''Star Spangled'' is a 1936 comedic play by
Robert Ardrey. It was his first play produced on
Broadway and resulted in Ardrey being awarded a
Guggenheim fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
.
Story
Brooks Atkinson, writing for
The New York Times, gave this description of the play:
Somewhere in the northwest side of Chicago in the Polish district live the Dzieszienewskis, the mother being an immigrant, the children being assimilated Americans and ambitious. She is an unprincipled strumpet whose blood boils in the Spring. Taking America as they have learned it from notorious Americans, her children are versatile nincompoops. One son is a melancholy baseball player in the Texas League, another is studying to be a cheap politician, a third is president of the Killers Club in the State penitentiary, and the daughter is a chorus girl who dreams of Hollywood.[Atkinson, Brooks. "'Star Spangled,' a Comedy of Polish-Americans Who Have Not Grasped the Spirit of Our Land." ''The New York Times,'' 11 March 1936. Print.]
The plot of the play revolves around the imprisoned son, who has escaped for a weekend in order to see his family, and incidentally, to kill the Polish politician who set him up eight years earlier. He plans on returning to prison before he is known to be missing.
Writing & Production
Ardrey originally conceived of the play while "pushing through snowdrifts one long hard winter on a door-to-door survey in West Side slums."
He wrote that his experience of the turmoil of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
"had been anything but unique. For me, the creative consequence was the conviction that the Polish-American characters of my first play were far more amusing and meaningful than the personnel of a normal theatrical penthouse."
The artistic concern with portraying folk voices would be a consistent theme throughout Ardrey's career, including in his most famous play,
Thunder Rock.
Ardrey originally called the play ''House on Fire,'' but changed the title on the suggestion of
Arthur Hopkins. He spent significant time revising his first draft with input from
Jed Harris,
Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...
,
Charles MacArthur, and
George Abbott. Abbott originally bought the option on the play in the summer of 1935, but let the option lapse. It was then bought by Hopkins, who produced the original Broadway staging.
Following a preview in
New Haven, ''Star Spangled'' was produced on Broadway in 1936. The settings were by Raymond Sovey; it was staged and produced by
Arthur Hopkins and played at the
John Golden Theatre. The cast included Natasha Boleslavsky,
George Tobias,
Millard Mitchell,
Garson Kanin, Marjorie Lytell,
Ivan Triesault,
Michael Visaroff, Donald Arbury, and Edward Craven.
Reception
''Star Spangled'' received mostly lukewarm reviews, but Ardrey's sense of humor was widely praised.
The original New York Times review opened, "If humorous implications were enough, 'Star Spangled' ... would be the comedy of the season. ...
rdrey'ssense of the ridiculous is unhackneyed and keen," and went on to say, "Mr. Hopkins
as not
As, AS, A. S., A/S or similar may refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* A. S. Byatt (born 1936), English critic, novelist, poet and short story writer
* "As" (song), by Stevie Wonder
* , a Spanish sports newspaper
* , an academic male voic ...
done much building on the script. But it is easy to share his enthusiasm for the quality of Mr. Ardrey's sense of humor."
The ''
Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' called it a "Strange and oddly comical play—the kind of play that gets remembered," while the
New York Evening Journal
:''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal''
The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...
applauded its "humorous gusto and relish," calling it "Vastly amusing."
[Quoted in "Star Spangled: Publicity Notes" in Ardrey, Robert. ''Star Spangled.'' Toronto: Samuel French. P. 102. 1937. Print.]
Ardrey's humor was also praised after the preview in
New Haven: "
Walter Prichard Eaton
Walter Prichard Eaton (August 24, 1878 – 1957) was an American theatre critic and author. He was born in Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard, and was a drama critic for various newspapers and magazines. He also wrote numerous books on the ...
, head of the play-writing classes at the
Yale school
The Yale school is a colloquial name for an influential group of literary critics, theorists, and philosophers of literature that were influenced by Jacques Derrida's philosophy of deconstruction. Many of the theorists were affiliated with Yale Uni ...
, said after tonight's play that it tapped a rich vein of stage humor hitherto not drawn upon. ... He complimented the young author."
["New Haven Premiere for 'Star Spangled.'" ''The New York Times,'' 6 March 1936. Print.]
Despite being neither a popular nor critical success, the play won Ardrey attention from several major figures who would end up being influential in his career. In particular
George Abbott,
Sidney Howard, and
Arthur Hopkins became interested in Ardrey, and, together with
Thornton Wilder, Ardrey's writing mentor, all saw promise in the play. Due to their interventions, in particular the intervention of Howard, Ardrey was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
in recognition of the play. The fellowship allowed him the financial freedom to write his next two plays, ''
Casey Jones'' and ''
How to Get Tough About It
''How to Get Tough About It'' is a 1938 dramatic play by Robert Ardrey.
Production
''How to Get Tough About It'' is Robert Ardrey's third play, preceded by '' Star Spangled'' and ''Casey Jones'', the latter of which opened on Broadway within ten d ...
,'' both of which opened in 1938.
["Getting Tough About It." ''New York Times,'' 6 February 1938. Print.][Ardrey, Robert. ''Plays of Three Decades,'' Introduction. New York: Atheneum. 1968. Print][The Robert Ardrey Estate Website]
"About"
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References
External links
*{{Ibdb show, id=8275, title=Star Spangled
The Official Robert Ardrey Estate WebsitePlays at the Robert Ardrey Estate Website
Plays by Robert Ardrey
1936 plays
Broadway plays