The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (Warner Bros.) (1939)

A GREAT STORY!...... Serialized in Six Chapters Makes A GREAT PLANT!...... For Newspapers —the First Step for A GREAT BUILD-UP'... AEA SCAR nea tnb ee REE MATS FREE! Mats of type and photos and headings, ready for casting, free on request to Warner Bye. Campaign Plan Editor, 321 W. 44th Street, N. Y. C. Only Chapter I shown (each runs about 750 words); complete set of six galleys sent with mats. Great promotional possibilities too... newsstand cards, display ads, truck banners, announcement in lobby, etc. [14] “The Private Lives ELIZABETH A Warner Bros.-First National MCluae Olditaiuy wette wav. id_ Errol Flynn; Screen Play by Norman Reilly Raine and Aeneas MacKenzie; From the ‘Stage Play by Maxwell Anderson; Produced by the Theatre Guild, Inc.; Directed by Michael Curtiz. Serialized by HARRY LEE CHAPTER I YE VIRGIN QUEEN was the name on the creaking sign above the door of the ancient, timbered, bow-bellied, mullion-windowed tavern beside the Thames, over which loomed the masts and sails o f the British fleet, but just returned from the successful storming of Cadiz in Spain. That windy morning in 1596 found the narrow way all color and excitement with fluttering banners, trumpet calls in the distance and the periodic thudding of drums. Roistering soldiers and seamen with their girls were rolling into the inn and delirious cries of “Essex!” were heard above the tumult. The centre of the cobbled street had been cleared and the people were craning their necks. Above the heads of the populace, on an unsteady standing place, a ballad-singer was hawking his wares: “’Ere ye are, good folks all, only a farden a copy! Me lord of Hessex is acomin’ ’ome today, ain’t he? Lady Penelope Grey, trembling with jealousy that the Queen should have power to command the love of Essex, the one man she herself coveted. Elizabeth, in jewels and cloth of gold, her face a mask to hide her warring emotions, sat rigidly in the Chair of State awaiting the arrival of her subjects. Essex, entering her presence radiantly, was the first to kneel before her. Assured of her high approval, he was unprepared for the sarcastic fury of her first question. “Is it in homage you kneel, my lord Essex, or in shame?” He stared incredulously, un “You mean nothing to me, Essex! Nothing!’’ That’s ’o0o0 we’re waitin’ to see, ain’t it? Well then, read all about ’im! ’Ow he went to Cadiz and did them ’orrible Spaniards in the eye! ’Ere’s ’ow it goes: “Now, ’ark all ye gallants! Yer ears I will tease With a song of Lord Essex in the fight at Cadiz! "Ow he scuppered them Spaniards and ’acked out their spleen, For the glo-o-ory of England —and Elizabeth our Queen!” On the green near Whitehall Palace a group of courtiers, playing at bowls, were bawdily commenting on the Queen’s notorious infatuation with the young Lord of Essex, and on the possibility that he might one day share the throne with her— or usurp it for himself. Through cheering throngs, sitting his horse proudly, the gallant Essex led the cavalcade toward the Palace, followed by the men who had been his subordinates in the Cadiz engagement—Sir Walter Raleigh and Lord Howard of Effingham. From a narrow casement high in the castle wall a group of lovely ladies-in-waiting looked down admiringly — one of them, able to speak. “Have you lost your hearing as well as your military skill,” she went on bitterly, “Stand up!” “Surely, Madame, my military skill was demonstrated at Cadiz! Or can it be possible your Commissioner has brought no word of my victory!” “Your victory!” exclaimed Elizabeth contemptuously, starting to her feet. “For three years the rains of England rotted our harvests depleting our treasury! We were in despair! But my lord Essex had a cure for all that! ‘Raise me fifty thousand pounds!’ he pleaded, ‘And [’ll sail to Cadiz and fetch back such Spanish treasure as will make England rich!’ Well, I taxed my already overburdened people and raised the money! — Where is the treasure, Essex?” “He doesn’t answer, you see!” the Queen mocked, turning to the court. “He daren’t. answer! The Spanish treasure fleet with twelve million ducats lay beneath the waters of Cadiz harbor— sunk by the Spaniards themselves—while Essex, against the advice of both Raleigh and Howard, gathered fame for himself by storming the town! His victory indeed!” (To be continued tomorrow)