The New York Clipper (January 1920)

January 21, 1920 the m&w "THE BROi JEWISH ART. IS A;€QPD P ,'1THE BRONX - in three acta ae. from '1 p.- produced for the flrat time nesday night, Dec. SI, by The " A*); Theatre, ■ V dhktakel H u nge re tol ts. aeration Rubin Claims n Llpe Monanaky...8am Adler Ralsele Lucy Gehnnan 4a Blnah Abmmovlts Jlshe Pollshuk. Jacob Ben-Ami xedo Leon Seltenburg Flutci v. <• '. Mis cha^G^ hn .Louis W< at Jemima ilth Brother ■the younger Sj ,the elder .'; Arrow Collar . Wrigleys .... MUs Murad .. Baby Nestle .. .Walter Subway Conductor Bar. Henrietta Schltxer ^na BuSnlck. ScKSrman, ie BUpuy Mil,' a themaffijaa.. 4t ." - s eeheinV;.'™ . aac^. iUj » adopt".* m i'i eyr«a' ; tjich mjhr .^Hi fthe~r9»ien§l babjr,.B*# Neeti* t'i-U^Ser, # s&icted&are et» Atlantic City, and, of course, Harry and his family are there, too. It la there - ... that the jraWe of an, ancient -rabbi comes >'""' 5pQn"nm>, for- "tie sees'his-sxm-. forced to-'-". make his -cwn liviag shining his father's Shoes; .'. iHkl daughter—wellr first ..come* first served, and her former sweetheart, who in the old days was an author, now..,«, pushes : a-rolling chair. Seized by remorse ~ at seeing the harm he has done his loved hisEsmad rjnajv for money, m (Qnselfv Moral plays -are rare nowadays, good comedies equally.. SOj and good - comedies that are also moral playe should, there- fore, provide a real treat to the connois- seur, pf dramatic art. Ob sip Dymow, ha his. .play, "The Bronx Express," which lie styles a local comedy, has written a play that, while it passes for .a comedy, at the same time teaches'three good lessons. - The prologue finds us in a North-bound Bronx subway express during the rush hour,- the train chock full of its human freight, rushing home from their labors. Two. old. frienda.are -thrown togetier, tin- - expectedly, by the bumping and jolting of the. train. One of them, Chatzkel Hun- gerstoltc, has in the twenty-five years of hk stay in America been working at one Job, his first, as a button maker. The other, who, when he landed, was Yankel Thamkes, but who now is Jacob Thomas, has become one of a type that is all too familiar to Broadway, the smooth- tongued, lazy parasite, who, in his rush to become one of the "live ones," has for- Sotten ties, religion, pride and all. This itter, by his smooth-tongued description of what life on "Broadway" is like, in- it ill b the spirit of discontent Into the mind of good-hearted Chatzkel, . Meanwhile, the train moves on, Yankel gets off and Chatzkel, finding a seat, falls asleep. From there on the main action of the play, which is a dream, takes place. For twenty-five years Chatzkel has been riding to and from his work in the same subway, always seeing the same ad- vertisement in front of him. He has been told by bis smooth-tongued friend that the advertisers all started ont poor, out made their millions because they had an idea. Chatzkel arrives home, thoroughly discontented- with his lot aftd decides that he mast have his millions as -well as. the rest. He-leaves his family to "take care of themselves" and goes away. - , Wandering on, he .comes, to the home of Mr.-Pluto, who leads all the advertise- ments in their crusade for money. He wn ffiynsel^. B& fate will nfiji BU&o learns'^of his conduct «, him'lynched. - .* , - .r.* ; ,.<3b*tzk.eL»wakes birth his dream to finfy tpfAt'Jie ^os gpne beytuJd his station.- !$$■ .family .boards the same train on».-thdjr. wax».homeiiand, gathering them .in .nja y/S-rcagt he-tella -tbem ; the tale of his-dreami " 'TOE PASSION FLOWER" THRILLER OF THRILLERS At THE GREENWICH ;u?THE HLDBST.'M • ,"AN filTRIANOLE" an* "MOl -i Three one-act ptaysiy Edi ■ er, Djuna Barnes; and. _ Granlch. respectively. Presented by the Provlncetown Players, at the Provlncetown Players' Theatre, -■ Friday evening-. Janyary^*^ 19^). . — "THE ELDEST' ^fcri*! £;: £3*48$. JaW>fte«Bt rff* The Neighbor ....Dorothy Moore Ma A Voice Off-StaxB Pa .TJaYMea EH1S- Al Jasper Deeter Floss Norma MUlay Sidney K. Powell ijk. tr.-i- - B jidche Jiya :.»,•:v. ...Qjah JJftne -"MONET" Caat^ ,jj ;■ «JWS*:, \.jf LV in o34Jcoblec.RoQiBO B)ifano i'j Lo<uera<.. . ■_.>.. -• * -. £branis".'. *.'.?'.".'..'..'.^C^arles^Ellla Mendel........... John Bennett Hyman Cesare Zwaaka The Policeman .\.:.. iLoaur EU r*?wAS»*REir «npo west v [ Mrlhbugh - previaBsIy ifieedod for the' -tore house,. '^a.Wayfiiwr" wifl shortly ■ to Los -Angelas, where the Int«£.- , WorlitMovement jwill present it t indefinite run, beaUning March UwtJj aty-eightj,freight_cars, loaded with; } try, werajtartcd Wsst last week audi hi jence Hi^Bich, the pngdueer, left lasi. 'Saturday to supervise preliminary arj rangements. The entire cast of principals will be retained for the Western presaav tathsax ;...* »r "• . . ■► "THE PASSION FLOWER." A tragedy In three acts, translated from the Spanish by John Garrett Under hill. Presented by Richard Hemdon, -at .the: Greenwich., Village_ "Theatres: Tuesday- evening, January 14, 1920. CAST. ..- -. - -T Balmudaa: ..:.......... .Nance O'NeO Acacia Edna Walton Dona Isabel Clara T. Bracey • Mllagros............ Gertrude Guatln —Ptdeht..-:-.-.-.-. - .. .Alba de Anehoriz Engracla Helena Rapport Bernabea Aldeah Wise Gaspara Rldler Davles Juliana Charles G. Craig Esteba,n Charles Waldron no EuseblO Robert -Fischer' Faustlno Edwin Beryl Rublo .' Harold Hartsell Bernabe Charles Angelo Norbert J. Harper Macau lay For- the ardent d«v«tee of. -the* modern drama who journeyed to Greenwich Vil- lage last Friday eyening to ..witness the premiere of the third b'Ol of the current season of the Provlncetown Players, there B Was* a real -treat in store. 'Bat, for the every-day up tows theatregoer, .who found hia- way to the one-time .Mar-TVmgml Street livery stable, there were no eucli joys. The first of the plays to be presented was ."Eldest," a domestic sketch.with the locale of a Chicago flat." It set forth the familiar figure of .the down trodden eldest daughter of a selfish family. The piece is clever enough, but the featured char- - acter- is grossly overdrawn. . Helen -Becket played the role in a feelingless way, which gave one the impression that the char- acterization was not true to life. Sidney K. Powell and- Charles Ellis were good.. "An Irish Triangle" next shown, is a clever satirical sketch of peasant life. The characterizations were well handled by Blanche Hays and Leah Javne, but whether or not they were true to life the writer fails to know, never, having been in Ireland. ' "Money," the last piece to be presented, was without doubt the best of the lot. Here is a well written, staged and acted sketch of Jewish life in an East Side eel- - iar, which, during the day time, serves as a cobbler's shop and, by night, is the sleeping place of five men. It is intensely dramatic throughout, although at times there are humorous touches, well inserted to relieve the tension. Moisha, the old cobbler, has slaved-and starved in an effort to save' sufficient money to bring Bis wife^tad children from - Russia. One day he. finds his savings- gone, .lhst. .Then the- rdea-that perhaps one of -his lodgprs- his stolen, his little hperd, be- '', set him«ana-flnaUy he finds that-Jt is true. •Then follows-the*^confession, filled, with aH the misery of a guilty soul who has al Repellent, yet fascinating, "The Passion Flower," a play by the Spanish dramatist Jacinto Benavente, has found its way into an English translation which gets forth a strange medley of elemental pas- sions in its tangled web of evil impulses and violent interplay of CastQuui peasant life. Any of the crime melodramas of home make which have been presented along Broadway during the past decade, when compared to this piece, give the im- pression of being anaemic and weak. In construction, the piece is symmetri- cal and the characters are' boldly'and viv- idly drawn. Throughout the three acta are incidents filled with the interwoven elements of love, hate, revenge and ani- mal impulses that are strangely human and appealing!. The final note, as the cur- tain falls upon the.spectacle of the evB that has been wrought, is one of helpless- ness and gloom. •'.'"'-■• ■ The play opens on the eye of the wed-: 'ding of a young Spanish girl-to her suitor, Who U, mysteriously murdered before the ceremony* At-flrst, suspicion--falls-upon-, lowed the!betiet to"overcome the better in falls an.easy vicitimtfl the Bnare.of.PlutQ^ «.-for«er- portef-butf-evidently, the dia~: Jrrmr who usee his black art to make him forget his past and think only of the future. Chatzkel, now Mr. Harry Hungerpride, sells his sou! and his people for some mil- lions. The great, idea is this. '"'} Tom Kippur is-the greatest-holiday in the Jewish year and all Jews ■ keep it. Well, these are .hard times, there are,poor famities to feed,' feeble relatives' to be taken care of and sick people to be doc- tored: The bosses are to issue an edict that m\\ must work on Yom Klppnr, the - Day ofjAtonement.-aod that they will re- eeive t^n times their . ordinary wages.- Those, who must have - this, money. badly, covery is made that it was the-girl's own step-father who instigated the crime. He has long pursued her, but she,ha* always- repulsed him with the utmost'loathing.. Her attitude toward him has-.8lwAjs bCeni one of emotional hatredJ)nt,-in,the-thjrH}-. ing scene, she discovers thaij- her eniotioei: is not hate, but an ov^rmaetsriog -tarn. When the mother learns. oi^tliia»Ipve be-, tween her husband and.daughter,.ahe-in-. terferea, .only, to be kilted. by ; his. hands,. Thus ends "The Passion Flower," a melo- drama of melodramas. '--Nance (Weil plays the rob of the mother with- an, intense emotion but little - . eke-to'radicate a provincial-Hispanic type. - policeman stumbles upon the noisy dis- cussion and commands silence. T^iev then again open their- mjittreats and flU m tot- ■ jgotten with titer-thoughts of another day of toiL .- >■.*** , t te' - " :. I Remo Bufanoras/Jhe cobbl«r,-is except tionally good; dispfiying- a marked his- I trionic ability. Other members of the east iarc an that couM be desired.'. '■"." M >- w , ,'TOOf S- CAME 1 "Fools tJajne,"^. a co.medy-dram» Crane Wilbur,.syth«. presented, by 0 Joha Cort Jn Atmntlc City for the first time °*" January 26. Maude Fealy has been eni» tbe hjatdingirole. m ,i"MnJae>f 'If- CrRE I^AY r APPEjuE f ORE PLAY XONKERS rRON© APPEA "T**E-l-ET3-ES^Orr,THE LAW." -M 'dram* ln^- four,acts by Eunne ■Brleusu Presented "by John D. Wll- Uama at the Warburton Theatre, Yonkera, Wednesday afternoon. Janu- ary 14. 1M0. ITL. . . •-' ' * .1 CAST. Mouson Lionel Barrymore Vagret .' Ruis 'TChytaU ' Mondonbleau Chas. Oreene Benolt ...James Hajren Delorme Allan Keuey £aBouaule: .Clarence perwent Tanetta Doris Rankin Attorney General Lionel Hogarth 'ArdSull.'.'...;'....'..'..Charles CoWilan Bunarat Frank Kmgdon . Janitor v Wallace Jack sen <*lBt Policeman.;...Clavenee.xM«t>«)rrjr Madojno Vagrr«t Zeffle Tilbury Etchepare Charles White Madame Bunerat Maude.Hosford . .CjUaiie-fla.' a mam.. .JoscEUiae yfsbn ' Brlder.r..r.'..';T.-:.'..aoTawfai Pat ton _ Sergeant .Walter Brown . 2nd Policeman. John Truabun Etchepare's Mother Ada Boshell Bertha Leona Horarth 11 JEWISH THEATRE CHANGES PLAY " "The AwaSenBg-^g^^^'VeaSr kmd win be theKext .prodnatton of the Jewish Art TbeatreV instead of "Castle" by Sholem Aach. For the purpose of establishirtg' title to the American rights of Eugene Brieux's .drama, "The Letter of the Law,",John IX i' Williams presented the.piece with a com- pany beaded by Lionel Barrymore, for one , performance at the Warburton Theatre but Wednesday afternoon. The rights for this cuwiUy are owned by Henry Neagle and, under the terms of' a contract with him, WBJ4ajns, the pro- ducer of the play, was required to make a production "on; or. about-January 1* of this year. This was construed aa maul- ing within two weeks of the date. The author has, obviously, designed the ■ piece aa a satire on present day methods of dispensing jurisprudence and, although, presented practically without scenery wad with but a few days rehearsal, the play gives promise of being a highly suceessful . drama and an ideal vehicle for Barrymore. -The story is one with a strong human appeal, and with -thA'.characters. weB drawn. The teurrte, always an. iaU resting lopks, have, beea.layed naked to the-eye, '- the .author cleverly concocting intident af- ter Incident that reveals all the "rotten- ness" and petty, hypocricy, of,-.those who are intruBted with the - dL«T>enarng «£ jus- tice. - ........ ... .... ... Mouzon, an examining magistrate of the French court.. Ambition, for..hlgher office takes hold- of this man, wh# rathleasry prosecutes the innocent.to further his own ends. But in this caeev the price of am- bition is death and, in -an- hsfensary dra- matic scene before the final curtain, he meets .his end at the hands of one of his many victims. Lionel Barrymore makes the character _ot the ruthless magistrate a vivid one. Buss Whytall is good in the role of a " second magistrate. Charles White, in the pie of the.accused ."and Doris Rankin aa nis wife were e^eeptlonany good Others were Charles Green and Fr§nk Kingdom.