“Golden Boy”, the Clifford
Odets play of November 4, 1937 , Belasco theater, is
nominated for a “Tony” in this digital age of 2013.....unbelievable
Right babyboomers? Right!.
How could the critics
recognize the Group Theater production
of open mindedness of a replica of our Saber Tooth Tiger depression laden New
Deal yesterdays of bootlegging and WPA projects. The numbers racket, baking
mickies on the sidewalk curb, before food stamps and welfare..
“Unbelievable boomers”
II
Luther Adler as Joe Bonaparte,
Harold Clurman, his brother in law, (Stella Adler, his frau) Brando’s acting
coach, Lee J Cobb, Frances Farmer as
Lorna , John Garfield, . Morris Carnofsky, Howard da Silva, Karl Malden, Elia
Kazan., the “Face int the Crowd” director.
Franchot Tone and Lionel Stander
as sparring partners
III
Heifitz’s strad violin?
Notoriety in the boxing ring? Or Bach, Haydn, Mozart Beethoven” Violin
sonatos? Harmonies and measures in a flowing contrapuntal fugue.. A fluidity of
a counterpoint on our senses.
Coogamonya Coogamonga.”
IV
What hath you baby boomers?
No floozy from the Jersey shores before Hurricane Sandy and
Bruce Springsteen was the erotic Frances Farmer, whether it was Luther Adler
here or William Holden in the Paramount silver screen femme fatale...the Lorna
from Jersey, you name it, sitting ringside, alongside Don Dumphy and Bill Corum
Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney signing autographs for Joe
Bonaparte’s ambivalent but hungry
fans..
V
Yet it seems Odets “Golden Boy” may really be a screen for a
Diogenes like struggle with original sin. .
Whether Joe Bonaparte sells out for the acclaim of “the
maddening crowd. (Frances Farmer, Julie Christie’s trumpeting epoch, post Vietnam.
Could the playwright...”Waiting for Lefty” “Awake and sing”
compete with Louise Rainer, a two time Oscar winning frau?...
”The Good Earth”
“The Great Zigfield”
Baby boomers... doesn’t“Mister Rainer”come alive for
Clifford Odets playing out his second fiddle role??
The city that never sleeps, May 4, 2013
