Clairebate

Thursday, September 5, 1935 Lakeland Drive Baton Rouge, LA Yvonne Yvonne controlled the pace of the front porch swing with the tap and drag of her toe, her cool cotton skirt wrinkling in her lap under the weight of her 12-week-old baby, Carl Austin Weiss, Jr., or Carlchen, as they called him. She’d worried the German moniker meaning ‘little Carl’ sounded too forceful when her in-laws first suggested it, but it had already come to fit him perfectly. Cupping her hands under his arms, Yvonne wrapped long slender fingers around the back of his neck and sang to him, her voice soft and breathy. Carlchen pressed his bare feet into her thigh and grinned, pushing himself into a standing position. Yvonne beamed. If only Carl were there to see it. She expected him home for lunch any minute. He’d had a tonsillectomy follow-up at nine o’clock at the practice he shared with his father, and promised he would leave the office by noon. She imagined him walking his normal route up the bustling Third Street corridor to Main Street, past the church, where he’d served as an altar boy in his youth, onto North Fifth, where his parents still lived, then making a final right onto Lakeland Drive. With Louisiana’s new State Capitol building at his back, he would come into her view. She’d watch his smile grow wide and his steps grow long. “Let’s wait right here for Daddy,” she said to Carlchen. “He will see how strong you are all for himself.” She lifted the baby in the air eliciting another broad toothless grin. Passing automobiles kicked up dust, powdering everything along the three tree-lined blocks of Lakeland Drive reaching from the Capitol to North Eighth Street. The hard-soled shoes of suited men hammered on the sidewalk at a clip. Some came in groups, others alone. All walked in the direction of the Capitol. United States Senator Huey P. Long was in town. According to the morning newspaper, more than four hundred new bills had been passed in the last twelve months and Senator Long authored every one of them. The number was unprecedented and today’s special session promised more of the same. This sort of massive reform was only possible under two scenarios: Huey Long either held the legislators in some kind of supernatural trance, or he controlled them with bribes and coercion. Based on her own father’s ugly past with Long, her guess was the latter. From her porch, she guessed at the business of each passerby. Yvonne liked to think she could tell a professor from a politician by the comb of his hair, the cut of his suit, or the measure of his step. When she’d studied at the Sorbonne, she’d sit with a glass of port on the Champs Elysèes and watch people bustling to and from the patisseries and boulangeries. It was there she learned to distinguish lovers from spouses, students from professionals, and gentlemen from scoundrels. In the distance, where she’d expected to see Carl, Yvonne’s younger sister had appeared. She was stomping down Lakeland Drive in Yvonne’s direction. Yvonne straightened in surprise. What was Marie doing here? Marie held her purse under one arm, while the other swung with such force her skirt twisted around her waist and caused her blouse to come untucked. She looked as if she’d stomped the entire sixty miles from their home town of Opelousas to Yvonne’s house in Baton Rouge. Her loose curls, wild with humidity, licked at her eyes. Her stockings wrinkled at the ankle and with each step slipped further out of place. She kept her eyes on the sidewalk before her and talked to herself, a sure sign Marie had done something she should not have. Marching onto the porch, Marie’s momentum carried her so close to Yvonne she stopped the swing with her shins. After a deep breath, she exhaled a mess of words and sobs and gasps. Yvonne struggled to make out what her sister said. The Capitol. Huey Long. Her teaching job. The Negro school. Yvonne stood and with her free arm she ushered Marie into the house. Such an outburst should not be on display. “Now,” Yvonne said, “why don’t you start at the beginning? Matter of fact, start by explaining why you didn’t tell me you were coming to town?” She poured them each a glass of tea and sat at the small kitchen table. “I didn’t know I was coming until Alice-Lou showed me the printed circular yesterday,” Marie said. “It said if any school employee who’d been let go by the State Budget Committee wanted to be reconsidered for their job they could come to the Capitol today.” Marie’s wet, brown eyes tried to read Yvonne’s reaction before she folded her chin into her neck like a guilty child. “Alice-Lou and I just want our teaching jobs back.” The State Budget Committee, comprised of Huey Long and two appointees, had been formed in the last legislative special session. Every entity receiving state funds had been required to submit its budget and payroll list to the committee for approval. This included the likes of every sheriff’s office, public works department, sanitation unit, fire station, and school board. The committee had summarily fired every employee on every payroll and re-hired only Long loyalists who were willing to ‘donate’ ten percent of their salary to Huey’s re-election fund. This procedure had worked in every Parish in the state, except for St. Landry Parish where Yvonne’s father and his allies still wielded more political clout than Senator Long. In packed public meetings and fiery open forums, the citizens of St. Landry Parish pushed back against the Long political machine leaving the State Budget Committee little choice but to publish the circular offering to hear the voices of those they’d fired. “Marie! You should have known that circular was a ruse. You didn’t even like your job. You came here on a whim, you ...” Yvonne paused, suddenly realizing the gravity of Marie’s decision. “You didn’t tell Papa why you were coming to Baton Rouge, did you? If he found out you begged for your job, begged to the very men who’ve been trying to cheat Papa out of his judgeship. This will humiliate him, Marie. Hu-mi-li-ate him.” Marie sat in silence, her eyes downcast. “He will not survive another heart attack. How many times must you be told this? Your antics will kill him and I won’t forgive you for it.” “I know. I know. I didn’t tell them I was coming at all. Mamma thinks I’m playing bridge with Alice-Lou in New Iberia. This is graveyard talk, Yvonne. I mean it. Take it to your grave.” “I’ll add it to the list,” Yvonne said. Covering for her sister was nothing new. Marie explained how she and Alice-Lou had taken the early train from Opelousas and were the first to sign their names on the list of employees wanting to be re-hired. Alice-Lou went in what seemed to be the main meeting room while they called Marie in another direction entirely. “They knew who I was,” Marie said. “I heard the men whisper Papa’s name and nod in my direction. They took me into the governor’s office. Then he came in,” she said. “Huey.” His name spilled from her mouth like sour milk. She lifted her glass with an unsteady hand and took a sloppy sip of tea. “I told him I loved my job and I wanted to be in the classroom more than anything,” Marie said. She hung her head at the memory. “He said if I loved teaching so much, he could put me teaching over at the Negro school, but—” Marie began to cry. ”Go on and tell me all of it, you have my word it won’t get back to Papa. For his sake, anyway,” Yvonne said. She gave a slow and subtle nod to Carl, who’d slipped up the side steps and stood quietly behind Marie in the open doorway to the kitchen. “He said he already had too many Negroes teaching school,” Marie said, again losing her composure. “What is that supposed to mean?” Carl said. He slammed the kitchen door behind him, startling both Marie and the baby, whose cry brought Yvonne to her feet. He pulled on the back of a kitchen chair and leaned onto the table gripping its edge with his hands. The color drained from his fingertips. “They knew who you were alright. This is about his history with your father. You were a lamb before the lion. He’ll apologize for this!” Carl’s voice was too loud, too strong, too acidic for Yvonne. Not so for her sister, though who lapped up the attention. It mattered not to Marie that Papa’s career or health were the price of admission to her one woman show. Yvonne kept her eyes on Carl as Marie described what she saw and felt in the room with Huey, taking her time to embellished every detail. The tension in Carl’s face; the slight flare of his nostrils as he breathed, the narrowing of his eyes which seemed to focus on some unseen enemy worried her. As diplomatic as Carl could be with a nervous patient or in a heated debate among colleagues, he simply could not stand by while someone was being mistreated. “I’ll handle it, Marie,” Carl said, finally taking a seat at the table. Still standing, Yvonne looked at her husband. The idea Carl could handle this was ludicrous. But she could never say that to him directly, so instead she said, “What do you mean, Carl? You can’t just walk up to Huey Long and have a chat with him. He’s maligned everyone from President Roosevelt to Papa, you won’t be able to reason with the man.” She bounced the baby over her shoulder. “Nothing to reason, Yvonne. I will not have the insult linger.” He pressed his open palm to his chest for emphasis. “Huey’s behavior was inappropriate and Marie deserves an apology.” Marie bobbed her head up and down in agreement with Carl. Hadn’t he heard her promise this wouldn’t get back to Papa? “But this has nothing to do with you. You’ll only—” “This,” he cut in, practically hissing the word, “most certainly does.” He locked eyes with Yvonne, a signal for her the conversation had ended. She quieted. Getting Carl to change his mind would be a challenge, but she had to find a way. This was her family after all —her Papa’s reputation, her sister’s shenanigans. Yvonne excused herself and took Carlchen to the nursery. Sitting in the tapestry-covered rocking chair, a gift from Carl’s cousin Nell, Yvonne felt a tinge of guilt for tuning out the governmental goings on, but it was endless—one day Huey Long was passing a new tax on newspaper advertising in retaliation for their coverage of his improprieties, the next he was sending his cronies to pose as election day “poll-watchers” to stuff the ballot box in favor of her father’s opponent for district judge. Politics meant conflict and she loathed conflict. Since the baby had been born, she’d allowed herself to worry only about the smaller, more precious things in her world, like feeding times and powdered creases. But politics permeated their lives. In the last week alone, her Uncle Paul had been fired from his position as Principal at Opelousas High School and Marie had lost her job. With the special session being called, there was certainly more to come, especially to those who opposed Long. Keeping Marie’s story from their father—especially if an indignant Carl got involved—might be impossible. The nursery door creaked open and Marie entered the room with a glass of water. “Carl said to bring this to you,” she said. After taking a gulp, she added, “He said nursing makes you thirsty.” “It does,” Yvonne answered. “I guess it makes me thirsty, too,” Marie said. She took another swig and tried to shoot some water out of the space between her two front teeth, but it fell from the sides of her mouth and dribbled onto her blouse. Yvonne tried not to smile. “C’mon Yvonne. If you don’t smile, I’ll make it come out of my nose.” Yvonne laughed out loud. Marie could always break her. “You’re a mess, Marie Pavy. Now go get your own glass of water and visit with Carl. You can’t just abandon your knight in shining armor.” “My work here is done,” Marie joked. She dramatically lifted one foot and then the other and tip-toed out of the room. Yvonne hoped the more Marie’s mood lightened, the less inclined Carl would be to do anything about the insult. Carl hadn’t been raised around politics like Yvonne had. It was foolhardy for him to think he’d get in the same room as Long. To have a conversation with him was even less likely. By the time the baby had been fed and resting soundly in his crib, Yvonne found Carl had not only made and served lunch, but also entertained Marie and her friend Alice-Lou, who’d arrived after an unsuccessful attempt to get her job back. Carl washed the dishes while Marie dried and Alice-Lou sat at the table filing her nails. The scene was light and gay and all seemed in good spirits, but Yvonne knew her husband well. He laughed with their guests and made them feel at ease in his company, but Yvonne knew something unsettling lingered behind Carl’s cheery smile. While this turned her stomach, she chose to ignore it. She would keep the peace, Yvonne decided; she would say nothing more about it. Includes the following: protagonist and her core wound, the hook, setting, tone and foreshadows the primary conflict and the antagonist.

Story Statement In the aftermath of U.S. Senator Huey Long’s 1935 shooting and death, the family of his accused assassin, Dr. Carl Weiss, finds fault in the “official” version of events and must decide if confronting the real forces behind Long’s assassination is worth losing their lives for. Antagonists External Antagonists: Senator Long’s political allies (AKA the Long regime) will do anything to protect the truth around the dead senator’s power, corruption and death. Lester Chamberlain- Yvonne and her brother-in-law, Tom who is doing his own sleuthing are followed, threatened and intimidated by a man who knows who was behind the shooting and is willing to taunt them with it. Internal Antagonist: Yvonne epitomizes the obedient Southern woman, but she is also well-educated and well travelled. She struggles to find balance between doing what is expected of her (by her mother, her professors, the authorities, and society) and doing what is viewed as rebellious (like moving to NYC to get her PhD and going to France in 1939 to do her dissertation research). Title Options 1) SHAME THE DEVIL- as Yvonne and Tom discuss how to bring Long’s real assassins to justice and finally clear Carl’s name, they bring up the old saying, “Tell the truth and Shame the Devil” which emphasizes the power of honesty and truth to defeat deceit and evil, but must decide if they know they will ever be believed. 2) NO GOOD DEED- Carl confronted Long because he was earnestly trying to defend his sister-in-law’s honor and in return was not only gunned down, but also labeled an assassin. Years later, Yvonne and Tom must decide defending Carl’s honor would result in the same for them. 3) A FEUD IS THIS WAY - a quote from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. “A feud is this way - A man has a quarrel with another man, and kills him; then that other man's brother kills him; then the other brothers, on both sides, goes for one another; then the cousins chip in -- and by and by everybody's killed off, and there ain't no more feud. But it's kind of slow, and takes a long time.” In the end, Yvonne and Tom must decide if they will perpetuate the feud or instead invest in their own futures. Comparables SHAME THE DEVIL is a cross section of Oliver Stone’s JFK the Movie and Kristen Hannah’s THE NIGHTINGALE. Hook line (logline) with conflict and core wound The truth behind U.S. Senator Huey Long’s shooting and death are revealed by the widow of his accused assassin. Yvonne Weiss must overcome her subservient 1930’s era ways and decide if clearing her dead husband’s name is more important than protecting her child and securing her own future. After 90 years, it’s time we hear her side of the story. Conflicts Primary conflict- Yvonne’s younger sister, Marie unexpectedly appears at Yvonne’s house fuming about an encounter she’s had with Senator Long who insinuated Marie had “Negro blood.” Because their father, Judge B.H. Pavy, a political enemy of the senator, has recently survived heart failure, the sisters agree to keep the story between them. Yvonne’s husband, Dr. Carl Austin Weiss overhears their plan and insists he will force the senator to apologize. Having grown up around politics, Yvonne knows this is a bad idea, but she is too subservient to insist Carl stay out of it. A few nights later, Huey Long is shot in Louisiana’s State Capitol. According to Long’s bodyguards, Carl was the assailant; they killed him on the scene. (Conflict-choose to live with her parents or get her doctorate. small life vs big life) Yvonne feels guilty for not defending Carl, but opts to keep Marie’s secret and tries to move forward with her life hoping a formal investigation will clear Carl’s name. With death threats to her son (who bears his father’s name) Yvonne finishes her masters degree in Baton Rouge, but has been black-balled from teaching. When she is accepted to a PhD program at Columbia University, her mother forces her to choose between her lofty goal and the baby. (conflict-protect Yvonne or keep digging) At the same time Yvonne’s brother-in-law, Tom a young med school student, finds flaws in the official version of events as reported by Long’s bodyguards, colleagues and the state police. With the help of Monsignor Gassler (a powerful Catholic priest and long time friend of the family)Tom begins his own investigation. Before long Tom and Monsignor meet one of Senator Long’s bodyguards, Ozzie Maher who was curiously called off duty on the night of the shooting. When Ozzie shows Gassler and Tom a crime scene photo from the night of the shooting, Tom recognizes a seedy man who has been following the Weisses since the shooting. Ozzies identifies the man as a National Guardsman named Lester Chamberlain. Ozzie warns them that the more they dig, the more Yvonne will be surveilled and intimidated. (conflict- trust Valentine or put him in the category with Chamberlain) Before Yvonne leaves for NYC, Tom has a chance encounter with a named Lewis Valentine, who introduces himself as New York’s Chief off Police and tells Tom he knows Carl did not shoot Long and that FDR knows it, too. Valentine gives Tom his calling card and offers to be available to Tom if he ever needs anything. He also promises to keep Yvonne safe in NYC .Later that day, as Tom brings Yvonne to her train for NYC, Tom sees Valentine beating Lester Chamberlain in the rail yard. (conflict-allow what others think to stop her or prove them all wrong) At Columbia, she befriends Jeanne Varney, Columbia’s only female PhD, who questions Yvonne about Carl’s role in the shooting and chastises her family for using their political power and clout to “hide” her at Columbia. Jeanne claims people in the department doubt Yvonne is a serious student and goes on to criticize Yvonne’s master’s thesis for being sympathetic to the South during Reconstruction. Jeanne compares the South’s Negro to Hitler’s Jew. Hurt and somewhat ashamed, Yvonne chooses a different topic for her dissertation–one that requires research in France. (conflict-how to control Marie) Back home, Marie receives a letter suggesting someone else knew about Marie’s meeting with Long. While the content could prove Carl’s innocence, it would humiliate Marie. Her frantic efforts to control who knows what threaten to derail Yvonne’s PhD plans and Tom’s investigation. (while the novel includes Marie’s POV, she is a flat character- through the whole story, her only interest is to protect herself) (conflict-break the law and endanger her friends or continue her research) In May 1939, Yvonne and Carlchen sail to France and the further from home she is, the freer she feels. Within months, though France declares war on Germany, Paris is evacuated, and all foreigners are asked to leave the country. She must decide if staying is worth breaking the law. On a long, precarious train trip to the town of Longué, where they will stay with friends and lie about her relationship to them, she and Carlchen are followed by a man Yvonne recognizes as one of Long’s bodyguards. (conflict- focus on his studies or continue sleuthing) In New Orleans, after Tom finds Lester Chamberlain’s home and begins spying on him, he receives a package in the mail with the hat Carl wore on the night of the shooting and a threatening and cryptic note from Chamberlain implicating Long’s political foe, New Orleans Mayer T. Semmes Walmsley in the Senator's shooting. (conflict- go home to safety and clear Carl or stay to finish her research) In Longué, tensions grow. The French police are suspicious of Yvonne’s German name, a passenger ship bound for New York (potentially with Jeanne aboard) is bombed, and the weekly letters from Yvonne’s family are censored. As the fourth anniversary of Carl’s death looms, Long’s bodyguard delivers a note confessing his role in the shooting. (conflict- disregard Dudley’s advice or keep pushing for the truth) Meanwhile in Louisiana, Senator Long’s cronies are indicted for corruption. Tom sees this as an opportune time to press for the truth. Brings the crime scene photos of Chamberlain to a med school friend of Carl’s, Dr. Dudley Stewart. In turn, Dudley tells Tom he recognizes Chamberlain and urges Tom to stop his investigation. Dudley tells Tom Chamberlain had come to his office the day after the shooting and tried to coerce Dudley into signing a statement that he had been Carl’s accomplice. When Dudley refused, Chamberlain and his cohorts beat Dudley. (conflict- warn Yvonne not to return to NY and risk a the censoring of his letter) Tom writes a letter to Valentine telling him about Chamberlain’s note. Valentine writes back and tells Tom to watch the papers for some criminal indictments- this will show him who really killed Long. The letter doesn’t make sense to Tom and he decides to confront Chamberlain. But instead is witness to Chamberlain’s murder and learns Valentine is the culprit. (conflict-decide if she will clear Carl’s name or secure her future) During a third interrogation, French police refer to Yvonne as a lying Jew. The insult allows her to finally see her own prejudices and she decides to leave France at once. She fills a trunk with her research and hides the bodyguard’s confession in the sawdust stuffed belly of Carlchen’s toy pony. After a harrowing three-day journey she and Carlchen board a ship for home. She is told her ticket will not accommodate her trunk and the pony. (conflict- expose the powerful forces behind the shooting or moving forward) Tom visits Yvonne in New York and the two speak frankly about their respective discoveries and realize there are two forces who believe they are responsible for Long’s shooting. Several years later, Yvonne’s son, Carlchen finds a copy of LIFE Magazine featuring the infamous rendering of his father’s murder. He demands to know if his father and namesake, Dr. Carl Austin Weiss, was indeed Long’s assassin. Yvonne now recognizes a painful pattern of polarization in her life — the politics she’d learned in her youth; the self-righteousness that led to Carl’s death; the prejudices of the Reconstruction era; and her experiences in pre-war France. She tells him what she knows for certain; his father was an honorable man who loved them dearly. Settings Baton Rouge, LA --Yvonne and Carl’s house- on a street with other small cottages in a neighborhood that sits in the shadow of the brand new Louisiana Capitol Building which has been built under the direction of Senator Long in only 14 months. --The baby’s nursery- which has been decorated by Carl (showing his softer side) and has an antique rocker gifted to them by Carl’s cousin, Nell who will come to Yvonne’s rescue later). --Carl’s parents’ house- filled with family (a doting mother, a father fixated on politics, a naive little brother frat boy, and a cook who has worked for the family since Carl’s childhood). --The family cabin- an hour’s drive from Baton Rouge, the cabin sits on the Amite River and is a retreat for the family. Carl’s parents watch the baby in the shade, while Carl and Yvonne have an intense conversation in the sun. --The church- Carl’s funeral is ‘standing room only’ inside an old gothic church packed with people, Carl’s steely coffin, a booming organ, strong incense and a stronger Monsignor. Opelousas, LA (The Country)- Yvonne’s family home is just outside of the small town of Opelousas, LA and is affectionately called, “The Country.” Her mother insists this is the place where Yvonne will live out her life, but Yvonne feels stifled under her mother’s smothering, her father’s failing health, and Marie’s guilty conscience. There are horses here, a huge front porch, giant oak trees, Mamma’s rose garden, a tree swing and a large family including Yvonne’s brother Veazie who is a great supporter of Yvonne’s and is one of the only people who can keep Marie in check. Return to Baton Rouge- back in the cottage Yvonne shared with Carl she is surveilled and followed by strange men who boldly sit outside of her house. She tries to make this her home (baking biscuits, returning Carlchen to his nursery) but there is always another threat (the meant outside, the women who whisper that Carlchen is the assassin’s son, her inability to find a job). New Orleans- Tom moves to New Orleans for medical school. Here we see the neighborhood where Lester Chamberlain lives- small shotgun houses near the river, a drunk Chamberlain manning a fire in his backyard and we see Tom’s digs; his organized dorm room and the Tulane campus. New York-features Columbia’s campus; a cold classroom, the French House where she lives for her first semester. Jeanne and her difficult husband’s apartment is small Paris- Yvonne lands in France and initially stays in hotels, in letters to her family she describes the daily rates, the living quarters and the bathrooms (usually shared and down a hallway). Spends a good amount of time exploring the city w her son; bus rides, Champs Elysées, gardens, parks, bookshops, bridges, and the toy department of Les Galleries Lafayette. American Hospital-she visits the director of nursing at American Hospital where Carl did part of his residency.. The grounds of the hospital feature a lush shaded lawn and extravagant flower gardens. Inside, they are treated to lunch and then are greeted by a large group of emotional doctors and nurses who’d been friends of Carl’s. The Sanger’s- a well-appointed apartment in Neuilly (an upscale neighborhood outside of Paris) where a young divorcée lives with her four-year-old daughter and a governess. Southern France- Yvonne vacations with Carlchen seeing mountain towns and coastal cities, Carlchen loves the beach and is learning French well. When France and England declare war on Germany the hot sun burns her skin, the crowds become unbearable, and the train stations overcrowded and difficult to navigate. Longué- located in the Loire Valley. The Sanger home is and is protected by a wall on one side and the large garden filled yard, has a creek running across it’s back boundary. Because this is a summer home and may now be their permanent residence, it has been recently scrubbed and painted and is undergoing improvements (an indoor toilet for one). Longué is a small community surrounded by farmland and initially seems idyllic-until police and nosy neighbors become suspicious of the two Americans living with the Sangers. Trains-the trains are filled with men who have been called to war and depressed families who have been forced from their homes or whose fathers and husbands have left to serve their country. The cars are packed and often dirty. New York- the final scene is in Yvonne’s small apartment in NYC. She is cooking and for Tom and while she is not a natural in the kitchen, she is a good hostess and has a stable home.