Murder Mystery: The Red Carpet Murders

I’ve written a number of murder mysteries for performance by our drama group. Here are the opening scenes of The Red Carpet Murders. For the full text and performance permissions, please contact me via the ‘Contact’ page.

The Red Carpet Murders

A Murder-mystery Evening Script

by

Marsali Taylor

SCRIPT

Copyright Marsali Taylor, 2013
CHARACTERS:

Deeann Dixon, a bit part actress who was in every film going as third woman in the crowd, so lots of time to hang around and knew all the gossip – particularly who young starlet’s father was – which is why she had to die. Costume:  Evening dress suitable to older woman, embroidered shawl.  Tights and heeled shoes.  No jewellery and dab of blood on her ear.

Kaye Kearney, a well loved actress who has recently married her leading man/ director.  early 40s, and known for her honesty and forthright espousing of causes.  Costume:  Earth colours:  greens, blues, a touch of hippy feel.

Hart Lester, An older man who’s seen it all.  Costume:  For this occasion, dark trousers and a white shirt, but with lengths of cable around his neck, and various gadgets stuffed in his pockets.  He may also carry a toolkit. 

Stella Sparkes, his daughter.  19, very pretty and emotional, completely devoid of acting talent – and just starry-eyed about Hollywood.  Naive, and so thrilled to have her first chance to be at the Oscar evening.   Costume:  A showy dress, low-fronted or backless, in white or gold. High, strappy sandals or gladiator sandals.  Her jewellery is a sponsorship deal.

Wilson Clive, late 40s, was hugely successful character actor, now turned to direction.  A huge presence – think Orson Welles or Brando.  Costume: Suit with rose or carnation buttonhole. 

Belle Roberts:  late 40s, Wilson’s former wife, after a seemingly amicable divorce.  Successful businesswoman / artist in her own right – her costumes are up for a couple of awards, including for her husband’s last production, a Civil War epic.  Costume:  flamboyant, woman on her own.  Bright red or orange, large jewellery. 

Lieutenant Phyllis Marlowe the detective, from the Hollywood CID.  She’s critical of actors, as befits someone who grew up in the business.  For her, her work is something real to contrast with the make-believe of the movies.  Laid-back style that suddenly turns into menacing accusation.  Costume:  suit, shirt, ‘Columbo’ style raincoat and soft hat, shoes.

SET  Basic:  A central table; 3 chairs.

Scene 1:  set to the side, near the coats, and set with ‘ladies cloakroom’ props:  a mirror, light, tissues.

Scene 2:  the Oscar table:  table cloth and accessories as the guest tables.

Scene 3 and 4:  as scene 2, with the podium where Kaye is to make her speech added.  Props:  bottle of water and glass, microphone.

Scene 5:  In Wilson’s house.  The table is now set as a desk, with chair behind.   Props: papers, held down by an Oscar, a pen, pencil, several letters.

Scene 1: 

In the cloakroom of the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood – the venue for tonight’s Oscars.  Kaye Kearney is alone in front of the mirror, touching up her make-up.  She seems nervous.  She goes to the coats, takes her stole, looks at herself in the mirror,  hangs it back up.  She jumps as Belle Roberts enters. 

Belle:  Keep your wig on, honey.  It’s only me.

Kaye:  Oh, Belle! 

Belle: Surely you ain’t got nerves, with all your acting experience.

Kaye:  It’s a big night.

Belle:  You up for an award after all, then?  I thought -

Kaye:  I’m presenting ‘Best Actress’.

Belle:  The cameras of the world’ll be on you.  Suppose you can’t get the envelope open?

Kaye:  Opening an envelope isn’t hard.

Belle:  Or worse, drop the statuette, just as you’re handing it over?

Kaye:  Thanks for the encouragement, Belle Roberts.  I’ve done it before, remember.  Besides, it’s gonna be your night.  Your costumes are up for, three gongs, is it?

Belle:  Well, you know -

Kaye:  You deserve it.  The dresses for that last movie were fabulous – I felt like Vivien Leigh.  southern belle accent  Why Mr Rhett Butler!   Listen, you coming to the demonstration tomorrow? 

Belle:  Demonstration?

Kaye:  You know, asking for fair wages and better conditions for workers in clothing industries.

Belle:  Oh.  Yeah.  Well –

Kaye:  Your support would mean a lot.  Directors book you for their costumes even before they book the stars.

Belle:  Honey, I ain’t as big as that.

Kaye:  Better still, how about letting us film some of your workers?  Show how you can achieve such fantastic results without sacrificing the people involved.

Belle: Leave it with me.  I’ll see how I might could set it up.

Kaye:  You being with us would show Hollywood cares.

Belle:  Tinseltown, care about its workers?  Yeah, there’s no place like home. [Wizard of Oz]

Kaye:  We’re gonna make them care.  pause – change of subject  I’m just so glad Stella’s up for ‘Best Actress’.

Belle:  Stella – that the girl you been encouraging?

Kaye: Suzie’s girl – you remember Suzie?  Way back, when we started as kids, you and me and Deeann and Suzie, in that TV version of Jane Eyre. I was young Jane, and you were the girl who died.

Belle:  Honey, I done aimed to forget it.  For one, it was longer ago than I care to admit, and for two, we were awful.  Thank heaven it bombed.

Kaye:  Remember us watching Joan Crawfurd movies, and practising sweeping through doors the way she did.

Belle:  I remember Suzie.  Movie-struck.

Kaye:  She never lost the stars in her eyes.

Belle:  What happened to her?

Kaye:  Oh – she died.

Belle:  The stuff that dreams are made of.  Kaye blank.  Drugs, honey.  [The Maltese Falcon]

Kaye:  Stars. 

Belle:  Whaddya mean?

Kaye:  She hadda do this rain scene.  Got drenched, but the shooting was behind schedule, so insteada going home for a hot bath, she came back on set.  Turned into a cold, then pneumonia, and before we realised she was in hospital.  Dying.

Belle  (shocked into real feeling):  Lord, that’s awful.  Who was the director who kept her working like that?

Kaye:  Wilson.

A long silence.

Belle:  Wilson.

Kaye:  He didn’t realise!

Belle:  Naturally not.

Kaye:  You know what this business is like. 

Belle:  None better.

Kaye:  Anyroad, I promised Suzie I’d do my best for her girl, so I persuaded Wilson to give Stella this part. 

Belle:  Kaye, she can’t act.  She just played herself.  The innocent heroine, all starry-eyed and love-struck.

Kaye:  That was what Wilson wanted.

Belle:  So how are you and Wilson getting along?  According to the tabloids, everything’s rosy.

Kaye:  For once the tabloids are right.

Belle:  I thought that at first.  There we were, sharing breakfast.  Me passing him the crispies.  Him passing me the milk.  Until I realised he’d spent the night with someone else.

Kaye:  He was younger then.  Now he’s decided what really matters.

Belle:  Tigers don’t change their stripes.

Kaye:  This tiger has.  And we’re so happy – listen, it’s not official yet, but – six months time, we’re gonna be a real family.

Belle:  But ... he was always dead against kids.

Kaye:  He’s as thrilled as I am.  We’re both over the moon.

Belle:  Good luck to you.

Kaye:  I gotta go.  See ya.

A paus, then Stella comes in from the far door.  She asks a couple of tables where the powder room is.

Belle:  Tigers changing their stripes.  I wanted kids – and he wouldn’t hear of it.  That’s why I - Slams her hand on the table.  She is close to tears – recovers, re-touching make up as Stella and Kaye meet in centre of room.

Kaye:  Stella, darling!

Stella:  Auntie Kaye!  You look fabulous.

Kaye:  So do you.  Go on, do me a twirl.  Stella twirls 

Stella: Oh, Auntie Kaye, I can’t even start to thank you!  I could nevera afforded a dress like this.

Kaye:  You know my rule – if you don’t pay for every bead, you know it was made by children or illegal immigrants working long hours in a lightless factory.

Stella:  Now, now, that’s your speech for tomorrow.

Kaye:  I’ll save it.

Stella:  Tonight – I’m walking here, I’m walking here, at the Oscar night.  [Midnight Cowboy]

Kaye:  With your name in that Best Actress envelope.

Stella:  I don’t dare believe that.

Kaye:  Your Mom woulda been so proud.

Stella:  I wish she coulda been here.

Kaye:  She’s watchin you.  Believe it.  She’s bursting with pride.  I’ll be back.  [Terminator]

Kaye exits, leaving Stella alone.  Belle has mastered herself and comes out of the powder room area. 

Belle:  Hi, honey. 

Stella:  Hiya ... it’s Miss Roberts, ain’t it?  You did all the costumes for Wilson’s other movie, the one Auntie Kaye was in.  I was just so envious of her, getting to dress up like Scarlett o Hara.  And the way it was hand-embroidered round the hem, and the beads on the bodice – it was just beautiful.

Belle:  I’d like to say ‘Your turn’ll come’, but frankly, honey, I don’t see your career lasting that long, even with Kaye Kearney behind you.

Belle exits, leaving Stella looking as if she’d been slapped.  Unsteadily, she goes into the powder room area.  She looks at herself in the mirror, adds lipstick, goes uncertainly to the coats, lifts her shawl, tries it on, looks, decides against it and puts it back – at which point the body falls out at her.  Stella reacts – silently – rushes back out and straight into Hart Lester.

Hart:  Stella!  Hey, Stella, what’s up?                       [A Streetcar named Desire]

Stella:  Oh, Hart, it’s you!  In there – in there – she’s dead.

Hart:  What?

Stella:  I touched the coats and this woman fell out.  She’s dead!

Enter Wilson Clive. 

Stella:  She’s dead, I tell you!

Wilson:  Keep your voices down. 

Stella:  Her eyes were all bulging and her tongue was sticking out –

Hart:  Calm down, honey, calm down.

Wilson:  If this is a joke it isn’t funny.

Hart:  Listen, Stella, you leave it to us. 

Wilson:  Go and join Kaye at our table. 

Hart:  You can do it, baby. Remember:  You’re going out a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star.    [42nd Street]

Stella takes a deep breath and exits.

Hart (grimly) So let’s look.  They move forward to the body.  She’s dead all right.  Strangled with her own scarf.

Wilson:  We’re not going to announce this now.

Hart:  You gonna cover it up, right?

Wilson:  For the sake of everyone who’s here tonight.  This is the Oscars.

Hart (to nearest table):  Sarcasm’s wasted on actors.

Wilson:  The cameras of the world are pointing at us.  How can we go out there and say there’s been a murder, here, on Hollywood’s golden night?

Hart:  We could just call the police, Mr Clive.

Wilson:  There’d be disruption.  Questioning.

Hart:  Yeah, like there’s been murder done.  Awful, interrupting the Oscars just for that.

Wilson:  The show must go on.

Hart:  Of course, Mr Clive.  The show’s gotta go on.

Wilson:  Between us we can move the body.  What’s in this cupboard?

Hart:  You’re serious.  You’re really serious.

Wilson:  Hell, this is Hollywood.  We’ll put her back in exactly the same position before shooting begins – I mean, before we call the police.

Hart (looking more closely at the body)  It’s Deeann.  Deeann Dixon.

Wilson:  Who?

Hart:  You wouldn’t have heard of her, Mr Clive, sir.  She had a bit part in everything – the hat-check girl, the cigar seller, the third woman on the bus –

Wilson:  Oh, a Z-lister. 

Hart:  She knew everyone.  She knew everything.  ‘It’s all I got to do,’ she told me once.  ‘Sit here and wait for my scene, and watch what’s going on.’

Wilson:  I don’t recognise the face.

Hart: You wouldn’t.  touches her She ain’t been dead long.  Fifteen minutes, tops.  She’s still warm.

Wilson:  I’ll take her legs.  Check there’s nobody in the corridor.

Hart:  We can’t do this.

Wilson:  What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.  Do you want to keep working in this town? 

Hart knows he’s beaten.  He checks the ‘corridor’ to the door. 

Hart:  I was talking to her earlier.   There was someone she was trying to remember –

Wilson (sharply)  What?

Hart:  Someone she’d seen, who reminded her of someone –

Wilson: We’ll talk about that later.  Let’s get her out of here.  Now.

They drag / carry the body out through the doors and into the corridor.

End of Scene 1.

The first course is served by catering staff.

Scene 2:

The Oscar table:  table cloth and accessories as the guest tables. 

Wilson and Kaye enter, arm in arm, smiling at the guests as they go through them.  They sit down at the table; instantly the mood changes.

Wilson:  You’ll want to drink water, again.

Kaye:  Wine’s bad for the baby.

Wilson:  Is it safe to have the bottle on the table?

Kaye:  Now you’re being childish.

Wilson:  You’re being paranoid.  Can’t do this, can’t do that, it might hurt the baby.  When’s life going to get back to normal?

Kaye (laughing; she’s looking forward to it):  Not for a long time.  There’s teething, and the terrible twos, and pre-teen, and the teenage years themselves ...

Wilson: Whose idea was it to have this baby?

Kaye:  Ours, darling.  Definitely ours.

Wilson:  I don’t remember it like that.

Kaye:  Honey, don’t worry about money tonight.

They become aware of the other guests staring and start smiling.

Enter Belle Roberts and Stella Sparkes.  Stella looks at Belle hesitantly. 

Belle:  Cat got your tongue, canary?

Stella:  Have I done something to offend you?

Belle (mocking):  Have you done something to offend me?  Not me personally, honey.  I just don’t like the source of the money you’re taking.

Stella: I don’t understand.

Belle: Be interesting to see how long your Auntie Kaye’ll take to ask where her husband’s money comes from.

Stella:  Wilson’s money?

Belle:  She got another husband?

Stella:  I don’t believe Wilson’s dishonest!  Why, he’s famous.  He’s the biggest Hollywood’s got.

Belle:  Got a big lifestyle to maintain too.  The Hollywood town house, the Beverley Hills mansion, the New York flat, the yacht ...

Stella:  He earns loads.

Belle:  Well, let’s take you through it slowly.  You ain’t telling me the necklace is yours?

Stella:  Of course not.  It’s a sponsorship deal.

Belle:  Arranged by Wilson?

Stella:  There’s nothing wrong with that.  Lots of actresses do it.

Belle:  So they do, honey.  And when you were in the movie, what did you drink?

Stella: Are you trying to suggest I was drunk on set?

Belle:  When your character sat down in a cafe, what did she order?

Stella:  SevenUp.

Belle:  SevenUp.  What did she eat?

Stella:  There was one scene in a Starbucks –  I had a guacamole brown bread -

Belle:   And now young women all over Umerica are eating it.  That carrier bag you had in one scene.  Your purse, with the logo.  Product placement, honey. 

Stella:  Wilson’s getting paid for that?

Belle:  The big firms approach him, he makes the suggestions to the producers, the producers take the cash, and dear Wilson gets a generous back-hander. 

Stella:  Why are you telling me this?

Belle:  I don’t like seeing children being led astray. 

Stella:  I’m not a child.

Belle:  You keep on, it’ll break ya heart. 

Stella:  Wilson says I’m gonna be good.

Belle:  Wilson believes in flattering his actors, on set.  Off set, he tells the truth to his friends.  (Imitation of Wilson)  Oh God, fifteen takes.  Fifteen, for three lines.

Stella:  Auntie Kaye says I’ve got talent.

Belle:  And how much time do you think Auntie Kaye will have for you in future, once the baby comes along?  She won’t need a substitute child then. 

Stella:  We’re friends!

Belle:  Here’s my advice, honey:  accept your best marriage offer, and get out of it.

Stella:  Nobody’s asked me to marry them.

Belle:  You get this Oscar, they will.

Stella: You’re mean and spiteful, and I don’t believe a word of it.  I’m not talking to you any more. 

Stella exits to corridor door; Hart lounges over.

Hart:  Not quite in character, Belle.  Whatya up to?

Belle:  This game ain’t for innocents.  You cain’t see clear with stars in your eyes.

Hart:  Like Candy, f’r instance.

Belle:  Candy?

Hart:  Wilson’s second wife.  You ain’t forgotten her?

Belle:  I ain’t forgotten.

Hart:  Trusted everyone – even his bitchy ex-wife. 

Belle:  Whatd’ya want to mention Candy for?

Hart:  She was pregnant when she died in that car crash – you knew that?

Belle:  Where d’you hear that?

Hart:  Deeann.  You seen anyone here tonight who reminds you of someone?

Belle:  Reminds me of who?

Hart:  Oh, I dunno.  Candy, maybe?

Belle (sharply):  I don’t know what you’re talking about.

She sweeps out through lower door; as she does, Stella comes back in.  Hart lounges over to her.

Hart (to Stella) Don’t you let that bitch upset you.  This is your big night.

Stella:  I’m not going to let her spoil it.

Hart:  She was always spiteful.  I remember when she and Kaye and your mother were on their first picture, Belle made your Mom cry by saying she had a zit on her chin.  We got back on her.  I passed your Mom and Kaye a handful of drawing pins, and they pinned Belle’s dress to the seat, so when she stood up there was a ripping sound and the camera got an eyeful of her bloomers.

Stella laughs.

Hart:  You have a good night now.  I’ve bet the lighting boys your name’s in that envelope.

End of Scene 2.  The actors can now mingle with the guests, answering questions, while first course plates are removed.