Footlighters open with lesson in history and human nature

Sunday September 19, 1999

By PENNY E. SCHWARTZ

With its deceptively bland title, you'd expect "Camping With Henry and Tom" to be some sort of light-hearted frolic in the woods. Instead, the new Footlighters production gives us insights into two of the century's most charismatic individuals and a philosophical commentary on the frailties of human nature and the pitfalls of life in the public eye.

The Henry and Tom in question are Henry Ford and Tom Edison, two of the movers and shakers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As the play opens, they have been stranded in the woods with President Warren G. Harding due to the unfortunate collision of their car with a deer on the road. The three were attending a presidential retreat in Maryland and had disappeared for an unauthorized getaway.

During their enforced time together waiting for rescue, the nature of the three men is revealed. We discover that Harding was a personable yet wishy-washy character who wasn't too bright and didn't really want to be president. He had been pushed reluctantly in that direction by his wife and campaign manager.

Henry Ford was a visionary, full of ambition and ideals for a strong America, but a racist, a power-monger and a man who would stop at nothing to achieve his ambitions, chief of which at this particular point in time was to be president of the United States.

Edison was a curmudgeonly sort, an old man with no close friends who took a philosophical and rather cynical view of human nature. "The world isn't any better because of all my inventions," he announces as he assesses the state of the world in 1921.

These portrayals of historical figures, of course, are based on the views of playwright Mark St. Germain. There are not many plays I see that send me running home to the encyclopedia (yes, the old-fashioned kind with numbered volumes and real paper pages!). Everything that I could find on these three individuals corroborated what was presented in the play, even down to some of the quotable quotes, except, of course, this fictitious rendezvous in the woods.

So I must assume that St. Germain carefully researched his characterizations, and they are a revelation. After seeing the play, I felt as I used to in high school when I had read the biography of someone famous and then experienced a personal connection to that figure.

Much of the commentary in the play remains remarkably pertinent in today's America, proving once again that nothing changes. According to the dialogue, President Harding was involved with a woman young enough to be his daughter. Ford threatened to expose him unless Harding allowed him to buy a government-owned hydroelectric power plant for much less than its fair price. Political machinations, moral turpitude and appeals to the lowest common denominator of humanity were the modus operandi then as now. "It's terrible what we pretend is civilization," Edison comments.

The play also speaks to our idea of heroes. We place them on pedestals but not many could stand up to intense scrutiny. These three certainly can't.

As for the nature of our country's president, we see the weaknesses of Harding: his procrastination, his lack of ambition, his psychological instability. Yet we also see his compassion. He is the only one of the three men who seems to truly enjoy the company of others and care about them. Indeed, he is the only one who is concerned with the welfare of the deer they have stuck with their car. It has been wounded, and various attempts are made throughout the play to put it out of its misery. Its predicament possibly parallels Harding's as he tries to find a means to resign from office.

Of Harding, the cynical yet ever practical Edison says, "That's democracy. You don't get the best or the worst, but someone in the middle."

Portrayals of the three historical figures in the opening play of the Footlighters' season are effective. First-time Footlighters director Tom Shelton takes one of the lead roles, giving us a fiery and ambitious Henry Ford who can speak in glowing terms of a prosperous America while threatening to destroy anyone who stands in his way.

Verne White as Edison offers thoughtful insights as well as comic relief with his biting cynicisms. Some of his delivery skirts the edge of forgetfulness but he always seems to manage to pull those lines out from somewhere. Perhaps this was due to opening night jitters.

As Harding, Stuart Fletcher offers a sympathetic and likable character, one who feels he can be honest and say what he truly feels in the privacy of the woods and away from the glare of the media, which even in those days blew human failings sky-high.

"Camping With Henry and Tom" offers a thoughtful and provocative look at our country, its leaders and its heroes. It deserves an audience to view and support this kind of theater.

The play continues at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays through Oct. 2 and at 2 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 3. Tickets at $10 are available by calling the box office at 793-2909 from 4:30 to 7:30 Wednesdays through Saturdays. The theater is located at 1810 Barton Road, next to the Asistencia.