Scene 11
The screen again
slides on stage, and now we see the world move more rapidly with a kaleidoscope
of images: Kennedy's assassination, Andy Warhol, Vietnam, the Beatles,
Kent State, the Moon Landing, Woodstock, Watergate, Bangladesh, discos,
Star Wars, the Explosion of the Challenger, Mt. St. Helens, et. al. This
is all done to the tune of "I Don't Understand People". Then the screen
goes black, and we see a TV logo for a show called BUREAU OF MISSING PERSONS.
This fades to the image of an attractive, middle aged host.
HOST
Good evening. My name is
Kevin Robinson, and welcome to Bureau of Missing Persons. Two months
ago we brought you an extraordinary tale of war and romance. It was October
of 1942 in a small city on the coast of North Carolina. Dixie Ann Cotter
was on her way to her volunteer work at the USO. Dixie Ann had no way of
knowing this night would change her life.
(On the screen we
see an actual vintage photograph of Dixie Ann. But this fades to a re-enactment
of an actress, who bears a faint resemblance to Dixie Ann, leaving a small
clapboard house. Cut to a U.S.O. which only vaguely resembles the one we
have seen, and some dancers, the men in uniform and the girls in 40 styles,
dancing to a slightly jazzy version of "True Romance". Now the Host's voice
is heard off screen. A YOUNG SAILOR enters. HE is pleasant looking but
bears no resemblance at all to our Handsome Sailor.)
HOST (o.s.)
A handsome young sailor entered
the USO that night. He took one look at Dixie Ann and made a beeline toward
her. Stomping out her cigarette, he took her in his arms, and they began
to dance.
(The music now becomes
very romantic, as the SAILOR mouths the words to "True Romance".)
Then just as in the movies,
as Dixie Ann would tell her daughter years later, he actually began singing
to her on the dance floor. When the song was over, he asked her to come
for a walk in the moonlight.
(COUPLE is strolling
on an unidentified street in the moonlit night.)
He told her his name was
Brian Costello, and he came from Philadelphia. In the week that followed,
they would see each other as many times as he could get away from the naval
base. They would sit on the porch of her parent's home and plan their future.
(SAILOR and ACTRESS
are holding hands on a porch swing.)
Then one night he confessed
the next morning he would be shipped overseas.
(SAILOR speaks silently.
Camera moves close to Actress' face. Tears form in her eyes.)
Dixie Ann had no way of knowing
she would never see him again.
(Camera cuts to a
medium close shot of a still very attractive 37-year-old ETIENNE sitting
at a kitchen table. Outside a window in the background we can see part
of a coconut palm.)
ETIENNE
Mother never knew where he
had been shipped. She only knew his letters stopped arriving, and her letters
were returned.
HOST (o.s.)
But Dixie Ann would find
out the truth from a neighbor's boy who, by one of those strange quirks
of fate, just happened to be on the same ship, the USS Joseph Hewes, and
who returned from the war a paraplegic.
(Camera fades to
a book showing photos of army personnel, and a small shot of Buzz Nordlander
with his name next to it.)
The transport ship Joseph
Hewes had been torpedoed and sunk off the coast of North Africa and Brian
Costello had gone down with it.
(Stock footage of
a ship during World War II exploding at sea.)
The following year an 8-pound
daughter was born whom Dixie Ann named Etienne after a character in a novel
she had been reading.
(Shot of ACTRESS
in hospital bed being handed an adorable baby.)
In 1951, Dixie Ann and Etienne
moved to Los Angeles.
(Shot of ACTRESS
and CHILD dressed in clothes of the 50s leaving the same porch we saw before.)
And in 1959, at the age of
41, Dixie Ann died suddenly and tragically.
(Shot of OLDER CHILD,
school books in hand, entering a living room of an apartment much nicer
than the actual one and seeing Actress, who hasn't changed a bit, lying
on the floor.)
HOST
After that tragedy, Etienne
went through a very difficult period of alcohol and drug abuse. But now
she is happily married and has two children and lives with her husband
Bud in a lovely suburb of Daytona Beach, Florida.
(Cut back to Etienne at the table.)
ETIENNE
I grew up with my mother
constantly talking about my father. I knew I had been born out of wedlock,
which in those days was a mortal sin. But it never bothered me for one
moment. And even though Mummy did not have so much as a photograph of him,
his memory became as vivid as though I had actually known him.
(Cut back to Host.)
HOST
When this program aired eight
weeks ago, Bureau of Missing Persons had contacted the National
Archives, which found this photograph of Seaman First Class Brian Costello.
(Cut to photo in
book of a fellow in a sailor suit who bears no resemblance whatever to
Etienne's father. He is considerably older, heavier and not handsome at
all.)
No sooner had we gone off
the air than a call came through from a lady in Joplin, Missouri. She said
her name was Florence Popke, and the man Etienne Costello was searching
for was her father, too.
(Cut to very heavy
older LADY in the living room of a modest midwestern house.)
FLORENCE
I watch Bureau of Missing
Persons all the time, but I never dreamed one day it would concern
me. Brian Costello had been married to my mother Evelyn before he joined
the Navy. I'm the oldest of three sisters and three brothers. My mother
died in 1975 and, of course, had no idea my father had had an affair before
he shipped overseas. But, after I adjusted to it, I think it's the most
romantic thing I ever heard.
(Cut back to Host.)
HOST
Last week Etienne finally
met five of her six half-brothers and sisters.
(Overhead shot of
a taxi pulling up to a small suburban house in Joplin. Outside the door
are the LADY and TWO equally heavy women and one heavy MAN and one somewhat
slimmer. ETIENNE gets out. FLORENCE opens her arms and hugs her tightly.)
FLORENCE
I can't believe it!
(THEY both begin to cry.)
ETIENNE
I feel like I've found my
lost family at last!
FLORENCE
Come. This is Marge and June
and Frank and Carl. Sidney is coming later by car from Joliet.
(ALL THREE LADIES
take turns hugging her and crying. Then the TWO Men hug her, both on the
verge of tears.)
FLORENCE
You know who she looks just
like? Great Aunt Ella!
JUNE
I swear to goodness, she
does!
(As this is happening, the screen suddenly moves across the
stage and pivots so that we can only see a slight portion of it.
Then the curtains part and we are in Jolene's living room. We
see that SHE and VERNA are watching this on television. The room
has been consiederably redecorated, and though Jolene looks
surprisingly well-preserved for her age, Verna is now a frail old
lady. This is what we hear from the TV screen.)
JUNE
Carl, are you old enough
to remember Great Aunt Ella?
MARGE
How could Carl remember her?
He was only three when she died.
FRANK
I remember her.
(The music of "True
Romance" now builds to a romantic climax and drowns out the voices. VERNA
and JOLENE sit, watching all this, speechless, their mouths agape.)
CURTAIN SLOWLY DESCENDS
