Kaufman & Ferber/Depression Comedy & The Royal Family

Abstract: A 3 page essay that discusses theater during the Depression. The writer argues that it was through the warmth and pathos of comedy that people could forget --if just for a little while--the trauma that was going on around them and that this was a psychologically God-send to the country as a whole. Although George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's The Royal Family (1928) was written during the last years of prosperity, this play was one of the comedies that sustain the nation during the first years of the Depression. Its story of an acting family --the Cavendishes--and the sacrifices that they made for a life in the theater-- was a fantastic distraction from the realities of life during the Depression. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

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Catagory: Film & Television

Subcatagory: Music, Film, Television, Theater & Photography

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