THE GREAT BROXOPP[3]
ACT I
Scene: The GREAT BROXOPP’S lodgings in Bloomsbury; a humble room in late Victorian days, for BROXOPP has only just begun. He has been married for six months, and we see NANCY (the dear) at work, while her husband is looking for it. He is an advertising agent, in the days when advertising agents did not lunch with peers and newspaper proprietors. Probably he would prefer to call himself an “adviser to men of business.” As we see from a large advertisement over the sideboard—drawn and lettered by hand (NANCY’S)—he has been hoping to advise SPENLOW on the best way to sell his suspenders. SPENLOW, we are assured, “gives that natty appearance.” The comfort, says THE GREAT ONE, in an inspired moment:
“The comfort is immense
With Spenlow’s great invention!
Other makes mean Suspense,
But Spenlow means Suspension!!”
Many such inspirations decorate the walls—some accepted, some even paid for—and NANCY is now making a fair copy of one of them.
MARY, the Broxopps’ servant—NANCY thought they could do without one, but the GREAT BROXOPP wanted to be [4]called “Yes, sir,” and insisted on it—well then, MARY comes in.
NANCY (without looking up). Yes, Mary?