Cliff House: It's Always Personal

April 27, 30 and May 4, 1993

SCENE: HOLLY and MICHELLE arrive at COMPANY after an afternoon of shopping.

MICHELLE [to HOLLY]: I think I’ll have a cheeseburger, and curly fries. [MICHELLE sees LILLIAN at the bar with EVE, and she stops short.] Maybe we could go back and eat at the mall.

HOLLY and MICHELLE apparently decide to stay, because in the next scene they sit in a booth, looking at the clothes they bought.

MICHELLE: That’s what my mom always used to say.

HOLLY: Well, I’ll take that as a compliment. Wasn’t there a belt with this?

MICHELLE: Oh, yeah. Maybe I dropped it in the dressing room.

HOLLY: I’ll go call the store.

HOLLY goes to a pay phone a few yards away. LILLIAN, seeing MICHELLE alone, takes a moment to speak to her.

LILLIAN: Well, Michelle, you’ve been doing a lot of shopping! I did a lot of shopping when I was in Paris. Did your dad, uhm, give you the present I brought you?

MICHELLE nods.

LILLIAN: I was going to give it to you myself the day you ran away from the hospital. I sure am concerned about you.

MICHELLE: Why?

LILLIAN: Well, because I care about you, and I hope things really do work out for you and your dad. [Rattled] I love your new dress. You’ll be pretty.

LILLIAN scurries away.

HOLLY on the phone: Fine, we’ll be there later this afternoon. Thank you.

GILLY stops HOLLY before she can return to MICHELLE. It’s too bad for GILLY that HOLLY is in one of her sardonic moods.

GILLY: Holly, Holly, I’m glad I ran into you. I’ve been thinking.

HOLLY: Oh, Roger doesn’t like his employees to do that. They might start thinking for themselves.

GILLY: You remember when you called my bluff when I said I wanted to quit as station manager of WSPR?

HOLLY: What’s happening, Gilly? Catching on?

GILLY: I can’t, Holly. It’s not that I don’t want to, but I can’t. And please don’t ask me why.

HOLLY: I bet you an order of curly fries that Roger Thorpe has something to do with this.

GILLY: I want out. Now, there’s only one way that I can leave. You’re still co-owner of that station. Why don’t you force me out?

HOLLY smirks at GILLY.

HOLLY: What are you saying? That job you stole from me—you don’t want it anymore?

GILLY: I don’t want the job.

HOLLY: What’s the matter? You can’t take the heat?

GILLY: So, will you do it? Will you force me out?

HOLLY: Now, I warned you, Gilly: Your time was gonna come. Now, how do they say that? “You made your bed, now lie in it.”

Some time later . . .

SCENE: MINDY's nighttime fashion show.

HOLLY greets NICK.

HOLLY: Nick!

NICK: Hey, Holly!

HOLLY: For a reporter who prefers the black jacket, the fashion beat’s gotta be something of a comedown.

NICK: I’m not here to work. I’m here as a spectator. Who knows? If the society editor doesn’t show up, I may wind up writing the review myself.

HOLLY: Do you prefer being in print instead of on camera?

NICK [facetious]: Well, I kinda miss being in makeup. Other than that, I’m doing very well.

HOLLY: Well, congratulations on a graceful exit. It’s got to have helped to have walked out of there instead of being drop-kicked.

NICK: Well, I’ve gotta tell you something, Holly. When you left, everything went downhill. You know, I started to realize that while you were there, you kept Roger almost civilized.

HOLLY: I’m not sure it was worth it. I think I suffered too much wear and tear.

ROGER has slipped up behind the two of them, and can’t resist commenting . . .

ROGER: Aw, who are you to be talking about “wear and tear,” when you’re so obviously in mint condition?

HOLLY: Roger, you make me sound like a used car—fine on the exterior, but whatever you do, don’t check the mileage.

HOLLY saunters off on that line, leaving ROGER quietly amused.

[Would you believe that there were no more ROGER and HOLLY scenes in that entire episode? Of course you would . . . any good R/H fan knows the drill . . .]

SCENE: A morning in ED’S office at CEDARS. ROGER comes over supposedly to discuss the working relationship between Spaulding and Cedars post-Bradshaw-takeover. We and ED know that he’s come to drive ED nutty. At no point in the following does either man raise his voice. ED barely even allows any sarcasm to creep into his tone.

ED speaks into his phone: “When you see Dr. Guthrie, please tell her I’m in my office.”

He hangs up the phone and turns his attention to ROGER and JENNA.

ED: Sorry.

ROGER: Oh, that’s all right. I was just saying that the transfer of Spaulding ownership really changes nothing between us.

ED: It doesn’t?

ROGER: No. No, no, no. We’ll continue to have the same . . . strong connection we’ve always had—you know, the same basic relationship.

ED [with beautiful understatement]: Well, maybe if we work on it, we could turn it into something less.

JENNA [flustered, picking up a “vibe” between them]: Would you two please excuse me? I’ve got a very important call to make.

JENNA stalks off so quickly that all ROGER can say (and he says it aloud, before turning back to ED) is, “What was all that about?”

ED: You see, I was thinking, Roger, that maybe . . . ah . . . that Cedars’ contact with Spaulding could be somebody other than yourself.

ROGER: Oh, you were thinking that, were you?

ED: Maybe Blake.

ROGER: Uh-uh. No, Ed, when Cedars needs to speak to Spaulding, it’s gonna speak to me. “Spaulding, c’est moi.”

The scene closes on ROGER, looking mighty pleased.

The phone rings, and ED picks it up. It’s HOLLY, but ED doesn’t want ROGER to know this, so he tries not to say anything that will give away her identity. However, ROGER knows who is on the other end of the line. As the scene progresses, ROGER turns around a picture on ED’S desk and takes a look at it. It’s of ED, MICHELLE, and MAUREEN.

ED: Yes. Oh, okay, put her through. [To ROGER] I’m sorry, Roger. I have to take this.

ROGER: I’m on a tight schedule, Ed.

ED: Well, I don’t want to keep you.

ROGER: Well, I have to wait for Jenna anyway, I guess.

ED [Into the phone]: Yeah, Hi.

HOLLY: Bad time?

ED: Yes, but that’s okay.

HOLLY: I won’t keep you then. I’m just calling about Michelle. Does she have any plans this afternoon?

ED: No, I don’t think so. She’s just taking the school bus home.

HOLLY: No “play dates”?

ED: No, I don’t think so.

HOLLY: “Play dates!” Listen to me. I’m talking about her as if she’s four years old. Pretty soon she’ll be going out on real dates.

ED: Well, let’s not rush that.

HOLLY: You may have nothing to say about the matter. When she’s ready, she’ll do it.

ED watches ROGER examine the picture.

HOLLY: Anyway, I was just calling to see if she’s free. I could pick her up after school and we could go do something.

ED: Great, she’d like that.

HOLLY: That’s what I like about you, Ed. You’re so agreeable.

ED: Listen, I . . .

HOLLY: I know. You’ve got to get to work. I’ll let you go, and I’ll have her back by six. Okay?

ED: Great.

HOLLY: Bye.

ED: Thanks.

ED puts down the receiver. What happens next is proof positive that if ROGER hadn’t existed, the “good citizens of Springfield” would have invented him.

ROGER [turning the picture back around]: Guilty conscience?

ED: What?

ROGER: You were talking to Holly.

ED: So?

ROGER: You didn’t mention her name.

ED: I’m not following you, Roger.

ROGER: Well, I just wondered why you felt it so important to keep who you were talking to from me.

ED: You’re not making a great deal of sense here. Is this intentional—trying to develop some arcane talent?

ROGER: See, I can’t help but wonder how Maureen would have felt about Holly spending so much time with Michelle.

ED: Let’s get back to business, okay?

ROGER: I just know that Maureen was always jealous of Holly.

ED: We’re talking about Cedars and Spaulding; we’re not talking about Maureen and Holly.

ROGER: Ed, I was just making small talk.

ED: You’re wasting my time then, aren’t you?

ROGER: If you say so. [ROGER stands up.] Let me leave you with this: Our personal differences will not interfere with the smooth-running relationship Cedars has always had with Spaulding.

ED: So, it wasn’t personal when you went after the Lewises?

ROGER: Now who’s not making any sense?

ED: Roger, it’s always personal with you.

ROGER cracks a killer smile at ED. It’s an amused smile — almost as if he’s flattered that someone would “care” enough to know him so well.

It's Always Personal ... Continued