Paradise Lost (play)
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''Paradise Lost'' is a drama by
Clifford Odets Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. In the mid-1930s, he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize–winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withd ...
that takes place in 1932, during the Depression. The play was originally produced on
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
by the Group Theatre in 1935. It was also filmed for television broadcast in 1971.


Plot summary

The play takes place in an unnamed American city during the Depression, in 1932. The head of the family, Leo, and his wife Clara are middle-class and prosperous. However, over the course of the play Leo and his partner Sam lose their handbag business and the family must come to terms with this. The other characters in the play include a friend, Gus, and his daughter, Libby, a frivolous and self-centered young woman who is newly married to Leo's son Ben; a boarder, and an assortment of other characters. Odets said of ''Paradise Lost'' that he'd hoped that after people see it, "they're going to be glad they're alive".


Production

Directed by
Harold Clurman Harold Edgar Clurman (September 18, 1901 – September 9, 1980) was an American theatre director and drama critic. In 2003, he was named one of the most influential figures in U.S. theater by PBS.
, ''Paradise Lost'' premiered on Broadway at the
Longacre Theatre The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theater at 220 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1913, it was designed by Henry B. Herts and is named for Longacre Square, the former ...
in a Group Theatre production. It opened on December 9, 1935, and closed in February 1936 after 73 performances.


Cast

*
Stella Adler Stella Adler (February 10, 1901 – December 21, 1992) was an American actress and acting teacher. A member of Yiddish Theater's Adler dynasty, Adler began acting at a young age. She shifted to producing, directing, and teaching, founding the ...
as Clara Gordon *
Morris Carnovsky Morris Carnovsky (September 5, 1897 – September 1, 1992) was an American stage and film actor. He was one of the founders of the Group Theatre (1931-1940) in New York City and had a thriving acting career both on Broadway and in films u ...
as Leo Gordon *
Walter Coy Walter Darwin Coy (January 31, 1909 – December 11, 1974) was an American stage, radio, film, and, principally, television actor, arguably most well known as the brother of John Wayne's character in ''The Searchers'' (1956). Early years Origina ...
as Ben Gordon * Blanche Gladstone as Libby Michaels *
Roman Bohnen Roman Aloys Bohnen (November 24, 1901 – February 24, 1949) was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the films ''Of Mice and Men (1939 film), Of Mice and Men'' (1939), ''The Song of Bernadette (film), The Song of Be ...
as Gus Michaels *
Elia Kazan Elias Kazantzoglou (, ; September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003), known as Elia Kazan ( ), was a Greek-American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one of the most honored and inf ...
as Kewpie * Grover Burgess as Mr. Pike *
Luther Adler Luther Adler (born Lutha Adler; May 4, 1903 – December 8, 1984) was an American actor who worked in theatre, film, television, and directed plays on Broadway. Early life Adler was born on May 4, 1903, in New York City, one of the six children ...
as Sam Katz * Lewis Leverett as Phil Foley *
Sanford Meisner Sanford Meisner (August 31, 1905 – February 2, 1997) was an American actor and acting teacher who developed an approach to acting instruction that is now known as the Meisner technique. While Meisner was exposed to method acting at the Group ...
as Julie * Robert Lewis as Mr. May


TV revival

Glenn Jordan Glenn Jordan (born April 5, 1936) is a retired American television director and producer. Born in San Antonio, Texas, Jordan directed multiple episodes of ''Family'' and numerous television movies, several based on real persons as diverse as B ...
directed a television revival production of ''Paradise Lost'' that was first broadcast on American
Public Television Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...
in two parts, on February 25 and March 4, 1971. The editor was Frank Herold and the play was recorded at Teletape Studios, NYC. Herold received a 1972
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
nomination for video editing. *
Jo Van Fleet Jo Van Fleet (December 29, 1915"The Birth of C ...
as Clara Gordon * ic]"">"The Birth of C ...
as Clara Gordon * Eli Wallach as Leo Gordon * Sam Groom">Eli Wallach">ic]"">"The Birth of C ...
as Clara Gordon * Eli Wallach as Leo Gordon * Sam Groom as Ben Gordon * Bernadette Peters as Libby Michaels * George Voskovec as Gus Michaels * Cliff Gorman as Kewpie * Fred Gwynne as Mr. Pike * Mike Kellin as Sam Katz * Biff McGuire as Phil Foley ''Paradise Lost'' was released on DVD in April 2002 by Kultur's DVD Broadway Theater Archive. According to Luther Adler in the presentation's intro, ''Paradise Lost'' was Clifford Odets' favorite and Harold Clurman considered it one of the six or seven really important contemporary American plays.


Critical response

Brooks Atkinson Justin Brooks Atkinson (November 28, 1894 – January 14, 1984) was an American theater critic. He worked for ''The New York Times'' from 1922 to 1960. In his obituary, the ''Times'' called him "the theater's most influential reviewer of his ...
reviewed the play in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' on December 10, 1935:
"Paradise Lost" is more an exercise in style than an organic drama. ... The style does not flow naturally out of the ... characters who inhabit the play. ... If the design of the play is apparently formless and aimless, that is Mr. Odets's conscious way of reflecting the stalemate lives of the society he is describing. It results in several bold and exhilarating scenes, several vigorous characters, a good deal of sinewy dialogue—and considerable incidental foolishness. ... "Paradise Lost"" is a very mixed package.
The reviewer for ''The New York Times'' wrote of the 1971 television film that the play was
an inordinately difficult work, especially on the home screen. ... Mr. Odets piled episode upon episode and remorselessly twirled his sociological revolving door with too many people. ... It is a totality of the vagaries of humanity under varying degrees of despair and hopelessness. ... The inarticulation of people to develop thoughts and philosophies may not make for the most exciting conventional theater but it can be a cameo of persons as they really are, a portrait of society at loose ends.


References


External links

* * {{Clifford Odets, state=autocollapse 1935 plays Broadway plays Plays by Clifford Odets American television films American films based on plays Television shows based on plays 1971 television films 1971 films 1970s English-language films