Whirlwind of Her Fury
By
R. Earle Harris All rights reserved (c) 2015 (r dot earle dot harris at gmx dot com)
FADE IN:
arabic
Title Over:
On December 27, 1900, Carry Nation singlehandedly
destroyed the beautiful Hotel Carey Annex. It
was the finest bar west of the Mississippi,
catering only to the finest drunks. She took
a hatchet to it and her hatchetation was monumental.
So was Ms. Nation. This is her story.
FADE IN:
Full Screen: Picture of Carry Nation, all in black with axe in hand, in her sixties,
at the height of her fame.
CARRY (V.O.)
(A strong, old voice.)
This is how you remember me. In my
day, I was more famous than Amelia
Jenks Bloomer and her britches or
Mary Baker Eddy and her book. God
made me his voice of temperance and
I became a bulldog at the heels of
Jesus, barking at what he hated. But
if I was great, God formed that greatness
out of sinful clay, for in the beginning
I was a sinner - just like you.
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EXT. HOUSE - DAY
SUPER: 1853
Rural Kentucky. Southern plantation home. Downstairs, adults singing. Outside, children
playing.
SUPER: Our bulldog was a bad little puppy.
INT. HOUSE - DAY
Upstairs, sweet, seven-year-old CARRY Nation (nee Moore) rifling drawers for cash.
Carry's father GEORGE Moore can be heard below as he steps outside.
GEORGE (O.S.)
Come in, Carry. We're leaving. Where's
Carry?
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CHILD(O.S.)
GEORGE(O.S.)
Carry frantically puts all back in order and heads downstairs.
INT. HOUSE - DAY
Carry comes downstairs, as if just awakened from a nap. George waits below.
CARRY
GEORGE
Your mother's in the carriage, Carry.
Won't do to keep her waiting.
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CARRY
EXT. HOUSE - DAY
Carry's mother, THE QUEEN (who believed herself to be Queen Victoria) waits in the
carriage wearing a crown of crystal. Large carriage, plush crimson upholstery, matching
dapple grey mares. Coachman, high silk hat,black boy in mufti to open gates, liveried
outrider each side of the wagon. Up in front a large black man, Big Bill, in scarlet
hunting coat, blasts away on a hunting horn.
INT. CARRIAGE - DAY
George and Carry enter the carriage. Royal entourage heads for home.
THE QUEEN
GEORGE
THE QUEEN
It was all very well to visit with
the Buchanans. But I wished to see
the king of Belgium.
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GEORGE
We can't find him, my dear. He appears
to have moved.
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THE QUEEN
GEORGE
THE QUEEN
EXT. FARM - DAY
Three farmers in the field. Queen marches over and knights two of the farmers. She
crosses to the third and startles him. Seeing her sword, farmer defends himself,
knocking the queen on her backside. Queen shrieks with indignation.
INT. CARRIAGE - DAY
George leans out the window.
GEORGE
You'd best go get Queen Victoria,
Bill.
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EXT. FARM - DAY
Big Bill intervenes, saving the farmer from her wrath.
INT. CARRIAGE - DAY
The Queen is bundled back into the carriage.
GEORGE
You are frightening your subjects,
my dear.
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THE QUEEN
Treasonous! I'll strip him of his
estates.
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GEORGE
My dear, he'll only sue to have them
back at the next assizes.
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THE QUEEN
They ride in silence a moment to settle the Queen.
GEORGE
I was thinking, dear, that it's time
Carry moved into the house. She's
getting old to be always with the
slaves.
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CARRY
Oh, yes, papa. Please let me move
into the big house. I love Aunt Eliza,
but I'm so tired of sleeping with
Uncle Josh.
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THE QUEEN
Not until she's eight, George. And
see to Uncle Josh.
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EXT. FARM - DAY
Modest house for the Moores, barns, workshops, beautiful gardens, and the longhouse
for the slaves divided up into small rooms. Each slave family crowds gets one room.
CARRY (V.O.)
I was eight years old before I ever
ate at the white table in my father's
home. I lived with Aunt Eliza and
Uncle Josh in the longhouse until
I was twelve.
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EXT. FARM - DAY
The Moore's arrive home. The Queen is still angry.
GEORGE
Come in, dear, and we'll settle your
nerves with a julep.
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The Queen relents.
THE QUEEN
Upon the Moores' going inside, Carry runs off to the longhouse.
INT. LONGHOUSE - DAY
AUNT LIZA welcomes Carry.
CARRY
I'm back, Aunt Liza. We visited the
Buchanans. Their house was full of
money.
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Carry gives Eliza the afternoon's proceeds.
AUNT ELIZA
Oh child, this will be Sunday dinner.
Every longhouse needs a girl child
like you.
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Eliza and Carry hug.
CARRY
I'll be in the graveyard.
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AUNT ELIZA
Come back by dark, child. Don't you
miss dinner.
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CARRY
AUNT ELIZA
EXT. GRAVEYARD - DAY
Graves above ground, carved stone lids. Carry is stretched prone on one, tracing
the letters with her finger.
CARRY (V.O.)
My mother's gardens were beautiful.
And I would often go down to the river
to swim. But I loved our peaceful
graveyard most of all. It was there
I first felt close to God. And it
was there I would hope and hope to
speak with the angels.
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EXT. LONGHOUSE - NIGHT
Around dusk. UNLCE JOSH is a manic, little bantam-weight.
UNCLE JOSH
AUNT ELIZA
Carry appears, returning from the graveyard.
UNCLE JOSH
(To Carry. Feigning fright.)
Cal. Cal, come quick, girl. It's crowed
at me. It's crowed!
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Josh takes Carry to the chicken coop and points out a tasty-looking hen.
UNCLE JOSH (CONT'D)
That's the one, Cal. When a hen crows
like a boy-rooster it means death
is a-coming to someone who hears it.
You've got to kill it, Cal. Don't
let the Devil any closer.
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Carry looks as if she is almost, but not quite, onto Josh's scam.
INT. LONGHOUSE - NIGHT
Carry and Josh enter with a dead chicken.
UNCLE JOSH
Liza, Liza, the Devil is weaker tonight.
Look here, a crowing hen.
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AUNT ELIZA
Well, let me have it. The child looks
famished.
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INT. INT LONGHOUSE - NIGHT
Happy shot of chicken dinner.
INT. LONGHOUSE - NIGHT
Large common room, fireplace. The slaves are relaxing and laughing and scaring themselves
with stories of Hell and its torments. They are speaking a pigeon of English and
their native African. {[}Improvise.{]} Aunt Eliza, in a plain chair, shivering delightedly
to the stories, holds a sleeping Carry.
CARRY (V.O.)
I owe much to the colored people and
never want to live where there are
none of the Negro race. It was their
spiritual outlook that I inherited,
that made me expect God's presence
in my life.
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EXT. CHURCH - DAY
Rural Kentucky church.
INT. CHURCH - DAY
Pews for whites, pews for slaves. Black choir and the black pews singing
Let Us Sit Down and Chat With the Angels, standing and swaying
in song. Carry, twelve years old, is pale. All this energy is moving her
with it and frightening her. She holds herself down in her chair by her
dress to keep from rising.
AUNT ELIZA
Are you all right, child?
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Carry is clearly not alright.
CARRY
AUNT ELIZA
Eliza leads her to the doors at the rear, smiling at the Moores in reassurance.
EXT. CHURCH - DAY
Beautiful rural setting along the river. Storm rolling in on the far horizon.
AUNT ELIZA
The spirit is moving you, Carry. Don't
be afraid of nothing. You just listen
to it. All right, child?
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CARRY
AUNT ELIZA
Carry shakes her head no.
AUNT ELIZA (CONT'D)
Then you just go over there and rest
in the shade. I'm going back in with
the spirit.
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Carry goes over to the trees. Then, seeing no one around, she walks off into the
woods.
EXT. GRAVEYARD - DAY
Evening is coming on. Carry lies on a grave, sobbing.
CARRY
Oh God, Oh God... Oh, please...
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Angels, the kind a young, nineteenth-century, girl would see, appear around her.
CARRY (CONT'D)
Oh. I have waited for you so long.
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EXT. WOODS - NIGHT
Dark, summer thunderstorm. A bustling of men, black and white, with torches and
lanterns.
MAN
Here! Over here with that wagon!
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OTHER MAN
Tell Moore! We found his daughter!
She's alive!
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One carries Carry, wrapped in a big coat. They lift her into a wagon and hold up
a tarp to keep the rain off.
INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
Bedroom in the Moore house. The family, black and white, are gathered by the bed,
all at a respectful distance from the queen in her crystal crown.
DOCTOR
GEORGE
INT. HALL - NIGHT
Doctor is taking George aside as they leave Carry's room.
DOCTOR
It's not good, George. She has consumption
of the bowels.
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GEORGE
DOCTOR
It means months of bedrest. And prayer.
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INT. HOUSE - DAY
Same beautiful farm house.
SUPER: 1861
Through a window we see Carry still bed-ridden.
SUPER: The bulldog has met her Maker.
INT. HOUSE - DAY
Carry, now fifteen, lies in her bed. The windows are open and sunlight streams in.
CARRY (V.O.)
I was more than months in bed. I was
years in bed. God had sent his angels
unto me and now he was chastising
me. To my father, I repented of my
sins, confessing my years of stealing.
But fearing my father's anger, I made
no mention of giving my ill-gotten
gains to Aunt Eliza and Uncle Josh.
Soon, God sent his minister to me,
to show me the way.
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INT. HOUSE - DAY
Screenplay truncated at 500 lines.
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