160 Quiz Answer

The answer to this week’s quiz question is “Chicago,” the longest-running American musical in Broadway history; in its film version it was an Academy Award-winner.

The character who inspired my little scenelet was a good-natured but simple husband, known as “Mr. Cellophane,” whom nobody pays attention to.  In fact, he spends most of the play trying to make his wife, Roxie, take interest in him or even acknowledge his existence. 

(Also for Three-Word Wednesday and ABC Wednesday: "J" is for "Jeffrey")

Here’s this week’s Berownial quiz question.  I wrote the following scenelet, which may possibly suggest to you a famous American musical, a smash hit on the stage and on the screen.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is: name the musical.

(Here's an iconic scene: the office of a psychoanalyst.)
Dr. Holzmann:  “Just sit back and relax.  No, we don’t use the couch; that’s an old cliche about psychoanalysis.”

Jeffrey:  “I guess it’s another old cliché that some patients don’t quite know why they’re in a psychoanalyst’s office, because I’m afraid that’s my case.”

“Well, obviously something has been bothering you.”

“You think you can cure me?”

“Ah, well, as you may know that’s terminology we don’t use.  No, I won’t ‘cure’ you.  Together we can discuss possible problems and perhaps I can create some insight for you so you can work toward resolution of the problems.”

“Actually, I guess I’m here mostly because of my – er - situation.   You see, it’s out there, always.  It makes me edgy, bothers me all the time.”

“Okay.  Let’s start with that.”

“I don’t know quite how to describe it.”

“The letter you wrote seemed to indicate that you’re upset that you’re not more successful in life, that you should be more important, more respected.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s one way of putting it.  But it’s more fundamental.  Way back when I was a kid I was never lithe and lively; I was always off to one side, never taking part in the games, or the parties, that other kids enjoyed.”

“And the other kids made fun of you?  Taunting?  That kind of thing happens a lot.”

“No, it’s even more basic than that.  The problem was, not that they made fun of me; they just didn’t care.  They seemed not to know I was there.”

“But surely now that you’re a grown man you can forget about such things; it was all so long ago.”

“But it’s the same today!  That’s the real problem.  I’m forty-three years old and it’s not that folks give me a hard time.  They just don’t care.  That’s why I keep thinking about cellophane.”

“I don’t – I don’t make the connection.”

“Well, when I was a kid cellophane was kind of new to me.  I had a big sheet of it at home and I thought they should have named me after it – because everybody seemed to look right through me, just as you can look through cellophane, as though I wasn’t there.”

“That’s interesting.”

“And that’s my life today!  People walk right by me and never seem to know I’m there.”

(Also submitted to Sunday Scribblings)