Shakespeare References in Her Only Sin

Benjamin Stein's novel Her Only Sin contains a few Shakespeare references. The first is a reference to The Tempest: "When we got to the final stanza, which ended with 'Alma Mater Queen,' the entire cheerleader squad suddenly materialized out of thin air behind the stage" (p. 43). The phrase "thin air" comes from Prospero's speech, "These our actors,/As I foretold you, were all spirits and/Are melted into air, into thin air." The other two references are to Romeo And Juliet. Benjamin Stein writes: "This was not a conversation between a Hollywood executive and a White House staffer. This was Romeo and Juliet in the White House solarium" (p. 88). And then: "Susan-Marie passed by the life-size blowups of movie stills from Republic's past - Joel McCrea and Ronald Reagan as cavalry officers. Joan Fontaine and James Cagney as star-crossed lovers" (p. 140).

Her Only Sin was published in 1985. The copy I read was a hardcover First Edition.