PROLOGUE

 

[The roar of an approaching aircraft. The orchestra strikes up the intro to Hollywood. Lights up on a flight of passenger boarding stairs marked 'Property of TWA/Los Angeles International Airport'. The aircraft engines shut down. A stewardess appears above. A group of passengers descend. DENNIS BARLOW emerges last and pauses on the top step]

 

DENNIS:

 

It's fun to fly

Direct to Hollywood

To win a guy

Respect from Hollywood

 

[DENNIS exchanges glances with the stewardess before descending]

 

She's a bazaar full of Turkish delights

She's a confection of sweetmeats

And hot Arabian nights

 

[DENNIS moves in to collect his bag from the tarmac where another damsel takes his eye]

 

All Holly's girls

Are most respectable

With gorgeous curls

They're most selectable

Their precious pearls

Are unconnectable

And highly collectable

In Hollywood

 

[DENNIS moves downstage. The scene behind him dissolves into the hustle and bustle of the terminal building – a 1950’s pageant of passengers, flight attendants & airport personnel - with perhaps a pilot and a film goddess thrown in for good measure. Dennis's passport is stamped]

 

Instead of bread

She fed on Hollywood

Sought by the Fed

She fled to Hollywood

 

She had to rumba for eight bucks a week

Deep in the night we would slumber

Together cheek to cheek

 

Her lovely boys

Are uninsurable

With graceful poise

Compact and tourable

They flirt with boys

Are past incurable

Adrift and lurable

In Hollywood

 

BOYS:

When Holly's sweet

GIRLS:

She can be awful nice

BOYS:

Completely sweet

GIRLS

Why then she's paradise

 

GIRLS & BOYS IN HARMONY:

Her sunny moonlight just grins at the noise

She cannot handle the spotlight and pins it on her boys

 

BOYS:

She lists her friends

GIRLS:

Among the upper set

BOYS:

She follows trends

GIRLS:

Enjoys a tȇte à tȇte

 

GIRLS & BOYS IN HARMONY:

She often lends

To those she's hardly met

And puts herself in debt

In Hollywood

 

[stage action contines]

 

DENNIS:

She scrapes a cent

To pay the salaries

She starves for rent

And saves on calories

 

Her days grow shorter and shorter with time

She has a daughter reporter

Who partners her in crime

 

[SIR FRANCIS HINSLEY steps forward brandishing a small Union Jack flag on a stick. He and DENNIS shake hands]

 

I won't extend

This potted history

Because the end

Is no great mystery

 

[HINSLEY reaches out to carry DENNIS’s suitcase. As they both turn to leave, DENNIS faces the audience]

 

She has a friend

Who slit his wrist you see

The rest is history

In Hollywood

 

[BLACKOUT]