N E W D E A L N E T W O R K
The Great Depression and the Arts
A Unit of Study for Grades 8-12
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One-Third of a Nation
A Living Newspaper by Arthur Arent
(First produced January 17, 1938)
Act 1, Scene 4C (What They Got)
(Lights go on in lower center cubicle, on a Jewish family—FATHER, MOTHER. A crib, music.)
MOTHER: He hasn't moved for a long time now.
FATHER: It's good. Sleep is good.
MOTHER: How white his face is. (Leans over crib) Such a good baby. Never cries.
FATHER: With a mother like you he should cry?
MOTHER: Max—I'm afraid. . . . (Suddenly) Where is the doctor? You said he was coming right away.
FATHER: Soon. He'll be here soon.
MOTHER: Well, where is he? Why isn't he here now? How many times—
FATHER: Maybe we should send him to the hospital?
MOTHER: Hospital? Do you want to kill him?
FATHER: Maybe it's better there. In the hospital you can get a doctor right away.
MOTHER (at crib, suddenly): Look, Max. . . He can't breathe! . . . Where is the doctor? Where is he?
FATHER (sits down, wearily): He's coming.
MOTHER: Coming! Coming! When is he coming? When it's too late?
FATHER: He's upstairs.
MOTHER: Upstairs! So go up and get him!
FATHER: Other people are sick.
MOTHER: Other people! He's worrying about other people—when your own baby is . . . (As he leans forward wearily in his chair) Max! What's the matter with you? (He just shakes his head, tired. She, desperately, looking from the FATHER to the BABY) Where is the doctor? Where is he? Max! (He opens his eyes and looks at her.)
FATHER (in a dazed manner): Sick . . . everybody sick . . . the baby . . . the whole house . . . (He gasps and sinks down. MOTHER turns, sees him fall—screams.)
[Blackout]
(Lights up on third floor landing PATIENT [woman], held up by her daughter is being examined by DOCTOR, with NURSE standing by. DOCTOR is giving symptoms.)
DOCTOR: Cholera! (Tips face back) Usual cyanotic color of skin . . . (picks up hand) fingernails . . . (looks into mouth) and mucous membrane. (As he releases her hand) Eyes sunken . . .
NURSE: Pulse . . .
DOCTOR (after holding wrist a few counts): Rapid and weak.
NURSE: Respiration . . .
[Blackout]
(Lights up in right cubicle. BOY on bed, DOCTOR at head of bed, bent over, head against chest. FATHER at foot of bed. DOCTOR looks up.)
DOCTOR: Respiration rapid and irregular. Heart feeble. (PATIENT groans and turns toward side of bed) Bring the pan. (The MOTHER brings a pan, and kneels by the side of bed. DOCTOR helps BOY to raise up slightly, and holds his head over the pan. The BOY retches. Lights dim out. Light comes up in the lower center cubicle. JEWISH FATHER is still in a state of collapse. DOCTOR is examining him. JEWISH MOTHER is standing by.)
MOTHER: Max. My husband . . .
DOCTOR (examining MAN—head, fingernails, mouth, pulse, heart): Usual cyanotic color. Eyes sunken. Pulse rapid and weak. I'm afraid it's cholera. When was he taken sick?
MOTHER: This morning he didn't feel so good.
DOCTOR: Cholera can run its course in a few hours. Put him to bed. (DOCTOR crosses to BABY. Abruptly) This baby is dead. (MOTHER screams.)
[Blackout]
(Lights come up sharply on the right area of third-floor landing, catching two ORDERLIES coming out of a doorway carrying a stretcher. NURSE stands center of landing, reading chart.)
NURSE: Ground floor. Cholera. Baby dead. Male adult. Advanced stages. (To ORDERLIES) You're late! I've got twenty cases to go out immediately! (SECOND ORDERLY drops front end of stretcher to the floor.)
SECOND ORDERLY: Wait a minute.
FIRST ORDERLY: What's the matter?
SECOND ORDERLY: How many does this make for you?
FIRST ORDERLY: I ain't counted.
SECOND ORDERLY: Me neither. Bill, I'm scared.
FIRST ORDERLY: Scared of your luck?
SECOND ORDERLY: Sure I'm scared—scared I'll catch it. Scared I'll—
(An OLD EMACIATED MAN comes out of the door next to the stairs, third landing, and crosses with jerky, painful movements to the NURSE He holds up the fingers of his hands, and slowly, with effort, moves them in jerky painful movements.)
MAN: I can't move my hands. Look! Where's the doctor?
NURSE: He's busy. Go back to your room. You're sick.
MAN (turning to the SECOND ORDERLY, who is staring at him) Doctor!
SECOND ORDERLY: Get away!
MAN: I can't move my hands.
SECOND ORDERLY: For God's sake, let's get out of here! (He rushes off. Dim lights come up on entire stage. MAN comes out of alley, left, and collapses on top of three-step. DOCTOR crosses to him. TWO NEWSPAPER REPORTERS enter.)
FIRST NEWSPAPER REPORTER: Say, Doc, what's this I hear about a cholera epidemic.
DOCTOR: Say, who are you, anyway?
FIRST NEWSPAPER REPORTER: I'm from the Post.
SECOND NEWSPAPER REPORTER: The Herald.
DOCTOR (turns away from the OLD MAN, calls to FIRST ORDERLY, who comes down stairs): Get back to the hospital and tell them to send men, sedan chairs, stretchers, baskets, anything! This whole house is infected! (As the ORDERLY stands there looking at him) Well, don't stand there! Go on! Hurry! It's cholera! Cholera!
SECOND NEWSPAPER REPORTER: But, good Lord, everybody says there's no such thing as cholera in New York!
DOCTOR: Everybody! Who's everybody? It's cholera, I'm telling you! Over two thousand have died of it already. But the good people who make a living out of these tenements are trying to hush it up.
FIRST NEWSPAPER REPORTER: Well, my paper won't. We'll spread it all over . .
DOCTOR: Oh, no, you won't, you're afraid! You're afraid of telling the truth! Afraid to mention that no cases have been reported outside the slums! Go on, print it, I dare you! I dare you!
[Blackout]
LOUDSPEAKER: New York Post, June 12th, 1854 [—first reference to cholera for that year, under head, "The Cholera and Smallpox on Staten Island." —Ed.]—Cholera— Cholera epidemic spreads in Tenement District. Gerritt Forbes, Health Inspector of New York City says:
(During the following speech, which comes over the LOUDSPEAKER, the stage is darkened save for a spot on LITTLE MAN sitting on two-step, left.)
VOICE OF FORBES: Some cause should be assigned for the increase of deaths beyond the increase of population, and none appears as prominent as that of the crowded and filthy state in which a great portion of our population lives. We have serious cause to regret that there are in our city so many mercenary landlords who only contrive, in what manner they can, to stow the greatest number of human beings in the smallest possible space!
LOUDSPEAKER: Twenty-five hundred men, women and children lost their lives before that cholera epidemic ended. Five thousand died in the previous one. This was the third time in twenty years that New York was hit by cholera.
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The Great Depression and the Arts
N E W D E A L N E T W O R K
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