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Chapters (21)
  1. Cover
  2. Landing Page
  3. A Private Function
  4. CONTENTS
  5. INTRODUCTION
  6. The Old Crowd
  7. CAST
  8. A Private Function
  9. PREFACE
  10. CAST AND CREDITS
  11. Prick Up Your Ears
  12. PREFACE
  13. CAST AND CREDITS
  14. 102 Boulevard Haussmann
  15. CAST AND CREDITS
  16. The Madness of King George
  17. PREFACE
  18. CAST AND CREDITS
  19. About the Author
  20. Also by the Author
  21. Copyright

BETTY   George.

GEORGE   Oh yes. Sorry, sorry.
He hands Mr Gregory an envelope.

GEORGE   I think you’ll find that’s right … all things considered.
They leave. George bolts the door.

GEORGE   Well – it might have been worse. Shame about Totty.
Betty begins to put out the lights.

BETTY   I think she enjoyed it.

GEORGE   A good way to go – when you have to.

BETTY   Yes.
There is a cry from the top of the stairs. Mother appears. She is walking with the aid of a frame.

MOTHER   George! Betty! I can’t get anything on my set. It’s not working.
George and Betty go upstairs. Mother turns and they follow her down the corridor.

INT. UPSTAIRS CORRIDOR/MOTHER’S BEDROOM/STUDIO. NIGHT.

George and Betty follow Mother as she hot-foots it down the corridor and into her room. She sits in front of the TV set, which is emitting static and noise. George, hits it but without effect. He switches it off.

MOTHER   Don’t switch it off. It may come on again.
She switches it on again.
George and Betty leave the room, leaving Mother looking at the screen of her set, which continues to show only atmospherics and emits only a hoarse roar.
As the word ‘Cut!’ is heard, the camera pulls back, up into the roof of the studio, showing the whole set, technicians, camera, etc. An assistant comes forward and escorts Mother from her chair, out of the set. Rapidly the unit disintegrates and a cover is thrown over the camera. Lights are switched out. Credits roll over the scene.
An assistant comes forward to the centre of the floor and calls up to the camera.

ASSISTANT   Is that all, sir? Everything OK …?
A reverse shot zooms up to the camera unit on the gantry in the corner of the studio.

DIRECTOR   Yes, that’s all. Excellent. Thank you very much.
End of film.

A Private Function

The year 1947 was one of repeated disappointments and steady perseverance, introduced by a winter of exceptional cold aggravated by a breakdown in fuel and electricity supplies. It ended on a note of almost unrelieved austerity. Supplies to the home consumer were cut to a minimum as a result of the virtual exhaustion of the nation’s dollar resources, and an energetic production drive was initiated.

All political parties were as one in demanding a return to the ‘Dunkirk Spirit’ of sacrifice and in promising the country a long period of hard exertion and small reward. The marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on November 20th, though celebrated with restrained festivity, came as a welcome tonic to the public spirit and was an occasion of joy throughout Britain.

Britannica’s Book of the Year, 1948

PREFACE