JO: . . . You Got on the Federal Theatre, How You Became Involved in It, and Why out in Roslyn
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JO: . you got on the Federal Theatre, how you became involved in it, and why out in Roslyn. BE: Oh, well, I was--I had come from Alabama and gone to a dramatic school here in New York which no longer exists, called the Feagin School of Dramatic Arts. And on the faculty there were several people in the theatre. The person who taught stage design was a man named Dr. Milton Smith, who was the head of drama at Columbia University, and he taught there. Also a man who taught and directed was a man named Charles Hopkins, who I got to know at that time. And it was Charles Hopkins who had been--I don't know exactly what his title was. I think he was certainly, not New York City, but I think this area of New York State, head of the New York State Federal Theatre. I think they had been up in White Plains or some place before. But Hoppie, years before, had had a theatre in Roslyn which was called the Theatre of the Four Seasons, and he was very fond of that theatre. So he somehow moved the whole setup back to Roslyn, which was a charming little theatre, which is now the Public Library of Roslyn, I believe, that they took out the stage. And next to it was a beautiful 18th century farmhouse tithe middle of a park with a lake. He liked that and so that sort of became his seat at the time. And so he asked me to come out and design scenery there. That's how it was, really, through Charles Hopkins. JO: He had been up at White Plains though before? BE: Yes. And he was actually a very famous producer and director in his day. He had done a big hit play called Mrs. Moonlight. He had done most of A. A. Milne's productions in this country in the twenties before the Depression. And he also had been a very wealthy man in real estate inherited from his father, but I think had lost most of that money, millions, during the Depression because he had built a theatre up on 49th Street called the Punch and Judy Theatre, where he did a rather famous production of Treasure Island and he owned it. I know I've talked to actors who have spoken about the days when they worked with Charles Hopkins when he was awry affluent producer, that he backed his own plays. And Leo G. Carroll, who was a famous character actor, said that, "He paid me a tremendous amount of money to play a little tiny bit part, he said because if the person who came in read that line wrong, the whole play would be no good. So he said he was willing to pay me my salary just to do that one little part. But anyway, it was through Charles Hopkins that I got out to Roslyn. Then after Hoppie left, Louis Simon came and I think Hoppie went to Chicago. I think so. I saw him several times afterwards but he died not too many years later. JO: And then after Louis Simon or someone, Prologue to Glory, I gather, was the last play that was done out there. BE: No, Prologue to Glory was done in New York as part of the New York City Federal Theatre because it was about Abraham Lincoln and the boy that played the lead in it had been in Roslyn with us, a very close friend of mine named Erford Gage, who was killed in the war. He had gone to Hollywood with Pare Lorentz to do some film out there. And then he went into the Army and the next thing I heard from his wife was that he was killed in the Philippines. That's why I know about Prologue to Glory because I came in and saw it because Erford was a friend. JO: That was my assumption. I knew that he was in it. So I assumed it was out in Roslyn because he was in it. BE: It was the New York City Federal Theatre, not Roslyn. JO: Well, that explains it. I knew he was in the lead and I assumed it was out in Roslyn because of that. BE: Right. JO: From descriptions of him, he was a very talented actor. BE: He was a very talented actor and I'm sure would have done very well, had he not been killed. He was also a very charming person and a very close friend. I just went to see his wife yesterday. She's in the hospital, just had a heart attack so it's kind of a coincidence that you mentioned Erford's name. JO: Who were some of the other principal actors out there, do you remember? I mean, from your Point of view. BE: Well, Erford, I thought, was one of the most talented. I'm trying to think but I don't know quite what you mean. We had some wonderful old character people who had been on the New York stage for years. Rose Morison, who I'm sure if you looked up would say she'd done quite a few things. And she was a superb actress. And there were several others. I must say that my memory-- JO: How did the younger people get along with the older character actors? BE: Wonderfully, wonderfully, the talented ones that is. The untalented ones don't get along with anybody. Oh, I shouldn't say that. Some of them are very sweet, but I mean I noticed that whenever there was any little friction or trouble, it was always the least talented thinking they should have been cast in the largest part, you know. Hoppie ran into that problem and so did Louis. JO: How was the spirit of the group as a whole? I noticed in these playbills that you were not only designing, but you also played minor parts in some of the plays, Coriolanus and� BE: Well, there were so many people needed in the cast until--that was when Hoppie was directing. He would say, "Well, won't you do that part? We need somebody to do it." I think I was actually a messenger in Coriolanus, but the actor that we had doing it was a very nice fellow named Milton Hall who always stumbled each time that he made his entrance. And so Hoppie became exasperated and said, "Won't you do it." And I sort of laughed and said, "I'm not an actor." But I did it. Then I got out of it later and someone else did it. John Randolph, I believe, replaced me. He's done rather well lately. I'm not sure but I think he did at one point. JO: He was in Federal Theatre. I think he was out in Roslyn for a while. BE: He was in Roslyn, yes. I think John moved in as that messenger rushing in. JO: I have a list here of, as far as I can make it out, plays that were done at Roslyn. And I also gather that you designed all of them. Were you, for each play that would come out, or were there other designers? RP: Yes, I did: No More Peace I didn't really design. I think it gives me credit where it should have said that it was the first thing that was done out there. Hallie Flanagan was very fond of the play and asked Hoppie to do it, and in truth I did sort of an adaptation of a set that I believe had been done up at Hallie Flanagan's or up in Vassar or someplace up there. I redrew it all and changed the colors and did various things to it, but it really is not--I know it was based on something else because Hoppie wanted to do it the same way. And just what changes I made from the original, I think. I had a photograph or something: I have no recollection except that I do know that it was something of an adaptation and I did make some changes, but used the basic idea of just sort of constructing the set, which seems Very art deco now, doesn't it? I haven't seen these photographs in years. There's Erford, Charlie Beurre, Tugwell Muller. Do you remember who put all this� Frank Daly's out on the Coast. I wonder if they didn't give some program about who did the original set. Maybe not. JO: I didn't see anything. BE: But I do remember that, that it was an adaptation of--these reviews all of them became when we were invited to came into the theatre down on 38th Street or whatever it was. What was the name? It was named after the famous actress. Maxine Elliott. And we did a repertory for an unlimited engagement of the Charles Hopkins production. JO: Did many of the productions you were involved in tour either upstate or--I know that Playboy of the Western World- BE: Playboy of the Western World toured. That's the only one I remember. Now that was after Louis had taken over. But I don't remember any of those other plays touring except that we came to the Maxine Elliott Theatre as a guest of New York City at the instigation of Hallie Flanagan because she happened to like the repertory we had out there.