| The Peter Leroy Television Series Pilot
Chapter 12, Peter Picks a Project, in which the gears of fate begin to turn |
by Eric
Kraft
|
In Babbington, the series will run exclusively on
WCLM-TV.
|
INT. DRUGSTORE IN BABBINGTON. LATE 1950s. DAY.
Young Peter sitting at a drugstore soda fountain. Men with nothing
better to do are sitting, waiting, staring into their coffee cups with
the empty eyes of the desperately addicted.
The STOCK BOY emerges from the stockroom with a bundle of the latest issue of Impractical Craftsman in his hands. The men follow him with their eyes. He’s got their fix.I needed a tape recorder, but I couldn’t afford to buy one.PETER (CONT’D., V.O.) The men rise and follow the stock boy. So does Peter.So I decided to build one. What made me think I could build one? Impractical Craftsman, of course.PETER (CONT’D., V.O.) He removes the last few dog-eared copies of last month’s issue and begins, slowly, putting this month’s in its place. On the cover a banner screams BUILD YOUR OWN TAPE RECORDER! Eager hands reach forth and snatch copies as fast as the stock boy can put them up. Young Peter manages to get a copy and clutches it to his chest to keep a whiskery old man from taking it. Young Peter flips to the article on building a tape recorder. He has to keep elbowing the old man away. As he reads the article, his brows furrow.All right, all right, stand back.STOCK BOY(savoring his power) The old man grabs for the magazine. Young Peter at first snatches it back, then looks into the old man’s eyes. He clearly is nuts. Peter gives the old man the magazine and turns back to the rack. The headline on an issue of Cellar Scientist reads BUILD A FLYING SAUCER DETECTOR!I’d have to be nuts to try this.YOUNG PETER(muttering to himself) CUT TO:
INT. YOUNG PETER’S BEDROOM. NIGHT. He’s reading the
issue of Cellar Scientist in bed.
You remember I said that I suffer from two inherited forms of mental illness? The second is that I’m easily distracted. The flying-saucer detector looked a lot simpler than a tape recorder, so . . .PETER (V.O.) CUT TO:
INT. SMALL’S HOTEL LOUNGE.
Slyly, Peter reaches behind him and produces the flying-saucer detector he built as a boy (see sketch in background material). Reaction shots. There is applause. People drift to the bar, and Lou is kept busy. He shakes a shaker, uncaps it, fills a cocktail glass, and sets the glass in front of the cute brunette, perched on a bar stool.. . . I decided to build that instead.PETER (CONT’D.) Peter, nearby, glances up at the sound of his name.There you go. . . . Maybe.LOUThis was supposed to be a mai-tai.BRUNETTE(tasting, wincing)Isn’t it?LOUI don’t think so.BRUNETTEI don’t really know how this thing works. . . . I put in what I think I should, shake it up, and hope it makes what you wanted. For me, a cocktail shaker is a kind of black box.LOU(regarding the cocktail shaker)A black box?BRUNETTE(pouting fetchingly)Yeah. Like a tape recorder. . . . In the story Peter told?LOU I guess I missed that part.BRUNETTE(shrugging)Yeah, I guess so.LOUOn that note, I think I’ll call it a night.PETER CUT TO:
INT. JEFFREY’S REALTY. Curt, Jeffrey, and Dexter
are holding a brainstorming session, trying to come up with ways to make
life difficult — make that more difficult — for Pete and Al. They’ve
got the photographs that Jeffrey and Curt took, and they look at them now
and then.
INT. PETER AND ALBERTINE’S BEDROOM. Peter and Albertine getting into bed. They slip under the covers.No reason why that old boat couldn’t start sinking a little faster.CURTMmmm. Yeah. Could happen.DEXTER(thoughtful, nodding)How about an infestation?CURT(almost giggly)Infestation?JEFFREYYeah, like a plague.CURTOf locusts?JEFFREYCats.DEXTERCats?CURTI hate cats.DEXTERFunny . . . I would have picked you for a cat man.JEFFREYOh, no. I hate cats.DEXTER They turn their lights out, find their comfortable positions, and lie in silence for a while. Then Albertine asks Peter something in a whisper.The boiler is on its last legs.ALBERTINEWhat happened to “Good night, my darling, I love you a zillion”?PETERIt’s the scale.ALBERTINEOkay, I understand that we’ve got to cut back . . . how about a billion?PETERThe scale in the boiler.ALBERTINEThe tinkers have been saying that for years.PETERAnd they’ve been right for years.ALBERTINEWill it keep limping along?PETERWho knows? That scale keeps building up . . .ALBERTINEGood night, my darling. I love you a zillion.PETER Hm?PETER(didn’t quite catch it)Was there a Mrs. Jerrold in your life?ALBERTINEWell . . . when I was a boy . . .PETER DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. YOUNG PETER’S BLOCK. LATE 1950s. Peter, mowing
the lawn, stops to wipe his brow and ogle the young housewife across the
street, in shorts and halter top, watering her roses. She is not Mrs. Jerrold,
and her house is not the Jerrolds’.
Another young housewife, in a 1950s one-piece bathing suit, comes out of the house next door, flops into a lounge chair and begins sunbathing.. . . there was a woman who lived across the street . . .PETER (CONT’D., V.O.) And another young housewife goes driving by in a shiny Studebaker convertible, then turns at the corner.. . . and another next door . . .PETER (CONT’D., V.O.) . . . and another around the corner . . . and I wanted them all.PETER (CONT’D., V.O.) CUT TO:
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THIRTY-THREE SECONDS OF "ILL WIND" LENA HORNE |
INT. PETER AND ALBERTINE’S BEDROOM. THE PRESENT.
MUSIC UP: “Ill Wind” sung by Lena Horne.I see.ALBERTINE(ready for sleep now)But she was the one who killed herself . . . and sometimes . . .PETER(serious now)Yes?ALBERTINE(nearly asleep)Sometimes I think it was all my fault.PETER(so softly that she probably doesn’t hear) DISSOLVE SLOWLY TO:
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 Here
are a couple of swell ideas from Eric Kraft's vivacious publicist, Candi
Lee Manning.
You'll find more swell ideas from Candi Lee here. |
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Copyright © 2002 by Eric
Kraft
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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