Presents

The VegetableF. Scott Fitzgerald

8:00 p.m., July 13, 14, 19, 20, and 21, 20017:00 p.m., July 15, 2001E. M. Pearson Theatre

or From President to postman

Debra Beilke, Associate Professor of English, Concordia University-St. Paul

Satirizing the American Nightmare: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Vegetable

In the original publication of The Vegetable (1923), F. Scott Fitzgerald included the following quotation on the title page: “Any man who doesn’t want to get on in the world, to make a million dollars, and maybe even park his toothbrush in the White House, hasn’t got as much to him as a good dog has-he’s nothing more or less than a vegetable.” Fitzgerald used this quotation, which he claimed came “from a current magazine,” as a springboard for his only published play. This comic romp satirizes the ambitions of an ordinary man who wants to be President of the United States-that is, if he cannot make it as a postman.

Like his most famous novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzger-ald’s play The Vegetable focuses on the theme of the American Dream, but with a comic twist. Readers of The Great Gatsby are meant to admire Jay Gatsby’s “romantic readiness”: his idealistic pursuit of grand and glorious dreams, even if he fails at them. Similarly, we take seriously Dick Diver’s goal in Tender is the Night to be “the best psychiatrist in the world.” In The Vegetable, however, such excessive ambition is fodder for satiric laughter. The play suggests that ordinary people like Jerry would be much better off pursuing modest occupations for which they are well-suited than chasing fantastic dreams that, even if they came true, would be disastrous for everyone involved. This realistic, common sense approach to the American Dream represents a dramatic change of pace for the usually Romantic Fitzgerald.

Another common theme in Fitzgerald’s work is the destructive power of women. The typical Fitzgerald heroines-Rosalind of This Side of Paradise, Daisy of The Great Gatsby, Nicole and Rosemary of Tender is the Night-all

control men (consciously or not) through a combination of beauty, charm, and often wealth. Helpless before such feminine power, many Fitzgerald heroes lose themselves in their romantic relationships. Like Fitzgerald’s other heroines, Charlotte Frost of The Vegetable also dominates her man, but with a comic twist. Since she lacks beauty, wealth, or charm, Charlotte must resort to nagging to keep Jerry under her control; this technique works well for the first two thirds of the play. Jerry, however, eventually wins the war of the sexes. By the end of the play, Charlotte promises to give up her nagging, and Jerry emerges as a vital and victorious postman. Such an ending seems to be Fitzgerald’s comic revenge for all the romantically doomed characters he created-both before and after this play.

The minor characters of Doris, and Snooks highlight another thread that infuses much of Fitzgerald’s fiction of the 1920s: his focus on Jazz Age manners and mores. Doris, like many other Fitzgerald females, epitomizes the type of woman known in the 1920s as the “flapper.” But though Doris epitomizes all of the worst qualities of the flapper, she lacks any of the charm that made this type so fascinating. Also lacking in redeeming characteristics is Snooks, the bootlegger-

turned-ambassador-of-Polish-Ireland, who is portrayed as a repulsive example of Jazz Age rapaciousness. Interestingly, though, Fitzgerald later revamps this figure of the bootlegger who rises into society; after major revisions, the bootlegger emerges as a much more appealing (although still shady) Jay Gatsby.

The Vegetable remains somewhat of a curiosity. It is Fitzgerald’s only published full-length play and his only excursion into political satire. Indeed, it is one of his few adult attempts at sustained humor. In this light-hearted burlesque, Fitzgerald retains many of the recurring themes of his novels and short stories, but turns them inside out. In so doing, he reveals the comic underside of the American dream.

Background

Do you mean to say that there’s one Ameri-can citizen who does not desire the sacred duty of being President? - General Pushing

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By David Page, co-author with John Koblas of “F. Scott Fitzgerald in Minnesota: Toward the Summit”, which was nominated for a 1996 Minnesota Book Award.

In the middle of March 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald was living at 626 Goodrich in St. Paul while he put the finishing touches on a play he felt would make him “rich forever” (1). That month he wrote his agent, Harold Ober, to expect the first draft (which was as yet untitled) and to be on the lookout for a producer.

What Ober and other trusted friends received was a farce about Jerry Frost, a clerk who wakes up to discover he is President of the United States. The play opens in the “’living room’ of Jerry Frost’s house. It is evening. The room (and, by implication, the house) is small and stuffy--it’s an awful bother to raise these old-fashioned windows; some of them stick, and besides it’s extravagant to let in much cold air, here in the middle of March....That bookcase held ‘Ben Hur’ when it was a best seller....

“There’s got to be a door in plain sight that leads directly outdoors, and then there are two other doors, one to the dining room and one to the second floor....”

Fitzgerald’s description of the Frost home was certainly influenced by the Goodrich home in which he, Zelda, and their newborn daughter, Scotty, were living at the time. A later owner of the home complained about the windows that would stick, and the rear of the living room is lined with built-in book shelves (2). Although the house on Goodrich has an entrance hall, one door in the living room does lead to a dining room and another to the second floor.

Fitzgerald’s use of his own rental property as a set for the play should come as no surprise for an author who kept voluminous notebooks of dialogue he had heard, places he had seen, and events he had witnessed to be used later in his writing. It should also be no surprise to those familiar with Fitzgerald’s early life that he tackled a play early in his professional writing career, for as a boy he had been enthralled by the theater. Like most youngsters, he and his friends would act out scenes they had seen on the stage and owuld put together puppet shows. However, Fitzgerald continued to refine his dramatic work by writing scripts for a local children’s theater group called the Elizabethan Dramatic Bluc, named after its artistic director Elizabeth Magoffin, not the English queen.

When Fitzgerald was fourteen, the group read his play The Girl From Lazy J at Magoffin’s house. The next year, the club produced The Captured Shadow, with Fitzgerald himself in the lead role. This was followed the next summer by The Coward, which Scotty called “his first success as a writer” (3). Even after he departed for Princeton, Fitzgerald returned to St. paul the summer after his freshman year to write and perfrom in Assorted Spirits. By this time, he had also become very active in the Princeton Triangle Club and was writing lyrics and book for the group’s annual Christmas shows. All together, he worked on three musical comedies for Triangle: Fie! Fie! Fi-Fi! (1914-1915), The Evil Eye (1915-1916), and Safety First(1916-1917). One critic for the Louisville Post proclaimed that Fitzgerald “could take his place right now with the brightest writers of witty lyrics in America.” And in a poll of Princeton graduates at that time, Fitzgerald received six votes for favorite dramatist, only twenty-three less than George Bernard Shaw (4). Furthermore, he had offers from New York agents suggesting he drop out of Princeton and give Broadway a chance (5).

When Fitzgerald finally got his shot at theatrical fame in 1923 with his play, now called The Vegetable, it flopped in Atlantic City before it could get to the bright lights of New York. Ironically, Fitzgerald himself had predicted its failure. He suggested the published version “be advertised, it seems to me as a book of humor...than like a play--because it its written to be read” (6). As publisher Charles Scribner III points out, “For all its revisions, The Vegetable remained a novelist’s, not a dramatist’s, play...” (7).

If that were not enough to ensure its lack of success, as a piece of social criticism, The Vegetable was also perhaps ahead of its time. Fitzgerald’s underlying idea, according to his editor Maxwell Perkins, is to show what “sentimental bunk” is the doctrine that all persons in a democracy should strive to become President (8). The impeachment of President Clinton and the election of the White House of a man with questionable intelligence might provide contemporary audiences with new insights on Fitzgerald’s play, insights that audiences in 1923 were not quite prepared to accept.

Background

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William Delehanty, Ph.D., History Department, University of St. Thomas

What time in American history do the following situations make you think about?

- young people rebelling against the ways of the older generations. - church people criticizing the schools for teaching evolution. - ordinary citizens regularly breaking the law by using an illegal mood-altering ubstance. - industrial technology growing by the application of science and research to anufacturing processes. - a President and national government protecting and promoting the interests of business.- a frenzy of speculation on the stock market.

If you said, “Hey, that’s the [19]80’s and the [19]90’s for sure!”, you’re right, of course; but, you’d also be right to say the [19]20’s, the period of the play that you’re about to watch. A very popular book (Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen, published in 1931) planted the idea that the Twenties were a frivolous and fun-seeking time--that’s certainly part of the story.

Beneath the frivolous surface is the bigger story, the story of millions of Americans (123 million by 1930) facing the challenges of modern-izing. Women getting the vote; radio bringing news and entertainment in “real time” (the first commercial radio station in the USA started broadcasting in 1920); cars giving people instant mobility; electricity changing how products were manufactured and how home chores were done; laws restricting the production and use of alcoholic drinks; moving pictures (the first “talkie” in 1927) providing cheap entertainment...: these are just a few examples of the changes that Americans in the Twenties had to get used to.

All through the decade many leaders and thoughtful people were hoping for what President Harding called “normalcy”, a pleasant stability in the face of worldwide change. Writers, artists and many young people were searching for something else, something that we still call “being modern”. But no matter how much the advocates of “normalcy” tried for stability, big changes challenged the ways and ideas of older times. And no matter how much the clever writers poked fun at business leaders, the business boom continued right up to the 1929 crash. Maybe you’ll see a few of these cross currents of the 1920’s in tonight’s entertainment.

Background

Article II, Section 4. The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

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BackgroundSarah Allison is a Junior at Carleton College, where she majors in nglish. She was born and raised in Littleton, Colorado.

From his birth in 1896 at 481 Laurel Avenue, F. Scott Fitzgerald maintained close emotional ties with St. Paul throughout his life. He never fully adopted the pace and mindframe of the East coast, and much of his work questions the dazzling lifestyle and glamorous circles he experienced there and abroad.

Fitzgerald’s St. Paul background formed a moral backdrop to many of his later works. He grew up in St. Paul from 1908-1922, when it was a town of 200,000. In Kenneth Eble’s F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eble discusses St. Paul’s influence on Fitzgerald. Many of his best early stories, including “The Ice Palace” and “Winter Dreams”, draw on his experiences growing up in the Midwest, while the strange emptiness of Gatsby’s life gains tragic height from the moral distance between the East and the Midwest.

Growing up, Fitzgerald lived for time in his parents’ apartments at 593/599 Summit Avenue, a brown-stone building he described as “a house below the average on a street above the average.” As the grand-

son of P.F. McQuillan, a wealthy Irish grocer with his own mansion on Summit Ave., Fitzgerald had a fairly secure place within St. Paul’s upper class. However, his father’s financial failure left the Fitzgeralds in uncertain financial straits despite the McQuillan legacy.

Fitzgerald attended St. Paul Academy, a private school where his first short story was published in 1909 in the school magazine. Though he later attended a private school in New Jersey, he took the long train ride home to St. Paul for the summers. It was there that he wrote and starred in his own play, “The Captured Shadow,” at the age of fifteen. He went to Princeton, he went to war, and he came home to St. Paul.

Before his return, his first novel had been rejected by publishers and his first engagement with Zelda had been broken off. He later wrote, “I retired, not on my profits, but my liabilities, and crept home to St. Paul to ‘finish a novel’.” Only after he and Zelda were married and This Side of Paradise had made him famous, did they move to Great Neck, Long Island, in order to be closer to Broadway as he wrote his only full-length drama: The Vegetable, or From President to Postman. He came home again after the second year of his marriage to Zelda, and it was at the Commodore Hotel on Western Avenue that their only daughter, Scottie, was born. With his career and his family really and truly begun, Fitzgerald left St. Paul, taking with him strong impressions of the city that had nourished, sheltered, and shaped him.

This marriage business is all right for narrow-minded people, but I like to be where I can throw over a fella when it gets to be necessary. - Doris

Some professions anybody can get into them, like business or politics for instance, but you take postmen - they’re like angels, they sort of pick ‘em out. - Jerry

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CAst and crew

The cast in order of appearance is:

Jerry Frost W. Jason SchaalCharlotte Frost Holly LindsayDada Ed O’ConnorDoris Christine DeZelar-TiedmanSnooks Michael BreedenJoseph Fish Craig AndersonJones Donna Marie WoodsonChauffeur Jeremiah ScanlanGeneral Pushing Kurt HunsickerFifer Maggie LallyDrummer Yelena KladnitskyNewsboy Zak FordeStutz-Mozart David ZellerJudge Fossile Urban LandremanSenator Jessica SmithSenator Jill StevensonSenator Kari KamrinPorter Barry LazarusDetective John Garafola

The crew includes:

Cris Tibbetts DirectorUrban Landreman ProducerJodi Paquette Stage ManagerGena Olmstead PropsMichelle Forde CostumesElmer Pierre Music DirectorTerry Gibson Lighting DesignerKaty Shimizu Stage DesignStage Crew Alex Forde

Jacob HarstedPatrick LandremanKaty Shimizu

Set Construction Jon StierwaldSet Painting Lead Peter CudworthSet Crew Matthew Landreman

Urban LandremanKaty ShimizuToshimi Shimizu

Business Advertising Julie Stokes

Music ensemble:

John BuilderLisa LeeNeil MerckStacy PaleenElmer Pierre

Act I - home of Jerry and Charlotte Frost, Spring 1923Act II - outside the White House

Act III - home of Jerry and Charlotte Frost, a week later

“[The Vegetable] strikes off most of the glaring idiocies of which, within the last six years, our country has been guilty. And it does it capitally, in short witty sentences, in excoriating situations.” - St. Paul Daily News, July 15, 1923

“…An astonishingly readable play, and incidentally, may be expected to jazz things up quite a bit for the amateur stage.” - Minnesota Daily Star, Min-neapolis, May 22, 1923

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Yelena Kladnitsky [Drummer]Yelena is a Senior at Carnegie Mellon University, where she is double majoring in Computer Science and Span-ish. She has been involved in theater since ninth grade. Before joining the Lex-Ham Community Theater, she participated at the Jewish Community Center in various plays, including Bye-Bye Birdie, and Grease. Yelena joined Lex-Ham in the summer of 1999 for the production of The Dining Room and returned the next summer for George Washington Slept Here. This is her third summer with Lex-Ham.

Jason Schaal’s [Jerry Frost]Since 1995, Jason has appeared in shows for the Community Theater Guild of Woodbury, Lakeshore Players, Acadia Cafe, and Theatre in the Round Players. He is a founding member of The WaZoo! Show, a local cable-access comedy sketch program. This is Jason’s first show with LexHam Community Theater.

Christine DeZelar-Tiedman [Doris]Christine DeZelar-Tiedman recently returned to her native Twin Cities after living five years in Idaho (and she thinks the Idaho jokes in this show are funny). This is her first appearance with Lex-Ham, though she’s been involved with theatre in one way or another most of her life. Favorite past roles include Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, Ismene in Antigone, and Brigitta in The Sound of Music.

Kurt Hunsicker [General/Mr. Pushing]Actor/director/producer/ writer/ Yada yada yada... Kurt has over 25 years of experience in all facets of theatre. In May 2001 he directed/produced ‘Same Time, Next Year’ for the Westside Players and hopes to bring that same show to another venue this year. Kurt also hopes this will be only the first of many theatrical expe-riences with the Lex-Ham Theater.

Urban Landreman [Judge Fossile]Urban Landreman has participated in all of the Lex-Ham Community Theater productions since its incep-tion. A few of his previous roles include Mr. Kimber in George Washington Slept Here, Ezra Williams in The Neigh-bors, and his touching portrayal of the radio weather announcer in The Mice Have Been Drinking Again. He hopes that the audience still believes that this is a coun-try based on law, not of individuals after seeing his portrayal of a Supreme Court justice.

Ed O’Connor [Dada]This is my fifth opportunity with “Lex-Ham” produc-tions. Time to give out some “Thanks”: To family and friends and neighbors who have been loyal attendees to the plays. To Patricia, for her patient line readings and help in many ways. To others who have taken time to listen and help.

Barry J. Lazarus [Porter]The name is Barry J. Lazarous. Call me “Bear” or “Mr. Bear” if you please. I obtained a BA in Economics for CSU at Fullerton. Yeah, that’s right, I’m a golden boy from sunny Southern California. What am I doing in Minnesota? I’m not sure. I’m still trying to figure that one out. I enjoy playing chess, tennis, swimming and taking care of my pets.

Kari Kamrin [Senator]Kari has appeared in various plays in Lansing, Michigan and Minneapolis, among them the The Rocky Horror Showand The Dinning Room. He played the doctor most recently in What’s the Matter With Sara Jane?, at the Urban Spectrum Theater. He has a Master’s Degree in Historic Preservation, which has proven to be absolutely worth-less in his job search, so he tried a stable career like acting instead.

Maggie Lally [Fifer]I have been working offstage and backstage for a few years, for Cretin-Derham Hall’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hush: an Interview with America and Guys and Dolls. Although I have done several shows in the past, including CDH Community Theater’s Bye-Bye Birdie, this is my first show with Lex-Ham. Kumbaya to all.

John Garafola [Senator/ Detective]This is my first performance with the Lex-Ham, with a long lay-off from St. Luke’s on stage shows.

Craig Anderson [Joseph Fish]This is Craig’s fourth show with Lex-Ham; having also appeared in George Washington Slept Here, Bullets & Beau-ties, and Chinamen. Craig also played in Lettuce and Lounge at the Theater in the Round, and just finished a run of What’s the Matter With Sara Jane at the Urban Spectrum in Minneapolis. Craig has studied acting at the Guthrie and holds a BA in English from the Univer-sity of Iowa.

Biographies

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Terry Gibson - [Lighting Designer]After 20 years on the West Coast, Terry has returned to the Midwest to practice his art and love of theater. He has worked with a variety of professional and com-munity dance, opera, and theater companies. Some of his recent work includes the Broadway touring company of Jesus Christ Superstar and the Wallflowers.

Elmer Pierre, [Music Director]Elmer Pierre has done music for 6 Lex-Ham produc-tions and wants to thank Pat, John Ahern and the current musicians for their help, work and understanding. This show’s music is dedicated to the memory of Joseph St. Germaine, grandfather, member and sometime leader of the St. Paul Post Office Orchestra, Ethel Pierre, mother, and lifelong musician, Ray St. Germaine, uncle, godfather and postman. We stand on the shoulders of giants and neglect to thank them for the view.

Cris Tibbets [Director]We all have dreams and fantasies about what we’d like our life to be like. Often, sadly, all we do is dream. Rather than setting out to make the dream a reality, we waste our lives wondering what might have been.

The charm of F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Vegetable lies in the way - subtle and not-so-subtle - that the people in this play go about making their dreams come true. Fitzgerald’s works are filled with longing, and characters trying (often in vain) to make their dreams come true. Here, he has applied a comic touch that we hope you’ll enjoy.

Because The Vegetable is Fitzgerald’s only play, and has been out of print for several years, it is our pleasure to serve this rare delicacy to you.

Enjoy!

Cris is pleased to be directing his second show for Lex-Ham Community Theatre. The first was last fall’s revivial of Urban Landreman’s Bullets and Beauties. By day, he encourages other to “become what you aspire to be” at Castalia, a personal change agency, where he writes and manages projects. By night, it has been his pleasure to see this cast become what they aspire to be.

BiographiesMichael BreedenMichael is making his second appearance with Lex-Ham, and is having a grand ol’ time at it. Michael would like the audience to know if they are left with an empty thirsty feeling after the show, that he can be reached at: 1-700-BOOTLEG! “It’s strong!”

Jeremiah Scanlon [Chauffer/ Porter]I enjoy being involved in the arts as much as possible. I participate in community theatre and theatre at Central High School. I also love writing poetry and reading Philosophy. This is my first show with Lex-Ham and I’m happy to be a part of the group.

Jessica Smith [Senator]This is Jessica’s first play with the Lex-Ham Community Theater. One years ago the acting bug bit and she began taking acting classes at Caryn Internation Academy for Film and Television. She hopes to participate in more community theatre and to learn the realities of acting. Jessica currently works at Family Service, Inc. as the Assistant to the President. She is married, has two cats, and graduated form Concordia College, Moore-head with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in writing.

Donna Woodson [Ms. Jones]The Vegetable is my first production with The Lex-Ham Community Theatre and I’m thrilled to be portraying Miss Jones. It feels great to be back on stage after a 4 year hiatus (I’m never doing that again!) I’d like to thank my family for their enduring support and love. I couldn’t do it without you!

Jodi Paquette [Stage Manager]This is Jodi’s first production with Lex-Ham Commu-nity Theatre, and her first stab at Stage Manager. Jodi would like to thank the cast and crew for being so patient and supportive as she stumbled through her responsibilities!

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SPOnsors

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The Lex-Ham Community Theater is a program of the Lexington-Hamline Community Council (LHCC). Through-out its history, the LHCC has provided the neighborhood with programs that help to maintain good housing, a healthy environment, facilities for recreation and strategies for protection from crime. The original fundamental purposes of the LHCC remain the same: to improve the quality of life in the Lexington-Hamline neighborhood and to bring about long-term, sustainable community change for the neighborhood, by the neighborhood.

For several years, the LHCC has used the Arts as one of its tools to assist in building a sense of community among Lex-Ham residents. Some of the LHCC’s arts projects include a neighborhood quilt with squares created by residents and the Lex-Ham Community Band.

Since its start in 1995, the Lex-Ham Community Theater has striven to achieve its mission of producing quality theatrical experiences by and for the residents of the Lexington-Hamline and surrounding neighborhoods in St. Paul. The company has enhanced the local theatrical scene by selecting lesser-known works by noted playwrights and giving the regional and world premieres of works by local authors. All of its shows have provided people with little previous experience an opportunity to be on-stage or work off-stage side by side with those who have more experience.

Finally, the company strives to help build community by involving people across generations and walks of life with each of its productions.

Call (651) 645-3207 to get involved.

Check out the Lex-Ham Community Theater’s web site at:www.lexham.org/theater

ABOUT Lex-Ham Community Theater

Upcoming shows:

September 8, 9, 14, & 15, 2001Love Letters by A. R. Gurney at Chang O’Hara’s

498 Selby Avenue, St. Paulfeaturing Deb Frethem and John Kelroy

November 2 - 10, 2001Under the Gaslight by Augustin Daly at Higher Ground Academy

A melodrama about social class prejudice. Be ready to hiss the villian!Auditions in September, 2001

Special Thanks to:Catherine EllefsonJeff BrownHigher Ground AcademyGreat American History TheaterDale and Connie OlmsteadRebecca NelsonTreadle Yard Goods