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PRODUCTION HISTORY

"Blue Blood" was first staged in New York City in 1926.

CHARACTERS

These characters are all Negroes.

May Bush

Mrs. Bush

Mrs. Temple

Randolph Strong

SETTING

The play is set in Georgia shortly after the Civil War.

PLAY STRUCTURE

One-act play.

EXCERPT FROM THE PLAY

This dialogue comes in the beginning of the play when the mother of the groom learns of the bride's paternity. Note: Captain McCallister is a white man.

MRS. TEMPLE: (breaking and stirring eggs for the dressing) You'll have to admit that the girls will envy May for marrying my boy John.

MRS. BUSH: (stopping her work suddenly, and with arms akimbo) Envy MAY!!! Envy MAY!!! They'd better envy JOHN!!! You don't know who May is; she's got blue blood in her veins.

MRS. TEMPLE: (laughing sarcastically) You amuse me. I'll admit May's sweet and pretty, but she is no match for John.

MRS. BUSH: (irately) She's not, eh? If I told you something about my May - who she is - you'd be struck dumb.

MRS. TEMPLE: (nervously stirring the mayonnaise, replies in a falsetto or raised tone, denoting sarcasm) Remarkable... but I am curious!

MRS. BUSH: (proudly) I bet you is - you'd fall flat is I told you who she is.

MRS. TEMPLE: (suspending the operation of the mayonnaise and curiously assuming a soft, confidential tone) Pray, Mrs. Bush, tell me then. Who is May?

MRS. BUSH: Who is May? Huh! (proudly tossing her head) Who is May? (lowering her voice, confidentially) Why... do you know Cap'n WINFIELD MCCALLISTER, the biggest banker in this town, and who's got money 'vested in banks all over Georgia? That 'ristocrat uv 'ristocrats... that Peachtree Street blue blood - CAP'N MCCALLISTER - don't you know him?

MRS. TEMPLE: (starts at the mention of the name but recovers herself in a moment) Y - e - s, I've heard of him.

MRS. BUSH: (like a shot out of a gun) Well, I'd have you know - he's May's daddy!

PUBLICATION HISTORY

New York: Appleton, 1927.

Also in :

Fifty More Contemporary One-Act Plays. Frank Shay (Ed.). New York: Appleton, 1928.

Black Female Playwrights: An Anthology of Plays Before 1950. Kathy A. Perkins (Ed.). Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1989.

Selected Works of Georgia Douglas Johnson. Georgia Douglas Johnson. NY: G.K. Hall, 1997.