8. BUFFALO NICKEL PHOTOPLAY, INC.
BARON ASHKENAZY
Anyone can get lucky in America. I remind myself of this
every day.
The first nickel I ever earned,
I keep in a little silver frame.
It's hoe I gave my company a name.
Reminding me how very far I came!
I was a
Maker of the silhouettes
Who made a small improvement-
A little book of silhouettes
That simulated movement!
Well, people seemed to like it.
Soon the money's going clink!
And I'm Buffalo Nickel Photoplay, Inc.!
I go from
Silhouettes to photos,
I invent a small projector,
And soon, I'm making movies
And they're calling me director!
An industry is dawning
And I'm standing on the brink-
Mister Buffalo Nickel Photoplay, Inc.!
Life shines from the shadow screen,
Comical, yet infintiely true.
People love to see what people do,
Here where everyone os someone new!
Such tales from the shadow screen!
Little men who never get the breaks,
Fighting on till something fin'lly takes-
What a lovely movie it all makes!
Well, business is booming
I'm happy to say.
I just made a contract
To film for Pathe;
A series of chapters
That end in suspense.
Each week, see what's next
For another five cents!
And I am
Waking every morning
Filled with such anticipation!
I frame the sea,
I frame the sky,
And this is my vaction!
I shake you hand,
I kiss your hand,
I buy you all a drink!
And maybe if you chance to see
A movie that was made by me,
Remember when my name goes by
(That's ASH-K-E-N-A-Z-Y)
The baron, now American,
Who happened once to think
Of silhouette
And flicker book
And movies as they're
Meant to look
And Buffalo Nickel...
Buffalo Nickel Photoplay, Inc.!
Action!
9. OUR CHILDREN
MOTHER
How they play,
Finding treasure in the sand.
They're forever hand in hand,
Our children.
TATEH
How they laugh,
She has never laughed like this.
MOTHER
Every waking moment, bliss.
BOTH
Our children.
TATEH
See them running down the beach.
Children run so fast...
MOTHER
Toward the future...
TATEH
From the past.
MOTHER
How they dance,
Unembarrassed and alone.
BOTH
Hearing music of their own, Our children.
TATEH
One so fair,
MOTHER
And the other, lithe and dark.
BOTH
Solemn joy and sudden spark,
Our children.
See them running down the beach.
Children run so fast
Toward the future
From the past.
There they stand,
Making footprints in the sand,
And forever, hand in hand,
Our children.
Two small lives,
Silhouetted by the blue,
One like me
And one like you.
Our children.
Our children.
MOTHER
Well.
TATEH
You say that often. "Well".
MOTHER
It's because I don't know what to say, Baron.
TATEH
I'm not a Baron, of course. I'm a poor immigrant, a Jew,
who points a camera so that his child can dress as beautifully
as a princess. I want to drive from her memory every
tenement stench and filthy immigrant street. I will buy her
light and sun and clean wind of the ocean for the rest of her
life. Now you know me. Now you understand. I am no Baron.
I am Tateh.
MOTHER
Now I know even less what to say.
TATEH
Now it's my turn: Well.
MOTHER
Thank you for your confidence. I shall keep it here.
10. SARAH BROWN EYES
COALHOUSE
What's you name?
SARAH
Sarah.
COALHOUSE
I'm Coalhouse.
SARAH
I know.
COALHOUSE
There was no music
In my heart tonight.
Melodies kept refusin' tp flow.
One look at you,
Now every note feels right,
Comin' out all sweet and slow.
SARAH
You tell stories
Like your hands play tunes.
COALHOUSE
Sweetest tune I know
Is Sarah Brown Eyes.
Don't be shy, now.
Sarah Brown eyes,
Come, let's dance.
SARAH
I never heard no music
Quite like yours.
Where'd you learn
How to play it that way?
Was I smart,
I'd walk right out those doors.
COALHOUSE
Then I've got to make you stay.
BOTH
Nothin' for it but a Ragtim tune
On that piano...
Sarah Brown Eyes,
Don't be shy now
Sarah Brown Eyes,
Oughta take a chance.
The stars are
Silver notes
Across the sky now.
Sarah Brown Eyes,
Come let's dance.
Silver notes
Across that sky now.
Sarah Brown Eyes,
Come let's
SARAH
Dance.
11. HE WANTED TO SAY
COALHOUSE
I said, no music.
COALHOUSE FOLLOWER
He's here.
COALHOUSE
Bring him in.
What is it you want?
YOUNGER BROTHER
I...I...I want to...I know that if...
EMMA
He wanted to say:
I am here because I have to be.
He wanted to say:
I am here for what is right.
Every day I wake up knowing
What you've lost and what is owing.
I would shed this skin if I could
To stand with you and fight.
He wanted to say:
YOUNGER BROTHER
I am not who I appear to be.
EMMA
He wanted to say:
YOUNGER BROTHER
Don not blame me for my past.
BOTH
We different lives and faces
But our hearts have common places.
This was deep inside me
And you helped me find it at last.
EMMA
Two men meeting
For a moment in the darkness
COALHOUSE
One turning from...
YOUNGER BROTHER
One waking to...
ALL THREE
...America!
Two men finding
FOr a moment in the darkness...
YOUNGER BROTHER & COALHOUSE
They're the same. EMMA
They're the same.
COALHOUSE'S MEN
He wanted to say:
COALHOUSE
I envy you your innocence.
EMMA & COALHOUSE'S MEN
He wanted to say:
YOUNGER BROTHER
By your side, I could be brave.
If there's such a thing as justice,
Let me help you find you justice.
This I do for you and for Sarah
Who lies in her grave...
EMMA & MEN
But all he said was...
YOUNGER BROTHER
I know how to blow things up...
EMMA & COALHOUSE'S MEN
Two men meeting
For a moment
In the darkness.
For a moment
In the darkness.
12. BACK TO BEFORE
MOTHER
There was a time
Our happiness seemed neverending.
I was so sure
The where we were heading was right.
Like a road
So certain and straight and unbending;
Our little road
With never a crossroad in site.
Back in the days
When we sopke in civilized voices,
Women in white
And sturdy young men at the oar.
Back in the days
When I let you make all my choices...
We can never go back to before.
There was a time
My feet were so solidly planted,
You'd sail away
WHile I turned my back to the sea.
I was content,
A princess asleep and enchanted.
If I had dreams,
Then I let you dream them for me.
Back in the days
When everything seemed so much clearer.
Women in white
Who knew what their lives held in store.
Where are they now,
Those women who stared from the mirror?
We can never go back to before.
WOMEN(offstage)
Aaah...
There are people out there
Unafraid of revealing
That they might have a feeling,
Or they might have been wrong.
There are people out there
Unafraid to feel sorrow,
Unafraid of tomorrow,
Unafraid to be weak...
Unafriad to be strong!
There was a time
When you were the person in motion.
I was your wife.
It never occurred to want more.
You were my sky,
My moon and my stars and my ocean.
We can never go back to before.
We can never go back to before.
13. LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
Coalhouse Walker's strategy of vengeance seemed to some the
final proof of his insanity. Only a madman would shift the
focus of his rage from Willie Conklin, a common bigot, to
J.P. Morgan, the most uncommon and powerful man of his time.
WOMEN AT VIGIL
A day of peace.
A day of pride.
A day of justice.
We have been denied.
Let the new day dawn,
Oh, Lord, I pray!
WHITMAN
Mr. Walker. This is District Attorney Charles S. Whitman.
Do you hear me? I have Fire Chief Willie Conklin with me.
He is restoring your car. Will you come out, sir?
WILLIE CONKLIN
You gonna let me be a martyr!
WHITMAN
Mr. Conklin will receive due process. You both will.
MORGAN
How much longer are you going to stand for this? Give him
his car and then hang the savage!
WHITMAN
I'm doing my best, Mr. Morgan.
CONKLIN
This is a conspiracy of nigger lovers, that's all it is.
FATHER
Sir, if I might suggest.
WHITMAN
Who the hell are you?
FATHER
You sent for me. I know Mr. Walker and I believe there's
one man he will listen to.
Mr. Booker T. Washington.
VIGIL WOMEN
Justice! Ah!
BOOKER T. Washington
For the sum of my life
I have lived in hope
We might all be Christian brothers. VIGIL WOMEN
Day of peace...
I have worked to persuade
Every white-skinned man
That he need not fear our race.
Day or pride...
What has your selfish
Recklessness
Cost us, Justice!
We who work so hard to still
The white man's hate. Justice!
Look what you've done
WHITMAN
You are surrounded by militia. They are cuttin goff your water
even as I speak.
J.P. MORGAN
Four Shakespeare folios! A Gutenberg bible on vellum.
The treasures of civiliaztion are at stake!
EMMA GOLDMAN
I deplore the taking of human life, but I applaud Mr. Walker's
capture of the Morgan Library. His actions speak for all
oppressed people. It is the cry of revolution.
WILLIE CONKLIN
White people should be grateful for what I've done!
J.P. MORGAN
You've got to do something!
VIGIL WOMEN
Justice!
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
With guns and dynamite, you are destroying everything I
have fought for, sir.
COALHOUSE
Despite the respect I have for you, Mr. Washington, you
have come in vain.
WASHINGTON
Had you been ignorant of the tragic struggle of our people,
I could have pitied you this adventure. But you are a
trained musician, an educated man.
COALHOUSE
It is true, sir. But I hope that might suggest to you the
solemn calculation of my mind. We are both men of color who
insist on the truth of our manhood, and the respect it
demands!
MEN, FATHER WOMEN
Hours are passing by and
Not a sign from Coalhouse! Hours passing by and
Hours passing by, Not a sign from Coalhouse!
The situtation hopeless! Hours passing by,
The situtation hopeless!
Hours passing by...
Hours passing by... Hours passing by...
WASHINGTON
Your situation is hopeless. And you will be responsible
for the deaths of these young men.
COALHOUSE FOLLOWER #1
Don't listen to him, Coalhouse.
COALHOUSE FOLLOWER #2
They're using him to get to you.
COALHOUSE FOLLOWER #3
We're not giving up.
WASHINGTON
And you dare to teach you lessons
To these wild, unthinking youths.
Yet your own son,
You abandon
to be raised on white men's truths.
Look what you've done.
Think of your son.
SARAH(offstage)
Oooh...
WASHINGTON
Is this the legacy you would bestow upon him? Are these
the shoulders you would have him stand upon? Let him be
the son of a man who had the courage to tell the truth in
a court of law. Make your case, and if the verdict is death,
go to it proudly, knowing that you have been heard. The
truth is all. If you do this, you will have the thanks
and respect of every decent man of color and all of those
children of our race whose way is hard and whose journey is
long. Think of your son.
COALHOUSE
I would need a hostage and safe passage for my men.
WASHINGTON
It is done.
YOUNGER BROTHER
You can't change your demands. You are betraying us.
You said we would all go free or we all would die!
COALHOUSE
And the promise of a fair trial.
YOUNGER BROTHER
No!
WASHINGTON
You have my word. I am their mediator, not their fool.
COALHOUSE
Then they will see me come out with my hands raised, and
no further harm will come to any man from Coalhouse Walker, Jr.
WASHINGTON
God bless you, sir.
FOLLOWER #1
You said we'd fight to the finish.
FOLLOWER #2
Yeah, you can go out there, man. We ain't.
FOLLOWER #3
We're all ready to die as Coalhouse.
FOLLOWER
Push the plunger! Blow it all up!
COALHOUSE & HIS MEN
Nooo!
FOLLOWER
We're not going. YOu've lost, Coalhouse. We've all lost.
COALHOUSE
I don't believe that.
14. MAKE THEM HEAR YOU
COALHOUSE
Go out and tell our story.
Let it echo far and wide.
Make them hear you,
Make them hear you.
How justice was our battle
And how justice was denied.
Make them hear you,
Make them hear you.
And say to those who blame us
For the way we chose to fight
That sometimes there are battles
That are more than black or white...
And I could not put down my sword
When justice was my right.
Make them hear you.
Go out and tell our story
To your daughters and your sons.
Make them hear you,
Make them hear you.
And tell them, in our struggle,
We were no the only ones.
Make them hear you,
Make them hear you.
Your sword can be a sermon
Or the power of the pen.
Teach every child to raise his voice
And then, my brothers, then
Will justice be demanded
By ten million righteous men.
Make them hear you.
When they hear you,
I'll be near you
Again.
15. EPILOGUE:RAGTIME(reprise)
WHEELS OF A DREAM(reprise)
LITTLE BOY
The era of Ragtime had run out, as if history were no more
than a tune on a player piano. But we did not know that then.
YOUNGER BROTHER
After Coalhouse Walker's death, Younger Brother drove south
to Mexico where he joined the great peasant revolutionary
Emiliano Zapata.
ALL
La la la la la
EMMA GOLDMAN
The signs of the coming World War were everywhere.
The anarchist Emma Goldman was arrested again, of course,
but this time she would be deported, as well.
ALL
Ooh ooh...
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
Booker T. Washington's Tuskeegee institute became, in time,
the capital of black America. When he died, flags were flown
at half-mast. President and Mrs. Wilson attaended his funeral.
ALL
la la la la la
GRANDFATHER
Grandfather resided now in a cemetery. At last, peace and quiet!
EVELYN NESBIT
The passionate and beautiful Evelyn Nesbit would lose her
looks and fall into obscurity. Whee!
HOUDINI
Harry Houdini was hanging upside down high over Times Square
when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo.
LITTLE BOY
Warn the Duke!
HOUDINI
A little boy's words suddenly rang clear to the great
illusionist. It was the one genuine mystical experience
of his life. But it was too late. The world was already at war.
FATHER
When the Lusitania was torpedoed by a U-boat off the Southwest
coast of Ireland, twelve hundred men, women and children
lost their lives and among them, Father.
MOTHER
Mother wore black for a year. At the end of this time, Tateh
proposed and she accepted. She adored him.
LITTLE BOY
The y moved to California.
LITTLE GIRL
They were now a family.
LITTLE BOY
They felt blessed.
MOTHER
Coalhouse!
TATEH
One afternoon, watching his children play, Tateh had an idea
for a movie: a bunch of children, white, black, Christian,
Jew, rich, poor- all kinds- a gang, a crazy gang getting into
trouble, getting out of trouble, but together despite their
differences. He was sure it would make a wonderful movie- a
dream of what this country could be. He would be the first
in line to see it.
COALHOUSE
I see his face.
SARAH
I hear his heatbeat.
BOTH
I look in those eyes;
How wise they seem.
MOTHER, TATEH, COALHOUSE, SARAH & ALL(offstage)
Well, when he is old enough
I will show him America
And he will ride...
Our son will ride...
On the wheels of a dream.
CURTAIN
