Many models contain unknown parameters. Mrs. Stevenson finally hangs up and then calls the local police station. Fletcher is best known for the thrillers she would go on to write for radio. Writer. In other versions, a single actor might deliver a popular monologue from a play in which he or she was staring at the time. It is as if her fears have been quelled by an inner anger. The hospital receptionist cannot send out a nurse without a doctor's orders. This was a relatively new idea for women in the United States, one that sparked big changes for women in the business world in the coming decades. Before presenting this information to your class, ask them to guess the most frequently occurring fear that people stated in your research. It is only in her next comment that Mrs. Stevenson tells the operator about the planned murder. However, when her play was performed, the playwright realized that the drama had even more potential. Mrs. Stevenson's response to this news of a murder plot is: "Oh…! When Mrs. Stevenson more fully explains her situation, the receptionist attempts to help her, telling Mrs. Stevenson that there is one possibility. sorry, wrong number drama by lucille fletcher 21. lines 821–837: how are audiences probably reacting at this point in the play? Style The author also employs a time frame for when this murder is to take place. Duffy's eyes, Mrs. Stevenson's story lacks concrete details, therefore, there is nothing he can do to help. From the war age to the atomic age, great changes were taking place. Fletcher's Sorry, Wrong Number begins with directions for the one and only act and scene of the play. The movie plays in real time, with many flashbacks to flesh out the story. When the chief operator comes to the phone, Mrs. Stevenson repeats her story of how she has overheard a murder plot, but she can provide no names nor can she tell the operator the number where these men can be called. This is a strange reaction. She is supposedly out eating dinner. Many Jewish scientists, escaping from Nazi Germany, immigrated to the United States and helped to boost U.S. efforts to develop the most powerful of weapons, the atomic bomb. In this essay, she explores the emotional progression that Fletcher's protagonist and the audience undergo throughout Sorry, Wrong Number. Wrong number." What was life for ordinary U.S. citizens in the 1940s and 1950s? Sally became so concerned that she followed her husband and two associates to a mysterious meeting in a seemingly abandoned house on Staten Island. As she makes a number of phone calls trying to locate Henry, Leona inadvertently begins to piece together the mystery in flashbacks. However, there is a rising suspicion in the audience that he would. She requests that the operator try the number, hoping the operator will be able to get through. She cannot stand it another minute, though, and calls the operator. Mr. Stevenson explains in the telegram that he is sorry, but he is not coming home that night. Most literature, whether novel, short story, or play, includes some element of suspense. Last Updated on February 19, 2020, by eNotes Editorial. Both the United Nations and the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) were established in the 1940s, with the hope that through these organizations the world would be able to maintain peace. Then immediately afterward, she dials the operator and communicates her slight concern and frustration at not being able to reach her husband. The details fit. The audience is pulled deeply into her plight. She later attended Vassar College and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1933. She yells at the woman on the phone and tells her about the murder plan she has overheard. 13 pages at 300 words per page) Waldo gives Leona a number to call to locate Henry, but when she calls she discovers that it is for the city morgue. In complete terror by the end of the play, Mrs. Stevenson makes one last call to an operator. While on the telephone, an invalid woman overhears what she thinks is a murder plot and attempts to prevent it. Then share the information you have gathered. When the intruder enters her bedroom, she begs for her life, then screams. Mrs. Stevenson cannot believe her husband would leave her alone. 12 Jan. 2021 . Duffy. The murderer replaces the receiver, and Duffy hangs up with a shrug. Duffy says that since her husband is so devoted, Mrs. Stevenson has nothing to worry about, and she should just relax and let the police handle the situation. The emotional mood in both Mrs. Stevenson and the audience is heightened. Because of the selfish and arrogant tones of Mrs. Stevenson's conversations, she is not a very likeable character. He promises to take care of things. This time it is a Western Union operator with a telegram for her. ." Introduction. First, Mrs. Stevenson tells the operator she has been nervous all day. The operator calls the police, but it is too late. For almost the entire play, Mrs. Stevenson … "Obituaries; Lucille Fletcher; Wrote ‘Sorry,Wrong Number,’" in the Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2000, p. 4. Why did Mrs. Stevenson have to die? As the hour of the proposed murder draws near, the suspense increases. ." The campaign was successful as over six million women signed up for and maintained jobs such as in the manufacturing of weapons and military equipment. Miss Phillips never makes an appearance in the play. She whispers on the phone because she suspects someone is downstairs and she does not want that person to hear her. Footsteps, the closing of a door, the ringing of a telephone, the roar of a subway train, and, naturally, the sound of different voices are the ingredients necessary to make the radio play come alive. Then ask members of your family, people in your neighborhood, and your friends to do the same. If you dial the wrong number it can be confusing and embarrassing. ." Take a survey of students at your school. The author suggests that Mrs. Stevenson is desperate. This time the call goes through. Blog. In the preface to the published version, Fletcher writes, "This play was originally designed as an experiment in sound and not just as a murder story." It was during the 1940s, because of World War II, that the major powers of the world rushed to create more potent weapons. This is where the main character, Mrs. Stevenson, will remain throughout the play. It created a national sensation, and was rebroadcast an additional seven times before the final broadcast in 1960, each time starring Agnes Moorehead. He is uninterested for most of the call, eating his pastry and talking to the delivery boy, and does not appear to take Mrs. Stevenson seriously. But she only has vague hints about the location. The solution to the pro…, Emma During this sequence of conversations, the tension that was building in the audience has been dissipated. She cannot believe that her husband's phone line could be busy for almost an hour. She later adapted the radio play into a screenplay, which was produced in 1948. While the audience once thought Mrs. Stevenson was attempting to save another woman's life, and so were invested in her cause, she now seems to be a fool. It has been busy for over an hour. Themes Alexander, however, diagnosed Leona's problems as purely psychosomatic; nothing is wrong with her physically. She is a sickly woman who tends to blame those around her for her frustrations. Hart is an author and freelance writer. The first man then gives George instructions about what he needs to do. Career: Insurance clerk; 1928—first play, Journey's End, an overnig…, Beeton, Mrs (1836–65). Mrs. Elbert Smythe Stevenson is the only character in Lucille Fletcher’s 1943 … In the final moments, when the intruder is heard inside Mrs. Stevenson's home and she finally realizes that she is the victim, the suspense reaches a climax. Without a name, a face, or a shared history, the woman who is the focus of this murder remains an abstraction. She also demands that a nurse come to her home, not because she is sick but because she is nervous. Someone, she insists, must do something about this. Her screams are easily muffled and her only connection to the outside world is through the telephone, which can easily be disconnected. The first man gives George directions on how the murder will be acted out, giving him the best time to act and telling George how to kill his victim. In the preface to the published version, Fletcher writes, "This play was originally designed as an experiment in sound and not just as a murder story." The protagonist is weak. However, it is Duffy who first plants the idea in Mrs. Stevenson's head that the murder plot she overheard might be focused on her. It affects both Mrs. Stevenson and the audience. Also, the phone operators cannot trace the phone call without the policeman's authority. Kaledin, Eugenia, Daily Life in the United States, 1940-1959: Shifting Worlds, Greenwood Press, 2000. She was living in Pennsylvania when she died of a stroke on August 31, 2000. She does not consider her own mortality; someone else must be the intended victim. Exactly fifteen minutes later, a subway train crosses a bridge nearby, which the first man states will cover any noises the woman might make should she scream. The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser, The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sorry,_Wrong_Number&oldid=1003564033, United States National Recording Registry recordings, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2019, Articles lacking reliable references from November 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, A radio adaptation of the film was broadcast January 9, 1950, on, A second live teleplay was broadcast on November 4, 1954, as the fourth episode of the, Another television version aired in 1989, starring, This page was last edited on 29 January 2021, at 16:10. Not unlike Mrs. Stevenson in Fletcher's play, most middle- and upper-class women in the United States before the 1940s stayed home and took care of the house and children while their husbands went to work. Mrs. Stevenson tells the receptionist that she fears that someone is in her kitchen. Plot Summary She was in the hospital for an operation. Historical Context She knows that two men are involved and what time the murder is planned. With the return of soldiers at the end of this decade, families were reunited and babies born, giving rise to what later became known as the baby boom. 7 benefits of working from home; Jan. 26, 2021. The major source of home entertainment comes from video and computer games, television, and movies on DVD. She is completely at the mercy of the man coming up the stairs. "Obituary: Lucille Fletcher," in the Economist (London), September 16, 2000, Vol. All she knows about the address of the proposed murder is that it is close to Second Avenue. He reluctantly discloses that Henry recruited him to steal chemicals from the Cotterell drug company to sell to Morano. It tells the story of a woman who overhears a murder plot. The Teacher-Author indicated this resource includes assets from Google Workspace (e.g. sorry_wrong_number_study_guide_with_answers.docx - \u201cSorry Wrong Number\u201d Study Guide with Answers 1 Describe the main conflict of the story The main Sorry, Wrong Number is a 1948 American thriller film noir directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster. In mystery fiction, Dorothy L. Sayers believed that the writer must play fair with the reader. Is this a possibility? Then there is a shot of Mrs. Stevenson's lifeless hand hanging over the side of the bed. She whispers into the receiver. Although the tension is heightened, it is still at a relatively low level. Through the telegram, Mrs. Stevenson learns that her husband will not be coming home that night. Surely there must be something wrong with the phone. But with the scant information that Mrs. Stevenson has provided, there is nothing else that Duffy can do. The play begins with Mrs. Stevenson mildly annoyed at a constant busy signal as she attempts to place a phone call, and ends with her in a state of complete panic. The final broadcast was on February 14, 1960. SHERRIFF, R. C. Mrs. Stevenson is desperate. Her first response is one of disbelief. Her most notable play is Sorry, Wrong Number, which first aired in 1943. Seeing that it is only minutes from 11:15, he pleads with her to go to the balcony and scream for help, but she protests that she cannot, though she can hear somebody downstairs. This growth continued and reached its peak in the 1940s, which is often called the Golden Age of Radio. He has taken care of her and never left her alone until this one night. ", Several obituaries written when the playwright died in 2000 mention the popularity of Sorry, Wrong Number. Engage students in your virtual … They know her and all her faults. Included in this book is a history of radio from the early broadcasts of 1914 through the influence of Orson Welles, specifically Welles's famous radio drama War of the Worlds of 1938. Instead, this operator incorrectly dials the wrong number or else somehow the telephone lines are crossed, and Mrs. Stevenson overhears a conversation between two men who are plotting a murder. They could dismiss Mrs. Stevenson's nervousness as a product of the woman's neurotic imagination. This play catches them off-guard. If she were concerned about the unknown woman, the logical first response would be that someone's life is threatened, not that she was inconvenienced by being cut off from a phone conversation. In 1943 Sorry, Wrong Number first aired on the Suspense radio program. Alexander reveals that he gave Henry her prognosis ten days before, something that Henry kept from her. Drama for Students. The first man tells George that their client has told him that "the coast is clear for tonight." Japanese Americans were forced from their homes and interred in war relocation camps because they were considered a threat. The author connects the playwrights' works to their lives and the time in which they lived. It is from her husband. There is still a slight doubt that the victim is Mrs. Stevenson, but this doubt is removed when Mrs. Stevenson hears someone downstairs. Mrs. Stevenson is caught off guard. This is when comedies grew in popularity, as with comedians like Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, who made people laugh throughout the entire decade with their routines. He delivers the last line in the play when he picks up Mrs. Stevenson's phone after he has killed her and tells Sgt.Duffy, "Sorry. Watson, Wilbur, "Death by Wire," in the New York Times, March 21, 1948, p. BR25. The subway train signals the time has come for the meeting of the murderer and his victim. Although Mrs. Stevenson was confined to bed, thus disallowing her the freedom to leave the house, had she not been infirm, chances are that in the very early 1940s she would not have held a job. How do you find a murderer without practical clues? He writes Mrs. Stevenson off completely. Write and deliver your closing remarks to your class. time is passing, the murder is about to be committed, and mrs. stevenson still can’t get anyone to help her. Instead Mrs. Stevenson is rude and impatient. The history of radio plays begins in the 1920s. Dramas are rarely presented on radio. Encyclopedia.com. Neither Mrs. Stevenson nor the audience knows the men who are plotting this crime and they do not have much concrete knowledge of who the victim is. She just wants a professional to come to her house. The people and the country were still struggling to get out of the Great Depression as the decade began and then fell right into World War II. The tension increases shortly afterward when Mrs. Stevenson overhears the conversation about the murder plot. Q. Mrs. Stevenson replies by calling the operator "stupid." She continues by telling Duffy that her husband has hardly ever left her alone since she "took sick twelve years ago." Deb Miller (PhD, Art History) is the Senior Correspondent and Editor for New York City, where she grew up seeing every show on Broadway. Crook, Tim, Radio Drama, Routledge, 1999. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Kaledin provides a deep exploration into two very important decades. Later Fletcher adapted the radio play to a film script. Instead, everyone brushes her off in one way or the other, including Mrs. Stevenson's husband. The receptionist at the hospital that Mrs. Stevenson telephones explains to Mrs. Stevenson that she is under orders not to send out any nurses to private homes unless that request has been made by a doctor. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. When the operator is successful, Mrs. Stevenson does not recognize the man who answers. According to Lawrence Van Gelder, writing Fletcher's obituary for the New York Times, the playwright "transfixed a national audience with her radio drama." Fletcher was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 28, 1912. Today: Thriller movies frequently include not only psychological tensions typical of suspense drama but also very realistic and brutal depictions of violence. She cannot make the telephone operators, the police officer, or the hospital receptionist understand just how helpless she is.