AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATER Carey Perloff, Artistic Director • Ellen Richard, Executive Director PRESENTS Once in a Lifetime By George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart Directed by Mark Rucker American Conservatory Theater September 22–October 16, 2011 words on plays vol. xviii, no. 1 Elizabeth Brodersen Director of Education Dan Rubin Publications Manager Michael Paller Resident Dramaturg Emily Hoffman Publications and Dramaturgy Associate Amy Krivohlavek Marketing Writer Zachary Moull Dramaturgy Fellow Made possible by © 2011 AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATER, A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Table of Contents 1 Characters, Cast, and Synopsis of Once in a Lifetime 6 “A Loving Look at That Craziness”: An Interview with Director Mark Rucker by Dan Rubin 11 Mixing Media: An Interview with Video Designer Alexander V. Nichols by Amy Krivohlavek 16 Going Hollywood by Michael Paller 20 Entertainment Revolution: Video Killed the Vaudeville Star by Emily Hoffman 25 Terrible Mike and the Transition to Talkies by Dan Rubin 32 The Big Five: The Studio System in Early Hollywood by Emily Hoffman and Zachary Moull 34 Once in a Lifetime Glossary by Zachary Moull 44 Questions to Consider / For Further Information . ON THE COVER Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times (1936). Courtesy Jerry Murbach, Doctor Macro’s High Quality Movie Scans. Chaplin began his career in vaudeville in 1910 before becoming a silent film sensation. The arrival of sound films in the 1920s was a challenge for Chaplin, who had won worldwide fame with pantomime. He told one interviewer, “Dialogue does not have a place in the sort of comedies I make.” Modern Times marks the last appearance of Chaplin’s famous Little Tramp character and the final dialogue-free film of one of silent film’s last holdouts. OPPOSITE Norma Talmadge Painted from Life, by Earl Christy, Photoplay (December 1929) iv Characters, Cast, and Synopsis of Once in a Lifetime The original Broadway production of Once in a Lifetime opened on September 24, 1930, at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. It received a Broadway revival at the Circle in the Square Theatre in 1978. Director Mark Rucker produced a workshop production of Once in a Lifetime with the a.c.t. Master of Fine Arts Program class of 2011 in spring 2010 at Zeum Theater. Characters and Cast george lewis ............................................... Patrick Lane may daniels ................................................. Julia Coffey jerry hyland ............................................... John Wernke helen hobart .............................................. René Augesen susan walker ............................................... Ashley Wickett mrs. walker ................................................. Margo Hall herman glogauer ....................................... Will LeBow miss leighton .............................................. Nick Gabriel florabel leigh ........................................... Jessica Kitchens phyllis fontaine ......................................... Marisa Duchowny lawrence vail ............................................. Alexander Crowther rudolph kammerling ................................. Kevin Rolston weisskopf ..................................................... Jason Frank art sullivan ................................................ Kevin Rolston Once in a Lifetime has a total of 70 roles; a.c.t.’s production uses 15 actors to play them all. The aforementioned actors, along with ensemble member Crystal Noelle, also perform the roles of: Bellboy, Biographer, Bishop, Bridesmaids, Chauffeurs, Cigarette Girl, Coat Check Girl, Electricians, Ernest, George’s Secretary, Mr. Flick, Leading Man, Light Men, Maids, Meterstein, Norton, Oliver Fulton, Pages, Painter, Policeman, Porter, Reporter, 12 Schlepkin Brothers, Tie Man, and Victor Moulton. OPPOSITE The Jazz Singer at Warners’ Theatre, October 6, 1927. Courtesy University of San Diego. 1 Setting New York, Hollywood, and a pullman car en route, 1927. Synopsis act i. scene 1. A room in the West Forties, New York. George Lewis, one third of a nearly washed-up vaudeville act that’s played small towns across the country for the last four years, sits in a rented room cracking Indian nuts and reading Variety magazine. May Daniels, the second third, enters in bad humor about the trio’s dire financial straits: they’ve been in New York for a month without booking a gig. Jerry, the final vaudevillian (with whom May is in love), returns to the flat in a fervor: he’s just been to the opening night of The Jazz Singer, the world’s first talking picture (made possible by the invention of the Vitaphone), and is con- vinced that the three must leave immediately for Hollywood to get in on the ground floor of this revolutionary new art form. Not waiting for the others to agree, Jerry has already sold their act; fortunately, his enthusiasm is contagious. After some initial skepticism, May comes up with a plan: they’ll start a school of elocution to teach silent-film actors how to speak. They decide to set out for California the next morning. act i. scene 2. A pullman car, en route to Los Angeles. On the train to California with Jerry and George, May studies elocution books in hopes of adding some validity to their scheme. She catches sight of Variety critic Helen Hobart, America’s foremost movie authority. May was in a theater troupe with Helen ages ago, and, real- izing she can use Helen’s ego to her advantage, she invites her into the car. The gorgeously arrayed Helen complains that a dippy, young, would-be actress, Susan Walker, has been pes- 2 tering her for help with her career. May pre- tends that she is ignorant of Helen’s success because she has been in England for the last eight years founding an extremely successful school of elocution. She introduces Jerry as her business manager and George as Doctor Lewis, her technical advisor. George wins Helen over by quoting Variety articles. Thrilled at the opportunity to talk about her own success, Helen is soon eating out of May’s hand. Helen “convinces” May that she must start an elocution school in Hollywood: she tells her that they will get Herman Glogauer (a movie executive who will now buy anything, since he passed up the Vitaphone) to pay for it. Susan enters, wanting to continue her con- versation with Helen; Helen dismisses her, but George is immediately smitten. act i. scene 3. The Gold Room of the Hotel Stilton, Los Angeles. The Gold Room of the Hotel Stilton is where the rich and famous of Hollywood come to mingle, and Susan, whom George has promised to introduce to Glogauer, is completely starstruck. Helen introduces May, Jerry, and George to Glogauer, who is in a panic about the fate of his studio and terrified by the idea of losing ground to his competition, the 12 Schlepkin brothers. After May performs a quick elocution demonstration on two of Glogauer’s stars of the silent screen (whose ter- rible speaking voices are slightly improved by the exercise), the producer is sold on the idea of the school. act ii. The reception room of Glogauer Studios. Glogauer’s reception room is a flurry of activity, presided over by the impenetrable receptionist, Miss Leighton. May, on break between elocu- Renderings of May (left), Jerry (right), Helen Hobart (page 4), and George (page 5) by costume designer Alex Jaeger 3 tion lessons, reveals her anxiety that the classes, which she has been teaching for six weeks now, are not going over well with Glogauer. Helen gives May the cold shoulder, deepening May’s suspicions that her job is at risk; her fears are confirmed when a paint- scraper comes to remove her, Jerry, and George’s names from the door of their new office. To make matters worse, her relationship with Jerry, who has “gone Hollywood,” has been derailed by his busy schedule of schmoozing. Meanwhile, Susan Walker is distraught because her father is insisting that she stop wasting her time in Hollywood and return home. George decides he will speak to Glogauer on Susan’s behalf. While waiting, he strikes up a conversation with Lawrence Vail, a disillu- sioned playwright on salary at the studio. The writer has not been given a single assignment since he arrived from New York six months ago, and he has been waiting to talk to Glogauer for “days and days.” Vail rants about the evils of Hollywood and storms out just before the elusive Glogauer enters, deep in a fight with Kammerling, a German director who insists that the leading lady Glogauer has cast in his film is all wrong. George suggests Susan as a replacement. Glogauer shoos George away, screaming that they must have someone with “a name.” George, taking his cues from Vail’s tirade, begins a muddled but forceful dia- tribe against the movie industry. Impressed by George’s fearless frankness, Glogauer gives Susan the part and makes George supervisor of the film—with Jerry and May as his staff. act iii. scene 1. A set on the Glogauer Studio lot. George presides over the chaotic set on the final day of shooting. Everyone is thrilled that the movie is about to wrap—on schedule, no less—except for May, who confesses to Jerry that she thinks the film is going to be terrible because of all the blunders George has made along the way, which include repeatedly cracking Indian nuts near the sensitive sound equipment. Glogauer enters and toasts George, presenting him with a 106-piece solid-gold dinner set with his initials in diamonds on every piece. Glogauer stays to watch the filming of the final scene and realizes, to his horror, that George has made the wrong picture—Gingham and Orchids, a flop previously made by Biograph in 1910. As Glogauer focuses his rage on George, Jerry distances himself from his old friend. May, on the other hand, sticks up for 4 George. Glogauer fires them both. Disgusted by Jerry’s cowardice, May tells him their relation- ship is over. act iii. scene 2. A pullman car, en route to New York. It is the day after Gingham and Orchids opened, and May asks the porter to bring her the papers so she can read how the film was received.