JOHN DRINKWATER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 136, 10 June 1937, Page 4

JOHN DRINKWATER

POET AND DRAMATIST

TRIBUTE OF A FRIEND

Again I am writing the obituary notice of a personal friend who has died suddenly; first Graham Browne, now John Drink-water, writes W. A. Darlington.; in the ."Daily Telegraph." My mind is carried-back irresistibly to a day in ,1935. .when Marie Tempest, Graham Browne, and; I met in Miss Tempest's drawing-room to hear Drinkwater read the Masque which he had composed for her jubilee matinee. It would have seemed utterly- unthinkable then that either—let alone both —of those two vigorous, intelligent minds was destined to be put to silence within two years. Graham Browne was, of course, an elderly man; but Drinkwater ■ was not even that. He was only 54; and always had an air about him of strength and energy. What is more, it is not a month since he told me in casual conversation that'he had work-before him that would occupy him for years. I remember that when he was act-/ ing as Henry IV at"His Majesty's and had •■ to • fight a fairly exacting duel I wondered whether perhaps he was not letting himself get a little out'of condition for a man brought up to athletic "habits. But it never- crossed my mind to be"seriously anxious.' He is gone, and we are the poorer for a charming man, a distinguished literary figure, and :a1 representative Englishman. ' .-"-■'■" I do not think that I ever met a man more thoroughly "and consistently English: than Drinkwater. His feeling for ,his native country is to be found again and "* again - in" his writings; and nowhere more clearly expressed than in the account of his own youth in the first volume of his autobiography. ...... The Englishman's favourite virtue is solidity and his pet vice solemnity, Drinkwater had the former in its fullest degree and more tlian: a touch of the latter. The four-square quality of his mind and his achievement, the ■sober'plainness of his style, his good sense,: and his equanimity^—all these are qualities" such as the English nation likes to discover in itself; whereas his tendency to take himself, on the surface, a thought tod seriously^ was a defect < which ' Englishmen are* .apt to cultivate under'the impression that it is a virtue: His, solemnity' was assumed as a cloak for honest simplicity, and was not /an essential part of the man. "". " HE WAS OVER-SERIOUS. As in his personal character, so in his work. There was a certain overemphasis on seriousness. When he first conceived the ;idea of a' play on Abraham Lincoln he saw it as the first of a series, in each of which the central figure was to be a historical character. ~ But these; central characters were chosen, not for their o\vn. sakes as human beings, nor lor their place' in history, but because they embodied certain qualities about which". Drink* water wished to write. Lincoln embodied a Leader of Men, Mary Stuart a Great Lover, Cromwell an Apostla of ..Freedom. ' '..'.■ Such a conception called for, few ' of the lighter touches of /characterdrawing. The great and deserved suo cess of the first play of the series es« tablished Drinkwater at one blow as a leadingI'dramatist, arid made it certain that the;-subsequent-plays would be welcomed to the stage.". "■Mary Sjtuart," .-"Oliver Cromwell;" and l "RobertE,,Lee" were, each.'injturn, received- with respect;-but none oi them .matched the success of. "Abraham Lincoln,".and -cumulatively they- gave Drinkwater a -reputation not only for solidity but heaviness of mind. '•■ ■ Consequently, it was with;utter astonishment that playgoers received his next really emphatic success, "Bird in Hand." This .was . a modern country comedy, and it had all those .qualities ■which Drinkwater. was said,.by-his detractors, riot, to. possess. .'. "■. - ■ It had lightness of touch,' humanity, a sympathetic understanding., of the little things of life. It introduced solemnity only,to laugh at it. And it was English ,in grain. It explained Englishmen to':'thernsefves,:'ahd 'interpreted them to other nations; and that, H'hkve no/doubt, is,why it repeated in New-York its run' of nearly a year in London. This play was personal to Drinkwater, in. a- way that his .others' were not. It was dug out of his knowledge of farms and yeomen, and shaped by his knowledge of theatres and: actors. ~ He wrote it for pleasure of telling a story, and not to exemplify a theory. It was not nis -masterpiece—but if ha had hot written it he would have done himself a deep- injustice." A! MANIOFITHE THEATRE. Although he began his writing career as a;pb,e.t,-.and has since written almost ' every • kind, of v prose and-verse, novels orily/excepted,;Jofih Drinkwater always lopk'e'dori.'the';-theatre as his "job." H« was all bTUt'-'bofni.-ln it; and though, when his actor-father was touring, he was- often Jaf.t ;with his-.farmer-grand-fath^rri-tp..live,'the''lifel:-ij>f, a farmer's boy, he, jyas times ;carted round with the .theatrical,'baggage. ... It. was.v'aa---"'P<i(i'il'-?H?S?4i'-'^e> anc^ left: the young'Joh'nWwltii little taste either;forvbp6k;learh"ih'g;..:at". the Oxford High;.School,.or; :j ' Subsequently, for ofKce^liie^'iwithVV.anv'insurance com- ' pahy.: : ' ~:z :,;^ ,;,:;/ ";**;<¥ iv '-, . -,A-lK'the.'same,:;he ?stuck: to insurance for. twelyiyyears; during'-which he did aot'alldw-ttie'/ theatre ;;tp-':claim more than his''spare^tiriie. ./.Iri. that spare time, -Barry Jackson to foiuid, anv amate;ur- dramatic club tailed the jßilgritrb Players: ■This: organisation flourished so well that it turned; professional and became the .Birmirigham Repertory Theatre; and Drinkwater /turned professional with-it::;; There he av^s actor, producer, general-manager-andrplaywright, and _ thei;e.-he-laid complete and durable foundations for : his later fame. ■" 'He'remained air-,all-round man of the tWeatrer -Besides- his recent appearances under Sydney Carroll's manage- ' jnent, he acted ill: "Abraham Lincoln" \yhen it came to, London, and played the title-part'during some of the run. He adapted Mussolmi's .play, "The Hun- ■ dred Days,'"into'Eriglish.. He has directed the -^t: least one film. And when• the-committee: that organised Miss-.Tempests -.rriatinee looked round-for the best man.:'to write a Masque for her, John Drinkwater was its immediate.and-uhanimous choice. He- v leaveS behind'him';: a, widow—his second 'wife, famous ori/.her. own account as Daisy Kennedy,-.the violinist —arid-a small daughter.-. ,;■■; :