Scene Six
We are back in Marcel's Place in Papeete, and everything is
exactly the way it was at the opening. Most of the same SERVICEMEN and
PROSTITUTES, including DRUNKEN BUM and FLO, are there. The stage is alive
with activity.
DRUNKEN BUM
Papeete, Tahiti. Seedy Papeete, Tahiti. Paradise, they calls it. I'll
tell you about this stinkin' paradise. A man could go mad…stark raving
mad.
(YOUNG LIEUTENANT enters. HE is very much like Lt. Pearsoll,
except wide-eyed and eager. He plumps himself down at the bar.)
MARCEL
What'll it be, kid?
LIEUTENANT
Make it a sloe gin fizz.
(FLO sidles up to him.)
FLO
Hello, big boy. You're new here, aintcha?
LIEUTENANT
Ship just docked this morning. Is it true Mandalay Molly is back?
FLO
Yeah. So what?
LIEUTENANT
I heard about her clear over in Surabaya.
FLO
She ain't much, let me tell ya. I got everything she got…only more of
it.
FRENCH SAILOR
Yes, but it is distributed differently.
(LIEUTENANT laughs. THREE AMERICAN TOURISTS enter, TWO WOMEN
and A MAN, all middle-aged. MARCEL greets them effusively.)
MARCEL
Welcome to Marcel's Place.
FIRST FEMALE TOURIST
Is it true that…
MARCEL
Yes. Mandalay Molly is back---doing all the old routines and driving
men to their destruction.
SECOND FEMALE TOURIST
Oh, Annabelle, it's too, too exciting!
(MARCEL leads them to a table just as ANNIE MAY enters through
the front door, still in her Oriental makeup, with SAM in tow. MARCEL hurries
to them.)
MARCEL
Annie May! It is you!
ANNIE MAY
That's right, Mistuh Marcel. And dis here's mah husband, Samoan Sam.
MARCEL
But Molly, she said that you were…
ANNIE MAY
I knows, Mistuh Marcel. But they done puts Sam and me in dis here cell
togedder and den forgets about us when Miz Molly done escape. Den all hell
done broke loose…and soon da allies, dey done invaded da compound and done
killed da War Lord and done saved Sammy an' me.
MARCEL
Molly will be so delighted to see you. She's had to do all her own dressing
since she returned.
ANNIE MAY
Po' Miz Molly. But dat's not da onny surprise we gots.
(SHE nudges Sam.)
MARCEL
But why you wear the yellow color still, Annie May?
ANNIE MAY
Shucks, fo' variety, Mistuh Marcel. One day I'se black and one day I'se
yeller. Sam likes it dat way.
SAM
Ah sho' does!
(MARCEL leads them to a table, hands them menus. Then the inevitable
drum roll starts and the spotlight illuminates the beaded curtains upstairs.)
FIRST FEMALE TOURIST
Marcus! She's coming!
MALE TOURIST
So am I, Annabelle. So am I.
(Music begins. Then in the same way we first saw her, MOLLY
appears inch by inch from behind the beads. The audience goes wild. VARIOUS
SERVICEMEN station themselves on the staircase, and MOLLY descends doing
exactly the same things as she did before.)
MOLLY
Hello, soldier,
Hello, sailor,
Got a cigarette?
I like your silhouette.
I'd love to see it wet.
Hello, sailor,
Hello, soldier,
I have never met
One I could not handle yet.
The bigger they come,
The harder they get.
(Into the club and unbeknownst to Molly comes JOHNNY. HE is
bandaged from head to toe and on crutches, but there is enough of his face
showing to see it is our hero.)
In the room upstairs
There's a bed of brass,
And the ceiling bears
One large looking glass.
There's an antique clock there
That doesn't keep time;
There's a door to lock there
And a wall to climb.
(MOLLY suddenly sees him, stops in disbelief. SHE runs to him
and falls into his arms. The orchestra continues playing.)
MOLLY
Oh, Johnny. My prayers were answered.
(ALL eyes are on them. ANNIE MAY nudges Sam; SAM nudges Marcel;
FIRST FEMALE TOURIST nudges MALE TOURIST who nudges SECOND FEMALE TOURIST.
Everyone is nudging everyone else, as "The Room Upstairs" builds to a crescendo.)
CURTAIN
