Harry and Denise

CAST (LEADING ROLES) (In Order Of Appearance)

HARRY, 40, a novelist married to Denise
JACK, late thirties, an actor
DENISE, thirties, the head of the legal dept. for a large children's health clinic
SUSAN, late thirties, a former actress, now in graduate school, married to Jack
MARCIE, 19, Denise's cousin
LISA, late thirties, Denise's boss
GEORGE, mid forties, Harry's agent
JOHN, mid to late thirties, men's support group leader
KATRINA, early thirties, poet

FADE IN

EXT. -- LONG ISLAND CITY WATERFRONT -- EVE.
A car drives up near the waterfront, which overlooks the looming towers of Manhattan. Long Island City is still somewhat of an industrial town, and the car drives near a once-great factory with four round smokestacks shooting skyward.

INT. -- INSIDE CAR AT WATERFRONT -- SAME TIME.
HARRY is inside car. Song is playing on radio: Beatles' "My Love Don't Give Me Presents." Harry bops along to the tune.

EXT. -- WATERFRONT -- SAME TIME.
We follow car turning down street, music continues. HARRY pulls up in front of apartment building.

INT. -- HARRY AND DENISE'S APT. -- MOMENTS LATER.
HARRY enters livingroom of apartment. We see a TV and can hear, somewhat muffled, a report on President Clinton and his troubles. HARRY goes over to a surface in the room, near the TV, and looks through mail envelopes. Voice on TV gets louder, HARRY glances at TV and he looks through mail. We see pictures flashed on screen: Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, etc. We can hear a woman's (DENISE's) voice, on the phone.

DENISE	(O.S.) No, no, don't think anything of it. Please, Aunt Dolly... DENISE enters from bedroom, with cordless phone. (Continuing, on phone.) It's no problem, don't you worry. Really it's fine...
HARRY	Hey. What's wrong?
DENISE	(On phone.) Really. It's the least we can do. I'll talk to Harry.
HARRY	Talk to Harry about what?
DENISE	Okay, send my love. And don't worry, everything's gonna be fine. Ok, bye bye. SHE throws a kiss into the phone and hangs up.
DENISE	(to HARRY) There's been an accident. My Aunt Delores and Uncle Paul.
HARRY	Paul and Dolly?
DENISE	A car accident. Paul was driving. Dolly was crocheting.
HARRY	Crocheting?
DENISE	Neither of them saw it coming.
HARRY	There was a crocheting accident?
DENISE	A stupid kid on a motorcycle. Paul has a broken leg. Dolly suffered some bruises on her hip. They're being treated for trauma. They should be released in a couple weeks and then they're going to stay with my mother and father in Century Village.
HARRY	Well…!
DENISE	Everyone's trying to figure out what to do with the kids. So I offered to let Marcie come up to the city and stay with us. I mean, she's always wanted to see the city, she wants to be a writer.
HARRY	Marcie? Isn't she the little mousy 13-year-old with braces?
DENISE	No, Marcie's the pretty 19-year-old one who's a sophomore at Miami University.
HARRY	(Suddenly anxious.) Oh. EXT. -- FLORIDA BEACH -- AFTERNOON HARRY has a flashback to a beach in Fla. Harry can be seen reading a magazine, lying on a towel. DENISE sits in a chair next to him. MARCIE walks by, in a one piece black bathing suit: she is very alluring, and Harry looks long and hard at her. INT. -- HARRY AND DENISE'S APARTMENT -- EVE. We are back in the apartment in the scene preceeding the flashback.
HARRY	Maybe it'd be better if the little mousy one came instead.
DENISE	Harry, Jack and Susan'll be here any minute. INT. -- HARRY AND SUSAN'S APARTMENT -- LATER THAT EVENING. HARRY and DENISE, and JACK and SUSAN, are seated at a table -- wine glasses can be seen, the main dinner plates have been cleared away.
SUSAN	So, I've resigned myself to living with a husband who's never around, whose career is the most important thing to him, and who thinks about himself maybe 95 percent of the time and about his marriage the remaining five percent.
JACK	(to SUSAN) Hey, I'm an actor, I have to be on the road a little bit. You knew this going in.
SUSAN	Jack, you came to New York to be an actor because this is where the theater's supposed to be, and the first thing you do when you get here is leave town.
JACK	New York is the place to be when you're commercially successful.
SUSAN	Or when your wife lives here, or maybe that never occurred to you.
JACK	Harry, how old is this wine? It's having an odd effect on my wife.
HARRY	(With a giddy edge, perhaps from the wine.) I like it. I like when people feel free enough to speak their minds.
DENISE	enters scene carrying container of bread. This coming from a man who rides around the neighborhood on two flat tires 'cause he's scared of the woman who owns the bicycle shop.
HARRY	That's different. I don't live with the Bike lady. I'm talking about being able to tell your partner exactly how you're feeling about everything. I think that's essential to the longevity of any relationship.
SUSAN	Oh, and don't you think the Clintons have had a few heart to hearts in their time. A lot of good it's done them.
HARRY	Hey, the man got to be President.
SUSAN	Oh, so stand by your man?
JACK	Look: no one knows what goes on behind closed doors. They seem like a great couple, intellectually anyway. And I think that's what Harry's talking about.
HARRY	Exactly. Take what happened to us just this afternoon.
DENISE	What happened to us, Harry?
HARRY	With your Aunt Dolly and Uncle Paul.
DENISE	(Edgy.) I'm not following, dear.
HARRY	Maybe 'cause I haven't told you everything I'm feeling.
DENISE	Maybe I should get the coffee.
JACK	What's with Aunt Dolly and Uncle Paul?
HARRY	They're sending us their 19-year-old daughter for the rest of the summer.
JACK	Sending you?
SUSAN	Why?
DENISE	It's a long story and they're fine, but they're recuperating in the hospital and they need to do something with Marcie.
JACK	What does a 19-year-old need with a babysitter?
HARRY	Exactly: I don't think it's such a good idea.
SUSAN	Why? 'Cause she's pretty?
HARRY	(Taken aback; defensive.) No, that's not it. I mean -- yeah she's pretty, but...alright, ok, I -- this is what I'm talking about -- Yeah, I'm a little worried about having a nineteen year old college coed in the house, showering in our only bathroom, trying on string bikinis in the guest room...
DENISE	You're drunk.
HARRY	(to DENISE) I haven't told you this part...
DENISE	(To HARRY). Harry, she's your cousin. She's family.
HARRY	Technically, no. She's not. I mean, not my family. Because I married in. Plus, you know, Marcie's adopted. Remember, 'cause of your aunt's diabetes, she couldn't have any more children. Legally, I'm covered.
SUSAN	What, you mean in case you want to have a scandalous affair with your 19-year-old cousin?
HARRY	See, she's not my 19-year-old cousin, that's the--
JACK	Well, Denise, you're a lawyer, is he covered?
DENISE	From head to toe, but I won't tell you what he's covered in.
JACK	Didn't you just start that job?
DENISE	I don't know. I don't know if I belong.
HARRY	They're lucky to have you.
DENISE	It's this like, teeming, corporate environment, and my first assignment is to handle -- well not handle, but you know, represent --
HARRY	They're, like, firing everybody --
DENISE	It doesn't look good, they hire me and then four weeks later they start laying off half the junior staff. So, I don't know, we're involved in, these collective bargaining negotiations.
SUSAN	Sounds fascinating.
DENISE	No, it's -- it's just, you know...
HARRY	She's scared -- but she's a genius, so she should do fine... INT -- HARRY AND DENISE'S BEDROOM -- LATE AT NIGHT It's later that night. HARRY is sitting on edge of the bed, in shorts. The TV is on: we can see it -- an advertisement for Baywatch, women running in bikinis, etc. HARRY is watching TV, and we watch him watching it. We can hear the water running from a sink, off stage. We hear DENISE'S voice, offstage, as she is in the bathroom.
DENISE	(O.S.) I just didn't get a good feeling from them tonight.
HARRY	Feelings can be deceptive. We watch again HARRY watching the TV show and then he looks up to see that DENISE has entered: but it isn't quite DENISE, but one of the BAYWATCH models, in a bikini, brushing her teeth, and speaking to him.
DENISE	Yeah, but not behavior. I know what I was watching. HARRY looks back to TV and takes remote to it and switches channel.
HARRY	So you don't think they're gonna make it? HE looks back at DENISE and the image has been replaced with the person of his wife. On the TV: More faint, muffled intoning about the Clinton scandal.
DENISE	It just seemed like tonight they were really going at it.
HARRY	I don't know, it's not like we haven't heard this before.
DENISE	Sort of seemed like Susan was really going at you. SHE goes back into bathroom. We hear sound of running water.
HARRY	Well, she's frustrated. You know, Jack's not around, he's always touring. She's probably worried about chorus girls and whatnot, so... DENISE exits bathroom, enters bedroom.
DENISE	So....should I be worried?
HARRY	What --?
DENISE	I mean, did you really mean all that about my cousin Marcie?
HARRY	Hey, I was the host. I was the host of our little dinner party. I have an obligation to entertain the troops.
DENISE	I didn't find you so entertaining.
HARRY	Listen to me: I am true blue -- when it comes to you -- I'm such a true blue, I'm like integrity blue. DENISE gets into bed. HARRY shuts TV, joins her.
DENISE	I don't know. I know he tries to give her what she needs. Remember when she wanted to spend six months in the South of France without him, studying architecture?
HARRY	Yeah, he let her go.
DENISE	That's nice. He was willing to give her that space.
HARRY	No, that's not nice. If you ever came to me and said you wanted to go somewhere without me for six months, I'd kill you -- or I'd have a heart attack, whichever came first.
DENISE	You wouldn't let me go?
HARRY	What am I gonna do without you for six months, where am I gonna go? HE kisses her.
DENISE	But I might need alone time and...
HARRY	You can be alone. You can be away from me. Just not away in the South of France. Kissing her, fondling. SHE starting to return his advances.
DENISE	Not for six months...?
HARRY	Six hours, maybe -- six minutes--
DENISE	Oh God, Harry, what am I gonna do with you?
HARRY	I don't know, but hit the lights and we can start exploring options.

End of sample from Harry and Denise

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