1917. New Haven, Connecticut. The upper middle class home of
Margaret and Charles Graves. A well-appointed sitting room.
On Stage Right, there is a piano and a table with a
gramophone. A sofa, two wing chairs and a coffee table are
arranged Stage Left and a writing desk and chair are Down
Left. French doors Up Center lead out into a garden, visible
whenever the curtains are not drawn. There are also two other
entrances -- Stage Left leads to the foyer, kitchen and
dining rooms off, while Stage Right leads to the study and
bedrooms beyond. A Scrim marks the date and time passage
between scenes.
PRE-SHOW MUSIC: A Medley “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now”
“M-O-T-H-E-R” “Goodbye, Goodluck, God Bless you”
ACT I 1917-1918
SCENE 1: Late afternoon.
A light rain can be heard intermittently throughout the
scene.
On the SCRIM we see: January 5th, 1917
SOUND: We hear static, then a NEWS REEL, a scratchy,
authoritative voice.
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
(a southern accent)
“Now I will relate the story of
Lieutenant L., which will bear out
my contention that, when it comes
to the scratch, a wireless man can
be just as cool as the next. The
Lieutenant was adjusting one of the
stays of his aerial pole which had
been disturbed by the falling of a
shell close by. As he was doing
so, over came a second shell, known
to the Tommies as a “whizz-bang,”
which gave him a direct hit,
tearing his arm clean away, except
for a stump of 4 inches. He looked
at it calmly for a couple of
seconds, and then exclaimed (just
before he fainted) ‘Well, that’s a
ticket for blighty,’ Blighty, it
might be explained, being a word
for home.”
MARGARET, a woman of 40, enters from within, holding a
journal.
MARGARET
(sings to herself)
“Come saints and sinners, hear me
tell the wonders of Emmanuel, who
snatch’d me from a burning Hell,
and brought my soul with him to
dwell, to dwell in sweetest union.”
She opens her journal.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
(reads)
Wednesday, January 3rd, 19. Gray.
Developed laryngitis last week and
cannot make a sound yet. Stayed
home all the day, until after
dinner, when Adelaide and Clarence
and I started into town for the
picture show. Could not get in so
took a car back to the Laurence
theater.
She hears water running and pots and pans clanging.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
Mary making quite a bit of noise at
the moment.
(shouting, off)
-- Mary! Mary! SUFFICIENT with
the washing now please! My
laryngitis!
(loudly)
Will have Mary clean the rugs and
wax the floors to-morrow.
The clanging stops.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
(smiles to herself)
Surely they need it....
(reads)
Thursday, January 4th. Rain.
Nothing doing as the weather is too
damp. Glad I had the washing done
yesterday, although Mary was mad as
a hornet.
She listens.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
Friday, January 5th. Rain. I
really feel like saying “I told you
so” to Mary, for if the washing had
not been done Monday it looks like
it would have had one good wait.
She sits Down Left at the desk.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
(writes)
White of an egg and lemon juice
does wonders for the voice! Can
make a little more noise. Will give
Hugh Acorn a lesson -
CHARLES
(off stage)
Margaret! Margo, I am home!
MARGARET
(to herself)
Surprise. Charles blew in about
three.
She places the journal inside the desk drawer. CHARLES, her
distinguished husband of 50, enters carrying a suitcase in
one hand and a small white pastry box in the other.
CHARLES
Hello, Margo!
MARGARET
I’m going to bed early.
Rejected, he hands her the pastry box; she gives him her
cheek. He kisses it lightly and withdraws Stage right into
the house.
MARGARET pulls a small frosted cake from the box.
CHARLES
(off stage)
Margaret?
He returns.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
How about a drink?
MARGARET
It is 3 o’clock.
CHARLES
Oh. Yes, of course -- I know.
He withdraws again. MARGARET eats the cake quickly.
CHARLES re-enters, sees her shoving cake in her mouth. She
stops. He goes to the table Down Left to choose a cigar. He
looks back at her.
MARGARET
Well?
He smells it, clips the end of the cigar off, licks the end
during the following:
CHARLES
I am a man of fifty -- a man of
fifty. I am an efficiency expert,
traveling the East consulting --
aiding businesses to become more
efficient -- to increase their
productivity, to increase their
revenue. I am sought after. Men of
business find my employer and
demand that I come to them. They
want to consult with me. I allow
myself to be consulted. Why do you
stand in the middle of the room,
eating your cake right out of the
box and without a fork?
Cigar in his mouth. He spreads out his arms.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
Come to me.
MARGARET
Without a fork?
He drops his arms.
CHARLES
Crumbs. You must be mindful.
She kneels down to pick up the crumbs.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
Are you keeping the journal I gave
you?
MARGARET
Yes, I record each day, as you said
-- the goings’ on, the household
expenses.
She stands, smiles at him.
CHARLES
Good girl.
He takes her in his arms.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
Where are the children?
She goes rigid.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
All week I have been away.
MARGARET
I am full.
CHARLES
You are my wife!
He takes the cake away from her and exits Stage Right. She
dabs the corners of her mouth, with a handkerchief, and exits
Stage Left.
SCENE 2: Light change -- Late afternoon to Morning.
Snow falls very lightly outside.
On the SCRIM we see: February 3rd, 1917 One month later
SOUND: We hear a NEWS REEL...
NEWS REEL
“On this day of February 3, 1917,
we relay to you an excerpt from
President Wilson’s address to
Congress: Gentlemen of Congress:
The Imperial German Government
...announced...that on and after
the 1st day of February, the
present month, it would adopt a
policy with regard to the use of
submarines against all shipping
seeking to pass through certain
designated areas of the high seas,
to which it is clearly my duty to
call your attention.
(MORE)
I have therefore directed the
Secretary of State to announce to
his Excellency the German
Ambassador that all diplomatic
relations between the United States
and the German Empire are severed
and that the American Ambassador to
Berlin will immediately be
withdrawn; and, in accordance with
this decision, to hand to his
Excellency his passports.”
MARGARET enters in a long lace dress, which looks to be
missing the sash for the waist. She searches about the room
for something (the sash?). She cinches her waist with her
hands, checking her profile in the window. She stretches her
torso taller. Useless. She exhales, sits at her desk,
retreating into today’s journal entry.
MARGARET
(reads)
Saturday, February 3rd. Crisp,
Sunny. Every one up bright and
early like the day! Charles to his
outdoor church. Adelaide and I to
church. Clarence to the picture
show. Will rehearse with Hugh Acorn
and Mrs. Dickie. Mrs. Dickie
continues to play piano for
services at the Good Shepherd. We
like her but not her work.
She writes and speaks the following:
MARGARET (CONT’D)
(writing)
Must have Mary find my pink silk
sash; Hugh Acorn comes at .
She closes the journal, places it back into the desk drawer.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
(calling off)
Mary!
She stands, presses on her abdomen, exits Right, within.
ADELAIDE
(sings off stage)
See the sash go twirling, twirling,
round and round and round.
ADELAIDE, their 15 year old daughter dances in from Stage
Left. She twirls a long pink sash.
NEWS REEL (CONT'D)
She opens the curtains, revealing the snowy garden. She taps
on the window. Outside on a bench, CHARLES, with a newspaper,
smokes a cigar.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
(sings)
“See the sash go twirling,
twirling”
MARGARET re-enters.
MARGARET
Adelaide --
MARGARET
Give me that sash.
ADELAIDE
“Round and round and round.”
MARGARET (CONT’D)
We are having rehearsal --
ADELAIDE
(sings)
“Round and round and round.”
MARGARET
Mrs. Dickie and Hugh Acorn --
ADELAIDE twirls the sash around MARGARET.
ADELAIDE
(sings)
“See the sash go twirling,
twirling, round and round and
round”
MARGARET changes tactics.
MARGARET
You know, the choir all feel badly
Mrs. Dickie is hired for another
year.
ADELAIDE stops.
ADELAIDE
I thought you liked Mrs. Dickie.
MARGARET
We like her but not her work.
MARGARET snatches the sash away.
CLARENCE
(off stage)
Mother!
ADELAIDE
(sings)
“Tie me up and lay me down”
ADELAIDE pulls one end of the sash and circles it around her
mother.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
(sings slowly)
“Round and round...”
MARGARET
Adelaide!
CLARENCE
(off)
Oh, Mother!
ADELAIDE
(sings)
“Up and --”
CLARENCE
(off stage)
“A puff of smoke -- what’s the
harm?”
ADELAIDE
“Down!”
She snaps the sash away. MARGARET straightens her dress. A
paper airplane sails into the room.
CLARENCE
(off)
“One puff calls for more. That’s
the harm.
ADELAIDE snatches it up, as her brother, CLARENCE, enters.
Lean and boyish, he is a young man of .
MARGARET
(gently, to Clarence)
You missed Sunday service again.
CLARENCE
(memorized, preacher-like)
“And every one of these puffs
deposits a small quantity of deadly
poison in the body.”
MARGARET
How was the picture show?
CLARENCE
Not nearly as entertaining as your
anti-smoking propaganda.
(reads)
(MORE)
“One puff does not make of the
bright boy a criminal; but the many
puffs that follow the first, place
him in the dungeon. Tobacco,
therefore, closes the gateway to
the world and it never opens again
to the knocking of stained hands.”
MARGARET ruffles his hair. He smoothes his hair back down.
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
Adelaide, does it say there how
many cigarettes a boy can safely
smoke?
ADELAIDE unfolds the “airplane” pamphlet.
ADELAIDE
(reads)
Why, yes, Clarence, yes it does!
“Just as it requires not ONE but
MULTIPLE needle pricks of the
Chinese doctor to kill the baby,
death by smoking requires MULTIPLE
pricks of the cigarette!”
CLARENCE
(to Margaret)
Not one, but multiples!
He draws a cigarette out of a silver case.
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
Mother, how about a prick?
He pokes ADELAIDE with it.
ADELAIDE
Don’t stab me with your surly
smoking sticks.
MARGARET
Do that in the garden.
MARGARET sees MRS. DICKIE through the French doors.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
Oh, Mrs. Dickie!
(to her children)
Now mind your manners!
CLARENCE stands, grabs the pamphlet from his sister and again
folds it into an airplane.
CLARENCE (CONT'D)
MRS. DICKIE
(apologetically)
Mr. Graves allowed Mr. Acorn and I
to enter through the garden gate.
MARGARET
(sweetly)
Yes of course, come in.
HUGH, 25, impeccably dressed, ghostly pale, appears behind
MRS. DICKIE. She, though lovely, makes an awkward
appearance, uncomfortable in her skin and in her clothes --
someone else’s Sunday Best.
HUGH
Hello, Mrs. Graves. Miss Graves.
ADELAIDE tosses the sash at her mother.
ADELAIDE
Hello.
MARGARET balls up the sash.
MARGARET
Adelaide. Twirling around with this
old thing. Excuse me...
She exits with it.
HUGH
Hello Clarence.
CLARENCE
Mr. Acorn. Cigarette?
HUGH
No thanks.
CLARENCE lights one for himself.
CLARENCE
One puff calls for more.
ADELAIDE
Stupid.
CLARENCE
As ever.
MARGARET returns with a bag, brimming with clothes, which she
hands to MRS. DICKIE.
MARGARET
Try on everything, dear, and
deliver whatever does not suit you
to the Good Shepherd, will you?
MRS. DICKIE nearly grabs the bag out of MARGARET’S hand.
MRS. DICKIE
Oh, thank you.
She looks from HUGH to CLARENCE and then quickly deposits it
by the French doors.
CLARENCE
Never mind her, Mrs. Dickie --
Mother, I trust you included in the
discards, your new pink sash?
MARGARET
Now then. Mrs. Dickie, won’t you
have a seat at the piano?
MRS. DICKIE removes her hat. MARGARET smiles at HUGH. Seeing
this, ADELAIDE begins...
ADELAIDE
(to her mother)
“See the sash go twirling,
twirling”
MARGARET
Be quiet, please. Rehearsal!
MRS. DICKIE plays scales on the piano.
ADELAIDE
(singing more quietly)
-- round and round and round.”
MARGARET
(a warning)
How I will introduce you into
society, Adelaide I will never
know.
ADELAIDE
Mrs. Dickie, stop!
She does.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
Mother likes you, but not your
work.
CLARENCE
Monkey!
MARGARET
Mrs. Dickie, that is entirely --
MRS. DICKIE
True, isn’t it?
ADELAIDE struts off, Right.
MARGARET
Really, of all the rude, childish --
CLARENCE
You must be so proud.
MRS. DICKIE
I am...distracted -- Oliver -- my
husband, Mr. Dickie, will fight, he
says, if -- The War.
MARGARET
Now, now...we are not at war.
CLARENCE shoots the paper airplane pamphlet.
CLARENCE
(a shot-down war plane)
Neeeeeeer Pshhhh!
MARGARET
(to Clarence)
Pick. That. Up.
All of them look at the shot down “war plane.”
MRS. DICKIE
It’s hard not to think of it.
HUGH picks it up.
HUGH
What do you have here, Clarence?
MARGARET walks over to MRS. DICKIE and sits her gently down.
CLARENCE
(fire and brimstone)
“One puff of the cigarette does not
destroy the brain or heart;
(MORE)
but it leaves a stain, and every
other puff deepens that stain,
until finally the brain loses its
normality, and the victim is taken
to the hospital for the insane or
laid in the grave.”
MARGARET
Would you like something to eat?
CLARENCE, ashing into a tea cup...
CLARENCE
(indicates cigarette)
Seems ridiculous, doesn’t it? To
rant at a young man about coffin
nails, yet ship him off to die.
MARGARET
(to Clarence)
You’re hungry.
(to Mrs. Dickie)
He’s hungry.
MRS. DICKIE
To die?
MRS. DICKIE starts to play, stops, sits on her hands. All
react. MARGARET goes to the console near the piano and pours
her a glass of water.
MARGARET
(pleasantly, to Clarence)
Clarence, would you like a piece of
cake?
CLARENCE
You don’t mean that.
MARGARET
(playfully)
Berries and cream?
CLARENCE
Mother.
MARGARET
Come here, you.
MARGARET takes CLARENCE’S hand.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
(off to Mary)
Mary, bake this boy a cake!
CLARENCE (CONT'D)
CLARENCE
Really dear, if I cannot smoke, how
will I pass the time?
HUGH looks up from the sheet music.
HUGH ACORN
Join the war effort, Clarence!
MARGARET
We are not at war.
CLARENCE
Were you listening to Mrs. Dickie?
MARGARET
(to Mrs. Dickie)
Yes I was. She said “if.”
MRS. DICKIE
I have a son.
MARGARET
(smiles)
We know dear.
MRS. DICKIE
He and Oliver -- Mr. Dickie -- are
fishing at the reservoir. Today. On
account of the worms -- my boy --
that is to say, he likes them.
MRS. DICKIE, embarrassed, rises, but with nowhere to go.
CLARENCE
(to Margaret)
Have you read a paper lately?
MARGARET
Who needs to, with you around?
Memorizing news stories, hurling
words at the air. Feed your mind
with verse, Clarence, not
propaganda.
HUGH ACORN
Propaganda?!
CLARENCE
Where IS the ash tray?
Discovering a purpose, MRS. DICKIE calls off.
MRS. DICKIE
(calling off)
Adelaide dear, is the ash tray
there?
CLARENCE stretches out on the sofa.
CLARENCE
Well if there were a war effort to
join, and I did God rest my soul,
happen to die serving in it, I
would surely go to heaven. That
would make you happy, now wouldn’t
it?
ADELAIDE bounds in past MRS. DICKIE with an ashtray.
MARGARET
Dying in a war will not save your
soul.
MARGARET leans into him, over the back of the sofa.
CLARENCE
Nor will your empty verses.
MARGARET
(in his ear)
Clever, if you tried a little
religion you might find it useful.
ADELAIDE
I have!
(to Hugh)
Found it...useful.
CLARENCE
(laughs)
Forgive me, all of you. I’ve
thought about religion for a minute
or two, but it just makes no sense.
Sing on!
MARGARET nods knowingly to MRS. DICKIE, who retreats to the
French Doors.
MARGARET
Even you may be lured in by the
Good News...
CLARENCE
(loudly to Hugh)
Lured yes, to my death.
(MORE)
I will not have death on earth -- I
will smoke and drink and dance and
gamble -- I will live!
MARGARET
Mind your manners!
ADELAIDE
(sings)
“Come saints and sinners hear me
tell”
HUGH ACORN
(sings with her)
“The wonders of Emmanuel”
MARGARET
Mr. Acorn!
MRS. DICKIE breathes on the window, traces a picture with her
finger. CLARENCE watches her.
CLARENCE
(smoking rapturously)
Post Script: It’s not the smoke
that lures men to their graves--
it’s the skirts, the shoes, the
stockings, the songs --
ADELAIDE saunters in front of HUGH.
HUGH takes an involuntary step after her.
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
(sings)
“Oh, oh, oh it's a lovely war/
Who wouldn't be a soldier, eh/ Oh
it's a shame to take the pay.”
MRS. DICKIE wipes her picture away and looks at the smeared
window pane.
MRS. DICKIE
Goodbye.
MARGARET
But -- rehearsal --
MRS. DICKIE exits, hat in hand, through the garden.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
Please don’t go!
HUGH picks up the bag of clothes she’s left behind.
CLARENCE (CONT'D)
CLARENCE
(picks up the singing)
“As soon as reveille has gone
we feel just as heavy as
lead,
but we never get up till the
sergeant brings our breakfast
up to bed.”
MARGARET
Clarence -- stop it at once!
HUGH exits with the bag, as CHARLES enters, past him.
CHARLES
(to Hugh)
What the devil?
Annoyed at the glass on the piano, he removes it.
ADELAIDE AND CLARENCE
(singing)
“Oh, oh, oh, it's a lovely war/
What do we want with eggs and ham/
when we've got plum and apple jam?”
CHARLES
Good form!
ADELAIDE and CLARENCE march off, arm-in-arm,
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(with a smile)
What do you say, Margo?!
CHARLES, raised glass, trails behind humming loudly.
ADELAIDE AND CLARENCE
(singing)
“Form fours. Right turn/ How shall
we spend the money we earn/
Oh, oh, oh it's a lovely war.”
MARGARET storms out Right.
SCENE 3: Light Change - From Morning to Evening
The sound of Thunder, and Rain. Radio static.
A flash of Lightning.
On the Scrim we see: March 1st, 1917 One Month Later
SOUND: We hear static and then the NEWS REEL voice.
NEWS REEL
“March 1, 1917, New York Times. The
following telegram dated January
19th from German Foreign Minister
Arthur Zimmermann to the German
Minister to Mexico, von Eckhardt,
was released today to the American
Press: “On the first of February
we intend to begin submarine
warfare un-restricted...We make
Mexico a proposal of alliance on
the following basis: make war
together, make peace together,
generous financial support and an
understanding on our part that
Mexico is to reconquer the lost
territory...You will inform the
President of the above most
secretly as soon as the outbreak of
war with the United States of
America is certain...
SOUND: The NEWS REEL stops...Static.
MARGARET, fleeing the news, hurries in with her journal. She
sits at the desk, opens her journal.
MARGARET
(desperately)
Saturday, March 1, 19. Rain.
Charles due home yesterday,“about
the world” as he says, detained,
again, in New London.
SOUND: The Static fades out.
She listens. Silence. She takes a deep breath, reads.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
(to herself)
Eyes hurt. Head is pounding. Can’t
stand to have Mary lurking about
pretending to clean so have made
her Adelaide’s chaperone. Mary
went on her fifth outing with
Adelaide and Hugh Acorn today.
Adelaide wore a darling suit, with
a fetching hat to match. Perhaps
too fetching. I joined Mr. and Mrs.
Dickie at the Hyperion for a
matinee of “Rio Grande.” Fine
acting but poor play. Came home by
five to rehearse with Hugh, but he
and Adelaide had not returned.
(MORE)
When she finally did come up for
air, sans Mary -- darling daughter
alighted the stairs without a word.
We hear the front door shut, but MARGARET doesn’t seem to.
CLARENCE enters from Stage Left, rain coat, umbrella
dripping, paper in hand. He whistles a Graves family
signature melody -- pulling her out of her trance.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
(smiles)
Clarence! You startled me.
He eagerly goes to his mother, who gives him her full
attention, as if she’s returned from a long absence. The
attention becomes too much.
CLARENCE
Where is my sister?
MARGARET
Darling, won’t I do?
CLARENCE
I am memorizing something to recite
to her.
MARGARET
What is it?
CLARENCE
Father’s Popular Science Monthly.
She shakes her head at the sight of him, sopping wet.
MARGARET
You’re dripping all over --
CLARENCE
Sorry, mother.
He rushes into the foyer.
MARGARET
(calling off)
You ought to write an editorial
instead!
CLARENCE
(off stage)
I have nothing to write about.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
MARGARET
(calling off)
Of course you do -- your life, your
thoughts, your experience --
He returns, handing her the paper.
CLARENCE
My experience. When I have one of
those, I’ll write it down. Until
then -- Popular Science Monthly,
Capt. A.P. Corcoran. To the public
at large. “There is little that is
romantic in the performance of the
wireless man in warfare.”
MARGARET
The wireless man in warfare?
CLARENCE
Watch the words for me, Mother!
He charges with a mimed “bayonet.”
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
(back to the southern
accent)
“He does not charge with bayonet--”
MARGARET
Bayonet?!
CLARENCE
“...bayonet fixed to rush an
enemy trench. He does not
kill or conquer.”
He picks up her journal.
MARGARET
Put that down.
CLARENCE
“And the popular imagination finds
it hard to see a hero in a man
whose duty is the mere recording of
others' exploits.”
MARGARET
Give me my journal!
He drops it on the coffee table.
CLARENCE
The mere recording of others
exploits...is that what you do
there? I oughta give you something
to write about.
CLARENCE charges at her.
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
He does not charge with bayonet
fixed to rush an enemy trench.
He takes his mother’s hand.
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
(softly)
He does not kill or conquer.
MARGARET
What is wrong with you?
CLARENCE
You and the wireless man have much
in common mother -- merely
recording, advising -- you take no
action! When my chance comes, I
will fly, aim, shoot, FIGHT!
MARGARET
Fool.
His eyes follow her to the desk, where she deposits her
journal.
CLARENCE
Yes, retreat to your journal!
MARGARET
Anything to get away from you --
hounding me just like your father.
CLARENCE
Just like my -- We will SEE about
that...
(shouting in a sing-song
voice)
Oh, Addie, come out and play!
MARGARET
I didn’t mean that.
CLARENCE
What about you, Mother?
You are hounding me! Addie!
MARGARET
Clarence, please --
ADELAIDE runs in.
ADELAIDE
What is it?
CLARENCE
HURRAH! The Laconia has been sunk!
Sunk by the Germans --
MARGARET
Take your play acting outside!
CLARENCE, now a British newspaper reporter...
CLARENCE
(British accent)
“Floyd Gibbons, special to...”
(to Adelaide)
What was it again?
ADELAIDE
How would I know?
CLARENCE
Never mind. “To -- Various --
Metropolitan Dailies.
It is now a little over thirty
hours since I stood on the slanting
decks of the big liner.”
ADELAIDE
We’ve done this already.
CLARENCE
Not like this!
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
A number of times!
CLARENCE
Not like this!
ADELAIDE
Wait -- like what?
He sits her down next to him on the sofa.
MARGARET crosses away to the garden window.
CLARENCE
(assuming his character)
“-- heard the hiss of escaping
steam and the roar of ascending
rockets -Our lifeboat, No. . was
smashed in lowering. I was in the
bow, Mrs. Hoy and her daughter were
sitting toward the stern.”
CLARENCE and ADELAIDE mime being on the rocking “lifeboat”
MARGARET traces the smear Mrs. Dickie left on the window.
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
(reporter-like)
“There was a big hole in the side
and it came too fast.”
MARGARET
(calling off)
Mary, these windows need attention!
CLARENCE
“Every swell rode clear over us and
we had to hold our breath until we
came to the surface again. The
women got weaker and weaker, then a
wave came and washed both of them
out of the boat.”
MARGARET leans on the door, watches her children.
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
“There were life belts on their
bodies and they floated away, but I
believe that before they were
washed overboard, both mother and
child were dead.”
ADELAIDE rolls off the sofa, in a graceful, dramatic death.
ADELAIDE
Weaker and weaker -- just like
that.
CLARENCE
Not you, Addie.
ADELAIDE
But I’m Mrs. Hoy’s Daughter.
CLARENCE
You’ve been re-cast.
ADELAIDE
Recast?
CLARENCE
You’re a survivor. You are now the
beautiful French-Polish actress on
board --
ADELAIDE
The actress!
CLARENCE
-- survived the sinking, left her
manager to drown!
ADELAIDE
Then Father is my manager!
CLARENCE
Not anymore: he is the old German-
Jew travelling man -- always
(a vicious imitation)
“about the world” --
CLARENCE regards his mother. She averts her eyes.
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
He is an enemy to all in the ship’s
smoke room.
ADELAIDE
Enemy -- but why?
CLARENCE
(imitating his father)
Why because he was always speaking
too assuredly of that which he was
entirely uncertain. And
then...BANG!
The women jump. CLARENCE hobbles over to ADELAIDE.
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
(with a German accent)
“My Boy, I can’t see nutting! My
glasses slipped and I am falling.
Hold me, please.”
ADELAIDE
(laughs)
And Mother?! Is she still Mrs.
Hoy!?
CLARENCE
Hell no.
MARGARET
Watch your tongue.
CLARENCE
Papa’s sweetheart chick, Mother is
now the siren --
ADELAIDE
What siren?!
CLARENCE and MARGARET lock eyes.
CLARENCE
Taunting the doomed vessel to it’s
watery death, with her siren’s
song.
MARGARET
That isn’t funny.
CLARENCE
I wasn’t laughing.
As ADELAIDE exits...
ADELAIDE
(off stage)
Why does Mother get to be the
siren? It’s not fair!
CLARENCE and MARGARET remain.
SFX: We hear the front door slam.
CHARLES
(off stage)
Margaret! Margo, I am home.
CHARLES blows in, dripping wet, in a raincoat, with a
suitcase and a small white pastry box.
CLARENCE
Father.
CHARLES
Son.
He hands her the baker’s box.
MARGARET
You were due home yesterday.
CHARLES
Hello, Margo.
CLARENCE
“About the world,” again?
CHARLES
Yes...Arkansas.
CHARLES escapes Left.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(off-stage)
The train was abominable the whole
way!
MARGARET opens the box and peers inside. CLARENCE watches.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(off stage)
Management forced Gunderman on me --
from Arkansas to New London -- had
to share a sleeper with him the
whole way!
CHARLES returns sans over coat.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
The fool spoke incessantly about
his damnable invention which will
as he says, “put him on the map.”
Everyone was discussing the sinking
of the Laconia, yet there he was
jabbering away, morning and night
about himself and his mundane ideas
that hold no interest to anyone but
him.
CLARENCE
What was his invention?
CHARLES watches Margaret’s finger dip into the frosting on
the cake.
CHARLES
Some sort of meat thermometer with
a mind of its own.
CLARENCE
Details?
She eats the frosting off her finger.
CHARLES
None. He’s been sworn to secrecy
by his partner, Mrs. Gunderman. The
whole thing is ludicrous. He talked
about it incessantly, harping on
the fact that he couldn’t talk
about it.
CHARLES crosses to the desk and chooses a cigar.
MARGARET
A man in conference with himself.
MARGARET, sets down the cake and goes to CHARLES...
CHARLES
God damn fool -- repeating the same
lack of information over and over.
Utter lack of efficiency.
She wraps her arms around him, smells his neck.
MARGARET
Orchids?
CHARLES pushes her away.
CHARLES
I need a drink.
He exits Right, within.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(off stage)
Mary!
MARGARET
My head is splitting in two.
She picks up the cake.
CHARLES
(off stage)
Where is Mary?
MARGARET smashes the cake on a sofa pillow.
MARGARET
We were wondering that ourselves,
weren’t we Clarence?
CLARENCE is speechless. CHARLES re-enters.
CHARLES
I do not have time for your word
games, Margaret. Do you know where
your domestic is or don’t you?
MARGARET turns the pillow over.
MARGARET
She comes and goes.
CHARLES
What about the cleaning and the
laundry?
MARGARET
I’ve made her Adelaide’s chaperone.
CHARLES
That is unacceptable.
MARGARET
Adelaide’s being out or me making
Mary her chaperone?
CHARLES
Have you been keeping a record of
things around here?
MARGARET
In my journal.
CHARLES
Hand it over.
He puts his hand out for it.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
I told you I may have to check it
now and then.
MARGARET
I haven’t finished.
CHARLES
Finished what? It is ongoing -
- a daily record --
MARGARET
-- I haven’t finished the
day. I would prefer to
finish -- the day.
MARGARET shields the desk with her body.
CHARLES
Fine. That’s fine, Margaret. I
told you a journal would keep your
head in order, you see? Helps you
to go about your day with a sense
of order and purpose -- increases
your productivity. Good girl.
MARGARET smiles.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
Son, make me a drink.
CLARENCE looks for his mother’s approval.
MARGARET
Go on, dear.
CLARENCE exits Right.
CHARLES
(sternly, to Margaret)
Now then, let me see it.
MARGARET
I told you I am not finished.
CHARLES
I will not look at today’s entry.
MARGARET lifts it out of the drawer.
MARGARET
The journal...is mine.
CHARLES
It is mine as well -- that is, my
right to know.
MARGARET
Your right?
CHARLES
Give it here, damn it.
MARGARET stares at him, quietly defiant.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
I demand that you give it here!
She rips out a page.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
Why did you do that?!
MARGARET
I made a mistake.
CHARLES
Then cross it out!
MARGARET (CONT’D)
I don’t like how that looks.
CHARLES
But now there’s a page missing!
MARGARET
Because I made a mistake....My
calculations -- of the household
expenses! They were incorrect.
CHARLES
Give me that page, Margaret.
She crumples it up in a ball.
CHARLES advances. MARGARET retreats.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
CLARENCE! Clarence get in here!
CLARENCE, a cigarette tucked behind his ear, enters with
Charles’ drink. He stops, shocked, at his mother and father.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
Give me that paper -- that balled
up page of your mother’s records.
Take it from your mother and give
it to me.
Trembling, CLARENCE hands his father the tinkling glass.
CLARENCE
Mother? May I have that please?
She shakes her head “no”
CHARLES
What the hell is wrong with her?
CLARENCE
(angrily)
You shouldn’t have pressed her to
see the journal.
CHARLES
What the hell difference does it
make -- it’s only a record of days -
- HER days. What the hell could be
in there?
CLARENCE
Then why did you press her?
(to Margaret, gently)
Mother, you’ve agitated father. You
are acting very strangely. Could
you just give me the page, please?
MARGARET
(to Clarence)
I can see myself in you.
CHARLES
What is it now?
MARGARET
(ignoring Charles, to
Clarence)
Your eyes.
A boy, CLARENCE’S arms drop to his sides.
CHARLES
I demand to know what is happening
here!
She un-crumples the balled-up page.
MARGARET
Even when you were a baby, I could
see myself in your eyes -- who I
was, who I wanted to be.
CLARENCE looks away.
CHARLES
Give me that page.
As CHARLES advances, she tears up the record of her thoughts.
MARGARET
(to Clarence)
Your smile -- beguiling -- wise and
yet so young.
CHARLES snatches the pieces out of her hands.
CHARLES
(reads)
This is no record at all!
MARGARET
(to Clarence)
And your voice -- loud, deliberate,
just weeks old and with so much to
say. No one’s words but your own.
CHARLES
(reads)
Oh I see.
Triggered, CLARENCE pulls out the cigarette.
CLARENCE
(to his mother)
The judgement! No one’s words but
my own as a babe, and now only the
words of others.
He lights it.
SOUND: A French song can be heard softly from another room in
the house.
CHARLES
(to Margaret)
I see -- it’s your thoughts...
MARGARET
Your words are not your own -- they
are someone else’s.
CHARLES
(a declaration)
Useless musings about Clarence!
CLARENCE
Yes, yes I know -- And I do not
smile at you as I did then.
CHARLES sees CLARENCE smoking.
CHARLES
(to Clarence)
PUT THAT DAMN THING OUT!
CLARENCE does.
MARGARET
(to herself)
Your smile is not the same. You do
not care for me, not like before.
CLARENCE
Hence, you smear cake on the sofa.
CHARLES
She does what?!!
CHARLES inspects the sofa.
MARGARET
You told.
CLARENCE
(pursuing her)
Seeking my sympathy?
MARGARET
Seeking nothing. Never mind.
CHARLES holds up the pillow.
CHARLES
The sofa is ruined!
CLARENCE
But I do. Everything you do or want
to do. I see it, and I do mind.
CLARENCE exits Left.
CHARLES
Margaret -- you will clean this up!
I am away all week long, working,
only to return to this increasingly
nonsensical behavior. I cannot
stand one more minute of it,
understand? Mary!
CHARLES exits with the pillow.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(off)
Adelaide!
SOUND: The volume of the French song becomes louder.
MARGARET gathers up the torn papers and exits.
SCENE 4 - Light Change -- From Evening to Day.
SOUND: The French song gives way to a scratchy static and the
NEWS REEL...
On the Scrim we see: April 6, 1917 Three Weeks Later
NEWS REEL
(off stage)
“U.S. Ambassador to Austria-
Hungary, Frederic C. Penfield, on
the German Retreat to the
Hindenburg Line. Scores of French
towns and villages, isolated
chateaux and factories were razed
to the ground.”
MARGARET, disheveled, enters, as if pursued...
SOUND: The Broadcast THIS TIME, is relentless, filling the
room.
All overlapping:
NEWS REEL (CONT’D)
“The destruction everywhere was
complete, outrageous, fiendish.
MARGARET
(into her journal)
April 6th, 19. Crisp. Dinner
today: pot roast and carrot cake.
MARGARET rubs her temples.
NEWS REEL
“During the day we saw no living
thing native to the land - no cow,
sheep or horse; no dog, cat or
fowl. To restore the orchards and
other useful trees will call for a
half century. What the Germans did
...in Northern France was the
systematic murdering of Nature,
nothing less.”
MARGARET lays on the sofa, as if ducking from the hail of
bullets in the NEWS VOICE.
SOUND: We hear CLARENCE’S VOICE join and then overtake the
NEWS REEL voice.
CLARENCE
(off stage)
“Our automobile broke a tire
near a village that had been
the appanage of a once
splendid chateau.”
NEWS REEL
(faintly)
“Our automobile broke a tire
near a village that had been
the appanage of a once
splendid chateau”
CLARENCE enters, Spring coat and hat, along with ADELAIDE,
likewise, from the garden. He reads from a magazine. ADELAIDE
sucks on hard candies from a white bag.
CLARENCE
(reads)
“When the chauffeur was making the
repairs six or eight children
gathered about the machine to
witness the work.”
(to Adelaide)
I think I’ve got it now.
CLARENCE hands the magazine to ADELAIDE.
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
(memorized)
“Two lads were better dressed than
the others and wore...” Damn. What
was it?
ADELAIDE
(reads)
“Neat suits of cotton cor --
CLARENCE
(memorized)
“Neat suits of cotton corduroy. I
engaged the elder of these brothers
in conversation by asking where the
garments came from and he promptly
replied...”
He snatches ADELAIDE’S candy bag away.
ADELAIDE
Hey!
“The school boy” sucks on a candy.
CLARENCE
(French accent)
"From the American Relief Clearing
House Committee, which has fed and
clothed us since the Boches were
driven away.”
(pause)
That’s your cue.
ADELAIDE
Oh, sorry.
(low voice, “U.S.
Ambassador”)
"Have you any relatives?"
He points toward MARGARET.
CLARENCE
(French accent)
"Yes my poor mother lies sick in
that cottage there,"
ADELAIDE
(low voice, “U.S.
Ambassador”)
"Have you sisters?"
CLARENCE
(French accent)
"Two, aged 19 and . Both were
outraged by the Germans and carried
off by the retreating army.”
At this rape account, ADELAIDE recoils and MARGARET curls up,
fetal position.
CLARENCE (CONT'D)
(French accent)
“Our poor father, who tried to
protect our sisters, was shot dead
by the Boches, who said he was
disobedient, and his body lies
buried there by the roadside."
ADELAIDE
(to herself)
And his body lies buried there by
the roadside...
ADELAIDE sits on the sofa next to her MOTHER.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
Mother, feeling ill again?
ADELAIDE picks up the journal.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
Speaking into your journal?
CLARENCE
(admonishing)
Put it down.
ADELAIDE
Does it say anything in
here...about me?
MARGARET
No.
ADELAIDE
That’s too bad. Can I look at it?
MARGARET
There’s nothing there.
CLARENCE plays Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag.” MARGARET sits up.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
(to Clarence)
I like when you play that song.
CLARENCE
(smiles)
I know.
ADELAIDE opens the journal.
ADELAIDE
Then you won’t mind if I have
a look.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
Addie!
CLARENCE stops playing.
CLARENCE (CONT’D)
Leave her alone!
ADELAIDE
Why should I?
CLARENCE
Because I told you to.
ADELAIDE
She can speak for herself...
CLARENCE
She has!
ADELAIDE closes the journal.
MARGARET
Keep playing.
CLARENCE plays. ADELAIDE rests her head on Margaret.
ADELAIDE
Mother, may I? -- read just one
day? You can choose! Or else, I’ll
open to a page with my eyes closed,
and scan over it with my finger and
you can read me the line I point to
-- the way we do with bible verses.
MARGARET opens the book. ADELAIDE closes her eyes and points
to a line with her finger.
ADELAIDE opens her eyes and looks down.
MARGARET
You read it.
ADELAIDE
(reads, imitating
Margaret)
“Warm evening. An ideal day. Mrs.
Dickie was ill.“
CLARENCE, imitating MRS. DICKIE, stops playing, sits on his
hands.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
You say things about Mrs. Dickie
and not me?!
CLARENCE
(with a laugh)
Monkey!
ADELAIDE
(louder)
Quiet!
(reads)
“So we did not have rehearsal.
Stayed in all the morning and went
out in the afternoon. Dreading
this evening for they are all alike
-- bed.”
ADELAIDE’S eyes widen.
CHARLES
(off-stage)
Margaret! Oh, Margo!
CHARLES enters with a newspaper under his arm.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
Well here we have it: This is it:
Wilson has declared war.
MARGARET
War?
MARGARET locks eyes with CLARENCE.
A SILENCE of a few moments, then...
CHARLES
You must not fear, wife, as the
President said, this is “A War
Against All Nations.“
ADELAIDE
(to herself)
A war against all nations.
ADELAIDE puts her hand on her MOTHER’s.
CHARLES
Nothing else can be done.
CLARENCE stands.
ADELAIDE
(very serious)
I will become a Catholic.
MARGARET
Nonsense.
CHARLES
Wilson’s speech, boy!
CLARENCE eagerly takes the newspaper from his father.
CHARLES
(to Clarence)
That’s right -- speak us the
speech!
ADELAIDE
The Protestant religion is
deficient.
CLARENCE reads to himself.
MARGARET
Deficient, how?
ADELAIDE
It’s a bore. Not to mention the
fact that it doesn’t work.
MARGARET
Work for whom?
CHARLES
(to Margaret and Adelaide)
Pay attention! Go on, son.
CLARENCE
(reads in his own voice)
“There is one choice we can not
make, we are incapable of making.”
CHARLES
Louder!
ADELAIDE twirls past her mother.
ADELAIDE
(sings)
“Ta ra ra boom dee eh”
MARGARET grabs her arm.
ADELAIDE
Ouch!
MARGARET
Adelaide? Work for whom?
CHARLES claps his hands.
The women stop and look. CHARLES nods at Clarence.
CLARENCE
(reads in his own voice)
“We will not choose the path of
submission and suffer the most
sacred rights of our nation and our
people to be ignored or violated.”
CHARLES
Wake up, America!
CLARENCE
(reads)
“The wrongs against which we now
array ourselves cut to the very
roots of human life.”
MARGARET rushes to CLARENCE.
MARGARET
The multiplied pricks inflicted by
the Chinese doctor drive the breath
of life in the baby right out.
CHARLES
What in the--?
CLARENCE drops the paper, takes her hands in his.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
Don’t distract him!
CHARLES waves the newspaper.
CLARENCE
No more recording and advising,
Mother. Now is the time to act.
CHARLES
To act -- to fight!
MARGARET
(desperately, to Clarence)
Clarence, you must find your own --
words. You will not find the
meaning you seek --
ADELAIDE
(sings)
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God/”
ADELAIDE, clasping the candy bag like a bride’s bouquet,
processes down an imaginary church aisle.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
(sings)
“And his righteousness./And
all these things shall be
added onto you/Alleluia”
CLARENCE
(overlapping)
-- Only because I do not seek
what you want me to find.
You want a life for me that’s
lived in death -- death to
desire, death to fulfillment -
- your life.
MARGARET
I am happy.
ADELAIDE
Lie.
CHARLES
Adelaide!
ADELAIDE
(to Charles)
She says her prayers at night and
sings in the choir at the Good
Shepherd, but she is not happy.
CLARENCE
I quite agree. If you were, you
would not allow me, for one, to see
you so unhappy.
(pointedly)
-- Unless you’re seeking a
confessor.
MARGARET
God is my confessor.
ADELAIDE
(cuts him off)
A confessor! That’s it --
we’ll both become Catholic!
They have saints and martyrs
and the Virgin Mary!
CHARLES
There is a WAR on!
MARGARET grabs the white candy bag away.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
And they have priests to whom
they confess their unhappiness...
the unhappiness
that comes from sin. Mother.
MARGARET
You will not become a
Catholic, not under my watch.
CLARENCE
Listen to you both! Chained to
religion. How much more present I
am to this life -- to speak what I
will, to live as I want --
MARGARET
(to Clarence)
And how much more you sin.
Speaking to me this way, accusing
me! You don’t do anything of
import. To think you could go off
and fight. Fight in a war? You are
weak! It’s -- outrageous, foolish
boy!
MARGARET exits Right, within.
CHARLES
Margaret!
CLARENCE
(stony)
I can fight.
SOUND: We hear from the other room, “Pack up Your Troubles in
Your Old Kit Bag,” It becomes louder and louder as they all
exit: CLARENCE out the French doors, ADELAIDE after him.
Finally, CHARLES exits Right.
SOUND: The song continues into the next scene.
SCENE 5 - Light Change -- Dusk --
On the Scrim we see: July 17th, 1917 Three Months Later
SOUND: The song slowly fades out with the rise of PRESIDENT
WILSON’S voice...
PRESIDENT WILSON
“We are now about to accept
gauge of battle, to...spend the
whole force of the nation...to
fight thus for the ultimate peace
of the world and for the liberation
of its peoples, the German peoples
included: for the rights of nations
great and small and the privilege
of men everywhere to choose their
way of life and of obedience. The
world must be made safe for
democracy.
SOUND: The President’s Voice abruptly stops.
CHARLES, clad in summer hat and suit, enters with Clarence’s
bag and papers. He compulsively checks and rechecks
Clarence’s things -- as if somehow, if he can arrange it all
correctly, his son will come back.
MARGARET, in black, enters, observes his behavior. CHARLES
turns to face her, a recovery:
CHARLES
What the devil are you wearing?
They lock eyes. Then, CLARENCE, in his best suit, enters.
ADELAIDE
(off stage)
Too bad for you. I read all about
it in the paper and I can join up
too --
ADELAIDE, in a sundress, chases after him.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
A red cross nurse I’ll become and
won’t you be sorry.
CLARENCE
Everything’s in order, Father,
let’s go.
CHARLES
Adelaide, get your hat!
ADELAIDE
If you think I am going to stick
around here, lazing about like old
men and mothers, you do not know me
one bit.
ADELAIDE rushes out.
MARGARET
I have something for you.
CLARENCE
Mother?
MARGARET remains still, as does CLARENCE. CHARLES checks his
pocket watch.
ADELAIDE
(off-stage)
Do you realize, Clarence, what I
have been trying to explain to you?
I am telling you something very
important --
ADELAIDE re-enters, hat in hand.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
That is, what I will be doing in
only the next few days, and you
just go about your life, not even
saying a -- a word about it?!
CLARENCE
What is there to say? You’re not
making any sense.
ADELAIDE
I’m not? -- well either are you!
She holds onto him, bursts into tears.
CLARENCE
Get her off me!
CHARLES
Get a hold of yourself, girl!
CHARLES peels her away and pushes her into a chair.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
One more outburst like that and
you’ll remain home for the
duration!
MARGARET takes a newspaper clipping out of her pocket.
MARGARET
For you.
She stands motionless, clipping in hand. CLARENCE goes to
her.
She holds it out, but still far enough away that he must come
closer.
CHARLES
Oh, for God’s sake.
CLARENCE steps closer, takes it, and reads.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
Read it on the way!
CLARENCE
The great white heron?
MARGARET
They’ve been all but killed off so
that their white plumes could be
used to decorate hats.
CHARLES
What in the hell are you talking
about?
ADELAIDE
(plainly)
Dead birds. Dead white feathers
used to decorate old men and
mothers’ hats.
CLARENCE
(laughs)
Monkey.
MARGARET
Take note of the heron’s bill,
Clarence. Since you are a soldier,
now. The heron’s bill is long and
sharp, just like your bayonet.
CLARENCE
Mother...
She kisses his cheek, hugs him.
MARGARET
(in his ear)
Spears its prey by waiting
motionless until it’s victim is
within easy striking distance.
CHARLES
Ha Ha, son. There we are, Margaret.
Very well. A hunting tip from
mother...nature.
MARGARET holds his hand to her heart.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(to Margaret.)
Stop that. There will be time for
that at the station.
CLARENCE
She’s not coming.
CHARLES
Nonsense.
CLARENCE pulls away.
CLARENCE
Goodbye, mother.
With ADELAIDE in tow, they exit.
CHARLES
Come along now, Margaret.
CHARLES leaves, expecting her to follow.
MARGARET remains, struggling not to break down.
MARGARET
(to herself)
White dead feathers...
CHARLES returns, holds his hand out to her.
She cups her hands over her mouth.
CHARLES
Darling.
She shakes her head “no.”
CHARLES (CONT’D)
You must come...What will I say?
CLARENCE
(off)
Father, leave her! Let’s just go!
CHARLES’ eyes pleading, helpless.
CHARLES
Our son...
He collects himself, exits.
MARGARET listens to the front door slam.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(off stage)
Now then, Private. Hand me your
bag.
MARGARET
(like a prayer)
July 17th, 19. Bright, cold. We
saw Mary Pickford --
She listens to their footsteps retreating.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
(breaking down)
We saw Mary Pickford in “The Poor
Little Rich Girl.”
ADELAIDE
(off stage)
Where’s Mother?
MARGARET
To the Taft after.
CHARLES
(off stage)
Put on your HAT!
ADELAIDE
(off stage)
You better watch for me Clarence --
CHARLES
(off stage)
Never mind that.
She can barely hold herself up.
MARGARET
Home about eleven and about frozen.
Car doors slam. Ignition. They are off.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
I’m getting to be afraid of the
dark.
Black out
SOUND: We hear the Song, “Over There,” which continues into
the next scene.
SONG
“Johnnie get your gun, get your
gun, get your gun/Johnnie show the
hun you’re a son of a gun/Hoist the
flag and let her fly/Yankee Doodle
do or die...”
Lights up
SCENE 6 - Day
Sunlight streams into the room
On the SCRIM we see: June 26, 1918 Eleven months later
SOUND: The song fades out...we hear sounds of nature, birds
chirping.
Adelaide enters, dressed in one of Clarence’s shirts and
holding an unlit cigarette in one hand, a newspaper in the
other.
ADELAIDE
(out, memorized)
“British Press Dispatch on Battle
of Belleau Wood. An American
machine-gun unit was hurried
thither in motor lorries”
(forgets the next line)
...Damn. What was it?
She consults the paper, reads aloud.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
(reads)
“-When news was received that the
Germans had broken into the
northern part of Chateau-Thierry.”
(out, memorized)
“The American machine gunners and
French colonials were thrown into
Chateau-Thierry together. The
Americans immediately took over”
(forgetting again)
...damn it!
(reads)
“Fighting with their habitual
courage and using their guns with
an accuracy which won the highest
encomiums from the French --
(out, memorized)
Highest encomiums from the
French,...the Americans brought the
enemy to a standstill!
Pretends to smoke the cigarette...
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
“In this battle in the streets, and
again at night, the young American
soldiers showed a courage and
determination which aroused the
admiration of their French colonial
comrades.”
She tosses the paper in the air, tucks the cigarette behind
her ear and wields a “machine gun”.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
“With their machine guns they
covered the withdrawal of troops
across the bridge before its
destruction, and although under
severe fire themselves, kept all
the approaches to the bank under a
rain of bullets which nullified all
the subsequent efforts of the enemy
to cross the river. Every attempt
of the Germans to elude the
vigilance of the Americans resulted
in disaster...the northern part of
Chateau-Thierry...now belongs to No
Man's Land...”
Adelaide stops, looks around the room, the world, devoid of
Clarence, devoid of life. She repeats...
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
No Man’s Land.
She makes a monkey face.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
Monkey.
CHARLES
(off stage)
Yes, well always good to have you
Doctor, I will be sure to call on
you if and when -
She exits into the garden.
DR. MARSHALL
(off stage)
Please, do Mr. Graves. In the mean
while, encourage her to, as we said
--
CHARLES
(off)
Yes, yes of course.
DR. MARSHALL
(off)
And God Bless your son and his
service.
CHARLES
(off)
Yes, yes, good bye.
The door shuts. Locks.
MARGARET
Charles! Charles!
MARGARET, in a robe, enters.
CHARLES
(off)
What? What is it?
CHARLES strides in.
MARGARET
You got rid of him.
CHARLES
Your appointment was over.
MARGARET
I do not need a doctor.
CHARLES
Of course you do.
He stretches out his arms. Nothing.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
Then I shall come to you.
He embraces her.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
There now, relax. Your doctor says
you would progress more rapidly in
your treatment if you would speak
to him. Dr. Marshall says if you
won’t speak to him then you ought
to write to Clarence -- correspond.
MARGARET
Kiss me.
CHARLES
Margaret. Did you hear what I said?
MARGARET
I am your wife.
CHARLES
Your doctor feels you must live in
reality. Acknowledge our son’s
departure. Write to him. Discuss
him with me, with our daughter.
MARGARET kisses him on the neck.
MARGARET
Don’t go to work.
CHARLES
I am not -- this week. When I do --
MARGARET
Don’t...
CHARLES
Mary will help you.
MARGARET
I hate Mary.
CHARLES
Margaret --
MARGARET
I hate her...with the pots and the
laundry. I see what you are doing.
You force her to watch me instead
of Adelaide. When I ask her to
leave, she won’t go. I must think
up things for her to do. It’s
exhausting. When she runs out of
chores, I have to hide from her.
She is always lurking about,
watching me. I am never alone.
CHARLES
You want to be alone.
MARGARET
I want to be with you.
CHARLES
Yes, well, if you remain
uncooperative in your treatment,
then the only thing for you remains
isolation -- idleness and
isolation.
She kisses his hand.
MARGARET
Idleness ---
She pulls him closer, kisses his wrist.
CHARLES
Isolation. That is the proven
remedy for nervous women, Margaret.
CHARLES stands, runs his hand through his hair.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
I will be upstairs.
He exits Right. MARGARET sits up, straightens her skirt, her
hair.
ADELAIDE steps in from the garden, clasping the pink sash
around her head.
ADELAIDE
“Soul of Christ, sanctify me; Body
of Christ, save me; Water from the
side of Christ, wash me” Blood
flows through my body. The blood of
life --
ADELAIDE kneels. MARGARET, clears her throat, stands.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
(confidentially)
Mother, in the Protestant religion
the blood of the sacrifice is a
symbol -- a memory, a blood stain
of the mind. This is wrong, dear.
To make the blood a symbol is to
water it down. To cleanse the stain
is to defile the sacrifice.
MARGARET
Go to bed.
MARGARET takes the sash and exits Left.
ADELAIDE
(seductively, to herself)
The sacrifice must not be diluted --
the blood must be shed anew each
time to cleanse the sins it has
forgiven.
ADELAIDE signs the cross.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
Hugh Acorn comes at .
ADELAIDE glides to the gramophone to play a fox trot: “I’m
Always Chasing Rainbows.”
Scene 7 - Early Evening
Lights dim
On the SCRIM we see: August 16th, 1918, Two months later
SOUND: The fox trot from the previous scene continues...
ADELAIDE, a feather in her hair, dances about the room. HUGH
watches. She laughs, falls into his arms.
HUGH
Darling.
He takes in the sight of her.
HUGH (CONT’D)
Are we alone?
She nods “yes” and smiles. They dance.
ADELAIDE
(loudly, memorized)
American Volunteer with Canadian
Forces, special to the New York
Times.
HUGH
Not that again.
He kisses her neck.
ADELAIDE
“It was getting dark now...Amid the
awful carnage --”
HUGH
You said your father is away?
ADELAIDE
“Two men only remained, a French
and a German.”
HUGH
Darling, stop that.
Their dancing becomes more sensual, yet combative as her
recounting of the fight goes on.
ADELAIDE
“They were engaged in a bayonet
duel, one trying to kill the other.
(MORE)
They were both dancing around in
circles like DEMONS, thrusting and
stabbing right and left. One had to
go, and they fought. It was
practically dark by this time.
Their features were drawn and
haggard, their eyes flashed and
bulged out of their orbits, the
expression on their faces were
ghastly - that of utmost despair.
And still they danced, each
fighting for his existence. When
all of a sudden this uncanny
performance came to an abrupt stop.
There was a sharp click - a thrust
and a muffled sound. Both their
bayonets went home, both men stood
transfixed, both fell dead to the
ground.”
ADELAIDE abruptly pulls away and turns the song off.
HUGH pulls her into him. He lifts her skirt, She knocks his
hand away. He kisses her; she bites his lip.
HUGH ACORN
You bit me! What the --?
She tosses her handkerchief to him.
HUGH ACORN (CONT’D)
What the hell for? Is there
something wrong with you?
ADELAIDE
You ask too many questions.
HUGH ACORN
Well, what -- ? Oh for Christ’s
sake. You’re ill.
ADELAIDE
I’m well.
HUGH ACORN
You’re angry.
ADELAIDE
I’m not.
HUGH ACORN
Then why are you treating me like
this?
ADELAIDE (CONT'D)
ADELAIDE
You’re more appealing at night.
HUGH ACORN
So is everyone.
ADELAIDE
All men.
HUGH ACORN
Women, too.
ADELAIDE
I am tired of it.
HUGH ACORN
You don’t just wake up one day and
decide you’re tired of “it.”
ADELAIDE
Then I am tired of you.
HUGH ACORN
You don’t decide in one moment that
you are tired of a person.
ADELAIDE
I do. I have.
HUGH ACORN
I -- I don’t understand.
ADELAIDE
I’ve never bled for any one before.
You’re my first, Perhaps you’ll be
my last. I might become a nun and
marry Jesus Christ.
HUGH ACORN
Addie, come here.
She resists.
HUGH ACORN (CONT’D)
Darling, I love you.
He takes her in his arms. She goes limp.
HUGH ACORN (CONT’D)
I love you.
She hangs there limply.
HUGH ACORN (CONT’D)
Kiss me. Please. What is the
matter?
ADELAIDE
Would you like me to strike you?
He lets her go.
HUGH ACORN
I don’t know what’s happened! I’m
in love with you, do you
understand? I said I love you. My
head -- my whole body hurts with
it.
ADELAIDE
That’s your diabetes.
HUGH ACORN
Diabe -- ? That has nothing to do
with this! Unless -- unless you
are put off by my disease, repulsed
by...it’s not my fault I can’t
fight. They will not let me in.
If I could I would be there, right
along side your brother.
ADELAIDE
Don’t speak of him here.
HUGH ACORN
You mean...between us?
ADELAIDE
No, there is nothing between us.
There is nothing at all if he does
not come home!
HUGH
But that isn’t at all fair --
because, there is nothing left of
me. There’s nothing left for any
other woman -- you have sucked the
life right out -- out of every pore
of my skin -- you have lured the
life right out. I am the one who’s
tired! I thought you wanted -- you
behaved as though -- Oh, HELL.
Margaret, enters, unseen.
ADELAIDE
I’m sorry, Hugh. I am. You are a
man and wonderful, but what of it?
One man is any man and all men can
be contained in any one I choose. I
must choose with all my heart and
freely. I no longer choose you.
He hands her the handkerchief.
HUGH ACORN
This is your handkerchief, stained
now with my blood. Take it and keep
it. I will not bleed any further,
do you understand? I will not
bleed.
ADELAIDE
I will.
MARGARET
We have rehearsal.
ADELAIDE whirls around, HUGH jumps to his feet.
HUGH
I -- yes, Mrs. Graves. I am a bit
early.
MARGARET looks from HUGH to ADELAIDE, then down at the
handkerchief in ADELAIDE’S hand. She tucks it in her sleeve.
MARGARET
My tooth.
ADELAIDE
I will get your ice pack!
ADELAIDE rushes out.
MARGARET
I have a nervous disorder.
HUGH looks after ADELAIDE.
HUGH
Quite. Yes, with the war.
MARGARET
It’s hard not to think of it.
HUGH
Mrs. Graves?
A long moment between them, then...
MARGARET
That handkerchief was given to my
daughter by her god mother, on her
thirteenth year. You have -- wiped
your mouth with it.
HUGH
I -- I gave it back.
MARGARET
You cannot give it back. That is to
say, once you have taken it,
bloodied it, it is soiled, stained.
It cannot be made clean.
ADELAIDE inches in with the ice pack.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
You are not permitted to call on my
daughter, Mr. Acorn, without myself
or Mr. Graves present.
HUGH
I -- yes.
MARGARET
(pointedly)
I will not permit it.
We hear a knocking at the door.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
That is Mrs. Dickie.
HUGH
Shall I let her in?
MARGARET
Yes, you are familiar.
He looks at her, exits Stage Left.
HUGH
(off)
Hello, Mrs. Dickie!
MRS. DICKIE
(off)
Hello, Mr. Acorn. I am late.
MARGARET storms over to the desk.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
Why did I not watch over you,
protect you?
ADELAIDE
Mama, I am sorry.
MARGARET, dismisses her, opens her journal.
ADELAIDE (CONT’D)
Mama?
MARGARET
Don’t call me that.
She presses down a page.
HUGH
(off-stage)
What do you have there?
MRS. DICKIE
(off-stage)
Don’t -- please.
MARGARET begins to write wildly. Overlapping:
ADELAIDE
Don’t start writing?!
MARGARET
(writing)
Storm. Feel horrid this morning
after a sleepless night.
ADELAIDE
Mother, please listen.
MARGARET
(to Adelaide)
Discovered I have lost my
beautiful...
(writing)
pin -- stuck with a sharp prick,
bleeding.
ADELAIDE
Please, I am sorry.
HUGH ACORN
(off stage)
Well? Are you not coming?
MARGARET
(to Adelaide)
Nothing can be done to recover it --
I am heart sick.
(MORE)
Why I was such a Fool as to flaunt
you, to let you out of my sight, I
do not know. Certainly all the
fools in the world are not dead.
MRS. DICKIE enters, HUGH after her.
MARGARET shuts her journal, stands.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
Hello, Mrs. Dickie.
MRS. DICKIE
Hello, Mrs. Graves. How are you
this evening?
MARGARET takes the ice pack from ADELAIDE.
MARGARET
I have a horrible tooth ache,
wouldn’t you know?
MRS. DICKIE
My son suffered just two weeks ago
from the very same thing.
MARGARET
It’s agonizing.
She looks at HUGH, as he takes his place at the piano.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
My tooth, that is. Agony.
MRS. DICKIE
My boy’s tooth had to be extracted.
MARGARET
Poor child.
(to Adelaide)
Even removed, the pain can linger.
ADELAIDE runs off Right. MARGARET tosses the ice pack on the
table. A loud thud.
MRS. DICKIE
Shall we -- I suppose -- well,
would you like to have rehearsal
this evening or shall we -- ?
MARGARET
We shall have rehearsal, Mrs.
Dickie, now that you are here.
MARGARET (CONT'D)
MRS. DICKIE removes her hat and sits at the piano.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
Rehearsal is the only activity, you
and Mr. Acorn the only company
Charles permits me.
MARGARET and HUGH stand on either side.
MRS. DICKIE
Actually, I -- I cannot -- I am --
MRS. DICKIE rises, picks up her hat...
MRS. DICKIE (CONT’D)
I am late because I -- well, I
would prefer another evening,
myself, actually.
MARGARET steps back to let her by.
MRS. DICKIE (CONT’D)
I am not myself.
MARGARET
None of us are. Now.
MRS. DICKIE
But -- I don’t know how I got here.
Oliver is...
She breaks away, her hands grasping at the air, then
anchoring her to the desk chair.
She lowers her head, searching.
MRS. DICKIE (CONT’D)
I mean, I can’t remember. Best to -
MARGARET
Remember what?
MRS. DICKIE raises her head.
MRS. DICKIE
- my son is with Mrs. Levine. She
watches children in her home. I
thought it best that my son go
there...was the telegr --
She stops mid-word, her mouth hanging open.
HUGH
Perhaps she should lie down.
In the quiet, MRS. DICKIE sits again at the piano, sets her
hat down, turns a page in her music and plays.
HUGH and MARGARET resume their positions.
HUGH ACORN
(tentatively sings)
“Come saints and sinners, hear me
tell the wonders of Emmanuel, who
snatch’d me from a burning Hell,
and brought my soul with him to
dwell, to dwell in sweetest union.”
MARGARET
(singing)
“But when depressed and lost in
sin, my dear Redeemer took me in,
And with His blood He wash’d me
clean, And O what seasons I have
seen! Since first I felt this
union.”
MRS. DICKIE stops playing.
MRS. DICKIE
(to herself)
Since first I felt this union.
HUGH ACORN
Mrs. Dickie?
MRS. DICKIE
The last time I saw Oliver, we went
to breakfast. We went to breakfast
and it wasn’t even a Sunday. We
sat in a booth together -- side by
side. We shared a meal -- we ate
off the same plate. I ordered cole
slaw. Cole slaw on the side. Of
course, it was too early to eat
cole slaw, but the restaurant -- at
the Taft -- they made an exception.
Oliver didn’t like to share meals
as a rule, but he didn’t have much
of an appetite that morning, so he
didn’t mind at all. I was ravenous.
I ate my half of the sausage and
eggs and the whole plate of
coleslaw. I kissed him on the neck.
The cheek. I had my arms thrown
around him. I turned my body into
him. We ate off the same plate. I
didn’t care who saw.
(MORE)
I ate all of him all of it -- I
drank him in -- it was grand. And
then -- oh, I don’t know exactly --
I don’t know how it happened, but
yes, no I do. That’s what. I began
to talk about our child. I began
to talk about our little boy and
his kindergarten teacher and
something about the pipes freezing
last winter and then we -- well,
yes, that’s how: we talked about
the pipes freezing and the mending
to be done to his gray suit. My
body wasn’t turned into him then. I
wasn’t kissing him then. It was
like any other day. Except it
wasn’t. I always say the wrong
thing.
MRS. DICKIE gathers her music, puts on her hat and exits, as
CHARLES (in a smoking jacket) enters.
HUGH
Mr. Graves!
CHARLES
Acorn. Mrs. --
She is gone.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(looking after her)
What goes on?
MARGARET
(solemnly)
Officer Oliver S. Dickie has been
sacrificed in service to his
country.
CHARLES
Deceased. You’re certain.
HUGH ACORN
I was. That is, before you came in.
Just as Mrs. Dickie left?
MARGARET
Just before --
HUGH ACORN
I was certain.
MRS. DICKIE (CONT'D)
CHARLES
Who asked you?!
(loudly, to Margaret)
Margaret?
MARGARET
Certain? No, I am not.
CHARLES
You just said -- you said her
husband has passed away.
MARGARET, trying to recover her nerves, crosses to the desk.
MARGARET
Do you think he has, Mr. Acorn?
Based on all she said about the
coleslaw and the mending?
CHARLES
The coleslaw?
HUGH ALCORN
Possibly.
MARGARET
Possibly, yes, but you are not
quite...
HUGH ACORN
Are you?
MARGARET
As I said, I am not. One cannot be
certain of anything now, with the
war. It’s hard not to think --
CHARLES
Of course one cannot be certain if
he draws a conclusion about a man’s
life or death based on his wife’s
reports of eating his vegetables
and darning his socks. It’s
ludicrous. Margaret, come.
MARGARET
Charles. If you attempted to make
conclusions not on what is said but
on what is unsaid, you would
understand our initial certainty.
CHARLES
Are you insane?
MARGARET
That is a very serious accusation.
CHARLES
It was merely a question.
He takes MARGARET by the elbow.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(to Margaret)
Come with me. Where’s Adelaide?
MARGARET
(over her shoulder, to
Hugh)
Where is Adelaide?
They stop.
CHARLES
What the hell are you asking him
for?
MARGARET
She belongs to Master Acorn now. He
and the Pope.
CHARLES
What -- what’s this?
MARGARET
She doesn’t belong to me.
HUGH moves toward the door...
CHARLES
Of course. Of course she does, she
is your child.
MARGARET
She is not a child.
CHARLES
Yes! She. Is. What is the matter
with you? Acorn -- Hold it right
there!
HUGH freezes.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
I have had just about ENOUGH! Show
some gratitude, some graciousness.
(MORE)
This war is being fought for you,
Margaret, for you and for all other
dear wives and mothers -- and for
the beautiful Adelaide, and her
young kind. For the Dead Jazz Mad
Man Joplin, and The Diseased Choir
Boy Civilian over here --
CHARLES, covering his fear, delivers the following in the
manner of a funeral oration...his own child’s?
CHARLES (CONT’D)
-- for the artists of the world.
The artists of the world give birth
to the soul of humanity and through
their collective visionary soul,
the rest of mankind is --
MARGARET picks up her ice pack and rushes out Right.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(calling after her.)
-- inspired to feel, and hence to
act!
During the following, he takes a cigar from the desk, puts it
back. Then he paces about the room as if he would destroy it.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
The working men of the world have
no time for the soul. No
inclination. We look to you lazy
art bastards to show us where we’ve
gone wrong, where our business has
led us amiss, and through your
songs and paintings and words, we
reconnect with our own forgotten
souls and feel the inspiration to
make things right again. We succeed
in business, wage war, fight --
lose our lives -- for the artists,
the women, the children, all the
ungrateful heaps we drown in -- the
masses of flesh and souls who rob
us of our dignity and our artistic
inclination by their dependency,
critical natures, selfishness and
deceit. Get the hell out of my
house, Hugh Acorn, before I put a
bullet in your chest.
HUGH bolts. CHARLES shouts after MARGARET.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(off to Margaret)
Clarence is at war, Margaret!
(to himself)
Your son is at war.
SCENE 8 - Light change: Day to Night.
We hear WIND blowing.
On the SCRIM we see: Sunday, October 27, 1918 Four Months
Later
We hear MALE VOICES OFFSTAGE murmuring, a whisper, clinking
of ice in glasses, clearing of throats.
MARGARET, in the Oriental robe, enters holding a sealed
envelope tied with a pink sash and a stack of letters covered
by the blood stained handkerchief. She looks out, her face
completely changed, tear stained.
MARGARET
Tuesday, October 27th, 19. I have
discovered correspondence between
Adelaide and Clarence.
MARGARET kneels, sets down Clarence’s letters and unties the
pink sash from Adelaide’s. She opens Adelaide’s letter.
MARGARET (CONT’D)
(reads, imitates Adelaide)
Dearest Clarence, The Mother Mary
appeared at Fatima. She’s told the
children of what’s to come --
there’s an evil power arising out
of Russia and we must all be on
guard. If we do not heed her, there
will be another, greater War, death
and famine, great persecution of
the church. We must pray for her
intervention so that she will
appeal to her son on our behalf.
She is the one true mother of us
all. As ever, Monkey.
SOUND: The wind picks up and turns to static; we hear voices,
like the radio previously, but the voices are CLARENCE and
ADELAIDE’S, voices of the letters now, in Margaret’s head.
V.O. CLARENCE
(in a sing-song voice)
Oh, Addie, come out and play!
Adelaide!
V.O. CLARENCE (CONT’D)
Evasive and rude.
V.O. ADELAIDE
So what?
V.O. CLARENCE
Why?
V.O. ADELAIDE
I don’t know.
V.O. CLARENCE
You do....Why do you behave this
way?
V.O. ADELAIDE
(slowly)
That’s how God made girls who
bleed.
MARGARET folds the sash, ceremoniously.
V.O. CLARENCE
Sweet girl.
V.O. ADELAIDE
I’m not. Sweet.
V.O. CLARENCE
A game of Naughty Fairy then?
V.O. ADELAIDE
It’s too late now, understand? I
gave myself away.
V.O. CLARENCE
You went and did it? With whom? Not
the diabetic choir boy! You are
ashamed. Adelaide. Don’t be. Look,
if it helps you to know -- I am
changed too, bleeding.
V.O. ADELAIDE
Stained?
V.O. CLARENCE
Stained and blinded.
V.O. ADELAIDE
Then you’re coming home.
V.O. CLARENCE
(sings)
“Gassed last night and gassed the
night before.”
MARGARET
Sunday, October 27th, 19 --
V.O. CLARENCE
(sings)
“Going to get gassed tonight;
If we never get gassed
anymore./ When we’re gassed,
we’re sick as we can be/for
phosgene and mustard Gas is
much too much for me.”
MARGARET
October 27th, 1918 -- a
beautiful day, so of course,
out I go!
V.O. CLARENCE
(sings)
“They're warning us/they're warning
us/One respirator for the four of
us/ Thank your lucky stars that
three of us can run/ So one of us
can use it all alone.”
SOUND: With MARGARET, we hear the VOICES OFFSTAGE overtake
those in her head.
CHARLES
(off stage)
Margaret?
MARGARET struggles to her feet.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
(off stage)
Margaret! Margaret? -- !
CHARLES rushes in, ADELAIDE after.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
There you are -- Dr. Marshall told
you to stay in bed.
MARGARET pulls out her journal. ADELAIDE kneels on the floor,
collects the letters.
CHARLES (CONT’D)
Put that damn thing away!
He grabs for it, but she holds it to her.
MARGARET
Adelaide and I saw Mary Pickford in
“The Pride of the Claw” at the
Globe --
ADELAIDE
Mama?
CHARLES takes the journal. MARGARET sinks to the floor.
CHARLES
Your children need --
MARGARET
-- I have no children.
CHARLES
Stop it!
MARGARET
Oh dear God, I can’t hear
this.
CHARLES
Adelaide is your daughter and
Clarence is your son --
MARGARET
I am childless.
CHARLES
You are my wife!
MARGARET
I am not here. I don’t hear.
CHARLES
He is coming back to us now -- See
here --
MARGARET
I can’t.
ADELAIDE holds her mother.
ADELAIDE
He’ll be all right now, mama
because Jesus -- why you know this
dear,
(sings)
“And with His blood He wash’d me
clean, And O what seasons I have
seen.”
MARGARET
“One puff did not paralyze the
young man in the wheel chair.”
CHARLES
Our son’s coming home to us, Margo.
A damn cripple, dad-blame-it.
ADELAIDE
Clarence.
CHARLES
Would that the Good Lord had let
him die.
Black out. End of Act I