Clark and Carole

Script Excerpts
By Rosary Hartel O'Neill

Cast of Characters
CLARK GABLE—40ish film star, macho handsome, charismatic.
CAROLE LOMBARD—30ish film star, gorgeous, daring.

Setting
Magic realism of letters and phone calls (private or speaker phones). Most originate from Clark's study and Carole's bedroom. Should the space permit we see dreamily Clark's study chair and desk with speaker phone on it. In the background, a window and comfortable easy chair with pipe rack and Clark's favorite pipes. Cowboy posters feature Clark, horses, and the ranch.

Carole's bedroom with pink, plush pillows trimmed in chiffon to match a plush covered armchair. Nearby, Queen Anne vanity/make-up table with built in lights and mirror tray of crystal cosmetics. Paris and Provence and African posters line the wall. She too has a speaker phone.

The months when contact was made are imagined in the text. These months can be projected on a scrim, on signs, or unread. The actors move seamlessly between quick phone calls and letters. Responses to letters read are interspersed with the letters to create a magical dreamy world.

Time:
1932-42

CLARK GABLE and CAROLE LOMBARD enter the stage as if from a dream. They each carry a book of letters from which they will read. They never look at each other as they exist for each other as figments of the imagination but their voices connect like silken threads forever intertwined. At the end of the play, they face each other.

(A SILENCE.)
(LIGHTS shift into swing to the past.)
(SOUND: fire crackling - ambient low)

ON PHONE

CLARK: Sorry, my line went dead. So did he ever show? Where are you?

CAROLE: It's midnight, foggy, and I'm home alone--

CLARK: Good, you're on line.

CAROLE: ...by a slow smoldering fireplace. With this raspy cough; Can't stop sneezing.

CLARK: I'll call you from my study. Is your husband home?

CAROLE: No. Divorcing. Is your wife home?

CLARK: No, I enjoy connecting with you amid the smells of redwood and leather. Wait. Come again. Why the hurry to divorce?

CAROLE: I'm not hurrying.

CLARK: Ah ...there's a need for novelty but-

CAROLE: I didn't think our age difference would be a problem. I thought I'd found the golden prince, and this'd be the most sacred experience of my life. And it was the exact opposite.

FEBRUARY

CLARK: I want to take the time to know you so I'm going to write every night, starting now, February 1st (my birthday)

CAROLE: You're Aquarius. Aloof ...

CLARK: I like to feel you reading me.

CAROLE: ...with a moon in Cancer ...irrational.

CLARK: Kinda like a Strasberg "private moment".

CAROLE: I'm Libra. The scales? I can't get trapped in a situation that's imbalanced.

CLARK: So you've left your husband?

CAROLE: Permanently. Moved to Bel Air.

CLARK: The Nancy Reagan area?...My time with...lets call her BLACK, will be winding down next weekend. Please if you don't want to hear about her, let me know.

CAROLE: Imagining you as you are in relationship to YOUR WIFE and other RISING STARS clarifies a lot. DON'T WRITE ANYMORE. You are relentless and rapacious!

CLARK: Relentless I knew. Rapacious. I've moved out of BLACK's house and rented rooms at the Beverly Wilshire –

CAROLE: Migratory bird looking for a place to land?

CLARK: Spend Valentine's Day with me there. You and me and the deep soaking tub. Warm water, bubbles, and chocolate fondue.

CAROLE: Get plenty of rest. Your self-esteem is so high, you need to lie flat for a while.

CLARK: Living alone has destabilized me. I see beautiful women and immediately want to couple with them. Am in constant conflict with my genes.

CLARK: I've always loved you - from the moment I saw you, I'd a feeling similar to putting my feet in cold water and feeling fish nibble my toes.... I've directions to where you are. Bel Air is 15 minutes away. If you hear a noise, don't shoot.

CAROLE: I can't believe I LET YOU IN and we were together all night.

CLARK: I love it when our lips touch and we hold still.

CAROLE: I like to brush my tongue against your lips--

CLARK: And when you go wild and kiss me hard I like that.

CAROLE: I want one of your sweet long quiet kisses where it's just me, you and silence.