MIDNIGHT AT THE MOON
A feature-length script adaptation of "We Wanna Boogie" and the career of rockabilly musician Sonny Burgess
A feature-length script adaptation of "We Wanna Boogie" and the career of rockabilly musician Sonny Burgess
Midnight at the Moon is a musical drama set in the rural South in the 1950s and today. It tells the story of a small town disc jockey, about to loose his job, who recalls his struggles as a talented young musician with Sun Records, Elvis, and a manipulative music industry in the 1950s.
Midnight at the Moon by Marvin Schwartz (WGA West Registered #1764754)
Based on "We Wanna Boogie: The Rockabilly Roots of Sonny Burgess and the Pacers." by Marvin Schwartz.
Butler Books, Little Rock, Arkansas. 2014
SCENES 1 - 7
1. EXT. COTTON FIELD WITH LONG ROWS OF COTTON. MID MORNING. 1955.
A plow breaks the soil between the rows of cotton, shimmering waves of heat rise from the earth. A field is being weeded by a man with mule-drawn plow. The plowman pulls a handkerchief from the pocket of his overalls and wipes his sweaty brow. Around him, another field is busy with harvest. White men, women, and children are picking cotton by hand. A small number of black workers toil among them in the sunlight and heat. The cotton pickers move down the rows, pulling the white cotton bolls from the plants and pushing them into the long sacks they drag behind them. Children with smaller sacks follow the workers, picking the remnants. A white young man (BILLY STURGIS) watches as another white worker cuts in front of a black man to get to a new row. The white worker is grim and aggressive, eager to get to the new picking, showing disdain for having to compete for it with a black man.
A clanging dinner bell/triangle is heard. The men stop and stretch.
2. EXT. A SHADE TREE, MEN AT REST DURING LUNCH BREAK. 1955
The workers sit beneath a few shade trees on the edge of the field. BILLY STURGIS opens his lunch pail and rests. A black man walks by in the bright sun, looking for a shady place to sit. None of the white workers acknowledge him. BILLY moves over to share his limited shade. The black man nods appreciation and sits on the ground beside him. They eat in silence.
A radio plays from a nearby truck. The stagnant air is pierced by the lively sound of a clanging dinner bell from the radio
RADIO VOICE
Pass the Biscuits, folks. It's King Biscuit Time
Radio plays a lively rhythm and blues song. The two men lean back against the shade tree and listen appreciatively to the music. BILLY's eyes are closed. His left hand forms guitar chords and finger patterns in time to the music.
3. EXT. CITY STREETS AND ROADHOUSE PARKING LOT - AFTERNOON SUN SLANTING LOW. 1955
BILLY STURGIS drives an old car through town. Radio plays 1950s country boogie music. He slaps the steering wheel in time. He pulls in to a roadhouse parking lot and parks. Roadside sign for the building proclaims: Silver Moon, Home of Famous Bands. He listens to end of the radio song. He takes guitar case from car and goes inside.
4. INT. SILVER MOON CLUB. 1955.
Large, cavernous room. Dozens of tables and booths. Low stage at far wall with bright spotlights. Room is dark and empty except for persons at the stage. JERRY LEE LOGAN is playing the piano, a driving boogie woogie rhythm. DON WILSON stands at a soundboard nearby. As BILLY STURGIS walks through the room, two waitresses setting up tables are unable to resist the music, break into an impromptu jitterbug. JERRY LEE LOGAN watches them, leering as he plays. He stops suddenly and drinks from a whiskey bottle on the piano.
DON WILSON
How's that sound, Jerry Lee?
JERRY LEE LOGAN
Sounds like shit. Is that the best you got in this dump?
DON WILSON
(under his breath) Asshole
BILLY approaches him.
What the hell do you want?
BILLY STURGIS
Yes, sir. I'm Billy Sturgis. My family farms out by the river south of town. I got me this here guitar, and, well, I was hoping to play you a few songs, maybe get a chance to play here one...
DON WILSON
Got a band?
BILLY STURGIS
No, sir.
DON WILSON
Damn it, kid, don't waste my time. Come back when you got something to show.
WILSON turns back to his soundboard. BILLY stands there for a moment, realizes he is not getting any further attention. Leaving, he exchanges looks with JERRY LEE, who pulls hard on his bottle and looks him over with hostile, arrogant stare. BILLY exits with his guitar case, and the sound check music resumes with a rocking piano boogie.
5. INT. MODERN RADIO STATION BROADCAST BOOTH. 2020
Music transition, same piano boogie from previous scene, now a record on the turntable. Broadcast booth filled with electronic equipment and turntables, records and CDs scattered about. Walls covered with old signage and posters from the early days of rock and roll. DJ DANNY is at the microphone. As he talks, he pulls the next record from the stacks and cues up a track on the turntable. Music ends.
DJ DANNY
That was the one from the great piano player Jerry Lee Logan, now rocking it out for the angels. He lived it like he played it, folks, full tilt boogie, nothing held back, on stage or back stage, in the studio or on the road, Jerry Lee could not be ignored. He came to Memphis like man on fire and never stopped. So, before I get out of here, let's listen to another Jerry Lee original, his 1958 Star Records hit, Blazing Boogie.
He starts the next song. As he talks, BILLY STURGIS (old man) enters the booth, sits beside DJ DANNY. They nod to each other, old friends. Music ends.
DJ DANNY
But say now, I see that another old friend is in the studio, ready to take over. None other than your own rock and roll wild man and home town hero, a man who shared the stage with the best of them right from the start. Whadda ya say, Billy Sturgis?
BILLY STURGIS
Hello, DJ Danny. Hello, folks.
DJ DANNY
Say, Billy, we've been remembering Jerry Lee today, a great piano player and a rock and roll original. If my memory serves me, he was a friend of yours, wasn't he?
BILLY STURGIS
Yes, he was.
DJ DANNY
Didn't you tour with him back in the day?
BILLY STURGIS
That's true. Jerry Lee, Carl, Roy, all the boys from Star Records, we'd go out on these package tours. They'd put some of us younger guys out on the road with the older country stars, Bob Wills, Merle Travis, lot of them. We'd play rock and roll and they played country music. We had something for everyone. One thing you learn real quick out on the road.
DJ DANNY
What's that?
BILLY STURGIS
Never follow kids or dogs.
DJ DANNY
(laughs) Good advice. Billy. You’ve played with some of the best. What about Jerry Lee, was he really as wild as folks say?
BILLY STURGIS
He was not nearly as wild as you'd have thought. He had a lot of energy, and he was always a little cocky, but most of those guys were that way. He was a little bit crazy, but he was alright crazy.
DJ DANNY
Billy Sturgis, always the gentleman. Any thoughts on Jerry Lee's passing? There's not many of you original Star Record artists still with us.
BILLY STURGIS
Well, when it's your time to go. Like the music business, it's chicken today and feathers tomorrow.
DJ DANNY
Chicken today and feathers tomorrow. And so it is, folks, words of wisdom from your next host, Mr. Billy Sturgis, with Midnight at the Moon, music and stories from someone who's been there. As for me, this is DJ Danny signing off. You keep on the sunny side. We'll see you tomorrow.
DJ DANNY plays his show's theme song (Keep on the Sunny Side) and leaves the sound booth. As the cheerful song plays, BILLY STURGIS sits alone, looking at a Jerry Lee album cover. Music ends. He pushes a button for programmed station ID.
RADIO VOICE
(Cheerful jingle and automated radio voice). KNBY, 1180 on your AM dial, the voice of the White River Valley
BILLY STURGIS
(Upbeat, cheerful) Good morning, Arkansas. This is Billy Sturgis mike-side, bringing you another edition of Midnight at the Moon, the best of country, rock, and everything between, big band and boogie woogie, fiddlers and folk music, rag mop, be bop, or doo wop. It’s music from the heart, not from the chart. The phone lines are open. Let me know what you heard when you sat around the radio or went out dancing on a Saturday night.
Telephone immediately rings. Console lights up to show many calls.
BILLY STURGIS
Midnight at the Moon. Caller, you're on the air.
OLD WOMAN'S VOICE
Billy, be a sweetheart and start us off with something country. It's just too early in the morning for that rock and roll.
BILLY STURGIS
Now, it' s never too early for rock and roll. But since you was kind enough to call me and ask, we'll start off today with some old time dance music like you'd hear on the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride. Used to be these traveling music shows played at school houses and little country stores. That's where it began for lot of country boys like me, listening to hot fiddle players and yodeling cowboys come off the rodeo circuit, come out to our little farm towns and play for a dance. This was before we even had microphones. They just got up there and put on a show. That was some great sounds. So here's one from that day, Curly Fox and Texas Ruby, doing their hot fiddle number Fire on the Mountain.
Cues up record on turntable. Fast fiddle music begins..
6. INT. SMALL THEATER WITH PLATFORM STAGE. SUMMER NIGHT. 1955.
Music transition from previous scene. Four musicians performing. A man plays lively lead fiddle, jumps and dances as he plays. Woman in cowgirl stage outfit strums guitar. Base and rhythm guitar players stand behind them. No amps or microphones. In the crowded room, people are seated for the show, enthralled with the music. Barefoot children in bib overalls and cotton dresses sitting on the wooden floor between the front bench seats and the stage, sharing bottles of Coca-Cola. Their mothers are young farm women sitting behind them in calico and print dresses. Older farm couples are in the audience, their faces weathered with outdoor work and age. Couples of all ages are dancing. Younger men are standing to the sides, smoking cigarettes. BILLY STURGIS among them, keenly watching the musicians. A young man (JOHNNY RAY) comes up to BILLY and pulls at his sleeve. BILLY won't leave until the song ends. People clap and whistle wildly. BILLY and JOHNNY RAY go outside.
7. EXT. FRONT OF STORE. SUMMER NIGHT. 1955.
Mules and wagons stand among cars and farm trucks. Music heard from inside.
JOHNNY RAY
(excited) I got it. Billy. I got us a show.
BILLY STURGIS
Great. Where at?
JOHNNY RAY
(Teasing) Memphis, at the Orpheum Theater. We're the opening act for Hank Williams.
BILLY STURGIS
Hank's been dead three years.
JOHNNY RAY
Yeah, but they're bringing him out for this show.
BILLY STURGIS
Damn you, Johnny Ray. Quit bullshitting and tell me the truth.
JOHNNY RAY
Okay. It ain't Memphis. It's the Grand Ole Opry.
BILLY STURGIS
You asshole. You need to tell me what you got or I'm fixin' to slap you back to last Saturday.
Another young man (BOBBY JACKSON) joins them. All three are lean country boys, sinewy from field work, now cleaned up, handsome, hair combed, short sleeve shirts pressed for the Saturday night gathering. BOBBY JACKSON grabs JOHNNY RAY from behind, pins his arms, and plays along with BILLY.
BILLY STURGIS
Hold 'em, Bobby. This sorry son of a gun knows something and he's holding out on us. Look at him, grinning like a mule.
The young men wrestle playfully. Two young women nearby look on with interest.
JOHNNY RAY
Okay. I'll tell ya. It's next Saturday night. They want us for a dance at the school house up in Fullerton.
BOBBY JACKSON
Fullerton? Shit, that's twenty miles on the other side of the river. And we gotta take the ferry across.
JOHNNY RAY
Hey. It's a job, ain't it? It's our first show. I got us a job.
BILLY STURGIS
How'd you get this lined up?
JOHNNY RAY
It's Thelma's sister what works there and she told Thelma the mayor wanted to have a dance party on account of the road finally getting paved. I hear they got concrete clear up to the ferry crossing.
He waves and winks to THELMA, standing with the young women nearby. The men turn to look. BILLY makes eye contact with JULIE, another of the women. She smiles.
BOBBY JACKSON
So, the ferry's gonna be fifty cents each way. And there's gas. How much they gonna pay?
JOHNNY RAY doesn't answer, tries to look preoccupied, continues flirting with THELMA.
BOBBY JACKSON
How much, Johnny Ray?
JOHNNY RAY
Well...I'm sure they'll take care of us, seeing how we're almost family and all.
BILLY STURGIS
You don't know, do you? You took us a job and you don't even know how much we'll get paid?...Wait a minute, you didn't tell them we'd do it free?
JOHNNY RAY
Heck no. I told him we was pro-fessionals, and pro-fessionals got paid for what they did.
BILLY about to respond when the two women, THELMA and JULIE, walk up. THELMA takes JOHNNY RAY'S arm. JULIE, attractive young women in a pretty summer dress, faces BILLY. Looks at him with an intelligent, playful expression.
THELMA
Ain't you boys had enough of each other for one evening? This here's a dance, Johnny Ray.
JOHNNY RAY
Well, I guess we better find you somebody to dance with.
They walk toward building and the music.
JULIE
Hi, Billy. When was you gonna come over and talk to me?
BILLY STURGIS
Any moment now, darling. That's why I come out here, just looking for you.
JULIE
Liar, liar, pants on fire. But I'm gonna forgive you again 'cause it's the band. You boys can't never get by that.
BILLY STURGIS
I thought you liked the way I play.
JULIE
You mean on the guitar?
BILLY STURGIS
That, too.
JULIE
(kisses his cheek, laughs) Momma warned me about musicians, and I've always taken her advicebefore.
BILLY STURGIS
She's a smart lady.
JULIEMake sure you keep saying that after we're married.
BILLY STURGIS
One of these days I'm gonna be up there on that stage and you'll have everything you've always wanted.
JULIE
I know that's what you always wanted. You and the band. And now you told your daddy you ain't gonna work on the farm no more. So now it's all about the music. Promise you're gonna take care of me?
BILLY STURGIS
Whatever it takes, darling. I do.
JULIE
I do.
They kiss. Noisy commotion off scene. Men shouting.
JULIE
What's going on?
BOBBY JACKSON
(looking across the way) Looks like Frankie's at i
BILLY swears softly, walks with BOBBY to a cluster of men nearby. At the center, a large man (FRANKIE STURGIS) is toying with another fellow, holding him at arms length, slapping him for the amusement of the crowd, showing off judo moves. FRANKIE is clearly drunk, but still the dominant man in the brawl. He shows a dangerous physical prowess, enhanced by the drinks offered him and the encouragement of the surrounding men. BILLY pushes his way to center.
BILLY STURGIS
(sharply) That’s enough, Frankie.
FRANKIE STURGIS
(continues to hold the man, grinning) Hey, little brother. Wanna see sumthin' I learned in the Navy?
Without waiting for an answer, FRANKIE does another judo move, swings the man onto his back, ready to toss him.
BILLY STURGIS
Frankie, put him down. Show's over.
FRANKIE immediately becomes contrite, obeys. Someone offers him a paper sack with a bottle. BILLY stares the man down. The crowd disperses.
BILLY STURGIS
Why do you let these guys make a fool of you like this?
FRANKIE STURGIS
I do what I please. Ain't nobody make a fool of me.
BILLY STURGIS
These guys get you drunk just to watch you fight or throw somebody around. They're doing to you same as you're doing to that guy.
A sadness comes over FRANKIE. Something inside him is wrong.
FRANKIE STURGIS
No. no. He was talking bad about us, Billy, saying we was no account dirt farmers. I ain't gonna take no one talking bad about us. I ain't gonna take it.
BILLY is patient, his arm across his brother's shoulder. He's done this before.
BILLY STURGIS
C'mon, Frankie. Let's get you a cup of coffee.
BILLY and BOBBY walk FRANKIE to a parked car. He sits glumly in the back seat, lost in thought, looking sad and beaten. JULIE comes up.
JULIE
Why does he do that?
BILLY STURGIS
We don’t know. Daddy says he didn't drink like that before the Navy changed him. He don't talk about it.
BOBBY JACKSON
He's lucky to have you.
JULIE
I am, too.
BILLY smiles cautiously, wary of the growing expectations on him. JULIE gets in passenger front seat. BILLY walks around the car to the driver's side, but midway, he pauses to look back inside the building. He sees JOHNNY RAY and THELMA talking to the performers, who are on break. The band's base player is showing JOHNNY RAY how to spin the base as he plays. BILLY stands watching.
JULIE
(inside the car) Billy, ain't we going, hon?
BILLY turns away and walks to the car door.
Based on "We Wanna Boogie: The Rockabilly Roots of Sonny Burgess and the Pacers." by Marvin Schwartz.
Butler Books, Little Rock, Arkansas. 2014
SCENES 1 - 7
1. EXT. COTTON FIELD WITH LONG ROWS OF COTTON. MID MORNING. 1955.
A plow breaks the soil between the rows of cotton, shimmering waves of heat rise from the earth. A field is being weeded by a man with mule-drawn plow. The plowman pulls a handkerchief from the pocket of his overalls and wipes his sweaty brow. Around him, another field is busy with harvest. White men, women, and children are picking cotton by hand. A small number of black workers toil among them in the sunlight and heat. The cotton pickers move down the rows, pulling the white cotton bolls from the plants and pushing them into the long sacks they drag behind them. Children with smaller sacks follow the workers, picking the remnants. A white young man (BILLY STURGIS) watches as another white worker cuts in front of a black man to get to a new row. The white worker is grim and aggressive, eager to get to the new picking, showing disdain for having to compete for it with a black man.
A clanging dinner bell/triangle is heard. The men stop and stretch.
2. EXT. A SHADE TREE, MEN AT REST DURING LUNCH BREAK. 1955
The workers sit beneath a few shade trees on the edge of the field. BILLY STURGIS opens his lunch pail and rests. A black man walks by in the bright sun, looking for a shady place to sit. None of the white workers acknowledge him. BILLY moves over to share his limited shade. The black man nods appreciation and sits on the ground beside him. They eat in silence.
A radio plays from a nearby truck. The stagnant air is pierced by the lively sound of a clanging dinner bell from the radio
RADIO VOICE
Pass the Biscuits, folks. It's King Biscuit Time
Radio plays a lively rhythm and blues song. The two men lean back against the shade tree and listen appreciatively to the music. BILLY's eyes are closed. His left hand forms guitar chords and finger patterns in time to the music.
3. EXT. CITY STREETS AND ROADHOUSE PARKING LOT - AFTERNOON SUN SLANTING LOW. 1955
BILLY STURGIS drives an old car through town. Radio plays 1950s country boogie music. He slaps the steering wheel in time. He pulls in to a roadhouse parking lot and parks. Roadside sign for the building proclaims: Silver Moon, Home of Famous Bands. He listens to end of the radio song. He takes guitar case from car and goes inside.
4. INT. SILVER MOON CLUB. 1955.
Large, cavernous room. Dozens of tables and booths. Low stage at far wall with bright spotlights. Room is dark and empty except for persons at the stage. JERRY LEE LOGAN is playing the piano, a driving boogie woogie rhythm. DON WILSON stands at a soundboard nearby. As BILLY STURGIS walks through the room, two waitresses setting up tables are unable to resist the music, break into an impromptu jitterbug. JERRY LEE LOGAN watches them, leering as he plays. He stops suddenly and drinks from a whiskey bottle on the piano.
DON WILSON
How's that sound, Jerry Lee?
JERRY LEE LOGAN
Sounds like shit. Is that the best you got in this dump?
DON WILSON
(under his breath) Asshole
BILLY approaches him.
What the hell do you want?
BILLY STURGIS
Yes, sir. I'm Billy Sturgis. My family farms out by the river south of town. I got me this here guitar, and, well, I was hoping to play you a few songs, maybe get a chance to play here one...
DON WILSON
Got a band?
BILLY STURGIS
No, sir.
DON WILSON
Damn it, kid, don't waste my time. Come back when you got something to show.
WILSON turns back to his soundboard. BILLY stands there for a moment, realizes he is not getting any further attention. Leaving, he exchanges looks with JERRY LEE, who pulls hard on his bottle and looks him over with hostile, arrogant stare. BILLY exits with his guitar case, and the sound check music resumes with a rocking piano boogie.
5. INT. MODERN RADIO STATION BROADCAST BOOTH. 2020
Music transition, same piano boogie from previous scene, now a record on the turntable. Broadcast booth filled with electronic equipment and turntables, records and CDs scattered about. Walls covered with old signage and posters from the early days of rock and roll. DJ DANNY is at the microphone. As he talks, he pulls the next record from the stacks and cues up a track on the turntable. Music ends.
DJ DANNY
That was the one from the great piano player Jerry Lee Logan, now rocking it out for the angels. He lived it like he played it, folks, full tilt boogie, nothing held back, on stage or back stage, in the studio or on the road, Jerry Lee could not be ignored. He came to Memphis like man on fire and never stopped. So, before I get out of here, let's listen to another Jerry Lee original, his 1958 Star Records hit, Blazing Boogie.
He starts the next song. As he talks, BILLY STURGIS (old man) enters the booth, sits beside DJ DANNY. They nod to each other, old friends. Music ends.
DJ DANNY
But say now, I see that another old friend is in the studio, ready to take over. None other than your own rock and roll wild man and home town hero, a man who shared the stage with the best of them right from the start. Whadda ya say, Billy Sturgis?
BILLY STURGIS
Hello, DJ Danny. Hello, folks.
DJ DANNY
Say, Billy, we've been remembering Jerry Lee today, a great piano player and a rock and roll original. If my memory serves me, he was a friend of yours, wasn't he?
BILLY STURGIS
Yes, he was.
DJ DANNY
Didn't you tour with him back in the day?
BILLY STURGIS
That's true. Jerry Lee, Carl, Roy, all the boys from Star Records, we'd go out on these package tours. They'd put some of us younger guys out on the road with the older country stars, Bob Wills, Merle Travis, lot of them. We'd play rock and roll and they played country music. We had something for everyone. One thing you learn real quick out on the road.
DJ DANNY
What's that?
BILLY STURGIS
Never follow kids or dogs.
DJ DANNY
(laughs) Good advice. Billy. You’ve played with some of the best. What about Jerry Lee, was he really as wild as folks say?
BILLY STURGIS
He was not nearly as wild as you'd have thought. He had a lot of energy, and he was always a little cocky, but most of those guys were that way. He was a little bit crazy, but he was alright crazy.
DJ DANNY
Billy Sturgis, always the gentleman. Any thoughts on Jerry Lee's passing? There's not many of you original Star Record artists still with us.
BILLY STURGIS
Well, when it's your time to go. Like the music business, it's chicken today and feathers tomorrow.
DJ DANNY
Chicken today and feathers tomorrow. And so it is, folks, words of wisdom from your next host, Mr. Billy Sturgis, with Midnight at the Moon, music and stories from someone who's been there. As for me, this is DJ Danny signing off. You keep on the sunny side. We'll see you tomorrow.
DJ DANNY plays his show's theme song (Keep on the Sunny Side) and leaves the sound booth. As the cheerful song plays, BILLY STURGIS sits alone, looking at a Jerry Lee album cover. Music ends. He pushes a button for programmed station ID.
RADIO VOICE
(Cheerful jingle and automated radio voice). KNBY, 1180 on your AM dial, the voice of the White River Valley
BILLY STURGIS
(Upbeat, cheerful) Good morning, Arkansas. This is Billy Sturgis mike-side, bringing you another edition of Midnight at the Moon, the best of country, rock, and everything between, big band and boogie woogie, fiddlers and folk music, rag mop, be bop, or doo wop. It’s music from the heart, not from the chart. The phone lines are open. Let me know what you heard when you sat around the radio or went out dancing on a Saturday night.
Telephone immediately rings. Console lights up to show many calls.
BILLY STURGIS
Midnight at the Moon. Caller, you're on the air.
OLD WOMAN'S VOICE
Billy, be a sweetheart and start us off with something country. It's just too early in the morning for that rock and roll.
BILLY STURGIS
Now, it' s never too early for rock and roll. But since you was kind enough to call me and ask, we'll start off today with some old time dance music like you'd hear on the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride. Used to be these traveling music shows played at school houses and little country stores. That's where it began for lot of country boys like me, listening to hot fiddle players and yodeling cowboys come off the rodeo circuit, come out to our little farm towns and play for a dance. This was before we even had microphones. They just got up there and put on a show. That was some great sounds. So here's one from that day, Curly Fox and Texas Ruby, doing their hot fiddle number Fire on the Mountain.
Cues up record on turntable. Fast fiddle music begins..
6. INT. SMALL THEATER WITH PLATFORM STAGE. SUMMER NIGHT. 1955.
Music transition from previous scene. Four musicians performing. A man plays lively lead fiddle, jumps and dances as he plays. Woman in cowgirl stage outfit strums guitar. Base and rhythm guitar players stand behind them. No amps or microphones. In the crowded room, people are seated for the show, enthralled with the music. Barefoot children in bib overalls and cotton dresses sitting on the wooden floor between the front bench seats and the stage, sharing bottles of Coca-Cola. Their mothers are young farm women sitting behind them in calico and print dresses. Older farm couples are in the audience, their faces weathered with outdoor work and age. Couples of all ages are dancing. Younger men are standing to the sides, smoking cigarettes. BILLY STURGIS among them, keenly watching the musicians. A young man (JOHNNY RAY) comes up to BILLY and pulls at his sleeve. BILLY won't leave until the song ends. People clap and whistle wildly. BILLY and JOHNNY RAY go outside.
7. EXT. FRONT OF STORE. SUMMER NIGHT. 1955.
Mules and wagons stand among cars and farm trucks. Music heard from inside.
JOHNNY RAY
(excited) I got it. Billy. I got us a show.
BILLY STURGIS
Great. Where at?
JOHNNY RAY
(Teasing) Memphis, at the Orpheum Theater. We're the opening act for Hank Williams.
BILLY STURGIS
Hank's been dead three years.
JOHNNY RAY
Yeah, but they're bringing him out for this show.
BILLY STURGIS
Damn you, Johnny Ray. Quit bullshitting and tell me the truth.
JOHNNY RAY
Okay. It ain't Memphis. It's the Grand Ole Opry.
BILLY STURGIS
You asshole. You need to tell me what you got or I'm fixin' to slap you back to last Saturday.
Another young man (BOBBY JACKSON) joins them. All three are lean country boys, sinewy from field work, now cleaned up, handsome, hair combed, short sleeve shirts pressed for the Saturday night gathering. BOBBY JACKSON grabs JOHNNY RAY from behind, pins his arms, and plays along with BILLY.
BILLY STURGIS
Hold 'em, Bobby. This sorry son of a gun knows something and he's holding out on us. Look at him, grinning like a mule.
The young men wrestle playfully. Two young women nearby look on with interest.
JOHNNY RAY
Okay. I'll tell ya. It's next Saturday night. They want us for a dance at the school house up in Fullerton.
BOBBY JACKSON
Fullerton? Shit, that's twenty miles on the other side of the river. And we gotta take the ferry across.
JOHNNY RAY
Hey. It's a job, ain't it? It's our first show. I got us a job.
BILLY STURGIS
How'd you get this lined up?
JOHNNY RAY
It's Thelma's sister what works there and she told Thelma the mayor wanted to have a dance party on account of the road finally getting paved. I hear they got concrete clear up to the ferry crossing.
He waves and winks to THELMA, standing with the young women nearby. The men turn to look. BILLY makes eye contact with JULIE, another of the women. She smiles.
BOBBY JACKSON
So, the ferry's gonna be fifty cents each way. And there's gas. How much they gonna pay?
JOHNNY RAY doesn't answer, tries to look preoccupied, continues flirting with THELMA.
BOBBY JACKSON
How much, Johnny Ray?
JOHNNY RAY
Well...I'm sure they'll take care of us, seeing how we're almost family and all.
BILLY STURGIS
You don't know, do you? You took us a job and you don't even know how much we'll get paid?...Wait a minute, you didn't tell them we'd do it free?
JOHNNY RAY
Heck no. I told him we was pro-fessionals, and pro-fessionals got paid for what they did.
BILLY about to respond when the two women, THELMA and JULIE, walk up. THELMA takes JOHNNY RAY'S arm. JULIE, attractive young women in a pretty summer dress, faces BILLY. Looks at him with an intelligent, playful expression.
THELMA
Ain't you boys had enough of each other for one evening? This here's a dance, Johnny Ray.
JOHNNY RAY
Well, I guess we better find you somebody to dance with.
They walk toward building and the music.
JULIE
Hi, Billy. When was you gonna come over and talk to me?
BILLY STURGIS
Any moment now, darling. That's why I come out here, just looking for you.
JULIE
Liar, liar, pants on fire. But I'm gonna forgive you again 'cause it's the band. You boys can't never get by that.
BILLY STURGIS
I thought you liked the way I play.
JULIE
You mean on the guitar?
BILLY STURGIS
That, too.
JULIE
(kisses his cheek, laughs) Momma warned me about musicians, and I've always taken her advicebefore.
BILLY STURGIS
She's a smart lady.
JULIEMake sure you keep saying that after we're married.
BILLY STURGIS
One of these days I'm gonna be up there on that stage and you'll have everything you've always wanted.
JULIE
I know that's what you always wanted. You and the band. And now you told your daddy you ain't gonna work on the farm no more. So now it's all about the music. Promise you're gonna take care of me?
BILLY STURGIS
Whatever it takes, darling. I do.
JULIE
I do.
They kiss. Noisy commotion off scene. Men shouting.
JULIE
What's going on?
BOBBY JACKSON
(looking across the way) Looks like Frankie's at i
BILLY swears softly, walks with BOBBY to a cluster of men nearby. At the center, a large man (FRANKIE STURGIS) is toying with another fellow, holding him at arms length, slapping him for the amusement of the crowd, showing off judo moves. FRANKIE is clearly drunk, but still the dominant man in the brawl. He shows a dangerous physical prowess, enhanced by the drinks offered him and the encouragement of the surrounding men. BILLY pushes his way to center.
BILLY STURGIS
(sharply) That’s enough, Frankie.
FRANKIE STURGIS
(continues to hold the man, grinning) Hey, little brother. Wanna see sumthin' I learned in the Navy?
Without waiting for an answer, FRANKIE does another judo move, swings the man onto his back, ready to toss him.
BILLY STURGIS
Frankie, put him down. Show's over.
FRANKIE immediately becomes contrite, obeys. Someone offers him a paper sack with a bottle. BILLY stares the man down. The crowd disperses.
BILLY STURGIS
Why do you let these guys make a fool of you like this?
FRANKIE STURGIS
I do what I please. Ain't nobody make a fool of me.
BILLY STURGIS
These guys get you drunk just to watch you fight or throw somebody around. They're doing to you same as you're doing to that guy.
A sadness comes over FRANKIE. Something inside him is wrong.
FRANKIE STURGIS
No. no. He was talking bad about us, Billy, saying we was no account dirt farmers. I ain't gonna take no one talking bad about us. I ain't gonna take it.
BILLY is patient, his arm across his brother's shoulder. He's done this before.
BILLY STURGIS
C'mon, Frankie. Let's get you a cup of coffee.
BILLY and BOBBY walk FRANKIE to a parked car. He sits glumly in the back seat, lost in thought, looking sad and beaten. JULIE comes up.
JULIE
Why does he do that?
BILLY STURGIS
We don’t know. Daddy says he didn't drink like that before the Navy changed him. He don't talk about it.
BOBBY JACKSON
He's lucky to have you.
JULIE
I am, too.
BILLY smiles cautiously, wary of the growing expectations on him. JULIE gets in passenger front seat. BILLY walks around the car to the driver's side, but midway, he pauses to look back inside the building. He sees JOHNNY RAY and THELMA talking to the performers, who are on break. The band's base player is showing JOHNNY RAY how to spin the base as he plays. BILLY stands watching.
JULIE
(inside the car) Billy, ain't we going, hon?
BILLY turns away and walks to the car door.