Abraham Lincoln

[Wich2]

Tony-

Gilding lillies has rarely been known to improve them...

Lincoln was one of the more majestic figures in world history. But like all real "majesty," his flowed naturally from his own inherant gifts: a considerable intelligence, a more-than-considerable heart, and a personableness that manifested itself in nearly all of his dealings with others.

As an actor and as a person, I know that the voice is an intergral part of a person's makeup. And to overlay a conventional stage melodramatic sound and presence over Lincoln's real persona is to do him a serious injustice - and to represent him falsely, at a time when people who had met him still lived. Orson was not alone in trying to recreate Abe in metaphorical marble; it was already becoming a convention at the time. But it is a real disservice to a genuinely great man of flesh and blood.

As Abe himself said about upon the death of a friend,

"Let him have his marble monument - along with the well assured and more enduring one in the hearts of all those who love Liberty unselfishly and for all."

Best,
-Craig

[Wellesnet]

Abraham Lincoln, 209th birthday anniversary. Also, this is the 100th anniversary of John Drinkwater's play, and the Orson Welles/Mercury performance of it is available in very good sound at the new Lilly website:
https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/items/show/1966

Here's a review of the 1952 Westinghouse Studio One TV performance, with a young James Dean as a soldier about to be shot for falling asleep at his post:
https://moviemagg.blogspot.com/2016/05/ ... -john.html
Here's the performance itself on Youtube (Dean's scene is at 47:40):


Interestingly, there's a quote by Dorothy Parker about Drinkwater's play that has apparently become a popular wallpaper item, supposedly showing off that renowned biting wit that made her such a legend:



Problem is, she didn't say that about Drinkwater's play. She said it about another play ("Phantom" something) that bombed on Broadway. She actually gave Abraham Lincoln a very nice review.

[Wich2]

The Drinkwater play itself did not date well, even then. It's an attempt at an almost Shakespeare-style Historic Tableau - it even has the Narrator/Chorus. (It is probably best recalled today, as one of the bigger stepping stones in the long career of one of the better Lincoln portrayers, Frank McGlynn.)

The attempt to Mercury-ise it, by folding in dollops of Lincoln statements, makes it even more clumsily episodic. And Orson's marble performance doesn't loosen things up any. It is indeed one of their weakest one-hours.

For any Lincoln Men (or women) in the house, here's my own labor of love in the same medium:

https://beta.prx.org/stories/23303

-Craig

[Le Chiffre]

No question, the Drinkwater play is rarely if ever performed nowadays, but Welles must have thought it was well suited to radio. Perhaps it reminded him of The March of Time. It seems to play like an extended MoT episode, or better yet, a series of MoT episodes, all centered loosely around Lincoln. As Dorothy Parker noted in her 1919 review, it's not really a play at all; there's no attempt at the development of a plot, there are no twists, surprises, or big moments. There is "just a succession of simply written, quietly played scenes - largely unrelated - from the life of Lincoln."

It's sometimes described as a chronicle play, and seeing that it's British, it's not surprising it would be in the style of Shakespeare's Henriad. But for the radio Welles also added diary entries into the brew, just as he did with VICTORIA REGINA and later of course, CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT. I didn't find it all that clumsy, but that's a matter of opinion. I agree that Welles's choice of a deep voice is inauthentic, but he does capture a certain world-weariness in his Lincoln. I also agree that it's not one of their best shows, but the question of why Welles chose this play to dramatize for radio is intriguing.

Is it possible that Welles meant it as some kind of tribute, since Drinkwater had died the year before? Drinkwater was a pacifist and part of the Repertory Movement* in England before the war, where theater communities outside London sought government financing in order to present more adventurous fare to wider audiences at reasonable prices. Thus Welles may have recognized him as a kindred spirit since the Mercury did much the same thing.

The timing of Drinkwater's play in 1918 is interesting. I just finished watching the PBS series, THE GREAT WAR, which shows how in 1918, Woodrow Wilson was almost deified in England and France because his "Fourteen Points" had helped end the war. I don't know if the play was trying to draw any parallels between our 16th and 28th presidents, but reportedly Wilson expressed interest in seeing it when it was playing on Broadway. I don't know if he ever did.

[Wich2]

Well-writ, Chief.

Well, Orson did return to Abe at least once more I believe, recording some of his speeches?

Of course, I'm prejudiced; but Lincoln is hard not to admire and/or love. And he was - in the old, original senses of the words - Liberal and Progressive, for his time. All may have added to Welles' choice.

As far as Abraham (no middle name) and Thomas Woodrow...

Well, both of Southern roots, both smart, and both again, Liberal and Progressive in some ways for their times. But there was a darker inherent racism in Wilson, that I believe Lincoln had grown well beyond by his death. (Possibly because Wilson could be a bit of an elitist, which Lincoln never was in any way.)

But in Wilson's defense, he was dead right about the Fourteen Points and the League, essentially saying, "If we don't do these things right, in another generation we will have a war that will dwarf our Great War."

Ah, as Twain pegged it, "The Damned Human Race"...

Happy President's Day,
-Craig