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ACT I, SCENE FIVE (Park Bench—1907)
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CHARACTERS
- LOUDSPEAKER
MAN ON PARK BENCH
POLICEMAN
LOUDSPEAKER: 1907. Revenues in the electric field reach one hundred seventy million. [Edison Electric Institute, Statistical Bull. No. 3, June 1936, p. 10.]
(A park bench, a MAN seated. Beside him stands a cop in a uniform of period, 1907. The projection is a New York park scene of the period.)
MAN (looks up from paper): Certainly is a wonderful age we live in.
COP (eating apple): Sure.
MAN: Read about this electric convention in Chicago?
COP: Nope! Ain't got time to read. (He stretches and sits beside MAN.)
MAN: Fellow named Johnson made a speech.
COP: What about?
MAN: Electricity.
COP: Oh! (bites apple.)
MAN: He says some day we're goin' to have electric balloons, submarines and boats.
COP: Yeah?
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MAN: Yeah. Another guy said they got an electric railway runnin' up and down the whole pier at Coney Island! Seven hundred feet! (COP yawns) Certainly is a wonderful age we live in! Telephones, electric lights, street cars, lamps to keep you hot, and fans to keep you cool. Press a button and an electric knife comes down and cuts your paper, somethin' else grabs it and pushes it into the press and, smack, the type comes down, and you're all through for the day!
COP: So you got one of them new-fangled electric presses, eh?
MAN: No. Not me, I can't afford it.
COP: Well, what about these here fans and lamps? They any good?
MAN: How do I know? I ain't never seen one.
COP: You got electric lights, haven't you? (COP rises.)
MAN: Nope, I live way out in the country — 145th Street. Company ain't got up that far yet.
COP (starting off): Which way you goin' home, trolley?
MAN: Trolley don't go out that way. Gotta take a horse-car.
COP: Well, so long. Give me a ring some time!
MAN: Can't. Haven't got a phone. (MAN exits left) Certainly is a wonderful age we live in!
Curtain
Introduction | Essay | Script | Lessons | Resources