Arts and Manners

“The Egghead” —and His Wife

In The Egghead, written by Molly (wife of Elia) Kazan, at last it has been said on the stage: the egghead .is a fathead. Said poorly and inconclusively, but said. The egghead— here a small-college professor played by Karl Malden—mouths all the clichés about witch-hunting, freedom to dissent, and the protection of minority groups. But he is a tedious man growing older and balder, revealing the egg in all its Stevensonian fragileness. He terrorizes his unintellectual wife, cannot stand disagreement, insults the FBI man and the ex-Communist patriot who come into his orbit, and feels the younger generation is “fear-ridden” because they know he is ranting in his sleep.

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Garry Wills

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“The Egghead” —and His Wife

In The Egghead, written by Molly (wife of Elia) Kazan, at last it has been said on the stage: the egghead .is a fathead. Said poorly and inconclusively, but said. The egghead— here a small-college professor played by Karl Malden—mouths all the clichés about witch-hunting, freedom to dissent, and the protection of minority groups. But he is a tedious man growing older and balder, revealing the egg in all its Stevensonian fragileness. He terrorizes his unintellectual wife, cannot stand disagreement, insults the FBI man and the ex-Communist patriot who come into his orbit, and feels the younger generation is “fear-ridden” because they know he is ranting in his sleep.