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turning to page one
LIONEL
Do you feel like working today?
Bertie notices the plane left behind by Logue’s sons.
BERTIE
A Curtis bi-plane.
LOGUE
I’ll put on some hot milk.
BERTIE
Logue, I’d kill for something
stronger.
LIONEL
I wasn’t there for my father’s
death. Still makes me sad.
BERTIE
I can imagine so.
Lionel passes Bertie a brandy.
BERTIE (CONT’D)
What did you father do?
LIONEL
A brewer.
BERTIE
Oh.
LIONEL
At least there was free beer.
Pause.
LIONEL (CONT’D)
Here’s to the memory of your
father.
They sit.
BERTIE
I was informed, after the fact, my
father’s last words were: “Bertie
has more guts than the rest of his
brothers put together.” He couldn’t
say that to my face.
Silence.
BERTIE (CONT’D)
(blurts)
My brother. That’s why I’m here.
LIONEL
What’s he done?
BERTIE
Can’t say. I can’t puh-puh-puh...
His jaw and throat muscles constrict.
LIONEL
Try singing it.
BERTIE
Pardon?
LIONEL
Know any songs?
BERTIE
Songs?
LIONEL
Yes songs.
BERTIE
“Swanee River”.
LIONEL
I love that song.
BERTIE
Happens to be my favorite.
LIONEL
Sing it then. Give me the chorus.
BERTIE
No. Certainly not.
(fascinated by the plane)
Always wanted to build models.
Father wouldn’t allow it. He
collected stamps. I had to collect
stamps.
LIONEL
You can finish that off.
Bertie eagerly reaches for some balsa.
LIONEL (CONT’D)
If you sing.
(to “Swanee River”)
“When I was a boy with David...upon
the Swanee River.”
BERTIE
I can’t sit here singing!
LIONEL
You can with me.
BERTIE
Because you’re peculiar.
LIONEL
I take that as a compliment.
BERTIE
I’m not crooning “Swanee River!”
LIONEL
Try “Camptown Races” then.
(sings)
“My brother D, he said to me, doo-
dah doo-dah...” Continuous sound
will give you flow. Does it feel
strange, now that David’s on the
throne?
BERTIE
It was a relief... Knowing I
wouldn’t be King.
Reaches into his jacket for his cigarette case. Then remembers, puts it away.
LIONEL
But unless he produces an heir,
you’re next in line. And your
daughter, Elizabeth, would then
succeed you.
BERTIE
“You’re barking up the wrong tree
now, Doctor, Doctor.”
LIONEL
“Lionel, Lionel.” You didn’t
stammer.
BERTIE
Of course I didn’t stammer, I was
singing!
(realises)
Oh...
LIONEL
Well, as a little reward, you get
to put some glue on these struts.
BERTIE
David and I were very close. Young
bucks... You know.
LIONEL
Chase the same girls?
BERTIE
David was always very helpful in
arranging introductions. We shared
the expert ministrations of
“Paulette” in Paris. Not at the
same time of course.
An uncomfortable silence. Too much has been said.
LIONEL
Did David tease you?
BERTIE
They all did. “Buh-buh-buh-Bertie”.
Father encouraged it. “Get it out,
boy!” Said it would make me stop.
Said...”I was afraid of my father,
and my children are damn well going
to be afraid of me”.
Lionel has been watching Bertie work on the model.
LIONEL
Naturally right handed?
BERTIE
Left. I was punished. Now I use the
right.
LIONEL
Yes, that’s very common with
stammerers. Anything other
corrections?
BERTIE
Knock knees.
Lionel waits.
BERTIE (CONT’D)
Metal splints were made...worn
night and day.
LIONEL
That must have been painful.
BERTIE
Bloody agony. Straight legs now.
LIONEL
Who were you closest to in your
family?
BERTIE
Nannies. Not my first nanny,
though..she loved David...hated me.
When I was presented to my parents
for the daily viewing, she’d...
The stammering produced by the memory halts him.
LIONEL
Sing it.
BERTIE
(tunelessly)
“She pinch me so I’d cry,
and be sent away at once,
then she wouldn’t feed me, far far
away.”
(speaks)
Took three years for my parents to
notice. As you can imagine, it
caused some stomach problems.
Still.
LIONEL
What about your brother Johnnie?
Were you close to him?
BERTIE
Sweet boy. Epilepsy...and...he
was ’different’.
Died at 13, hidden from view. Too
embarrassing for the family.
(nervous)
I’ve been told it’s not catching.
LIONEL
Do you want a top-up?
BERTIE
Please.
Lionel gets up to pour another drink.
BERTIE (CONT’D)
You know, Lionel, you’re the first
ordinary Englishman...
LIONEL
Australian.
BERTIE
...I’ve ever really spoken to.
Sometimes, when I ride through the
streets and see, you know, the
Common Man staring at me, I’m
struck by how little I know of his
life, and how little he knows of
mine.
LIONEL
What’re friends for.
BERTIE
I wouldn’t know.
ARCHIVE FOOTAGE OF KING GEORGE V’S STATE FUNERAL
The common man, and woman, en masse. Thousands of them, solemn in their bereavement.
Funereal bagpipes wail, joining the measured drum-rolls.
Ranks upon ranks of military personnel slow-stepping the ceremonial death march.
Muffled cannons bark their salute.
Startled, a large flock of blackbirds rise up and streak across the wintery sky.
A Naval squad pulls a gun carriage that carries the King’s coffin draped with the Royal standard, on which rests the Royal crown topped by a jeweled Maltese Cross.
On Whitehall, the gun carriage passes the Cenotaph.
PATHE NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER
All salute as they pass the
Cenotaph. One million died for
him...as King George died for them.
We see naval cadets salute to their right.
END ARCHIVE FOOTAGE.