WAY DOWN SOUTH

Characters:

M. DUVAL---a money-lender

Martin Dile

PAUL CAPET--a New Orleans lawyer

JOHN TIMOTHY REID,--Master of Bayou Lovelle
Plantation in Louisiana

TIM---his son

UNCLE CATON---old Negro slave

JANIE---the housemaid, also a slave

GUMBO---her son, TIM'S age, a slave

JACQUES BOUTON---showboat owner

CLAIRE---the leading lady

NARCISSUS---cook on showboat

GLORY---his wife & assistant in service

STEPHEN FOSTER---young song writer

DUNNING FOSTER---his brother

A NEGRO PREACHER

SHERIFF OF CINCINNATI

DEAD END KIDS OF 1846

REID'S BROTHER-IN-LAW

A JUDGE

STORY LINE
TIM

THE STORY OF AN ORPHAN BOY BETRAYED BY HIS FATHER'S FRIEND, SEEKING TO SOLVE HIS DIFFICULTIES IN LIFE.

I. HAPPY HOME LIFE

DEATH BRINGS SUDDEN CALAMITY

DILL BECOMES THE VILLAIN URGED ON BY PAULINE

CATON, GUMBO, & JANIE ONLY HAPPY FACTORS LEFT

CATON IS SOLD

II SHOWBOAT BRINGS HOPE

TIM EXPECTS TO RETRIEVE CATON

DEAD END KIDS BECOME VILLAINS AND UPSET HIS HOPE

BOUTON'S WASTE OF MONEY ALSO BETRAYS HIS HOPES

III TRIAL BRINGS COMPLETE DEJECTION TO TIM - His悲痛 moment

HE RETURNS SADLY SOUTH WITH ONLY BOUTON OFFERING

A RAY OF HOPE

DILL AGAIN AT HIS VILLAINY ABETTED BY PAULINE

BOUTON ARRIVES ON SCENE & SENDS FOR CATON

CATON ARRIVES

DILL IS EXPOSED FOR THE RASCAL HE IS

TIM'S FORTUNE IS RESTORED

IV HAPPINESS AGAIN IN THE OLD HOMESTEAD WITH ALL HIS

FRIENDS, BOUTON, CLAIRE, CATON, GUMBO around him

STORY LINE

BOUTON & CLAIRE

BOUTON'S LOVE FOR CLAIRE IS BETRAYED BY HIS OWN VICES
BUT THE TRAIL AND TIM BRING HIM TO HIS SENSES

I. SHOWBOAT ARRIVES IN NEW ORLEANS
BOUTON BRINGS JOY & AHPARENT SUCCESS
CLAIRE RUNS BOAT & ALL IS WELL
BUT BOUTON GOES TO GAMBLE & HAS TROUBLE
SHOWBOAT IS ORDERED TO LEAVE CITY
BOUTON LOCKED UP, BUT GETS OUT O.K. & HAPPY

II UP THE RIVER TO CINCINNATI
CLAIRE BEGINS TO WORRY ABOUT FINANCES
STEPHEN FOSTER LOVES CLAIRE
DUE TO HIS FAULTS, CLAIRE'S LOVE FOR BOUTON
FALLS TO A TERRIFIC LOW
THEY QUARREL
BUT CLAIRE COMES TO HIS AID WHEN ARRESTED

III TRIAL---CLAIRE FIGHTS FOR BOUTON
BOUTON EXPRESSES HIS LOVE FOR HER BUT NOW PLAYS
PAULINE FOR A PURPOSE
CLAIRE MISUNDERSTANDS---AGAIN HER ROAD IS ROCKY

IV CLAIRE NOW UNDERSTANDS. THEY ARE TO MARRY.
ALL ARE HAPPY

STORY LINE

DILL & PAULINE

MARTIN DILL'S DESIRE FOR MONEY TO SUPPORT HIS CREOLE
MISTRESS LEADS HIM TO BETRAY AND DEFRAUD A HELPLESS CHILD.

I. DILL & PAULINE CALL ON TIM'S FATHER

PAULINE MAKES HER DESIGNS

DILL SELLS PLANTATION IN ORDER TO DEFRAUD TIM
AND JUGGLE THE ASSETS OF THE ESTATE

DILL & PAULINE TAKE CHARGE OF TIM IN NEW ORLEANS

THEY SELL UNCLE CATON

TIM ASKS "WHY?"

II DILL, UNDER PAULINE'S INFLUENCE, PLANS STOCK MARKET

PAULINE, AT RACES, ETC., ROLLS IN WEALTH---THUS
ESTABLISHING WHERE THE MONEY GOES

DILL ORDERS HANDBILLS AS MONEY RUNS SHORT AND HE
TRIES TO FIND TIM AND GUMBO---CHASE

HI TRIAL---DILL & PAULINE CLOSE IN ON TIM--DILL WINS

PAULINE FLIRTS WITH BOUTON, THINKING HE HAS MONEY

PAULINE BETRAYS DILL TO WIN BOUTON

DILL & PAULINE RETURN TRIUMPHANTLY TO NEW ORLEANS
WITH TIM AND GUMBO

DILL SEEKS TO CONFIRM LEGAL GUARDIANSHIP TO USE
TIM'S MONEY TO CONTROL STOCKS

BOUTON & CATON WRECK THEIR PLANS

DILL & PAULINE ARE LOCKED UP

WAY DOWN SOUTH

by
Clarence Muse &
Langston Hughes

SCENE

1. CREDIT TITLES reach the screen superimposed against a pattern of cotton boles opening white in the sun, one after another, accompanied by a musical medley of songs of the Old South.

2. LONG SWEEPING SHOTS bringing to the screen the vastness of the BAYOU LOVELLE PLANTATION: vast stretch of cane field with the slaves at work cutting cane, cotton field with wagons hauling away the white cotton, a grove of peacan trees their branches undulating in the wind narrowing down to specific shots of

3. VEGETABLE SHED piled high with sweet potatoes, melons, pumpkins, peanuts. SLAVE WOMEN are putting the sweet potatoes into bags as wagons arrive loaded with more produce.

4. COTTON GIN working full blast with WHITE OVERSEER in charge. BLACK MEN putting the cotton into bales, singing as they work. Noises of gin, mules, and men.

5. SMITHY. Clang of hammers and glow of forges. Sparks flying as slave BLACKSMITHS repair the various tools of the plantation, shoe the horses and mules, etc.

6. SWEEP OF CATTLE IN FIELDS. Wild geese and pheasants.

7. PICKANINIES DRIVING CALVES INTO A PEN. Fleeing turkeys & chicks.

8. LARGE FAT HOGS POURING OUT OF PIG-STY. WHITE OVERSEER shown checking them off. NEGRO SLAVE seen sharpening knife for slaughter.

2.

9 SMOKE HOUSE EXTERIOR. SLAVES carrying fresh hams and whole carcasses of sheep into the smokehouse.

10 INTERIOR SMOKE HOUSE. Through the smoke, great hulks of meat seen hanging. Large iron pots <u>XXIX</u> filled with earth-covered, smouldering wood, belching smoke. SLAVES entering with huge chunks of meat on their shoulders.

11 SUGAR MILL. SLAVES feeding raw cane into the sugar mill. OXEN trudging <u>xxx</u> round and round the grinder in the mud. Sounds of their feet, the grinder, the cries of the slaves.

12 STREAM OF LIQUID JUICE pouring from the sugar grinder into copper kettles.

13 BOILING SYRUP in molasses pans. A SLAVE skimming the syrup into a container to be saved to ferment for holiday drinking.

14 CANE FIELD AGAIN. BLACK CANE CUTTERS singing at their work. Magnificent women, strong men. The last stalks are about to fall. Cane piled in field. Oxcarts arriving some are and loading cane. In <u>OMX</u>/of the carts <u>XXX</u> tall voodoo drums <u>xxixxx</u> quickly smuggled out of sight by <u>x</u> SLAVES. The annual cane field festival dance is about to begin, preceeding the New Year's jubilation, and the workers are <u>joyous</u> and alive with expectation, their enormous cane knives flashing in the sun.

15-B CARRIAGE BEHIND A ROW OF LIALC BUSHES. Small NEGRO BOY holding the carriage horses. In the carridge sits M. DUVAL, a Creole money-lender, small, weezened, avaricious, with waxed moustaches. The MONEY-LENDER is peering from the carriage seat through the lilac bushes at

16 THE BIG HOUSE, a beautiful pillared mansion of <u>XX</u> Old Louisi-

3.

Louisiana, suggestive of gentle gaiety and gracious living.

17 FACE OF THE MONEY-LENDER, evil and jealous, as he peers.

18 BIG HOUSE, MOVING INTO THE VERANDA where the MASTER, JOHN TIMOTHY REID, sits talking to his friend and lawyer, PAUL KEMXX/CAPET, who has already risen to go. An old Negro servant, UNCLE CATON, removes tiny coffee cups and licquer glasses from a small table, hovering always in the background as the white men talk. Crops are good but the plantation goes deeper and deeper into debt, and all income is already pledged to meet the demands of M. DUVAL. But REID is not worried. He is young and carefree. He rises to dismiss the LAWYER as it is time to be getting off to the cane field dance of the cane cutters. UNCLE CATON picks up a huge pumpkin, a gift of the MASTER'S, and follows CAPET across the lawn to the carriage.

19 CARRIAGE OF THE MONEY-LENDER. CAPET arrives with the pumpkin. DUVAL is angry that he brings no money, only a pumpkin.

19a CARRIAGE driving down country road.
20 VERANDA OF BIG HOUSE AGAIN. UNCLE CATON IS WORRIED and sus-

picious of the LAWYER, but the young MASTER assures him that CAPET is his friend, and that all will be well. If need be, his brother-in-law in Kentucky will help him. But UNCLE CATON shakes his head. REID tells him to get their carriage ready for a drive to the cane fields.

21-C OUTSIDE OF STABLES. Heads of xxx expensive horses seen over stable gates. Beside a fence post a little Negro boy, GUMBO, stands quivering and shaking, a large apple on his head. His LITTLE MASTER, TIM, is about to shoot the apple off his head, a le William Tell, but GUMBO is afraid. Finally to demonstrate, TIM places the apple on the fence post which is just the height of GUMBO's head.

CORRECTIONS & INSERTIONS--Feb. 4

CHANGE NAME OF LAWYER (from Mmm Paul Capet) TO MARTIN DILL.

CHANGE NAME OF MONEY-LENDER (from M. DEVAL) to M'sieu CAPET.

SCENE

18a CATON FOLLOWS DILL ACROSS THE LAWN TO THE CARRIAGE.

19a CARRIAGE ON COUNTRY ROAD

49a OUTSIDE. Country slaves gather around dressed up city slaves.

4.

TIM fires. He misses the apple, but hits the post just below, exactly where GUMBO'S head would have been.
GUMBO'S eyes bulge. TIM assures him he'll do better next time, now that he has had some practice, so he again places the apple on GUMBO'S head, moving him beside one of the barn gates where the row of horses look out.

22 TIM sighting through his gun, about to fire.

23 GUMBO trembling move violently than ever.

24 Sudden disappointment on TIM'S face.

25 BARN GATE. A horse is snatching the apple off GUMBO'S head and is eating it.

26 KITCHEN DOORWAY. JANIE, the cook and GUMBO'S mother, stands there with an egg-beater in her hand. She comes out to call MASTER TIM to come get ready to accompany his FATHER to the cane field festival. As for GUMBO, he is to remain with her to help peel potatoes for supper. GUMBO says he wants to go to the cane field, too.

27 TIM, happy, GUMBO, sed, approach the house.

28 MASTER REID'S CARRIAGE going down the road beneath the magnolias and live-oak trees hung with hanging moss. It is a fine shinning carriage whose spokes flash in the sun. There are beautiful white horses expensively harnessed. UNCLE CATON is driving. As the carriage passes through the cotton fields where slaves are gleaning the fields for left-over bits of cotton, the MASTER tells his son, TIM how much his mother used to enjoy autumn, the coming of the holidays, and the slaves' festival in the cane field as the cutting is done. He explains how such dances are as old as history, coming down from the Greeks and the Romans, and how in Louisians the Negroes have

5.

always loved to sing and dance. UNCLE CATON, he says,
taught him all the old Negro songs when he was a boy.
TIM says he knows a lot of them, too. Together, the
FATHER and SON sing an old slave song. At one point
in the song, UNCLE CATON turns around from his seat on
the driver's box, and gently corrects them. Then all
THREE sing together. As they cease, a distant drum-
beat is heard.

29

A SLAVE IN THE CANE FIELD secretly testing a voodoo drum.

30

CARRIAGE again. Sounds of drums mingle with the beat of
the horses hooves. MASTER tells TIM that singing and
dancing keep people happy, and that life was made for
happiness.

30

EDGE OF THE CANE FIELD. The carriage arrives. The SLAVES greet their young MASTER and his SON with joy. But the OVERSEER comes forward and tells REID that some slaves have smuggled into the field the forbidden voodoo drums. The MASTER smiles and says, "Let them have them." Besides, he enjoys hearing them played himself. The SLAVES smile and cry aloud in joy.

CANE FIELD.

31

/ RITUAL OF CUTTING OF LAST STALK OF CANE. A tall magnificently
black SLAVE WOMAN is led by a black man into a field of CANE.
This leads a band of WOMEN in the cutting of the final section of the cane field. Swiftly
they move down the rows. The stalks fall before them. As
the tall woman lifts her cane knife and, with three swift
movements, cuts the final stalk of cane a great cry goes
up from all the slaves in the field, and the DANCE BEGINS.

32

CANE FESTIVAL DANCE. Hundreds of SLAVES allancing at once.
Wild song, voodoo drums.

33

FLASH OF DRUMMERS at work on the drums.

6-INSERT

2834,

Hughes

(DESTROY PREVIOUS SCENES/35, 36, 37, 38, 39)

34 REID, TIM, and a few WHITE OVERSEERS, with UNCLE CATON, look on. UNCLE CATON sways to the music.

35 THE DANCE CONTINUES. The DANCERS grow more and more intense, the song and the drums wilder and wilder.

36 AS THE DRUMS THROB, the alligators slide down the r muddy banks into the water of the bayous.

37 THE RABBITS RUN INTO THEIR HOLES.

38 A COPPER-HEAD SNAKE WITH DARTING TONGUE CHARMS A RABBIT. Suddenly the snake strikes. The rabbits tumbles and falls twitching in death.

39 BIRDS WHEEL AND CRY ABOVE THE DANCERS HEADS AS THE DRUMS throb and the chent murmur continues. The sun begins to sink.

39a THE DANCE BECOMES AN ORGY AT ITS CLIMAX, the tall women and strong men moving swiftly and rythmically in the sunset.

39b A HARSHY PATH ALONG THE EDGE OF THE BAREN CAKE FIELD. The MASTER, UNCLE CATON, and TIM are returning to the carriage.

39c A WATER MOCCASIN LIPTS ITS COPPER-COLORED HEAD and glides to the edge of the path.

39d THE YOUNG MASTER WALKS WITH TIM BY THE HAND. CATON is behind.

39e THE LEGS OF THE MAN AND THE WRIOLING EARTH-COLORED SNAKE. Budeenly the snake lifts it's head and strikes.

39f REID STOPS SHORT as a striken look crosses his face. He falls on his knees, and we see

6.

34 REID, TIM, and a few white OVERSEERS, with UNCLE CATON, look on. UNCLE CATON sways to the music.

35 As the dance continues, the song and the drums grow wilder and wilder, the dancers more and more intense. As the drums throb, the rabbits run into their holes, the alligators slide down their muddy banks into the water of the banyan, birds wheel and cry above the dancers' heads. The sun begins to sink. The dance becomes an orgy at its climax, the tall women and strong men moving swiftly and rythmically in the sunset.

37 A MARSHY PATH ALONG THE EDGE OF THE BAREM CANE FIELD. The MASTER, UNCLE CATON, and TIM are returning to the carriage.

38 A WATER MOCCASIN LIFTS ITS COPPER-COLORED HEAD and glides to the edge of the path. We see the leg of the man, and the snake raise its head and strike.

39 THE YOUNG MASTER WALKS with TIM by the hand. CATON is behind. Suddenly a stricken look crosses his face. He stops, falls, and we see

40 THE COPPER-HEAD GLIDING SWIFTLY AWAY INTO THE WATER beside the path.

41 TIM bending over his FATHER as he writhes in pain. UNCLE CATON frantically tearing off a portion of his own shirt to mum on tighten a torniquet about the wound. Suddenly, TIM utters a cry.

42 CALM FACE OF THE YOUNG MASTER, QUIET NOW. He is dead.

43 DUSKY ROAD WHERE THE CARRIAGE MOVES SILENTLY. TIM is on the driver's seat in the arms of UNCLE CATON as they return to the Big House alone. The old NEGRO confort s the CHILD as the tears roll down his face.

7.

44-D MASTER'S DEN AND OFFICE. A large he-man's room with per-haps hunting trophies and mounted fish on the walls. Shelves of books and papers. At one end of room a desk, and beside it an open safe, account books and legal papers. Packages and bundles of letters and papers piled on the floor. An air of confusion about the room. In the midst of the papers stand LITTLE TIM and old UNCLE CATON. They are preparing things for the coming of the Executor, the FATHER'S lawyer and friend, Mr. CAPET. But UNCLE CATON cannot read, and TIM can barely spell out the longer words.

45 TIM sits down at a table and UNCLE CATON gravely hands him papers from the shelves of the safe. TIM attempts to read the mortgage papers. Doorbell rings.

46 FRONT HALL OF BIG HOUSE. JANIE answers the door and admits several <u>minimum</u> CREDITORS, inviting them into the dining room.

47 THROUGH DOOR SEVERAL CARRIAGES SEEN, and other carriages approaching.

48 MASTER'S DEN AGAIN. From the safe UNCLE CATON takes a package of old letters tied in faded blue ribbon. The LITTLE MASTER draws one of them out. It is a love letter from his MOTHER to his FATHER. Loudly the doorbell rings again.

49 JANIE HURRYING MUTTERING THROUGH THE HALLWAY to answer the door.

49a

OUTSIDE. Country slaves gathers around
BOSUN'S DEN. UNCLE CATON PLACES ON THE TABLE BENEATH THE TREY, whose
Dressed-up city slaves whine
 deliver-coins and gold-coins from the safe, muttering
cone as coachmen and
what to do with them, if they have to put all that out for
foolmen.

The LAWYER, CAPET, enters to

50 ELEGANT DINING ROOM OF THE BIG HOUSE. Tall French mirrors, chandeliers, silver, crystal, imported china. French windows opening on a terrace. Long magnificent table. On this table are piled the papers, heirlooms, jewels, and accounts of the deceased MASTER. With a happy gleam of greed in their eyes, the CITY FOLKS now gather around for the feast of the lawyers and creditors. As they enter the room, with delicate gesture some of them inspect the silverware, or the china, looking at imported trade marks, and remarking upon its value. Lawyer CAPET enters followed by LITTLE TIM and UNCLE CATON bearing more papers. CAPET ushers TIM to the head of the table and seats him in the MASTER'S tall chair. CAPET stands beside him and announces to the assembled "guests" that he is the executor of the estate, and, according to the will, TIM'S legal guardian, and that his policy will be to liquidate immediately and pay all debts as soon as possible, so they will now proceed to an evaluation and accounting of assets. And since he has urgent business in New Orleans, he trusts that with their cooperation all will be cleared up within a few days. A clerk stands by to list the assets. They all now fall to with relish, diving into the papers, and handing documents to the LAWYER for his evaluation, some reading, some making notes, some examining jewelry.

51 THROUGH THE FRENCH WINDOWS GUMBO LOOKS ON ANXIOUSLY. Finally he gets TIM'S attention and beckons to him to come out. TIM goes to the open windows. He asks TIM what is the matter. TIM tells GUMBO that CAPET has said all will be well, and that everybody is going to New Orleans to live.

10

There life will be grand. But GUMBO says the slaves
are saying they are all to be sold tomorrow. This worries
TIM.

52 TIM asks CAPET about the slaves. He waves him aside, saying all will be well in due time, not to trouble about it, that he'll keep the servants.

53 ONE OF THE MEN PICKS UP THE PACKAGE OF LOVE LETTERS. Saying that they appear of no value, he hands them to CAPET who looks at them remarking, "Only love letters," and tosses them into the waste basket.

54 CLEARED TABLE. MEN IN GROUPS TALKING. UNCLE CATON AND TIM standing together. "It looks like we ain't got nothin' left a-tall. Nothin' a-tall." TIM says, "But we sure had a lot of company." As they speak, the moan of a slave song comes to their ears. The MEN begin to leave the room.

55 FIELDS WHERE SLAVES ARE WORKING. Ordered to report to the big house.

56 SLAVE QUARTERS. WOMEN and CHILDREN ordered to report to the big house.

57 DROVES OF SLAVES SWEEPING UP FROM THE FIELDS, terror in their eyes.

58 YARD OF THE BIG HOUSE. SLAVES gathered in groups moaning. CAPET and SLAVE DEALERS approach, and go among the Negroes separating them into groups. The moaning wail increasing, like a wind of fear. From their ranks an old preacher in field garb mounts the smoke house steps and calms them with a few words of Bible lore and the moan bursts into a spiritual. The scene desolves into a

59 MONTAGE OF SWIFT MOVEMENT LEADING TO DESOLATION. Cart-loads of produce going down the roads. GROUPS OF SLAVES in chains being driven away. Silver being packed. All

to 11

this dissolves into

60 CAPET'S TWO-SEATED CARRIAGE containing TIM, UNCLE CATON, GUMBO, and JANIE going down the road to New Orleans, the Big House disappearing in the distance.

61 PANOGRAM OF NEW ORLEANS as seen in bird's eye view from mm a rise outside the city dissolving to

62 BUSY STREETS. Noises. Street calls.

63 BALCONIES where lovely girls fan languidly.

64 DOCKS WITH COTTON BALES MARKED NEW ORLEANS. BLACK STEVEDORS.

65 SHOWBOAT PULLING INTO DOCK. Band playing. STEVADORES drop their bales and cut the pigeon wing. Cries of joy. KIDS shown running toward the docks.

BOUTON'S MISSISSIPPI

66 GANGPLANK OF/SHOWBOAT. The owner, BOUTON, comes ashore. TALL handsome florid showman, grandiloquent and likable, he immediately begins distributing pennies to the kids, even tossing a handful to the NEGROES for them to scramble for. TRADESMEN crowd around him offering bedsheets, brooms, oil for engines, wood. He says grandly, "See my assistant aboard, a lady, Miss Claire. See what she wants."

67 FAT JOVIAL OLD FELLOW GREET'S BOUTON WITH A HUG. States that he has been waiting weeks to buy him a drink. But BOUTON insits he'll buy the first one. They are off to MMM PAPA DONDON'S TAVERN, as OVERSEERS order him dock NEGROES to resume their work.

68 STREET ON THE EDGE OF TOWN. Carriage of money lender shown passing a quiet old New Orleans cemetery with the tombs built high above the damp earth, surmounted by crosses. TIM and GUMBO are all eyes. But the scene is sad in contrast to the gaiety of the showboat. DILL'S face grim.

B
**INSERT**

(THROW AWAY SCENES XLXTOXX%X 61 to 65---PAGE 11)

61 PANORAMA OF NEW ORLEANS as seen in bird's eye view from a
rise outside the city. Super-imposed letters appear:
NEW ORLEANS. Dissolving to NEW YEARS L847.

62 STREETS CROWDED WITH HOLIDAY PLEASURE SEEKERS. Gay music.
Noises. Cries of street vendors. masked dancers.

63 BALCONIES where lovely girls fan languidly, looking at the
sights.

64 DOCKS WHERE COTTON BALES ARE PILED MARKED "NEW ORLEANS".
Black WHARF-HANDS.

65 BOUTON'S MISSISSIPPI SHOWBOAT PULLING INTO DOCK, a gaily
painted side-wheeler. Band playing. WHARF-HANDS cut
the pigeon wing. Cries of joy. WHITES cheer. XXXX
XXXXXXXXXX

65a KIDS SHOWN RUNNING TOWARD THE DOCKS. Blowing of whistles.

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