The Adding Machine

When I was in high school in the early 70s, we studied The Adding Machine in an English class. For some reason, I remember that we focused on the scene where Mrs. Zero nags Mr. Zero mercilessly. We kept reading that scene over and over. A few months later, this movie aired on PBS. I was mesmerized by Ms. Diller's portrayal of Mrs. Zero, particularly that scene that had bored me to tears in English class. I had every word in her lines memorized. She brought the role to life.

It's too bad that she didn't get more dramatic roles. I understand that she was a concert pianist and was a trained singer, but her trademark laugh ruined her singing voice. What a shame.

Turned into a pretty darned good movie. They cut a bit, changed some of the scenes around, and added quite a lot for Phyllis Diller, but she's so perfect in the part that one doesn't mind. Milo O'Shea is perfect as Zero, Julian Glover is wonderfully warped, Sidney Chaplin in his brief role captures it. The other bits added in don't distract from the meat of the heartbreaking story.

This is one of the great American plays, Expressionism through the American lens. I saw a production by Hystopolis with puppets, it was a dream come true. During Mrs. Zero's scene-long harangue, she disappeared behind a screen to undress and multiple mouths appeared around Zero's poor head, keeping up the endless tirade.