''Star Spangled'' is a 1936 comedic play by

Robert Ardrey Robert Ardrey (October 16, 1908 – January 14, 1980) was an American playwright, screenwriter and science writer perhaps best known for ''The Territorial Imperative'' (1966). After a Broadway and Hollywood career, he returned to his academic tr ...

. 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 ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, 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 Arthur Hopkins (October 4, 1878 – March 22, 1950) was a well-known Broadway theater director and producer in the early twentieth century. Between 1912 and 1948, he produced and staged more than 80 plays – an average of more than two per year � ...

. He spent significant time revising his first draft with input from

Jed Harris Jed Harris (born Jacob Hirsch Horowitz; February 25, 1900 – November 15, 1979) was an Austrian-born American theatrical producer and director. His many successful Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s include ''Broadway'' (1926), ''Coque ...

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 Charles Gordon MacArthur (November 5, 1895 – April 21, 1956) was an American playwright, screenwriter and 1935 winner of the Academy Award for Best Story. Life and career MacArthur was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the sixth of seven chil ...

, and

George Abbott George Francis Abbott (June 25, 1887 – January 31, 1995) was an American theatre producer, director, playwright, screenwriter, film director and producer whose career spanned eight decades. Early years Abbott was born in Forestville, New Yo ...

. 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 New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, ''Star Spangled'' was produced on Broadway in 1936. The settings were by Raymond Sovey; it was staged and produced by

and played at the

John Golden Theatre The John Golden Theatre, formerly the Theatre Masque and Masque Theater, is a Broadway theater at 252 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the Golden Theatre was de ...

. The cast included Natasha Boleslavsky,

George Tobias George Tobias (July 14, 1901 – February 27, 1980) was an American theater, film and television actor. He had character parts and supporting roles in several major films of Hollywood's Golden Age. He is also known for his role as Abner K ...

Millard Mitchell Millard Mitchell (August 14, 1903 – October 13, 1953) was an American character actor whose credits include roughly 30 feature films and two television appearances. He appeared as a bit player in eight films between 1931 and 1936. Mitchell ...

Garson Kanin Garson Kanin (November 24, 1912 – March 13, 1999) was an American writer and director of plays and films. Early life Garson Kanin was born in Rochester, New York; his family later relocated to Detroit then to New York City. He attended ...

, Marjorie Lytell,

Ivan Triesault Ivan Triesault (born Johann Constantin Treisalt; in Reval (now Tallinn) – January 3, 1980 in Los Angeles) was an Estonian-American actor. His parents were from the island of Hiiumaa. Life His first stage appearance was at the German Theat ...

Michael Visaroff Michael Simeon Visaroff (December 18, 1889 – February 27, 1951) was a Russian American film character actor. Biography Visaroff was born Mikhail Semenonovich Vizarov (Russian: Михаил Семёнович Визаров) in Moscow, R ...

, 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

: "

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

Sidney Howard Sidney Coe Howard (June 26, 1891 – August 23, 1939) was an American playwright, dramatist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 and a posthumous Academy Award in 1940 for the screenplay for ''Gone with the Wind''. ...

, and

became interested in Ardrey, and, together with

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — a ...

, 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 John Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1863 – April 30, 1900) was an American railroader who was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi. Jones was a locomotive engineer for the Illinois Ce ...

'' and '' How to Get Tough About It,'' 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. PrintThe Robert Ardrey Estate Website
"About"
/ref>

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