Pat: — So you be a good fellow. Just tell all the little boys to let my friends alone.
Breuer (frowning): It’s not so simple as all that.
Pat (surprised): What? You’ve told me often that you were on the inside.
Breuer: Who are these friends of yours?
Pat: You’ve met them.
Breuer (contemptuously): Garage mechanics. This Bobby Lohkamp is no friend for you. And that Lenz — he’s a mischief-maker, a firebrand.
Pat: Gottfried is?
Breuer (savagely): Yes. He’s headed for trouble. But the man I’m interested in, or rather you’re interested in is Herr Bobby. (his thin veneer of manners cracks) And so I should go to a lot of trouble to help him.
Pat (coolly): Certainly not, Erich. (she gets up) I forgot a lot of things about you for a minute. And thought of you only as a friend. Awfully silly of me.
Breuer: Look here — are you crazy about this fellow?
Pat: Crazy? That’s a big word.
Breuer: Have you taken up with him?
Pat: Taken up what? Chess?
(she moves toward the door)
Breuer: You know I’d marry you tomorrow.
Pat: Not if I was married already.
Breuer: My God! Are you?
Pat: If those men were hounded out of their shop I think I’d be married that day.
Breuer (wiping his forehead in relief): But not yet?
Pat: Not — yet.
(she opens the door and goes out)
Breuer (starting after her): Pat!
Angrily ringing a bell, he picks up a small bust of Napoleon from his desk and flings it from him. It just misses the head of his lieutenant coming in.
Lieutenant: You rang, Herr Breuer?
Breuer: I want a close watch kept on these people — a special investigation — day and night — Miss Patricia Hollmann, Otto Koster, Bobby Lohkamp —
DISSOLVE TO:
117 AN AUCTIONEER’S YARD
— full of old junk, furniture, books, etc. In the foreground, under the “AUCTION” sign, a battered old taxi. Its owner, a Jew of about forty, thin and miserable, stands beside the auctioneer. In front of the bidders Pat and Koster sit on old chairs. Bobby and Lenz stand behind them.
Koster (addressing Pat and indicating the taxi): That — if we get it — is going to carry you away on your honeymoon. That’s its first job.
Pat: But we’re not getting married.
Lenz: I still don’t see why they want me along. (he looks at Bobby)
Bobby: Don’t look at me — I’m merely the fiancee.
THE CAMERA PANS SIDEWAYS to include a Secretive Little Man with his eyes on our friends. He is Breuer’s investigator. Hold it to show that he is straining to hear what they say.
A Voice (from the crowd): Three hundred marks for the taxi.
CUT BACK TO:
118 THE BIDDERS
Koster: Four hundred.
Auctioneer: Come, come. The taxi has its pride.
A bidder: Five hundred.
Koster: Seven-fifty.
Lenz (warning him): Hey, Otto — that’s our capital.
Koster: It’s a great investment. And look at the poor devil who owns it! It would bring a thousand in better times.
Auctioneer: Seven-fifty — seven-fifty. Sold! This magnificent property to this gentleman.
Koster and the others move forward. The spy melts away into the crowd.
Koster (introducing Pat to the taxi): Your magic carpet.
Pat: Close up the repair shop, Otto, and we’ll all go to the beach.
Koster: Impossible. One of us must stay. (CAMERA PANS to include taxi-driver, tears running from his eyes, as he gives his darling a last polish with a piece of waste) Never mind, old fellow. We’ll take good care of it.
Taxi Man: It’s a fine car. Three years and never a breakdown. But I’ve been ill — (he straightens his shoulders) I should not complain but thank God for my blessings. (almost with exaltation) Here is one country where a Jew is not homeless — where the Fatherland belongs to him as well as to the others. For that I am proud and happy.
HOLD THE CAMERA on him for a moment to impress the false prophecy of these words then —
FADE OUT.
119 FADE IN ON:
THE OLD TAXI
— chugging along a country road. Bobby at the wheel. Pat beside him; Lenz asleep in the back seat on their piled suitcases.
Bobby (eyes on the road): What does the meter read?
Pat (leaning forward): Nine hundred and eighty marks.
Bobby: I hope you have the money, lady, or I’ll have run you straight to the police station.
Pat: Sir, I can’t give you anything but love.
Bobby: It won’t buy gasoline.
Pat (wickedly): Oh yes it will. They tell me it’ll buy trips to the shore — look!
(she points forward eagerly)
SHOOTING FROM THE CAR, we see the road come to a hill-top, dip — and suddenly we are looking down at a wide panorama of beach and sea.
Bobby and Pat (turning excitedly): Gottfried! Gottfried! The sea — the sea!
Lenz (awakening with a start): See what?
DISSOLVE TO:
120 THE BEACH — LATE AFTERNOON
A circular bay, with a distant shore-line. On a hillock, about fifty yards back from the water, stands the Blue-White Inn, a simple little chalet. The beach is quiet; two little tents are pitched near the hull of a wrecked freighter, rotting on the sand.
121 CLOSEUP OF A TRAIL OF FOOTPRINTS
Two pairs parallel in the sand. The sound of a man whistling, and we PULL BACK to show Lenz in an old-fashioned, knee-length, short-sleeved bathing suit, such as were still worn in Germany in 1928. He follows the footprints toward the sea, where they disappear around the corner of the freighter.
Still whistling, he changes his course and walks toward a little bathing tent where two children are playing.
CUT TO:
122 OTHER SIDE OF THE BOAT, LOOKING SHOREWARD
Disclosed are Pat and Bobby leaning against the hull. Pat, wearing a chic bathing suit, is rubbing oil on Bobby’s shoulders. A handful of wild anemones are scattered in her lap. Bobby, like Lenz, wears a patched old-fashioned costume.
Bobby: Do you think that was Gottfried whistling?
Pat: I don’t think. I don’t think about anything — except about us and the sun and the holiday and the sea.
(she tickles his nose with an anemone)
Bobby: Take away your rose, woman.
Pat: It isn’t a rose.
Bobby: Violet, then.
Pat: Isn’t a violet.
Bobby: Then a lily — it better be — those are the only names I know.
Pat: Not really?
Bobby: I’ve always got by with those three. More oil.
Pat: No more. You just like the rubbing.
Bobby: Lazy mudfish. That’s what you were fifty thousand years ago.
Pat: I still am a lazy mudfish. Not a very good play-fellow.
Bobby (fervidly): But an extraordinary sweetheart.
Pat (sighing): Not that either — just a sort of — fragment.
Bobby: A lovely fragment. I’d get very weary if you were perfect. But a lovely fragment — darling. I’ll love you forever.
CUT TO:
123 THE LITTLE BATHING TENT
Lenz sitting in the sand, talking to a boy of thirteen and a girl of ten; they have taken an immediate fancy to him.
Lenz: The last time I was at the beach was during the war.
The Girl: Did they fight on the beach?
The Boy: No, you silly.
Lenz: That beach was west of here — in Belgium. We were so glad to be there — we threw off our uniforms and ran into the sea like mad.
The Girl: With your guns?
Lenz (laughing): No, we left them behind. But not far behind, because we’d hear the surf roar, and then every once in a while we’d hear something louder — (he looks off into the distan
ce) — that was the big cannon at the front.
CUT TO:
124 THE BEACH, LOOKING SHOREWARD —
Pat and Bobby, arm in arm, coming down to the sea.
Pat: It looks very cold.
Bobby: It always does. (declaiming as he walks in) But we’ll never be cold — (unseen by Bobby, Pat scoops up a handful of water) — as long as we’re together — Ouch! Hey!
As the water hits him, he jumps as if a hot wire had touched him.
DISSOLVE TO:
125 LONG SHOT OF THE INN. TWILIGHT —
The faint sound of a motor which grows louder as we —
CUT TO:
126 A PLAQUE:
“GASTHAUS BLAU-WEISS”
DISSOLVE TO:
127 “BLUE-WHITE INN”
MEDIUM SHOT OF THE INN, showing a big Buick stopping in front. Out of it steps Breuer. He pauses to glance at the darkening beach, and then mounts the steps.
CUT TO:
128 THE RECEPTION HALL —
— a clean, middle-class seaside inn, really a boarding house. Victorian furniture, a porter’s desk. Fraulein Muller, the proprietress, a very old gentlewoman, greets him. He clicks his heels and bows in his most important manner.
Fraulein Muller: Good morning.
Breuer: My name is Breuer — have you a room for the night?
She opens a register on the desk.
Fraulein Muller: Our season doesn’t start till next week. We only have a few people.
Breuer (signing and scanning the register): I was expecting to meet some friends. Fraulein Hollmann —
Fraulein Muller: Three people came today, but they were in such a hurry to go swimming they haven’t registered. There was a single man and a young couple.
Breuer (aghast): What!
Fraulein Muller: I took them for a newly married couple and put their bags in the same room.
Breuer (furious): Impossible. Where are they now?
Fraulein Muller (pointing): Out on the terrace.
DISSOLVE TO:
129 THE TERRACE OF THE INN — TWILIGHT —
— Pat, Bobby and Lenz have finished dinner. Empty coffee cups and glasses. Below the terrace, two strolling musicians with accordion and guitar, are singing “Freut euch des Lebens.”
Breuer comes out of the inn.
Pat (surprised and displeased): Well, hello, Erich. (Breuer kisses her hand coolly) You know Mr. Lenz and Mr. Lohkamp.
They rise and bow. Bobby not very cordially.
Breuer: I’ve had the pleasure. May I?
(he sits down)
Pat: What are you doing here?
Breuer: I frequently come to the country by myself. It’s a surprise to find you here.
Lenz: Have you had dinner?
Breuer: On the road, thank you.
Bobby (dryly, suspecting something): Drive here in your Buick?
Breuer: Yes — did you come here in your — your —
Lenz: We didn’t bring Heinrich. It wasn’t fair to the rest of the traffic.
Breuer (not knowing his next step): This is a fortunate accident.
Lenz: It was an accident that we first met.
Breuer: Oh yes, the race — (looking at Bobby) — and you won.
Bobby: Yes.
Breuer (carelessly): It was a short distance. (with meaning) Over a longer course I would be quite likely to win.
Bobby (challengingly): We can try it sometime.
Fraulein Muller brings a lamp, sets it on the table and retires.
Breuer: You’re staying in the hotel?
Lenz: We’re up there somewhere. The end room.
Breuer (with a startled laugh): Not all of you! (as the music roars to a finale) That awful music! Go away, you monkeys!
(he throws some change over the balcony and the music stops)
Lenz (riding him): Maybe there were two rooms — I didn’t notice. What’s the difference — on the beach all day — just a place to dress and sleep.
Breuer (with a double take): Yes — what? (then trying to smile as he asks Pat lightly) You haven’t gone and got married have you?
Lenz: (with the implication that Pat and Bobby didn’t worry about a small point like that): No-o-o
(a pause)
Pat (suddenly): Would you wretches mind it terribly if I went to bed? Remember, we’ve been up since six.
Breuer (disappointed): Oh, I wanted to speak to you — (stops himself) — the next time I saw you —
Pat (interrupting him by getting up): That’ll be tomorrow. Goodnight, gentlemen.
(she goes into the inn)
Breuer: Just a minute, Pat. (to the men) You’ll excuse me?
CUT TO:
130 THE STAIRS — INSIDE — QUITE DARK —
Pat reaches the first landing. Breuer runs after her.
Breuer: Pat, I must see you alone. I’ve got something to say —
Pat: It’ll have to keep till morning, Erich. (almost pleading) When I say I’m tired, I mean it.
She turns away.
CUT TO:
131 THE TERRACE —
Bobby frowning.
Bobby: So bad news has come.
Lenz (teasing): Give him a chance — he likes Pat as well as you do.
Bobby (impatiently): I’m going to bed.
Lenz: I’ll keep an eye on the sea. (As Bobby goes in, Lenz goes to the terrace and calls over to the musicians) Hey, boys! Don’t go away.
CUT TO:
132 BOBBY —
— hurrying up the stairs. He goes to Pat’s door and knocks.
CUT TO:
133 BREUER’S DOOR —
— which is down the corridor and in half darkness, slowly opening. The strolling musicians have begun to play again outside — a soft, seductive tune.
CUT TO:
134 PAT’S DOOR —
— opening. She takes a step out and is in Bobby’s arms. We do not hear what they say but it is a long, passionate goodnight. Presently they break apart and he goes to his room.
CUT TO:
135 INT. BREUER’S BEDROOM. BREUER —
— closing his door and walking across to the window, frowning.
DISSOLVE TO:
136 INT. BREUER’S ROOM — NEXT MORNING
Breuer is taking off his pajama top when his glance falls out the window on the beach.
CUT TO:
137 WHAT HE SEES:
THE ABANDONED FREIGHTER — PAT — sunning herself on a slanting deck. Bobby and Lenz are playing with a medicine ball on the sand. A little farther along are the two children.
CUT TO:
138 BREUER’S ROOM
Breuer reaches for his bathing trunks.
DISSOLVE TO:
139 THE BEACH — BREUER —
In silk bathrobe and beach shoes, approaching the hull cautiously so as not to be seen by Bobby and Lenz. He climbs up the low side of the freighter.
CUT TO:
140 PAT —
Looking up expectantly; changes to a guarded expression as she sees who it is.
Breuer: Is this a private yacht or can I come aboard?
Pat: If you’re going where we go. To very pleasant seas.
Breuer: Well — the company is good — at present. Pat, I want you to marry me. I’m really bowled over when I see you with these tramps.
Pat: They’ve had tough lives to live but they’re not tramps.
Breuer (shrugging his shoulders): I was in the war, too. That’s the excuse for everything.
Pat: I won’t even try to explain them, Erich.
Breuer (tartly): No. Don’t. (persuasively) I want you to come back with me today. I want you to marry me tonight. I want to give you everything you once had —
Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald UK (Illustrated) Page 395
