Act 2 :John
California The Movie Act 2
Movie Summary
Two main character, Robert and John use their job as newspaper men to traverse through big moments in California history in the late 1800s.
Scene 1: 1850s, on a ranch in Los Coyotes
The scene starts on the same white man from the end of the first act and his younger son talking about the history of how they obtained their land. The elder refers to the younger as John and tells him that the previous owner lost his claim after his hand drawn maps were rejected by the new American authorities. The father shows John the map the previous owner had used as his claim to the land, showing how impossible it is to tell whether or not the land is actually his and the boundaries are correct. John asks his dad what happened to the last owner. His dad tell him that the previous owner’s family were already having problems after the execution of some Indian in the center of Los Angeles made the area very dangerous for a period of time so the previous owner had already sent some of his family to Mexico. The war between the US and Mexico had only increased the danger and the previous owner had already abandoned his land by the time California was ceded to America. John’s dad look at his watch and realizes that its time to go to work in the fields.
Scene 2: Transcontinental Railroad (1860s)
Flash-forward about 10 years, John is now an elder teenager. He is in the same room in the ranch that he was in during the first scene, but the room looks much more run down. On the mantle lies a picture of his father with a cross around it, indicating that he has passed. John is rushing around the room grabbing stuff. His mother comes over and tells him that the carriage up north is leaving. John finished packing his bag and says goodbye to his mother. His mother tells him to be safe up there and John replies by telling her to not worry and that he will send money back home as soon as he gets his paycheck. He kisses his mom and the cheek, they embrace, and John gets on the carriage. A montage begins of his travels north, showing John staring distantly into nature, looking at black and white photos of his family, and other cinematic tools to show deep introspection. He eventually arrives at a railroad workers encampment. The place is filled with people of all races and is very noisy and dirty. The sounds of a hammers and machines can be heard in the distance as the railroad is being built. John gets out and explores. As he is wandering through the camp a skinny looking kid about 20 with a pencil and paper in hand walks up to him. He introduces himself as Robert and says that he is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He is trying to get the real experience of workers on the railroad and has joined the work force. He’s been there since the beginning and shows John something he wrote on day one in 1863 when Leland Stanford shoveled the first heap of dirt for the embankment. The beginning of his article reads, “Underlying all the enthusiasm, there was a fear that it was a farce and not a fact which was being inaugurated” (Kirsch). Robert tells John about how skeptical they were and still are, with the project only being 3 months in. They were chugging along California pretty well and things were looking up. Soon they would be in Nevada. They talk about how it is a sign of American progress and shows the world that the USA is on the rise. John thanks him for being so welcoming and says he needs to go find a place to stay. Robert offers him a place in his tent and John graciously accepts. They head off on the foundation of a great new friendship.
Another montage begins showing John and Robert’s friendship growing as they work on the railroad. It focuses on the tough working conditions as well as the danger of the dynamite to the people who work there.
Scene 3: Modoc War (1872)
About 10 years later and John and Robert are still together, although in their late 20s. They are riding along with a group of American soldiers. Both of them have a pencil and paper in hand. The party is meeting up with some miners who say that they had an altercation with the Modocs. The miners tell them that “an Injun was an Injun” and at the end of the day it didn’t matter if they died (Brininstool). The army men swear that they will bring these Modoc people to justice and the group continues towards Tule Lake where the Modoc have decided to make their stand. As they are riding, John and Robert talk about how they think it is a little unfair that these people are being persecuted. However, they admitted the Indians needed to pay for all the innocent people they had harmed. They also talk about their excitement since this will be the first military engagement that they are reporting on. John thanks Robert for getting him involved in the reporting business after the railroads and they talk about their last 10 years with each other.
The army continues towards Captain Jack’s, the leader of the Modoc people, stronghold. It is extremely foggy and the Americans have a hard time seeing. Soon they here the cries of battle and the Modoc appear from everywhere. It’s an ambush and soon the Lieutenant leading the group orders a full retreat. John and Robert, who had stayed on the carriage a distance away from the action, whip their horse to make a quick get away. As they are galloping off arrows fly by them and the shouts of the victorious Modoc can be heard in the distance.
Everyone makes it back to the encampment, tired and weary from the loss, but the military leaders are already planning on how to crush this rebellion. Robert and John decide that war is not from them and that they need to head back to civilization. They pack up their bags and wish the military men the best on their way.
Scene 4: Panic of 1873
Only a year later, John and Robert are talking in John’s Los Angeles home, which is rather nice, about the state of their families and their country. John mentions that his mother is doing well and all the money he has made from newspapers has allowed her to live a comfortable lifestyle. They work as a team now on articles and are such good writers that their writings are run across most of the national newspapers in the United States. They switch subjects to the economic distress that is currently sweeping the nation. Henry Clews and the Jay Cooke bank have shut down, causing the New York stock market to also go under. John and Robert don’t think that their business will suffer, but they worry for the rest of the country. Many people are getting fired. They think they should prepare an article about it and start talking about what they should write. Robert suggests they start off with the causes of this panic. John says it’s because people have “been living extravagantly upon an inflated currency and the altered habits of the civil war” (Townsend). Robert agrees that this is a good place to start and begins to write what John just said down. They also write that there is a high probability that “the Bank of California, which has maintained specie payments against our greenbacks, will go up” (Marshall). They finish the article up and Robert decides to retire to his home.
Scene 5: Labor Protest In Los Angeles, mid 1870s
Another couple years of past and the city of Los Angeles seems to be restless. The Panic of 1873 has started to show its effects in Southern California and many unemployed. The scene centers on John and Robert at work in a protest by railroad workers working on a railroad between Los Angeles and Santa Monica. The firm who is heading up the project has been forced to let people go and the workers are showing their dissatisfaction. Their boss had told them to find a way to make the strikers look bad, so John and Robert are on the lookout for anyone that shows a hint of dissatisfaction with what is going on. As they are walking through the shouting masses, they see one of the higher ups in the Knights of Labor yelling at a striker on his team. As he sulks away, John and Robert walk up to them to see what he has to say about the strike. They strike gold and this guy begins to open up. He tells that the strike “is the result, pure and simple, of a fight for supremacy among laboring organizations” (A Labor Agitators’ Strike). He goes on to decry the unions, while John and Robert quickly write down his words. After he finishes his rant they thank him or his time and walk off. John says that they got some good stuff, but it doesn’t matter what that guy said if he is just a lowly member of the Knights of Labor. Robert decides that they should label this guy as a prominent official of the Knights of Labor and it will give his words great impact. They decide to return back to their offices with the hope that this will get people to return to work.
Scene 6: Remembering the Anti-Chinese Riot of 1871 from the perspective of the 1880s
It is October 24, the anniversary of the Los Angeles Anti-Chinese Riots. Robert and John have been tasked with writing a piece remembering this torrid affair. Both men talk about how sad it is to have such a sordid affair happen in their great city. As they talk about what they want to right, the scene flashbacks to this event, using them as a narrator. They first discuss Negro Alley, where the massacre happened and the camera pays particular attention to the minorities that occupy this area, and their dirtiness. The make sure to focus on the savagery of the whole affair and describe how “dragging from their hiding places the trembling inmates, one by one they brought them to the door, where others haltered and hurried them to execution” (The Anti-Chinese Riot). The scene focuses on the action of this massacre and how chaotic it is. John and Robert finish their article, and then send their draft to their editor. They both say they hope that the Chinese can learn to live with white Americans or they must be stopped from entering the country.
Scene 7: San Francisco Earthquake 1906
They are on assignment in San Francisco when a huge earthquake hits. Robert and John hide beneath desks in the building they are in as the shaking continues. As soon as it stops, they check to make sure each other is fine. Robert and John immediately begin to talk about how to get this story out to their editors. John says they can go to the San Francisco local newsroom and get it put in the mail to be sent back to their Los Angeles headquarters. As they run toward their destination fires can be seen raging in the distance. Robert tells John that they should wait to see what the whole story is before they send it off. John says they don’t have time and if they want to get a scoop they need to start now. They can say whatever they want, get readers, and then claim that the information was all they had at the time if it turns out to not be true. They begin writing: “San Francisco and the whole Pacific Coast shattered by earthquake”(Fire Losses). John hesitates and asks Robert if this is right, but Robert insists that this article won’t hurt anyone. They reach the building and send their article on its way.
Scene 8:LA Times Newspaper Bombing (1910)
John and Robert are in their sixties at this point. They are head editors at the Los Angeles time. Its midnight October 1st and they are hard at work. They share an office and papers that they need to edit are stacked high. They talk about their adventures over the past 50 years and a montage begins. It goes through all the big events in their life and revisits all the crazy moments they have been through. As the montage ends they talk about how near the end of their lives seem. All of the sudden a bomb goes off and the two are thrown across the room.
A half an hour later, the police are interviewing people about what happened. A woman is being interviewed about the location of her husband at the time of the bombing. Apparently he and his partner had left a building and were headed towards the Los Angeles Times when the bomb went off. “If they had backed up to the loading platform on Ink Alley—that’s what they used to call the Broadway side—a little earlier they might have been killed or badly hurt” (Old Pocketknife). She says that she has two children and she doesn’t know what she would have dine without her husband.
ACT END
Works Cited
"A LABOR AGITATORS' STRIKE." Los Angeles Times (1886-1922): 4. Jul 11 1894. ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2015 .
BRINISTOOL, E. A. "Tobey" Riddle--Heroine of Modoc War." Los Angeles Times (1886-1922): 3. Aug 08 1920. ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2015 .
"EARTHQUAKE LIES AND LIARS." Los Angeles Times (1886-1922): 1. May 11 1906. ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2015 .
"FIRE LOSSES AND EARTHQUAKE LOSSES." Los Angeles Times (1886-1922): 1. Apr 20 1906. ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2015 .
Los Coyotes: Rancho De Los Coyotes. Map. The Regents of the University of California, 2011. Disenos: maps and plans of ranchos of Southern California, mostly within Los Angeles and Orange counties. Charles E. Young Research Lib, Los Angeles. Uclamss_170/508_400. Calisphere. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Kirsch, Robert R. "The First Transcontinental Railway: Work of Giants." Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File): 1. Oct 10 1962.ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2015 .
Marshall, Edward. "WHAT GOOD ROADS MEAN." Los Angeles Times (1886-1922): 5. Dec 08 1890. ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2015 .
"Old Pocketknife Recalls Times Building Bombing." Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File): 1. Feb 24 1952. ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2015 .
"THE ANTI-CHINESE RIOT." Los Angeles Times (1886-1922): 2. Jul 23 1888. ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2015 .
Townsend, George A. ""GATH."." Los Angeles Times (1886-1922): 11. Jun 17 1893. ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2015 .
