Small Favor

By T.E. Kalem

AN EVENING WITH RICHARD NIXON AND ... by GORE VIDAL

In this non-play, Gore Vidal rather hysterically strafes some of his pet skunks. In order of defamation, their names are Richard Nixon, John Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson and William F. Buckley Jr. Nixon is submitted to a kind of kangaroo court-martial, but Vidal is not interested in a dialogue of viewpoints. Instead, he offers a nonstop diatribe, vitriolic and at times caustically amusing. Nixon is so one-sided that it has the curious effect of creating a certain sympathy for its leading character.

The words are the President's own, but to parody Nixon's prose is to try to beat a master at his own trade. George S. Irving does a superb imitation in the role. Vidal vows that he will now abandon playwrighting. Thanks for small favors. .T.E. Kalem

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