This weekend I will have the opportunity to approach one of my long intended bucket list resolves. I will be onstage at the Country Gate Playhouse portraying Clarence Darrow…one of my life-long heroes, in the David W. Rintel play of the same name. I may well be quite alone in the experience, as ticket sales have been slow. Understandable, really. Darrow, who died nearly 85 years ago, is not very well known by 21st century standards. Stiil, I’m looking forward to this production with considerable eagerness. I’ve been fortunate in having played some great characters over many years, but this one is special.
I first became aware of Clarence Darrow when I was cast in my high school production of Inherit The Wind. I’m not sure if I realized at the time that the play was based on the real-life Scopes Monkey Trial. But I do recall being affected by the premise of a lawyer advancing a very unpopular point of view to a level of acceptable credibility. Although the debate between faith and science continues all these decades later, the integrity established by the Darrow character and ultimately Darrow himself, remains a beacon in the constitutional legitimacy of separation of church and state.
As I grew older I became more aware and appreciative of Darrow’s accomplishments. He championed the labor movement in America….insisting that workers had a right to a decent life….reasonable hours, acceptable working conditions, and an adequate rate of pay. He fought for the right of free expression and political diversity. He persevered in the notion that a person’s point of view could not be held against him in a court of law. In defending Dr. Ossian Sweet of murder charges, he became an early advocate in the American civil rights movement. As a criminal attorney, he represented 102 men facing the death penalty, none of whom was executed.
Darrow became known for protecting the weak and embattling the strong. He was non-judgmental, non-religious and non-absolute. He even stood-by the thrill-killers, Leopold and Loeb, whereby his only mission was of mercy.
My admiration of Clarence Drrow has continued to grow. As efforts to censure academic freedom seem on the rise, Darrow’s fortitude and courage remain relevant. Sadly, his absence seems to have left a void not likely to be filled anytime soon.
My teenaged granddaughters will be assisting me in this weekend’s production. I’m so happy about that. I’m looking forward to an artistic collaboration with them. But I’m also hopeful that some of Darrow’s ideas and ideals, will reverberate with them into adulthood.
The show is Saturday, May 14 at 8:00 pm. and Sunday, May 15, at 2:00 pm. Clarence Darrow is being presented as a fund-raising effort to assist in the theatre’s Covid-19 recovery. Tickets are available at countrygate.org or at the door.
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