Evening star., 1938-05-22
MARKS MAGAZINE
Presents Every Left Wing Banay Under the Impression
That 1t Is Fostering Justice, Truth and Freedom.

OU1OuS chCcpI IIle pTOuuCtlOIS Oh Lll0
Federal Theater, Of which he singles
out two for special comment. One Of
these Is Haiti" play on the revolt
Of the slaves Of the island against
their French masters. The other is
Prologue to Glory" a drama about
the life Of Abraham Lincoln.
One discerns an unhappy honesty
in the writer of this article. He has
to admit that the masterpieces of the
Federal penmen are far from being
good work, but. evidently keeping
safely within the policies of his paper,
he hastily covers up these consciens
tious concessions by asservating that
other values more than compensate for
the dramatic weaknesses of the sup
posed drama. Haiti" for example, is
only a good play within its limits"
But 1t represents new trend in the
stage treatment of the Negro. and
so, even though Of limited merit in
itself" it should leave some mark on
the American mind"
But does the possessor Of the
American mind put his cash down at
the box Office to see new trend?"
Or does he reprehensibly hope to get
his moneys worth in the entertairl-
ment value of good play?
Similarly. of Prologue to Glory"
the critic writes that "the playWright's
dramaturgy is uneven. :. One could
have wished for more consistently
effective work But despite its de-
pendence upon camoufiage. drama
still shines most warmingly when it
is scrupulously sincere, The sincerity
OF the play compensates for its Short-
comings.'
1t would be hard to find more
vicious begging of the critical question
than that Sincerity in art ''compen-
safes" for nothing. 1t is not there as
a compensation. 1t is not a sort OF
balancing ingredient to offset poor
work If it were, it would follow
that fine work had no need Of it.
1t is simply one of the qualities Of any
work of art: it goes along with crafts
manship and is not craftsmanship
substitute. Some Of the most utterly
maudlin pieces Of writing ever perpe-
trated have been "sincere"-sincere
expressions of muddle-head think
ing, passionate blindness to truth.
slavery to prejudice. Sincerity, your
eye Nobody, probably, is more COM
pletely sincere than a homicidal
maniac. For a work of art brains.
talent and training must be included.
RUT the devotion of Direction to the
~ Federal subsidization of otherwise
unsuccessful dabblers in the arts is
deep-grained. and the article goes to
say of Prologue to Glory" that.
placed in the repertory of every city
which possesses a Federal Theater
unit, it should prove pillar Of
strength to the w. P. A. project wher-
ever its reason for existence Is being
assailed' Uneven dramaturgy not
/ withstanding, one hazards?
The book reviews Of Direction have
been compiled, says note, by special
arrangement with the Book Union
and, in apparent reciprocity, Direc-
| ton publishes a piece extolling the
Book Unions virtues. Well. the Book
Union. in case you do not know. is
an outfit given over to pushing leftist
literature. 1t would seem to the re.
viewer to be totally without justifica.
| ton for its existence. For, if left
wing book is any good. why should
it not find its public as other books
do? And if it is merely left-wing,
why should 1t be pushed? The answer.
Of course. is that the union gives
some otherwise incompetent souls
| jobs and a chance to see their names
! in print. 1t is as simple as that, and
do not be deceived about it. Needless
to say. the books chosen by the "spe-
cial arrangement" are for the most
/ part safely revolutionary.
| And this would seem to be about
all of the case for Direction unless
one is to mention the reproductions
of two paintings by Philip Evergood,
! included apparently because Mr.. Ever
good is president of the Artists Union
and very active lobbyist for Federal
arts bill. These pictures are lively
compositions, we'll arranged and quite
| hideous.
| And there is your little magazine.
| 1t wants something It wants the pre-
sent order overthrown because it is
not on top: it wants to be a bull or
an elephant. not a frog. 1t would like
| to trample frogs 1t adores power and
tyranny SO slavishly that it esteems
their use the greatest boon which
man may reach. And it honestly be-
lieves that its desires spring only from
concern for justice. truth, freedom
and beauty-as who does not think
so of himself? And. being impotent. 1t
calls upon the Government to give
it the power it craves-in order that
it may use that power to change the
Government! Its puerility is laugh
able.