In the history of the golden age of American Drama from about 1915 to 1955, while the names of Eugene O'Neill and George F. Kaufman and Moss Hart are still well known many have entered into a kind of netherworld we just do not think about. One that has declined is Clifford Odetts. Odetts was from a lower middle class Jewish background, and his dramas dealt with the economic warfare and reality of that period - most people recall his play about labor unions WAITING FOR LEFTY which ends with the actors spreading around the theater with calls for striking. Yet Odetts lasted as a force in theater for decades, as well as a force in Hollywood script writing. He was involved in the movie NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART, and many of his plays like CLASH BY NIGHT ended up as movies. The McCarthy Era hurt Odetts, who was revealed as too pro-Communist (as were many of his actor friends). Still he continued working, immortalizing his unfortunate friend John Garfield's fall from stardom in THE BIG KNIFE.
Today there is a kind of shrillness in his dialog that turns off many viewers - they find him overly preachy. My own sister once dismissed a movie which was not one he had any hand in as "the worst of Odetts" in it's writing. But at his best he can still be quite compelling dealing with the reality of lower middle class and working class Depression families. In the early 1970s two of his best plays got television treatment. Walter Matthau headed a good cast in a production (a rarity for Matthau, by then a movie actor rather than a dramatic stage actor) of AWAKE AND SING. Then came this wonderful production with Eli Wallach, Cliff Gorman, Mike Kellin, Sam Groom, Jo Van Fleet, Bernadette Peters, and Fred Gwynn of PARADISE LOST. Although both are on video they rarely have been re-shown on television - which is our loss.
Wallach is Leo, a somewhat prosperous lower middle class businessman. He is married to Clara (Van Fleet) and his partner is Sam (Kellin) who is married too. Leo is a warm and friendly man, frequently expressing himself in philosophical prose about life and the world. Sam is more of a trial - he happens to be something of a blow-hart. Leo has two sons, one of whom is scholastically a champ and the other a charismatic loser. But the bright one is dying of tuberculosis, and the loser can't apply himself to hard work (and ends up falling under the spell of a shady friend played named Kewpie (Cliff Gorman)). The loser does get his girlfriend pregnant, before dying in a botched crime. The dying brother potters around the house wearing a tuxedo until he is too sick to go any further. Kewpie (by the way) ends up as a rising underworld figure.
To worsen the situation, Leo learns his business is collapsing - looted by Sam. Sam always has had big ideas about his virility, and how his wife has failed to give him the dozens of kids he should have. It should come as no surprise that this idiot is impotent and misused the funds of the firms buying useless treatments and machines to regain his virility.
There is also problems with local corrupt politicians who conclude that Leo (a critic of theirs) is one of those left-wing troublemakers. As his family has taken in a stranger (Mr. Pike - Gwynn) who is an outspoken communist, these politicos hit their mark and help make it impossible for Leo and Clara to stay in the neighborhood as being alien foreigners with Mr. Pike. Ironically the politicos are Irish-American types while Pike comes from about two hundred years of American genealogy.
PARADISE LOST is a wonderful updating of JOB, in that nothing goes right for the likable Leo or his family. Everything he turns to goes sour, as the American dream just collapses. Yet to the end Leo remains defiant in his optimism, well supported by Clara despite the disasters. And the audience ends up cheered by them (despite those disasters) as well. It was a first class production of classic American theater on television, and is well worth watching if you can get that video today.
Today there is a kind of shrillness in his dialog that turns off many viewers - they find him overly preachy. My own sister once dismissed a movie which was not one he had any hand in as "the worst of Odetts" in it's writing. But at his best he can still be quite compelling dealing with the reality of lower middle class and working class Depression families. In the early 1970s two of his best plays got television treatment. Walter Matthau headed a good cast in a production (a rarity for Matthau, by then a movie actor rather than a dramatic stage actor) of AWAKE AND SING. Then came this wonderful production with Eli Wallach, Cliff Gorman, Mike Kellin, Sam Groom, Jo Van Fleet, Bernadette Peters, and Fred Gwynn of PARADISE LOST. Although both are on video they rarely have been re-shown on television - which is our loss.
Wallach is Leo, a somewhat prosperous lower middle class businessman. He is married to Clara (Van Fleet) and his partner is Sam (Kellin) who is married too. Leo is a warm and friendly man, frequently expressing himself in philosophical prose about life and the world. Sam is more of a trial - he happens to be something of a blow-hart. Leo has two sons, one of whom is scholastically a champ and the other a charismatic loser. But the bright one is dying of tuberculosis, and the loser can't apply himself to hard work (and ends up falling under the spell of a shady friend played named Kewpie (Cliff Gorman)). The loser does get his girlfriend pregnant, before dying in a botched crime. The dying brother potters around the house wearing a tuxedo until he is too sick to go any further. Kewpie (by the way) ends up as a rising underworld figure.
To worsen the situation, Leo learns his business is collapsing - looted by Sam. Sam always has had big ideas about his virility, and how his wife has failed to give him the dozens of kids he should have. It should come as no surprise that this idiot is impotent and misused the funds of the firms buying useless treatments and machines to regain his virility.
There is also problems with local corrupt politicians who conclude that Leo (a critic of theirs) is one of those left-wing troublemakers. As his family has taken in a stranger (Mr. Pike - Gwynn) who is an outspoken communist, these politicos hit their mark and help make it impossible for Leo and Clara to stay in the neighborhood as being alien foreigners with Mr. Pike. Ironically the politicos are Irish-American types while Pike comes from about two hundred years of American genealogy.
PARADISE LOST is a wonderful updating of JOB, in that nothing goes right for the likable Leo or his family. Everything he turns to goes sour, as the American dream just collapses. Yet to the end Leo remains defiant in his optimism, well supported by Clara despite the disasters. And the audience ends up cheered by them (despite those disasters) as well. It was a first class production of classic American theater on television, and is well worth watching if you can get that video today.
