499. Bad Seed: A play in two acts, by Maxwell Anderson (read 3 June 1956) This play is an adaptation of William Marsh's novel of the same name. SPOILERS. It was perfectly delightful--the most satisfying thing I have read in a long time. Rhoda is 8. She chases a schoolmate off a pier because he won a penmanship medal she wanted. When he crawled up she pounded his fingers with her shoe and he fell in and drowned. Roy, a janitor, knew about her and she set his bed afire while he slept. Her mother gave her an overdose of sleeping pills and shot herself. This roused Rhoda to be saved and at the end no one is alive who knows of Rhoda's idiosyncrasies. Delightful and such a fine ending. [This is what I said of the book when I read it on June 3, 1956. I must have been in a contrarian mood indeed.] ( )