Intimate Enemies (Tom Taggart)
If anyone ever reads these Tom Taggart will become a familiar name. I believe I’ve thought of him more than anyone else in the last thirty years, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I have the greatest collection of Tom Taggart paraphernalia outside of the Sam French archives in Massachusetts.
Did I buy a 1946 copy of his autograph off eBay? Yes, I did. Why was an old check receipt from a long forgotten playwright on eBay? I don’t know.
The man isn’t very good, he’s not some lost genius or someone who was ahead of his time, and I struggle to put into words why I’m so obsessed with learning about him, but I am, so there.
Intimate Enemies is less farcical than most of his work, though still comedic. And it’s character based comedy so it’s the sort of thing that tends to age well.
As I read it I kept being put in mind of Mary Poppins, which is interesting because both were published at about the same time: There is a banker who is the patriarch of his family and rules austerely with an iron will, taking his wife and two children for granted. One fateful day a woman comes into his life that he cannot dislodge and she inspires his family to be their best selves, and eventually starts to thaw him out.
The big differences are that the children are grown, Ainsworthy Alcott is verbally abusive instead of merely being aloof, and it takes blackmail and the threat of jail time to get him to get off his high horse.
We meet the Alcotts, a timid family ruled imperiously by patriarch Ainsworthy who fires people flippantly, won’t let his nineteen year old daughter go to a dance, and reads Charles Dickens aloud to the family every Wednesday. Every Wednesday.
Each member of the family has their own problems: Lucinda is whipped, daughter Rhoda wants to date a boy her father disapproves of, and son Ronnie’s (Ronald, as his father insists he be called,) is sweet on a girl his father just fired. Although they all think their aunt Christina dead, she appears one night, captures the heart of the children, and starts to set things right.
It’s a strong comedy of lively characters, difficult situations, and clever feints. It’s not quite as fast or zany as screwball comedy (which would have been in vogue then,) but it’s as quick as anything today and I think would entertain audiences (theater audiences anyway.)
Like a lot of Taggart work this show has great and complicated roles for women and terrible act breaks. I would never suggest copyright infringement (perish the thought,) but I don’t know if the copyright on this was renewed so it’s entirely possible that you could just perform this show willynilly if you were able to get ahold of the script.
A surprise delight!
