Today in History, July 18, 1906, Birthday of American Playwright, Clifford Odets
Birthday of American Playwright, Clifford Odets
Odets, from Philadelphia became the 20th Century's heir to Eugene O'Neill as the preeminent Social commentator of the Depression Era Writers. His Communist then Socialist background flowed from his commitment to exposing corruption, greed, materialism, and injustice.
His career at first as an actor, then writer was mentored by the famous Acting teacher for theater and film, Lee Strasberg, the founder of the school of "Method Acting", which has produced many of our greatest Actors. Odets learned from Strasberg how to both act and write for Method actors.
Some of his most famous works were "The Big Knife", ( my favorite) "Golden Boy", "Waiting for Lefty", and "Awake and Sing". The latter was the most successful "Jewish Play" outside of Yiddish Theater, and launched his career. Several of his plays were made into films, starring Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, William Holden.
Like most Communists in Hollywood, he was dragged through the mud by the Cold War Era House Unamerican Activities Committee, where Actors and Directors were threatened with having their careers destroyed if they did not hand over names of fellow Communists in Hollywood. Odets, by agreement with his close friend, Director Elia Kazan (Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, Gentleman's Agreement) agreed they would give each others name up, to both cooperate but not expose others. They incurred a great deal of controversy over that decision. (I have an insider's view of it because I was close friends with a Kazan immediate family member who talked about it) Most did cooperate at some level to avoid the Hollywood Blacklist, unlike Dalton Trumbo, whose career was wrecked until Kirk Douglas stepped in to break the blacklist.
I was introduced to Odets work by Actor Robert Beltran, (Star Trek Voyager, Commander Chakotay) who we worked with for a time on amateur Shakespeare performance and acting workshops for ourselves and the young people we were recruiting back in the early 2000's. Beltran staged a very successful Stage performance of the Big Knife in LA, and also gave us a class on it using an old movie version of it. We learned a great deal about Stage writing and performance from him and had a very enjoyable experience, as he was a selfless and devoted teacher.
Odets plays ring true and resonate in these days of out of control Shareholder Value, and mindless materialism, as well as corporate greed, and show the horrible toll these things take on our morality and happiness. Very much like Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman", Odets is our conscience and mirror, confronting us with what we have become, good, bad, and in between. He deserves to be remembered and his work enjoyed, regardless of political ideology, since his ideas were so universal. And more than anything, his life reminds us of the power and virtue which is inherent in the Stage as a medium for education, and the development of the soul.
