' :‘1 C O P V A STUDY OF SIX REPRESEKTATIVE AQBRICAI EOST WORLD WAR II PLAYHRIGHTS by Wayne D. Bottje M Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial ful- fillment of the requirements for the degree of Department of Speech August, 1955 ACKNO‘:1LEDGMENTS The writer wishes to acknowledge with appreciation the assistance of Dr. Wilson B. Paul, without whose help this thesis could not have been completed. The writer also extends his most sincere appreciation to Mr. Donald 0. Buell, Dr. Roger Busfield, and Dr. David Potter for their suggestions and assistance in the preparation of this thesis. '”'T‘)(”’* tJéjuJ 11 ———_—.-—-~—— To the Broadway Theater's most enthusiastic visitor from the camous of Lichigan State University, Mr. Donald 0. Buell, the writer respectfully dedicates this volume. A STUDY OF SIX RSPRSSEWTATIVE AMERICAN 'U C) O) "3 WORLD JAR II PLAYHRIGHTS by Wayne D. Bottje An Abstract Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Speech Approved 625 I ‘Major Professor .515- warm-Lg: 93 m: 252.315 TIT’T : A Study Of Six Representative American Post World War II Playwrights. AUTHOR : Wayne D. Bottje SOURCE : master Of Arts Thesis, Kichigan State University of Agriculture And Aoplied Science. PROBLEm : Chapter 1: To comprehend the historical and theatrical oicture during the decade the six representative playwrights were making their major contributions to the theater and determine the general state of the theater in this period. Chapters 2—7 inclusive: To study the backgrounds of each of the six representa- tive playwrights in this study (Tennessee Williams, John Patrick, Mary Chase, Arthur Miller, William Inge, and Robert Anderson), to determine what effect their backgrounds had upon their writing, and to study their major plays and the critical reaction to them. Chapter 8: To survey the accomplishments of the six playwrights, to determine their similarities and differences, and attempt to weigh their contributions to the theater. ERCCEDURE : Chapter 1: Survey the history of the ten year period, l945-55, on the national and international scene, and the theatrical developments of the same era to illustrate the social mileau in Which these six playwrights are writing. Chapters_g-7 inclusive: Use the comments and criticisms of the professional drama critics and the theatergoing experiences of the thesis writer to determine the nature of each playwright's contributions during the period studied. Chapter 8: Use the material of the first seven chapters to compare the playwrights and discover how they have or have not reflected the society in which they live in their writings. RESULTS : The history of the period reveals it to be a particularly turbulent era with strong national and international tensions. Of the playwrights studied, Arthur Miller, in particular, deals with the social problems of the decade. Tennessee Williams and William Inge are primarily concerned with characters in their immediate social environment. Mary Chase and John.Iatrick are principally writers of comedy and escapist material, with the notable exception of the latter's Teahouse g§_The August noon, which is a humorous commentary upon the current social problem of armies of occupation. Robert Anderson is still somewhat of an unknown quantity, with a social theme predominating in his first play and characters in the second. None of the material of the six playwrights seem to have been substantially affected by the Second World Nar. TAEL [11 A V "‘ 1.7? :I OF C-—'é-’I‘:—Ji‘ J “ CHAPTER I A Survey Of The Postwar American Theater, 1945-1955 .. ...................... CHAPTER II Tennessee Williams: Avant-Garde Of The Contemporary Theater ............... ... CHAPTER III John.Patrick: A Study In Success And Failure . .................... .......... CHAPTER IV The Fantastic World Of Mary Chase ........... CHAPTER V Arthur Miller's Tragedy Of The Common Ian.... ............................ . MQFERVI The Middle West Of William Inge ............ . CHAPTER VII Robert Anderson: The Freshman Comes Of Age ... ........ ........... ....... . CHAFTER VIII The Playwrights, The Critics, And The Contemporary Theater .. ...... ... .......... . Tage fage Page 163 201 246 275 29a CHAPTER I A SURVEY OF THE POSTWAR.AMERICAN THEATER, l345-l955 "The American Theater," writes Arthur Miller, "occupies five side streets, Forty-Fourth to Forty- fiinth, between.Eighth Avenue and Broadway, with a few additional theaters to the north and south and across Broadway. In these thirty-two buildings every new play in the United States starts its life and ends it." 1 And, as if to anticipate a storm of protests from theater devotees outside New York reminding him that considerable theatrical production is going on throughout the rest of the country, Miller writes, "I agree, and repeat only that with practically no exceptions, the new American plays originate on Broadway. I would add that I wish they didn't, but they do. The American Theater is five blocks long by about one and a half blocks wide." 2 Mr. Miller, born in Manhattan and a graduate of the University of Michigan, will be accused of being a "typically provincial New‘Yorker." Assuming his thesis to be correct why, then, all the excitement over l. Arthur'Miller, "The American Theater,” Holiday Ma szine, XVII (January, 1955), p. 91 2. Ibid. a strictly local phenomenon? Why do thousands of young people all over the United States each year prepare themselves for a profession that can be squeezed into a few square blocks in New York City? Why, if these are the limits of the American Theater, are so many people, young and not so young, hundreds and thousands of miles away from Broadway and who have never seen a Broadway production stirred so deeply by "The American Theater”? - Mr. Miller's thesis need neither be wholly accepted nor completely rejected. There is, certainly, an element of truth in it. To be sure, 21221 new play in.American does not end its life in this restricted area. To cite but a few of many Examples, Oklahoma has made thousands of new friends annually, though long since departed from Broadway. Porgy And Bess, an expatriate from "The American Theater” twice returned, is currently bringing Joy to multitudes of theater lovers throughout Europe. Miller’s own Egggh Q£_§,8alesman has been translated into many languages and produced in a dozen or so countries -- as well as the length and breadth of America. The list can be multiplied many times. Every new play ends its life in this limited area of New York City? Nonsense: Miller need not rely on professors of drama, stock company directors, and little theater people, as he says, to challenge that statement. Perhaps the observation, “with practically no exceptions (the qualification is convenient!) the ggg.tmerican plays originate on Broadway" is made on somewhat firmer ground. Strictly speaking, of course, even.most of the new plays "originate" -— that is, are “tried out" -- in theaters outside New Ybrk City, although these are usually looked upon merely as "rehearsals" for the New Yerk opening. Further, these productions usually germinate in producers' offices set up in New York to "feed" the New'Iork (i.e. "American") Theater. ‘ h Nevertheless, exceptions may be noted here, too -- as Miller evidently anticipates by his qualification. Robert Anderson's second drama, All §ummer Long, won original critical acclaim in an initial production in the Washington, D. 0., Arena Theater, resulting in its production on Broadway. Walter Kerr's musical, Sing Q_u_t_., S3933 Lang, “originated" at Catholic University in lashington, D. 0., and was later transferred to Broadway. Two other musicals, _S_9_r_ig g; Norway and the recent musical version of Peter Pan, "originated"‘on the lest Coast. A number of other exceptions are readily available. Having noted the exceptions, however, there is still room for agreement with much of what Miller has written. that Miller has evidently intended to express is the idea that, insofar as the birth and nurturing of new American drama and dramatic literature is concerned, this tiny area of New York City is, essentially "The American Theater.“ Here is where actors, composers, playwrights, and directors are "made." Here, too, is established the dramatic literature that will be used and re-used by community theater, college theater, and amateur theatrical groups throughout the land. Although non-Broadway theatrical enterprises have been called "the tributary theater” -- being, as they are, the spawning areas for the professional theater's actors, directors, designers, and writers -- the A Broadway theater itself is no less a tributary theater. The contributions of the New York stage to the success and growth of the non-Broadway theater are no less significant than the more obvious contributions made to the professional theater by the so-called tributary theater. An honest Judgment of the two mainstreams of the American theater would suggest that each is considerably dependent upon the other, that each would suffer a mortal blow if the other were to disappear completely from the American scene. This study is concerned with the consideration of six representative playwrights who are currently making contributions primarily to the contemporary professional New York stage and secondarily to the so-called tributary theater. Since these playwrights reflect, in some considerable measure, the turmoil of their times, a brief study of the events of the past decade during which they were making their initial major contributions to the world of the theater would be appropriate to this study. The year l945 was, beyond all question of doubt, one of the pivotal dates in.American history. This was the year the most cataclysmic war in the world's history ground to a halt. This was the Year*0ne of the newest and.most fearful weapon ever incorporated into the arsenals of warring nations -- a single lethal weapon that not only ended a conflict but has continually and increasingly clouded the relations among nations and has, in various ways, altered individual ways of performing daily tasks. The Atomic Age has not alone brought a new terror into the lives of all peoples -- it has brought, too, the dazzling promise of tremendous progress in the scientific and medical worlds, a promise that has been only partially realized in the past decade. Nineteen forty five is also to be remembered as the year which removed three towering figures on the international scene in quick succession -— Roosevelt, Mussolini, and Hitler. In San Francisco the United Nations was taking shape, filled with the hope that the apparent unanimity of desires for peace among the three Great Powers, the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, would find permanent expression in this successor to The League Of Nations. In America, the anticipation of a severe post-war depression resulting from sharp cutbacks on military orders happily failed to materialize as pent-up demands for consumer goods quickly filled the economic vacuum. America's overseas military power was being quickly dismantled, troOps were pouring back from overseas, and most of the populace was preparing to meet the future with high optimism. The closing year of the war also found the 1944-45 season on the Broadway stage at its most flourishing state in more than a decade, both quantitatively and qualitatively speaking. This season saw 83 new shows presented on Broadway, plus 14 new shows that closed out of town (some for lack of theater space in New York), as compared with 55 new shows in the previous year. Together with revivals and return engagements, the total Broadway production mark was over 100 shows. By the variety standard of classifying ”hits” as being those shows which make money for the show's‘ backers and ”flops" being those which lose money, the season was likewise better than average, since 24 of 7 the 83 new shows were listed as "hits" and 12 of these as ”smash hits” (i.e. big money makers). Included among the ”smash hits" were three plays that form a later part of this study: Mary Chase's gggggy, Tennessee Williams’ Th3 glass Menagerie, and John Patrick’s Th; Baggy heart. This was also the year of a number of memorable musical shows, including among them Richard Rodgers' and Oscar Hammerstein II's Carousel, Bloomer Gig; by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg, Qn’ggg TQEQ with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Leonard Bernstein and from an idea by Jerome Robbins, 2&EE.Q£.IEE M293 by Howard Euchardson and William Barney, §gngyg£_Norway with book by'Milton.Lazarue and music arranged from Edward Greig by Robert Wright and George Forrest, and g2 ;n_Central Park with book and lyrics by Herbert and Dorothy Fields and music by Sigmund Romberg. Included, too, were such excellent dramatic productions as John Hersey's A Bell For Adana (adapted for the stage by Paul Osborn), gap; Lucasta by Philip Yordan, The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand and George S. Kaufman, and I RememberVMama, adapted by John van Druten from a novel by Katherine Forbes. The 1944-45 season on Broadway was distinguished both from the standpoints of quantity and of quality. In 1946 the high hopes for international cooperation began to crumble rapidly and the Western.Powers were becoming irrevocably arraigned against the Russian colossus, first in the Balkan and Baltic States, next in a wrangle in the United Nations over the presence of Russian troops in Iran, and again in a peace conference that brought an almost interminable conflict in attempting to draw the borders between Yugoslavia and Italy in the Trieste area. The international tensions were increasingly making themselves felt in the lives of individual Americans. ' Tension.mounted in the United Nations, too, over increasingly futile efforts to control the use and manufacture of the atomic bomb. Bernard Baruch, presenting the United States plan for atomic control, forcefully described it as a choice "between the quick and the dead." 3 ' Throughout the country inflation began to creep up on the citizenry as consumers' demands continued unfilled. A series of major strikes, involving a loss of 110,700,000 man hours of labor, 4 cut production and sharply increased prices. The year saw crippling strikes in the steel industry, the soft coal mines, the railroads, the maritime industry, the automobile industry, electrical equipment industry, and the packing houses. The nation's ,3- Bernard.M. Baruch, Vital Speeches, XII, p. 546, July 1, 1946 4. New York Times, See. 4, p. 10, December 29, 1946 unrest was made manifest in.November when, in a national election, the Republicans won control of Congress for the first time since 1932. In the theater the first full post-war year on Broadway (1945-46) saw a definite dip in the number of new shows, from 83 in the previous year to 62, of awhich only 13 were counted "in the money." Forty-nine shows failed financially on Broadway and 33 more failed on the road. The season also included 12 revivals, including a bill by England's visiting Old Vic Repertory Company. Ten of the revivals were financially successful. Included among the hits of the season were the exuberant musicals, Annie Get Your Gun by Herbert and Dorothy Fields and music by Irving Berlin, and 95;; gg_Mister,'with book by Arnold.Auerbach and.Arnold B. Horwitt and music by Harold Rome, and equally distinguished dramas, Arnaud dlUsseau and James Gow's 23g2.§gg The figgtg, Garson Kanin's Born'Yesterday, Elmer Rice’s prom Girl, ‘State 9: 3113 m by Howard Lindsay and Russel Grouse, and The Magnificent Yankee by Emmet Lavery. But on the "flops" list were some disturbing signs. Such fine dramasas Anouilh's Anti one, starring Katherine Cornell, Arthur Laurents' fine war play, gong Q£_Thg Bragg which was squeezed out because of a theater shortage, the delicate and lO picturesque Lute Song, adapted by Will Irwin and Sidney Howard from a Chinese play (defeated on Broadway by its own lavish expenditures), the dramatization of Lillian Smith's Strange Fruit, Robert Sherwood's semi- war play, 2 ngugged Path (which closed early because of the disaffection of the star, Spencer Tracy), 5 the dramatization of Franz Werfel's Th2 Song 9: Bernadette, and Tennessee Williams' and Donald Windham's play, X92_Touched Mg! -- all failed to pay for themselves despite being better than average theater. 0n the international scene, the year 1947 became a turning point, the year in which the break between the Soviet Union and the West was officially acknowledged. Beginning in.narch with the Truman Doctrine, enunciated by the President for the purpose of " ... preventing the overthrow of 'democratic governments' anywhere by outside intervention," 6 the conflict became more irrevocable when Secretary of State George C. Marshall launched the Marshall Plan in a speech at Harvard University on June 5. The intent of the plan, according " ... the revival of a working 9 to Secretary Marshall, was economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions 5. Variety, p. 69, June 5, 1946 6. 321 York Times, See. 4, p. 8, December 26, 1947 ll ' can be built.“ 7 The Soviet reply clearly expressed the intentions of America's one-time ally. "The U.S.S.R. will put all efforts into seeing that the Marshall Plan is not realized," said Politburo Member Andrei Zhadanov, 8 and the Cominform, an abbreviated version of the recently (1943) disbanded Communist world organ Comintern, was set up to accomplish that end. The first action of the Cominform was to foment general strikes in France and Italy which were immediately defeated by prompt and vigorous action by the anti- Communist Governments of those countries. 0n the domestic scene there was a sharp drop in labor troubles, but the passage of the Taft-Hartley Labor'Law by the Republican Congress presented an issue for the Presidential campaign in the following year. ZPrices continued to rise and.President Truman summoned Congress into a special session to reimpose wage and price controls, but the Congress, being controlled by a majority of the opposite political faith, was little disposed to do his bidding and passed an ineffective price control law. Britain; struggling under a rapidly diminishing dollar supply and a war-weary industrial machine, 7. Ibid. 8. Ibid. 12 enjoyed a few brief moments of sunshine in a nation- wide celebration of the marriage of the heiress- presumptive, Princess Elizabeth, to the Duke of Edinburgh. Along Manhattan's Street of Bright Lights, however, the 1946-47 theater season gloomily noted a further drop in the number of new plays produced -- down to 56, of which only 15 were recorded as hits. A doubling of revivals from the previous year, to 24, plus 24 plays that failed to reach New Yerk, made the total productions 104 for the season. The incidence of failures among the revivals was unusually high (17 out of 24), 15 of these resulting from the failure of the newly organized American Repertory Theater and from the five Shakespeare plays presented by Donald Iolfit's English Touring Troupe. The season included one success and one failure pertinent to this study, Arthur Miller's All_gy,§ggg and John Patrick's 1113 m 9; 1.1.9.21 surrstt. Other successes of the season included Lillian Hellman's Another Egg; 9; The Forest, Anita Loos' Egg 1 Birthday, Maxwell Anderson's gggg;g£_Lorraine and Eugene O’Neill's last great play, Th3 Iceman Cometh, and two musical fantasies, Brigadoon, with a book.by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, and Finian's Rainbow, with book by E. Y. Harburg and.Fred Saidy and music 13 by Burton Lane. The season's failures included, in addition to the Patrick drama, the Elmer Rice-Kurt Weill musical version of Mr. Rice's play, Street Scene, Menotti's twin bill of The Telephone and The Medium, and the Sartre import, fig Efilfi- In the 1948 world picture the lines were clearly drawn and the power of the Soviet Union and the West became locked together in a "cold war." The West European states began the long haul to regain their pre-war industrial status as the Marshall Plan started to move into high gear. As their factories began to resume operation the Western states started also to think of security and set up a mutual defense pact in Brussels in.March of 1948. The United States definitely abandoned its historic non-entanglement policy when the Senate passed the Vandenberg Resolution affirming its determination to take part in the North Atlantic defense with the Brussels Pact nations. The Soviet Union angrily struck back at this stiffening attitude of the West by imposing 3 blockade on Berlin, an island in the middle of the Russian occupation zone. But this attempt at pressure on the West failed when Britain and the United States coreated an airlift which supplied 2,100,000 West Berliners with fuel and food. 14 The Russians suffered another defeat when Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia objected to Soviet dictation and led Communist Yugoslavia out of the Eastern bloc of nations. In the Far East, however, the picture was rapidly getting grimmer for the West as the Chinese Communist armies swept down from the North and began pushing Chiang Kai Shek's Nationalist armies against the beachheads of the China coastlands. At home, the big news of the year was the unexpected election victory of President Harry S. Truman over Thomas E. Dewey despite the fact that the President had been deserted by the extreme left (Wallace) and right (Dixiecrat) wings of his party. The increasing and prolonged international tensions were reflected in the indictment of Alger Hiss, a former employee of the State Department and advisor to President Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference, for perjury, thus providing the Republican Party with a strong campaign issue and giving impetus to a movement later to become known as "McCarthyism." The New York theater, too, seemed suffering from some sort of a malaise for the 1947-48 theater year .saw a still further contraction in the number of new sahows presented on Broadway. Seventeen of the 52 ruew plays (four less than the preceding year) in the theeaters paid off in this season, with only eight 15 tryouts folding on the road. Tryouts, no less than those plays which bow on Broadway, represent money- invested and lost and productions mounted. This season also included 21 revivals, of which 11 were successful financially (including seven by the British D'Oyly Cartes Gilbert and Sullivan Company). Among this season's hits significant to this study was Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. Also listed among the hits were Thomas Heggen and Joshua Logan’s Mister Roberts, William 'Iister Haynes Command Decision, Ruth and Augustus Goetz's Th2 Heiress, Jan de Hartog's Skipper Next -29 gag, the musicals Allegro by Rodgers and Hammerstein and fligh Button ghggg with book by Stephen Longstreet and music'by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn, and three successful revues, mgipégh-g 11255, with music and words by Bob Hilliard and Carl Sigman and sketches by Ted Luce, Hank Ladd, and Grace and.Paul Hartman, gggiggyg;§;§,, with music by Howard Diets and.Arthur Schwartz and sketches by.Arno1d Auerbach, Moss Hart, ..na Arnold Horwitt, and M @5133 Manhattan, with book by.Arnold Horwitt and music by Richard Lewine. The financial failures included J. B. Priestley's gagglnspector ggllg,IMichael Myerberg's adaptation 0'1" D29}; £2959. from a story by Robinson Jeffers, and Enema; Eden by Dorothy Gardner. 16 The most significant event of the theatrical season came in the closing of the fabulous Rodgers' and.Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma, after 268 weeks (five years and two months) of performances, numbering 2, 202. This was just 36 performances less than the worldfs record London musical, Chu Chin Chow, but if the 4d servicemen‘s matinees at reduced prices were added to the figure Oklahoma could be regarded as establishing a new record for musicals. The musical was also responsible for making The Theatre Guild, its producing organization, once again a major influence in the American theater picture. A feeling of terror struck the heart of America in 1949 when President Truman announced, "We have evidence that ... an atomic explosion occurred in ' 9 The terror was not alleviated when the U.S.S.R. attempts in the United Nations to control the atomic bomb camp to a complete dead-end and the suspicions of the good faith of the contending Powers deepened. In Europe the Berlin blockade was ended after ten months and 22 days of mutual recriminations, but the lines of antagonism were drawn tighter as the ‘lestern nations Joined in a mutual defense treaty by signing the North Atlantic Pact. Moscow retaliated 9- New “:ork gimgg, Sec. 4, p. 8, December 25, 1949 17 by organizing a "Council of Economic Mutual Aid", designed to integrate East Europe's economy with Russiafs economy. The Soviets began to strike terror into the hearts of their internal opposition as well. In Hungary, Cardinal Mindszenty, a high prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, was imprisoned for alleged treason.and the former chief deputy of the Hungarian Communist Party was hung. In Bulgaria the former Vice Premier was executed for alleged treason and Soviet Marshal Rokosovsky was put in charge of the armies of Poland. These moves were apparently made to guard against further "national Communism? of the Tito variety, the latter continuing effectively to defy the Soviet Union.with increasing assistance from the United States. In the Far East the West suffered a mortal blow as all of China fell to Mao Tze-tung's Communist . armies, and fear was felt by the Western Powers that all of the poverty-stricken nations on China's vast borders might fall under Communist influence and domination. 10 In the United States the trial of Alger Hiss ended in a hung Jury, and a new one was begun, But the tensions of the "cold warf' were increasingly felt 10. Ibide 18 as new and more severe government loyalty checks were instituted, Congress investigated the expulsion of left wing factions by labor unions, and eleven leaders of the American Communist Party were tried and convicted of violating the Smith Act, which made it a crime to "advocate or teach" the overthrow of "any Government in the United States by force or violence." 11 These tensions may or may not have affected the Broadway scene but the year 1948-49 suffered a sharp reduction in total productions, perhaps principally due to the reduction in foreign touring companies. There was a total of 63 productions on Broadway, of which 43 were straight plays (8 hits), 16 musicals (6 hits), and four revivals (one hit). One of the more remarkable aspects of the season was that only one production closed out of town. The season was made most memorable by Elia Kazan's production of Arthur Miller's 2351313 g; A Salismag and by the introduction of another Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, South nggfig. But the qualitative caliber 0f the season was maintained by other fine productions as well, for among the season's productions were éiidney Kingsley's Detective Story, Edward,.¥y Spa by 19 Robert Morley and Noel Langley, Jean Giraudoux's 1kg Madwoman g; Chaillot, and Robert E. McEnroe's ghg Silver whistle, and the bright musicals, Egg; 14;, Kate, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Bella and Samuel Spewack, and Where's Charley? with a book by George Abbott and music by Frank Loesser. The list of financial failures was equally distinguished by Tennessee Williams' Summer And Smoke, a revival of Sidney Howard's They Knew What They Ianted, and Jean-Paul Sartre's Red Gloves. The season also saw the closing of l7fl‘of 21 holdovers from previous seasons. Born Yesterday, LL23 Roberts, Higgbutton M, and A Streetcar Named Desire continued to run throughout the whole season. Nineteen fifty marked the second major turning point in the post-war era as the “cold war" turned into a “hot war" with the invasion of South Korea by the Russian sponsored North Korean Communists in June. forced to act quickly in South Korea's defense or ~sacrifice the good faith of its allies around the world, President Truman took the decision, as Commander- in-Chief, to send American air and sea forces into combat in South Korea immediately. Three days later American ground troops were ordered into the fight. Shortly thereafter, the United Nations Security Council 20 (the Russian delegate having previously walked out) asked U. N. countries to furnish armed forces to repel the North Koreans and put General Douglas MacArthur in command of its troops. 12 During the course of the fighting United Nations’ troops pushed deep into North Korea until hordes of Chinese Communists crossed the border and swamped the numerically inferior United Nations' troops, pushing them back again below the 38th parallel, the postwar dividing line between North and South Korea. The sudden conflict brought a resurgence of remilitarization in the United States, a sharp increase in the size of the Army, an upping of the military budget, new materials shortages, and consequent inflation. In December the President declared a national emergency, applied price and.wage controls, and appointed Charles E. Wilson, head of the General Electric Corporation, to direct the new Office of Defense Mobilization. 13 Politics, however, was not forgotten and there was increased sniping by the Republican minority at Secretary of State Dean Acheson for "selling Chiang 12. 12!. M 11313;, Sec. 4, p. 8, December 31, 1950 LE}. gpgg. 21 Kai-Shek's China down the river.“ Senator Joseph McCarthy charged that "the State Department is infested with Communists" who "handed over" China to Mac Tze-tung. 14 4 Q In Europe, French Foreign Minister Schuman proposed the Schuman Plan for pooling basic heavy industries, and talk was timidly begun on the possibility of rearming Germans and making them a part of the North Atlantic Defense Alliance. In the Broadway picture the 1949-50 theater season hit a new low, both quantatively and qualitatively. In a total of 56 productions there were 43 new plays and musicals, eight revivals, and five miscellaneous shows. The incongruity of the season was that despite the low caliber of production there were fewer costly failures than in previous seasons. Seven of the 56 productions were definitely hits and nine were placed in a "currently uncertain status" by Variety at the season's end (May 31, 1950). . The definite hits included T. s. Eliot's Cocktail {333:5 Gian Carlo Menotti's Thg_Consul, Samuel Taylor's 2hg_§§ppy.2;gg, and Carson.McCuller's Member 9; Th3 ‘Weddggg, the long-running musical gentlemen Prefer Blondes, another revival of James M. Barrie's Peter 22 Egg, Joshua Logan's venture into play writing with a free adaptation of Chekov's Cherry Orchard retitled Th2,!;§teria Treeg, and the Alan PatoneMaxwell Anderson- Kurt Weill musical, Lag; ;g_ghg.§t§§§. The season's most promising contribution to dramatic literature and history was the arrival of a new playwright on the Broadway scene. The play; ngg Eggk, Little Shgbg: the playwright; William Inge. The production was to make a new dramatic star out a of Shirley Booth and brought the promise of a new and different writing talent to the Broadway scene. The financial failures of the season included revivals of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar And Cleopatra and of Shakespeare's Tgelfth Night, as well as plays by lesser mortals, including Ludwig Bemelmen's N91,I,L§1 Mg 231;; 19 §_1_._e_e_p_, Lillian Hellman's adaptation of Emmanuel Robles French play, Montserrat, Jean Giraudoux's comedy, Th2 Enchanted, and the Robert Sherwood-Irving Berlin musical, Miss Liberty. Six holdovers continued their runs through the entire season, and 14 holdovers closed (including gorn‘gesterdey, which had been running since the 1945-46 season). The war in Korea ground to a stalemate in 1951 tout by the yearis end no truce was in sight, despite the Soviet U. N. delegate's proposal that " discussions -hou1d be started between-the belligerents'for a cease 23 fire ... ." is A brief, violent furor was aroused in the United States when President Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur from the Supreme Command of the United Nations forces in Korea because of insubordination to the President. The event threatened for awhile to become a sharp political issue but had already begun to lose its potency as the year ended. Politics, however, was rife throughout the year as the Republicans sharpened the axes for the 1952 IPreeidential election. Senator Robert A. Taft was the first hopeful to throw his hat into the ring. General Eisenhower, commanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in.Europe, managed to hold aloof from all political overtures from representatives of both parties. Senator Joseph McCarthy continued his allegations of "pro-Communism" in the State Department and made a bitter attack on Defense Secretary George C. Marshall, accusing him of making common cause with Stalin. 16 Corruption in the Government and Washingtonis ffive percenters" (contact men who made money in securing government contracts) also formed is part of the Republican attack on the Administration. 15. £1: 19;; m, Sec. 4, p. 10, December 30, 1951 16. £2.13. ' 24 Europe continued to debate the Schuman Plan and various plans for rearming Germany, but at year's end nothing concrete had yet been done about it. General Eisenhower was slowly forging Western Europe's defense forces into a manageable unit, but the still shaky European economies were being reluctantly pressed to the limit to accomplish it. In Great Britain, Winston Churchill once again assumed the Prime Ministership as Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee's Party was defeated in a national election. The American Theater, in the 1950~51 season, experienced a remarkable upsurge in stage activity. Eighty three shows crossed the boards, a figure pushed up by the ill-advised lO-show ANTA Play Series (which did, however, produce one of the year's hit shows, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's Twentieth Century). Of the 83 productions, 55 were new plays and musical shows, 26 were revivals, and two were return runs (Oklahoma and Where's Charley?)u Forty- two straight plays included eight financial hits and the l} musicals included three hits, in the manner of 16212131- The musical hits of this season were especially znemorable, this being the season of Guys And Dolls, adapted from Damon Runyon stories by Jo Swerling and .£1133 Burrows and with music and lyrics by Frank.Loesser, 25 gal; g3 gagam, with book by Lindsay and Grouse and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, and another Rodgers and Hammerstein production, The KLQE ABE l. The straight play hits, generally of more dubious quality, included F. Hugh Herbert's The Egon ls Blue, Wolcott Gibb's Season lg The §gg, Clifford Odets' The Country Girl, Affairs 9: State by Louis Verneuil, Bell, Book, And Candle by John Van Druten, and Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not For Burning. This was also the season when plays of higher quality than the hits listed above were rejected by the theatergoers. These were to include the Sidney Kingsley adaptation of Arthur Koestler's novel, Darkness A3 Eggg, Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo, Billy Budd, adapted from a story by Herman Melville by Louis 0. Coxe and Robert Chapman, Lillian Hellman's The Autumn Garden, and Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Four holdovers continued to run throughout the season, 17 holdovers from the previous season closed. The war in Korea continued stalemated and United States casualties (killed, wounded, and missing) totaled nearly 130,000 men as 1952 ended. 17 Peace 'talks at Panmunjom were in disagreement over the single 21.7. New York Times, Sec. 4, p. 8, December Eb, 1953 26 problem of how to repatriate the war prisoners. In Europe the progress for the West was much brighter as the nations set up definite goals for Western defense, gave West Germany virtual sovereignty, and approved the Schuman Plan. But progress on these matters slowed down as the year drew to an end due, in part, to a revival of old national rivalries, in.part to a relaxing of Russian pressure, and partly because of the relaxation of pressure from the United States because of the change in.American leadership and the preoccupation of the nation with its own election. The election resulted in the triumph of the personal popularity of the Republican candidate, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, although the Democratic candidate, Adlai Stevenson, also polled a record number of votes for a losing candidate. The election was interpreted as a victory for the liberal and internationalist wing of the Republican Party and a defeat for the right wing, nationalist section of the Party led by Senator Taft who, however, still held control in the Senate by virtue of being the Senate Majority Leader. Senator McCarthy scored a triumph when Owen Lattimore, his prime target, was dLndicted on the charge of lying when he swore he was not pro-Communist. 18 4 1 8 . Ibid. ‘ 27 In New York theatrical circles the 1951-52 season slumped from the previous year by recording ten less productions, the ANTA Play Series of the 1950-51 season, which was not repeated, apparently being the margin of difference. Forty five new plays and nine new musicals made up the significant portion of the season's bounty. Eleven financial hits were counted out of the 73 productions, of which nine were straight plays and two were musicals. On the whole it was a rather dramatically weak season. Two of the hit shows were staged readings, Paul Gregory's production of George Bernard Shaw's 2gp Jggg ;n_§§ll and Emelyn Williams' Dicken's Readings. The hit plays included Joseph Kramm's Th3 Shrike, Jan de Hartog's Th2 Fourposter, John Van Druten's ;_Am_g_0amera, The Constant Wife by Somerset Maugham, M g1; No Return by John P. Marquand and.Paul Osborn, and a new success by the long-absent creator of Harvey entitled Mrs. McThing. Included, also, was a very successful revival of the Thurber-Nugent 1939 comedy, Th2,Male Animal. Musical-wise, it was an exceptionally disappointing season.for of the two financially successful musicals (one was a revival of the old Rodgers and Hart musical, 2E§l_gggy, and one was a revue, New Faces, with an JELbundance of new writing, musical, and acting talents. 28 Two other musicals, 292 Banggg, with a book by Hy Kraft and words and music by Johnny Mercer, and Eéifli zgur Wagpn, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, escaped financial success by a narrow margin. Escaping success by a wider margin were revivals of Eugene O'Neill's two dramas, Anna Christie and Desire Under The Elms, Barefoot IQ Athens by Maxwell Anderson, The Grass 3332 by Truman Capote, a revival of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, and Christopher Fry's Egggg Observed, among many, many others. Nineteen fifty three proved to be a year of startling developments on many fronts. In.Moscow Joseph Stalin died and was succeeded by a triumvirate composed of llalenkov, Beria, and Molotov -- which was soon reduced to two when Beria, accused of being a "traitor", was arrested and subsequently shot. ‘ In the Far East the Korean conflict ground to an uneasy truce after more than three years of fighting, to be followed by a serio-comic "explaining-to and asserting-of" prisoners of war held by the contending sides. In Southeast Asia the French war in Indo-China .against the Communist forces of Ho Chi Min moved :Lnto its eighth year, with the French giving signs c>f'growing weary of the struggle as the Communists increased their gains against the French forces. 29 In Europe the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) alliance was becoming stronger and more sure of itself but the French, suffering a succession of short-lived Governments, continued to prove adamant about rearming the Germans and failed to do anything about ratifying the European Defense Community (EDC) Treaty. The constant shifting of Governments made a "political football" out of these issues and little was accomplished in France‘s external relations. In February, however, the long deferred Schuman Plan began operation. On the domestic scene the nation was deluged by a series of Congressional investigations of subversion in the Government, the unions, the schools, and the churches. One committee tried to call ex- President Truman before it, but failed in this attempt because of the Presidential immunity provisions of the national laws. Many of the investigations were spurred on by Senator Joseph McCarthy, head of one of the Senate investigating committees, who began also to array himself in opposition to President Eisenhower by observing that "The Administration's batting average 19‘ on Communism is none too good." The President disagreed and.by the year's end it began to look like .19. New York Times, Sec. 4, p. 8, December 27, 1953 30 the battle lines were being drawn between the President and the extreme right wing of his own Party. On Broadway, where controversy always rages but politics is generally rather remote, the 1952-53 season was an anomoly in that it staged the fewest productions (54) of the postwar theater years but the quality of the theater was noticeably on the upgrade. This was the year that produced such fine pieces of theater as Arthur Miller's The Crucible (which was a financial failure), William Inge's Picnic, Tennessee Williams' bizarre Camino Real (also a financial failure), Arthur Laurent's Timg Q; The Cuckoo, Frederick Knott's 23§1_M.ForiMurder, and the musicals Wonderful Tgyn, with a book by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov, music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Betty Comden and.Adolph Green, and Mg gag Juliet, an original musical from the production line of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, II. It was also a season of a greatly increased proportion of financial successes, 16 out of the 54 productions going for the money. Of the 54 productions, 31 were new plays and ten were new musicals. The :1ncreasing difficulty in financing shows, due to Jrapidly rising costs of production and operation, dauppeared to be a major factor in the decrease in 31 productions. An unusually large number of announced productions could not be financed and never did reach the boards. Ten shows closed out of town. The international tensions appeared to ease considerably in 1954 as the new Soviet regime turned more to internal reform. Their principal manifest opposition to the West took the form of threats against the admission of the West German Republic into the Western defensive alliance. This step had not yet been accomplished by the year's end. France had upset all previously laid plans by failing to ratify EDC, whereupon French Premier Mendes-France, in a quick series of ingenious moves, got Britain to abandon her historic insular aloofness and West Germany to abandon hope for the disputed area of the Saar, and by the end of the year a set of Paris Pacts, in effect replacing the EDC plan (to the advantage of France), were awaiting ratification by the nations concerned. 20 In the Far East France managed to extricate herself from the agonizing eight-year long war in Indo-China, but only at the high price of abandoning the rich northern portion of Indo-China to the Communists, and thereby weakening her hold on the ‘ 53(3. New York Times, Sec. 4, p. 8, December 26, 1954 32 southern part of that unhappy state. On the domestic scene, Senator Robert A. Taft died during the year and was succeeded as Senate Majority Leader by Senator William Knowland of California. The tensions that were lessening abroad were much increased at home. Senator Joseph McCarthy made bitter attacks on the Eisenhower Administration in general and upon the Department of the Army in particular and a series of unpleasant Congressional investigations followed his charges. Ultimately, Senator McCarthy was reprimanded by the Senate and his influence and popularity, very high as the year began, waned after the Senatorial censure. 21 At year's and Senator McCarthy and Senator Knowland appeared to be the leaders of a small group of extreme right wingers in the Republican Party arrayed against the much larger Eisenhower forces. An Eisenhower-Democratic coalition was the 1955 prospect on legislation relating to defense and foreign affairs. On Broadway, the season 1953*54 showed a slight increase in productions over the preceding year with 59 shows being presented. Again, it was a triumph of quality over quantity, the season being distinguished by such excellent shows as the John.Patrick adaptation 33 of the Vern Sneider novel, The Teahouse g: The Aughst Moon, Robert Anderson's Tea And Sympathy, The Caine Mutiny Court'Martial, Herman'Wouk's own dramatization from his novel The Chine Mutiny, Jean Giraudoux's fantasy Ondine, Ruth and Augustus Goetz's adaptation of Andre Gide's story Th3 Immoralist, and the prize winning musical, ghh Pajama Gamg, with a book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Rose. Of the 59 shows, 41 were new plays and nine were new musicals. Thirteen of these 59 shows turned up as financial successes, ll of them plays and two of them being musicals. Other shows included in the hit, or money making, class were T. S. Eliot's Th2 Confidential Clerk, Norman Krasna's gghg gig, Samuel Taylor's Shbrina Fair, The Solid Gold Cadillac by Howard Teichman.and George S. Kaufman, Anniversary Waltz by Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields, Liam O'Brien's The Remarkable hgp Pennypacker, and the“ musical Kismet, adapted from Edward Knoblock's play by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis and with music by Alexander Borodin adapted and arranged by Robert ‘lright and George Forrest. The current year began.with the "cold war" ‘tensions increasing once again as the Chinese Communists 34 made threatening gestures in the direction of Formosa, the seat of the Chinese Nationalist Government which the United States was sworn to defend. Uncertainty enveloped the whole picture over Just how far the allies of the United States would go to support the United States' position -- particularly since some of them had already officially recognized Communist China. By mid-year the tension had leveled off and Communist China -- temporarily, at least —- had modified its former truculent posture. In France, the vigorous Mendes-France Government fell and the weakness of the French political structure again became manifest. In Great Britain, however, the stability of the Government was made evident as Winston Churchill turned the reigns of Government over to the next man in line in the Conservative Party, Anthony Eden. The new Prime Minister promptly called a national election and won a handy victory for the Conservatives over the Labour Party. In Moscow, the Soviet hierarchy was reshuffled as Premier Malenkov resigned and Marshal Bulganin became the Chief of State, with Communist Party Boss Nikita Khrushchev moving into a strategic position. Nineteen fifty five has been the year both West Germany and Austria have achieved sovereignty after long years of occupation by the Big Powers. 35 In the United States medical science scored a major triumph as Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was found to be an effective combatant against infantile paralysis. The New York Theater picture was brighter in the year 1954-55 as four more productions than the preceding year reached its stages. Of the 63 shows in this season, 42 were plays and 19 were musicals, the largest number of musicals to reach the Broadway stages since the war. Of the 42 plays, 34 were new works and eight revivals. An unusually large number of these plays were adaptations (l3) and nine of the total of 42 plays were imports. Fourteen of the nineteen musicals were new works, the other five being revivals (mostly City Center ’light opera" productions). Adaptations figured large among the musicals, too, with seven of them being derived from other sources. The season was unusually successful financially as well. By the season's end 15 of the 63 productions had paid for themselves (though some had lifted themselves out of the red by the sale of motion picture and television rights) and seven were still in an undetermined status. There were 28 definite financial failures and 13 other productions (City Center and Phoenix Theaters) with limited runs, where successes are not readily calculated in terms of dollars .1. —. 36 and cents. The 15 financial successes of the season were: Guy Bolton's adaptation of Marcelle Maurette's drama Anastasia, the Maxwell Anderson adaptation of William March’s novel The Bad Seed, Sandy Wilson's British musical Thg_Boy Friend, William Inge's Bus Stop, Tennessee Williams' prize-winning Cat 9h A Hot Tin Roof, S. N. Behrman and Joshua Logan's musical adaptation of Marcel Pagnol’s trilogy, Fanhy, Sidney Kingsley's Lunatics And Lovers, the Old Vic presentation of Shakespeare's h Midsummer Night's Dream, the musical version of James M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Noel Coward's Quadrille, N. Richard Naish's The Rainmaker, the Ruth and Paul Draper Show, Max Shulman and Robert Paul Smith’s The Tender Trap, the Paul Gregory production of 2 £23 Tonight, and Agatha Christie's Witness For The Prosecution. In the "undertermined" status at the season's end were: Ankles Aweigh, a musical with a book by Guy Bolton and Eddie Davis, music by Sammy Fain, and lyrics by Dan Shapiro, the musical Damn Yankehh with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, Th3 Desperahe Hours, dramatized by Joseph Hayes from his own novel, Inherit The Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Plain And Fancy, with a book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman, music by Albert Hague, and 37 lyrics by Arnold Horwitt, Seventh Heaven, adapted from the Austin Strong play by Stella Unger and Victor Wolfson with music by Victor Young, and ghlh Stockings, a musical adaptation of Ninotchka with a book by George S. Kaufman, LeueeanacGrath, and Abe Burrows and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Among the 28 financial failures were numbered Robert Anderson's.hll ghmmer Long, Christopher Fry's ,zhg 2225.l§.LlEht Enough, Clifford Odet's The Flowering Peach, Roald Dahl's The Honeys, House g: Flowers with a book by Truman Capote and music by Harold Arlen, Graham Greene's The Living Room, Gian Carlo Menotti's prize winning-musical Th3 ghyhh_g£_Bleeker Street, and Horton Foote's Th2 Traveling_Lady. The City Center had its best season in the ten year period of its existence with Helen Hayes appearing in revivals of What Every Woman Knows and The Historia 23323 and productions of Th3 Tihh.g£'Your Life and Th3 Fourposter. ' A novelty of the 1954-55 season was the televising of the full stage production of the musical version of Peter Pan, starring Mary Martin, after the show closed on Broadway. This event was instrumental in making the expensive production pay for itself and points a Possible bright future for other shows of high quality being assisted in this same way. 38 This cursory review of the first post-war decade~ reveals that, although there has been a considerable dropping off in total productions from the pro-war era, a fairly steady schedule of productions has been maintained during the ten year period. The postwar decline in theatrical productions has been variously ascribed to the advent of television, higher production and operational costs, shortage of theaters, high price of tickets, and a shortage of good play scripts. Exactly how much each of these factors have affected the legitimate stage would be difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain, but that they have affected it, in one degree or another, is undoubted. Television, a major competitor for spectator interest, has been a distinct threat to all facets of the entertainment industry since its arrival as a mass-entertainment media in about 1950. Insofar as its effect on the legitimate theater is concerned, there are two schools of thought concerning it. George Jean Nathan expresses one point of view by observing: Just how television is going to discourage adult theatre-going, as some fish argue, is hard to figure out, since it devotes itself largely to plays which have already been shown in the theatre, which are stale to the theatregoer, and which are so often in addition so wretchedly done that they drive him right back to the theatre to see something decently staged and acted. Those televiewers who are satisfied with what they see are not theatre 39 customer material, and never were. Television will thus naturally be damaging to the motion picture boxoffice but, if the theatre has any sense, it will guarantee its future great prosperity by encouraging 1% with every means, fair or foul, at its command. 2 On the other hand, many theater-wise people, while not belaboring television as much as the movie industry does, have a healthy respect for television's competitive qualities, if not always its artistic standards. John MacArthur, as Editor and Publisher of Theatre Arts Magazine, has his finger on the pulse of the American Theater. He writes, in an editorial decrying the decline in theater attendance: Of course, in most civilized countries in the world the government subsidizes theatre as something worthwhile, and of course, we subsidize many of those countries and therefore indirectly subsidize theatre elsewhere. We do not want such a subsidy here. But it would seem in the face of increasing competition from television, if not radio, the living theatre as well as the movies might expect cooperation from all elements of show business in just recognition and the living theatres essential and continuing contribution to their welfare and betterment ... The presence of television on the entertainment scene might be a two-edged sword insofar as the American theater is concerned. Televisions most obvious challenge, of course, is in providing visual entertainment in the comforts of one's own home as contrasted with the discomforts of the New York ‘ 22. George Jean Nathan, The Theatre In The Fifties (New York: Knopf, 1953), ppi'16317 23. John MacArthur, "An.Editorial," Theatre.Arts Magazine, XXXVII, p. 15, October, 1953 40 theaters (a considerable and increasing problem), the problems of traffic and parking, of the high cost and unavailability of theater tickets, and the other harassments that beset the New York legitimate theatergoer. More serious and more insidious, however, is the tendency of television to bastardize the public tastes. Certainly, as George Jean Nathan maintains, the adult theatergoer will continue to find his refuge in the theater where qualities that can never be captured in a television production can still be found. It is also true, unfortunately, that many more people who were occasional theatergoers and who were often the margin between the success and failure of a stage production have now completely succumbed to the cheap, imitative blandishments of commercial television. Casual observations by interested persons have been made to the effect that large numbers of adults in many of the suburban areas of New York City (always a large source of New Ybrk's theatergoing audience containing, as they do, higher income and more culturally advanced populaces) subject themselves to television fare night after night, often without even exercising the New Ybrker's unique privilege of making a choice of one of seven channels every half hour. The effect, 41 on an indeterminate mass scale, is like an opiate. Like all tastes, whatever they may be, if they are not assiduously cultivated they wither and die on the vine. Perhaps television's greatest contribution to the decline of the American stage will be in this steady process of the bastardization of the public taste. ' Not all of television's presence is evil, however, insofar as its relationship to the legitimate stage is concerned. Television has been invaluable in taking up the slack in unemployed actors that has increased as the legitimate stage has contracted. In 1950, for example, Actors Equity had a membership of slightly less than 7,000, the largest in its history up to that time. Only one out of every six of its members had been employed for as long as six months. According to its statistics, the "average stage actor" had worked ten weeks during the year and 24 Although an acting career is had earned 8825. still one of the hardest of all professions to break into, television has succeeded in making the employment problem somewhat less severe. As far as the New Ybrk end of the picture is concerned, this varies from year to year, depending upon the current vogue for "live"