Verba is the general director of an up-and-coming play in New York, but his company has hit a wall looking for actors: while many people are pursuing acting, Verba has seen very few people who can truly act. He reminisces on the olden days, when actors were cut from the same cloth as gods. Brainstorming with his screenwriter, Offutt, the duo decide to track down an old actor, ‘Old Bird’ Bateman, to play the part of grandfather for them.  Venturing to the area of New York where Bateman’s now-closed theater company used to be located, they find the theater dilapidated and boarded up. Asking people in the area, they come across a boy with one eye named Blinky who claims to be able to bring them to Bateman. After a bribery, he takes them through a back passage into the theater, making them promise not to interrupt. Entering the shrouded theater, they find Bateman on stage recreating famous scenes from different plays, all of which Verba recognizes. Verba giddily approaches backstage, attempting to introduce himself to Bateman, but he is shot down immediately. Bateman scolds them for interrupting his performance and returns to the stage. After some deliberation, Verba and Offutt resign themselves to hiring another actor because, clearly, Bateman is not in any condition to go back to real acting. After observing him for some more time, no longer dazzled by his acting, they realize that he is obviously not in his right mind. Offutt considers taking him to a hospital or asylum, but Verba objects, insisting that to do such a thing would be the cruelest way to kill off the very last of the true actors, so they leave him as they found him.