Characters Discussed
Penelope (Penny) Vanderhof Sycamore
Penelope (Penny) Vanderhof Sycamore, a mother in her mid-fifties, the matriarch of a comic household, carefree and easygoing. Penny clearly loves her family and life itself. After a typewriter is mistakenly delivered to her, she drops her old hobby of painting and begins to write plays. She does both very badly, but with style and good humor.
Paul Sycamore
Paul Sycamore, Penny’s husband and father of the Sycamore brood. Paul has given up ordinary work to construct fireworks in his basement. He often tries them out in the center of the living room. He intends to market them, but his plans never quite work out. Paul is less involved than his wife in the lives of the children because he spends so much time in the basement.
Grandpa Martin Vanderhof
Grandpa Martin Vanderhof, the patriarch and founder of the family’s unconventional lifestyle. The Sycamore family clearly revolves around Grandpa, and his eccentric clear-sightedness saves the day more than once. One day, Grandpa left work and never returned; he spends his life now in a more productive manner, throwing darts, attending commencements, and enjoying his family.
Essie Sycamore Carmichael
Essie Sycamore Carmichael, the elder daughter, who is married. Essie splits her time between making new kinds of candy (successfully) and practicing to become a ballerina (unsuccessfully).
Ed Carmichael
Ed Carmichael, Essie’s husband. Ed plays the xylophone, operates an amateur printing press in the living room, and occasionally peddles Essie’s candies.
Alice Sycamore
Alice Sycamore, the younger daughter, in her early twenties. Alice is the only normal person in the Sycamore family. She works in an office on Wall Street and has no unusual hobbies. She is devoted to her outlandish family, however, and generally approves of their lifestyles. Alice is in love with Tony Kirby but is afraid that their families will never get along.
Anthony (Tony) Kirby, Jr.
Anthony (Tony) Kirby, Jr., Alice’s fiancé, fresh out of college and the new vice president of his father’s business, where Alice works. Tony finds the Sycamores delightful, in contrast to his stodgy family, although, like Alice, he is basically a normal person.
Anthony Kirby, Sr.
Anthony Kirby, Sr., Tony’s father. Mr. Kirby is a stereotypical Wall Street mogul: tired, worried, stiff, and bothered by indigestion. He is at first appalled by the antics of the Sycamores but comes to appreciate their “seize the day” attitude.
Rheba
Rheba, the black maid. Entertaining in her own right, Rheba provides fairly objective commentary on the doings of the Sycamores.
Donald
Donald, Rheba’s boyfriend. Donald is on relief and wanders around the Sycamore house in his bathrobe, but he, too, appears more normal than the white people around him.
Mr. De Pinna
Mr. De Pinna, an iceman who came to make a delivery eight years earlier, fell under the Sycamores’ spell, and has stayed ever since. Mr. De Pinna is Paul’s assistant in the basement fireworks factory and models for Penny’s paintings.
Characters
Ed Carmichael
Essie's husband Ed, as the stage directions inform, is a "nonedescript young man" in his thirties. He is a musician and composer who likes to play the xylophone as well as ply his trade as an amateur printer. As a hobby, he uses his hand-press to print sayings which he comes across in the writings of the revolutionary Russian Communist Leon Trotsky such as "God Is the State; the State is God." Proud of his work, he encloses these printed bills in the boxes with Essie's candy. Although Ed prints his slogans just for the fun of it,...
(This entire section contains 1485 words.)
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their political messages attract the attention of the F.B.I., who believe Ed is an insurrectionist attempting to undermine the United States government.
Essie Carmichael
Mrs. Sycamore's eldest daughter, Essie Carmichael, is a 29-year-old aspiring
ballerina. She dances her way through the play, improvising steps to her
husband Ed's xylophone music and eagerly following the instructions of her
dance instructor, Mr. Kolenkhov. She makes candy, naming her newest confections
"Love Dreams," but she never takes off her ballet slippers even when she dons
her candy-making apron. Like the other Sycamores, Essie is both happily
absorbed in tasks which amuse her and wholly undisturbed by the eccentricities
of her family.
Mr. De Pinna
Described in the stage directions as a "bald-headed little man with a serious
manner," the middle-aged Mr. De Pinna arrived at the Vanderhof residence eight
years ago to deliver ice and ended up moving in. Although a minor character, he
shows how open and accepting the Vanderhof-Sycamore family can be: everyone is
obviously welcome in this house. Mr. De Pinna has clearly taken to this
family's way of life. He helps Paul make firecrackers, poses in Roman costume
for Penny's painting of a discus thrower, and remains undisturbed by the
chaotic household.
Donald
Rheba's boyfriend, who, like her, is described in the stage directions in
racist terms such as "a colored man of no uncertain hue." Cheerful and at ease
in the household, he is a minor comic character who willingly runs errands and
occasionally offers amusing comments.
F.B.I. agents
The three F.B.I. agents (G-men) who come to investigate the seemingly political
papers Ed Sycamore has been enclosing in candy boxes.
Grand Duchess Olga Katrina
See Olga.
Henderson
Henderson is the Internal Revenue Department agent who comes to collect
twenty-two years' back income tax from Grandpa Vanderhof.
Wilbur C. Henderson
See Henderson.
Anthony Kirby, Jr.
See Tony Kirby.
Anthony Kirby, Sr.
See Mr. Kirby.
Miriam Kirby
See Mrs. Kirby.
Mr. Kirby
Tony's father, the middle-aged Mr. Kirby, is a successful Wall Street
businessman. He is a traditional authority figure who represents the
conventional worldview the Vanderhof-Sycamores reject. Conservative and
repressed, he has perpetual indigestion and tells his wife he thinks "lust is
not a human emotion." He is initially shocked by Alice's family and says
Grandpa Vanderhof's idea of doing only what makes you happy is a "a very
dangerous philosophy ... it's un-American."
Mrs. Kirby
Tony's mother, the middle-aged Mrs. Kirby, is the conservative female
equivalent of her businessman husband. She, too, is shocked by the
unconventional Vanderhof-Sycamores. She is affronted when Penny says
spiritualism is "a fake" and seems to reveal she is dissatisfied with her
marriage when in the word game she associates "honeymoon" with "dull" and
almost admits that Mr. Kirby talks about Wall Street even during sex.
Tony Kirby
Tony Kirby is a Vice President of Kirby & Co., his father's business. The
stage directions tell us he is a "very nice young man" who has recently
attended Yale and Cambridge. He has fallen in love with Alice Sycamore and
wants to marry her. Now that he's done with college he believes, as he tells
Grandpa Vanderhof, that now "the fun's over, and—I'm facing the world," but his
contact with Alice's family teaches him that if he makes the right choices his
fun may just be starting. He purposely brings his parents to the
Vanderhof-Sycamore house on the wrong night because, as he says to his father,
"I wanted you to see a real family—as they really were. A family that loved and
understood each other." Determined to do something that he wants to do, Tony
rejects his father's business and embraces the Vanderhof's philosophy of
seeking happiness over wealth.
Boris Kolenkhov (ko-len-kawv)
Essie's dance instructor Boris Kolenkhov is introduced in the stage directions
as an "enormous, hairy, loud" Russian. A stereotypically-depicted comic
character, he contributes to the chaotic activity in the Vanderhof-Sycamore
home, encouraging Essie to dance and wrestling with the unsuspecting Mr. Kirby.
He has a habit of conveniently arriving just in time for meals.
Olga
The Grand Duchess Olga is a Russian friend of Kolehnkov's who has fallen on
hard times following the Communist Revolution in Russia. She is now a waitress
and has a talent for making blintzes. She prepares the bountiful meal of
blintzes which everyone sits down to at the conclusion of the play.
Rheba
Rheba is the Sycamore family's efficient, practical, and adaptable "colored
maid." The stage directions introduce her in stereotypically racist terms—"a
very black girl somewhere in her thirties"—common during the years preceding
the Civil Rights movement. During the course of the play's action, however,
Rheba emerges as a distinct individual, speaking her mind and holding her own
within the eccentric household.
Alice Sycamore
Alice Sycamore is Penny's attractive younger daughter. The twenty-two-year-old
Alice has, according to the stage directions, "escaped the tinge of mild
insanity" that pervades her relatives, but her "devotion and love for them are
plainly apparent." The only member of the family with a regular job, she is a
secretary at a Wall Street firm and has fallen in love with the boss's son,
Anthony Kirby, Jr. Although she loves Tony, she fears his conservative parents
will never accept her family's eccentricities. Since Alice is a "normal" and
likeable character, the audience is likely to sympathise with her and share her
point-of-view.
Paul Sycamore
Penny's husband Paul Sycamore is in his mid-fifties. Quiet, charming, and
mild-mannered, he never loses his composure, even when the firecrackers he
makes in the basement with Mr. De Pinna unexpectedly explode. Like his wife and
father-in-law, Paul possesses what the stage directions call "a kind of
youthful air." A complete contrast to a disgruntled businessman such as Mr.
Kirby, Paul contentedly pursues his chosen activities, such as making new
"skyrockets" and building things with an Erector Set.
Penny Sycamore
See Penelope Vanderhof Sycamore.
Grandpa Vanderhof
See Martin Vanderhof.
Martin Vanderhof
Grandpa Vanderhof, as Kaufman and Hart describe him in the stage directions, is
a 75-year-old "wiry little man whom the years have treated kindly." One day
thirty-five years ago he gave up his business career, since, as he explains to
Mr. Kolenkhov, it struck him that he "wasn't having any fun." So he "just
relaxed" and has "been a happy man ever since." He now has "time enough for
everything" and, as he tells Mr. Kirby, he no longer has "six hours of things I
have to do every day before I get one hour to do what I like in." Grandpa
collects stamps, throws darts, attends the commencement speeches at Columbia
University, and encourages his family to follow his example and do only what
makes them happy. He hasn't payed income tax in twenty-two years because he
doesn't think the government does anything useful with the money. He provides
the philosophical center of the play, explaining the folly of seeking material
wealth at the expense of personal fulfillment, and asking only, as he says
while saying grace before dinner, that their family be allowed "to go along and
be happy in [their] own sort of way."
Penelope Vanderhof Sycamore
Grandpa Vanderhof's daughter, Penny Sycamore, is the first character on stage
in You Can't Take It with You. Kaufman and Hart describe her in the
stage directions as an endearing "round little woman" in her fifties, who loves
nothing more than writing plays. As eccentric as the other members of her
family, Penny was an enthusiastic painter but gave up this hobby for writing
when a typewriter was delivered to the house by mistake eight years earlier.
Charmingly blunt, she causes some embarrassment during the Kirby's visit, first
by calling Mrs. Kirby's beloved spirtualism "a fake," and then by proposing a
word association game and asking what everyone associates with the words "sex,"
"bathroom," and "lust." Penny's enjoyment of life and direct speech are in
marked contrast to Mrs. Kirby's seeming discontent and reserved acceptance of
social conventions.
Gay Wellington
Gay Wellington, described in the stage directions as "an actress, nymphomaniac,
and a terrible souse," comes to the Sycamore house to discuss a script with
Penny but then passes out on the couch. She occasionally awakens, usually just
in time to contribute to the chaos that erupts following the Kirby's unexpected
visit.