:48:03
And the second, I dropped.
The public wasn't ready for that one.
:48:06
I started a third and a fourth...
:48:10
only by then, somebody began to look over
y shoulder and whisper...
:48:16
in a thin, clear voice like the E-string on a violin.
:48:20
Don Birnam, he'd whisper...
:48:22
it's not good enough. Not that way.
:48:28
How about a couple of drinks just to set it on its feet, huh?
:48:33
So I had a couple. Oh, what a great idea that was.
:48:36
That made all the difference.
Suddenly I could see the whole thing...
:48:40
the tragic sweep of the great novel, beautifully proportioned.
:48:43
But before I could really grab it
and throw it down on paper...
:48:46
the drinks would wear off
and everything would be gone, like a mirage.
:48:50
Then there was despair, and...
a drink to counterbalance despair,
:48:54
and one to counterbalance the counterbalance.
:48:58
And I'd sit in front of that typewriter,
:49:01
trying to squeeze out one page that was halfway decent,
:49:04
and that guy would pop up again.
:49:07
What guy? Who are you talking about?
:49:09
The other Don Birnam. There are two of us, you know:
:49:12
Don the drunk and Don the writer.
:49:15
And the drunk would say to the writer, come on,
let's get some good out of that portable.
:49:22
Let's take it to that pawn shop over on 3rd Avenue,
it's always good for U$10,
:49:26
another drink, another binge, another bender and a spree.
:49:32
Such humorous words.
:49:34
I tried to break away from that guy
a lot of times but, no good.
:49:40
You know once I even got myself a gun and some bullets.
:49:44
I was gonna do it on my thirtieth birthday.
:49:48
Here are the bullets.
:49:50
The gun went for three quarts of whiskey.
:49:52
That other Don wanted us to have a drink first.
:49:55
He always wants us to have a drink first.
:49:58
The flop suicide of a flop writer.