"Perfect Behavior: A Guide for Ladies and Gentlemen in All Social Crises" by Donald Ogden Stewart is a witty and amusing take on how people should act in formal situations, likely from the early 1900s. It playfully makes fun of what was considered proper behavior, especially when dating, getting engaged, married, and just in everyday life. The book looks at how important manners were, and the funny things that could happen if someone made a mistake in public. For instance, the book begins with a young man, Richard Roe, trying to win the heart of a sophisticated young woman, Dorothy Doe, and shows all the complicated social rules he had to follow. The author uses funny examples to show how silly dating could be, like knowing exactly how to introduce yourself or what different flowers meant when giving them to someone you liked. The story suggests that trying to be perfect in these situations can sometimes seem absurd.
Perfect Behavior: A Guide for Ladies and Gentlemen in All Social Crises
By Donald Ogden Stewart
Discover how a young man hilariously navigates the absurd rules of courtship in a bygone era, where manners are paramount and missteps lead to comical chaos.
Summary
About the AuthorDonald Ogden Stewart was an American writer and screenwriter best known for his sophisticated golden age comedies and melodramas such as The Philadelphia Story, Tarnished Lady and Love Affair. Stewart worked with a number of the directors of his time, including George Cukor, Michael Curtiz and Ernst Lubitsch. Stewart was a member of the Algonquin Round Table and, with Ernest Hemingway's friend Bill Smith, the model for Bill Gorton in The Sun Also Rises. His 1922 parody on etiquette, Perfect Behavior, published by George H. Doran and Co., was a favourite book of P. G. Wodehouse.
Donald Ogden Stewart was an American writer and screenwriter best known for his sophisticated golden age comedies and melodramas such as The Philadelphia Story, Tarnished Lady and Love Affair. Stewart worked with a number of the directors of his time, including George Cukor, Michael Curtiz and Ernst Lubitsch. Stewart was a member of the Algonquin Round Table and, with Ernest Hemingway's friend Bill Smith, the model for Bill Gorton in The Sun Also Rises. His 1922 parody on etiquette, Perfect Behavior, published by George H. Doran and Co., was a favourite book of P. G. Wodehouse.
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