What is (not) wrong with scalar gravity?

On his way to General Relativity, Einstein gave several arguments as to why a special-relativistic theory of gravity based on a massless scalar field could be ruled out merely on grounds of theoretical considerations. We re-investigate his two main arguments, which relate to energy conservation and some form of the principle of the universality of free fall. We find such a theory-based a priori abandonment not to be justified. Rather, the theory seems formally perfectly viable, though in clear contradiction with (later) experiments.