Show and Tell Post #1

For Show and Tell, I read a play called Hot Stuff by Eulalie Spence. It was written and published in 1927 during the Harlem Renaissance. You can find this play on the North American Women’s Drama database which is available on LSU library’s website, and it is also published in Wines In the Wilderness: Plays by African American Women from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present. There are no records of productions.
The play has six characters that all interact with one of the characters and that is a Fanny. The first character Fanny interacts with is Mary Green, who is her friend. At the start of the play Fanny is going through a stack of slips. The conversation starts out with Fanny talking about numbers, and as the conversation goes on we found out that Fanny sells dresses, Mary is a doctor, and Mary is a not faithful as well. Mary leaves and we found out from her call with that she is unfaithful also. Then there is a knock on the door and it’s a John, who is “a number addict”, trying to figure out Fanny lost his numbers. And we see that fanny is a “number agent” and John accuses her for taking his money. John leaves and his girlfriend Jennie takes a visit to Fanny and Fanny doesn’t recognize her and Jennie reveals herself and threatens with “squealing” to her husband, Walter King.” Then a Jew named Isadore come to the door to sell Fanny an ermine wrap. She agrees to buy it from Isadore after some sexual convincing from him, and as she goes to get the money out her bedroom and Isadore has followed her in there, Walter King walks in and throws Isadore out. Walter goes back to the bed room to what we can hear a beating. And fanny comes out “in a most dishevelled condition” and continues with her admiring her coat and taking a phone call from her secret lover to cancel for tonight and meet tomorrow.

 The choice of having Mary say, “guess nobuddy can put anything over on you, Fanny,” sets up the play to be about this women who maybe is clever and hides things from others but her friend Mary. And looks like Fanny and Mary are running the same game. We know Mary is by Fanny asking her about , “that six foot sheik you was with at Craig’s last night,” then Fanny later goes on to ask, “what you done with Jack this last week?” Also the play unreels the ways we see Fanny get caught up with what she is known to get away with the “secrets of the trade.” First we see her getting accused of stealing which she denies it, “see here! I know you're excited an' all that, but I won't stand fer no funny talk! You gotta have your money! What money! You ain't got no money! You ain't got no winnings!” The Jennie, John’s girlfriend, come by and threaten her and she give in, “I'll give you the money. I can't afford to have you squeal. How do I know you won't tell no how?” Then her husband comes and set her straight.

The next choice that stood out to me was the ending when we hear Fanny get beat by her husband Walter King and Fanny comes out, “in a most dishevelled condition,” and she goes on to say,” The dirty brute! Glad he didn't scratch my face none.” This line alone says that Fanny is a “dirty brute” herself and she is an addict as well. After, “she smooths her hair. She turns around and around,” and she says, “Some bargain,” which refers to her wrap that she did not buy. And she walks over to the phone which sounds like she is answering the phone according to the text, “Bradhurst 2400. Hello! Jim? Jim, this is Fanny. Yes, I'm home. Can't make it tonight, kid. Of course, it's Walter. Tomorrow night, same time. OK. Say, honey, I just bought some coat. It's a peach! You'll see me strut tomorrow night, all right. I don't mean maybe.” Goodbye, honey. Goodnight.” Overall Fanny is obsessed with her things and what makes her happy even if she has to get beaten and harassed and she still would deny all she has done because she even told her husband, “I didn't do nuthin.”