Tony Greene

Pilot Episode: "Who Doesn't Know Tony Greene?"

CAST OF CHARACTERS

TONY GREENE, a salesman at City Circuits, Inc., 59
MARGARET (MAGGIE) ALBERGHETTI, Tony's wife, 49
ALAN GREENE, Tony's son from his first marriage, 30's
KACY NOON, MAGGIE'S daughter from her first marriage, late 20'S
BRUCE BARROW, Owner of Downtown Electric, late 50's
MARLENE GREENE, Tony's first wife, late 50's
LARRY APT, Tony's boss at City Circuits, late 40's
JIMMY ROSELLI, Owner of "Jimmy's Warehouse for House Wares," late 40's
JACK DUNPHY, Salesman, 50's

"WHO DOESN'T KNOW TONY GREENE?"

EXT. -- A ROAD IN SOUTHERN MIAMI, FLORIDA -- EARLY MORNING.
We know it is early morning because this is Florida and the time just after sunset is usually just short of spectacular. We follow a car moving along a highway, alongside the Atlantic Ocean. Music, light, jazzy and bouncy, plays throughout the following montage. The car turns down a street, pulls up in front of a large storefront, "BIG DIPPER LIGHTING, INC." TONY GREENE, at 59, as light-footed as the music playing behind him, bounds out of the car, and enters the store.

INT. -- INSIDE BIG DIPPER, INC. -- SAME TIME
TONY enters the store, which we now see is a large appliance warehouse. WALTER, the middle-aged manager of the store, greets him.

WALTER	Hey, Tony!
TONY	Walter! THEY shake hands. WANDA, an attractive saleswoman of uncertain age, walks by the men.
WANDA	Hey, Tone!
TONY	Hello, Wanda!
WANDA	Those lamps you sold us are really movin', Tone! Tony watches her as she passes him.
TONY	You're movin' pretty well yourself, Wanda!
WANDA	Oh, Tony! Always sellin'! Always got a line! INT. -- STOCKROOM OF ANOTHER STORE -- ABOUT TWO HOURS LATER TONY and the owner of the store are taking inventory of boxes on shelves. The owner has a clipboard in his hand. TONY appears to be explaining something to him. The two men seem to be in a basement and it is very hot. TONY has to pause, wipe his forehead. The man hands TONY a handkerchief. EXT. -- ROAD IN SOUTHERN FLORIDA -- EARLY AFTERNOON We are watching Tony's car again. This time it stops in front of a large construction site. TONY gets out of his car. INT -- CONSTRUCTION SITE -- ABOUT A HALF HOUR LATER TONY is wearing a hard hat, holding blueprint in his hand, pointing our various locations at the site. There is a group of men around him, who nod in agreement. TOM addresses Tony.
TOM	What do you recommend for the suites on the upper floor?
TONY	Tom, you go with track lighting all around, you can't go wrong. INT -- RATHER SWANKY RESTAURANT -- ABOUT AN HOUR LATER The restaurant has a decidedly male atmosphere. Black and white sports pictures line the walls, short-skirted, flirty waitresses walk up and down the aisles bearing glasses of drinks. It is not a large restaurant, and at the few tables we see, there are mostly middle-aged men in gray suits. We join TONY, TOM and the other men of the previous scene, at a table, enjoying after-meal drinks and cigars. TONY is presiding: he seems to be finishing a story of some kind, all the men are listening intently. So she says if I ever catch you so much as lookin' at another woman again, you can forget about coming home to this one! His table erupts in laughter. EXT. -- BACK ON THE ROAD IN SOUTHERN FLA. -- LATE AFTERNOON. We follow the car driving along a highway, not far from the original highway near the sea we saw in the opening shot. Now shadows follow the car as it is late in the day. EXT. -- JIMMY'S WAREHOUSE FOR HOUSEWARES," AN APPLIANCE FACTORY IN SOUTHERN FLORIDA -- LATER AFTERNOON The car pulls up in front of the store. TONY gets out the car. The music starts to fade and the following is scrolled across the screen: BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA, 1999 INT. -- INSIDE THE APPLIANCE FACTORY -- A HALF HOUR LATER TONY is leaning against a counter in the store. JIMMY ROSELLI, the owner of the store, is on the other side. TONY consults a catalogue on the counter. Oh, but this'd be a fan-tastic piece for your store, Jimmy. It's a cute little number -- and it can fill a room the size of Yankee Stadium.
JIMMY	I don't know.
TONY	Look: You go ahead and order the lamps, I'll throw in the track lights at cost. At cost, Jimmy.
JIMMY	Yeah?
TONY	Jimmy, I don't make a profit if I sell my merchandise at cost. It costs me.
JIMMY	Then why --?
TONY	'Cause how long've we been doin' business, Jimmy?
JIMMY	But how can you afford it?
TONY	Jimmy, let me worry about what I can and cannot afford.
JIMMY	No, I mean, you don't even know who you're gonna be workin' for next year. How can you guys go around makin' deals? Weren't you just bought out? We look at Tony, who has a vague look of astonishment on his face. What -- you haven't heard about it? The buy-out? EXT. "CITY CIRCUITS," A MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES, -- SOUTHERN FLORIDA -- IT IS THE FOLLOWING MORNING INT. LARRY DELGADO'S OFFICE CITY CIRCUITS -- ABOUT TEN MINUTES LATER TONY is speaking to LARRY, his boss. Larry is seated behind his desk.
TONY	When was someone gonna tell me!
JIMMY	Don't you check your e-mail? We mail all you guys the latest news.
TONY	Do you know how foolish -- how uninformed -- I looked? I'm a salesman, Larry. I'm in the field. It has to at least look like I know what the hell's goin' on out there.
LARRY	But Tony, I keep tellin' you, you have to check your E-mail. I got guys who are shavin' -- the laptops on top of the sink.
TONY	(Derisive.) E-mail. When I started in this business, we used phones, and back then you couldn't carry them in your pocket. You know what the problem is, Jimmy --?
LARRY	Larry.
TONY	We've made it easier to reach people, but harder to communicate.
LARRY	Now, he's a philosopher.
TONY	If it's perceived there's a lack of communication in the company pipeline --
LARRY	Is that what you're worried about, Tone -- a "lack of communication"?
TONY	Well, you tell me.
LARRY	Alright. Let me tell you what I'm worried about, Tony: I'm worried about my fucking job. I'm worried once the buy-out comes, when new people start runnin' things --
TONY	Geez. Never thought of that. Sorry, Lar.
LARRY	What're you sorry to me for? You'd go before I would.
TONY	Me?
LARRY	I'm management. You're front line staff. Not even staff -- you're on fucking commission.
TONY	I've been here 40 years!
LARRY	Not here you haven't.
TONY	I mean -- around. I've been around -- 40 years.
LARRY	Well, Tone, as God is my witness, I sure hope you're around for another 40. But the rest of us, we got one bag packed and sittin' by the door. EXT. SOUTH FLORIDA ROAD -- LATE AFTERNOON A car drives along the road. We follow it. EXT. OUTSIDE THE FOUNTAIN BLUE HOTEL, MIAMI -- SAME DAY, A FEW MOMENTS LATER. The car parks. TONY gets out of the car and goes through the front doors. INT. DOORS TO SMALL BANQUET HALL -- A FEW MOMENTS LATER We hear the music inside the room coming through the doors: "Isn't It Romantic?". Tony opens doors. The music gets louder. INT. BANQUET HALL -- AFTER TONY OPENS DOORS The room is filled with about ten banquet tables, about 50 people. We can't make out exactly what is happening, but we can see, in clear view, in big block letters, a banner hanging that says: "WELCOME COSMOTOLOGISTS!" We follow Tony as he enters the room. MARGARET ALBERGHETTI GREENE, Tony's wife, waves to him. She has been drinking. Tony goes to her, drink in hand. She is at a table.
MARGARET	Where have you been? I thought you'd never get here!
TONY	What'd I miss?
MARGARET	Just the entire competition.
TONY	Competition? INT. BANQUET ROOM -- SAME TIME Tony sees a man finishing applying make-up to a young model, who gets up and removes a smock. INT. BANQUET ROOM, AT MARGARET'S TABLE -- SAME TIME I thought this was a convention not a fucking beauty pageant.
MARGARET	What is with you?
TONY	Skip it. HE picks up his glass, which is on the table and takes a drink.
MARGARET	You skip it. She takes his drink out of his hand and downs it. She appears to be a pro, just knocking another glass back. INT. BANQUET ROOM, AT THE DAIS ON STAGE -- SAME TIME A man takes the microphone on stage.
EMCEE	Ladies and gentlemen, we ask you to take your assigned seats as we begin this year's "On the Face Of It!" beauty awards. INT. BANQUET ROOM, MARGARET'S TABLE -- SAME TIME
TONY	Maggie, I can't stay for this.
MARGARET	Tony, I'm nominated in three categories.
TONY	You're kidding. There's categories?
MARGARET	Please don't demean what I do. You're not the only person whose life matters. A man, JACK DUNPHY, goes up to Tony.
JACK	Tony?
TONY	Jack?
JACK	How the hell are you?
TONY	Jack Dunphy, from Lombard Street, South Philadelphia!
JACK	What in God's name is Tony Greene doing at a convention for cosmetologists?
TONY	I could ask you the same question!
JACK	I'm a buyer now, Tone. Ladies make-up, auxiliary products, hosiery.
TONY	Oh. Lucrative. Dave Rosen, back in '78, offered me a chance to go in with him on a line of Ladies' Outerwear, and I turned him down. Last I heard, he'd just purchased his second condominium on this little strip of beach near Tampa Bay. This is my wife, Maggie, Jack.
MARGARET	How do you do?
TONY	Maggie's the reason I'm here, Jack.
JACK	I'm sure Maggie's the reason you go most places, Ton.
MARGARET	Aren't you sweet!
TONY	Ever the charmer!
JACK	Oh, I couldn't hold a candle to your husband, Maggie. He was pure gold. He could work a room like a Las Vegas lounge act.
TONY	Still working, Jack. Still working. THEY laugh.
JACK	Good seeing you, Tone. Nice meeting you, Maggie. Jack exits.
MARGARET	He from the "old days"?
JACK	Getting older by the minute. We are looking at Tony as he grows reflective. INT. BANQUET ROOM -- SAME TIME The emcee on the stage takes the microphone.
EMCEE	And now ladies and gentlemen, The Third Annual Broward County Beauty Awards for achievement in Facial Make-up Application Techniques and Cosmological Enhancement! INT. BANQUET ROOM, MARGARET'S TABLE -- SAME TIME We are back studying Tony's face as he is now lost in a memory. INT. THE LIVINGROOM OF A SMALL ROW HOUSE IN NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA -- FLASHBACK TO 30 YEARS AGO On the screen, the following is written: NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA, 1969. TONY, 30 years younger, opens door to living room.
TONY	Hey! Anybody home! A small boy runs down some stairs and greets his father.
ALAN	Hey! Hey! Dad!
TONY	Hey, you little schmuck! -- your mother around? MARLENE GREENE enters the livingroom. INT. BANQUET ROOM, MARGARET'S TABLE -- STILL DURING THE CONVENTION
TONY	(to himself) Marlene! INT. THE LIVINGROOM OF THE HOUSE IN NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA -- FLASHBACK TO 30 YEARS AGO
MARLENE	(to TONY) Tony, where've you been? You were supposed to call.
TONY	(to ALAN) Now, Alan, you stay here. I want you to hear this, too.
MARLENE	Is there anything wrong?
TONY	Wrong? I was in a meeting with Hank Mishgan for two hours and he wouldn't let me out of his sight.
MARLENE	Tony, you're scaring me!
TONY	Well, then, you scare much too easily. He wouldn't let me go 'cause there was so much to discuss with his new Northeastern Regional Salesman Of The Year!
MARLENE	Tony!
ALAN	Hey, schmuck -- you bring me anything?
MARLENE	Alan, don't call your father a schmuck. Tony winks at Alan.
TONY	Alan, I have brought you the world -- the world! He takes out a model airplane and presents it to Alan.
ALAN	Wow!
TONY	Your father's flying, my boy! Up and down the great Northeast coast of this country. ALAN runs out of picture, excited with his airplane.
MARLENE	(Different, serious tone.) Tony -- what were you doing out so late tonight?
TONY	A few of the upper brass boys wanted to go out and have a drink, so I said --
MARLENE	You said you have a wife and kid?
TONY	(Chuckles.) No no -- that wouldn't have worked, seein' how they all have wives and kids. SHE looks at him, intently.
MARLENE	Tony: this has gotta stop. The late nights -- the social-izin'. I don't care how many awards you win.

End of sample from Tony Greene

Return to Sid Ross homepage