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Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation 13

Cecilia Rossignoli
Mauro Gatti
Rocco Agrifoglio Editors

Organizational
Innovation and
Change
Managing Information and
Technology
Lecture Notes in Information Systems
and Organisation

Volume 13

Series editors
Richard Baskerville, Decatur, USA
Marco De Marco, Roma, Italy
Nancy Pouloudi, Athens, Greece
Paolo Spagnoletti, Roma, Italy
Dov Te’eni, Tel Aviv, Israel
Jan vom Brocke, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Robert Winter, St. Gallen, Switzerland
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11237
Cecilia Rossignoli Mauro Gatti
•

Rocco Agrifoglio
Editors

Organizational Innovation
and Change
Managing Information and Technology

123
Editors
Cecilia Rossignoli Rocco Agrifoglio
Department of Business Administration Department of Management,
University of Verona Accounting and Economics
Verona University of Naples “Parthenope”
Italy Naples
Italy
Mauro Gatti
Department of Management
University of Rome “La Sapienza”
Rome
Italy

ISSN 2195-4968 ISSN 2195-4976 (electronic)

Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation
ISBN 978-3-319-22920-1 ISBN 978-3-319-22921-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-22921-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015946779

Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or
for any errors or omissions that may have been made.

Printed on acid-free paper

Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media

(www.springer.com)
Contents

Introducing and Discussing Information and Technology

Management for Organizational Innovation and Change . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Cecilia Rossignoli, Mauro Gatti and Rocco Agrifoglio

Part I ICT, Organizational Innovation and Change

A Methodology for the Impact Assessment of a g-Cloud Strategy

for the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Francesca Spagnoli, Francesco Bellini and Alessandra Ghi

Italy’s One-Stop Shop: A Case of the Emperor’s New Clothes? . . . . . . 27

Walter Castelnovo, Maddalena Sorrentino and Marco De Marco

The Determinants of IT Adoption by SMEs: An Agenda

for Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Riccardo Spinelli

Technology Applied to the Cultural Heritage Sector has not (yet)

Exceeded Our Humanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Lucia Marchegiani and Gloria Rossi

The Impact of the Implementation of the Electronic Medical Record

in an Italian University Hospital. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Alessandro Zardini, Cecilia Rossignoli and Bettina Campedelli

Technological Cycle and S-Curve: A Nonconventional Trend

in the Microprocessor Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
G. Ennas, F. Marras and M.C. Di Guardo

v
vi Contents

The IS Heritage and the Legacy of Ciborra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Paolo Depaoli, Andrea Resca, Marco De Marco and Cecilia Rossignoli

Collective Awareness Platform for Sustainability

and Social Innovation (CAPS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Antonella Passani, Francesca Spagnoli, Francesco Bellini,
Alessandra Prampolini and Katja Firus

Business Model in the IS Discipline: A Review and Synthesis

of the Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
G. Pozzi, F. Pigni, C. Vitari, G. Buonanno and E. Raguseo

IS Governance, Agility and Strategic Flexibility

in Multi-approaches Based Management Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Mohamed Makhlouf and Oihab Allal-Chérif

Part II ICT and Knowledge Management

Information, Technology, and Trust: A Cognitive Approach

to Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Francesca Marzo and Alessio Maria Braccini

When Teachers Support Students in Technology Mediated

Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Leonardo Caporarello, Massimo Magni and Ferdinando Pennarola

How Do Academic Spin-off Companies Generate and Disseminate

Useful Market Information Within Their Organizational
Boundaries? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Tindara Abbate and Fabrizio Cesaroni

A Two Step Procedure for Integrated Inventory—Supply

Chain Management Information Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Daniela Ambrosino and Anna Sciomachen

Unsupervised Neural Networks for the Analysis of Business

Performance at Infra-City Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Renata Paola Dameri, Roberto Garelli and Marina Resta

Design of Pre-emptive Customer Experience Management Systems

for Mobile Broadband Communications Service Providers . . . . . . . . . 217
Daniel Delibes Rodriguez and Penny Hart
Contents vii

Economic Denial of Sustainability Mitigation in Cloud

Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Massimo Ficco and Massimiliano Rak

Brokering of Cloud Infrastructures Driven by Simulation

of Scientific Workloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Alba Amato, Beniamino Di Martino, Fatos Xhafa
and Salvatore Venticinque

Investigating the Impact of Digital Data Genesis Dynamic

Capability on Data Quality and Data Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Elisabetta Raguseo, Claudio Vitari and Giulia Pozzi

An Ecological Model for Digital Platforms Maintenance

and Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Paolo Rocchi, Paolo Spagnoletti and Subhajit Datta
Introducing and Discussing Information
and Technology Management
for Organizational Innovation and Change

Cecilia Rossignoli, Mauro Gatti and Rocco Agrifoglio

Abstract This chapter focuses on the interplay between information technology

and organizational systems. It introduces the volume, providing a brief overview of
some of the most relevant frameworks, approaches, and tools in the IS field which
will be discussed later. The volume is divided into II parts, each one focused on a
specific theme, such as ‘ICT, organizational innovation and change’ and ‘ICT and
knowledge management’.

This book explores a range of critical issues and emerging topics relevant to the
linkages between information technology and organizational systems. It encourages
debate and opens up new avenues of inquiry in the field of Information Systems,
organization and management studies, by investigating themes of growing research
interest from multiple disciplinary perspectives such as organizational innovation and
impact, information technology, innovation transfer, and knowledge management.
The title of this book, ‘Managing Information and Technology for
Organizational Innovation and Change’, already implies the understanding that
information and technology are two crucial factors for developing innovation and
for managing change within organizational contexts. Information and technology
were widely recognised by the managerial literature as a major source of com-
petitive advantage and increased business performance [1, 2]. In the last decades,
organizations have increasingly invested in Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) for improving their efficiency and effectiveness and thus for
providing an opportunity for their businesses. Indeed, ICTs were often recognized
as a way to develop organizational innovation and to lead organizational change
[3–6]. However, empirical experience has immediately shown that ICT adoption is

C. Rossignoli
Department of Business Administration, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
M. Gatti
Department of Management, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
R. Agrifoglio (&)
Department of Management, Accounting and Economics, University of Naples “Parthenope”,
Naples, Italy
e-mail: agrifoglio@uniparthenope.it

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 1

C. Rossignoli et al. (eds.), Organizational Innovation and Change,
Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation 13,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-22921-8_1
2 C. Rossignoli et al.

a necessary but not sufficient condition for improving individual, group and
organizational performance, so opening the academic debate on the relevance of
managing information and technology within an organizational setting.
In respect of other disciplines, the IS literature was often reluctant to generalize
the relationships between information technology and organizational change.
Building upon the research of Pfeffer [7], Markus and Robey [5] and Orlikowski
[8], it is well-known that organizational change could be caused by information
technology—the so-called technological imperative, by the motives and actions of
information technology designers aimed at satisfying manager’s information pro-
cessing needs—the organizational imperative, and by the interaction between
information technology and its human and organizational users—the emergent
perspective. Thus, technology is both an external force influencing organizational
structure and the outcome of managers’ strategic choices and social actions. On the
other hand, as Orlikowski [8] stated, the link between technology and organizations
is affected by the human actions and by the socio-historical context where tech-
nology is developed and used.
Recognizing the existence of such different paradigms, this volume stresses the
relationships between ICT, organizational innovation and change and looks to
enhance their ties. On the other side, it also explores the role of information and
knowledge within organizational settings by emphasizing the contribution of ICT in
knowledge management activities.
The volume is divided into II sections, each one focused on a specific theme
such as ‘ICT, organizational innovation and change’ and ‘ICT and knowledge
management’. The content of each section is based on a selection of the best papers
(original double blind peer reviewed contributions) presented at the annual con-
ference of the Italian chapter of AIS, held in Genoa, Italy, in November 2014.

1 Part I: ICT, Organizational Innovation and Change

This section explores the relationships between ICT, organizational innovation, and
change. The aim of this section is to investigate the factors leading individuals and
organizations towards ICT’s adoption and usage, as well as the effects of such
technologies on working practices, interaction and communication between people,
and the organizational structure.
ICTs are part of corporate transformations in today competitive environments,
often enabling new organizational forms and business models both in the Public
and Private Sectors. Organizations expect to use the new ICT to run new processes,
innovate products and services, reduce operating costs, and improve business
management aimed at transforming their internal structures into better achieving
organizations. The adoption and usage of ICT is usually accompanied by rede-
signing the business processes and changes in the organizational structure.
Empirical evidence and academic literature have widely shown that the effective
implementation of new ICT is one of the most challenging tasks faced by managers,
Introducing and Discussing Information and Technology Management … 3

since it requires people to understand, absorb and adapt to the new requirements [9,
10]. Managers often consider the implementation and adoption of ICTs as a way for
promoting and realizing organizational and managerial changes [11–14]. However,
organizational change does not only arise from ICT adoption and usage, but also
depends upon a combination of technical and social influences which cannot always
be controlled [15, 16]. Indeed, the success or failure of ICT implementation and
adoption are mediated by a number of factors, many of which require an in-depth
understanding of the organizational context and human behaviour [10, 17–21].
This part of the volume has 10 contributions aimed at exploring the interplays
between ICT, organizational innovation and organizational change, by using dif-
ferent methodologies, theories and approaches. These researches stress the role of
ICT, discussing the limiting and encouraging factors in technology adoption and
usage and the effects of such technology on organizations arising from the inter-
action with human choices and institutional properties.
Spagnoli, Bellini, and Ghi’s paper aims to develop a methodology for evaluating
the economic, social, legal and environmental impacts of a cloud computing ini-
tiatives in the Italian PA and, in particular, in the Ministry of the Economic
Development.
Castelnovo, Sorrentino, and De Marco explore a new e-government initiative in
Italy, named municipal One-Stop Business Shops (SUAPs), developed and laun-
ched by Italian legislator in 1998 for simplifying government relations with busi-
ness and industry.
Spinelli analyzes the literature on IT adoption in SMEs and combines per-
spectives from various research streams in order to identify its determinants—
barriers and incentives. The paper explores well-established research areas and aims
at highlighting links which are underdeveloped or ignored, and provides directions
for future research.
Marchegiani and Rossi’s paper also explores the interplay between technology
and organizational change, but focusing on the effects of recent technological
innovations on the valorization of cultural heritage. This research is aimed at
identifying the sense-making that each actor confers to the technological innova-
tions, and its impact on cultural heritage valorization.
Zardini, Rossignoli and Campedelli, instead, explore the interplay between ICT
and organization within a peculiar sector of Italian PA, such as the healthcare
sector. Using the Zaharia and colleagues framework, the study investigates the
impacts of Electronic Medical Record’s (EMR) implementation in an Italian uni-
versity hospital.
Ennas, Marras and Di Guardo investigate the trends in microprocessor market in
order to understand if competition between rival technologies can be reopened after
a dominant paradigm occurs. The results show the existence of a non-conventional
S-curve trend.
Depaoli, Resca, De Marco and Rossignoli aim to assess Claudio Ciborra’s
legacy of Information Systems Studies and Organizational Studies. Comparing
Ciborra’s seminal work, ‘The Labyrinths of Information’, with papers published in
4 C. Rossignoli et al.

four top IS journals, the research shows that Ciborra’s thinking contributed to the
swing toward a more praxis-oriented attitude in the IS discipline.
Based on the social innovation literature, and digital social innovation in par-
ticular, Passani, Spagnoli, Bellini, Prampolini and Firus’s paper analyzes the social,
economic, political and environmental impacts of the Collective Awareness
Platform for Sustainability (CAPS) by using an ad hoc methodology, such as
IA4SI, developed for assessing the projects related to digital social innovations.
Pozzi, Pigni, Vitari, Buonanno, and Raguseo conduct a literature review on the
business model studies in the IS discipline. Using an electronic search, the paper
provides an overview of business model studies in IS field, highlighting the main
research streams and limitations.
Finally, using a case-study method, the paper of Makhlouf and Allal-Cherif
explores the consequences of simultaneous implementation of different process
approaches in Telkom. The research is aimed at analyzing the contributions of the
implementation of these approaches and problems resulting concerning governance,
agility and strategic flexibility.

2 Part II: ICT and Knowledge Management

This section explores the relationship between ICT and knowledge management.
The aim is to investigate how individuals, groups and organizations manage
information and knowledge and which technologies enable them to run this process
more efficiently.
The literature has widely recognized knowledge as a strategic asset for organi-
zational growth and sustained competitive advantage [9, 22–26]. Nowadays,
organizations view knowledge as a crucial resource, a key for survival and success
mainly due to high competition and increasingly dynamic environments. Unlike
before, the business complexity and the growth in information volume, velocity,
and variety have significantly increased the difficulties for individuals in managing
knowledge activities within organizational settings [9, 27]. People need advanced
effective methods and tools to take advantage of the ways that knowledge is
acquired and exploited within organizations [28, 29]. In order to face knowledge
management issues, software houses and vendors have designed various platforms
enabling organizations to develop, share and access huge quantities of available
resources from internal and external sources [30]. Recently, organizations are often
looking for new ways and tools to acquire knowledge from outside [31, 32].
Communities of practice and cloud, social and mobile platforms are some examples
[33–35].
This part of the volume has 10 contributions aimed at exploring the interplays
between information, technology, and knowledge management. Using different
methodologies, theories and approaches, these researches stress the different con-
cepts and meanings of information and knowledge, discussing the role of various
Introducing and Discussing Information and Technology Management … 5

platforms in creating, sharing and storing knowledge within an organization and

between organizations.
Marzo and Braccini’s paper aims at investigating the behavioural differences
between digital natives and digital immigrants in terms of trust and control. This
research designs an experiment based empirical study that might highlight potential
differences in trust and control dynamics between digital natives and immigrants. It
provides an insight into psychological aspects whose dynamics might influence
individuals’ behavior in teams.
Caporarello, Magni and Pennarola explore the interplay between ICT and
learning within the education sector. The paper investigates the support factors
influencing tablet-mediated learning effectiveness by stressing the role of ‘Support
Activities’ in determining it.
Abbate and Cesaroni focus on the crucial role of information within academic
spin-off companies. Using an explorative qualitative analysis, the paper explores
how academic spin-off companies generate and disseminate useful market infor-
mation within their organizational boundaries. Findings show the relevance of the
activities of generation, dissemination and integration of market information for
academic spin-off companies.
Ambrosino and Sciomachen’s paper explores product flows within the
multi-channel distribution network with the aim of minimizing logistic costs. It
describes and compares different inventory management policies and presents a
two-phase procedure aiming at integrating, in the same framework, inventory and
distribution functions thanks to information sharing.
Dameri, Garelli and Resta’s paper explores the relationships between informa-
tion, technology and organizations. The paper focuses on the unsupervised neural
networks (NN) for analysing data regarding business performance at infra-city
level. A micro-territorial dash-board based the unsupervised neural networks for
collecting business performance data and thus for supporting small territory
development policies was developed and tested in the Municipality of Genoa.
Delibes Rodriguez and Hart’s paper focuses on the Pre-emptive Customer
Experience Management Systems, tools designed for collecting the customer
experience data through network experience survey. This research explores how
those systems are designed and implemented and how they should be, and what
their benefits are for mobile broadband communication.
Ficco and Rak address their research on the topic of cloud computing, focusing
on the threats arising from cyber attacks, and ‘Economic Denial of Sustainability’
(EDoS) in particular, against cloud applications. The paper proposes an approach to
mitigate economic effects of EDoS attacks against cloud applications.
Like the Ficco and Rak research, Amato, Di Martino, Xhafa, and Venticinque’s
paper also investigates the cloud computing paradigm, but by focusing on the
different techniques and tools that support users in decision making. Using the
combination of the Grid and Cloud paradigms, it proposes a methodology that
provides the flexibility of Cloud Computing avoiding the need for users to learn
new resource access.
6 C. Rossignoli et al.

Raguseo, Vitari and Pozzi, instead, explore the relationship between ICT and
knowledge management, focusing on a peculiar platform for generating and cap-
turing data natively in digital form, integrating this data in the appropriate business
processes, and effectively managing data once produced. In particular, this research
investigates whether the development of the Digital Data Genesis dynamic capa-
bility in firms leads to valuable outputs in terms of data quality and data
accessibility.
Finally, Rocchi, Spagnoletti and Datta investigate digital platforms with par-
ticular reference to their maintenance process from the perspective of the software
vendor. The paper aims to explore the digital platform evolution processes in order
to identify new methods for guiding the emergence of complex socio-technical
systems.

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 Part I
ICT, Organizational Innovation
and Change
A Methodology for the Impact Assessment
of a g-Cloud Strategy for the Italian
Ministry of the Economic Development

Francesca Spagnoli, Francesco Bellini and Alessandra Ghi

Abstract The paper has the objective to provide a methodology for the
socio-economic, technological and environmental impact assessment of a Cloud
Computing strategy for the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development and
more specific at the service of the Department for Communications. In order to
develop a detailed and tailored model for implementing the g-Cloud strategy, we
analyse the current services and functions performed by the Department for
Communications of the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development, showing
the current ways of managing information flows within and outside the adminis-
tration. Starting from the available background analysis on the current state of the
art of the adoption of g-Cloud services in Europe and USA, we provide assump-
tions and hypotheses for the definition of the g-Cloud Strategy. We then compare
the requirements provided by the General Directorates of the Department for
Communications of the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development in order to
validate the hypotheses previously defined. By reviewing the approaches for the
impact assessment available from literature review, we define the best effective
methodology for assessing the potential impacts of g-Cloud strategies. The meth-
odology considers four areas of impact: economic, social, legal and environmental
impacts. For each area of impact we identify specific indicators for the assessment
of efficiency and effectiveness of Cloud Computing initiatives in the Italian PA that
have been validated by a set of Cloud Computing experts.

Keywords g-Cloud computing

Impact assessment
Methodology
Italian
Ministry of the Economic Development

F. Spagnoli (&)
F. Bellini
A. Ghi

Università Degli Studi Di Roma La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
e-mail: francesca.spagnoli@uniroma1.it
F. Bellini
e-mail: francesco.bellini@uniroma1.it
A. Ghi
e-mail: alessandra.ghi@uniroma1.it

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 11

C. Rossignoli et al. (eds.), Organizational Innovation and Change,
Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation 13,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-22921-8_2
12 F. Spagnoli et al.

1 Analysis of g-Cloud State of the Art in Europe, in Italy

and in the U.S.A

1.1 European Cloud Strategies for the Public

Administration

The European Economic and Social Committee, on January 20, 2011, decided to
draw up an opinion on the subject: “Cloud Computing in Europe” [1], in accor-
dance with art. 29, paragraph 2 of the Rules of Procedures. Based on Europe 2020
strategy [2], and in particular on the Digital Agenda, the European Economic and
Social Committee (EESC) primarily aimed to gather and share experiences
developed by stakeholders and the market in the Cloud Computing field. The
opinion had also the objective of formulating a series of recommendations to
encourage Europe to position itself at the head of this promising field, with the help
of leading companies. The opinion highlighted potential economic benefits and
weaknesses of the Cloud Computing technologies, which are mainly due to a lack
of maturity. With reference to the economic model of Cloud infrastructures, the
Economic and Social Committee supported the following elements as the most
relevant for the full development of the economic model: a larger number of
potential users, the sharing and optimization of resources, the users mobility, the
easy, flexible and transparent integration of the technical components, the distri-
bution of costs throughout the complete life cycle of the technology, the focus on
the core business and the growth opportunities offered by the creation of new fields
of activity. Instead, at European level, the weaknesses of Cloud technologies are
mostly related to the lack of a core governance structure, the multiplicity of reg-
ulations, the lack of reference points to support the users to evaluate the potential
risks, the fragility and the saturation of internet and servers, the risks related to
outsourcing and relocation of data and processes in other countries with a different
legal system, the complexity of the contracts available. However, the European
Union understands the importance of Cloud Computing strategies in order to
operate on a promising and strategic market. With specific reference to the adoption
of Cloud Computing in the Public Administration, the Committee states that these
technologies are fully legitimized in the general austerity context, as they do not
require huge initial capital investments. Furthermore, public investments could
generate a leverage effect by encouraging private national and European telecom-
munications operators to invest in Cloud Computing technologies.

1.2 U.S.A g-Cloud Strategy

Vivek Kundra, CIO of the US Government, is the creator of the Federal Cloud
turning point [3], a first step for the technological modernization process that will
generate greater efficiency and transparency on the US government. Kundra is the
A Methodology for the Impact Assessment of a g-Cloud Strategy … 13

head of strategic IT investments plans with a federal budget of over $70 million/
year. Hence, the US government stands as the largest buyer of technology in the
world. The US Government has developed a “Federal Cloud Computing Strategy”
on 8 February 2011 with the aim to provide guidance to federal agencies on
complying with the Cloud first strategy. The choice to turn to Cloud Computing
technologies has been strongly supported by Obama, in order to reduce the gov-
ernment operation costs and make it safer, open and flexible. The expected number
of IT services that will migrate to the Cloud are about $20 billion out of $80 billion
broken down by individual agency, mainly based on private Cloud deployments.
The decision framework for the migration of the US Government to Cloud tech-
nologies is based on three processes: selection, to analyse and identify the IT
services to move and the time; provision to aggregate the demand, ensure inter-
operability and integration with IT portfolio, provide security contracts, repurpose
legacy assets and redeploy freed resources; management, to shift IT mindset from
assets to services, build new skill sets, monitor the compliance of the provider with
SLAs and re-evaluate vendor and service models.
Within these processes, Kundra has first identified the IT operations that had not
produced relevant results, to redirect $25 million to more profitable activities. The
Cloud transformation has not only affected the technologies, but also the cultural
and organizational processes of the US government. The processes started by the
US government arise coherently in the broader dematerialization strategy and
encourages the creation of new service delivery models. Within this context, it will
be developed the Data.gov site that will gather and make available the information
of the US government. Actually, the US government budget for the migration to
Cloud Computing technologies is of $19 billion dollars. The US Government Cloud
Computing strategy is aimed at changing how the institution thinks.

1.3 Italian Cloud Initiatives for the Public Sector

According to the Global Cloud Computing Scorecard [4] developed by the Business
Software Alliance, which drafted a global ranking of countries prepared to deploy
and use Cloud technologies, Italy is third in Europe and sixth in the World. In the
first positions of the Global Cloud Computing Scorecard are Japan, USA, France,
Germany and Australia. The research was based on several indicators, mainly related
to the quality of infrastructures and effectiveness of the Italian legislations in terms of
Cloud Computing cybercrime and privacy security. A negative element of the Italian
government for the full adoption of Cloud Computing technologies is constituted by
the slow bureaucracy, for instance legislation on the digital signature while is in line
with the international standards, often encountering problems in its application.
Unfortunately, in terms of adoption of Cloud Computing technologies for the Public
Administration, we have no positive data. Indeed, Italy is in delay in adopting
infrastructures, platforms and applications residing on the network, rather than on
corporate servers. In addition to the physiological delay related to the decision, there
14 F. Spagnoli et al.

is also the lack of a central governance. Compared with the growing attention that the
US federal government is devoting to the optimization of technological resources,
and the adoption of Cloud Computing technologies in Northern Europe, in Italy we
are far behind. The Italian Cloud and ICT as a Service Observatory of the
Polytechnic Institute of Milan [5] analysed since 3 years ago the evolution of Cloud
Computing in Italy through an empirical ad hoc research involving 35 Public
Administration, in-house companies validated the results of the surveys. According
to the Observatory, the Cloud infrastructure could be very useful for the Italian
Government in order to reduce costs and the inefficiencies of the current systems to
move to a new IT paradigm, to lower the critical mass of investments and skills
required, also allowing the smaller Governments to access and benefit from a
widespread digitisation. However, the analysis of the current technological situation
of the Italian Government shows a fragmented infrastructure that is inefficiently
handled. Looking at the current Data Center scenario, an important source of cost
and complexity is involved in managing the IT infrastructure, as the central
Government has 1033 Data Centers, plus 3000 Data Centers of local Governments.
The hardware of these Data Centers is managed unevenly and is used only for a
fraction, with an use of the virtualisation techniques only for a 25 % of its potential.
Consequently, the IT spending, although not high in absolute terms, is inefficient and
is hiding management costs approximately per 1 billion euro a year in human
resources management and the energy expenditure is estimated at 270–300 million
euro. According to the Italian Observatory, by following a rationalisation scenario
and considering these three main aspects, in five years, the Italian Government could
achieve a saving of 3.7 billion euro. Moreover, if the local Governments will start to
use the virtualisation techniques more widely, they will overcome the 1 server—
1 application paradigm and benefits could grow to 5.6 billion euro. The process of
rationalisation of resources through the Cloud infrastructure will require a set of
actions, including the most important that is the rationalisation of the infrastructure
(Data Centers) to guarantee medium-term returns easy to quantify, removing the
scepticism and pushing the Governmental actors to action. However in Italy, during
the 2012, several positive initiatives were initiated for the adoption of g-Cloud
infrastructures. For instance, one best practice is related to the Health sector, where
the debate is more active. Indeed, several Local Health Authorities (ASL) tested
online payments solutions and are adopted Cloud technologies (ULSS of Asolo).

2 Services and Functionalities of the Department

for Communications of the Italian Ministry
of the Economic Development

In order to correctly analyse the services and functionalities of the Department for
Communications it is required to identify the different organization charts of the
Department, which is constituted by 3 General Directorates, the Institute of
A Methodology for the Impact Assessment of a g-Cloud Strategy … 15

Communications and Information Technology (ISCOM), 16 Territorial

Inspectorates of the Ministry of the Economic Development (Abruzzo e Molise,
Calabria, Campania, Emilia Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria,
Lombardia, Marche e Umbria, Piemonte e Valle D’Aosta, Puglia e Basilicata,
Sardegna, Sicilia, Toscana, Trentino—Alto Adige, Veneto) and the Staff Offices of
the Head Department. A detailed description of activities developed by the 3
General Directorates and the High Institute of Communications and Information
Technology (ISCOM) is required in order to identify the services provided.

2.1 General Directorate for Electronic Communication

Services and Broadcasting

The General Directorate for electronic communication services and broadcasting is

mainly aimed at granting authorizations for the sound and television system, and
more generally for all electronic communications services acquiring royalties
relating to concessions, providing grants to support publishing, monitoring on
progress obligations in the electronic communications sector and in particular of the
RAI contract service, controlling premium rate services, participating in the work of
national and international organisations, as well as the formulation of legislative
and regulatory proposals in the field of communications.

2.2 General Directorate for Planning and Management

of the Radio Spectrum

The General Directorate for planning and management of the radio spectrum is
aimed at allocating frequency band to the different radio-electrical companies,
managing the allocation of frequencies to station of different services, protecting
duly authorized services through the monitoring and control of the radio spectrum.
The Directorate manages the radio spectrum through a coordination and technical
assistance process for the resolution of specific problems with the collaboration of
the Regional Inspectorates and the National Center for the control of radio fre-
quency emissions, that is a body set up within the International Telecommunicaton
Union in the field of Communications.

2.3 General Directorate for the Regulation of the Postal

Sector

The General Directorate for the regulation of the postal sector establishes the
conditions, prices and tariffs of services, defines the quality level of the postal
16 F. Spagnoli et al.

service and verifies the compliance of Poste Italiane spa, responsible for the pro-
vision of the service, applying penalties for breaches. This Directorate also sets the
“Program Contract” with Poste Italiane spa. in order to regulate the relationship
between the parties, ensures the compliance with the obligations of the service
provision and participates in the work of international and European organisations.

2.4 Institute of Communications and Information

Technology (ISCOM)

The Institute of Communications and Information Technology (ISCOM) is taking

care of the experimentation and research, technical support to companies, institu-
tions and citizens through the testing of activities, data and network security, check
for ICT services quality, training, specialisation and dissemination in the field
of electronic communication, regulation and standardisation. The School of
Specialisation in Telecommunications is also part of the Institute of
Communications and Information Technology.

3 A Model for Assessing the Impact of Cloud

in the Italian PA

According to the commonly agreed approach [6], the methodology for the impact
measurement we are proposing, is focusing on the inputs, outputs, outcomes and
impacts approach, where:
• Inputs are the investments made in, or the resources required to produce a
product or develop/undertake an activity.
• Outputs are the products or services provided (e.g. number of services created,
papers published, events held, etc.).
• Outcomes are the immediate changes resulting from an activity—these can be
intentional or unintentional, positive or negative (e.g. employment, increased
usability and personalisation).
• Impacts are the net difference made by an activity after the outputs interact with
society and the economy (e.g. higher and easier access to cloud services in new
member countries leading to the increment of local human resources) (Tables 1,
2 and 3).
The methodology presented in this chapter is based on a quali-quantitative
approach to impact assessment and builds on the principles of the Cost-Benefit
analysis [7, 8] and of the Multi-Criteria analysis [9]. These two methods are seen as
complementary to one another, as they help framing both impacts that can be
represented in a monetary form, as well as impacts that are better described in
A Methodology for the Impact Assessment of a g-Cloud Strategy … 17

Table 1 Economic impact Economic indicators

indicators
Improve service/product/system quality
Reach more users
Improve the access to large amounts of data. Improve the
possibility to exploit large amounts of data (more efficient data
analysis)
More efficient data exchange
Improve scalability
Improve reliability
Improve recoverability
Improve portability
Reduce the time needed to deliver a service
Ability to better target users/beneficiaries’ needs
Reduce hardware costs
Reduce connectivity costs
Reduce maintenance cost
Lower software development costs
Cost reduction due to increment in software reusability
Cost reduction due to improvement of test-deploy-rework cycle
management
Cost reduction due to less process break/system failure
Cost reduction due to energy saving
Indicators of cloud ROI cost ratios
Availability performance compared to current service levels
CAPEX cost on premise ownership versus cloud
OPEX cost for on-premise ownership versus cloud
Cost effective cloud workload utilization
Percentage of IT asset workloads using cloud
Indicators of cloud ROI profitability
Rate of new product market acquisition
Indicators of cloud ROI saving models
Rate of time change of TCO reduction by cloud adoption
Rate of cost change of TCO reduction by cloud adoption
Increase in provisioning speed
License cost reduction from cloud adoption
Indicators of “perceived efficiency”
Content retrieving time-saving
Time savings accessing or using the service

non-monetary terms (such as social or technological impacts). The combination of

the two methods enables us to not only consider a wide spectrum of impacts, but
also to combine variables that need to be expressed in different ways. The meth-
odology considers four areas of impact: Economic, Social, Legal and
18 F. Spagnoli et al.

Table 2 Legal impact Indicators of “legal offered efficiency”

indicators
Improve transparency level of the conditions for the provision
of the cloud services
Improve fairness of the conditions for the provision of the cloud
services
Ensure security of personal data
Ensure fair collection of personal data
Ensure fair processing of personal data
Ensure fair transfer of personal data
Ensure confidentiality of PA data
Assume liability for loss of data
Assume liability for failure to provide the cloud services
Assume liability for defective provision of the cloud services
Minimize violations of IPRs
Frequency of defective responses (SLA response error rate)
Indicators of l legal “perceived efficiency”
Transparency of conditions of use of the cloud services
Fairness of conditions of use of the cloud services
Easy procedures for accessing personal data by data subjects
User friendly procedures for exercising rights by data subjects
Notice-and-take down procedures to notify violations of IPRs

Environmental. For each area of impact we identify specific indicators to be vali-

dated by the experts in the next chapters for the assessment of Cloud Computing
initiatives in the Italian PA. The process for the development of the methodology
for assessing of the socio-economic, environmental and legal Impact of the Cloud
Computing model for the Italian Public Administration is based on 4 steps:
1. Background analysis and literature review.
2. Definition of impact indicators.
3. Validation by a set of experts of the impact indicators.
4. Testing of the methodology on current available initiatives in the Italian PA.
With reference to the efficiency, we identified some indicators to be measured
quantitatively and to be further expressed in monetary terms. The assessment of the
efficiency will be made in two different ways and using two different viewpoints:
the first, will be called “offered efficiency” and will be calculated by analysing
the technological advances brought by the Cloud Computing infrastructures. The
second, will be called “perceived efficiency” and will be calculated by asking the
stakeholders and end-users to describe which are the benefits they experience by
using the service/product offered by the PA through Cloud Computing infrastruc-
tures. Starting from the literature review and the previous considerations, we
identified the following list of indicators for assessing the social, economic, legal
and environmental impacts of Cloud Computing initiatives/projects in the
A Methodology for the Impact Assessment of a g-Cloud Strategy … 19

Table 3 Technical SOA Technical Indicators

impact indicators
Robustness: any system must be capable of withstanding errors
which should not affect system stability
Security and confidentiality
Extensibility: the system must allow support for a variable
number of users
Integration: the system must have the ability to communicate
with other systems that they supported SOA
Management and provisioning: the system must ensure its
management and monitoring of implemented services.
Based on open standards
Interoperability: the ability of a system or product has to work
with other systems or products without special effort
Portability: it is possible that the application may be available
on all machines regardless of the system architecture
Availability: to be freely available or that it is ready for use or
used
Persistent: ensure the ability to store information of the system
to return to the previous or retrieve information
On time: the response of the system should be given within an
appropriate timeframe
Reliable or deterministic: the system should give the same result
while making a deal with the same operators
Transactional: the system should be able to return to its state
before the transaction started
Modifiability: is about the ease with which a change can be
made to application architecture.
Support for extended web services protocols like
decentralization, security, flexibility, ubiquity or extensibility

Italian PA. Below in the following tables we provide a list of indicators that could
be used in assessing outputs efficiency (Tables 4 and 5).
Once the indicators are defined for measuring the impacts of the identified
assessment categories, the third assessment step consists in measuring the related
costs and benefits. In consistence with the principles of cost-benefit analysis, the
evaluation of the benefits generated by a project/strategy may be evaluated by
identifying the willingness that the society has to pay for obtaining that positive
impact. The final assessment of a project/strategy efficiency, will be made by using
the following indicators:
• Economic net present value (ENPV*) perceived: the difference between the
discounted total economic benefits and costs. The benefits will be evaluated as
(1) the total willingness to pay of the users (i.e. the average willingness to pay of
the users multiplied for the total number of users), (2) the average time savings
(in hours) per user multiplied for the average hourly salary of
20 F. Spagnoli et al.

Table 4 Environmental Environmental impact indicators

impact indicators
User count: number of provisioned users for a given application
Server count: number of production servers to operate a given
application
Device utilization: computational load that a device (server,
network device or storage array) is handling relative to the
specified peak load
Power consumption per server: average power consumed by a
server
Power consumption for networking and storage: average power
consumed for networking and storage equipment in addition to
server power consumption
Data center power usage effectiveness (PUE): defined as the
ratio of the total data center power consumption divided by the
power consumption of the IT equipment.
Data center carbon intensity: amount of carbon emitted to
generate the energy consumed by a data center, depending on
the mix of primary energy sources (coal, hydro, nuclear, wind,
etc.) and transmission losses.

researchers/workers/users multiplied for the total number of users. The costs

corresponds to the total budget of the project.
• B/C* ratio perceived, i.e. the ratio between discounted economic benefits and
costs (as above).
• WTP/C* the Willingness to Pay is evaluated by the stakeholders and end-users
and it is compared to the costs of the project. The Willingness to Pay of the user
indicates how much a user is willing to pay for that service. If the total
Willingness to Pay (WTP) calculated by multiplying the average declared by the
users to the number of total users indicated in the project scenario) is greater
than the cost of the project, i.e. the ratio WTP/C* > 1, it means that the services
can be commercially sold on the market or however he can assess the mar-
ketability of this service. Otherwise, WTP/C* < 1 means that most likely the
project can sell such a service and so it would be necessary to investigate any
alternative business models or at least think about mixed business models
(finance and marketing).

3.1 Results from the Interviews with the Experts of Cloud

Computing for the Italian Public Administration

During a first round of interviews with a set of experts, the indicators previously
mentioned were validated and consistently reduced, in order to provide to a second
group of experts, only the indicators that can be effectively relevant for the analysis
A Methodology for the Impact Assessment of a g-Cloud Strategy … 21

Table 5 Social impact Social impact indicators

indicators
Changes in the volume of digitally available cloud resources
No. of services offering customisable access to content
Composite index of usability
Composite index of personalization
Composite index of expected impacts on improvements in way
citizens experience PA online services
Support knowledge transfer
Make available high-quality knowledge/information to citizens
Support democratic processes/democratization
Enable diversity and individual expression
Make highly innovative services available to citizens
Develop services that will positively impact on citizens’
everyday life
Reduce the digital divide
Flexibility for personalisation on a large scale/high interface
adaptability
Reduce the work of the users (more operations will be
automated)
Improve the way in which users communicate and collaborate
with each other (the quality of the collaboration)/facilitate social
interaction
Improve trust among PA target users
Improve citizens’ trust in public administration
Support network creation/collaboration of enterprises working
for the PA
Support network creation/collaboration among citizens

of a g-Cloud strategy for the Italian PA. Interviews were conducted with fourteen
major experts in the Cloud Computing field for the Italian PA to explore the Cloud
possible adoption process and outcomes for the Italian Public Administration. The
open-ended interviews are one of the approaches used among researchers, and an
increasing number of researchers are using multi-methodology approaches to
achieve broader and often better results. Interviewing is currently undergoing not
only a methodological change but a much deeper one, related to self and other [10].
We have structured each interview on six open-ended questions. The experts have
been selected according to their experience and knowledge of national and inter-
national experiences of Cloud Computing services adoption both in private and
public sectors, so they can effectively provide for a real and correct analysis. The
interviews were conducted in different ways: on skype, face-to-face, by phone and
by e-mail. In this paragraph we will focus on the analysis of the results of the six
open-ended questions, presented in a single section. The experts were invited to
express an opinion in terms of assessment of the benefits and legal issues, mana-
gerial and operational impacts of Cloud strategies for the Italian PA. With regard to
22 F. Spagnoli et al.

the first question, about the possibility of Cloud Computing to be a winning

resource from an economic, operational and social point of view in the future of the
Italian PA, all the experts answered affirmatively, pointing out a reduction in
operating costs, especially in the short term on the condition of setting real effective
implementation of Cloud strategies aimed at the control of process and data
security. With reference to the second question, about the real and effective benefits
of Cloud Computing for the Italian PA, experts have pointed out the relevance of
cost reduction, as incurred for the effective use, the accessibility to all, the platform
standardization, the increased data security and the continuous monitoring and
improvement of the overall processes of service delivery to users. The third
question was related to the possibility of a Cloud infrastructure to increase the legal
and personal data management issues of citizens using the Public Administration
services and focus on the measures that may be adopted to reduce such risks. All the
experts have highlighted that the localization of the Cloud issues and the protective
measures to be taken could improve the adoption of a specific legislation relating to
data protection and the use of structuring agreements between the cloud services
provider and the Public Administration, to protect the privacy. With reference to the
fourth question, about the possibility of Cloud Computing to increase the opera-
tional risks (e.g., disaster recovery) of the Italian PA and what measures could be
adopted, most of the experts answered negatively. However, experts have said that
any hypothetical operational risks arising from the high levels of integration are
waged through distributed cloud architecture, using a modeling approach to the
Cloud for the provision of common services, also highlighting the importance of
service delivery contracts and the contractors professional skills. With regard to the
fifth question, about the possibility for the Italian PA to adopt a Cloud strategy in a
short time, there is an uncertainty among experts. They have answered that although
the intention of adopting Cloud Computing in Italian PA exists, however the current
regulatory, contractual barriers and economic barriers (such as the shift of costs
from capital costs to operating costs), and the transition costs on the expiry of the
contractual delivery of IT services, every 3–5 years are slowing its adoption in the
PA. With reference to the sixth question, on which typology of Cloud infrastructure
to implement, if centralized or not, the experts have suggested the possibility for the
government to manage a unified and centralized cloud, based on a distributed
private infrastructure. Other assumptions made by the experts concerned the future
convergence of different private Clouds into a single public Cloud, or the creation
of a network of regional data centers on which to consolidate the municipalities data
centers, also implementing cooperation policies with private Cloud service pro-
viders. The “Community” Cloud model based on the sharing of resources and
services could be a model for the future.
A Methodology for the Impact Assessment of a g-Cloud Strategy … 23

3.2 Results from the Validation of the Indicators

Through an Online Survey

The survey was developed through a web platform called www.surveygizmo.com

and was online from the 2nd of June until the 14th of July. The survey has been sent
by email to the major experts in the Cloud Computing field for the Italian Public
Administration. It was really difficult to identify experts of Cloud Computing
infrastructures for the Italian PA, for this reason we decided to focus our research
only on experts that could effectively provide real and correct analysis of the
indicators. The questionnaire has been sent to more of 20 experts in the field and
was included in the ANCITEL web news at the following link http://portale.ancitel.
it/evidenza.cfm?i=686. The survey was composed of sixteen questions, of which
two questions were related to general information, six questions were open ques-
tions (the same included in the interviews) and eight questions were closed ques-
tions proposed as a Likert scale (1–5), focusing on the validation of the potential
indicators for evaluating an Italian g-Cloud strategy. In this paragraph wefocus on
the analysis of the results of the 8 closed questions. For this analysis we considered
the values that achieved 4 or more than 4 in the survey. According to the experts,
with reference to the economic indicators, the main benefits for the Italian PA were
related to: improving the quality of products/services/systems, reducing the time
needed to develop a product/service, improving scalability, practices for data
exchange, reliability and performance in comparison to the current levels of service.
In terms of costs indicators for the Italian PA, the Cloud Computing infrastructures
can reduce costs due to energy savings, maintenance and hardware costs. With
reference to the relevance of efficiency indicators perceived by the users of the PA,
the experts supported that the most relevant indicators for the Italian g-Cloud
strategy are the reduction of the time required for the storage of digital data and the
time required for data recovery. In terms of offered efficiency related to legal issues,
the experts stated that the most relevant indicators are: the ability to ensure the
proper rescue and transfer of personal data and the availability of the error rate of
responses (SLA). However, less important but still valuable is the need for an
improvement in the fairness of the conditions for the supply of services, for
ensuring the confidentiality of the data of the PA and the unequivocal identification
of the liability part in case of data loss. With reference to the technical indicators
related to a potential Italian g-Cloud, the most relevant are: robustness of the
system, extensibility of the system, management and monitoring of implemented
services, availability of the system, ability to provide answers quickly, reliability of
the system and transactional system. The experts sustained that a Cloud Computing
infrastructure for the Italian PA will not have a huge relevance in terms of social
impacts, the only indicator relevant for this specific analysis is the one who eval-
uated the ability of a g-Cloud infrastructure to offer more innovative services that
can positively impact on the lives of the Italian citizens. In terms of environmental
impacts, the experts supported that this field is very relevant for an Italian g-Cloud
strategies, as these infrastructures can really develop relevant environmental
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They saw Harry Goldweiser coming towards them across the big
walnut paneled room. She suddenly raised her voice. “They say that
this battle of the Marne is going to end the war.”
Harry Goldweiser took her hand between his two pudgy-palmed
hands and bowed over it. “It’s very charming of you Elaine to come
and keep a lot of old midsummer bachelors from boring each other
to death. Hello Snow old man, how’s things?”
“Yes how is it we have the pleasure of still finding you here?”
“Oh various things have held me.... Anyway I hate summer
resorts.” “Nowhere prettier than Long Beach anyway.... Why Bar
Harbor, I wouldnt go to Bar Harbor if you gave me a million ... a cool
million.”
Mr. Snow let out a gruff sniff. “Seems to me I’ve heard you been
going into the realestate game down there, Goldweiser.”
“I bought myself a cottage that’s all. It’s amazing you cant even
buy yourself a cottage without every newsboy on Times Square
knowing about it. Let’s go in and eat; my sister’ll be right here.” A
dumpy woman in a spangled dress came in after they had sat down
to table in the big antlerhung diningroom; she was pigeonbreasted
and had a sallow skin.
“Oh Miss Oglethorpe I’m so glad to see you,” she twittered in a
little voice like a parrakeet’s. “I’ve often seen you and thought you
were the loveliest thing.... I did my best to get Harry to bring you up
to see me.”
“This is my sister Rachel,” said Goldweiser to Ellen without getting
up. “She keeps house for me.”
“I wish you’d help me, Snow, to induce Miss Oglethorpe to take
that part in The Zinnia Girl.... Honest it was just written for you.”
“But it’s such a small part ...”
“It’s not a lead exactly, but from the point of view of your
reputation as a versatile and exquisite artist, it’s the best thing in the
show.”
“Will you have a little more fish, Miss Oglethorpe?” piped Miss
Goldweiser.
Mr. Snow sniffed. “There’s no great acting any more: Booth,
Jefferson, Mansfield ... all gone. Nowadays it’s all advertising; actors
and actresses are put on the market like patent medicines. Isn’t it the
truth Elaine?... Advertising, advertising.”
“But that isn’t what makes success.... If you could do it with
advertising every producer in New York’d be a millionaire,” burst in
Goldweiser. “It’s the mysterious occult force that grips the crowds on
the street and makes them turn in at a particular theater that makes
the receipts go up at a particular boxoffice, do you understand me?
Advertising wont do it, good criticism wont do it, maybe it’s genius
maybe it’s luck but if you can give the public what it wants at that
time and at that place you have a hit. Now that’s what Elaine gave us
in this last show.... She established contact with the audience. It
might have been the greatest play in the world acted by the greatest
actors in the world and fallen a flat failure.... And I dont know how
you do it, nobody dont know how you do it.... You go to bed one
night with your house full of paper and you wake up the next morning
with a howling success. The producer cant control it any more than
the weather man can control the weather. Aint I tellin the truth?”
“Ah the taste of the New York public has sadly degenerated since
the old days of Wallack’s.”
“But there have been some beautiful plays,” chirped Miss
Goldweiser.
The long day love was crisp in the curls ... the dark curls ...
broken in the dark steel light ... hurls ... high O God high into the
bright ... She was cutting with her fork in the crisp white heart of a
lettuce. She was saying words while quite other words spilled
confusedly inside her like a broken package of beads. She sat
looking at a picture of two women and two men eating at a table in a
high paneled room under a shivering crystal chandelier. She looked
up from her plate to find Miss Goldweiser’s little birdeyes kindly
querulous fixed hard on her face.
“Oh yes New York is really pleasanter in midsummer than any
other time; there’s less hurry and bustle.”
“Oh yes that’s quite true Miss Goldweiser.” Ellen flashed a sudden
smile round the table.... All the long day love Was crisp in the curls of
his high thin brow, Flashed in his eyes in dark steel light....
In the taxi Goldweiser’s broad short knees pressed against hers;
his eyes were full of furtive spiderlike industry weaving a warm sweet
choking net about her face and neck. Miss Goldweiser had relapsed
pudgily into the seat beside her. Dick Snow was holding an unlighted
cigar in his mouth, rolling it with his tongue. Ellen tried to remember
exactly how Stan looked, his polevaulter’s tight slenderness; she
couldn’t remember his face entire, she saw his eyes, lips, an ear.
Times Square was full of juggled colored lights, crisscrossed
corrugations of glare. They went up in the elevator at the Astor. Ellen
followed Miss Goldweiser across the roofgarden among the tables.
Men and women in evening dress, in summer muslins and light suits
turned and looked after her, like sticky tendrils of vines glances
caught at her as she passed. The orchestra was playing In My
Harem. They arranged themselves at a table.
 “Shall we dance?” asked Goldweiser.
She smiled a wry broken smile in his face as she let him put his
arm round her back. His big ear with solemn lonely hairs on it was on
the level of her eyes.
“Elaine,” he was breathing into her ear, “honest I thought I was a
wise guy.” He caught his breath ... “but I aint.... You’ve got me goin
little girl and I hate to admit it.... Why cant you like me a little bit? I’d
like ... us to get married as soon as you get your decree.... Wouldn’t
you be kinder nice to me once in a while...? I’d do anything for you,
you know that.... There are lots of things in New York I could do for
you ...” The music stopped. They stood apart under a palm. “Elaine
come over to my office and sign that contract. I had Ferrari wait....
We can be back in fifteen minutes.”
“I’ve got to think it over ... I never do anything without sleeping on
it.”
“Gosh you drive a feller wild.”
Suddenly she remembered Stan’s face altogether, he was
standing in front of her with a bow tie crooked in his soft shirt, his
hair rumpled, drinking again.
“Oh Ellie I’m so glad to see you....”
“This is Mr. Emery, Mr. Goldweiser....”
“I’ve been on the most exordinately spectacular trip, honestly you
should have come.... We went to Montreal and Quebec and came
back through Niagara Falls and we never drew a sober breath from
the time we left little old New York till they arrested us for speeding
on the Boston Post Road, did we Pearline?” Ellen was staring at a
girl who stood groggily behind Stan with a small flowered straw hat
pulled down over a pair of eyes the blue of watered milk. “Ellie this is
Pearline.... Isn’t it a fine name? I almost split when she told me what
it was.... But you dont know the joke.... We got so tight in Niagara
Falls that when we came to we found we were married.... And we
have pansies on our marriage license....”
 Ellen couldnt see his face. The orchestra, the jangle of voices, the
clatter of plates spouted spiraling louder and louder about her ...
And the ladies of the harem
Knew exactly how to wear ’em
In O-riental Bagdad long ago....
“Good night Stan.” Her voice was gritty in her mouth, she heard
the words very clearly when she spoke them.
“Oh Ellie I wish you’d come partying with us....”
“Thanks ... thanks.”
She started to dance again with Harry Goldweiser. The
roofgarden was spinning fast, then less fast. The noise ebbed
sickeningly. “Excuse me a minute Harry,” she said. “I’ll come back to
the table.” In the ladies’ room she let herself down carefully on the
plush sofa. She looked at her face in the round mirror of her
vanitycase. From black pinholes her pupils spread blurring till
everything was black.

Jimmy Herf’s legs were tired; he had been walking all afternoon.
He sat down on a bench beside the Aquarium and looked out over
the water. The fresh September wind gave a glint of steel to the little
crisp waves of the harbor and to the slateblue smutted sky. A big
white steamer with a yellow funnel was passing in front of the statue
of Liberty. The smoke from the tug at the bow came out sharply
scalloped like paper. In spite of the encumbering wharfhouses the
end of Manhattan seemed to him like the prow of a barge pushing
slowly and evenly down the harbor. Gulls wheeled and cried. He got
to his feet with a jerk. “Oh hell I’ve got to do something.”
He stood a second with tense muscles balanced on the balls of
his feet. The ragged man looking at the photogravures of a Sunday
paper had a face he had seen before. “Hello,” he said vaguely. “I
knew who you were all along,” said the man without holding out his
hand. “You’re Lily Herf’s boy.... I thought you werent going to speak
to me.... No reason why you should.”
“Oh of course you must be Cousin Joe Harland.... I’m awfully glad
to see you.... I’ve often wondered about you.”
“Wondered what?”
“Oh I dunno ... funny you never think of your relatives as being
people like yourself, do you?” Herf sat down in the seat again. “Will
you have a cigarette.... It’s only a Camel.”
“Well I dont mind if I do.... What’s your business Jimmy? You dont
mind if I call you that do you?” Jimmy Herf lit a match; it went out, lit
another and held it for Harland. “That’s the first tobacco I’ve had in a
week ... Thank you.”
Jimmy glanced at the man beside him. The long hollow of his gray
cheek made a caret with the deep crease that came from the end of
his mouth. “You think I’m pretty much of a wreck dont you?” spat
Harland. “You’re sorry you sat down aint you? You’re sorry you had a
mother who brought you up a gentleman instead of a cad like the
rest of ’em....”
“Why I’ve got a job as a reporter on the Times ... a hellish rotten
job and I’m sick of it,” said Jimmy, drawling out his words.
“Dont talk like that Jimmy, you’re too young.... You’ll never get
anywhere with that attitude.”
“Well suppose I dont want to get anywhere.”
“Poor dear Lily was so proud of you.... She wanted you to be a
great man, she was so ambitious for you.... You dont want to forget
your mother Jimmy. She was the only friend I had in the whole damn
family.”
Jimmy laughed. “I didnt say I wasnt ambitious.”
“For God’s sake, for your dear mother’s sake be careful what you
do. You’re just starting out in life ... everything’ll depend on the next
couple of years. Look at me.”
 “Well the Wizard of Wall Street made a pretty good thing of it I’ll
say.... No it’s just that I dont like to take all the stuff you have to take
from people in this goddam town. I’m sick of playing up to a lot of
desk men I dont respect.... What are you doing Cousin Joe?”
“Don’t ask me....”
“Look, do you see that boat with the red funnels? She’s French.
Look, they are pulling the canvas off the gun on her stern.... I want to
go to the war.... The only trouble is I’m very poor at wrangling
things.”
Harland was gnawing his upper lip; after a silence he burst out in
a hoarse broken voice. “Jimmy I’m going to ask you to do something
for Lily’s sake.... Er ... have you any ... er ... any change with you?
By a rather unfortunate ... coincidence I have not eaten very well for
the last two or three days.... I’m a little weak, do you understand?”
“Why yes I was just going to suggest that we go have a cup of
coffee or tea or something.... I know a fine Syrian restaurant on
Washington street.”
“Come along then,” said Harland, getting up stiffly. “You’re sure
you don’t mind being seen with a scarecrow like this?”
The newspaper fell out of his hand. Jimmy stooped to pick it up. A
face made out of modulated brown blurs gave him a twinge as if
something had touched a nerve in a tooth. No it wasnt, she doesnt
look like that, yes Talented Young Actress Scores Hit in the
Zinnia Girl....
“Thanks, dont bother, I found it there,” said Harland. Jimmy
dropped the paper; she fell face down.
“Pretty rotten photographs they have dont they?”
“It passes the time to look at them, I like to keep up with what’s
going on in New York a little bit.... A cat may look at a king you know,
a cat may look at a king.”
“Oh I just meant that they were badly taken.”
VII. Rollercoaster

T
he leaden twilight weighs on the dry
limbs of an old man walking towards
Broadway. Round the Nedick’s stand at
the corner something clicks in his eyes.
Broken doll in the ranks of varnished
articulated dolls he plods up with drooping
head into the seethe and throb into the
furnace of beaded lettercut light. “I
remember when it was all meadows,” he
grumbles to the little boy.

L
ouis Expresso Association, the red letters on the placard jig
before Stan’s eyes. Annual Dance. Young men and girls going
in. Two by two the elephant And the kangaroo. The boom and
jangle of an orchestra seeping out through the swinging doors of the
hall. Outside it is raining. One more river, O there’s one more river to
cross. He straightens the lapels of his coat, arranges his mouth
soberly, pays two dollars and goes into a big resounding hall hung
with red white and blue bunting. Reeling, so he leans for a while
against the wall. One more river ... The dancefloor full of jogging
couples rolls like the deck of a ship. The bar is more stable. “Gus
McNiel’s here,” everybody’s saying “Good old Gus.” Big hands slap
broad backs, mouths roar black in red faces. Glasses rise and tip
glinting, rise and tip in a dance. A husky beetfaced man with deepset
eyes and curly hair limps through the bar leaning on a stick. “How’s a
boy Gus?”
“Yay dere’s de chief.”
“Good for old man McNiel come at last.”
“Howde do Mr. McNiel?” The bar quiets down.
 Gus McNiel waves his stick in the air. “Attaboy fellers, have a
good time.... Burke ole man set the company up to a drink on me.”
“Dere’s Father Mulvaney wid him too. Good for Father Mulvaney....
He’s a prince that feller is.”
For he’s a jolly good fellow
That nobody can deny ...
Broad backs deferentially hunched follow the slowly pacing group
out among the dancers. O the big baboon by the light of the moon is
combing his auburn hair. “Wont you dance, please?” The girl turns a
white shoulder and walks off.
I am a bachelor and I live all alone
And I work at the weaver’s trade....
Stan finds himself singing at his own face in a mirror. One of his
eyebrows is joining his hair, the other’s an eyelash.... “No I’m not
bejases I’m a married man.... Fight any man who says I’m not a
married man and a citizen of City of New York, County of New York,
State of New York....” He’s standing on a chair making a speech,
banging his fist into his hand. “Friends Roooomans and countrymen,
lend me five bucks.... We come to muzzle Cæsar not to shaaaave
him.... According to the Constitution of the City of New York, County
of New York, State of New York and duly attested and subscribed
before a district attorney according to the provisions of the act of July
13th 1888.... To hell with the Pope.”
“Hey quit dat.” “Fellers lets trow dis guy out.... He aint one o de
boys.... Dunno how he got in here. He’s drunk as a pissant.” Stan
jumps with his eyes closed into a thicket of fists. He’s slammed in the
eye, in the jaw, shoots like out of a gun out into the drizzling cool
silent street. Ha ha ha.
For I am a bachelor and I live all alone
And there’s one more river to cross
One more river to Jordan
One more river to cross ...
It was blowing cold in his face and he was sitting on the front of a
ferryboat when he came to. His teeth were chattering, he was
shivering ... “I’m having DT’s. Who am I? Where am I? City of New
York, State of New York.... Stanwood Emery age twentytwo
occupation student.... Pearline Anderson twentyone occupation
actress. To hell with her. Gosh I’ve got fortynine dollars and eight
cents and where the hell have I been? And nobody rolled me. Why I
havent got the DT’s at all. I feel fine, only a little delicate. All I need’s
a little drink, dont you? Hello, I thought there was somebody here. I
guess I’d better shut up.”
Fortynine dollars ahanging on the wall
Fortynine dollars ahanging on the wall
Across the zinc water the tall walls, the birchlike cluster of
downtown buildings shimmered up the rosy morning like a sound of
horns through a chocolatebrown haze. As the boat drew near the
buildings densened to a granite mountain split with knifecut canyons.
The ferry passed close to a tubby steamer that rode at anchor listing
towards Stan so that he could see all the decks. An Ellis Island tug
was alongside. A stale smell came from the decks packed with
upturned faces like a load of melons. Three gulls wheeled
complaining. A gull soared in a spiral, white wings caught the sun,
the gull skimmed motionless in whitegold light. The rim of the sun
had risen above the plumcolored band of clouds behind East New
York. A million windows flashed with light. A rasp and a humming
came from the city.
The animals went in two by two
The elephant and the kangaroo
There’s one more river to Jordan
One more river to cross
In the whitening light tinfoil gulls wheeled above broken boxes,
spoiled cabbageheads, orangerinds heaving slowly between the
splintered plank walls, the green spumed under the round bow as
the ferry skidding on the tide, gulped the broken water, crashed, slid,
settled slowly into the slip. Handwinches whirled with jingle of chains,
gates folded upward. Stan stepped across the crack, staggered up
the manuresmelling wooden tunnel of the ferryhouse out into the
sunny glass and benches of the Battery. He sat down on a bench,
clasped his hands round his knees to keep them from shaking so.
His mind went on jingling like a mechanical piano.
With bells on her fingers and rings on her toes
Shall ride a white lady upon a great horse
And she shall make mischief wherever she goes ...
There was Babylon and Nineveh, they were built of brick. Athens
was goldmarble columns. Rome was held up on broad arches of
rubble. In Constantinople the minarets flame like great candles round
the Golden Horn.... O there’s one more river to cross. Steel glass,
tile, concrete will be the materials of the skyscrapers. Crammed on
the narrow island the millionwindowed buildings will jut, glittering
pyramid on pyramid, white cloudsheads piled above a thunderstorm
...
And it rained forty days and it rained forty nights
And it didn’t stop till Christmas
And the only man who survived the flood
Was longlegged Jack of the Isthmus....
Kerist I wish I was a skyscraper.

The lock spun round in a circle to keep out the key. Dexterously
Stan bided his time and caught it. He shot headlong through the
open door and down the long hall shouting Pearline into the
livingroom. It smelled funny, Pearline’s smell, to hell with it. He
picked up a chair; the chair wanted to fly, it swung round his head
and crashed into the window, the glass shivered and tinkled. He
looked out through the window. The street stood up on end. A
hookandladder and a fire engine were climbing it licketysplit trailing a
droning sirenshriek. Fire fire, pour on water, Scotland’s burning. A
thousand dollar fire, a hundredthousand dollar fire, a million dollar
fire. Skyscrapers go up like flames, in flames, flames. He spun back
into the room. The table turned a somersault. The chinacloset
jumped on the table. Oak chairs climbed on top to the gas jet. Pour
on water, Scotland’s burning. Don’t like the smell in this place in the
City of New York, County of New York, State of New York. He lay on
his back on the floor of the revolving kitchen and laughed and
laughed. The only man who survived the flood rode a great lady on a
white horse. Up in flames, up, up. Kerosene whispered a
greasyfaced can in the corner of the kitchen. Pour on water. He
stood swaying on the crackling upside down chairs on the upside
down table. The kerosene licked him with a white cold tongue. He
pitched, grabbed the gasjet, the gasjet gave way, he lay in a puddle
on his back striking matches, wet wouldn’t light. A match spluttered,
lit; he held the flame carefully between his hands.

“Oh yes but my husband’s awfully ambitious.” Pearline was telling

the blue gingham lady in the grocery-store. “Likes to have a good
time an all that but he’s much more ambitious than anybody I every
knew. He’s goin to get his old man to send us abroad so he can
study architecture. He wants to be an architect.”
“My that’ll be nice for you wont it? A trip like that ... Anything else
miss?” “No I guess I didn’t forget anythin.... If it was anybody else I’d
be worryin about him. I haven’t seen him for two days. Had to go and
see his dad I guess.”
“And you just newly wed too.”
“I wouldnt be tellin ye if I thought there was anythin wrong, would
I? No he’s playin straight all right.... Well goodby Mrs. Robinson.”
She tucked her packages under one arm and swinging her bead bag
in the free hand walked down the street. The sun was still warm
although there was a tang of fall in the wind. She gave a penny to a
blind man cranking the Merry Widow waltz out of a grindorgan. Still
she’d better bawl him out a little when he came home, might get to
doing it often. She turned into 200th Street. People were looking out
of windows, there was a crowd gathering. It was a fire. She sniffed
the singed air. It gave her gooseflesh; she loved seeing fires. She
hurried. Why it’s outside our building. Outside our apartmenthouse.
Smoke dense as gunnysacks rolled out of the fifthstory window. She
suddenly found herself all atremble. The colored elevatorboy ran up
to her. His face was green. “Oh it’s in our apartment” she shrieked,
“and the furniture just came a week ago. Let me get by.” The
packages fell from her, a bottle of cream broke on the sidewalk. A
policeman stood in her way, she threw herself at him and pounded
on the broad blue chest. She couldnt stop shrieking. “That’s all right
little lady, that’s all right,” he kept booming in a deep voice. As she
beat her head against it she could feel his voice rumbling in his
chest. “They’re bringing him down, just overcome by smoke that’s
all, just overcome by smoke.”
“O Stanwood my husband,” she shrieked. Everything was
blacking out. She grabbed at two bright buttons on the policeman’s
coat and fainted.
VIII. One More River to Jordan

A
man is shouting from a soapbox at
Second Avenue and Houston in front of
the Cosmopolitan Cafè: “... these fellers,
men ... wageslaves like I was ... are sittin on
your chest ... they’re takin the food outen
your mouths. Where’s all the pretty girls I
used to see walkin up and down the
bullevard? Look for em in the uptown
cabarets.... They squeeze us dry friends ...
feller workers, slaves I’d oughter say ... they
take our work and our ideers and our
women.... They build their Plaza Hotels and
their millionaire’s clubs and their million
dollar theayters and their battleships and
what do they leave us?... They leave us
shopsickness an the rickets and a lot of dirty
streets full of garbage cans.... You look pale
you fellers.... You need blood.... Why dont
you get some blood in your veins?... Back in
Russia the poor people ... not so much
poorer’n we are ... believe in wampires,
things come suck your blood at night....
That’s what Capitalism is, a wampire that
sucks your blood ... day ... and ... night.”
It is beginning to snow. The flakes are
giltedged where they pass the streetlamp.
Through the plate glass the Cosmopolitan
Cafè full of blue and green opal rifts of
smoke looks like a muddy aquarium; faces
blob whitely round the tables like illassorted
fishes. Umbrellas begin to bob in clusters up
 the snowmottled street. The orator turns up
his collar and walks briskly east along
Houston, holding the muddy soapbox away
from his trousers.

aces, hats, hands, newspapers jiggled in the fetid roaring

F subway car like corn in a popper. The downtown express passed
clattering in yellow light, window telescoping window till they
overlapped like scales.
“Look George,” said Sandbourne to George Baldwin who hung on
a strap beside him, “you can see Fitzgerald’s contraction.”
“I’ll be seeing the inside of an undertaking parlor if I dont get out
of this subway soon.”
“It does you plutocrats good now and then to see how the other
half travels.... Maybe it’ll make you induce some of your little
playmates down at Tammany Hall to stop squabbling and give us
wageslaves a little transportation.... cristamighty I could tell em a
thing or two.... My idea’s for a series of endless moving platforms
under Fifth Avenue.”
“Did you cook that up when you were in hospital Phil?”
“I cooked a whole lot of things up while I was in hospital.”
“Look here lets get out at Grand Central and walk. I cant stand
this.... I’m not used to it.”
“Sure ... I’ll phone Elsie I’ll be a little late to dinner.... Not often I
get to see you nowadays George ... Gee it’s like the old days.”
In a tangled clot of men and women, arms, legs, hats aslant on
perspiring necks, they were pushed out on the platform. They walked
up Lexington Avenue quiet in the claretmisted afterglow.
“But Phil how did you come to step out in front of a truck that
way?”
“Honestly George I dunno.... The last I remember is craning my
neck to look at a terribly pretty girl went by in a taxicab and there I
was drinking icewater out of a teapot in the hospital.”
“Shame on you Phil at your age.”
“Cristamighty dont I know it? But I’m not the only one.”
“It is funny the way a thing like that comes over you.... Why what
have you heard about me?”
“Gosh George dont get nervous, it’s all right.... I’ve seen her in
The Zinnia Girl.... She walks away with it. That other girl who’s the
star dont have a show.”
“Look here Phil if you hear any rumors about Miss Oglethorpe for
Heaven’s sake shut them up. It’s so damn silly you cant go out to tea
with a woman without everybody starting their dirty gabble all over
town.... By God I will not have a scandal, I dont care what happens.”
“Say hold your horses George.”
“I’m in a very delicate position downtown just at the moment that’s
all.... And then Cecily and I have at last reached a modus vivendi.... I
wont have it disturbed.”
They walked along in silence.
Sandbourne walked with his hat in his hand. His hair was almost
white but his eyebrows were still dark and bushy. Every few steps he
changed the length of his stride as if it hurt him to walk. He cleared
his throat. “George you were asking me if I’d cooked up any
schemes when I was in hospital.... Do you remember years ago old
man Specker used to talk about vitreous and superenameled tile?
Well I’ve been workin on his formula out at Hollis.... A friend of mine
there has a two thousand degree oven he bakes pottery in. I think it
can be put on a commercial basis.... Man it would revolutionize the
whole industry. Combined with concrete it would enormously
increase the flexibility of the materials at the architects’ disposal. We
could make tile any color, size or finish.... Imagine this city when all
the buildins instead of bein dirty gray were ornamented with vivid
colors. Imagine bands of scarlet round the entablatures of
skyscrapers. Colored tile would revolutionize the whole life of the
city.... Instead of fallin back on the orders or on gothic or
romanesque decorations we could evolve new designs, new colors,
new forms. If there was a little color in the town all this hardshell
inhibited life’d break down.... There’d be more love an less
divorce....”
Baldwin burst out laughing. “You tell em Phil.... I’ll talk to you
about that sometime. You must come up to dinner when Cecily’s
there and tell us about it.... Why wont Parkhurst do anything?”
“I wouldnt let him in on it. He’d cotton on to the proposition and
leave me out in the cold once he had the formula. I wouldn’t trust him
with a rubber nickel.”
“Why doesnt he take you into partnership Phil?”
“He’s got me where he wants me anyway.... He knows I do all the
work in his goddamned office. He knows too that I’m too cranky to
make out with most people. He’s a slick article.”
“Still I should think you could put it up to him.”
“He’s got me where he wants me and he knows it, so I continue
doin the work while he amasses the coin.... I guess it’s logical. If I
had more money I’d just spend it. I’m just shiftless.”
“But look here man you’re not so much older than I am.... You’ve
still got a career ahead of you.”
“Sure nine hours a day draftin.... Gosh I wish you’d go into this tile
business with me.”
Baldwin stopped at a corner and slapped his hand on the
briefcase he was carrying. “Now Phil you know I’d be very glad to
give you a hand in any way I could.... But just at the moment my
financial situation is terribly involved. I’ve gotten into some rather
rash entanglements and Heaven knows how I’m going to get out of
them.... That’s why I cant have a scandal or a divorce or anything.
You dont understand how complicatedly things interact.... I couldnt
take up anything new, not for a year at least. This war in Europe has
made things very unsettled downtown. Anything’s liable to happen.”
“All right. Good night George.”
 Sandbourne turned abruptly on his heel and walked down the
avenue again. He was tired and his legs ached. It was almost dark.
On the way back to the station the grimy brick and brownstone
blocks dragged past monotonously like the days of his life.
Under the skin of her temples iron clamps tighten till her head will
mash like an egg; she begins to walk with long strides up and down
the room that bristles with itching stuffiness; spotty colors of pictures,
carpets, chairs wrap about her like a choking hot blanket. Outside
the window the backyards are striped with blue and lilac and topaz of
a rainy twilight. She opens the window. No time to get tight like the
twilight, Stan said. The telephone reached out shivering beady
tentacles of sound. She slams the window down. O hell cant they
give you any peace?
“Why Harry I didnt know you were back.... Oh I wonder if I can....
Oh yes I guess I can. Come along by after the theater.... Isnt that
wonderful? You must tell me all about it.” She no sooner puts the
receiver down than the bell clutches at her again. “Hello.... No I
dont.... Oh yes maybe I do.... When did you get back?” She laughed
a tinkling telephone laugh. “But Howard I’m terribly busy.... Yes I am
honestly.... Have you been to the show? Well sometime come round
after a performance.... I’m so anxious to hear about your trip ... you
know ... Goodby Howard.”
A walk’ll make me feel better. She sits at her dressingtable and
shakes her hair down about her shoulders. “It’s such a hellish
nuisance, I’d like to cut it all off ... spreads apace. The shadow of
white Death.... Oughtnt to stay up so late, those dark circles under
my eyes.... And at the door, Invisible Corruption.... If I could only cry;
there are people who can cry their eyes out, really cry themselves
blind ... Anyway the divorce’ll go through....”
Far from the shore, far from the trembling throng
Whose sails were never to the tempest given
Gosh it’s six o’clock already. She starts walking up and down the
room again. I am borne darkly fearfully afar.... The phone rings.
“Hello.... Yes this is Miss Oglethorpe.... Why hello Ruth, why I
haven’t seen you for ages, since Mrs. Sunderland’s.... Oh, do I’d love
to see you. Come by and we’ll have a bite to eat on the way to the
theater.... It’s the third floor.”
She rings off and gets a raincape out of a closet. The smell of furs
and mothballs and dresses clings in her nostrils. She throws up the
window again and breathes deep of the wet air full of the cold rot of
autumn. She hears the burring boom of a big steamer from the river.
Darkly, fearfully afar from this nonsensical life, from this fuzzy idiocy
and strife; a man can take a ship for his wife, but a girl. The
telephone is shiveringly beadily ringing, ringing.
The buzzer burrs at the same time. Ellen presses the button to
click the latch. “Hello.... No, I’m very sorry I’m afraid you’ll have to tell
me who it is. Why Larry Hopkins I thought you were in Tokyo.... They
havent moved you again have they? Why of course we must see
each other.... My dear it’s simply horrible but I’m all dated up for two
weeks.... Look I’m sort of crazy tonight. You call up tomorrow at
twelve and I’ll try to shift things around.... Why of course I’ve got to
see you immediately you funny old thing.” ... Ruth Prynne and
Cassandra Wilkins come in shaking the water off their umbrellas.
“Well goodby Larry.... Why it’s so so sweet of both of you.... Do take
your things off for a second.... Cassie wont you have dinner with
us?”
“I felt I just had to see you.... It’s so wonderful about your
wonderful success,” says Cassie in a shaky voice. “And my dear I
felt so terribly when I heard about Mr. Emery. I cried and cried, didnt I
Ruth?”
“Oh what a beautiful apartment you have,” Ruth is exclaiming at
the same moment. Ellen’s ears ring sickeningly. “We all have to die
sometime,” gruffly she blurts out.
Ruth’s rubberclad foot is tapping the floor; she catches Cassie’s
eye and makes her stammer into silence. “Hadnt we better go
along? It’s getting rather late,” she says.
“Excuse me a minute Ruth.” Ellen runs into the bathroom and
slams the door. She sits on the edge of the bathtub pounding on her
knees with her clenched fists. Those women’ll drive me mad. Then
the tension in her snaps, she feels something draining out of her like
water out of a washbasin. She quietly puts a dab of rouge on her
lips.
When she goes back she says in her usual voice: “Well let’s get
along.... Got a part yet Ruth?”
“I had a chance to go out to Detroit with a stock company. I turned
it down.... I wont go out of New York whatever happens.”
“What wouldnt I give for a chance to get away from New York....
Honestly if I was offered a job singing in a movie in Medicine Hat I
think I’d take it.”
Ellen picks up her umbrella and the three women file down the
stairs and out into the street. “Taxi,” calls Ellen.
The passing car grinds to a stop. The red hawk face of the
taxidriver craning into the light of the street lamp. “Go to Eugenie’s
on Fortyeighth Street,” says Ellen as the others climb in. Greenish
lights and darks flicker past the lightbeaded windows.

She stood with her arm in the arm of Harry Goldweiser’s dinner
jacket looking out over the parapet of the roofgarden. Below them
the Park lay twinkling with occasional lights, streaked with nebular
blur like a fallen sky. From behind them came gusts of a tango,
inklings of voices, shuffle of feet on a dancefloor. Ellen felt a stiff
castiron figure in her metalgreen evening dress.
“Ah but Boirnhardt, Rachel, Duse, Mrs. Siddons.... No Elaine I’m
tellin you, d’you understand? There’s no art like the stage that soars
so high moldin the passions of men.... If I could only do what I
wanted we’d be the greatest people in the world. You’d be the
greatest actress.... I’d be the great producer, the unseen builder,
d’you understand? But the public dont want art, the people of this
country wont let you do anythin for em. All they want’s a detective
melodrama or a rotten French farce with the kick left out or a lot of