Act 1, Scene 1 Summary

You Can't Take It With You is a romantic comedy about Alice Sycamore and Tony Kirby, two young people trapped between the eccentricities and foibles of their families in New York City in 1936.

The play opens in the cluttered and chaotic living room of Grandpa Vanderhof. It is obvious that this room serves more than one purpose with its eclectic elements, including live snakes, a xylophone, and a printing press. The characters are introduced as they come in and out of this room, beginning with Penny Sycamore, Grandpa Vanderhof's fifty-year-old daughter who is typing away at one of the many plays she is writing.

Penny's daughter, Essie Carmichael, is a twenty-nine-year-old frustrated ballerina who wears ballet slippers at all times and is currently making candy because her husband, Ed, has taken orders for the sweets that need to be filled today...