The story isn""t the blackout, it""s Superman." He told her: "Three things sell papers: tragedy, sex, and Superman.People are sick of tragedy, we know you can""t write worth a damn about sex." As Clark listened to their office conversation with his sensitive hearing, he met her young asthmatic son Jason - who had wandered off into the busy press area when her yuppie fiancee Richard arrived and kissed her.We three would make an ideal couple.Why, you""ve got beauty, charm, money.You have got money, haven""t you? ""Cause if you haven""t, we can quit right now.In this scene, he has simultaneously proposed love and marriage to both Mrs.Rittenhouse and Mrs.Whitehead.Mrs.Rittenhouse is again brutally mishandled:Mrs.Rittenhouse: I""m fascinated.Spaulding: I""m ""fascinated"" too.Right on the arm.Spaulding then excuses himself for a "strange interlude" during this marriage proposal scene.He mocks the portentiousness of the theatre and parodies Eugene O""Neill""sStrange Interludewith three soliloquies, by speaking in ""interior monologues"" directly to the audience.All those fellows in the striped pants, they saw that hick and they took him in...Now, listen to me, you hicks.Yeah, you""re hicks too, and they fooled you a thousand imes, just like they fooled me.But this time, I""m gonna fool somebody.I""m gonna stay in this race.I""m on my own and I""m out for blood.Now listen to me, you hicks! Listen to me, and lift up your eyes and look at God""s blessed and unfly-blown truth.The next scene, "Anno Domini XXVI," is in sharp contrast to the Nativity scene.The newly appointed Roman Tribune Messala (Stephen Boyd), the ambitious commander of the legion that precedes the new Roman governor, rides through Nazareth, on his way o the ancient city of Jerusalem.