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Regional Reviews: New Jersey Hollywood Farce Mingles with Jewish Sensitivities in Moonlight and Magnolias
Noted playwright Sidney Howard is the only writer officially credited for Gone With the Wind. However, his original screenplay was far too long to be filmed. The notoriously obsessive independent producer David O. Selznick employed a string of writers to write screenplays and treatments for the property. Several weeks into filming, Selznick fired director George Cukor, suspended the shoot, and replaced Cukor with Victor Fleming. The latter was pulled from the middle of filming The Wizard of Oz to assume direction of Gone With the Wind. At the same time, Selznick also conscripted the brilliant and acerbic iconoclast Ben Hecht (on loan from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) to make the final revisions on the screenplay post haste, as it was costing him $50,000 a day while production was suspended. Playwright, novelist, memoirist, raconteur, and most respected among Hollywood screenwriters, Hecht thereafter always maintained that it was his screenplay that Fleming filmed. In a letter to his biographer, Hecht wrote that, because he hadn't read the novel, Selznick and Fleming would act out scenes based on Howard's original screenplay. "After each scene had been performed and discussed, I sat down at the typewriter and wrote it out. Selznick and Fleming, eager to continue with their acting, kept hurrying me. We worked in this fashion for seven days, putting in eighteen to twenty hours a day. Selznick refused to let us eat lunch, arguing that food would slow us up. He provided bananas and salted peanuts ... thus on the seventh day I had completed, unscathed, the first nine reels of the Civil War epic." Playwright Ron Hutchinson has taken Hecht's likely mischievous account of this episode, condensed it to a period of five days, and created Moonlight and Magnolias, an entertaining Hollywood farce based on it. For both background and flavor, Hutchinson provides considerable Hollywood lore anent the production of Gone with the Wind. These include Selznick's insecurity resulting from the financial failure of his father, George Cukor's sexuality, the conflict between Cukor and Clark Gable, and Selznick's relationship with Louis B. Mayer, his father-in-law. Still, it is difficult to suspend disbelief when men of the caliber of Hecht, Selznick, and Fleming are reduced to behaving like zanies in a Marx Brothers comedy (Hecht was in the midst of writing a Marx Brothers movie when Gone with the Wind beckoned). Much to Hutchinson's credit, he does wrap into the farcical shenanigans, early civil rights activist Hecht's apoplexy at having to write a screenplay glorifying a way of life which embraces slavery. And in another highlight, Hutchinson allows Selznick a most convincing argument for a film's producer being its true auteur. However, there is another aspect to Moonlight and Magnolias, a quite interesting and suddenly rather relevant one that resonates strongly here. It is the battle between successful, assimilationist Jews fearful of their perceived precarious status as represented by Selznick and pugnacious, proud Jews devoted to giving their all to rally Jews to help their imperiled brethren from the impending Holocaust. As a result of the perception and skill of director Mark Spina and Michael Irvin Pollard, this is as well integrated into the farcical business as it could possibly be. For Pollard's interpretation of Hecht almost consistently shows a Hecht whose foolishness and lack of control is actually coolly calculated behavior aimed at driving Selznick and Fleming to distraction. As a result, in the strong second act, the serious and insightful examination of the psyches of Hecht and Selznick are more clearly and more powerfully delineated than in past productions of the play in New York and New Jersey. Gary Glor (Selznick) and Rick Delaney (Fleming) give themselves fully to the farce and provide much amusement. Still, a bit more restraint by Glor might enhance the role of Selznick. Reservations notwithstanding, Hutchinson has written a most evocative, fascinating, and funny play which ultimately tackles a very sticky and controversial cultural phenomenon with unusual depth and understanding. It is one which will fascinate people of varied backgrounds who may not even be aware of its lingering existence. Deborah Maclean ably rounds out the cast as Selznick's put upon secretary. If any of this is of interest to you, I suggest that you read Ben Hecht's autobiography "A Child of the Century" (Hecht has been my cultural hero since I read it in 1954 or thereabouts) and the compilation volume "Memo from David O. Selznick," and stream a Selznick film and a Hecht film classic. In any event, by all means, give yourself the considerable pleasure of viewing Theater Project's Moonlight and Magnolias, a fascinating trip back to the Golden Age of Hollywood. Moonlight and Magnolias continues performances (Evenings: Thursday, Friday, Saturday 8 PM / Matinees: Sunday (4/12 only) 2 PM) through April 12, 2015 at the Theater Project at the Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Durand Road, Maplewood, NJ, 07040: Box Office: 908-809-8865; online: TheTheaterProject.org Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson; directed by Mark Spina Cast |
