Arsenic & Old lAce - Center Stage

Glossary
Compiled by Gavin Witt, Production Dramaturg
Alice Roosevelt: Teddy, convinced that
he is Theodore Roosevelt, imagines
that Elaine is his eldest daughter Alice
(1884–1980). Alice was nicknamed
“Princess Alice” during her father’s tenure
in the White House, and became an
instant celebrity. She was a strong-willed,
outspoken, unconventional, and beautiful
young woman, America’s darling. She
smoked in public, hung around with
young men, gambled, and owned a pet
snake named Emily Spinach—hence,
Teddy’s admonishment that she not be
a rough-housing tomboy. Alice married
a Congressman in 1906, and went on to
lead a fascinating life. [see also: Teddy
Roosevelt]
Allez oop: In 1932, cartoonist V.T. Hamlin created a comic strip
about a cave man named Alley Oop. He’d picked up the phrase
“allez-oup” as a WWI ambulance driver in France. French circus
acrobats cue each other with “allez-oup!” (“let’s go”). The
awesome offensive play in basketball is named after the
comic strip.
Arsenic: When ingested in large doses, the symptoms of
arsenic poisoning include vomiting, bloody diarrhea, burning
pain in the esophagus, cold and clammy skin, weakness, a
sweet metallic taste in the mouth, convulsions, delirium, and
coma. If the victim is left untreated, circulatory failure leads
to death. Used extensively in glass-making, mining, smelting,
and other industrial processes, arsenic is a naturally occurring
mineral found in water, soil, or rock; in its pure form it is a
white, tasteless, odorless element.
Behrman: Samuel N. Behrman (1893–1973) was an American
playwright, screenwriter, and journalist. He was considered one
of Broadway’s leading authors of “high comedy” in the 1930s
and ‘40s: his plays dealt with tolerance in the face of fanaticism
and violence. Great Broadway successes: Second Man (1928),
Biography (1932), End of Summer (1936), and No Time for
Comedy (1939). The “Behrman play” that prompted Mortimer
to compliment Elaine’s “authentic beauty” was probably No
Time for Comedy, in which a successful comic playwright feels
driven to write a serious play in response to the Spanish Civil
War, and ends up deciding to go and fight in Spain himself.
Bleeck’s: Mortimer and Elaine’s thwarted after-theater plans
include Jack Bleeck’s Artist & Writers Restaurant, at 213 W. 40 th
Street. Once a speakeasy, this popular hangout in Manhattan
was the favored haunt of the staff of The Herald Tribune. It’s
still open, and still a favorite with the press.
Blockhouse: Teddy exhorts his troops to storm the blockhouse
at the top of San Juan Hill (i.e., the staircase). He means a small,
single-building fortification, more than a trench and less than a
bunker. [see also: San Juan Hill, Teddy Roosevelt]
Bombazine: Aunt Martha intends to wear bombazine for the
funeral services of her victims. It’s a very Victorian choice: the
heavy black cloth was used mainly for mourning garb, but had
gone out of fashion by the early 20 th Century.
Cardinal Gibbons: James
Cardinal Gibbons (1834–1921),
a Baltimore native, grew up
in County Mayo, Ireland, and
New Orleans. He rose through
the ranks of the Catholic
Church and was made
Archbishop of Baltimore in
1877, a position he held until
his death. He championed
the labor movement, welfare,
civil rights, education, and
dialogue with other religions.
Several presidents sought his counsel, and he was the public
face of Roman Catholicism in the early 20 th Century. In 1917,
Teddy Roosevelt hailed him as the most venerated, respected,
and useful citizen in America. [see also: Teddy Roosevelt]
Chicago World’s Fair: Chicago
has hosted two World’s
Fairs: the World’s Columbian
Exposition in 1893 and the
Century of Progress Exposition
in 1933. Aunt Abby and Aunt
Martha could conceivably
have visited either, but they
are probably remembering the
Fair of 1933. The Fair’s theme
was technological innovation.
It opened on May 27, 1933, on
the shore on Lake Michigan.
Popular and strange exhibits included the performances of fan
dancer Sally Rand, an exhibition of incubators containing real
babies, the “dream cars” of various auto manufacturers, the
arrival of the German airship Graf Zeppelin on October 26 th , the
Homes of Tomorrow, and clubs on the Midway featuring future
star Judy Garland.
Crazy like a fox: The phrase was first recorded in 1935.
Foxes are considered cunning, sly animals, so a person who
is “crazy like a fox” might be cleverly pretending to be crazy
in order to deceive others (much like Hamlet in Shakespeare’s
play, for instance).
Culebra Cut: Renamed the Gaillard Cut in 1915, this is a manmade
valley that forms part of the Panama Canal. The cut, the
result of a monumental engineering effort, is nearly eight
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