Elmer Rice: The Adding Machine (1923) CeR29 When compared with the beginnings of most american play- vwrights, Elmer Rice's stare in che theater seems ridiculously simple. When he was twenty, he graduated from law school, but instead of opening a law practice, he calmly told his family that he intended co be a playwright. He knew nothing of the usual means by which someone got the attention of the stage. It is said that he simply wrore a play, put it in an envelope, and sen¢ it to a producer, who remarkably enough. accepted it im- mediately. The play'On Trial (1914) reflects Rice's experience with the law. One of the reasons for its success was its depen- dence upon some of the technical innovations of ehe films, an industry that had thoroughly captured che modern imagination by that time Elmer Rice was born Elmer “eizenstein in New York in 1892, changing his name to something much simpler and ‘more memorable. Most of his early years in theater were spent fon amateur productions of intense seriousness. So in a sense, Rice’s apprenticeship in the theater came after his commercial success rather than before it. In these years, in New York City, Rice developed a considerable social conscience. Perhaps because of this background, or possibly just because of his residing in a ‘huge metropolis, where he could observe people in many condi- tions, he found himself committed to an examination of the human condition in America. Some of his convictions were ex- pressed rather directly in his dramas. The Adding Machine was produced by the Theatre Guild in 1922. Ie was advanced for its time, and yee it was successful Even now it seems contemporary. It is organized into scenes rather than acts, and there is little effore at keeping the play realistic in style. Ie is usually described as an expressionistic play, which is a way of suggesting that its style includes ele- ments of the fantastic and sucreal. The American cheater was rnot burgeoning with such plays, bue there were several exam-194 / ELMER RICE ples in English literature of sucrealism and “expressionistic”™ techniques For our time, Rice's themes seem extraordinarily proper, Mr. Zero is putting in his time on a job that has reduced him to being an adding machine for the last twenty-five years. Even the litle dignity chat is let him is seripped away when he finds that in the interests of efficiency and business, be is being re- placed by a machine chat ncver tires, is never late, and never makes « mistake. The ordinarily passive Me, Zero strikes back, but t0 no avail. Te may not be chat Rice was simply looking ahead, since there are a number of other interesting themes in the play that attract him equally. He does nor examine the question of whether it is better to keep people employed at meaningless tasks machines could do better or to simply replace them entire- ly. That seems a more modern theme. Rice's answer—or Mr. Zero's answer—is to demand one’s dignity as a worker. Twen- ty-five years of service mean something to him, as he reveals late in the play when he translates that time into months, weeks, and days. But the question of employment is only one theme in the play. The further questions of social relations, marriage and sex- uality, and even evolution and reincarnation enter into the dra- ma. One of the most remarkable moments in the play is in Scene 2, when Daisy and Mr. Zero are tabulating columns of figures. Their principal communication concerns the tabulation of dollars and cents, but beneath that they give utterance to a “subtext” in which their anxieties and deeper feelings are ex- pressed. Neither is aware that che other is speaking deep feel- ings: they speak at cross purposes, Mr. Zero thinks about woman, Judy, whose exhibitionism gor her arrested, and he believes that “Women are all alike." Daisy, meanwhile, won- ders why he won't notice her, and chinks, “I wish I was dead.” The satiric portrait of a social gathering at the Zeros is bril- Hiantly revealed in Scene 3. The couples separace upon atriving and begin talcing among themselves, men in one circle, women in another. The weather is the first topic of the conversation Then the women talk disparagingly about the men, while the ‘men talk disparagingly about the women. The talk then turns t© women's suffrage, the gloomy economic outlook, and for~ eigners and minority groups. Ironically, the copics of conversa- sion for many Americans have hardly aleered in sixty years. The play ends with the prospect of Mr. Zero's reincarnation and beginning again as a baby. He is told that his progress through the eons of time is downward, chat his next incarnation will be worse than his last. He is hardly brightened by the prospect,Selred Readings ‘THE ADDING MACHINE / 195 Durham, Frank. Elmer Rife. New York: Twayne, 1970, Hogan, Robert. Th Independence of Elmer Rice. Carbondale: Southeen Ilinois Uaiversiey Press, 1965, Rice, Elmer, The Living Thaatre. New York: Harper, 1959. ‘Seen Plays. New York: Viking; 1959. The Adding Machine A PLAY IN EIGHT SCENES Elmer Rice CHARACTERS da two juoy oGRADY ss. rout oe SCENE 1 (A small dedrom containing an “intallnent lan’ Bed, draser, and aire. An aly letrcight {fore over the bd witha single glaring, mab lamp. ‘One small window withthe thade drawn The walle, sare papred with shats of foc conrad with coun of fare. MR 7530 i Ing om the bd. facing the ano ‘ex deed a shales ithe, He tv, sll sendrsized. and partially bald. ww. 200 it standing ‘los the dase aranvng Bo ifr th nigh, She 1s forty iw sare fevered. grey srs in er hair ‘She i tape in er lon-theed cata wihtgen She is wearing er ther, oer which tag. ar angar- lend echngr) ns. 250 (asthe teks dv er hair Um get> tin’ sick of them. Westers. Al them cowbovs ‘ies round an foin’ with them ropes. don ‘ate aochun’ sou coat. 4m sick of em. Uk196 7 ELMER RICE sce why they dun’ have more of them stories ike For Lavy St Sake. Ulike them sweet lite love tories. They'e nice an® wholesome. Mes. Twelve was sayin’ to me only yesteday. Mis. Zero, says she. "whae I like is one of them wholesome stories. with juse a swcet, simple love sory ‘You've right, Mes. Twelve,” I asys. “Thar what 1 like too." Theyre showin’ too. many Westerns at che Rosebud. I'm gertin’ sik of them. (chink well sare goin’ tothe Be Stuysesant, They gor 4 good bill dhere Weds sy sight. There's a Chubby Delano comedy ea led Seach. Mrs. Twelve was cellin: me about fe. She says i’ a scam, ‘They'e havi’ a penie fin the countey and they sit Chubby next tan ‘old maid with a geear big mouth, So he gets sore fan’ when she ain't lookin” he goes and catches fog and drops i in her clam chowder, An’ when she gor ro ext the chowder the fog jumps out of fe an’ righe into her mouth. Talk about laugh! Mes. Twelve was tellin’ me she laughed 50 she nearly pased out, He sure can pull some fanny fones. An’ they goc that big Grace Daring fox. ture, A Mother Tear. She's sweet, Buc { don't like her clothes. There's no syle co chem. Mrs Nine was ella’ me she read in Perera that She sit livin’ wich her husband. Hes ‘her second coo. I doa't know whether theyre di vorced or just sepacated, You wouldn't think it to see her on the screen. She lonke so sweet and innocent. Maybe it aia’ tue, au can believe sv you rend, They sy some Pietsburgh nil: lionaire is crazy abou her and that’s why she sin’ livin’ with her husband. Mey, Seven was tellin’ me her brother-in-law fas 2 fiend that used to go co school with Grace Darling. He says he name ain Grice Dasling ae all. Hot right tame is Elizbech Dugan, ne sys, an aut them ‘Horiersbout her gettin’ five chowsand a weck is the bunk, he says. She's sweet though, Mes, EEighe was elln’ me ehat A Mathers Teas isthe bese picture she ever made, “Dos miss i, Mes. Zero." she says. "I's sweet,” she sys. "Just sweet and wholesome, Cty!” she says“ poly ried my eyes out." There’ one past in ic where this big bum of an Englishman-—he's» mactied ‘an so0—an' she's thie Hietle simpie_countey {inl An’ she nearly falls for him coo. But she's sittin’ oue inthe garden, one day, and she looks vp and here's her mother lookin’ at her right fut of the clouds. So that sight she locks the oor of her room. An’ sure enough, when every. body's in bed, slong comes this big bum of 20 Englishman an’ when she won't let him in what oes he do but go an" kick open the dove. "Don't miss it, Mrs. Zero,” Mes, Eight wis tellin’ me Tes ae che Peer Stayvesane Wednesday night. 50 don’ be relia’ me you wane £0 go to che Rose- bbud. The Eihes seen ic downeown ae che Send “They go downeuwn all ehevime. Just like ws— Stati a aa oe ee cups sl tact awe hina che do ‘will be cur out. Just like they cut oue chat big cabaree scene i8-TBe Pre f Vira pllin” some rough stull ia FRE piceures nowae days. “Ie’s ro place TorF young girl” I was ecl- Tin’ Mes, Eleven, only the other day. Aa’ by che time chey gee uptown half of i i cut out. Bot your WUUIEATE go dowatown—noF Tr wild horses ‘was t0 drag you. You can wait till they come ‘uptown! Well, I don’ want to wai, see? want fo see ‘em when everybody else i sein “em at not a month later. Now don't go relia’ me you ain't gor the price. You could dig up the price all igh, all eighe, if ou wanted to. T notice you slays got the price co goto the ball game. Put ‘when it comes to me havin’ a good time. chen is always: "laine got the price, I gotes star savin’." A fat lot you'll ever save! 1 gor all ean do now makia’ both ende meet, aa you cain about savin’. (She wats basal a a chain ed begins romeving ber ies and stacking.) An’ don’ go pul lin’ ehat stuff about bein’ ened. “been workie hard all day. Twice a day in che subway’ enough for me.” Tired! Where do you get that tired scuff, anyhow? What about me? Where do 1 come in? Scrubbin’ floors an" cookin’ yout meus n° washin” your dicey clothes, An’ you 8 chaicall dav. just addin’ fggers an Avecthiry. Theses 90 nve-chity tor me. don't ‘nie for-no—wmisle. 1 cont get oo vacations neither. And whats moee Idon'e gee no pay en velope every Saturday night neither, Pt lke to know where you'd be without me, An’ whae have T gor co show for it?—slavin’ my life away to sive you s home, Whar’ ini for me, 4 ike to know? Buc it’s my own fault, 1 guess 1 was fol for martyin® you. If da had any sense, Ta "known what you were fom the start, I wish had ic co do over agua, I hope to ell you, You was goin’ ro do wonders, you was! You wasn't goin’ co be a bookkeeper long—oh, 90, aot you, Waie cil you gor sarted—you was. goin’ to show ‘em. There wasn’ no jb in the store that ‘was coo big for you. Wel, Tve been wacia’— ‘waitin’ for you to gee sarted ace? es been good long wait too. Twenty-five years! An 1 ain't seen nothin’ happen. Twenty-five years in fhe same job. Tweney-ive years tomorrow! You're proud of ie, sit you? Teeneseive years