The Man With All The Ideas

Is it possible for someone with many strange inventions to get a real claim to fame?

The Man With All The Ideas

[The curtain opens. The story is set in 1958 Los Angeles. The scene starts with a business man pacing is office nervously. The door opens and a woman enters.]

Miss Brighton: Mr. Richards, are you alright?

Mr. Richards: No! No, I am not alright. The Hollie Brother’s are coming here tomorrow afternoon to see my inventions.

Miss Brighton: So? What’s wrong with that?

Mr. Richards: It’s the Hollie Brothers! They are the biggest invention team in the city of Los Angeles. Would they really be interested in buying any of my inventions?

Miss Brighton: Well, maybe. Would people want an egg scrambling hairdryer? Or a nutcracker transistor radio? Or how about one of those lawnmowers with a built in alarm clock?

[Mr. Richards sits down behind his desk and puts his head in his hands]

Mr. Richards: Oh, this is hopeless.

Miss Brighton: Oh, it’s going to be fine. There has to be something you can do.

Mr. Richards: Like what? A miracle? I’m sorry, but you can’t help the helpless.

Miss Brighton: Don’t say that. Besides, I think I may have an idea.

Mr. Richards: Really? You mean to tell me there is a plan that could work for my crazy ideas?

Miss Brighton: Possibly. But I will need your help with.

Mr. Richards: Well, what are you waiting for? Tell me your plan!

Miss Brighton: Well, I think we both know that your inventions are… well, how should I put this…. Strange. Even though they are very strange items, we can make it look like they are oh so necessary; the Hollie Brother’s won’t be able to keep their hands off of them. And don’t forget, money is no object to them. They spend it as freely as they want. And not to mention, they are very famous. The more stuff they get, the more popular they get. Once other people see that they have you inventions, they will be selling like hot cakes!

Mr. Richards: Hm… I like where this idea is going. But what can we do to make it successful?

Miss Brighton: Well, all we have to do is make the inventions look magnificent and completely necessary.

Mr. Richards: That’s great! Why didn’t I think of that?

Miss Brighton: I’m not sure. After all, you are the man with all the ideas.

Mr. Richards: “The man with all the ideas”…… I think have an idea to add to this idea.

Miss Brighton: Now you have the creativity juices flowing! What’s your idea?

[Mr. Richards stands up from his chair and looks out the window behind him]

Mr. Richards: We need to make them think we have the best ideas and the only ideas. And if they aren’t interested in what we have, who cares? I sure there will be another business team that would love my inventions.

Miss Brighton: Umm…. That’s just the opposite. We need then to buy the inventions! How is this going to improve anything?

Mr. Richards: We are going to go all out tomorrow. We are going to make my office look like one of the best in all Los Angeles. We are going to dress completely professional and fancily. They we will be sure they will take us seriously.

Miss Brighton: That is terrific! I’ll get some flowers, clean up all the desks. I’ll wear my fancy blue satin dress and you can wear your suit.

Mr. Richards: Perfect. We should both show up an hour early so we can get everything prepared. And we also have to get the inventions ready so they can be shown off.

Miss Brighton: This idea is fool proof! I can’t believe our ideas will finally be known to others without looking completely outlandish.

Mr. Richards: My point exactly. And think of how rich we will be! We will never have to worry about being behind on the rent. Eventually people would have to owe us rent money!

Miss Brighton: This is so exciting. We will be the ones in charged now. We will have power in business.

[Mr. Richards swiftly walks from the window to the door and grabs his coat off the hangar.]

Mr. Richards: I think we should just give ourselves the rest of the day off to start preparing for the great events that will take place tomorrow.

Miss Brighton: I completely agree. We need to be fully prepared for tomorrow. What time does their flight from New York City come in?

Mr. Richards: Their flight comes in at 11:00 and they will be in our office at 12:30.

Miss Brighton: Alright. Then I will see you here tomorrow bright and early.

[Miss Brighton puts on her coat and leaves the office. End of Act One.]

 

[The scene opens with Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman playing in back ground while Miss Brighton straightens up the office. Everything looks modern and much different that it had looked yesterday. Mr. Richards walks in.]

Mr. Richards: This place looks great!

Miss Brighton: Thank you. Oh gosh, they are going to be here any minute.

Mr. Richards: Yes they are. Quick, get the inventions ready.

[Miss Brighton takes out the inventions and puts them on the desk. The door opens and two men and a woman walk through the door.]

Mr. Richards: Welcome, gentlemen.

Jonathan Hollie: Hello. Are you Henry Richards?

Mr. Richards: Yes I am. And this is my assistant Miss Julia Brighton.

Jonathan Hollie: Nice to meet you both. I am Jonathan Hollie. This is my brother Michael Hollie. And this is our assistant Miss Carol Stuart.

Miss Brighton: Nice to meet you all.

[The group exchanges handshakes]

Carol Stuart: Shall we see these fabulous inventions of yours?

Mr. Richards: Yes, let’s do that. Follow me to the back section of my office please.

[The group goes into the back office. The Hollie Brothers and their assistant gaze around the room and are enjoying their surroundings.]

Miss Brighton: First, we would like to show you our egg scrambling hair dryer. Make yourself breakfast while doing your hair every morning.

Both Brothers: Ooooooh! How creative!

Carol Stuart:  How useful! I wish I had one of those.

Mr. Richards: Next, we have the alarm clock lawnmower.

Jonathan Hollie: I like this. I could definitely use this all the time!

Michael Hollie: Don’t you wish you could have had one of these earlier?

Miss Brighton: And finally, we have the nutcracker transistor radio.

The Whole Group: This is great! So useful!

Jonathan Hollie: Who wouldn’t want one of these?

[Turns on the radio. Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley starts to play. He takes a random walnut out of his pocket and cracks it.]

Carol Stuart: It’s perfect!

Michael Hollie: I love all of these inventions! I want them all. Tonight I will call headquarters in New York. You have the job as one of you new product designers.

Richards and Brighton: Thank you so much!

[The three leave the office with Miss Brighton and Mr. Richards alone. They shake hands.]

Miss Brighton: You really are the man with all the ideas.

 

The End

Author's Note

This is a play that submitted to a writing contest. I never got any feedback from the contest unfortunately. Now everyone gets to read it! And yes, grammar is not perfect. My apologies.

Reviews

[Jezabel's Theory]

I like this- its fun! I think you added some interesting details, but it could use two things: 1. editing. There were some missing words and mixed tenses that stunted the flow of treading. 2. really emphasize that she is actually the one with all the ideas... play that up. add into the conversation that perhaps she came up with the ideas for all the inventions and that she just made him think that he did. plus- when the brother's appear you could mimic the woman having all the ideas by having the assistant Carol Stuart also be the one with all the ideas- the brothers don't know what they like and she has a way of convincing them. it would be a great way to mirror the storyline...

[Dezaraye]

This would be fun to see acted out, I think. That would give you the most accurate feel for it in my opinion.

[Zachary_James]

Goood

[Laura]

This was a very fun read. The characters are very lively, and I think that this would be really great to actually watch. The story line is interesting too. Wonderful job on this piece. : )

[jenn.]

Very amazing imagery :) I loved how it was easy to tell who was speaky, and what they ment. I got great pictures out of this, great detail. Keep writing:)

[TadKent]

Ha, as an actor, I love this. Mr. Richards is quite a character, and this is quite a funny idea. As an actor, I would not mind playing any of these parts, you sold your characters well.

[Sunflower/Sara Kendrick]

I think that you had a very interesting approach to the play that you have written..Keep that creative side stimulated to full speed and entertain us here on WritersCafe..Sunflower/Sara

[Jong Schrijver]

Great play. I enjoyed reading it and it has a good storyline. It could definately be expanded some but overall it was still a nice piece.