Give Me Mr. Webb

Give Me Mr. Webb

Noel Laflin

4-20-19

It was Thornton Wilder’s birthday earlier this week and the anniversary got me to thinking about ‘Our Town'. Actually, I think a lot about Grover’s Corners and its characters as it was probably the first play that I can ever remember seeing. I was twelve years old and pretty impressionable. Fortunately, that first impression has stuck around for the last half century – and then some.

I always thought it would wonderful to be the Stage Manager – but he has a lot of lines to memorize as he plays so many roles. I am certain that I could never memorize so much material. I have a hard enough time trying to remember what day it is, let alone pages of monologue and remembering what character I am supposed to be on stage.

So I decided early on that perhaps I would be Simon Stimson instead – the choir director, church organist, and town drunk. His character is funny, sad, sarcastic, and has many fewer lines to deliver. I thought he stole the show at times and got the biggest laughs. Yeah, he was going to be my guy if the opportunity ever presented itself.

And then I came across this bit by Mr. Webb – Emily's father. I had never paid attention to it before. But it grabbed me today for obvious reasons. He is responding to a question from a lady in the audience when he says:

“Well, ma’am, there ain’t much culture or love of beauty in Grover’s Corners— not in the sense you mean. Come to think of it, there’s some girls that play the piano at High School Commencement; but they ain’t happy about it. No, ma’am, there isn’t much culture; but maybe this is the place to tell you that we’ve got a lot of pleasures of a kind here: we like the sun comin’ up over the mountain in the morning, and we all notice a good deal about the birds. We pay a lot of attention to them. And we watch the change of the seasons; yes, everybody knows about them. But those other things-you’re right, ma’am, -there ain’t much.”

So, when the opportunity comes, I’m now ready to play Mr. Webb. I believe I can speak to the importance of sunrises, birds, and change of seasons. And the icing on the cake? He's editor of the town's newspaper. This former journalism major is definitely ready for this role.

But I think I'd be happiest when he is talking about birds.