The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-11-21
Reviewed by
HARRY STEVENS

Reviewed by
HARRY STEVENS
THE November issue Of New The
L atre tells an exciting story of the
work the revolutionary theatre, film
and dance groups are doing to
supply the workers audiences with
revolutionary entertainment and
counter, at the same time, the
poisonous influence of the capitalist
movie. theatre, press, radio and
church.
An article Punch Goes Red by
Louis Bunin describes how revolu-
tionary puppet shows are given on
street corners of New York by Ben
Yano of the Workers Laboratory
Theatre. These puppet plays have
attracted, entertained and Influenced
hundreds Of workers, who greet the
delightful puppet skits and satires
with appropriate "boos" for the Blue
Eagle and cheers for Puppet Punch
who goes red and knocks President
Roosevelt, Fanny Perkins and com
rade" LaGuardia off the puppet
stage. Another article by Richard
Packby depicts the w. L. T. Shock
Troupe In Action on the water front
during the marine strike.
"a show. The news spreads up
and down the docks. A show The
word is a magnet. Soon where
there were forty, there are 300 sea-
men. The show begins. No house
lights dim; no curtain rises. This
is theatre in its first form-under
the sky =. The sailors eat it up.
No movie hokum this. It's about |
them. Their problems. What to
do? Justify, they boo DIR. Mixemup,
the misleader who claims the dog
house Is really beneficial, and they
laugh and cheer when the hero ex-
poses the double-crossing doc.
"Swell stuff, boy one husky
sailor yells, swell stuff
One hour later the Shock
Troupe will perform on crowded
East Side Street-at a meeting of
the Y. G. L. More powerful than
the speakers is the message brought
home by this revolutionary theatre
group"
OTHER articles, The New Dance
" Group by Edna Ocko, the Ma
tional Film Conference by David |
Platt describe how the dance and |
film groups use their crafts to ex-
plain to them in unforgettable terms
the truths of Communism, the bank |
ruptcy of capitalism.
An article Continuous Perform
ance by Ilya Ehrenburg, the great
Soviet writer, illustrates how the /
bourgeoisie use the films to confuse |
and mislead the workers. In Holly |
wood Sees Pink, Richard Watts Jr. |
writes about Hollywood's vicious
caricatures of Communists. other
articles by Robert Stebbins and Jay
Leyda discuss the Movies of the
Month in America and in the U. S.
S. r.
John Howard Lawson and Liston
Oak of Theatre Union contribute an
interesting controversy questioning
the policy of united front" plays.
I am inclined to agree with Oak
and with the editorial comment that /
it Is wrong to demand that the char |
acters that represent the united !
struggle of workers-against war in
Peace On Earth, against the op-
preston and for the freedom of |
Negroes in Stevedore must be |
labelled" as belonging to a par
tlcular political party or union. Such
plays have brought home their mes !
sage Of revolutionary truth and ac-
ton to approximately 100000 work |
ers, and have drawn many of |
these into the struggles of the |
working class for the first time. !
Nevertheless, Lawson brings up some |
real problems facing the revolution
airy playwright, and I, for one, will |
look forward to his forthcoming
series of articles on the subject in !
New Theatre.
New Theatre can be regarded as
the barometer of rising interest in |
the revolutionary theatre arts. Since
the recent improvement and en-
largement of the magazine, circula-
tion-the editors report-has in
creased from approximately 1000 in
May to $500 in November. AS
Joseph Freeman writes New The |
atre is mature, vigorous and i'm
portant playing major role in
the building of the revolutionary
theatre arts, and supplying at the
same time valuable criticism of the
bourgeois theatre. film. and dance"