A Song Is Born
- APPROVED
- Year:
- 1948
- 113 min
- 248 Views
First you take a drum beat
And then you add a clarinet
You sweeten with a trombone
Then let the other cats get set
Season with a sprinkling
of GabrieI's horn
And presto
A song is born
They're here! They're here.
They just drove up.
Who is here?
You know, whatchamacallit,
the lawyer for the foundation.
And Miss Totten is with him.
I saw them getting out of the car.
And this place is
looking like a flicker's nest.
We're in for our semiannual wigging,
I suppose.
You'd better put your coat on, Frisbee.
Yeah, and fix your tie, too.
Fix your tie.
Come here.
Let me fix your hair a little bit.
- It looks so untidy.
- Straighten him up. That's it.
What is all this nonsense?
This nonsense is Miss Totten.
And will you please smile at her?
Gentlemen, this is very undignified.
If you think you're being funny, I...
Good morning, gentlemen.
- Good morning, Miss Totten.
- Good morning, Miss Totten.
- Won't you sit here, please?
- It's a very nice day, Miss Totten.
Would you like to speak,
Miss Totten, or shall I?
- No, you go ahead, Mr. Setter.
- I will be brief as possible.
Gentlemen, to date,
$283,000 have been expended
on the writing of this history of music.
I hope you realize that
Miss Totten's father,
the late Daniel S. Totten,
left only a quarter of a million dollars
for this project.
Every additional penny has to
come from Miss Totten's pocket.
You've been at it for 10 years now.
- Nine.
- All right, nine.
I want your frank estimate
of how much longer you will take.
- Well...
- Maybe four.
- Yes.
It cannot be. It just cannot be.
Oh, my dear Miss Totten.
Surely, you don't want to discontinue
your father's great gesture
towards human enlightenment, do you?
Human enlightenment?
Nonsense, Professor.
My father was a disappointed musician.
He was never able to master
a single instrument.
So he decided to manufacture pianos,
and because his name was not included
with Steinway and Meyer
and Chickering,
he decided to finance this project.
Exactly.
And you'll have to
get it done with, quickly.
- Slap it together.
- What?
Excuse me, Mr. Setter. May I have a word?
Hello, Professor Frisbee.
Hello, Miss Totten.
You said slap it together.
- We're not the slapping together kind.
- He's right.
And this is not
an ordinary encyclopedia of music.
except that it's taking longer?
Don't interrupt, Mr. Setter.
In what way is this different,
Professor Frisbee?
Well, as far as I know,
this is the first history of music,
which, in addition to its written volumes,
will have albums of recorded music.
Now, in my own field of folk music...
- I'm not interested.
- Don't interrupt, Mr. Setter.
Go on, Professor.
I'm appealing to you, Miss Totten,
to your vision and to your heart.
Perhaps I'm maybe a little inarticulate,
but I've somehow
always regarded you as...
You know what I mean, Miss Totten?
Of course.
Well, it was my father's dying wish,
and you do make such an eloquent plea.
- But all of this seems so useless.
- Exactly.
It's not only useless, dull, unromantic,
but unprofitable.
My dear Mr. Setter,
bringing the peoples of the world
closer together
through the universal language of music
can hardly be termed
useless, dull and unromantic.
Our work is anything but that.
- It is often very exciting.
Oh, fiddlesticks.
- Yes, even emotional.
- Really?
Yes, Miss Totten, we...
Only the other day we were recording
a Polynesian chant, love chant.
- West Indian, wasn't it?
- Samoan, I believe.
Get to the point.
The point is, Mr. Setter,
the chant was exciting
and it was emotional.
the relation of music to courtship.
Courtship?
My dear Frisbee,
if you think that...
Just a minute, Mr. Setter.
I'm very interested, Professor.
Well, perhaps we can demonstrate it
for Miss Totten.
Yes, let's demonstrate it.
- That's a very good idea.
- Please, please do.
I'd love to hear it.
Well, all right. Gentlemen, if you please.
- Yes, let's do it.
- All right.
Now, Miss Totten, imagine the setting
in an island courtship.
There's a vacant hut.
The nuptial hut all bedecked with flowers.
And nearby, the maiden awaits
the arrival of her lover.
Oh, excuse me.
Professor Oddly, you will be the maiden.
- But, Professor Frisbee, I...
- Oddly.
Must I, Professor Frisbee?
If you'll just stand over there,
Oddly, please!
Now, Miss Totten, as the lover approaches
from the opposite side of the village,
he is laden down with gifts.
And the beating of the drums
signalizes the beginning of the courtship.
As he comes nearer the village,
his relatives take up the drumming.
Then he spies the maiden and calls to her,
and she answers.
Professor, would you give us
the mating call please?
That's the mating call.
Now, imagine I'm coming around
the corner of the hut.
He spies the maiden.
Just... Just one moment, gentlemen.
Oddly, that was quite adequate
for the recording,
but I feel the air of reality
But, Professor Frisbee,
I didn't want to do it anyway.
I know that, Oddly, but I...
Professor, perhaps I could...
Very well, if you'll just stand here,
Miss Totten.
- And when I give you the mating call...
- Yes?
...you give it right back to me.
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"A Song Is Born" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/a_song_is_born_2024>.
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