It Can't Happen Here

Flashcards from the lecture notes

It Can't Happen Here

A play by John C. Moffitt and Sinclair Lewis from the novel by Sinclair Lewis.

Act I, Scene 1 Setting

Ft. Beulah, Vermont, early on a June afternoon.

Doremus Jessup

Editor and owner of the Ft. Beulah Daily Informer; a man of about 55, neither very tall nor very short, kindly, liberal, shrewd, competent - a country editor who has, no doubt, worked a year or two, as a youngster, on a big-city daily. He is a widower.

Lorinda Pike

About forty years old - a spinster, probably because she has always been devoted to Doremus; for though she is something of a reformer, not unlikely to tell unwelcome truths with dry humor, she is also very attractive – full of human juices. She also is in old tweeds, also panting; and carrying one basket, a smaller one. LORINDA has a tiny income of her own, but she is “Society and Woman’s Editor” of the Informer.

David Greenhill

A lively little boy of eight or ten, has a keen, sensitive, likeable face and candid eyes.

Dr. Fowler Greenhill

A brisk, competent, and attractive surgeon of 35 to 40.

Mary Greenhill

Gay and attractive, but an efficient young matron of about 30.

Francis Tasbrough

Pompous textile manufacturer of 55 - the richest man in town - a lifelong acquaintance of Doremus, however much Doremus may be irritated by Tasbrough’s smug Toryism.

Henry Veeder

Tall gaunt farmer about 70; dignified, a patriarch; definitely neither a peasant nor a vaudeville hick, large bony hands, white hair, no beard, though perhaps, a long white mustache. He wears overalls with a clean blue or white shirt, and a comfortable old felt hat.

Mrs. Veeder

Nearly 70; a frail, fine old woman.

Clarence Little

A smallish, insignificant, very kindly shop-keeper from town.

Shad Ledue

The Jessup hired man; lumpish and surly, he combines rustic shyness with urban trickery. He is about 30 and awkwardly wears his cheap, best suit.

Julian Falck

The very liable son of a neighbor of Doremus, a college graduate of 22 or 23. He is in CORPO UNIFORM.

Effingham Swan

A slim, athletic man between forty and fifty years old, very suave and literate looking. It is probably that he is very competent, rather amused by life, and as cruel as a hawk.

Pastor Paul Peter Prang

Eloquent, sincere, yet so hungry for publicity and power that he constantly blindfolds his own sincerity.

Buzz Windrip

CORPORATIVE PARTY CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. A stalky, energetic man of between forty-five and fifty; a perky small-town lawyer of vitality, brass, and imagination.

Lee Sarason

To Buzz, the most important man in the world. At once Buzz' man of all dirty work, efficient secretary, bitter jester, and mentor.

Act I, Scene 2 Setting

The neighbourhood grocery store of CLARENCE LITTLE, in Fort Beulah, a small city in Vermont.

Act II, Scene 2 Setting

The President's private office in the White House two weeks later.

Act II, Scene 3 Setting

Again in DOREMUS JESSUP'S sanctum.

Act II, Scene 4 Setting

Again in DOREMUS' living room.

Act III, Scene 2 Setting

A cell in a Corpo concentration camp.

Act III, Scene 3 Setting

The inner room of a Corpo immigration post on the Canadian border.