Bob: Why should women have suffrage?
(Three ladies descend on Bob)
Jane: Why? Why should we have suffrage?
Sally: You ignorant nitwit! Everybody needs suffrage.
Sue: You stupid men! Just because you can, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to! Everybody should be equal!
Bob: Wait, wait a...
Sally: Remember the Chartist’s Movement? Did anyone mention women? No! Just men.
Jane: And even when Queen Victoria came to power, women still didn’t get to vote. What a bunch of sewage.
Bob: I understand, ladies, I just...
Sue: Poor Sally, her poor mother. They grew up in France, you know, and they never got to vote.
Sally: Yes, poor me. Do you know what? You show-off men couldn’t vote either, not until the Third Republic came along. And even then it was a sorry affair. Trust it to be put together by men. Anything created by them usually falls apart.
Bob: Really, friends, don’t you....
Jane: That poor man, in that Dreyfus Affair? What about that? Of course -- done and bumbled by men.
(Sally and Sue start talking to each other, Jane is listening intently. Bob is being ignored)
Sally: By the way, Sue, are you familiar with Anti-Semitism?
Sue: Oh, yes. Wasn’t that the prejudice against Jews?
Sally: Yes, it was.
(Bob becomes frustrated, and finally shouts to get their attention.)
Bob: EXCUSE ME!!!
(The three ladies notice Bob again, and turn their attention to him.)
Sue: Yes, oh Dimwitted One?
Bob: I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation, and in going with your spirit of talking about political things, did you know that I am a Jew?
Jane: No, I did not.
Bob: Did you also know that my grandparents were two of the first advocates of Zionism?
Sally: Interesting.
Bob: Yes! And by the way, if you three were waiting for the train...
(points hand as if gesturing to train going by)
There it goes!
If you would like to read a spoof of this skit (Written by M-- S-- and myself) go here. I don't know how funny you'll find it, but it was humorous to us at the time because of the people playing the parts.
Back to History Essays.