Debby’s Debut
by Louisa May AlcottGenre: Romance
Setting:
Format of Original Source: Short Story
Recommended Adaptation Length:
Candidate for Adaptation? Promising
EXCERPT:
“I never intend to dance with Mr. Ellenborough again, so please don’t urge me, Aunt Pen;” and Debby knit her brows with a somewhat irate expression.
“My love, you astonish me! He is a most agreeable and accomplished young man,–spent three years in Paris, moves in the first circles, and is considered an ornament to fashionable society.
“What can be your objection, Dora?” cried Mrs. Carroll, looking as alarmed as if her niece had suddenly announced her belief in the Koran.
“One of his accomplishments consists in drinking champagne till he is not a ‘desirable partner’ for any young lady with a prejudice in favor of decency. His moving in ‘circles’ is just what I complain of; and if he is an ornament, I prefer my society undecorated. Aunt Pen, I cannot make the nice distinctions you would have me, and a sot in broadcloth is as odious as one in rags. Forgive me, but I cannot dance with that silver-labelled decanter again.”
COMMENTS:
Debby prefers the poorer, honest fella to the rich but amoral social climber. It’s a romance such as you’d expect from Louisa May Alcott; earnest and straightforward. Not enough plot to fill more than a short one act, but a sturdy enough dilemma to adapt into a charming period piece.
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