JR (11 page)
Authors: William Gaddis
—Bitten off quite an assignment, Mister Gall. I imagine you need all the information you can get, said Hyde abruptly threatening him with a thick brochure from above. —I just happened to have this research report with me. It's a pretty good rundown of long-term operating cost estimates on closed-circuit cable setups, compared to what you run into trying to carry a full lesson load on open-circuit broadcasting. I picked it up to show the Senator here, Congressman, Pecci…
—Structuring the material in terms of the ongoing ahm, situation yes, on Mozart's, ah, Ring, is it?
—I noticed something here … Mister Ford spoke for the first time with the commanding indifference of an old-school drawl, running his finger down a catalogued list —here, The Rhinegold is it?
—Oh, you have one of our schedules, we … having trouble locating one, this use of, utilization of …
—Schepperman?
—Schepperman? Yes well he, ahm, it was his idea originally. This doing this Ring, before he, before we replaced him. He, ah, painted, taught painting, that was before we replaced him of course, a little trouble over the loyalty oath provision…
—Little? Mister Pecci repeated, opening pinstripe over his glittering tieclasp in a campaign gesture. —like being a little bit pregnant, eh?
—Yes well of course the, on the cultural aspect of the arts we have a studio teacher now, Whiteback came on at the brightness control, —A video personality that motivates a really meaningful learning experience in these youngsters…
The face of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart shimmered on the screen.
—Here she is now yes, I think she taped this audio part, introducing this, music appreciation this is, in terms of closed-circuit capabilities this
…
—In terms of tangibilitating the full utilization potential of in-school
television…
—Something for the pit and something for the gallery, murmured Mister Ford.
—Making the artist really come alive for these youngsters. Humanizing them, the artists that is to say, motivating…
—Warm bodies…
—Who's that? —The Mozart. It's… —No. The voice…
—Remind me to call him later, about the fire sprinklers, Whiteback inclined toward Hyde in undertone. —Call who. —Gottlieb, about the fire sprinklers.
—That's not Dan, is it? the voice? muttered Hyde, as the camera shuddered down the spangle-decked embroidery of a sleeve to fingers drawn poised on a keyboard.
And in response to a querulous growl from Mister Pecci the still picture on the screen gave way to a face staring directly at the viewers, glistening with perspiration.
—This is our, our composer in residence, Whiteback blurted with what sounded like relief. —He's been working with our ahm curriculum specialist she thought he needed, must have thought he needed exposure to the ahm, to do a very fine job of course we have you Foundation people to thank…
Mozart wrote beautiful music for his patron until he left the Archbishop's house to marry a beautiful girl named Constanze. Later Mozart told a friend, when my wife and I were married we both burst into tears, and that shows us what a really human person this great genius really was doesn't it boys and girls. His wife's name Constanze means constancy, and she was constant to her dear childlike husband all the rest of his, of his, his cheap coffin in the rain that…
—A little heavy on the talking face, came murmured from the heap
of cameras on the sofa —And you want a little more spontaneity here where he's shuffling pages around like that, come in close on the way his hands are shaking, it looks a little forced…
—He, he seems to be departing somewhat from the ahm, the… — They needed a stronger key light on that waist shot when he threw out the script, get across a lot more spontaneity without it …
…
—Yes Miss ah, Miss Flesch will probably take over any minute she, it's her program, studio lesson that is to say of course on our budget we can't go all out on ahm, on these enrichment programs in music, just in music alone we're already spending just on band uniforms alone…
—You've got to watch those hot lights on these close shots.
—Yes he, he needs a haircut… and the full face on the screen dissolved to a wigged profile where the camera sought something of interest in the composer's baleful eye.
a messenger of death, it was really just a messenger from a crackbrain count named Walsegg who wanted some music for his dead wife. He couldn't write a requiem so he wanted to hire Mozart to, and then pretend he'd written it himself. What else could Mozart do? He's sick, worn out, used up, he's only about thirty-five and he's been supporting everybody in sight for thirty years, but he sets to work again. He's having trouble breathing, having fainting spells, he's emaciated, his legs and hands swell up and he finally thinks somebody is trying to poison him that's a, a real life fairy tale all right boys and girls, now the storm. It's December, rain and sleet howling through
the night. I'm already tasting death, he says, and shivers his lips in the, in a little drum passage from his requiem …
—Sorry, if someone could tell me where the men, the boys' room is
… ?
—Out yes out to the right Mister Gall it's ahm, it's marked boys yes maybe we've all seen enough of this to ahm, in terms of structuring the
material that is to …
—What's their camera there an Arri? Looks like they've got the wrong lens…
pauper is boys and girls? It means a very poor person and and, yes and we don't like to think about poor people no, no let's try to remember this little, little unspoiled genius in his happy moments when he,
when he um, yes when he wrote happy letters to people, yes …
—I'd stay away from prop shots like this one too, they're liable to pick up the book upside down.
—Yes we've had ahm, had trouble with books yes…
—Did you, did I … hear that?
The cameras heaved patiently. —You find the sound systems on these commercial receivers are pretty uniformly poor…
—It's that switch on the left yes the one that says off, turn it off, off…
—No on the left Congressman, the one on the left… !
—Sorry… Gibbs recovered an elbow from the maze of camera straps where he hung over the back of the sofa staring at the blur on the screen abruptly cropped across chin and hairline, replaced by an American flag, a vista of redwood forest, the music rising as though to carry off the voice.
—See what I mean, there's too much bass in these commercial sets… and the foot was withdrawn as Hyde tripped over it on his way to the set where Mister Pecci stood with a control knob that had just come off in his hand.
—Wait, hello? I said get Mister Leroy right in here to make a small repair hello? Don't put any more calls through on this line…
—An interesting effect… Mrs Joubert's face peered from the screen over Hyde's shoulder —but their synch is off… and a white-maned man erect in bed, a white-maned man seated in a wicker chair, a white- maned man in plaster replica passed in rapid sequence. —Sounds like a crossed wire there… and words and music were restored abruptly over the image of a giant redwood tree.
—Do something pretty fast where the, God damn it! came from under the planter where Hyde sought the plug on hands and knees.
—You're in trouble when your music level is up so high it fights the voice like this…
—Can you ahm, yes can you pull the plug just pull the plug…
—What the… hell do you think I'm… trying to … came from the shadows behind the set where now a biceped Valkyrie bearing a dead warrior aloft gave way to an amazon Brünnhilde in massive concentric breastplates as the voice rose to challenge the stabbing rondo of the D- minor piano concerto of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
—You'd better watch your recordings on this open-circuit broadcasting you know. Royalty problems… The telephone rang. The door opened, closed, opened again to admit Mister Gall with the final allegro, assai.
suck! Chuck muck and …
An expletive broke from under the window planter as the sound cut off, leaving the screen filled with a face perspiring with silent imperative until the reassuring countenance of Smokey Bear restored one faltering note and then another of song.
—Sen, Congressman? It's for you, it's Parentucelli… —Who… Gibbs muttered immobile, eyes returning the fixity of the ursine stare from the screen—just who, exactly, was that.
—That, yes, well, the young com, ahmposer in, yes in residence, composer in residence from the Foundation. Placed with us by the Foundation that is, in the, an in-depth pilot program in the arts, that is to say a grant. Maybe Mister Ford can explain it more, more in depth?
—No, no, quite a different administrative area, Mister Ford sprawled easily. —Only about three percent of the Foundation's budget goes on the arts, after all.
—A quarter, they want a quarter a yard maybe we get them down to twenty-two, twenty-three cents, Mister Pecci"s voice reached in. —No, it's Flo-Jan. The Flo-Jan Corporation, that's f, 1, o…
—Did I miss something? Mister Gall appeared with his pencil.
—Technical difficulties creep in, trouble with their framing there a few times and they need some practice with their lenses but once you've got good hardware that's all it takes. Practice.
Behind him Gibbs came slowly erect against the wall. —You can't fault us on hardware, he said turning, as they all did, to Mister diCephalis' entrance. —What goes into it, of course…
Gall wrote software? and waited, as Mister diCephalis with some effort pushed the frail door closed behind him to have it bob open again for Mister Leroy in his boxing shoes carrying a pail which he set down. —The control knobs here, Whiteback started as Leroy closed in silently, indicating the pail with a theatrical glance. —Well don't, don't bring it in here, don't… just get rid of it! it's not why I called for you, I just want you to fix the knobs on this set… ! And they parted for Mister Leroy moving between them with his smile, fitting the knobs back on, pocketing his screwdriver and leaving the screen awash with a rain of dollar bills. —Yes now here we, wait you're not leaving?