Saturday, June 20, 2020

Excerpts from the "Drunken Sailor" script

So for reasons I can't fully explain (I was not a drunken sailor), I've purchased the shooting script for the "Monastery" episode from eBay.  And while I'm waiting for that to arrive, I'm going to make some notes on excerpts from other scripts available there.  (You can use the zoom function.)  First up, "What to Do with a Drunken Sailor."  (Note, the episode aired in question form as "What Do You with a Drunken Sailor?", which I believe is a song reference.)  Dated September 11, 1979, airdate October 18th of that year, so roughly a five-week turnaround.  A "revised shooting script," as I believe these all are.

As the episode opens, Laverne, Shirley, Frank, and Edna are returning from church.  Shirley found the sermon "uplifting," but Frank hits Laverne for laughing, at Edna's funny faces as it turns out.  Now, wait a minute, the DeFazios are Catholic and Shirley is Protestant and Edna is, I don't know?

The next page reveals it was Mass and Edna made funny faces because she was kneeling in gum.  I can see why this scene was cut.

We jump ahead to p. 16.  Bobby and Shirley are doing their "what a guy/gal" routine and Laverne wants to join in because all her family does is "throw meatballs."  Also, Shirley bleached Bobby's blue socks white.  (If the meatballs and bleach happened in the actual episode, I've blocked it out.)

Jumping ahead to p. 23, Shirley's money is missing and Laverne suspects Bobby.

Pp. 45-47 for the tag, with Shirley writing in her diary, as she does in the actual episode.  I haven't watched the episode in awhile, but I think Lenny & Squiggy wanting to use the girls' tub, because they're growing tomatoes in theirs, was kept.  Interestingly, one part is crossed out, but then a handwritten note clarifies which part to cut out.

3 comments:

  1. YOU WERE THE ONE WHO BOUGHT THAT SCRIPT! I was wondering! You are braver than I.

    Edna could definitely go to church with them, but no way could she get communion as a multiple-time divorcee, especially in the early 60's.

    The tomato scene is definitely in the original ep, yep.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Blushing, yes, it was me. (I emailed you about it while I was deciding, although I knew you probably wouldn't reply and talk me out of it in time.) Anyway, what was viewable on eBay intrigued/horrified me, so we'll see what other gems it contains.

      Good point about Edna.

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    2. Aww! Heck, I haven't checked my email but I'll probably see it today!

      Delete

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