The Other Arts

The Other Arts

Art Deco* (lots of streamlined, geometric design motifs) is the latest thing. Walter Gropius* moves the Bauhaus* from Dessau to Weimar. In Art, some of the more prominent names are: Chagall, Picasso, Rouault, Braque, Matisse, Georgia O'Keefe, Salvador Dali, Paul Klee, Grant Wood and Max Beckmann.

In Architecture, Louis Sullivan* (the father of modernism and skyscrapers) has died in 1924 and now we begin to hear about the work of Frank Lloyd Wright* and Saarinen in America.

In Music, experimentation is the rule, from Erik Satie* and Debussy* on. We begin to hear from: Aaron Copeland, Rudolf Friml, Bartok, Hindesmith, Duke Ellington, "Jelly Roll" Morton, Sigmund Romberg and Kurt Weill*, among many others.

In English language Literature, we hear a great deal from: Gertrude Stein, Hemingway, Faulkner, Frost, Ring Lardner, Willa Cather, e.e. cummings, Theodore Dreiser, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edna Ferber, Aldous Huxley, Henrich Mann, Somerset Maugham, D.H. Lawrence, Sinclair Lewis and A.A. Milne, among a lot of others.

In Dance, there is an explosion of modern dance. Ruth St. Denis* and Ted Shawn* have been dancing, putting together a company (Denishawn Dancers) and touring (1922-25) the U.S. and England. This year they are touring the Orient. They will organize the Denishawn School of Dancing in Los Angeles and New York. One of their pupils, Martha Graham*, will make an even bigger splash. A number of the dancers who are just beginning in this period, such as

Hanya Holm* and Agnes de Mille*, will add considerably to the quality of dancing in the American musical.

1926 In America, we have Paul Green* doing In Abraham's Bosom* at Provincetown. The musical

theatre is expanding as the composer, Richard Rodgers * (1902-79) is working with lyricist, librettist, Lorenz Hart* (1895-1943) on The Girl Friend* which opens this year. Next year they will come out with Connecticut Yankee*.

The Worker's Drama League* begins the "workers' theatre" movement. Their work is comprised mostly of socialistic propaganda designed to arouse protest against big business.

Eva Le Gallienne* (1899-1991,) an English [also French and Danish] actress who moved here and spent the last five years doing starring roles on Broadway, founds the Civic Repertory Company* to produce important foreign plays at reasonable admission prices. She will do so very successfully until the company finally succumbs to the Depression in 1935.

George Kelly* wins this year's Pulitzer Prize* with his play Craig's Wife*. Eugene O'Neill*'s play The Great God Brown* is rather tortuous and makes use of symbolic

masks to examine the conflict between man's spiritual and material needs. He will repeat this style in 1934 with Days Without End*.

Sidney Howard* examines a mother trying to keep her son tied to her apron strings in The Silver Cord*.

In France, Cocteau* comes out with his surrealist play, Orpheus*. In Ireland Sean O'Casey produces The Plough and the Stars*, dealing with the 1916 rebellion.

It causes a riot. In the British provinces, the Cambridge Festival Theatre* is established by Terence Gray*

(1895-?) with the avowed purpose of "attacking" realistic acting and production. The theatre has no curtain, proscenium arch or orchestra pit. Patterns of light are projected against a cyclorama in lieu of scenery and platforms and ramps serve as set dressing.

Russia encourages amateur theatre and at this time about 20,000 dramatic clubs exist among the peasants. However, 63% of the physical theatre plants belong to the state. Meyerhold* produces Gogol*'s The Inspector General* in a stylized setting.

In the U.S. in August, Warner Brothers try to ward off bankruptcy by introducing a novelty in New York. A film (Don Juan) with sound accompaniment of a musical score synchronized with the film. It doesn't make the sensation next year's sound film will.

Dr. Robert H. Goddard* demonstrates how practical liquid fuel rockets are. Nobody will pay much attention at the moment, then the Germans will notice, and, finally, the Americans will come to appreciate their inventor.

Congress seems to get the message that airplanes are useful, they establish the Army Air Corps and pass the Air Commerce Act to come up with federal aid for airports and airlines.

1927 In America: This year is a landmark for the American musical theatre. The composer, Jerome Kern*

(1885-1945) and lyricist, librettist, Oscar Hammerstein 2nd* (1895-1960,) come out with Showboat*. They will both write more works, together and with others.

In New York, two hundred eighty plays open this theater season, the most ever. Among these is Phillip Barry*'s Paris Bound*, a comedy of manners dealing with divorce among the upper classes. The number of new productions will decline from this high to an average of eighty by 1939, due to a number of factors, like competition from the movies (which are now talkies,) The coming depression and the rising costs of putting something on the stage.

In France: Roger Vitrac* (1899-1952 French poet, playwright and one of the leaders of Dada*) and

Artaud* found the Theatre Alfred Jarry*. Vitrac* has his first two plays produced there and Artaud* directs them. Les MystŠres de l'amour* is done as part of the program that opens the theatre.

In Germany: Piscator* starts his own theatre to present a new variation of theatre style, which will later be

known as "Epic," involving narration and numerous episodes and characters. He uses film, cartoons, charts and an array of stage technologies including moving platforms and treadmills to present expressionistic plays as Toller*'s Hurrah, We Live!*.

In the U.S. the first effective sound film makes a hit, The Jazz Singer*with Al Jolson* signals that talking pictures have arrived. About 1,000 American marines are sent to China to protect American interests.

Charles A. Lindbergh* flies non-stop New York to Paris. This makes a big splash. 1928 In America: The Theatre Guild* begins a subscription series in six cities outside New York. Innovative

theater is on the rise. O'Neill*'s Strange Interlude* uses long "interior monologues" to express the characters' inner thoughts. His Lazarus Laughed* is produced by the Theatre Guild*.

In Ireland:

A new theatre opens, the Gate Theatre*, to house productions of plays from other countries. Meanwhile, Sean O'Casey* breaks with the Abbey Theatre* when he changes his style from realistic to expressionistic, and moves to England.

In Spain: Federico Garc¡a Lorca* (1898-1936,) a lyric poet and dramatist from Andalusia, becomes the

most popular Spanish poet of his generation with the publication this year of his volume of poetry, Gypsy Ballads*. His first full length play had been produced in 1920 but his fame as a dramatist comes from his folk tragedies which he will write in the thirties.

In Germany: Even more famous than Piscator* in exploring the intricacies of "epic theatre", is his assistant

at the Volksbuhne, Bertolt Brecht* (1898-1956). Brecht* contrasts epic theatre with the more familiar dramatic theatre in several ways: epic theatre presents a narrative while dramatic theatre has a plot, epic theatre is propagandist, attempting to rouse its audience to action while dramatic theatre merely produces sensations for the audience to experience, and dramatic scenes lead logically to one another while in epic theatre each scene is an entity. Brecht*'s first major success comes this year with The Three-Penny Opera*, a musical adaptation (music by Kurt Weill* 1900-50) of the John Gay* opera, The Beggar's Opera*. It will run for 400 performances. [Much of Brecht*'s work is in opposition to the rising Nazi influence, (later it will be Communist) which will lead him to emigrate to Denmark, and then to America along with Piscator* and Reinhardt* in 1933.]

In America: Amelia Earhart* becomes the first woman to fly the Atlantic. 1929 In America: O'Neill* comes out with Dynamo*, a really poor play, but with a terrific set design by Lee

Simonson*. Elmer Rice* turns away from expressionism this year and presents a naturalistic play, Street

Scene*, about the slums of New York. It wins the Pulitzer Prize*. In England: Noel Coward*'s musical, Bittersweet*, is seen for the first, but hardly the last, time. Barry Jackson* (1879-1961), (founder and director of the Birmingham Repertory Company*)

starts the Malvern Festival* this year. In France: Jacques Copeau*'s student group dissolves and several of the actors form the Compagnie des

Quinze* with Copeau*'s nephew, Michael Saint-Denis* (1897-1971,) at its head. Jean Giraudoux* (1882-1944) is a novelist and dramatist who collaborates with the actor-

director Louis Jouvet* to put on some of the finest plays of this period. There are numerous French playwrights in the surealist- expressionist style between the two great wars, but few of director Louis Jouvet* to put on some of the finest plays of this period. There are numerous French playwrights in the surealist- expressionist style between the two great wars, but few of

In America: In March, Herbert Hoover* (1874-1964) becomes the 31st president of the U.S., just in time

to face catastrophe. In October there is the catastrophic stock market crash in New York that precipitates a worldwide financial crisis. This begins the move toward the Great Depression*. Falling prices, restricted credit, reduced production, bankruptcies, rising unemployment, runs on banks and bank failures and a rapid fall in the securities market, all proceed like a row of dominoes falling. Gangsters have been busy ever since Prohibition started, but this year they have one of their more memorable internal fights. The St. Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago wipes out seven rivals.

Literature is doing well in America. Thomas Wolfe* comes out with Look Homeward Angel* and William Faulkner* publishes The Sound and the Fury*.

1930 In America Maxwell Anderson* brings American blank verse to the stage with Elizabeth the Queen*.

Marc Connelly* Pulitzer Prize* winning play, Green Pastures is produced. In England: Noel Coward* comes out with what will be his classic comedy, Private Lives* , starring (of

course) himself and his friend and favorite actress, Gertrude Lawrence* (1898-1952). This year the U.S. Congress gets a majority of Democrats and they push President Hoover* to

do something (he believes that the economy will regenerate spontaneously with out federal help). A large public works program gets under way and Congress passes the Emergency Relief Act. Unfortunately the U.S. also signs the Hawley-Smoot Tariff which raises rates and slashes world trade. This one does nobody any good. Also, as we go into the thirties, there are year after year of low rainfall, even drought in the American Great Plains, especially that 25,000 square miles of the prairie states known for low rainfall and high winds. All that land had additional acres of native grasses plowed to make room for planting wheat during the war. Much of it is not still under the plow, instead, it is returned to grazing or abandoned. As the dry years persist, the land will begin to blow away and the term Dust Bowl* will become significant. Thousands of tons of top soil will take to the air, burying farms and small towns as it drops somewhere else. Thousands of farmers will lose their land and go west to become migrant farmers in the California valleys.

Britain, Italy, France, Japan and the U.S. all sign the London Naval Reduction Treaty which runs five years. It doesn't seem to do much good.

1931 In America: One of those "new stagecraft" designers, Norman Bel Geddes*, designs an expressionistic

Hamlet* using steps, platforms, and imaginative lighting to represent the various scenes in and around the castle.

Lee Strasberg* begins the Group Theatre*, modeled on the Moscow Art Theatre and dedicated to Stanislavsky*'s acting ideals.

O'Neill* presents his trilogy, Mourning Becomes Electra*. In France: Giraudoux* writes Judith*. In England: The Old Vic* acquires the Sadler's Wells Theatre* and a ballet company is formed that will

become England's finest. At the Gate Theatre* in Dublin we find an actor, Orson Welles* (1915-1985,) who will soon cross the Atlantic.

In Spain there is social unrest, a republican election victory and king Alfonso XIII* is deposed and exiled.

In New York the Empire State Building opens in May and Al Capone* is convicted of tax evasion in October. Pearl Buck* publishes The Good Earth.*

1932 In the United States: The Worker's Drama League* becomes a national organization. Later it will change its name

to New Theatre League*. Most of its member groups are amateur, but next year a fully professional organization, the Theatre Union* will be formed in New York and provide leadership for the entire movement.

For the first time the Pulitzer Prize* in drama goes to a musical. Of Thee I Sing* by George S. Kaufman*, Morrie Ryskind* and Ira Gershwin* who split the award for the book and lyrics (George Gershwin* does the music) will become a popular favorite and a scathing satire of the presidential election system.

Biography* by S.N. Behrman* contrasts tolerance with inhumanity. By this year there are 14,000 movie houses wired for sound attracting seventy million

admissions a week. Theatre after theatre closes, converts to movie screens and opens as a admissions a week. Theatre after theatre closes, converts to movie screens and opens as a

All the arts are in terrible shape, writers, sculptors, musicians, painters and architects, all join the unemployed in terrifying numbers.

In America: The summer brings the Bonus March on Washington (17,000 veterans of the World War want the bonuses the government promised them now instead of later). In reaction Hoover* reluctantly creates the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to make more work. In November Hoover* loses the presidential election and Franklin Delano Roosevelt* wins. Color film (by Technicolor) is introduced. It will be a couple years before it reaches the big screen (1934 in Walt Disney*'s cartoons). The Lindbergh* baby is kidnapped and then found dead. The newspapers have a field day.

In the Soviet Union: The second five year plan begins even though there is famine in Russia. In Germany: There are Presidential elections. The results are: Hindenberg 18 million, Hitler

11 million, and the Communists 5 million, which means there has to be a run-off. Hindenberg wins in run-off but the Reichstag (parliament) has a peculiar line-up: Nazis 230, Socialists 133, Center 97, Communists 89. Hitler refuses Hindenberg's offer to become vice-chancellor (Hitler gets German citizenship this year, remember, he was born in Austria).

1933 In America: In New York, Anderson* again presents the turmoil of sixteenth century Great Britain in

blank verse with Mary of Scotland* which stars Helen Hayes*. Long runs are becoming common, reaching their peak with Tobacco Road*, which will run for seven years.

This year the Actors Equity Association* establishes a minimum wage for its members. Other unions follow suit and the constant demands for ever higher wages for stage hands, actors, directors and playwrights takes its toll and fewer productions are mounted.

O'Neill* comes out with his only comedy, Ah, Wilderness!*. In Germany: Brecht*, Piscator*, Jessner* and Reinhardt* see the Nazis regime as menacing their work and

they all leave Germany this year. What with Hitler* coming to power in Germany, theatrical personnel there have basically two choices - submit to the Nazi* dictated view of art or emigrate. The best and most influential leave Germany (most eventually going to England and America). Those who stay in Germany mostly confine themselves to historical works, writing and producing plays that glorify the "Aryan" past. Social statement, once the hallmark of the German theater, is "verboten." But the German artists who move to America continue to make their mark and American theater will benefit immeasurably from the influx of these and other refugees.

In Spain: Garc¡a Lorca* comes out with the first of his folk tragedies, Blood Wedding. He has

tremendous influence on Spanish theatre, both through his own plays and through his work with the amateur touring company, La Barraca*. La Barraca* is the creation of the Spanish Republic (in 1931,) and it is headed by Garc¡a Lorca* with the mission of producing classical plays in rural areas.

In Germany: Hitler is appointed Chancellor. When the Reichstag fire breaks out (burning the parliament) the Nazi propaganda machine blames it on the Communists. Hermann Goering is named Prussian Prime Minister, Goebbels is named Hitler's Minister of Propaganda. Hitler is granted dictatorial powers (Enabling Law) and the first concentration camps are erected by Nazis in Germany (Dachau) for political prisoners and Jews. The boycott of Jews begins, German labor unions suppressed, political parties other than Nazis suppressed and 92 percent of Germans vote for Nazis. In Spain: Jos‚ Ant¢nio Primo De Rivera* (son of the other Primo De Rivera*) starts a Spanish political party, the Falange*. It is devoted to fascism* and will have its own militia.

Japan withdraws from League of Nations In Austria: Parliamentary government is suspended by Chancellor Dollfuss. The U.S. is now at the depth of the Great Depression. Sixteen million people, one-third of the

work force, are unemployed. Roosevelt* is sworn in in March and Congress grants him wide powers to deal with the Great Depression. The first Relief Act passes Congress at the end of March, setting up the Civilian Conservation Corps* (C.C.C.) to put unemployed youth to work. Six weeks later Congress establishes the Federal Emergency Relief Administration* (F.E.R.A.) to grant federal funds to states for help in caring for the unemployed. In November Congress establishes the Civil Works Administration* (C.W.A.) to create four million jobs for men and women in desperate straits. Harry Hopkins* (1890-1946) heads the C.W.A. and, in nine weeks puts more that 4,200,000 people to work building and improving roads, playgrounds, schools, etc. The object is immediate help, but, in the theatrical area only 450 are employed in the next two years.

The 21st Amendment is passed (it repeals prohibition) and the U.S. forswears armed intervention in Western Hemisphere nations.

1934 In the United States: Realism is still important to the American stage. Yellow Jack* by Sidney Howard* is a semi-

documentary play about the fight to control yellow fever and Lillian Hellman* touches on lesbianism in her play The Children's Hour*. On the other hand, S.N. Behrman* presents a comedy of manners with Rain from Heaven.

In England: John Gielgud* stuns English audiences with his brilliant portrayal of Hamlet*. In France: Cocteau* delivers the third part of his Oedipus trilogy, The Infernal Machine*.

In Spain: Garc¡a Lorca* brings out his second folk tragedy, Yerma.* In Austria there is Revolution which overthrows the Social Democrats. In France there is a General strike. In the Facist circles, Hitler* and Mussolini* meet in Venice. The Austrian Chancellor,

Dollfuss, is assassinated by Nazis. Finally, the elderly Hindenberg dies and a plebiscite votes in Hitler* as Fuhrer (leader). In Russia: Stalin*'s close collaborator, Serge Kirov, is assassinated in Leningrad and the purge of the Communist party begins.

In China, Communist forces leave their besieged strongholds in the South and begin the Long March to the North (1934-35).

Japan renounces the Washington treaties (of 1922 and 30). In America the government's struggle to deal with the depression is proceeding along more

orderly lines. The Civil Works Administration* (C.W.A.) is officially closed in April and its unfinished work is carried over into the Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration*

. Finally U.S. troops pull out of Haiti. 1935 The Federal Theatre Project** President Roosevelt* has been coming up with all kinds of programs to help with the massive

unemployment and this year Congress creates the Works Progress Administration* (W.P.A.) based on the successful experience with the Civil Works Administration* (C.W.A.).

After much consultation with all kinds of theatre people, the President, Harry Hopkins*, and his assistant, Jacob Baker, come up with a scheme to create meaningful theatrical employment for the whole range of theatrically unemployed, from dancers and actors, through directors and designers down to box-office personnel and ushers. This scheme is called the Federal Theatre Project*, and is funded by the W.P.A.

The Federal Theatre Project* is the most influential theatrical force in America at this time. Almost every actor, playwright, director or designer who will be prominent during and just after the next war will work in this project and it will present many of the newer, experimental forms of theatre, changing theatre across the country since it is the first (and only) project that encompasses the entire country.

The Federal Theatre Project* is headed by a remarkable woman named Hallie Flanagan* (1890-1969) who had assisted George Pierce Baker* at Harvard, taught at Grinnell and, more recently, at Vassar, where for the past ten years she has been director of the Vassar Experimental Theatre and studying contemporary European theatre abroad. She is chosen in large part because of her knowledge of government-funded European theatre and her exceptional talent for organizing.

As a way of putting the largest number of theatre workers into a working situation immediately, Hallie Flanagan* suggests dramatizing contemporary events in a series of "Living Newspapers"* which would have a rapid cinematic form and use a whole bunch of people doing a lot of small bits. She suggests this as a more useful alternative than putting on regular plays with "star" parts and less employment opportunities. This suggestion clinches the administration's determination to have Flanagan* head the Federal Theatre Project*.

The first problem for the Federal Theatre Project* is to organize the entire country and find where, and how many unemployed theatrical workers there are. A plan emerges to organize the country into five regional theatre centers (in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston and New Orleans) as production centers for a professional company, actor training, research, service and playwrighting for their own region. Buildings are planned for the metropolitan areas and the companies are to tour their region with their productions. An important part of the plan is the development of playwrights who will build a body of work for each region. Directors for each region are sought. E. C. Mabie* (prominent for his work on the National Theatre Conference of University and Community Theatres) becomes director of the Midwest region and efforts are made to keep, for the New York City post, the already helpful lawyer and playwright, Elmer Rice* [who is currently busy trying to put together the Theatre Alliance* (which, he hopes, will be partially funded by the government)]. The announcement of the founding of the Federal Theatre Project* and of its director, Hallie Flanagan* is made

by Harry Hopkins* at the National Theatre Conference at Iowa State University as they lay the cornerstone for Mabie*'s University Theatre, which will be a center, not only for the region, but for the entire Midwest. Much of the commercial theatre organizations are opposed to this governmental effort. Unions, managers and prominent actors and directors protest that any theatre work done by the "unemployed" is bound to be second rate and (a strange simultaneous thought) it will compete with the commercial theatre. The pay is extremely low, but it is set at a level to provide food and shelter for the previously unemployed. For these reasons few commercial theatre people accepted positions in the administration of the project.

Finally, in October, the first meeting of the regional and state directors takes place. These include: Eddie Dowling*, Broadway actor-producer, for nationwide vaudeville, circus and variety Charles Coburn*, actor and director, for New England Elmer Rice*, assisted by Philip Barber*, dramatists, actor, stage-manager, for New York Group Theatre, and Eastern region Jasper Deeter*, of Hedgerow Theatre repertory group, for Pennsylvania E. C. Mabie*, Director of Iowa University Theatre, for Midwest Thomas Wood Stevens*, originator and director of the Globe, for Chicago Frederic McConnell*, director of the Cleveland Community Theatre, for Ohio Gilmor Brown*, director of Pasadena Community Playhouse, assisted by J. Howard Miller*, former actor and stage-manager for Max Reinhardt*, for the West Glenn Hughes*, dramatist and director of the University of Washington Theatre, for Seattle Frederick Koch*, creator and director of the Carolina Playmakers, and John McGee *, dramatist-director, for the South Rosamund Gilder*, associate editor of Theatre Arts Monthly*, for the Bureau of Research and Publication.

Five large units in New York are formed to address different interests. Each one housed in its own theatre building and each playing to audiences paying 25 or 50 cents admission prices. These units are:

The Living Newspaper*, sponsored by the New York Newspaper Guild, supervised by Morris Watson

The popular price theatre, to present original plays by new authors, under Edward Goodman The experimental theatre, to present new plays in new ways, under Virgil Geddes and James

Light The Negro theatre, under John Houseman* and Rose McClendon* The tryout theatre, under Otto Metzger*, sponsored by the League of New York Theatres

(who pay theatre and set costs and get to pick up any winners for commercial use). It might be useful to note here that the year (1934) before before taking this federal job, while

visiting England, Hallie Flanagan* persuaded T.S. Eliot* to write a play for the project on the theme of the murder of Thomas Becket. He does, and this year the New York unit for new plays puts on Eliot's* Murder In The Cathedral*.

In addition to these, there are the carry-over, free projects from Civil Works Administration* (C.W.A.), playing schools, settlement houses, clubs and churches: a large Gilbert and Sullivan* company vaudeville units, marionette units, a minstrel show

The Negro theatre, the Bureau of Research and Publication, the new publication (beginning publication in November,) the Federal Theatre Magazine*, and the Living Newspaper* are all nationwide activities originating in New York. The Negro theatre, for example, will eventually have units in ten different cities.

The Living Newspaper* (which Elmer Rice* accepted the directorship for in New York City) under Morris Watson and sponsored by the New York Newspaper Guild, is set up like a city daily with editor-in-chief, managing editor, city editor, reporters, copyreaders. They research everything printed to make it possible to create authoritative dramatic treatment, both historic and contemporary, of current problems.

The first edition for the New York production will be Ethiopia* (1936,) partly because of the Italian invasion of that country and partly because of the more pragmatic need to do something with a large troupe of black Africans stranded here while on an operatic company tour, (which gives you some idea of the interesting compromises that have to be made in this project).

Another federal project is the formation of the American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA)*. This is created to draw theatre out of New York and spread it around the country. Little is accomplished at this time, but it will become important after the next war.

Other places in 1935 - In France: Giraudoux* writes The Trojan War Shall Not Take Place. In England: Barry Jackson* turns his Birmingham Theatre* over to the City of Birmingham, making it

England's first civic theatre.

In America: Clifford Odets* presents two plays that call for people to respond to social injustices; Waiting

for Lefty* and Awake and Sing*. Paradise Lost*, also produced this year, is a story of individuals struggling against life's inequities.

Robert E. Sherwood* creates an allegorical cross-section of American life in The Petrified Forest*.

George Gershwin* comes out with his classic opera on an American theme, Porgy and Bess* tells the tale of poor black people in modern society.

Kurt Weill* leaves Germany and emigrates to America this year. He will become a citizen and write sophisticated, and popular musicals.

In Germany: The Saarland is incorporated into Germany after a plebiscite. The Nazis repudiate the Versailles treaty and reintroduce compulsory military service. There is an Anglo-German Naval agreement. The passing of the Nuremberg Laws against Jews begins the severe persecution.

In Russia there are "show-trials" to remove dissidents. In Italy: Mussolini* invades Abyssinia and Ethiopia in an effort to recreate the "Roman

Empire". Persia changes its name to Iran. In the United States, Huey Long (the Louisiana "Kingfish") is assassinated. Comedian Will Rogers* and aviator Wiley Post die in an Alaska plane crash. Congress passes the Social Security Act 1936 In America: With the Depression in full swing, people are looking for something to laugh at. End of

Summer* by S.N. Behrman* hits the boards and Sherwood*'s farce about the horrors of war, Idiot's Delight*, opens. The team of Moss Hart* and George S. Kaufman* write a delightful farce, You Can't Take It With You*, about a family of eccentrics whose very ordinary daughter wants to marry into the upper classes.

In Italy, the Academy of Dramatic Art* opens, fostering the principles of Stanislavsky*, Copeau* and

Reinhardt*. In Russia:

The Second Moscow Art Theatre* is dissolved and all theatres are placed under the Central Direction of Theatres, gradually suppressing the avant-garde movement there.

In Spain: Garc¡a Lorca* finishes his last great folk tragedy, The House of Bernarda Alba*. He is shot

by Franco*'s soldiers in the outbreak of the Civil War. This play will be produced posthumously. His international reputation is ensured and his folk tragedies will become classics.

In France, Gabriel Marcel* (the existentialist philosopher, remember?) comes out with his most

important play, Le Chemin de crŠte*. The Spanish Civil War begins in July when General Franco* (1892-1975) leads an army

revolt in Morocco (across the Straits of Gibraltar in Africa) and marches back to Spain to help the right-wing rebels. The war is between the Nationalists* (the conservatives, landed aristocracy, Roman Catholic Church, military leaders and the fascist Falange* party) and the Loyalists* (liberals, anarchists, socialists and Communists). The Nationalists* take over the conservative areas in northern Spain and will be supported by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, while the Loyalists* are strong in Catalonia and the Basque provinces and will get support from the Soviet Union. It will turn out to be the rehearsal for World War Two.

In Central Europe, Germany occupies the Rhineland and renews military conscription. Elections in Germany give Hitler 99 percent of the vote and a Four-year plan inaugurated. Germany begins building the Siegfried Line. An Anti-Communism pact is signed by Germany and Japan

In the East, Chaing Kai-shek enters Canton. In England, King Geroge V dies and his son Edward VIII succeeds, but there is gossip about

his relationship with the American divorcee, Mrs. Wallis Simpson. In the Soviet Union: What with his conflicts with Stalin,* Trotsky exiled from Russia and

settles in Mexico. In America the Boulder Dam is completed and Margaret Mitchell* publishes Gone With The

Wind*. 1937 In America: Odets* tells the tale of a young boxer with a gift for music trying to beat the system in Golden

Boy*. Orson Welles* (1915-1985) and John Houseman* (1902- ) open the Mercury Theatre* in

New York to present plays the Federal Theatre Project* refused. Besides presenting works by the newer authors, it produces classics in a new style. Welles* previously produced a

Macbeth* set in Haiti with an all-black cast. This year he presents a production of Julius Caesar* as a commentary on fascism.

In England: Lillian Baylis* dies and the Royal Victoria* comes into the capable hands of Tyrone

Guthrie*, noted for his novel interpretations of standard works. Poland refuses to sign an agreement returning Danzig to Germany, this will lead to disaster. Russia, continues to have more show trials and purge the Red Army of U.S.S.R. Generals.

This will have terrible consequences for the defense of the country. In England, Edward resigns to marry Wally Simpson and George VI is crowned King of

Great Britain. He will have a tough row to hoe. In the Far East: The Chinese Communists and the Kuomintang suspend their civil war to fight

the Japanese. Chaing Kai-shek unites with Communists, led by Mao Tse-tung and Chou En- lai. Together they make Chungking the capital of China. Despite this Chinese unity, Japan seizes Peking, Tientsin, Shanghai, Nanking [later to become infamous for the "Rape of Nanking", a very well documented and very ugly event] and Hangchow.

In Germany: The Nazis are fostering unrest in the areas beyond her borders where a large number of Germans have settled. There are riots in the Germanis Sudeten area of Czechoslovakia. Sudeten Germans leave the Czech Parliament in protest. This will provide excuses for the Germans to come in soon.

In Great Britain, A new government takes over under Neville Chamberlain* and Lord Halifax visits Hitler (this marks the beginning of deliberate appeasement).

The American pilot, Amelia Earhart,* and her copilot, Fred Noonan are lost in the Pacific on their way to the International Exhibition in San Francisco.

1938 In France: Jean Anoulih's Thieves Carnival In America: Kurt Weill* writes the music and Maxwell Anderson* does the book for Knickerbocker

Holiday*. Lillian Hellman* depicts the greed of the industrialists in the-turn-of-the-century South in The

Little Foxes*. Robert E. Sherwood* reminds Americans of the high ideals upon which the country was founded with Abe Lincoln in Illinois*. Both these plays will become big successes on the silver screen.

Thornton Wilder* presents one of the most popular plays ever written, Our Town*. This simple story of a small New Hampshire town will be seen in every corner of the country as a favorite vehicle of little theater groups. His Merchant of Yonkers*, produced this same year, will become better known as the comedy The Matchmaker*, and later still as the musical Hello, Dolly*.

Mother Courage and Her Children is Brecht*'s paean to a woman's strength and endurance through the Thirty Years' War.

The Playwrights' Company* is formed by Maxwell Anderson*, Elmer Rice*, Sidney Howard*, Robert E. Sherwood*, and S.N. Behrman*. In addition to their own plays, they will also present works by other authors.

O'Neill* writes More Stately Mansions*, but it won't be produced until after his death. Like a number of his posthumously produced plays, it will be done first in Stockholm (in 1962).

In Germany: The Saarland is incorporated into Germany after a plebiscite. The Nazis repudiate the Versailles treaty and reintroduce compulsory military service. There is an Anglo-German Naval agreement. The passing of the Nuremberg Laws against Jews begins the severe persecution.

In Russia there are "show-trials" to remove dissidents. In Italy: Mussolini* invades Abyssinia and Ethiopia in an effort to recreate the "Roman

Empire". In the United States, Huey Long (the Louisiana "Kingfish") is assassinated. Comedian Will Rogers* and aviator Wiley Post die in an Alaska plane crash. Congress passes the Social Security Act Central Europe: After the fiasco at Munich where Britain and France sanction it, Germany occupies

Czechoslovakia. The Far East: The Japanese enter Tsingtao, install a Chinese puppet government in Nanking,

withdraw from League of Nations and take the Chinese provinces of Canton and Hankow. In America: Congress passes the Naval Expansion Act and sets a national minimum wage.

Orson Welles* produces his radio dramatization of H. G. Wells War of the Worlds* on October 30th and causes a nationwide panic.

1939 In America: The Philadelphia Story* by Phillip Barry* takes audiences on a romp through the marital

tangles of America's upper class. This play remains popular and is seen frequently on stage. It tangles of America's upper class. This play remains popular and is seen frequently on stage. It

Playwright William Saroyan* endorses the simple life with My Heart's in the Highlands* and The Time of Your Life*.

In France: Ondine* by Giraudoux* is presented. The Spanish Civil War comes to an end with over a million dead in battles and atrocities. Italy annexes Albania in January. September 1 Germany invades Poland and annexes Danzig - Britain and France declare war

on Germany, September 3, U.S.S.R. invades Poland from east - also Finland (for this, the USSR is expelled from League of Nations).

In America the N.Y. World's Fair opens and Gone With The Wind*, the movie, comes out. Einstein* alerts Roosevelt* concerning the Atomic bomb possibility. The U.S. declares neutrality in the European war but Roosevelt* proclaims a limited national emergency.