Praise Boss!

Description

The Erotic Adventures of Mr. Block — Or, Labor’s Loves Lost

By Joseph Grim Feinberg
Charles H. Kerr Publishing

Some people are born by mistake, some become mistakes, and some have mistakes thrust upon them. With Mr. Block, it’s a little of all three. Made infamous by Joe Hill’s eponymous song and Ernest Riebe’s cartoons, Mr. Block has written himself into labor history as the working class’s biggest blockhead. Why? Because he believes that the wage system is basically good and the bosses have his best interests at heart. At any rate it’s true that his heart is full of the bosses’ best interests. Even when he’s hit rock bottom he still thinks that if he works just a little harder he can finally make it to the top. And if hard work doesn’t work, then why not take inspiration from the bosses themselves and try making it some other way?

In this new play, Mr. Block believes a slanderous rumor, which gives him the absurd idea that the way to a boss’s heart is through her heart. Will Block’s hardheaded attempts to woo her ever get him into her good graces, or even into her bad ones? Will he have any love left over for his fellow workers? Find out in Praise Boss!

“Joseph Feinberg has plucked ‘Mr. Block’ out of a relative obscurity and returned him and his wonderful world to their rightful place in the comedy / tragedy of modern life. Hurrah!”—Paul Buhle, author of Marxism in the United States

“In Joe Grim Feinberg’s pun-packed, risqué play, Mr. Block acts on one universal truth: That work is the worst way to make buck. But rather than standing in solidarity with his coworkers, Mr. Block schemes and puts the ‘organ’ in organizing his way to the top.”—Jason Krpan