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That was mistake number two. I went to rehearsal
to find Stella Adler unbelievably bad, monotonous,
and miscast, the remainder of the cast just fair
and the script still talkey and vague - cut a
a bit, yet, but not patched. The final week of
rehearsals they began to see the truth of my com=
plaints and started cutting great hunks of dialogue
scenes, etc. John Howard Lawson appeared utterly
incapable of re-writing a scene as substituting
new material. As a result, same for the first act,
the logic of though and emotion was so undetermined
that many long speeches, arguments, etc; seemed to
spring from nowhere and with one special cause.
It caused an impression of confusion that I
can well understand must have baffled, and
after a fashion, enraged the first nighters. As I
have found to be true, no N.Y. reviewer, no
matter how sagacious and seasoned, can differ-
entiate between a good part and a good per-
formance. If the part is bad - no matter how
well you handle it and cover it's flaws - you
too are bad. Parts that "naturals" and that any
ham actor can recognize at a shot, will get the
actor good notices just as long as he doesn't
mangle it beyond recognition. The lack of
knowledge of acting amongst the reviewers is
a shocking revelation. But it's true. About plays