Primghar Community Playhouse

The Girls in 509 by Howard Teichmann April, 1996 Primghar Community Building.

This is a comedy of politics. Two ladies live like hermits as a result of the Democrat victory in the 1932 presidential election. Their humorous tribulations are compounded because the hotel they live in is scheduled for demolition and one of the ladies is out to trap a man--literally. Their story and reputed wealth attract a motley group of reporters and politicians.

CAST

• Mimsy: the younger Van Der Wyck.
  M. Black of Primghar, IA.
• Aunt Hettie: the older Van Der Wyck.
  J. VanBeek of Primghar, IA.
• Old Jim: the long serving hotel bell hop.
  B. Robinson of Primghar, IA.
• Ryan, of the Daily News: a reporter.
  L. Hustedt of Primghar, IA.
• Pusey: an associate professor from the Midwest.
  R. Meyer of Primghar, IA.
• Miss Freud: welfare worker of the City of New York.
  E. Waund of Sanborn, IA.
• Winthrop Allen: a New York politician.
  R. Brinkert of Primghar, IA.
• Johnson, of the Daily Mirror: a reporter.
  Pastor D. Morrison of Primghar, IA.
• Rosenthal, of the Post: a reporter.
  Pastor D. Morrison of Primghar, IA.
• Francis X. Nella: a New York politician.
  R. Brinkert of Primghar, IA.
• Aubrey McKittridge: a lawyer.
  K. Hintz of Primghar, IA.

Directed by B. Uittenbogaard and M. Thompson.
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The Play takes place in the sitting room of a suite on an upper floor of a hotel and the hallway just outside the door. The time is 1958--the present, on opening night. The Girls in 509 was first presented at the Belasco Theatre, N.Y., on October 15, 1958. Contact Samuel French, Inc. for scripts.

Historical or relevant background you might want to check before seeing the play:

Political

• Chester A. Arthur: President 1881-85. Republican. His administration was honest, dignified and efficient. He supported the civil service reform act.
• William McKinley: President 1897-1901. Republican. Marcus Hanna's "boy" in Ohio politics. He advocated protective tariffs and the gold standard. Reelected in 1900; assassinated in 1901.
• Teddy Roosevelt: President 1901-9. Republican. Distant relative to FDR. Was a trust-buster (anti-monopoly). His reforms aimed at regulating, not abolishing big business.
• Warren G Harding: President 1921-23. Republican. Died in office. Corrupt officials in his administration were part ot the Teapot Dome (Texas) Scandal.
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt: President 1933-45. Democrat. Anti-Tammany activities in New York State helped him rise in Democrat politics. After defeating Hoover in 1932 and during his first 100 days in office he started many social and welfare programs to counter the effects of the Great Depression.
• Dwight E. Eisenhower: President 1953-61. Republican. Former commander of Allied Forces-Europe in World War 2, he was persuaded to run for president as a Republican. Legislative highlight was in the Civil Rights area.
• Mr Baruch Bernard: Industrial and economic advisor to presidents during World Wars I and II. US representative the the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency, 1946.
• Mark Hanna Hanna coal and steel of Cleveland, OH, was the basis for his wealth. Prototype of the political kingmaker. He successful promoted the candidacy of William McKinley in the election of 1896. He personified the growing influence of big business in politics. Born: 1837.
• Tammany Hall: From social club to force for reform to political machine. It controlled New York politics for a century but was defeated in 1932.
• New Dealer: In 1933-34 relief and recovery programs instigated by FDR included farm, business and public measures. Around 1935 social legislation like Social Security was enacted. These programs were called the New Deal; hence New Dealers.
• TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority. Created in 1933 to develop the Tennessee river basin. Taxpayers contribute some one billion dollars to it annually.
• Boulder Dam: Boulder Dam was its name from 1933-1947. Sits on the Arizona-Nevada border east of Las Vegas. It was renamed Hoover Dam in 1948 to honor Republican president Herbert Hoover.

Newspaper

• Peter Zenger: In 1734 he was jailed and tried for political articles he published. He was acquitted helping to establish freedom of the press.
• Adolph Ochs: Active 1890's, early 1900's. Built the New York Times newspaper into a great newspaper. Non-partisan and accuracy, not sensationalism were his goals. The Times was a morning paper.
• Mr. Turner Catledge: The editor of the New York Times at the "present," the play's opening night. Wrote the book "My Life and Times."
• Journal American & Bill Hearst William Randolph Hearst, founder of a publishing empire, published in a flamboyant style and aimed at a mass audience. Around 1900 sold papers for a penny. The JA was a melding of the morning American and the Evening Journal newspapers:
• NY Daily News Tabloid daily paper that attracted readers with its sensational coverage of crime, its lurid photographs and entertainment news. About 2 million circulation in the 1940's.
• NY Daily Mirror The Mirror, a Hearst tabloid, featured sensational stories. To aid circulation, the tabloids competed for the raciest and most lurid stories and pictures.
• Journal the separate evening paper eventually folded into the American to become the morning Journal-American.
• Telegram The World-Telegram supported Republican candidates in most elections. It was part of the Scripps-Howard string of newspapers.
• Post The New York Post, a tabloid with news and features, eventually became NY's only evening daily paper.
• Earl Wilson He was the Post's main gossip columnist covering Broadway in the 1940's.
• Hildy Johnson A star newsman in a stage play, The Front Page (1931).
• Grant M. Hyde Author of an early, noteworthy textbook on journalism. He was from Wisconsin.
• Literary Digest A monthly reporter of newspaper opinion and current affairs. Ended publication shortly after publishing a poll predicting Alf Landon would win against Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 election.

Cultural

• Judge Crater disappeared on August 6, 1930. He planned to attend a Broadway play, but he never showed up. He had cleaned out his desk, withdrawn a large sum of money, and was not noticed at the play. He knew underworld figures--but....
• Charles Buddy Rogers An actor. In the 1930's his nickname was America's Boy Friend. He was wed to Mary Pickford, silent movie screen star. He has a star on Palm Springs, CA,'s sidewalks.
• Clarence Darrow: Lawyer active 1890's thru the 1920's. Defended the workers in an early labor battle: Eugene V. Debs vs.Pullman Railway Car(1894). He defended Scopes in a famous teaching-of-evolution trial (1925).
• Harry Houdini: Famous magician noted for his escape tricks. Active in the early 1920's.
• Peter Stuyvesant: Active in the 1660's. A one-legged, harsh, autocratic, Dutch, director-general of the pre-New York settlement.
• Roger Babson Was an entrepreneur who started a business statistical service. In the 1920's he had a business and advice column in the monthly magazine, Saturday Evening Post. Started Babson College. (?)
• Max Lerner Liberal American educator and New York Post writer in the 1950's. Born: 1902.
• Western Union: Forerunner to email; an electronic form of sending letters STOP Words were counted STOP The more words you sent; the more it cost STOP Telegraph boys often delivered the letters STOP Early, it didn't have periods STOP
• Far Rockaway, NY New York suburb on the Atlantic Coast. Richard Feynman lived there as a child.
• Waldorf Towers The 28th thru 42nd floor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Premier lodging and the standard of excellence in hotels; since 1931.
• Tappan Zee a bridge over the Hudson River.
• Langley Collyer One of a pair of hermits living amidst their accumulated possessions around 1942.
• FOAB Pension Federal Old-Age Benefits, an early name for a government program similar to today's Social Security. Although by the play's "present" the FOAB had changed its name, it is likely that the old name was still in use.

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