Midgie Purvis

by Mary Chase

Mrs. Edwin Gilroy (Midgie) Purvis is a rich, fashionable and middle-aged member of society. She is also given to cutting unexpected, and sometimes eyebrow-raising capers. Her rather stuffy son, Canfield (who is about to be married), has tried to reason with her but the thing that really makes Midgie sit up is overhearing Canfield's future mother-in-law drop a hint of what people really think of her. Midgie is distressed but, more importantly, she is struck by the realization that she has become something of a "character" whom no one, not even her son, needs any more. But it also happens that when Midgie receives this revelation she is dressed in her cleaning woman's shabby clothes and, to avoid embarrassment of exposure, she is obliged to scurry out of the house and into her wildest escapades yet. For having usurped her cleaning woman's clothing, she now assumes her identity as well and, with wig and false wrinkles, becomes the aged sitter for three bright but bumptious young children. At first it is only a temporary ruse but as Midgie begins to feel appreciated and alive her deception takes on more meaning than her real life. The result is an hilarious mix-up that can only be set straight by Midgie's giving up her double identity and telling the truth. This she does with quiet resignation but the outcome is not a loss but a gain. Midgie goes back to being herself, but this time it is the world which seems to have changed a little, thanks to her being in it.

Midgie Purvise opened at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York City on February 1, 1961 and ran for 21 performances closing on February 18.

71 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 1963