* NOTE: These characters are not in the play in case Scene 2, Act I, is omitted. CLASS OF '29 ACT I SCENE I: _It is Saturday afternoon, about one o'clock._ _The room is a large one in an old brown-stone house. The ceiling is high, the floor ancient. It serves for a sleeping as well as a living room. Off it at one end is a kitchen, at the other a small bedroom._ _There is no woman's touch in the place, but in spite of its dilapidation there is a mellow and intellectual air--lent, perhaps, by the books and magazines that lie scattered about; some old college pennants on the wall; also both architectural drawings and original cartoons. There is a good architect's drawing board in use by a window and a rack containing many rolls of drawings and prints_. TED _is sitting on the couch, reading an old book. He wears a once excellent but now threadbare suit_. TIPPY _wears shabby old dressing gown, short. He has no trousers on. He is pressing his pants on an ironing board._ _Each is silent and preoccupied_, KEN _makes a finishing touch with color brush, then turns his board down to a more vertical position and backs off, surveying his work_. KEN. Take a squint at that, Tippy. [TIPPY _carefully turns iron on end and steps over to look at drawing._] TIPPY. H'm. Very charming. Very charming. If Comrade Stalin could see that he would order one for each member of his harem. KEN. That's a bum joke. Not even Hearst has accused Stalin of irregularity in his private life. TIPPY. Sorry. That comes of my not reading Hearst. KEN. What's more, this drawing's not intended for the Soviets. It's distinctly American. TIPPY. But Ken, they like it Americanskee. They approve of the way we _do_ our living, if not of the way we _get_ it. KEN. They like our gadgets. The plans I sent to Moscow were all American inside. But the exteriors were different. TIPPY. [_Slaps him on shoulder and returns to pants pressing._] Well, keep at it, old man. All things come to those who work while they wait. KEN. Work. I just do this to keep from going nuts. TIPPY. O. K. Keep occupied. American recovery may yet prove speedier than Soviet red tape. KEN. I've given up hope of hearing from Moscow. It's been five months ... TIPPY. Make allowances for bureaucracy, Ken. They're in such a hurry over there they haven't time to do anything. KEN. [_Starts to remove drawing._] I don't want Martin to see this. He'd never forgive me if he knew I'd quit working on stuff for Russia. TIPPY. Hi, Ted! Give a look on your fellow artist's work. [KEN _stands aside_, TED _rises politely, keeping finger in place in book and looking at drawing briefly._] TED. [_Indifferently._] It's very nice. [_He goes back to couch and his book_, KEN _removes drawing and rolls it up_. TIPPY _finishes pants and cuts off iron_, MARTIN'S _voice heard in hall, singing._]