What's in a Name?

Video Clips: What's in a Name, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Setting: A party held at the Capwell

Characters: C.C., Mason, Kelly, Patricia, and various guests.

(C.C. is standing near the front door so that he can greet guests as they arrive. As a couple enters, Mason and his date enter behind them.)

Mason: Hi dad. This is Patricia Hampton. Patricia this is my father, C.C. Capwell. (Patricia is a platinum blond, wearing a low-cut, tight-fitting, hot pink, strapless dress.)

Patricia: (Excited to be there) It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Capwell. (Grabbing his hand and shaking it vigorously.) What a pad!

C.C.: Thank you, and welcome Patricia. Make yourself comfortable.

Patricia: Super! Where's the bar, Mason?

Mason: Umm, it's right over here, (Points in the direction of the adjoining room).

C.C.: (As Patricia and Mason start to leave, C.C. summons Mason back and Patricia goes on without him.). Mason. Where did you find her?

Mason: City Hall. Records department. Not your type?

C.C.: To say the least.

Mason: Dad, I don't need your approval.

C.C.: There's a lot of important people here tonight. I don't think they want to see their next district attorney squiring around some common-

Mason:-File clerk.

C.C.: She may know the alphabet, Mason, but she knows little else. From the very beginning, Channing had a sense for women, but somehow you always seem to-(The door bell ringing interrupts C.C.). Oh, never mind. What's done is done.

(Mason walks away looking sulky while C.C. greet the next guests.)

(Later at the party, C.C. announces to the guests that he needs their attention, and after making a toast to Peter Flint who has just joined Capwell Enterprises, he makes one honoring Mason, or at least he tries to...)

C.C.: Now, I would also like to propose a toast to a young man, umm, who is also an honored guest, a man you all know very well. In fact I've known him ever since he was born, (Laugher from the guests). My good friends (A shot of Mason looking proud), I would like to propose a toast to a young man, who may very well be the next district attorney of Santa Barbara, and my crystal ball leads me to believe that in five years, he could go all the way to the governor's mansion (Cheers from the guests). Ladies and Gentlemen, (Holding up his glass) to the beginning, of Channing's brilliant career. (A shot of Mason dropping his eyes, and there's silence from the crowd, C.C. seems confused about the reaction). Well?

Kelly: (Approaches her father) Daddy, you said, Channing's career.

C.C.: I did? (Kelly nods, C.C. glances over at Mason who can't meet his eyes, C.C. laughs embarrassedly), Umm, I wouldn't blame Mason if he fired me as his campaign manager for that one, (He chuckles but nobody joins him). I would like to propose a toast to my son, and his brilliant career, to Mason Capwell.

Crowd: Here, here.

Mason: (To the crowd) Thank you. (To Patricia) Come on let's go.

Patricia: Why?

Mason: I got work to do.

Patricia: But you said we'd be here-

Mason: Look, you're welcome to stay if you want to. You need taxi money?

Patricia: No! No, I'll leave.

Mason: Come on, then. (He shoots a potent look across the room at C.C., which C.C. receives).

(As Mason and Patricia reach the front door, C.C. catches up to them.)

C.C.: Mason! Where you going?

Mason: (To C.C.) I'm leaving. (To Patricia) Meet me at the car. (Patricia exits).

C.C.: I can understand your anger, but rushing out on influential people who came here especially to see you is not only rude, it's stupid!

Mason: What you did was unforgivable. Toasting Channing!

C.C.: (Exhales) I'm sorry. It was a slip of the tongue.

Mason: Dad, I'm going to say something I felt often enough, but never said. Ever since Channing died, I've had the feeling that you somehow wanted me to become him, become everything that you wanted him to be. Well I not Channing Junior. You saw to that by making your second born son your namesake.

C.C.: Mason, I've tried to explain that to you. Pamela, your mother wouldn't hear of naming you after me. She wanted you to have your own identity. Channing's mother, Sophia, well, it was important to her to give me a son, a namesake. Now, please, try to understand that!

Mason: What's to understand, that's the breaks, kid. You see, I knocked myself out for you. I did everything you wanted me to do, to the letter. I went to the right schools, I played the right sports, soccer and tennis, not football or wrestling, remember. I became the right kind of attorney so that you could use me in the right kind of political career, but that's not enough. I don't even date the right kind of women, the kind of ladies that Channing would have dated.

C.C.: Mason, I only want the best for you. For you, my son, my firstborn.

Mason: (Shakes his head and turns for the door, C.C. grabs a hold of his arm turning him back around.)

C.C.: For God's sake, tell me if you don't want to go into politics! You'll have to tell me what you want! I'm not a mind reader.

Mason: No, well I think I know what's on your mind. You wish I could change places with Channing. Don't you?

C.C.: Don't ever say that to me again.

(Mason walks away.)

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