[1] Ordynski persuaded his lover, oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, to finance Jedermann's first English language stage production in Los Angeles.

He transformed the characters' speech into more natural and dramatic blank verse to, he said, "lend an articulation, flexibility and suspense not readily accessible to one who would use the other (and monotonous) form.

Ordynski booked the huge Trinity Auditorium, which seated 2,500 spectators and claimed to feature the largest pipe organ in the western United States.

All were cast locally, except one: To play the title role of Everyman, who appears in almost every scene, Ordynski brought leading man Gareth Hughes from New York.

"[14] Los Angeles Times reviewer Henry Christeen Warnack: "... the beautiful Von Hofmannst[ha]l version[ ]has been translated from the German into blank verse of a joyous stride by California's premier poet, George Sterling.

... Special music had been composed for the production by Victor Schertzinger and the orchestra was conducted by Herr Adolph Tandler, with Prof. Charles H. Demorest serving the occasion as organist.

It ranks with the best that America has produced for several years..."[17] The book printers rushing to meet their opening night deadline misspelled the name "Hofmannsthal" on The Play of Everyman's front cover and title page.

[18] More than 2,000 copies of a second printing of The Play of Everyman—with a cast list and corrected front cover and title page—were delivered in time to sell at a few of the final Burbank shows.

The first opinion printed was in the Los Angeles Evening Express: "George Sterling has done a masterly piece of work in his English adaptation of von Hoffmanstahl's version of this play.

A reading of this new version impresses one with its simplicity, its greatly increased dramatic value, the skill with which the new characters have been introduced, and the general broadening of scope and virility of ideas.

"[21] William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner summarized: "George Sterling's verse is clear and strong, and throughout the play it appears natural and spontaneous.

"[22] The San Francisco Chronicle began: "George Sterling reaches for and firmly grasps dramatic laurels in his metrical version of The Play of Everyman.

Top Hollywood, Broadway, and European talents produced, promoted, staged, and performed the Bowl production, an artistic triumph but a financial loss.

In late June or early July Thalberg asked the Festival Association to donate a big portion of any profits to benefit Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany.

[31] Nine nights after Pickford's reception, Doc Giannini announced he had placed Einar Nilson in charge of Everyman's "artistic direction, musical score creation, and casting."

Noted film producer and patron of the arts, Chaplin has given to Everyman's [director], Johannes Poulsen, free range of his studio including stage, mill, wardrobe, telephone switchboard, and several offices.

[39] On Wednesday evening, September 2, Irving Thalberg and his wife, Academy Award-winning actress Norma Shearer, hosted a reception and banquet at the Biltmore Hotel in honor of Johannes Poulsen.

The caliber and quantity of show business celebrities in attendance gave testimony to Thalberg's power in the entertainment world: movie stars, producers, directors, screenwriters, studio heads.

Toastmaster Rupert Hughes, a top writer of the day, joined Eddie Cantor to crack jokes, then became serious and said: "Of all the plays I have ever seen in my life, not one held the audience so enthralled as Everyman.

"[41] "While a crew of workmen continued construction of the gigantic stage in twenty-four-hour shifts ... Johannes Poulsen moved his cast of about 500 from temporary headquarters at Chaplin studio to the Bowl for the first informal rehearsal today.

Completion of the stage, specially enlarged to cover the orchestra pit and first row of boxes to accommodate the supporting choruses, ballets and ensembles, is expected by Monday."

That, together with the mounting demand for reservations promising audience totaling over 100,000, led officials of the California Festival Association to extend the play's engagement for another evening.

"It failed to click financially," wrote Everyman's publicity manager Henry Hammond "Hamm" Beall, "and the variance between receipts and contracted expenses was sizable.

This brilliant Nordic artist, whose illustrations of the Hans Andersen fairy books have made him world famous, has created magnificent costumes in rich settings, lavish, theatric, vivid, yet simple withal in conception and detail.

In the Los Angeles Times, James Warnack wrote: "Portraying the clashing emotions of the soul as perhaps does no other play, Everyman ... thrills the spectator [of] ... this brilliant production with its wondrous scenic and lighting effects, its gorgeous costumes and, above all, its clarion call of hope and trust to a cynical generation.

"[59] Elizabeth Yeaman in the Hollywood Citizen-News: "The symbolical tableau is offered with extraordinary beauty of setting, lighting and costuming, and in its directorial treatment it has been brought to the audiences with extreme simplicity and sincerity.

"[62] Prologue – Moroni Olsen/Pedro de Cordoba Lord God – unknown; possibly Harry Stafford Death – Fritz Leiber Faith – Peggy Wood Good Deeds – Charlotte Evans Devil – Vince Barnett Mammon – Lionel Braham Everyman – George Houston (originally Ian Keith) Everyman's Mother – Mrs. Leslie Carter Steward – Harry Hollingsworth Cook – Scotty Mattraw Friend – John Davidson Poor Neighbor – Nigel De Brulier Debtor – Lionel Braham Debtor's Wife – Hedwiga Reicher Paramour – Leone Sousa (Mrs. George Houston) Thin Cousin [also called Little Fat Cousin] – Otis Harlan Fat Cousin [also called Big Fat Cousin] – Lionel Belmore Mother's Servant – Nigel de Brulier First Servant- Remington "Remy" Olmstead Premiere Danseuse – Ulla Poulsen Premiere Danseur – Dimitri Romanoff Buffoon – Arnold Tamon First Maiden – Carroll Borland Second Maiden – Muriel Goodspeed Third Maiden – Mary Dean Fourth Maiden – Zoe Mayo Fifth Maiden – Faith Noble Sixth Maiden – Lois Clements Seventh Maiden – Travis Thames Eighth Maiden – Anne Brooks First Guest – Val Larson Second Guest – Jack Anders Third Guest – Daniel Lundberg Fourth Guest – Joe Sullivan Fifth Guest – Bob Grandin Virgin Mary – unknown Four Evangelists – unknown Corps de Ballet – Wanda Allen, Iris Kuhnle, Helen McGowan, Barbara Perry, Maclovia Ruiz, and 44 others Angels – June Eberle, Josephine Kamm, Beverly Knappen, Katrina Nies, Virginia Parenti, Dorma Parter, Rosalie Smith, Jean Wilcox, and 60 others Archangels, Additional Servants, Additional Guests, Onstage Musicians, Soldiers, Saints – unknown On April 12, 1941, the New York Daily News reported that Broadway and radio actors Walter Slezak, Stefan Schnabel, and possibly Frederick Tozere were joining to produce benefit performances of The Play of Everyman in the Friendship House Church at 1010 Park Avenue in New York City (today called the Park Avenue Christian Church).

The roles of the Lord God and Mammon were played by Stefan Schnabel, who although born in Germany, had been a member of The Old Vic repertory theater in England alongside Laurence Olivier for four years, and since 1937 in New York was one of the original members of Orson Welles and John Houseman's Mercury Theatre on Broadway and radio, including Welles' famous radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds".

What Mr. Firner has managed to do with lights, organ music, a beautiful chancel and a wide assortment of actors, may be amusingly naïve, but it conveys none of the wondrous faith of the original play.

"[65] Lord God – Stefan Schnabel Angels – Judith Hellwig and Clara Kwartin Death – Theodore Goetz Faith – Margrit Wyler Good Deeds – Elizabeth Charney Devil – Richard Odlin Mammon – Stefan Schnabel Everyman – Maurice Burke Everyman's Mother – Eda von Buelow Friend – Edwin Clay Paramour – Cyrilla Dorne Thin Cousin – Bert Bernd Fat Cousin – Ludwig Roth Steward – James Kent Cook – Charles Kelley Poor Neighbor – Paul Marx Debtor – Marshal Reid Debtor's Wife – Carol Johnsen Guest – John Salter Dancers – Anne Greenfield, Lavina Nehaus, Simone Moser, Ann Hutchinson The Village Church of Westwood Lutheran sits in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood, home to many people in the motion picture and television industries.