Act I Summary
Act I, Scene i
You Can't Take it with You is set in the living room of Grandpa Martin
Vanderhof's home in New York City. The story starts on a Wednesday evening in
1936. As the curtain rises, the audience sees a uniquely decorated room
featuring a solarium with snakes, a xylophone, and a printing press, along with
more typical furniture like chairs and tables.
The opening scene introduces the quirky members of the Vanderhof-Sycamore family as they move in and out of the living room. Penny Sycamore, Grandpa's middle-aged daughter, sits at a wobbly card table, busily typing a play. Her twenty-nine-year-old daughter, Essie Carmichael, joins her. Although Essie makes and sells candy, her true passion is dancing. Wearing ballet slippers, she dances rather than walks around the house. Rheba, the family's maid, enters and listens as Penny explains that the heroine of her play has entered a monastery, and she can't figure out how to get her out. Penny's husband, Paul Sycamore, then comes up from the basement where he has been making fireworks. He is soon followed by his assistant, Mr. De Pinna, a long-term house guest who arrived eight years ago to deliver ice and never left. Essie's husband, Ed Carmichael, enters, heads to the xylophone, and starts playing a tune. Essie immediately begins dancing to his music. Once the song ends, Ed moves to the printing press, and Rheba's boyfriend, Donald, arrives with flies to feed the snakes.
At this juncture, Grandpa, the family patriarch who quit business thirty-five years ago to do whatever pleases him, enters the lively room. He has just returned from attending the Columbia commencement exercises, one of his many hobbies that include stamp collecting and visiting the zoo. Shortly after Grandpa's arrival, Penny's younger daughter, Alice, comes in. Alice is the family's "normal" member, holding a secretarial job on Wall Street. After a few cheerful interactions with her relatives, she quiets everyone down to announce that Tony Kirby, her boss's son, will be calling for her later in the evening. She asks her family to act as normal as possible because she likes him. Alice then goes upstairs to change.
When the doorbell rings, it isn't Alice's young man but an Internal Revenue Agent named Henderson. He has come to inform Grandpa that he owes twenty-two years' worth of unpaid income tax. However, before Henderson can get Grandpa to acknowledge that the government does anything worth paying taxes for, he is scared away by a firecracker explosion. Finally, Tony arrives and gets a brief look at Alice's family. As Alice quickly ushers Tony back out the door, Essie's loud Russian dance instructor, Mr. Kolenkhov, arrives. Kolenkhov and the rest of the family sit down for dinner, and Grandpa says grace, asking God to let them continue living life as they please.
Act I, Scene ii
Scene ii takes place later that same night. Alice and Tony return to the house
after their date. They start a conversation, confessing their love for each
other. Alice admits she loves Tony but doubts they can ever marry because his
traditional family would never accept her unconventional relatives. Tony
disagrees and convinces Alice that their love is all that matters at the
moment. The two become engaged, and Tony leaves.
During this conversation, Alice and Tony are interrupted several times by various family members, showcasing the eccentric behavior Alice believes the Kirbys will not accept. Penny passes by in her bathrobe looking for her play, "Sex Goes on Holiday." Essie and Ed come back from the movies, arguing about Ginger Rogers's dancing skills and casually mentioning that Grandpa thinks they should have a baby. Donald walks by in his nightshirt carrying his accordion, and Paul emerges from the basement where he has been making fireworks.
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