PLTV Pilot, Chapter 11

The Peter Leroy Television Series Pilot
Chapter 11, One Rainy Day, in which Peter gets an earful

In Babbington, the series will run exclusively on WCLM-TV.
However, in the real world the television rights are available.
Contact:
Graham Leader

INT. YOUNG PETER’S BEDROOM. LATE 1950s. ANOTHER DAY. RAIN. Young Peter notices, through his binoculars, that the Jerrolds’ driveway is empty.

PETER (CONT’D., V.O.)

One rainy day when Mr. Jerrold’s car was not in the driveway . . .

CUT TO:

Peter running through the rain to the Jerrolds’ house.

CUT TO:

Peter at the back door to the Jerrolds’ house, Mrs. Jerrold opening the door. She’s wearing a shirtwaist dress.

YOUNG PETER

Hello, Mrs. Jerrold. I thought Roger Junior might be lonely with his father out of town.

Mrs. Jerrold, who sees right through his excuse to the truth of his crush on her, lets him in with an indulgent smile.

CUT TO:

INT. THE JERROLDS’ LIVING ROOM. LATE 1950s. Peter playing marbles with Roger Junior indoors, within a ring of string that he has laid out on the living room rug. As Peter bends over to take a shot, Betty passes with some laundry in her hands, headed upstairs. Peter bends further so that he can see up her dress, but in doing so, he makes his shot go wild, to Roger Junior’s delight.

ROGER JUNIOR

You missed! I’m going to win!

YOUNG PETER
(patronizing the kid)
You might, Junior. You’re getting pretty good.

Betty gives Peter a smile.

MRS. JERROLD

That’s quite a position you’ve twisted yourself into.

YOUNG PETER

I was, ah, looking under the sofa.

MRS. JERROLD

Oh, really? See anything interesting?

Peter looks under the sofa to try to lend some legitimacy to his claim . . .

YOUNG PETER
(amazed)
Yeah . . . a tape recorder!

MRS. JERROLD

A tape recorder?

She drops to the floor beside Peter and looks under the sofa. Peter sneaks a peek down the front of her dress.

MRS. JERROLD (CONT’D.)

What is that doing there?

PETER (V.O.)

In those days, tape recorders were little used by the general public . . . but, of course, widely used by spies.

YOUNG PETER

Do you think I could try using it?

MRS. JERROLD

Well, it can’t be getting much use under there. Go ahead. Be my guest.

PETER (V.O.)

It took me a while, but I managed to get the thing to work.

Peter slides the recorder out from under the sofa. (It’s a reel-to-reel recorder, late 1950s.) He opens one of the boxes stacked beside it and finds a reel of brown recording tape.

PETER (V.O.)

Of course, I had no idea how it worked.

After some fumbling, he gets the tape threaded in a way that seems right.

PETER (V.O.)

For me it was what technologists call a “black box,” a device that we appreciate for its results without understanding how it works its magic.

He finds a pair of earphones clipped into the top of the case, puts them on, and plugs them in.
He shifts the machine to “play,” the reels turn and we hear what Peter hears through the earphones: Mrs. Jerrold’s voice.

MRS. JERROLD (RECORDED)
(huskily)
Oh, yes . . . Again. . . . Again! . . . Oh! . . . Yes! . . . Ohhhhh! . . .

Peter tries to pretend that he’s not hearing anything particularly interesting, but his widening eyes betray him.

PETER (V.O.)

I wanted that tape . . . and I had no qualms at all about taking it.

YOUNG PETER
(as if it has just occurred to him)
Hey . . . I’ve got to go. I didn’t realize how late it was.

He puts his jacket on and zips it up, as if he had to get home right away, and then, as if he wouldn’t shirk his responsibility to put the recorder away, he rewinds the tape. When it is fully rewound, he puts the empty reel into the box that the recorded reel was in, closes the recorder and pushes it under the sofa, and — while he’s half hidden under the sofa — shoves the reel of tape inside his jacket.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE STREET. Young Peter hurries home, looking warily about him, as if he were a spy.

CUT TO:

INT. THE LEROY FAMILY KITCHEN. Young Peter hurries inside. His mother is at the stove, stirring a pot.

YOUNG PETER
(hurrying past)
Hi, mom.

ELLA LEROY

Peter, would you . . .

YOUNG PETER
(without stopping)
Sure. In a minute.

CUT TO:

INT. YOUNG PETER’S BEDROOM, UPSTAIRS. Peter closes his door and slips the tape box out of his jacket. He opens it and stares at the tape, wishing that he could hear what’s on it. He unwinds a few inches of the tape and looks closely at it, as if he might be able to see what’s on it. He opens a desk drawer and gets a magnifying glass. He peers at the tape.

ELLA LEROY
(calling from downstairs)
Peter? I need a couple of things from the store.

YOUNG PETER
(looking for a place to hide the tape)
Coming.

Among the general litter in his room is a pile of magazines, including Dream Cars, Cellar Scientist, and Impractical Craftsman (fictional magazines). Peter lifts a few and slips the tape box into the pile.

PETER (V.O.)

I knew that tape was chock full of fascinating information, just loaded with things I wanted to learn. . . .

CUT TO:

PLTV | CONTENTS | CHAPTER 12

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The scripts for The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy Television Series are works of fiction. The characters, incidents, dialogues, settings, and businesses portrayed in it are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this teleplay may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

The illustration at the top of the page is an adaptation of an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions. The boy at the controls of the aerocycle doesn’t particularly resemble Peter Leroy—except, perhaps, for the smile.

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