A Palm Tree in a Rose Garden
THE STORY: Rose Frobisher once won a beauty contest and on the strength of that came to Hollywood. After years of frustration she settled down to keep an apartment-rooming house which she called the Rose Garden. For a while she pinned her hopes on her daughter, but Lila was not interested in getting into the movies, so Rose turned to a succession of roomers, young, beautiful, and all with a burning desire to be a movie star. One after another of these young girls disappointed her. When Barbara Parris moves into the Rose Garden, Rose again lets her hopes soar. She lends Barbara money, won’t take rent from her, and sees in Barbara another version of herself. Meanwhile, Lila is interested in another roomer, Mr. Jonas, a middle-aged refugee, kindly and sensitive. But because Jonas is neither young nor handsome, Rose can’t understand Lila’s interest in him and, does her best to break off Lila’s romance. What Rose fails to see is the desperation in Barbara, whose repeated failure to get a part brings her to an attempt at suicide. When Rose realizes that Barbara has failed, she turns again to Lila, finally acknowledging that Lila has the right to lead her own life.
“A PALM TREE IN A ROSE GARDEN comes very close to being brilliant…a delightful stand-out as an intimate evening.” —New York Journal-American