DAY OP RECKONING (FIRST REVISED) "THE PEOPLE VS. PIERRE LAVAL" PROGRAM #3
BY ELMER RICE
CAST 1ST MESSENGER 2ND MESSENGER PIERRE LAVAL -- EVERETT SLOAN THE RECORDING ANGEL MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE — PAUL HENREID BENEDICT ARNOLD AW ETHIOPIAN WOMAN A GERMAN WORKER A FRENCH WORKER JOAN OF ARC SEVERAL MINOR CHARACTERS: 1ST SOLDIER 2ND SOLDIER VOICE CRIER
FOR BROADCAST 7:00-7:50 P.M. SATURDAY, MARCH 20, WEAF & NET r WEAF DAY OF RECKONING (FIRST REVISED) WO,-3
( )( ) "THE PEOPLE VS.; PIERRE LAVAL" 7:00 - 7:30 P.M. MARCH 20, SATURDAY
(MUSIC CUE £. .^. . ) ANNOUNCER: The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with the Council for Democracy, brings you the third in a series of special programs entitled "The Day of Reckoning" -- bringu&g to trial before the court of the free peoples of the world, the principal culprits in the current attempt to enslave mankind. Tonight's program was written by the well-known playwright, Elmer Rice. ^Starred in this are _ distinguished
actors: (MUSIC 0UE_;'2:.iLIKE TIE WHIRRIIG OF THE WING3 OP GREAT BIRDS IN FLIGHT^ 1ST MESSENGER: Whoa I Slow up.1 That's Vichy down there, by the looks of it. 2ND MESSENGER; Yes, and by the smell of it, too. (EXCLAMATION OP (DISGUST) PhooJ
1ST MESS; All right.' Pull in your wings. Zoom down now. OUT SOUND: (SOUND OP PEET STRIKING EARTH) 1ST MESS: Here we are.' Hello, there, monsieur.' Is this Vichy, Prance ? VOICE: (IRONICALLY) YOU mean Vichy, Germany, don't you. (BITTER LAUGH) 2ND MESS: We're looking for Chief of State, Pierre Laval. VOICE: Well, there's no accounting for tastes. 1ST MESS: Where is he to be found? VOICE: In that building over there-- £f you can get through the guards. He's mighty careful, these days, ever since that bullet nearly - 1ST MESS: We'll get through. Thanks, friend1 SOUND: (FOOTSTEPS, THEN THE RELEASE OP A TRIGGER-LOCK) 1ST SOLDIER: (GERMAN ACCENT) Halt! What do you want? 2ND MESS: We want to see Chief of State, Pierre Laval. 1ST SOLBIER: Impossible! He sees no one except - 1ST MESS; (ROUGHLY) Out of the way, son.' 1ST SOLDIER: Stop or I'll fire! 1ST MESS: Out of the way,, I say I And save your ausnunition. It has no effect upon us. SOUND; (A SCUFFLE, FOLLOWED BY A SHOT) (THEN A CRY OF FRIGHT FROM THE SOLDIER) 1ST MESS: I told you so, didn't I? 2ND SOLDIERj Haiti 1ST MESS: We've no time to "waste. Put down that pop-gun and take us to Laval. 2ND SOLDIER: Who are you? 2ND MESS: Never mind who we are. Just show us the way. Come along. SOUND: (RAPID FOOTSTEPS, COMING TO A HALT, THEN A
SHARP KNOCK ON A DOOR)
LAVAL; (BEHIND DOOR) What is it? Who's there?
SOUND: (OPENING DOOR) 2ND SOLDIER: Pardon, Monsieur Laval, but these two gentlemen insist - LAVAL: (NERVOUSLY) Who? What gentlemen? I'ra expecting no one. Tell them ~~J 1ST MESS: All right, boy, that's all. Run along now. Laval, we have some business with you. LAVAL: (UNEASILY) I'm very sorry, gentlemen, but urgent matters of state - I regret very much ~
2ND MESS: They'll have to wait. You're under arrest. IAVALj (ALARMED) A^restJ Oh, I beg your paipdan, gentlemen. I was not aware that you are agents of the Gestapo.1 Heil Hitler! But there must be some mistake, my friends. Surely, you've come to the wrong place. Why, the Fuehrer and I —.' Look.1 The photograph he gave me. And read the flattering inscription. 'To my dear friend and collaborator, Pierre Laval, with my most condescending good wishes. Adolf Hitler." You see, gentlemen, you've made a mistake. 1ST MESS: We've made no mistake. You're under arrest, all right. But you've made a mistake in thinking we're Gestapo men. So cut out the heiling and the heel~ clicking. They'll get you nowhere with us. LAVAL: (REALLY FRIGHTENED NOW) Not from the Gestapo? Then by what authority --? There's been an uprising - a revolution? The people --? 2ND MESS: Not yet. But that, too, will come in time. 1ST MESS: Meanwhile, you're wanted up above. LAVAL: Above? At Berchtesgaden?
1ST MESS: Novltkgher up than that, Laval. LAVAL: (FEEBLE-FURIOUS) I demand to know who you are and who has sent you here. 2ND MESS: You'll find out soon, .enough. Come along, we're going on a little trip through space. 'LAVAL: I refuse! Get out of here, at once, or I'll - 1ST MESS: You're wasting your breath. Here, I'll get him under this arm and you get him under the other. SOUND: (SCUFFLE) 1ST MESS: That's it! All right, here we go! -5- (MCJJ3IC OUE_,;'^. ....(.SAME AS_J*2 REVER3EDj_._._THS_¥HIRRING OFJIIBQS^ GR£WING _LOUDER,_DROWKS_ OUT HISTORIES) LAVAL: I protest against this.' - I demand — J (IN TERROR) Oh.1- We're off the ground! We're moving through the air! We're - Help! Help.' (MUSIC.^.^CHANGES^. .^CELEST_IAL_MUS;[C_IS H^RD,_0LEAR_AWD_3ERENE^ FIRST
1ST MESS: 'jWe're almost there now. LAVAL: Music! I hear music! 2ND MESS: Oh, you hear it, do you? And do you recognize it? LAVAL: Well, gentlemen, I don't pretend to be a musucianJ I'm only a simple man of the people. Let me see, nowi Ye3, of course! It's the Horst Wessel song. How stupid of me! 1ST MESS: No, Laval, it's not the Horst Wessel song. Your coarse soul muddles everything, doesn't it? To you., even the music of the spheres becomes a Nazi blood- chant . LAVAL: (BEWILDERED) Excuse me. I don't understand. Music of the - 1ST MESS: Yes, celestial music. You're at the gate of Heaven. LAVAL: (LONG SIGH OP SATISFACTION) Ah, heaven! I see now! Thank you, gentlemen, thank you! I always knew that one day --J 1ST MESS; I said at the gate of Heaven. 2ND MESS: But straight is the gate and narrow is the way -!
(MUSIC Ul\ ..A .GREAT_ROLL ^P_DI]UM3_AND_CLA_SH_0P _CYMBAL_S #JL ,TIffiN_RETUHN
TO CELESTIAL BAG.) LAVAL: (CRYING OUT IN FRIGHT) What is it? That sound.' My
eyes.' I'm blinded.
1ST MESS: (CALMLY) You'll get used to it in a minute,
2ND MESS; (SOOTHINGLY) There, that's a little better, isn't it?
(RESPECTFULLY) Here's your prisoner, sir.
LAVAL: (OVER-AWED) BUG who - who is this? With the great
spreading wings and clothed in that terrible light.
RECORDING ANGEL: (COLD) (A CLEAR PURE VOICE) I am called the Recording
Angel, Laval.
m LAVAL: (GASPS) The zpJi^&^-*--*~>- ^
ANGELj It is my function in the celestial hierarchy, to set down what is good and what is evil, in the life of
every man and woman. In most lives, the balance swings
first this way and then that. But not so with you. In
your account the weight of guilt is so incredibly heavy,
that though your alloted time has not yet run its
course, you have been summoned hither, so that we may
verify the record, lest some mistake has been made.
LAVAL: (VOLUBLY) Oh, it has, your Honor.1 I assure you it has.
I have committed grave errors, no doubt •- sins, perhaps.
But which of us has not? Look: at the other side, I beg
you.• I am a God-fearing man, your Honor. All my life,
I have paid homage to the Almighty, Xl a devout life
to be ignored? Does piety count for nothing - here of
all places? ANGEL: Here of all places, lip-service counts for nothings Laval. Nor the devoutness that masks a scheming "brain and a conniving soul. We judge by deeds, not by "Words, But you shall hear the charges against you. Answer them,
if you can.
LAVAL: Charges? Who brings these charges? Some emmissary from the Kremlin? Some fellow of the Ghetto?
ANGEL: No, Pierre Laval, Your accuser is one of the illustrious dead of your own land - one who spent a long life in the service of liberty - first in America, then in Prance. Call him.1
CRIER: Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motley, Marquis de Lafayette, sometime Major-General in the American Continental Army, Colonel-General of the National Guard of Paris, Vice-President of the French National Assembly, author of the Declaration of Rights, liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies, life-long servant of the people of France. LAVAL: (IMPRESSED) Lafayette.1
LAFAYETTE: (CULTIVATED, DIGNIFIED VOICE) Yes, Monsieur Laval.fi I am Lafayette. "AVAL: (PAWNINGLY) But of course, your Excellency.1 Why - why, we are kinsmen, you and I —J (OBSEQUIOUS LAUGH) LAFAYETTE: Kinsmen - you and I? Oh no, but surely not, monsieur.' TAVALi Why, yes, yes, Excellency. Kinsmen by marriage. Haven't you heard? My daughter -I Why you are her great-great- great-grandfather-in-law, so to apeak. That makes you and me - •8-
LAFAYETTE: Enomios still, Laval, If my lineal descendant chooses
to sully his good name and his heritage of liberty by
allying himself with the assassin of his country's
freedom, it moans only that he to, merits the contempt
I feel for you.
LAVALj This is unjust, Monsieur Recording Angel. Am I, a man
of the people, to be condemned by this aristocrat, with
his lands and his titles? I am a lawyer, your Honor,
don't forget that and I demand that -
ANGEL: We shan't forget it. Your legal career is carefully recorded here - on the debit side of the ledger.
1 LAVAL: I demand my rights.' I demand a fair trial, I demand counsel.'
ANGEL: Very veil, you shall have counsel.
LAVAL: Good counsel, mind you - no little police-court lawyer.
A man of rank - of equal rank ¥ith -
ANGEL: Yes, you shall have it.1 A man of equal rank - another-
major-general. Call him.1
CRIER: Major-General Benedict Arnold! Major-General Benedict
Arnold!
ARNOLD: (SULLENLY* A ROUGH VOICE) Who calls mo? Why am I summoned here?
ANGEL: Your services are required General Arnold. An important case to defend. There is your client, Chief of State
Pierre Laval —
ARNOLD: What - that fawning fellow? Why, can't you leave me in
peace? -9- ANGEL: Have you forgotten, your sentence. General Arnold? To be known forever as a traitor and to consort with. traitors throughout eternity - ARNOLDt Yea, I know, I know - never a moment's peace. That other one, down there - that bearded one., forever counting his thirty pieces of silver. 'Well, no matter. Let's pro cead« ANGEL: Here is your adversary *• the prosecutor. Perhaps you remember him. ARNOLD: (AMAZED) Lafayettei LAFAYETTE I Yes, General Arnold. It is a long time since we met. Not sinoe the days when we were soldiers together under the command of General Washington. Soldiers fighting for liberty, until you experienced - shall, we say? - a change of heart. ARNOLD: Never mind that.1 Let's proceed, I say. What are the charges against this client of mine?
ANGEL: State the Charges, General Lafayette.
LAFAYETTTSi I charge Pierre Laval with high treason. 1 charge him With betraying the working-people of France, whose leader he professed to be. I charge him with betraying the refugees from the Nazi terror who sought asylum in democratic Prance. I charge him with conspiring with
the leaders of French Fascism to destroy the principles
of liberty, equality and fraternity, upon which the
French Republic was founded. (MORE) -10-
LAFAYETTE; I charge him with conniving with Mussolini in the murder (CONT'D) of Ethiopia, with aiding Franco in the assassination of Spain, with encouraging Hitler ' in the strangulation of the German people. I charge him with robbery and trickery, with lies and deceptions, with cowardice and double-dealing. And, last of all, with the crowning infamy of loading the chains of servitude upon the prostrate body of his own country, at the bidding of his Nazi masters.
ANGEL: These are grav.e charges, Pierre Laval. How do you answer them?
LAVAL: Charges? You. call these charges? Why, anyone, with the most elementary knowledge of diplomacy -
ANGEL: Careful, Laval. That word diplomacy has an ugly sound here. It has fallen too often from the lips of the enemies of mankind. Better let your counsel speak for you. Proceed, Benedict Arnold.
ARNOLD: Very well, since I must. You charge him with this and that. But what do you expect of him? Xou see what he is -•- a little nobody from nowhere.
LAFAYETTE: Like Mussolini, perhaps? Or Hitler? ARNOLD: Exactly. A small soul, a sharp little brain and an unbridled lust for power. What do you expect of him? Symphonies? Epic poems? Charters of liberty? Let's be realistic about this. Life isn't easy down there. A man must look after his own Interests* Mon^y doesn't grow on trees, nobody is his brother's keeper and God helps those who help themselves. (MUSIC CUE AN OMINOUS ROLL OF THUNDER) (CRIES OF TERROR FROM LAVAL AND ARNOLD)
ANGEL: (WARNINGLY) Careful, Benedict Arnold. No blasphemy.
ARNOLD: (CHASTENED) I'm sorry. I'm doing the best I can for
this fellow. I didn't ask for this assignment, remember
that.
LAVAL: All these are empty phrases! They mean nothing.' I
thought you said it is deeds, not words, that count
lie re.
ANGEL: Yes, that is correct.
LAVAL: Then look at my life! A self-made man. A penniless
boy, son of a provincial butcher —
LAFAYETTE! Like father, like son?
LAVAL: Allow me, monsieur.1 Look at my life, I say. A peasant's
son who became Prime Minister of France. A poor boy
who made good. A fat bank-aocount, broad acres,
blooded cattle. The political leader of a great nation.
The father-in-law of a descendant of Lafayette, himself.
An honored guest at the White House and the Vatican, at
the Chigi Palace and the Chancellery in Willielmstrasse.
Yes, I, Pierre Laval, an important mani I'd say a great
man — if modesty didn't forbid It. These are deeds --
deeds, gentlemen.' And what do you confront me with?
Words.' Groundless charges,1 Windy phrases.' The
evidence -- where is the evidence?
ANGEL: Marquis de Lafayette are you ready to present your
evidence?
LAFAYETTE: Yes, I am ready. Is that the earth down there?
CRIER: Yes, Marquis. -IP.
LAFAYETTE! Bring it a little closer, if you please. CUE ^5_;..^.LiKE
LAFAYETTE: That's better.1 Now turn it, please. No, the other way.
From north to south. Yes, just so. Look: there, below
us. Beautiful France. The once smiling land that bore
and nurtured us both, Laval.'
NEARER... DOW__BEHIKD:)
LAFAYETTE: /Look, Laval.' These are the Alps.' And Italy.'
Do you hear that? The Fascist anthem.' GiovenezzaJ
I Youth.' Listen, and you Will hear in its gay melody,
i the tragic overtones of youth betrayed. Look there.'
Rome.' The Eternal City that has outlasted all the
buried Caesars and will yet outlast this latest and
basest of them all. Your comrade, Mussolini, Laval,
flow many times did you go cringing to Rome, my friend?
What did they call you in the Paris Cafes? Lavalini,
wasn't it? Look, now the Mediterranean.' Do you see-
the buried hulks of ships, Laval? French warships that
your hand withheld from the cause of liberty, and that
rot now on the sea's bed. Africa, the desert.'
Hundreds of miles of it.' What do you see down there,
Laval?
LAVAL: Desert. Waste-land.
LAFAYETTE: Yes, and what else? Look closelyI
LAVAL: Shattered huts, abandoned fields - a scene of
desolation.
LAFAYETTE: You have sharp eyes. And those white objects - gleaming in the tropic sun.' Can you define them? -15-
LAVAL: I'm not certain. They appear to be bones.
LAFAYETTE: Yes, you're discerning. They are bones - scattered
human bones, lying where they fell, mowed down by
machine-guns, blasted by bombers commanded by the son
of your comrade, Mussolini. Bones picked clean by
jackals - for there are four-legged jackals, too, Laval.
But wait.1 Do I hear a voice?
' •. )MAN; (FAINTLY; A HIGH THIN VOICE) Yes.1 YosJ Hear me I
Justice.' I ask for justice.1
LAFAYETTE: Closeri Come closer, If you please. Who are you?
WOMAN: I (MUCH CLOSER NOW) My name does not matter. I am an
) Ethiopian woman. My husband was a simple tribesman.
(MUSIC OHAjNGES TOJiFRICmj^ATIVE JTHEMES. .iSTILL_B_iG_i>) WOMAN: We lived with our children on the edge of the desert -
a thousand miles from Europe. We scratched a wretched
living from the thin soil. We asked for little - only
enough to keep us alive and the right to live in peace.
But a madman in Rome cast his frenzied eye upon our land.
We had done him no harm, did not even know he existed.
But he craved empire «• empire to bolster his pride and
glut his vanity - even an empire of sand - even our
remote wasteland. Only, his cunning madman's brain
warned him - cautioned him to seek a blessing for his
murderous plot. And he found it - found his blessing.'
He found It in neighboring France, where Pierre Laval
had power.' There I There he is.' That one beside you -
that dark one, wxth the thick lips and the yellowed
teeth, and the cunning, scheming eyes. (MORE) WOMAN: He blessed too madman's project - and on his head be it.1 (CONT'D) The rape of my country, the murder of my husband, my children, my unarmed people. Death and desolation, striking like a -whirlwind - the slaughter of the innocents. On Pierre Laval's head "be it, I say} Justice.' JusticeJ I demand justice.'
C AND HER VOjICE FADES _OUT.A. »JMPJ^I J^J^.-^ ) ANGEL; Well, Laval? LAVAL; It's untrue « a gross distortion! I am a man of peace. I have always been a man of peace. I "Was a pacifist in the First World War, Ask anyone. Ask - LAFAYETTE: Turn the earth once more, please. 0UEJt6. j_. SAME_AS #5) LAFAYETTE: Baok to the north again. That's rightJ ARNOLD: One moment, if you please.1 ANGEL: You wish to speak, Benedict Arnold? ARNOLD: 1 ask leave to "withdraw from this case. LAVAL: Withdraw? You cannot withdraw? You are my designated counsel. ARNOLD: Nevertheless, I ask to withdraw. ANGEL: For what reason, General Arnold? ARNOLD: I am a soldier. I fought bravely in the cause of liberty. Do you deny that, General Lafayette? LAFAYETTE: No, I do not deny it. ARNOLD: Thank you. Later - ¥611, never mind about that. I did what I did and I suffered for it -- all the re at of miy life and now through the centuries. Condemn me as you will ~ call mo traitor, renegade - do what you lllce to me. But don't ask me to defend this hangman's apprentice. I'm a soldier - not a house-breaker and a looter, not an assailant of helpless peasants, not a murderer of women and children. Look to your own defense, Laval. I'll none of it.' LAVAL: Is this justice? Am I to be left defenseless? I demand that ~-.' ANGEL: He was your best chance, Laval, You'll have to shift for yourself now. LAVAL: The scoundrel] The treacherous scoundrel.' LAFAYETTE! Yes, Laval, treachery can cut both ways, can't it? That's one of the things that gives decent people hope, Laval - the traitors never stand together for long. When the time comes, they betray eaoh other. May I proceed with the evidence? ANGEL: Proceed. LAFAYETTE: Look down again, Laval, What do you see now? SOUND: (SOUND OF MUFFLED GROANS AND DISTANT SHOTS; CLANKING OF CHAINS)(SOUND CONTINUES B.G.) LAVAL: (UNEASILY) Barbed wire. Armed guards. Pale men in chains. LAFAYETTE: Yes. And those confused sounds - growing clearer now. Can you distinguish them? LAVAL: (RELUCTANTLY) Firing-squads. Curses. The moans of men in agony. The slash of whips on naked flesh. -16-
LAFAYETTE: Correct again. A German concentration camp. And on the soil of your own France.
GERMAN WORKER: (VERY DISTANT) Hear me! Hear me! I speak for the German anti-fascist workers! Hear us 1
LAFAYETTE: But wait - a voice asking to be heard 1 Who are you., ' down there?
GERMAN WORKER (ACCENT) My name does not matter. Call me Hans,
Fritz, Wilhelm - any name but Adolf.
LAFAYETTE: Who are you?
GERMAN WORKER A German worker.
D i,.XPERHAP_S__THE,__i EAT BOG SOLDIER.^._;_.]_ GERMAN WORKER We struggled - I and my fellows - to keep Hitler from,
power. But we lost. Our ranks were divided by the
sly Fascist propaganda - and so we lost. Some of us
were shot, some were tortured, but I found refuge in
France - In the great Republic of liberty-loving
France. When Hitler sought to re-arm Germany, we
believed - I and my fellow-workers - that France,
mighty France would forbid him.. But at the head of
France stood that fellow there - he who stands beside
you now - Laval! And he did nothing - nothing! He
sold us out, betrayed us - the common people not
only of France - but of Germany and the whole world.
LAVAL 1 I am a man of peace. I sought only peace. I -
LAFAYETTE: Silencei Continue. -17- GERMAN WORKER: The war came. Poland fell. Belgium fell. France fell. The brown Nazi hordes marched in and he, this Laval, this man of peace, betrayed us again, violated our sacred right of asylum, delivered us into the hands of the conquerors —> the hands of his German masters. Hear us, Lafayette, you, who spoke for the opporessed of your day, whose last act on earth was a plea for those whom tyranny had driven into exile. Speak for us, who did what we could to stem the Nazi tide. (MUSIC _CHANGES T0_"MARSAILMISE^) Speak for us, whoever we are, wherever we are, who believe in the fraternity of liberty-loving men, the true brotherhood of man that transcends political frontiers and the barriers of language and race. Speak for us With the voice of France. For yours is the true voice — not his.1 We may be doomed but do not let our sacrifice be in vain. Speak for our children. The next generation. Speak.1 A»M2 JP-S I°ICI TRAIL OFF) (PAUSE) LAFAYETTE; Well, Laval? LAVAL: He lies.1 I saved France from destruction, from annihilation. And at what cost? A few Communists and a handful of Jews. A small price to pay for France. 1 LAFAYETTE No, not for France. For the safety of your own skin, for the privilege of snatching the crumbs that fall from Hitler's table, for the glory of becoming a Nazi boot-licker. -18- LAVAL: I protest I Am I to be condemned by foreighners? Ethiopian peasants, German Bolshevicksi I owe them nothing. I am a Frenchman - a patriotic Frenchman. think only of France - LAFAYETTE: Very veil.' Turn again, if you please. But slowly., now.
LAFAYETTE: There.1 Do you see that?
LAVAL: Ah, Pans.1 My beloved Paris I
LAFAYETTE: Yes, Pa»rlsj Do you see it, down there, the silver thread of the Seine winding through those ancient quarters? Look:, that great shaft.' You know it, don't you? LAVAL; Yes, of course. The column of July. LAFAYETTE: Just so. I remember when the Bastille stood eft. that spot, Laval. I saw it fall, and from its ruin3 rose the French Ropublic. Did we, the fathers of that Republic, overthrow the tyranny of kings, only that you might submit our children to a foreign tyranny,. far more terrible? Look once more. What do you see? LAVAL: Notre Dame. I am a devout -
(MUSIC OTE ^.^.PAINT^RUMBLE OF__THU1DE
LAFAYETTE: Silence.' Didn't you hear the warning against blasphemy? Yes, the Cathedral of Notre Dame, that symbol of human hope and aspiration, the symphony in stone that for ten centuries has been the heart of Paris. What is that flag that floats over the great south bell-tower? Is it the tricolor - the red, white and blue of the French Republic? Is it, Laval? Answer.' LAVAL: (SQUIRMING) NO, it is - it is -
LAFAYETTE; (IRONICALLY) Just soi It is the hankenkreuz, the
crooked cross., the swastika - desecrating the
sanctuary, polluting the air,1 And youi1 hands have
helped to raise it aloft and to keep it there, Laval.1
LAVAL: What is a flag, after all? A piece of colored cloth - a sentimental idea. I am a practical man, monsieur, a •
LAFAYETTE: Yes, a practical man, •well-versed in chicanery. There is your old haunt/- do you see it? - the Chamber of
Deputies. Do you remember what they called you there,
in that legislative hall of democratic France? A
corridor politician,1 A fellow who trades and bargains
and buys and sells, until he worms his way into a
position of power. But the corridors are dark now, the
doors are closed, and where are we to look for the
democracy you betrayed? And there across the river -
that enchanting park: the Gardens of the Tuileries,
once gay with flower-beds, where children came to
nibble their chocolate and their bread and to watch the
puppet show. The flowers are reserved now for French
graves and the deserted paths echo to the tread of
Nazi boots. There is no chocolate for the children and
they gnaw their moldy bread in frightened silence. And
the puppet-show.' Where is the puppet-show? Moved to
Vichy.1 -20-
LAVAL: Words, I say.' These are nothing but words.' Do you
think you can confound me with your epithets and your
figures of speech? You are mistaken, Marquis de
Lafayette/ I am a man of the people. For twenty years,
I have spoken for the people of Paris. They know me,
they trust me, they love me I
LAFAYETTE: Do they? Let us see, Laval.
(MUSIC _CUE
LAFAYETTE: Let us pay a visit to these people of Paris, for whom
you profess to speak. Come, let us leave the wide
boulevards, the parks and the public buildings and the
noble monuments of the past, and make our way to the
humbler quarters, on the fringe of the city, where the
working-people live. Slowly now, for we must feel our
way through the narrow streets of what was once La Ville
Lumiere - the city of light. There are no lights now;
the streets are dark; the people cower behind closed
shutters and terror stalks the pavements. Ah, here we
are.1 Look.' Do you recognize this quarter?
LAVAL{ Yes, of course - Aubervilliers.' LAFAYETTE: That's right - Aubervilliers.' A working-class district. You were mayor there, weren't you, Laval - year after year?
LAVALj That's what I'm telling you. Year after year, they elected me as their mayor.
FRENCH WORKJJ R: Hem. us - hero us Qt AubervillJersJ Here us.'
LAFAYETTE: Just so - the simple trusting people.' \Does someone wish to speak? -21- FRENCH WORKER: Yes, monsieur. I wish, to speak. LAFAYETTE: f Who arc you who wish to speak? FRENCH WORKER: My name doesn't matter. I'm a workman,, a - LAFAYETTE: One moment, if you pleaseJ You are not an Ethiopian peasant, not a foreign refugee, not a horned devil from
J the Kremlin? FRENCH WORKER No, monsieur! I am French born and bred - as was my father and his father and all the generations before them. LAFAYETTE: Perhaps you knew him, Laval. LAVAL: Why, of course,1 One of my constituents - an old friend. Bon jour, Paul. Or is it Jean? Or Claud? FRENCH WORKER; Yes, all of those. And, I might add, a bit of a fool besides. LAFAYETTE: You call yourself a fool? That's strange. Why? FRENCH WORKER: Because I trusted this fellow, voted for him, believed that he represented me - this friend of the people, this loader of the working-class.1 LAFAYETTE: One moment.1 Am I mistaken in thinking that Mussolini called himself a loader of the workers? And Hitler? FRENCH WORKER: No, monsieur, you are not mistaken. Birds of a feather, you might say. (LAUGHS) Funny thing about this Lav41. LAFAYETTE; What's funny about him. FRENCH WORKER: ¥oll, you sec, monsieur, his name reads the same, whether you spell it forwards or backwards. L~a~v-a~l.
They say that's why it's so easy for him to move from left to right and back again. (LAUGHS) -22- LAFAYETTE: j Yes, I see. Very funny. FRENCH WORKER: Wo11, they've taken everything else from us - but at least they can't take away our jokes. And laughter is a weapon, too, monsieur. (HE COUGHS) LAFAYETTE: You cough.' Are you ill? FRENCH WORKERI No fuel this winter. And our clothing is wearing thin. They've collected our blankets and our overcoats for Hitler's heroes in Russia - with the aid and assistance of our friend from Vichy there. Besides, I was gassed at Verdun in 1915 and I've never been the same. LAFAYETTE; You fought at Verdun? FRENCH WORKER: Yes, monolour - fought well, if I may say so myself. We whipped the Germans then - for all time we thought. But you see we hadn't been to the University and there Wore a lot of words we didn't know. Words like appeasement. Words like collaboration. That's why my son had to die in 19^0 at Sedan - a victim to these ] Lavals, whom "Wo trusted, and who neglected to arm us, / while they carried on their slimy intrigues with the moguls of the Bank of France and the munition makers and the Fascists at hoiae and abroad, playing off Rome against London, Berlin against Moscow, Protestant against Catholic, gentile against Jew, class against class, party against party, doing the dirty work of the dictators, dividing us, confusing us, disheartening us, untilwe did not know friend from foe, and foil, as much the victims of our own dastardly leaders, as of the foreign armies. But wait, LavalI . The end is not yeti Prance is not dead.' A day of reckoning will come. Beware of that day, Laval. (FIT OF COUGHING) (MUSIC .^.CJ COUGHJWG_FADE OUT)
LAFAYETTE: SJh&t was a Frenchman, Laval. Ho has millions of
•brothers. Shall we visit thorn, one by one?
LAVAL: Enough of this farce.1 Every leader has his slanderers.
It is the price he pays for his courage and his
devotion. I'll hear no more of those malcontents.,
these base calumniators. Enough, I say.
LAFAYETTE; Not quite. One more voice is yet to bo heard. Gomel
Back to the banks of the Seine. That little square;
there, in the middle of the Rue de Rivoll, just across
from the Louvre. You know it ?
LAVAL: Of course. The Place dos Pyramides.
LAFAYETTE: Yes* And that equestrian statue on its stone pedestal.1
A knight in armor, with sword raised high. Why - why
I believe it's a woman.1 "Why, yes, it is.1 A young
woman clad in armor. How strange.1
LAVAL: (SULLENLY) Nothing strange about that. Every school-
boy knows Jeanne d'Arc.
LAFAYETTE: Of course, Joan of Arc'
(MUSIC CUE
LAFAYETTE: But look, she lifts her head, she raises her eyes, she wishes to speak to us. Speak, Maid of Orleans.
Speak, Saint Joan.
JOAN: (RICH, RESONANT VOICE) Pierre Laval.1 Do you hoar me,
Pierre Laval?
LAVAL: (QUAKING) Yes, heavenly maid, I hoar you.
JOAN: Down on your knuos, then, and listen, to -what I have to say, for I speak with the voice of saints and
archangels. -24-
LAVAL: I am listening, revered saint.
JOAN: Five hundred years ago, I was a peasant girl in Lorraine
Prance was rent and divided - torn by civil strife,
beleaguered by foreign foes. I was little more than a
child* ignorant of such things, innocent of the world.
Then 1 heard voices from on high, heavenly voices,
bidding me to take up arms, commanding me to save
Franco. I did aa they bade mo. I put on a soldier's
armor. 1 mounted a horse. I led the French troops
into battle. I raised the siege of Orleans. I drove
the usurper from our soil. But more than that, Pierre
Laval, I made of Franco a nation - proud, strong,
united! I fought and died for Franco, but the nation
I founded has endured for five centuries - through
tyranny and revolution, through civil war and invasion.
That France still endures, in spite of all that you and
your fellow-renegades have done to abase it and drag
it in tho dust. That France lies crushed today, but it
will rise again, in triumph and in glory. Already it
raises its head. Its proud ships rida the seas once
more, its gallant troops are on the march again,
bearing aloft the white banner I carried into battle,
the cross of Orleans. They fight side by side with
the free peoples of all the world, for the liberation
of the oppressed everywhere. And the people of
France ~ the imprisoned people of Franco - they are on
the alert, too. (MORE) -25- JOAN I They hear the distant trumpet-calls, the sound of the (OONT'D) guns rolling ever noaj?er. They wait, with taut nerves and quickened hearts, for the day that will come - the day that must come « when France is free again - proud, strong, united.1 When that day comes, look to yourself, Pierre Laval. The French people will not forget. And may your judges be more merciful than were mine. . .OUT.^.) (PAUSE) LAFAYETTE; That is the case against Pierre Laval, Monsieur Recording Angel. LAVAL: (WHIMPERING) Mercy, your Excellency, mercy.' Take pit on mci I am an aging man - a husband and a father. Remember the words of the Scripturej Blessed are the merciful, for they shall •«- ANGEL: SilenceJ This is not the judgment-seat. This is only a preliminary hearing - just for the record, so to speak. Take him ayayl 1ST MESSENGER: Come along, LavalJ LAVAL: (TERRIFIED) What are you going to do? Whore are they taking mo? ANGEL: Back to Vichy, Laval. Back to play out your miserable game of trickery and toadyism and treachery, lour course is not yet run. But we can wait. Time means nothing to us here and a few years arc but as a droplet in the mighty sea. Whether you die in your bed - which is very unlikely - or in some other manner, we shall be awaiting you. Waiting with the record. And the record Will speak for itself. Take him away and call the next case. C- \J
1ST MESSENGER: Yes sir! Got him undo* tlio other arm.
2ND MESSENGER{ All right, I»vo got him. Let's goi
CUE iclS^.^.UPj;.. -.B.G..1 LAVAL: (STRUGGLING AND PROTESTING) No, noJ One, moment! Only
a moment I A word of explanation! I'm misjudged!
Extenuating circumstances! Just let me -!
'SOUNDS AND MUSIC.....)..
STRAINS_OP MA.RSEILLAISE DROWN HIM OUT.)
\ •27- ANNOUNCER: (COLD) You liavo hoard the third in a series of special programs entitled "Day of Reckoning" --tonight tho People Versus Pierre Laval - written by the wcll~known playwright, Elmer Rico, and starring as Joan of Arc, and Paul Honrcid as General Lafayette. Tho part of Laval was played by Everett Sloan. Benedict Arnold was played by ___._•
Others in the case included: f
The original music was written and conducted by Frank Black. The production was under the direction of Joseph Loscy — (MUSIC CUE 0^5'jt.'jiPl AND DOWJSEHDJD) Next week at thxs same hour the National Broadcasting Company will present the fourth program in the special DAY OP RECKONING series -- the title: The People versus Hxcioki Tojo. It is written by Howard Lindsay a,nd Russell Crouao, authors of the stage success, Life With Father, The text of the scripts for this new series may be secured free of charge by sending a stamped self-, addressed envelope directly to tho Council for Democracy - 11 ¥. 42nd Street, Now York City —
(MUSIC .^tii ._._. FINISH) This program came to you from New York. THIS IS THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY. ch 3/12pm.