PS /, Copyright N^_ CDf^IGKT DEPOSIT. I^^»*»» » I THE BUCK AMERICAN BY BIRDIE WEST. DEDICATED TO THE N. A. A. C. P. i^ THE BLACK AMERICAN BY BIRDIE WEST. DEDICATED TO THE N. A. A. C P. BUSH PRINTING COMPANY PEORIA, ILLINOIS 1919 Copyright 1918 oP vb THE BLACK AMERICAN PERSONNAE DRAMATIS MARIE SCOTT JANE WALTON— The Committee at the Hostess House FANNIE CLARK SOLDIERS — any number desired. PERCY PETERS, father of many sons H. L. GORDON, army captain ALICE MAY, Captain Gordon's sweetheart KARL KOEPPEN, the spv MESSENGER BOY NEWSBOY JAN 14 1919 CLD 509 98 TMP92-007516 m 14 !S13 THE BLACK AMERICAN. ACT I. Scene 1 — Hostess House. Time — Afternoon. Girls preparing to serve refreshments to the soldiers. Curtain rises on Marie, stirring chocolate and Jane getting cups, spoons, etc., ready. MARIE : 'T wonder where Fanny is. She'd come in handy right now. Do you think you can get the cups all ready?" JANE (sarcastically) : "O, yes; I'll take care of the cups, v/hile Fanny rrnakes eyes at the doughboys. I'll bet my last shin-plaster that's what she is doing." (Fanny rushes in. Hurriedly grabs an apron. Ties it on, talking all the while.) FANNY: ''Gracious, girls, did you think I was never coming? My, but I must hustle or we won't be ready. The boys are just off their hike, and will be here any minute." JANE (acidly) : 'Tity some folks never hurry till the w^ork's all done!" FANNY (ignoring the remark impressively an- nounces) : ''Girls, I have some thrilling news for you!" MARIE and JANE : "Well, don't make us wait for it." FANNY (smiles tolerantly) : "After hearing it put a plaster over your mouth. Even no self- cogitation allowed. But listen — they declare there is a German spy in our camp and have offered a reward of ten thousand dollars for his capture!" ;. . . .. JANE: "Humph! What's he doing here? He don't need to think he can manufacture any Arnolds out of us." MARIE (excitedly) : "Great Hosanna! Have they any idea who he is or where he is, or — or — " (Singing is heard outside.) THE BLACK AMERICAN FANNY : ''Ssh, not another word. The boys are coming. Fll just get a Httle more water to stretch this chocolate out." (Goe^ out with a bucket. Enter six or more soldiers singing ''Over There" or some patriotic air.) FIRST SOLDIER (stepping near Marie, who is stirring) : ''Say, sornie smell to that liquid. Must be the real bean!" MARIE : "Sure is. Have some ?" FIRST SOLDIER (slapping second on the back) : "How^ about it, old scout?" SECOND SOLDIER : "Dogged if faint worrisome now, but stocks are a little low just at present time, so " MARIE : "We know the eagle ain't screamed late- ly, but we'll jawbone you." (The other soldiers who have been talking to Jane join the group.) THIRD SOLDIER: "That must mean us, too. Sweet Marie." MARIE : "O, don't hesitate, boys. The khaki is security." (The girls serve and the boys dance around and sing a line or two of "Oui, Oui, Marie," as they drink. Just as they finish another sol- dier rushes in.) PERSHING: "Anybody here seen my gas miask?" OTHER SOLDIERS: "No, Pershing. What do you want with it?" PERSHING: "I just met a fellow that said he met another fellow that shook hands with a guy that had that flenza, so I want to protect my- self." MARIE and JANE: "Well, get out of here. We'll turn the hot water on vou exposing us to that flu." (Both chase him out with kettle of hot water. Simultaneously Fannie enters and takes her seat at a table near the door. Also enters Mr. Peters, an elderly man, much dressed, with grey hair and beard.) THE BLACK AMERICAN MR, PETERS: ''Be this the abode of the hostess house ?" FANNY: **Yes, this is the hostess house. Any special person you would like to see?" PETERS: ''Yes, Missie, I should say. I've got three sons in this camp, and I've got some new-born information for one of them. Yes, I\Iissie, I " FANNY: "If you will give me the names of your sons we will have them brought to you." PETERS : "The three in this camp bear the names of Hezekiah, Zechariah and Seth. Then I've got three in that high-browed camp, Des Moines ; three across the waters, two in Camp Uppish and three more at home just bilin' to be Dutch cleansers." SECOND SOLDIER (all rushing to him and shak- ing hands) : "Some papa I'd say. Let's shake. You could raise an army of your own." FANNY: "You're a great, grand man, with so much to give to your country." PETERS (smiling broadly) : "Yes, Missie, if size counts, we're some folks, and I just run down here specially to tell my youngest boy that he's got a little soldier at his house, born just twenty-four hours ago, with two teeth and a steamboat yell!" SOLDIERS (slapping him on the back) : "Con- gratulations, sir, and three cheers for the young American!" PETERS (taking some papers out of his pocket, laughing loudly all the time) : "And while he was howling, I just stuffed one of these pa- pers in his mouth, and what do you think, the little owl stopped right away." ALL : "What is the pacifier ?" PETERS (still grinning) : "Oh, this is one of them dash-cuttin' Liberty bonds. Bought all my soldier boys one, and I just couldn't slight this little kiddie with his Daddy a-off in the army," THE BLACK AMERICAN FANNY : "I'm sure your son will want to hear that good news. Now, if you will just give us your last name we will have him brought here in a jiffy." PETERS: ''0, 'scuse me. I'm sure glad Sarah ain't here. Sarah's my wife. She says I talk so much I always forget the main object. My name's Peters, Percy Peters, Missie, at youi' feet." (Finishes with a sweeping bow.) THIRD SOLDIER: "You're the Peters boys' fa- ther? Princes, the w^hole trio. We'll carry you to them at once." (Soldiers put Peters on their shoulders and go out singing, "We're all Going Calling on the Kaiser." Marie and Jane each holding one of Peters feet go out with them,. The honk of an auto is heard. Alice May, Captain Gordon's sweetheart, enters vi- vaciously and sm[iling.) ALICE MAY: "How do you do!" (Passes Fannie her card.) FANNY : "Delighted, Miss May. Will you have a seat or shall I take you to your room^?" ALICE: "Neither this minute, thanks. I'll just shake my legs about a bit first." (Limps around.) "Feel as if I had been packed down in one of those soldier kits. Twenty-four hours at the wheel doesn't exactly make a ballet girl out of you." FANNY: "So that was your car we heard?" ALICE: "0, yes, unless it was Dad snoring. Father's sleeping notes are quite overwhelm- ing. He slept all the way over, too, and left the driving for me." FANNY: "No wonder you have that hard boiled feelino^." ALICE : "b, I'm fine now. Don't feel it at all in spite of quite a little sprinting around I did yesterday. Just before starting I canteened two hundred soldiers, inspected thirteen Red Cross shops, and organized seven more." JANE and MARIE (who have entered while Alice THE BLACK AMERICAN was talking, throw up hands) : **Help!" (Fan- ny smiles.) ALICE: ''Father always said I was a bit preco- cious. I organized my first club when I was twelve years of age; and it was called the Anti-Dust Cap and Apron society. Effect most far reaching. Not a woman in our county will wear an apron and a dust cap outside of her own gate post." JANE : '1 suppose, Miss May, you came down here to organize a few more clubs." ALICE: ''No, thanks. Dad and I just ran down to — to see Captain Gordon. He's an old friend of — of the family." (Enters Karl Koeppen in minister's attire. Apparently his skin is brown, but in truth it is white, the brown being only a coating. Voice velvety with a slight foreign accent.) KOEPPEN: "Ah, the same old tantalizing smell. Yes, four cups as usual, one for each of your smiling selves and the fourth for your saint- ed slave." (Looks over and sees Alice.) "And — perhaps — " FANNY : "Father Koeppen, meet Miss May. This is our chaplain, Miss May." KOEPPEN: "I am delighted. Miss May, please join us." ALICE (demurely) : "My father always advised me never to drink with strangers unless they could prove their good standing. However, your attire speaks something. Have you been formally baptized?" KOEPPEN: "By water and fire and liquid gas." ALICE : "Can you name all the kings of Israel ?" KOEPPEN: "Both forward and backward." ALICE: "Can you give the legal password to the N. A. A. C. P.?" KOEPPEN: "Why, Miss May, I am the author of that password!" ALICE : "According to the questionnaire, your standing is excellent. Father Koeppen. I ac- THE BLACK AMERICAN cept two cups." (Captain Gordon has entered in time to hear the last words. Goes over to x\hce and shakes hands.) GORDON: *'Aha. one of those cups must be for me. The capable person, as usual, making previous arrangements. Just saw your father. He reports a fine trip." (After drinking he leads her across the room, just as a squad of soldiers rushes in, salutes Gordon and sings lustily '^0, How I Hate To Get Up in the Morning" or any desired song. Curtain falls then rises almost immediately, showing only Gordon and Alice on the stage.) GORDON (taking her hand) : ''Alice, I am, so glad, so happy you are here today. Why delay longer? Why not get married right away?" ALICE: ''Not now, Hugh. It is wisest to wait until after the war." GORDON: "But think, dear, how you have made me wait two years already. I'm likely to go any week, any day, and I want you all mine before I leave. All we need is a minister and a license, both within arm's reach. What say you, sweetheart?" ALICE: 'T wouldn't ever care to have Koeppen m^arry us. I don't like him. He's a spider." GORDON: "We'll not have Koeppen, dear. There are others aplenty." ALICE : "Not today, Hugh ; we will wait a httle longer." (Enters a messenger boy, whistling. Salutes Gordon and gives him an envelope. Gordon reads and exclaims.) GORDON: "Great God!" ALICE (with anxiety) : "What is it, Hugh, tell me? Is it bad news?" GORDON: "Looks as if that confounded Villa was at some more of his deviltry. The matter de- mands my attention at once. Besides, I have an engagement with your spider." (Smiles THE BLACK AMERICAN and kisses her.) "And now I mfust leave you, I shall not be able to see you before tomiorrow. Then, maybe — 0, I hope, sweetheart, then you will say yes." Curtain. ACT 11. Scene 1. Gordon's office. A table and few chairs the only furniture. Lamp on table only light. Curtain rises with Gordon sitting at table, looking over papers; as Koeppen enters he looks up. GORDON: "You're very punctual, P'ather. It still wants three minutes to seven." (Pushes him a chair.) KOEPPEN (seats himself and remarks quietly) : "Yes, we should always begin early when questions are weighty. Captain Gordon, I have come tonight to offer you the most glor- ious thing in all the world, liberty." GORDON (in surprised tone of voice) : "Liberty? Why, Father, I live in a free country." KOEPPEN (with warmth) : "But are you free? If so, why are you, a college man, a seasoned 10th Cavalry man, Jim Crowed down here in a scurvy corner of Texas when your record demands a generalship. Why are the doors of industry barred against you and open to the Pole, the Russian, the Italian, the Ger- man? You — Liberty — what a hollow mock- ery!" GORDON: "Those things in time will right them- selves. Justice must prevail. Loyalty will be rewarded. Eagerly have we given our tiny wage for Liberty bonds and our lives for de- mocracy. Can any country long deny equal opportunity to such a people?" KOEPPEN: "Let me answer you. Every bond will be sullied by the blood of a lynched vic- tim, and tainted by the stench of a human bon-fire, and your democracy won on the fields of France will be a farce in America. 10 TPIE BLACK AMERICAN Have you forgotten East St. Louis, Hous- ton?" (Takes a stride up and down the stage and then stops directly in front of Gordon. Resurnies his speech in tense voice.) ''Listen, Captain Gordon, you and your men have been without pay for two months. Toraorrow morning at four Villa will enter this town. Join us. One thousand dollars for each pri- vate. Ten thousand for yourself." GORDON (jumping up) : ''Stop! Enough! As I have long suspected, you are a spy, a Germian spy. Herr Koeppen, you are in the wrong camp. The Black American has never had a traitor." KOEPPEN: "Call me a spy or what j^ou please. I am here to give you a golden world. You are simply to join our army tonight. We will take this place. That will be the signal for the uprising of your people all over the South. We will receive powerful reinforcements from Mexico. Then it will be one triumphal march to the very Halls of the White House. The Sunny South will be your domain. You can be governors of states and mayors of cities, and m.en — men free, with privilege and power." GGORDON: "Herr Koeppen, we are not aliens. While the rebels fought to tighten the shackles our mothers nursed his babies. Is not that in itself sufficient proof that no traitor can come out of Etheopia? Your kind may call us Negroes, but we are Americans and we can no more betray America than we can betray the cross." KOEPPEN: "Then, fool, you refuse emancipa- tion, a fortune, a kingdom ?" GORDON (with warmth) : "Yes, I refuse it all and without thanks. We would not betray one spadeful of this soil for all the filthy gold in the German empire and I speak for 12 mil- lion Black Americans." THE BLACK AMERICAN 11 KOEPPEN (turning as if to go) : 'Then our paths lie in little different directions." GORDON: '^Eventually, I hope; but just now you are my prisoner." (Covers Koeppen with re- volver.) _ KOEPPEN (after a moment's silence begins suavely) :"Ah, captain, I have always admired your thoroughness and quick decision. Like- wise your magnanimity. That is why I beg your indulgence for one last favor. Permit me to remove this covering before — sunrise, I wish to spare your people any humiliation. Too many crimes are committed under ar- tificial black. A little medicated kerchief m my vest pocket will efface the war mi'ask." (Captain makes sign of assent.) KOEPPEN (continues) : "I may use it? As, ever the prince. See " (Wipes face and the color comes off.) ''A few strokes and I am what I am. Hands, too (Holds hands out over the table near the lamp), clever little trick. Learned it from an East Indian years ago." (At last word Koeppen overturns lamp and makes leap for door. Gordon leaps after him. They grapple in the darkness. A shot is fired. When the lights are turned on Gor- don with a rope in his hand, stands over his victim. Curtain falls.) ACT m. Scene— Hostess house same as opening. Time —Next morning. Jane and Marie enter and begin dusting and talking simultaneously, JANE: ''Sure is something stirring around here this morning." MARIE: "Well, what's the action now?' JANE : "There's going to be a wedding here to- MARIE : "Now here, no shell shocks." JANE : "0, not from wedding bells. Captain Gor- don's going to ring them. That girl of his 12 THE BLACK AMERICAN has been laughing and crying all m-orning. Seenas a bit agitated over some stunt pulled off last night. Couldn't get what it was." (Boy rushes in calling extra.) JANE: ''Give me one, Laddie. Maybe this well shed some light on the mystery." (Pays him and reads) : ''Dangerous Spy Captured. Karl Koeppen, who for two years masqueraded as a colored army chaplain, brought to justice by Captain H. L. Gordon. Koeppen was one of the miost astute and resourceful spies in the German system. Ten thousand dollars had been offered for his capture, dead or alive. Captain Gordon stubbornly refused the re- ward, but military officers invested the amount in Liberty bonds to be presented at his wedding, which takes place this noon. They also promoted him; to the rank of major and he leaves tomorrow for overseas duty." MARIE : "Well, excuse m.e, chocolate, for I'm go- ing to get my hair pressed for the occasion." JANE: "And I guess I'll trim my corns and take a facial massage." Curtain. A military wedding scene may or may not follow. Should the wedding be desired have some- one sing Burleigh's "Just You" before the bridal party enters. Afterwards let the curtain fall on a ringing war song by the company. END.