In 1942 a precocious young twelve-year old by the name of Stanley Kubrick was given the job of directing the Christmas nativity play at St Jerome School in New York. Stanley kept a journal, hand-written in crayon, from the age of eight. This is the first time that permission has been given to reproduce extracts from them.
5th November 1942
Miss Pritchard has asked me to direct the nativity play this year. I asked her what the budget was likely to be. She said that there was no budget but that I would have full access to the dressing-up box and the cardboard manger from last year. It means that I will have to scale down my ideas somewhat. The flashback scene to the parting of the Red Sea will have to go as will the recreation of the Great Flood incorporating a full size Ark. However I eventually agree to take on the project.
9th December 1942
Have completed the script for the play, “Stanley Kubrick’s Birth of Christ”. I intend to stage a modern dress version with Herod dressed as Adolf Hitler and his soldiers as SS officers. I am having a meeting with Miss Pritchard to discuss my ideas later this afternoon.
10th December 1942
Miss Pritchard has branded my ideas “too controversial”. She was particularly critical of my intention for Mary to deliver Jesus by Caesarean Section. She has insisted that I work from the script for last year’s play. I refuse until she threatens to send me to the headmaster’s office. I grudgingly accept her terms.
18th December 1942
First rehearsal. I have made the cast hike around Central Park wearing their costumes to get a feeling of what Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem must have been like. After three hours, Patty-Sue started crying and said she wanted her mother. I reluctantly send the cast home. Tony asked if we could have Bethlehem burn to the ground during the final act. I tell him that Miss Pritchard has expressly forbidden the use of any special effects after my request for three pints of stage blood for the birthing scene.
Continues at https://carnalcine.ma/interviews/stanley-kubricks-nativity-play-diaries-age-12/
Leave a Reply