Ploughman's lunch many pubs served little else: in 1932 Martin Armstrong described stopping at village inns for a lunch of bread, cheese and beer, noting that "On these occasions in country inns when bread, cheese and beer seem so extraordinarily good, the alternative is generally nothing; and compared with nothing bread, cheese, and beer are beyond compare". By the 1950s the meal was certainly being referred to by forms of the name later used to promote it. In 1956, author Adrian Bell reported: "There's a pub quite close to where I live where ... all you need say is, 'Ploughboy's Lunch, Harry,
Lunch with Marlene hugely likeable." The first act takes place in a restaurant in London in 1970, in which Dietrich and Coward meet for lunch. Dietrich seeks Coward's advice on whether or not to write an autobiography, for which she has already accepted and spent an advance payment. The two former stars reminisce and discuss Dietrich's experiences as a German American during World War II. The second act presents a musical revue, including such songs as "Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans", "See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have", and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?". The original London