GENE - An Excerpt
by
Ron Hirsen
7441 N. California Ave.
Chicago, IL 60645
(773) 805-7442
Ronhirsen@gmail.com
Copyright 2012, Ron Hirsen
GENE - An Excerpt
By Ron Hirsen
(The lobby of the Shelton Hotel,
Boston. It is early evening on
November 27, 1953. Lights come up to
reveal MURPH, a large man, seated at
the desk, reading a newspaper. After a
moment, OZZIE, of smaller stature,
enters and heads toward the archway
leading to the elevators. MURPH looks
up from his newspaper.)
MURPH
Good evening, sir.
OZZIE
Oh, hello.
(He continues on his way.)
MURPH
Can I help you?
OZZIE
No, that’s okay, I’m-MURPH
(More emphatically)
Can I help you?
OZZIE
Oh, uh, I’m just here to visit a friend.
MURPH
What floor?
OZZIE
I beg your pardon?
MURPH
What floor is he on?
Uh, four.
OZZIE
He’s on four. Are you the, uh--
MURPH
I look after things here. What room’s he in?
OZZIE
Look, I’m just going--
1.
MURPH
Your friend, what room is he in?
Uh, four-oh-one.
OZZIE
Suite four-oh-one.
MURPH
Mr. O’Neill.
OZZIE
That’s right, Mr. O’Neill.
MURPH
Sorry, pal, he ain’t seein’ anybody today.
OZZIE
But he invited me; he sent me a letter.
MURPH
He ain’t seein’ anybody.
OZZIE
(Taking a letter from his
jacket pocket)
No, here, look, uh, he sent me a letter.
invited me to come see him.
You see?
He
(OZZIE holds out the letter.)
MURPH
(Looking at the letter)
This letter’s almost two years old.
OZZIE
I sent him a Christmas card-- a while ago. And he wrote
back. Or his Mrs. did I guess. See, “If you’re ever in
Boston...” Right there, see that?
But this is the first
time I’ve been to Boston since he wrote me that, so--.
MURPH
Well, Mr. O’Neill ain’t seein’ anybody today.
OZZIE
I’m up from New York. I came up to visit my sister,
actually. For, uh, Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving.
MURPH
Thanks.
OZZIE
This is the first time I’ve been up here to Boston since he
wrote me that letter. So, I thought I’d stop in for a visit.
I can’t stay long. I just wanted to stop up to say hello.
2.
MURPH
He ain’t seein’ anybody today.
OZZIE
Well, maybe if you let him know it’s me, he’ll change his
mind. Ring him up there and tell him that old Ozzie is here
to see him. He’ll know who you mean.
MURPH
He ain’t changin’ his mind. He ain’t seein’ anybody.
OZZIE
Are you sure?
MURPH
I’m sure.
OZZIE
I’m an old friend of his. From New York.
MURPH
Uhuh.
OZZIE
We used to go out together sometimes, Gene and me. We went
out together alot back in ‘46, ‘47. During Iceman. You know
Iceman? The Iceman Cometh?
(No answer.)
OZZIE
(Cont.)
It’s one of his plays.
He’s a playwright, you know.
MURPH
Yeah, I know that.
OZZIE
It was a beautiful thing, Iceman. I was in it, you know.
And Gene came to rehearsals all the time and he’d go out with
us, with the actors. We’d go out for lunch sometimes or for
drinks after. He likes to hang out with actors, he likes
actors. Great guy, Gene. That’s why I wanted to see him
again. It’s been a while and he did invite me, so I thought
maybe--.
(MURPH is unmoved.
Pause.)
3.
OZZIE
(Cont.)
You know, nobody understood that play, Iceman Cometh. Nobody
understood it. Not even the director. Eddie Dowling, you
ever hear of him? Not even he got it. Or most of the cast
either. I mean, they were good and all but they never really
understood it. I understood it. I appreciated it and I
think that meant something to Gene. He appreciated my, uh,
appreciation of his play, you know? I mean, most people just
thought it was really long and repetitious. One of the
producers actually counted the lines that were repeated.
There was one line that was repeated eighteen different
times. He mentioned that to Gene, wanted him to cut some.
You know what Gene said? “Eighteen times is exactly what I
intended.” That’s what he said. How about that, huh? You
see, it’s a symphony, that play. Recurring themes weaving in
and out, again and again. It’s a beautiful thing. No one
understood that. I did. I understood it and I think that
meant something to him. Of course, we knew each other from
before, Gene and me, but Iceman is the only time we actually
worked together. He recommended me for that job, in fact.
Yeah, we were good pals back then. That’s why he invited me
up. That’s why I wanted to come.
(No response.
Pause.)
OZZIE
(Cont.)
Yeah, I was in Iceman all right. I was an understudy for
E.G. Marshall, ever hear of him? Probably not. He played
Willie Oban, the Harvard Law man. I was his understudy.
Gene got me that job. I was a little down on my luck and he
sort of helped me out. He does that for his pals, you know.
And I went on once, too. I did. Never forget it. See, he
was a real trouper, that E.G. Nobody ever went on for him,
but then one night, on an otherwise unremarkable day, I get
to the theatre at half-hour, like I’m supposed to, and
Buford, our stage manager, Buford Armitage-- he was our stage
manager-- he calls me over and says, “Hey, Ozzie, I need you
to go on for Eej.” His mother was sick or something, I don’t
know. “Think you can you do it?” he says. “Well, sure,” I
said, “what do you think?” And then, while I’m getting
ready, everybody kept coming by, the other actors and
everybody, asking me if I was okay. “Do you know your
lines?” Or “Don’t forget where you sit,” and all like that.
But I was okay. Well, the suit didn’t fit right, but I knew
all the words. But they kept asking me, you know, all
nervous and whatever. But then-- I just went on. I did.
Greatest night of my life; I’ll never forget it. December
5th, 1946, a Thursday. A thoroughly unremarkable day in
every other respect, and I went on in the role of Willie Oban
in The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O’Neill. He won the Nobel
Prize, you know.
4.
MURPH
He did?
OZZIE
Yeah, back in the thirties. And I acted in his play. How
about that, huh? I wasn’t bad either, you know? I was a
little jumpy at first, I admit, what with everybody asking me
if I was okay and all. But then the curtain went up and-away we went. I mean, I knew all the words. You don’t know
Iceman, do you? Well, see, it began with all these drunken
guys, all sleeping at their tables in the tavern, in Harry
Hope’s saloon. That’s where the whole thing happened. And I
was there and Larry Slade there on my left and Harry over
there to my right. Harry was asleep himself, see, and Rocky
the bartender was getting ready to open the joint for the
day. It was early in the morning and we were all sleeping
off our drunks, right there at our tables. Hadn’t even
moved. Of course, Larry wasn’t sleeping; he never sleeps.
But then one by one, we all started waking up. First, Hugo,
then me. I was having this terrible nightmare, see, about my
old man, and I woke up screaming, “Papa! Papa! It’s a Goddamned lie!”
Hey, mister.
MURPH
Watch it, will ya?
OZZIE
What?
MURPH
This here is a respectable establishment.
Watch your tongue.
OZZIE
Oh, right.
Sorry.
MURPH
And keep it down, huh?
OZZIE
Yeah, okay.
MURPH
I mean, it was just a play, right?
OZZIE
Right.
Sorry.
(A moment.)
OZZIE
(Cont.)
Boy, it sure got cold in a hurry, didn’t it?
(No response.)
5.
OZZIE
(Cont.)
I thought sure the sun would shine today.
(No response.
Pause.)
OZZIE
(Cont.)
I sang this great song, too. In the play, you know? In
Iceman? I sang this song in the first act, and then again at
the end. See, at the end, in Iceman, all the guys, all these
bums hanging out in the tavern, in Harry Hope’s place, they
all started to sing. Everybody. But each one of us sang a
different tune, everybody had his own song to sing. Some
display that was. So, I sang my song again, there at the
end. It’s called “Sailor Lad,” but we just called it “Rap,
Rap, Rap,” because that was the thing, you see, that was part
of the song. I rapped my knuckles on the table. Like this.
(OZZIE raps his knuckles on the table.)
OZZIE
(Cont.)
Rap rap rap.
(OZZIE chuckles; MURPH is not amused.
A moment, then OZZIE starts to sing,
softly and playfully.)
OZZIE
(Cont.)
Jack, oh, Jack, was a sailor lad
And he came to a tavern for gin.
He rapped and he rapped with a (rap, rap, rap)
But never a soul seemed in.
(Becoming a little louder)
OZZIE
(Cont., singing)
He rapped and rapped
And tapped and tapped
Enough to wake the dead,
Till he heard a damsel (rap rap rap)
On a window right over his head.
(Louder still)
6.
OZZIE
((Cont., singing)
“O come up,” she cried, “my sailor lad,
And you and I’ll agree,
And I’ll show you the prettiest (rap rap rap)
That ever you did see.”
O, he put his arm around her waist-MURPH
Hey, hey, hey. Quiet down, will you?
is, some kind of dump?
Oh, sorry.
I’m sorry.
What do you think this
OZZIE
I didn’t mean to, uh--.
Sorry.
(Beat.)
OZZIE
(Cont.)
That was the song, though. I sang that song at the Martin
Beck Theatre on December 5th, 1946. Greatest night of my
life.
(Beat.)
OZZIE
(Cont.)
So, you see, if you just give old Gene a call and tell him
Ozzie is here, he’ll have you send me up. I’m sure of it.
How about it, huh?
MURPH
Maybe you should just be movin’ along, Ozzie.
OZZIE
No, no, no, I really need to see him.
MURPH
Not today.
OZZIE
I’m serious, if you just call up to his room-MURPH
He ain’t seein’ anybody, I tell ya.
OZZIE
(Urgently)
But I have to see him!
MURPH
(Topping him)
Not today!
7.
OZZIE
(Backing down)
Oh.
(Beat.)
OZZIE
(Cont.)
Maybe later then, huh?
I can come back later?
I really need to see him.
You think
MURPH
You can come back if you want, pal, but I told you, Mr.
O’Neill ain’t seein’ anybody today.
OZZIE
Okay, okay.
(A moment, then OZZIE moves away from
MURPH. Pause.)
OZZIE
(Cont.)
You know, last year, or a couple of years ago now, I guess, I
went to his kid’s funeral. I did. He killed himself, did
you know that? His son?
MURPH
No, I didn’t know that.
Well, he did.
OZZIE
Eugene, Jr. Slit his wrists in the bathtub.
MURPH
Yeah?
OZZIE
Yeah. And I went to the funeral. I was hoping to see Gene
there, of course, but he didn’t go. I went. I saw the obit
in the paper and I felt I should go, you know. My friend’s
kid and all. And he himself wasn’t there. Of course, he
paid for the whole damn thing, uh, the whole thing, I mean.
He sent an enormous bed of white chrysanthemums that covered
the whole coffin almost. Knock your eye out.
MURPH
He didn’t go to his own kid’s funeral?
OZZIE
Well, his health is none too good, you know, and-- the way
the kid died and all.
8.
MURPH
My kid do somethin’ like that, I’ll kill him. Well, you know
what I mean. But at least I’d go to his funeral. His own
kid.
OZZIE
You got kids.
MURPH
A son and a daughter, yeah. You?
OZZIE
Me? No, I, uh, I never--. But I always sort of felt that
Gene, Jr. was like my kid. Sort of, you know.
Yeah?
that.
MURPH
Must have been a strange bird, killin’ himself like
OZZIE
I don’t know, I never met him.
MURPH
You never met him?
OZZIE
No.
MURPH
But you said you-OZZIE
No, I-- uh, no.
MURPH
(Puzzled)
Okay.
(Beat.)
OZZIE
You ever meet him?
MURPH
Mr. O’Neill’s kid?
No, Mr. O’Neill.
Gene.
OZZIE
You ever meet him or do you just--?
MURPH
Oh, no, yeah, I met him. What do you think?
only, but yeah, I met him.
Well, one time
9.
OZZIE
He’s a great guy, Gene, huh?
MURPH
They sent me up to give him special delivery once. He was
just sittin’ in his robe, listenin’ to the ballgame.
OZZIE
Yeah, he’s a big baseball fan.
MURPH
Really?
Guy like that?
Oh, yeah.
OZZIE
Big Yankees fan.
MURPH
Yankees?
OZZIE
He’s an old New Yorker, you know.
MURPH
He was listenin’ to the Sox on the radio.
Well, yeah, up here.
You?
OZZIE
Myself, I’m a Red Sox fan.
MURPH
I thought you said you were from New York.
OZZIE
I grew up in Buffalo. Been a Red Sox fan since I was a kid.
Red Sox and Cubs, those were my teams.
MURPH
Cubs?
OZZIE
I had a team in each league.
team, the Cubs.
That was my National League
MURPH
(Incredulous)
The Cubs.
OZZIE
I was just a kid.
MURPH
Stuck behind enemy lines, huh?
OZZIE
What?
10.
MURPH
A Red Sox fan in New York.
OZZIE
Yeah, how about those fuckin’ Yanks.
MURPH
Hey, respectable establishment here, remember?
Oh, right.
mean--
OZZIE
But winning five titles in a row like that, I
MURPH
Yeah.
Damn Yankees.
OZZIE
And the Sox never win shit-- uh, well, you know.
MURPH
Wait till next year, my friend.
OZZIE
What?
MURPH
Nineteen fifty-four is gonna be our year.
Just wait.