The Art of the Puppet by Bil Baird (review)

1966 BOOK REVIEWS 125 violence for what Mr. Shuman calls "conditional pacificism." This is certainly the problem confronting Lincoln in what will probably be the most durable of these plays, Abraham Lincoln in Illinois (1938). Sherwood's Lincoln is a lonely, peace-loving man who gradually realizes that it is his tragic destiny to lead his country into the worst of all wars, a civil war. Similarly, Dr. Valkonen in There Shall Be No Night (1940) realizes that peace and freedom are two very different things. Dr. Valkonen (and Sherwood) are fond of quoting Jung: "There is no coming to consciousness without pain"; and in this he finds a justification for putting his scientific skill at the service of his country in a field hospital. Some of Mr. Shuman's most interesting pages are those dealing with the last of these liberal-pacificist-in-wartime protagonists, Morey Vinion, in Sherwood's unsuccessful play The Rugged Path (1945). This play refiects some of the doubts which must have assailed Sherwood as he remembered his nightlong conferences with Roosevelt, Hopkins, and others of the nation's leaders. Mr. Shuman thinks that by this time Sherwood had come to doubt that what he had been writing was true and representative, just as had his journalist-protagonist , Morey Vinion. • • • by this time, fear of truth lurked in Sherwood's fine mind. His essential pacificism had been killed by the international events which had precipitated the war, and he had found no convincing substitute for an outmoded pacificism . (p. 106) And this is compounded by Sherwood's doubts that the statesmen of our time would have the courage and the wisdom to be as great in peace as they had been at war. Whether the confusion and doubt in the mind of the author are the reasons that the play failed or not, they are probably the reasons that Sherwood , in spite of spending more time with its composition than with any previous play, simply had not produced the clear-cut and lucid eloquence of the four successes that had preceded this play. It is easy to understand why Mr. Shuman ranks Sherwood well below O'Neill. It is harder to understand why he ranks him below William luge, Tennessee Williams , and Arthur Miller. Sherwood should not really be compared to any of these dramatists save perhaps Miller. He is a playwright of ideas and when working within the framework of the comedy of ideas holds a unique place in the American theater. Sherwood once confessed that he always started with a very serious idea but ended up with mere entertainment-"hokum of the highest type" Mr. Shuman calls it. But Sherwood is more than this. He frequently did illuminate our minds with hilarious illustrations of our follies. And when he wished to be eloquent he produced some of the best writing in our theater. He was at times the journalist but at other times he transcended this and became something rare in the theater, a first rate poet. VINCENT WALL Wayne State University THE ART OF THE PUPPET, by Bil Baird, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1965, 251 pp. Price, $19.95. As its price suggests, this book was designed to impress. Everything about it speaks quality and the loving care with which it was put together. If any publi. cation could stimulate American interest in-and support for-puppetry, surely this is it. 126 MODERN DRAMA May For Bil Baird is as knowledgeable about his art as he is proficient in it. And he is articulate and persuasive. His purpose is to help create a more thorough understanding of puppetry as a performing art and to define it in relation to the other performing arts. The richly illustrated volume (72 pages in color), does more than that: At last it appears reasonable to hope that major forces may be at work to restore the puppet theater to its audience-dJ.ildren of all agesin this country, from whom it was stolen by the one-eyed monster. Although disclaiming any intention of offering a history of puppetry, author Baird does present enough background material on puppetry as practiced in various corners and cultures of...