USABLE PERFORMANCE FEMINISM FOR OUR TIME 345 in psychology,she and a girlfriend attended a production of Lady in the Dark,an event Friedan remembered in part for an incident that occurred in a psychology department encounter shortly after she saw the musical.Lady:in the Dark is about a successful magazine editor who undergoes Freudian analysis,resulting in her leaving her job to marry.Friedan and her friend cringed when they returned to their office and one of their professors-a liberal,a pacifist,and a citizen committed to anti-Nazism-re- marked,"O,here come the career women."16 By the time she wrote The Feminine Mystique,Friedan had a clear sense that both attending the theatre and writing plays with useful messages were salutary activities. So,too,was participating in theatre as an activity of one's own.The Feminine Mystique reflects these assumptions.For instance,Friedan cites the case of a housewife who had given up her job in response to her husband's displeasure over her "failure to 'play the feminine role';she was trying to compete with him;she wanted 'to wear the pants.'" The woman "absentmindedly achieved flamboyant local success as the director of a little-theater group,"but gave up her enjoyable work when her son was hit by a car while she was at a rehearsal.She took this to mean that she was at fault for the acci- dent.7 Friedan makes clear her own belief that the woman should have remained with her theatre project for the sake of personal wholeness.Friedan also blames the sort of unsatisfying sexual relations she highlights in Mystique for "the declining audience of Broadway theaters...and the American novel,"again positing theatre as a significant venue for emotionally and intellectually engaged adults.1 She uses plays(most notably A Doll House)as repositories of important messages for feminism and as indicators of what is unhealthy in the America of which she wrote.1 Nonetheless,her looking to Broadway for indicators of progressive thinking shows a belief in theatre-or at least a certain kind of "serious"theatre-as a locus of significant ideas. Casual students of American history may make their own connections between Friedan's 1963 Feminine Mystique and the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (although there is no direct indication that Friedan herself used the musical as inspiration or example for the book).In 1962,the same year Friedan completed the manuscript of Mystique and published an article excerpted from the book in Mademoiselle,How to Succeed garnered seven Tony Awards,including Best Musical, as well as a Pulitzer Prize for drama-only the fourth musical to win the latter.How to Succeed,which ran for 1,417 performances in its initial incarnation and was revived on Broadway in 1995,is a satire of corporate ladder-climbing,but for feminists,its signature poison kiss is the lyrically sappy song,"Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm," in which the ingenue-a secretary-rhapsodizes about her desire to marry,retreat to suburbia,and watch her adored hubby "go onward and upward."She fully expects to be ignored and awaits the day that she can announce she's pregnant.20 Friedan's 16 Horowitz,Betty Friedan,98.Horowitz reads Friedan's interest in the play in terms of the pro- tagonist's recovery of the key trauma of her life:the moment when her father contrasted his"ugly duckling"daughter with his beautiful wife(99). Betty Friedan,The Feminine Mystique(1973;repr,New York:Dell,1974),340-41. 1sbid,253. 1 Ibid.,75-76.Regrettably,her indictment of Tennessee Williams's "man-eating"women(with a focus on Suddenly Last Summer)in the context of the nervous-making "increasingly overt male homosexual- ity"falls wide of any mark of standing the test of time;see ibid.75-76,262-63. http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/howtosucceedinbusinesswithoutreallytrying/happytokeephisdinnerwarm.htm (accessed 14 March,2007).Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. This content downloaded from 183.195.251.166 on Sat,16 Jan 2016 12:04:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsUSABLE PERFORMANCE FEMINISM FOR OUR TIME / 345 in psychology, she and a girlfriend attended a production of Lady in the Dark, an event Friedan remembered in part for an incident that occurred in a psychology department encounter shortly after she saw the musical. Lady in the Dark is about a successful magazine editor who undergoes Freudian analysis, resulting in her leaving her job to marry. Friedan and her friend cringed when they returned to their office and one of their professors - a liberal, a pacifist, and a citizen committed to anti-Nazism - re￾marked, "O, here come the career women."16 By the time she wrote The Feminine Mystique, Friedan had a clear sense that both attending the theatre and writing plays with useful messages were salutary activities. So, too, was participating in theatre as an activity of one's own. The Feminine Mystique reflects these assumptions. For instance, Friedan cites the case of a housewife who had given up her job in response to her husband's displeasure over her "failure to 'play the feminine role'; she was trying to compete with him; she wanted 'to wear the pants.'" The woman "absentmindedly achieved flamboyant local success as the director of a little-theater group," but gave up her enjoyable work when her son was hit by a car while she was at a rehearsal. She took this to mean that she was at fault for the acci￾dent.17 Friedan makes clear her own belief that the woman should have remained with her theatre project for the sake of personal wholeness. Friedan also blames the sort of unsatisfying sexual relations she highlights in Mystique for "the declining audience of Broadway theaters . . . and the American novel," again positing theatre as a significant venue for emotionally and intellectually engaged adults.18 She uses plays (most notably A Doll House) as repositories of important messages for feminism and as indicators of what is unhealthy in the America of which she wrote.19 Nonetheless, her looking to Broadway for indicators of progressive thinking shows a belief in theatre - or at least a certain kind of "serious" theatre - as a locus of significant ideas. Casual students of American history may make their own connections between Friedan's 1963 Feminine Mystique and the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (although there is no direct indication that Friedan herself used the musical as inspiration or example for the book). In 1962, the same year Friedan completed the manuscript of Mystique and published an article excerpted from the book in Mademoiselle, How to Succeed garnered seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, as well as a Pulitzer Prize for drama - only the fourth musical to win the latter. How to Succeed, which ran for 1,417 performances in its initial incarnation and was revived on Broadway in 1995, is a satire of corporate ladder-climbing, but for feminists, its signature poison kiss is the lyrically sappy song, "Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm," in which the ingenue - a secretary - rhapsodizes about her desire to marry, retreat to suburbia, and watch her adored hubby "go onward and upward." She fully expects to be ignored and awaits the day that she can announce she's pregnant.20 Friedan's 16 Horowitz, Betty Friedan, 98. Horowitz reads Friedan's interest in the play in terms of the pro￾tagonist's recovery of the key trauma of her life: the moment when her father contrasted his "ugly duckling" daughter with his beautiful wife (99). 17 Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (1973; repr., New York: Dell, 1974), 340-41. 18 Ibid., 253. 19 Ibid., 75-76. Regrettably, her indictment of Tennessee Williams's "man-eating" women (with a focus on Suddenly Last Summer) in the context of the nervous-making "increasingly overt male homosexual￾ity" falls wide of any mark of standing the test of time; see ibid., 75-76, 262-63. 20http://iwvw.stlyricsxom/lyrics/howtosucceedinbusinesswithoutreallytrym^ (accessed 14 March, 2007). Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. This content downloaded from 183.195.251.166 on Sat, 16 Jan 2016 12:04:58 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions