Sam Spade
and the Mean Streets of San Francisco
by Jim Strope
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Cast
Sam Spade: Private eye, WWII veteran.
Miles Archer: Sam’s business partner.
Beverly Spade: Sam’s ex-wife.
Edna Jones: Beverly’s friend.
Jimmy Fredricks: Newspaper reporter, Sam’s friend.
William ‘Boney’ Jones: William SFPD.
Cast ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Act 1 Isolation ..................................................................................................................... 3
Act 2 Redemption ............................................................................................................. 21
Act 3 The Abyss................................................................................................................ 30
Res Publica........................................................................................................................ 35
Notes ................................................................................................................................. 37
Characters ..................................................................................................................... 37
Synopsis ........................................................................................................................ 37
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Act 1 Isolation
San Francisco, 5 PM November, 1947
Office interior.
Two desks with chairs.
Door to the hallway stage left.
Window with Venetian blinds on back wall.
Flashing BAR-sign outside of window.
Sam is standing front and center with a bottle of gin and a glass.
Miles is seated at his desk, on the phone, looking at papers, nervously playing
with a pencil.
MILES: Sure. I see. How much? What time. When?
Miles looks at his watch.
MILES: Christ. Okay. I’ll see what I can do.
SAM: Louise Branson stepped of the bus from Des Moines, pretty, eyes wide open,
taking it all in, and then she was picked up by one of the flies that buzz around the station
looking for runaways. They put her on the meat rack. We’re all hanging up there but it’s
a damn shame to see it happen to a young girl like that.
That’s where we are. All of us. Even the brass. Even Ike, the man who has seen
everything, even he’s hanging up there on the hook, waiting for the butcher.
Takes a full minute to fall out of the sky. Shot up and shot down. Funny how the world
flying at you at three-hundred miles an hour clears your head. You suddenly remember
everything. The past. The present. You remember the present real good. You can’t
miss it. It’s coming at you faster than you would like. And the future even. All its
doomed possibilities are finally clear to you. Your sick failures.
I realized I was not much of a husband. I didn’t even give Beverly a baby to hold. No
son for me. Just a surprised vacuum. End of my line. Maybe I’ll get my name scratched
on rock. Maybe not.
But before you auger in, you get to squeeze off a shot or two. Who knows. Something
might come of your luck. Maybe a college professor. Might be president of the United
Sates. Or a murdering thief. You never know. Another poor bastard born to die, who
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gets to pound the pavement, prowling around to make a son more or less in his own
image.
Last weekend I walked into John’s Grill with a good-looking floozy on each arm. And
they were both blondes. In fact, they were blond all over. I couldn’t marry both of them
although I tried. You’d think a man could be happy with all that.
You’re not a poker player, are you Miles.
MILES: That’s real nice, Sam. You’re a hit with the dames.
SAM: That paying customer on the phone?
MILES: Now what about the phone bill. All these long-distant calls.
SAM: Case with legs doesn’t stay in town, Miles.
MILES: LA. San Diego. Davenport Iowa.
SAM: Follow the leads wherever they take you, Miles.
MILES: And the filling station. Gas is up to fifteen-cents a gallon. It adds up quick.
SAM: Can’t collar someone on the phone. Can’t see the expression on their face when
they lie.
MILES: Yeah, well collar some money for a change.
SAM: Her parents want to know.
MILES: Their curiosity is charming. Are they paying.
SAM: They haven’t any money.
MILES: Well get the cheapskates to drive around and make phone calls. I’m going to
lose this business. Finance company could repo my car. Christ, I could lose my house.
SAM: Stop throwing money on that car.
MILES: A Chrysler has class. Not like the heap you drive. I haven’t bought a new tie in
weeks.
SAM: People who worry about money make bade decisions, Miles.
MILES: Fine. That’s what I’ll tell the bill collector.
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SAM: There’s always a downturn after a war. Returning soldiers are out of work.
Government stops spending money like a drunken sailor. Maybe there’ll be another war.
That should make you civilians happy. Separate the men from the boys.
MILES: I’m all for the veterans. Don’t get me wrong. If it wasn’t for you guys we’d all
be speaking French or something. But we got to bring in some dough.
SAM: German, Miles. We were fighting the Germans and the Japanese. And pretty soon
the Koreans.
MILES: Sure. Anyway, far be it from me to complain about the men in uniform fighting
for our freedom. But we got to eat too.
SAM: Don’t chase the money. Chase the truth, Miles.
MILES: I’ll tell that to the repo man too. Christ, I haven’t bought a new tie for a month.
SAM: Truth is the truth.
MILES: Fuck the truth, Sam.
SAM: The phone’ll ring sooner or later.
Phone rings.
MILES: Yeah. Miles here. Sure. We do that.
Miles gives thumbs up to Sam.
We do missing persons all the time. That’s our specialty.
I know you don’t want to talk money at such a serious moment. Tell me about the
missing person.
Sure. Fine. We call it a retainer. What are the details of the case.
The retainer is just a formality. Indicates that we’re working together, that’s all. Is there
a divorce involved?
You tell me.
We don’t work for free, Mrs… Could I get your number?
What do you think is fair.
Well. You know it has to signify that we’re serious about this.
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Let’s talk about the case? Who’s missing? What do they look like? When were they last
seen?
I’ll be perfectly frank with you, Mrs…. We’re the best in the business and we got more
work than we can handle right now. Believe me. But you seem like a nice lady. Nice
voice. I bet you’re real pretty too.
Okay. All right. A hundred bucks up front, cash, and we’re on it like whipped cream on
a sundae with a cherry on top.
Well yeah. For gas mostly. And information. A little cash in hand for a bartender or
motel manager loosens up the tongue. Breaks the ice. Got to break the ice.
You shouldn’t go cheap on a missing-persons thing. A life could be at stake. Wait, don’t
go, is there a number…
Miles hangs up.
Crap. No wonder her husband ran off. Never let a woman take charge. They’ll turn
everything upside down. Maybe she killed him.
SAM: Women who kill their husbands do not hire private eyes to find them.
MILES: Just another deadbeat wanting something for nothing. Plus every discharge
thinks he’s a private dick. Don’t even have a license for Christ’s sake. Might make a
decent cop, maybe. They know how to carry a gun around.
SAM: They know how to shoot people.
MILES: Right. But a PI’s got to have a head on his shoulders.
SAM: It’s a crying shame.
MILES: I got a call from a guy from a bank. This morning.
SAM: Tell him we’ll pay him tomorrow.
MILES: They got work for us.
SAM: Doing what? Security? Standing around all day?
MILES: Repo work. There’s lots of it.
SAM: You mean I go around taking people’s cars away from them while you sit around
yakking on the phone. No thanks.
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MILES: Somebody’s got to manage the business.
SAM: Somebody’s got to do the work.
MILES: They can train monkeys to do what you do. Stakeout my ass. Sit around in your
car drinking coffee all night and all day tooWe got to bring in some cash, Sam.
SAM: The Branson case.
MILES: Closed, Sam. Closed is closed.
SAM: They want more.
MILES: Are they paying?
SAM: They want to get to the bottom of things.
MILES: That means no money. Swell. The only call I got yesterday was the landlord.
And today the phone company and now Mrs. Cheapskate here. I tell you, if they cut off
the phone we’re dead in the water. And you’re juiced to the scalp already.
SAM: Hard day.
MILES: Doing what.
SAM: Looking at this bottle, that’s what. Resisting the temptation. Now I’m celebrating
my victory.
MILES: You know, you’re supposed to mix gin with something.
SAM: I’m fresh out of something.
MILES: In the morning you’ll be in no shape to do anything.
SAM: Tomorrow’s Saturday.
MILES: I’m coming in.
SAM: Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.
MILES: You’re going to make yourself sick.
SAM: So what are you, my croaker?
MILES: I’m your partner. 50-50.
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Sam offers Miles the bottle.
SAM: You want half?
MILES: I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.
SAM: Of course not. Insurance money doesn’t mean anything to you. And I do not have
a drinking problem. I got all I can use.
MILES: I want you to hold up your end.
SAM: Fuck you. I’ll get my own office.
MILES: With what.
SAM: I’ll work from my hotel.
MILES: I can see it now. Attracting paying customers with that fleabag flophouse.
SAM: It’s not the size of the axe. It’s how you swing it.
MILES: And now you’re going to run out on me. Leave me holding the bag.
SAM: I don’t need you or your god-damned advice.
MILES: You’re going down the tube. One more flush and nobody’s going to see you
again.
SAM: Get out of my hair.
MILES: You get out. I’m paying for this place.
SAM: Who will do the work if I leave? All you do is sit around all day.
MILES: I’m going to replace you with someone who pulls his weight.
Knock on the door.
MILES: Door’s open.
Beverly enters in a tight, brilliant red evening dress.
She carries a suitcase.
SAM: Beverly.
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BEVERLY: Hello, Sam. How you doing.
SAM: What do you want.
BEVERLY: How do you know I want something.
SAM: You always want something.
BEVERLY: Maybe I just dropped in to say ‘Hello.’
SAM: That’ll be the day.
BEVERLY: I need your help.
SAM: Miles is looking for work. Maybe he’ll do something for you.
MILES: Sure, what are the facts…
BEVERLY: Sam, I got a problem and I want you to fix it.
SAM: Is your problem’s name ‘Ernie’.
Miles plays with his pencil.
BEVERLY: Maybe.
SAM: The guy you dumped me for. He’s no Prince Charming. I could have told you
that. In fact I did. Ernie wants you to go to work for him, doesn’t he.
BEVERLY: I’m a singer, Sam.
SAM: The DA would love to hear your song.
BEVERLY: I don’t talk to cops.
SAM: Ernie wants you in management or do you have to actually earn a living.
BEVERLY: It’s more complicated than that.
SAM: Sure. He’s getting bored and is replacing you. Turning you out. Putting you to
work.
BEVERLY: It’s not like that.
SAM: Did you know you flutter your eyelashes like a little girl when you lie.
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BEVERLY: I do not.
SAM: And you’re the jealous type. You strike back. You said something you shouldn’t
have. There’s a big cost to double-crossing Ernie.
BEVERLY: I didn’t double-cross anybody.
SAM: No, but you can’t keep your mouth shut. Probably sang a little tune that he didn’t
like.
BEVERLY: Something like that.
SAM: Suddenly you’re a liability.
BEVERLY: I need your help, Sam.
SAM: Maybe we can make a deal. Tell me what you know about Louise Branson.
BEVERLY: I don’t know anything about her.
SAM: Then you’re the only person in town who doesn’t. Let me fill you in. Her father
paid me to find her…
BEVERLY: Yeah, I heard that joke too.
SAM: That’s why you came here.
BEVERLY: I want you to lay off. Drop it.
SAM: A young woman from Iowa comes to San Francisco. War’s over. The brothel
business is down. Pressure is on Ernie to find younger women to use up. Stimulate the
economy. Nice guy, Ernie.
BEVERLY: I don’t have anything to do with that stuff.
SAM: Brothels and bars stretch along the waterfront from the piers to the wharf and you
know nothing about it. A man can’t get laid in this town without the city getting its two-
bits. How will the mayor afford a new Caddy to drive to the golf course.
BEVERLY: That’s not my problem.
SAM: Yes it is. That’s why you’re here. Louise wasn’t as easy as Ernie thought. Put up
a fight and was found Jane Doe dead. In the Bay. But dead women have a lot to say,
mostly through their friends.
BEVERLY: I never met her.
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SAM: That’s funny. She worked the bar where you sang your sad little songs.
BEVERLY: Minors are allowed in the bar.
SAM: I heard that one too. She couldn’t keep her mouth shut either. Wanted out. Bit
the hand that fed her.
BEVERLY: Ernie wouldn’t kill anyone.
SAM: Ernie would but didn’t. But I know who did. And so do you. A punk hood
named Elisha Cook.
BEVERLY: Never heard of him.
SAM: Of course not. He’s only your boyfriend’s apprentice. Stands outside your door in
the hallway in the charming hotels you two stay in. Rides shotgun in Ernie’s car. You
probably never noticed him. Anyway, facing the chair, he’ll crow like a rooster. That’ll
set the rest of them squawking. Ernie’ll be hopping around like a one-legged hooker with
a troupe ship in town. Ernie rats and the whole city catches fire.
MILES: You’re asking for trouble, Sammy boy. Big trouble.
SAM: Shut your yap, Miles.
BEVERLY: Look, Sam. You know what I know. What are you going to do.
SAM: You and I should team up. Let’s blow the roof off this town.
BEVERLY: Not the kind of trouble I want.
SAM: I know you would never sell yourself short.
BEVERLY: Thanks.
SAM: But you might sell somebody else.
BEVERLY: Like who.
SAM: You’ll know when the price hits its mark. When the price hits its high point.
BEVERLY: There’s money in it for you.
MILES: A hundred…
BEVERLY: Shut up, Miles.
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SAM: A hundred if I do and a knife it I don’t.
BEVERLY: More than a century. Could be something steady in for you. You know all
the right people. Could be useful.
SAM: What do I have to do, Beverly. Spit it out.
BEVERLY: Make a phone call.
SAM: Sure. Tell Ernie I’ll bury it. After all, if I blow my top, Ernie goes down, Beverly
goes down. Even the right people go down.
BEVERLY: A lousy phone call. Get us both out of trouble.
SAM: I don’t get it. I can’t prove anything. I need a witness, somebody willing to
testify. Tell Ernie that.
BEVERLY: He knows you’re on to something.
SAM: Knows the difference between what’s good to eat and what’s going to eat him.
He’s as bright as he is charming. Go back to Arkansas, Beverly. You’ll be safe there.
BEVERLY: He’ll come after you, Sam.
SAM: I don’t think so. Tell Ernie I rigged up a poison pill. Tell Ernie that if he eats me,
two-dozen letters go out to newspapers and radio stations. Each supervisor gets one.
They’re running for mayor all the time. They need to know.
BEVERLY: My life is on the line, Sam.
SAM: Not my problem, to quote a not very famous singer.
BEVERLY: Sam, I’m begging you.
SAM: Go back to Fort Smith, Beverly.
BEVERLY: I’m through with Ernie. I need someone who can stick up for me. We could
get together again. You and me. Like it was, if you want. I’ll be a good wife. I’ll do
anything you say.
SAM: Sure. I can picture that. I give up drinking and you give up dreams of stardom.
We move to a little house in Pleasanton and dream up a new illusion and teach it to the
kids. And they believe us. Don’t play the school-girl, Bev. It doesn’t look good on you.
BEVERLY: It’s true, Sam.
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SAM: I’m a big fan of the truth. Tell me what you know.
BEVERLY: I miss you, Sam. I think about you all the time.
SAM: I know you do. You think I’m a 14-carat sucker you can take for a ride. No dice,
Beverly. I see you’re all packed up and ready to go. Get on the bus and get out of my
life.
BEVERLY: I could give you someone.
SAM: Sure. Some poor sap to fry. Some patsy to get you and your sweetheart off the
meat hook.
BEVERLY: You don’t have to put it that way.
SAM: I’m not dropping a dime on some poor innocent sap.
BEVERLY: He wouldn’t be innocent.
SAM: He’d be innocent of this and the real killers would walk away whistling Yankee
Doodle Dandy. No deal. Testify, Beverly. Tell the DA what you know.
BEVERLY: You’ll regret this.
SAM: That’s the great thing about gin and regret. There’s no limit to the amount you can
pack into your head.
BEVERLY: I could make it hard on you.
SAM: No you can’t. You can’t give Ernie another mess to clean up. You’re working for
him, not the other way around.
BEVERLY: I’m worried about you, Sam.
SAM: You’re worried about yourself.
BEVERLY: Push your luck and you’re life won’t be worth a plug nickel.
SAM: I’ve been worth more dead than alive for some time now. Miles gets the insurance
and a new tie. You and Ernie get to walk in the park like people deeply in love often do.
Mayor gets his Caddie.
BEVERLY: Every 2-bit goon will be waiting for his chance at you. Every street you
walk down. Every car that passes you by. Every corner you turn. Every doorway’ll will
have its plant. Every knock on your door.
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SAM: Tell Ernie I’m scared. Real scared.
BEVERLY: Please, Sam. For both of us. I’m begging you.
SAM: No deal.
BEVERLY: You think you’re a tough guy.
SAM: That’s more like it.
BEVERLY: You claim to be some kind of war hero. He sat it out, Miles. He washed out
of pilot school because he was scared of heights. Spent the war behind a desk, reading
other people’s mail and drinking the cheapest eel juice he could find.
SAM: You said your piece now get out of my office.
BEVERLY: That Purple Heart is not his. He bought it on the street. You’re a fraud, Sam
Spade. A liar. A fake.
SAM: I said, get out of here.
BEVERLY: Now he’s nothing at all. Not a husband. Not a man even. He hasn’t got the
guts to stick up for his wife even. You’re nothing, Sam. Nothing. A nobody. I’m telling
everyone. You’re not worth a bullet. Go off a bridge. Nobody will miss you.
Sam lunges at Beverly but Miles intercedes.
MILES: Hey!
SAM: I’ll kill you myself.
BEVERLY: I hate you.
SAM: I pity you.
BEVERLY: Miles, you want to have a drink.
MILES: Sure…
SAM: I said get out.
BEVERLY: Let’s go, Miles.
Beverly goes to the door.
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MILES: Sammy boy. Beautiful doll walks in here like that offering everything and a roll
of cabbage too. And you throw her out.
SAM: I got my principles.
MILES: Try paying your bills with that.
SAM: You think money’s the most important thing in my life. You’re wrong about that.
MILES: You mean like honor and courage are better. I thought you were a stand-up-
straight guy. A straight shooter.
SAM: You sat it out.
MILES: I had a bad back.
SAM: You got a yellow back.
MILES: Where’d you buy your medal, Sam?
SAM: There’s no law against lending a pal a few bucks on a piece of tin. He needed the
money. He can have it back when he‘s on his feet again. I never claimed I earned it.
MILES: You never said you didn’t.
SAM: Get out of here.
MILES: Lease is in my name. I’ll change the lock on the door. Take your stuff with you
when you leave tonight or it’ll be on the curb in the morning.
SAM: She’ll cut your nuts off, Miles.
MILES: You couldn’t find your ass with a roadmap.
BEVERLY: You’re dead man, Sam.
MILES: Let’s dust out, baby doll.
BEVERLY: I need a drink.
MILES: Sure. It’s on me. Then I’ll take you to the station. You need dough?
BEVERLY: I’m all right.
Beverly and Miles exit.
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Sam pours a glass but takes the bottle.
SAM: Sure. Who wouldn’t dodge a bullet if they could. In pilot school they tell the war
stories. Rattle-trap fighter’s only got a hour’s worth of gas. A mile up in the sky. Expect
you to take nine yards of lead for the bombers. Ack-ack pounding, shrapnel tearing
through your fuselage. Like paper, those fighters. Enemy coming in from above, below.
The noise alone makes you crazy. It’s freezing cold. Blown out of the plane. If the
chute opens you might hit the ground with a lung and a leg left and then the farmers come
with their shovels to beat you to death. Every man who could get out of it got out of it.
There were plenty of pilots. They were begging to get in. Paid in glory. The whole
generation clamored for slaughter and got what they asked for.
Plenty of men stayed behind. Miles claimed a medical. Stayed here in town working a
good job. Made three or four times a month what I pulled in. I was at least over seas. I
was in danger some of the time. They could have attacked Hawaii again. Everybody was
at risk. Except Miles. He sat on his ass the whole time.
Nobody can tell me nothing about the war. I saw it like nobody else. I saw the reports
that never got in the papers. I never killed anyone and never stole anything either. I
didn’t even have to lie.
So what if I’m divorced. Lots of people are these days. Miles has never even been
married. No woman would have him, that’s why. I’ve had lots of women. Blondes.
Brunettes.
I got lots of friends. I don’t need Miles. Good riddance, that’s what I say to you, Miles.
And I don’t bow to Joe McCarthy either. He can kiss my ass. And the House
Unamerican Activities Committee too. The Republicans can all line up around the block
to kiss my ass. And so what if I drink. You got to die of something.
You want to know what keeps me hanging on. Why I even get out of bed in the morning.
Why push the god-damned rock up the god-damned mountain every day only to see it at
the bottom next morning.
Why I don’t just step in front of it and drop all this repetitive stupidity. The big sleep
happens, sooner or later. In a thousand years, nobody’s going to know anything about
you. If there’s even any people left at all. If we don’t cancel the subscription entirely.
We’ve got the bomb.
What was I saying. Now I forgot the question. Oh yeah.
Sam goes into his desk drawer and gets his gun.
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I have the means. Everybody does. And I have the motive, believe me. I won’t miss
them and they won’t miss me. And I won’t miss myself, not at this range.
Oh, Beverly will pretend to, crying in her hanky for what could have been. That’s what
the funeral’s for. Bury the guilt.
But there are two kinds of people in this world. The evil and the irredeemably stupid.
That’s right. The phony, pretentious, brainless cattle and their predators, sneaking
around, feeding off them. Parasites, sucking the blood out of us.
And then there’s me. There has to be at least one honest man on the planet to see it like it
is. And he has to look at it for as long as he’s able to open his sorry eyes. He has to see
that human beings are a criminal species. He has to see that he’s member of that gang.
He has to see how worthless everything is.
Sam sits at his desk.
Lights fade to dark.
Phone rings.
Gunshot.
Ringing stops.
Pause.
Pounding on the door.
Lights come up slowly.
JIMMY: Sam, are you in there? It’s me Jimmy.
EDNA: Sam, open the door.
JIMMY: It’s not locked.
Edna and Jimmy enter.
Sam is slumped over his desk. Bottle is on its side.
EDNA: Sam, are you all right?
JIMMY: Wake up, Sam.
SAM: What time is it.
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JIMMY: Have you heard from Beverly?
SAM: All I heard was the god-damned phone ringing all god-damned night.
EDNA: We were trying to call you.
JIMMY: What happened to the phone.
SAM: I shot it.
ENDA: You shot the phone?
JIMMY: Have you seen Beverly.
SAM: I’ve seen too much of her.
EDNA: She didn’t come home all night.
SAM: What’s so unusual about that.
JIMMY: You haven’t heard.
SAM: Beverly’s a big girl now. She can take care of herself.
EDNA: She’s been good lately.
SAM: Been waiting by the phone for me? That’s a laugh.
EDNA: She always hoped you two would get back together. She was coming to see you
tonight.
SAM: The dragon lady has come and gone.
JIMMY: It’s on the street, Sam. She’s dead. Murdered.
SAM: I don’t believe it. She’s too smart for that. She’s on a bus to Arkansas. Miles
took her to the station.
JIMMY: That’s not what I heard.
SAM: If it’s to prove a point, naturally it’d be on the street. Do they have a body?
Anybody seen Miles?
JIMMY: Not yet.
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SAM: Who do they say killed her?
JIMMY: Someone with a gun, Sam.
EDNA: You’re under suspicion.
JIMMY: They’re looking for you.
SAM: Why would they look for me.
EDNA: We know you didn’t do it.
SAM: Yeah, well I’m right here. They can have me if they want me so bad.
JIMMY: Don’t go back to your hotel, Sam.
EDNA: We got to get you out of here.
SAM: What for. If they find me here, I’ll answer their questions straight. Then they’ll be
even better informed. We want the police to be well-informed don’t we.
JIMMY: We know you didn’t have anything to do with it.
SAM: How would you know.
EDNA: You would never do anything like that.
JIMMY: We’ll say you were with us.
EDNA: All night.
JIMMY: Come on, Sam. Stand up. Come over to my place.
SAM: What for.
EDNA: Jimmy’s going to get you a lawyer.
SAM: Why.
JIMMY: You don’t want to face the cops in your condition.
SAM: I’m not paying a mouthpiece.
EDNA: Jimmy knows somebody.
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JIMMY: Talk to a lawyer first. Get some advice. Then turn yourself in. Put yourself in
the best possible light.
SAM: Why should I turn myself in. I ain’t done nothing wrong.
EDNA: Looks better that way.
JIMMY: Let’s talk about it on the way.
EDNA: Here’s your hat.
JIMMY: Get his coat.
Sam picks up the bottle.
Jimmy takes it away from Sam.
JIMMY: I got liquor at my place.
SAM: A man who tells the truth doesn’t have to go to church or the jailhouse.
JIMMY: Wait a minute. Where’s your gun.
SAM: In the drawer. In there.
JIMMY: No it isn’t.
SAM: That’s impossible. I had it last night. Let me look.
EDNA: Let’s get out of here.
SAM: It’s gone. My gun.
JIMMY: Come on, Sam.
SAM: I loved that gun.
Lights down.
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Act 2 Redemption
Jimmy’s apartment. Bathroom door on stage right. Hall door on stage left.
Sam is seated with a bucket between his legs.
SAM: I guess there is a limit to how much gin you can pack into your head. Better empty
that.
Edna takes bucket and goes into the bathroom.
JIMMY: Trying to kill yourself, Sam.
SAM: Might be something in that. Look. I don’t believe it about Beverly. She’s too
smart to be dead. And Miles is not very smart but he does look out for himself very well.
Nobody could get the drop on the both of them. They’re like a thousand eyes looking
around. They’d be on the lookout for each other. Where’s Miles, that’s what I want to
know. And where’s Beverly.
Flush.
JIMMY: You think Ernie’s just trying to scare people off.
SAM: Sure. His so-called mob are amateurs. Two-bit pimps and punks with guns.
They’re not slaughter-happy gangsters. They’re feeling there way through the stories just
as we are.
JIMMY: That includes Cook.
SAM: Cook’s no torpedo. Branson was probably his first. He needed someone
vulnerable. Not going to send Cook out after big game.
JIMMY: She was just a child, really.
SAM: Cook wanted something easy to train on. Probably just supposed to lean on her
but she kicks his ass. He can’t take that story back to Ernie and besides he thinks with his
dick. Counts on his gun to put some sense into her head but she laughs it off.
EDNA: Why would she laugh in her murderer’s face.
JIMMY: Good question.
SAM: Maybe she under-estimated how much he over-estimated himself. Anyway he was
weak and had to cover himself. That’s as close to honor he gets. That and leaving town
when things get hot.
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JIMMY: We’re about to see if it’s becoming their modis operandi.
SAM: They discover the wheel and suddenly everything needs rolling. Put them all
together and they’re a genius. Except they don’t get along that well. We’re not dealing
with a bunch of criminal masterminds here.
JIMMY: You’re certain Cook’s not big time.
SAM: No self-respecting gangster would have anything to do with Elisha Cook Junior.
Where’s Miles. And where’s my gun. Answer those two questions and we move
forward.
JIMMY: I called his hotel and the office.
SAM: Then we have to get in the car. We have to go find them.
EDNA: The whole city is driving around looking for you and Beverly.
JIMMY: Don’t make it easy on them and inconvenient for you.
SAM: I suppose you’re right. Another car load of sleuths more or less won’t make a
difference. What happened to my gun. That’s what I wanted to know.
EDNA: Benjamin’s coming at noon.
JIMMY: Let’s get to work on your story now.
SAM: You’re a newspaper man.
JIMMY: How it looks to the paper is how it looks to the police.
EDNA: And the jury.
JIMMY: Look. Miles and Beverly left at what, 7 PM. You had a couple or nine drinks
and fell asleep at your desk.
SAM: Happens to everyone with a desk.
EDNA: You shoot your phone.
SAM: At 3 AM.
JIMMY: We didn’t hear the shot so it was before 3 AM.
SAM: I didn’t note the time.
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EDNA: We come in at 3 AM and drag you off.
SAM: Miles and Beverly left close to 7. Miles and I argued about money for two hours
after 5.
JIMMY: Big 8-hour window.
SAM: 8 hours without an alibi. Nothing new there.
JIMMY: You park on the street.
SAM: You park your heap in a heated garage.
EDNA: That’s right. The attendant could have spotted us leaving at 5.
JIMMY: He was asleep. We can say 3.
EDNA: Anyway, we have each other’s testimony.
JIMMY: Could anyone else have heard the shot?
SAM: Probably not. Building’s empty after 5 on Friday.
EDNA: Watchman?
SAM: A sleepy old fart paid by the landlord stumbles around. He’s half dead of
boredom, blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other. Can’t hear either.
EDNA: I can’t stand this waiting.
SAM: Things are happening fast now. Watchful waiting is the best we can do.
JIMMY: We stay here.
SAM: Thanks for pulling me out of a slump and getting me on my feet again.
JIMMY: Glad to do it, Sam.
SAM: Be a good story for you. Told from the inside. Adds a thin veneer of authenticity.
JIMMY: As of Monday, I’m not reporting anymore. Assistant editor.
SAM: Congratulations. There goes the authenticity.
JIMMY: Don’t need it.
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SAM: It’s a newspaper, after all. Now you’ll be charge of covering up the cover-ups.
JIMMY: We have to absorb the shock.
SAM: Otherwise things would change.
EDNA: I wish Benjamin were here.
SAM: Come on, Jimmy. Let’s blow the roof off this town.
JIMMY: There’s evidence problems. Your witnesses are pimps and crooks and whores.
DA will bury it, Sam. Case has no legs.
SAM: It’s a kidnapping case. FBI has jurisdiction. Long legs. Be a story for you,
Jimmy.
JIMMY: I don’t want it.
SAM: Of course not. It’s the truth and you’re just a paper boy.
JIMMY: Assistant editor.
SAM: Congratulations. That means you get to keep the mayor out of trouble.
JIMMY: We’re your friends, Sam.
EDNA: Listen to us, Sam. You can’t live without hope.
SAM: It can be done.
EDNA: Please, Sam. Get a hold of yourself. There’s still a chance. Be who you are.
SAM: Sure. Join the gang. Why not. Pays. Get the lovely wife and her apron. House in
the Oakland hills with the picket fence and the view of the bay. Pussy ad infinitum. The
kids march on to school and then to industry. Or the army if they’re out of control and
want to actually kill people themselves.
JIMMY: There’s a way out of this for you.
SAM: Sure. Drop the dime. Tell Ernie I’m leaving town for a while. Won’t be working
the case any more. After they killed two women maybe I can get out of it in one piece.
Thanks for hiding me out. No deal.
JIMMY: I’m not hiding you. Like I said. I just want you to face them on your own
terms.
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SAM: They’ll be here soon.
EDNA: Why would they come here.
SAM: That’s why you brought me here, isn’t. To turn me in. You’ve already called the
cops, haven’t you.
EDNA: You didn’t do it, did you Sammy. Tell me you didn’t do it.
SAM: I didn’t do it. You believe me, don’t you. I’m telling the truth. What could be
more believable than that.
Loud pounding on the door.
EDNA: Oh!
WILLIAM: San Francisco Police. Open the door.
SAM: He’d they know I was here?
EDNA: Shall I let him in, Sam.
WILLIAM: Open the door or we’ll break it down.
SAM: Sure. Open the door.
Edna opens the door.
William enters.
SAM: Boney!
WILLIAM: Glad to see you Sam.
JIMMY: You want a drink.
WILLIAM: Of course.
Edna pours.
SAM: When you going to get a wife and kids so I can ask how they are.
WILLIAM: As soon as Grace Kelly replies to my letter.
SAM: Is there a case I can help you with.
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WILLIAM: You know there is. I hate to have to tell you this, Sam. They found
Beverly’s body.
SAM: Oh no. Now the story can never end.
WILLIAM: In the water at dawn.
SAM: That’s got Ernie Charles written all over it.
WILLIAM: Yep. Same thing. Louise and Beverly. That’s what I think too but the DA’s
a hard sell.
SAM: That’s because he’s such a bright guy.
WILLIAM: He’s been to college.
SAM: He’s the one running for mayor.
JIMMY: Always.
SAM: He thinks he’ll get laid more often. He’s right about that but it’s not what he
thinks.
WILLIAM: He’s got to get his name in the rag somehow. Sorry, Jimmy.
JIMMY: We’re a rag.
WILLIAM: He’s got a witness that claims you threatened to kill her.
SAM: Nothing new with that. I threaten to kill everybody.
EDNA: He threatened us a dozen times on the way over here for trying to save him.
JIMMY: It’s true.
WILLIAM: You’ve never threatened me.
SAM: That’s because you’re the police. That’s impossible.
WILLIAM: Anyway, she was shot.
SAM: She came to me for help. She was no saint but she deserved better.
WILLIAM: I can assure you that I will do everything I can to get to the bottom of this.
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SAM: Naturally.
WILLIAM: They want to see your gun, Sam. Ballistics.
SAM: It was stolen last night.
WILLIAM: Ouch.
SAM: But there’s a piece of lead in my phone.
William dials the phone.
WILLIAM: This won’t take long. They’re already at your office.
SAM: Tell them to be nice to my furniture. It’s very expensive stuff.
WILLIAM: Whatever you say, Sam.
Into the phone.
Yes, in the phone. Don’t ask.
SAM: Is your witness Miles Archer?
WILLIAM: Yeah. He claimed he dropped her off, safe and sound.
SAM: Miles is still alive and flapping his jaw as usual.
WILLIAM: Then he’s the last person to see her alive.
JIMMY: Except for the murderer.
EDNA: Could it be Miles, Sam.
SAM: Miles can’t operate a fly-swatter let alone a gun. What happened to her at the bus
station.
WILLIAM: Damn.
Hangs up the phone.
WILLIAM: Sorry, Sam. There’s a match.
SAM: Facts are valuable. Whoever stole my gun shot Beverly. And who even knew it
there in my desk? In fact, I might have fallen asleep with it my hand just in case there
was some life left in the phone.
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JIMMY: Careless of you Sam.
WILLIAM: This is not looking good. Where’ll I tell them you were you last night
between the time Miles left with Beverly and Jimmy picked you up.
SAM: Drinking in my office. Poor Beverly. She made some mistakes but she didn’t
have this coming.
WILLIAM: Any witnesses.
SAM: Besides a bottle of gin?
WILLIAM: Besides that.
SAM: So you trying something out on me, Boney?
WILLIAM: Sorry. Just a habit.
SAM: I know. You’re a cop.
WILLIAM: Are you sure it wasn’t earlier? Didn’t you close Lefty’s?
SAM: Normally I do but not last night.
JIMMY: You’re a fixture, Sam.
EDNA: I’m sure we can find reliable witnesses to that.
WILLIAM: Jimmy, didn’t you load him into your crate at 1 PM? Bring him over here?
Hot coffee and cold shower? That kind of thing?
SAM: Don’t be stupid, Boney. The boozers that hang out at Lefty O’Doul’s won’t stand
up to the DA. And why would the guy who stole my gun shoot my phone?
WILLIAM: That’s easy. To leave the bullet behind.
SAM: Stick to the truth, Boney. It’s easier to remember. Stick with the 3 AM.
WILLIAM: That means no alibi. They’ll want me to take you downtown.
SAM: Sure, I’ll go downtown with you. You’re a nice guy but the desk sergeant at
headquarters thinks he’s the grand inquisitor. He can make a rock confess. I don’t look
forward to that.
WILLIAM: I’ll do what I can.
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SAM: Which means nothing.
WILLIAM: My hands are tied.
SAM: And my neck’s in the noose. Just a minute. I’m going to be sick.
JIMMY: There’s no way out of the bathroom.
Sam exits into the bathroom.
Pause.
William rushes into the bathroom and back out.
WILLIAM: They’ll know I let him out of my sight!
Lights down.
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Act 3 The Abyss
Sam is standing on a ledge outside of the building on the 17th floor.
WILLIAM: Come in, Sam. We just need to talk to you.
SAM: Sure. You want me to come in so that you can kill me yourself.
WILLIAM: You’ll get a fair trial.
SAM: I know. In this country, you get a fair trial before they hang you.
SAM: If I’m accused of murder, no one will listen to the Branson story.
SAM: If I’m accused of being crazy, no one will listen to me about anything.
EDNA: You’re pushing your luck, Sam.
SAM: I’m fresh out of luck, baby.
WILLIAM: Look, Sam. This is not going to look good for me downtown. Letting you
escape. Creating this public scene. Think of my reputation.
SAM: You’re right. You’re a disgrace to your department. You should do the decent
thing and kill yourself.
MILES: Sam, I came over as soon as I heard. What’s going on here.
SAM: That a new tie, Miles?
MILES: Like it?
SAM: Where’d you take Beverly, Miles.
MILES: What is this? To the bus station.
SAM: You threw her over, Miles.
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MILES: I did not kill Beverly.
SAM: I know you didn’t. You let other people do your dirty work. You probably didn’t
even watch. Turned your head away as you drove off. But you had to look in the rear-
view mirror, Miles. What did you see.
MILES: Her waving me good-bye.
SAM: How much did Ernie pay you to set her up.
MILES: You’re crazy. Nobody paid me to do anything.
SAM: She stepped out of your car into another. You had to look back. What did you
see, Miles.
MILES: Nobody believes you Sam.
SAM: You’re right about that. A bunch of nobodies believe me.
MILES: Boney, tell the ambulance driver to bring a straight-jacket.
SAM: Maybe I am crazy but it doesn’t mean I’m stupid.
MILES: Sam followed us to the bus station with his gun. He killed her. He lured her
into his car, shot her, and then took her to the bridge.
SAM: We all believe you, Miles. Don’t we, boys and girls.
SAM: You stepping into Beverly’s shoes? Ernie comes along with that role.
EDNA: No thanks. She took care of herself. It was her responsibility.
SAM: Sure and she paid the price.
EDNA: Grown ups.
SAM: Paying for sex between agreeable adults is illegal in this town but not wrong.
Statutory rape followed by murder is both. You’re a good kid.
EDNA: I’m not good and I’m not a kid.
SAM: Bringing a woman across state lines for sex is a federal offense under the Mann
Act.
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EDNA: I’m a local girl.
SAM: Lucky you.
EDNA: What’s it to you.
SAM: What are you in it for. Thrills?
EDNA: That’s a kind of pay off.
SAM: I admit that can be satisfying but there are big risks. You a gambler.
EDNA: If the odds are right.
SAM: Is Jimmy part of the package.
EDNA: What do you mean.
SAM: You two moving to Hillsborough and make kids to send to school to learn to make
similar choices.
EDNA: That’s none of your business.
SAM: Sorry. It’s the private eye in me.
EDNA: You think just because you’re from the City you can look down on everyone.
SAM: I am looking down on everyone.
EDNA: Aren’t your afraid.
SAM: The height is more than a little annoying. Thanks for the distraction.
EDNA: That makes it more thrilling. You should know that.
SAM: You’re not the singer Beverly was. She didn’t have to supply any extras.
EDNA: You calling me a whore.
SAM: She was there just to raise the temperature of the room. What are you there for.
EDNA: I don’t need rescuing, Prince Charming.
SAM: Smarter than Louise and Beverly put together.
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EDNA: I don’t need any advice from a washed-up divorced alcoholic private-eye living
in a shit-hole and afraid of living.
SAM: Maybe you don’t need my advice. But on the other hand, why would I lie at a
time like this.
WILLIAM: Look. Sam. You got a future. You’d make a great cop. Honest. Insightful.
Connections.
SAM: Sure. You’d like me hanging around a bunch of guys with guns that hate me
because I can’t keep my mouth shut and I’m killing their rake from the can-houses. Poor
guy. Killed in a shoot-out first day. We’ll give him a nice send-off. Do it right.
JIMMY: There’s nothing more I can do for you, Sam. Do the decent thing.
SAM: That’s easy for you to say. My only choice is jumping or the chair. You’re getting
a raise in pay and banging Miss California.
JIMMY: I could come out there with you but that would be an absurd scene. Only one of
us needs to stand on the ledge.
WILLIAM: Sergeant, get those people away from the building. He’s going to hurt
somebody.
Holy shit. What’s that.
JIMMY: That’s a TV crew.
WILLIAM: They’ll love this downtown.
JIMMY: I hate television.
WILLIAM: Oh my God. There’s Chief Anderson. That’s it. I’m back to changing oil in
the police garage.
EDNA: You’ll never get laid now, Boney.
JIMMY: Give it over to Anderson right away. Let him take charge.
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WILLIAM: I got this window and I got this story. That’s all I got.
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Res Publica
Voice-over Abyss at low volume.
Look at that!
Where?
Up there. On the ledge.
There he is.
What’s he doing out there.
Probably he’s going to jump, stupid.
Who is he.
They said he killed his wife.
Did he?
How do I know.
They said he did.
Is he trying to get away from the cops?
Maybe he’s going to jump.
That would be terrible.
What’s he waiting for, Christmas?
Car horn.
It’d be swell to see that.
I got to see that too.
Me too.
Wish I had my Brownie.
What’s going on.
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He killed his wife.
He’s going to jump.
17 stories.
What a mess that’ll make.
He should jump. Save the state on their electric bill.
Police siren.
They gas at Quentin.
Save on the gas bill then.
They should hang him. Cheaper that way.
What are you looking at?
Up there. Wife murderer. They’re going to hang him if he doesn’t jump.
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Notes
Nobody knows who anybody is.
The setting and costumes should be black, white and shades of grey.
Beverly’s evening dress can be a brilliant shade of red.
The cast can be redistributed from scene to scene, although Sam Spade keeps his actor.
Characters
Sam is a WWII veteran who had aspirations to be a pilot but could not overcome his fear
of heights. Instead, he went into the OSS, a precursor to the CIA, specializing in the Far
East, especially Korea. He was an insider to intelligence about Sygman Rhee and the
Jeju and BODA massacres. Sam had hopes of making a career of the army but his
drinking and bad attitude (the direct result of what he has learned) defeated this and all
other hopes. And then there’s Beverly.
Beverly is a night club singer from Fort Smith Arkansas with ambitions to wealth and
power. Her husband Sam had neither. She fell in with Ernie, who managed several
brothels and strings of call-girls and street walkers. Ernie presses her to work for him.
Ernie is worried that with the end of hostilities in the Far East, fewer military personnel
will be coming through San Francisco and his business is falling off. He wants a new
war. Beverly knows too much.
Miles has informed the police that Sam and Beverly had an argument and that Sam had
threatened to kill Beverly. He has been paid by Ernie to kill Beverly.
Jimmy on the surface believes that honest and uncensored journalism is the very life
blood of democracy. Beneath that, he is working for the man.
Edna is Beverly’s roommate and has had her eye on Sam for a year. She wants him to
straighten out and together they can join the middle class.
William is one of the enforcers for the status quo. He does not want Sam to press the
Branson case. With Sam on the ledge, in the public eye, William must play his cards
correctly.
Synopsis
Business is bad and Miles in is in debt.
Miles is on the phone with an unknown person.
Sam works the Louise Brandon case pro bono. She was a murdered prostitute who been
working for Ernie Charles, Beverly’s boyfriend.
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Beverly, Sam’s ex-wife, enters and wants Sam to drop the Branson case for Ernie’s
benefit.
Sam refuses and demands that Beverly work with him on the case.
Beverly pleads, fearing for her life, offering Sam money and other benefits.
Miles sides with Beverly and Sam drives both of them out of the office.
Sam spends the night drinking and talking to himself, shoots the phone, falls asleep over
his desk, and awakens to pounding on the door.
Edna, Beverly’s friend, and Jimmy, a reporter, burst in to inform Sam that Beverly has
been murdered and that Sam is under suspicion. They leave for Jimmy’s apartment and
try to provide an alibi for Sam.
Everyone has an interest in silencing Sam. The set of interests is the mystery. Sam’s
discovery makes more and more sense to him.
Jimmy’s livelihood as a newspaper man depends on keeping a cover on the truth.
Sam is insured as part of the PI business. If he dies, Miles profits.
Ernie Charles offers to pay Miles for setting up Beverly.
Edna enjoys being near scandal and danger.
William does not want city-involvement in prostitution known.
Beverly wants Sam to drop the Branson case because Ernie is threatening her over
it.
William William Jones arrives at Jimmy’s to help Sam with his alibi but incriminating
facts accumulate and William must play along with the DA.
Sam goes into the bathroom and then out the window onto the ledge, 17 stories.
William tries to talk Sam in. Edna and Jimmy try to push him off.
Bystanders below encourage him to jump.
Miles arrives and urges Sam to jump.
Sam jumps and lands in the theatre, surprised to be alive and to see the audience.
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