Daily Dialogue — July 19, 2012

A special Daily Dialogue tracking much of a subplot involving a notable side character, courtesy of Teddy Pasternak:

Here’s one of my favorite side characters of all time: Erich von Stroheim as Max von Mayerling in Sunset Boulevard (1950) written by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder & D.M. Marshman Jr. His introduction in the script:

Max von Mayerling stands there. He is sixty, and
all in black, except for immaculate white cotton
gloves, shirt, high, stiff collar and a white bow
tie. His coat is shiny black alpaca, his trousers
ledger-atriped. He is semi-paralyzed. The left
side of his mouth is pulled down, and he leans on a
rubber-ferruled stick.

Most of his dialogue is very short and Gillis and the audience have no reason to suspect anything other than him being just Norma’s servant. As the story progresses we learn that there’s more to Max than meets the eye:

GILLIS
What is it, Max? Want to wash
the car, or are you doing a little
spying in your off hours?

MAX
You must be very careful as you
cross the patio. Madame may be
watching.

GILLIS
How about my going up the kitchen
stairs and undressing in the dark.
Will that do it?

MAX
I’m not inquiring where Mr.
Gillis goes every night…

GILLIS
Why don’t you? I’m writing a
script and I’m dying to finish
it, no matter what.

MAX
It’s just that I’m very worried
about Madame.

GILLIS
Sure you are. And we’re not help-
ing her any, feeding her lies and
more lies. Getting herself ready
for a picture … What happens when
she finds out?

MAX
She never will. That is my job.
It has been for a long time. You
must understand I discovered her
when she was eighteen. I made her
a star. I cannot let her be destroyed.

GILLIS
You made her a star?

MAX
I directed all her early pictures.
There were three young directors
who showed promise in those days:
D.W. Grirrith, C.B. deMille, and
Max von Mayerling.

GILLIS
And she’s turned you into a
servant.

MAX
It was I who asked to come back,
humiliating as it may seem. I
could have gone on with my career,
only I found everything unendur-
able arter she divorced me. You
see, I was her first husband.

Max serves as Norma’s protector and is the one that’s basically directing the show at the Desmond house playing along with Norma’s delusion of her making a comeback. Even as Gillis exposes the truth, Max is adamant to keep up the fantasy:

http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=GsFz

GILLIS
Wake up, Norma. You’d be killing
yourself to an empty house. The
audience left twenty years ago.
Now face it.

During the preceding. Max has entered. He stands
listening, paralyzed.

NORMA
That’s a lie! They still want me!

GILLIS
No, they don’t.

NORMA
What about the studio?
What about De Mille?

GILLIS
He was trying to spare your feelings.
The studio wanted to rent your car.

NORMA
Wanted what?

GILLIS
De Mille didn’t have the heart
to tell you. None of us has had
the heart.

NORMA
That’s a lie! They want me, they
want me! I get letters every day!

GILLIS
You tell her, Max. Come on, do
her that favor. Tell her there
isn’t going to be any picture –
there aren’t any fan letters,
except the ones you write yourself.

NORMA
That isn’t true! Max?

MAX
Madame is the greatest star of
them all… I will take Mr.
Gillis’ bags.

He leaves.

NORMA
You heard him. I’m a star!

In the last scene Max literally becomes Norma’s director again as he guides her down the stairs, pretending that the news cameras and police are actually part of a movie set:

http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=PShzL

NORMA
(From the top of the
stairs)
What is the scene? Where am I?

MAX
This is the staircase of the palace.

NORMA
Oh, yes, yes. They’re below,
waiting for the Princess …
I’m ready.

MAX
All right.
(To cameramen)
Camera!
(To Norma)
Action!

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is side characters suggested by Teddy Pasternak who also suggested Sunset Blvd..

Trivia: Eugene Walter was a prolific Hollywood screenwriter of the 1920s and 1930s. 1851 Ivar Street was the address of the Alto Nido Apartments, where Walter lived, sometimes worked, and, ultimately died in 1941. As Sunset Blvd. opens, William Holden’s character Joe Gillis describes himself as a Hollywood screenwriter “living in an apartment house above Ivar Street.” As the camera cranes up into the apartment, we can see it’s the Alto Nido. The apartments, and the “Alto Nido” sign out front that is glimpsed briefly in the film, are still there today. 

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