C.K. MUNRO’S THE RUMOUR

C. K. Munro (1889-1973) had two plays Wanderers (1915) and At Mrs. Bream’s (1921) successfully staged by London’s Stage Society (1899-1939). This group produced new and experimental plays with artistic merit.  Many of the plays produced by this organization were later successful in London’s commercial West End theatres. C. K. Munro was fortunate that this group recognized the merit of his early works. 

During this period of initial recognition as a playwright, Munro kept his day job as a Civil Servant in the Ministry of Labour. He eventually rose to the position of Under-Secretary at the British Ministry of Labour and National Service. Munro was born in Ulster, Ireland and educated at Cambridge. His surname was MacMullan, but he wrote under the name of Munro which was his grandmother’s maiden name. 

World War One had interrupted Munro’s playwriting career. After its Stage Society’s debut, At Mrs. Bream’s quickly became a commercial success in London and towns throughout the country as well as in New York when staged by the Theatre Guild, 1926.  His next play The Rumour is very different in style from his earlier plays. It is a serious piece concerned with the political, social and ethical problems of the era following the war. It has one-dimensional characters who work to manipulate each other. Their endeavors illustrate that war does not breakout spontaneously, but it is contrived by individuals who have a monetary interest in the resources controlled by another nation. The play is experimental in format and was frequently dubbed expressionistic. It borrows from expressionism, but it has its own individual style.

 The Rumour was staged in December, 1922 by the Stage Society. The Times (London) reviewer stated: “it is a clever piece of satire swamped by political oratory.” Later in the review he singled out young Claude Raines (1889-1967) for kudos. 

The Rumour was considered worthy of publication in 1923 by W. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. of London.  A. Knopf of New York, in 1924, published another book edition of The Rumour. It was included in another publication titled Three Plays. By C.K. Munro. Victor Gollancz, Ltd. London: 1932.

The Rumour, a satire on international politics is designated by the playwright as “A Play in Two Parts.”  However, there is also a Prologue and an Epilogue. These two framing scenes are set in the London home of a man named Luke, who has major interest in financial operations in two small European countries—Przimia and Loria.  Luke’s greed is the trigger that sets the action of the play in motion, but he only appears in these two scenes.  This is a long play with many scenes and about fifty characters.  Part I, Act I has four scenes, Part I, Act II contains four scenes. Part II, Act I has three scenes while Part II, Act II also contains three scenes. 

The plot commences when a British diplomat in Przimia spreads a rumor that the poorer neighboring country of Loria is planning to start a war with Przimia in order to recover a territory taken from it fifty years before.  Many Lorians work in Przimia since they are less expensive laborers.  The impending war rumor accelerates when the daughter of a British workman is killed accidentally by a stray bullet while she is attending a meeting in Przimia with her Lorian boyfriend. This incident is magnified in the British press and a war ensues in which both small countries lose.  The peace treaties advantage the British and French business interests.  Munro used “England” and “France” to represent any powerful modern governments—he did not intend them to be specific references.

The Rumour is a script characterized by many, long speeches and lots of characters, but it clearly delineates the insincerity of political and diplomatic discussion because the outcome is determined long before the war begins. The two powerful countries support the outcome desired by their own rich commercial financiers. Munro wanted to delineate a realistic view of the world as it emerged following World War One.

The Rumour received a second major staging opportunity by Terence Gray in 1927 at the Festival Theatre in Cambridge, England.  This theatre founded in 1926 was experimental rather than following the more conventional West End theatres. Gray produced plays to provoke unexpected and unanticipated audience reactions. He wanted the plays to portray a readjustment of the accepted values to his audiences.  This production featured a young Maurice Evans (1901-1989) as the Honorable Algernon Moodie, British Attaché in Przimiprzak.

The Rumour eventually was successfully staged at the Court Theatre, London, opening during February, 1929 and it ran for sixty-seven performances. The cast included Jessica Tandy (1909-1994) in her first West End production.  The success at the Court helped to spread interest in this play throughout the United Kingdom. Also the script was reworked and shortened by the Court Theatre Company.  Numerous local productions of The Rumour were staged throughout Great Britain during the 1930s.  It was also adapted into a one hour radio play and broadcast on the National “wave” throughout 1930 and 1931. 

Another production of The Rumour was mounted in early 1930 by the English Players headed by Edward Stirling (1891-1948). This company toured Munro’s play to Frankfurt, Germany and Vienna, Austria. 

This is an unusual play with a topic that is still relevant.  It is worth one’s time to read The Rumour.

WAR BRIDES

 M.Alden             Nazimova

 

War Brides is a 1914 one-act play that resurfaced in 1999, when it was published in a volume titled War Plays by Women: An International Anthology edited by Claire M. Tylee with Elaine Turner and Agnes Cardinal. The playwright is Marion Craig Wentworth (1872-1942). 

War Brides has a unique message.  The playwright was an American woman who was progressive for her time.  As a staunch supporter of women’s rights, she expressed her thoughts in War Brides about this position in three meaningful ways.  First she portrayed how the women supported the war through their work on the home front such as raising and harvesting crops. Second she discussed that the women were expected to birth the next crop of soldiers for the country’s future wars.

A page later in the script Hedwig tells the women “don’t bear any more children until they promise there will be no more war.”  Hedwig, an extremely intelligent woman, clearly understood the situation and she had the strength to voice her third point to a military officer: “If we can bring forth the men for the nation, we can sit with you in your councils and shape the destiny of the nation, and say whether it is to war or peace we give the sons we bear.”  This short play with its compelling major character addressed two huge topics of that era—anti-war and women’s rights. 

The play is set in a peasant’s cottage in “a war-ridden country.”  Wentworth established the time for the play as the “present” which was 1915.  She named the protagonist Hedwig, but at some point she changed it to Joan in order to make it less Germanic. Hedwig’s young sister-in-law was originally named Amelia and she was renamed Amy. The two army officers who came to the cottage also underwent name changes: Hertz became Captain Bragg and Hoffman is renamed Joseph Kerman. I am not aware of when these changes occurred, but they are noted in the 1915 publication of the script. 

War Brides depicts how the young women were harassed into quick marriages with the men who were about to leave for the front.  These women were given iron wedding rings to show that they were war brides.  Hedwig was against this practice and all it implied relating to war. When she heard that her husband was killed as were his two brothers, she determines not to add more life to this war machine.  War Brides is a hard hitting, fast moving drama that takes about thirty-five minutes to perform.

The play was published in The Century Magazine (1881-1930) in its February, 1915 issue, pages 527-544.  It included two illustrations by John Sloan (1871-1951), an established early twentieth century American painter and illustrator, who was sympathetic with the political views expressed in this play. The script was also published as a book in 1915 by The Century Company, New York.  This version has photographs from the production of the play. It was unusual to have two publications in one year of the same play script.

The fact that a renowned actress accepted the leading role in a one-act play is also unique. Alla Nazimova (1879-1945) was born in Crimea, a part of the Russian Empire. She studied acting with Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre.  She was playing leading roles in Russia by 1903, but in 1905 she moved to the United States.  She quickly learned English and made her 1906 Broadway debut in a play by Henrik Ibsen. Nazimova rapidly became a star.  Just prior to playing Hedwig, she had played several roles that diminished her reputation as an exceptional actress, so she considered the strong role of Hedwig as an opportunity for re-establishing her stardom.  It was amazing to acquire a renowned actress, known across the breadth of America, to play a role in a one-act play.

Another surprising factor is that Nazimova would agree to play in theatres that were a part of the popular Vaudeville circuit. Vaudeville shows presented a series of unrelated acts during the course of one performance—it was a variety show. War Brides opened January 25, 1915 at B.F. Keith’s Palace Theatre, New York City. This theatre was the premier theatre on the vaudeville circuit.  War Brides played twice a day for four weeks and that established a new record for a dramatic attraction at that theatre.  Nazimova followed the New York run with a six-month tour on the Keith-Orpheum circuit across the United States.  The play drew new audiences, especially women, who did not normally frequent vaudeville performances. This was another remarkable achievement.

War Brides rebooted Nazimova’s career and she was willing to undertake another challenge related to this play that many reviewers were touting as “the greatest peace play of our time.”  This next step for Nazimova was to star in the silent film version of the play.  This was her first film and it opened in November, 1916 for a long run in New York City. It became available across the rest of the United States about a month before the country declared war on Germany—April, 1917.  The film was extremely successful, but the pacifist message was suddenly wrong for a country at war. Lewis J. Selznick (1870-1933), the producer, withdrew the film and changed the titles to set the story in Germany. The film was newly released and it continued to be successful.

War Brides was a remarkable play for its time and it continues to be worth reading.

The photograph above is from the original production of War Brides.

PINERO’S THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE

Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934) wrote The Enchanted Cottage: A Fable In Three Acts during the years 1919 to 1921.  This play’s creation came toward the end of Pinero’s very successful career as a playwright with nearly sixty plays to his name. Throughout his long playwriting career (1878-1928) he mastered several styles of comedic drama that include farce, sentimental comedy and comedies focused on social foibles or manners. He also wrote plays about contemporary social problems that might include comedic moments and situations.  He knew how to entertain audiences while encouraging them to think. 

The Enchanted Cottage is exactly the type of play that can make a reader wince at the situation, understand it emotionally, laugh at a funny incident and be charmed by the extravagance of the moment.  Pinero blended unusual dramatic elements together to bring the entire situation to a happy conclusion for the characters and to create an uplifting dramatic event for the reader/theatre goer.  With The Enchanted Cottage, Pinero created a theatrical “smoothie”. 

The play was topical when it was produced in London during the 1922 season. The leading male character, Lieutenant John Bashforth, was crippled and disillusioned by World War One.  His main intent was to live out the remainder of his life alone in an isolated English village, even though he was probably in his twenties.  Another ex-soldier in his mid-thirties, who is visiting the area, had been entreated to visit Bashforth.  Major Murray Hillgrove, who is blind, arrives at Bashforth’s cottage one spring morning guided by Laura Pennington from the village, a very poor, very plain looking young lady, but extremely kind and thoughtful. The scene between Bashforth and Hillgrove during their first meeting effectively shows not only how each man was dealing with his disabilities, but also the empathy that was established between them.

While I was personally taken with the scene, it hardly reflected the mood of the play’s title.  Act One, titled “Relics of the War” then takes its comedic turn when Bashforth is besieged by his mother and her plans to organize his life.  In order to avoid her plans, Bashforth asks Laura to marry him for his convenience. 

Act Two: “Strange Happenings, and a Dream” occurs a month later than the previous act.  It is evening and the set is “the inner hall of the cottage.”  Major Hillgrove has been summoned to visit the newlyweds.  When the couple return to the cottage, it is evident that Bashforth has been transformed to his prewar state of health and Laura is beautiful.  Hillgrove feels the couple’s exuberance and their delight in their new physical state. They request Hillgrove to come the next day and prepare their visitors for the couple’s new appearance. Once Hillgrove leaves and the couple goes to sleep, there is a wedding pageant/ballet that represents a dream sequence.  

Act Three: “Eternal Truth” occurs the following afternoon. After Hillgrove announced the miracle that has occurred, the couple emerged to realize that Bashforth’s family as well as the local reverend and his wife do not see their miracle. The witchcraft of the housekeeper, the romantic magic of the cottage, the comedic characters and the spectacle of the ballet are not part of this plot sketch. I hope the bare bones of the storyline illustrate that there must be other diverse character types that make the play enjoyable and many comedic moments mixed in a delightful, magical manner to make this play highly entertaining. 

 

This play portrays a serious situation in a comic manner and delivers the message that “love is blind.”  That appears to be what many reviewers thought after that saw opening night at the Duke of York’s Theatre on March 1, 1922.  The success of The Enchanted Cottage lifted Pinero’s declining reputation as a “has been” playwright who had lost his creativity.

The rights for the play were quickly acquired for a New York production to star Richard Barthelmess (1895-1963).  It opened on Broadway at the Ritz Theater on March 31, 1923.  This production also featured a young Katharine Cornell in the role of Laura. It ran for sixty-five performances.

The play was published in 1922 by William Heinemann, London. Then the play was made into a 1924 silent film starring Richard Barthelmess as Bashforth. It was made under the direction of John S. Robertson at a New Jersey studio.  It was described as a film “of rare charm and one which weaves a spell of enchantment” in many reviews.  The film did not seem to stem the enthusiasm for audiences who wanted to see the play since it continued to be presented on stages across Great Britain and America. 

 In 1945, the play was once again fashioned into a film.  Dorothy McGuire played Laura and Robert Young starred as Bashforth. This Hollywood version had its premiere in February, 1945.  It was released in Europe and Japan between September, 1945 and June, 1947.  Once again it spoke to a new generation following a horrific global war.  On November 27, 1949 “Theatre Guild of the Air” presented a one hour radio version of the play. It starred Ray Milland and Margaret Phillips.

The play had many community theatre and college productions in the United States throughout the entire 1950s.  Its mixed treatment of a serious topic wrapped in a confection of comedy, sentiment and fantasy seemed to sustain its popularity.  The latest revival of the play has been in the form of a musical. The Enchanted Cottage, the musical emerged early in 2000. The book is by Thomas Edward West, lyrics by Alison Hubbard and music by Kim Oler. It is based on Pinero’s play rather than the 1945 film script. The musical made its debut in 2002 at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) Festival of New Musicals in New York. It has had several productions since that time.