Coney Island Nursery Rhyme is a historical fiction set in Connecticut and New York in the 1930’s. Based on a true story, it follows the esteemed incubator-doctor, showman and unofficial father of Neonatology, Martin A. Couney. In a time where a eugenics-focused medical culture refused to employ incubator technology, Martin A. Couney took it upon himself to save premature babies in his own incubators at a sideshow at Coney Island where funds were used to hire nurses and essentially create an unofficial hospital. We focus on Beatrice Winthrop, a woman from the American gentry who seeks Couney's assistance after giving birth prematurely.
The story is an homage to an important, peculiar and nearly forgotten part of history. It is a reflection on the nature of truth and trust, and perhaps most importantly, it is a meditation on what it means to “do the right thing” and how doing the right thing isn’t entirely free of consequence.
