Waiting for Lefty and Other Plays
by Clifford Odets
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Book Summary Information
Author: Clifford OdetsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-01-14
ISBN: 0802132200
Number of pages: 418
Publisher: Grove Press
Book Reviews of Waiting for Lefty and Other Plays
Book Review: I'm no sensitive plant-what's the answer?
Summary: 5 Stars
"...So in the end nothing is real. Nothing is left but our memory of life. Not as it is...as it might have been...."
So says Leo, soft natured, burnt out, over worked, unappreciated, hang dog Odetian father in Paradise Lost. But such sentiment could come from any of these six plays and not be out of place.
In these six plays, featuring some of the most brilliant and emotional American playwriting ever, Clifford Odets hammered and chiseled circumstances of urban American life in the 1930's. Full of hard edged people who demand it of others, and naive people who refuse to be brought down by the prevailing winds, Odets creates a world that may seem dated and bygone. But the turmoil and the choices are neither.
In Waiting for Lefty taxi cab drivers must contend with horrendous working conditions, including violence and intimidation from managment if they strike. Scenes from worker meetings, home life between a husband and wife on the edge, and between two scientists politicing towards blacklisting and espionage.
In Awake and Sing and Paradise Lost families living in small cramped apartments must strive for peace and simple comforts while income is barely enough, their children, desperate for a better life, risk their lives through crime, or take up with sordid, cynical and compromised people. Homes are taken away, suicides and paralysis grip them.
In Till the Day I Die, two brothers go from being tight excited comrades, rebelling against the Fascist Nazi encrouchment, to being torn apart and suspicious after one of them is captured, tortured, abused, compromised and released.
In Golden Boy, the sweet heart of a promising violinist turns grey and aggressive when he takes up boxing, letting success, hatred for his family and fear of failure lead him to his own destruction.
In Rocket to the Moon a dentist falls for his young secretary, who dreams of a better life, beyond a hard scrabble existence as three men vie for her affections.
All the writing is incredible. A few noteworthy quotes:
From Till the Day I Die:
Ernst: Yes, peace! in the cell there-I know I stayed alive because I knew my comrades were with me in the same pain and chaos. Yes, I know that till the day I die there is no peace for an honest worker in the whole world.
Tilly: Till the day I die there is steady work to do. Let us hope we will both live to see strange and wonderful things. Perhaps we will die before them. Our children will see it then. Ours!
Ernst: These guns are complicated pieces of machinery. Our Germans make them like works of art. Tilly, Carl, our agony is real. But we live in the joy of a great coming people! The animal kingdom is past. Day must follow the night. Now we are ready: we have been selected in a terrible fight, but soon all the desolate places of the world must flourish with human genius. Brothers will live in the societs of the world! yes, a world of security and freedom is waiting for all mankind! Do your work, comrades.
From Paradise Lost:
Kewpie: A sleeping clam at the bottom of the ocean, but I'll wake you up. I'm through with the little wars: no more hacking, making a pound in a good day. Like old man Pike says, every man for himself nowadays, and when you're in the jungle you look out for the wild life. I put on my Chinese good luck ring and I'm out to get mine. You're on the first stop!
Libby: Hon, you're mussing me up again.
Ben: Happy?
Libby: Sure, every day's Saturday.
Ben: What to do think of her?
Kewpie: She's a juicy baby, all right.
Ben: Four stars!
Kewpie: But dumb-nothing between the acts!
Clara: In fifty years we will lay in the rain."Who's this?" they'll say. "A couple of old fools!"
Leo: This can't happen forever! Nothing stands still in life! Pike is right! Backwards or forwards, and even backwards is going ahead.
Clara: For God's sake, do yourself a personal favor and listen to me! What will we do, now?
Leo: We'll go on living.
From Golden Boy:
Siggie: That's a positive personality!
Tokio: That's Eddie Fuseli.
Siggie: Momma-mia! No wonder i smelled gun powder! Pop, that's a paradox in human behavior: he shoots you for a nickel-then for fifty bucks he sends you flowers!
Rakes, hopeless romantics, Communist rebels, diligent work horse Americans, woman of ill repute, hard, tough as nails mothers, looking out for their naive and love-dumb kids...Like all great writers Odets language is original, and stands the test of time.
Summary of Waiting for Lefty and Other Plays
Book jacket/back: Clifford Odets is considered the most gifted American social protest dramatist of the thirties and certainly one of America's great playwrights. Odets was born in Philadelphia in 1906 and raised in the Bronx, New York. After joining the Group Theatre in 1931, he wrote his six best and most famous plays, included in this volume.
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