Say Goodnight, Gracie

THE STORY: The place is a shabby apartment in New York's East Village, which Jerry an aspiring young actor, shares with Ginny, a secretary. They are joined by Jerry's high-school friends: Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer; and Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and who arrives with his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful but rather kinky airline stewardess. Their intention is to attend their high-school reunion, and as they while away the hours before it is time to leave, they talk and smoke pot, their conversation becoming funnier-and more revealing-as the smoke thickens. Jerry, bitter that his acting career is at a standstill, decides that he doesn't want to go to the reunion, but the others (whose disappointments are as keen as his) try to cheer him up and urge him on. In the end, however, they fail-for Jerry and themselves. These are children of the idealistic 60s, unable to come to terms with the uncertain '70s, and trying to evade, with their ever-funnier and more biting comments, the sobering truth that haunts them all-that there are, unfortunately, no clear and simple answers anymore.Pape, Ralph is the author of 'Say Goodnight, Gracie ', published 1979 under ISBN 9780822209935 and ISBN 0822209934.