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Oh, Peter

Writer's picture: Peter K F Cheung SBSPeter K F Cheung SBS
  1. FADE IN.


  2. Act 1


  3. INT. SLEEPING ROOM - NIGHT


  4. PETER goes to bed. We hear easy-listening music.


  5. PETER (V.O.): Every night. I love listening to All the Way with Ray. I've been listening the programme since the 1980s.


  6. After some folk guitar introductory riffs, we hear the DJ speaking: Leaving on a Jet Plane, by Peter! Paul & Mary.


  7. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Uncle Ray emphasizes on Peter. He's talking to me, believing I'm listening.


  8. FLASHBACK


  9. INT. SLEEPING ROOM - NIGHT


  10. Lying against the bed back, Peter is calling someone.


  11. PETER (to phone): Hi Uncle Ray? This's Peter Cheung calling.


  12. UNCLE RAY (O.S): Who?


  13. PETER (to phone): I'm Peter.


  14. UNCLE RAY (O.S.): Err...


  15. PETER (to phone): Peter, as it Peter, Paul & Mary.


  16. UNCLE RAY (O.S.): Oh, Peter! Peter, what song can I play for you?


  17. Act 2


  18. INT. SLEEPING ROOM - CONTINUOUS


  19. PETER (to phone): Can you play Charles Chaplin's Smile for me?


  20. UNCLE RAY (O.S.): Charlie Chaplin's...Smile? There's such a number?


  21. PETER (to phone): Yes.


  22. PETER (V.O.): I can have access to all songs over the Internet these days. I just want to engage him. I haven't called for years. He's 95.


  23. Pausing.


  24. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): I couldn't think of any song that sounds special to me. And then, the Charlie Chaplin song Smile - yes not Charles Chaplin - came up to my mind.


  25. END FLASHBACK


  26. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Instead of playing the song Smile with lyrics, he played Mantovani's musical instrument version of Smile for me. That was a few months back.


  27. Pausing.


  28. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Since then, Uncle Ray has played the song Smile with lyrics many times.


  29. Pausing.


  30. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Today, I accidentally mined a 2020 story behind Charlie Chaplin's song Smile.


  31. Pausing.


  32. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Apart from acting and directing, Charlie Chaplin wrote screenplays and scores. The melody of the song Smile was adapted from his film Modern Times 1936.

  33. Pausing.


  34. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Charlie Chaplin hired a musical secretary to interpret his musical ideas.


  35. Pausing.


  36. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The musical secretary jotted down the chords and the little tunes Charlie Chaplin played.


  37. Pausing.


  38. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's said that Charlie Chaplin would play with two fingers at the piano.


  39. Pausing.


  40. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's also reckoned that Charlie Chaplin had nice ideas but didn't know how to extend or develop them. That was the job for his music secretary.


  41. Pausing.


  42. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's said that they talked through the song and that was how the song got written.


  43. Pausing.


  44. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The musical secretary or arranger admitted that he didn't assert co-authorship.


  45. Pausing.


  46. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The lyrics of the song weren't written by Charlie Chaplin.


  47. Thinking.


  48. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I've found the style of Smile so different from Charlie Chaplin's film scores.


  49. Thinking.


  50. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The insider's story solves the mystery.


  51. Thinking.


  52. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I was hoping that I could come up with a song like Smile out of the blue.


  53. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Creativity isn't luck.


  54. Act 3


  55. INT. SLEEPING ROOM - CONTINUOUS


  56. Pausing.


  57. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My composition style has been folk-pop. I'm learning to extend and develop my style. I want to write better melodies and lyrics.


  58. Thinking.


  59. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): John Denver wrote the song Leaving on a Jet Plane, but it was famously recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary.


  60. Reflecting.


  61. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The other day, I saw a jet plane taking off and had the urge to take a photo of it. Flying isn't easy these days. I haven't flown since March this year.


  62. Reflecting.


  63. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In fact, I like the band Peter & Gordan more than Peter, Paul & Mary.

  64. Pausing.


  65. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In 1966, I named myself as Peter, as I like Peter & Gordan, the duo's recording of Five Hundred Miles.


  66. Pausing.


  67. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But if I said to Uncle Ray, Peter, as in Peter & Gordan, I didn't know if he would get it.


  68. Pausing.


  69. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Anyhow, he remembers me well. I can feel that.


  70. Peter sleeps.


  71. FADE OUT.


  72. THE END


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