May 30 - Joseph Stein or "The Piddler on the Roof"

Today's birthday is Joseph Stein. He was a playwright, famous for the musical, "Fiddler on The Roof."

Unfortunately, I cannot offer his works for free. However, several years ago, my Gpa built my sister and I a stage in their back yard. When he put a roof on it, he told us that we need to write a play that would use the roof. He suggested that we put on a play entitled "Piddler on The Roof."

So I wrote us a play to go with the title "Piddler on The Roof." I had never seen the musical "Fiddler on the Roof," though I had heard of it.

This is how it went:

Once upon a time there was a house, and in this house there lived Wanda Worker and Penelope Piddler. Wanda Worker cooked and cleaned, and basically did all of the work to keep up the place.

Penelope Piddler just sat around playing her guitar.

(By the way, they also had a pet yellow and blue monkey, but that wasn't in the script)

And so they lived, Wanda working, and Penelope piddling, as their names suggested. 

One day, Wanda got fed up. "Penelope," she said, "I won't stand for this any longer. If you're not going to help, you can go live on the roof."

And so Penelope was delegated to the roof.

There she lived for quite some time. "Wanda," she finally said, "I'm tired of being on the roof."

"If you want to get off," said Wanda, "you can't be a piddler any more."

"Very well," said Penelope. 

And so she got off the roof. Since she was no longer a piddler, she had to change her name. 

And so they lived, Wanda and Wendy Workers, happily ever after.

By, the way, I have since watched the Musical "Fiddler on the Roof." Yes, it was very, very different.