GROUP SCENES

• EXT. / MAIN STREET – ‘The Pinch’ – Dusk

  • Townspeople strolling toward the Idle Hour Cinema

• INT. / IDLE HOUR CINEMA – Night

  • Townspeople jostling for seats.

  • Enjoying newsreels of Houdini’s exploits.

  • Reacting to news of Houdini’s death.

• INT. / IDLE HOUR CINEMA – Night

  • Audience assembled for Amateur Hour

• INT. / IDLE HOUR CINEMA – Night

  • Hyman’s second attempt at the Amateur Hour

• EXT. / MARKET SQUARE – Day

  • Packed with curiosity seekers – Scene of Hyman’s third disaster

• EXT. / BLOCKMAN’S SALVAGE YARD - Day

  • Cordelle & Rufus collecting one thin dime from each audience member                           for Hyman’s Fourth Escape

• EXT. / HARAHAN BRIDGE – Night

  • Scene of Hyman’s fifth disaster

• INT. / HOSPITAL – Charity Ward

  • Miriam & Stuart, Aunt Frieda & Uncle Sharkey come to visit

• INT. / Synogogue

  • Stuart’s lackluster Bar Mitzvah

  • Miriam’s Wedding

  • Flashback: Mrs. Pinsky expiring

  • Entire congregation, including those from the other side, dancing a                               joyous wedding hora.

EXTERIORS: DAY

• North Main Street - ‘The Pinch’ – Memphis, Tennessee ca 1926

  • everyone in town walking toward the Idle Hour Cinema
  • Hyman & Stuart walking along
  • Hyman being shunned by Shopkeepers
  • Stuart following Hyman to Market Square
  • Hyman looking around, lost at a street corner

•   Idle Hour Cinema

  • Hyman & Stuart emerge 

  • Sign outside Box Office announcing “Idle Hour Amateur Show” 

  • Sign outside Box Office announcing “The Tortures of the Procrusteon Bed”

• Back of Nussbaum’s Emporium

  • Hyman working on the ‘Procrusteon Bed’ w/ Stuart

• Front of Rosen’s Deli​

  • Bernie Saperstein approaches

• Market Square

  • Hyman putting up sign for the “Universal Symbol of Liberation”

• Blockman’s Salvage

• Auction Street

  • Stuart finds Hyman on the cart w/ Cordelle & Rufus being drawn                                       by Queen Esther

• Cochran Hotel

EXTERIORS: NIGHT

• Miriam’s bedroom window

• Mickey Graber reciting sonnet

• Mickey Graber reciting sonnet on stilts

• Mr. Klotwog’s house

• Hyman getting straightjacket

• North Main Street – ‘The Pinch’ – Memphis, Tennessee ca 1926

  • Hyman in Queen Esther’s cart w/ Cordelle & Rufus distributing flyers

  • Hyman & Stuart walking toward the Catfish Bayou

  • Hyman leaving Catfish Bayou, trailed by Stuart

• Deck of the Enchanted Isle – Miriam & Bernie dancing

• Harahan Bridge

• Hyman being rescued by crew members of the Enchanted Isle

• Miriam’s Roof

  • Miriam confiding in Stuart

• Stuart’s House

  • Stuart wearing a skeleton costume trying to sneak                                                                  out of his house on Halloween Eve

• Catfish Bayou Cemetery

  • Hyman & Stuart preparing for the trick: “Buried Alive”

  • Shanties and old cemetery

INTERIORS: DAY

• Hyman’s Bedroom over Nussbaum’s Emporium

  • Hyman cutting out clippings

  • Stuart & Miriam have come to visit the injured Hyman

• Rosen’s Deli

  • Miriam waiting tables

  • establishing Miriam's friend Rachel and her sister Clara

  • Herman with his pet snake

  • Hyman arrives

  • Hyman & Stuart walk to back corner booth

  • Miriam & Hyman exchange glances

  • Back corner booth w/ Hyman & Stuart

  • Stuart bussing tables

  • Bernie courting Miriam

  • Kitchen – Miriam & Stuart

• Rosen’s Deli – storage room

  • Miriam confronted by her mother

• Nussbaum’s Dry Goods Emporium

  • Hyman inattentive to customer

  • Aunt Frieda & Uncle Sharkey observe and comment                                                        on Hyman’s shortcomings

  • Hyman, Stuart & Miriam at the fabric counter

  • Hyman arranging bolts of fabric, trying to sing                                                            Jerome Kern’s “They Didn’t Believe Me”

  • Hyman waiting on Mrs. Altfelder

  • Hyman being visited by Miriam & Stuart

  • Uncle Sharkey banishes Hyman from Nussbaum’s

• Idle Hour Cinema

  • Mr. Forbitz’ Office

• Rabbi Fein’s Study

  • Stuart studying for his Bar Miztvah w/ Rabbi

  • Miriam & Bernie premaritial counseling w/ Rabbi

• Blockman’s Salvage

  • Mr. Blockman takes in Hyman

  • Hyman sorting junk with Cordelle & Rufus Loft

• Hotel Peabody

  • Hyman & Stuart check out the “lavish” lobby

• Cochran Hotel

  • Stuart visits Hyman in his room

• Hospital Charity Ward

  • Hyman visited by Miriam & Stuart, Aunt Frieda & Uncle Sharkey

INTERIORS:  NIGHT

• Rosen’s Deli 

  • Bernie waiting to take Miriam for a walk

• Dreamland Gardens

  • Bernie dancing with Miriam

• Idle Hour Cinema (Houdini Clips)

• Idle Hour Cinema – Stage - Amateur Hour Acts

• Blockman’s Salvage

  • Hyman talking with Stuart

  • Hyman working on “Escape from the Milk Can”

  • Cordelle & Rufus in the Loft

FILM CLIPS:

1. Newsreel footage of Houdini

2. Houdini’s cliff-hanger “The Master Mystery”

3. Houdini’s “The Man from Beyond”

4. John Barrymore’s “The Beloved Rogue”

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                  Locations Breakdown

•      SYNAGOGUE - Dobbs Ferry, NY

•      IDLE HOUR CINEMA - Port Chester, NY

•      ROSEN'S DELI - Middlesex, NY

•      NUSSBAUMS'S EMPORIUM - Middletown, NY

•      MARKET SQUARE - Yonkers, NY

•      CATFISH BAYOU - Yonkers, NY

•      INTERIORS - Yonkers, NY

•      EXTERIORS - NORTH MAIN, 'THE PINCH'  (tbd)

•      ENCHANTED ISLE - Lake George, NY

•      DREAMLAND GARDENS - (tbd)

•      HOTEL PEABODY - Saratoga, NY

•      COCHRAN HOTEL - (tbd)

•      HARAHAN BRIDGE - Middlesex, NY

 

All locations contingent upon funding, agreements, and scheduling.

     

                                                                                Screenplay(c) Written by Barbara Glasser 
                                                                              Registered: Writer’s Guild of America East 
                                                                     Based on the novella  “Hyman the Magnificent,” 
                                                                         from A PLAGUE OF DREAMERS (Scribner) 
                                                                                 with permission of the author Steve Stern

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