These terms are in order of appearance in the play. Click on the image to enlarge.
A PLASTER-OF-PARIS SKULL is made of gypsum (that's the plaster-of-Paris). The one referenced in the stage directions might have looked like this -- clearly for use as an ashtray, although Penny uses it for candies.
A SKYROCKET is a type of firework that uses a rocket to project it into the sky.
CALLING CARDS are similar to business cards, except they are strictly for social use. They can be very plain or very elaborate, and typically include simply the individual's name and contact information. In the nineteenth century and early twentieth century they were extremely common and a key element of upper-class social life.
CHELTENHAM is a font.
"RELIEF" in this world is government relief. During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt created agencies that would help provide relief to the suffering, unemployed Americans. It's similar to unemployment benefits today. That's why Donald says he can't accept money for work; just like people can't work and also claim unemployment, people could not be on relief and receive other income.
(Image: People on Relief Wait in Line in San Antonio, TX.)
(Image: People on Relief Wait in Line in San Antonio, TX.)
A COMMENCEMENT EXERCISE is simply a ceremony for the graduating class of a university.
(Image: 1936 Commencement at Iowa State Univeristy.)
(Image: 1936 Commencement at Iowa State Univeristy.)
LEON TROTSKY was a key figure of the Russian Revolution. He was one of Vladimir Lenin's right-hand men, but in the power struggles of the 1920s lost his power to Joseph Stalin. Trotsky was a war hero and a leader of Communist opposition groups that challenged the bureaucracy of the infant Soviet Union (without success) throughout the 1920s. He wrote several defenses of Communism and though he was ejected from the Party in the late 1920s, he continued to write politically charged essays, including a History of the Russian Revolution.
COSSACKS are Slavic people who lived separately in democratic communities before the Russian Revolution, and they were some of the first to declare civil war against the Bolsheviks. They fought on the side of the White Army, and when defeated suffered discrimination and "decossackization" at the hands of the Bolshevik's Red Army and government.
(Image: Ilya Repin, artist.)
(Image: Ilya Repin, artist.)
FATHER DIVINE was the founder and leader of the International Peace Mission movement until his death in 1965. He claimed to be God and preached as such. The International Peace Mission is an offshoot of Christianity, considered to be a cult by many. He moved to New York City in the 1930s, when the International Peace Mission gained steam. His following was largely African-American, and though the organization was apolitical in its early years, it purported communal socialism and became affiliated with the Communist Party USA. The group began to take positions on Roosevelt's policies after a riot in Harlem in 1935.
"GOD IS THE STATE, THE STATE IS GOD" may be a misquote. It's attributed in the play to Trotsky, but there is not reference to Trotsky ever using that phrase. A nineteenth century socialist and anarchist, Mikail Bakunin wrote "God and the State," which was an extremely influential work expressing the need for atheism. It's possible that this phrase "God and the state" is what is being referenced in the play. As an atheist himself and a firm believer in the power of a Marxist state, Trotsky may not have disagreed with the idea that God is the state and the state is God, but it isn't safe to attribute the quote to him.
KAY FRANCIS was a fashionable American film actress who, in the 1930s, was the highest paid actress in the industry.
The MONTE CARLO BALLET (Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo) was formed in 1932 in Monte Carlo, France. The image is an advertisement from the mid-1940s. It was founded after the collapse of the company Ballets Russes.
Tony says his father testified before the SECURITIES COMMISSION, which was the Securities and Exchange Commission, established in 1934 to regulate how stocks and bonds were traded. The SEC monitored corporations and their commerce methods. It is still in operation today.
The Soviet Union's SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN followed (unsurprisingly), their First Five-Year Plan, which was completed a year early in 1932. The Second Five-Year Plan focused on revving up Soviet industry. In many ways, it was successful. However, it also had deeply rooted problems with its agricultural goals. I can tell you about this in more detail if you are intereted.
(Image: N.V. Tsivchinskii, "The Victory of the Five Year Plan is a Strike Against Capitalism",)
(Image: N.V. Tsivchinskii, "The Victory of the Five Year Plan is a Strike Against Capitalism",)
Anna PAVOLVA was a Russian ballerina who performed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She created the role of The Dying Swan and, interestingly, was highly involved in the French company Ballets Russes.
BAKST and DIAGHILEFF were members of the Ballets Russes. Apparently, Mr. Kolenkhov approves of the Ballets Russes, but not its successor, Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.
An ICE BOX is exactly what it sounds like. Before refrigerators were commonplace, ice boxes kept food cold. Insulated boxes kept block of ice cold in order to preserve perishables.
THE GOOD EARTH is a 1932 Pulizer Prize winning novel about a family in China
FRED ASTAIRE and GINGER ROGERS were a famous dancing duo that starred in a number of motion pictures, the first of which was in 1933.
SPIRITUALISM, essentially, was the belief that one could communicate with the dead. It was highly popular through the 1920s. It was particularly fashionable to partake in seances with a spiritualist medium, but spiritualism was essentially compatible with other mainstream religions.
PEG O' MY HEART is a comedic play written in 1912 that was adapted into a popular film in 1933.
(Image: Still from the 1933 film.)
(Image: Still from the 1933 film.)
MRS. ROOSEVELT refers to the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who was President F. D. Roosevelt's wife and the current First Lady at the time the play takes place.
The HMS QUEEN MARY is a British ocean liner that first set sail in 1936, the same year You Can't Take It With You was written. The ship was part of a weekly express service to New York City, and it was the fastest ship on the ocean in 1936.
CHILDS RESTAURANT was one of America's first chain restaurants. The first was built in Columbus Circle, NYC. The picture to the left is from a 1908 Philadelphia Childs.
THE W.P.A. was the Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration, a part of the New Deal which provided almost 8 million jobs over the course of 8 years. These jobs included construction and service projects, but also employed artists (the short-lived Federal Theatre Project came of this agency), which is why Donald references the W.P.A. when he sees Penny with her artist's tools.
The SCHEHERAZADE Mr. Kolenkhov mentions was performed in 1910 by his beloved Ballets Russes. The image to the left is a costume drawing by Leon Bakst, who Kolenhov mentions by name in the play.
EDWIN C. HILL was a newsman who worked as a journalist and commentator on radio and then television. He also did documentary work. He had a particular focus on human interest stories.
The UNION CLUB, HARVARD CLUB, and RACQUET CLUB were all gentlemen's clubs operating in the 1930s. To belong, you paid membership, and the clubs remained exclusive. Mr. Kirby's membership to the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY most likely has to do with his interest in orchids, as it was not a gentlemen's club of any kind, but a not-for-profit. While Mr. Kirby isn't listed in the paper as being an ELK, Rheba refs to a membership-required society dedicated to "Charity, Justice and Brotherly Love".
(Image: Outside of current Harvard Club building.)
(Image: Outside of current Harvard Club building.)