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ACT I, SCENE THREE (Consumer-Kilowatt Hour)
CHARACTERS
- LOUDSPEAKER
CONSUMER
ELECTRICIAN
FIRST GROCERY CLERK
SECOND GROCERY CLERK
FIRST BUTCHER
SECOND BUTCHER
MANAGER OF AN ELECTRIC COMPANY
LOUDSPEAKER: Nineteen hundred: Dividends rise, stockholders are happy and electric consumption increases. But where is the man who uses it? Where is this consumer? Let's have a look at him!
(Arc is played all over stage, searching for CONSUMER. It finally picks him out, upstage, right.)
LOUDSPEAKER: Ah, there he is!
(The CONSUMER is a meek-looking little man dressed in the period. He sits on a chair. The arc should grow larger until it takes in a good part of the stage, and there, tucked away in one little corner, is the CONSUMER. When he is finally discovered he gets up and comes downstage, center, and there is projected "C is for Consumer." Front spotlight follows him all through scene.)
LOUDSPEAKER: What do you pay for electricity, Mister?
CONSUMER: Too much. Seventeen cents a kilowatt hour. [Edison Electric Institute Bulletin No. 3, June 3, 1936, p. 6.]
LOUDSPEAKER: What's a kilowatt hour?
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CONSUMER: I don't know. That's what it says on the bill. (Reads it) Thirty-nine kilowatt hours at seventeen cents per hour, total six sixty-three.
LOUDSPEAKER: You're paying for it, but you don't know what a kilowatt hour is. How many ounces in a pound?
CONSUMER: Sixteen.
LOUDSPEAKER: How many quarts in a gallon?
CONSUMER: Four.
LOUDSPEAKER: How many inches in a yard?
CONSUMER: Thirty-six.
LOUDSPEAKER: But you don t know what a kilowatt hour is!
CONSUMER: No, I don't, what is it?
LOUDSPEAKER: Well — a kilowatt hour is — a kilowatt is a — eh — uh —
CONSUMER: Go on. I m listening.
LOUDSPEAKER (desperately): Isn't there anyone who knows what a kilowatt hour is?
(Second front spotlight picks up ELECTRICIAN left, and follows him.)
ELECTRICIAN: I do.
CONSUMER: He's the electrician.
ELECTRICIAN: Yeah, I was up there in the prologue, pullin' them switches. Remember? (Comes down to CONSUMER, center.)
LOUDSPEAKER: Well — what is a kilowatt hour?
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ELECTRICIAN (calling, off): Hey, Mike! Drop that work light. (The work light comes down) Now light it up. Now when this thousand-watt bulb burns for an hour that's a kilowatt hour.
LOUDSPEAKER (after a pause): Is that all?
ELECTRICIAN: That's all. The word comes from the Greek, chilioi, meaning thousand, and "watt" meaning watt — chilioi-watt or kilowatt. Anything else?
LOUDSPEAKER (weakly): No, thank you.
ELECTRICIAN: O.K., Mike, kill it.
(Work light goes up. ELECTRICIAN exits, whistling. The projection becomes "K is for Kilowatt.")
CONSUMER: Now that I know what it is, I still think I'm paying too much.
LOUDSPEAKER: The company that services you is only making a fair profit.
CONSUMER: What's a fair profit?
LOUDSPEAKER: Six to nine per cent.
CONSUMER: Who said so?
LOUDSPEAKER: The Courts.
CONSUMER: And the bank only gives me three! [Wm. B. Dana & Co., Annual Financial Review, Igol; also Public Utility Rate Fixing, C. E. Grunsky, 1918.] What do they do with all that money?
LOUDSPEAKER: It goes back to the stockholders in dividends. (Pause. The CONSUMER picks up his shopping bag and starts off) Where are you going?
CONSUMER: I've got to do some shopping and I'm going to stop in at the company. I'll tell those people something! Seventeen cents a kilowatt hour!
(Exits left, and immediately re-enters left. Overhead spot picks out two GROCERY CLERKS. They stand beside each other, facing out. They are dressed alike, in aprons. If possible they should look alike. Their actions are stylized. CONSUMER crosses to FIRST CLERK.)
CONSUMER: How much are your potatoes?
FIRST CLERK: Fifteen pounds for a quarter. [U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.]
CONSUMER: Too high. I'll go some place else. (Crosses to SECOND CLERK) How much are your potatoes?
SECOND CLERK: Twenty pounds for a quarter. [Ibid.]
CONSUMER: Fine, I'll take em.
(Light picks up two BUTCHERS. He crosses to first one.)
CONSUMER: How much are pork chops?
FIRST BUTCHER: Twenty cents a pound.
CONSUMER: Too high. I'll go some place else. (Crosses to SECOND BUTCHER) How much are pork chops?
SECOND BUTCHER: Fifteen cents a pound. [Ibid.]
CONSUMER: I'll take em.
(Light comes up on MANAGER of electric company seated at cut-out desk.)
CONSUMER: How much you charging me for electricity?
MANAGER: Seventeen cents a kilowatt hour. [Edison Electric Institute Bulletin No. 3, June 3, 1936, p. 3.]
CONSUMER: Too high. I'll go some place else. (He crosses and looks around, sees no one) Where's the other fellow?
MANAGER: There is no other fellow. (Projection changes to "M is for Monopoly.")
CONSUMER: You the only one selling electricity in this city? [Electrical World Engineer, Vol. 35, No. 7, p. 242. Feb. 17, 1900.]
MANAGER: That's right.
CONSUMER: And if I don't get it from you I have to do without it?
MANAGER: That's right. Would you like us to discontinue service?
CONSUMER (apologetically): Er — no — never mind! (Runs off.)
Blackout
Introduction | Essay | Script | Lessons | Resources