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Porcelain and Pink
Funny little play by the great Fitzgerald! This is one nice story. Characters are well built, interesting and the set is hilarious! Love the comment on the mentality at the time. Simple, straightforward and comical. A must read.
27 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1922
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223 people want to read
About the author
F. Scott Fitzgerald
2,314 books25.6k followersFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald, widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age, a term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. He attended Princeton University where he befriended future literary critic Edmund Wilson. Owing to a failed romantic relationship with Chicago socialite Ginevra King, he dropped out in 1917 to join the United States Army during World War I. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, a Southern debutante who belonged to Montgomery's exclusive country-club set. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.
His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial failure, selling fewer than 23,000 copies in its first year. Despite its lackluster debut, The Great Gatsby is now hailed by some literary critics as the "Great American Novel". Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934).
Struggling financially because of the declining popularity of his works during the Great Depression, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood, where he embarked upon an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. He attended Princeton University where he befriended future literary critic Edmund Wilson. Owing to a failed romantic relationship with Chicago socialite Ginevra King, he dropped out in 1917 to join the United States Army during World War I. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, a Southern debutante who belonged to Montgomery's exclusive country-club set. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.
His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial failure, selling fewer than 23,000 copies in its first year. Despite its lackluster debut, The Great Gatsby is now hailed by some literary critics as the "Great American Novel". Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934).
Struggling financially because of the declining popularity of his works during the Great Depression, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood, where he embarked upon an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
August 14, 2022
Au naturel is so much nicer.
I really enjoyed this humorous one act play. It's lighthearted, silly and Julie is the wittiest girl. I'd love to see it on stage.
"The Young Man: (Laughing) You certainly are hard to keep up with. One day you’re awfully pleasant and the next you’re in a mood. If I didn’t understand your temperament so well—
Julie: (Impatiently) Oh, you’re one of these amateur character-readers, are you? Size people up in five minutes and then look wise whenever they’re mentioned. I hate that sort of thing."
I really enjoyed this humorous one act play. It's lighthearted, silly and Julie is the wittiest girl. I'd love to see it on stage.
"The Young Man: (Laughing) You certainly are hard to keep up with. One day you’re awfully pleasant and the next you’re in a mood. If I didn’t understand your temperament so well—
Julie: (Impatiently) Oh, you’re one of these amateur character-readers, are you? Size people up in five minutes and then look wise whenever they’re mentioned. I hate that sort of thing."
July 28, 2019
این نمایشنامه اولین نمایشنامهای بود که من خوندم، فکر کنم در حول و حوش ۱۲-۱۳ سالگی، امروز دوباره خوندمش و همچنان برام دوستداشتنی و زیبا بود!
May 28, 2014
Call me crazy or frivolous with my rating but this one act play had me cracking up! I love Julie. I can be Julie myself someday. It's the wittiest, funniest thing I have read in a long time and was worth every minute I spent reading it. Go for it if you're looking for a reason to laugh and go for it if you like to celebrate wit!
August 5, 2018
This little play is proof why I love Fitzgerald's words so much!
January 4, 2013
A witty funny girl in a bathtub XD A very light and entertaining read.
August 29, 2022
A very teasing and humorous one act play by Fitzgerald, which is included in Tales of the Jazz Age and is focused on a bathtub and uncertain identities.
“You are mysterious. I love you. You’re beautiful, intelligent, and virtuous, and that’s the rarest known combination.”
“You are mysterious. I love you. You’re beautiful, intelligent, and virtuous, and that’s the rarest known combination.”
February 7, 2025
Funny but weird and unspected final (ended quickly)
February 10, 2025
This is really a short story. A play write. Not what I expected but it was hilarious!
Different from what I’ve read from Fitzgerald and it was refreshing.
Different from what I’ve read from Fitzgerald and it was refreshing.
April 26, 2020
It’s short, it’s funny and I just love Julie’s smart mouth and witty remarks.
May 26, 2020
Huvitav lühinäidend. Humoorikas ;)
January 28, 2016
Porcelain and Pink is a frothy, teasing one-act play written by the young F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1920 - at the onset of the Jazz Age that he would become synonymous with - purely for the purposes of notoriety one suspects.
Why so? Well, the curtain opens on a scene featuring a perky young woman, from the shoulders upwards, administering to her ablutions in a short, blue porcelain bathtub, singing a silly, popular song.
In a knowing, highly pleased-with-itself stage direction, Scott informs us that for "the first ten minutes of the play the audience is engrossed with wondering if she really is playing the game fairly and hasn't any clothes on or whether it is being cheated and she is dressed".
And that ten minutes of carnal curiosity is basically it. Fitzgerald is clearly having immense fun, but all we get a century later are a few lame puns, fit only for a nervous, twittery contemporary audience; a mistaken identity incident when the beau of the bather's sister hears (but does not see) her through a well placed window and starts to make love to her; and some more frivolous fun with the fact that, well, there's a (possibly!) naked actress on stage.
The play did cause the intended stir at the time, but can only be of interest today as a period piece. It left me wondering though, what would a risque young playwright have to do today to ruffle some prudish feathers?
Answers on a postcard please...
Why so? Well, the curtain opens on a scene featuring a perky young woman, from the shoulders upwards, administering to her ablutions in a short, blue porcelain bathtub, singing a silly, popular song.
In a knowing, highly pleased-with-itself stage direction, Scott informs us that for "the first ten minutes of the play the audience is engrossed with wondering if she really is playing the game fairly and hasn't any clothes on or whether it is being cheated and she is dressed".
And that ten minutes of carnal curiosity is basically it. Fitzgerald is clearly having immense fun, but all we get a century later are a few lame puns, fit only for a nervous, twittery contemporary audience; a mistaken identity incident when the beau of the bather's sister hears (but does not see) her through a well placed window and starts to make love to her; and some more frivolous fun with the fact that, well, there's a (possibly!) naked actress on stage.
The play did cause the intended stir at the time, but can only be of interest today as a period piece. It left me wondering though, what would a risque young playwright have to do today to ruffle some prudish feathers?
Answers on a postcard please...
December 30, 2013
Pretty funny. To me the levity and verve is genius. Like in his Bernice Bobs Her Hair, Fitzgerald is hilarious in this short one-act play. It is rambunctious like the song "Anything Goes" and captures some of the laughing, energetic wit of that time.
February 4, 2022
“there’s only two mysterious people in history”
“who are they?”
“the man with the iron mask and the fella who says ‘ug uh-glug uh-glug ug-glug’ when the line is busy.”
possibly the best lines in this play
“who are they?”
“the man with the iron mask and the fella who says ‘ug uh-glug uh-glug ug-glug’ when the line is busy.”
possibly the best lines in this play
Read
June 15, 2013Listened to the LivreVox version. Delightful 20 minutes twice for a 40-minute walk. Very funny.
February 14, 2018
A funny dialogue with some nice puns. Poor Lois though.
November 14, 2018
This was my favorite episode of Public Domain Theater to date. Whether that has to do with the people on the podcast or the content of the play is anyone's guess.
Read
July 21, 2024Someone please explain to me why beautiful girls have throats instead of necks
August 22, 2017
Funny little play by the great Fitzgerald! This is one nice story. Characters are well built, interesting and the set is hilarious! Love the comment on the mentality at the time. Simple, straightforward and comical. A must read ❤️
September 1, 2017
A humorous one act play that was probably also shocking in the 1920's. It takes place in a bathroom with one of the characters in a bathtub . . . almost the whole time. Fitzgerald gives a good sense of all three characters in a short, twenty minutes. Very enjoyable.
March 28, 2020
Fun little play if you’re willing to travel in time and early 20th century habits. You can easily perform this with your roommates. It will only take three. Read it here.
June 16, 2023
whilst I genuinely thought I was having a stroke at the beginning (was not prepared for its format and narration) genuinely actually pleasantly surprised. Will now refer to anyone who’s near me as I’m bathing ‘Godliness’
May 20, 2017
What I would give to have been alive in the Jazz age. Very funny, witty. And I love Julia.
November 21, 2018
it is interesting for sure.
March 23, 2019
Nothing special here. Somewhat funny idea but it's only and not all that remarkable.
April 12, 2019
A short play by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A small case of mistaken identity. A girl in a bathtub. Cute.
August 7, 2019
A cute little story for the stage, intended to shock the audience of the time.
She certainly ain't dumb though, finding always a witty thing to say in response :)
She certainly ain't dumb though, finding always a witty thing to say in response :)
September 1, 2019
"The walls reflect the sound, you see. That's why there's something very beautiful about singing in a bath-tub. It gives an effect of surpassing loveliness. Can I render you a selection?"
March 30, 2020
3/5*
It's a dull play unfortunately. I'm quite confused as to the purpose of the play and why F.Scott wrote it. I understand the dynamic between the characters, but what was the purpose?
It's a dull play unfortunately. I'm quite confused as to the purpose of the play and why F.Scott wrote it. I understand the dynamic between the characters, but what was the purpose?
Read
August 2, 2020Listened to through Public Domain Theater
October 19, 2022
Very funny short story. I love how Julie has such an attitude. Playing with Mr.Calkins like that! Terribly humorous 😆
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews