Friday, January 15, 2021

"Watch the Fur Fly" script, Scene B

We move to the girls' bedroom, the next day.  The first couple pages made it in, but this was omitted after Shirley calls Laverne's plan ridiculous:

SHIRLEY
Face it, Laverne, even for you this is ridiculous.  Telling a man you speak seven languages.

LAVERNE
Eight.

SHIRLEY
Eight, it just grows and grows.

LAVERNE
No.  I just learned Xhosa.

SHIRLEY
Xhosa?

LAVERNE DEMONSTRATES HER COMMAND OF XHOSA LANGUAGE (THE CLICK LANGUAGE)

LAVERNE
Yeah, you remember.  We heard it on "Wild Kingdom."

SHIRLEY
That was a language?  Oh I thought that guy just sat on a poison dart.

LAVERNE
I might not need it.

Then about a page and a half is intact, with this Shirley line left out, "C'mon.  This isn't going to work.  Why don't you call him up and say you made a small mistake.  You can't speak in seven languages, you can hear in seven languages."  And then Rhonda was supposed to be heard offstage, rather than a cut to her hi-hoing entrance.  This little bit was omitted:

LAVERNE
Okay, don't help.  But at least take care of Rhonda, downstairs so I can study.

SHIRLEY JUST STARES, LAVERNE PICKS UP A BOOK.

LAVERNE (CONT'D)
Por favor?  Sil vous plait, prago, prago...

Then after Shirley's "pseudo Swedish" line to "neighbor lady," Laverne was supposed to pick up a book (presumably a different one) from the bed and say, "Oh, here's a useful one.  'My good companion, shouldn't your elephant be kept outside?' "

There's nothing here that I particularly miss, except maybe the "elephant" line, and Shirley trying to convince Laverne to call Jeffrey.  The stuff about Xhosa is borderline racist, and then the girls don't even count it as one of Laverne's languages anyway, reverting to seven again.

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