Heliogabalus: A Buffoonery in Three Acts

Written on a lark by Mencken, with only a little assistance from his friend and Smart Set co-editor George Jean Nathan, in order 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." 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.