Daphne in Cottage D
by Stephen Levi

THE STORY: As John Chapman describes, ”The basis of the comedy is simple.

The scene is a modest cottage in a New England seaside resort, where Miss Dennis is living alone, and lonesome.

She maneuvers an acquaintance with Daniels, another loner, in the hotel dining room and asks him up for a drink.

He does manage to get a drink or two but most of what he gets is talk—delightfully disjointed talk by the artful Miss Dennis.

Sex doesn't seem to be the objective of either party; when he kisses her at her invitation he kisses too enthusiastically, and, in a sudden fury, she rips his shirt front and orders him out.

But he comes back of course.

And she does make an occasional play for sympathy, stubbing her toe or hurting her ankle or banging her head on a ladder, and it's a lucky thing he is a doctor.

Once she went to an oculist and he said the only thing wrong with her is that she is psychologically unaware of where she is going…What is eating Miss Dennis, the well-off-widow of an Oscar-winning movie star?

Why isn't her seven-year-old son with her?

And why has Dr. Daniels, who seems to be a perfectly decent sort, been on the lam from his wife for so long?

The answer to these questions gives a final snap to DAPHNE IN COTTAGE D. I recommend it…”