Opening Scene:
9th and Christian Streets, South Philadelphia.
December 1899. The eve of the new century, 1900.
The scene is plain. A background painting in sepia tones recalls an old photograph of a market street. Risers suggest the interiors of houses. Stoops in front.
Painted signs are suspended, some in English like "Silverman's Grocery" others in Italian like "PESCI CARLINO" and still others in Yiddish with the word KOSHER in Hebrew letters.
When the curtain opens, merchants, shoppers, children with books etc. form a tableau which blends with the painting. As the lights gradually come up, the freeze breaks into great activity, loud shouts and noise of sellers, carts, children running, people walking.
( Out of the crown Mrs. Silverman emerges and goes into Mr. Feldman's butcher shop. )
Mrs. Silverman: Good morning Mr. Feldman.
Mr. Feldman: Good morning Mrs. Silverman. Your husband well?
Mrs. Silverman: Couldn't be better. And Sadie? She's doing well?
Mr. Feldman: Couldn't be better. They're sending her sister Ina soon. We got a letter. Next her sister Minna and she'll be together with all her brothers and sisters. Couldn't be happier.
Mrs. Silverman: God bless - he answers her prayers.
Mr. Feldman: Tell me Esther, I've seen new faces at your door. You have new borders?
Mrs: Silverman: Five. Two Taleeyers (Tah - lee - yas). Nice couple. He speaks English pretty good. But the wife - just come from the other side.
Mr. Feldman: Couple Irish types I think I saw too.
Mrs. Silverman: Oye! Nice girls - but (she gestures) a little meshuge.
Mr. Feldman: So tell me, Mrs. Silverman, what can I do for you today?
Mrs. Silverman: A nice piece brisket, Mr. Feldman.
Mr. Feldman: Three nice cuts I have, but for you, a special one. You're my first customer this morning.
(She looks at the brisket and nods. He goes to weigh it and she stops him.)
Mrs. Silverman: Maybe you could trim a little of the fat before you weigh.
Mr. Feldman: Trim the fat! You want it should shrink when you cook?
Mrs. Silverman: No, I want it should shrink a little now, ...before I cook.
(He trims the brisket, weighs it and wraps it.)
Mr. Feldman: Here you go Mrs. Silverman.
Mrs. Silverman: Thank you and good day to you.
Mr. Feldman: Have a good day Mrs. Silverman.
Mrs: Silverman: Have a good day Mr. Feldman.
(She exits the store. We see Jacob Goldman. He is carrying a large roll of fabric.)
Mrs. Silverman: Good morning Jacob, you're not in the store?
Mr. Goldman: The boys are there. I'm going out to show this fabric. (He shows the roll.) Good cotton. Strong. Look at the weave. It's a long walk to the big houses on Walnut Street. Ten years I pushed the cart collecting shmata and I'm still on the street while my sons sit like businessmen.
Mrs. Silverman: The young. What can you do.
Mr. Goldman: I'm not what I used to be. Good morning. (He goes off .)
(We see Yetta approach from a store.)
Mrs. Silverman: Good morning, Yetta.
Yetta: Good for some maybe.
Mrs. Silverman: The sky is clear. The sun is out.....
Yetta: What? You don't feel the cold? It's going to snow. I can feel it in my bones.
Mrs. Silverman: Yetta, you sound like an old woman. You're still young.
Yetta: Forty-five. Less to go than I've already come.
Mrs. Silverman: And look how far that is. Odessa is like a long ago dream.
Yetta: For you a dream. For others like a nightmare.
Mrs. Silverman: What nightmare? It's a good life you have with .......
Yetta: I can't talk now, Esther. I'm on my way. Have a good day.
Mrs. Silverman: You too. Have a good day.....(aside) and don't spend it too close to me.
Yetta: What's that you said?
Mrs. Silverman: (self-correcting) a fine day as you can see.
(Yetta and Mrs. Silverman exit.)
Yetta: (turning back) A fine day? You can't even walk down the street, so crowded it is. But who's complaining? Esther -(Indicating the audience.) Looks like you got somebody looking for rooms.
Mrs. Silverman:(to the audience) Oh, I didn't see you. Good morning. Looking for a room? (Pause)
Yetta: You got room for more borders?
Mrs. Silverman: You don't look like you've come for a room. No, of course not. You come from up-town. Up above South Street. I know. Walnut, Chestnut. My Mannie used to walk his push cart down those streets. A cabbage here, a potato there. This house some of this, that house a bit of something else.
(We see Mr. Silverman from inside his store.)
Mr. Silverman: Ten years I walked my cart. - Eighteen and eighty two we came here. - Ten years the cart: up and down, down and up - 'til I bought my store in ninety-two. One penny one day, five pennies the next. The next and the next - and now - Silverman the grocer. It's my sign. Better than Odessa. That I can tell you.
(A gang of boys rushes by, they are bullying each other over a ball.)
Yetta: You got no streets like this up-town.
Mrs. Silverman: Don't let them frighten you. They make a ruckus but they don't hurt nobody. It's a good street. Noisy some times but a good street. Christian Street. 9th and Christian. Can you believe? We run form the Cassocks in Pavlovka, walk with a cart all the way to Bremen. We take the boat to America, Philadelphia. The boat docks right up the street. You know, there, on the river. The man from the neighborhood society meets us. He takes us to the synagogue. A lot of questions they ask. They give us fifty cents. Another man takes us. He walks us again ... and where do we end up - Christian Street.
(We see Mannie Silverman in his store. He speaks directly to his wife as though she were standing there. )
Mannie: Christian Street.
Mrs. Silverman: Mannie, this is America. And face it. There are more of them than there are of us. Besides, I don't see any horses with Cassocks.
(To the audience. The light fades on Mannie.) In eighty-two we came. You know. When a bunch of meshugines it was who wanted to kill the Czar. And what happens ... the Cassocks come chasing after us. Why? Who knows?
But it was a bullet that shot far. All the way from Russia to America. All the way to my Mannie's grocery store.
You know, I'll tell you. All the way to Bremen. All the way on the boat. I keep asking myself -
God watches a gun in a crazy man's hand and does nothing..... puts the Cassocks on their horses to chase us away and why? Every day I asked myself. Why? (Pause) You know the only answer I can find? ..... So my Mannie can sell cabbage and potatoes on Christian Street. Can you believe?
(Pause. Mr. Parker, the barber who is now walking down the street. He has a sign on his back and carries a basin and his barber tools.)
Mrs. Silverman. But stranger things can happen. ( She indicates Mr. Parker.)
I step off the boat and what do I see the first time in my life. A schwarze mensch, black like a black bird.
Mr. Parker: ( huckstering) Shave, shave - hair cut, hair cut. Barber man, Barber man.
Mr. Silverman: (the lights return to Mr. Silverman in his store.)
Esther, you never saw a black man before? They come from Africa.
Mrs. Silverman: Oh, Mr. Traveler. You've been to Africa?
Mr. Silverman: In Kiev. In Kiev I saw them, by the docks. Black as the eagle of the Czar.
Mrs. Silverman: Eh, world traveler.
(We see a woman hurrying along the street. She is dressed a bit better than everyone else and has a very "American" look. She is Catherine Parr, the woman doctor.)
Mrs.Silverman: (to the audience) . Not many Americans come to our street. Sometimes an agent looking for men to work but not many others. That one (indicating Catherine) is a strange one. A woman by herself. And a doctor. Nice person. Good. But why she doesn't settle down and have a husband.....well...
Catherine: How are you this morning Mrs. Silverman?
Mrs. Silverman: A little bit this, a little bit that. But who's complaining?
Catherine: Has the swelling gone down in your leg?
Mrs. Silverman: Couldn't be better. You see, I'm out for my shopping.
Catherine: Good to see you about. Well, I've got to be on my way. Cold isn't it. Feels like snow. The new family on 10th has a little girl who swallowed a thimble last week. I want to check on her. I'll see you again I'm sure.
Mrs. Silverman: I'm sure. But I hope not.
(Catherine hesitates. Mrs. Silverman elucidates:) At least not as a patient. To say hello I would be very happy.
Catherine: To say hello.
( A young girl, with a scarf over wrapped around her head, approaches. She is Jenny Silverman.)
Jenny: Good morning Mrs. Silverman.
Mrs. Silverman: Well, good morning Jenny. On your way to school?
Jenny: I just have to stop by your store for my mother first.
Mrs. Silverman; You run along then. You don't want to be late.
Jenny: Yes, Mrs. Silverman.
(Mrs Silverman exits. We follow Catherine. Jenny approaches)
Catherine: Hello Jenny. Is your cold doing better?
Jenny: (she speaks with a bit of excitement - she has other things on her mind.) Hello Doctor Parr. Yes, yes. Much better. Thank you.
Catherine: And your mother? She's doing well?
Jenny: Yes, Doctor. Excuse me.... I have to do and errand for my mamma before school.
Catherine: Yes, of course. ... You're going to see Jimmy.
Jenny: Who?
Catherine: The young man who lives over on 10th.
Jenny: You know?
Catherine: He seems to be everywhere you are.
Jenny: You wouldn't say anything would you?
Catherine: No. I understand. Romeo and Juliet.
Jenny: Oh, Do you know that story?
Catherine: Yes, I know that story.
Jenny: We read that in school. It was hard to read.
Catherine: It was for me too. Go along now. You don't want to miss him.
(Catherine exits.)
(We are now inside Mr. Silverman's. Jenny enters. Outside we see a young man waiting to the side.)
Jenny: My mother said this should cover her account for the week. And she would like to know if you could save her an extra large cabbage for tomorrow. For New Year's dinner.
Mr. Silverman: This covers the week's grocery. And I'll be happy to save her a nice cabbage. But you know, tomorrow is really not the New Year.
Jenny: Yes, I know. My pappa says the same thing. (She turns to leave and then turns back.) Oh, I almost forgot. Mamma said to tell you that last time there was a worm.
Mr. Silverman: A worm - not from my store. If a worm was in the cabbage she should complain to the man who makes the worms.
Jenny: Yes, Mr. Silverman.
Mr. Silverman: Jenny, who's that I see standing outside my store?
Jenny: I don't see anyone Mr. Silverman.
Mr. Silverman: Looks like a young man. Maybe a young man who wants to talk to you.
Jenny: Oh, I don't think so Mr. Silverman.
Mr. Silverman: Nice a boy should be interested.
Jenny: Oh, he's not interested Mr. Silverman.
Mr. Silverman: Oh, you know that?
Jenny: No, I don't know that. I mean, I don't even know him.
Mr. Silverman: Such a red face for somebody you don't know.
Jenny: I have to go now, Mr. Silverman. Remember the worm - I mean, the cabbage.
Mr. Silverman: I'll remember. And Jenny -----
Jenny: Yes.
Mr. Silverman: Smile.
(We are now outside the store.)
Jenny: I told my mother I would go to Mr. Silverman's for her. I thought I would find you somewhere along the way.
James: I came by to wait for you so I could walk you to school.
Jenny: You didn't go near my house did you?
James: No, of course not. I waited across the street and then followed you here.
Jenny: If my mother saw you...
James (Giacomo): We're not doing anything wrong.
Jenny: Everyone knows. Mr. Silverman and the lady doctor. And you know if they know then Yetta knows.
James: Who's Yetta?
Jenny: It doesn't matter. I'm just frightened.
James: Why can't we talk to each other?
Jenny: You know why.
James: But we're just talking.
Jenny: But I shouldn't be talking to you, you know that.
James: Why, why not?
Jenny: You know why not. You're not Jewish.
James: So, I talk to people who aren't Italian.
Jenny: It's not the same.
James: Why not? This is America isn't it? Everyone is the same. You can be what you want. You can talk to anybody you want.
Jenny: You can talk to anyone you want but I can't.
James: Why not?
Jenny: Because you're not Jewish.
James: You talk like the old people. Like my father who won't talk to the Irish. Or my mother, who walks all the way to 12th because she won't go to Silverman's. Well, I'm not going to be like them. I was born here and so were you. I want to be an American just like other Americans, not like these green horns.
Jenny: It's not right to talk about our parents that way.
James: I don't care. I don't want to be like them. You know what. I'll tell you a little secret. I'm even going to give myself and American name. James Miller. Just like that.
Jenny: James Miller? How did you get that?
James: Easy really. Giacomo is James. American like the name James. Sometimes they say Jim or Jimmy. You hear it a lot uptown.
Rose: Miller?
James: Simple. It's Molino in English! You see, my family is Molino, so I make it English. I make it Miller. But here's the best part. There are two families uptown where I take my cart who have the same name. It'll be like I'm their cousin.
Rose: Won't they know?
Giovanni: No, I'll say I'm from New Jersey.
And James Miller will be ready to go, ready to move right out of here and into one of those big houses uptown where I take my father's cart. I'll get a real job, a job in the bank and no one will know that James Miller was the dago boy who pushed his father's cart down Walnut Street after school.
Jenny: But how are you going to get that job?.
James: When I finished high school last year my arithmetic teacher said I have a good head for numbers and that he thinks I would do real well working in a bank. He said I should work for Mr. Baldi in the Italian bank. But I don't want to work in the Italian bank. I want to work in a real bank. An American bank.
Jenny: I don't know, it sounds so far away. So different.
James: And that's not all Jenny. I'll have kids and a wife and I'll get married. And I'll give them all American names too. Tom and Joe and Alice and Sue. And my wife will call out to the huckster who passes by the window and we'll buy a tomato from him and know one will know that I used to be a huckster boy too.
Jenny: Oh, then you'll leave here for good.
James: But,.... well.....
Jenny: Yes?
James: Well, I want you to go with me Jenny.
Jenny: You do?
James: I never thought about any other girl the way I think about you. When I talk to you, ... well.,... it's. (pause) Well. What do you say? I know you like me.
Jenny: I.....
James: I know you do. You do like me don't you?
Jenny: Yes, yes, I do. I love you.
James: Then you'll come with me?
Jenny: But my father....
James: He'll never understand Jenny. And neither will my father.
Jenny: But....
James: You know I'm right Jenny. If we stay here we'll be living their way. The old way.. Will you go?
Jenny: Yes, yes , I will.
(We see Yenta enter.)
Yenta: You, what are you doing here? Trouble - Trouble - nothing but trouble. I know how you make trouble in your house and now you make trouble here. (To Jenny) And what would your father say.
Jenny: We're just talking.
Yenta: And you answer an elder. No respect. See what comes of this! And you should be in school already.
Jenny: But really...
Yenta: Enough already - You - get outta here before I call a cop.
James: I'm going. I'm going and I am getting out of here. ( to Jenny) Remember.
Jenny: I will.
(James exits)
Yenta: Remember? What remember? You got only one thing to remember. Get to school and Remember who you are!
(Jenny runs off.)
Mr.Kaplan is walking down the street.)
Mr Kaplan: Good morning Mrs. Doctor:
Catherine: Good morning Mr. Kaplan. How is your wife? I'll stop by later to see how Nathan is doing. It's good to check after a cold like that. We wouldn't want to see it get worse.
Mr. Kaplan: Yes, it's good to check. It's always good to check.
Look ...... Mrs. Doctor. I was just on my way to my brother's house. I want to show him the photographs. Photographs we had made at the studio. You know. Mr. Kennedy. Look. Have you ever been to Mr. Kennedy's photographic studio?
A world of wonder. I tell you Mrs. Doctor, a world of wonder.
(As he speaks we see the family lined up for their picture: Mrs. Kaplan, Jenny , Rose and Nathan. Mr. Kaplan joins them)
In the studio were wonderful draperies with pictures painted on them. Pictures of long halls, or wide rooms with windows and draperies and carpets. On the floor brightly colored rugs and animal skin rugs. Rugs with bear heads that roar in you face.
Kaplan Boy: Ah! Mamma look, a lion!
Mr. Kaplan: Not a lion a bear.
Mrs. Kaplan: Not to worry. It's dead and stuffed.
Kaplan Boy : Hold me!
Kaplan Girl: Baby ... afraid of a rug. Is my dress right mamma?
Mrs. Kaplan: You're dress is lovely Rose. Jenny, so grown up! And look at your father.....(to Mr.) Look how you are so elegant.........Look at you....... in your suit with a cane and a hat. What a handsome man I married.
Kaplan Girl: Do I look elegant mamma.
Mrs. Kaplan: Like the daughter of the Czar
And look at my baby, like a rich man's baby, and my ....... What a love. (She pinches her son's cheeks)
My sister will be so jealous you'll hear her pot lids smashing all the way from Kiev. Don't go to American, she said, Don't go with that man, Das vakst ein schlemiel, she said. She should have been so smart.
Mr. Kennedy: Nobody move now! (The flash goes off.)
(The lights dim on the studio. Mr. Kaplan rejoins Catherine.)
Mr. Kaplan: The Irishman finished the pictures. Look.
Catharine: Why they're splendid Mr. Kahn. Splendid. You' re a real gentleman in the picture. How elegant.
Mr. Kaplan: I look like an American?
Catherine: Very much an American.
Mr. Kaplan: Successful?
Catherine: Yes, indeed, successful.
Mr.Kaplan. You see here, another. I had him make two.
Catherine: Oh?
Mr. Kaplan: To send to my wife's sister in Kiev.
Catherine: I'm sure she'll be very proud.
Mr. Kaplan: Proud! Proud? I want she should be so jealous you'll hear her pot lids smashing all the way from Kiev. "Don't marry him," she said to my Minna.
(Mr. Kaplan goes off with his pictures.)
(Catherine turns to the audience.)
Catherine: This is 9th and Christian. I was't born here. But I did live here. Here in these tenements and boarding houses. No one of them was mine, but I was part of nearly all of them. I came here is much the same way these people did. I was an immigrant too. An American immigrant into a part of America that was a new world to me. Like them I came here for a chance. For opportunity, for the freedom to be what I wanted to be. Like them I was locked in this new world.
I went to school. I did well. I wanted to be a physician. My father was a physician. Other people laughed but he never did. "
(We see Dr. Parr in the background.)
Dr. Parr: It's your life, Catherine, and the world is what you make it.
Catherine: I want to go to medical school, Father. I want to be a doctor.
Dr. Parr: It'll be hard going. Schools here won't take women into medicine. Teaching might be a better route.
Catherine: I want to be a physician. I'm good at my studies. I work hard. I finished top of my class at Bryn Mawr. You know that.
Dr. Parr: A physician.
Catherine: A physician.
Dr. Parr: Then we'll do everything we can to make it happen.
(The lights fade on her father.)
Catherine: Medical school. Four years. Then more years of apprentice practice. The men in the class shoved me from the front rows. Squeezed me out of the lecture circles. But I studied. I worked. In the end I earned my diploma.
(Dr. Parr appears .)
Catherine: I'd like to set up practice on my own, Father.
Dr. Parr: On your own? Not very practical Kate.
Catherine: I need to be on my own. If I stay here I'll only be your nurse. I want my own practice.
(Others, men and women appear.)
Woman 1: The Parr girl finished medical school. She actually wants to start a practice.
Woman2: I hear she's looking at a place on the square.
Woman 1: I think it's disgraceful. Such poor taste.
Woman 2: You know I think there's something 'not right' about women who are put themselves out to do men things.
Man 1: Well, I sure don't know how I could bring myself to a woman who's a doctor.
Woman 3: I should say not. A man who , well you know,... in front of a woman who's not his wife.
Woman 2: Elizabeth, please!
Man1: She's right. Not a pleasant thing to say. But she's right.
Woman 1: Really!
Dr. Parr: I'm afraid I was right Katie dear. They just won't think of it.
Catherine: Then I'll go somewhere else. Somewhere I can be of use.
Dr. Parr: You know, Katie. There's the other part of the city. Down around South Street and below. Lots of folks there need help. Work there on occasion myself. Several of us do. For the good of it. Christian duty. They don't speak much English and the pay is mostly in goods. But if you want to practice ......
Catherine: I want to practice. I want to be a physician.
(The lights fade in the background.)
Catherine: But what I found here was much the same:
(People appear on the street. They exchange their lines as they cross the street. They speak across not to each other)
Woman 1: A woman? She thinks she's a doctor?
Woman 2: She must be a crazy woman?
Man: A woman who walks the streets alone?
Woman 1: Meshugenuh!
Woman 2: Pazza!
Man: Disgraziada!
Catherine: It took more than a year and dozens of colds, two broken legs, a gashed hand and dozens of children encouraged by need that let me enter their houses.
Man: Mrs. Doctor. Can you stop to see my wife. Her leg, you know. At her age....
Woman 1: Mrs. Doctor. Can you stop a moment to see my baby. All night she cries and cries.
Woman 2: Mrs. Doctor. Come quickly, my husband. His hand in the machine.
Catherine: Yes, they call to me but I think they still mistrust. A mistrust even among themselves, a mistrust that within looks for understanding (FIX THIS LINE)
Angelo. Mamma,
Nathan: Mamma,
Angelo: After school today....
Nathan: After school today...
Angelo: After school today may I go to Nathan's house.
Mrs. Carlino: Nathan?
Nathan: May I bring someone home?
Mrs. Kahn: Why? Whose got troubles?
Nathan: No troubles, Angelo, my friend Angelo.
Mrs. Carlino: Nathan, the little Jewish boy?
Mrs. Kaplan: The Italian boy you talk about?
Mrs. Carlino: Why do you want to go there?
Mrs. Kaplan: Why would you want to bring him here?
Nathan: He's a friend mamma
Angelo: He's a friend mamma.
Mrs. Kaplan: (Whispers) but he's a goy.
Mrs. Carlino: (Whispers) but he's Jew. Besides, You have to help with Mr. Giordano after school. He pays you two cents to sweep.
Mrs. Kaplan: You have to help your father in the shop. The threads to be put away and the floor to be swept.
Angelo: Yes, I know. I mean after school and after Mr. Giordano.
Nathan: Well, not right after school. He has to work too... and by then I'll be done.
Mrs. Carlino: Why do you want to go there. You don't have a home to go to?
Mrs. Kaplan: Why does he need to come here? He doesn't have a home to go to?
Nathan: No mamma, it's just ....
Mrs. Carlino: What do you mean "No". You saying that you don't have a home?
Mrs. Kaplan: There is trouble. They put him out of his home.
Angelo: No mamma, no. That's not what I'm saying. Of course I have a home.
Nathan: No mamma of course he has a home. They didn't put him out.
This is for school.
Angelo: This is for school.
Mrs. Carlino: For school. For school you leave your home?
Angelo: Mamma, listen.
Nathan: Mamma, Please try to listen and understand.
Angelo: At school we are going to do a play.
Nathan: There's going to be a play.
Angelo: A play in the theater.
Nathan: A play at school
Angelo: Nathan and I are going to be in the play.
Nathan: I'm going to be Benjamin Franklin.
Angelo: I'm going to be Thomas Jefferson. If I can go to his house we can practice together.
Mrs. Carlino: A play?
Mrs. Kahn: A theater play?
Mrs. Carlino: And who is the part you are going to plat?
Angelo: Thomas Jefferson, mamma.
Mrs. Carlino: Thomas Jefferson? Is he a good man in the play?
Mrs. Kahn: And who will you be in this play?
Nathan: Benjamin Franklin
Mrs. Kahn: Benjamin! Oh a good Jewish name!
Angelo Yes, mamma. It's a play about the men who wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Mrs. Carlino: Declaration of Independence.
Angelo: Yes, mamma, you know. How they made America free. How they had a war with the English.
Mrs. Carlino: Yes, I know, Of course I know, you think I just got off the boat yesterday? In Italy it was the same, you know, Only there they taught us about Garibaldi and his red shirts. What good they did, who knows?
Nathan: Teacher says the play will teach us how to be good Americans.
Angelo: It about being good American citizens.
Mrs. Carlino: Good Citizens.
Mrs. Kahn: Good Americans.
Angelo: Then I can go?
Nathan: Then he can come?
Mrs. Khan: Yes, yes you can go.
Mrs. Khan: Yes, he can come.
Mrs. Carlino: So, you are going to act.
Mrs. Khan: You are going to stand on the stage and make beautiful words.
Mrs. Carlino: An actor. (She gives him a hug and kiss) Now go. And don't forget Mr. Giordano.
Angelo: Thanks mamma. Thanks.
Nathan: Thanks mamma, thanks.
Mrs. Khan: A Jew and an Italian. Who knows? They may even be funny.
CUT
Catherine: Yes, there is a mistrust. But there is something that binds them together, perhaps the need that comes from sharing of so little. Somehow, they work together. And what is more for me, they let me work. Underneath their suspicion, there is a respect. They let me be who I am.
(Catherine goes off and we see a young man emerge from around a corner. A young girl enters.)
James (Giacomo): (whispering) Jenny! Hey, Jenny!
Jenny: What do you want? I'm on my way to school.
James: I waited. I wanted to see you.
Jenny: You didn't go near my house did you?
James: No, of course not. I waited across the street and then followed you here. I thought I could walk you to school.
Jenny: If my mother saw you...
James (Giacomo): We're not doing anything wrong.
Jenny: Everyone knows. Mr. Silverman and the lady doctor. And you know if they know then Yetta knows.
James: Who's Yetta?
Jenny: It doesn't matter. I'm just frightened.
James: Why can't we talk to each other?
Jenny: You know why.
James: But we're just talking.
Jenny: But I shouldn't be talking to you, you know that.
James: Why, why not?
Jenny: You know why not. You're not Jewish.
James: So, I talk to people who aren't Italian.
Jenny: It's not the same.
James: Why not? This is America isn't it? Everyone is the same. You can be what you want. You can talk to anybody you want.
Jenny: You can talk to anyone you want but I can't.
James: Why not?
Jenny: Because you're not Jewish.
James: You talk like the old people. Like my father who won't talk to the Irish. Or my mother, who walks all the way to 12th because she won't go to Silverman's. Well, I'm not going to be like them. I was born here and so were you. I want to be an American just like other Americans, not like these green horns.
Jenny: It's not right to talk about our parents that way.
James: I don't care. I don't want to be like them. You know what? I'll tell you a little secret. I'm even going to give myself and American name. James Miller. Just like that.
Jenny: James Miller? How did you get that?
James: Easy really. Giacomo is James. Americans like the name James. Sometimes they say Jim or Jimmy. You hear it a lot uptown.
Jenny: Miller?
James: Simple. It's Molino in English! You see, my family is Molino, so I make it English. I make it Miller. But here's the best part. There are two families uptown where I take my cart who have the same name. It'll be like I'm their cousin.
Jenny: Won't they know?
James: No, I'll say I'm from New Jersey.
And James Miller will be ready to go, ready to move right out of here and into one of those big houses uptown where I take my father's cart. I'll get a real job, a job in the bank and no one will know that James Miller was the dago boy who pushed his father's cart down Walnut Street after school.
Jenny: But how are you going to get that job?.
James: When I finished high school last year my arithmetic teacher said I have a good head for numbers and that he thinks I would do real well working in a bank. He said I should work for Mr. Baldi in the Italian bank. But I don't want to work in the Italian bank. I want to work in a real bank. An American bank.
Jenny: I don't know, it sounds so far away. So different.
James: And that's not all Jenny. I'll have kids and a wife and I'll get married. And I'll give them all American names too. Tom and Joe and Alice and Sue. And my wife will call out to the huckster who passes by the window and we'll buy a tomato from him and know one will know that I used to be a huckster boy too.
Jenny: Oh, then you'll leave here for good.
James: But,.... well.....
Jenny: Yes?
James: Well, I want you to go with me Jenny.
Jenny: You do?
James: I never thought about any other girl the way I think about you. When I talk to you, ... well.,... it's. (pause) Well. What do you say? I know you like me.
Jenny: I.....
James: I know you do. You do like me don't you?
Jenny: Yes, yes, I do. I love you.
James: Then you'll come with me?
Jenny: But my father....
James: He'll never understand Jenny. And neither will my father.
Jenny: But....
James: You know I'm right Jenny. If we stay here we'll be living their way. The old way.. Will you go?
Jenny: Yes, yes , I will.
(We see Yetta enter.)
Yetta: You, what are you doing here? Trouble - Trouble - nothing but trouble. I know how you make trouble in your house and now you make trouble here. (To Jenny) And what would your father say.
Jenny: We're just talking.
Yetta: And you answer an elder. No respect. See what comes of this! And you should be in school already.
Jenny: But really...
Yetta: Enough already - You - get outta here before I call a cop. No respect for nobody. You don't even live on this street.
James: I'm going. I'm going and I am getting out of here. ( to Jenny) Remember.
Jenny: I will.
(James exits)
Yetta: Remember? What remember? You got only one thing to remember. Get to school and Remember who you are!
(Jenny runs off.)
Yetta: (to the audience) A gentile boy. A gentile boy. The troubles she gives her father. Do you know the meshuga ideas these people have? America! In Odessa they send the Cassocks. This might be America but they still got crazy ideas. I know. I can tell you. You hear those Irish? They room at Esthers ... at the Silverman's.
UPSTAGE SCENE
We see the interior of the Irish girls apartment.
Brigid: Mary! Mary! Let me in and let me sit.
Mary: Brigid, girl. Come in. Sit down. Look at ya, shakin' all over.
Brigid: Oh the freight I've had. Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Ellen: What's wrong with ya? You look like y've seen a ghost.
Brigid: The folks they sent me ta clean for. The Leiberman's
Ellen: Yah?
Brigid: Well, I knowd they was Jews and all that. I tried never to let it bother me seein' as how they paid so well. More than most ya know.
Mary: So.
Brigid: Well, there I was comin' home - bein Friday night and all I was thinkin' about the upcomin' evnin' with Mr. Michael Curley - ya know what a dash he is.
Ellen: Go on.
Brigid: Well, there I was thinkin all about them big blue eyes and curley locks when I realize that I left the house without my purse. And here I was half-way home.
Mary: So did ya go back for it?
Brigid: That I did .... and it was a sad mistake too. I'll never be able to go back there.
Ellen: What happened Brigid?
Brigid: You'll not believe what I'm about to be tellin' ya.
Mary: Go on, Go on.
Ellen: Ya got me sittin on pins an' needles.
Brigid: I goes back to the house and knock at the kitchen door. Loud I knocked but no one answered. Well, I turn the knob and the door was open. So, I think, I'm no stranger. I keep the house after all. I know the corners and the cracks better than the Mrs. So, I gives the handle a turn and walk into the kitchen. There's my purse settin on the kitchen table. So, I picks it up and starts in my way out when I hear a talkin, a kinda mumblin comin from the dinnin' room. Must be the Mrs. or Mr. I says to myself. I should let them know I was here, just to be proper and all - especially if they saw I left the purse and then saw it was missin.
Ellen: So, so?
Brigid: So I give a push to the swingin' door and what do I see....Saints in heaven preserve us ( she crosses herself)
Mary: What for God's sake? What?
Brigid: What do I lay eyes upon but some devil filled thing I can't describe.
Ellen: What did you see.
Brigid: Well, you'll think I'm tellin tales but it struck me dumb with terror.
Mary: Will ya tell us for God's sake and stop the prattlin' about.
Brigid: Well, there in the dinin' room all dark like was the Mrs. with a long coverin hangin' all around her head. And in front of her she's got these two candles lit and she's wavin her hands about mutterin' some kind a spell all over them candles. And there around the table are the Mr and the kids. I'm tellin' ya it was somethin' terrible to see.
Ellen: What were they doin do ya suppose?
Brigid: I don't know and I don't want to be goin' back to find out.
Mary: Heaven help us.
Ellen: Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Brigid: And they pay so well.
SHABAT SCENE with the Khan family.
Mr. Lieberman: Was that Brigid who just pushed the door?
Mrs: Leiberman: (who lifts the shawl from her head.) Brigid? Brigid? Was that you?
(Mr. Leiberman goes to the kitchen and sees that the purse is gone.)
Mr. Leiberman: The purse is gone. She probably came back for it when she realized she forgot it.
Mrs: Leiberman: She couldn't say she was here?
Mr. Leiberman: Who knows? How can you figure.
(There follows a Sabbath prayer.)
CUT
(The scene returns to Yetta. She sees Catherine approaching.)
Yetta: Oh, Mrs. Doctor are you going to see the woman at the Silverman's. The Italian woman.
You know.....pregnant ( Yiddish word).
Catherine: Yes, Yetta. I'm going to see Mrs. Bertolino.
Yetta: You know. You should see the shwartze too. (We see Mr. Parker come around the corner.) I saw he cut his hand. Infection you know.
Catherine: The Barber?
Yetta: You know......
Catherine: Yes, Mr. Parker. Ned.
Yetta: Mr. Parker, Ned.
Catherine: Thanks for letting me know. I'll be sure to see to it.
(We see Mr. Parker upstage.)
Catherine: Good morning Ned.
Ned: Well, the doctor lady. How we doin' this mornin'?
Catherine: That's what I want to ask you. I heard you hurt your hand.
Ned: Can't keep nothing from nobody on this street. ( He shows her his hand.) Just a nick. Ain't much.
Catherine: No you can't. Now let me take a look. (She examines his hand.) It's a little deep.
Ned: Sharp scissors. Always use sharp scissors.
Catherine: But not on yourself, I hope. (She begins cleaning it.) Nice day. Smells a bit like snow.
Ned: Your right I kin smell it.
Catherine: Funny isn't it. You can smell snow before it falls.
Ned: I'll tell ya, one thing I ain't never got used to up here is that snow.
Catherine: No snow where you come from.
Ned: get in a bit from time to time down South, but just a flake or two to tickle your nose. Not like here.
Catherine: How long you been up here, Ned.
Ned: Came up from Alabama when I was fifteen. Me and my Missy. Come up here on a fly and a prayer. She had cousins already come up here. Gave us a place ta live, ya see, right here on Christian, down at 10th. That was more than twenty years ago. Seems like yesterday.
Catherine: What brought you up North, Ned?
Ned: Same as most colored folk. We was poor as dirt down South. I come up here to make some money and I ain't done so bad. I cut the people's hair on every street from here to the river and all 'round. Twenty years I been savin them nickels. My kids got shoes and my Missy puts a chicken to berl near every Sunday. Don't mind tellin' ya I was scared when I come up here. Never seed no place with so many buildings and all so tight together. Back in Alabama they was trees and fields and you know'd everybody round 'bout. Up here ya got all them Jew folks and dagos and they don't speak no English so's you can understand 'em. Nice folks though mostly. Jew lady showed my Missy how to berl a chicken, once. We was young then. She didn't know nothin' in them days. Talk so funny like. Never seen nothin' like it.
Catherine: You miss your Alabama?
Ned: Miss it. Hah, you never been t'Alabama. Nothin' there ta miss. Got nothin' down there. Workin' in the field's all they got. Dirt and more dirt. Nobody got shoes and even if they do they got no place to go. Just them fields. You know, I'll tells ya. My daddy, he worked in the house during slave days. Then after, he tried workin the dirt but he wasn't no good at it. In slave times he done all kinda things. Worked in the big house. He even used ta cut the peoples hair. That's how I learned. He teached me. Got word he died a few years back. Come in a letter.
Catherine: Sorry to hear that Ned.
Ned: Worked hard my daddy. But that's talkin' about yesterday and that don't do you no good today.
Catherine: No good for sure.
Catherine: (finishing the bandage. ) Well, there ya go. Looks just fine, if I do say so. ( He shows him in a hand mirror,)
Ned. Thank ya, Mrs. Doctor. You have good day now.
Catherine: You to Ned.
Ned: And Happy New Year to ya.
(As Catherine finishes with Ned, Yetta passes. At that moment Cesco comes down past the store front. Mr. Silverman is setting out boxes. Cesco has a small box in his hand. Anna is behind him.)
Mr. Silverman: (from inside) Morning Cesco. You leaving for work?
Cesco: Yes, Mr. Silverman.
Mr. Silverman: You still working on those houses up-town.
Cesco: Yes, a few more months at least. Large parlors all with carved wood.
Mr. Silverman: You do good work. Nice work on the shelves you did for my store.
Cesco: Thank you Mr. Silverman.
Mr. Silverman: Have a good day.
Cesco: You too, Mr. Silverman.
Anna: The box is beautiful. So lovely, just for cigars.
Cesco: But they pay well for a box like this. I'm hoping the gentleman will have friends and when they see it, will want the same.
Anna: You work so hard all day and spend all night on this. So pretty Cesco. ... You won't be long?
Cesco: It's not that far. I should be back for supper.
(He kisses her)
Cesco: And you'll be careful now. Don't be up and down these steps.
Anna: I'll be careful. You know, tomorrow is the new year.
Cesco: Our first new year in America.
Anna: Not like the New Year at home.
Cesco: This is our home, Anna.
Anna: Cesco, Can we have something special for the New Year. Something special like at ...
Cesco: Here. .. At home? Sure Anna, sure. What would you like?
Anna: A roast. Just a small roast with greens and soup just like home.
Cesco: Here. Take this. It's enough to buy a small piece of pork. Take it to the bakers and have him roast it.
Anna: Do you think we should spend that much?
Cesco: The gentleman's box will pay for it. Now... kiss me good-bye.
(Anna kisses Cesco and breaks down in sobs on his shoulder.)
Anna: Oh, Cesco, I'm so lonely.
Cesco: But the baby will be here soon, and you won't be alone.
Anna: I miss my mother and my father. I miss my home.
Cesco: We have friends here. Doesn't Mrs. Silverman stop to talk to you?
Anna: Sure, sure. She's a good lady. Like my mother. But when I hear her talk I hear my mother and it makes me lonely more.
Cesco: But I need to work. I can't stay at home.
Anna: Why couldn't we stay at home in Italy?
Cesco: Because there was no home in Italy. No real home. But someday, someday here, we'll have enough for our own house.
Anna: But in Italy my father.....
Cesco: No Anna....
Anna: My father is a good man Cesco. My father is a good man. A generous man. He would have helped us and you abandoned him.
Cesco: I did not abandon him Anna. He was not mine to abandon. He is a rich man with his own home, his own land. There is nothing to pity.
Anna: You could have followed him.... worked the vineyards, the olives, the fields.
Cesco: Those were not my fields, Anna. Not our fields. That was all yesterday.
Anna: And today? Where are we today?
Cesco: It's not today we need to look at either. It's tomorrow. Tomorrow. There was never a tomorrow in Italy. In the old country it was always yesterday. Dead and gone.
Anna: But we had something.
Cesco: What something? A third son with no land, not even the smallest patch of rock and stone.
Anna: But my father would take you as his own, take you as his first son for me his first daughter.
Cesco: How can I be another man's son. Always to be like a servant in another house. I want my own house, my own family. Not just for me but for you too.
Anna: I miss my father Cesco. Since my mother died I was all he had.
Cesco: Yes, you miss your father. But you came with me. You came with me because you love me and because I love you. There is no cause to be sorry for that.
Anna: Cesco, I look at these streets. I look at these streets and my eyes search for the fields, my father fields. I look at these green awnings over the stalls in front of the shop windows and I see the branches, the branches of the twisted olives, their leaves green in the sun and silver in the breeze.
Where is the sky here, Cesco? Is it blue beyond these dark walls? We live inside these bricks like the rats in the walls of a ship. Once when I was a girl I saw a ship like that. A ship that had run against the rocks. The wind had blown the ship into the cliffs around the bay. The ship's wood had split and cracked and out of the cracks hundreds of rats ran about the shore. They were running and climbing in and out of all the rocks, frightened and confused with no place else to go.
Cesco: We're not always going to be here Anna. These brick walls won't always be around us. One day, when we have worked and saved, one day we will be away from here and there will be new hills, new trees, new fields. But they will be American hills, American trees, American fields. When I first came to this country the first thing I did was to sign the papers to become a citizen. But you can't be a citizen right away. They make you wait. They make you study and you must speak English. Well, I've done my studies, I speak English and in the spring the waiting time will be over. And I will go to the judge and I will swear the oath. Then I, too, will be American and I will buy the little farm like the one I once saw when I was working on the big houses away from the city.
Anna: I know, Cesco. I know. A new house. A house of our own.
Cesco: And I love you.
Anna: And that is what is most important to me.
(She kisses him)
Anna: Now go, go.
( Catherine approaches Mrs. Bertolino on the front stoop.)
Catherine: Mrs. Bertolino.
(There is no response.)
Catherine: Mrs: Bertolino.
Anna: Oh, Yes, Signora dottore, good morning.
Catherine: Are you feeling well?
Anna: Si, Signora dottore. I'm feeling well.
Catherine: You're getting close to your time. You must not exert yourself.
Anna: Ex.....?
Catherine: Work to hard. Do too much.
Anna: Oh, no. My fingers do all my work. Merletto
Catherine: Lace
Anna: Lace. (She repeats the English word.)
Catherine: Beautiful work.
Anna: For dresses for ladies. But when I have finished my work for the padrone I make small pieces for the baby. For when we take the baby to the church to be baptized.
Catherine. How lovely.
Anna: Perhaps you will join us.
Catherine: I would love to join you. Now in the meantime be sure to take care of yourself.
Anna: I will.
Catherine: And send for me if you need me.
Anna: Yes. Yes, I will.
(Anna goes inside. The lights fade on her.)
We see Mr. Kaplan standing up-stage. He is on his way home.)
Mr. Kaplan: Are you sure of what you're saying, Yetta.
Yetta: Would I be mistaken?
Mr. Kaplan: He was an Italian boy?
Yetta: I don't know the difference?
Mr. Kaplan: And they were alone?
Yetta: Alone. (Lights down on Mr. Kaplan. Yetta resumes speaking directly to Mrs. Silverman.)
Some things a father needs to know.
(We see the inside of the Kaplan house.)
Rose: mamma?
Mrs Kaplan. Yes, Rose.
Rose: Mamma. Why do you wear the sheidel?
Mrs. Kaplan: What do you mean why? I wear the sheidel because a good wife covers her head.
Rose: But why does a good wife?
Mrs. Kaplan: Because a woman who doesn't cover her head.....
Rose: A woman who doesn't cover her hear what?
Mrs. Kaplan: doesn't......
Rose: Doesn't what?
Mrs. Kaplan: You know....
Rose: No I don't know. Tell me. Why do you have to wear a wig?
Mrs. Kaplan: . A woman who shows her hair,... you know....
Rose. What ... you know.
Mrs. Kaplan: Is not a nice woman, is "what" you know.
Rose: well. I'm never going to wear one.
Mrs. Kaplan: Rose, your father!
Rose: I don't care mamma. Jenny's been talking to a boy. An American boy.
Mrs. Kaplan: She's been talking to a what?
Rose: A boy. An American boy.
Mrs. Kaplan: You're sister has been talking to a boy?
Rose: Yes, she has. And he says that this is America and you can be what you want to be. And I don't see any American women wearing wigs.
Mrs. Kaplan: And American women walk around in the street like ....... Never mind, set the table.
Rose: Really mamma. This is America. American women don't wear wigs and American girls don't go around with babushkas on their heads. (She takes off her head scarf)
Mrs. Kaplan: Rose. Cover your head. Your father will be in for dinner.
Rose. I'm not going to mamma. I want to be like the other girls in school. I want to comb my hair and braid it with a bow just like the other girls.
Mrs. Kaplan: Rose!
Rose: you can tell all the Jewish girls in school because of their scarves.
(Father walks in and sees his daughter. He turns his head from her)
Mr. Kaplan: Where's Jenny?
Mrs. Kaplan: She's not home from school yet?
Mr. Kaplan: Not home yet? Where is she?
Mrs: Kaplan: I don't know. Talking with her girl friends I suppose.
Mr. Kaplan: With friends maybe - but not with girls.
Mrs: Kaplan: What are you talking Avram?
Mr. Kaplan: A wife doesn't teach her daughter to have respect for her father.
Rose: What about Jenny?
Mrs. Kaplan: Rose, please. (Turning to her husband) And she's not your daughter too?
Rose: She doesn't want to wear the scarf either.
Mr. Kaplan: No scarf, no modesty - this is how it begins.
Mrs. Kaplan: How what begins? What are we talking about?
Mr. Kaplan: About your daughters.
Mrs. Kaplan: About a babushka?
Mr: Kaplan: About honor. (To Rose.) You wear the scarf. You cover your head.
Rose: No mamma. Tell papa, no.
Mrs. Kaplan: She doesn't want to wear the scarf Avram
Rose: I want to be an American girl papa.
Mr. Kaplan: She wants to be an American girl!
Mrs. Kaplan: She wants to be an American girl.
Mr. Kaplan: So you don't want to be Jewish?
Mrs. Kaplan: Rose, you don't want to be Jewish?
Rose: No, papa I just want to be like the other American girls.
Mr. You think because you uncover your head, because you walk around like a ......
Mrs. Kaplan: (She stops him) Avram!
Mr. You think you can hide being Jewish. You think you can forget who you are?
Rose: I'm not trying to forget. I'm not trying to hide. I just want to be like the others.
Mr. Kaplan: But the others aren't Jewish!
Rose: You cut your hair Pappa. And you don't wear a beard.
Mr. Kaplan: That's different. It's for business. And besides, a man is not the same.
Mrs. Kaplan: What do you mean, "a man is not the same".
Mr. Kaplan: You know what I mean.
Rose: Minna Braverman's not going to wear a scarf any more.
Mr. Kaplan: Oh she's not? Says who?
Rose: She did.
Mr. Kaplan: Oh, She did! And her father has nothing to say!
Mrs. Kaplan: Did you say Minna Braverman? Rabbi Braverman's daughter?
Rose: Well, no, not yet he hasn't. But Minna said she was going to tell him tonight.
Mrs. Kaplan: Minna Braverman?
Mr Kaplan: And she's going to tell him tonight. The daughter is going to tell the father.
Mrs. Kaplan: Minna Braverman, the rabbi's daughter.
Mr. Kaplan: You didn't hear the girl? Minna Braverman, the rabbi's daughter.
Mrs. Kaplan: The rabbi's daughter.
Mr. Kaplan: So this is America? We leave Odessa so that we can be Jewish. And what do we do when we get here? We become Americans.
(Jenny enters)
Mr. Kaplan: And where have you been?
Jenny: On my way home from school.
Mr. Kaplan: What the school is so far it takes this long.
Jenny: I was talking, pappa.
Mr. Kaplan: Talking? Talking with who?
Jenny: With friends, pappa.
Mr. Kaplan: With friends. What friends.
Jenny: (tries to speak but finds no words.)
Mr. Kaplan: - Don't say! I heard what friends!
Mr. Kaplan: You've been with that boy.
Jenny: Who said so?
Mr. Kaplan: Who said so doesn't matter. You were with that boy again.
Jenny: Yetta.
Mr. Kaplan: Respect!
Jenny: She's a troublesome old busybody......
Mr. Kaplan: What Yetta is we don't need to discuss. It's you I'm talking about.
Jenny: We were only talking pappa.
Mr. Kaplan: Only talking.
Jenny: Only talking.
Mr. Kaplan: Jenny you must understand.
Jenny: Understand what pappa, that we have neighbors who talk too much.
Mr. Kaplan: That we have neighbors who talk too much, I have no argument. But what they tell me is for your own good.
Jenny: How is their gossip for my own good?
Mr. Kaplan: You know what I'm talking Jenny. The boy is not like us.
Jenny: How is he not like us?
Mr. Kaplan: We are different. He is different. Things are different.
Jenny: Like Romeo and Juliet. They were different too.
Mr. Kaplan: Like who? Romeo? Is this another Italian boy causing trouble.?
Jenny: Pappa, you don't understand. He's a good young man pappa. A good young man. A man who dreams.....
Mr. Kaplan: Dreams. Dreams. Who needs a dreamer, a do nothing.
Jenny: He's not a do nothing pappa. He's going to work in a bank.
Mr. Kaplan: So because he's a banker everything is all right?
Jenny: This is America, pappa. This isn't the old country. In America you can be whatever you want to be.
Mr. Kaplan: Whatever you want to be?
Jenny: Yes, pappa whatever you want to be.
Mr. Kaplan: America you say. Be what you want to be. You see the black man who comes to cut the hair? He's in America. You think he can be something else than what he is? You think that just because it's America he can make himself different? You see the doctor lady. You see she walks the streets. You think she can be something other than a woman. You think she carries that little black bag she can be something she is not? Without a husband she is only a woman who walks the streets. You think America can change that?
Jenny: It's not the same pappa.
Mr. Kaplan: And you my daughter, you are a Jew. In Odessa or in America you are still a Jew and you will always be a Jew. Nothing changes that.
Jenny: But I love him pappa.
Mr. Kaplan: So, ..... you love him.
Jenny: Yes, pappa.
Mr. Kaplan: You love him....Some things cannot be Jenny. They cannot be.
(Rose walks up to her father and defiantly removes the scarf. No one moves.)