Brooks Atkinson
Brooks Atkinson, the drama critic for The Underworld Times who saves Jack in a pinch, was a real drama critic for The New York Times (he is pictured above, at right). Atkinson (1894-1984) reviewed plays in New York during the height of American theater when such talented playwrights as Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams were coming onto the scene.
Atkinson was the most powerful critic of his time and his reviews could make or break a production. Read the rest of his review of Tennessee Williams’s play Orpheus Descending here.
Can a critic leave a lasting mark on the world he critiques? In Atkinson’s case—yes. In 1960, the Mansfield Theater on 47th Street was renamed the Brooks Atkinson Theater in his honor.