| Faye Greener | |
|---|---|
| |
Character Details
| |
| Full Name | Faye Greener |
| Played By | Sonya Cullingford
Miranda Mac Letten Katie Lusby Lily Ockwell Sarah Sweeney Natalia de Miguel Olaso |
| Starts Loop | No Information
|
History[]
Desperately wants to become an actress and auditions for a role at Temple Studios. Friend of Mary’s, daughter or sister of Harry Greener (depending on the actor playing Harry), she flirts with Dwayne and Miguel. She flirts and dances with many of the male characters, but is essentially lonely. Her mother is missing and whilst her father loves her, he infantilises her and has his own problems with alcoholism and failure. Faye uses her sexuality to get male attention and to feel worthy.
Appearance[]
Wears a green and white dress with flower patterns.
Loop - Summary[]
- Wakes from sleeping (Harry's Motel Room)
- Hears Romola death announcement (Harry's Motel Room)
- Tells Harry about audition (Harry's Motel Room)
- Tells Mary about audition (William & Mary's House)
- Celebrates with Dwayne and Mary (Outside Saddlery)
- Gatekeeper shines light at she passes through (The Gates)
- Directed by Alice towards boardroom (Secretary's Office)
- Auditions with Claude in front of Mr. Stanford (Audition Room)
- Locker Dance (Studio 5)
- Seduced by Dwayne and given note (Corridor)
- Gets changed (Seamstress Dressing Room)
- Sees Dwayne dancing with Mary on car (Street)
- Angry/distraught dance (Outside Trailer)
- Dance with and then spurns Andy (Outside Trailer)
- Seductive dance with barman (Saloon)
- Fought over by Miguel and Dwayne (Desert)
- Goes to saloon (Saloon)
- Miguel returns shoes (Saloon)
- Dances in hoedown (Saloon)
- Dances aggressively with Miguel (throughStreet)
- Spurned by Miguel (Harry's Motel Room)
- Get drunk in front of dresser (Harry's Motel Room)
- Dances upset (Outside Trailer)
- Drinks two shots at bar and lip-syncs Shangri-Las (Saloon)
- Harry arrives and comforts as she breaks down on stage (Saloon)
- Harry sings and put her to sleep (Harry's Motel Room)
Loop - Extended[]
At the start of her loop, Faye wakes up in a motel room, hungover and weepy. Harry comes in and starts to get ready for the day ahead. He reassures her, ‘It’s okay honey, you got real drunk last night and some guy upset you, but whatever it was, it’s over now. You’re gonna be fine’. The radio is playing and Mr Stanford announces the death of Romola Martin, a young actress at the studio. He mentions that Romola had starred in ‘Close The Shutter Tight’, and Harry says, ‘Yeah, I remember that movie’. ‘At least she was in a movie’, says Faye. ‘Yeah imagine, some people aren’t even in one film before they die’, says Harry teasing her.
He acts out some of his old vaudeville routines to cheer her up, putting on a red nose and playing ‘At the Codfish Bowl’ on his ukulele. She starts to feel better and Harry says, ‘Knock ‘em dead today, girl’. ‘You remembered’, says Faye. She has an audition at Temple Studios and this makes her smile. She finishes dressing and skips off.
She passes Mary’s house and tells her the good news. They walk through the town laughing and bump into Dwayne. He can’t believe his luck and he dances with the two beautiful women outside the Saddlery. He ends up seducing Mary as Faye shakes her head, irritated.
The two women walk back to Faye’s motel room, teasing each other. Faye recognizes Dwayne as a famous actor, and Mary pretends to be uninterested. They pick out an outfit for Faye to wear to her audition and she gets changed.
She heads for the studio gates where The Gatekeeper shines his light on her. He lets her through and she meets a studio executive, Alice Estee, who directs her to the Audition Suite, saying ‘You knock ‘em dead girl!’
Faye enters the room and finds two suited men waiting for her. One is Alice’s husband, Claude, and the other is the head of the studio, Mr Stanford. Faye steps onto a small stage and mimes to ‘At the Codfish Ball’ by Shirley Temple, the song her father sang for her. Harry also sings it to his customers when he’s selling door-to-door.
Faye goose-steps across the stage and mouths the lyrics, ‘Lobsters dancing in a row, shuffle off to Buffalo. Jellyfish sway to and fro, at the Codfish Ball. Tunas trucking left and right, minnies mooching what a night. There won't be a hook in site at the Codfish ball.’
Mr Stanford watches intently from the shadows. Claude gets up on stage and takes advantage by groping and grabbing her while she dances. Faye is upset, but she holds her own and pushes Claude away. She tries to keep up her Hollywood smile for the audition, but grimaces angrily at the lecherous executive.
Afterwards, Mr Stanford declares in a bored monotone, ‘You’ll do, you’ll do.’ Faye asks excitedly ‘Have I got the part?’ and Mr Stanford clarifies, ‘You’ve got a part’. He tells her that she’s in the musical ‘Leader of the Pack’ being shot in Studio 5, and that it’s her big chance.
Faye is child-like and innocent to the workings of the studio machine, and the scene encapsulates the predatory nature of the movie business.
Faye leaves the Audition Suite and encounters her father who congratulates her with hugs and kisses. She joins the cast of ‘Leader of the Pack’ on the bedroom set in Studio 5. She stands on the stage, in a green dress and black leather jacket, looking up at the speakers as Mr Stanford’s voice booms out. He reminds her that this is her ‘big chance’. She’s full of hope and excitement for the scene and for her movie star future. ‘Bull Dog’ starts and the actors play out their corny routine.
Faye, Drugstore Girl and Andrea sit on the bed singing. The room belongs to a typical American teenage girl and the shelves are filled with dolls and cuddly toys. It looks cute, but on closer inspection, the eyes of all the toys are blanked out with tape or sewn shut with big childish stitching.
After their rendition of ‘Bull Dog’, the actors break away and Faye introduces herself to Frankie, but he just stares at her silently. He seems to be having a breakdown. Backstage, Faye runs into Dwayne, and they flirt. Dwayne tosses his hat in her direction and it falls to the floor, so she offers to pick it up, glancing suggestively over her shoulder. In the studio space next door, Alice is wailing at Frankie, ‘That was so moving’.
Dwayne continues to hit on Faye and says she has potential as an actress. He wants to give her acting lessons and he folds up a note and tucks it into her cleavage. It says, ‘Faye, Why don’t you drop by mine tonight? We can talk and have a drink. Looking forward to seeing you again. Dwayne.’
Faye makes a stop at The Seamstress' workshop, and then heads out into town. She stops short in the middle of the street and sees Dwayne and Mary cavorting next to the Studebaker in the distance. She holds her note from Dwayne up in the light, before crumpling it up and dropping it on the ground.
Angry and jealous, she goes to her motel room where she has a drink. She gets up and rushes over to Dwayne's trailer, and performs an electrifying solo dance. She slides down the front of the trailer, her legs crisscrossing each other in a frustrated dance of desire. She wants to be seen and adored. She wears Dwayne's hat and imitates him by pretending to smoke. William’s friend, Andy, is watching lustfully and he approaches her, but she spurns him. She asks after Dwayne and Andy reluctantly tells her where to find him.
She goes upstairs to the desert where she sees Dwayne and Miguel sitting on some overturned box crates and drinking liquor. She joins in and starts to play the two men off each other, dancing suggestively in the sand. She’s still seething at the thought of Dwayne and Mary, and she wants to show him what he’s missing. Violent and sexual emotion runs high as ‘Catalina La O’, by Pete El Conde Rodriguez, plays in the background.
Faye is the centre of attention, an object of desire around which the two men circle and compete. She dances with Miguel and they share a passionate embrace. She’s not quite oblivious to the undercurrent of violence, but she remains impervious with an air of detachment. The sound of a train echoes around the desert, getting louder and louder. Dwayne has seen enough and he barrels through the audience to break them up. The two cowboys fight, and Faye walks away unfazed, leaving her shoes behind. As she leaves, she turns and shouts, ‘Screw you, Dwayne Shoop!’
Faye returns to the town and has another sad, angry dancing fit outside Dwayne’s trailer. Her behaviour becomes more erratic and she gets drunk at the Tavern. She’s picked up by Miguel at the bar and he returns her shoes. The two of them dance with the others as the hoedown party kicks off.
The party ends when William sees Mary and Dwayne in a romantic embrace. Faye and Miguel leave as William thrashes about in despair behind them. They dance passionately together through the town. Faye slams his body against the wall of the Saddlery and stares over his shoulder at the audience, grinning with lustful glee.
They go back to her motel room and he lies on the bed. She turns her back to him and slowly takes off her clothes. While she’s looking the other way, he suddenly runs out. Faye turns around smiling and anticipating his reaction. She sees that he’s left and her face crumples.
Distraught, she has another drink in her room and dances by the trailers. She goes to the Tavern and drinks shots at the bar, while ‘Still of the Night’ by Santo & Johnny plays over the speakers. She talks with The Barman. She wants to prove that she’s got what it takes to be a star. She clambers onto a small stage in the corner and starts to sing. She lip-syncs to ‘Remember (Walking in the Sand)’ as The Barman watches on. She’s drunk and crying as she splutters into the microphone, ‘Whatever happened to the boy that I once knew, the boy who said he'd be true? Oh, what will happen to the life I gave to you? What will I do with it now?’ William and Mary dance to the song in the bar next door.
Harry arrives and comforts her as she finally breaks down on stage. They go back to their motel room, and Faye is desolate and inconsolable. She takes long, desperate swigs from a bottle. Harry looks on, concerned but helpless. He says, ‘Please don’t cry, whatever that guy said to you, he’s a prick’. He tucks her into bed, and briefly lies down next to her. He sings ‘Mama’s Gonna Buy You a Mockingbird’ and they reminisce about her childhood. He puts the bin next to her bed in case she’s sick. Finally she falls asleep and Harry leaves the room. The reset music plays and Faye wakes up. Harry comes back in and gets ready for another day.
At the end of her third loop, Faye’s story has a happier ending. She finishes her rendition of ‘Walking in the Sand’ and Harry shows up and invites her to the wrap party. They rush downstairs to the finale, and talk excitedly about all the famous movie stars that are going to be there.
Final Show[]
Quotes[]
Faye Greener: "Did I get the part?" Mr Standford: "You got a part."
Trivia[]
In ‘The Day of the Locust’, Faye Greener is a seventeen-year-old aspiring actress, and the main female character. Her father is Harry Greener and she sings ‘Jeepers Creepers’ to annoy him.
The notes on Faye in the Drafting Room mention the audition and suggest that it was ‘average’. It reveals that she gets the part by offering ‘something extra’.
In the reception there are letters from Faye and Harry asking Temple Pictures for work.
The ‘screw you, Dwayne Shoop!’ episode is taken from a scene in ‘The Day of the Locust’ when Tod joins Faye on a ‘date’ with Earle Shoop and Miguel. The four of them sit around a campfire, drinking and singing – ‘She took a long pull of the jug and stood up. She put one hand on each of her buttocks and began to dance. The Mexican stood up, still singing, and joined her. Suddenly Earle too jumped up and began to dance. He did a crude hoe-down. He leaped into the air and knocked his heels together. But he couldn’t become part of their dance.’
References[]
Image credit: [1]