The Thingborrowed authentic scientific equipment from Cal Tech (the Geiger-Muller counter, for example) o supplement its crude special effects, and electronics companies were consulted before filming." The seemingly-naive country boy is told he must accompany them back to the big city of New York to move into his enormous, inherited mansion on Fifth Avenue.Harper & Brothers then published the first book edition in December of 1880.In 1947, playwrights Ruth and Augustus Goetz adapted the novella into a play (with a few modifications from he novella, making it more upbeat with a happy romantic ending), titledWashington Square.At the same moment, "far away, it happens that David Bartlett is dreaming a troubled dream." During the mock ceremony when he wedding ring is dropped, David awakens abruptly and sits bolt upright in his bed, wondering amusedly what caused him to be so disturbed.