Two Girls Wanted
Writer · Play · 1926
Act I (Scene 1: The Millers' room at Mrs. Gock's. Evening.) Marianna and Sarah Miller earn $37 a week from office work at the Hancock Equipment Company. This covers their weekly rent with little left over. They prepare meals in a large trunk, which they close whenever Mrs. Gock comes into the room, as she forbids cooking. Marianna tells Sarah about Dexter Wright who has helped her. Seeking better work, they search the want ads and find a job offer for two girls, with better wages plus free room and board on a fashionable estate. (Curtain) (Scene 2: The President's office of the Hancock Equipment Company. Next morning.) The efficient Miss Timoney unwittingly reveals her affection for the blustering boss Philip Hancock. Dexter is there trying to secure a higher price for Hancock's buyout of Wonder Equipment, because his boss William Moody has used the trust fund of Mrs. Delafield and Edna to stave off creditors. Dexter Wright tells Marianna he loves her, but Jack Terry reveals Dexter is engaged to Edna Delafield. Sarah, learning of Dexter's apparent perfidy, pushes Marianna to join her in taking the estate jobs. (Curtain) Act II (Scene 1: The living room of Mrs. Delafield's estate. Two days later.) Sarah Miller has been hired as cook, while Marianna is the new parlor maid. Sarah is delighted with her new job, but Marianna is abashed when Dexter calls on his boss William Moody, who is visiting his sister, Mrs. Delafield. Philip Hancock arrives next, with Jack Terry and Mis Timoney, to negotiate the buyout. Philip wants a lower price, and so does Jack. He loves Edna and her mercenary heart, and reasons if her trust fund is depleted she'll turn from Dexter to him. (Curtain) (Scene 2: Same as previous. That evening.) Dexter convinces Marianna that he does love her, but feels obligated to help Moody and the Delafields. Jack Terry is alarmed at Dexter's persuasive estimate of Wonder Equipment sales, and so decides to nobble him from further negotiations. Miss Timoney startles Philip Hancock by saying Dexter is right about the sales estimates. (Curtain) Act III (Scene 1: Same as previous. 4am.) Jack Terry has slipped knockout drops to Dexter Wright, to make him appear incapacitated and prevent him from arguing for a higher buyout. Marianna rolls Dexter under the living room sofa to hide him, while she overhears Philip Hancock confess some personal and business secrets. (Curtain) (Scene 2: Same as previous. 10am.) As the negotiation resumes, Marianna casually drops hints about Hancock's secrets, while Miss Timoney presents a real valuation for the Wonder Equipment buyout. She then threatens to quit if Philip Hancock doesn't accept the estimate. Hancock is alarmed; he knows she is largely responsible for his company's success, so to keep her on, he accepts the estimate and proposes marriage. Convinced of Dexter's sales talent, Hancock offers him a new sales manager's position in Chicago. Dexter will accept if Marianna will marry him, to which she replies that she'd love to live in Chicago. (Curtain)