EAST OF SAMOA Act II Scene6

Scene Six

We are back in Marcel's Place in Papeete, and everything is exactly the way it was at the opening. Most of the same SERVICEMEN and PROSTITUTES, including DRUNKEN BUM and FLO, are there. The stage is alive with activity.

DRUNKEN BUM Papeete, Tahiti. Seedy Papeete, Tahiti. Paradise, they calls it. I'll tell you about this stinkin' paradise. A man could go mad…stark raving mad.

(YOUNG LIEUTENANT enters. HE is very much like Lt. Pearsoll, except wide-eyed and eager. He plumps himself down at the bar.)

MARCEL What'll it be, kid?

LIEUTENANT

Make it a sloe gin fizz.

(FLO sidles up to him.)

FLO

Hello, big boy. You're new here, aintcha?

LIEUTENANT

Ship just docked this morning. Is it true Mandalay Molly is back?

FLO

Yeah. So what?

LIEUTENANT

I heard about her clear over in Surabaya.

FLO

She ain't much, let me tell ya. I got everything she got…only more of it.

FRENCH SAILOR

Yes, but it is distributed differently.

(LIEUTENANT laughs. THREE AMERICAN TOURISTS enter, TWO WOMEN and A MAN, all middle-aged. MARCEL greets them effusively.)

MARCEL Welcome to Marcel's Place.

FIRST FEMALE TOURIST

Is it true that…

MARCEL

Yes. Mandalay Molly is back---doing all the old routines and driving men to their destruction.

SECOND FEMALE TOURIST

Oh, Annabelle, it's too, too exciting!

(MARCEL leads them to a table just as ANNIE MAY enters through the front door, still in her Oriental makeup, with SAM in tow. MARCEL hurries to them.)

MARCEL Annie May! It is you!

ANNIE MAY

That's right, Mistuh Marcel. And dis here's mah husband, Samoan Sam.

MARCEL

But Molly, she said that you were…

ANNIE MAY

I knows, Mistuh Marcel. But they done puts Sam and me in dis here cell togedder and den forgets about us when Miz Molly done escape. Den all hell done broke loose…and soon da allies, dey done invaded da compound and done killed da War Lord and done saved Sammy an' me.

MARCEL

Molly will be so delighted to see you. She's had to do all her own dressing since she returned.

ANNIE MAY

Po' Miz Molly. But dat's not da onny surprise we gots.

(SHE nudges Sam.)

MARCEL

But why you wear the yellow color still, Annie May?

ANNIE MAY

Shucks, fo' variety, Mistuh Marcel. One day I'se black and one day I'se yeller. Sam likes it dat way.

SAM

Ah sho' does!

(MARCEL leads them to a table, hands them menus. Then the inevitable drum roll starts and the spotlight illuminates the beaded curtains upstairs.)

FIRST FEMALE TOURIST Marcus! She's coming!

MALE TOURIST

So am I, Annabelle. So am I.

(Music begins. Then in the same way we first saw her, MOLLY appears inch by inch from behind the beads. The audience goes wild. VARIOUS SERVICEMEN station themselves on the staircase, and MOLLY descends doing exactly the same things as she did before.)

MOLLY                                         Hello, soldier,
                                        Hello, sailor,
                                        Got a cigarette?
                                        I like your silhouette.
                                        I'd love to see it wet.

Hello, sailor,
Hello, soldier,
I have never met
One I could not handle yet.
The bigger they come,
The harder they get.
(Into the club and unbeknownst to Molly comes JOHNNY. HE is bandaged from head to toe and on crutches, but there is enough of his face showing to see it is our hero.) In the room upstairs
There's a bed of brass,
And the ceiling bears
One large looking glass.
There's an antique clock there
That doesn't keep time;
There's a door to lock there
And a wall to climb.
(MOLLY suddenly sees him, stops in disbelief. SHE runs to him and falls into his arms. The orchestra continues playing.)

MOLLY Oh, Johnny. My prayers were answered.

(ALL eyes are on them. ANNIE MAY nudges Sam; SAM nudges Marcel; FIRST FEMALE TOURIST nudges MALE TOURIST who nudges SECOND FEMALE TOURIST. Everyone is nudging everyone else, as "The Room Upstairs" builds to a crescendo.)

CURTAIN