Summary

Wunderkind 26-year-old playwright Bill McChesney has a meeting with Mr. Brancusi, with Bill discussing his own spectacular success as well as his $28 shoes. (At the time this story was published, in 1930, $28 had the same purchasing power as $500 does today.) Mr. Brancusi is a producer who helped make Bill’s most recent play a success, giving him carte blanche for subsequent productions. Bill is puffing himself up to Brancusi when there is a knock on his door.

It is Emmy Pinkard, 18-year-old aspiring dancer just arrived at New York City from Delaney, South Carolina. Almost immediately, Bill brusquely asks Emmy, “Well, what do you want me to do—marry you?” (435). Emmy instead lets Bill know that what she wants is a role in his next play, so that she can begin to develop a stage presence. When Bill suddenly realizes that redheaded Emmy is...