My Lost City

1924, Manhattan, USA, before the Great Depression.

In a Manhattan theater filled with the laughter of people, a boy was hired as a Coke vendor. What the boy wants is not the money he gets from selling Cokes. He wants to see a popular actor perform a one-day-only show.

Before the play was to be performed, the boy was preparing to sell to the audience.

The boy reminisced a bit about the man.

At the time, there was a man named Charlie Udson who was taking the world by storm.

The play in which he appeared was immediately sold out. Tickets were resold at a high price.

His play, “My Lost City,” depicted a love story between a man and a woman in a medieval aristocratic family. He created the script from scratch, and everyone’s eyes lit up at his outstanding scriptwriting ability.

It was even jinxed that anything that appeared in one of his plays would sell immediately. Take, for example, his blonde-haired girlfriend, Eureka. She was from a farming family and had no desire to be an actress, but she caught the eye of Charlie, who was inspecting the scene, and she was cast in the play. Her popularity immediately soared. Some customers came from far and wide to see her.

There are other actresses who were discovered by Charlie and followed the same path as Eureka. But what makes her unique is that she is a candidate for Charlie’s girlfriend.

In fact, there are many candidates for Charlie’s girlfriends. Women and men, too.

I envy them. But they wouldn’t even look at a tiny little guy like me. And moreover, to himself, a young boy.

It’s not that I want to be a potential lover or anything. It was just that I wished I had someone like that around me, someone truly talented and someone I could look up to.

The bell rang five minutes before the performance.

“Michael? Michael! What are you doing in a daze? Come on, sell it!

The older boy urged him to hurry up and resume preparations.

You are idiot!

He also kicked me a little.

Corporal punishment is a common occurrence.

What makes Charlie’s play different?

I think it is in the last scene.

All the characters are unhappy.

Their lovers commit suicide, someone steals them away, or they are killed.

It’s as if he is shouting that happiness is nothing but a bunch of illusions.

This is especially true in this film.

“This world doesn’t satisfy me. Women... Money... Fame. I’m not good enough for it."

"I’m not good enough."

"This world is not good enough for me. I don’t feel happy. I don’t feel satisfied, but the world calls it happiness. I can only call it that.”

After this, the man says he is going to kill himself.

“No, I don’t want a world without you.”

“There will be a world after this, where everyone will be alone. A terrible, chilling, horrible one. But I like that world better.”

“Then let’s live together. With hope.”

“Hope... There is no such thing in the beginning.”

With these words, the man burns himself to death.

The woman is so grief-stricken that she is unable to attend his funeral.

A few days later, however, his servant arrives and gives her an unexpected gift.

He wants her to meet him on a certain specified date, at a specified place, and with a specified person.

She did as she was told and went to that person on time---and what awaited her was a large amount of money.

What awaited her was a large amount of money.

The recipient gave her the money.

And tonight, she would go to the tavern where people were always laughing, night after night.

My Lost City. Gone is the glittering city where men and women used to spend time together.

There is only a city full of people swallowed up by the whirlpool of desire.

The title is ironic at its best.

A sad story, I thought.

But how could such a story be popular with the masses, I thought?

But what the public likes is not the man’s dour story, but the fact that in the end, the women are just as greedy as they are. After all, they are addicted to money and go through their lives frames depending on their comfort. That is the way it is.

People like people who are like them.

To me, this play seems to be confronting such an irrational reality.

That’s the point, that’s exactly the point! It is a gem, and it is true that I fell in love with it.

Closing.

The hour-and-a-half play was over.

The standing ovation never ceases.

The curtain rises again and Charlie comes out with a bow.

He says, “Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to my play. I hope you enjoyed it. In fact, I would love to do this play right here in the city--you know, Manhattan! I’ve always wanted to do it"

The public laughed. The public laughed as if to say, "Oh, of course, you do"

"Actually, I’d like to tell you a little more about it--but I can’t make it in time for the next show."

Charlie winked and gave another deep bow.

As the curtain was about to close, with cheerful music, a young man stood up.

"What’s your relationship with Eureka? "

The crowd turned to the young man and giggled. The crowd turned to the young man and chuckled.

Charlie smirks and turns up the corner of his mouth, “That’s not fair."Then he put his index finger to his mouth and winked again. He is not going to answer.

The crowd was yelling, and as the young man tried to get on stage, I was called upon to stop him.

The guys who yelled at me said they were thirsty and bought me a Coke, which was nice.

I got my reward from the boy and counted the money.

It was getting dark. It was about 10 o’clock in the evening.

I left the theater and took in the view of the city at night, which was a little chilly. There are many small, fat men walking with women. They all wear silk hats and carry long canes.

Here and there, a boy of the same class as myself sells his wares.

There is no quiet in this city...

I sigh, hands in my pockets, and think about that.

I can still hear people laughing in the pubs and in the bars on the corners of the streets.

They are loud people.

All the lights in the world must be here. Manhattan shines so brightly at night.

Nowadays, counting gold is more clever than counting stars.

Many people look at man-made tall buildings and grumble about their own short noses.

I always think back to the man in Charlie’s “My Lost City,” who said, “The world is a mess, and you can’t make it better.

“This world is no good. I don’t feel happy. But the world calls it happiness. I can only call it that.”

happiness.

In this day and age, we are all expressing different things in a unified way.

I don’t feel happy. What exactly is happiness?

What on earth is mankind going to do?

Thinking like this, I take out my anger somewhere.

And Charlie, who makes people say and do such things, must be sounding a kind of warning bell to the masses.

And I wonder if I understand Charlie in this town.

While I was thinking about this, I saw a man wearing a black hat, which is rare in this era, running in front of me.

Ah!

Before I could say a word, the man dropped something as he passed me. I picked it up and dropped it.

I picked it up and told him that he had dropped it, but he didn’t notice and was running a long way ahead.

I sighed in disgust and chased after the man.

On the way, I saw a lamppost on the street that attracted insects.

It was a heavy, hefty book, with a title and autograph on it.

It was signed, “--‘Impermanence and Earnestness’?”

That seemed to be the title of the book.

I found myself reflexively chasing after the man.

I was out of breath.

Charlie Udson, 1924.

Because it had those words written on it.