The Scenes of the play are laid in the office of MAX ROSENBAUM, New York City, the parlour of the Palace Hotel, Punxatawney, the stage of a Broadway Theatre and the appartment of JEROME BELDEN.
The action covers a period of time from August to October, a month intervening between the first and second acts, six weeks between the second and third, and fourteen hours between the third and fourth.
Original cast, as first presented at the Hudson Theatre, New York, December 31, 1914.
It is arranged in the order in which the characters first appear.
The private office, in a Broadway theatre building, of MAX ROSENBAUM, theatrical manager. On the right of the room is a door opening on a hall that leads to a private entrance to the stage, on the left a door to the office of ROSENBAUM'S stage director , WILBUR TOMPKINS, and at the back another door to the outer offices and the waiting-room. At the left of the room are several chairs and a table on which stands a scenic artist's model of a stage setting, on the right a flat-topped desk and a swivel chair. Against the walls are filing cabinets and above them, encircling the room, is a row of framed "flashlights" of scenes from a ROSENBAUM production. In the most prominent position, over the centre door, is a large framed photograph of ROSENBAUM. Tacked to the walls are several "half-sheets" to be used in advertising ROSENBAUM'S forthcoming production, "The Wallop."
It is eleven o'clock of a morning in August. On a bench in the waiting-room is the usual row of patient and eternally hopeful actors and actresses, seeking positions. They exchange greetings with SADIE, ROSENBAUM'S secretary, as she comes through the waiting-room into the private office. She closes the door .
SADIE is pretty, quick-witted, clever-tongued, apparently bored with life yet incurably romantic. She takes a passionate interest in the affairs of the office, waging an eternal feud with TOMPKINS, the stage director; in fact, assuming a proprietary attitude toward the business, and, while admiring ROSENBAUM enormously, does not hesitate to criticise even him. She is carrying the morning's mail, several telegrams, a manuscript of a play and a set of "parts." As she moves about the room she sings a popular, sentimental ballad of the day .
The parlour of the Palace Hotel, Punxatawney — a large room with the dingy aspect and notable lack of comfort so characteristic of the "one-night stand" hotels in America. At the right of the room is a large window with "stringy" lace curtains over which are faded green rep hangings, at the left a fireplace and, towering above it, a black walnut mantel cluttered with garishly coloured bric-à-brac, and at the back and to the left a large opening, showing a hall and a flight of stairs. A round table with a spotted chenille cover stands in the centre of the room with chairs at the right, at the left and at the back of it, all of them of different periods, alike in that they are equally uncomfortable. A rocking-chair at the fireplace, a horsehair sofa at the right of the room, and, near the window, a table on which, in a glass case, is a moth-eaten stuffed bird, complete the furnishings of the room. The wall-paper in an intricate design of green and purple "cabbages," and fly-specked engravings of historical incidents, preferably those depicting death, enhance the general gloom which is intensified rather than mitigated by the light of a ponderous chandelier. It is half-past eleven of an evening in October, six weeks having elapsed since the events of the preceding act .
ROSENBAUM, his hat pushed down over his forehead, a partially smoked cigar hanging from the corner of his mouth, his hands in his pockets, slouches in the chair at the right of the table, a picture of utter and abandoned despondency. The NIGHT CLERK, a tall, rawboned Yankee with hair plastered in deep curves on his brow, a heavy, drooping moustache, and dressed in the height of small-town fashion, "featuring" a plaid waistcoat and a made-up four-in-hand tie in which is a cluster scarf-pin of imitation emeralds and diamonds, enters and approaches ROSENBAUM, who turns and regards him gloomily .
The stage of a Broadway Theatre at four A. M. of a Monday in October during the dress rehearsal of "DORA'S DILEMMA," which began at eight o'clock of the previous evening and is still in progress. The scene when completed is to represent a handsomely decorated and furnished library, the walls panelled in wood to a certain height, above which is a frieze of tapestry. It is now partially finished. At the back is an opening obviously designed to contain a large window in several sections as one of them with leaded glass panes is in place. Through this opening can be seen a garden back drop, lowered only half way, an electric light border, and beyond and below them the back wall of the theatre. Against this wall are stacked several pieces of scenery, the unpainted side turned towards the spectators and stencilled with the words, "Bettina Dean Co." At the rear and at the left of the window is a door leading to a hall. The backing to represent the hall is not in place. At the lower left is a door, the frame and the door are unpainted. At the right of the stage is an opening for a fireplace in which a fire is lighted, but there is no backing, andirons nor logs, so that the "baby" spot which furnishes the effect of a fire-glow is plainly visible. There is a door at the upper right of the room. The ceiling of the room is not in place, the "lines" holding it plainly visible. There is a large couch placed at right angles to the fireplace, on the opposite side of the room a table desk with a desk chair, its back to the spectators. Another chair is at the right of the desk. Below the door at the left, against the wall, is a high-backed chair and one similar in style at the right of the room below the fireplace. These chairs are in the process of upholstery, the material applied on the arms and the backs, but the seats are still in muslin. An arm-chair, covered in velvet, stands at the right of the window. There are no draperies and the cushion of the window seat has not been covered .
Before the curtain is raised there can be heard a confused murmur of voices as though an act of a play was in progress. When it is raised the room is dimly lighted as though by the effect of lamplight and firelight. The people on the stage are made up as the characters they represent in "DORA'S DILEMMA": JOHNNIE BRINKLEY as CHAPMAN, wearing a moustache, a grey wig and a morning coat, vest and striped trousers; JERRY as DICK BENNETT, in dinner clothes and cap; BILLINGS, a stocky individual in a policeman's uniform, and BETTY as DORA CHAPMAN, in an evening gown . TOMPKINS as HENDERSON, the butler, in livery but in his shirt-sleeves, leans against the door at the back. He is holding the prompt copy of "DORA'S DILEMMA" with which he is following the action of the play . JOHNNY is standing in front of the desk , BILLINGS at the right of it . JERRY in the centre of the room, facing JOHNNY; BETTY behind the couch, on which is JERRY'S overcoat. Their attitudes are tense, their speech excited, as they are at the climactic moment of the third act of "DORA'S DILEMMA."
After the curtain falls there is an instant of time, then ROSENBAUM appears in the left upper stage box of the theatre. He looks over its railing at the audience, then sits with his back to the stage mentally "counting the house." MRS. DEAN, following him, looks over the railing at the audience and then seats herself facing the stage . SMITH comes in and, sitting between them, nervously crumples a programme . ROSENBAUM is in a dinner jacket , SMITH in evening clothes , MRS. DEAN in a wrap and over her head a scarf which she removes .
The idea sought to be conveyed is that the curtain is rising on the final scenes in the third act during the first performance of "Dora's Dilemma."
The curtain rises to disclose a completely furnished stage setting representing the library in the ROBERT CHAPMAN home . EFFIE, as MRS. BENNETT, is seated on the couch . BETTY, as DORA CHAPMAN, is speaking to her .
JERRY'S apartment in a Studio building in New York, — a simply and attractively furnished room with a door at the left to the bedroom and another at the back to the hall. There is a fireplace at the right and extending from it into the room, its back to the spectator is a large couch covered with corduroy. Facing it is a comfortable wing chair and a table with a reading light. At the left is a window with a cushioned seat and in front of it a handsome table with writing materials, a lamp, a rack of books and silver boxes containing cigarettes. Behind the desk is a chair, in front of it a bench with a cushion of corduroy. Against the back wall is a Jacobean cabinet and a table with a lamp. Another table for newspapers and magazines stands at the left end of the couch. There are framed photographs on the walls, the mantel-piece, the tables and the desk, all of BETTY in various poses. Bright sunlight is streaming through the windows .
WALTER, JERRY'S man-servant, has placed the morning papers and the mail on the desk and is starting for the bedroom carrying the coat of a suit when the door opens and JERRY appears .