Still, “Good night, good luck” – the title is taken from Mallow's sign-off – Mallow misses as a model of effective restraint, and easily passes the needle of the argument that continues today. The Air Force lawsuit against the reserve sounds like it's heading upwards, but Marrow simply says, “We don't know.” (The man was resurrected a month after the episode.) The main broadside to McCarthy, airing on March 9, 1954, consists of speeches and the senator's own words from the transcripts of the Congressional hearings and transcriptions. Still, “See it Now” gives him an entire episode, during which he mistakenly claims that Murrow has been involved in Soviet pay for decades. Murrow's follow-up a week later is a classic, merely one-act takedown.
Of course, as we know, McCarthy has got what he deserves. He was condemned by the Senate that December, becoming pariah, and inaugurated and died. Murrow also got what he deserves: the secular saint.
But I mentioned the martyr, and there is one in the play: Don Hollenbeck, a CBS colleague mercilessly covered by McCarthy Surrogates. Whether his fate was tied to that hound – well, to quote Marrow, we don't know. However, the play argues in the theatrical way by giving great emotion to the great actor (Clark Greg).
I wish “Good night and good luck” was more subjective than ever. Instead, influenced by Murrow's example, keeping things almost cool and concrete. (McCarthy is not an actor, he is played on tape himself, leaving no room for editing.) Perhaps this was wise. When the show suddenly gets hot in a montage of TV news since the 1950s, it feels overheated. Preachers who preach to those who have been converted do so normally.
But preaching to converts is a good role in theater. It was demoralized with the example of a winning hero. Clooney's refusal to the grandstand as an actor allows his muro to maintain his halo. These things were possible, the play seems to say. They can do it again. Even with only three networks and a huge national audience, Mallow Day's TV news was far more influential than ours. “Goodnight and Good Luck” is a powerful and useful reminder that demigods, or names we don't know, still need many people who can defeat the devil.
Good night and good luck
At Manhattan's Winter Garden until June 8th. Goodnightgoodluckbroadway.com. Running time: 1 hour and 30 minutes.
