Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Roles

• Mr. Deeds - Young Adult (20-35), Adult (36-50), Male

About this piece

Am I crazy because I play the tuba?

Summary

When Martin W. Semple, a wealthy civic leader, dies in a car accident, everybody awaits to know who will be named the heir to his fortune. The closest relative turns out to be Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), a young man from a small town who likes to write poetry and play the tuba in his town's band. As he moves to the big city to get his inheritance, he becomes the target of a lot of people interested in his money. They also think he is simple minded and that they can make fun of him, but it turns out he is not easily outwitted or manipulated. Eventually he falls in love with a girl, Babe Bennet, a reporter that pretends to be a girl in need of help just to get close to him and write articles about him. After he finds out Babe Bennet is not who he thought she was and after almost getting shot by a desperate homeless man, he decides to leave town and give his fortune away to people in need. In order to stop him, his lawyers accuse him of being crazy and bring him to court. After having many people testify about his odd behaviour, Mr. Deeds is given the opportunity to defend himself. In this speech Longfellow Deeds argues that, even if his behavior may seem a little odd sometimes, like the fact that he plays the tuba very often, that doesn't make hiim crazy. We all, after all, do something peculiar from time to time...

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