Characters in The Gazebo
by Alec Coppel

A Comedy with Murder

ELLIOTT NASH – Writer of a TV mystery series

NELL NASH – His wife and an actress

HARLOW EDISON – Friend of the Nashes and the District Attorney

MRS. CHANDLER – A real estate agent trying to sell the Nash home

MR. THORPE – A builder installing a gazebo in the Nash back yard

THE DOOK – A gangster

LOUIE – Another gangster

JENKINS – A police detective

DR. WYNER – A police surgeon

DRUKER – A junior police detective

A Cop in uniform

MATILDA – The Nash’s maid

MRS. BEECHER – A new maid, one line, on and off again

The Nashes are being blackmailed over some nude pictures of Nell taken when she was 18. Elliott lures the blackmailer to their home, shoots him, wraps him in their shower curtain (which he hates) and buries the body in the wet cement foundation of a gazebo being built in their backyard. Heavy rains wash away enough of the foundation so that the body is exposed. Two gangsters come looking for their friend, the blackmailer and comedy ensues.

The play was made into a 1959 movie starring Glen Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner, John McGiver, Mabel Albertson, and Martin Landau.