TO BE OR NOT TO BE SUSAN                                                         by Robert T. Roe

Romantic Comedy: “ A super star loses her boyfriend to a double.”

Beautiful JULIE JONES runs a little Texas cowboy café and is well known for homemade pies. To her dismay, though, she is also the spitting image of super Hollywood star, SUSAN WORTH.  Julie hates Susan. At the same time Julie loves this handsome country western star, MARTY EVANS. She has even named a hamburger after him at her café and makes his concerts.  Everything seems pretty good for her, except that her mother, LINDA ECHART, needs an artificial knee that they can’t afford.  Her dad, K.C. ECHART, and her mom divorced years ago, but yet he says he’ll help pay for the operation with what little he has.  Then the bomb drops.

“Extra, Extra” announces that Marty Evans and Susan Worth are now dating. Julie is devastated by the news, takes down her Marty Evans Burger sign and has decided not to go to his upcoming concert.  Meanwhile, two members of Marty’s band pass by her café and notice that Julie looks exactly like Susan Worth. At the time they are preparing a new album and a tour, so they forget to mention their find to Marty.

Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Susan has thrown a big fit and walked off the set of her latest picture leaving one unfinished scene.  She has cussed out the director and takes up the offer of two jet-setter friends to join her at a new spa in Switzerland. She invites them to fly over to Texas first and watch her get this special “ publicity kiss” set up by her and Marty’s agents that will put them strongly in the Hollywood news.  Back in Texas, Julies’ parents talk her into going to the concert and when she does she is mistaken for Susan. Marty jumps from the stage and kisses Julie while Susan watches from back stage.  The cameras flash, Susan seems more amused than upset, and Julie runs home totally embarrassed.  Yet, Extra, Extra was fooled and no one says a thing publicly. Julie is in shock and sunglasses at work, Susan has arrived at the spa thinking of how to use this, and Marty can’t get over how good that kiss was. Then Susan meets HANS. She falls hard and is swept away to his mountain cabin to “have her lips worked on”.  She finally answers a call from Marty, announces she is not going to Europe with him and suggests he take the “look-a-like” as her. She then tosses her cell phone over the cliff and tells Hans to make her forget the world.

Marty and Susan’s agents panic as they had arranged many events to promote them in Europe. Then the subject of finding Julie comes up, and the band members lead them all to Julie.  Marty makes his first pass at asking Julie to “kiss him again but for money” which he tries to correct but then mistakenly calls her “Susan”. The dishes fly in the café and Marty leaves without even knowing her name. When he returns to try again, Julie has stuffed her mouth with pie in an anxiety attack and her mother does all the talking.  Marty finds out about the moms’ need for an operation, apologizes, and leaves. He tells his agents to leave Julie alone but they don’t. The next morning a doctor shows up and tells Julie’s Mom that an anonymous benefactor is paying for her operation.  The agents throw money at Julie and with pressure from her parents Julie agrees to pretend to be Susan for two weeks in Europe.  This leads to some very interesting twists and surprises that will make audiences laugh, cry, and laugh again. In the end, Marty proposes to Julie in her café and Susan asks Julie to be her double and ride horses for her in a new western.  Julie and Susan end up friends but Julie is the happiest girl in Texas as she has won the heart of her country western star.

Robert T. Roe                                     503-998-2479                             rjroe72@msn.com