The Telephone

New York: Oscard Associates, circa 1986. Draft script for the 1988 film, two copied annotations of a circled "3" and "4" on one page.

From the estate of film producer Elliott Kastner, whose best known credits include "The Long Goodbye” (Robert Altman, 1973), "The Missouri Breaks" (Arthur Penn, 1976), and “Heat” (Michael Mann, 1996).

Singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson teamed up with Terry Southern to create a truly odd and uncomfortable screenplay about a struggling, unstable actress calling people and businesses on her phone in her apartment. Essentially a one-woman performance, set entirely in a small apartment with a pet owl, goldfish, and a telephone. Nilsson and Southern enlisted Whoopi Goldberg to play the woman. Rip Torn directed, his first and only time in that capacity. The film included short cameos from Elliott Gould, John Heard, and Severn Darden, as well as the voice of Herve Villechase.

The film was universally panned, with Goldberg even filing a lawsuit to prevent its release after Torn's cut was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, but, being unlike any other film, it has since achieved a kind of a cult status.

Black untitled wrappers. Title page present, with credits for screenwriters Terry Southern and Harry Nilsson. 46 leaves, with last page of text numbered 45. Mechanical duplication, rectos only. Pages Near Fine, wrapper Near Fine, bound with three gold brads.

[Book #147221]