The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-12-07

New Playwrights Present Best Performance
of Their Career

Upton SINCLAIR'S Singing
v Jailbirds" is not only the New
Playwrights' latest production but
its best. The scenery is peculiarly
suitable to a theme which has so
much of fantasy and delirium in it;
Manuel Essman has succeeded, by a
peculiar use of suggestion in giving
the illusion that a few widely spaced
black painted timbers are steel
tank in San Pedro jail, that cir
cular bird cage of cables is an I'M
derground dungeon. Some improve
ment in technique is still needed; it
is not conducive to the proper spirit
of appreciation in the audience to
have Red Adams look up into the
sudden white glare of a concen-
trated spot light and remark, Its
dark as hell" as he does in almost
his first speech of the second act.
AS the District Attorney. Edmund
Forde is at his best in the burlesque
cabaret scene, but here, because the
table is set in the orchestra, he
wears too much make up. Perhaps
different lighting would help.
The most important defect of a
merely technical nature, is of course,
that the actors don't, absolutely do
not, know how to sing wobbly songs,
and that is peculiarly unfortunate,
as the song plays such a role in the
drama, gives it its title. Solidarity
Forever" California Prison Song,
Long Haired Preachers" Scissors
Bill" and, in fact, all of the l. W.
W. songs have distinct tunes which
the actors in "Singing Jailbirds"
never seem to have heard. The
cast last night spoke them, rather
than sang them, jazzily, and much
too fast, and spoiled the effect
Probably also the songs lacked some
of the fervor of conviction which
the real thing has.
But after all, this is New York
and not San Pedro or Seattle, and
the production is so much better
than anyone had right to expect
after a reading of Sinclair's original
that it may not be fair to bubble
over minor defects.
Sinclair frankly admits that his
play was based on the Sen Pedro
waterfront strike of 1923. This was
almost the last real organized effort
of the l. w. w. in America, unless
one counts the Colorado strike
which was not a typical wobbly
strike, but an uprising of miners in
company union, and revolving I'M
der the first outside leadership that
came along. The San Pedro strike
the Imprisonment of 600 singing
strikers, the attempt to stop theil
singing by shutting off the air ant
turning on the steam in the Jail, the
solitary for some of the men, Grim
inal syndicalism persecution fol
others, the complete subservience Of
Police Captain Plummer and the
district attorneys office to the Ship
owners Association, all were al
represented in the play.
The undaunted militancy of tn,
men, singing and defiant, is true t
life. Unfortunately, it is also tru,
to the theories prevalent in the de
Ginning period of the l. w. w., al
ready set in by the year 1923; tina
Red Adams could make the state
ment to the district attorney, "Yo,
know we never try to get away, yol
only have to tap US on the shoulder
Ito fill the jails with strike leaders,
After the first act, which deal
with the masses, come two NOR
which are concentrated on Re
Adams personal sufferings in soil
tary, and scenes indicating his dc
lirium there. In the original it wa
three more acts. EN- 10 Basche, d
rector of the New Playwrights, j
to be congratulated on having Gu
out the spiritualistic scenes in whic
Reds ghost converses with his feI
low workers in the jungles, or neal
ly so. The ghost appears in tn
back stage, but attention is concer
trated on Red in the hole, and tn
thing appears clearly as a deliriul
picture, and loses the original super
natural tinge. Parts of Sinclair
last act are sandwiched into tn
preceding ones, even into the frs
with good effect.
The two last acts as played il
clude Reds romance, the story {