How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Act One

J. Pierrepont Finch is seen washing windows while reading the book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The words from the pages are read aloud by a narrator, and J. Pierrepont Finch is persuaded to begin his journey to the top of the corporate ladder. He starts his venture by heading into the World Wide Wicket Company (“How to Succeed”).

Finch quite literally bumps into the company’s president, J. B. Biggley. Finch apologizes and asks for a job. Biggley is thrown by the question and yells at Finch, as no one asks the big boss for a job. Rosemary, a happy and hopeful office secretary, spots Finch and apologizes for Biggley’s behavior. She directs him to Mr. Bratt, the Personnel Executive. Bratt states that they are not hiring, but when Finch tells him that Biggley told him to see Bratt (though that was not exactly what happened), he immediately takes him into his office to work out the details for a job. Rosemary is left alone with her friend Smitty, the