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Miss Dryburgh
One of the Japanese guards at the prison camp where Sheila and Bridie are held captive during World War II. The prisoners call this guard “Lipstick Larry” because he punches women in the face if he catches them with lipstick on. When Bridie contracts malaria, Sheila visits Lipstick Larry and pleads for quinine tablets, but he shows complete indifference. As such, Sheila agrees to have sex with him and his friends in exchange for the medication. Decades after this incident, Sheila tells Bridie that Lipstick Larry still haunts her every night.
Lipstick Larry Quotes in The Shoe-Horn Sonata
The The Shoe-Horn Sonata quotes below are all either spoken by Lipstick Larry or refer to Lipstick Larry. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act One, Scene Eight Quotes
BRIDIE: You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t.
SHEILA: [angrily] You were the one who wanted to know. I told you to leave it alone.
BRIDIE: [shocked] You didn’t sleep with a Jap. Not you.
SHEILA: You were screaming. And he went and got quinine. For you. And he showed the tablets to me—and he pointed to the barracks—where his mates were waiting.
BRIDIE: Don’t! I don’t want to hear this!
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In this passage, Sheila finally tells Bridie the truth about how she saved her life. To do this, Sheila reveals that she didn’t trade the shoe-horn for quinine tablets—as she originally claimed—but rather offered herself to Lipstick Larry and his cronies. And though this revelation is quite important to the play, what’s most notable about this exchange is that Bridie doesn’t want Sheila to continue telling her story. “Tell me you didn’t,” she says, trying manipulate the tale so that it’s easier to bear. Sheila, for her part, reminds Bridie that she was the one who “wanted to know” what Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. P
Act Two, Scene Ten Quotes
BRIDIE: [upset] Why did you have to go with that Jap?
SHEILA: Ssshh!
BRIDIE: You were only a girl—a child!
SHEILA: I had to do it. I couldn’t let you die.
BRIDIE: If only I’d known—I would never have let you... Sheila—please—let me try and help.
SHEILA: [haunted] Every night when I fall asleep, Lipstick Larry’s waiting. He calls to me and I go to him— and no one can change that. Not even you.
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In this exchange, Bridie and Sheila talk about the sacrifice Sheila made by having sex with Lipstick Larry and his fellow Japanese officers in order to save Bridie’s life, trading sex for the antimalarial medicine. Although she should be thankful—and perhaps is, on some level—Bridie is distraught, wishing that her friend had never slept with the guards. “Why did you have to go with that Jap?” she asks, deeply troubled by the idea that Sheila did something so traumatizing just to save her. Unsurprisingly, Sheila simply reminds her that she would have died otherwise, though the way Sheila states this Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti
I almost confided in mother once. [Sadly] Isn’t that amusing? It was just before I sailed from Singapore. I took her hand and whispered that... there was something I needed to tell her—about the Japanese. Mother poured herself a drink and said: ‘You know what the Bible says, my dear. “No cross, no crown.” We must pull up our socks and get on with it.’ Took more than a war to change Mother.
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This passage appears just after Bridie asks why Sheila didn’t tell her about her traumatic experience sooner. When Sheila answers this question, Bridie asks if she’s ever told anyone else, and Sheila says that she once tried to “confide” in her mother. Unfortunately, though, her mother was apparently unwilling to listen to her painful memory. Indeed, she cut her daughter off before she could even talk about the experience, primly saying, “No cross, no crown.” This is an expression people often use to talk about the importance of experiencing hardship. Although the phrase itself doesn’t actually appear in the Bible, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Ve
Act Two, Scene Thirteen Quotes
She went to... the Japs... to a Japanese guard—and... she sold herself to him for tablets. She was a beautiful, kind and brave young woman. [Looking at SHEILA.] She wasn’t just my friend— she was— she is—the other half of my life. And she gave herself to him... so that I... could have quinine... And she never told me till two nights ago. For fifty years she never told anyone... They don’t give medals for things like that. But they should.
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After Rick tells Bridie and Sheila in their final interview that they can take a break, Bridie insists they continue, adding that they’ve omitted something important from their answers to his questions. Going on, she tells the story of Sheila’s rape. In doing so, she goes against her own hesitancy to talk about such matters on national television. Although she recently told Sheila not to talk about what happened to her because people might call her a “whore,” she now helps her friend unburden herself of her traumatic secret. Most importantly, she goes out of her way to express her Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas deb
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Lipstick Larry Character Timeline in The Shoe-Horn Sonata
The timeline below shows where the character Lipstick Larry appears in The Shoe-Horn Sonata. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act One, Scene Four
...the Japanese guards. The two women then laugh about how they tormented a guard named Lipstick Larry by leaving a rusty pin in the inseam of his loincloth, so that when he...
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Act One, Scene Eight
...to hear what comes next. Still, though, Sheila pushes on, saying that she went to Lipstick Larry because he was “always smiling at [her].” She offered him all of their belongings in...
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Continuing her story, Sheila says that Lipstick Larry showed her the quinine tablets and then brought her to the barracks, where a group...
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Act Two, Scene Nine
...how Bridie contracted malaria and almost died. Indeed, she tells him that she went to Lipstick Larry and offered to swap the shoe-horn for antimalarial tablets, saying that he “took pity” on...
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Act Two, Scene Ten
...the television studio until Bridie comes in and asks why she didn’t tell her about Lipstick Larry earlier. Sheila says that she wanted to, but that right after the war—when they were...
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...Bridie can do, a point she makes clear by telling her friend that she sees Lipstick Larry every night when she goes to bed. “He calls to me and I go to...
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Act Two, Scene Thirteen
...my friend—she was—she is—the other half of my life. And she gave herself to [ Lipstick Larry ]… so that I… could have quinine… And she never told me till two nights...
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