Mrs. Chisolm is a society lady who seems, at first, to be very concerned with being proper. Her stuffiness misleads audiences, who are shocked when, later in the play, she propositions Mantee openly in front of everyone, including her husband. She spends a long time drinking liquor and listening to Gabby's frustrated dreams of being an artist and then tells Gabby about her own plans to be an actress when she was Gabby's age. She says that her dream was dashed by her family, who wanted her to remain respectable. "And before I knew it, I was married to this pillar of the mortgage loan and trust," she says, indicating her husband. After encouraging Gabby to run off to France, she compliments Mantee on being a "real man," and when someone notes that.....
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