June Moon

Gets a sudden idea; a snap of the fingers. I got it⁠—he flies there! That’s what he does⁠—he flies there! Now working as if in a trance. And he arrives in cherry blossom time! Lucille Is that a record? Benny What a part for Lindbergh, if he could sing! He goes. Lucille We’d better be moving. We’re kind of exposed here. Paul and Fred return. Fred Hello, there! Gee, I’m glad to see you! Paul Not so glad. Oh, hello! Eileen Hello! Paul You two can’t stay here. We’re going to do the song. Fred Mr. Hart ain’t heard the song yet. Gee, I hope he likes it. Eileen He’ll like it all right. Lucille and I have brought you luck. Lucille Yah. I’m a born rabbit’s foot. Paul We don’t need luck, with this number. Fred To Eileen. If they take it we’ll have some celebration tonight! Won’t we! Eileen We can decide that later. I don’t know⁠—I may not want to go out tonight. Mr. Hart comes back. Apparently Gershwin didn’t stay long. Paul Here we are! Fred Oh, Mr. Hart! Hart A little flustered; he had not counted on running into Eileen this way. Well! I didn’t know we had visitors. Hello, Lucille. Lucille Hello. Hart turns slowly to Eileen.. Fred Coming to the rescue. This is Miss Fletcher, Mr. Hart. Miss Fletcher’s Paul’s sister-in-law. Hart Yes. I’ve already met Miss Fletcher. Fred Still helping. Mr. Hart’s been off on a trip. Eileen That’s very interesting. Fred He’s been in all the big cities. Chicago, and Cincinnati, and Cleveland⁠— Lucille I understand Cleveland’s got a new waterworks. Hart looks at her, dumbly. Fred Are you ready for our song now, Mr. Hart? I mean “June Moon”? Hart In a minute. I’ve a little work to do. Eileen Quickly. Fred’s been trying very hard to learn the business. Hart Arrested. Yes? Eileen I guess we’ve been pretty nearly every place, haven’t we, hearing the new songs? Fred You bet! Miss Fletcher’s taken me every place. I think I know now what people want, all right. Hart Looking at Fred with new interest. Oh! So you are a friend of Miss Fletcher’s? Fred We ain’t been acquainted long, but⁠—well, we’re pretty good friends. To Eileen. Aren’t we? Eileen Yah! Hart Has a thought. Suppose you boys come into my office and we’ll run this song over. Fred You mean right away! Hart Yes, of course. Fred That’s fine. Rushing to the piano. Where’s the lead sheet and the lyrics? Paul Here they are! Fred Shall we go right in? Hart Yes, of course. Fred But where’s Maxie? We got to have Maxie. Hart I’ll send for him. Now then, who wrote this song? Fred
Paul Together, as they go through the door. I did! The women are once more alone. Eileen Did you see that? He’s insanely jealous. Lucille Well, if that’s jealousy I’ll take a plain lemonade. Eileen You don’t know him the way I do! He’s burning up! Lucille He controlled it pretty well. He didn’t say anything about a date tonight. Eileen How could he, with Stevens here? Maxie crosses the stage, en route to Hart’s office. Maxie Well, it won’t be long now. He’s going to hear it at last. Lucille Yah. We’re waiting for the verdict. Maxie It’s Stevens’ first offense. They’ll acquit him on the grounds of insanity. He is gone. Lucille You know, if they buy that limerick, Stevens’ll be getting up a party for tonight. He was talking about it already. Eileen I know. Lucille What are you going to do about him, anyhow? He’s going to be kind of a nuisance with Hart back. Eileen I can handle him. He’s so far gone you can tell him anything. Lucille We certainly do attract songwriters, we Fletcher girls. It’s a curse. Eileen He’s not a bad kid. I kind of like him. And he might make a lot of money in this game. Plenty of others have done it. Lucille Slowly. I wonder if that damned song is any good. All of Paul’s stuff sounds just alike to me. Eileen Maybe Stevens’ lyrics are just silly enough to get over. I’ve got kind of a hunch that they are. Lucille Even if they buy it it won’t mean anything to us. Paul’s so far ahead of his royalties they’ll never catch up. He could write Madame Butterfly and it wouldn’t even get me a new girdle. Eileen Anyway, I’ve got Stevens broken in right, whoever gets him. You’ve got to give me credit for changing some of his ideas. I imagine every week was Thrift Week in Schenectady. Lucille It’s Thrift Year for me. Year after year. She drops into a chair. And I’m getting pretty sick of it. Eileen Why don’t you do something? Lucille Well, maybe I am. Eileen You are? What? Lucille Shakes her head. That’s all right. Eileen Don’t be a fool! What’s happened? Lucille Nothing exactly yet. Eileen Well, what’s going to happen? Lucille I don’t know. Nothing. Eileen Pleading. Will you tell me? Lucille Makes up her mind. Remember⁠—Ed Knowlton? Eileen Yes. What about him? Lucille I ran into him Friday, on Madison Avenue. Eileen Why didn’t you tell me? Lucille Because I knew what you’d say and I wanted to think it out for myself. Eileen What’s it all about? What’s he doing here? Lucille He’s left Chicago for good. They’re living on East Fifty-seventh⁠—he and his wife and the two kids. Eileen Well? Lucille He still likes me, and I like him. Eileen Has he got any money? Lucille He makes a lot, but he spends it. Eileen If he likes you that’s not a fatal drawback. Lucille He likes me all right. Eileen Can he get rid of her? Lucille Shakes her head. No, it’s her uncle or something owns the business. But he saw I wasn’t happy, and⁠—well, we had a couple of drinks and talked. He kept saying I ought to have nice things⁠—and that he was willing to give them to me. Eileen Don’t tell me you aren’t going to do it? Lucille I’m kind of afraid. Suppose Paul gets inquisitive? Eileen Paul! He doesn’t know silk from asbestos. To hell with him anyway! It’s time you had some luck! Lucille I