
The Quiet Hotel
CHARACTERS
STORY OF THE SKETCH
COSTUMES
PROPERTIES
The Quiet Hotel
Practical Elocution
A modest country inn proudly advertises itself as the “Quiet Hotel,” but the silence quickly turns into comic chaos. Miss Calcium, a weary actress lugging a single suitcase of costumes, arrives hoping for a peaceful night’s rest. She is greeted by Susan, the hotel’s one‑woman staff who juggles every role from clerk to chef, and Rubber‑Neck, a lanky porter with theatrical ambitions of his own.
The three soon find themselves tangled in a farcical routine of mistaken duties and exaggerated whispers. Miss Calcium’s attempt at a dramatic monologue frightens Rubber‑Neck, prompting a series of slap‑slap‑quiet gags as the characters scramble to maintain the promised tranquility. Their escalating misunderstandings lead to a lively “train‑arrival” bit, culminating in an impromptu suggestion that they might try their hands at vaudeville together—leaving the audience laughing at the very idea of a hotel that’s anything but quiet.
Language
en
Duration
~20 minutes (20K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Charlene Taylor, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Release date
2021-06-27
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1848–1919
A fixture of Philadelphia entertainment for decades, this nineteenth-century performer, manager, and songwriter became one of the best-known names in American minstrelsy. His career left a large paper trail of songs, sketches, and theater history, even as the form he helped sustain is now recognized as deeply racist.
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