Too Many Thumbs
A Three-Act Play
I can’t think of any young American playwright whose work deserves to be taken more seriously.
Eric Bentley
Too Many Thumbs was first published in 1949. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.
A delightful and imaginative piece of creative writing, by a young playwright with a talent for sly wit and subtle satire. Too Many Thumbs is a three-act play that not only acts well, but also reads well. The author, who took is graduate work at Yale University, has taught at the University of Minnesota, and has also done script writing for radio.
I can’t think of any young American playwright whose work deserves to be taken more seriously.
Eric Bentley
Robert Hivnor’s Too Many Thumbs is a delightful fantasy built about a significant idea. The satire is good-natured, the wit impish and meaningful. Satire and wit strike in many directions, and the reader can interpret according to his lights. Hivnor has something up his sleeve till the final curtain, and the circles of thought go on widening for days. This is the kind of play that makes you ask for more of the same.
Joseph Warren Beach
Broadway’s imaginary animals have aimed to turn us to childhood and imaginary innocence. Too Many Thumbs has more in common with the animals of La Fontaine in that it takes us towards knowledge instead. Mr. Hivnor’s tendency is counter to the open direction of the American stage: towards responsible thought instead of cleverness, towards wit instead of canned lines, towards literature instead of production.
Saul Bellow