Plausibility
(Alternate Titles:
Hedy and George; Ballet Mécanique)
A Constructivist
Comedy
Tony
Rothman
15 May
98
First Revised
Version:
March
99
To Tom O’Horgan
I saw thousands of electric lamps strung in the heavens and illuminated
from one switchboard to create God; vast cinemas projected a new dimension in
the skies; music--machines large enough to vibrate whole cities. All these although later appropriated
were first my very own. The
ecstatic poetry of space! The
satisfying hardness of time!
--George Antheil
Cast
The Younger Hedy Lamarr (YH)--The screen
actress (1913-
), until the age of 25 or so. Slightly underendowed, at least she thinks so. She speaks with an Austrian
accent.
The Older Hedy Lamarr (OH)--The same after
about the age of 25. Tough as nails.
The Younger George Antheil (YG)--The American pianist and composer (1900-1959),
until about age 40. Baby-faced.
Very talented, very brash, a bit of P.T.
Barnum.
The Older George Antheil (OG)--The same after the age of about 40. Not entirely washed up, but he’s taken
hits.
Three Alter Egos:
Salvatore (SAL)--A
barrel-organist/player-piano repairman, who may secretly be a quantum field
theorist. Speaks
with an Italian accent, then a German accent.
Kung-ming Kao
(KM)--a Confucian advice-to-the-lovelorn columnist who may secretly be a being
from the fourth dimension. Dressed
like a Mandarin, talks a bit like Charlie Chan.
The Hormonal Detective (HD):
Hard-boiled, sometimes, she wears a fedora, a trench coat, carries a magnifying
glass and talks impossibly fast.
Cameos by the following, who can be covered by four male actors and one female actor,
as indicated:
Director, Fritz Mandl, T.S. Eliot, Louis B. Mayer, Virgil Thomson, W. B.
Yeats, C.B. DeMille, Historian
Cameraman (silent), Mandl’s lieutenant (silent), Ezra Pound, Fernand Léger, Frank Sinatra, French police officer,
Engineer 1 (silent).
Nobleman, Business associate 1
(silent), James Joyce, Judge, Albert Einstein, Gerhart
Hauptmann, Psychiatrist, Groucho Marx, Salvador Dali
Business associate 2 (silent), Customer
at a brothel, Ernest Hemingway, Policeman, Buck Rogers (silent), French Artist,
Gene Markey, JFK, Ghost 1 (silent), YH’s Lover
(silent), Announcer, Engineer 2.
Anne (silent), Laura
(a maid), Lolly (a wardrobe girl), Ghost 2 (silent),
Snake Charmer, C.B.’s Secretary, Boski (Antheil’s
wife).
Notes
There are four time sequences in the play. Scenes concerning YH move forward in
time from about 1932 until about 1940.
Scenes concerning YG move forward from about 1923 until about 1940. Thus YH and YG are growing older. Scenes concerning OH move backward from
the present until 1940 and scenes concerning OG move backwards from about 1959
to the same point. Thus OH and OG
are growing younger. All
timelines converge at the meeting of Lamarr and Antheil.
No scenes have been indicated because the action is meant to be
continuous. The play is divided
into two acts with an Intermission but the break can be omitted. The few bracketed passages [ ] indicate
possible cuts.
The films called for in the script are readily available at major video
stores, such as Eddie Brandt’s in