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WITHOUT YOU is a drama in the tradition of Pal Joey and Love Me or Leave Me. It provides a hard-edged love story, augmented with music, that chronicles the tempestuous relationship between a younger man and an older woman who are both using each other. TREY BOYLE is a down-on-his-luck actor, cleaning offices in Chicago to support his young son, DANNY. Widowed a year before, Trey is determined to achieve success no matter what. When ELLIE EGAN, a wealthy older woman, lends a helping hand, Trey latches on tight. Ellie is initially interested in Trey only for sex, but Trey insists on a strictly business relationship. Still single at 40, with no children, Ellie finds herself falling in love with the idea of becoming a family with Trey and Danny. Unbeknownst to Trey, Ellie has problems of her own with the nefarious characters who own the nightclub she manages. With Trey desperate for money and success, and Ellie desperate to find love and prove herself in a legitimate business, they make an unstoppable team. Getting in the way is BETH McALL, a young actress Trey is attracted to. Beth knows that Ellie isn’t above strong-arming people to get what she wants. She urges Trey to break away from her. But Trey is too close. He won’t give up his dream. Ellie works behind the scenes to get rid of Beth and soon she and Trey become lovers. Obsessed with taking Trey all the way to the top, Ellie spends every moment and nearly ever dollar she has on him. When her partners at the nightclub find out about her moonlighting, she is ordered to stop. Refusing to give in, and desperate to break away from them, she continues her crusade. Trey’s star rises as they move to New York and he conquers Broadway. Crushed when she loses the film rights to the Broadway show, she nonetheless allows Trey to take the role even though she will have no control over the production. Once in Hollywood, Beth re-enters Trey’s life when she is cast in his film. He keeps her reappearance secret from Ellie and Beth & Trey resume their affair. Ellie explodes when she learns the truth and goes after Beth. In an attempt to protect her, and break away from Ellie, Trey marries Beth. Unable to believe Trey would betray her, she is at first angry and then devastated by the loss of not only Trey, but of Danny, whom she has come to regard as her own child. Heartbroken and nearly penniless, she returns to New York to rebuild her life. But trouble is waiting for her in the form of her Chicago employers.. They assume control of the only asset she has left – her home. Now out on the street, they insist she return back into the crime-infested world she left. But there is no turning back for Ellie. She refuses. They beat her and leave her for dead. Jimmy, Ellie’s long-time assistant, finds Ellie in time to save her life and helps her through her rehabilitation in New York. Trey and Beth start a new life in California, but Danny is resistant. He wants to be with Ellie and rejects Beth. Feeling like he has lost his mother again, the boy acts out and runs away. Trey agrees to let Danny spend time with Ellie while she recuperates. Her career over, her fortune spent, she has nothing … but is happy for the first time in her life. She has Danny, if only temporarily. Unbeknownst to Ellie, Jimmy works behind the scenes
to launch Ellie back into legitimate show business. Her friends
all help – including
Trey. Now a major star, he agrees to star in a show that Ellie bought
for him when they were together. Hesitant to take anything from Trey
after his betrayal, Ellie’s tough exterior softens when she
realizes they need each other – even if they will never be
together. Working things out with Trey means keeping Danny nearby,
and that’s all she really wants. |
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