The Famous Mrs. Fair

About the show

Act I (The living room of the Fair home on Long Island. A morning in May 1919.) Sylvia and Alan discuss their mother's home coming after four years away. Alan telephones Peggy, and Sylvia guesses they are engaged. Nora brings in E. Dudley Gillette, who has a contract for public lectures for their mother. Alan takes a dislike to him, but Sylvia is startled by his obvious interest in her. Alan sends Gillette away, keeping the contract which he means to destroy. Neighbor Angy Brice brings some violets for their mother's welcome. Sylvia is delighted; Angy has been her friend since her mother went away. Alan, however, is cold to her, knowing her interest in their wealthy father. She is still there when Jeffrey brings in Nancy, having met her at the dock. Nancy is delighted at how Sylvia has grown, but puzzled by Angy's presence. She is amused by Jeffrey's discomfiture, but is distracted by the arrival of her old ambulance unit, five women who served with her in France. Alan warns Jeffrey and Sylvia that Nancy will soon experience boredom with peace time life, as he did when demobilized. (Curtain) Act II (Same as Act I. An afternoon in June.) Nancy's old coterie is once again visiting. Though they have abandoned uniforms, their reminisces and attention feed Nancy's thirst for a cause to fight. Sylvia has at last begun to sense Angy's attentions to her father, and their friendship cools, while Alan openly spars with the widow, who maintains her composure. Alan finally tells his father about Peggy, who has come to tea. Jeffrey has a conversation with Peggy, and approves of her, despite her being a middle-class suffragist. But Jeffrey is aghast that Alan has not yet spoken of her to Nancy. Before Alan can do so, Gillette hustles Nancy and her crew off to be photographed. He is still pressing her to sign a contract for a speaking tour. Angy lures Jeffrey outside where she subtly feeds his resentment about Nancy's distance from her family. Gillette flirts with Sylvia, who is unused to male attention, though she is perceptive enough to realize he is pumping her for information about Nancy's intentions. When Nancy returns, she is terribly hurt to learn of her son's engagement. Peggy leaves to avoid a scene. Jeffrey tries to forbid Nancy from going on tour, but she defies him by signing Gillette's contract. (Curtain) Act III (The New York apartment of Jeffrey Fair. An evening in October, just after 9pm.) From exposition between Alan and Jeffrey we learn that Nancy has just returned from a three month speaking tour, but is planning to attend a banquet that night. Sylvia accompanied Nancy for a month, but then came back to New York. Jeffrey took the apartment in New York so she could have some company. Alan and Peggy are married and living in an apartment, so Sylvia is unsupervised by family, for Angy Brice has come to town and is monopolizing Jeffrey. Nancy now comes in to ask if Sylvia has returned; she also tells Alan to bring Peggy sometime, as she wants to make her peace with her. Alan is delighted, and rushes off to Peggy's office. Sylvia arrives home, and her mother is appalled at her daughter's appearance. She wears mascara, lipstick and rouge, and sports the clothes and hat of a chorus girl. Indeed, she has been consorting with chorus girls introduced to her by Gillette, who is taking her to dinner. Nancy is surprised to learn of Gillette's liberality in squiring Sylvia about town. She cuddles Sylvia on her lap, wipes away the makeup and then sends her to her room. When Gillette arrives for Sylvia, Nancy confronts him with demands for the lecture tour money he owes her and to stop seeing Sylvia. Gillette agrees, but instead of saying goodbye to Sylvia, convinces her to run away with him by telling her of Jeffrey's affair with Angy. Nancy and Jeffrey blame each other for Sylvia's neglect. When Jeffrey admits to having paid off Angy to end their affair, Nancy asks for a divorce. But Alan and Peggy rush in, having seen Sylvia and Gillette leave together in a taxi. Nancy is aghast, but Alan phones Tom Gibbs to set the police on Gillette. (Curtain) Act IV (Same as Act III. Two hours later.) Peggy tries to comfort Nancy, while Jeffrey and Alan are out with the police. When Jeffrey returns, he tells Nancy that Gillette wants to marry Sylvia to stop Nancy prosecuting him for fraud. Alan returns with Sylvia; the police had caught up with her and Gillette at the train station. Sylvia is angry and hurt with her family for ignoring her. She asks, "Why drag me back here when no one wants me?" Her emotional breakdown is followed by Peggy's recounting of Gillette's prior links with charity fraud. Nancy and Jeffrey reconcile with each other and Sylvia. When Peggy asks where Gillette is, Alan replies, "In an ambulance" while showing his fists. (Curtain)