Heliogabalus

Satire written on a lark by Mencken, with assistance from friend and co-editor Nathan, to prove to themselves how easy it was to write a successful play. Of it Mencken wrote in 1937: ... "the hero should be a man universally disreputable, and ... there should be nothing in the play save time-honored theatrical buncombe. Every sort of novelty in the plot was to be barred, and the so-called psychology was to be as transparent as possible."