The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-11-02
The World of
the Theatre
BY harold EDGAR

comparative Broadway standards,
"Of Thee Sing" and even its sequel
"Let En- Eat Cake" are superior
musical comedies. But to say this
is not enough for most of the up
town critics. "Of Thee I Sing" was
no ordinary show with funny lines,
pleasant tunes, good tricks and pretty
girls. 1t was real satire, a "con-
tribution" to American drama, yes,
a work Of artl And some OF our
comrades, who should have known
better, joined in the chorus.
There is certain type Of show
man in the moneymaking theatre"
who is shrewd enough to know the
temper Of his customers TO the ex-
tent of always being able TO guess
how far he may exceed the bounds
of their conventions in regard to sub
ject matter without in the least dis
turbing their fundamental, and still
conventional, point of view. Thus,
when the customers are beginning
to tire of conventional triangle plays,
he writes or produces a homoeexual
play which is basically the old tri-
angle play with new turn. Or he
realizes that the mother as an OBJ
ject of sweet sentiment Is beginning
to bore his audience, SO he brings
forth a mother as conventionelly
perverse as the old mother was con-
ventionally Christian. On another
occasion he guesses that star-span-
gled patriotism in relation to war
might make an audience uncomfort-
able, SO he writes pathetic or hui
morous war play proving that SOL
diers are only human after all. He
understands that the best way to
please the customer is by daring
novelty; daring because some other
manager hasn't tried it yet; novel
because though 1t presents an at
titude quite acceptable to the theatre
goer in his home, 1t has not yet
found expression on the stage. In
short, such q Snowman will sell the
bourgeoisie anything including dy-
Mantle, and the bourgeoisie, as it
decays, prefers to buy dynamite II 1t
is guaranteed to smell and act like
talcum powder.
This is the nature of the satire
in "Of Thee I Sing" For all its
jibes at the existing order it never
once betrays point of view diff
ferent from the average American
that means the good Democrat or
Republican, hen he complains
about politics and graft. There is
no hint at any moment that the
madness Of our political life has its
tragic side or that its folly might
become sense if our whole economic
structure we're altered. The clever
ness that marks "Of Thee I Sing"
is greater in degree but not diff
ferent in kind from the usual Broad
way hocus-pocuS, here-today gone
tomorrow that delights radio audi
ences. 1t is the kind of cleverness
that leads nowhere and has no other
intention than to provoke mo-
mentary guffaw.
The proof of this is the kind of
audience it attracts, the kind OF
praise it wins, and the Pulitzer
Prize. But another and more con-
elusive proof may be found in Let
En- Eat Cake" now playing at the
Imperial Theatre.
LET En- Eat Cake" carries its
satire of American politics from the
crisis Of one presidential admins
tration to the revolution" Of the
next. LET En- Eat Cake" is a mu-
steal comedy about revolution! And
in this amazing finale of revolution
we get the final measure OF the
whole enterprise.
The reviewers were disappointed
in "Let En- Eat Cake" They found
it's second act soggy and firing. They
are right but they do not analyze
the cause for this sudden drop into
the doldrums. The cast is the same
as before; the experiences Of the
authors has not diminished and the
appetite for their brand of fun has
not lessened. The reason for the
dullness of LET En- Eat Cake" in
its second part, is that the authors
haven't the slightest knowledge or
feeling about the thisg they are
kidding.
In order to make an effective wise
crack you and your audience must
know something about the subject
of the crack. This audience and
these authors are familiar with the
presidential campaigns Though we
may doubt whether they really know
anything about themD, they are
familiar with the existence of vague
presidents, they are familiar
,,,;tb ,,ohhJo o,,d rocs;v about xuar
debts. So their jokes about them
in "Of Thee I Sing" based on that
disregard of politics common to
most Americans and so emblematic
of the general ignorance which their
once unquestioned security bred, were
successful jokes. But in Let En-
Eat Cake" the cracks are about die
tatorship, international politics, rev.
olution, and for these things the au-
thors and their audience have not
even a common background Of ia
miliar jokes-so the latter part Of
their show is dud.
The failure of the rest of the show
will sober the produced and authors
enough to make them discontinue
their revolutionary" flignts-and
for this we should give thanks. II,
however, they should desire to learn
privately the answer to their ques-
ton about the proletariat, we invite
them to come down to us and be
informed. Or, If they prefer, we
might send up a carload of one
syllable literature and distribute 1t to
their audiences so that they might
get something substantial out Of the
$40 they spend to see the show.