The Theatre: Past Master

THE THEATRE

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The creative spirit dwells celibate and solitary. All history yields hardly a famous poem representing a marriage of two minds, and only a few famous works of fiction—the novels of Erckmann-Chatrian, the fairy stories of the brothers Grimm. But in the theatre, which is always the product of many hands, collaboration has long and royally flourished, producing such well-known partnerships as the Elizabethan Beaumont & Fletcher, the Victorian Gilbert & Sullivan, the contemporary Hecht & MacArthur.

But only once in the history of the English-speaking theatre has one man been a partner in two firms that have both become household names. In the 1920s, the best-known playwrighting partnership in the U. S. was that of Kaufman & Connelly. In the 1930s it has been that of Kaufman & Hart.

Amazing as the success of these two comedy-writing firms has been, more amazing still is the fact that, in addition to serving as a full-time partner in each, George S. (for nothing) Kaufman has also set up in the play business with at least 22 other people, once conducting a thriving emporium with the late Ring Lardner, a going concern with Morrie Ryskind, four swanky shops with Edna Ferber, two small hamburger stands with Alexander Woollcott, a pushcart with Howard Dietz, and a sidewalk trade out of a suitcase with Herman J. Mankiewicz.

This week, while celebrating his 50th birthday, the greatest collaborator of his time can look back on a career in the theatre that would be spectacular in a man of 100. Kaufman's current collaboration with Moss Hart, The Man Who Came to Dinner (TIME, Oct. 30), is one of the biggest smash hits of the last ten years. Kaufman's unequaled record: at least one show on Broadway every year since 1921. Fifteen of those shows Burns Mantle has included in various annual volumes of the Best Plays. One of them (You Can't Take It With You) had the fifth longest run (837 performances) in the history of Broadway; 14 others ran close to 200 performances or better. Two won the Pulitzer Prize. Twenty were sold to the movies for a total of over $1,500,000. Further, Kaufman ranks as one of the best directors in show business, and off the stage as well as on, as one of Manhattan's greatest wits. Once, just for the hell of it, he wrote a play all by himself—and that was a hit.

Such a career argues more than a brilliant writer of comedy. It proclaims a past master of show business, who has learned every trick of the trade and invented many a new one. It proclaims an amazing foresight in always taking the pulse of Broadway as the clue to its heart, a habit of always writing fashionable plays and never revolutionary ones. It proclaims a playwright who has made sport of everything while never giving offense to anybody. It proclaims a really great practical theatre mind, with no philosophy except that the theatre is entertainment, and that good entertainment pays.