[1 of 5] Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Scene 1 A, by August Wilson (1982, 1985)

Author: August Wilson

Wilson, August. "Scene 1 A." Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Plume, published 1985, performed 1982, pp. 1-9.

Characters
Sturdyvant
Irvin
Cutler
Toledo
Slow Drag
Levee
Ma Rainey
Policeman
Dussie Mae
Sylvester

Scene 1 A

The lights come up in the studio. Irvin enters, carrying a microphone. He is a tall, fleshy man who prides himself on his knowledge of blacks and his ability to deal with them. He hooks up the microphone, blows into it, taps it, etc. He crosses over to the piano, opens it, and fingers a few keys. Sturdyvant is visible in the control booth. Preoccupied with money, he is insensitive to black performers and prefers to deal with them at arm's length. He puts on a pair of earphones.

STURDYVANT (Over speaker.) Irv ... let's crack that mike, huh? Let's do a check on it.

IRVIN (Crosses to mike, speaks into it.) Testing... one... two ... three ... (There is a loud feedback. Sturdyvant fiddles with the dials.) Testing... one... two ... three... testing. How's that, Mel? (Sturdyvant doesn't respond.) Testing... one... two..

STURDYVANT (Taking off earphones.) Okay... that checks. We got a good reading. (Pause.) You got that list, Irv?

IRVIN Yeah... yeah, I got it. Don't worry about nothing.

STURDYVANT Listen, Irv... you keep her in line, okay? I'm holding you responsible for her … If she starts any of her…

IRVIN Mel, what's with the goddamn horn? You wanna talk to me... okay! I can't talk to you over the goddamn horn ... Christ!

STURDYVANT I'm not putting up with any shenanigans. You hear, Irv? (Irvin crosses over to the piano and mindlessly runs his fingers over the keys.) I'm not just gonna stand for it. I want you to keep her in line. Irv? (Sturdyvant enters from the control booth.)

Listen, Irv... you're her manager.. she's your responsibility …

IRVIN Okay, okay, Mel... let me handle it.

STURDYVANT She's your responsibility. I'm not putting up with any Royal Highness... Queen of the Blues bullshit!

IRVIN Mother of the Blues, Mel. Mother of the Blues.

STURDYVANT I don't care what she calls herself. I'm not putting up with it. I just want to get her in here ... record those songs on that list... and get her out. Just like clockwork, huh?

IRVIN Like clockwork, Mel. You just stay out of the way and let me handle it.

STURDYVANT Yeah ... yeah . .. you handled it last time. Remember? She marches in here like she owns the damn place doesn't like the songs we picked out ... says her throat is sore ... doesn't want to do more than one take ...

IRVIN Okay... okay... I was here! I know all about it.

STURDYVANT Complains about the building being cold... and then... trips over the mike wire and threatens to sue me. That's taking care of it?

IRVIN I've got it all worked out this time. I talked with her last night. Her throat is fine... We went over the songs together ... I got everything straight, Mel.

STURDYVANT Irv, that horn player... the one who gave me those songs... is he gonna be here today? Good. I want to hear more of that sound. Times are changing. This is a tricky business now. We've got to jazz it up ... put in something different. You know, something wild... with a lot of rhythm. (Pause.) You know what we put out last time, Irv? We put out garbage last time. It was garbage. I don't even know why I bother with this anymore.

IRVIN You did all right last time, Mel. Not as good as you did before, but you did all right.

STURDYVANT You know how many records we sold in New York? You wanna see the sheet? And you know what's in New York, Irv? Harlem. Harlem's in New York, Irv.

IRVIN Okay, so they didn't sell in New York. But look at Memphis... Birmingham... Atlanta. Christ, you made a bundle.

STURDYVANT It's not the money, Irv. You know I couldn't sleep last night? This business is bad for my nerves. My wife is after me to slow down and take a vacation. Two more years and I'm gonna get out ... get into something respectable. Textiles. That's a respectable business. You know what you could do with a shipload of textiles from Ireland?

(A buzzer is heard offstage.)

IRVIN Why don't you go upstairs and let me handle it, Mel?

STURDYVANT Remember... you're responsible for her.

(Sturdyvant exits to the control booth. Irvin crosses to get the door. Cutler, Slow Drag, and Toledo enter. Cutler is in his mid-fifties, as are most of the others. He plays guitar and trombone and is the leader of the group, possibly because he is the most sensible. His playing is solid and almost totally unembellished. His understanding of his music is limited to the chord he is playing at the time he is playing it. He has all the qualities of a loner except the introspection. Slow Drag, the bass player, is perhaps the one most bored by life. He resembles Cutler, but lacks Cutler's energy. He is deceptively intelligent, though, as his name implies, he appears to be slow. He is a rather large man with a wicked smile. Innate African rhythms underlie everything he plays, and he plays with an ease that is at times starting. Toledo is the piano player. In control of his instrument, he understands and recognizes that its limitations are an extension of himself. He is the only one in the group who can read. He is self-taught but misunderstands and misapplies his knowledge, though he is quick to penetrate to the core of a situation and his insights are thought-provoking. All of the men are dressed in a style of clothing befitting the members of a successful band of the era.)

IRVIN How you boys doing, Cutler? Come on in.

(Pause.) Where's Ma? Is she with you?

CUTLER I don't know, Mr. Irvin. She told us to be here at one o'clock. That's all I know.

IRVIN Where's... huh... the horn player? Is he coming with Ma?

CUTLER Levee's supposed to be here same as we is. I reckon he'll be here in a minute. I can't rightly say.

IRVIN Well, come on.. I'll show you to the band room, let you get set up and rehearsed. You boys hungry? I'll call over to the deli and get some sandwiches. Get you fed and ready to make some music. Cutler... here's the list of songs we're gonna record.

STURDYVANT (Over speaker.) Irvin, what's happening? Where's Ma?

IRVIN Everything under control, Mel. I got it under control.

STURDYVANT Where's Ma? How come she isn't with the band?

IRVIN She'll be here in a minute, Mel. Let me get these fellows down to the band room, huh? (They exit the studio. The lights go down in the studio and up in the band room. Irvin opens the door and allows them to pass as they enter.) You boys go ahead and rehearse. I'll let you know when Ma comes.

(Irvin exits. Cutler hands Toledo the list of songs.)

CUTLER What we got here, Toledo?

TOLEDO (Reading.) We got... "Prove It on Me" ... "Hear Me Talking to You .. "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" . . . and "Moonshine Blues."

CUTLER Where Mr. Irvin go? Them ain't the songs Ma told me.

SLOW DRAG I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, Cutler. They'll get it straightened out. Ma will get it straightened out.

CUTLER I just don't want no trouble about these songs, that's all. Ma ain't told me them songs. She told me something else.

SLOW DRAG What she tell you?

CUTLER This "Moonshine Blues" wasn't in it. That's one of Bessie's songs.

TOLEDO Slow Drag's right... I wouldn't worry about it. Let them straighten it up.

CUTLER Levee know what time he supposed to be here?

SLOW DRAG Levee gone out to spend your four dollars. He left the hotel this morning talking about he was gonna go buy some shoes. Say it's the first time he ever beat you shooting craps.

CUTLER Do he know what time he supposed to be here? That's what I wanna know. I ain't thinking about no four dollars.

SLOW DRAG Levee sure was thinking about it. That four dollars liked to burn a hole in his pocket.

CUTLER Well, he's supposed to be here at one o'clock. That's what time Ma said. That nigger get out in the streets with that four dollars and ain't no telling when he's liable to show. You ought to have seen him at the club last night, Toledo. Trying to talk to some gal Ma had with her.

TOLEDO You ain't got to tell me. I know how Levee do.

(Buzzer is heard offstage.)

SLOW DRAG Levee tried to talk to that gal and got his feelings hurt. She didn't want no part of him. She told Levee he'd have to turn his money green before he could talk with her.

CUTLER She out for what she can get. Anybody could see that.

SLOW DRAG That's why Levee run out to buy some shoes. He's looking to make an impression on that girl.

CUTLER What the hell she gonna do with his shoes? She can't do nothing with the nigger's shoes.

(Slow Drag takes out a pint bottle and drinks.)

TOLEDO Let me hit that, Slow Drag.

SLOW DRAG (Handing him the bottle.) This some of that good Chicago bourbon!

(The door opens and Levee enters, carrying a shoe box. In his early thirties, Levee is younger than the other men. His flamboyance is sometimes subtle and sneaks up on you. His temper is rakish and bright. He lacks fuel for himself and is somewhat of a buffoon. But it is an intelligent buffoonery, clearly calculated to shift control of the situation to where he can grasp it. He plays trumpet. His voice is strident and totally dependent on his manipulation of breath. He plays wrong notes frequently. He often gets his skill and talent confused with each other.)

CUTLER Levee . . . where Mr. Irvin go?

LEVEE Hell, I don't know. I ain't none of his keeper.

SLOW DRAG What you got there, Levee?

LEVEE Look here, Cutler ... I got me some shoes!

CUTLER Nigger, I ain't studying you.

(Levee takes the shoes out of the box and starts to put them on.)

TOLEDO How much you pay for something like that, Levee?

LEVEE Eleven dollars. Four dollars of it belong to Cutler.

SLOW DRAG Levee say if it wasn't for Cutler... he wouldn't have no new shoes.

CUTLER I ain't thinking about Levee or his shoes. Come on... let's get ready to rehearse.

TOLEDO Ain't but four songs on the list. Last time we recorded six songs.

SLOW DRAG It felt like it was sixteen!

LEVEE (Finishes with his shoes.) Yeah! Now I'm ready! I can play some good music now! (He goes to put up his old shoes and looks around the room.) Damn! They done changed things around. Don't never leave well enough alone.

TOLEDO Everything changing all the time. Even the air you breathing change. You got, monoxide, hydrogen ... changing all the time. Skin changing... different molecules and everything.

LEVEE Nigger, what is you talking about? I'm talking about the room. I ain't talking about no skin and air. I'm talking about something I can see! Last time the band room was upstairs. This time it's downstairs. Next time it be over there. I'm talking about what I can see. I ain't talking about no molecules or nothing.

TOLEDO Hell, I know what you talking about. I just said everything changin'. I know what you talking about, but you don't know what I'm talking about.

LEVEE That door! Nigger, you see that door? That's what I'm talking about. That door wasn't there before.

CUTLER Levee, you wouldn't know your right from your left. This is where they used to keep the recording horns and things . . . and damn if that door wasn't there. How in hell else you gonna get in here? Now, if you talking about they done switched rooms, you right. But don't go telling me that damn door wasn't there!

SLOW DRAG Damn the door and let's get set up. I wanna get out of here.

LEVEE Toledo started all that about the door. I'm just saying that things change.

TOLEDO What the hell you think I was saying? Things change. The air and everything. Now you gonna say you was saying it. You gonna fit two propositions on the same track . . . run them into each other, and because they crash, you gonna say it's the same train.

LEVEE Now this nigger talking about trains! We done went from the air to the skin to the door... and now trains. Toledo, I'd just like to be inside your head for five minutes. Just to see how you think. You done got more shit piled up and mixed up in there than the devil got sinners. You been reading too many goddamn books.

TOLEDO What you care about how much I read? I'm gonna ignore you 'cause you ignorant.
(Levee takes off his coat and hangs it in the locker.)

SLOW DRAG Come on, let's rehearse the music.

LEVEE You ain't gotta rehearse that... ain't nothing but old jug-band music. They need one of them jug bands for this.

SLOW DRAG Don't make me no difference. Long as we get paid.

LEVEE That ain't what I'm talking about, nigger. I'm talking about art!

SLOW DRAG What's drawing got to do with it?

LEVEE Where you get this nigger from, Cutler? He sound like one of them Alabama niggers.

CUTLER Slow Drag's all right. It's you talking all that weird shit about art. Just play the piece, nigger. You wanna be one of them . . . what you call . . . virtuoso or something, you in the wrong place. You ain't no Buddy Bolden or King Oliver . . . you just an old trumpet player come a dime a dozen. Talking about art.

LEVEE What is you? I don't see your name in lights.

CUTLER I just play the piece. Whatever they want. I don't go talking about art and criticizing other people's music.

LEVEE I ain't like you, Cutler. I got talent! Me and this horn . . . we's tight. If my daddy knowed I was gonna turn out like this, he would've named me Gabriel. I'm gonna get me a band and make me some records. I done give Mr. Sturdyvant some of my songs I wrote and he say he's gonna let me record them when I get my band together. (Takes some papers out of his pocket.) I just gotta finish the last part of this song. And Mr. Sturdyvant want me to write another part to this song.

SLOW DRAG How you learn to write music, Levee?

LEVEE I just picked it up... like you pick up anything. Miss Eula used to play the piano... she learned me a lot. I knows how to play real music... not this old jug-band shit. I got style!

TOLEDO Everybody got style. Style ain't nothing but keeping the same idea from beginning to end. Everybody got it.

LEVEE But everybody can't play like I do. Everybody can't have their own band.

CUTLER Well, until you get your own band where you can play what you want, you just play the piece and stop complaining. I told you when you came on here, this ain't none of them hot bands. This is an accompaniment band. You play Ma's music when you here.

LEVEE I got sense enough to know that. Hell, I can look at you all and see what kind of band it is. I can look at Toledo and see what kind of band it is.

TOLEDO Toledo ain't said nothing to you now. Don't let Toledo get started. You can't even spell music, much less play it.

LEVEE What you talking about? I can spell music. I got a dollar say I can spell it! Put your dollar up. Where your dollar? (Toledo waves him away.) Now come on. Put your dollar up. Talking about I can't spell music. (Levee peels a dollar off his roll and slams it down on the bench beside Toledo.)

TOLEDO All right, I'm gonna show you, Cutler. Slow Drag. You hear this? The nigger betting me a dollar he can spell music. I don't want no shit now! (Toledo lays a dollar down beside Levee's.) All right. Go ahead. Spell it.

LEVEE It's a bet then. Talking about I can't spell music.

TOLEDO Go ahead, then. Spell it. Music. Spell it.

LEVEE I can spell it, nigger! M-U-S-I-K. There!

(He reaches for the money.)

TOLEDO Naw! Naw! Leave that money alone! You ain't spelled it.

LEVEE What you mean I ain't spelled it? I said M-U-S-I-K!

TOLEDO That ain't how you spell it! That ain't how you spell it! It's M-U-S-I-C! C, nigger. Not K! C! M-U-S-I-C!

LEVEE What you mean, C? Who say it's C?

TOLEDO Cutler. Slow Drag. Tell this fool.

(They look at each other and then away.) Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!

(Toledo picks up the money and hands Levee his dollar back.) Here's your dollar back, Levee. I done won it, you understand. I done won the dollar. But if don't nobody know but me, how am I gonna prove it to you?

LEVEE You just mad 'cause I spelled it.

TOLEDO Spelled what! M-U-S-I-K don't spell nothing. I just wish there was some way I could show you the right and wrong of it.

How you gonna know something if the other fellow don't know if you're right or not? Now I can't even be sure that I'm spelling it right.

LEVEE That's what I'm talking about. You don't know it. Talking about C. You ought to give me that dollar I won from you.

TOLEDO All right. All right. I'm gonna show you how ridiculous you sound. You know the Lord's Prayer?

LEVEE Why? You wanna bet a dollar on that?

TOLEDO Just answer the question. Do you know the Lord's Prayer or don't you?

LEVEE Yeah, I know it. What of it?

TOLEDO Cutler?

CUTLER What you Cutlering me for? I ain't got nothing to do with it.

TOLEDO I just want to show the man how ridiculous he is.

CUTLER Both of you all sound like damn fools. Arguing about something silly. Yeah, I know the Lord's Prayer. My daddy was a deacon in the church. Come asking me if I know the Lord's Prayer. Yeah, I know it.

TOLEDO Slow Drag?

SLOW DRAG Yeah.

TOLEDO All right. Now I'm gonna tell you a story to show just how ridiculous he sound. There was these two fellows, see. So, the one of them go up to this church and commence to taking up the church learning. The other fellow see him out on the road and he say, "I done heard you taking up the church learning," say, "Is you learning anything up there?" The other one say, "Yeah, I done take up the church learning and I's learning all kinds of things about the Bible and what it say and all. Why you be asking?" The other one say, "Well, do you know the Lord's Prayer?" And he say, "Why, sure I know the Lord's Prayer, I'm taking up learning at the church ain't I? I know the Lord's Prayer backwards and forwards." And the other fellow says, "I bet you five dollars you don't know the Lord's Prayer, 'cause I don't think you knows it. I think you be going up to the church 'cause the Widow Jenkins be going up there and you just wanna be sitting in the same room with her when she cross them big, fine, pretty legs she got." And the other one say, "Well, I'm gonna prove you wrong and I'm gonna bet you that five dollars." So he say, "Well, go on and say it then." So he commenced to saying the Lord's Prayer. He say, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep." The other one say, "Here's your five dollars. I didn't think you knew it." (They all laugh.) Now, that's just how ridiculous Levee sound. Only 'cause I knowed how to spell music, I still got my dollar.

LEVEE That don't prove nothing. What's that supposed to prove.

TOLEDO (Takes a newspaper out of his back pocket and begins to read.) I'm through with it.

SLOW DRAG Is you all gonna rehearse this music or ain't you?
(Cutler takes out some papers and starts to roll a reefer.)

LEVEE How many times you done played them songs? What you gotta rehearse for?

SLOW DRAG This a recording session. I wanna get it right the first time and get on out of here.

CUTLER Slow Drag's right. Let's go on and rehearse and get it over with.

LEVEE You all go and rehearse, then. I got to finish this song for Mr. Sturdyvant.

CUTLER Come on, Levee... I don't want no shit now. You rehearse like everybody else. You in the band like everybody else. Mr. Sturdyvant just gonna have to wait. You got to do that on your own time. This is the band's time.

LEVEE Well, what is you doing? You sitting there rolling a reefer talking about let's rehearse. Toledo reading a newspaper. Hell, I'm ready if you wanna rehearse. I just say there ain't no point in it. Ma ain't here. What's the point in it?

CUTLER Nigger, why you gotta complain all the time?

TOLEDO Levee would complain if a gal ain't laid across his bed just right.

CUTLER That's what I know. That's why I try to tell him just play the music and forget about it. It ain't no big thing.

TOLEDO Levee ain't got an eye for that. He wants to tie on to some abstract component and sit down on the elemental.

LEVEE This is get-on-Levee time, huh? Levee ain't said nothing except this some old jug-band music.

TOLEDO Under the right circumstances you'd play anything. If you know music, then you play it. Straight on or off to the side. Ain't nothing abstract about it.

LEVEE Toledo, you sound like you got a mouth full of marbles. You the only cracker-talking nigger I know.

TOLEDO You ought to have learned yourself to read . then you'd understand the basic understanding of everything.

SLOW DRAG Both of you all gonna drive me crazy with that philosophy bullshit. Cutler, give me a reefer.

CUTLER Ain't you got some reefer? Where's your reefer? Why you all the time asking me?

SLOW DRAG Cutler, how long I done known you? How long we been together? Twenty-two years. We been doing this together for twenty-two years. All up and down the back roads, the side roads, the front roads . . . We done played the juke joints, the whorehouses, the barn dances, and city sit-downs . . . I done lied for you and lied with you . . . We done laughed together, fought together, slept in the same bed together, done sucked on the same titty . . . and now you don't wanna give me no reefer.

CUTLER You see this nigger trying to talk me out of my reefer, Toledo? Running all that about how long he done knowed me and how we done sucked on the same titty. Nigger, you still ain't getting none of my reefer!

TOLEDO That's African.

SLOW DRAG What? What you talking about? What's African?

LEVEE I know he ain't talking about me. You don't see me running around in no jungle with no bone between my nose.

TOLEDO Levee, you worse than ignorant. You ignorant without a premise.

(Pauses.) Now, what I was saying is what Slow Drag was doing is African. That's what you call an African conceptualization. That's when you name the gods or call on the ancestors to achieve whatever your desires are.

SLOW DRAG Nigger, I ain't no African! I ain't doing no African nothing!

TOLEDO Naming all those things you and Cutler done together is like trying to solicit some reefer based on a bond of kinship. That's African. An ancestral retention. Only you forgot the name of the gods.

SLOW DRAG I ain't forgot nothing. I was telling the nigger how cheap he is. Don't come talking that African nonsense to me.

TOLEDO You just like Levee. No eye for taking an abstract and fixing it to a specific. There's so much that goes on around you and you can't even see it.

CUTLER Wait a minute... wait a minute. Toledo, now when this nigger... when an African do all them things you say and name all the gods and whatnot... then what happens?

TOLEDO Depends on if the gods is sympathetic with his cause for which he is calling them with the right names. Then his success comes with the right proportion of his naming. That's the way that go.

CUTLER (Taking out a reefer.) Here, Slow Drag. Here's a reefer. You done talked yourself up on that one.

SLOW DRAG Thank you. You ought to have done that in the first place and saved me all the aggravation.

CUTLER What I wants to know is... what's the same titty we done sucked on. That's what I want to know.

SLOW DRAG Oh, I just threw that in there to make it sound good.

(They all laugh.)

CUTLER Nigger, you ain't right.

SLOW DRAG I knows it.

CUTLER Well, come on... let's get it rehearsed. Time's wasting. (The musicians pick up their instruments.) Let's do it. "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." One... two... You know what to do.

(They begin to play. Levee is playing something different. He stops.)

LEVEE Naw! Naw! We ain't doing it that way. (Toledo stops playing, then Slow Drag.) We doing my version. It say so right there on that piece of paper you got. Ask Toledo. That's what Mr. Irvin told me... say it's on the list he gave you.

CUTLER Let me worry about what's on the list and what ain't on the list. How you gonna tell me what's on the list?

LEVEE 'Cause I know what Mr. Irvin told me! Ask Toledo!

CUTLER Let me worry about what's on the list. You just play the song I say.

LEVEE What kind of sense it make to rehearse the wrong version of the song? That's what I wanna know. Why you wanna rehearse that version?

SLOW DRAG You supposed to rehearse what you gonna play. That's the way they taught me. Now, whatever version we gonna play ...let's go on and rehearse it.

LEVEE That's what I'm trying to tell the man.

CUTLER You trying to tell me what we is and ain't gonna play. And that ain't none of your business. Your business is to play what I say.

LEVEE Oh, I see now. You done got jealous cause Mr. Irvin using my version. You don't got jealous cause I proved I know something about music.

CUTLER What the hell . . . nigger, you talk like a fool! What the hell I got to be jealous of you about? The day I get jealous of you I may as well lay down and die.

TOLEDO Levee started all that 'cause he too lazy to rehearse. (To Levee.) You ought to just go on and play the song... What difference does it make?

LEVEE Where's the paper? Look at the paper! Get the paper and look at it! See what it say. Gonna tell me I'm too lazy to rehearse.

CUTLER We ain't talking about the paper. We talking about you understanding where you fit in when you around here. You just play what I say.

LEVEE Look... I don't care what you play! All right? It don't matter to me. Mr. Irvin gonna straighten it up! I don't care what you play.

CUTLER Thank you.

(Pauses.) Let's play this "Hear Me Talking to You" till we find out what's happening with the "Black Bottom." Slow Drag, you sing Ma's part. (Pauses.) "Hear Me Talking to You." Let's do it. One... Two... You know what to do.

(They play.)

SLOW DRAG (Singing.) Rambling man makes no change in me I'm gonna ramble back to my used-to-be Ah, you hear me talking to you I don't bite my tongue You wants to be my man You got to fetch it with you when you come. Eve and Adam in the garden taking a chance Adam didn't take time to get his pants Ah, you hear me talking to you I don't bite my tongue You wants to be my man You got to fetch it with you when you come. Our old cat swallowed a ball of yarn When the kittens were born they had sweaters on Ah, you hear me talking to you I don't bite my tongue You wants to be my man You got to fetch it with you when you come.

(Irvin enters. The musicians stop playing.)

DMU Timestamp: September 21, 2024 15:13

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