Excerpts from German plays written in the 1920's to illustrate tensions that contributed to the rise of Nazism. The plays are "Gas" by George Kaiser, "Hoopla! Such is Life!" by Ernst Toller, and "The Private Life of the Master Race" by Bertolt Brecht. Performances by Sorrell Booke, Dorothea Duckworth, Robert Eckles, Dana Elcar, Irina Hurley, Pirie MacDonald, David Opatoshu, William Shatner, Sydney Walker. 1957.
Excerpts from German plays written in the 1920's to illustrate tensions that contributed to the rise of Nazism. The plays are "Gas" by George Kaiser, "Hoopla! Such is Life!" by Ernst Toller, and "The Private Life of the Master Race" by Bertolt Brecht. Performances by Sorrell Booke, Dorothea Duckworth, Robert Eckles, Dana Elcar, Irina Hurley, Pirie MacDonald, David Opatoshu, William Shatner, Sydney Walker.
02:00 INTRO: MacAndrew: Theater is the strongest thread of expressionism which steps beyond reality to say, "This is important," and tries to shock. Theater in pre-war Germany was "powerful and strong."
08:00 PLAY 1: "Gas" by George Kaiser. 1918. There has been an explosion in a lethal gas factory with many victims killed. The gas formula is defective. "Dismiss the Engineer; Down with the Engineer." The Engineer wants the factory closed until the formula is corrected. Management opposes and the strikers are eager to go back to work, to go "from explosion to explosion." Obedience to authority, the poverty of pre-war Germany and the need for work were overwhelming issues.
11:00 PLAY 2: Toller's "Hoopla!" 1927. The Prime Minister has been assassinated and a waiter who is a suspect is talking to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist justifies society as it is; the waiter represents a Party (Communist?) member who wants society improved. The waiter wanted to shoot the Prime Minister, but didn't. He tried to help the assassin but he rejected him. The upshot of it all is that this is a mad, mad world, and the psychiatrist tries to get the waiter to adjust, but he refuses. He finally calls the hospital guards to take the "crazy" psychiatrist away, but they take the waiter away instead. The waiter commits suicide, because he can't adjust to the lunacy of society.
03:20 PLAY 3: Brecht's "The Private Life of the Master Race" 1934. Prisoners in a concentration camp hold a political discussion about Nazis, Communists and the United Front. One prisoner is an informer. The guard forbids them to talk and threatens them with "the Cage."
Produced by Louis Freedman. Directed by Clay Yurdin. Written by Warren Wallace. Air date 11/10/57. 25 mins.
Sorrell Booke, Dorothea Duckworth, Robert Eckles, Dana Elcar, Irina Hurley, Pirie MacDonald, David Opatoshu, William Shatner, Sydney Walker, actors.