Word: mayors
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...mayor of a tiny provincial Russian town, whose name, Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, is almost larger than his constituency, has been tipped off that a government agent of high rank is coming, incognito, to inspect local fiscal affairs. Since the mayor (The odore Bikel) and his appointed underlings are as crooked as counterfeit rubles, they are understandably panicky...
...patients wander around the town's hospital on their own, reeking of vodka and filth. Charity cases are left to die. The town cop is a chronic alcoholic who terrorizes the populace. The postmaster opens all the mail and pockets the letters that amuse him. As for the mayor, he is an embezzler who never forgets a good bribe...
...they are slaves of self-deception. Trying to identify the incognito inspector, they settle on a newcomer at the local hotel who has overdrawn his credit and is foppish, imperious and curious. Actually, Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov (Max Wright) is a petty clerk who has gone broke gambling. When the mayor approaches him, Khlestakov assumes that he is about to be thrown into jail. As the mutual misconceptions multiply, the fun flies like...
Puzzled but pleased by his appointed role, the "inspector" bilks the town fathers out of all their ready cash, almost seduces the mayor's wife and daughter and promptly blows town. Like a doomsday bell, the play ends with the imminent arrival of the real inspector general...
...Mayor Edward Koch agrees. "New York will not be New York again till the papers are back," he believes. Meanwhile he can be seen wandering around the neighborhood of his old Greenwich Village apartment, lantern in hand, looking for an honest newspaper. "I pick up the Washington Post," he sighs. "I thumb through it for 15 minutes. And I say to myself, 'Why am I reading this...