Dream girl! by Elmer Rice!

! GEORGINA: (Yawning heavily) ! ! Ohhhhh! For heavens sake, will you please shut up?! ! !

(She shuts off the alarm clock, then leans over and pulls up an imaginary window shade. The bed is ooded with morning sunlight. GEORGINA moans, shakes her head, and stretches her arms.) ! Oh dear! Another day! How awful! Who was it that said: Must we have another day? Dorothy Parker, I suppose I wonder if she really says all those things. !

! Well, time to get up, I guess.! ! (She plumps herself down again and snuggles her head in the pillow.)! ! ! (Heading up to the window)! !

Yes mother, Im coming, Ive been up for hours! Goodness, youd think sleep was some sort of a crime. !

Yes, another day. And what a day! Beautiful sunshine. Not a cloud in the sky. How wonderful it must be to be able to enjoy it. Well, come on, Georgina, snap out of it, and get yourself out of bed! !

! (She switches on the radio - sensorial music - Dean Martin Thats amore)! !

I wonder how long a person can go on like this without developing a psychosis or something. For all I know, I may have a psychosis already. Good grief, what a thought! I wish I could remember that awful nightmare I had last night. Still, they say its awfully hard to make anything out of your own dreams. And besides, I really dont know very much about dream symbols. Just the obvious ones, like teeth falling off and ying - and I never seem to dream about them. Oh, well, to hell with it! !

! (She jumps out of bed. Music announcer is heard.)! ! !

Dear listeners, dont forget your date at 8.30 today with your counselor on human relations, Dr. Percivaaaal. ! How ridiculous! As though that little quack could really solve peoples emotional problems for them! Still, I suppose the poor deluded people who go to him get a kind of relief just from spilling their troubles to somebody. Maybe I should try psychiatry. Only whats the use when I know so well whats the matter with me? Honestly, its disgraceful that they allow charlatans like that Dr.Percival on the air! Imagine standing up in front of a microphone and revealing the things that - !

Well, hello Dr. Percival, my name is Georgina Allerton. Well, Im not nervous Its just - well, its just that its a little hard to discuss your personal problems with several million people listening in. You see Im in love with a man named Jim - no! J, I mean, J. A man named J. And he happens to be my brother-in-law. I have been in love with him for years and years. I used to think he was in love with me too. And then he suddenly married Miriam and - I mean M! Sorry! He married my sister, two years ago, and that was just about the end of everything for me. Of course, hes not aware of my feelings for him! What kind of girl do you take me for? Well, Id rather die than let him know. Nobody knows or even suspects. But I just cant keep it bottled up any longer. Thats why I thought Id talk to you because you see Being in love with your brother-in-law seems a little bit incestuous. And I tried, I tried to move on, in fact theres a man Im having lunch with, a Mr. H. He must certainly be interested, when a man keeps asking a girl out all the timeespecially a married man I know, I always get involved with married men! !

All right, mother! Im practically dressed! Maybe your mother is right, Georgina. Maybe its time you cut out the daydreaming - time you stopped mooning around and imagining yourself to be this extraordinary creature with a strange and fascinating psychological life. !

! (Gets into the shower. Or, to make it easier sensorially, she could just start getting dressed)! ! ! (Indignantly, over shoulder, sees somebody peeking at her.)! ! Well, for heavens sake! Honestly, some people!! ! !

Still, to be honest, compared to the average girl you meet, Im really quite complex. Intelligent and well-informed too. And a good conversationalist. !

And my looks are nothing to be ashamed of, either. I have a neat little gure and my legs are really very nice. Of course, my nose is sort of funny. but my face denitely has character - not just one of those magazine-cover deadpans. ! If I could only stop lying awake for hours, dreaming up all the exciting things that could happen but never do. Well, maybe this is the day when things really will begin to happen to me. Maybe Wentworth and Jones will accept my novel. Wouldn't that be wonderful! With a published novel, Id really be somebody. Reviews in all the book sections royalty checks coming in; women nudging each other at Barneys and whispering: Dont look now, but that girl over there - the one with the smart hat - thats Georgina Allerton, the novelist. Gee, that would be thrilling! To feel that Id accomplished something, to feel that I had a purpose in life!

Only it wouldn't make up for Jim. Fifty novels wouldn't make up for Jim. If Miriam only appreciated him. But she doesnt. She doesn't understand him. !

! What to do? What to do?! ! ! !

Here I am, 23 years old - no, lets face it - 24 next month! And thats practically thirty! Thirty years old - and nothing to show for it. Suppose nothing ever does happen to me. Thats a frightening thought! Just to go on and on like this, on through middle age, on to senility, never experiencing anything what a prospect!!