NORMA

Hello, is this Gladstone 9281? Miss Schaefer?...

Hello, Miss Schaefer, you must forgive me for calling so late, but I really feel it's my duty.

It's about Mr. Gillis...you do know a Mr. Gillis?

Well, exactly how much do you know about him?

Do you know where he lives? Do you know what he lives on?



I want to spare you a lot of sadness

I don't know what he's told you

But I can guarantee you

He doesn't live with mother

Or what you'd call a roommate

He's just a ... I can't say it

Poor Betty

You ask him

I'd love to hear his answer...



...Joe...



JOE

That's right, Betty, why don't you ask me?...



NORMA

Don't.



JOE

...Or better yet, come over and see for yourself. Yes, right now.

The address is ten thousand eighty-six, Sunset Boulevard.



NORMA

Don't hate me, Joe. I did it because I need you. Look at me. Look at my hands.

Look at my face. Look under my eyes. How can I go back to work if I'm wasting

Away?

No! Don't stand there hating me, Joe. Shout at me, strike me, but say you don't hate me...Joe, Joe.



JOE

Come on in.



BETTY

What's going on, Joe?

Why am I so scared?

What was that woman saying?

She sounded so weird

I don't understand...



Please, can you tell me what's happening?

You said you loved me tonight

Shall I just go?

Say something, Joe



JOE

Have some pink champage and caviar

When you go visit with a star

The hospitality is stellar



BETTY

So this is where you're living?



JOE

Yes, it's quite a place, sleeps seventeen

Eight sunken tubs, a movie screen

A bowling alley in the cellar



BETTY

I didn't come to see a house, Joe



JOE

Sunset Boulevard

Cruise the Boulevard

Win yourself a Hollywood palazzo

Sunset Boulevard

Mythic Boulevard

Valentino danced on that terrazzo



BETTY

Who's it belong to?



JOE

Just look around you



BETTY

That's Norma Desmond.



JOE

Right on the money

That's Norma Desmond

That's Norma Desmond

That's Norma Desmond

That's Norma Desmond



BETTY

Why did she call me?



JOE

Give you three guesses



It's the oldest story in the book

Come see the taker being took

The world is full of Joes and Normas

Older woman, very well-to-do

Meets younger man, the standard cue

For two mechanical performers



BETTY

Just pack your things and let's go.



JOE

You mean all my things?

Have you gone mad?

Leave all these things I've never had?

Leave this luxurious existence?



You want me to face that one-room hell

That murphy bed, that rancid smell

Go back to living on subsistence?



It's no time to begin a new life

Now I've finally made a perfect landing

I'm afraid there's no room for a wife

Not unless she's uniquely understanding

You should go back to Artie and marry the fool

And you'll always be welcome to swim in my pool



BETTY

I can't look at you any more, Joe.



NORMA

Thank you, thank you, Joe, thank you...thank you.



What are you doing, Joe?

You're not leavine me?



JOE

Yes, I am, Norma.



NORMA

You can't! Max!



JOE

It's been a bundle of laughs

And thanks for the use of the trinkets

A little ritzy for the copy desk back in Dayton



And there's something you ought to know

I want to do you this favour

They'll never shoot that hopeless script of yours

They only wanted your car



NORMA

That's a lie! They still want me!

What about all my fan-mail?



JOE

It's Max who writes you letters

Your audience has vanished

They left when you weren't looking

Nothing's wrong with being fifty

Unless you're acting twenty



NORMA

I am the greatest star of them all.



JOE

Goodbye, Norma.



NORMA

No one ever leaves a star



REPORTER

And as dawn breaks over hte murder house, Norma Desmond, famed star of yesteryear,

Is in a state of complete mental shock.