The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-03-08
Sum Total of "A Saints in
3 Acts" Equals Zero
By HAROLD EDGAR

By HAROLD EDGAR
IT Is doubtful whether the Ger
] trude Stein Virgil Thompson
opera q Saints In 3 Acts heralded
by the bourgeois press should be
dignified by discussion Of any kind.
True, since so many people in high
places have piped its praises it be-
comes, whatever ones personal re-
action to 1t, a social phenomenon
Of some significance and thus a fit
subject for investigation. Yet one
feels almost as ashamed to COM
ment on this particular piece as
one would to call general attention
to the private vices Of a political
enemy. That certain Nazis are af-
fiicted with sexual peculiarities Is
not what makes us fight them. And
If a great many notable and per-
haps talented people are pleased to
play around with colored blocks
and spout mumbo- Jumbo gibberish
while they roll over on their backs
Is 1t not a tride coarse to shame
them for IT. Would 1t not be more
tactful to turn our heads and APP
pear not to notice?
The only reason for taking the
matter up, therefore, is first the
fact that this little weakness of
FOUR intellectual friends" has been
given public exhibition and second,
the fact that though wholly un-
important in itself, 1t makes their
more serious behavior q little
clearer.
THIS may sound harsh when we
remember that Mr.. Thompson
has a faculty for putting English
words to music, that Miss F1orine
Stettheimer who designed the sets
and costumes certainly succeeds in
translating her experience happily
into forms and materials, that
Gertrude Stein has a sense Of
humor as well as a capacity at
times to string banal speech into
graceful sequences of words that
express something of what people
in their inability to express them
selves nevertheless do express. and
that some Of the Negro singers in
the cast have pleasing qualities and
good voices. Yet all this only
serves to remind Ills Of Groucho
Marks classic gag Starting from
the bottom, I have worked my way
up to state Of extreme poverty"
Perhaps a Saints in Acts is an
unusual combination Of theatrical
elements, but the sum total Of these
elements amounts to zero.
The reviewers are correct, how
ever, when they say that despite
its laughable aspects the opera
somehow creates emotion. Aside
from the fact that most of the
words are inaudible Gas well as
deliberately unintelligible) that the
music though negatively agreeable
hasn't an original note in it, that
the action and dancing might have
been made far more engaging even
as nonsense, and that these things
by themselves are boring especially
when they last more than twenty
minutes, a certain tangible feeling
does spread itself from the stage.
What is important for us is to de-
fine this feeling, for in doing SO
we shall not only be able to
diagnose the present circumstance,
but We shall be able to understand
the state Of mind Of those who
enjoy it.
THE emotion OF - Saints IN 8
Acts" is a feeling Of removal
such as an invalid child of very
wealthy parents might have as she
dreamed in her luxurious retreat of
colorful people and places she had
never really seen or had any ac-
tive connection with. The opera Is
about saints but there is no ere
ligion" in it-only cute decorations
OF religious images; there IS no
plot-only remembered gestures Of
vaguely impressive but meaningless
figures; there Is imagination" but
based on no further experience
than that furnished by lot of
picture bookS-and all around and
above all the dainty things that
money can buy. Here, in short, is
a very light tissue of quaint images
suggesting no pain, demanding no
effort. Those who suppose az
Saints" is a difficult, sophisticated
work are mistaken: its success with
the "art bourgeoisie" is largely to
be explained by the relief they ex-
perience in its sheer emptiness, in
its lack Of strain Of any kind. Here
there is no idea, no thought, no
problem, no pasSion-ro anythingl
This is not "escapism", because in
"escapism" there Is always a sense
OF the thing one wishes to escape
from, and a twinge of regret for
the necessity Of escape, but here
we have a world" SO utterly re-
moved from everything but art"