European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 20, 1959, Darmstadt, Hesse                                T h it Tawf of " tars and stripes Ferturo Section Rubashev talks to pfc Lawrence e. Ebert seated who plays the role of brainwashed prisoner 302. Dan Mccafferty a re tired master sergeant plays prisoner 402. Addison Myers As Rubashev Ann Macatee As the girl he sacrifices to the reds. Rubashev is interrogated by pfc Jerry Emery As airman Basic Gordon Poulos rear stands guard. . Servicemen act in powerful anti red play t presented at America House in the divided City darkness at noon a hit in Berlin by Ernie Weatherall staff writer six american servicemen station Din Berlin swapped their army Greensand air Force blues for the Earth Brown uniforms of the soviet army after duty  men Are pfc Lawrence Ebert pfc Ramond Burgin pfc George Hunker pfc John f. Murray and pfc Jerry Emery of the Berlin command and airman Basic Gordon Poulos of Tempelhof air base. It was All perfectly Legal. They were appearing in darkness at noon on the stage of the local America House. For the past two years the director of the , information Center Jay , has wanted to present this Power Ful anti communist play. Getting the right actors and technical help was a problem. Radio in the american sector Rias and an came to the res Cue tapes were Cut at the radio studios for Flashback scenes in the play. An also loaned Ann Macatee wife of station commander capt William f. Macatee for the Only female role in dark Ness at noon then the Berlin command gave Permis monday july 20, 1959 Sion for the servicemen to take part in the production. The rest of the cast was makeup of English speaking germans of the America House drama workshop. To direct and stage darkness at noon Gildner obtained the services of Walter Wicclair a former Berlin actor who fled during the nazi Era and later became an american citizen. Arthur Koestler who wrote the powerful novel about soviet communism on which the play is based was a correspondent fora Berlin newspaper during the soviet purges of 1937-38. He reported the Moscow trails of the old guard bolshevik leaders who were accused of a conspiracy to overthrow the government and remove Stalin and other leaders of the politburo. Koestler was a communist at the  witnessing the soviet purge which some estimates say claimed 7 to 8 million persons As its victims he went to Paris where he severed his ties with the  1938, Koestler wrote darkness at noon which soon became a Best Selling novel. Sidney Kingsley wrote the play based on Koestler s novel in 1951. Two years ago Koestler became a american citizen by a special act of con Gress. Usually the local press pays Little at Tention to Amateur productions but when darkness at noon 1 opened drama critic from All the West Berlin newspapers were present. The plot which Koestler admits was based on the events he covered in Moscow and on communist leaders he once knew is about a former people s commissar charged with an attempt to murder the Leader Stalin of course. The tormented commissar Rubashev played by Addison Myers a former Soldier now studying drama at Berlin s free University finds himself in a prison cell a victim of the  is first interrogated by Ivanoff an old Comrade of the revolution who urges him to confess in a Public trial to save  Ivanoff also becomes a victim of the soviet machine liquidating the old  s interrogation is turned Over to the stars and stripes Gelkin a brutal Young communist of the new soviet order who has no sentimental ties with the old revolutionists. Through Pletkin s continuous interrogation which stretches Over Many Days and nights Rubashev is finally forced to self accusation As a last service for the  Between his interrogations there Are flashbacks in Rubashev s career. They re veal his Complete dedication to the part for which he betrayed his friends and the girl he loved played by Ann Macatee. Darkness at noon which was never produced in Germany before received so much Praise from West Berlin newspaper that seven More performances were Given to standing room Only. It is a pity wrote one critic that this play was not presented in German so that every Berliner could see How Justice operates in the soviet zone Chat  Gildner said the russian uniforms will be taken out of Mothballs again this fall when America House will present a play based on the brutal soviet suppression of the hungarian revolt in 1956. Log 11