Munsey's Magazine, July 1924

This July 1924 issue of Munsey's Magazine features "The Tropical Night," a complete novelette by Robert E. Sherwood. The story follows Mary Lester, a beautiful Georgia schoolteacher who wins a contest to visit Havana as a guest of the State Democrat newspaper. Accompanied by older teachers and education officials like Mr. Timme, Mary finds the chaperoned sightseeing tour—visits to the Chamber of Commerce, National Library, and Lepers' Hospital—tedious and constraining. Frustrated by four days of dutiful tourism and disdainful of her companions, Mary decides on the fourth evening to escape the group while they shop for postcards. She impulsively takes a taxi alone to the Casino, a gambling resort previously forbidden by her chaperons. As she arrives at the Club after the wild drive through Havana's streets, she begins to question the propriety and wisdom of her rash adventure, worried about her safety alone in the city at night.