Blondie Johnson (Warner Bros.) (1933)

PLANT THIS RADIO SKETCH o-MINUTE RADIO FEATURE WITH JUST ENOUGH HIGH LIGHTS FROM THE PICTURE TO WHET THE FANS’? APPETITES That this sketch is of real fan interest will be recognized bers will be only too pleased to put it on; if not, members of by any live-wire studio director, who will use it gladly as a sus the studio staff, or possibly of your own force, may do the taining feature during unsold time, to widen his cirele of lispiece. You will, of course, see that the radio-time used for the teners-in. If you are already taking time on the air to advertise sketch does notinidelcc «ih your’ theatretiné Plana this is prepared playlet will prove excellent material. aS ee ee) this peep : one and watch gratifying results. If there is an amateur dramatic society In your town, the mem (FOUR CHARACTERS: BLONDIE, FIVE-MINUTE RADIO DRAMATIZATION OF “BLONDIE JOHNSON” (Music in the mood of the scene WELFARE MAN,. LAWYER, PRIEST) , —— a a whose pert prettiness and genius Station Routine Announcement— with the price of something to eat! got pneumonia .. . they had no followed by: At last it is her turn. The tired —songs such as “Brother Can You business to put her on the street ANNOUNCER: It is our good old man reaches for another “inSpare a Dime” and “Let’s Put when it was cold and wet... and fortune to be able to present for your entertainment a few of the introductory highlights in one of the season’s outstanding sensations, “Blondie Johnson,” the First National production which opens at the Strand Theatre .... next—and co-starring Joan Blondell and Ches vestigation blank,” begins to fill it out... and calls Blondie to his desk. There is something in his voice that chills her: MAN: Where do you live? BLONDIE: In the back room of a drug store on Heckman Place. We were evicted three days ago Out the Light”—always being sure that permission for their use is given by the copyright owners. Narrator continues the story.) NARRATOR: As Blondie drags herself from the charity room she hears her name called—and finds that the druggist who let her and you make ’em pay for it,” he said. “You sue that landlord,” he said. “See a lawyer . . and make him pay ... and make the city pay! Do you hear,” he said, “make ’em pay!” And so I came to you, mister .. . because everybody told me you was a friend of the poor ter Morris. The supporting cast from a tenement on Blum Street her sick mother occupy the room and... would help... includes such favorites as Claire and ...my mother...she... behind his store—has telephoned LAWYER: I only wish I could. Dodd, Arthur Vinton, Allen JenMAN: Where have you been getfor her to come to him at once. On PRIEST (sympathetically): Naw. kins, Olin Howland, Earle Foxe, Mae Busch, Joe Cawthorne, Sterling Holloway, Sam Godfrey, Toshia Mori, Donald Kirke, Tom Kennedy Tom Wilson. Joan Blondell, “—Tision of character, have ale her known and loved wherever pictures are shown—gives her most brilliant characterization as Blondie Johnson—one of those creatures of circumstance—who decides to use her beauty to make men bow to her will. If Blondie Johnson finally merits the condemnation of society—your mind will still hark back to the time when she was more sinned against than sinning. Mr. (name of theatre manager or his representa NARRATOR: Blondie has trudged a long way through the rain... her spirits as cloudy as the sky. It is with a sinking feeling, caused by other things than hunger— ting subsistence from? BLONDIE: What? MAN: Subsistence . . . food. BLONDIE: The neighbors been brineine it in. Bot thay nant tenon : : au b on forever. They’re almost as poor as we are. And the stores won't... MAN: I know, I know. Let me make a note of it. Where did you work last? BLONDIE: Over in a laundry on Fourteenth Street. The Star Laundry. That was four months ago ...I...I haven’t been able to get any kind of a job since then. MAN: Laid off? BLONDIE: No, sir...1. cao wouldn’t let me alone. He Seek MAN (contemptuouly): So you quit. That’s all for now, Miss Johnson. I’ll have our investigator call in a couple of days... reaching Feinstein’s shabby store she finds that her mother has died. The kindly little druggist urges her to go to a lawyer noted for taking up cases of the peor without charge fo 2 fii for esas them into the street. We now see Blondie, more pale and wan, seated across the desk from the middle-aged lawyer. A priest in his cassock, sits opposite them. The lawyer speaks as if he purposely means to be discouraging: LAWYER: Your case is extremely pathetic ... but, my dear girl... you can’t sue the city or the landlord. It takes money to go into court with a thing like LAWYER: Certainly. The ones that have it... have it! And the ones that don’t... don’t... BLONDIE: So there’s no way to get back at the landlord? my dear, I wouldn’t be discouraged. What you want to do now is go out and get a job. BLONDIE (furiously): Job? Sequences Von es job with hundreds out of work? I haven’t an education like most people. . couldn’t afford to get one. PRIEST: That’s unfortunate, of course, my child ... but it’s up to you to do something about your circumstances. BLONDIE (even more infurated) : You’re right, Father! It’s up to me! And I am going to do something about it! I’m going to get money and I’m going to get plenty of it! we’ve been poor... I ; ; : ; quit. this .. PRIEST (alarmed): Now, just a tive) will now give you a brief mi : : minute. There are two ways of summary of events leading up to vee? Why? ae cemotinally): Money! getting it. " the opening scene. Mr.... . BLONDIE: I had to. The boss That’s all I’ve ever heard! Money! = BLONDIE: Yeh! The hard way and the soft way! PRIEST: Listen, child! BLONDIE: You needn’t show me the way to the door, you two! though, heaven knows, she is hun ways, You say, Father aS gh, ’ BLONDIE (quickly): You mean LAWYER: As things are... I’m ways, you say, Father! gry enough—that she reads the big ou can’t help us now! fraid not f Ss q «ee @ ° Pilibictins esc y p afraid no PRIEST (sternly): Only two dow: “WELFARE AND RELIEF ASSOCIATION.” The girl’s cheap and threadbare dress — her drenched, tawdry hat—her shoddy shoes and torn stockings—all bespeak abject poverty. Her hand is on the knob several times before she is able to pocket her pride—for even the poor are said to have pride—and enter the barnlike room—where hundreds of others like herself are waiting their turn. MAN (impatiently): My dear young lady, yours isn’t an emergency case. You got a roof over your heads, and you’re not starv ing. There’s hundreds that are. BLONDIE (pleadingly): But my mother! She’s sick! It is an emergency case! MAN (abruptly): The investigator will take care of all that... you know... after all...I only BLONDIE: But Feinstein says there is ...! Make ’em payl so. he said! LAWYER: Feinstein? Feinstein ? BLONDIE: You wouldn’t know him. Just a nobody ... the druggist that let us stop in the room back of his store . . . when the landlord kicked us out... oh. I can’t go through much more... this last thing has just about fin Who is ways. BLONDIE: Then get this... I tried the hard way ... and look what it got me! Now I’m trying the other way! (The door slams. Crashing music with many discords, minors and wailing blues. Music and voice of Narrator, concluding the sketch.) NARRATOR: What life had in store for Blondie Johnson’... and Curley Jones... and Red... and big Max... and Mae and “Bape Behind a desk she sees an elderly work here. I don’t hand out the ished me up ... when mother was and Gladys and Lou and the rest of man—who, from the tales of woe money ... NEXT, please! alive=4... 1: the people who play their parts in heard day in and day out—has ha the stirring drama of Blondie’s life oes y : BLONDIE (almost in tears): PRIEST: Quiet yourself, my may be seen at the Strand next ae eee os ae ss lea But the Board of Health won’t let child... when the sensational “Blondie less. Blondie waits her turn with us tive {in thé stare. much lonsce! ae Johnson” opens there. (Mentions impatience — which is tempered, Foe ee BLONDIE: I'll try, Father... names of those who took part in however, by the vain hope that her When a person’s sick . . . but... “It’s their fault,” Feinstein the sketch.) Until then good night pathetic plea may be met with MAN: Call the County Hospital. said, “the landlord’s fault ... and and good luck. Sympathy ... and, better yet... NEXT, please! the city’s fault . . . your mother THE END Page Thirteen