Friday, July 9, 2021

"Angels of Mercy," Scenes B, C, and D

We go to a "private hospital room - day."  The patient is described as "an extremely fat man." 

After Laverne suggests having the patients work out whose teeth are whose, this was omitted:

SHIRLEY
I can't do that.  There'll be people running all over the hospital wearing other people's teeth.  (LOOKS)  I think these are Mr. Franklin's.

LAVERNE
Are you kidding?  Those are women's teeth.

SHIRLEY
How can you tell?

SHIRLEY
They're smaller.

SHIRLEY
What does that mean?  Maybe they belong to a child.

LAVERNE
Shirl, what would a child be doing with false teeth?

SHIRLEY
Who knows?!  We're in a hospital!  (LOOKS AGAIN) I think those belong to Mrs. Dukewaste.

After Laverne asks if Mr. McKinley is dead, the nurse originally replied, "Why?  Are you a relative?", and Laverne said no.

Oddly enough, the actions of when Laverne tries to strip the bed are in the script, but the dialogue isn't, perhaps adlibbed by Penny.

They left out Shirley saying, "Laverne, behave yourself; this is a hospital."

Again, the stage directions are in the script, but the girls' dialogue mostly isn't.

Scene C is a "hospital ward - day."  This is the only part that was skipped:

JERRY
(BIG SMILE) Are they gonna kill me?

LAVERNE
No, no.  I won't let them.  (TO ORDERLY) Don't kill him.  (TO JERRY) I took care of it, Jer.

Scene D is in the hospital ward at night.  In the script, Shirley yells into the hallway, "Dr. Throckmorton...your car is on fire," while onscreen she later says that she did this.

In the script, it's just "the collar of Shirley's uniform torn off," while the front is ripped more than that onscreen.

This is the last page of the scene, after Laverne asks if all they'll get is a day:

SHIRLEY
(SMILES, THEN SINCERE TO HER) No, Vernie... a lot of days.

SHIRLEY MAKES LAVERNE SMILE.

SHIRLEY (CON'TD)
Come on, come on.  If we hurry, we can get three hours shut eye before we go to the brewery.

LAVERNE
We lead a great life, you know that?  (LAVERNE SEES JERRY)  He's so cute.

SHIRLEY
Laverne!

LAVERNE STARTS TO GO OUT THE DOOR, STOPS:

LAVERNE
Are you sure we can leave?  What happened with the teeth?

SHIRLEY
Oh, I confessed to the patients, and they were all nice about it.

LAVERNE
What did they say?

SHIRLEY
Mrs. Wait in 402 said...  (GUMS) "Shirley, I know you're a good girl, and you'd never steal teeth."

THEY LEAVE.

I've always found the "hospital" portion of the episode less interesting and less funny than Act One, and these deletions and changes don't change my mind.  That said, "No, Vernie... a lot of days" is sweet.  And at least we find out in the script how the teeth situation was resolved.

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