MENCKEN, H.L. and George Jean Nathan

Heliogabalus: A Buffoonery in Three Acts

First edition. A touch of wear along the bottom edge restored else fine in a beautiful, fine dustwrapper with a little tanning and wear at the extremities. One of 2000 numbered copies. According to our own research, which seems to have been taken as gospel and can now be found all over the Internet, this was written on a lark by Mencken, with only a little assistance from his friend and Smart Set co-editor Nathan. They wanted to prove to themselves how easy it was to write a successful play. The result bears an uncanny resemblance to Mel Brooks' hit, The Producers. Of it Mencken wrote in 1937: "... the hero should be a man universally disreputable, and ... there should be nothing in the play save time-honored theatrical buncombe. Every sort of novelty in the plot was to be barred, and the so-called psychology was to be as transparent as possible" (quoted in Betty Adler's The Mencken Bibliography). Despite their deliberate artlessness, they received numerous offers to stage the play, turning down a $10,000 bonus and later the entreaties of John Barrymore's agent. A beautiful copy.

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