3. INT. BEER HALL – MAIN BAR AREA – NIGHT
We see a low class beer hall where scores of aroused, half drunk patrons are cheering, waiting for the promised main attraction. FRANKIE is the spieler, churning up their emotions. His words are muffled, as HYMIE’S recollections continue . . .
HYMIE (V.O.)
The good nights and the bad, the cheap hotels, and the postponed meals. It was a rough way to make a living, but it was a living. And it was all for one and one for all. You, me, and Laurel.
LAUREL SCOTT, scantily clad, is shown waiting in the wings about to do her striptease. Hymie is standing by to start a phonograph to accompany her act.
FRANKIE
(continuing his spiel)
. . . I’m talkin’ about art, that’s
A-R-T!
A-R-T!
HYMIE (V.O.)
You were quite a spieler, Frankie. You had to keep those guys under control.
FRANKIE
Gentlemen, gentlemen, you’re about to see a form of art, art that comes to you from way back in the dawn of time, from that first little bit of art they called Eve. The kind of round and warm art that made that old snake serpent, that blind beggar start crawlin’ around backwards. I’m talkin’ about Helen of Troy, man, about Cleopatra. I’m talkin’ about woman, friends. I’m talkin’ about Miss Laurel, the one and only hip-switchin’, nice walkin’ bunch of loveliness you’re gonna see right now. Let’s hear it for Miss Laurel!
Laurel removes her wrap and climbs onto the platform to begin her act. Hymie CUES UP A RECORD on a portable phonograph, and she starts to dance. She toys with the patrons while Frankie and Hymie watch, ready to jump in if necessary. She removes articles of her tiger-striped costume and throws them into the audience. Eventually she removes her bra and is preparing to remove her panties.