February 25th 2017 version
©ecr2017
Character List (in order of appearance)
Jean Harlow
Harlots 1,2 and 3
Death
Mamma Jean
Doctor
Nurse
Mr. Mont Clare Carpenter
Mary Barstow
Albert
Charles McGrew
Schoolgirl 1
Schoolgirl 2
Maid
Judge McGovern
Edward Bower Hesser
Man 1
Man 2
Man 3
Albert Einstein
Elsa Einstein
Mack Sennett
Charlie Chaplin
Mary Pickford
Douglas Fairbanks
Harold Richman (Death)
Bugsy Siegel
Howard Hughes
Bellboy
Paul Bern
Reporter
Voices 1 -5
Frank A. Nance (Death)
Pressman 1
Pressman 2
Pressman 3
MGM Executive
Louis B. Mayer (Death)
Harold Rosson
Paperboy
Hedda Hopper
Voices 1 and 2
Louella Parsons
Voices 3 and 4
Lady 1
Man 1
Lady 2
Man 2
William Powell
Abortion Doctor
Jack Conway
Clark Gable
Walter Pidgeon
Goodnight Baby Jean
Music List
Act One
P4* Bye Bye Blackbird Death/Harlots
P7 The T is always silent Harlots
P8 Aviator Man (teaser) Harlots
P11 Black Panther Rag Jean/Company
P17 Play it Dumb Jean
P18 Kansas City Train short) Harlots
P19 Happy Days Jean/Charles/Judge
P20 Wedding Parody (short) Harlots
P23 Naked as nature Intended Jean/Company
P27 Talking Picture Revolution Company
P31 His heart it was in Kansas Harlots
P31* Puttin’ on the Ritz Death
P33 Baby Girl Done Good Death and Jean
P35 One Good Turn Harlots
P37 Aviator Man Jean
P38 Aviator man Harlots
P41 Bubble Momma Jean
P42 Bubble Jean
P44 Hells Angels Howard/Jean/Company
Act Two
P47 You’re gonna be sorry Paul/Jean/Company
P53 Pleadin’ the Fifth Jean/Death
P59 Gotta real good friend In Jesus Momma Jean/Company
P64 Less You Fall L.B.Mayer/Jean/Harlots
P69 The Hollywood two-step Company
P75 Mamma and Baby (Jean) Momma Jean/Jean
P78 Boozin’ Again Blues Death/Company
P81* It had to be You Death/Harlots
P85* Smile Harlots/Death/
Mamma Jean/Jean
P88 You’ve had a Fall Harlots
P90 Sleep Tight Clark Gable/
William Powell
Mamma Jean
P91* Varsity Rag Instrumental
P94 Dance Medley Show instrumental
P94 Baby Girl Done Good (reprise) Death/Baby Jean
P95 Goodnight baby Jean Company
*’Bye Bye Blackbird’ Gene Austin
*’Puttin’ on the Ritz’ Irving Berlin
*’It had to be You’’ Isham Jones/Marlon Harris
*’Smile Charles Chaplin
*’Varsity Drag’ B.G.Desylva/Lew Brown
Links – A Song Before Sunrise by Frederick Delius,
ACT ONE
Scene 1
House lights go. Curtain up on a dark stage; A scratchy Bessie Smith recording of ‘Hard Drivin’ Paps’ plays, The lights come up very slowly and when they are up fully there is silence.
It is June 7th 1937. Jean Harlow is lying on a hospital bed in the Good Samaritan Hospital Los Angeles; she is motionless and in a coma. On a podium behind her are ‘The Harlots’ who act as a Greek chorus and also play other parts as and when.
Sitting in a chair watching her is a man in a white suit and fedora hat; He is Death. Death has a blackbird in his right hand, which he strokes whilst he sings a very slow version of
Bye Bye Blackbird
Death
Pack up all my care and woe,
Here I go,
Singing low,
Harlots
Bye bye blackbird,
Jean (murmurs)
Should be in wardrobe
Death
Where somebody waits for me,
Sugar’s sweet, so is she,
Harlots
Bye bye Blackbird!
Jean (murmurs again)
Shooting Saratoga
Death
No one here can love or understand me,
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me,
Make my bed and light the light,
I’ll be home late tonight,
Harlots
Blackbird bye bye
Death
No one here can love or understand me,
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me,
Make my bed and light the light,
I’ll be home late tonight
Blackbird
Harlots
Blackbird
Jean (troubled murmur)
Blackbird?
Death
Blackbird Bye – Bye
Jean
(louder now)
Should be playing Carol Clayton
Death releases the bird, which flies off
Death
Sorry – just saying goodbye to Bessie. Now you have my full attention – Carol Clayton Who’s she?
Jean
Who’s she? An English Lady
Harlots (scornfully)
Ha!
Jean
Who’s you?
Death
Me?
Jean
Yes
Death
I’m Sante Muerte – but you can call me Santa Baby Jean
Harlots (sing)
Here comes Santa – Jolly – jolly Santa
Meurte Christmas one and all
Jean
Am I dying Santa?
Harlots (sing)
Is she dying Santa
Death
Dying? – Is subjective
Harlots (sing)
Idiosyncratic
Jean
And who the fuck are they?
Death
They’re with me I call them the Harlots
Jean (laughs)
That’s what that snooty English cow said to me. Margot Asquith
Death
Margot Asquith?
Jean
Yeah! – Bitch – wife of Prime Minister Asquith
Harlots (sing)
Which wife? Bitch Wife – hum-hum-hum
Jean (mispronouncing the name by emphasising the T)
I dared to call her Margot. Margot as in Yogurt
Not Margot as in Margaux
Death
The Tsarina of wines as Bacchus once said
Jean
Five times actually till bitch-wife corrected me with “No, No Jean the T is always silent
Harlots (sing)
Dramatic Pause
Jean
Like in Harlow
Death (laughs)
Ha – that’s’ shanazz
Jean
I call it rude
Death
That’s subjective too
Harlots (sing)
Idiosyncratic too
Jean
Like Death
Scene 2
THE T IS ALWAYS SILENT
Harlots
The T is always silent
Like in ballet and valet and chalet
And listen and fasten and glisten
Ding dong Christmas too
But you
Dear Jean have a W at the end of your name
It’s just the bedroom fame
Gave you the silent T
Silent T – Infamous T
Wrapped up in silk sheets and mink
So heavenly in pi-nk m’dears
So heavenly in pink
Hold the front page it’s happened again
Rhetorical Hysterical Umbilical T
Hold the front page it’s happened again
It’s fundamentally silent that T
Scene three
Jean (oozing sex)
“Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?”
Harlots (sing)
We would expect nothing less
Than for you to undress
Jean
Ha damnable ha-ha Harlots – It’s a line
Harlots (run their fingers along their noses)
A line?
Jean (laughs)
Not that sort of line
Death
A line from – Hells Angels
Jean
It was indeed Santa – Dear Dearest Howard
Death
Howard Hughes
Jean
The one and only
Harlots (sing)
Uncle Sam loves the Aviator Man
The aviator man – the aviator man
Uncle Sam loves the aviator man
La la la la la la
Jean
You seem to know a lot about a lot Santa? Especially me – so tell me – Am I dying?
Harlots (sing)
Dy-ing
Death
I don’t use that word much – causes
Beat
Upsets
Harlots (sing)
Passing, Failing, Fading
Expiring, Closing, Ending
Jean
Charming
Death
That works!
Jean’s mother Jean Harlow enters the room and goes to her bed
END OF SAMPLE