The Vegetable: From President to postman, Scott Fitzgerald's only stage play during his professional career, was a resounding theatrical flop. Published by Scribners on 27 April 1923 in a print run of 7,650 copies retailing at $1.50, it opened for a week's trial on 19 November 1923 at Nixon's Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City, New Jersey (Bruccoli (1991), 209, 219). The first night was a debacle, with, as Zelda Fitzgerald put it in a letter, “[p]eople so obviously bored” (qtd Bruccoli (1991), 219), and some audience members walking out during the second act. Fitzgerald himself, playing on the surname of the play's protagonist, called the production “a colossal frost […] After the second act I wanted to stop the show and …
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Citation: Tredell, Nicolas. "The Vegetable; or, From President to Postman". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 February 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8042, accessed 26 November 2024.]