*
June 13/74
It was of Galahad Threepwood that his niece X had said
— quote abt his being so fit.
Sequence
1)
Gally arrives at castle, expecting to find Ld E
alone. Beach tells him Dora and daughter are there. Dora and heroine are
lunching out.
2)
Gally goes to sty. Ld E tells him heroine has
fallen in love with undesirable man.
3)
Gally meets heroine. She tells him hero is an
artist. Gally says Ld E was talking of getting artist to paint pig. He will get
hero the job.
4)
Gally meets Dora. She says old flame of hers
staying at lunch house.
5)
Gally goes to see hero. (Son of old friend).
6)
The fire. Dora is going to invite the ‘lunch’
people to stay. She says sister of Chancellor knew Ld E as young man &
tells G. not to monopolize her, as she is going to try to marry her to Ld E. Ø
Plant here that she used to know Chr well.
Gally goes to Ld E and warns him … No.
7)
Scene in grounds. Chr and Dora. He is getting
sentimental, when he sees bodyguard: ‘Who is that man?’ ‘My bodyguard!’
8)
Cut to hero.
Ø Here should come a scene at sty, when the ‘fire house ‘woman calls
the Empress revolting. It is after this that Gally warns Ld E. (Probably the
scene when Dora tells Gally she is going to get Ld E married cd be better
played off stage.
Query: Make the woman v. political — strong on people’s rights. She
has never met Ld E and takes him for the pig man. She rebukes him for servility
— intelligent man like you degrading yourself by acting as valet to a
revolting pig.
Good)
Note: Shall I delay her arrival, so that this scene cd come nearer
end?
*
June
14, 1974
Work on 6 of
June 12 [?13]. The Ld E-Woman scene ought to lead to something.
Start with
Dora telling Gally not to monopolize Ch’s sister, who is coming later. Note.
The fire cd be at a house in next county, and sister have stopped on in London
to see about insurance. (Dora reads the news in her paper).
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Sister &
Ld E. She says natives in Uganda are starving and you shovel food into this
revolting pig. Ld E might have retorted that the n of U probably wd not enjoy
the Emp’s menu which as evbod knows consists […?…] too much aghast to
speak & she walks on.
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Sister walks
on, meets hero. She must know him. (How?) She goes back to house and meets
Dora. She says she met hero. I’ve forgotten his name. Dora says X. No that
wasn’t it. Ha yes, it was Y, mentioning hero’s real name, Dora appalled.
Dora tackles
hero, kicks him out.
Hero tells
heroine, who gets idea of stealing jewel.
Good)
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Heroine steals
jewel. Dora discovers loss.
Dora tells
Chancellor.
Bodyguard
appears from behind curtain.
Nobody must
leave this house. Then Ld E takes hero to pig. Hero shut out climbs in and
sister
beans him.
Good)
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Then ‘sister’
becomes ‘tec.
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Sister &
bodyguard. Sister suspects hero.
Meanwhile,
Gally has given Ld E […?… …?…]
They decide to
return it.
Gally caught
by bodyguard. G. knew his father
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*
June
14/74
I can’t get
any further till I get the end of story, and it must be something clever that
Gally does so as to force Dora to consent to hero & heroine marrying.
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Cd he somehow
work it that he makes it seem that Ld E is guilty of the theft? In that case,
jewel shd be ‘sister’s’.
|
B
Try this.
Heroine steals jewel in order to keep hero in house.
Gally hides it
by putting it in Ld E’s study, (without Ld E’s knowledge) . He shows it to
Dora and says Ld E has obviously added kleptomania to his eccentricities. If
this is discovered, his name will be mud. Ld Chr won’t marry Dora. (He says
Ld E told him he was v. attracted by her).
I want to make
it plausible that he makes terms re hero & heroine for his silence.
Not right yet
but work on it.
X)
A
Try this, to
make it continuous. Chr tells Gally he wants to propose to Dora but can’t
because of bodyguard. Gally puts bodyguard out of action in a comic scene.
Dora comes to Gally and says she is engaged to Chr: Gally says At this joyful
time you will want to spread happiness, give your consent to hero and heroine
and persuade Chr to give hero his money. Dora says No (ought to have solid
reason for disliking hero) . G says ‘If you won’t, you won’t, but come with
me, I want to show you something: Then as in B
No. Cut
trustee idea. Dora says hero has no money. G says hero has comic strip in
USA.)
Good)
End book with
G & Beach chatting.
X)
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*
June
22 1974
Ch. 1. Jno
Robinson’s taxi, which meets all the trains at Market Blandings, drew up with
a screeching of brakes at the great door of Bl Castle, Lord E’s seat in Shropshire,
and a dapper little man of middle age alighted with the agile abandon of a
cat on hot bricks. This, as any number the old brigade could have told you,
was the Hon. Galahad Threepwood Ld E’s younger brother.
[all
deleted]
2.
Plant housemaid with whom bodyguard falls in love.
|
Murchison is
sick of seeing Sir James
Their politics
are opposite it is agony for him to have to listen to J’s speeches.
X)
|
Mechanism for Gally getting bodyguard out of the way. In Ch 1
Beach tells Gally housemaid (his niece?) is being wooed by bodyguard. He
doesn’t approve?
Good)
So when Ld Ch tells him his story he goes to bodyguard and advises
him to take housemaid by storm.
‘I wd die for one little rose from her hair.
‘Has she got roses in her hair?
‘Actually no.
Gally knew
M’s father well.)
‘You leer at
her!
‘How do you
mean, leer?
‘Like this,
then you spring at her and grab her’
‘Are you a
rugby footballer […?…] X?
‘I play for
the Metropolitan Police
‘Try to imagine
that she is an opponent trying to wriggle through to your goal line.
I don’t want
to hurt her.
You won’t.
Girls like that sort of thing.
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*
June
25/74
Φ ‘Sister’
arrives in her car, doesn’t go to house, stops car at gates and goes
strolling.
The arrival of
‘sister’ must be delayed till much nearer the final sequence. Φ
She must have
her scene with Ld E just after she arrives. Then comes the stuff on June 14,
with her walking on and meeting hero, whom she has met before (How?). Then
she meets Dora and tells her hero’s name and the action starts.
Good X)
Problem: How
does she know hero?
|
Try this. Hero
did a portrait of her Peke.
|
The Peke is
with her and barks at Empress and Ld E curses Peke and ‘sister’ is v. angry.
(Or
Ld E is afraid Peke will attack Empress.
|
Why isn’t hero
at sty, painting, when ‘sister ‘comes to sty?
What wd be
fine wd be if his delay was due to a scene with heroine.
V. Good)
Try this.
Heroine has fixed up all arrangements for eloping. Hero says he can’t because
he can’t let Ld E down and must finish painting Empress before he can leave,
and heroine is furious.
(Heroine plans
to get out of the house after dinner, and Beach has brought the beverages, by
telling Ld E
she wants to see Empress by moonlight)
XX)
Sequence
1)
The quarrel. Φ Heroine breaks engt.
Φ Hero
about to go to sty)
2)
Heroine meets Gally. He comments on her
militant air. A girl looked just like that before she stabbed him in leg with
a hat pin. She tells him of quarrel. He says it shows how good a heart hero
has. Get in the stuff about telling stories of her husband. Heroine won over.
V. Good)
3)
G. takes hero back to heroine. Reconciliation.
Hero starts for sty.
4)
Cut to ‘sister’ coming to sty. ‘Sister’ &
Ld E
5)
‘Sister’ & hero.
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