Summary

In "Goodbye and Good Luck," Aunt Rose tells her niece, Lillie, about her youth. When she was young, she worked for the Russian Art Theater of Second Avenue, "where they played only the best Yiddish plays" (4). While working at the ticket counter she met actor, Volodya Vlashkin. Eventually, she and Vlashkin started seeing each other, though Vlashkin was married. She moved out of mother’s, wanting "to live for love" (6). Later, after Rose met Mrs. Vlashkin, she ended the affair, disinterested in being a "home breaker" (8). She later realized Vlashkin was using his affair with her as a rehearsal for his acting work (10). Rose wanted Lillie to relay this story to her mother.

In "A Woman, Young and Old," growing up, Josephine never knew her father, though she had heard stories about him. Her mother blamed her...