Week-end Genius (Details)
citation: Collier's, May 20, 1950, 125(20):28-29, 56-58
alias: None
teaser: The return of Timberlake Ryan, the many-sided madman, and Eve, his long-suffering wife — who will put up with anything for a laugh
summary: Timberlake Ryan surprises — and annoys — his wife Eve by pretending to be a gangster as she exits from the movies. Later, in a local drugstore, he further exasperates and embarrasses her by taking a bite out of a piece of candy.
Tim explains his mania as exuberance born of having been confined,
working in an office all week, selling his life a little at
a time for rent and groceries.
He wants a way to live without working;
to put away a few hundred thousand dollars, then live off the interest. Tim
thinks of inventing a kind of panoramic camera to make internally illuminated,
three-dimensional portraits. He considers looking for rare stamps. He then
imagines uninventing;
a way of returning to the good old days. Tim finally settles on using direct
mail to solicit a small donation from less than one percent of the US population.
Using Eve as a sounding board, Tim drafts a letter to send to ten million people, requesting a dollar from each, for which they will each receive absolutely nothing. Tim is not dissuaded by Eve's skepticism. In fact, he solicits her help in typing the letter.
That done, Tim and Eve play rummy, Tim using his inventing skills to find a way of holding his cards with a book. At the end of the evening, Tim's enthusiasm for mass mailing wans in favor of three-dimensional portraits. Eve encourages him to follow-up on his renewable linoleum idea. They both conclude the best idea of all is to go to bed.
words: 5,191
genre: Timberlake Ryan, Slice-of-Life
similar: Manhattan Idyl, I'm Mad at You, Breakfast in Bed, Long-Distance Call, The Little Courtesies, My Cigarette Loves Your Cigarette, One-Man Show, Sounds in the Night, Man of the Cocktail Hour, Tattletale Tape; You Haven't Changed a Bit, Sneak Preview, I Like It This Way, Husband at Home, Legal and Tender, Rainy Sunday, Expression of Love, Vive la Différence, Bedtime Story, Take One Rainy Night, Old Enough for Love, The Sunny Side of the Street, No Time for the Billiard Ballet
people: Timberlake Ryan, Eve Ryan
places: Unspecified
comments: Forthcoming