Edna Ferber: The Gay Old Dog

Joe Hurtz was the Gay Old Dog that lived in Chicago and frequented all of the best places in "the Loop", or downtown as it was called. He lived well and tipped well but was still a single bachelor at the age of 50. A death bed promise to his mother to not marry until his three sisters were married, kept him from any sort of commitment as all three settled into a spinsters life.