The Cream of the Jest story
Alcoholic has-been actor Charles Gresham tries to blackmail producer Wayne Campbell into casting him in a new play. Campbell gives Gresham the script for a role as a gangster, and advises him to perform it for one of the play's financial backers, Nick Roper. Gresham goes to Roper and performs the monologue, but it turns out to contain details of one of Roper's real crimes, and Roper shoots Gresham. As two of Roper's henchmen take away Gresham's body, Roper learns that Gresham learned about the crime from Wayne Campbell, and it is implied that Roper later killed Campbell. Directed by: Herschel Daugherty. Story by: Fredric Brown, Sarett Rudley.
8 total · 3 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| acting | major | Charles spoke of his passion for acting and how he was no one but the characters he has played. |
| alcohol abuse | major | Charles was an alcoholic has-been actor. |
| blackmail | major | Charles tried to blackmail Wayne into either hiring him, or paying him an annuity. later Charles practiced for playing the role of a blackmailer on stage. |
| becoming a harder person | minor | Charles was a meek blackmailer but had to toughen up in order to play a hardened blackmailer on stage. |
| criminal fraud | minor | It came to light that Wayne Campbell had embezzled $5000 from the bank where he'd worked as a teller in his younger days. |
| cultural history | minor | Charles mentioned Macbeth and recited a few lines. |
| murder | minor | Nick shot Charles dead because he thought he was being blackmailed. |
| organized crime | minor | Nick Roper was described as a regular gangster. |