The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-11-13
WORLD of the
THEATRE
A HistoricaL Dtstortion
LeEhACHCA W
LEON ALEXANDER


LEON ALEXANDER
I AM still trying to figure out,
though in vain, to what purpose
the two Lewises (unrelated) wrote
this play of the Civil War. 1t is not
they have so completely dis
torted history that am puzzle; but
I can see no point to the
unless it was COM
mitted to provide the authors with
an easy way out in the third act.
"Jayhawker" might have been
good play. 1t is that for the first
act and and half. There is gusto
in the speeches, in the conception
of the characters. In this first half
of the play, the Lewises have re
created the flavor and the spirit Of
the period. They build it out of
something more than the clothes
the actors wore and casual refer
ences to Lincoln, abolitionists,
slavery, etc. The rhythm Of existence
and the emotional temper Of the
time are there.
But the play grows feebler and
feebler as it comes into closer con-
tact with history. Upon the solid
foundation of the first two scenes,
the two authors raise castle Of
whipped cream which slowly collap-
ses into a formless mess.
For this is the way in which the
two Lewises, one of whom is re-
puted an authority on the civil
war, have rewritten the history Of
the period into the story Of Asa
Burdette, liar, lecher, rough-and-
ready orator, willy politician and
dynamo of energy. Elected on a
wave Of pro-abolitionist feeling that
swept Kansas in the struggle to keep
slavery out of the state, he drives
the country into the Civil War to
keep in we'll with his constituents.
Burdette becomes the most impor-
tant figure in the nation; he con-
trolls politics, dictates to Lincoln,
makes generals, raises armies.
Then softened by the sight of
wounded men and by the reading
of the long casualty lists, he be-
comes determined to put a stop to
the slaughter. He concelves the plan
to end the Civil War-by uniting
the two armies of the North and the
South for a march on Mexico to
drive out the emperor Macmillan!
The plan fails in the third act,
not of its own ineptitude, but be-
cause rabid abolitionist reveals it
to the newspapers. And Burdette,
to save his political skin, becomes
again the fire-eater, the bitter-ender
calling for the destruction Of the
South.
IT is not enough to say that the
authors have failed because they
do not understand the forces Of his
tory. They fail also because they
are satisfied with a cheap, easy,
creaky, undramatic solution OF the
play that does violence to the truth
of their characters as much as tc
the truth of history. One gets the
| feeling that the playwrights got
tired of their play before the be-
ginning of the third act; that they
were writing with their tongues in
their cheeks, like two supercilious
tyres. II that is the case, we have
a right to be offended at the au-
thors' bad taste, for it comes after
some rather serious scenes which
had stirred a genuine emotion in
the audience.
IKE the playwriting, everything
- else, acting and direction, fails
in the third act. Fred Stone had
created a fullbodied portrait in tbs
first two acts. The transition from
the clustering Jayhawker of act one
into the war-weary Senator of act
two, he had accomplished without
! pathos and with convincing force. In
the third act, however, deserted by
the authors, he reverts to the broad
mugging which is characteristic OF
vaudeville.
Paul Guilfoyle, as the rabid young
abolitionist, is little wooden and
all of one piece, as 50 many people
imagine young idealistS to be. Ed.
ward Mcnamara contributes one
of the most effective pieces of act
ing in the play. AS Luke Kildare
Burdette's secretary and factotum
he projects perfectly man O.
brains, strength and balance, cynica
without bitterness, and without per
sonal ambition, a perfect, though
critical satellite for the jayhawker
Miss Carol Stone is charming anc
decorative ingenue.
The direction Of Mr.. Losey
smooth flowing in the first two acts
turns into a series Of aimless rising'
and sittings, crosses left and righ
in the last. But not the most her.
culean efforts of the greatest di
rector could have accomplished any
thing with that last part of tn
play
MO critic will point the finger o
~ scorn at Messrs Lewis and ac'
cuse them of having distorted thi
history of the Civil War for pur.
poses of propaganda. But then,
believe, neither will anyone evel
be able to explain why they havt
written this insane burlesque. Jay
hawker adds little to the gaiety o.
the excitement of season that 81
far, but for Mr.. Rice, has been |
dull one, and for one cannot sex
why Mr.. John Hammond has ex
pended so much effort in its produc
ton. BY this time, he probabl,
doesn't either.