The Birth of Fake News

Campaigns, Inc. – Time Line Theatre

To most of us, the irritating practice of dredging up muck from a politician’s past and creating false soundbites, televised impressions and untrue news stories is a recent trend in TV reporting. But the birth of fake news goes back to 1934. While the art of employing deceit and devious campaign strategies wasn’t new, the two-person team of journalist and carnival promoter Leone Baxter and political supporter and newspaper man Clem Whitaker invented a whole new occupation: the first political consulting firm. Together they became an unstoppable force who called themselves, Campaigns, Inc.

TimeLine company member Will Allan has written a highly entertaining, fast-paced comedy, based upon the actual 1934 California gubernatorial race between the boorish, offensive incumbent Republican, Frank Merriam and famed author and popular, progressive Democratic candidate, Upton Sinclair. Rather than promoting Merriam’s strengths and qualities, Baxter and Whitaker focused on smearing Sinclair by inventing some dirt on the famous writer. Among their tactics, they used quotations from Sinclair’s novels and publicized them on billboards and fliers as his political views. They enlisted the head of MGM Studios, Louis B. Mayer, to create fake newsreels for movie theaters that would degrade Upton Sinclair. While experiencing Allan’s one-act comedy, it’s hard to believe that all this happened long before the popularity of Fox News and social media.

One cannot imagine a more perfectly-cast production. Spunky, eloquent Tyler Meredith is terrific as Leone Baxter, and stage and TV actor (Otis on “Chicago Fire”), Yuriy Sardarov, with all the drive and dynamics of a typical film noir newsman, is perfect in the role of Clem Whitaker. Acclaimed Chicago character actor Terry Hamilton is a bull in a china shop as Frank Merriam, while Mark Ulrich is superb as his brown-nosing Lieutenant Governor candidate, George Hatfield. And a Chicago favorite from productions like “Oslo” and “In the Next Room,” Anish Jethmalani is mesmerizing and full of class as Upton Sinclair.

The supporting players are equally talented and captivating. They include talented actor, Dave Honigman, as Charlie Chaplin; he portrays Sinclair’s friend with ties to the film industry. And two absolutely magnificent performances are turned in by Jacqueline Grandt (as a reporter, Mary Pickford, Eleanor Roosevelt and a gutsy waitress) and David Parkes (portraying a photographer, Douglas Fairbanks, Klye Palmer, President Roosevelt and Louis B. Mayer). They change roles, sometimes in the matter of minutes, thanks, in part, to the backstage help of Mia Thomas and Elle Erickson on the wardrobe run crew.

Talented director Nick Bowling has staged and guided his production with the breakneck pacing of a screwball comedy and an emphasis on the snappy dialogue of those popular b&w classic films of the 1930’s. He even plays promos from period movies, like “It Happened One Night” and “Stand Up and Cheer,” before the actual play begins. They help put the audience in the perfect mood for the story to come. Sydney Lynne’s scenic design is functional and fluid, allowing for all kinds of fast changes. The whole picture is enhanced by Anthony Churchill’s well-researched projections, Jared Gooding’s spot-on lighting and some excellent sound design by Forrest Gregor and Andrew Hansen. Sally Dolembo has fashioned an array of beautiful, well-tailored, period-perfect costumes that are expertly enhanced by the wig and hair designs by Katie Cordts and Megan E. Pirtle.

This welcome return to TimeLine’s intimate Wellington & Broadway venue offers an authentic, humorous look at how everything old is new again. Most of us believed that the term “fake news” was a contemporary, derogatory label, created by a  former President who was trying to sway his followers into not believing the trusted news sources. He wanted his people to only hear and believe the lies that he and his cronies were preaching. However, from Will Allan’s clever and compelling original comedy, now enjoying its world premiere in Chicago, we learn that this practice of creating a lie factory in order to sway the voting pubic, has been around for over eighty years. And sadly, it seems there’s no sign of these fictitious, fabricated fact-finders ever going away, from now on. The moral of this play is “Buyer Beware!”    

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented August 3-September 18 by TimeLine Theatre, 

615 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the theatre box office, by calling 773-281-8463 x6, or by going to www.timelinetheatre.com.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.