John 'Scottie' Ferguson: What's this doo-hickey?
Marjorie 'Midge' Wood: It's a brassiere! You know about those things, you're a big boy now.
Scottie: I've never run across one like that.
Midge: It's brand new. Revolutionary up-lift: No shoulder straps, no back straps, but it does everything a brassiere should do. Works on the principle of the cantilevered bridge.
Scottie: It does?
Midge: An aircraft engineer down the penninsula designed it; he worked it out in his spare time.
Scottie: Kind of a hobby, a do-it-yourself kind of thing!
Scottie: Midge, who do you know that's an authority on San Francisco history?
Midge: That's the kind of greeting a girl likes! Not this "Hello-you-look-wonderful" stuff, just a good straight "Who do you know that's an authority on San Francisco his..."
Mr. Hitchcock makes his obligatory cameo appearance.
Gavin Elster: The things that spell San Francisco to me are disappearing fast..I should have liked to have lived here then - color, excitement, power, freedom.
Elster: Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past - someone dead - can enter and take possession of a living being?
Elster: She'll be talking to me about something. Suddenly the words fade into silence. A cloud comes into her eyes and they go blank. She's somewhere else, away from me, someone I don't know. I call her, she doesn't even hear me. Then, with a long sigh, she's back. Looks at me brightly, doesn't even know she's been away, can't tell me where or when.
Elster: And she wanders - God knows where she wanders. I followed her one day, watched her coming out of the apartment, someone I didn't know. She even walked a different way. Got into her car and drove off to Golden Gate Park. Five miles. Sat by the lake, staring across the water at the pillars that stand on the far shore. You know, Portals of the Past. Sat there a long time without moving.
Scottie circles behind Madeleine Elster.
Carlotta Valdes born December 3, 1831 died March 5, 1857.
Elster: My wife Madeleine has several pieces of jewelry that belonged to Carlotta. She inherited them. Never wore them - they were too old-fashioned, until now. Now when she's alone, she takes them out and looks at them, handles them gently, curiously. Puts them on and stares at herself in the mirror. Then goes into that other world, is someone else again.
Pop Liebel: Oh yes, I remember. Carlotta, beautiful Carlotta, sad...It (the McKittrick Hotel) was hers. It was built for her many years ago...by...the name I do not remember, a rich man, powerful man...It is not an unusual story. She came from somewhere small to the south of the city. Some say from a mission settlement. Young, yes, very young. And she was found dancing and singing in cabaret by that man. And he took her and built for her the great house in the Western Addition. And, uh, there was, there was a child, yes, that's it, a child, a child. I cannot tell you exactly how much time passed or how much happiness there was, but then he threw her away. He had no other children. His wife had no children. So, he kept the child and threw her away. You know, a man could do that in those days. They had the power and the freedom. And she became the sad Carlotta, alone in the great house, walking the streets alone, her clothes becoming old and patched and dirty. And the mad Carlotta, stopping people in the streets to ask, 'Where is my child?' 'Have you seen my child?'...She died...by her own hand. There are many such stories.
Midge: Is she pretty?
Scottie: Carlotta?
Midge: No, not Carlotta. Elster's wife.
Scottie: Yes, I guess you'd consider that she would...
Midge: I think I'll go and take a look at that portrait.
Midge: Well now, Johnny-O. Was it a ghost? Was it fun?
Madeleine: And what do you do, John?
Scottie: Oh, just wander about.
Madeleine: That's a good occupation. And you live here alone? One shouldn't live alone.
Scottie: Some people prefer it, you know.
Scottie: Don't you think it's a waste, to wander separately?
Madeleine: Only one is a wanderer. Two together are always going somewhere.
Scottie: Well, I'm responsible for you now. You know, the Chinese say that once you've saved a person's life, you're responsible for it forever. So, I'm committed. I have to know.
Madeleine: Somewhere in here I was born, and there I died. It was only a moment for you; you took no notice.
Scottie: Madeleine, Madeleine, where are you now?
Madeleine: Here with you.
Scottie: Where?
Madeleine: Tall trees.
Scottie: Have you been here before?
Madeleine: Yes.
Scottie: When?... When? When were you born?
Madeleine: Long ago.
Scottie: Where? When? Tell me. Madeleine, tell me!
Madeleine: No.
Madeleine: Oh Scottie. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I don't want to die. There's someone within me and she says I must die. Oh Scottie, don't let me go.
Scottie: I'm here. I've got you.
Madeleine: I'm so afraid. Don't leave me. Stay with me.
Scottie: All the time.
