'Undercover in the Land of Jim Crow,' The Series, Part 3
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 & brains to make from my history '30 Days a Black Man.'
Part 1 of this spec script starts here.
EXT. SPRIGLE FAMILY HOME, AKRON, OHIO -- DAY
CAPTION: 1896
Ten-year-old RAY SPRIGLE and his carpenter father EMANUEL
leave their fine MIDDLE-CLASS HOME in a horse-drawn
contractor's WAGON and travel a few blocks to Akron's main
train station.
Emanuel, 40, the president of city council, is building a
platform for a whistle-stop speech by populist Democratic
presidential candidate WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.
EXT. TRAIN STATION SPEAKING PLATFORM -- DAY
With his father EMANUEL by his side SPRIGLE stands at the
edge of the platform at the feet of the tall, slender,
youthful, handsome, dynamic BRYAN.
He looks upward in awe as "The Great Commoner" delivers his
canned but impassioned stump SPEECH and expresses his deep
and genuine concern for the underdog.
16.
BRYAN
... My friends, the question we are to
decide is: Upon which side will the
Democratic party fight; upon the side
of "the idle holders of idle capital"
or upon the side of "the struggling
masses"? ...
The sympathies of the Democratic party
are on the side of the struggling
masses who have ever been the
foundation of the Democratic party...
Amid the cheers and applause, Bryan accidentally steps on
young Sprigle's HAND. He's too mesmerized to notice at first.
EXT. OHIO STATE CAMPUS, COLUMBUS, OHIO -- NIGHT
CAPTION: 1906, OCTOBER
A BONFIRE rages.
At a wild Ohio State football rally, lean and wiry sophomore
RAY SPRIGLE, 20, leads a crowd of twenty drunk white MALE
STUDENTS to a nearby farmer's small wooden BARN.
They begin tearing it apart and dragging the pieces to feed
the huge fire.
A college DEAN collars the tipsy Sprigle.
DEAN NELSON
Mister Sprigle, I'll see you are
expelled for this.
Sprigle laughs and throws a piece of the barn into the fire.
SPRIGLE
That's OK, Dean Nelson. I'm failing
Greek.
INT. OHIO STATE PENITENTIARY -- DAY
CAPTION: 1906, THANKSGIVING
RAY SPRIGLE, 20, ex-college student, is a rookie crime
reporter for the Ohio Sun newspaper.
17.
He's playing cards with a grizzled prisoner through the bars
of his cell and acquiring a life-long taste for police, crime
and corruption stories.
PRISONER
Why do you want to watch an
electrocution, kid?
SPRIGLE
I'm a crime reporter.
PRISONER
You won't like it.
SPRIGLE
How do you know?
PRISONER
I've watched plenty guys die. Up
close. It ain't pretty -- kid. You
won't like it.
INT. BROTHEL, DOWNTOWN PITTSBURGH -- NIGHT
CAPTION: 1915
SPRIGLE, 29, the city editor of the Pittsburgh Post, is
sitting with a scruffy bunch of bohemians, prostitutes, IWW
labor organizers, socialists, radicals, etc., in an illegal
bar in a brothel.
He's helping his friend GEORGE of the International Workers
of the World by filling out a forged APPLICATION for a parade
permit.
SPRIGLE
This will keep you from getting your
heads bashed in by the cops.
GEORGE
Where did you get that?
SPRIGLE
I'm city editor. I've got friends
downtown.18.
EXT. STREET OUTSIDE PITTSBURGH POST BUILDING -- NIGHT
A CROWD of 2,000 IWW members end their noisy protest march
outside the Post's front door and begin CHANTING.
CROWD
Ray Sprigle... Ray Sprigle... Ray
Sprigle...Sprigle looks out the third-floor window in horror. Post
editor FRANK RYAN, 60, stands next to him.
INT. PITTSBURGH POST EDITOR'S OFFICE -- DAY
Post editor FRANK RYAN watches SPRIGLE as he sheepishly
clears out his messy desk.
EDITOR RYAN
You're a born troublemaker, Sprig.
SPRIGLE
Thank you, sir.
EDITOR RYAN
You'll make a great newspaperman someday.
SPRIGLE
Thank you, sir.
EDITOR RYAN
Promise me something?
SPRIGLE
Sure.
EDITOR RYAN
You'll come back here when you grow up.
INT. POST-GAZETTE CITY DESK -- DAY
CAPTION: 1928
SPRIGLE, 42, is at his heavy oak desk. Smoking a corn-cob
PIPE. Sleeves rolled up.
19.
The thick front-page headline of the Post-Gazette he's reading says "EDITOR LANDS JOB TO DIG COAL AND TRUTH IN MINES." A large PHOTO of Sprigle disguised as a coal miner is under the headline.
INT. PRINCE HALL MASONS TEMPLE, ATLANTA -- DAY
CAPTION: 1932
DOBBS, 50, wearing his full REGALIA, is installed with great
pomp and ceremony as the Grand Master of Georgia's Prince
Hall Masons, the all-black equivalent of the white Masons
men's fraternal organization.
Dobbs is given the KEYS to a handsome "company" car (a black
1931 Peerless touring car) so he can travel around the state
to meet with local Prince Hall masons. No women are present.
EXT. SIDEWALK, AUBURN AVENUE, ATLANTA -- DAY
At the curb DOBBS, his wife IRENE and several daughters ogle
the big shiny Peerless that's parked next to his own older
black FORD sedan.
Dobbs now has two cars -- rare for 95 percent of Americans,
white or black.
His youngest daughters MATTIWILDA, 7, and JUNE, 4, stroke the
Peerless enthusiastically. So does Dobbs.
DOBBS
Careful, girls. Don't rub off the wax.
MATTIWILDA
We have a car, Daddy. Why do we need
two?
DOBBS
This one is for my Prince Hall
trips.... A V-8. A important man can
never have too many cars, right dear?
IRENE
John Wesley, the way you drive, we
need three more.
20.
INT. BIG BETHEL A.M.E CHURCH -- DAY
CAPTION: 1936, LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY
DOBBS, 54, announces the formation of his Atlanta Civic and
Political League. For two hours he stands at the pulpit and
gives a rousing speech in front of a packed all-black crowd.
DOBBS
We need decent schools for our
children. We need bright electric
lights for our streets. We need quiet
parks for our grandparents. But we'll
never get them until we become a
political force city hall cannot
ignore. You've heard me say it a
hundred times -- The only way we'll
achieve the freedom and equality we
deserve, the only way we'll improve
the quality of our lives, is through
the three B's -- 'Bucks, Ballots and
Books.'
INT. 'LITTLE WHITE HOUSE,' WARM SPRINGS, GEORGIA -- DAY
CAPTION: 1936, SUMMER
DOBBS is ushered in to meet alone with PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT.
Dobbs is friends with FDR's trusted personal valet, a black
man named IRVIN ('MAC') MCDUFFIE who with his wife LIZZIE
keeps FDR apprised of Negro issues in the South.
McDuffie, a fellow Prince Hall Mason, brings Dobbs in to meet
with FDR.
MCDUFFIE
John Wesley, you have ten minutes...
Mr. President, here is the fine man
I've been telling you about. My friend
John Wesley Dobbs. He knows more about
the problems Negroes face in the South
than anyone alive.
For 45 minutes Dobbs and FDR talk. Dobbs is impressed by
FDR's apparent concern for the problems faced by Negroes in
the South.
21.
INT. BLACK CHURCH, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND -- DAY
CAPTION: 1936, FALL
DOBBS, 54, is at the pulpit, his deep voice booming, his
oratory soaring. He urges an all-black congregation to give
up their allegiance to the Republican Party, as he has done.
He holds up a portrait picture of ABE LINCOLN.
DOBBS
I've been a loyal Republican my entire
life. I revere our great martyred
liberator, Abraham Lincoln ....
Dobbs picks up a portrait of FDR, holds it out for all to see
and theatrically covers Lincoln's picture with FDR's.
DOBBS (CONT.)
But I have met President Roosevelt. He
is a great man. A true friend of the
Negro. We must help him stay in the
White House so he can finish the
business of bringing equality and
justice to our race. In the South and
here in the North. We must always love
Abe Lincoln, but in 1936 we must vote
for Franklin Roosevelt.
INT. STEEP STONE STAIRWELL -- DAY
DOBBS, 55, is huffing and puffing as he climbs a steep,
narrow set of stone STEPS.
His youngest daughters MATTIWILDA, 12, and JUNE, 9, are
barely keeping up with him.
MATTIWILDA
Why didn't we take the elevator like
everyone else?
JUNE
Is it only for white people, Daddy?
DOBBS
We're climbing these 354 steps because
I want you to never forget this day
the rest of your lives.
22.
MATTIWILDA
Daddy, I just know I'm gonna die.
DOBBS
This statue stands for everything that
makes our country great ... freedom
... equality ... justice -- all the
things we don't have yet in Georgia...
The Dobbses eventually make it to the top ... of the STATUE
OF LIBERTY.
EXT. TOWN SQUARE, ATHENS, GA. -- DAY
DOBBS, 55, and his daughters MATTIWILDA, 12 and JUNE, 9, are
looking up at the large, discolored BRONZE STATUE of a
Confederate general on a horse.
Dobbs' shiny 1940 burgundy MERCURY ZEPHYR is parked nearby.
DOBBS
Girls, statues like this are in a
hundred towns across the Southland.
MATTIWILDA
Yes, father. I believe we've seen them
all....
JUNE
(rapping on the hollow chest)
The horses are pretty -- why
do they always sound so hollow?
DOBBS
Remember what these statues symbolize.
They're not here to honor the bravery
of dead Confederate soldiers...
MATTIWILDA
Yes, father, we know. They were put up
"to memorialize the diabolical system
of human slavery" and ...
JUNE (JOINS IN)
... to remind us of "the power white
people still have over our lives."
DOBBS(SMILING)
That's my baby girls!
23.
INT. PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE OFFICES -- DAY
CAPTION: AUGUST 13, 1937
SPRIGLE, 53, is at his oak desk again. Smoking a corncob PIPE. Sleeves rolled up. The front page of the Post-Gazette reads: "Senator Hugo Black Faces Fight for Supreme Court"
Sprigle walks into the plush office of PG publisher and
intense FDR-hater, PAUL BLOCK, 60.
BLOCK
Everyone knows Black belonged to the
Klan.
SPRIGLE
You can't be elected dogcatcher in
Alabama without their support.
BLOCK
Every reporter in New York is flying
to Birmingham.
SPRIGLE
I'll be joining them.
BLOCK
Do whatever it takes to get proof --
hire private dicks if you have to.
SPRIGLE
He'll be confirmed by the Senate
before we can publish a word.
BLOCK
That's even better. I want to see
'Justice Hugo Black' forced to resign.
That crippled bastard in the White
House has gone too far.
EXT. NEWSSTAND, DOWNTOWN PITTSBURGH -- DAY
CAPTION: SEPT. 23, 1937
The front pages of the Sept. 23 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette carry the huge headline:
"Justice Black Revealed as Ku Klux Klansman."
24.
The byline of the article is Ray Sprigle. Other papers from around the country carry the same headline with Ray Sprigle's byline. SPRIGLE is reading about his scoop in TIME magazine.
Justice Black's Klan membership is the biggest news story of
1937. Black tells the country in a national radio speech he
had been in the KKK but left it long ago. He does not resign.
EXT. COUNTRY ROAD, PITTSBURGH -- NIGHT
CAPTION: SEPT. 24, 1937
In the headlights of a PICKUP TRUCK near a rural mailbox labeled "Sprigle" by the side of a country road THREE MEN dig a post hole.
They quickly assemble a well-made 15-foot wooden CROSS with
cotton batting attached to its arms and douse it with
kerosene.
The men struggle like the Marines at Iwo Jima to stand up the
cross. They attach four guide wires to stakes to keep it
upright.
The cross is set on fire by JOE, 40, a Pittsburgh steelworker
born and raised near Atlanta. He uses a flaming section of a
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette NEWSPAPER.
The cross burns brightly through the dark foggy night as the
men scramble into Joe's truck and drive off.
JOE (SOUTHERN ACCENT)
That nigger-lover's lucky.
SECOND MAN
Yeah, we should have burned his barn.
THIRD MAN
Least killed some chickens.
JOE (SOUTHERN ACCENT)
If this was Georgia we'd of burnt down
his goddamn house.
Next to the cross the men have left a tall home-made wooden TOMBSTONE painted white with the hand-printed words "Kastigate the Kallous Kallumniator Ray Sprigle."