Evening star., 1941-05-11

Mr.. Saroyan directs a scene
the New York drama critics circle
recently voted Saroyan's new play,
THE Beautiful People"
nuI, "Jne very best play is my
play" Saroyan announces firmly.
Its beautiful" he adds, ". &.
Has a strange kind of magic"
Clipping off steady $50 words a
minute, Saroyan held forth on food
and faith and love and drama,
punctuating his remarks by draw
ing designs on tablet of paper D. (.
Ripping of the sheets Crum-
pling them up Tossing them
aside.
He liked" Watch on the Rhine"
winner of the first award, and was
very much impressed" by Pal
joey" and The Night Before
Christmas" the latter happening to
be what is known in the theater as
turkey" meaning it had a very
brief run.
These plays are poorly staged"
though, according to Saroyan, and
old-fashioned"
Just Compensation.
mo one but Saroyan would have
dared pick a ballet dancer Eugene
Loring), a chlorine Betsy Blair and
an artist don Freeman for lead
ing roles in a play" he declares.
Miss Blair he signed up after meet
ing her once in lunchroom.
Saroyan's inflated regard for his
own ability He was the first
to call himself genius :. Is very
likely only an exaggerated compen-
sation for the rough time re had
in his youth and does not give Of
fense. After the first shock it is
even exhilerating.
He has gone hungry, he will tell
you, pushing back the Saroyan hat
and watching your reaction to the
horror Of his announcement.
1T is humiliating, he says, "to
be without money. 1t is an awful
affront to the human spirit"
The first story he ever sold, "The
Daring Young Man on the Flying
Trapeze," records the thoughts of
writer dying of q starvation. He
was paid SIS for it and Immediately
sent the editor one story a day for
30 consecutive days Since, he has
published more than 400 short
stories.
Would Abolish Money.
Saroyan was born at Fresno, Calf,
in the raisin country, his father
Presbyterian minister, writer and
poet who had been converted to the
Protestant faith by missionaries in
Armenia.
His father died before Saroyan
was 3 and the four children were
placed in an orphanage near Ala
media, Calf, while their mother took
a job as a maid in San Francisco.
When William was 7 he rejoined
his mother in Fresno, where she
had a cannery job He sold news
papers. One sister worked in a
dime store.
At this point Saroyan thinks it
would be grand if money were
abolished, but has no notion how it
could be accomplished
Money is treacherous," he says,
"absence of it ruins the poor and
the presence of it ruins the rich"
Saroyan quit school at Is to work
with his brother as telegraph COM
pany messenger, and at II went
to- San Francisco where he held odd
jobs and wound up with the same
firm, eventually getting fired.
Once, at II, Saroyan joined the
National Guard because he was
hungry.
I'm Just Watching"
Il was dreaming of big dishes of
food" he said, "and I asked what I
had to do in the Guard. They said
I'd make a dollar a day and meals
and that I would have to drill three
or four hours day.
II said I just wanted food and the
vacation. I did not drill. All of the
officers were good friends Of mine
did not even clean my gun.
II am here to eat and study the
rest of you, I told them"
Saroyan, who is 80, is eligible for
selective service.
However, I think I would be
wasted in the Army. 1t will prob
ably work out that they'll find they'd
rather not have me. I might get
so bored as to disintegrate the
whole morale. But if I had to, I
would accept the responsibility. I
would play stud poker"
Any one with faith is gambler,
Saroyan says. He CANDLES on every
thing, work, talent and faith"
Gamblers are very religious, he
thinks.
Likes to Direct.
He likes to bet on horse races,
drink, read, 90 to movies and night
clubs, especially in New York and
especially in Harlem.
He eats mostly at automats, but
lives at a really swank hotel now
in a suite he describes as very
chi-chi."
He loves to direct his own plays,
altering lines and introducing new
characters abruptly, and is likely to
do so from the front row of the
orchestra, drinking beer and eating
pears.
Saroyan was leaving for San
Francisco the day I talked to him,
to remain until September at the
home he purchased for his mother
on Red Rock Hill, the locale OF his
current play.
1.-TWO years ago." he says, II sold
q story for $500, the most money I
had ever made. I paid that sum
down on a house. Because I took
the gamble, the good Lord provided
f1a~f e1a - lat of aAvaau