1 EXT. NEW YORK ALLEYWAY - NIGHT 1
SUPER: November 18, 1943
Raining. An alley near Broadway. Silhouetted by a harsh
electrical fixture, we see the shadowy figure of the 48-year-
old LORENZ HART, wearing his topcoat like a cloak. His cigar
glows, and he’s talk-singing to himself. While his voice
suggests he may have been drinking, he is not remotely
incoherent. As he lurches among the garbage cans, he sings a
fragment of the 1926 song “Everything Happens to Me” to music
heard only in his head.
HART
(talk-singing)
“I telegraphed and phoned. I sent
an air mail special too. Your
answer was goodbye and there was
even postage due. I fell in love
just once, and it had to be with
you.”
Triple rhyme.
“Everything happens to me.”
He stumbles to a stop.
HART (CONT’D)
Oh, fuck!
He’s slowly collapsed to the ground, ne ar some trash cans.
OPENING CREDITS SEQUENCE
As we pull slowly away from him in the alley, we HEAR the
scratchy recording of an archival radio obituary.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
WQXR notes the passing of one of
America’s foremost songwriters,
Lorenz Hart, who died last night at
Doctor’s Hospital in Manhattan from
complications of pneumonia. Mr.
Hart was 48 years old. For over
twenty years, Hart and hi s partner
Richard Rodgers (Rodgers wrote the
music; Hart the words) combined
their respective geniuses to create
a string of musical-comedy hits...
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 2
11 CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 11
RADIO ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
...Often referred to as America’s
Gilbert and Sullivan, Rodgers and
Hart will be remembered for such
songs as “My Funny Valentine,” “The
Lady is a Tramp,” “Where or When,”
“With a Song in My Heart,” “Isn’t
it Romantic,” “My Heart Stood
Still,” “Bewitched,” “I Didn’t Know
What Time It Was,” “Manhattan,” and
“Blue Moon”....
SUPER: Seven Months Earlier
Wednesday, March 31, 1943-- opening night of Oklahoma!
Genres:
["Drama","Biography","Musical"]
Ratings
Scene
2 -
A Misfit at the Musical
2 INT. ST. JAMES THEATER - NIGHT 2
We are in a box seat with Hart and an elderly woman, his
mother FRIEDA.
Down below, on stage, largely out of focus, a CHORUS of
COWBOYS sings an ode to statehood. The song’s charms have
clearly eluded Hart who is cradling his forehead in misery.
COWBOY CHORUS
(singing)
We know we belong to the land.
HART
Here comes grand...
COWBOY CHORUS
(singing)
And the land we belong to is grand!
And when we say:
Ee-ee-ow!
A-yip-i-o-ee-ay!
We’re only sayin’,
“You’re doin’ fine, Oklahoma!”
Hart rises.
HART
I need a drink.
FRIEDA
Lorry!
HART
I’ll see you later, Ma.
COWBOY CHORUS
Oklahoma, O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A,
Oklahoma. Yeeow!
The cowboys hurl their hats into the air.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 3
Genres:
["Musical","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
3 -
A Night at Sardi's: Reflections and Revelries
3 EXT. 44TH STREET - NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT 3
Moving across the street towards a bar/restaurant.
4A INT. SARDI’S BAR - ENTRACE/MAIN BAR AREA - NIGHT 4A
It is about ten thirty on the same evening: Caricatures of
theatrical celebrities fill the walls. The bar is still
relatively empty; we see EDDIE, the bartender (energetic,
humorous, round-framed glasses) and a FEW COUPLES. MORTY
RIFKIN, working part-time as a cocktail pianist, is dressed
in a military uniform with a Signal Corps lapel pin; he’s
playing “Manhattan.”
For the first time, we get a good look at Lorenz Hart, a
diminutive man with thinning hair, now 47 years old, dressed
in a perfectly-tailored dark-blue banker’s suit with a
handkerchief in his pocket which matches his tie. He enters
with a rumpled S. Klein’s shopping bag under his arm, a n
unbuttoned topcoat draped over his shoulders. As Hart sits at
the bar, the bartender matter-of-factly pulls out a pistol
from beneath the bar and aims it at Hart.
EDDIE
All right. For the last time, put
the letters on the table.
HART
If Lazlo and the Cause mean that
much to you, you won’t stop at
anything. All right, I’ll make it
easy on you.
(puts down shopping bag and
stands)
Go ahead, shoot. Y ou’d be doing me
a favor.
EDDIE
Just remember, I got this gun
pointed at your dick.
HART
That’s my least vulnerable spot.
The pianist, by this time, has figured out the scene they’re
parodying; he segues into “As Time Goes By.” Hart nods to the
pianist as if to say: Good, you got it.
EDDIE
Jesus Christ, how many times have
we seen that picture?
HART
Worst line in Casablanca? “Well, a
precedent is being broken.”
(savoring its stupidity)
A precedent is being broken? How
can you break a Goddamn precedent?
Do they even speak English over
there in Hollywood?
(MORE)
( ORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 4
4A CONTINUED: 4A
HART (CONT’D)
Still, you have to love Claude
Rains. He makes that picture. You
know why he’s so great? He’s a
leading man, and he’s short. Which
proves you can be both. And I love
this: He says to Ilsa,
“Mademoiselle, he’s the kind of man
that--if I were a woman and I were
not around--I should be in love
with Rick.” Think about it: Whom
does he end up with at the end of
the picture? Who’s strolling away
together arm in arm into the fog?
EDDIE
You’re saying Rick and Captain
Renault...
HART
What do you think goes on over
there at the Free French garrison
in Brazzaville? That is a scene
they can’t show you. OK: best line
in Casablanca?
EDDIE
(doing Bogart)
“Nobody ever loved me that much.”
HART
“Nobody ever loved me that much.”
Isn’t that magnificent? Six words.
“Nobody ever loved me that much.”
And, really, who’s ever been loved
enough? Who’s ever been loved half
enough? Would you get me a shot?
EDDIE
Larry, you told me under no
circumstances--
HART
I’m just gonna look at it. Take
the measure of its amber heft in my
hand.
EDDIE
You told me not--
HART
Just give me the drink.
He watches Eddie pour.
HART (CONT’D)
Did I tell you what Elizabeth told
me--that’s the girl I’m meeting me
here tonight?
EDDIE
You mean the one you--
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 5
4A CONTINUED: 4A
HART
Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.
EDDIE
What?
HART
Show some class, all right? Her
mother is gonna come walking in
here any second.
EDDIE
Sorry.
HART
(studies his hands as he
lights a cigar)
Seriously: I adore this girl. And,
I’m telling you, this is beyond
sex.
EDDIE
What’s beyond sex?
HART
I don’t understand it. She’s
completely undeserving. But isn’t
that the way it always is?
Irrational adoration . That’s the
phrase she came up with. She’s a
poet, too. Did I tell you that?
Oh, and would you give me a shot of
club soda? I’ll drink one and
admire the other.
EDDIE
So this girl...
(lowers voice)
You really, you know, with a twenty
year old college girl?
HART
It is more complicated than you can
possibly imagine. Leave the
bottle. It’s a visual poem.
EDDIE
You’re not giving me any details
here.
HART
You know what my secret goal is for
the rest of this year? I’m
serious. Really. My secret goal
is to: Stop being so scared. I’m
47....
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 6
Genres:
["Drama","Biopic"]
Ratings
Scene
4 -
Carnations and Confessions at Sardi's
4B INT. SARDI’S BAR - MAIN BAR AREA - CONTINUOUS 4B
Flower Delivery Guy/Sven (tall, Nordic-looking) enters with a
modest-sized vase of carnations.
SVEN
(checking bill)
Elizabeth Weiland. For--
HART
Those are mine! Jesus, that is all
you get for five dollars?
SVEN
Plus delivery, yes.
(verifying name on bill)
Lorenz Hart? You know, I kind of
think I’ve heard that name before.
HART
You just earned yourself a doll ar
tip, kid! A precedent is being
broken.
(pulling a pencil from his
jacket pocket to sign the
receipt, speaks to Eddie)
Hey, she gave this to me.
(re: pencil)
Mailed it all the way from New
Haven because I said I wanted
something she’d actually touched.
Christ, it’s like I’m seventeen
again, except I never was
seventeen. I went directly from
childhood to washed-up. Eddie, get
the kid a drink. Would you?
SVEN
No thanks. I’m working.
HART
Christ, that’s whe n you should be
drinking. What’s your name? Sven,
am I right?
SVEN
Troy.
HART
Oh, even better. Listen Sven, are
you free tonight? Eddie, would you
get the kid a Goddamn shot? ‘Cause
I am throwing an enormous party at
my place. All of show business is
going to be there. I’ve booked the
Golden Gate Quartet! I’m serious.
I want you to show up. Bring a
friend. Bring a dozen friends.
It’s gonna be like nothing you’ve
ever seen before. I’m up at the
Ardsley, you know?
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 7
4B CONTINUED: 4B
HART (CONT’D)
Ninety-first, on the Park.
(scribbles down address
with his pencil)
Just tell the desk-clerk that
you’re with Lorenz Hart’s party.
You’re gonna need to know the
password. Are you ready for the
password? “Nobody ever loved me
that much.”
Sven smiles and downs the shot.
HART (CONT’D)
(re: drinking)
Slow! Now that is a beautiful
sight.
Takes the shot glass from Sven and inhales its fumes.
SVEN
You don’t drink?
HART
(talk-sings)
“After one whole quart of brandy,
Like a daisy I awake.”
You know that song?
SVEN
No, no.
Morty Rifkin, the cocktail pianist in uniform, is trying to
follow along.
HART
(talk-sings)
“My funny Valentine,
Sweet comic Valentine...”
SVEN
I really don’t listen to the radio
that much.
HART
You said you know my name! You
don’t know one Rodgers and Hart
song?
SVEN
I know, I just can’t really
remember...
HART
(talk-sings)
“I’ll take Manhattan,
The Bronx and Staten...”
Blank look.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 8
4B CONTINUED: 4B
HART (CONT’D)
We were on the cover of Time
Magazine! My picture is on the
wall right...Eddie, where’s my
picture?
EDDIE
They move ‘em around.
HART
What do you--
MORTY RIFKIN
Well, how about this one?
He plays and sings the opening to “Blue Moon.”
MORTY RIFKIN (CONT’D)
(sings)
“Blue moon.”
SVEN
I know that one!
(sings)
“You saw me standing alone.”
Sven, Morty Rifkin, and Eddie all sing together.
TOGETHER
“Without a dream in my heart,
Without a love of my own.”
HART
Worst G oddamn lyric I ever wrote!
SVEN
You wrote that?
HART
Wasn’t even supposed to be the
title!
SVEN
I like that song.
HART
I’ll take my tip back.
Sven has left. Hart calls after him.
HART (CONT’D)
I want you at my party, Sven!
Turns to Eddie.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 9
4B
4 CONTINUED:
C NTIN ED: 4B
HART (CONT’D)
Doc Bender said to me the other
night--after I told him I’d
proposed to Vivienne again--she
turned me down, again--he said,
“Larry, make up your mind. Are you
homosexual or heterosexual?” I
said: “Doc, I’m ‘ambisexual.’ He
said: “What the hell does that even
mean?” I said: “It means I can
jerk off equally well with either
hand.”
EDDIE
Larry! There’s a lady present.
HART
Well, women can use either hand,
too. But, to be a writer you have
to be kind of omni-sexual, don’t
you? You have to have, inside
yourself, you know, everyone on
earth. Men, women, horses--how can
you give voice to the whole chorus
of the world if the whole chorus of
the world isn’t already inside you?
Eddie, what do you call a tireless,
relentless homosexual?
EDDIE
(weary)
Huh?
HART
“Indefagitable.”
Eddie doesn’t get it.
Genres:
["Drama","Musical","Biographical"]
Ratings
Scene
5 -
Toast to the Past
4C INT. SARDI’S BAR - MAIN BAR AREA - CONTINUOUS 4C
Hart reaches for a shot of Old Grand Dad. But he stops; wags
his own warning finger; then raises his glass of club soda.
HART
(toasts the others)
To the great and glorious past.
When it all mattered so much.
(to Rifkin)
Keep playing. You’re good.
MORTY RIFKIN
Oh, thank you. I’m an aspiring
composer.
HART
Aspiring? That means you’re
breathing, right? I better take
your name down in case I need a new
partner.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 10
4C CONTINUED: 4C
Hart’s reached into his jacket pocket for a piece of paper:
he’s found a folded Playbill, a wartime issue with a flag
printed on the cover.
EDDIE
Hey, did you go to the opening
tonight?
HART
(re: Playbill)
Oklahoma! With an exclamation
point, no less. FACT: Any title
that feels the need for an
exclamation point, you want to
steer clear of.
(to pianist)
What did you say your name was
again?
MORTY RIFKIN
Morty. Rifkin. But I go by the
name of Morty Rafferty.
HART
No one could possibly guess you’re
Jewish.
MORTY RIFKIN
Wha’dja think of Oklahoma?
MOVING IN CLOSER
HART
What did I think of Oklahoma?
Well, Knuckles--Knuckles O’Rifkin--
that’s what I’m gonna call you. I
saw the show a couple of times in
previews in New Haven, back when
they were still calling it Away We
Go! Exclamation point. And I felt
sure Dick was gonna call me:
“Larry, we’re in big trouble. I
need you to funny up the show. We
need some big comedy numbers.” And
I was all ready to say: “Dick,
instead of all this corn-pone
Americana, let’s do a send-up of
corn-pone Americana!” I was
already writing lyrics in my head--
I couldn’t stop.
MORTY RIFKIN
And did he call you?
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 11
4C CONTINUED: 4C
HART
Are you kidding? He was too busy
writing more hits...I sat in my box
seat tonight, and watched Oklahomo-
exclamation-point down there
glittering in all it’s pink lights,
and all those cowboy hats and
twirling lassos, and I knew two
things with absolute certainty: It
was a 14-carat hit, and it was a 14-
carat piece of shit.
EDDIE
Friend of mine saw it in previews?
Said it was one of the best shows
he’d ever seen.
HART
The show is fraudulent on every
possible level. And this is not
jealousy speaking. OK ? I watched
that show tonight and I felt this
just great...sinking in my heart.
And all around me people are
roaring. They are roaring at third-
rate jokes. I wanted to grab the
audience by the shoulders and say:
“What are you laughing at? Come
on. Demand more.” And Rodgers is
a genius. I say that without one
second’s hesitation. You’re a
piano player; you know that I’m
right.
MORTY RIFKIN
Yeah, he’s pretty good.
HART
Pretty good! There is no one with
his range. His inventiveness.
Great, soaring, masculine melodies
building like pile-drivers. I
mean, Rodgers is a cold-hearted son-
of-a-bitch, but he can get a melody
to levitate. And that is the
hallmark of great art: Levitation.
(talk-sings)
“I’ve got a beautiful feel-ing...”
That’s the moment. You hear that?
When your spine glows and the whole
apparatus of songwriting suddenly
breaks free from gravity. There’s
maybe five people on the planet
that can pull that off. And that
son-of-a-bitch is one of ‘em.
And then, oy, “words by Oscar
Hammerstein the second”.... What
can I say about Oscar? He’s gonna
come striding in here any second:
all seven and a half feet of him.
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 12
4C CONTINUED: 4C
HART (CONT’D)
And you know Dick deliberately went
with somebody tall this time. You
know that? But what can I say
about Oscar? He’s so...
earthbound. And, let’s face it,
most of us are earthbound. But
there are moments, I swear to God,
there are moments in my work when I
have made something bigger than
myself.
MORTY RIFKIN
I agree. Definitely.
HART
Thank you. The words were bigger
than the music; bigger than the
characters who sang them--and they
approached--for maybe one half-
second--something immortal. Excuse
my limitless self-regard, but they
did, and if nobody else is gonna
say it, then I’m going to. I have
written a handful of words that are
going to cheat death.
EDDIE
Spoken with the modesty of a true
lunatic.
HART
Hey, when Shakespeare wrote Not
marble nor gilded monuments/of
princes shall outlive this powerful
rhyme, did people say, “My God what
an ego?” No. They said “He is a
genius, and he knows his work is
going to last.”
EDDIE
So now you’re Shakespeare?
HART
Look, Oklahoma! is gonna win the
Goddamn Pulitzer. I know that.
High schools are gonna put it on
from now til doomsday because it is
so inoffensive. But, really, who
wants inoffensive art? Knuckles!
Are you listening to me! I’m trying
to answer your question!
Morty plays “Look For the Silver Lining.”
HART (CONT’D)
Is this why God put us on the
planet? To not offend people? The
problem with Oklahoma! is this--and
the problem was right there in the
original play, “Green Grow the
Fucking Lilacs.” And Dick first
showed that play to me! All right?
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 13
4C CONTINUED: 4C
HART (CONT’D)
He asked me to adapt it first. And
I said no. And I don’t mind that
it’s nostalgic, but Oklahoma!-
exclamation-point is nostalgic for
a world that never existed. And do
you really want to write a show
where the main character’s name is
Curly? Oh, here’s an idea for a
song: “Hey, Moe! Hey, Larry! I
Just Stepped in Cow Shit!”
(does Curly knuckle
business)
I mean, am I bitter? We write
together for a quarter a century
and the first show he writes with
someone else is gonna be the
biggest hit h e ever had? Am I
bitter?
EDDIE
Larry...
HART
Fuck yes. But I need to tell you
about Elizabeth. I need to cleanse
my heart.
EDDIE
Here we go, the twenty-year-old--
HART
She’s gonna come in here any
second.
MORTY RIFKIN
Rodgers is gonna be here tonight,
right?
HART
Don’t worry, I’ll introduce you.
MORTY RIFKIN
That’d be great. I’m trying to get
somebody to listen to my songs.
HART
Listen and learn. I’m telling you
about Elizabeth. There’s something
appealingly...ethereal about her
face.
EDDIE
What the fuck does that mean?
HART
Look, I got her all these presents.
He rummages through the rumpled shopping bag he’s placed on
the bar.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 14
4C CONTINUED: 4C
EDDIE
You bought her something from
Klein’s?
HART
She’s gonna love this.
From the bag he removes a sprig of purple flowers, a small,
battered-looking framed painting and an old novel (Of Human
Bondage) still in its yellowing dust jacket.
EDDIE
Yeah, but that’s used shit? What
are you doing?
HART
This is an authentic first-edition.
You don’t understand the magic and
the mystery of this girl.
Eddie sighs in agony.
HART (CONT’D)
I have been waiting for this my
whole life. It’s what Somerset
Maugham says in that thing, you
remember?
EDDIE
Me?
HART
Yeah. “There’s always one who
loves and one who lets himself be
loved.” ...That’s the truth, isn’t
it? Of course, you know you’re in
trouble when you’re looking for the
meaning of life in a bo ok with the
word “bondage” in the title.
EDDIE
Larry, she’s a girl. Right? OK.
See, I always thought your
interests went more towards--
HART
My interests? So now you’re going
to analyze me? Thank you, Doctor
Bacardi. Look, I met her at
rehearsals for By Jupiter. And
she’s not an actress. She’s a
college student. Sophomore. Yale.
Not the general school; that’s for
guys. This is the School of Fine
Arts! Bohemian goddesses in gray
smocks mixing paint in morning
light. She’s all of twenty years
old.
EDDIE
And you’re--what?
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 15
4C CONTINUED: 4C
HART
A youthful 47! You know what I
call her in my letters? My
irreplaceable Elizabeth! Can you
believe it? If I could write
what’s in my heart this second I
would have the entire audience
levitating. Oklahoma! would close
in shame if it could hear eight
bars of what’s in my heart. And
I’ve been in eight bars tonight so
I know what I’m talking about.
(Morty plays a little
vaudeville sting; Eddie
steals a glance at his
wristwatch)
Last summer I found myself awake at
4:30 in the morning. And all I’d
done the previous five hours. What
the hell are you lookin’ at your
watch for?
EDDIE
Larry, I’m working here.
HART
What the hell do you think I’m
doing? And I’m not even getting
paid. All right.
Genres:
["Drama","Biographical","Musical"]
Ratings
Scene
6 -
Tensions and Flowers at Sardi's
4D INT. SARDI’S BAR - MAIN BAR AREA - CONTINUOUS 4D
Sven re-enters.
SVEN
More flowers.
HART
Eddie, get Sven another drink!
Eddie pours another drink. This time Sven is carrying an
enormous vase of red carnations bursting with blooms.
SVEN
For Richard Rodgers.
HART
Jesus, how much did those cost?
SVEN
Sixteen dollars. Plus delivery.
HART
(grabs the gift card and
reads)
“Dick: I’ve got a beautiful
feeling, everything’s going your
way. Love, Dorothy.” She’s quoting
Oscar?
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 16
4D CONTINUED:
N I E : 4D
As Eddie signs for the flowers, Hart sneaks a shot of
whiskey.
HART (CONT’D)
I write with her husband for 24
years and she’s quoting Oscar?
Ninety-first, on the Park. The
Ardsley. We’ll be going late.
SVEN
All right. Well, thanks again
fellas.
Sven exits. Renee enters.
RENEE
Good evening.
HART
Indulge me for one second. Let me
recreate for you Elizabeth.
EDDIE
Enough! Did you screw her or not?
HART
Show some c lass, Eddie. Knuckles,
may I speak with you?
MORTY RIFKIN
Sure, yeah. So, did you screw her
or not?
Genres:
["Drama","Comedy"]
Ratings
Scene
7 -
A Playful Encounter at Sardi's
4E INT. SARDI’S BAR - MAIN BAR AREA - CONTINUOUS 4E
Voices offscreen, and a tall, green-eyed, ethereal-looking
YOUNG WOMAN with short, blonde hair enters carrying a garment
bag.
HART
Elizabeth!
ELIZABETH
Larry!
He’s walking toward her.
HART
My irreplaceable Elizabeth!
ELIZABETH
I’m so happy to see you.
Do you lik e the hair?
HART
I love it. It’s much better than
the red.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 17
4E CONTINUED: 4E
ELIZABETH
I think so.
HART
I mean, I liked the red, too. But
this is much more...other-worldly.
ELIZABETH
I have to go set up for the party.
HART
No, no, no - I got you some
flowers!
ELIZABETH
Aw, I’m overwhelmed.
HART
Well, I have that effect on people.
ELIZABETH
I have so much to tell you.
HART
Like what?
ELIZABETH
I’ve been writing in my journal
again.
HART
I hope you let me read it.
She takes the card from the smaller vase.
HART (CONT’D)
No, no, no, no, the big one.
She looks at the card in the other, tiny flower vase.
ELIZABETH
And these are what Richard Rodgers
is getting? Larry, my mother would
die if she saw this. With your
permission...
She switches the gift cards, gives Larry a sweet smile.
HART
Permission granted.
ELIZABETH
That guy I told you about?
HART
Cooper.
ELIZABETH
It finally happened.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 18
4E CONTINUED: 4E
HART
No!
ELIZABETH
Yes. On my birthday. The night of
my 20th birthday. Pretty dramatic
actually. You could write a play
about it.
HART
A musical.
(title in lights gesture)
He Has Risen.
ELIZABETH
Larry!
HART
It’s an Easter musical! It’s very
religious!
ELIZABETH
Let me clarify by saying it almost
happened.
HART
Clarify immediately!
ELIZABETH
I’m gonna tell you the whole story
later.
HART
No, I demand to know the shorthand
version now.
ELIZABETH
The shorthand version? ...OK...
(picking her words
carefully)
The skin on his back was
flawless.... Gotta run. You’re
going to introduce me to Richard
Rodgers, right?
HART
Before the evening is over, you’re
going to get a huge handful of
Dick.
ELIZABETH
Larry ! You’re so vulgar!
She scoops up the small flower vase as if it were an
embarrassment; takes her garment bag and heads upstairs to
set up the party.
We notice MORE THEATER-GOERS entering the bar.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 19
Genres:
["Drama","Romance","Musical"]
Ratings
Scene
8 -
Nostalgia and Eavesdropping at Sardi's
4F INT. SARDI’S BAR - MAIN BAR AREA - CONTINUOUS 4F
EDDIE
Handful of Dick, that’s funny.
Hey...
HART
I’m writing an entire musical about
her. It’s inspired by those Frank
Capra war pictures: Why We
Fight...This one will be called:
(title-in-lights gesture)
Why We Fuck. ...And the big ballad
at the end will be: “The Skin On
His Back Was Flawless.”
(staring where she stood)
Of course, when you’re twenty what
other commodity do you have to
trade in on except your body? You
haven’t done anything, right? Can
you imagine what Elizabeth would
write if she saw my back? “The
skin on his back looked like a
white bed sheet someone had thrown-
up on. His pecker looked like the
horn of a retarded unicorn.”
Larry picks up shot-glass of Old Grand Dad. Considers it.
HART (CONT’D)
Just one to get me through
congratulating him.
He moves to drink the shot.
EDDIE
(gently admonishing)
Larry.
HART
(toasts Eddie)
To the skin on her back. Like
every other part of her: flawless.
He dri nks it down with the relish of someone who’s been
missing something he dearly loves.
HART (CONT’D)
How can so much pleasure be
compressed into so small a
container? That’s it. Absolutely
no more. Agreed?
Morty plays “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”
HART (CONT’D)
God I miss Gershwin. I bet I saw
Porgy and Bess more times than any
other person in this city. Best
line in Porgy: “When Gawd made
cripple, he mean him to be lonely.”
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 20
4F CONTINUED: 4F
EDDIE
Did you ever think your entire
life is a play and that, you know,
99 percent of the people in it they
got no lines, you know? They’re
just like extras. And you, you’re
just an extra in their play?
HART
Deep. Very deep.
EDDIE
I got thoughts, too, you know.
HART
Really? I thought you were just an
extra.
EDDIE
Will somebody get these fucking
flowers off my bar?
(Off screen)
WAITER
Ok!
Hart looks to where Elizabeth exited. Gestures to Eddie to
refill his shot glass; Eddie gestures “Enough.”
In the background, “ANDY” WHITE, melancholy-looking, 44 years
old, in a rumpled suit and wire-rim glasses, has taken a seat
at a solitary table near the bar. He scribbles something on
the small memo pad he always keeps with him. Quietly orders.
HART
You’ve got to see her as I did.
EDDIE
I just seen her.
HART
No, the first time. If you can’t
see that, you can’t understand what
this whole night is about.
EDDIE
I’m beginning to think you didn’t
screw her.
“Andy” White at his table near the bar has begun to eavesdrop
on this conversation.
HART
(takes out a deck of cards)
I wanna practice this trick on you
before I do it for her.
(lowers voice)
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 21
4F CONTINUED: 4F
HART (CONT’D)
And I’m not showing it to her as a
trick. I’m showing it to her as an
experiment--to prove there’s an
extra-sensory link between us. She
believes in all that horseshit, you
know? Talking for twenty minutes
about psychokinesis. I don’t
understand a fucking word she’s
saying. I’m sitting there nodding,
thinking: Is she really wearing a
grape-colored brassiere?
He cuts the deck of cards a few times.
HART (CONT’D)
And later I’m going to teach you
Boys my own card game.
Cocksucker’s Rummy !
EDDIE
Larry. Language.
HART
You’re offended by the word
cocksucker? All right, I won’t use
it. I give you my word as a
cocksucker. But let me tell you
about the first time I saw her.
EDDIE
I think I’d rather see the card
trick.
MORTY RIFKIN
Me, too.
HART
You know what the sexiest thing
on the planet earth is? A half-
erect penis.
EDDIE
Jesus Christ, Larry, nobody wants
to hear this.
HART
I’m not talking to you.
EDDIE
Who you talking to?
HART
Me. I gotta talk to somebody
interesting. I mean it though. A
half-erect penis is a promise. A
fully-erect penis is an exclamation
point--as a writer it offends me;
it’s too loud; it’s too adolescent;
the story’s already over. But a
half-erect penis: Is it going?
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 22
4F CONTINUED: 4F
HART (CONT’D)
Or is it coming? But women appeal
to me precisely for their absence
of penises.
EDDIE
Me too.
HART
They live in a much more
interesting emotional landscape
than we do. A landscape we can
only dream about. But this evening
is not about landscapes. It’s a
portrait of Elizabeth, and only
Elizabeth.
EDDIE
Here we fucking go again.
HART
Wait, you saw she was beautiful,
right? I mean, if not classically
beautiful, then, what’s the right
word...
Gropes for the perfect adjective.
EDDIE
Nice tits. Small but very
inviting.
HART
I wish I could paint her. That
seems to me the most intimate way
of looking at a person. At the
same time, the least sentimental.
To accurately reproduce the planes
of her face.
(sculpts her face in the
air)
The two tiny fr eckles on her left
cheek.
(notices White)
You look familiar. I’ve seen your
picture somewhere...
White shrugs.
HART (CONT’D)
You’re a writer?
White raises his pen in acknowledgement.
Genres:
["Drama","Comedy"]
Ratings
Scene
9 -
A Toast to Words and Melodies
4G INT. SARDI’S - WHITE’S TABLE - MAIN BAR AREA - CONTINUOUS 4G
Hart abandons the cards and moves towards White’s table.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 23
4G
4G CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 4G
4G
HART
Then you will appreciate this
story. Because it concerns the...
ANDY WHITE
...Ineffable?
HART
That’s the perfect word.
(snaps fingers)
Christ! You’re E.B. White! You’re
“Andy” White!
White nods in modest acknowledgement.
Hart seats himself at White’s table.
INTIMATE: THE TABLE
HART (CONT’D)
I cannot tell you how much I enjoy
your essays. Nothing has given me
more pleasure; I am in love with
your language.
ANDY WHITE
Thank you.
HART
I’m in love with your punctuation.
You can’t move a single comma. Am
I right? I mean, you’re a
musician, White.
White holds up hands in protest.
ANDY WHITE
You’re the musician.
HART
You know, you, above all people,
will appreciate this story. This
girl. Elizabeth. I can’t do my
act for her.... You know what I
mean? She wouldn’t be interested.
She never asks me about me. Never.
And it isn’t so much indifference,
I think, as much as we both
recognize that she’s legitimately
more interesting than I am. And I
genuinely mean that. Did you guys
see her hair? That’s what I first
noticed when she walked into the
theater last July. It was as if
she were breathing different air
than I was.
ANDY WHITE
I like that.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 24
4G CONTINUED: 4G
HART
I’m telling you, White, she would
make a great musical! And not one
Goddamn corn stalk in the whole
show! And, fellas, just for the
record: “The corn is as high as an
elephant’s eye” is the stupidest
lyric in the history of American
songwriting. Yes, it makes perfect
sense; and, yes, it scans, but the
image of an Oklahoma cornfield with
a fucking elephant standing in the
middle of it?
EDDIE
I like elephants.
HART
Yeah, we all like elephants, Eddie.
Look, Andy, I need you to see this.
I’m listening to her talk. But I
couldn’t tell you a single word she
said ‘cause all I’m really thinking
is:
(sings)
“Wait till you feel the warmth of
her glance/Pensive and sweet and
wise.” I was writing about her
when I wrote that lyric. Three
perfect words, in the perfect
order. And, you tell me, what
other lyricist could’ve gotten away
with pensive?
ANDY WHITE
What song was that?
HART
Just telling you, when I’m good,
I’m really good. Just the sound of
it! That’s what a writer does? We
wear our vulnerability like a cloak
for all the world to witness.
ANDY WHITE
I like the word cloak .
HART
That’s ‘cause it’s an antique.
Like us. Can I get you another
drink?
ANDY WHITE
Sure. Why not?
HART
I can think of a thousand reasons
why not. But they don’t compete
with the reasons why.
Indicating to Eddie to bring over the alcohol.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 25
4G CONTINUED: 4G
HART (CONT’D)
Eddie, pass the Lord and praise the
house-physician! Another round.
Just a little. You know what I
loved in that essay you wrote about
Florida? That line: “The sea
answers all questions, and always
the same way...’So soon?’” Jesus.
To take a sound, and transform it
into...what?...a sigh of eternity.
ANDY WHITE
My diminutive gift.
Toasting White.
HART
To the poetry that pours down on us
from a thousand unexpected sources.
White toasts him back.
ANDY WHITE
To your poetry.
HART
Look, she’s twenty; I’m 47. Let’s
discuss this like two sensible
alcoholics. It was, in the
beginning everything was exactly as
it seemed: I was...
(grandly)
...her mentor. And I suppose I
was, you know? The “grand old man”
of the theatre. In her eyes. I’m
over at the Shubert rehearsing By
Jupiter - the show is a holy mess.
And I’m having this debate with
Johnny Green about the lyrics to
“Give My Regards to Broadway.” I
remember as a kid falling in love
with that song.
(talk-sings the last two
lines of the song)
“Give my regards to old Broad-way,
And say that I’ll be there ‘ere
long.”
I knew instantly, even as a kid,
that what gave that line its speed,
its inevitability, was the inner
rhyme. And not just the
“there/’ere.” But the other one.
The “way/say.” The line should
logically be give my regards to old
Broadway and tell them that I’ll be
there, but to change the verb to
SAY made all the difference...
(to Morty)
Knuckles, you know any Cohan?
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 26
Genres:
["Drama","Musical"]
Ratings
Scene
10 -
Melodies of War and Longing
4H INT. SARDI’S - MORTY’S STATION - MAIN BAR AREA -CONTINUOUS 4H
Marty plays the opening of “Over There.” The guys join in.
SINGING
“Over there, over there, send the
word, send the word over there.
That the Yanks are coming, the
Yanks are coming, the drums drum-
drumming everywhere... We’ll be
over, we’re coming over, And we
won’t come back till it’s over Over
there.”
HART
You know what the Yanks really sang
in the great war? We won’t come
back, we’ll be buried over there!”
And they were.
ANDY WHITE
Total number of deaths in the Great
War: thirty seven million... I
think maybe the adjective “great”
should never precede the word
“war.”
HART
Amen to that. What does God think
when he looks down on his creation
and sees that under the Noblest of
Motives we sent thirty seven
million people to their grave?
ANDY WHITE
That’s why it’s raining all the
time. God is weeping.
HART
Well I’m a patriot. I am.
(to Morty)
I mean, you’re a soldier. God
bless you. But how many are going
to die this time around?
ANDY WHITE
Will we even be able to put a
number on it?
MORTY RIFKIN
I’m on leave. Taking care of my
mother.... She’s more terrified
than I am.
HART
When do you ship out?
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 27
4H CONTINUED: 4H
MORTY RIFKIN
In two weeks they’re sending me
back to that hotbed of enemy
activity: Bradley Beach, New
Jersey. I’m teaching Morse code at
the Hotel Grossman.
HART
Ah, Bradley Beach, where enemy
agents stroll the boardwalk
disguised as elderly Jewish women
in furs.
Pause.
EDDIE
I used to play hide the sausage
with a girl knew a girl from
Bradley Beach.
MORTY RIFKIN
Oh yeah?
ANDY WHITE
Did you read that piec e in Life
about Guadalcanal? That before the
battle, the soldiers were skipping
silver dollars in the water?
Instead of stones. ‘Cause they
knew they were never coming
back....
Pause.
EDDIE
I couldn’t enlist. My eyes.
HART
What’s the matter? They open?
He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a Playbill, and hands
to White.
HART (CONT’D)
Speaking of people who are not
coming back, I would like you to
read this. It’s from the By
Jupiter playbill.
White begins reading to himself.
HART (CONT’D)
Out loud!
He reads to everyone as Hart delights over each phrase.
ANDY WHITE
“Rodgers and Hart: They’re as
different as a dachshund and a
dromedary.
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 28
4H CONTINUED: 4H
ANDY WHITE (CONT’D)
One likes opera and home life; the
other goes for night clubs and
people. One is married and has two
children; the other is single and
supports bartenders.
HART
You’re welcome Eddie.
ANDY WHITE
The little fella (that’s Larry)
smokes cigars, big, black, small,
brown--any kind; while Dick (that’s
Rodgers) only uses cigarettes. One
goes to bed about four-thirty every
morning; the other never
dissipate s.”
HART
Perfect verb! Right?
ANDY WHITE
“Despite their physical and
temperamental differences, however,
their intellects complement each
other like ham and eggs. Their
individual songs number well over a
thousand.
EDDIE
A thousand songs?!
ANDY WHITE
They disagree violently, but they
never fight, and in the twenty-odd
years they’ve been practicing their
craft they have never worked with
anyone but e ach other...
HART
(to Eddie)
Until now...
Andy looks up at Larry, who takes a drink.
ANDY WHITE
Impressive.
HART
I wrote it myself. And not one
single mention of Blue Fucking
Moon. I sent Elizabeth some of my
sheet music. No response...I don’t
get it.
EDDIE
She’s a bitch.
HART
That’s what they’re gonna put
on my tombstone.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 29
4H CONTINUED: 4H
EDDIE
She’s a bitch?
HART
Lorenz Milton Hart. He Didn’t Get
It. And people will come to my
gravesite and say, “You know what?
I didn't get it either.”
MORTY RIFKIN
I definitely didn't get it.
EDDIE
Hey, Larr, I get it!
HART
So listen, Elizabeth and I--had a
weekend. We actually did. One
passionate, transcendent weekend.
End of last summer. Before she
went back to Yale. It’s the
closest I’ve ever felt in my life
to pure selflessness. It was
nuanced. It was deep.
EDDIE
How deep exactly?
HART
Listen, clown. I met her, and the
first thing I said to her was:
“Excuse me, but you have the best
style of an yone in this theatre.”
I wish I had a photograph of that
moment--I wish I had a photograph
of every moment I’ve spent with
her. I’m having trouble getting
this right. I’m trying to pin
down... Oh Andy, help me. What’s
the right word?
ANDY WHITE
...enchantment.
HART
And you know how hard that is.
Hart gets more intimate. The others lean in to hear.
HART (CONT’D)
I couldn’t believe that it was me
she wanted to talk to. I kept
looking around the theatre: there
must be somebody else she’s
interested in. But no! She’s
plunking herself down in the
theatre seat right next to me. As
close as modesty will allow. And
my heart is actually racing. And I
don’t ever feel this way.
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 30
4H
4H CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 4H
4H
HART
HART (CONT’D)
(CONT’D)
Not for men or for women. But
she’s wearing this yellow sundress.
And it is hot in the theatre. And
she’s talking to me for hours!
Bare leg draped over the armrest.
And I know this sounds like I’m
some middle-aged putz with a crush
on a pretty co-ed--and maybe that’s
what it is. But, you know
something, maybe that’s not what it
is. Sometimes I feel--and don’t
laugh--after a lifetime of blindly
colliding into strangers, we’ve
finally found a friend.
ANDY WHITE
Maybe that’s the definition of
enchantment.
HART
One light-filled weekend! I’ve
gotta finish telling you this
before she comes back. Are you
listening to me?
EDDIE
Yeah, she got her legs draped over
the thing.
HART
It was as if all the love lyrics I
had ever w ritten had, like some
sort of verbal ectoplasm, suddenly
taken human form.
EDDIE
Ecto what?
A group of people enter noisily. Hart looks around with
apprehension. The play has clearly let out; the after-party
is beginning.
HART
(to White)
That might be her mother. She
cannot hear this.
EDDIE
What about me?
HART
You’re just an extra.
EDDIE
OK, but I still get paid, right?
5 INT. SARDI’S BAR - MAIN BAR AREA - CONTINUOUS 5
PT 1:
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 31
5 CONTINUED: 5
Hart leans forward to pull White more intimately into
his story.
HART
Absolutely. It’s important to me
that I nail this down. It was a
boiling hot summer weekend, and I
asked, with all the casualness I
could counterfeit, if she’d like
to, you know, escape the heat of
the city? Spend the weekend with
me on Lake Dunmore in Vermont! And
without a moment’s hesitation she
said, “I’d love to, Larry.” Oh,
I’m telling you, Andy, this is my
type of girl. I’m sorry, excuse
me, I’m babbling; but how else do
you describe the actual present
tense of falling in love?
ANDY WHITE
(gently)
Is that what this is?
HART
Maybe. I mean, I haven’t done
anything wrong, OK? I haven’t
violated the Mann Act or even the
Middle-Aged Man Act. I bought her
this painting of Lake Dunmore.
Bought it off this old salt
Vermonter. I bought it so that she
might remember.
ANDY WHITE
I once did a little canoeing up
around there.
LAWRENCE LANGNER, theatrical producer, passes by. We hear
the RISING SOUND of the first-nighters entering the bar.
LANGNER
Hey, Larry.
ANDY WHITE
...And then?
HART
Act Three. Later that day. She’s
in the warmth of the cabin there’s
a pennant from Fort Ticonderoga
pinned to the wall. She’s wearing
this blue men’s work shirt with the
sleeves rolled up: all of her
suddenly available to me: this gift
of youth and brain and clavicle...I
touched her shoulder.... And as
some hack once scribbled: “My
heart stood still.”
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 32
5 CONTINUED: 5
HART (CONT’D)
She took my hand and said, “Larry,
let’s save this for another day.”
And all I can tell you, my friend,
is there is a real possibility that
tonight is “another day.”
PT 2:
The NOISE of the first-nighters has crescendoed with the
appearance of the writers of Oklahoma!
WEEGEE
Clearing back a little bit.
Ladies, beautiful, beautiful!
Rodgers! Yeah, beautiful!
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
(to fans)
I appreciate that. Thank you so
much.
HART
Now time for the real performance
of the evening.
HART (CONT’D)
(re: his whiskey bottle)
Eddie, Eddie. Eddie, get rid of
this!
Genres:
["Drama","Romance","Musical"]
Ratings
Scene
12 -
Celebration and Speculation at Sardi's
6 INT. SARDI’S BAR - MAIN BAR AREA / LOBBY - CONTINUOUS 6
Hart moves off to adjust his appearance in the bar mirror.
EDDI E
Hey, so did he fuck her or not?
ANDY WHITE
...He thinks tonight might be the
night.
EDDIE
(sympathetically
frustrated)
Awwwwwww... Larry, Larry, Larry...
ANDY WHITE
(quietly, compassionately)
What do you think she sees in him?
EDDIE
I think she sees a rich and famous
guy who can help her career.
ANDY WHITE
...I think she recognizes she’s
being adored by one of the great
appreciators of beauty.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 33
6 CONTINUED:
C N IN E : 6
EDDIE
You know what else I think?
ANDY WHITE
Yeah?
EDDIE
I think she is wearing a grape-
colored brassiere.
WEEGEE
All right, Rodgers. Gentlemen,
please let’s get one. Beautiful.
Come on. All right, big smile!
Beautiful.
HART
(walking back into scene)
Dick! Dick! My God!
RICHARD RODGERS, youngish-looking 40, enters. With him are
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN, 48, and a 12 year-old boy, STEVIE. Hart
hugs Rodgers warmly, immediately.
HART (CONT’D)
The show is going to run twenty
years! It’s going to be bigger
than Abie’s Irish Rose!
RODGERS
We’ll see.
HART
And much more goyish, so it can
tour.
RODGERS
Well, thanks for coming, Larry.
HART
Oh, Oscar!
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
(shaking hands)
Larry.
HART
You get taller every time I see
you. What can I say: the lyrics
are brilliant. Poetic when they
need to be poetic; funny when they
need to be funny. Not a rhyme out
of place, easy on the ear. “I’m
just a fool when lights are low.”
Perfect. Did you hear me
applauding?
OSCAR HAMME RSTEIN II
I think you were the loudest person
in the entire theater!
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 34
6 CONTINUED: 6
HART
That’s because I loved it more than
anyone else in the entire theater!
Elizabeth is walking breathlessly through the scene, carrying
some trays upstairs.
She’s gone.
Rodgers is shaking a surrounding circle of congratulatory
hands.
HART (CONT’D)
Let me get you boys a drink.
He grabs two drinks from passing waiter and offers them.
RODGERS
Oh, no thank you.
Larry realizes Elizabeth is passing by with a waiter.
RODGERS (CONT’D)
Hey, Larry, y ou got a few minutes?
Give us a minute. Excuse us,
Oscar.
Genres:
["Drama","Musical","Biographical"]
Ratings
Scene
13 -
Creative Tensions at Sardi's
7 INT. SARDI’S BAR - SMALL TABLE - DINING ROOM - CONTINUOUS 7
PT 1:
Rodgers is pulling Hart towards a small table in the
dining room.
RODGERS
So, Dwight Wiman and I have been
talking about bringing back A
Connecticut Yankee.
HART
Terrific!
RODGERS
Yeah, I’m thinking of asking
Vivienne Segal.
HART
Mein Gott! It’s gonna run longer
than Oklahoma! I’ll buy fifty
seats myself. I’ve got a new
title: “Ohhhhhhh, Camelot!”
RODGERS
Well I think we’re gonna stick with
A Connecticut Yankee.
HART
Camelot Exclamation Point?
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 35
7 CONTINUED: 7
RODGERS
OK, come on, I’m being serious
here.
HART
I’m always serious. That’s why
people find me so funny.
RODGERS
So I was thinking, if you feel--up
to working, then maybe...
HART
I’ve never felt better in my life,
Dick.
GLADYS
Congratulations Dick. I don’t want
to bother you, I just, we all just
loved it.
RODGERS
Oh, you did.
GLADYS
It’s going to be a big hit.
HART
It is.
RODGERS
Thank you. Thank you. It’s
Gladys, right?
GLADYS
Yes! Yeah.
RODGERS
Yes, nice to see you.
(to Larry)
Yeah, I was--I was thinking, not
just a revival, I was thinking a
whole new book. We were thinking
four or five new numbers.
HART
That I write?
RODGERS
Of course that you write - that we
write together. It’s been 16
years, you know that, since we did
that show - it needs updating.
Don’t you think?
HART
1927! The Vanderbilt!
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 36
7 CONTINUED: 7
RODGERS
Yeah, it can be the new Rodgers and
Hart show for the fall. New gags.
New songs.
HART
New references. We’ll satirize the
whole war. Rationing, rubber
drives, nylon drives... A new
number for Vivienne.
RODGERS
Go easy with the satire, Larry.
FAN #2
Very nice job. Very nice piece.
RODGERS
Appreciate it. Thank you.
HART
(rubs hands, improvising)
There came a lull,
then Cordell Hull
sent orders fr om above:
“I’m sorry, girls,
Put down your pearls.
‘Cause now we’re rationing love!”
RODGERS
And how do we get Cordell Hull into
Camelot?
HART
Who cares! It’s funny!
Langner, who’s been on the phone getting information,
interrupts.
LANGNER
Dick! From the New York Journal
American: “as enchanting to the
eye as Richard Rodgers's music is
to the ear.”
HART
Nice.
RODGERS
OK. That’s good. Good start.
(b ack to Larry)
So, are you up for that? Are you
feeling healthy, is that something
you could take seriously...
HART
I’m on the wagon, Dick. I’m
serious. Been drinking ginger ale
all night. Well, except for this
second. ‘Cause this second we have
to celebrate.
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 37
7 CONTINUED:
C N IN E : 7
HART
H R (CONT’D)
( O T’ )
This is the greatest musical in the
history of American theatre.
RODGERS
No, no. I’m not drinking with you
Larry.
He snatches a bagel off a passing tray, at the same time
calling over to the news photographer, WEEGEE.
HART
OK, OK, all right. Weegee!
Weegee! Shoot this!
RODGERS
What? Oh, no. Larry I gotta...
HART
Rodgers and Hart: together again!
Larry puts his arm around Rodgers.
WEEGEE
All right, closer! C’mon, closer!
Weegee fires the flashbulb.
HART
I want ten copies of that.
WEEGEE
Great. Write me a check.
Weegee exits upstairs.
RODGERS
So, you think you’re up to that?
HART
It’s the best idea I’ve heard in 16
years. At the same time, I think
we should be dreaming about
something completely new. Don’t
you agree? New Rodgers and Hart!
Something people haven’t seen
before. Something big!
RODGERS
Let’s start with the revival first.
HART
Absolutely.
RODGERS
We’ll take it one step at a time.
HART
But, hear me out.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 38
7 CONTINUED: 7
RODGERS
Because I really think we can have
a future together.
HART
Who doesn’t think that?
RODGERS
But I want to be one of those
composers who works with, you know,
other lyricists.
HART
Like Arlen. Kern. You love Kern.
RODGERS
I love Kern. I wanted to be Kern.
But we have to work like
professionals, Larry.
HART
Since when haven’t I worked like a
professional?
RODGERS
I want to work at specific times in
the morning, in my office. I want
to adhere to a schedule.
HART
That’s what we do.
RODGERS
I don’t want to spend anymore time
looking for you, Larry.
HART
Well, I’m right here! Small as
life! Look!
RODGERS
You know what I mean. I don’t want
to be calling up your mother at
nine o’clock in the morning, so
that, maybe, you might roll out of
bed at noon.
HART
Dick--
RODGERS
I just don’t want to do what we
did. That’s all I’m saying. It’s
a business, that’s all. Maybe I
shouldn’t bring it up tonight, but
I don’t know, I wanted--I wanted
to...
HART
All I want is to--
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 39
7 CONTINUED:
C N IN ED: 7
FAN #3
That was your best one yet. Really.
RODGERS
All right, thank you.
(back to Larry)
Who is that?
HART
All I want is to write a show we
both love.
RODGERS
Yeah, I feel the same way.
LANGNER
Dick! Burns Mantle just called it
“the most thoroughly and
attractively American musical
comedy since Show Boat.”
Rodgers takes this in, while still listening to Larry.
RODGERS
Since Show Boat? Wow. That’s
good.
FAN #4
Truly spectacular.
RODGERS
Thank you, nice to see you.
HART
I have to fall in love with a show,
Dick. I have to want to right that
show more than anything in the
world, to be in that audience,
sitting there not missing a single
word.
RODGERS
All right, well we start with A
Connecticut Yankee; four or five
numbers, and we go from there--
Rogers starts to drift away. Hart follows.
HART
OK, Look. Here’s what I’m
thinking: The Adventures of Marco
Polo.
FAN #5
Dick, Dick! Wonderful show.
RODGERS
Oh, thank you so much. Nice to see
you.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 40
7 CONTINUED:
C N IN ED: 7
HART
Just big. Bigger than Jumbo.
Epic. A three-ring musical circus.
The show lasts four hours with a
dinner break! It’s grand comic
opera.
He guides him a little way through the dining room, just
around the corner where Larry sits downs down on a bench and
Rodgers stands in the divide between rooms.
HART (CONT’D)
And the stage set is the world! We
satirize everybody. And you get to
satirize them musically--we send up
every national musical cliche there
is. The France number, the Italian
number; when they get to the Heart
of Darkness, the cannibals are
doing Porgy and Bess.
(talk-sings)
“Bess, you is my dinner now!”
RODGERS
Jesus, Larry. Come on.
HART
This show is going to have the
scope of a novel. It will be the
greatest challenge you’ve ever had
as a composer. And what grounds it
all, what lets the audience enter
this story is the girl.
RODGERS
(interested, despite
himself)
A girl?
HART
This ethereal girl whom Marco Polo
has left behind. She’s half his
age, but it’s the first time he’s
felt that inkling of love in years.
Maybe ever. He swears in the first
scene--we set this up like Benedick
in Much Ado--he swears that he’s
beyond the reach of any woman. He
scorns love: and we do a whole
number satirizing love songs!
RODGERS
Larry, I want to write shows that
have some emotional core to them,
that’s what I want...
FAN #6
Dick, great music, great show!
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 41
7 CONTINUED:
C NTINUED: 7
RODGERS
Hello! How are you? Thank you,
I’ll take that. You’re a tough
critic.
FAN #6
Oh, thank you.
RODGERS
Thank you.
HART
Remember, we established in the
first scene that he’s anti-love?
Then he meets the girl. She’s this
sort of free-spirit, Scandinavian-
looking with two freckles on her
left cheek. It’s absurd--
RODGERS
Don’t do that.
HART
She lives, socially,
psychologically, sexually, in
another universe than he does--but
he is slain. He stands there
paralyzed in the light of her pale
green eyes. This is the greatest
explorer in the history of the
world--and none of it means
anything to him--unless it’s a way
to make her see him. That is the
emotional core of the story. We
take this legendary, larger-than-
life man, and we make him bleed.
A couple approaches.
MAYOR
Mr. Rodgers. My name is Robert
Hefner; I’m the mayor of Oklahoma
City. Eve and I travelled all the
way to New York just to see the
show.
RODGERS
That’s terrific.
Larry’s not having it.
HART
Welcome to New York. We’re
finishing a conversation, he’ll be
with you in two minutes. Does that
sound good?
RODGERS
Two minutes, I’ll be right with
you. Thank you. I hope it was
worth it.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 42
7 CONTINUED: 7
MAYER
It certainly was.
RODGERS
Good to see you. Thank you.
They walk away awkwardly.
RODGERS (CONT’D)
All right, so come on, come on,
come on, come on. And they end up
together? Come on.
HART
That’s what the audience is waiting
around to find out! That’s the
engine that’s driving the whole
story.
RODGERS
All right, well look, Larry, if
you’re willing to write it, really
write it, and rewrite it, and
rewrite it again, then, you know,
it could work. But I’m not gonna
beg you for this, Larry. You know?
We work for fifteen minutes--you’re
out the door looking for a cigar
store. It drives me--it drives me
really crazy. I don’t like it. I
don’t want to do it anymore.
HART
We’ve worked like that for 24
years.
RODGERS
That’s exactly what we’ve done for
24 years.
INVESTOR WELL-WISHER
Congratu lations Dick!
RODGERS
Thank you.
INVESTOR WELL-WISHER
It’s about time the Guild had a
Goddamned hit.
RODGERS
Yeah. You’re absolutely,
absolutely right.
(to Larry)
Anyway, I’m not gonna--I’m not
gonna fight with you, Larry.
HART
Who’s fighting?
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 43
7 CONTINUED:
C NTIN ED: 7
RODGERS
I don’t know...with a war on...do
audiences really wants to watch
cannibals singing Porgy and Bess.
HART
And what do audiences want to
watch? Cowboys a-whoopin’-it-up at
the box social?
RODGERS
Well, yes. Apparently.
HART
Oh, that’s right, I forgot:
Oklahoma Exclamation Point
addresses the urgency of a nation
at war.
RODGERS
I think every serviceman in that
audience tonight thought about what
we’re fighting for, even for a
second or two, he thought about it.
HART
And what is it we’re fighting for,
exactly - feisty little girls in
gingham dresses who cain’t say no?
RODGERS
OK, all right...
HART
Dick, Dick, Dick, come on, just
between you and me, those
characters are unrecogni zable as
human beings.
RODGERS
I think plenty of people recognized
them. They recognized love.
PRODUCER
He needs rescuing, big time.
RODGERS
They recognized family. They
recognized pride in their country.
HART
You’re starting to sound like
Yankee Doodle Dandy.
RODGERS
I think there’s significantly more
there to recognize, Larry, than a
bunch of singing cannibals.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 44
7 CONTINUED:
N IN E : 7
HART
But, cannibals are much funnier,
admit it.
OSCAR (O.S.)
Dick, you want to come and read
these!
RODGERS
Yeah, hang on! Hang on, be right
there.
HART
OK, OK, OK, OK. I know exactly
what you mean. Just tell me...what
do you really want to write?
What’s your dream show?
RODGERS
My dream show? Oklahoma.
HART
I mean, next.
RODGERS
We’re talking about getting the
rights to Liliom.
HART
The Molnar play?
RODGERS
Yeah.
HART
That was cornball in 1909! You
really want to write a musical
about a carnival barker who beats
up his girlfriend dies...
RODGERS
I think it’ll work.
HART
Comes back. Yeah, and, at the end,
all the dead people could take off
their halos and go: “Ohhhhhhh--
Purgatory!”
Look, I will do it if you force me
to; it’s just in my heart of--
RODGERS
I’m not forcing you to - Oscar’s
gonna do it.
Pause. A cheer, off-screen, from the well-wishers as they
hear another review.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 45
7 CONTINUED: 7
HART
And what does Oscar know about turn-
of-the-century Budapest?
RODGERS
He’s gonna Americanize it. He’s
gonna modernize it. We’re going to
to set it in Maine.
HART
Maine! Right, with all due
respect, modernizing Molnar is a
deeply misgui--
LANGNER
You gotta read this!
RODGERS
Is it the Times?
LANGNER
Burton Rascoe’s World Telegram
review - it’s a rave.
RODGERS
Good.
LANGNER
We’ll have the Times any moment .
RODGERS
OK.
Larry, I’ve gotta go.
(exiting)
The Times is coming. Wish me luck.
HART
Mazel tov! As they say in Maine.
PT 2:
Hart wanders back to the bar.
Genres:
["Musical","Drama","Comedy"]
Ratings
Scene
14 -
Reflections in Sardi's Bar
8 INT. SARDI’S BAR - MAIN BAR AREA - CONTINUOUS 8
PT 1:
HART
(to White)
What does Dick Rodgers know of
Maine? He was bar-mitzvahed for
Chrissake! How long are they gonna
keep selling that fairy tale? Have
faith, have hope, the dead will
arise to comfort us! Like fuck
they will. Give me another shot,
Eddie. A real one. Join me for a
shot, Andy? Please.
Eddie pours him a drink.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 46
8 CONTINUED:
N I E : 8
EDDIE
How ya holding up?
Hart is silent, then turns to White.
HART
...You know how in a marriage they
say “for better or for worse”? I
think in terms of my life, I’ve
entered the “for worse” part, and
it happened so quietly I didn’t
even recognize it.
(moves towards White)
Have you ever felt that way?
ANDY WHITE
Every day of my life.
HART
Sometimes I think:"Even God is
finished with me" I’ve had my
hi ts; I’ve loved a small, dear
collection of people. And now he’s
turned the page. I
feel...superannuated.
EDDIE
Superannuated...that’s a good
thing, isn’t it?
HART
(turns towards him)
It means your dick doesn’t work.
EDDIE
Must be why I don’t know that word.
White raises an index finger.
ANDY WHITE
Put me on the list.
Beat.
ANDY WHITE (CONT’D)
You notice the birds are back in
Central Park?
HART
What are you working on these days?
ANDY WHITE
...Children’s book. Must have
burned myself out writing those
essays.... It’s not going well. I
think, as far as my writing goes,
I’ve also entered the “for worse”
part.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 47
88 CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 88
HART
What’s your story about?
ANDY WHITE
I wish I knew...The journey
everybody takes? Searching for
what’s perfect and unattainable?
HART
The ineffable!
ANDY WHITE
Probably too elusive an idea to put
into a children’s book.
HART
I have a line for you: “He chased
her around the bed all night before
concluding she was ineffable.”
ANDY WHITE
Sure you don’t mean “uneffable”?
HART
Better. You know, I’m in the park
every morning, liberating this
mouse I keep catching in my
kitchen.
ANDY WHITE
Yeah?
HART
I have this little glass box that
captures the mouse but doesn’t kill
him. And every morning I walk into
my kitchen, and there he is, at the
bottom of the refrigerator, my
little brown mouse--happily eating
the cracker I left for him. And
every morning I carry h im down to
the park--open the box, he leaps
out ten feet, scurries into the
underbrush. And then the next
morning, I’ll be damned, he is back
in the box!
ANDY WHITE
How do you know it’s the same
mouse?
HART
Well, he certainly looks the same.
He has that same New-York look of
doomed hopefulness. But how does
he get up the 19 floors?
ANDY WHITE
Maybe he’s tipping the doorman.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 48
8 CONTINUED: 8
HART
You know, this morning he wasn’t
there? Just the cracker lying in
the box. I actually missed the
little fella. I really did. I
think I’ve started to identify with
him.
ANDY WHITE
Does he have a name?
HART
I’m calling him Stuart.
ANDY WHITE
...With a “w” or a “u”?
HART
A “u.” Nothing fancy. Just a
regular middle-class mouse.
More cheers from the dining room.
HART (CONT’D)
I think you’ll have to excuse me.
All this jubilatio n has gone to my
bladder.
LANGNER (O.S.)
(reads)
Oscar Hamerstein the second brings
dramatic and imaginative--
(continues reading)
devising original dances that fit
the story. Oklahoma is fresh,
life, colorful, and enormous--
Hart moves towards the men’s room.
White scribbles a note on his memo pad.
PT 2:
BACK AT BAR
The CIGARETTE GIRL has been flirting with Eddie.
LANGNER (O.S.) (CONT’D)
(reads)
Richard Rodgers has written a show
with the finest musical scores any
musical play ever had.
EDDIE
OK, I got something funny. What do
you call a tired homosexual?
CIGARETTE GIRL
I don’t know.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 49
8 CONTINUED: 8
Painful pause.
EDDIE
Fuck, I forgot.
CIGARETTE GIRL
That’s really funny.
LANGNER (O.S.)
(reads)
The play’s spine tingling, out of
this world!
9 INT. SARDI’S BAR - MEN’S ROOM - CONTINUOUS 9
PT 1
Morty Rifkin is washing his hands. Hart can’t stop
talking.
HART
You know, when Atkinson wrote that
review for Pal Joey--you remember
that? “Drab and mirthless” “Can
one draw sweet water from a foul
well?” I cried. That’s how hurt I
was. I cried in Vivienne Segal’s
arms. She hugged me and said,
“History is going to prove him
wrong, darling.” Wasn’t that the
sweetest thing in the world for
somebody to say? And she actually
calls me darling.
Hart stands at the urinal and continues talking.
MORTY RIFKIN
Wow.
HART
Time magazine wrote, “For those who
can park their morals in the lobby,
Pal Joey is a wow.” What kind of
piece-of-shit praise is that? I’m
talking about Pal Joey.
MORTY RIFKIN
Right. I didn’t see that one.
Marty’s trapped, not sure if he can leave the bathroom.
HART
Wolcott Gibbs--he loved the show.
He said it was “a song and dance
production with living three-
dimensional figures, talking and
behaving like human beings.”
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 50
9 CONTINUED: 9
MORTY RIFKIN
See? There you go. You’re still
going to introduce me to Rodgers
tonight, right?
We hear a flush. Larry emerges.
HART
Urination for me has turned into a
two-act play. With a brief
intermission. I love Vivienne.
God help me. Her compassion. Did
I tell you she calls me darling?
We were up at the Starlight Roof;
I turned to her and I said
“Vivienne, will you please marry
me.” That’s what I told her.
Right to her face. Can you imagine
having the courage to say that to a
woman?
MORTY RIFKIN
...I’ve never had the courage to
even dream of saying that.
HART
It was a moment. Let me tell you.
Two AM the band was playing “I’ve
Heard That Song Before.” She said:
“I love you, darling, just not that
way.” ...Not. That. Way. Three
little words. Ten little letters.
That mean: Game over, schmuck.
Rifkin moves to leave the men’s room. Hart follows, still
talking.
HART (CONT’D)
“Think it over,” I told her.
I took her hand in mine. Her nail
polish was pale gray....
PT 2:
A cheer is heard from outside.
Hart and Rifkin reenter the main dining area.
Genres:
["Drama","Comedy"]
Ratings
Scene
16 -
Celebration and Secrets at Sardi's
10 INT. SARDI’S BAR - MAIN DINING AREA/LOBBY - CONTINUOUS 10
Rodgers is standing there with a drink; holding a scribbled
piece of paper. Surrounding him stand O scar Hammerstein,
little Stevie, and a throng of FRIENDS.
RODGERS
Now I can drink.
(playing to the crowd)
May I remind everybody what Mike
Todd said about Oklahoma!
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 51
10 CONTINUED:
I : 10
RODGERS
E (CONT’D)
C T
in New Haven: “No laughs, no tits,
no chance”? We have a change now.
All right read that out. OK, wow.
LANGNER
Wonderful. This is what Nichols
said in the Times:
(reads)
“Wonderful is the nearest
adjective, for this excursion of
the Guild combines a fresh and
infectious gayety, a charm of
manner, beautiful acting, dancing
and singing, and a score by Richard
Rodgers which doesn’t do any harm
either, since it is one of his
best.”
Langner continues. Various friends have drifted even closer
to Rodgers and Hammerstein. Everyone’s face is beaming.
LANGNER (CONT’D)
“Mr. R odgers’s scores never lack
grace, but seldom have they been so
well integrated as this for
‘Oklahoma!’ He has turned out
waltzes, love songs, comic songs
and a title number which the State
in question would do well to adopt
as its anthem forthwith.”
Friends applaud.
Larry moves towards the bar, unsure what to feel.
LANGNER (CONT’D)
“’Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,’
and ‘People Will Say We’re in Love’
are head ed for countless juke-boxes
across the land.”
Friends applaud and offer bravos.
LANGNER (CONT’D)
“--and a dirge called ‘Pore Jud’--
in which the hero of the fable
tries to persuade his rival to hang
himself--is amazingly comic. ‘The
Farmer and the Cowman’ and ‘The
Surrey with the Fringe on the Top’
also deserve mention only because
they quite clearly approach
perfection. “
HART
(suddenly turning back
towards R odgers)
Read that part again.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 52
1 CONTINUED:
C N IN E : 10
LANGNER
“...because they quite clearly
approach perfection.”
HART
Put that on the marquee! “Quite
clearly approaches perfection.”
LANGNER
Come on, everybody! Party
upstairs! Cake and champagne.
HART
Oh, Oscar! Bravo, bravo.
(to Rodgers)
Can I speak with you for a moment?
RODGERS
Can we talk later--
HART
No, no, no, it’s just a second. I
have something important to say.
Just a moment with the musica l
genius. I just have one thing I
want to tell you, Dick. Just one
second, Dick. It’s important.
Hart steers Rodgers a few feet towards the staircase where
they can speak a little more intimately.
Genres:
["Drama","Musical"]
Ratings
Scene
17 -
Nostalgia and Tension at Sardi's
11 INT. SARDI’S BAR - STAIRCASE LANDING - CONTINUOUS 11
HART
I remember when I first heard about
you, you were just Morty Rodgers’s
little brother; what, were you
seventeen?
RODGERS
Sixteen!
HART
Yeah, I was 23.
FAN #7
Swell job.
RODGERS
Yeah, you were the wise old man of
the mountain.
HART
But when I first heard you play
your stuff, I knew you had it. I
wasn’t entirely convinced that I
had it, but I heard something that
afternoon: originality, melody,
grace...
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 53
1 CONTINUED:
C N IN E : 11
He can’t go on.
RODGERS
Come on. Come on, Larry. Stop it.
Come on, what’s the matter with
you?
HART
You worked your whole life for this
night, Dick. Nobody’s worked
harder.
(hugs Rodgers awkwardly)
And nobody deserves it more.
RODGERS
All right, thanks. Thanks, Larry.
Thank you.
HART
All right, that’s what I wanted--
just go enjoy your party.
RODGERS
Hey, look at me. Look at me - we’re
going to do a Co nnecticut Yankee,
all new. We’re gonna write four or
five new songs.
HART
I have ideas already. And if I get
some pages down for Marco Polo, can
I send them over?
RODGERS
You have to ask me that? Larry, I
owe my professional life to you.
HART
(talk-sings)
“Summer journeys to Niagara,
And to other places aggravate all
our cares--”
RODGERS
You remember we heard that on the
radio for the first time?
HART
In your parents’ living room. Our
first hit.
RODGERS
That was one of the most
astonishing moments of my life,
Larry. I was 22.
HART
And, I’m t elling you, I swear to
God, our best work is still ahead
of us.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 54
11 CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 11
RODGERS
Yes, the new Connecticut Yankee!
HART
Yeah, yeah. And bigger stuff.
FRIENDS (O.S.)
Dick, get up here.
RODGERS
All right. I’m coming!
HART
I mean, Marco Polo is gonna be a
show about joy--but a hard-earned
joy. An unsentimental joy.
RODGERS
Something wrong with sentimental?
HART
What? It’s too easy.
RODGERS
Oklahoma! is too easy? The guy
actually getting the girl at the
end is too easy? You’ve just
eliminated every successful musical
comedy ever written, Larry--
HART
Then it’s too easy for me.
RODGERS
Did you hear the audience tonight?
HART
Yes.
RODGERS
Sixteen hundred people didn’t think
it was too easy. You’re telling me
sixteen hundred people are wrong?
HART
I’m just saying that you and I can
do something so much more
emotionally complicated. We don’t
have to pander to what audiences--
RODGERS
Oscar and I are pandering?
HART
I didn’t say that.
RODGERS
Irving Berlin is pandering?
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 55
11 CONTINUED: 11
HART
I love Berlin.
RODGERS
“White Christmas” is pandering?
HART
Well, I don’t believe “White
Christmas.”
RODGERS
OK. Well, maybe audiences have
changed.
HART
Well, they still want to laugh.
RODGERS
They want to laugh, but not in that
way.
The words catch Hart.
HART
Not in what way?
RODGERS
In your way. They want to laugh,
but they also want to cry a little.
They want to--they want to feel...
You’re my oldest friend and, you’re
unique.
HART
Sounds like you’re writing my
obituary.
RODGERS
I’m just saying.
HART
I’m right here, right now.
Ready to work.
RODGERS
Yeah? And you’re willing to go
back to Doctor’s Hospital?
HART
I don’t need to go back to Doctor’s
Hospital. And I don’t need a
psychiatrist either, thank you very
much.
RODGERS
We were just trying to help you,
Larry.
HART
Who’s we? You and Oscar? Help me?
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 56
1 CONTINUED:
C NTIN ED: 11
RODGERS
Oscar? You think Oscar had
anything to do with it?
HART
Oklahoma! is going to be the
biggest hit of your career.
RODGERS
You don’t know that. You don’t
know that.
HART
You got that asshole Kron to manage
my money. Now I’m incapable of--
RODGERS
I did that at the insistence of
your brother, Larry. Teddy
literally begged me--
HART
Well, maybe you and Teddy
should write the lyrics--
RODGERS
I did write the lyrics.
HART
What is that supposed to mean?
RODGERS
For By Jupiter ? Have you
conveniently blocked that out?
HART
Blocked what out?
RODGERS
How Logan and I begged you for
extra choruses, extra verses, and
you were so drunk that you didn’t
even show up, so yes, I had to
write the lyrics. I wrote the
lyrics, absolutely.
HART
You didn’t write one fucking word
of that show.
RODGERS
How would you know? How would you
know, Larry? You weren’t around to
even--you know what, I’m actually
not gonna argue with you tonight,
if that’s all right with you.
HART
I like to argue.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 57
11 CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 11
RODGERS
Well I don’t. I don’t
Rodgers moves to leave.
HART
Look, I am sorry. I don’t care if
somebody attacks me. It doesn’t
mean anything to me. But nobody can
attack my work. It is all I’ve got.
RODGERS
Your work is brilliant. That’s not
the problem. Your work has been
brilliant since the day I met you.
HART
Do you still remember that?
RODGERS
You, standing there in your carpet
slippers and your stripy bathrobe,
with the five o’clock shadow at
eleven AM. I’ll remember that till
the last day of my life. Larry, I
got to go upstairs--the whole
company’s waiting.
HART
I know, of course. Of co urse.
Rodgers smiles as he moves to exit.
RODGERS
Four or five songs, yes.
HART
(calling up after him)
I’m telling you, I’m having ideas
already! A big comedy solo for
Vivienne about how she’s killed off
every single one of her previous
husbands!
RODGERS
Might be funny.
Rodgers disappears upstairs.
HART
We can call it: “To Keep Our Love
Alive!”
Rodgers has gone.
RENEE
You OK, Larry?
HART
Mmm-hmm.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 58
Genres:
["Drama","Musical"]
Ratings
Scene
18 -
Bittersweet Reflections
12 INT. SARDI’S - MAIN BAR AREA/WHITE’S TABLE - CONTINUOUS 12
Hart drifts back to main bar.
The crowd has largely moved upstairs to the party room.
MAIN BAR AREA
HART
What happened to White?
EDDIE
Left.
HART
“So soon?”
HART (CONT’D)
There was so much more I wanted to
say to him.
EDDIE
Maybe he was an extra, too.
HART
(re: his shot glass)
One more.
EDDIE
Last one, Larry.
Hart sits back at bar.
HART
(to Morty)
Do you know the ineffectual
blues?... That’s because I haven’t
written it yet.
(to Eddie)
They should put my picture on that
bottle. “The Whiskey That Made
Lorenz Hart Unemployable. Buy War
Bonds.”
(to Morty)
You know, I’ve started to hear
things wrong. The other night I
was listening to this singer go on
about “her cigarette heart.” And I
thought: now that is an original
metaphor: my cigarette heart. Then
I realized she was singing “my
secret heart.”
(back to Eddie)
I can’t remember anything anymore
either. That should be the title
of my autobiography: Stop Me If
I’ve Told You This Already. And
we’ll print the entire text twice.
Elizabeth’s laughter is heard as she descends the stairs.
Larry looks over to see her in a beautiful evening gown.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 59
12 CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 12
She’s breathless, exhilarated, holding a glass of red wine,
laughing and talking with a GEORGE ROY HILL.
ELIZABETH
No, I’m serious. I’ve seen her do
it before.
GEORGE ROY HILL
As long as there’s no dancing later
on in the night.
ELIZABETH
You better watch yourself--
Genres:
["Drama","Romance","Comedy"]
Ratings
Scene
19 -
A Flirtatious Reunion at Sardi's
13A INT. SARDI’S BAR - MAIN BAR AREA - CONTINUOUS 13A
Hart instinctually gets up and moves toward her.
HART
My irreplaceable Elizabeth!
He hugs her.
E LIZABETH
Larry!
ELIZABETH (CONT’D)
(re: her dress)
Do you like it? Oscar Hammerstein
just said I was a gem!
HART
He has such a way with words.
ELIZABETH
(to suitor)
George, this is Lorenz Hart.
GEORGE ROY HILL
(ambitious ass-kisser)
I am legitimately honored to meet
you.
HART
Would you mind if I spoke to
Elizabeth alone for two minutes?
And then she’s all yours.
GEORGE ROY HILL
It would be perfectly all right as
long as you promise me your
autograph before I go.
He hands him his playbill.
ELIZABETH
George is a senior at Yale. He’s
studying music, but he wants to be
a director.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 60
13A
13A CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 13A
13A
HART
A director. Well what’s your name?
GEORGE ROY HILL
George Hill.
They shake hands. Hart signs the suitor’s Playbill.
HART
Here’s my advice to you, future
director, George Hill. Do you want
my advice?
GEORGE ROY HILL
I’d be honored.
HART
Be careful of love stories. Think
about friendship stories.
HART (CONT’D)
That’s where the really enduring
stuff lives.
GEORGE ROY HILL
Thank you. I’ll remember that.
ELIZABETH
Catch up with you later, George.
George nods, heads into the restaurant area, weighing what
he’s just heard.
ELIZABETH (CONT’D)
( to Larry)
My mother just gave me this.
She indicates her necklace.
ELIZABETH (CONT’D)
I was really touched she gave it to
me.
Hart touches the delicate bone at the base of her neck.
HART
...my well-tempered clavicle.
ELIZABETH
Careful. My mother...
HART
Sorry. Now I know your birthday
isn’t until November 19th.
ELIZABETH
I’m a scorpion!
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 61
13A
1 A CONTINUED:
C N IN E : 13A
1 A
HART
I never doubted that for a second.
Did you get the sheet music I sent
you?
ELIZABETH
I was so busy with exams, I put
them away; honestly, and then I
kind of forgot about them. But now
I’ve got the time. I promise you.
I’m going to get a friend of mine
to play every single one of those
songs for me.
HART
Take your time. That’s the
wonderful thing about art, isn’t
it? It waits for you.
ELIZABETH
(sips her wine)
Thank you for all the letters you
wrote me. I really enjoyed reading
them. My roommate couldn’t believe
I was actually corresponding with
Lorenz Hart.
HART
I remember in Vermont you were
drinking red wine.
ELIZABETH
Malbec. It’s a big Yale drink.
You ask for the French malbec, and
then you act as if you can actually
tell which vineyard it came from.
Oh, don’t mention Vermont around my
mother, OK? She doesn’t know
anything about our little getaway.
Actually, thank goodness she
doesn’t know about 90% of what’s
going on in my life.
HART
Well, I feel privileged that I do.
Or that I did, back in August.
ELIZABETH
I’ve got much more stuff to report
on since then.
HART
Well, tell me about the guys.
That’s what I’m interested in.
ELIZABETH
Honestly, I’m much smarter than
most of them. So I sort of sit
back and watch them trying to
impress me. It’s pretty
entertaining.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 62
13A
A CONTINUED:
N IN E : 13A
A
HART
If I were a college guy, I think I
would be afraid of you. This
intelligent, mercilessly observant,
wickedly unsentimental beauty
sitting there evaluating me from
somewhere behind those green eyes--
annotating all my gaucheries. My
God, I would be terrified.
ELIZABETH
Hey, I’m not that intimidating!
HART
Tell me more about this Cooper.
ELIZABETH
This is embarrassing.
HART
I love it when you’re embarrassed;
you get this scarlet blush that
washes up over you; and a second
later it’s gone.
ELIZABETH
This one might last considerably
longer.
HART
I’d love to--
Genres:
["Drama","Romance","Comedy"]
Ratings
Scene
20 -
A Night at Sardi's: Tensions and Triumphs
13B INT. SARDI’S BAR - ENTRANCE AREA - CONTINUOUS 13B
Voices. Oscar Hammerstein and his 12-year-old protege
pass by the coat-room area.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Elizabeth, Larry...
I hope I’m not interrupting
anything too weighty.
HART
Well, weighty affairs will have to
wait!
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
(re: Elizabeth)
She’s a gem, isn’t she?
ELIZABETH
Please, Mr. Hammerstein.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
I’ll only bother you for a moment.
(to Larry)
Larry, I just wanted to say...well,
f irstly, I recognize this must be a
difficult night for you.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 63
13B CONTINUED: 13B
Some singing now from upstairs: “People Will Say We’re in
Love.”
HART
No, I’m a professional, Oscar.
We’re both professionals, we
understand the nature of our
business.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Larry, did you really like the
show? I don’t think I do the
comedy numbers half as well as you
do. They’re not my strength.
HART
I laughed my ass off. I had to
have it re-attached.
The little kid, STEVIE, snorts derisively at this brave
attempt at humor.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Larry, we’re the same age, but you
were always th e teacher.
HART
Oh, Oscar--
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
No, your whole career, you showed
us the way.
HART
Well I doubt--
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
You liberated us all; you made
American songs finally sound like
American speech.
HART
Stop. I dislike eulogies,
especially my own. Oscar, tonight
is your night. A hit for you and
Dick is a hit for all of us.
People finally want to go see shows
again! Real shows. Dick and I
were just tossing around a few
ideas.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Wonderful.
HART
Yeah, we have this idea for a
big...Marco Polo show...huge...a
kind of musical circus. Dick’s
excited about it. He said you’re
adapting Liliom.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 64
13B
1 B CONTINUED:
C N IN E : 13B
1 B
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Well, if we can finagle the rights.
ELIZABETH
Sounds exciting.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Elizabeth told me she’s your
protege!
ELIZABETH
Stop!
HART
(recites grandly)
“...she’s the promised kiss of
springtime/that makes the lonely
winter/seem long.”
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Oh, please!
HART
You wrote a great lyric!
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
For a show that didn’t run three
months!
HART
I saw it twice.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
(to Stevie)
You know what we’re talking about
here, Stevie?
The boy is unpleasantly precocious.
STEVIE
Very Warm for May. Produced by Max
Gordon. Music by Jerome Kern.
Alvin Theatre. 59 performances.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
(re: Stevie)
This is my neighbor. He’s a kind
of a walking encyclopedia of
musical theater.
HART
(shakes Stevie’s hand)
Well I’m a kind of walking
pneumonia of musical theater. Nice
to meet you.
STEVIE
Pleasure to meet you.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 65
13B
1 B CONTINUED:
C N IN E : 13B
1 B
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
He wants to write musicals when he
grows up.
HART
Who’s your favorite lyricist?
STEVIE
Oscar.
HART
Of course. And what do you think
of my work?
STEVIE
I like it. It’s funny.
HART
Thank you.
STEVIE
Can be a little sloppy at times.
OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
(desperately covering for
Stevie’s tactlessness)
He’s very tired! It’s been a long
day. Come on, Stevie! It’s a long
ride back to Doylestown. You want
to go to the bathroom.
Hammerstein leads him away.
STEVIE
(exiting)
I’m not tired. He asked me what I
thought of his work...
As they walk away.
STEVIE (CONT’D)
(scornfully)
“Weighty affairs will just have to
wait”?
They’ve gone.
Genres:
["Drama","Musical"]
Ratings
Scene
21 -
Unspoken Connections
13C INT. SARDI’S BAR - COAT ROOM AREA - CONTINUOUS 13C
HART
(to Elizabeth)
I so regret not having children.
Cooper.
ELIZABETH
I can’t believe I’m telling you
this.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 66
13C
13C CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 13C
13C
HART
Tell me.
ELIZABETH
You have to remember I’ve had a
hopeless crush on this guy for over
a year.
HART
Hold this. Come here.
They scurry over to coat check.
HART (CONT’D)
Renee, may I buy five minutes of
privacy, please?
He slips her a big tip.
RENEE
Anything for you, Larry.
HART
Thank you.
Renee closes up and leaves.
Hart and Elizabeth move deeper into the coat-room area.
COAT ROOM AREA (position #1 - they’re standin g near the
entrance.
HART (CONT’D)
Tell me what he looks like; I’m
trying to visualize him.
ELIZABETH
Apollo? Blue eyes. Tall.
HART
So, basically, the skin on his back
was flawless--
ELIZABETH
Stop!
HART
It’s the night of your birthday.
Tell me everything.
ELIZABETH
A group of my friends are taking--
HART
Boyfriends, girlfriends?
ELIZABETH
Mixed. C’mon, Larry, I’m a college
lady.
(MORE)
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 67
13C
C CONTINUED:
N I E : 13C
C
ELIZABETH
I A T (CONT’D)
( O ’ )
So they’re taking me to Mory’s,
which is technically no women
allowed, but they smuggle us up the
backstairs like so much heavily-
scented contraband, and, of course,
one of the girls has brought along
her date.
HART
Cooper.
ELIZABETH
Which is both destroying me and
exhilarating me. I mean, he’s
there. Near me. The evening is
getting late; empty wine bottles
are filling up the table. Half of
us are underage, but we’re flirting
so shamelessly with the waiter that
nobody seems to care.
HART
Drinking your French malbec.
ELIZABETH
Exactly.
HART
I’m nothing if not a good student.
ELIZABETH
That’s why everybody loves you,
Larry. You’re the best listener I
ever met.
HART
That’s because I have absolutely no
interest in myself whatsoever.
Back to your tale of natal
debauchery! Empty wine bottles
filling the table.
ELIZABETH
So it’s late. And Marjorie--
HART
The girl who came with Cooper?
Elizabeth goes into the room a little bit and sits (position
#2)
ELIZABETH
She’s left to go home and study;
people are staggering out one by
one; it’s midnight, and I find
myself sitting right next to him.
Hart moves cl oser by sitting on Renee’s chair (joining
position #2)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 68
13C CONTINUED: 13C
HART
Take your time. You know, there’s
no place else on earth I’d rather
be than sitting right here with
you. Oh, did you get my letter:
there’s a party at my place
tonight.
ELIZABETH
I think I’ve got to stay here and
help my mother...
HART
It’s not getting started till late.
You’ll have plenty of time to work
the room here. I’ve got the Golden
Gate Quartet showing up! Promise
me you’ll come. 32 0 Central Park
West. You said you wanted to
design sets and costumes, everybody
in New York theater is gonna be
there. OK, back to Cooper.
ELIZABETH
OK. We leave Mory’s together.
It’s a perfect November night.
(closes her eyes to
remember)
A fingernail clipping of a moon.
He’s got his arm around me. We’re
both a little drunk; stumbling in
and out of each other’s arms. He’s
wearing this red and green flannel
shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
HART
Not that you noticed.
ELIZAB ETH
He’s looking good!
HART
And you?
ELIZABETH
It’s my birthday, right? I’m
supposed to be looking good.
HART
Tasty.
ELIZABETH
So I’m leaning against that flannel
workshirt, and, I’m telling you, I
can smell the maleness coming off
of him. I remember thinking that
huge purple letters should have lit
up the sky: Desire.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 69
13C CONTINUED: 13C
HART
OK. Hold on one second, I have to
go find some ice-water and pour it
down my trousers.
ELIZABETH
You may need some extra ice. We
end up in the basement of his
fraternity: in this tawdry sort of
derelict bar. God only knows how
many acts of depravity have taken
place down there.
HART
And here comes one more.
ELIZABETH
Oh, yeah. So I’ve been watching
this guy for a year, dreaming about
him, and now, here it is: the night
of my birthday; the only light is
coming from this dim little lamp
with horses and jockeys printed on
the shade; I mean, really, Larry,
what’s a girl to do?
HART
Happy birthday!
ELIZABETH
He begins to take off his clothes.
You really want to hear this?
HART
...I’m mildly interested.
ELIZABETH
It’s humiliating.
‘Cause...basically... Nothing
happened.
Pa use.
HART
Nothing? Like you and me at the
lake house...
ELIZABETH
No. That was a deliberate decision
we made. Right? Based on--what?--
rationality? I mean, as rational
as you and I ever get. But this--
this was based on the fact that he
couldn’t get the rubber on.
HART
No.
ELIZABETH
He tried. He tried again. I
tried.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 70
13C
C CONTINUED:
N I E : 13C
C
HART
Stop.
ELIZABETH
It was the worst 10 minutes of my
life. It felt like 10 hours.
HART
I’m sorry.
ELIZABETH
And you know what the worst part
was? He just wasn’t there, you
know? He kept mumbling that it was
the wine. That the rubber was too
small, if you can believe that.
And this whole time what’s clear to
me is that he just hasn’t
sufficiently, I don’t know what the
right word is. Maybe “he-just-
doesn’t-love-you-enough” is the
right word. I mean, there’s no way
around that one, is there? When
the girl loves the guy with all of
her heart, and he just doesn’t
return her feeling? Do you have
any idea what that feels like?
HART
“Nobody e ver loved me that much.”
ELIZABETH
I brought into that basement a
year’s worth of adoration; studying
his photograph; memorizing his
phone number; and there he was:
this half-drunk junior who couldn’t
even pretend to love me.... And, I
wouldn’t have minded if there’d
been some passion underneath. Or
even empathy. There was nothing.
Just that lamp with the horses on
it.
Hart moves to the floor beneath her (position #3).
HART
You deserve so much better.
ELIZABETH
I asked my roommate about it the
next morning; you know, girl to
girl. She said that men, sometimes
can’t perform because they’re too
nervous. I wish I could believe
that, to feel a little bit better
about myself. But he was not
nervous. Not in the least. He had
his eyes shut. As if he were
trying to dream me into somebody he
really wanted.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 71
13C
C CONTINUED:
N IN E : 13C
C
The line appears to resonate with Hart’s own romantic
confusion.
ELIZABETH (CONT’D)
I felt stupid. I felt debased. I
felt furious at myself that I could
allow him to make me feel so
worthless. We tried a few creative
alternatives.
HART
Oh, no.
ELIZABETH
It got uglier and uglier. Finally,
he said, “Elizabeth, I owe you a
rain-check.” ...And that--that was
my 20th birthday. Ta-da.
HART
Jesus wept.
ELIZABETH
But it gets worse.
HART
I don’t think I can take it.
She gives him a look.
HART (CONT’D)
OK, I can take it. But just tell
me in a way that doesn’t make me
ashamed to be a human being.
Elizabeth joins him on the floor (position #3)
ELIZABETH
That’s going to be difficult.
About a week later. Everybody’s
leaving for Thanksgiving. He gives
me a call. Would I like to have
dinner with him? You know me: no
pride. I say sure and make my way
over to his fraternity again, which
sits under this huge gingko tree;
the leaves have turned yellow; the
trunk of the tree is black from the
rain--I’m thinking: This is the
most beautiful thing I’ve ever
seen. I remember saying to myself,
“God is giving you a second
chance.” We go up to his room; his
roommate has already left for the
holiday. The door clicks shut, and
suddenly there’s no more discussion
about dinner.
HART
Rain-check cashed!
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 72
13C
1 C CONTINUED:
C NTINUED: 13C
1 C
ELIZABETH
In spades. I mean, it’s suddenly
pouring. We’re practically tearing
each other’s clothes off. There is
no conversation. And this time
there is no difficulty. Not the
first time. Not the second time.
HART
Stop.
ELIZABETH
He says to me, “Happy belated
birthday, Elizabeth,” and, you want
to hear the unbelievable ending to
this sordid little story? That was
the last time I saw him. That was
November - over four months ago. I
was absolutely sure he’d call. If
only to have sex again, right? No.
Never. I thought he’d write. No.
So I call him, of course. He
couldn’t get off the phone fast
enough. So I wrote to him a four-
page typed letter. Single-spaced.
No response....
I tell myself it was like a fever
dream, you know? And, maybe, the
fever finally broke. And it all
sounds sane and sensible, but, you
know something, if he called me
right now, right this very second,
I’d drop everything in my life and
drive three hours, drive thirty
hours just to spend one more night
with him. What is the matter with
me, Larr y?
HART
Why would you drive thirty hours to
see someone who treated you like
that?
ELIZABETH
Because I’m in love with him?
HART
...You are?
ELIZABETH
It’s illogical. Obsessional.
Pathetic. And this is not the
first time this has happened to me.
It keeps happening to me. I feel
like I can’t see people clearly.
She struggles to take a deep breath. He takes out his pocket
handkerchief and hands it to her.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 73
13C CONTINUED: 13C
HART
I wrote a song once, years ago,
called “The Heart is Quicker Than
the Eye.” It’s not a great song,
but it’s a good title. And it’s
true, I think? The head has
nothing to do with the madness of
love. It doesn’t matter at all
about worthiness, does it?. We
invest our hearts in worthless
stocks. And we know they’re
worthless. But we cling to them
like little children clutching
their little stuffed bears.
(trying to keep himself
together)
Oh, Elizabeth. Tell me truthfully.
How do you feel about me?
ELIZABETH
...How do you mean?
HART
I mean, at the lake house, with the
light burning off; we talked half
the night, and I touched your
shou lder.... Did you actually love
me a little bit that night?
ELIZABETH
You know I love you, Larry.
HART
You do?
ELIZABETH
Just not that way.
HART
You said you’d drive thirty hours
to see Cooper. How many hours
would you drive to see me? Look.
My hands are shaking.
ELIZABETH
...I feel something wiser and
deeper for you. Respect.
HART
Thank you.
ELIZABETH
Gratitude for the generosity and
the selflessness you’ve shown me.
No one has ever been more
interested in my life than you
have. I don’t deserve a friendship
like yours. I am so grateful for
you. I will be grateful forever.
Pause.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 74
13C
C CONTINUED:
N I E : 13C
C
HART
I’m grateful to you, too, for
resurrecting me--
ELIZABETH
Stop.
We hear a knock on the door.
RENEE
Larry! There’s people out here.
HART
One second!
She stares at him a moment.
ELIZABETH
Can I ask you something? Something
that’s probably too personal for me
to ask?
HART
Too personal is the only thing that
I’m interested in.
ELIZABETH
My mother.... You know, she works
for the Guild.... She knows
everybody .... So she saw us
spending time together last
summer....
HART
I see where this is headed.
ELIZABETH
She said to me...
(playing with her necklace)
I don’t--I don’t know how to say
this...
HART
Just say it.
ELIZABETH
OK. She said to me, more than
once: “Elizabeth, not only is he
twice your age, but...I don’t think
his...primary interest...is women.”
HART
What did you say?
ELIZABETH
I said, “Look, mother, I kno w what
I know. And I know what we’re both
feeling.”
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 75
13C
13C CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 13C
13C
HART
What are we both feeling?
She stares at her ring.
ELIZABETH
“Irrational adoration?”
HART
And what may I ask does your mother
think she knows of my primary
interest?
ELIZABETH
I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said
anything. Please forgive me.
HART
(raises an imaginary toast)
To all our mothers! May they
remain mercifully silent.
ELIZABETH
I apologize. That was stupid of me
to have asked. And I do know what
I know. And what I feel.
HART
Here’s what you tell that mother of
yours, as she sits by the fire,
wistfully counting up her royalties
from Oklahoma! You tell her that:
Larry Hart is drunk with beauty.
And italicize the word drunk.
Drunk with beauty--wherever he
finds it. In men; in women. In
the smell of cigar stores. In the
impossible beauty of a twenty-year-
old poet with pale green eyes and
two tiny freckles on her left
cheek.
His hand has moved to his chest.
ELIZABETH
Are you all right?
HART
...my cigarette heart.
Renee comes busting in the coat room.
RENEE
Larry, Dick Rodgers is looking for
his coat.
HART
Coming.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 76
13C CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 13C
Elizabeth looks at Larry and smiles as they get up to go.
After Renee leaves with the coat, Elizabeth looks to Hart on
their way out the door.
ELIZABETH
Introduce me?
Genres:
["Drama","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
22 -
A Night of Warm Connections
13D INT. SARDI’S BAR - COAT ROOM AREA - CONTINUOUS 13D
Rodgers moves to retrieve his topcoat.
RODGERS
Thank you, Renee.
RENEE
You’re very welcome.
RODGERS
Wonderful, thank you so much.
RENEE
Thank you.
HART
Dick! I want to introduce you to
my prote ge! Elizabeth Weiland.
RODGERS
Your protege?
ELIZABETH
Hello.
RODGERS
Hello. Well, you’ve got yourself a
damn good role model there if you
can stay away from the bourbon.
HART
She’s interested in writing and set
design and costumes.
RODGERS
OK, really?
ELIZABETH
Mr. Rodgers? The show tonight? I
thought it was magnificent.
RODGERS
Well, thank you--
ELIZABETH
It was as perfect a musical show as
I’ve ever seen.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 77
13D
13D CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 13D
13D
RODGERS
Well, that’s a lovely compliment.
Your mother’s with the Guild, am I
right?
ELIZABETH
Yes, Theresa Weiland.
RODGERS
Yeah, Theresa, yeah. Right, so
you’ve seen a lot of shows.
ELIZABETH
Too many shows.
RODGERS
I know what you mean.
ELIZABETH
But tonight what I saw was what I’d
always hoped a show might be.
Uplifting. Smart. Magical.
RODGERS
Larry, this is the most perceptive
young woman you’ve ever introduced
me to.
ELIZABETH
(re: Larry)
I’ve had a good teacher.
RODGERS
So what do you write?
ELIZABETH
At this point, poetry mostly.
HART
It’s very strong.
RODGERS
And you do set design, too?
ELIZABETH
I’m studying.
RODGERS
Well, I’d love to read some of your
poems. See your sketches. This is
my--this is my private number.
ELIZABETH
I’m flattered.
HART
I haven’t seen Dorothy around. Is
your wife here?
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 78
13D CONTINUED: 13D
RODGERS
No, she’s headed back to the
apartment--we’re all gonna meet up
there to look at the late reviews,
Larry. Yeah, so I’d love for you
to join us, Elizabeth. It’ll be
refreshing to have someone of the
younger generation amongst us.
And, maybe, you can explain to me,
Elizabeth, why exactly the young
girls scream over Sinatra.
ELIZABETH
I don’t scream over Sinatra.
HART
No, she screams under Sinatra.
ELIZABETH
OK, Larry!
RODGERS
Larry, of course, you’re welcome to
come.
HART
I’m gonna try to make it, I’m just
throwing a little soiree over at my
place; I’ve got the Golden Gate
Quart coming--
RODGERS
(to Elizabeth)
I can’t compete with Larry in the
soiree department.
ELIZABETH
I’d love to stop over.
RODGERS
You would?
The group that’s been around Rodgers has gotten their coats
and are at the door.
RO DGERS’ FRIENDS
Dick, you coming?
RODGERS
Yep, yep.
(to Elizabeth)
Do you have a ride?
HART
You know what, I can take her in a
cab later.
RODGERS
We’re going right now if you want
to come with us?
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 79
13D
13D CONTINUED:
CONTINUED: 13D
13D
ELIZABETH
I’d love to.
RODGERS
Great.
ELIZABETH
Just let me inform my mom. The
dutiful daughter!
She heads upstairs.
RODGERS
She is--she is so lovely, right?
She’s really striking. Are you--
are you and she...?
HART
Oh, no, no. I mean, I’m in love
with her; but everybody’s in love
with her. Just not that way.
RODGERS
OK. So we’ll see you later on
tonight?
HART
Absolutely.
Elizabeth re-enters, dressed to leav e.
ELIZABETH
Thank you for everything.
Elizabeth gives Larry a quick kiss.
ELIZABETH (CONT’D)
Mr. Rodgers?
Rodgers extends his arm for her to take.
RODGERS
Miss Weiland?
They move towards the door.
RODGERS (CONT’D)
Thank you.
(to Larry)
And we’ll see you later, Larry,
right?
Hart opens his arms theatrically. Quotes his own lyric.
HART
“With a song in my heart,
I behold your adorable face!”
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 80
Genres:
["Drama","Musical","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
23 -
A Bittersweet Farewell at Sardi's
14 INT. SARDI’S BAR - MAIN BAR AREA/LOBBY - CONTINUOUS 14
Rodgers and Elizabeth have left through the front door.
The friends and well-wishers are leaving, too. Hart moves
back into the main bar. He’s still got the bag of presents
he never gave her; he’s staring at the vanished Rodgers and
Elizabeth.
HART
(to Eddie)
You ever meet someone, and you
know, instantly, that both your
lives are going to be irretrievably
altered?
EDDIE
(doing Casablanca)
Just as I suspected! You are a
sentimentalist!
HART
When do you get off work?
EDDIE
I got to lock this joint up.
HART
What about you, Knuckles, you’re
done here, right?
MORTY RIFKIN
Not yet.
HART
‘Cause, I am throwing an enormous
party at my place tonight. I
forgot to give her the presents....
Goes to pick up bag of presents, coat, and hat, but fumbles
it all, spilling his deck of cards on the floor. He slowly
goes to the floor and slowly starts picking up all the cards.
HART (CONT’D)
I’m having such trouble with
sleeves recently. I have arthritis
in this shoulder. I’m going to
have to start wearing a cloak. I
mean it. Single-handedly, I’m
going to bring back the cloak.
You’re going to see me on opening
nights with a top hat and a cloak,
flitting through the fog with a
silver-tipped cane. You boys are
coming tonight, right? She ’s going
to be there. I’m telling you. She
will.
He is largely talking to himself now as he continues to pick
up the cards.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 81
14 CONTINUED: 14
HART (CONT’D)
She’ll arrive late. And--get this,
‘cause this is the remarkable part--
sometime late, maybe, around five
AM, after a little too much malbec,
she’s going to turn to me and say,
“Hey, Larry, what are you reading?”
“Hey, Larry, when’s your birthday?”
For the first time in her life
she’s going to be interested in me.
It has to happen sometime, right?
All the other guys have
disappointed her. But I never
will.
He’s now on his feet, about to leave.
HART (CONT’D)
I’m just...
(conjures a Shakespearean
pun out of thin air)
...a little touch of Larry in the
night!
Knuckles! Some travellin’ music!
Morty plays and sings “Blue Moon.”
MORTY RIFKIN
“Blue moon,
You saw me standing alone.”
HART
Wise guy.
MORTY RIFKIN
“Without a dream in my heart,
Without a love of my own.”
Hart shakes his head in amused exasperation.
HART
Well, it’s a helluva lot better
than “The Surrey With the Fucking
Fringe On Top.”
People are still leaving Sardi’s in little groups. Langner
and a few friends are walking by.
LANGNER
Larry, you coming uptown t o Dick’s
with us?
HART
You go on ahead - I’ll be up there
later.
He hears Morty singing another verse, joined in by Renee from
the coat room, as he stands there, deciding if he will leave
for Rodgers’ party or stay and continue his drinking.
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 82
14 CONTINUED: 14
MORTY RIFKIN
(sings)
“Blue Moon,
You knew just what I was there
for.”
MORTY RIFKIN/RENEE CARROLL
(sings)
“You heard me saying a prayer for,
Someone I really could care for.”
Takes a step towards the bar.
HART
That’s not bad. Triple feminine
rhymes. And they all make sense.
He takes one last glance towards the exiting last few. It’s
a decisive moment. He turns and sees Eddie at the bar,
singing along with Morty. As he walks towards him, Eddie,
resigned to Larry’s decision, pulls out two bigger glasses
and pours them drinks.
MORTY RIFKIN/CIGARETTE GIRL
(sings)
“And then there suddenly appeared
before me,
The only one my arms will ever
hold,
And I heard somebody whisper,
‘Please adore me.’”
MORTY RIFKIN
(sings)
“And when I looked, the moon had
turned to gold.
Blue moon.”
EDDIE
Larry, I think this is the
b eginning of a beautiful
friendship.
Hart looks at him with sad amusement.
HART
“Isn’t it romantic?”
EDDIE
Not really, no.
They share their drink in friendship. As the camera slowly
drifts away from them, Larry starts telling a story to both
Morty and Eddie.
HART
You know, it wasn’t even supposed
to be called “Blue Moon.” I called
it “The Bad in Every Man.” We wrote
it for this movie Manhattan
Melodrama.
(MORE)
"BLUE MOON" CONFORMED SCRIPT 1.9.2025 Pg. 83
14 CONTINUED: 14
HART (CONT’D)
Jack Robbins, formerly Rabinowitz--
he had his name circumcised-- over
at MGM, he hears the song; he calls
us into his office, he lowers his
pastrami, says: “Dick, I love the
melody. Strong as anything you’ve
ever written. But Larry those
words! They’re too artsy- fartsy!
They’re not too artsy-fartsy for
me. I know how brilliant you guys
are. But you have to write for the
schmucks in the dark.. . Nobody’s
gonna sing that lyric.” So I said
what’s wrong with it? He said “I
can’t even remember the fucking
title! Boys, give me something I
can promote.” So I say, what do you
want me to call it, Blue Moon?
Punchline, biggest hit we ever
wrote.
Closing song, “This Funny World” begins.
The camera pans across a row of caricatures on the wall,
eventually finding Rodgers and Hammerstein.
SUPER: Rodg ers and Hammerstein went on to become the most
successful songwriting team in American musical theater
history.
The camera pans, in another part of the room, slowly coming
to rest on Hart’s image.
Lorenz Hart did, in fact, contribute five new songs to the
revival of A Connecticut Yankee before being found paralyzed
in a drunken stupor, sitting in the rain on a curb near 8th
avenue. He died four days later at Doctor’s Hospital during
an air-raid blackout.
Closing credits begin...