HUt.4ANITIS
BUHMIDOE:
(Feebly)
Tip
him....
MESSENGER:
Sign here.
IMOGEN:
(Signs and opens)
It's not for Bummy, it's for Winkie.
Messenger goes.
BUMMIDOE:
I think I'd better lie down a little.
343
BELLA:
Give
him
an empirin, Imogen. I've got to go to Steuben's to
return some glassware they sent to me by mistake. Joyce bought it
on his charge, and they assumed she was Mrs. Bummidge. That at
least
is
saving a few hundred bucks.
ACT II
SCENE IV
Television studio. Enter
BUMMIDGE
in high excitement.
MOIT
follows. The stage
is
set for the closed circuit television pro–
gram. Light on
BUMMIDGE'S
analytic couch, front and right.
Another light presently goes on left to show others who make
occasional comments unheard by
BUMMIDOE.
BUMMIDOE:
This is the great moment when I reveal my achievements
to the scientific world. Oh, I can't bear the excitement. Oh, sc)..
ence! I want to devote myself to it. Knowledge! The last pure
thing in the world.
If
you consider my life as a life it's just grue–
some. But if you consider it as a
subject
matter. . . . ! Louie, don't
goof now Louie. Don't try to show off in front of the camera. Re-
member, this
is
a solemn ... oh, a solemn ... oh, a big thing!
MOIT:
(Reproachful)
Now, Mr. Bummidge... .
BUMMIDGE :
Now, just remember you're my scientific assistant. When
we publish the results you'll get full acknowledgment. And if this
endowment goes through . . . you'll be made also. I'll see to it that
you get top billing. There's nothing in all the world like my grati–
tude when I get going.
MOIT:
I never really made it with a beautiful woman. From the start
it's been nothing but dogs....
BUMMIDGE:
Listen, Louie, I can promise you. • . . I'm terribly nervous.
My fingers are so cold, it's crazy. Louie ... I promise! Louie, don't
get near the camera until I cue you, and duck out on cue. We've
had a dozen rehearsals.
