the star
and Costello will receive the accolades.
Costello asks Riff if he is comfortable with this.
Riff says that he will become a big star.
They talk over the act,
with Riff going into the tank for Costello,
and then cut to Costello getting out of the tank.
Riff asks how he will get out of the tank.
* * *
Bobbi attends her Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
Bobbi talks about her week.
She has gone back to work,
which has always been a big trigger for her with all the booze around.
What about prohibition?
It doesn’t really apply at the theatre.
Bobbi will be facing people that she hit over the head with a bottle.
One of the group members offers to let her beat meat in his freezer.
And that’s not a euphemism.
Bobbi will have to face Riff, and her ex-girlfriend that she left.
Another group member asks if they are the problem or if she is the problem.
Maybe she should see as many people as she can
to take her mind off of drinking.
Bobbi considers the idea.
* * *
Keaton Abbott visits Daisy Darling at the Hoboken Pantages.
He finds Barnaby Toughbottom there with her.
Keaton asks how things are going.
Daisy says that everything is going great!
Keaton invites both of them to a mixer
that he is throwing back at the Ferguson.
Barnaby wonders what is wrong.
He is not used to Keaton being nice.
Barnaby leaves and Keaton asks if he is crazy or something.
* * *
Lou and Lou take Riff to the escape tank.
Tellegen explains what will happen with the escape.
He tells Riff that he will be playing Harry Houdini,
so he just needs to act like Harry Houdini.
Riff is lowered into the tank...
...and tries to escape from the chains underwater.
While Tellegen and Costello make small talk,
Riff has problems trying to escape.
* * *
Keaton hosts his Valentine’s Mixer.
Bobbi is the first to arrive and is disconcerted to find
that there are booze bottles around.
Keaton removes them all.
Meanwhile, Daisy arrives and asks how Bobbi is going.
It’s one day at a time, but she’s thinking of having lots more sex.
Lou Tellegen and Barnaby are the next to arrive,
followed by Lou Costello.
Tellegen says that he is seeing Costello for the first time today.
They all take seats.
Keaton thanks them all for coming back to the Ferguson for his mixer.
Tellegen asks what that smell is?
Bleach.
They are cleaning things.
Barnaby asks where Riff is?
If he’s not there, Keaton must be excluding him.
Keaton says that he was invited.
Costello says that Riff could be anywhere.
Bobbi wonders if the reason that Riff isn’t there is because of her.
Costello is sure that he is dying to see her.
* * *
Riff lies on the same couch that Lou Costello did.
He dreams of Bobbi Smarts.
She looks like someone he knows.
Bobbi says that they know each other.
It looks like his lungs are filled with water.
Riff wonders where he is.
He’s where he wants to be.
Riff asks if she is where she wants to be.
That is right by his side.
She has been thinking about there two of them.
They have everything they ever needed.
Riff wonders if it's over now.
It is never over between them.
They are meant to be together.
Bobbi tells him to get off of that couch.
She helps him throw up all of that water
and then joins him on the couch.
If he comes back, they can be together forever.
Can she give him a second chance?
* * *
The party has wrapped up,
but Barnaby has stayed behind to talk to Keaton.
Keaton has has a wonderful evening and asks is Barnaby wants more tea.
He does not reply.
Keaton understands that he is upset with him at the moment.
He is free to express himself.
Keaton is there to hear him.
Barnaby has him sit in a chair and stands behind him.
Barnaby remains silent, but stares at Keaton.
He finally asks where his friend is.
Who does he mean?
Keaton is his friend.
Barnaby pours Keaton a drink.
Are you talking about Lou?
About Plootie?
About another character that he can’t remember at this time?
Barnaby was a friend of Keaton’s, the way he used to be.
What is Keaton going to do?
Sell the theatre and go to the Hoboken Pantages?
Keaton doesn’t know.
There’s a big world out there and things aren’t working out for him.
He’s trying to smile his way through it.
Barnaby will see him on the other side.
* * *
Lou Tellegen speaks with his film crew.
They have had a bit of a a setback in filming.
He asks about Riff.
He is looking gelatinous.
The magic of the movies will make everything look alright.
Lou has enough footage to stitch together to make a movie.
He must go to Hollywood to complete the movie.
Riff makes strange noises.
They revive Riff.
He remembers everything.
Being lowered into the tank.
He couldn’t breathe.
His life flashed before his eyes.
He saw Bobbi Smarts.
She said everything that he wanted to hear.
And then woke up, and he was just himself.
Tellegen films it all.
He leaves for Hollywood.
This will bring him an Oscar.
* * *
Daisy waits for her ferry back to Hoboken.
Lou Costello finds her standing in the moonlight.
He approaches her, making bird calls.
She finally turns around, startled.
He didn’t mean to frighten her by making the sounds of an owl.
He sometimes thinks of owls, swooping through the air.
Majestic and hooting.
Daisy says that they eat its prey whole and leaves behind a tiny pellet.
He was going to say that he thought she was like an owl.
Daisy says that before, she was the mouse.
Now, he is the mouse.
For once, words fail Lou.
He trips over his words.
She thinks that he finds her scary.
He had wanted her more than a man could want a woman.
But he couldn’t have her.
He lives by a strict moral code.
But he has left that behind.
He is adrift and taking on water.
And she is the owl, waiting to attack him.
If she is an owl, he made her that way.
They could have made their own code.
Lou says that they will never together again.
They could have flown together in the sky.
But the weather changed and their migratory paths are no longer in synch.
He hopes to see her again.
She hopes so, too.
* * *
Keaton goes to the Hoboken Pantages,
where he finds Biff, the theatre’s owner doing some cleaning up.
Keaton says that Hoboken is the new Manhattan.
He says that Biff has a great theatre.
Biff wonders what he is up to.
Is he there to steal his acts back?
He found them on the beach, fair and square.
Keaton hopes that he treats them well.
Biff says that everyone loves him.
Keaton hears a voice tell him to kill him.
Keaton tells Biff that he is not there to poach anyone.
Biff says that they all hate them.
Keaton tells him that he is out.
He is going to send Biff some more acts.
And he has some IATSE staff to send over.
Bobbi Smarts will come over as well.
Biff asks what he going to do.
He will hold on to the theatre for a little while
and wait for inspiration to strike.
He is meant to be alone.
Biff has achieved all of Keaton’s wildest dreams,
and he wasn’t even trying.
Everything is going Biff’s way.
Biff goes on and on, making Keaton angrier and angrier.
He comes up behind Biff and snaps his neck.
* * *
Barnaby meets with Bobbi about building his set and props.
While they talk, Riff appears.
He tells Bobbi that he is back.
Back from the dead.
He was gone, he saw the light.
The water went over his head.
Bobbi came to him and said that they should be together.
He knows that he is frightening Bobbi now.
Barnaby leaves so they can talk.
Riff says that it is time for them to admit what they feel to each other.
Bobbi is scared.
Riff tells her not to think think, don’t let hesitation take over.
Tell him now.
Lou Costello tells Daisy that he will never forget her.
Riff tells Bobbi to come to him now.
Bobbi is sorry.
She doesn’t know who she is.
She has to have sex with a lot of people.
Riff will wait.
* * *
* Directed by Belinda Cornish *
* Music by Paul Morgan Donald *
* Lighting by Brad Fischer *
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