Ever since he was a youngster in knee pants, John Wexley was interested in teh drama. Whether his uncle, Maurice Schwartz, had any influence upon his ambition to become either an actor or a playwright is a moot point. It seems, however, that when his chums used to hide their Nick Carters behind those large geographies, Wexley would bury his nose in the plays of Shakespeare.
In high school, when his classmates would secretly admire the poesy of Keats and Shelley, he would spend his hours reading and studying anything from the miracle plays to Moliere. While at New York University he participated in the activities of the Dramatic Club. After leaving shool he joined a stock company, worte scenries for the movies, knocked about Europe. In short, he was prepared for the role fo playwright.
And four years ago when the Theatre Guild presented his first play. “the Last Mile,” he was acclaimed as a worthy successor to the Ibsen tradition.
Last week the dramatic world once again expressed its enthusiasm when “They Shall Not Die” made its appearance at the Royale Theatre. He is recognized as a master propagandist.
“When a person uses the word, propaganda,” Wexley said, smiling, “he doesn’t believe in what the writer says.” Wexley is firmly convinced that a literary work is not worth its ink if it does not teach or preach. “My new play, as you know, presents my attitude on the Scottsboro case. In it I also express, indirectly, the Jewish problem. For I believe that racial prejudice, whether it prevails in the south against the Negro, or in Germany against the Jew, is rundamentally the same. Economic survival is at the root of all prejudice.”
The young playwright said that if he hadn’t started on teh Scottsboro play, he might have written a tragedy around Nazi oppression. “The Theatre Guild will present a play called Races which concerns itself with the German Jewish problem by another playwright,” he said.
He smiled a bit cynically when he referred to the “liberalism” of certain men of letters. “Gerhard Hauptmann was a liberal until Hitler came to power. Then he about-faced and joined the camp of the Nazis. Today Hauptmann is ostracized by all right-thinking and self-respecting people,” he added.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
