Asuite in a large hotel. On the walls, numerous glamour photographs of an actress in her forties, none other than … Shirley Gordon! Dressed in her flimsy, see-through black number.
Shirley checks herself nervously in the mirror: hair, makeup …
There is a knock at the door. She applies a last squirt of perfume.
SHIRLEY Enter.
Enter a man, about the same age as her, slim, charming, wearing jeans, hair tied back in a ponytail. They look at each other with great feeling.
He walks over to her and kisses her on the cheek.
SHIRLEY Thanks for coming …
PAUL I guess great actresses can do that—resurrect ghosts from the past just by picking up the phone.
Shirley goes over to a low table where there is an ice bucket with two bottles of champagne.
SHIRLEY Your favorite champagne!
She pours out two glasses.
PAUL (Raising his glass) Here’s to you, Shirley!
SHIRLEY No, here’s to you, Paul. I want to drink to you, to your success.
PAUL Well, I guess we don’t need to wish you glory, Shirley. Unlike me …
SHIRLEY Please …
PAUL I’ve had no news from you for fifteen years other than what I read in the papers …
They sit on the couch.
PAUL You said you wanted to talk. What’s happened?
SHIRLEY (Troubled) Nothing … It’s just that … I do have something very important to tell you, but … it’s difficult …
She pours herself another glass.
PAUL We’ve all the time in the world …
SHIRLEY You know, I never thought I’d find you again so easily. I’d have come to see you at your place—it would have been less impersonal than receiving you in this hotel—but I thought maybe you were married and …
PAUL The hotel is fine … But how is it to be in New York? You must be missing the sun of L.A.…
SHIRLEY Sometimes I dream of my simple little room on my parents’ ranch … Oh, Paul, do you remember going horseback riding when we were children? And when we hid in the barn among the hay bales? … How warm it could be! I don’t think I’ve ever felt as warm as that, not even in a palace … But I guess you’ve made a new life for yourself …
PAUL In fifteen years I’ve made three new lives. You can see it hasn’t been easy. But this is the real thing. I’m married, I have a wonderful baby, and Carroll and I plan to have at least two more …
Shirley gets up, turns her back to Paul and downs a glass of champagne in one gulp.
SHIRLEY (After a pause) Congratulations. It’s funny—when we were together you were dead set against marriage …
PAUL Dead set against marriage? Not at all!
SHIRLEY What I mean is, since you didn’t marry me I guess it was because you didn’t love me enough.
PAUL Are you trying to hurt me? Are you trying to hurt us both?
SHIRLEY I’m trying to be honest, that’s all. Now you have a little wife, a baby, a quiet life. You’re happy. That’s fine. All I’m saying is that you didn’t do it with me. I guess I just wasn’t ordinary enough for you.
PAUL I must be dreaming! You call me here after fifteen years just to throw a fit of jealousy, for this display of wounded pride! Not “ordinary enough” for me … Please, Shirley, come down off your cloud.
SHIRLEY I am no ordinary woman. You know that, and that’s why you never married me.
PAUL Would you have married me if I’d asked you?
SHIRLEY You never asked me.
PAUL That’s unfair. You know the answer would be no. You no more wanted to get married than I did. The truth is, we were young, we wanted to pursue our acting careers and we were ready to sacrifice everything for that. Including our love.
SHIRLEY And that’s exactly what we did.
PAUL Whose fault is that?
SHIRLEY You were the one who left.
PAUL And why was that? Listen, it was painful enough at the time. There’s no point in stirring it all up now …
SHIRLEY You’re right. We won’t talk about it anymore. You couldn’t stand the fact that I was becoming more successful than you. It’s only human. Particularly for a man. Women are more modest, they know how to live in the shadow …
PAUL (Laughing) Ha! You’re incredible, do you know that? Here you are in New York promoting your latest movie, in which you have the star part … Your face is in every magazine, on every TV channel … You shut yourself away in your hotel suite and plaster the walls with photos of yourself … And you talk to me about women’s modesty …
SHIRLEY All I meant to say was … OK, let’s not talk about it anymore. What’s past is past, no point in going back. You’ve never understood me … I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to be like this.
PAUL The problem is, you see, you think you know everything. You talk to me about my “quiet little life.” What do you know about it? Have you asked me once about my work since I got here? All you wanted to know was whether or not I’d found a new woman.
SHIRLEY And you? Have you asked me once about my private life? Have you asked me if I’m happy?
Shirley pours out another drink and walks around the room, agitated. She seems a little drunk or at least overexcited.
She starts to cry.
Paul goes over and embraces her to try to console her.
He takes the glass from her hand, sets it down. Then he takes Shirley’s face between his hands.
PAUL (Tenderly) Baby Shirley shouldn’t drink champagne … Because it comes out of her beautiful eyes in fountains …
He begins kissing her tears.
PAUL … And I drink it from her cheeks.
Her eyes still full of tears, Shirley places her hand on the back of Paul’s neck. They look at each other and exchange a long kiss, mouths wide-open.
SHIRLEY Paul …
PAUL Shirley …
SHIRLEY Oh, Paul …
PAUL Yes, Shirley?
SHIRLEY I love you.
PAUL (Softly) Don’t say that.
SHIRLEY Why not?
PAUL Because it’s not possible.
SHIRLEY (Plaintively) But I love you … I’ve never stopped loving you all this time! That’s why it’s never worked with anyone else … (In a despairing voice) I thought about you, Paul. I’ve thought about you all these years …
PAUL Shirley, look at me. You can see I’m not the same person. Neither of us is the same person.
SHIRLEY I’m not asking you to go back.
PAUL What do you want, then? Why did you ask me to come?
SHIRLEY I … I’ve got something to tell you. It’s very important.
She takes the second bottle from the ice bucket, fills the two glasses and hands one to Paul.
PAUL Do you really think that will make it any easier?
SHIRLEY I know what you’re saying. The star descends into drink and depression. Soon she’ll be a bloated madwoman whom no one can stand. Men will avoid her, even her closest friends will start keeping their distance, and she’ll sit there in her empty mansion with nothing but her regrets and her madness … Kind of clichéd, isn’t it?
PAUL Don’t say such things. It won’t be like that at all. You’ve gotten where you are today because you’ve always been strong, much stronger than me. I don’t see why that should change.
SHIRLEY Can’t you see I’m not doing well? Can’t you see I’m not doing well at all? I’ve had too much in my life. Too many affairs, too many men, too much success, too much money, too much travel. I’ve had enough of being a capricious little girl. I want to be a real woman.
PAUL I understand. I once looked for happiness anywhere and everywhere, and in the end I realized that God hadn’t abandoned me and that He would help me to return the love people gave me and to distinguish between the things that really matter and those that don’t. If I can do anything for you, I will.
SHIRLEY I want to have a child.
PAUL Seriously? With that Italian guy? What’s his name … Angelo?
SHIRLEY (Somberly) Renato.
PAUL A rising young actor …
SHIRLEY You’re well informed.
PAUL You see, I haven’t forgotten you. I read what they write about you. I know the papers like a scandal and often write any old thing, but at least it gave me pleasure to see your career going so well.
SHIRLEY My best friend rang me yesterday evening. She told me that, since I’ve been away, Renato has been flaunting himself around all the nightclubs of L.A. with a twenty-year-old blonde, the daughter of my producer.
PAUL I’m so sorry … Do you really love him, this Renato?
SHIRLEY Let’s just say he’s an antidote to the passage of time … But I think I’m more obsessed with my own lost youth than with him … Of course, he loves me. He likes to run around when I’m not there, but as soon as I return he’ll be begging me to take him back.
PAUL (Skeptical, but not discouraging) If you’re sure … I guess everything will sort itself out …
SHIRLEY No.
PAUL (Weary, and somewhat abashed) Listen, in the end, it’s your business. I can talk it over with you if you think it will help, but I think you’re the only one who can decide if it’s the right thing for you. You’ve decided to break up with Renato in order to have a more serious relationship with someone else, is that it?
SHIRLEY Yes.
PAUL Well, then … If you have really decided to start a family, I’m sure you’ll find the right man, a man who knows how to love you and can make you happy.
SHIRLEY And I’m sure I won’t.
PAUL Why?
SHIRLEY Because I know him and he’s already taken.
PAUL Are you sure you love him? Are you sure he’s the right one?
SHIRLEY (Passionately) Yes. Oh, yes, I’m sure. But it may be too late.
PAUL If you’re really sure, you should take a chance. You don’t find true love too often in life. What were you doing with Renato, if you love another man? You shouldn’t waste your feelings. Have you been running away from love like this for a long time?
SHIRLEY (In a whisper) Yes.
PAUL Do you think this man loves you?
SHIRLEY I don’t know. (She lowers her eyes.) Do you still love me?
Paul looks at her; then, after a pause, gently:
PAUL Shirley, were you talking about me?
SHIRLEY (Emotionally) You’re the one I love.
Paul walks to the window and looks out, not speaking. Shirley goes to the mirror, cleans up her face, fixes her hair. She fills her glass and goes over to Paul, still standing with his back to her. She places her hand on his shoulder. He turns round; she gives him the glass. He turns back to the window and drinks.
SHIRLEY (Calmly) I’m not asking you to come and live with me; I know that’s not possible. I just want you to give me a baby.
PAUL (Turning to face her) You’re crazy! Why me?
SHIRLEY Give me a child and I won’t ask anything more of you. You’ll never hear from me again.
PAUL Shirley, try to understand. That’s not the way to have children. A child has a right to know its father.
SHIRLEY I’ll say you’re dead.
PAUL Very nice. I can see you’ve thought of everything. Do you realize what it is you’re saying? I can’t believe you’re serious.
Shirley moves away, slumps down onto the couch and starts to cry.
SHIRLEY (In tears) I was sure, I was sure …
Paul comes over to her and raises her head, angrily.
PAUL Stop that. You’re an excellent actress, you know how to turn on the tears, but we’re not in a movie now. So enough of the melodrama, OK?
SHIRLEY (Crying even harder) Leave me alone, I beg you, leave me alone …
Paul sinks into an armchair.
Shirley comes over to him and falls at his feet.
SHIRLEY Forgive me.
Still kneeling next to the armchair, Shirley lays her head in Paul’s lap.
SHIRLEY (In a whisper) Give me a baby, Paul.
She lowers the shoulders of her dress, accentuating her décolletage.
SHIRLEY Do I still please you?
Paul drags Shirley to the couch. They kiss. He strokes her legs …
SHIRLEY (Triumphant) You’ll see, it’s you I’ll launch in Hollywood. I’ll do everything to make sure you become famous and Renato stays a nobody. He’ll see that he can’t get away with making a fool out of Shirley. (More controlled:) Come … we will be happy …
Paul leaps to his feet.
PAUL So that’s it! That’s what you wanted—to take me back in your luggage to make your boy toy angry …
SHIRLEY No … No, that’s not true! It’s for you, Paul, for us! Come with me, you won’t regret it!
PAUL You’re not thinking of anyone but yourself. Yourself and your own pleasure. As usual. People are just like puppets to you. But you don’t have as many strings as you used to to manipulate men. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m expected at home.
He heads for the door.
SHIRLEY You’re being unfair, so unfair!
She starts to cry again.
SHIRLEY Then go. I don’t ever want to see you again.
He leaves. Shirley stops crying immediately and picks up the phone.
SHIRLEY Hello … Could you put me through to my PA, please … Hello, Babe. Would you be so good as to look up a number for me, name of Bobby Wesson … Yes, that’s it, the car salesman. With a cute smile and a devilish glint in his eye. No problem, he’ll remember me …