The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-10-25
WORLD Of the
THEATRE
MERELY WE ROLL ALONG, a
new play by George S. Kaufman
and Moss Hart; staged by George
S. Kaufman and presented by
Sam Fl. Harris at the Music Box.
Reviewed by
ALAN CHUMLEY

! MERELY We Roll Along, the
ln tour de force currently gar
nering three eighty-five at the
intimate" Music Box, concerns a
playwright in a balustraded Long
Island palazzO, complete with cock
tail parties, ennui, epigrams, jealous
middle-aged wives and succulent
new leading ladies. Our hero owns
them all. He's a success" He's
waiting on the night in question
for notices on his new play. It's
got to be hit, one feels; if it flops
all this opulence will flop. But
more than that, our heros reputa-
tion-he's become a byword: COM
edies by Richard Niles simply don't
fail. "Broadway's most fashionable
playwright" turns out hits-a hit
a year-or else.
The play is hit. The playwright
can breathe easier. For three
months he can forget everything
take that cruise to the Riviera,
laze that month in Paris-forget
everything but the need to forget.
For Richard Niles breaks down
NOW that the reviews are i'm and
admits that he takes no JOY in this
success" tonight. He knows his
plays are trash. He knows the
kind Of plays he ought to write.
He remembers even Ton doleful &C
casions) the pious compact he
made with himself when he was
still a punk, living with Crale.
But the name of that rebel artist,
who had painted him with one arm
cuddling a cash-register, brings him
up sharp. He alibis savagely. "All
right, you turn out flops-you starve
does that make you q genius?
What the hell My plays happen
to succeed. People enjoy them.
They aren't easy to write. It's taken
me ten years to learn the formulas,
to get my technique down. And
after what I've suffered those ten
years, think I've got this COM
ing. For that matter I couldn't
give it up now even if I want to.
And I don't want to. What the
hell. :"
The first scene ends on What
the hell" And the story ends there.
The sequel just retraces lin inverted
order. lie. each scene taking place
at time earlier than the preceding)
the various steps from present
putrifaction to his primal state of
grace. The last scene is his vale
dictory at graduation. And on this
browning irony: To thine own
self be true and it must follow as
the night the day, thou canst not
then be false to any man the
pensive curtain falls.
KAUFMAN lets it stand at that
IL And yet only a nasty cynic
would insinuate that he does it on
purpose. My modest opinion is
that he would give up right arm
Cor make some sacrifice or other
to be able just to jack the whole
mess up under the basic situation
and then run a real play in. Except
Of course that then he'd have
to become serious" He'd have to
stir up such unpleasant topics as
the social tyranny of money the
artistic anarchy Of box office, 7"
the brutal dictatorship of managers.
He'd have to find himself another
hero" someone with real sinew in
his vision, with vslour that sur
vived the first onslaught. And he
couldn't pull his punches. The
conflict" in his play, instead of a
faxed job to gull the customers,
would have to be a straight fight
to the finish. And then he'd
have a propaganda" play! He'd
have a flop. And what would that
prove! What the hell. -.
He happens to write hits. He
wrote Dinner at Eight, OF Thee /
Sing, and Once in a Lifetime. Plays
like that are not easy to write.
Once you've mastered your for
mulas, you've got to get your tech
nique down. And then you've got
to change your tricks.
Take MerriIy We Roll Along. He
knew the plot was pretty thin-and
stale to boot. So his trick" has to
be a fast one. There didn't seem
to be a single innovation left for
telling a straightforward story. SO
he arrived at the inevitable; he
simply told it backwards.
But he was pretty careful with
his point of view. After all, those
who patronize his plays do not
agree" with revolution (horrorsD !;
so though he presents the con-
scientious playwright's lot as some
what trying, he must make him
philosophic rather than rebelling.
Wealth may not be a Simmons bed
of roses, he must emphasize, but
after all-that's Life. Of course
inserting talented painter who
was radically inclined'-"Crale even
walked once on picket line"-was
rather reckless. But then he was
just sort of Bohemian and all the
more intriguing for his harmless
prankS.
MO ONE will deny, I think, that
~ Merrily is first rate theatre"
Integrated and vivid acting, lush
decor, the proper working-up Of
each scene to its quick shock cur
tain-Kaufman has got conven-
tional technique down more than
pat. And then the writing, Kauf-
man has FURNISHED and Whetted