Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, Playwright
"The Wonder Hat" Clips
1. This clip introduces the characters Harlequin and Pierrot, with Jaime Dear's whimsical illustration of the two men in their classic costumes. .
"We are both confirmed bachelors, Harlequin, we agree perfectly."
"On the contrary, we don't agree at all. Because you dislike Columbine, you are too confounded polite to others. You make cynical love to all sorts of women and nobody likes you for it. On the other hand, I adore her."
2. Punchinello, a wizard, is selling his magical goods to make money; we see him both walking down the path, and in a close-up at the end of the clip.
"New loves for old! I will buy broken ambitions, wasted lives, cork legs, rejected poems, unfinished plays, bottles, bootjacks, and worn out religions. Oyez! Oyez! New loves for old! New loves for old!"
3. Columbine has been wandering around the park in search of Harlequin, for which Margot chides her. Jaime Dear's illustration of the two women is superimposed on an undated production from Central High School in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
"Stop traipsing around in the damp of the night trying to scrape up an acquaintance with this- with this Harlequin."
4. Punchinello stumbles upon Columbine and Margot in the park. Columbine seeks out a charm for love in order to get Harlequin to love her. The illustrations reveal the whimsy in the play's conceit.
"You have a charm to attract love?"
"It will bring all men to you Columbine: little men, big men, pretty men, noblemen, fat men."
"But I want only one man-- only Harlequi-"
"-If you"
5. Punchinello presents the magic slipper to Columbine as a charm for love. Note the wonderful expression on Margot's face!
"They said Cinderella wore a crystal slipper. It's a lie. This- this is what she wore."
6. In this clip, Punchinello gives his sales pitch on the powers of the wonder hat: a charm against love as it will make the wearer invisible. Jaime Dear's illustration of Harlequin and Punchinello is superimposed over the same characters on undated production from Central High School in Aberdeen, South Dakata.
"But a magic hat! Ho, such a hat! A wonder hat! It will make you invisible."
7. Harlequin is unable to take off his hat, despite his efforts.
"My hat... A thousand devils, I can't get it off."
8. Margot asks the audience what Harlequin and Columbine should do in their situation.
"I want to put it up to the kind ladies and gentlemen who have been studying this performance, and I ask them openly, what should be done?"
9. Columbine and Harlequin express their love, leaving the play open-ended, and ending with a question about the ultimate value of theatrical work in an era turning ever more towards big-budget productions, and away from the Little Theater origins of plays like "The Wonder Hat."
"We're not working for money; we're working for love! Love! Love!"