Elmer Rice

Elmer Rice was a prolific American playwright. A playwright is a person who writes plays for the theater. Rice was a significant figure in 20th-century drama. He was known for both realistic stories and experimental works. His writing often explored social, political, and psychological themes. He achieved great success on Broadway and in Hollywood.

Rice's early life in New York City shaped his perspective. He was born Elmer Leopold Reizenstein in 1892. He grew up in crowded tenement apartments. His grandfather was a political activist from Germany. This man shared liberal and pacifist politics with Rice. These values influenced Rice's later writing and activism. Rice also developed a strong sense of atheism. He refused to attend Hebrew school or have a bar mitzvah.

Life required Rice to be very hardworking. He did not complete high school initially. He took menial jobs to support his family. His father suffered from epilepsy, which created financial pressure. Rice eventually studied for state examinations on his own. He graduated from New York Law School in 1912. He practiced law for two years before becoming a full-time writer. This legal background provided material for his courtroom dramas.

His career began with a massive financial success. In 1914, he co-authored a mystery play called On Trial. He wrote this with a friend named Frank Harris. The play used a technique called reverse-chronology. This means the story is told from the end to the beginning. It was a global hit and traveled to many countries. These included Japan, France, Germany, and South Africa. Rice earned $100,000 from this single work.

Rice later became famous for experimental and realistic plays. In 1923, he wrote The Adding Machine in only 17 days. This play is an example of expressionism. Expressionism is a style that shows inner feelings rather than reality. The play satirizes how machines affect human life. It follows a bookkeeper named Mr. Zero. His story involves a bizarre afterlife and a cycle of recycling.

His most lasting achievement was the play Street Scene. It was written in 1929 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play provides a realistic look at life in city slums. It uses a massive setting based on a brownstone house. The script features fifty different characters. Rice had to direct the play himself after others found it difficult. This work helped cement his reputation as a master of drama.

Rice was also a leader in the theater community. In 1938, he helped found the Playwrights' Company. He worked alongside writers like Maxwell Anderson and Sidney Howard.

He also served as president of the Dramatists Guild of America in 1939. Rice was a fierce defender of free speech. He resigned from the Federal Theatre Project to protest government censorship. He remained an outspoken critic of political movements like McCarthyism.

Throughout his life, Rice balanced art and survival. He wrote screenplays in Hollywood to earn a living. He often felt tension between commercial success and artistic vision. While he earned much money, he preferred experimental innovation. He remained a politically active and socially conscious writer until his death in 1967.