THE STORY: In a beach cottage on Long Island, the family of Alexander Hartman, a retired Brooklyn druggist, gathers for the Labor Day weekend. They quickly learn that in cahoots with his grandson, Alexander has been stockpiling supplies and has purchased a fishing boat from the man next door. To their consternation, they further discover that Alexander is convinced “this world is not long for this world.” He is certain that man’s genius for self-destruction, in the form of meddling with his environment, has so disturbed the balance of nature that the world will actually come to an end that very Sunday morning at 10:30—daylight saving time! The deluge will descend on them through a final catastrophic hurricane, to which he has whimsically given the name “Zelda.” Convinced that Papa is completely off his rocker, the family sends out an urgent call for a psychiatrist. As Papa’s behavior goes from bad to worse (as they see it) , the others are certain that he will have to be committed. Only his wife Rose puts up a valiant but losing battle against this sad inevitability. But meanwhile that weather grows steadily more ominous. Earthquakes, tidal waves, hurricanes and other become so bad that the psychiatrist never does make it to the beach cottage. When hurricane “Zelda” finally strikes, the family concedes that Papa may not be crazy after all. As the play ends, Papa is herding his family out of the cottage to board his boat—as the storm closes in with a roar, and the cottage begins to collapse around them.
