UNA. How is it I never heard this story, if her father"s so well known?
GEORGE. D"you think your father"s the only one can keep things out of the papers?
UNA [going over and weeping on her father"s shoulder]. Oh! And I wanted to be unique.
BRAITHEWAITE [patting her]. There, there, dear. [To GEORGE.] You"d better go, now, c.o.xey.
GEORGE. And my job?
BRAITHEWAITE. I"ll see you still keep it.
GEORGE. Thanks. I don"t want to.
BRAITHEWAITE. No?
GEORGE. I want a better.
BRAITHEWAITE [putting his daughter aside]. Indeed! Pray what?
GEORGE [nonchalantly]. Superintendent or something. I leave it to you.
You know more about what jobs there are than I do.
BRAITHEWAITE [controlling his anger]. And on what basis do you ask for a better job?
GEORGE. Naomi always said my chance would come and I could take it, if I had nerve and my eyes open. I think now"s the time.
BRAITHEWAITE. Why?
GEORGE. Oh, this story about your daughter wouldn"t look nice.
UNA. Oh!
BRAITHEWAITE. You forget the power your father-in-law and I have in the press.
GEORGE. No, I don"t. But I remember that you can"t keep me from spreading the news among your men. And I don"t think----
BRAITHEWAITE [angry and advancing on him]. I could have you prosecuted for blackmail, sir. Have you no honor?
GEORGE. Sure. My honor says provide for your family. I"ve got the makings of a big man in me, Mr. Braithewaite. You can"t chain me down with a poor man"s morals.
BRAITHEWAITE. Well! I----
GEORGE. I"ll work in any job you give me, too. I"m not asking for a cinch, only a chance. If she-- [pointing to UNA]--could teach me, Naomi can.
BRAITHEWAITE [after a pause]. Well, call around at my office in the morning.
GEORGE. Thanks. [He goes out.]
UNA [sitting to weep]. And I thought I could be unusual.
BRAITHEWAITE [patting her]. It"s easy enough for Shaw, dear. He only writes it.
UNA [jumping up]. That"s it. I"ll write it. I"ll write a play showing it"s useless trying to escape the usual. [Running up to her father, GEORGE"S cap in her hands.] That will be unusual, won"t it, Dad?
[Reenter GEORGE.]
GEORGE. Excuse me. I left my cap.
UNA [stretching it out to him without looking at him]. Here it is.
GEORGE [taking it]. Thanks. [Approaching her.] Buck up, Miss! You meant well.
UNA. I suppose I was too daring.
GEORGE. If you ask me, I think the trouble was you and that Shaw fellow wasn"t daring enough. Marriage is a very particular sort of business.
Now if you"d come up to me in the street and just asked me to---- [UNA and BRAITHEWAITE look at GEORGE.] Well--I--I guess I"ll go. But remember my tip next try, Miss.
[He goes out quickly, leaving UNA gradually grasping the idea and appreciating it, while her father"s shock at what GEORGE has said is increased only by noticing his daughter"s reception of the words.]
Curtain.
III. OVERTONES
A One-Act Play
By Alice Gerstenberg
Author of "Unquenched Fire," "The Conscience of Sarah Platt," and Dramatization of "Alice in Wonderland," etc.
Copyright, 1913, by Alice Gerstenberg
"Overtones" was produced by the Washington Square Players under the direction of Edward Goodman at the Bandbox Theatre, New York City, beginning November 8, 1915, to represent an American one-act play on a bill of four comparative comedies, "Literature" by Arthur Schnitzler of Austria, "The Honorable Lover" by Roberto Bracco of Italy, and "Whims"
by Alfred de Musset of France. In the cast were the following:
HETTY. Josephine A. Meyer HARRIET, her overtone. Agnes McCarthy MAGGIE. Noel Haddon MARGARET, her overtone. Grace Griswold
The scene was designed by Lee Simonson and the costumes and draperies by Bertha Holley.
"Overtones" was subsequently presented in vaudeville by Martin Beck, beginning at the Palace Theatre, Chicago, February 28, 1916, with Helena Lackaye as star, with the following cast:
HARRIET, a cultured woman Helene Lackaye HETTY, her primitive self. Ursula Faucett MARGARET, a cultured woman Francesca Rotoli MAGGIE, her primitive self. Nellie Dent
The scene was designed by Jerome Blum.