Word: rubashov
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...Elmer Davis, that eminent piece of journalistic litmus paper, that ex-Communists are bores. But Koestler is no bore. He transformed history into literature of such reality that it, in turn, became history. His masterpiece, Darkness at Noon, was based on the Moscow trials and told how 01d Bolshevik "Rubashov" confessed falsely to a plot against the party, because confession was "the last service" he could render the party. While Koestler was writing that novel, Walter Krivitsky, ex-head of Soviet Military Intelligence for Western Europe, was writing a factual account of how a false confession had been extracted from...
Actor Gerhard Just, billed for the leading role of the purged Bolshevik Rubashov, grumbled uncomfortably that the play was "unsuitable." The whole cast refused to appear for rehearsals. Company Manager Hans Schueler thought he knew the trouble: his performers were not necessarily Communists-they were simply taking out Rückversicherung, which literally means "back insurance." This is the German word for forehanded protection against occupation by the Russians, if it should come. There are many varieties of Rückversicherung: wealthy Hamburg businessmen who keep yachts fueled and supplied for quick getaways; non-Communist Germans who carry Communist Party...
Still the actors took no chances: on opening night last week, they went out of the way to give unconvincing performances. Just's Rubashov, snapped a critic, was "a melancholy Don Quixote of the Revolution," and the rest of the actors were only "bearers of cues." Detmold's Red newspaper, Volks-Echo, lambasted the cast and said with a snarl: "Its resistance broke down easily before the propaganda offerings of the Fascist warmongers." Even in taking out Red insurance policies, the actors found themselves refused. The reason given by the insurance company: weak hearts...
...Comrade Rubashov in Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon...
...Chicago, Actor Edward G. Robinson borrowed a diathermy machine to warm up his aching bones; playing the part of Rubashov in Darkness at Noon on a drafty stage had aggravated a case of bursitis in his right shoulder...