Barton Fink Page #2

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POPPY:

Well I don't pretend to be a critic, but Lord, I have a gut,

and it tells me it was simply marvelous.

RICHARD:

And a charming gut it is.

POPPY:

You dog!

RICHARD:

(baying)

Aaa-woooooooo!

Barton turns to look for the source of an insistent jingling. We swish pan

off him to find a busboy marching through the restaurant displaying a page

sign, bell attached, with Barton's name on it.

TRACKING IN TOWARD A BAR

A distinguished fifty-year-old gentleman in evening clothes is nursing a

martini, watching Barton approach.

PULLING BARTON:

As he draws near.

BARTON:

I thought you were going to join us. Jesus, Garland, you

left me alone with those people.

GARLAND:

Don't panic, I'll join you in a minute. What's you think of

Richard and Poppy?

Barton scowls

BARTON:

The play was marvelous. She wept, copiously. Millions of

dollars and no sense.

Garland smiles, then draws Barton close.

GARLAND:

We have to talk a little business. I've just been on the

phone to Los Angeles. Barton, Capitol Pictures wants to

put you under contract. They've offered you a thousand

dollars a week. I think I can get them to go as high as

two.

BARTON:

To do what?

GARLAND:

What do you do far a living?

BARTON:

I'm not sure anymore. I guess I try to make a difference.

GARLAND:

Fair enough. No pressure here, Barton, because I respect

you, but let me point out a couple of things. One, here

you make a difference to five hundred fifty people a

night - if the show sells out. Eighty-five million people

go to the pictures every week.

BARTON:

To see pap.GARLAND

Yes, generally, to see pap. However, point number two: A

brief tenure in Hollywood could supprt you through the

writing of any number of plays.

BARTON:

I don't know, Garland; my place is here right now. I feel

I'm on the brink of success-

GARLAND:

I'd say you're already enjoying some.

Barton leans earnestly forward.

BARTON:

No, Garland, don't you see? Not the kind of success where

the critics fawn over you or the producers like Derek make

a lot of money. No, a real success - the success we've been

dreaming about - the creation of a new, living theater of,

about, and for the common man! If I ran off to Hollywood

now I'd be making money, going to parties, meeting

the big shots, sure, but I'd be cutting myself off from the

wellspring of that success, from the common man.

He leans back and chuckles ruefully.

. . . I guess I'm sprouting off again. But I am certain of

this, Garland:
I'm capable of more good work. Maybe

better work than I did in Choirs. It just doesn't seem to

me that Los Angeles is the place to lead the life of mind.

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