THE JOHN O'HARA SOCIETY

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On March 28, 1964 the publication of "Arnold Stone." The Saturday Evening Post. The Horse Knows the Way.

"Arnold Stone" fits into that category of John O'Hara's "theatre" or "Broadway" stories and novels.

In 1921 Arnold Stone owned a successful New York theatrical production company.

"Hemphill & Stone offered only plays that had stood the test of some time. The test had not necessarily been a long run on Broadway; in the Hemphill-Stone repertory were some comedies that had not done well in New York. But they had proved themselves over the years in productions put on by the half dozen Hemphill-Stone companies that were likely to be playing at any given moment in the Middle West and the East..."

"Twice a year Arnold Stone would take a business trip. The first would be to call on the theatre owners to tell them what he had lined up for the next Hemphill-Stone repertory season. It was a pleasure, that trip; meeting his old friends and haggling with them over terms and coming away with signed contracts. The second trip was his inspection trip, to see how each company was holding up."

One of the theatre owners was Harry Lang of Gibbsville, who one day was able to obtain a twenty thousand dollar loan from Arnold to tide him over when he suddenly discovered one morning that his mistress, Mary Hogan, and one of he actors, Jerome Wellington, had suddenly absconded with all his assets. There's a surprise ending.

Steven Goldleaf describes the story as "...an old fashioned morality play in which the protagonist's sins are punished exactingly." John O'Hara - A Study of the Short Fiction , pages 89-91 at 90.