norma jean (act one)

Norma Jean Harris…

Present and accounted for.

Bay ten, bay eleven… dang it, how’d we get to bay five?

How you got to be a pilot, I can only guess.

Every poisonous species that lives in the US you can find in Texas.

Good Lord.

Here it is. Bay seventeen.

Thank God. I could go for a nice hot shower…

Cot by the window is mine!

Now, just hold on-

Yeah, Shrimp, ‘less you wanna wash out.

Now, wait just a moment! This is my cot.

I think I’ll take this one.

This is my cot!

You and I are gonna get along. Aces are low, seems fair?

Should we draw in order of who has the most flight hours?

How do you know?

Or should we go alphabetically?

I’ll draw next! I’ll draw next! Two.

Serves you right, for making all that noise. Ace!

Way too big.

They were men’s suits.

Ugh, still smells like them too.

Since we’ve only got a half-an-hour for both bays to use the latrine in the morning, I think half of us should shower in the evenings… Care to share with the class, Edith?

It’s Eddie, and I’ve got nothing to say… Ace.

I’m going to see if the girls in Bay Eighteen want to work out a time-chart.

I recommend Norma Jean Harris!

What? Why me?

Does anyone second this recommendation?

If any of you dare…

I second!

Shrimp!

Do you accept this recommendation, Miss Harris?

It’s Mrs. Harris… and yes, I’ll accept.

Choose your flight lieutenants please.

I recommend her. You are in flight one, aren’t you?

I sure am! My name is Mildred Simmons and I…

Fine, Mildred here can be lieutenant of flight one.

And your flight lieutenant for flight two?

I recommend…

Don’t look at me like that Ace, I will kill you in your sleep.

…Alice Hawkins.

enter from latrine

That “Urban Turban” is only for the flight line.

Yeah, well it also works for wet hair.

Speaking of which, you spent your five minutes and my five minutes in the shower. I spent my whole time worried some officer was going to come in calling lights out and catch me!

She’s bluffing! She’s bluffing!

What is this?

Shut your trap, Mildred.

Is this poker?

I’m in.

You all are gambling?

Out too. What’d you got, Miss H.P?

Who are you?

I’m Mildred… your flight lieutenant?

You don’t live here.

No, I’m over in Bay Twenty-Six.

Then I suggest you get back to it!

Yes sir.

It’s past ten, we should all be in bed.

Don’t you like the song? My father taught it to me, it was his favorite as a child. I can play something else if you’d rather.

No, darling, it’s a nice song.

Goddammit!

Edith Harknell, you watch your language, I don’t want to hear anything like that said in this bay ever again, do you understand me?

Ace, this is a free country and I will say what I want to, you have no right to-

Time for bed!

Eddie pulls a cigarette and lighter out

Where did you get this cigarette?

Give it back!

I won’t have any smoking in this bay. You want to smoke, you go outside!

Fine, I will!

No you won’t, it’s after hours, you get into your cot.

I think someone’s got a lot of hot air because of the little S.C. next to her name.

I only got those because of you.

And me!

Go to bed, Shrimp!

You’re all acting like children.

I have eight-year-old students back home that listen better than she does.

Yeah, well, I’m not the one having a tantrum in her underwear.

Flight Lieutenant Hawkins, you should be backing me up on this, not playing poker with the hot-pilot looking to get herself a demerit.

Poker was Alice’s idea.

What?!

We’ve been studying since dinner. Carol was ready to stab someone’s eye out with her pencil.

Shrimp, I swear, if this is true I’ll ground your behind for the rest of the week-

Get off your soapbox, kid.

Now you’re going to stretch that cot out till it’s worse than Shrimp’s.

And each pair of roommates had to write up a contract together.

A contract?

You do?

What are we going to write it on?

That sounds good, that’s good.

Alright, what should we call it? Contract of Bay Seventeen?

On the farm we put horses that worked well together in teams. We could be like that, like a team.

I don’t like the word team.

That’s the WASP mascot.

It’s not… it’s not a pagan symbol, is it?

So that’s the first rule.

Rules! We get to have rules!

I just mean that’s the first law. We think for ourselves.

But second, we listen to what our fellow Fifinellas have to say before we make a decision.

Is there anything else?

There are six of us, there should be six laws.

With this!

Is that alcohol!

My husband mailed it to me.

But we’re not supposed to-!

So he sends me wine instead. That’s how I know where he is.

God forgive me.

Yeah Norma Jean, where did you learn to do that?

I’m a married woman too, Shrimp. There’s a lot of thigns I know how to kick back.

Where is he?

With everyone else’s husband.

Careful! It’ll stain the sheets!

Have we a virgin drinker on our hands?

Good. Communion wine is awful.

I didn’t take you for one who knew what communion wine tastes like.

If you must know, my father was a Catholic.

Was?

Our days start with morning reveille at six-fifteen.

Get up!

No.

My god, Edith, when was the last time you showered? Don’t look at me like that, Alice. We can’t go eat breakfast if you don’t lead the march. Carol! Carol, wake up! Alice, come wake Carol up.

yankee doodle pilots

Push-ups. Go. Jumping jacks. Go. Squats. Go. I said SQUATS! GO!

The blue wire connects here, the yellow one goes there…

So all we really need to worry about knowing is that hot air rises, and cold air sinks? You’re telling me that God’s amazing creation of nature and weather boils down to that?

Why not? Why not? It’s tradition!

It’s silly. And we’re too old.

Flying a bomber over Germany somewhere.

She did it! Alice did it! Alice flew solo!

Dang it! I was supposed to be first! Ziggie was gonna let me go tomorrow!

That’s what you said yesterday.

Where is she? Where is she?

Where did you get that camera?

Are you going to take it from me?

Not today.

There she is!

I knew when I chose you as my flight lieutenant, I chose the right woman!

Do you enjoy pretending to be one of God’s angels, soaring up and around the clouds?

If Heaven doesn’t look like this, then I don’t want to go.

Rosalie, wait.

We’ve returned from the great outside world!

It’s so gray outside. I think we’ll see snow before Christmas.

Rosalie, are you feeling okay, darling? You’re looking pale.

I’m fine. What did you buy?

Well, I figured that it’s been a while since James has seen me in one of these… so I’m going to send him a little reminder, courtesy of Alice’s camera.

I’ll mail them home to my mother to get them developed.

Which one should I put on first, Rosalie?

Hmmm… this one.

Virginia?

That one.

Eddie, what do you think? Right, you’re not talking to me. Again.

You turned me in!

Now you sound like a child. The rule is we’re all supposed to go to a church on Sunday.

We shouldn’t haveta go, and you didn’t haveta turn me in.

I did have to, Edith, it’s my job as Squadron Commander to make sure that the rules-

Yeah, well I wouldn’t put it past them. Some of those officers can’t stsand the fact that we women are flying the same planes as their precious God-damn male cadets!

Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain like that! I don’t care if you are an atheist, don’t say that!

No, she’s right. I don’t believe in God. I do, however, believe in vows. And that’s what I thought the sisterhood was about, Ace. We vowed to make our own decisions, didn’t we? Think our own thoughts?

I’m bound by a vow too, Edith, you know that.

I also know you’re gonna let Alice use a camera- you bound to turn her in, too?

I didn’t have a choice, Edith, because Mildred was the one who told me she saw you hanging around the runway ‘stead of going with her to the Catholic service like you told me, so I had to report it, otherwise you know she would’ve said something herself. I’m sorry, I really am, I wish-

You have a sweetheart! How come we’ve never heard about him?

How come we’ve never heard about yours?

Mine! How did you know about mine?

I didn’t, I just said that to see what you’d say. What do we think?

What your mother thinks doesn’t matter. It’s your sweetheart who’s gotta get used to the idea of you flying, not her.

He’ll come around, you’ll see. My James did.

Oh yes, that’s the one, Norma Jean.

You think so?

What do you mean, your James came around?

We were both in college, and I was walking across the quad when I heard this very good looking young man telling some of his buddies about how he was going to apply to the Civilian Pilot Training Program. I’d been looking for a way to talk with him for weeks…

Do Marie McDonald!

So I walked over and I told him I was interested in applying too, because I had always loved Amelia Earhart as a child.

Ava Gardner!

He just rolled his eyes, said that I shouldn’t waste my time applying, I’d only be disappointed. So I ripped the application out of his hand and filled it out. I’ll never forget the look on James’ face when I walked into the classroom the first day.

Give me that!

Isn’t it about time.

He wants to see me when I come home for Christmas.

Not before?

They won’t take him, he is colorblind.

Eddie, what’s your mouth looking like that for? Shut it up, you’ll draw flies. Is that a telegram for… No. No. No, no, no.

The Army Air Force appreciates your great anxiety and will furnish you further information promptly when received.

James is missing?

That’s what it says.

They don’t know if he’s dead or if he’s…

They don’t know.

Let me go, let me go Eddie, let me… go…

gee ma i want to go home

Push-ups. Go. Jumping jacks. Go. Squats. Go. I said SQUATS! GO!

I am tired. I am sick of grits and I am sick of gravy. And I don’t see how squats will make me a better pilot.

Kid, we never had it so good.

Mildred exits

Did anybody feel that? A sharp, cold thing just hit my forehead.

Look! Look!

It’s snow! Honest to goodness snow!

Fine.

Me either.

Yeah, we can blame the impending cold front from Northwest Canada for that.

Shh, listen.