University of Iowa Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations 1961 The Production book of "The Diary of Anne Frank" Allan Kurtz Longacre II State University of Iowa Posted with permission of the author. This thesis is available at Iowa Research Online: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/914 Recommended Citation Longacre, Allan Kurtz II. "The Production book of "The Diary of Anne Frank"." MA (Master of Arts) thesis, State University of Iowa, 1961. https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.z3b6khh3 Follow this and additional works at:https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd Part of theTheatre and Performance Studies Commons THE PRODUCTION BOOK OF THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK by Allan Kurtz Longacre, II A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, in the Department of Speech and Dramatic Arts in the Graduate College of the State University of Iowa February, 1961 Chairman: Associate Professor William R. Reardon DEDICATION To all those who made me and this production possible, this thesis is gratefully dedicated. ii S tate University of Iowa lib r a r ies TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ................................................................................................ ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................ iv Chapter I. ANNE FRANK: THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL . . . ...... 1 8 II. ADAPTATION OF THE BOOK .................................................... 20 III. A DIRECTOR’S ANALYSIS .................................................... 34 IV. TECHNICAL PROBLEMS ............................................................. 50 V. THE PROMPT BOOK ................................................................. 214 VI. AN EVALUATION OF THE PRODUCTION................................... 225 APPENDIX................................................................................................... 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................... iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. The Set....................................... 43 2. The Set-Rearrangement # 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......... 45 3. The Set-Rearrangement # 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4. "What is it? A him or a her?" . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 5. "I tell you, Anne, this will be a fine life for you." . 72 6. "Let me see your tongue."................................... 81 7. "I saw you...in there, playing with that cat." . . . . 84 8. "What you need is a good old-fashioned spanking." . . . 93 9. "I get along very well with children." . . . . . . . . 118 10. "Go to her, Otto." .......................................................................... 123 11. "We’re just a little minute in life." . . . . . . . . . 210 12. "She puts me to shame." ............................................ 213 iv CHAPTER I ANNE FRANK: THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL As the Nazis gained power in Europe, many Jewish families were forced to leave the country. Those who did not flee were forced into hiding. Those who did not hide were forced into concentration camps and exterminated as soon as possible. In the history of the world this is one of the most horrible examples of man’s inhumanity to man. But out of this ordeal, this attempt at genocide, came one of the most touching and yet most revealing stories to spring from the horrors of war, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Anne Frank "showed the gentile world what it meant to be a Jew without preaching propaganda." 1 To the majority of Germans, who w ill not admit they know what happened to six million Jews, she showed their guilt as individuals by showing what their persecution had done to one innocent g irl. "She aroused pity rather than anger."2 The diary was first published in Holland in 1947, seven years after the end of the Second World War. Doubleday and Company pub­ lished the translation of the diary written by Anne Frank who was killed several months before the end of the war in a German concen­ tration camp near Bergen-Belsen. It tells the story of two Jewish 1Stanley Frank, "I Knew Anne Frank,” McCal1' s, LXXXV (July, 1958), pp. 30-31. 2Ibid., p. 31. 1 2 families who attempted to survive the gas chambers by hiding during the Nazi occupation of Holland. The book was an immediate success and was on the best seller list for several weeks. Unlike the other novels and reports which grew out of the dreadful experiences of participants in World War Two, this book as it was written is not a condemnation of the Germans or the causes of the war; neither is it an account of the experiences of those who suffered the torturous life of the concentration camps. In fact, this book which has made such a moving comment on the war, says very little concerning the war itself. It is devoted primarily to the people and the problems they encountered while living in their secret hiding place. One of the reasons for the success of this book rests on the fact that it is merely an account of incidents, incidents which are poignant enough to te ll their own story. There was no need to elaborate on the entries in the Diary. The result is "one of the most moving stories that anyone, anywhere has managed to te ll about World War II."3 The Diary is written in a stream of consciousness style by an energetic young girl whose only confidante and only outlet for her energy is her silent friend, Kitty, her diary. The entries in the diary are written at letters to Kitty and signed "Yours, Anne." The diary was given to Anne on her thirteenth birthday, 3Time, LIX (June 16, 1952), p. 102. 3 June 12, 1942, On Monday, the sixth of July, the Franks went into hiding. From the scattered entries during the month of June, we see Anne as a normal young g irl. She had many boyfriends, enjoyed games, and complained about hardships; and although she knew about the horrible accounts of the war, she was too young, too eager to live and enjoy living to let them bother her. The Germans had been collecting Jews in Amsterdam for some time before Margot, Anne’s sixteen year old sister, received word that she was to report to the Germans to be sent to a youth camp, a well-known front for a work and eventual death camp. Rather than accept this, the Franks went into hiding in the attic of a warehouse and office building where Otto Frank had worked. To the excited little girl, this was an adventure. This adventure lasted until August 4th, 1944, when the Green Police discovered the people in hiding and took them to concentration camps where all but Mr. Frank perished. The entries in the diary describe fully the hiding place, the secret annex, and the people who lived there. "Anne’s diary probes deep into the core of human relations and succeeds in bringing us an understanding of life under threat."4 But Anne went even further in the study of people in her diary, "She shows how ordinary 4Meyer Levin, "Child Behind the Secret Door," New York Times Book Review Section, (June 15, 1952), p. 1. 4 people within this ordeal, consistently hold to the greater human values ."5 The amazing thing about the book is that this thirteen, fourteen, and later fifteen year old girl exhibited such insight and understanding in her writing. It is "a remarkable study in the psychology of a small group of people forced to live together in almost unbearable proximity."6 Through Anne’s perception and her ability to write clearly and to the point, the people are fully characterized. The Diary is written in such a way that the reader is more concerned with the people than their situation, i .e., the war or the fear of being discovered. Finally, and probably most important, Anne wrote a beautiful description of a young g irl’s youth with honesty and unpretentiousness. Her entries about herself describe her growth from childhood to adolescence with unconscious intelligence and understanding. She "succeeded in communicating in virtually perfect form, the drama of puberty."7 The wonder of it is that Anne did not attempt to pose herself as a martyr. She admitted her faults, "never shirking from revealing the ugly things about herself."3 She made mistakes in her associations with the other 5Ibid. 6Ibid. 7Ibid. 8Ibid. 5 inmates of the Secret Annex, and in the Diary she shows that she was intelligent enough to try and profit from those errors. She said concerning one of her mistakes, "What is done cannot he undone, but one can prevent it happening again."9 The Diary has the effect of a true narrative as it discloses the universal feelings and relationships between members of the family. But Anne's writings were considered "too tenderly intimate to be labeled classic."10 Anne's diary has literary value because "It is the unfolding psychological drama of a g irl's growth, mingled with the physical dangers of the group, that frees Anne's book from the horizontal effect of most diaries. Hers rises continuously, with the tension of a well-constructed n o v e l . A"11nd yet, throughout it "bubbles with amusement, love, discovery."12 Shortly after the appear­ ance of the Diary, the public was amazed at the exceptional talent Anne expressed in her writings. They were, perhaps, more appalled at her fate when they considered this talent which Anne so obviously had. Anne's teacher said that between the time she wrote themes in class and the time she wrote the Diary she had improved a great deal. She was, in fact, surprised that Anne had written this amazing little book. 9Anne Frank: Diary of a Young G irl, trans. B. M. Mooyaart (New York: Pocket Books, Inc., 1953), p. 203. 10Levin, op. c it. 11Ibid. 12Ibid.