This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 70-6715 AYERS, David Hugh, 1924- THE APPRENTICESHIP OF ROBERT ANDERSON. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1969 Theater University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan ( c ) David Hugh Ayers 1970 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE APPRENTICESHIP OF ROBERT ANDERSON DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By David Hugh Ayers, B.A., H.A. ****** The Ohio State University 1969 Approved by ^ __ ^XCo-Adviser D^ision of Theatre ^ Co-Adviser Division of Theatre PREFACE For over fifteen years, Robert Anderson has been recognized as a major American playwright, but no full-length critical consider­ ation of his work has been undertaken. This first comprehensive treat­ ment of his career developed as an outgrowth of the American Play­ wrights Theatre program. As Executive Director of the APT project for the past six years, ray association with Mr. Anderson in connec­ tion with fifty nationwide APT productions of his play. The Days Between, resulted in some of the most rewarding and stimulating ex­ periences of my life. Inspired initially by admiration for the man and his work, the present study grew out of the realization that a wealth of material has accumulated over the period of this associa­ tion in the form of letters, tape-recorded broadcasts, various re­ visions of The Days Between, the author's notes on interpretation, etc., which could serve as valuable sources of information for future biographers, critics, historians, and play directors. The purpose of the dissertation is twofold: to present a professional biography of Robert Anderson and to provide explication of his major plays through an examination of his development as a playwright and by the inclusion of Mr. Anderson's comments and reflections on his life and career. ii Surely no doctoral candidate has ever enjoyed such warm­ hearted and extensive cooperation from a distinguished author as that given by Robert Anderson to this study. For the enormous amount of time he has expended in answering questions, searching for mate­ rials, checking for accuracy of dates and details in the following chapters, for entrusting me with information of the most personal nature and for allowing me to examine his earliest dramaturgic efforts which he intends never to make available for general study, I am profoundly grateful. Largely because of future inaccessibility of the unpublished plays, I chose to focus on the early phase of Anderson's personal and artistic development, attempting to discover relationships and experiences which influenced his life and work and to indicate vari­ ous thematic and developmental trends which culminated in his first professional plays. Since Tea and Sympathy represents the point of convergence of many of these trends and the turning point of his career, this play has been given a position of central importance and an entire chapter has been devoted to its evolution. The plays subsequent to Tea and Sympathy have been considered primarily from the standpoint of the apprenticeship and are discussed in relation to the themes and techniques originating in the earlier works. iii VITA February 26, 1924 Born - Cincinnati, Ohio 1943-1946 . U.S. Navy and Fleet Marine Force 1949 . B.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1949-1951 . Research Assistant in Theatre, Department of Speech, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1951 . H.A,, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1951-1955 . Producer-Director, WOSU Radio, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1955-1956 . Production Supervisor, WOSU Radio, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1956-1958 . Production Manager, WOSU Television, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1958-1963 . Program-Production Manager, WOSU Television, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1963-1969 . Executive Director, American Playwrights Theatre, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS "Totrard a New Broadway." The Commentator. Columbus, Worthington, Ohio, January 16, 1964. "American Playwrights Theatre— A Progress Report," Educational Theatre Journal. Vol. XVII, Number 3, October 1965. iv FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field; Theatre Theatre Production. Professor Charles McGaw, The Ohio State University Theatre History. Professor John H. McDowell, The Ohio State University Dramatic Literature. Professors Harold R. Walley and John H. Wilson, The Ohio State University TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE ....................................................... It VITA ......................................................... Iv Chapter I. THE FORMATIVE YE A R S .................................... 1 Early Influences College Plays Graduate School Plays II. THE NAVY PL A Y S .......................................... 43 Come Marching Home Bov Grown Tall III. THE HEARTBREAK PERI O D ................................ 75 The Eden Rose The Lunts Are The Lunts Are The Lunts Love Revisited All Summer Long IV. TEA AND SYMPATHY ................................ 132 "Katherine and Pity and Love and I" Birthright The Version of 1948 The Final Version The Production V. BEYOND TEA AND SYMPATHY .............................. 182 Love Among Friends Silent Night. Lonely Night The Days Between You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water's Running I Never Sang For My Father The Apprenticeship The Measure of the Man WORKS CITED ................................................... 260 V i CHAPTER I THE FORMATIVE YEARS Early Influences Robert Woodruff Anderson was born at 90 Morningsidc Drive^ in New York City on April 28, 1917, the younger son of James H. and Myra Grigg Anderson. He grew up just "forty-five minutes from Broadway" in the suburb of New Rochelle,% "a quiet town", with elms and chestnut trees, lawns and old sprawling houses with a certain nondescript elegance," the dramatist recalls in his most specifically autobio­ graphical play, I Never Sang For My Father.^ Unlike most of Anderson's characters, the mother and father in this play are drawn directly from the playwright's memory.^ James Anderson did not become Mayor of his town as did Tom Garrison in the play, but he ran for that office and was actively involved in the civic problems of New Rochelle. His "miserable childhood" and "the story of his life" from slum boy to successful business executive were almost exactly as described in the play. Margaret Garrison, the ^Ward Morehouse, "Fifteen Years Work Yields a Smash Hit," New York Telegraph and Sun, Oct. 15, 1953, p. 28. ^Marjorie Dent Candee, ed.. Current Biography (New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1954), p. 21. ^Robert Anderson, I Never Sang For My Father (New York: Random House, 1968), I. 12. ^Robert ^derson, private interview held during American Playwrights Theatre Board Meeting, New York, N.Y., September 28, 1968. 2 mother in I Never Sang For My Father, is a charming true-to-life portrait of the playwright's own devoted mother. The eulogy for Margaret Garrison found in the earlier film version of the play would have served well at the funeral of Myra Anderson: Margaret Garrison was a loving wife and a kind and generous mother, and a public spirited member of the community. The hundreds of people who were touched by her goodness can attest to the pleasure and joy she brought them through her love of life and her power to communicate this love to others . Hundreds and hundreds of children, now grown, will remember her annual Christmas Eve story-telling parties . In her family she was the spirit of loving kindness.5 Although the parents in this play are presented in old age, it is easy to visualize James and Myra Anderson in earlier life as an emi­ nently attractive and intelligent couple, socially and financially suc­ cessful. From the viewpoint of the younger son, however, their dis­ parate interests and the lack of warmth and affection in their mar- • riage were matters of deep and lasting concern. "What a shame that children can't see their parents when they're young and courting and in love," Margaret Garrison says to her "on, "all they see them being is tolerant, sympathetic, forbearing and devoted. All the qualities that are so unimportant to passionate young people."® This early view of marriage greatly influenced the emotional and artistic development of the dramatist, and helped to determine the choice of theme and subject matter for much of his work. ^Robert Anderson, The Tiger. unpublished film script, p. 84. ^Anderson, I Never Sang For My Father. 1.32. 3 Another revealing picture of his parent's relationship is presented in Love Anong Friends, an unpublished play written in 1956. Although this dramatic essay on marriage differs widely from the spe­ cifics of Anderson's life, it contains a fictional scene between a father and son, highly illuminative of early family influences. In this scene, Alan Hamilton, a successful playwright, intimates that he does not want a marriage like his father's. The father admits that he and his wife have had difficult periods, but says that his son seems to remember only the unhappy times. "I've searched my memory over and over again for the happy ones," the son replies, "I start to remember one, and then suddenly I hear a cross word, or see a sharp look, or mother running upstairs crying." Mr. Hamilton For you, of course, your mother coui. lo no wrong. Alan Let's not go into a list of your grievances against her. Mr. Hamilton You'll only hear hers against me. Alan Not one. You won't believe this, but not one. Only 'Your father is having a hard time just now. Things are not easy for your father. Your father is a remarkable man .... Look how straight he walks. .' In all the thou­ sands of long, long talks, not one word. Mr. Hamilton There were many thousands of long, long talks between you and your mother. Alan Yes. Mr. Hamilton She worships you. Alan Too much. I know. Mr. Hamilton You've made her life worth-while for her.