Holiday End

by Jacquelyn Wells

Copyright 2005

Characters

Franklin Dial, M, 40s - 60s, a private eye
Betty Nicholson, F, 30s - 50s, an anxious wife
Agnes Reece, F, 30s - 50s, a widow
Mildred Meadows, F, 30s - 50s, Agnes Reece's secretary
Thomas Nicholson, M, 30s - 50s, Betty's husband, singer & a grip
for the movie
Edward Marten, M, 30s - 50s, dancer and a grip for the movie
Lola Seabright, F 30s - 50s, owner of the River View Inn

Time and Place

January 1942

Act I Scene 1: Santa Barbara, Calif

The rest of the play takes place in Monte Rio, Calif

ACT I SCENE 1 - JANUARY 15, 1942 - SATURDAY

DIAL enters from the bar, crosses stage left to the dining room and nods to the audience. He takes off his hat and trench coast as he talks. He sits on a bar stool near the front of the room. This can be his station (mostly) when he talks to the audience.

FRANKLIN DIAL
(to audience)
What was supposed to be a simple tail job, turned into a murder yesterday. It all started a week ago, on Friday night, around 6 o’clock, just nine days after ‘41 rolled into ‘42. I’d had the kind of week that dogged my heels. I’d spent all that day working the phone at my office in Santa Barbara, trying to collect on a few past-dues. No luck. I was tapped. I was tired. My eyes were as scratchy as a 78 after the 103rd play. I needed a holiday. I needed a scotch rocks--a half a dozen of them. I needed a dame--just one. I was almost out the door, tongue directing feet to that whisky, when I heard it ring. Some wiser part of myself told me I shouldn’t answer it, but I never listen to that know-it-all. The voice on the other end of the phone told me she wanted me to follow her no-good husband. She had a few more choice things to say about him, none of them nice. My heart wasn’t in it, but my wallet was. Hell, I’d never had good luck with dames.

ACT I SCENE 2 - JANUARY 9, 1942 - FRIDAY NIGHT

B. NICHOLSON enters from stage right, the kitchen side and stands waiting, as if outside DIAL’s office

FRANKLIN DIAL
She must have been calling from down the street, because she was there in less than five minutes. Inspecting her form was the perfect balm for my tired peepers. She had more curves than Lombard Street in San Francisco. She didn’t look like the kind of doll a man would want to cheat on, but then I guess it takes all kinds. Maybe he wasn’t too bright or maybe she wasn’t too kind. Trying to figure out what makes a couple stay together can be like walking in quicksand. Marriage: highly overrated.

DIAL stands, crosses right and makes B. NICHOLSON welcome

FRANKLIN DIAL
Franklin Dial.

BETTY NICHOLSON
Betty Nicholson. Your office isn’t very big.

FRANKLIN DIAL
I like it that way... . Mrs. Nicholson-

BETTY NICHOLSON
Call me Betty.

FRANKLIN DIAL
You seem like a nice woman-

BETTY NICHOLSON
I am. A nice woman. I didn’t think they had offices this small on State Street.

FRANKLIN DIAL
Sit down. Make yourself comfortable.

BETTY NICHOLSON
I prefer to stand. Will you help me?

FRANKLIN DIAL
Suppose you tell me more. You say your husband’s in ... what was it? Monte Rio?

BETTY NICHOLSON
That’s right. In the Russian River Valley up in Sonoma County. They’re filming a scene for a movie. Holiday Inn with Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby. Tommy’s a singer with Paramount.

FRANKLIN DIAL
Hollywood?
(whistles)
You’re a long way from home. What are you doing up here?

BETTY NICHOLSON
(pause, she’s been caught in an omission)
Hollywood’s only a couple of hours away. My folks live up here in Santa Barbara, ... ah Montecito, and I didn’t want Tommy to find out I was having him tailed. He can get pretty mean, especially when he’s been drinking.

FRANKLIN DIAL
Lots of private dicks in Hollywood. He can’t know them all.

BETTY NICHOLSON
Can’t take the chance on making him mad.
(pause)
So, will you help me, Mr. Dial? I can pay. I have my own money.

FRANKLIN DIAL
Franklin. That depends, Betty. What is it you want me to do exactly?

BETTY NICHOLSON
Find out what he’s up to.

FRANKLIN DIAL
That sounds wide open. Can you pin it down a bit.

BETTY NICHOLSON
I know Tommy’s got another woman, the two-timing louse. Women always fall for him; he’s a handsome brute. I know he took her with him. He can talk women into anything. He can talk Eddie into anything.

FRANKLIN DIAL
Who’s he?

BETTY NICHOLSON
Edward Marten. He’s a dancer on the film. He does whatever Tommy says; I wish he’d stand up for himself. They’ve gone up there together. I don’t trust them together. Eddie acts like a gentleman; talks real polite, ... but

FRANKLIN DIAL
Sounds like a real desperado.

BETTY NICHOLSON
... still I wonder if he’s hiding something.

FRANKLIN DIAL
Who am I tailing? Eddie or your husband?

BETTY NICHOLSON
Oh! My husband.

FRANKLIN DIAL
Are we talking divorce? Do you want pictures?

BETTY NICHOLSON
No! Yes. No divorce, but I do want pictures.

FRANKLIN DIAL
What makes you think your husband’s cheating?

BETTY NICHOLSON
(cries)
It’s what he does best. That and drink.

DIAL offers her a handkerchief

FRANKLIN DIAL
Here.
(to the audience)
Never know what to say when a dame cries.
(to B. NICHOLSON)
Betty, it’s going to cost you plenty of dough for me to go up to Sonoma County-- just to take pictures of your husband with another dame. You can hire a man up there much cheaper.

BETTY NICHOLSON
I can afford it. How much?

FRANKLIN DIAL
Thirty bucks a day, plus expenses. Why don’t you just go on up and see for yourself?

BETTY NICHOLSON
How about if we make it twenty-five a day and you pay your own expenses.

FRANKLIN DIAL
(to the audience)
She fluttered her lashes at me.
(to BETTY)
Thirty bucks with expenses.

BETTY NICHOLSON
Twenty-five dollars ... and ... expenses, and I’ll give you another fifty if you get it done fast.

FRANKLIN DIAL
How fast?

BETTY NICHOLSON
Three days?

FRANKLIN DIAL
(pause)
I’ll need some dough to start.

BETTY NICHOLSON
How much?

FRANKLIN DIAL
A century should do it.

BETTY NICHOLSON
Take this ... fifty dollars. It’s all I’ve got right now. I’ll get you the rest later.

B. NICHOLSON hands him cash
DIAL doesn’t take it

BETTY NICHOLSON
I’m good for it. I have money. Listen, my parents have plenty, they live in Montecito. I just don’t carry around that kind of cash.

DIAL reluctantly takes the cash

FRANKLIN DIAL
(pause)
Montecito.
(whistles)
Expenses can mount up pretty fast. I’ll need some dough for a room...

BETTY NICHOLSON
Let me know where you’re staying and I’ll send you some more money.

FRANKLIN DIAL
How can I contact you? You living here or down in Hollywood?

B. NICHOLSON hands him a card

BETTY NICHOLSON
Here’s my folk’s number. I’ll be here for awhile. Just find out if they’re playing around?

B. NICHOLSON exits kitchen side

FRANKLIN DIAL
They?
(to audience)
Screwy broad, who was she worried about, her husband or Eddie Marten?

DIAL crosses left

ACT I SCENE 3 - SATURDAY MORNING
DIAL, grabs his luggage by the stairs and moves to another part of the room to indicate scene change

FRANKLIN DIAL
(to the audience)
You can see how it was. I was hungry and she was a looker. Next morning, I took my .38, my one good suit--blue, and my Brownie camera and we headed north in my Packard convertible. Around Santa Maria the rain hit my windshield like the spray from a machine gun. My car rumbled along the El Camino Real. Got lost in the fog in San Francisco. I finally found the Golden Gate Bridge and piloted the Packard up the Redwood Highway to the Russian River. Dropped in at the Notty Room in Monte Rio. Notty: n-o-t-t-y. The locals clued me in about their town, and yes, they had all met Thomas Nicholson and Edward Marten and knew all about the movie being made. Being filmed right down by the river near the bridge. They pointed out this joint, where some of the stars are staying.

SEABRIGHT enters from bar or moves from desk

LOLA SEABRIGHT
Welcome to the River View Inn, Mr. Dial.

~that's all - just a few scenes~

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