The Public Eye Page #5

Still panning, we see a series of photos clothes-pinned to a

laundry line. They show the Bum, sleeping in the box: he

seems isolated and diminished in the high contrast of the

Speed Graphic photo -- a bright island in a sea of blackness.

Pulling back from the photo we see the photos of the curled

up bum in the foreground and Bernzy curled up on his bed in

the near distance, the police radio on his nightstand.

We begin to hear Big Band music over the hissing as we

CUT TO:

EXT. CAFE SOCIETY - NIGHT

We hear the Big Band music as we see a red awning lettered

LOU LEVITZ'S CAFE SOCIETY. It shows the club's trademark

since the 30's:
a squat coffee cup (a remnant of Prohibition,

when gin was served in the guise of legal beverages).

On the sidewalk outside the polished revolving doors, there

is a crush of out-of-towners who wait to enter, dressed in

their best. But they'll never be let in.

A few Tabloid Photographers, behind a velvet rope, grip their

big cameras, waiting for celebrities to come or go. One of

them spots Bernzy as he threads his way through the crowd.

PHOTOGRAPHER:

Hey, Bernzy, y'just missed Eleanor

Roosevelt French-kissin' the Aga

Kahn.

BERNZY:

(still moving)

I'll catch 'em inside.

PHOTOGRAPHER:

That'll be the day.

Bernzy approaches the beefy Irish doorman, in red livery,

who mans the ropes.

DOORMAN:

Behind the ropes, Bernstein.

Bernzy parks his cigar in his mouth and extracts a piece of

paper from the inside pocket of his ill-fitting suit.

The Doorman reads a handwritten note on Lou Levitz's personal

stationery. In a woman's hand: "Danny, Please direct Mr.

Bernstein to my office, Mrs. Levitz."

As the Doorman reads, a patrician-looking Couple in evening

clothes push their way to the front.

DOORMAN:

Evening, Mister-missus Armstrong.

The Doorman lifts the rope. Mr. Armstrong slips him a bill

as they pass through. Bernzy starts to follow, but the Doorman

hooks the rope before he can pass.

He looks over at the other Photographers, as he hands Bernzy

back the note.

DOORMAN:

Kitchen door. Check the camera.

CUT TO:

INT. CAFE SOCIETY - NIGHT

The band music swells, O.S., as the kitchen door swings open

and a Waiter exits, tray in hand. It stays open as a Chinese

Bus Boy points Bernzy in the direction of the hat check,

across the front of the club.

CAFE SOCIETY - HAT CHECK

Bernzy, all eyes in this New York Mecca, takes up the claim

ticket for his camera, steps down into

CAFE SOCIETY - MAIN ROOM

The big band plays on a bandstand, raised and set back from

the tables. A black SINGER is performing, whose double

entendres and risque stage manner lend a cultivated air of

the illicit to things.

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