ACT III--THE BRIDGE OF DREAMS

[Jack, with Henry, Shoko, and Laura at Lake Arrowhead.]

HENRY
After they'd finished that first run of Romeo and Juliet, Jordan insisted he didn't want anything to do with these movie versions Betty was considering.  He went directly into rehearsal on The Tempest, which he was to direct and in which he'd play Prospero--to Christine's Miranda.  That made Betty mad.

LAURA
But Betty had been as pleased to cast Christine as Juliet--which gave her her fourth double-suicide play--and was delighted to work with her as the Nurse.  But, suddenly a star, Christine, if still deferential, added a third ego, or third set of ambitions, to the mix.  She did want to make a movie of Romeo and Juliet, for she'd seen what making The Countess Rostovna had done for her mother, who kept telling her how this film could capture her young performance on permanent record.  But Jordan was also actively courting her for The Tempest.

HENRY
Was rehearsing her for The Tempest!  He'd wanted to do it anyway, but having Christine for Miranda made it irresistible.  I asked Betty if that, too, might become one of the films in the series.  She said, "I want the love-suicide plays first, since they comment on one another so nicely--Hallmark might like that.  Then we can think about others--including The Tempest."  I'd arranged for the actors to come out over Easter break for screen tests, and most were flying out, but Jordan perversely decided to drive across country--with Christine--in his Ferrari.

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HENRY
I'm sure Marge was delighted.  Jordan let Christine drive that Ferrari halfway across the country--while Betty waited--and after Betty had received that letter accusing them of being more than traveling companions.

LAURA
I got one, too.  I'd already heard enough gossip not to want them driving across country together, à la Lolita.  But try to tell a high-school senior that.  She was already eighteen.  They just packed and left.  But, after we got those letters, I decided to fly out and take Christine back by air--back to school.

HENRY
Someone in the company probably wrote the letter, suggesting Christine was pregnant--with Jordan's child.  Not that Betty believed it.  But it still upset her.  If they were competing for Christine longer term, she thought Jordan might be trying to win by keeping her in possession.  She became determined that Christine would be here, working on the film, this summer.  She wanted to separate them, then have it out with Jordan without Christine being there.  [Touching Shoko’s hand.]  Jack might like to see that letter.  Bring the one from Jordan, too.

JACK
[Watching Shoko nod, then rise and move carefully back toward the cabin--to Laura.]  How has everything been going between you and Christine . . . since the funeral?

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HENRY
[Laughs.]  But I don't believe she did.  At least she didn't get pregnant.  He was prepared to fight Betty for her, however.

JACK
Here comes Shoko . . . and I see Christine there at the window.

SHOKO
[Returning, with the letters.]  This one's from New York.  See the postmark.  This other one's from Jordan, written while they were on their way here.

JACK
[Takes the first letter, and reads.]
       Dear Betty Fredricks:
     You should look into what's going on between  Christine and Jordan Simms.  More than just rehearsing another Shakespeare play I can tell you.  They are constantly hovering over each other.  I saw her coming out of a doctor's office about ten days ago.  Then, last week, she was sick in the ladies' room, like a woman who's pregnant.  If she were my daughter, I'd find out about it.
              A Friend
Does anything give a clue to the identity of the writer?

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SHOKO
There's always somebody, I guess.  Then here's the letter she got from Jordan a day or two later.  He obviously didn't know about the other letter.  [Hands Jack the letter, which he reads.]

JACK
Dear Betty,
   I'm writing from glorious Wellington, Nebraska, where I've stopped with Christine.  We've just had a long lunch with Marge French, your old buddy.  Christine was delighted by Marge telling her how much she looks like you did when she was born.
   I've thought a lot about your plans for me on this trip, and I don't want to make movies at all.  Some of the greatest Shakespearian actors of this century have been destroyed by movies, and it would be a mistake to divide our energies.  I'll support the experimental work you seem determined to do, so long as it's in New York, and on the stage.  If you insist on filming Romeo and Juliet, I don't want to be involved.  It shouldn't be hard to find a name actor willing to play Capulet--a nice cameo bit.  We can continue to perform the play, work The Tempest in, and with Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth, and Othello, that'll give us a solid Shakespearian base.

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HENRY
When she got the letter, the first thing Betty said was, "Yes, his Miranda.  That's what he wants   I insist on going ahead with Romeo and Juliet immediately--to save Christine from him."

SHOKO
She was very angry, jumped on Jordan immediately when he called that morning to say he and Christine were leaving from somewhere near the Grand Canyon, and should arrive at Shangri-La that evening.  She read him that other letter over the phone, accusing him of at least abusing Christine's affections.

LAURA
I think she was a little jealous of both of them.

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SHOKO
I stopped to buy some things, and have regretted it ever since.

HENRY
Then, in spite of the fact Christine was there, Betty confronted Jordan, accusing him of using Christine.  "That's child abuse!  And what have you been doing, under the pretext of all this rehearsal?  What about this letter--suggesting she may be pregnant, thanks to you?"  She turned and asked Christine, "Are you?"  The intensity of Betty's anger was obvious.  In Christine, too.  "I am not pregnant!  But--if you're so interested--we are planning to get married.  I'll do whatever Jordan wants."

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HENRY
So Christine said.  I said to Jordan, "How could you mislead this child like that, Jordan?  You're old enough to be her father! My age!  Capulet!  Prospero!  Not Romeo!  Taking her off across country . . ."  But, still laughing, he said, "Henry, they’re reading you too many Greek tragedies."  Christine was still shouting denials, but was brushed aside, as I was, as they began castigating each other, as if on stage.  Betty finally sent Christine into the bedroom, as if dismissing a naughty child.

JACK
No doubt just wanted her out of the way until Shoko got here.

HENRY
Which turned out to be the biggest mistake of all.  Jordan kept goading Betty.  He said, "How could I possibly use Christine to influence you, Betty?  You never paid any attention to her at all--left her for others to raise!  Now that she's old enough to challenge you--for the attention of men, as an actress--with the advantage of youth--you become competitive.  The 'outraged mother, concerned about her daughter's virtue' just won't play." Betty said, "But she is my daughter, and we'll do the Romeo and Juliet out here this summer . . . with you or not!"  Then Jordan changed tack, as if willing to negotiate, saying, "Let us do The Tempest this summer--then, fine, you and Henry do this film version of Romeo and Juliet--with me or not.  Then, where Christine is concerned, let her decide.  Laura talks about her going to college, even that college in Nebraska you couldn't wait to get away from.  And your great friend, Marge, says she'd be happy to arrange it, that Christine could stay with her."

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HENRY
Sure, to let Christine do The Tempest first.  Betty absolutely refused, and he changed tack again, saying, "I've been talking to Christine a lot on this trip, and think I know what she wants."  Betty told him to leave Christine and get out.  He said, "No.  If I can't take you both back to New York I certainly intend to take her.  To do The Tempest this summer!  We'll leave now!"

JACK
That's forcing the issue.  Must have been pretty sure of himself.

HENRY
I tried to explain our financial commitments, but Jordan said, "I don't give a damn, Henry!  I know we can do The Tempest.  You can worry about these California idiots!"  Betty began to yell, "Stop it!  Shut up!  Listen to me!  Henry, you stay out of this!"  Jordan took me by the arm, led me to the big chair by the window, and said, "Sorry to upset you, Henry.  You just sit here and listen.  I'll tell Betty what I intend to do.  Then you can help her sort things out--tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow."  I sat down.  Jordan told Betty, "I have no desire to marry the girl. That was her idea.  But I might do it if it's the only way to get her to do the play!  I want to do The Tempest with her--oh, then maybe Hamlet.  Because she's a rare stage partner.  That's the only consummation I desire.  And I intend to take her back to New York and do it!  Nothing else matters . . . to me!"  "I have my own plans for Christine--and I'm her mother!"  "She's eighteen now, Betty, soon to graduate from high school.  Nothing to keep us from getting married 
. .  . if you insist . . . "

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HENRY
That's  when Christine came back into the room, carrying the gun you were going to shoot a bear with in Alaska--and determined to get their attention.  I heard her yell, "What am I? Just a child?  To be ordered around any way the two of you decide?"  But they still ignored her.  [Pauses.]  Then I heard the first shot.  When they refused to listen, she fired the gun, through the roof, I think.  I've asked Shoko where it leaks when it rains, but she can't tell, so I don't know where the hole is.  That got our attention.  I think I tried to hide under the chair, and hoped Jordan didn't mean me when he shouted, "Get that  away from her!"  Betty evidently was trying to take the gun from Christine, who may have been threatening Jordan with it, for he was shouting, "Put that down!  That's no stage prop. It's loaded!  Don't point  . . . "  Then I heard the second shot,  that must have hit Jordan in the chest.  I don't know who had the gun then, but the shot came over Betty's sharp commands to "Stop it!"  Then Christine screamed.  I think Betty was struggling to get the gun from Christine, with Jordan moving to take it from both of them, when it went off--accidentally.

JACK
You think that Betty held it when it shot Jordan . . . or . . .

HENRY
I don't know, Jack but that's when I jumped in, probably just as Jordan got possession of the gun.  I heard his sour laugh as he said, "My God, did either of you ever shoot a gun before in your life?"  He tried to push me away, turning back toward them, and I grabbed him with both arms.  I felt the blood on his

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JACK
But not in time to be of any help.

HENRY
Since Jordan had called the police, and called it a lovers' quarrel, the police read it that way at first.  But critics who'd seen the Chikamatsu plays in New York began to describe it as a Japanese double suicide.  Almost what it was.  They were lovers in life--more than they knew--and so in death.  The

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SHOKO
I was parking next to their Ferrari when I heard the shots, so ran up the path.  It was like entering Dante's hell.  Henry added to the surreal quality, sitting there with Jordan bleeding all over him, holding that gun in both hands.  I went to Betty--lying on the carpet, covered in blood--hoping she might still be alive.  When I saw the gunshot wound in her head, I fell to my knees.  Christine was sitting close to Betty, sobbing hysterically.  Jordan had passed out, so Henry began struggling to prop him up, to keep him talking.  I tried to quiet Christine, then to help Henry with Jordan.  When I first touched him, Henry thought I was Betty--that she couldn't be dead.  I started asking questions, and he said, "Shoko?  Is that you?  Is Betty all right?" When I told him she was dead he said, "Oh God, it's true.  And Christine?  Are you there, Christine?  Was Christine shot?  And look at Jordan,  please.  He's badly hurt.  Help him if you can."

HENRY
I couldn't believe it.  Until I heard Jordan on the phone I wasn't sure that Betty had even been hit--just that he had.  I kept expecting her to speak, but . . . she died without a word.   I still can't believe . . . that . . . of Betty.

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HENRY
I think he had come to think of Christine as his daughter, first as Capulet, then as Prospero.  And, once he saw Betty was dead, I think he accepted that he was going to die with her.  When the sheriff got here, Jordan was unable to speak to him.  Oh, I told him what had happened, just as I have you, Jack.  He asked, "How'd they kill each other with one gun?"  After I explained it all again, he said, "Unhuh . . . maybe . . . but you couldn't see what was happening, this girl saw it, but is in no condition to talk about it, and you just heard shots from the road, Miss . . . ?"  Shoko told him her name, and what she knew.  When Thomas got here, the sheriff let him take the three of us back to Encino, saying he'd talk to us again the next day.

SHOKO
Thomas was deeply shocked--just stood looking at Betty's body.  But when the sheriff released us, he said, "Let's take the young lady home."  Laura arrived the following day, which helped with Christine.  Then we hardly left the house until after the funeral.  The police did question us at length, but finally seemed inclined to accept that Betty and Jordan had killed each other . . . accidentally, or perhaps as a kind of double suicide.

JACK
Who put the bodies in the position they were in when the photograph that was in the newspaper was taken?

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JACK
Did you know that laying them end to end that way recreated the publicity poster picture from the Japanese film version of Chikamatsu's Shinju Ten no Amijima--the poster Betty had used so widely in New York?  I've been wondering how, if Henry had never seen that poster, he could have duplicated it so closely, so I thought it must've been you . . . or Christine.  [Pause.]  That's where I'm remembering that scarf from, too--that picture, covering part of Betty's head and one shoulder.

SHOKO
It was a week later that Henry and I came back up here, to gather Betty's things.  Thomas was helping me, and we missed Henry.  We found him wandering down by the lake.  And it was even harder for Christine.  She had so recently become so close to both of them--then to live with the feeling that she had caused their deaths.  After the funeral Laura suggested I stay here with Henry, while she took Christine back to New York--to finish school.  What could we do but go on with our lives?

LAURA
And New York was where our lives were.  That's been difficult enough.  The Players assume that, without Betty or Jordan, the company no longer exists.  Like Christine, they're lost souls.

HENRY
I want to talk to you about that, Jack . . . but later . . . when Christine comes out.

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HENRY
My great blunder was to grab Jordan--then I heard the gun go off again.  I still hear it in my dreams, Jack . . . and hear Betty groan and fall.  I feel I'm responsible for Betty's death.

JACK
[The screen door opens.]  Well, there she is!  I imagine I see her mother coming down the aisle of Baker auditorium.  I'd cast her in a minute--for anything.  If Betty's ghost is presiding over us this day, I say, "Look homeward, Angel . . . and melt with ruth."  For this your daughter.  And for all of us.

[They stop talking, watching Christine come down the path, until she is close enough for her footsteps to be heard.]

HENRY
Ah ha, Christine!  Come sit here by me.  And tell Jack about your plans . . . now that you're a woman of substance.

CHRISTINE
[Sits next to Henry.  Grendel at her feet.  They are silent for a moment, then she speaks, to Jack.]  Uncle Henry says Mother left me everything--Shangri-La, her New York apartment, her interest in the theatre company, rights in the movie you made, her bank account, her scripts, her insurance . . . everything.

HENRY
Well, Betty's estate had become complicated as she'd been signing contracts on things with all kinds of contingencies.  Just

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JACK
I hadn't thought much about your "financial situation," but this reflects your mother's affection for you at the end of her life.

CHRISTINE
I don’t know about that . . . and don't care.  But I was lucky, as a beginning actress, to work with her so closely in Romeo and Juliet.  And with Jordan Simms.  I loved them both.  [Pauses.]  Now I want to continue Mother's work.  I think that's what she intended by leaving me everything.  I've got to learn how, but  Uncle Henry will help.  [She touches Henry's hand.  He smiles, and just nods.]  “So I still want to make the film of Romeo and Juliet.  [She pauses.]  Of course, when we did the play, Mother was the nurse and Jordan . . . played my father, so their parts will have to be re-cast . . . [Again she pauses.]  And we can't do Antony and Cleopatra and the two Japanese plays at all.  I couldn't do Cleopatra the way Mother did--not yet.  But she wanted to do Romeo and Juliet first . . . for me.  And I still want to do it--to show that I am her daughter.

HENRY
You've already demonstrated that, Chris.

CHRISTINE
And I want to work with the New Age Players in New York, too.  I don't know how to direct like Mother . . . or Jordan . . . could.  [Looks at Jack.]  But you do!  [Away again.]  I'll need help.

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HENRY
It sounds fantastic, Jack--for an eighteen-year-old girl to produce Shakespeare in New York.  That's the surprise I told you about.  The New York part might depend on how the film of Romeo and Juliet does--but the Romeo is still available, as are most of the others--so I think a good film is still there.  And so does Randall--if you'll direct it.  Christine does need help.  Needs you, Jack.  And why not try it? Even if nobody buys tickets, what have we lost? Betty's given Chris, first, this remarkable talent, then the resources to do something with it, and, finally, with this film contract, entrée into infinite possibility.

JACK
[To Christine.]  Let's sleep on it.  Then, how about this?  You and I can take the boat out on the lake, tomorrow morning . . . and talk.  I might even run some of Miranda's lines with you.  Audition for Prospero.   But wasn't Henry planning to fix us some steaks.  [The others leave to start preparing the barbecue, leaving Jack and Christine alone.]

CHRISTINE
[After looking at him as if appraising how candid to be.]  Poor Jordan.  I can tell you how much I loved him, can't I?   I wanted to do The Tempest this summer--for him--though I knew that

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JACK
Yes, but he did have a special power over women.  I'm sure you're right about your mother . . . that she did love him . . . as much as she ever loved anyone . . . to be his Cleopatra, I suppose.

CHRISTINE
And I hope it won't shock you if I say I didn't care what people thought about Jordan and me.  I delighted in it, since I was in love with him.  He was so glamorous--so confident.  Once we began rehearsing for The Tempest, it was all I could think about.  I'd have given myself to him any time he'd asked.  [Reflective.]  But he never asked.  So I'm still a virgin.  Not bad for a high-school graduate, is it?  [Jack smiles.]  He liked to be with me, though . . . even let me drive his precious Ferrari.  We'd go out along the ocean, and, once out of city traffic, I'd drive.  Then I did most of the driving coming from New York, while he read a Mishima novel.  That last day, coming from Arizona, as I was driving along Highway 40, he kept watching me, telling me how much I reminded him of Mother that summer he'd first met her.  When I said she'd have been a couple of years older, he said, "Well, you're precocious."

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CHRISTINE
That they'd keep it in their . . . repertoire.  I know my Titania got me the part as Juliet--with Jordan as with Mother.  [Looks out over the lake.]  Then, though I was almost eager to be seduced by him--I wasn't.  I don't believe Mother ever was, either.  [She sits as if reflecting on two generations of lost opportunity.]  That last day, as we got here, Jordan said to let him handle things.  But I couldn't just go "sit in the other room," like Mother told me to.  They were talking about me as if I weren't even there.  I knew where your gun was kept.  I was angry when I fired it . . . to get their attention.  Then Mother grabbed for the gun, and it went off again . . . it was terrible!

JACK
What Henry described was a series of ridiculous accidents.

CHRISTINE
Uncle Henry's blind!  He heard shots.  He didn't see . . . all the blood.  When I saw Jordan bleeding, I went out of my mind.  Then Mother was lying there dead, with Uncle Henry still talking to her!  And it was my fault.  I dream that I killed them both.  I see Mother . . . covered in her own blood.

JACK
I wish I knew how to drive such dreams away.  That gun shouldn't have been there.  [To change the subject.]  But, hey, Henry said you'd like to do Ionesco's La Lecon in French, with him, the way your mother did La Cantatrice chauve.  So how

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CHRISTINE
Sure, "I've got a toothache" . . . or "j'ai mal de dents."
[Laughs.]  I'd like that.  And I'd like to go to Japan.

JACK
Tokyo's an even greater theatre city than Paris, or London . . . or New York.  How'd you like to do a play by a young Japanese playwright, Betsuyaku Minoru?  Machi-uri no Sho-jo--I'm working on a translation, as The Little Match Girl.  You know the Hans Christian Anderson story?

CHRISTINE
Where the little girl selling matches sees lights and presents through the windows on Christmas Eve, then freezes to death?

JACK
That's right.  Betsuyaku uses the whole story, in voice-over--as if it told to you by someone in the next seat--to counterpoint what's happening on stage, the story of a young girl 'abused' by her parents during the worst days of the American occupation--perhaps as an allegorical criticism of the Imperial system.  Since most Americans know the Hans Christian Anderson story, it'd be a good play to use to introduce him to New York.  But think of doing it in Japanese, maybe here in Los Angeles!   And if we get to Japan there are so many things I'd like to show you there. The youth hostel system.  How'd you like a raw egg on hot rice with smoked fish for breakfast--in Kobe, or Hiroshima--after sleeping on a futon on a tatami floor.

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LAURA
[Coming down--to Christine.]  Henry said you were supposed to help him.  [Christine says, “Oh, oh,” and heads that way.  Laura sits next to Jack.]  You seem to be getting along well with Christine.  She's so much like her mother now that I wonder how I can still love her so much.  But now how about me . . . ?

JACK
I'll promise to take you on a nice trip, too.  [A pause.]  But I always  did love her mother, too--from the time I first saw her.

LAURA
I know.  But if I've always had to deal with your abiding love for Betty, the last two years it's been Christine's love--first for Betty, then for Jordan.  Still, she's my little girl.  There've been times when I'd have been willing to shoot Betty myself.  [Shakes her head.]  But I heard the police came looking for you, in Japan?  I'd have suspected you myself if you'd been here  to shoot the man who kept luring the woman you loved away--then shoot her, too!  Why not?  [Pauses.]  But, as I've reflected upon it, Jack, I think it may have been a fortunate fall for both of them.  Like Romeo and Juliet, they die in their mythic prime, to become legendary.  They were older--will always be remembered as Antony and Cleopatra.  But that's better--for them--than gradually fading away, isn't it?

JACK
That's an interesting way to think of it--particularly after it has happened that way--mythologize them in their death.

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SHOKO
[Coming from the cabin.]  Things are about ready, and Christine is helping Henry, so may I join you two. [Pauses, as she sits.]  I regret that Betty and Christine and I didn’t get to go to Japan together.  Betty said after Christine graduated, but before work started on the film--while you'd still be there, Jack.

JACK
Did Jordan know about those plans?  That certainly would have interfered with his doing The Tempest.  But I hear Henry calling.  The steaks must be ready.  [They go up to eat.  Then as they are all sitting at the picnic table.]  You still know how to cook a steak, Henry.  I'm surprised at how hungry I am, and how much I still enjoy eating out in the open.  [Pauses.]  You and Shoko now seem as comfortable at this table as we used to be [Looks at Laura.].

HENRY
The loss has been hard for Shoko, too.  She's lost everyone--except me, a poor blind man.  She tells me there's a tradition of the blind poet in Japan, like Homer with the Greeks.  So I might try to become a poet--if we plan to go to Japan.  On the other hand, we're comfortable here.

JACK
But how do you feel about doing these things with Christine?

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JACK
You told me that the mattress we used to have in the back of the station wagon is still here.  [Laura just looks at him.]  I'd like to carry it down to the station wagon, and sleep there.  That's what Laura and I were used to--in the old days.

CHRISTINE
[To Laura.]  I'll bet that's where I left my scarf . . .

JACK
Yes, Betty's . . . your . . . scarf is there in the station wagon.  Why is that, if you've been driving the Ferrari?

CHRISTINE
We took Shoko and Uncle Henry to Katie's Cafe for breakfast, and Laura drove . . . so we went in the station wagon.  Then I forgot the scarf when we got back.

JACK
Of course.  Now, like everything of hers, it's your scarf.  How about helping me carry the mattress down to the station wagon?  Then you can get the scarf.  [Christine agrees.]

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CHRISTINE
[She reaches into the front seat of the station wagon to get  her scarf.]  Not mine.  It belongs to the Players--and the bank, I guess.  I'll let you drive it--once you agree to direct the movie for us.  While I drove it across the country, Jordan read Mishima's Runaway Horses, using that three-dimensional postcard of the Temple of the Golden Pavilion you'd sent him from Japan as a bookmark.  He loved this car.  [Leans on the fender as she puts on the scarf.]

JACK
I have a strange feeling as you put on your Mother's scarf.

CHRISTINE
Yes, this scarf was still here after the police left, and I claimed it--inheritance or not.  There may even still be some of Mother's blood on it . . . see these stains here?  I like to think so.  I'll never wash it.  Her blood is my blood.  I intend to model my life on hers.  [Jack just looks at her and shakes his head.]

JACK [Later.]
[Lying on the mattress in the back of the station wagon with Laura.]   I'm not married now, you know, but my daughter still needs a mother.

LAURA
[Laughs.]  Doesn't she?  So I suppose you're both coming back to "faithful Laura" again.

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LAURA
Well, Jack, it's something for you to dream about.  [Laughs.]

JACK
I like to hear that comfortable laugh here in the dark.  What more could any man want . . . in this life?  It's been some time since we've slept here together, but that laugh reminds me of how comfortable it always was.  Still, I can't shake the image of Betty from my memory--not the image of the woman as I last saw her, but as I first saw her, then as I held her in my arms, at the base of the scaffold.  But now, as I see that image in my mind, I'm not sure it's Betty's face.  It may be Christine's, framed in Betty's scarf.  [He is so shocked that he shudders.]

LAURA
Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry.  [Holding his hand in both of hers.]

JACK
Yes, I still have faithful Laura.  I should ask your forgiveness--for everything.  But, please, take my hand and help me walk into that future . . . our future . . . across that bridge of dreams.

Finis

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