The Incomparable Max
Encyclopedia
The Incomparable Max is a play by Jerome Lawrence
and Robert E. Lee
. It is based on the stories Enoch Soames
and A.V. Laider in Seven Men
by Max Beerbohm
.
Enoch Soames is a minor poet who makes a pact with the devil to spend a few hours in the library of the British Museum
one hundred years in the future to learn how history will regard him. There he finds the only mention of his name is in a short story written by Max Beerbohm. A.V. Laider is a palmist
who foretells the death of four people riding on a train - or does he?
The play had its premiere at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia
in 1969. The Broadway
production, directed by Gerald Freedman
, began the first of ten previews on October 9, 1971 at the Royale Theatre
. It opened on October 19 and closed on November 6 after 23 performances.
The cast included Richard Kiley in the dual roles of Soames and Laider and Clive Revill
as Beerbohm. Constance Carpenter
and Fionnuala Flanagan
appeared in supporting roles.
The creative team included costume design
er Theoni V. Aldredge
and lighting designer
Martin Aronstein
.
T.E. Kalem of Time
observed, "The work is a glue job rather than an organic entity. The authors . . . awkwardly mixed Beerbohm in as a character among his own creations. In passages that are almost unrelated asides, they have Max as drama critic quoting himself on plays, players and playgoers. These comments lack the pithy bite of aphorism
s, and as out-of-context fragments, they lose much of the slyly inflected wit that is one of the special pleasures of reading Beerbohm . . . The deeper problem lies with Max himself, who was too much the fastidious dandy, too much the meticulous stylist, to serve as a vehicle for the broad, boisterous traffic of the stage."
Jerome Lawrence
Jerome Lawrence was an American playwright and author.-Life and career:Lawrence was born Jerome Lawrence Schwartz in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Sarah , a poet, and Samuel Schwartz, a printer. He worked for several small newspapers as a reporter/editor before moving into radio as a writer for CBS....
and Robert E. Lee
Robert Edwin Lee
Robert Edwin Lee was an American playwright and lyricist. With his writing partner, Jerome Lawrence, Lee worked for Armed Forces Radio during World War II; Lawrence and Lee became the most prolific writing partnership in radio, with such long-running series as Favorite Story among others.-Life and...
. It is based on the stories Enoch Soames
Enoch Soames
Enoch Soames is a short story by the British writer Max Beerbohm. It appeared in the collection Seven Men and was originally published in the May 1916 edition of The Century Magazine. It is well-known for its clever and humorous use of the ideas of time travel and pacts with the Devil...
and A.V. Laider in Seven Men
Seven Men
Seven Men is a collection of short stories written by English caricaturist, essayist and parodist Max Beerbohm. It was published in Britain in 1919 by Heinemann and in the United States in 1920 by Alfred A. Knopf, and has been described as a "masterpiece."...
by Max Beerbohm
Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist best known today for his 1911 novel Zuleika Dobson.-Early life:...
.
Enoch Soames is a minor poet who makes a pact with the devil to spend a few hours in the library of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
one hundred years in the future to learn how history will regard him. There he finds the only mention of his name is in a short story written by Max Beerbohm. A.V. Laider is a palmist
Chiromancy
Palmistry or chiromancy , is the art of characterization and foretelling the future through the study of the palm, also known as palm reading, or chirology. The practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations...
who foretells the death of four people riding on a train - or does he?
The play had its premiere at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia
Abingdon, Virginia
Abingdon is a town in Washington County, Virginia, USA, 133 miles southwest of Roanoke. The population was 8,191 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Washington County and is a designated Virginia Historic Landmark...
in 1969. The Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production, directed by Gerald Freedman
Gerald Freedman
Gerald Freedman is an American theatre director, librettist, and lyricist, and a college dean.Born in Lorain, Ohio, Freedman was educated at Northwestern University, where he received both BA and MA degrees. He began his career as assistant director of such projects as Bells Are Ringing, West Side...
, began the first of ten previews on October 9, 1971 at the Royale Theatre
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 242 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, it opened as the Royale Theatre on January 11, 1927 with a musical entitled Piggy...
. It opened on October 19 and closed on November 6 after 23 performances.
The cast included Richard Kiley in the dual roles of Soames and Laider and Clive Revill
Clive Revill
Clive Selsby Revill is a New Zealand-born British character actor best known for his performances in musical theatre and on the London stage.-Early life and stage career:...
as Beerbohm. Constance Carpenter
Constance Carpenter
Constance Emmeline Carpenter was an English-born American film and musical theatre actress.-Biography:Born in Bath, Somerset, Carpenter was the daughter of vaudevillians and began performing at an early age....
and Fionnuala Flanagan
Fionnuala Flanagan
Fionnghuala Manon Flanagan is an Irish actress who has worked extensively in theatre, film and television.-Early life:...
appeared in supporting roles.
The creative team included costume design
Costume design
Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
er Theoni V. Aldredge
Theoni V. Aldredge
Theoni V. Aldredge was a Greek-American stage and screen costume designer.Born Theoni Athanasiou Vachlioti in Thessaloniki in 1922, Aldredge received her training at the American School in Athens. She emigrated to the United States in 1949 and attended the Goodman Theatre at DePaul University,...
and lighting designer
Lighting designer
The role of the lighting designer within theatre is to work with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create an overall 'look' for the show in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety and cost...
Martin Aronstein
Martin Aronstein
Martin Aronstein was an American lighting designer whose Broadway career spanned thirty-six years.Born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Aronstein attended Queens College in Flushing, New York. In 1957, following a performance sponsored by the New York Shakespeare Festival, he approached a backstage...
.
T.E. Kalem of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
observed, "The work is a glue job rather than an organic entity. The authors . . . awkwardly mixed Beerbohm in as a character among his own creations. In passages that are almost unrelated asides, they have Max as drama critic quoting himself on plays, players and playgoers. These comments lack the pithy bite of aphorism
Aphorism
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
s, and as out-of-context fragments, they lose much of the slyly inflected wit that is one of the special pleasures of reading Beerbohm . . . The deeper problem lies with Max himself, who was too much the fastidious dandy, too much the meticulous stylist, to serve as a vehicle for the broad, boisterous traffic of the stage."