Friday, June 19, 2009

DEEPEST MISERY


You sit alone, Ray Brandon.



You sit alone in a house haunted by memories...



...memories of the greatest happiness and yet the deepest misery that you've ever known. But you're not thinking of happiness now, are you? You're thinking of the days in which you made this house ready for Charlotte with your own hands...the days thru which the laughter of an adopted son gave new warmth to your life.



Remember the day when the little boy's tiny hand tweaked your nose?


















You laughed and laughed!








Those were indeed golden days.



You're also forcing yourself to remember the dead, lifeless months that followed the return of that child to its real mother, Meta Baur.



They were sad days, weren't they, Ray? In your grief you shut your wife out.



Charlotte kept trying to mend things between you.



But you wouldn't let her in, would you?



You thought you could take love, a woman's feelings, Ray, and tear them apart like a piece of cloth, and try to put the love together again...but the pieces never fit quite the same, do they? No wonder Dr. Mary Leland spoke to you as she did.



And now Charlotte's lying in a hospital after you forced her to return to this house, this wife who stood by you thru the most difficult times of your life.



Yes, she was there when in your grief you chased after other women.



She was there when you fought to clear yourself of a crime you didn't commit, a prison sentense you didn't deserve, a battle to build a career as a lawyer for yourself, a wife who believed in you, gave you encouragement, loved you with every fiber of her being, a wife who was ready to forgive you anything, everything, as long as you loved her.


Ray, do you remember the words of your old rival, Sid Harper?



Sid also loved Charlotte, and nearly married her.


Do his words keep pounding in your brain? "You crucified that girl, Brandon! You treated her like a dog!"



"It's your fault she's in the hospital now!"



"You're a fool! A stupid fool!!!"



"A stupid, stupid fool!"



TO BE CONTINUED.............


BTW: Thanks to Rusty for identifying this as an episode of "The Guiding Light." I don't know the name of the original writer.




14 comments:

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Everybody: Half this dialogue is taken off TV, from what writer, I don't know. I've had this sitting around a long time in note form, and I can't remember what the source was. My apologies to the original writer.

Tank Hankerous said...

Just complete banal meandering

Kali Fontecchio said...

Yay!

deniseletter said...

Wow,this is very creative!! This is inspiring!!

Hans Flagon said...

I sometimes get this feeling watching Ralph Edwards give someone the business on "This is Your Life"

In High Melodrama there is truth, and vice versa.

Rusty Spell said...

It's from the January 10, 1950 episode of the soap opera *Guiding Light*. You can find the script (or part of it) in a book (available on Google Books) called *Speaking of Soap Operas*.

Anonymous said...

Awesome! My favourite part is your face when you were chasing after other women and when your old rival Sid was mentioned and you got all mad!

This piece reminds me of that scene in that Droopy Dog cartoon where Spike acts out the descriptions of his old master's last will and testament!

Candy Candy said...

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Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Rusty: Many thanks!

Jorge: Wow! I'll have to look at that cartoon again!

Pete Emslie said...

Ray Brandon, you should be very ashamed of yourself. What a horrible, detestable man you are!

Umm... I don't suppose you'd have Dr. Mary's number handy, would you Sport?

Clarity said...

I was rather riveted. "He chased after...?!" How dare he, I say she leaves him and let him have that 1950's fall into the abyss montage, you know whirlpool, roll of eyes, dramatic horn section.

Matt Jones said...

Hi Eddie-I was fortunate enough to have another chance to meet with Ronald Searle last weekend. Brief report on my artblog-more to come on the Searle blog soon.

Stank Hankerous said...

Disregard that last comment, I'm not very intelligent.

Zoran Taylor said...

Clarity,

I LOVE those montages! Vertigo has the best ones ever, IMO.