The Bijou

THE BIJOU by Michael Sloane REVISED DRAFT October 14, 1997 "... the magic is all around you. All the time.Everywhere. In every thing. The trick... is to see it." IN BLACK... ... the insistent, persistent, eight-to-the-bar beat of BOOGIE- WOOGIE.Hot, exciting, pulsating rhythm, ramping up. THEN... ... in the blackness, falling s-l-o-w-l-y, tumbling g-e-n-t-l-y, a picture-postcard: "GREETINGS FROM HOLLYWOOD!" Then another... and another, each one dropping through frame, a gentle rain. In these old postcards, Hollywood is a dream town where movie stars glide out of big cars to press their hands-and- footprints in the wet cement. Another postcard: "I'M MEETING THE STARS AT HOLLYWOOD & VINE!" In this postcard myth, you'd toddle down to Hollywood and Vine, bump into Bogie and Bacall, and join them for dinner at the Brown Derby.Or Ciro's.Or the Coconut Grove... More postcards.Pictures of movie theaters, but not the ones that you and I know today.These are palaces.Temples. Grauman's Chinese and Egyptian.The Carthay Circle.The Paramount, the Million Dollar.From a time when moviegoing was a complete experience, not a trip to the local mall.The ushers were friendly and helpful and wore gold brocaded jackets and guided you to your seat.The popcorn was hot and fresh and buttered with real butter, not 30-weight motor oil. CUT TO: THE PILE OF POSTCARDS a wild jumble.Then, one LAST POSTCARD drops lazily on top of the pile.