Evening star., 1936-11-29
WITHOUT WORDS
That Is What One With Maxwell Anderson Is Amost-But Mo-
Qmte-Le; Playwright Thinks His Manner of Expression
Will Find Larger Following Among Stage Writer'S

great and enduring drama has been
written in verse. Leaving out Ibsen,
Chekov, Shaw and O'Nelll, one can
defend this statement facilely. And
all the disputed quartet are open to
question because they lived, or are
living, too recently to be called i'm
mortal.
THE author who chooses the heroic
dramatic form lays open to hi;
pen all lands, all history. all ages.
The prosaic realist declares his kim
ship to the journalists journalist
being man who writes the news in
terpretatively, newspaper man being
one who simply writes it. Thus for a
writer who has sufficient faith in his
own ability to recreate and interpret
great events and great persons, poesy
is logical adjunct to work in the
theater. eve will assume this is true
for the sake of agreeing with a lot
that Mr.. Anderson implied If he ac-
cepts that principle, he automatically
divorces himself from Hollywood, ex-
SOPb III 81 4dI do II IL NECESSARY 10
permit managers to sell plays to the
films if offers are made What the
cinema does to the play after that
doesn't matter very much II Is no
longer a drama written for the the
ater. 1t becomes a motion picture.
The motion pictures critics and pro-
ducers and actors can decide what
they think about it as such.
Mr.. Anderson did not say that,
mind you. He merely remarked that
he had not seen Mary Of Scotland"
or 'Winterset" on the screen. It is
also known fact that if anything on
earth makes a cinema audience un-
comfortable, it is poetry which is too
readily recognizable as such. The
screen above all is realistic medium,
Its moments Of exaltation and lyric
ism are achieved either through the
impact Of emotion, or the magic of
the camera. Thus the writer who
chooses the form Of poetic drama
foreswears all allegiance, however in
direct, to the screen.
Discussion of these things led to in
quiries about Mary" and "Winterset."
OF the former we learned that most Of
the critics Zone astonishing exception
was Walter WinchelD missed or did
not deign to comment upon a very
definite argument the play embodied
that history is written by those who
win, by the survivors, who may put
whatever Interpretation they like upon
the conduct, the character and the
ancestry Of their enemies.
Anent "Winterset" wanted to know
If the meat, the point and purpose Of
the play did not exist in Judge Gaunt?
MIR. Anderson admitted that the idea
of the character Judge Gaunt existed
before the play was written. And may
1t be said here that Judge Gaunt is cut
to ribbons as a character in the film.
He was too dangerous" to be ham
died. Instead, there remains alone
the melodrama, the love story, orig
inally created in order to clothe
theme and make a drama of it. Sic
transit gloria strophe-in Hollywood.
FRAGMENTS -. Burgess Meredith
was first asked to play Winter
set" and Katharine Cornell to appear
in The Wingless Victory" (then un-
finished) one night when both we're
appearing in Flowers Of the Forest"
a fairly bad drama Z. there are two
more plays by Author Anderson now
on their way toward production .
both had Hamlet trouble High
Tour" a comedy to be directed by
Guthrie McClintic, could not be put
into work because McClintic was COM
mitted to do the Gielgud Hamlet"
first The Mask of Kings" which
Mr.. Anderson wants Leslie Howard to
play, could not be done until Mr..
Howard had done his own Hamlet
Mask" by the way, Is a story
Of Rudolph, son Of the Emperor Of
Austria, who was liberal and killed
himself because he could not con-
vince the naughty sristocrats that in
liberalism alone lay the salvation Of
empire Mr.. Anderson has one
extra special objection to interviews
he thinks literary people who
hand. out blobs Of personal informs-
ton about themselves are ready for
the ministrations "of q strong-arm
squad Of worms" you see, there you
are he made that remark to a
drama critic once, it was quoted, and
has never been forgotten.
p. She may even object to has
ing been quoted on that "Yes" he let
sneak out when he answered the door.