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The Second Battle of Los Angeles: The Griffith Defense
A comic tragedy by Michael W. Clark, Ph.D. WGA Reg. # 1188279, Eff. Date: 3/16/07, Exp. Date: 3/16/12
SCRIPT TREATMENT for The Second Battle of Los Angeles: The Griffith Defense
The MOVIE could be produced on a moderate budget. No special effects required.
Overhead Helicopter shoots.
Reconstruction of WWII Japanese Zero needed.
Vintage 1941 – 1943 Newspaper front page reorientations.
A number of stunt man falls are required.
A few guns shots. WWII weapons.
Location at or near Griffith Observatory or at least a graphic of the Observatory.
There are no elaborate sets or high-tech features.
Interior sets would be easy to find locally or simple and inexpensive to construct.
Exterior scenes could be shot on the streets and natural areas of the Los Angeles.
LOGLINE
Was the 1942 night WWII air raid Battle of Los Angeles real? Few say yes, most say no. During the 2001 the Griffith Observatory renovation excavation the remains of a WWII Japanese Zero with its pilot in the cockpit were unearthed. The remains of two US Army soldiers were also found near the wreck. For national security reasons the discovery was kept secret, still the FBI wanted to know, at least about the three dead. What they discover about the goings on in 1943 L.A. reveals an array of bumbling, drunkenness, racism, lies and practical jokes that end up in accidental death, murder and an intentional cover up. The only Battle of Los Angeles was the one that was raging between different Los Angelinos.
It is a mixture of ‘MASH’, ‘Catch 22’, and ‘Mister Roberts.’
SETTING AND CONCEPT
Setting
Alternating between two times in Los Angeles; the present (2006) and 1943.
Present setting. Westwood FBI Interrogation room with window onto Veteran’s Cemetery with all the white headstones lined up.
1943 setting – The environs of Griffith Observatory and Park. Because of the WWII defense strategy, although fully functioning during the day, at night the Observatory was completely dark. Thus it was a perfect make out site for the various couples, especially the soldiers and their girls. There is a whole lot of coupling going on. During the 1943 period, the main characters are always tripping over mating couples.
The images and vistas of the L.A. basin are used to the most dynamic affect.
Scenes in 1943 will be as Surreal seeming or hyper real as possible. The vision will be sharp and in High Definition. Many of the Magritte Surrealist paintings will be copied on the screen by odd juxtapositions of people and objects obstructing the camera lens. Andrew Cohn, the main character, as the young Andrew has a black Bowler hat that he wears. Back profiles of him will simulate specific Magritte paintings.
Scenes in 2006 will be early David Hockney like portraits, desolate, indistinct around the edges. But to relieve that mood, the 2006 interrogation of Cohn and Schwartz will be humorous, witty and sometimes silly.
The two time frames will thus have very different looks and moods.
The 1942 Battle of Los Angeles scene will be made to look Surreal and Magritte-like.
Concept
The Japanese Haiku state the main theme of the story:
A world of dew,
And within every dewdrop
A world of struggle.
Issa (1762-1826)
Nothing in the cry
Of cicadas suggests they
Are about to die.
Basho (1644-1694)
Seen in plain daylight
The firefly’s nothing but
An insect.
Basho (1644-1694)
The turmoil among these frustrated men in 1943 causes unintended mayhem, destruction and death. They cover it up too, until the ends of their lives.
The dew drop of Griffith Observatory in 1943.
The dew drop of Los Angeles in 1943 and 2006.
The world of dew during WWII.
Premise
During the 2001 renovation of the Griffith Observatory, the excavation revealed the remains of a WWII Japanese Zero with its pilot in the cockpit were unearthed. The remains of two US Army soldiers were also found near the wreck. Dog tags were not recovered. Two FBI Agents are assigned to find out what happened back then. There were no records of an actual air attack on LA occurring. The Battle of LA was supposed to be a mistake on Feb 26, 1942. War hysteria, maybe not? There are only a few military people still alive from that time. Special Agents Howard and Ramirez question everyone with no luck until they get to elderly Andrew Cohn and Ronald Schwartz.
Ron thinks it’s time to tell the story. Andrew is not so sure. He was willing to let it die with him, but everyone needs to know. Was the Battle of LA real?
No. It was just a real mess back then; boring, frightening, desperate, fun and confusing.
The four soldiers are unofficially stationed at Griffith Observatory. The Observatory is being used to train military pilots in star navigation. Since it is a non-military instillation, there could be not official permanent Army presence. All four soldiers are being kept there by their failing the Navigation course. The other reason they are being kept there is to keep them out of the main stream. Two of them are Jewish Intellectuals (REDS?). The other is a drunk and the other stoned. US citizens but persons of question.
The tone is serious but also comic. The absurdity of the situational silliness , while people are dying in the European and Asian wars.
DRAFT STORY SUMMARY
During the 2001 renovation of the Griffith Observatory, the excavation revealed the remains of a WWII Japanese Zero with its pilot in the cockpit were unearthed. The remains of two US Army soldiers were also found near the wreck. Dog tags were not recovered. Two FBI Agents are assigned to find out what happened. There were no records of an actual air attack on LA occurring. The Battle of LA was supposed to be a mistake on Feb 26, 1942. War hysteria, maybe not? There are only a few military people still alive from that time. Special Agents Howard and Ramirez question everyone with no luck until they get to elderly Andrew Cohn and Ronald Schwartz.
Ron thinks it’s time to tell the story. Andrew is not so sure. He was willing to let it die with him, but everyone needs to know. Was the Battle of LA real?
No. It was just a real mess back then. During WWII, Cohn, Schwartz, Schwarts and Kasmeric were unofficially stationed at the Griffith Observatory. It was a civilian building but the military wanted permanent military presence. The four were enrolled in the star navigation course held at the Observatory. They couldn’t leave until they passed the course. They were ordered not to. It wasn’t difficult for them to fail. Failure was something they were good at. It was different for Andrew and Ronald, they were smart competent. The Army didn’t want any of them at the front anyway. They were all persons of question for their own reasons. Still, they were all annoyed, bored and restless. Even the black airman came through the course, passed with flying colors and left for the war. It was embarrassing.
Kasmeric was drunk all of the time to relieve himself of the pain of general life. Schwarts with an S was stoned on his home grown marijuana most of the time because he liked it. Cohn and Schwartz were being punished, mostly for being smart with their mouths and Jewish at the same time. Out of their boredom they play practical jokes on each other and anyone else in their field of view. Kasmeric is unusually vicious and racist. Much of the abuse comes from him. His jokes are not funny but vicious. He begins to just piss people off.
Eventually, Cohn and Schwartz want to really scare Kasmeric and get back at him for all the crappy things he has done and said to them and everyone else in the world. Kasmeric would get so drunk at night sometimes he would take a piss off the cliff near the Observatory. Occasionally, he would pass out as he pissed and fall down the cliff. Cohn and Schwartz think out and a way to scare Kasmeric as he was pissing from the cliff. They find an aircraft dump in the closed Air base in Griffith Park, where the LA Zoo is now, the Griffith Aerodrome Air Force Base. There were the drones used for Air Battle practice; one a shot up Japanese Zero fuselage. They paint it with a bigger Raining Sun on the side and hook up a wire for it to sail by Kasmeric at night when he is taking his drunken piss. Kasmeric is always talking big about killing a Jap.
They do it but everything goes wrong. People die because Kasmeric starts shooting. Andrew ends up killing Kasmeric in anger of what he did and has done. Schwartz thinks they should cover it all up with dirt and play dumb for a change. The Army wants their foot soldiers dumb. They want them to ‘Live up to expectations.’ They did and got away with it.
A subplot relates to Russell Ito, a Japanese American and childhood friend of Andrew Cohn. He has escaped from the Japanese Internment Camp at Tule Lake, CA. He escaped by acting as a Chinese goat herder. He wears a bronze badge saying. ‘I am Chinese Please. Not Japanese.’ Many Chinese wore such badges. He came back o Eagle Rock where he grew up. Andrew’s mother tells Russell that Andrew is in Griffith Park and it would be a good place for a goat herd to be. Russell is angry about the Internment. Russell’s anger gets him to sit in the Zero cockpit as a joke on Kasmeric. Russell is killed because of the Joke going wrong.
This story rolls out in three acts. Each with a title and a Haiku.
ACT ONE - Enemies all!
MONASTERY
Monks are still men.
Farts among the silence!
R. Ito - 1942
ACT TWO - No Joke is Practical (Revenge is the bitter part of valor)
FROZEN BEAUTY
If there were wild flowers here,
They would die in the mountain cold.
R. Ito - 1942
ACT THREE - Death by Stupidity and Hate: The true gods of man.
MAN
At the base of the cliff face,
A crumpled man.
Dead or alive?
Wanted or forgot?
R. Ito – 1943
MAIN CHARACTERS:
ANDREW COHN – American white Jewish male, middle 20’s in 1943 in 2006 late 80’s.
From Eagle Rock, CA. Not religious. His mother was always taking Andrew to Art museums and Symphony concerts. She wanted him classically educated even though they lived in America. Andrew did like the art. He particularly likes the Surrealist paintings. He liked Magritte most of all. He bought a Bowler hat just because of Magritte. Andrew also smoked a pipe. When people asked him why he smoked a pipe? He would look puzzled and say. This is not a pipe. Sometimes he would even say it in French. “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” Throughout his life, Andrew used the phrase when life just didn’t make sense. “This is still not a pipe.” He was his response to the absurdity, the treachery of life. The internment of the Japanese Andrew called the La traicion de las imagines. The treachery of the Image. This was also the name of the Magritte 1928 painting, ‘This is not a pipe.’ Andrew was against the internment of the Japanese. So was his mother. He had plenty of Japanese American friends in Eagle Rock. He was a Jew and they were a Jap, so they clustered together surrounded by the white Christian world they all were growing up in. Andrew was drafted. His Rabi uncle told him, “If Andrew were religious then he wouldn’t need to fight.” Andrew’s answer was, “Maybe God wanted me to fight?” His mother’s answer. “If God existed, he wouldn’t be so cruel.” Mom started doing Seders after America went to war with Germany, for tradition’s sake. She keeps asking Andrew to come and bring his friends. Andrew wanted to be a biologist, like Charles Darwin. In the US Army though, it was made clear to all their Superior Officers that he was Jewish and his Mother was likely a RED. As a result of the events described in 1943, Andrew passed the course and volunteered to go fight in the Pacific Theater. He felt guilty about what he had done. If he died in the War, then it was his punishment. He survived and that was his punishment too.
RONALD SCHWARTZ – American white Jewish male, early 20’s in 1943 in 2006 middle 80’s. From the Fairfax district L.A. Not religious either. He enlisted in the Army to fight the Nazi’s. His experience as LA Jewish was more orthodox. He lived in the Jewish neighborhood and when to a Jewish elementary school. In public high school he just didn’t make a big deal out of being Jewish. He was tough and strong; a linemen on the football team, because it wasn’t glamorous and thus less chance of people being jealous of him. He became and expert a not being conspicuous. “To be and not to be, at the same time.” He once told a Dad. His Dad only nodded. Ronald didn’t know whether it was a nod of confirmation, a nod of agreement, a nod of amusement, or simply a father’s nod of ‘don’t bother me.’ Ronald never mentioned it again. ‘To be and not to be.’ Ronald had not known Andrew when they were young. They only met at the Observatory a few month’s before the story. They came from different experience. Ronald grew up Jewish but tried not to show it. Andrew didn’t grow up Jewish and thus didn’t seem Jewish either. In the US Army though, it was made clear to all their Superior Officers, that he was smart and Jewish. Ronald followed Andrew’s lead and fought in the Pacific with Andrew. They both survived.
RUSSELL ITO – Japanese American male, middle 20’s in 1943. From Eagle Rock, CA.
Russell and Andrew were childhood friends. He has escaped from the Japanese intermit camp at Tule Lake, CA. He refused to sign the Loyalty oath. Not just answer no to questions 27 & 28. He was an American Dammit! To escape, he said he was Chinese. He made a metal badge that declared. I AM CHINESE! NOT JAPANESE PLEASE! He called himself Ee To. It worked. He could only speak English, but faked a Chinese Pidgin. On his way back from Tule Lake, a mother goat and her kids started following him. It seemed to help with the Chinese disguise. He came back to LA to find his friend Andrew. Andrew’s mother told Russell that Andrew was staying close her and the family. He was stationed at the Griffith Observatory. Griffith Park seemed like a god place to hide and it gave the goats a place to graze. Russell started writing Haiku in the relocation camps. All the old men were doing it. It seemed like something he could do.
RUSTY SCHWARTS – German American male 19 years old in 1943. From Iowa. Brought along marijuana plants that he grows off in the woods a Griffith Park. His legal name was Rusty. He didn’t have red hair. He was a blond, almost ideal Aryan. He was no relation to Ron Schwartz. He was also not Jewish. His father started spelling Schwarts with and S just to emphasize that. Rusty’s father said to Rusty when it was drafted. “Better being known as a Germany and a War enemy then Jewish and an enemy of Christ.” Rusty didn’t give a shit. Rusty hated church. Church was boring and confusing. The only good thing about Sunday school was the free cookies. Rusty liked free cookies. He would agree to listen to any old tripe for free cookies.
JAKE KASMERIC – New York City American late 30’s in 1943. Drunk mostly. Prejudiced mostly. Racist mostly. He was an orphan from the streets of New York. He never knew his parents and doesn’t care. He was a petty criminal and joined the Army to stay out of jail. Jake is simply defiant and drunk. He is a good soldier but gets busted to Private regularly because of drunkenness.
MINOR CHARACTERS:
SPECIAL AGENT BENJAMIN HOWARD - Afro-American middle 30’s in 2006. He is well dressed but has a weight problem. He is rotund and it has hurt is advancement in the FBI. Being black hasn’t helped. He has a law degree but that hasn’t helped either. He understands being a person of question. “Masa won’t let us work around the good silver either.”
SPECIAL AGENT JESUS RAMIREZ – Mexican American early 30’s in 2006. He is getting his law degree. He understands the Person of question issue.
MARAGARET COHN - Andrew Cohn’s mother considered herself an intellectual but no snob. She was beautiful when she was young. In middle age she is still a looker. She was also an early supporter of the Communist platform, but she hated Stalin. She didn’t mind FDR; still she didn’t like American capitalism. She spoke up at public meetings and rallies. She encouraged Andrew to keep an open mind. She liked that his childhood friend was a Japanese America. Her questioning of the USA put her on the Questionable Persons list. Her Jewish religion was more just a tradition for her. With the start of the War she turned more toward the tradition. Even though Andrew was drafted into the Army, his mother’s Questionable Person status put a cloud over him. He was kept in Los Angeles because of that cloud. His mother didn’t care about his reputation, he was close. She had him over for Seder every Friday night. When Russell called asking about Andrew, she had Russell come over and plan with him. She wanted Russell to keep as calm as possible. It was her idea to have him take his goats and live in the Griffith Park area and be with Andrew.
MANDY – American white female, early 20’s in 1943. Reads Gertrude Stein. Is a free spirit. She likes to run in the park in the morning nude. She was a hippie 25 years too early; flower child and free love. She and Cohn were mostly together but she was beautiful and willing. Every one of the men had made love with her at least once. She dyes her hair different colors through the film. She is used to recreate many of the Magritte pictures.
SARGENT FULLER - American white male. Early 40’s in 1943. A career soldier but mostly uses his common sense to survive. His nerves are frayed. He is grumpy but fair.
CHARACTER GROWTH
ANDREW COHN – Starts uncomfortable and dissatisfied with his military assignment. He was drafted but he was willing to fight. He understood the need for support and training military forces that work behind the lines but three thousand miles was too far. Andrew also knew he was being kept away from security issues because his mother’s previous sympathies for the Communism Party. At Griffith Observatory they look out into the night doing nothing. He gets frustrated and angry. He finally takes out his anger on Kasmeric. First in practical jokes but they get more elaborate and finally Andrew kills Kasmeric. Despite sixty-five years after the killing, Andrew bears the guilt and finally confesses when the elaborate practical joke, the Faux Japanese Zero is unearthed in 2001. This practical joke also killed his childhood friend, a Japanese American and a soldier. Andrew finally had to overcome his entire life.
THE END