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More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.comFore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.com28THE EDUCATION OF AYN RAND, 1905–1943As she began writing seriously, Rand was not shy about drawing fromthe work of other authors. Copying was one of the few honored traditionsin Hollywood; no sooner had one studio released a popular moviethan the others would rush a similar story into production. Similarly,Rand was inspired to write a play set in a courtroom after seeing TheTrial of Mary Dugan. When her play Night of January 16th was first producedthe Los Angeles Times noted uneasily, “It so closely resembles ‘TheTrial of Mary Dugan’ in its broader aspects as to incorporate veritablythe same plot.” 43It is safe to say, however, that the author of Mary Dugan was not tryingto advance individualism through theater. That goal was Rand’salone. Night of January 16th was Rand’s first successful marriage ofentertainment and propaganda. She hoped to both entertain her audienceand spread her ideas about individualism. Like “The Little Street,”the play was heavily tinctured with her interpretation of Nietzsche. Shedrew on yet another highly publicized criminal case to shape one ofher characters, Bjorn Faulkner, who was loosely modeled on the infamous“Swedish Match King” Ivar Kreuger. In 1932 Kreuger shot himselfwhen his financial empire, in reality a giant Ponzi scheme, collapsed inscandal.Rand still found criminality an irresistible metaphor for individualism,with dubious results. Translated by Rand into fiction, Nietzsche’stransvaluation of values changed criminals into heroes and rape intolove. Rand intended Bjorn Faulkner to embody heroic individualism,but in the play he comes off as little more than an unscrupulous businessmanwith a taste for rough sex. He rapes his secretary, Karen Andre,on her first day of work. Andre immediately falls in love with him andremains willingly as his mistress, secretary, and eventual business partner.When Faulkner dies under mysterious circumstances, Andre becomesthe prime suspect. She goes on trial for Faulkner’s murder, and the entireplay is set in a courtroom. What really made Night of January 16th wasa crowd-pleasing gimmick: each night a different jury is selected fromthe audience. Rand constructed the play so that there was approximatelyequal evidence indicting two characters and wrote two endings to theplay, to be performed according to the verdict of the audience jury.This unusual staging attracted the attention of Al Woods, a seasonedproducer who wanted to take the play to Broadway. It was the big break