'Undercover in the Land of Jim Crow,' The Series, Part 4
A continuation of the spec script I wrote for the Netflix-like limited series that I hope someone in the creative community will have the balls and brains to make.
Part 1 of this spec script starts here.
25.
INT. PITTSBURGH MOVIE THEATER -- DAY
CAPTION: MAY 4, 1938
RAY SPRIGLE, 53, wearing his trademark Stetson hat and
chewing on his unlit corncob pipe, sits in an almost empty
theater watching himself in a black-and-white Pathe News
NEWSREEL.
On the SCREEN he's seen sitting behind his cluttered desk in
the middle of a messy, dirty, crowded newsroom. Sleeves
rolled up, taking his pipe from his mouth, he looks directly
into the camera.
SPRIGLE
Winning the Pulitzer was a great
thrill. But I get as much pleasure
unmasking a corrupt local politician
or helping an underdog get the justice
he deserves ...
INT. WALDORF HOTEL ROOM, LONDON -- NIGHT
CAPTION: SEPTEMBER 9, 1940
SPRIGLE is a foreign correspondent in London covering the
Blitz, the Nazi bombing campaign, for the Post-Gazette.
In the blacked out Waldorf Hotel in a blacked out city,
Sprigle looks out the window and sees SEARCHLIGHTS stabbing
the sky and the glow of the FIRES started by German bombers.
INT. WARNER MOVIE THEATER, DOWNTOWN PITTSBURGH -- DAY
CAPTION: SEPTEMBER 11, 1940
Sprigle's wife AGNES watches a frightening newsreel about the
intense German bombing of London.
On her lap is a copy of the Sept. 11 PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE.
The front page has a photo of a destroyed BUILDING and an article from London written by Ray Sprigle. "London is learning to take it as bombs rain on city." As always, Sprigle's iconic photo is with the article.
26.
INT. LONDON UNDERGROUND PLATFORM -- NIGHT
Wearing his STETSON HAT and chewing on his PIPE, taking notes
in pencil on a folded sheaf of blank beige newspaper copy
paper, SPRIGLE is interviewing MOTHERS and CHILDREN sleeping
in the crowded London Underground.
Later, as he inserts copy paper into his portable TYPEWRITER,
German bombs THUMP into the earth 60 feet above him.
Typing quickly and confidently, the lights flickering amid
the dust, Sprigle subtly flinches with each explosion.
INT. SPRIGLE'S HOUSE -- DAY
CAPTION: MARCH, 1945
SPRIGLE stands in front of his bathroom mirror. As his wife
AGNES and daughter RAE watch, he shaves off his mustache.
He removes the 69 cents Sears price tag from a chauffeur's cap he bought and puts the cap on his head.He takes out his FALSE TEETH, sticks a fat STOGIE in his
mouth and pulls on an old worn JACKET.
SPRIGLE
How do I look, girls?
AGNES
Different!
RAE
Awful! SPRIGLE(SMILING)
Meet 'Alois Vondich'.... butcher.
Think anyone will recognize me?
AGNES
God, I hope not!
27.
EXT. ALLEY IN DOWNTOWN PITTSBURGH -- DAY
CAPTION: APRIL, 1945
A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette front-page headline says: "Berlin Surrounded."
SPRIGLE, aka Alois Vondich, wearing his cheap chauffeur's
CAP, a dirty leather JACKET, work clothes and chewing on a
CIGAR -- parks his small beat up DELIVERY TRUCK behind
several others.
Three MEN carrying huge SLABS OF MEAT and heavy packages
wrapped with brown butcher's paper come out the back door of
a MEAT WHOLESALER meat and load up the backseats and trunks
of their cars.
Sprigle and his equally ratty PARTNER enter the back door.
Sprigle buys a quarter side of beef and a 75-pound slab of
lamb with cash.
He starts to count out war RATION COUPONS but the busy store
owner impatiently waves him off.
Sprigle carries the side of beef out on his shoulder to his
truck. His partner carries the lamb.
In the alley TWO PITTSBURGH COPS casually watch the illegal
meat sales. Several large neatly tied PACKAGES OF MEAT sit on
the back seat of their SQUAD CAR.
INT. GOVERNMENT HEARING ROOM, PITTSBURGH -- DAY
CAPTION: APRIL 13, 1945
April 13 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette front page: Under the huge banner headline 'Roosevelt Is Dead' is a smaller headline:
Black Marketers Operate in Open Here Despite OPA; Sprigle
buys ton of meat and many ration points without much trouble.
An official of the local federal Office of Price
Administration (OPA) named FARLEY is questioning SPRIGLE
about the black-market meat series he has written.
On the witness stand Sprigle wears a fine three-piece SUIT
and calmly chews on his unlit PIPE.
28.
He's not at all intimidated and he's openly enjoying the
attention. His trademark Stetson HAT is on his lap. At his
feet is an overnight BAG.
Farley is waving the April 13 Post-Gazette at Sprigle.
FARLEY
My office is responsible for policing
the sale of meat in Pittsburgh, Mr.
Sprigle, not your newspaper and
certainly not you.
SPRIGLE
I think you'll agree the OPA's record
is not such as to inspire confidence
of any good citizen.
FARLEY
And your proof?
SPRIGLE
Eighty percent of the meat sold in
this city every day is illegal.
FARLEY
That's hardly news. Every city ...
SPRIGLE
You've not made a single arrest in two
years. Your agents are ignorant,
incompetent and ineffective.
FARLEY
If you don't tell this office what
you've learned, we can send you
straight to jail.
SPRIGLE (SMILING)
I've packed....
LAUGHTER from the crowded room. Sprigle is playing to his
crowd.
SPRIGLE (CONT.)
Everything you need to know -- names
and addresses of the black marketeers
-- will be revealed in my future
articles.
29.
FARLEY
Any last words before we decide what
to do with you?
SPRIGLE
I believe it to be self-evident that a
newspaper's first obligation is to the
public, to society.
FARLEY(TALKING OVER)
Mr. Sprigle, we don't need a lecture
from you on the duties of the Press.
SPRIGLE
From that source I contend we obtain
our commission to investigate evil,
publicize it and, where possible, to
assist in eliminating it...
FARLEY(TALKING OVER)
Mr. Sprigle ...
SPRIGLE
I think if you read my series to its
conclusion, you'll agree that's
exactly what I did. If you want to
lock me up for that, be my guest.
Someone in the crowded courtroom gives a HOOT. People laugh
and clap.
NEWSPAPERMAN
Tell him, Sprig!
Sprigle is dismissed. He leaves with his bag and isn't sent to jail.
Headline, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 14, 1945: OPA Fails to Pry facts from Sprigle.
The black market in meat is a national problem and Sprigle's
undercover journalism becomes a front-page story coast-to-
coast.
Time magazine, April 30, 1945: "Meat Makes News." Included is photo of Sprigle disguised as Alois Vondich.
30.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE NEAR MONROE, GEORGIA -- DAY
CAPTION: JULY 25, 1946
FOUR CARS and a pickup truck with GEORGIA plates are parked
on a quiet rural DIRT ROAD. One of the cars blocks a small
single-lane BRIDGE over the Apalachee River.
A nice car driven by a wealthy white farmer, J. LOY HARRISON,
60, is greeted by an unmasked armed MOB of 18 mostly young
white men. Riding in the car's spacious back seat are two
young BLACK COUPLES.
A LARGE MAN in a brown double-breasted suit and carrying a
shotgun speaks for the mob. He points to one of the black
men, ROGER MALCOLM, and then the other, GEORGE DORSEY.
LARGE MAN
We want that nigger... And you, too,
Charlie. HARRISON
His name ain't Charlie, it's George.
He's my nigger, too.
LARGE MAN
Keep you damned big mouth shut,
Harrison. This ain't your party.
Members of the mob pull the two men, Roger Malcolm and George
Dorsey, out of the car and drag them toward a large OAK TREE.
They have ROPES.
When one of the black women recognizes the leader of the mob
and yells out his name, Dorothy Malcolm and Mae Murray Dorsey
also are grabbed from the car and dragged toward the tree.
Amid a great deal of confused screaming, crying and yelling,
each couple is tied together with ropes ....
End of Episode 1.