1EXT. NEW YORK ALLEYWAY - NIGHT

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, near 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 his partner Richard Rodgers (Rodgers wrote the music; Hart the words) combined their respective geniuses to create a string of musical-comedy hits...

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!