"(Birdsong)" "(Dustbin lid clatters outside)" "(Hoof-beats)" "# All my life I've been somebody" "# All fired up and not nobody" "# Shout it loud" "# Meet the crowd" "# This girl's going far" "# Blow, Joe, blow" "louis:" "I had no idea." "SARAH:" "That she was a little bit famous?" " Not to this extent, no." "We've spoken with Mr Luscombe and he says witnesses must have seen him on the train." "I definitely saw him at 1 1.30 that night at the lmperial." "# I'm going to be a star" "Jessie is dead." "Coffee?" "We need an idea, and very quickly." "Better than the last one, Stanley." "It will be." "(Sobs) Oh, Louis!" "Look at her." "How could this have happened?" "(Carla sobs)" "I hadn't seen her for three days." "I expect she thought I'd forgotten all about her." "We'll help with the funeral arrangements, of course, but the dear child must have some family somewhere." "They can't miss the press coverage." "It's going to be a huge story." "Why?" "Why can't they leave her alone now?" "It's not going to be just their version people read." "(Clatter of typewriters)" "What are you doing up there, Stanley?" "What does it look like I'm doing?" " I always think better up here." " I don't know why." "It's bloody freezing." "(Clattering continues)" "And what are you writing, Stanley?" "You're not going to like this, Eric, but we've got to do a special edition." "Get the real story out there, how much Jessie had already achieved," " not let it be blotted out by what happened." " Well..." "No!" "No!" "We are not going to wait until the next edition." "We cannot allow ourselves to be beaten by the competition." "I'll go to Mr Wax if I have to." "I'll bloody make him." "Stanley, I've spoken to Mr Wax." "He's agreed." "You have?" " You thought of it too?" " Yes." " It's not just a three-page supplement." " It's going to be 20 pages, with a lot of pictures." "It will be a 32-page edition." "That is what Mr Wax has agreed to fund." "(Bell chimes)" "No, no, there will be absolutely no admittance to members of the press." "(Typewriters clatter)" "Look at this." "You know what, Sarah?" "We've got space for a lot more images." "Why not grab some of the behind-the-scenes shots you've taken of the band?" "In fact, bring us everything you've got." " Everything I've got?" " Yes." "Get it now." "We've got a chance to do something different with your pictures, something nobody else will have." "Be careful." "There are already one or two people in the street keeping vigil." "# My head up high" "# I came to town" "# And learned to love a little" "# You showed me how" "# To play the game" "# That I succeeded in" "# Now I can dream" "# About as high as I can fall" "# I'm just on top of the world" "# Lord, lead me on" "# Lord, lead me on" "# Take me by the hand" "# Lord, lead me on" "# Show me the way ahead" "# Lead me on" "# Make my fear go away" "# Lead me on" "# Lord, lead me on" "Mr Masterson has arranged for the reception to be right here, through the trees." "So we won't have to be bothered with the press." "Louis..." "This is Edith, Jessie's aunt." " Delighted to meet you." " Very pleased to meet you too." "I had no idea, no idea at all, what Jessie did, singing with the band and everything." "I mean, I don't read the newspapers or listen to the wireless." "We don't have a wireless anyway." "And her mother would have been so proud, you know." "Oh, I've got to thank this gentleman for being so generous." "Sorry." "It's been so good of you to do all this." "A little reminder that there's another world out there." "(Low conversation)" "We're going where prying eyes can't follow." "The police may well start to make their presence felt again, Louis, if they haven't solved this case soon." "They'll get all our statements one more time, you mark my words." "Yes, but I think they're very close to making an arrest, in fact." "This is the way, everybody, down this little path here." "There's a surprise waiting for us beyond the trees." "(Clinking of glasses)" " Ah, Stanley, I need to congratulate you." " On what?" "On that special edition of the magazine." "It was rather remarkable." "Well, it was one edition that had to be serious, wasn't it?" "This is my mother." "This is Lady Cremone." "Oh, your ladyship, how lovely to meet you." " I was hoping we would be introduced." " So happy to meet you." "My son never stops talking about you." "No, no, he does." "Every time I see him he mentions you." "You're quite his favourite person." "Parents, they embarrass you every time, don't they?" "He's always very interested in what you're going to say, what your opinion will be of the next issue of the magazine." "He asks every time, "Do you think she'll like it, Mum? "" "What a beautiful place to hold a wake." "But I do hope my brother doesn't feel the need to make a speech." "I fear he might break down completely in the middle of it." "This may be the last time we see each other, your ladyship." "Goodness." "No." "I still have my apartment at the hotel." "Do you remember?" "The Bertram family are coming to town." " Owners of the lmperial." " Mm-hm." "A murder in their hotel, it's something they can't tolerate." "Well, they can hardly blame you, Mr Schlesinger." "Mr Masterson, er, this is my mother." " Mrs Mitchell." " How do you do?" "I'm going to say something extremely obvious to your son, Mrs Mitchell." "And what's that, then?" "I'm going to say that, when something finishes, not always but frequently, something else begins." "I'm sure that's true." "Oh, yes." "I expect your son may wonder what I mean by that." "And what do you mean?" "Well, why don't we make an appointment, Stanley, you and I, and figure out what I mean?" "(Clinking)" "I just want to say something." "Nobody be alarmed, I'm not making a speech at all." "But I just want to say... ..the flowers, some of these flowers, were brought here specially by Mr Masterson." "I know they look like they live here all the time, but they don't." "And I just want to thank him and say what an appropriate gesture I think that was because Jessie's life was such a short life, so full of colour, so vivid." "And it brought such joy into my life and into many of our lives here today." "And I just want to pay tribute." "LADY CREMONE:" "Oh." "It's probably not a good idea after all to hold a wake in a glasshouse." " We ought to get away from here." " Yes." "We could go to my house." "My father's gone away for a few days." "Just showing Mr Lester my latest photographs, Lucy." "If there are any callers, I don't want to be disturbed." "We leave them at the funeral, and here they are again." "That's right." "They're following you." "I haven't quite finished developing them all." "That is a spooky sight, certainly." "Yes." "This one looks rather hungry." "Quite a few of them look like they haven't had enough to eat." "How dedicated they were to Jessie already, after such a short time." "Exactly." "I think one of them attacked Jessie in the hotel." "One of these?" "Stanley thinks this too." "They wanted Jessie all to themselves." "People become so obsessed with their favourite performers, they want power over them, to own them." "Yes, but I never saw any of them inside the hotel, ever." "They could have got in." "I haven't told anybody what you've told me, I promise." "But it can't have been Julian." "I really believe it can't have been." "Well, I did see him that night inside the hotel." "There'll be an explanation for that." "There really will." "Anyway, we don't need to think about that now." "No, we don't." "(Moans)" "I love you, Louis." "(Doorbell)" " What's the matter?" " l..." "I don't think I've ever done this, being watched by myself before." "Miss Sarah!" "Miss Sarah!" " You're wanted." " lgnore it." "Miss Sarah!" "Miss Sarah!" "There's someone here for you, Miss Sarah!" "That girl!" "I told her!" "It's the police, Louis." "Ah, Mr Lester." "I wonder if you could help us with some identification." " ldentification?" " Yes." "We need to make an identification, and we believe that you, as a witness, could help us." " Are you willing to do that?" " Of course." "(Telephone rings)" " Hello, Harry." " Good afternoon, Mr Lester." "You saw Mr Luscombe in the hotel passage, when he maintains he was on the train to Paris." "I did, yes." "And how many feet away were you when you saw him?" "I don't know...60, 70 feet." "It would be at least that, wouldn't it?" "Turn round, if you could, Mr Lester." "Who was that at the end of the passage, Mr Lester?" "Can you tell me?" "Now, is it Mr Gunson, who you know?" "Can you tell me for sure that that is Mr Gunson?" "Or is it Sergeant Thomas, who you don't know?" "Or could that even be Mr Thornton from the lmperial Hotel, who was here just a short while ago?" "Which one is it, Mr Lester?" "MAN:" "Louis!" "This is nothing like it was." "There's more light in the hotel." "You can't tell me, can you?" "This is Mr Julian Luscombe's passport." "He gave it to us entirely voluntarily." "Please have a look." "It bears the correct stamp of the French passport control for the night train in question, and of course there is only one night train." "And then we have witnesses, Mr Leopold Fitzmaurice and Mr Horace Verney, both of whom saw Mr Luscombe in their first-class compartment and then saw him embark with them on the ferry." "Now, neither Mr Fitzmaurice nor Mr Verney are friends or acquaintances of Mr Luscombe, yet they identified him at once." "Apparently, he never stopped talking the whole journey." "Is it possible, Mr Lester, that it was someone else that you saw at the hotel that night?" "Someone else who called your name?" "(Driving rain outside)" "Is it possible that you can't be absolutely sure that you saw Mr Luscombe?" " If you're asking me if I'm absolutely sure." " I am." "Then I suppose it is possible that I'm not." "Thank you, Mr Lester." "That is extremely helpful." "(Driving rain)" "Why have you done that?" "Well, you taught me how to play, so it's all your fault." " You're better than you think." " (Laughs) Only sometimes." "All the wonderful battles we've had." "I used to want them never to finish." "Yes." "Sometimes they lasted for days." "We've saved our lives with games... ..especially with these mice and frogs, and I still need them." "Hello, Mummy." "How was your little holiday?" " Was it a success?" " No, not really." " The hotel was horrible." " Some guests you didn't like?" "There were some guests I couldn't abide, yes." "Nor could your father." "We had to move rooms, twice, in fact, to get far enough away from them." "There were some Jews in the hotel, Mummy?" "Is that what you mean?" "Unfortunately, yes." "The hotel seemed to be crawling with them." "You wouldn't really expect that in Cornwall, would you?" "How on earth did we come out of that person, darling?" "Don't you ever think that?" "How on earth are we a part of her?" "I think about it all the time." "Nearly every morning." "You won't leave me here alone with them." "Promise." "I'll never leave you, darling." "I have plans, of course, great plans at the moment." "Mr Masterson's been so encouraging." "But wherever I go, I will always come back." "And I've decided..." "I'm going to fill this house with Jews and Negroes." "Maybe we should do for Mummy's next birthday, in fact, although Jessie won't be able to sing for her now." "I know you're so upset about Jessie." "You can talk to me about it, darling, how much you miss her." "You can tell me all about it." "I know." "I know I can." "Come in, Mr Mitchell." "Come in." " I was wondering where you were." " I'm not late, am I?" "You've not been here before." "No, I haven't." " There's a lot to look at." " Everybody runs to gold when times get hard." "But I didn't get where I am now by doing the obvious, Mr Mitchell." " No, I'm sure you didn't." " Stanley..." " You don't mind if I call you Stanley, do you?" " Of course not, Mr Masterson." "You caused quite a rumpus at the German Embassy the other night, didn't you, Stanley?" "It was just a joke." "I thought a good one, as it happens." "I just wanted to give them one." "No, no, there's no need to explain." "A little mischief might well do them some good." "You probably don't know much about the business I'm in, do you, Stanley?" " It's more than one business, isn't it?" " That's correct, Stanley." "It's mainly real estate in the US." "A little bit of coal, of course." "A lot of oil." "In a depression like we're in now, there are certain things that people still want - food of course, soap, a little entertainment and news." "At the moment, I don't own any of those." "Except Julian's English cheese business, of course!" "Yes, except for that." "Now, I don't want you to say anything to what I'm about to put to you." "Not at all, whatever it is?" "That's correct." "I was very impressed by this edition of your magazine, Stanley." "I've just written to Mr Wax proposing that I buy Music Express off him." "I intend to find a new, larger premises for the magazine and to expand it greatly." "I am extremely interested in the possibilities of photo-journalism." "I don't think anybody's grasped its full potential." "I intend to make Music Express the foremost entertainment magazine in Europe." "I further intend to found a news magazine in the next year that will rival Time Magazine, and then overtake it." "I propose to make you editor-in-chief of Music Express Magazine." "That is, if you want to take it, Stanley." "No, don't say anything, anything at all." "I want you to consider this, silently, for the next few days." "Louis!" "Harry wants to see you." " What's it about?" " He will tell you." "A request has come up." "The Freemasons are holding their annual dinner for the new Worshipful Master in their rooms, and rather surprisingly - well, surprising to me - they've requested that you play at it." "The Masons?" "That'll be interesting." "I just wanted to check that you could manage it, to play at all, under the circumstances." "Yes." "We're going to keep on playing." "That's already been decided." " For the time being." " What does that mean?" "Until it's decided otherwise." "It's up to Mr Schlesinger who plays at this hotel." "At the moment it is." "(Object falls and rattles outside)" "Oh, no, not again!" "I don't believe it!" "I will not stand for it!" "Stop that at once!" "Right now!" "You!" "Get out of here!" " I'll have you all arrested!" " Run!" "I don't care how hungry you are, you can't steal food from here!" " Hurry!" " I'll have you all locked up!" "I cannot understand how people have so little pride, let themselves fall so low." " People have to eat." " Not out of my dustbins, they don't." "Oh, and by the way, Mr Lester, the police came round, said they wanted to take away Miss Taylor's sports car." " I said of course they could." " Why did they want that?" "They've got it into their heads they need to have a thorough look at it." "Mr Wax is selling the magazine?" "It hasn't happened yet, no." "To this American millionaire." "He's one of the world's richest men." "Why does he want our little magazine?" "He sees great possibilities - it will grow enormously." " And he's offered to make you captain, has he?" " Nothing's final." "I'm not supposed to be breathing a word to anyone, but I just thought you should know." "Thank you, Stanley, for not keeping it a total secret." "Maybe Mr Wax won't sell, after all." "At the right price, most people will sell anything." "Mr Masterson has great plans for the magazine." "He'll never give you any freedom, Stanley." "It will all change completely here." "I'm not so sure." "If he suggests things we don't like, we won't do them." "How?" "You won't be able to control what's happening, Stanley." "Um, excuse us for a moment, but I'm sure you won't mind the interruption." "Her ladyship just wanted to see in here." " Lavinia." " So this is your lair, Stanley." "I've only ever seen it from the outside." " It's usually a fraction tidier than this." " Is it?" " I always wondered what it would look like." " It may not look like this for much longer." "That sounds interesting." "Maybe your ladyship would like to see the collection of back copies we have." "They're in my office, if we would just return there." "I would love that." "I have, in fact, several bound copies of your magazine in my library." "Not many people can say that, I expect." "And you are on the cover of one of our editions, of course." "One of our very best covers, I always say." "(Chuckles)" "(Telephone rings)" "Good evening, gentlemen." "(Ringing continues)" "Have you ever seen the Bertram brothers before, Harry?" " I have not." " No." "They never ever come here." "They could stop me getting another job anywhere in the hotel business." "A few weeks ago, we were one of the most fashionable hotels in London, and now..." "I have a terrible feeling about this week, Harry." " Have they said anything to you?" " No." "Have they spoken to you, though, Harry?" "Just a few words, as I was showing them to their suite." "And what did they tell you?" "That a murder at this hotel is one of the worst things they could ever imagine happening." "Yes." "And unsolved too, of course." "So far, yes." "Every time I see them gather, I can't help being fascinated." "Me too." "There'll be a few dukes and marquesses down there." "Some minor royals perhaps." "Senior politicians of course." "All sorts of surprising people belong to the Central London Lodge." "Yes." "I thought now the band's playing at the dinner..." "Isn't that so unexpected?" "Oh, yes." " I'm quite jealous." "I'd love to be there." " (Chuckles)" "But now that's happening, I thought maybe I could do an article about the Masons in this hotel." "If you did, you'd never work again." "(Whispers) Of course, this may be the very last time they're here." "Because of the murder?" "I suppose we have to call it that now - the "murder"." "But, yes, they may be moving on, colonising another hotel." "I hear they've been scurrying around, looking at all sorts of basements." "But I've no idea who's arranged for the band to play for them tonight." "God knows what'll happen!" "You're looking surprisingly smart today." "I have an important dinner appointment, that's why." "In the new Atlantic Bar?" " That's right." " So do I." "(Lift bell)" "They've re-decorated all of this." "And what a lovely room!" "I collect beautiful rooms around London, Stanley." "I don't see why one shouldn't spend as much of one's life as possible in them." "Must join her ladyship." "Mustn't keep her waiting." "Lavinia, you look magnificent as always." "Thank you." "I must just join that wonderful young artist over there." "I'm hoping to help her get her first exhibition." "She's exquisitely talented." "Stanley..." "Louise." "Arthur has a new project, it seems, to go with all the others." " We have a great deal to talk about." " Yes, I know." " I hope I'm not too late." " No, sir." " Gang all here?" " Yes, they're all here, sir." "Thank you." "So, what do you know about Mr Masterson?" "What's he really like?" "He's one of the few people I've ever met who always seems to be ahead of events." "Ah, but can one trust him?" "Funnily enough, I think one can." "So you are involved in his acquisition of the magazine?" "I could be." "Of course, he doesn't need my money, but he needs somebody who lives here, who can be on the spot, while he travels the world." "So I'm going to be working for you?" "Is that such a terrible prospect?" "(Chuckles) I'm not even going to reply to that." "If all this happens, we will both be working for Mr Masterson ultimately, but, yes, you'll be working for me, in a way." "I knew for some reason this was going to happen." "I just..." "I just thought it might." "I don't know how that's possible, Stanley, because I didn't until yesterday." "Suddenly I realised the way I was living was absurd." "Can't be half a recluse." "Who's ever heard of that?" "Half a hermit." "Living like that was never going to bring my boys back." "And now I know I want to do something with the rest of my life." "Get involved, Stanley." "Get really involved." "Where's your singer?" "Carla." "She'll be coming." "Don't worry." "Are you usually down there with them, Harry, when they have their dinners?" " Yes, sometimes." " I thought they had their own people." "They do, but once or twice I've helped them out with their arrangements." "Of course, I've never been in the temple." "I've never see them in their robes." "Louis!" "There you are." "This is going to be so good." "Such fun." "You'll get your cue in just a moment." "Best tipper in the hotel." "A very generous man, Mr Masterson." "Well, I suppose he needs to be, doesn't he?" "Why does he need to be?" "If you smash up your hotel suite the way he does, you need to leave good tips." "I don't know what you mean." "Oh, come on, Harry, I saw his suite smashed up." "You must have got it cleared up." "You probably had to do that before." " I have no idea what you're talking about." " What are you so frightened of, Harry?" "You think I'm the one who should be frightened?" "Yes, I think you're extremely frightened." "What are you afraid of?" "You really think you're very clever, don't you?" "That you can strut around with your musicians and get away with anything." "You even think you're different from the other minstrel bands." "Well, let me tell you something." "This hotel will be destroyed by what you've done." "What I've done?" "Go on, tell me what I've done, Harry." "Ever since you've been here, I've seen it coming." "I knew it was going to lead to disaster." "Here I am." "I told you there was nothing to worry about." " And I'm early, aren't I?" " Come this way, please." "Perfect timing, Carla." "Remember I saw you with her." "I saw you with Jessie Taylor." "I saw you arguing the night she was attacked." "Everybody knows I had nothing to do with Jessie's death." "I was playing for the Prince of Wales." "And now I think the Masons are waiting for me." "The Worshipful Master will now take wine with his personal guests." "Now, don't worry." "I know it looks a little strange." "It's just like an ordinary meal, really." "They can be surprisingly jolly occasions." "Not much mumbo-jumbo, once we get eating." " Have they ever had a singer in here before?" " No, no, don't think so." "It was my idea to invite you, of course." "I don't know how it's going to go down." "We'll see." "Ah!" "This is my friend Leopold Fitzmaurice." "We joined the lodge on the same day." "He very much wanted to say hello to the band." " Didn't you, Leopold?" " I know you'll liven up our dinner no end." " Leopold Fitzmaurice?" " Yes, that's his name." "It's a grand name, isn't it?" "He was on the train with you, was he?" "The night train to Paris?" " Leopold and I are always on trains together." " Yes." "It's a pleasure meeting you." "So, yes, Leopold saw me on the train." "And Horace over there" " Horace Verney - always seems to be in my compartment." "Now I really must get back." "There's a first time for everything, and this is absolutely a first." "The Louis Lester Band will now give us their first number." "Where's the bloody music?" "(Laughter reverberates)" "Louis?" "Louis, what are you doing?" "The first number we're going to play is..." "MAN:" "Speak up." "This Girl's Going Far." "(Jazz band strikes up)" "# All my life I've been somebody" "# All fired up and not nobody" "# Shout it loud, meet the crowd" "# This girl's going far" "# Blow, Joe, blow" "# Let 'em know" "# I'm going to be a star" "Stop the music." "Pamela?" "What are you doing here so early?" "We're going on somewhere after." "If you'd like to join us, by the way, that would be delightful." " Have you not heard the news?" " What news?" "What's happened?" "Someone has tried to assassinate the American President." "What?" "Someone has tried to shoot Mr Roosevelt." "They're all worried how this is going to affect the market." "Do you think there'll be another crash, Walter?" "We need some more news." "We need some reliable news." "Ah, Louis." "What a massive pity this is." "I so wanted to see what they thought of the music." "(Wireless plays orchestral music)" " They're only playing music." " This is ridiculous." "An enormous story like this, they've got to have an extra news bulletin, surely." "No, instead they play Strauss waltzes, like they always seem to at this time of night." "Nothing can change that." "I don't think we're going to get any more news from the BBC tonight." "Maybe we could try another station from abroad." "(Wireless crackles and hisses)" " Useless." " We'll just have to wait for the newspapers." "(Telephone rings)" " Have you heard the news from the US?" " We have." "We're just trying to find out more." "I think I know where you can find out more." "I suggest you come with me." " To where?" " Oh, it's quite walkable." " Stanley." " Louis, how did it go with the Masons?" " Tell me about it some time." " I have to talk to you about something else." "Not now." "Haven't you heard the news from America?" "I heard they tried to kill the President." "Yes." "We don't know if he's badly injured or dying, even." "Mr Masterson is taking us somewhere to find out." "It's one of his mystery tours, like his picnics." "I can't lose him or I won't know where they've gone." "Why don't you come too?" "Seems we're the only ones mad enough to be out on a night like this." "Come on, Louis!" "Keep up." "We'll lose him." "So where are we going, Walter?" "Is this another party you haven't told anyone about?" "You're here too, darling." "Isn't that wonderful?" "How come she knows about this?" "Come inside." "Good evening, Sarah." "Sarah." "Do you know why we're here?" "No." "I got a telephone call from Mr Masterson just as I was going to bed." "He said I had to come here." "He had something to show me." "(Dance music plays)" "Where are we?" "Come on!" "Come in." "Come on, come on, come on, come in!" "What the hell is Eric doing here?" " What an incredible wireless." " It's fit for an emperor." "This set here should be able to get us any station in Europe." "Let's see what we have." " (Wireless crackles)" " That's Radio Luxembourg." "They at least have news right into the night." "(News broadcast in French)" "They're saying that the President-elect Mr Roosevelt is not injured, but the Mayor of Chicago has been shot, and his condition is very serious." "Several other people are shot." "(Broadcast continues in French)" " Good heavens!" " What?" "What is it?" "What are they saying?" "louis:" "They're talking about the murder in a London hotel." "The young coloured singer Jessie Taylor, who had sung for royalty." "They're saying the police are now following new leads." "I knew it'd be a huge story but didn't realise they'd be talking about it across Europe." " I didn't realise you speak French." " You don't know everything about him." "(Jessie on wireless) # And learned to love a little" "# You showed me how" "# To play the game" "# That I succeeded in" "# Now I can dream" "# About as high as I can fall" "# I'm just on top of the world" " I can't bear it!" "It's so sad to hear her voice." "It's too upsetting." "(Wireless off)" " What is this place anyway?" " Don't you know?" "This is going to be our new home, Stanley." "This is extraordinary." "This is our new office, this room here?" " Not just this room." " It's the whole building, Stanley." "The whole building?" "That can't be right." "When did you buy it, Mr Masterson?" "Oh, only the other day." "I bought the wireless first." "Then needed somewhere big enough to house it." "He approached me just today." "Could I be so kind, would I look at the new premises, and see if I approved?" "(Chuckles)" "What an office this is." " Even The Times would be jealous of this." " Oh, they would indeed." "(Whooping)" "There will, of course, be room for rather more staff and a large photographic department, where all your photographs will be, and all the other photographers who will be working with you." "Or I should say working for you." "The use of photography is the future." "It is the future, yes." "Is..." "Is that a job offer?" "Was that a job offer?" "I rather think it was." "This is so very exciting." "Wonderful." "I should choose a room in which I can have my office." "Perhaps I could have half of this room." "eric:" "Well, hang on, you're not having half of our room." "Maybe this would be an appropriate room." "Ah, yes." "Yes, this is your room, all right." "After all, it's the only one with a telephone." "It's the first regular job I've ever had in my life, Stanley." " With an office." " The proprietor's office." "Is it absurd me starting this sort of thing at my age?" "No, it's not absurd at all." "It's the obvious thing to do, in fact." "julian:" "Of course, I might wish to be part of this too, Walter." "We should forget about the silly cheese idea." " Julian, the plans are decided." " I will decide my own future, thank you." "I absolutely refuse to be told what to do." "I'm not a child, Walter!" "You have to stop treating me like one, or I'll go and work somewhere else." "What do you think, Louis?" "Isn't this so divine?" "We live in the age of the magazine, Mr Lester." "They have the power to influence many things." "Yes, I'm sure it will soon become the most talked about magazine in London." "In London?" "(Scoffs) Walter's not just interested in London." "Don't be silly, Louis." "How could he be interested in that?" "His plans are much greater." "Of course." "My mistake." "I'm sure he'll conquer the world with it." "After all, who's to stop him?" "Excuse me for a moment." "If I had a tape measure with me, I could start planning the layout of the office immediately." "But maybe I can make some rough estimates." " Here goes!" " Louis, I've got a new job." " At least I think I have." " I know." "I heard." "STANLEY:" "We can have a room each." " I need to talk to you." "You can have a department dedicated to electrical music." "Stanley, I think you should hear this too." "Julian, when you get to Manhattan, you won't have time to worry about anything." "You can take as much time as you want learning one thing, then move on, up a step, to the next thing, the next problem." " I'm sorry." "I didn't mean to interrupt." "julian:" "Darling, you're not interrupting." "What Walter was saying was not important at all, not in the slightest." "Just a little trip we might be taking." "It's very cold, isn't it?" "I think I might try to light a fire in one of these rooms." " What have you done?" " I told the police what I thought I'd seen." "You told the police you saw Julian in the hotel when he couldn't have been there." " When he was on a train to Paris." " He got his friends to lie for him." "That's ridiculous!" "You think all the passport controls are lying?" "But then what did you do?" "You changed your story!" " I didn't!" "I told them I couldn't be certain." " I wish you hadn't told them about Julian." "Don't you realise how stupid it was to change your story?" "What could have possessed you?" "The police will have wanted to include you as a suspect all along." "They can't." "I was playing at the airbase." "They cannot make me a suspect." "Why not?" "They can try to prove that you could have made it back in time." " Pamela." " I was just looking for somewhere to light a fire." "I think next door might be better." "There's a little coal there." "You changed your story when you realised that Julian couldn't have been there." " What do you think a jury will make of that?" " It won't come to a jury." "I'm sure it won't." "There won't be a trial." "I told you to be careful with the police." "I warned you that they would start again." "Well, you need a lawyer, and very quickly." " All right, I'll go straight back to the hotel now." " No, you won't." "Stay away from the hotel." "Trust me, Louis." "I know what I'm talking about." "The police may well come for you and you must be with a lawyer when they arrest you." "Arrest me?" "They can't arrest me." "There's no evidence." "He's right." "They can't arrest him." "We need to get you a lawyer." "Maybe Mr Masterson will help." "I'm not taking any help from him." "I promise you, Stanley, that's the last thing I'll do." "You need to stop thinking he's involved, and Julian too." "It'll only make things worse for you." "STANLEY:" "You can't say those things." "You can't." "You have to stop." " They're just through there, for Christ's sake!" " Maybe it's time they heard it." "Arthur will find Louis a lawyer." "He'll know somebody." "Yes, yes, of course." "Mr Donaldson." "Except he doesn't get up till midday." "(Birdsong)" "(Doorbell)" "Hello?" "Who are you?" "If you're selling something, you've got to go to the back entrance." "No, no, Violetta." "These are friends." "Welcome to you both." "This is Violetta, my niece." "Emily, her friend." "They're staying for a couple of days." " Nice surprise to see you both." " We did telephone." " Your housekeeper said..." " Said I was in bed." "Well, the day has only just begun, hasn't it?" "The two of you obviously don't worry about sleep." "Come in." "Come in." " We need your help, Arthur." " Of course." "Whatever I can do." "How quickly can you get me a lawyer?" "A lawyer?" "About 45 minutes." "No, I don't want to exaggerate." "Let's say 50." "So, Neville, how soon can you come?" "Yes." "I want you to see a friend of mine, Mr Louis Lester." "That's right." "He wants your advice rather urgently." "An hour?" "No, no, that's excellent." "If you can make it 50 minutes, that would be even better." "Right." " Neville's one of the best lawyers in London." " Thank you." "I appreciate it." "I have to meet my father at St Pancras." "He's coming back today." "His train's at 2.30, and he'll worry if I'm not there to meet him." "Of course, I haven't been home since last night, but maybe I can get Lucy to..." "No, no, you must go." " I'll be fine here." " You will be." "I'll make sure that nobody enters the house until Louis's had some time with his lawyer." "(Telephone rings)" "We have a warrant for the arrest of Mr Louis Lester on suspicion of murder." "Well, what are you telling me about it for?" "Arrest him." "He's not in his room." "He must have heard you coming, mustn't he?" "(Gramophone plays piano music)" "Those are all of my travels, I'm afraid." "Rather egotistical to have them all on display, I know." "It was a wonderful time, Louis." "Europe was a wonderful place." "You could go anywhere, anywhere you wished, without a passport, stroll across borders." "It was a heavenly time to be young before the war." "Yes, must have been." "You're always marvellously calm, Louis." "Not today." " I'm certainly not today." " Well, you've been up all night, my friend." "But I admire you so much, how you conduct yourself, if I'm allowed to say that." "How you don't allow yourself to be cowered." "No, I don't like to be cowered, Mr Donaldson." "And I refuse to panic now." "That's right." "No reason to panic." "But just realising that you're going to be accused of a crime... ..and a very serious crime, and probably there's nothing you can do to stop that happening, and somehow..." "the evidence is going to be adjusted, so it points straight at you." "Of course that's alarming, Louis, but the English police, they might not be as efficient as they claim to be, but they never wilfully hang the wrong man." "What are you doing with Mr Lester's cloak?" " It's all right." " Time for tea!" "It's not nearly time for tea." "But I've made some cakes." "Mm, marvellous-looking cakes, you two." "They look absolutely irresistible." "There are three each." "Oh, I forgot about him." "I'm sure there'll be plenty for all of us." "Better take a seat." "I think we'll be eating these cakes, whether we like it or not, for some time." "Certainly, until Neville gets here." "Mrs Courtney can make us all some tea." "I see no reason why we shouldn't have two or three teas today." "It's not against the law, is it, girls?" "Leave the knives alone, Violetta." "Mrs Courtney can cut the bread, and maybe she'll find some of that delicious damson jam that she keeps hidden." " Oh, yes, I know about that." " (Kettle whistles)" "(Whistles)" "(Steam train whistles)" "PAMELA:" "He's arranged another train for us." "And a jolly big picnic too." "Isn't that good?" "Except this time it's just you he wants to see, Louis." "SARAH:" "I just need to meet my father." "(Steam train chugs)" "It's better up here." "# It's inviting, it's enticing" "# The Dead of Night Express" "She wants to go for a spin." "# Getting closer on the midnight run" "# My heart is a-pounding and a-pumping and a-thumping" "# By the light of a torch I'm reading" "# Of my runaway train stampeding" "I think this is the place." "# Devil of a stoker at the furnace fire" "# My night-time dreams and desire" "# It's inviting..." " Hello?" " (Rattles handle)" "Anybody there?" "Hello." "Could you please open this door?" "Could you please open this door?" "(Doorbell)" "Police." "I think you know why we're here." "They took the knives." "(Strains)" "Ow!" "Ow!" "(Louis groans)" "He's there!" "He's over there!" "He's here!" "He's here!" "Come quick!" " Stanley!" " Oh, hello." "You look beautiful." "I'm surprised you noticed." "But, then, this is such a rare thing." " What do you mean?" " You and I alone." "Ah!" "Well, plenty of chance for that." " You're here remarkably early." " So are you." "But, then, I don't want to miss a moment of Mr Masterson's farewell meal." "It's not farewell, really." "He's only going to the USA for business reasons." " You're very well informed of his movements." " Well, I've been in meetings with him all day." "Julian's going to have a job in his office in America, for a few months, at least." "Yes, I heard that." "My brother's going to be an American businessman, and suddenly you're his partner too, Mr Masterson's." "Not a partner, but definitely a colleague." "This is such an enormous chance for me, Pamela." "It certainly appears to be, Stanley, yes." "(Panting)" " Watch out, you bastard!" " I'm sorry." "(Glass clinks for attention)" "I thought we'd get rid of the speeches before the serious eating has begun." "It's always so much more relaxing that way, in spite of us missing one or two people." "I'm sure our missing guests will be here soon." "I just wanted to thank Walter - or should I say Mr Masterson, since he's my boss now?" " for not only laying on this meal..." "I thought we'd have the ballroom to ourselves since we've spent so much time here." "And it's a charming gesture, I think we'd all agree." "So this meal is not only to bid farewell to Mr Masterson on his trip to the United States... ..where hopefully he will keep the President quite safe, and where hopefully too he will not spend too much time." "He'll be back." "Don't worry." "He's only happy when he's travelling." "But this is also to celebrate the great new venture we're embarking upon together, under Stanley and Eric's editorship." "We understand, of course, that we're only a corner of your empire." "Not a corner." "Never just a corner." "But we hope, in our own way, to make many waves." " Cheers." " I'm so sorry I'm late." "I was held up, unavoidably." "Forgive me." "I'll explain everything in a minute." "(Church organ plays)" "Carla has agreed to sing." "Julian, it's the middle of the meal." "When better?" "Now, until Louis arrives, you'll have to make do with me accompanying you." "Well, then, we'll do one very simple song, shall we?" "(Organ plays)" "(Plays up-beat melody)" "Ah, Miss Peters, there's a telephone call for you." "Apparently it's urgent." "# Serenading to a tune" "# A pop at the bull's-eye" "You must join us, Mr Schlesinger, please." "# I'm dancing on the moon" "Louis?" "I was just thinking about what I might do for this hotel." "I've always liked it here." " Where are you?" " Near a church." " Where is the church?" " You don't need to know that." "You can tell me where you are." "You don't trust me all of a sudden." "Why would you telephone me ifyou don't trust me" " I need somewhere to go." " Come here, and we'll work out the best plan." "Come back to the hotel?" "I'm not that stupid, Sarah." "What are you saying?" "You don't trust any of us?" "You think we've all turned against you in two days?" "I can't believe you'd think like that." "# I'm dreaming of the big time" "# A chance to dig a goldmine" " Donaldson called the police." " He did not call the police!" "They appeared at his house." "He's just told me what happened." " They "appeared" at his house?" " Yes." "Of course they're going to visit everybody you know, Louis." "They're looking for you." " No lawyer ever turned up." " He got delayed." "Do you know what they did?" "They locked me in, as if I was..." "They wanted to let you sleep, to stop the children from disturbing you." "You've got to believe me." "Come here, Louis." "This is where people can help you." "How many times do I have to tell you I'm not coming back to the hotel?" "Then I'll meet you somewhere else." "Wherever you like." " The police are going to arrest you." " They have to find me first." " You can't run away from them." " I can get out of the country." "You'll never manage that on your own." "You have to meet me." "I can't bear the thought that you don't trust me." "You..." "You have to trust somebody, Louis." "You have to." "Maybe I don't." "I think this will be a lot easier if I don't trust anyone." " Louis, you have to remember." " What do I have to remember?" "Who I am?" "Is that what you mean?" "That is what I mean." "But not in that way." "Please listen to me." "Not everybody thinks like me and Stanley." "Not everybody wants to help you." "No, Sarah, that's where you're wrong." "That's what I've just found out." "You think just the same as everyone else." "(Clock chimes)" "Thank you for being so patient." "And don't be concerned, I'm going to see a doctor now." "(Plays upbeat melody)" "Was that Louis?" "Is he on his way?" "That was Louis." " He's not on his way." " Well, that is a disappointment." "We won't have a proper chance to say goodbye." "How strange that Louis isn't here." "I wouldn't have thought he'd want to miss this." "Stop playing, Julian!" "Julian, will you stop playing?" "(Glass clinks for attention)" "I have my own toast to propose." "To pay tribute to how everybody seems to be working for you now, Mr Masterson." "I'm not." "Carla isn't." "Everybody that is, except for me, and I'm sure that's how it should be because I have no speciality of any kind and am quite unqualified for regular work." "But I am sure it is a wonderful thing to be working for Mr Masterson and he will take care of my brother, I am sure too, in his career over the ocean." "I'll only be gone for a while." "Because my brother is a very sensitive person." "So my toast..." "What is my toast?" "My toast is to you." "I am sure you will all prosper in the ways that you want, in what you've set your hearts on..." "..by working for Mr Masterson." "And to our benefactor, Mr Masterson." "Hear, hear." "Thank you, Pamela, for your generous speech." "And I just want to add, because we have an empty chair... ..I'm sure that, before this meal is over, Mr Lester will be joining us." "Well, it's copy night at the magazine." "Our last edition at the old place." "And though it has been put to bed, I think I'll go back there." "No, no, no, Eric." "I'll do this." "I just...feel the need." "Thank you." "Our last edition in the old place, Rosie." "I thought I'd take one more look." "It's just what Mr Wax is doing too." "Really?" "Didn't realise he was that sentimental." "Are you sure you're doing the right thing, letting Mr Masterson buy our magazine?" "Absolutely." "Without a doubt." "We'll have no control, at all." "We have to grow." "Don't you see?" "Rosie, this is going to change all our lives, not just for a few months." "For ever." "#Moodyjazz" "During my friendship with Louis Lester, and I think I can call it a pretty remarkable friendship," "I made several attempts to interview him in my official capacity as deputy editor of Music Express." "After all, I had championed his music and his band, given them a lot of publicity and rave reviews." "What was more natural than to follow this up with a really major interview?" "I never got a chance to finish it, though, before the terrible events that engulfed us all happened." "But I firmly believe the fragments I got are worth publishing." "Especially as the conversation took such an unexpected turn, one I could never have predicted." "However there was a problem with interviewing Louis, as you will see." "(Typing)" " So, are you ready?" " That depends." " Depends on what?" " A few conditions." " What conditions?" " When I say something's not to be published," " it's not to be published, understand?" " I don't know." "We'II have to see about that." " Depends how exciting you are on the record." " Then I've changed my mind." " That was a joke, Louis." " When I say - and listen to this, Stanley, that you're not going to print something, that's what it means, and you'd better not." "You start by threatening me?" "I don't believe this." "No, we start by making my conditions absolutely clear." "Why don't we do it like they do on the wireless, with all the questions and answers written up beforehand like some stilted interview." ""Must be exciting to be a well-known coloured musician in London, Mr Lester."" "Now you've promised not to write anything I don't want..." "Did I make that promise?" "We both know one of us is going to come out of this interview deeply regretting they agreed to it, and it may not be me, Stanley." " Trying to scare me now?" " You think I can't?" " I know you can't." " I know I can." "(Train rumbles by)" "(Typing)" "My parents were both from Jamaica." "My mother's family had come to England 1 5 years before my father." "He was a merchant seaman, travelled all over the world." "That's what I started doing, too, before I formed the band." "I got my first job at sea when I was 1 7..." "You're in a bit of a hurry to leave your parents there, Louis, Iet's stay with them a moment." " Your mother, what happened to her?" " My mother was in service." "She was lucky." "She had a job in a great house where there had been a tradition of having coloured servants, going back to the 1 7th century." "There was a big picture somewhere in the house of one of the dukes at the time of Charles I, with his black page standing behind him." "Why was she lucky to be there?" "Because the lady of the house took an interest in her, which was very unusual." "Still is." "And no, I'm not going to name her because they are still very much around at the moment." "Not the lady in question but the family." "I read about their social engagements in The Times." "Hm!" "Maybe they are about to have a great party and they'II ask for your band to play there." "And then you can return in triumph to where your mum worked." "The thought had occurred to me, too." "How did this duchess or whoever take an interest in your mother?" "Just in small ways, of course." "She gave her books to read." "She gave her Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray." "My mother couldn't read but she didn't dare tell the lady, so she somehow taught herself, then she read the whole ofVanity Fair." "She gave it to me before she died." " Have you read it?" " I have, yes." "although I have to admit I did have to start it three times." "Anyway, your mum and your dad, were you close?" "No, that's all I want to say, Iet's move on." "That's twice you've tried not to talk about them." "Is that all, your mum and a copy ofVanity Fair?" "Yes." "This is off the record now, and not to be printed." " You're only allowed three." " Who says?" "I'm telling you you're only allowed three off-the-records." " Are you sure you want this to be one of them?" " Yes." "My mother had problems when my father was away at the war." "She was in a state of constant fear." "She often screamed when she saw the postman or the telegraph boy." "Yes." "God, yes, most hated boys, the telegraph boys." "I thought about doing that after the war started." "Watched them coming down the street." "I remember thinking, no." "No, I never want to be one of those boys constantly bringing news of death." " You look surprised." " I was." "That's..." " A bit serious for me?" " I didn't say that." "You meant it, though." "Leave it, I should never have interrupted." "My mother, well, her moods became more and more frequent." " She went mad?" " That's why we're off the record." "Yes, but I wouldn't say she went mad." "She was..." "locked inside her own world." "Every night she yelled out at God, had this passionate conversation with him." "She thought a black soldier...for some reason, a black soldier, was more likely to be killed." "I sometimes came across her in the kitchen, quite naked, on her knees, praying...praying." "I've never prayed in my Iife, Stanley, and I certainly never intend to do so." "But her prayers, they did bring him back." "Her great love." "She only had eyes for him." "always...just for him." "Then my father, he never really spoke about the war." " Nobody ever wants to talk about the war." " I know!" "It's as if at the moment there isn't a single person who wants to remember the war." "We were lucky, so bloody lucky, to be young enough to just miss all that." "Hm." "I remember going down the river one day, just after the war had started." "Sunny afternoon." "I went down to the beach at Battersea where at low tide you can wade out into the river." "Boats were all going past, still a Iot of young men on them, taking their girls out on the water." "And there was this one girl, standing on the river bank, just above the beach." "She had a young man with her and her dog." "And she tied the dog to a tree, and then they were kissing really passionately, just near me, and touching each other all over." "I was only 1 1, it was a tremendous free show." "And I watched it all." "She says goodbye to him." "He was in uniform, he was going to the war." "And then he leaves her." "She turns around and the dog was gone, it had managed to get free." "So she starts running all over the park trying to find the dog and I decide to help her." "I mean, after that wonderful show that was the least I could do." "And I remember so clearly..." "when I was helping her trying to find the dog... ..how joyful she was at what had just happened... because he must have said how much he truly loved her... and yet how sad she was at the same time, because he'd gone." "She was so full of both those things at once and I could feel it strongly because I was right next to her." " And did you find the dog?" " Oh, yes." ""Here it is," I said, and she gave me a Iittle kiss on top of my head and she was gone." "Funny." "Often think about her." "What happened to her and if..." "well, if he ever came back." "She was a beautiful girl." " Sweet little story, really, isn't it?" " It is." " So why are you looking at me like that?" " You told me a story hoping I'II open up to you." "Maybe." "But you're going to open up to me, anyway, Louis." "So, no brothers or sisters, and you're all alone living with your deeply religious mother." "Yeah." "Do you have any brothers and sisters?" " I don't." " That's a coincidence, both of us being only children." "Yes." "Might explain something, of course, although I don't know what." "Both of your parents died in the 'flu epidemic." "That must have been devastating." " Are we still off the record?" " Oh, for heaven's sake!" "You can tell me about that." "You're incredibly upset..." " We are still off the record." " Oh, God, if we have to be." "It was, in a way, devastating, of course, but in another way I was already on my own." "I had naturally seen very little of my father during the war and when he came back he really didn't speak to me very much." "And there was the time, shortly before he died, when we were walking along the street and he stopped to buy toffee apples for both of us." "I was a Iittle old for toffee apples, I thought, but I realised that he wanted one and he was pretending it was for me, the reason why he was buying them." "So we walked along, eating our toffee apples and I did think, here is a chance to talk to him about the war." "I've got to try and talk to him about it." "So I asked him about sleep, was it easy to sleep in the trenches?" " Did he ever get used to it?" " And what did he say?" "He said he didn't really remember, even though it was only a year after the war." "He didn't really remember about sleep." "And we walked along eating our toffee apples and that was the Iast time I ever spoke to him." "(Typing)" " Shall I tell you the brutal truth?" " The brutal truth." "That sounds promising." "Tell me the brutal truth, as long as it's on the fucking record." "It is but you won't want to print it." " I'm sure I will." " No, I know you won't." "Thanks for providing the sandwiches." "Champagne, too, but at this rate you won't earn it." " Don't rush to judgment, Stanley." " What is the brutal truth?" "It is that people don't like the idea of me being English, not even you." "I don't know why you'd say that." "It's true." "They prefer to think of me as an American." "The most frequent question I get asked is, "Are you going back to America soon? "" "That proves what a novelty you are." "Not a minstrel band..." "I'm not sure that's what they mean when they ask." "Many people are prejudiced but many people aren't and those numbers are growing." " Is that Stanley Mitchell's own research?" " In a way, yes." "It is my considered opinion as a professional observer of the currency." "Is that what you are, a professional observer?" "Anyway, if you were American, and you were there now, in quite a few states they'd put you in jail for sleeping with a white woman." "(Sighs)" "I'm just going to sit here and eat your sandwiches, until you move on to something else." "I'm certainly not going to comment on that." "I'm not going to write about your personal life." "Do you think I'm that kind of journalist?" " I'm quite offended." " I will make one observation." "It's that you, Stanley Mitchell, have never been to America." "You are deeply fascinated by it, of course, but you have absolutely no idea what it's really like." "I haven't been to America yet, no." "Do you know, my mum hadn't heard an American accent till we first went to the talkies." "Most of the country hadn't heard it, either." "She said, "Ooh, so that's what they sound like"." "Yes, well, to state the obvious, I have seen more of the world than you." "(Chuckles) So, Mr Lester, what's it like being a coloured musician in London now?" " This is off the record now, Stanley." " Oh, fuck me." "When you are a coloured person, you are very visible, of course." "And people make remarks all the time, you get used to it." "Sometimes you can't ignore them but mostly you find a way, or at Ieast I do, of letting it slip past you." "But at the same time, you are invisible." "Because you are coloured you are obviously not a person of consequence." "Of course, how could he be?" "So, even if you hear something very private, people think you'II never know anybody important enough to repeat it to." "And if you are a musician, that is doubly true, because you are just providing the background sound to all these people's lives." "So they often behave as if you don't exist and you get to hear very intimate things." "For instance, on some of the big ocean crossings, just after the financial crash when I was playing in First class," "I heard people talking about killing themselves, right in front of me." "And I heard other people laying out all their business plans, exactly how they were going to destroy their rivals." "And so I feel quite lucky, in a way, to have been able to eavesdrop on so many people as...part of the furniture...of their lives." "And now, because I have had success... people don't talk like that in front of me any more." " Give me some more examples." " Do you think I'm mad?" "I'm not sure about all this invisible-visible stuff." "It's all a bit over-prepared for me." " It's a bit too polished." " Isn't that who I am, Stanley?" " A bit of polish is good." " Oh, right, yes, the old Louis Lester polish." "I forgot." "Of course." "Well, answer me this, then, Mr Louis Lester." "Do you consider yourself a radical person, somebody who has Ieft-Ieaning sympathies?" "Well, generally, I'm not a political person." "Of course, we live at a time when there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor, and like most reasonable people I don't believe that's right." "But I'm not a Communist." "I suppose I believe that there's never just one solution to any given problem." "God help us." "You're not talking to the Daily Express, you know." "I'm aware of that, Stanley, they would have prepared for this a Iot better." "So what's your conclusion about things from all this invisibility, the position you've been in, which you seem to regard as quite a lucky position?" " You'II yell because it's so obvious." " I probably will." "My conclusion is, there's a hell of a Iot of ignorance about people like me." " From most people?" " From everybody." "From everybody?" "Well, fucking hell, Louis, it's a good job we're doing this interview, then." "# Up-tempo swing jazz" "# Come into the warm, it's Christmas" "# Time for you to toast..." "The feeling in the ballroom of The Imperial Hotel when the band played used to vary wildly from night to night." "From high excitement to complete incomprehension." "The performance I wish I'd been there for was when they played to all the dowagers on Christmas Day as they tucked into their puddings - the old ladies looking to see if they'd got a sixpence in their portion." "Never had there been a more unlikely audience forjazz music." "And yet I'm told there was a feeling of reasonable tolerance in the room, broken only by the spectacle of members of the German Embassy walking out in protest." "(M uttering in German)" "Which just helps to prove how powerful the right music can be when it confronts the wrong audience." "#..that December chill" "# Come, ye faithful, come, it's Christmas" "(Typing)" "For some reason, you're not asking me the question you really want to ask." "How idiotic of me." "Why am I not asking that question?" "I don't know, I don't know why you're pussyfooting around." " What is that question?" " This is off the record." "That's three now, Louis, you've had your lot." "We'II see about that." "The question you're not asking is, why are so many upper-class people..." "No, not "so many", that's quite wrong." "Why are some upper-class people, including royalty, so interested in jazz music and black musicians?" "I don't have to answer that for the very simple reason I know the answer." " You know?" " Yes, it's easy." "Cos they find it very sexually exciting." "So that's the reason, is it?" "Look me in the eye and tell me that's not the reason." "Go on, try." " Some of that is true." " Some of that?" "It is the truth." " If you're talking about Prince George..." " But not just the Princes." "It is exotic for them, that is the attraction, and a change." "From the ghastly Jack Paynton and all those foxtrots." "You know I agree on that, but in my opinion..." " That is why I'm here." "They find in the music a chance to escape, for a minute or two, from all the rules and codes of behaviour they have to live by." " But you love all that, don't you?" " Love what?" "Royalty, and all the rules of etiquette." "Having to bow to them, having the chance to talk for a few seconds, having to play for them, answer dumb questions." "I'm right, aren't I?" "It is...an exciting challenge, putting on a performance for a royal audience, yes." "I can't believe you just said that." "You're not on the bloody wireless." "And an honour, too, of course, a great honour." ""Mr Louis Lester says it's a great honour playing for the royal family."" "Fuck me, Louis, that is the scoop of the century, right there." "(Typing)" "# Trucking along and I'm happy to see you" "# Ain't right or wrong if I do or I don't" "# I'm holding on for a dance at the Voodoo" "# Crazy in the mood for love" "# Never say you won't be leaving" "# You can buy me time in teasing" "# You can show me ways of pleasing" "# Crazy in the mood for love" "# Crazy in love and I'm looking to make it" " Do you consider yourself famous?" " No." " But you are quite famous right at the moment." " The band has had success." "Jessie, our lead singer, has had great success." " So the band is famous." " The band is...well known." "At the moment, yes." "What's the biggest change?" "What can you do now that you couldn't before?" "Well, being able to use the front entrance at The Imperial Hotel." " Mm." " Being able to call for a taxi." "Having some money." "Not having to worry about members of the band being deported, because we have regular work." " So you feel much safer, much more secure?" " Of course." "As much as anybody can at the moment." "Do you think you've had to be quite ruthless?" "No, I don't think that." "Your manager Wesley Holt was deported over a year ago, ending a Iong association, and that didn't seem to affect you that deeply." " On the contrary, it was a very difficult time." " Didn't seem to throw you off your stride." "I wouldn't put it like that." "We had many months when I felt the band was making no progress and we were going nowhere, as you well know, Stanley." " Wesley, do you know what happened to him?" " No, I don't." " You've made no attempt to find out?" " Of course I have, several attempts." "There was a serious court case pending in illinois, wasn't there?" "I believe so." "I'm sure he didn't go back there." "Do you know if he's dead or alive?" " I'm sure he's alive." " So why haven't you heard from him?" "Because I think he may have felt that I could have done more about his situation." "I'm not sure I could have done." " Would you Iike me to find out what happened?" " Of course, if you can." "Maybe I'II try my own line of inquiry." "My point is, how has success changed you, your personality?" "In my experience, it changes most people, Louis." "So how has it changed you?" "You've got to answer that." "allow me to get under the surface, Louis, otherwise this is pointless." " How have you changed?" " I will answer that." " Go on." " But in this way, Stanley," " and it's not what you're expecting." " Surprise me, Louis." "There's been a very interesting side to the little bit of fame we've had, something you could never guess at." " And it will give you a story." " Marvellous." "But you've got to do a bit of work for it, first." "You've got to speak to Carla, and to Jessie, and then you might know what question to ask." " BIimey, you're setting me tasks now." " I am." " Is this because I'm asking awkward questions?" " No, it's not." "It's because that's all the time I can spare you now." "Jessie's impossible to talk to, she won't talk about herself, refuses to." " Get Carla on your side and maybe she will." " What's she going to tell me?" "Oh, you're an infuriating bastard." "# Fog on the river" "# Mist in my heart" "Carla always got very nervous before she sang." "She had extraordinary presence but didn 't seem to realise the effect she had on people." "How much they were drawn to watch her." "#.." "I lost you down river" "(Typing)" " Did Louis say this was all right?" " He did." " He said I had to talk to you." " Can't see why." " What are you going to find out from me?" " I'm doing a really full interview about Louis and the success of the band and Louis believes strongly that you should be in the article." " So do I, of course." " I see." "I'm interested in how success has changed you and the band, if it has, that is." "Well, we've been so lucky, so very lucky, in all sorts of ways." "I mean, not having to worry about food, about being hungry, for a start." " Have you ever been hungry?" " On occasions, yes." " Like walking home after school." " You've never been hungry, have you?" "Well, not Iike you, Carla, no." "Well, the biggest difference for me, the very biggest difference success has meant to me, was going into Fortnum  Mason's and having three Welsh rarebits one after another." "In a place that I could never have gone into, not in my wildest dreams, never, ever, ever." "Three Welsh rarebits." "It's rarebits, by the way, not rabbits, which is a piece of cheese on toast with..." "I know what Welsh rarebits are, Carla." " Do you know why it's called that?" " I don't know that, no." "No, nor do I. I forgot to ask." "Well, that's the biggest difference, three Welsh rarebits, one after another." "And that's it?" "That's why Louis wanted me to talk to you?" "To hear about cheese on toast?" " I thought you wanted to talk to me." " Yes, I do, of course." "Go on." "Well, that's the biggest difference, that's what success has meant to me." "What happens if it goes?" "Course, I'm not saying that it will, but sometimes in show business things don't go on for ever." " How difficult would it be to go back?" " Go back where?" " To your life before." " It would be easy." " Would it?" " Yes, and I expect it will happen one day." "But before then, do you ever sort of dream where you may end up?" "Your own show?" "(Laughs)" "What does that mean?" "(Mimics laugh)" "Louis told me if you asked me that question I should tell you about the man on our street." " Louis' been coaching you how to answer me?" " He talked to me, yes." "He said if you wanted to know the answer to that question to tell you about the man and the room." "But I think I would have, anyway, because that's what I believe." " In the street where I grew up..." " Which was where?" " I'm not going to tell you that, am I, Stanley?" " Why ever not?" " Because it's private." " London, was it?" "You can tell me that much." " Yes, it was in London." " Good." "We didn't have much space." "We didn't have very much space at all." "There were six of us, my brothers and sisters and I, and we all slept in the same room." "So a room of your own was a really special thing." "So one day across the street a man arrives." "Mr Dunwoody, he was called." "He was from Scotland." "although he didn't have a Scottish accent, really." "He was a short man and he was so full of energy and life and every time he'd pass us on the street he'd say," ""Hello, children, what a day it is today, a lovely day, a day for great ideas."" "So, Mr Dunwoody, he had two rooms of his own across the street, all to himself and we soon found out that Mr Dunwoody was working on this wonderful invention that was going to make him his fortune," "and he said he was going to show it to us as soon as it was ready, and that's why he needed the two rooms." "So when we saw him on the street we'd call out to him, we'd ask him how it was going and if it was nearly ready yet, and he would always answer," ""Nearly there, children, nearly there."" "But after a few months we couldn't wait any longer." "You know what kids are like." "We had to see this great invention." "So we ran across the street and we knocked on the door. "Can we come in? "" "And he shouted, "Go away, children."" "Well, we didn't go away." "We tried the door handle, and it wasn't locked, and the door flew open and in we went, and all over the floor were these bits of metal." "A terrible mess, little pieces and big pieces, everywhere you looked there were pieces of scrap metal." "And Mr Dunwoody was screaming at us, "Go away, you terrible children, go away right now."" "And of course we ran away and for days we didn't see Mr Dunwoody." "And when he did come out into the street..." "he looked so different." "Pale and older looking." "His face was so...so terrible sad." "And he never smiled at us again, not once." "A little while later, he went away." "He disappeared and took all of his bits of metal on an old cart." "But, I learnt from that a big lesson." "You can have a dream, but you must never describe that dream to anyone." "Or let them see too closely inside of it." "Because one day they might burst through the door and you may see your dream through someone else's eyes, how it might seem to the world, and that can destroy it, for ever." " How strange." " What's strange?" "Well, that Louis should coach you, make you tell me some kind of a fable." "It's not a fairy story, it happened." "I'm not saying it didn't happen but I don't know who I'm meant to be in this story." "I'm not going to destroy your dreams of success, for goodness' sake, quite the opposite." "I thought this was going to be easy, interviewing Louis and you." " It's quite the bloody opposite." " Sorry I didn't give you the answer you wanted." "No, no." "If you want to talk about things changing people, maybe you should talk to Jessie, of course." " Do you think she'II talk to me?" " We'II see." "If you can be gentle with her and not get too impatient, Stanley." "But do you think you can do that?" "# Stars burning brighter" "# I'm on an all-nighter" "# Serenading to a tune" "# I pop the bull's-eye in a celestial night sky" "# I'm dancing on the moon" "I always found Jessie unknowable, a mysterious little creature, who seemed to have emerged into the world fully formed, without parents, brothers or sisters or any past she would talk about." "# Life is a glass of Champagne" "# A silver souvenir will never cost me dear" "# In a starlit avenue" "Her tragic death has only deepened the mystery, but I knew the morning I spoke to her that I had to relax her if she was going to open up to me and give me a lead." "So I encouraged her to bring some of her fan mail with her, and I tried to ask her as little as possible and be patient, something I find it very difficult to be." "(Typing)" "The letters I get are such a mixture." "Such a strange mixture." "Every day I think, what surprise will there be today in the box?" "I put each lot of new letters in this blue box." "Then I go through them without opening them..." "just looking at the writing on the envelope, deciding which I'II open first and...which maybe I'II never open." "A Iot of them, of course, are saying nice things about me." "Usually very nice, about how pretty my singing is, what a good dancer I am." "I am a good dancer, I think." "Not many people have written about that, Stanley, you know." "Huh." "Then, of course, there are letters which are simply disgusting." "AII about people thinking about me without my clothes on, and that sort of thing." " I wonder if Jack Paynton gets letters like that." " I expect he does." "It's not something one wants to think about, a naked Jack." "I'm sure even Mrs Paynton has a problem with that." "(Laughs) Sorry, I interrupted." "There's one thing about these letters I really wish." "It would be so much better if people sent pictures of themselves with the letters." "Because I often think, after receiving a very peculiar letter, who could have written a letter like this?" "I wonder what he looks like?" "Or what this woman looks like?" "Lots of women write, too, it's not just men." "I wish I had a picture of the man who sent me three boxes of peaches last week." "Yes, I got three boxes of peaches." "They were delivered to the hotel with a note saying "In admiration"." "And a few weeks ago I got a Iittle dog." " I got sent a puppy." " (Chuckles)" "Couldn't keep it, of course." "We're not allowed pets in our rooms at the hotel." "But somebody is looking after it for me and I will get it back one day." "And sometimes, you know, Stanley, people write about their lives to me in such a way." "AII the most private things, and asking me for advice." "You can't really help them at all, I mean, I can't." "No, you can't read them." " I didn't say anything, Jessie." " No, but I'm just making clear." "Nobody can read them, not even my letters from the Prince." "And I've had several letters from the Prince and those, of course, are the most special of all." "Of course." "And your parents, they must be very proud of you." "Do they write to you often?" "I don't talk about my parents." "(Car horn beeping)" "My dad disappeared when I was three, I never knew him." "I think he's dead now, anyway." "He was white." "I think he worked in Covent Garden, you know, in the market." "My mother..." "I'm not talking much about my mother, either." "She left, as well, when I was little." "I was about eight when she went." "She was a bit of a singer, too, as it happens." "One of my few good memories of her is her singing to me when I was tiny as she said good night." "But she didn't do it that often." "She had many admirers." "Many men." "Nearly all of them were white." "They knocked on the door and gave me a pat on the head." "Hm." "Really?" "She sang at Collins' Music Hall, the one in Islington, so she can't have been that bad, can she?" "Did you ever go and see her in the theatre?" "Yes, I saw her once." "I think it must have been at Collins'." "There were three of them, with my mum in the middle, singing a silly song about bananas." "And I knew at once I wasn't going to be a singer like her." "I was going to be a singer, I knew that much, but completely different." "She left us, anyway, me and my aunt." "She left us." "Suddenly one night she was gone." "Never was in touch." "I haven't seen her for years." "Maybe she's dead, too." "You think I sound hard?" " I didn't say anything, Jessie." " I know you didn't, I'm asking you." "Do I sound hard?" "You sound..." "like you haven't forgiven her." "I haven't, no." "I don't think I've forgiven either of them but that doesn't mean I'm hard." "After all, I owe everything to one man and I always say that." "I always make that clear." "You mean Louis, I take it." "Well, Louis, too, of course, but no, I didn't mean him." "I meant before him there was my teacher in the East End." "Mr Rabinowicz, he gave me singing lessons." "Of course, I couldn't pay him what he usually charged, not what he charged the others." "My aunt paid what she could." "He did a special rate for me." "I wish he could see me now." "I wish he could have been there when I sang for the Prince Of Wales and heard me singing on the wireless." "I'd have given anything for him to have been there, to be here still." "But he died three years ago." "His heart was broken." "Who broke his heart, Jessie?" "Well, it certainly wasn't me." "There was one girl who had lessons with him, called..." "Well, I'II call her Annie, though that's not her real name cos you'II know her real name." "She was very pretty." "Now she's beautiful." "I don't know where she lived." "Not round us, anyway." "She came and had lessons with him twice a week." "She was very good and he was really taken with her." "He was in love with her but he never would do anything which wasn't proper, wasn't right." "He never took advantage of any of us." "He was in love with her talent and how amazing she was when she sang." "So he loved her." "Anyway, Annie...the person I'm calling Annie, has become very successful." "She's starring in a revue right now in the West End." "I probably shouldn't have said that, you'II probably guess her name." "I won't guess that, Jessie." "although she owed him everything, owed Mr Rabinowicz her career, she never answered his letters." "And when he went to see her, the first time she was in a West End show, she kept him waiting for ages at the stage door and then didn't even come down." "She sent down a box of chocolates and when he opened them half of them had already been eaten." "Imagine doing that to your old teacher!" "What a terrible thing to to." "It broke his heart." "He was my friend, I could never behave like that." "I could never change towards people in that way, no matter what happens, people who have helped you." "However much you get your head swollen by what people say, you mustn't believe them." "You mustn't change." "Some of them run down the street after me blowing kisses, Iike Julian said they would." "But I'm not going to change." "Just like the letters, the people that wait outside the hotel for my autograph, outside The Imperial, are such a mixture, too, but you can see their faces." "So, whatever they say to you and sometimes they do whisper things that are a shock... whatever they say, it isn't as strange as some of these letters." "(Voices call her name)" "And you can smile at them and talk to them and be friendly enough so it doesn't become worse." " You understand what I mean?" " Yes." "(Gasps) Oh, has Louis told you about the woman?" "What woman?" " No, he hasn't." " He hasn't?" "(Typing)" "I'm pleased to see today we are starting with Champagne." "Last time it never showed up." " Well, today it's a bribe." " I realise that." "So, I've been on the little mystery tour you wanted me to, and Jessie told me to ask you about the woman, so I'm hoping you won't muck about." " Muck about?" " I hope you'II tell me about her straightaway." " I will, in a moment." " Here we go again!" "bloody "off the record" business." "What tiny bit of this interview am I allowed to publish?" " I'm not saying this is off the record." " You're not?" "Why not?" "It can't be that exciting, then." "It's just I know you won't have the guts to publish it." "I'm not going to rise to that." "I've been very stupid." "You don't often hear me say that." " That's true." " I forgot for a moment you're a musician." "You're treating this interview a bit like your jazz music." "You seem to be improvising, talking about this and that, and all the while I'm being led." "You are, yes." " To the woman." " To the woman, yes." "What I meant by the interesting side of fame." "This will never be in your magazine." "I'II bet you a hundred pounds." "I don't bet, but who knows, I might pay you something." " Now, where did you meet this woman?" " I was dressed like this." "Getting ready to play in the ballroom." "It was about two months ago." "I was in a Iittle room near Schlesinger's office." "He lets me use it to get away from the band." " I was in a rather good mood, I remember." " (Telephone rings)" " There's a telephone call for you, Mr Lester." " Thank you." "WOMAN:" "Hello." " Hello." "You don't know who this is, do you?" " I have to admit I don't." " You've never noticed me, then?" "Noticed you, where?" "But if you have to be told then you haven't noticed me." "Well, if you told me your name it might help." "You want to know my name?" "How would that help if you haven't noticed me?" "Well, if you described yourself." "Describe myself?" "What if I told you I was naked, does that help?" "Excuse me, I'm just getting ready for tonight's performance, so..." "I'm sorry, don't ring off." "I shouldn't have said that." "That was plain stupid, Mr Lester, I apologise." " There's no need to apologise." " No, I do apologise." "First of all because, well, I'm not naked, so it was pointless me saying that." "Though, depending on how long we talk, that situation can always change." "I really must go now." "Oh, I'm sorry, that was just a poor joke and actually I do have something very interesting to tell you, so I should stop spoiling it, shouldn't I?" "The point is, I'm, of course, a great admirer of your work and I've sat in the ballroom at The Imperial and heard you play many times." "And maybe I was there last night, sat quite close to the stage, wearing rather a revealing dress and maybe you did notice me." "When I'm playing I don't see much." "Oh, well, I'm sure you're concentrating on your music, Mr Lester, of course." "I was just explaining what a devoted follower I am of your band, and perhaps at this very moment I'm telephoning from somewhere in the hotel." "So I'm not too farfrom you." "But before you reply to that, let's leave all that vague, shall we?" "Because I don't think I should tell you too much." "I think it's probably better that you don't know my name." "I think it will be safer for you and a Iot safer for me if you didn't know my name." "Safer?" "In what way safer?" "Oh, I keep saying things I oughtn't, things that make me sound bonkers, that is precisely how I don't want to sound." "But yes, I think it would be much safer for both of us if I remain anonymous." "I hope you don't think that's too cowardly." "Do you think it's cowardly?" "I'm sure it isn't." "But now, whoever you are, I really am in the middle of doing some work here so, intriguing as it is to talk to an anonymous lady who may or may not be naked," "I'm sorry but I'm going to ring off now." "If you ring off, you won't stop me." "BIimey, I can't believe you did that." "Why did you ring off?" " I had work to do." " Course, I forgot, you're always working." "The next day, at the same time, an hour before we were going to play, the telephone rings again." "(Ringing)" "And I warn you, you are not going to like this." "Why not?" "Because it's going to affect you personally." " I Ieft this bit out when I told Jessie." " I'm flattered I'm getting it all." "How very unimaginative ofyou to ring off last night." "I explained I had work to do." "Oh, you sound just like my husband." "Whom we will soon be talking about." "please don't ring off." "It's important, promise me." "I won't ring off...yet." "Good." "Now, are you wondering what I'm wearing?" "Well, that was a long pause." "Come on, I'm rather an attractive woman." "I can't believe you're not wondering how much or little I'm wearing, especially as I hear you are rather partial to white women." "So, what do you think I'm wearing?" " Before you tell me that..." " Yes?" "What do you want to know, Mr Lester?" "What do I call you, since you won't tell me your real name?" "Oh, good!" "I'm so glad you're not threatening to ring off yet." "You can call me..." "Josephine." "As in Napoleon and Josephine." "So, Josephine, what are you wearing?" "I'm sitting here in my petticoat, waiting for my husband to come back and take me to a very boring dinner party." " So why did you call me?" " I'm coming to that." "But I realise before you can take me seriously, you need somebody to vouch for me." "So, I'm going to hand the telephone now to somebody who you know but on one condition." " What condition is that?" " You must never make her tell you who I am." " Do you promise that?" " I promise that." "If you break your promise it could be fatal for me." "You understand?" " I understand." " Good." "Oh, it's going to be Pamela, isn't it?" "It's going to be one of her nutty upper-class friends on the phone, isn't it?" "Hello, Louis." "You must promise not to try and make her tell you who this lady is." "Now I've got to promise?" "What is this all about, Louis?" " Promise or I won't tell you." " I'II have to then, won't I?" " And mean it." " I mean it." "I mean it." " Good evening, Pamela." " I'm with the person you know as Josephine." "And she's got something to tell you which she hasn't told me and won't tell you until I've left the room." "But I'm letting you know she's not batty, not batty in any way." "What she's got to tell you might make you understand something." "Make me understand what?" "I'm guessing, of course, because I don't know what special thing she has to tell you." "But I'm sure it has something to do with the world of my parents and their friends, and their country house parties and all the things they hate." "You know, of course, already, how they hate what they call niggers, and they hate Jews and they hate the Irish and they hate the French and the Americans, everything American." "And they hate musicians and they hate actors and they hate gypsies." "And they hate homosexuals, even though some of them are queer themselves." "So many hates and they find new ones all the time." "And the funny thing is... and I mean funny...in an awful way... they spend a Iot of time in their beautiful houses with the most wonderful gardens, but they never look properly at what they've actually got." "They move around their lovely, lovely properties with so much loathing going through them." "My father, he had a good education, better than the one he provided for me... and do you know what he says?" ""Too many fucking pictures." "Too many fucking pictures on our fucking walls. "" "That's what he says." "Of course, I know I shouldn't talk about all the families, whose houses I've been to, Iike that and probably I'm being so unfair." "Because they can't all be like that, can they?" "But actually I want to be unfair because I want to make you listen to Josephine." "I'm going to leave the room now, Louis." "I'm handing the phone back, and I'm leaving." " She said all that to you?" " She did." "More than she said to me." "I bet." "You will keep your promise though?" "Not got a reason to break it, not yet." " Are you still there?" " Yes." "We're alone now, just you and me, Mr Lester." " What do you want to tell me?" " Well..." "What I have to tell you is this..." "and God forgive me." "I know, I'm not sure that I'm meant to, but I do know that Pamela's brother Julian showed you a Iittle hole that allowed you to spy on the Freemasons in their temple, in the basement of The Imperial Hotel." "Is that true?" "Oh, come on, Louis, because obviously I do know." " Is it true?" " Yes." " It was in a linen cupboard." " (Gasps) A linen cupboard!" "How wonderful, you in a linen cupboard, spying on the Masons!" "And I think I can assure you it's all right, they're not going to come and slit your throat for that, for spying through a hole." "Well, not today, anyway." "So, this is what I've got to tell you, Louis." "My husband is a Mason, just like Julian and members of the government and civil service, and not forgetting all sorts of rich people from the City Of London." "And my husband is a member of the Lodge in the basement of The Imperial Hotel." "And of course they have their silly rituals and they exchange gossip and, I'm sure, raise some money for charity, too, because... well, that is what they say they do." "And so there are a Iot of very important people down there in this basement and in other basements across the city, because they like basements best." "And it goes without saying it is a very powerful group, these Lodges." "A very powerful octopus with its arms stretching out all over the place and these people are not easily impressed, Louis, do you understand?" "I'm sure they're not, no." "Not easily impressed, at all." "But just before the great financial crash, in the Lodge, that is in the basement of The Imperial there was a new member who'd just joined, a Iittle man called Mr Luke." "And he did the most extraordinary thing, he prophesised the crash, and not just that - he was right about every firm that went under and every firm that managed to survive." "He was advising all the other members of the Lodge what to do with their stocks and shares but nobody listened to him." "But Mr Luke was right." "He made money when everybody else was hurt by the most grievous losses and naturally, everybody was amazingly impressed because a Iot of them had lost their whole fortunes." "Of course, most of them still had their country estates but life looked, for a time, rather uncertain." "And here was Mr Luke, the wizard, who nobody had listened to." "But after a time, because he was such a... funny little man and his manners were very abrupt, they stopped holding him in such awe and started referring to him as The fluke." "And even though we are in the middle of a great depression, most of the people found that they were still quite rich, that they could sell a few of their assets and life was good again." "And so not only did they not look to Mr Luke for advice, they began to ignore him, wish he wasn't part of the Lodge, that he would go elsewhere." "They began to refer to him as The Complete FIuke." "And so he has remained, The Complete FIuke, who nobody really talked to." "Until a few weeks ago, that is... (Footsteps, keys jangle)" " Are you still there?" " Yes, I am." "I'm sorry, I just had to stop for a moment." "I thought my husband was coming back." "If he finds me telling you this I shall be in terrible trouble." " (Door closes)" " No, it was somebody else, they've gone past." "although I ought to keep an ear out, my husband has very small feet, he creeps up." " It's all right, I can go on." "Do you want me to?" " If you want to go on, Josephine." "What kind of an answer is that?" "I'm risking things to tell you this." "Of course I want you to go on." "So, Mr FIuke is ignored in the basement temple." ""He was always so vulgar," people say to themselves." ""He comes from trade, how did he ever become part of the Lodge? "" "And then suddenly one day Mr Luke appears and says," ""I've joined another Lodge, I won't be here any more."" "And people are very relieved." "But then he adds, "It's in a basement just like this, but it is the most beautiful basement I have ever seen." "That is where my new lodge is."" "And of course, everybody there is rather curious and some want to know more." ""You can come with me, if you Iike," he says." ""You are welcome to come."" "And this splits the Lodge down the middle." "And some think, "What does he know that we don't? "" "And others think, "Good riddance." "Go away, horrid little man"." "But this special temple really does exist, Louis, and it is extraordinary." "I can tell you where it is, its exact location." "But I think I'd better not." "But what I can tell you is, during the war, because of the airships and their bombs there were some wonderful subterranean apartments created in the City Of London, where a few very rich families could scuttle down when there was a bombing raid." "And out of these luxury apartments below the street is where the temple has been created." "And that is where The fluke has been going." ""Come and follow me," says Mr Luke, "to this new Lodge"." "And so some of the people, including my husband, from The Imperial Lodge do follow, a few, just to have a look." "And they go down the steps below the pavement and into this special temple and it is indeed exquisite." "And Mr Luke says, "If you join me here now in this Lodge, you must promise not to repeat what you are about to hear to anybody, ever."" "And those that have followed him down there look around them, see how special it is and feel they have to agree." "They promise." "I think my husband is the only one to have broken this promise by telling me." "My husband is often rather drunk and thinks that I forget everything." "(Keys jangle, door rattles)" " Josephine?" " I'm still here." "(Door closes)" "And then, after they have all promised, they say, "But what is it that we mustn't repeat? "" "And the little man says, "Come next door."" "And they go into the room next door, which has the black-and-white Masonic floor but there is nothing else in it, except an enormous travelling trunk." "And my husband and the few that followed Mr Luke stare at the trunk as the door is shut behind them." "And then the man they call The Complete FIuke says," ""Something extraordinary is going to happen very soon." "Worse than you can ever imagine." "Many are going to die." "Many, many millions will die." "old horrors will be repeated and completely new horrors, beyond your wildest nightmares, will start to happen." "Whole cities will be destroyed." "Families you know will die." "Your brothers will die, their houses and businesses wiped out." "But since we here at this Temple know it is coming, we can find a way of staying alive, of protecting what we've got and of taking advantage of what will follow, because even in disaster there is opportunity." "We can and we will be the lucky few if we do the following things."" " Sarah, who are you talking to?" " Nobody, darling, just having a good gossip." "Oh, God, Louis, my...my husband is back." "I don't think he heard anything." "What's that?" "Are you still on the telephone?" "He can't have heard, can he?" "Louis, I hope you hear from me again." "(Footsteps on wooden floor)" "Josephine?" "Hello, who is there?" "Hello." "Are you going to tell me who is there?" "I would strongly advise you to tell me who you are." " So what happened to her?" " I don't know." "She didn't call back?" "No." " She was obviously completely barking." " Yes." "She must have been." "The Masons hold special dinners for installing their Worshipful Master in The Imperial Hotel." "They sometimes have music, too, would you believe?" "Maybe one day they'II ask for you." "I doubt it." "But I'II certainly go and play to them if they do, I'm really curious now." "Course, it isn't the Imperial Masons that have this special temple." " The Imperial Masons..." " Are all perfectly jolly fellows." "I doubt they're that." "But they're not the people she was talking about." "I wonder who they are?" "Wouldn't it be amazing to find that special luxury temple, at Ieast discover where it is?" "It would be." "Be careful of these people, you don't want to cross them." "Yes, I realise that." "How could I ever cross them, Stanley?" "So, you're convinced she was just a crazy person?" "Yes." "Having thought about it a bit, yes." "I think she found it rather exciting." "To try to scare me." "She was one of your...aroused aristocrats." "Maybe an aroused aristocrat..." "Have you told me everything?" "Yes." "almost everything." "There was one last phone call." "There was?" "A very short one." "(Rings)" " There's a call for you, Mr Lester." " Thank you." "JOSEPHINE:" "Pray for me." " Will you pray for me, Louis?" " Josephine?" " (Door opens, approaching footsteps)" " Josephine?" "(Metallic clanking)" "Josephine?" "(click)" "(Replaces receiver)" "And that's the Iast I heard from her." "So where was she?" "In some asylum somewhere?" "Was she suggesting they'd locked her up?" "People don't do that to their wives any more, surely?" "Who knows what goes on in those big houses, Stanley?" "Hm." "But it was that last call that convinced me that she wasn't genuine." "I'm pretty sure it was just a game on her part." " Strange game to play, isn't it?" " Yes." "But what I've worked out is this." "I think she probably loved watching the band." "She loved the music." "AII that is true." "She wants to escape the life she has." "But she knows that there are several women in the ballroom that feel the same." "She wants to be noticed." "So she summons up a sort of nightmare... ..so I'II remember her." " And you have." " I have, yes." "And I know one thing, Stanley." "You are never going to publish this." "You're right." "She must be merely some mad aristo, some upper-class nutcase who simply wants to sleep with you." "Precisely." "(Laughter)" "Why else would she choose me to tell this to?" "But just in case she isn't a complete mad woman... ..you're not going to try to find out more from Pamela." "I gave Josephine my word." "No, I promised, remember?" "See you in a few days, Stanley." "Then you can show me how much of this you've dared to write." "And then, of course, events engulfed Louis, very soon after our conversation." "A matter of days, really." "And quite a big part of what happened to him was connected to the Masons and their ability to look after their own." "Or at least, that's my view of how Julian Luscombe was protected and that would have continued if Julian hadn 't killed himself." "And as I write this, I'm not at all sure Louis wasn 't right." "I may not have the guts to publish Josephine 's story." "After all, Louis is safely out of the country now and I'm not." "I am still here and have every intention of staying." "The Masons have fled The Imperial at the moment because of its loss of reputation and that great big crumbling palace of a place, which for a couple of years burst with life and was so full of possibilities, is just hanging on like a beached creature," "hoping the next tide will make it buoyant again." "And if that happens, will the Masons return?" "One thing I can 't stop thinking about is:" "Does Mr Luke really exist or is he a figment of this woman 's imagination, as Louis believed?" "At the moment I've kept the promise not to try to make Pamela tell me more... anything that might lead me to Josephine." "Or at least, I've half kept the promise." "I've asked her in a roundabout way and she said she hadn 't a clue what I was talking about." "After her brother Julian 's death it is obviously an impossible subject for me to press her on." "But if Mr Luke does exist..." "does he really know something we don 't?" "Or is he a complete fraud..." "The Complete Fluke?" "I think I might just try to find him."