One Day When I was Lost: A Scenario

One Day When I was Lost: A Scenario Summary | Part 1 Summary

One Day When I Was Lost: A Scenario is James Baldwin's screenplay of Alex Haley's book The Autobiography of Malcolm X. The screenplay, which was never produced as a film, portrays the events of Malcolm X's life within the context and limitations of text which is ready for the screen. The screenplay is divided into three parts to address Malcolm's life: first, his youth; second, his time spent in prison and the beginnings of his rise to leadership; and finally, his full immersion into the Muslim religion and ascension as a leader in civil rights in America.

The screenplay begins in the parking garage of the New York Hilton Hotel in New York City in February 1965. A man enters his car, hesitates a moment before turning the ignition and then starts the engine. As the radio announces the appearance of Malcolm X at the Audubon Ballroom tonight, the man's eyes are seen in the rearview mirror, revealing the driver to be Malcolm X himself.

The car's side view mirror becomes a screen upon which appear flashback images of fire and violent hooded men smashing windows of a house where a young pregnant mulatto woman screams in terror.

A male voice is heard inside Malcolm's head shouting, "Brothers, sisters, this is not our home! Our homeland is in Africa! In Africa!" Immediately after, the sound of a trolley car is heard, and the scene on the side mirror displays a one-eyed black man, badly beaten and lying on the trolley car tracks.

As Malcolm drives, he watches the people on the streets of New York City and remembers being greeted by young black students in Dakar, located in western Africa. The students drape Malcolm in an African robe, and he is bestowed with a new name, Omowale, meaning the son who has returned.

Immediately following this scene is the image of a hand writing the name El-Haji Malik El Shabazz in the Book of the Holy Register of True Muslims. The last image in the sequence is of a black hand writing the name Malcolm Little, May 19, 1925, into a family Bible. The action returns to present day, and Malcolm's voice is heard to say, "So many names..."

The side view mirror becomes the screen for another scenario, this time at a dance where the young Malcolm dances with a girl named Laura while onlookers call to him to "Go on, Red!"

Malcolm sits in traffic in New York. He sees a beautiful blonde woman and thinks of a white woman named Sophia whom he once loved. Another flashback shows Malcolm and Sophia in bed, and Malcolm asks Sophia how she intends to explain him to her white boyfriend. An immediate transition to another flashback shows Malcolm involved in a prison fistfight while the inmates call Malcolm "Satan." Back now in the present, Malcolm muses about all the names he has had.

The action now turns to the scene of a Malcolm's childhood home in Omaha, Nebraska where his mother, Louise Little, the pregnant mulatto woman, walks from the clothesline to the house. Interspersed with images of Louise are brief scenarios of her husband, Earl Little, a preacher speaking about a prophet named Marcus Garvey whose "Back-to-Africa" movement urges black people to return to Africa so that they may enjoy their own heritage and ancestry.

The action now focuses on Louise, who hears the sound of approaching horses and realizes that the Ku Klux Klan has converged on her home. Louise, who is a mulatto and almost as white as some of the men who threaten her, tells the riders that her husband is not at home. One of the men tells Louise that Earl is in danger if he does not stop inciting Negroes with his sermons. The men smash the windows of the house before riding off into the night.

In another scene, Earl runs to catch a streetcar but misses it. He is forced to walk home, where he surveys the damage done by the Klan. Louise tearfully begs Earl to move the family away from the violence, but Earl will not be pushed away from his home until he is ready to go. Earl tells Louise that they need to go to Africa, and Louise bemoans the fact that she has the blood of a white man who raped her mother running through her veins. Earl calms Louise and tells her that they will leave for Africa as soon as the new baby is born.

The next scene shows Louise pointing out Omaha on a map so that Malcolm can see where he was born. The family leaves Omaha for Milwaukee where Klansmen set fire to the Little house, and Earl, Louise and their children watch the destruction of their possessions as the white fire fighters stand and watch. The family moves to Lansing, which is their final destination.

The action moves forward to Malcolm as a young man, strolling with a young woman named Laura on a beach at Cape Cod. Malcolm speaks of marrying Laura, but he teases her that in order for that to happen, he will have to kidnap her because her grandmother wants Laura to marry a proper black boy from Boston, not a rebel from Lansing, Michigan.

The scene reverts to a scene from Malcolm's childhood. His father's badly beaten body lays on the trolley car tracks. Unable to move from his extensive injuries, Earl Little can only watch in horror as the trolley car bears down upon him.

In the next scene, Louise enters an insurance company office where the agent tells her that Earl's life insurance policy will not be paid because the evidence of the accident proves that Earl committed suicide. Louise contends that Earl could not have inflicted the wounds on the back of his own head, but the agent will not pay because Earl's body was lying across the tracks, indicating a suicide attempt. Shortly after this, Louise fends off the verbal attacks of a social worker who has come to the Little home because of repeated delinquency reports about the Little children. The Little children are eventually taken away from Louise, who is sent to an insane asylum.

Malcolm is sent to a Detroit foster home in the care of a woman named Mrs. Swerlin who is keeping five other boys. Malcolm perseveres in his chores at home and at school and is elected class president. Mrs. Swerlin allows Malcolm to travel to Lansing on the weekends to see his old friends, including his cousin Shorty, who shares that he is moving to Boston because he cannot find work or women to advance his life.

One day, Malcolm visits the school principal, Mr. Ostrovski, to discuss career options for his future. Malcolm would like to become a lawyer, but Mr. Ostrovski tells Malcolm that colored people cannot become lawyers and advises Malcolm to pursue carpentry or some other work suitable for a Negro man. Malcolm thanks the man and leaves the office.

The next scene shows Malcolm and Shorty walking in Boston, and Malcolm tries to explain the significance of Paul Revere when they encounter a statue of the historic figure. Malcolm also tells Shorty that there is a statue of black men symbolizing the slaves who fought in the Revolutionary War. Malcolm teases Shorty by saying that Paul Revere actually yelled, "The niggers is coming! The niggers is coming!" on his famous midnight ride. Soon Malcolm and Shorty come upon the Harvard Law School building, and Malcolm watches the students with hatred in his eyes.

Shorty finds Malcolm a job working with him as a men's restroom attendant at a Boston hotel and guides Malcolm on the ways to make the most tips by playing the role of the happy nigger. Shorty introduces Malcolm to the ritual of "conking" his hair, which is a dangerous method of pouring lye on nappy hair to straighten it so that it can be styled more like the hair of white men.

On appointed nights, black people are allowed to dance in the hotel's ballroom, and Malcolm sees Laura and asks her to dance. They dance to the delight of the onlookers. Malcolm is unaware of a white woman named Sophia, who has set her sights on him. She approaches Malcolm when Laura excuses herself briefly. Sophia tells Malcolm to take Laura home and come back to the ballroom for her, insinuating the promise of intimacy. Laura can sense that Malcolm is distracted when he takes her home but says nothing as Malcolm bounds down the steps away from her house. Malcolm rushes back to Sophia, and they move to her car, where they embrace ravenously as the car radio announces the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The action transitions to Malcolm working as a train porter, selling sandwiches and coffee to travelers. The train arrives in downtown New York, and Malcolm is seen in a zoot suit entering a bar called Small's Paradise, where he meets a street-wise man named West Indian Archie. Archie mentors Malcolm on becoming a numbers runner on the streets of Harlem and outfits him in stolen clothes so that Malcolm will look successful.

One night soon after meeting Archie, Malcolm ducks into a bar to escape the rain for awhile and encounters Laura with her boyfriend, Daniel. Since Laura has moved to New York from Boston, she has taken on a more worldly air, and Malcolm is still attracted to her lively nature. Daniel leaves to let Malcolm and Laura visit, but Laura does not linger because she knows that Daniel will be expecting her to cook dinner very soon.

As Malcolm watches Laura run down the rainy sidewalk, the scene transitions to a dark room where Malcolm and Sophia lie in bed. Malcolm wants to know what Sophia will tell her fiancy about her sleeping with a black man, but Sophia tells Malcolm to shut up. Malcolm slaps her face. Ultimately, Sophia validates that she belongs to Malcolm even though she will soon be married to a white boy.

One day, Archie and Malcolm sit in Malcolm's room discussing Malcolm's recently received draft notice. Malcolm has no intention of serving in the army and manages to convince an army psychiatrist that he is crazy by feigning zeal to "organize every nigger in this man's army and blow them crackers' heads off, like we should of done a long time ago, and you know it as well as me."

Malcolm is able to avoid the draft, and his life on the streets drives him to drug use. One night he is followed into a bar as he carries a box of marijuana cigarettes to sell. Malcolm senses that he is being followed and drops the box into the gutter before entering a bar where two plain-clothes police detectives interrogate him. Not finding any evidence of drugs, the detectives vow to catch Malcolm in possession of illegal substances one day. Malcolm returns to his apartment, which has been ransacked. Malcolm sniffs some cocaine, packs his few clothes and leaves the apartment for good.

During the next few rapid scenes, Malcolm avoids the police while selling drugs, working as a pimp and doing other lowlife hustler activities. One night, Malcolm treats Archie and Sophia to a night on the town with his $300 winnings from running numbers. The next morning, Archie arrives at Malcolm's apartment brandishing a gun and accusing Malcolm of cheating Archie out of the $300.

Archie gives Malcolm a day to get his money. Sophia offers to give it to him, but Malcolm knows that he did not cheat, and if he gives money to Archie now, it will be like an admission that he did. Malcolm orders Sophia to return to Boston because there will soon be trouble, and she dresses and leaves quickly.

Malcolm dresses, sticks a gun in the waistband of his slacks and heads out to his favorite bar, where the bartender warns him about the plain-clothes detectives who have been asking about Malcolm. Malcolm goes outside for a little while to collect his thoughts and ends up in a fight that the bartender breaks up. The bartender whispers for Malcolm to give up his gun, and Malcolm hands it over to the bartender, who stashes it behind the bar just as two police officers enter the bar. The police officers usher Malcolm outside and frisk him up against the patrol car. Finding nothing, they release Malcolm with a warning.

Malcolm reenters the bar to retrieve his gun and sits with his head in his hands as memories of Ostrovski's voice flood over him telling him that a colored boy cannot be an attorney. Later that night, Archie finds Malcolm in the bar and points a gun at Malcolm threatening to kill him. The bartender pleads with Archie not to shoot Malcolm, and Archie finally relents, leaving Malcolm alone to walk out of the bar.

Shorty is driving through Harlem at the time, and seeing Malcolm, he begins to honk the car's horn. Malcolm does not turn around but senses the presence of a car bearing down on him. Finally, Malcolm turns and draws his gun to defend himself, sure that he is about to be killed. Shorty stops the car and jumps out, and Malcolm falls into his arms exhausted from fear.

Shorty and Malcolm return to Boston, where Malcolm assumes leadership of a small group of thieves. Malcolm and Shorty are ultimately caught and sentenced to eight to ten years in prison.