.tt THE DETROIT JEWISH 'CHRONICLE PAGE TWO F,.......-N . .. . -- . .. --,. - . --. ... - ;.. ,... - , ... z , ICopsTiglit, 1920, by the American Jewish World). eaivsffops 0 A COMPLETE survey of the Jew in " the drama would take us from Mir:am with drum in hand singing the .11I1serance of Israel to Elmer E. Rice, coca ged in producing melodramic plays .,td Cannel Myers posing for the screen. Of course. such •a task could In em- bodied in nothing short of half a dozen man-sized volumes. With so much space at his command the writer could review adequately the place of the Jew in the ancient drama, I oth in Hebrew and in alien tongues, could pass the inactive dark centuries after the fall of Rome. and could pause to give a few chapters /0 the Tenteli- Hebrew drama, when the more enlight- ened European peoples began to busy themselves seriously with the stage. He could devote the adequate space the subject merits, to the dramatic efforts of such men and women of the last century as Heinrich Ileine, Jachel Julius, Leopold Klein, Max Nordan Theodor Herd, and many others. But limited to a few magazine pages, the best one may hope to accomplish is to give a glimpse of the Jews of our own day who are in the front ranks of the world's dramatic activities, showing them as playwrites, actors, and pro- ducers both on the "legitimate" stage and in the movies. Incidentally a few names of those in the middle ranks or even at the rear may find their way into this article. Adequate space, however, is not the only difficulty. The stage, more per- haps than any other field of human endeavor, has a tendency to efface all prominent racial differences. Richard Mansfield was a perfect Anglo-Saxon, and yet he is said to have had Jewish blood in his veins. D'Antitinzio, the great Italian poet-dramatist, "is a perfect Latin—and some say that he has that blood in him which flowed in the veins of King David and Spinoza," assures us Benjamin De Casseres in the New York Times. For Gentlewomen I 232 W OODWARD AVE. "Skirts are Shorter" Suggests a Fashion Note Now I'll just have to wear Gothem Gold Stripe Silk Hose for Women with a patent stitch near the top preventing garter tears from running All Smart New Shades GOTHEM SILK STRIPE HOSIERY Ii THE JEW IN THE DRAMA -.1 v -;,, Hosiery Shop—Main Floor ....•• ■•■ •(.4%...• ■•■••■-•■••■•■•■•■ •••• ■•■••■ ••..•••.......".1 HARRY WEISS' European Jewish Playwrights RESTAURANT now located at 64 BROADWAY ft- New Detroit Opera House MR. LEON KRIM presents THE DISTINGUISHED YIDDISH ACTRESS Mme Malvina Loebel With an All Star Cast of Selected Players SUNDAY, Matinee and Evening, SEPTEMBER 26 I n A Great Comedy Drama "THE UNWELCOME WIFE" JOSEFF BROS. KOSHER Restaurant and Delicatessen 292 Woodward, Cor. Elizabeth Cadillac 681 The Place Where You Will Meet the People You Know At the Josef( Bros. Restaurant and to the splendid deliciousness of good, pure food wholesomely prepared Is added the pleasures of a friendly chat with the people you Ilke to meet and talk with. In the English-speaking world Israel Zangwill is perhaps the best known of all the Jewish playwrights. From the first presentation on the stage of his "Children of the Ghetto" to his last drama which came to my attention, "The Next Religion," Zangsvill shows himself the big, powerful son of Israel that he is, sneaking in the voice of a mighty prophet. Ills message is always bold, fearless, often aggressive, making for the pulsating life and hope that comes from looking courageously into the future. Ile possesses many of the faults of the artist with whom the matter and not the manner is of supreme importance. When he takes the atti- tude of attack, and the ardor of the elemental man makes itself felt. then only his fine, broad humor saves his work from the tedium and unpleasant- ness such dramas often inspire in the hands of lesser men. lie is perhaps at hk best when lie shows himself the dreamer, the philosopher, brooding with puzzled brow over the secrets of life and death. But he is always a Jew of the Jews — social justice and broad humanitarianism holding his keenest Now and then his soul seems diffused as it were among all the peoples of the earth, and soars away to worlds far, far beyond our own little cosmos. Now he gives us a pathetic scene of a child in the London Ghetto standing in the bread line conducted by the great ones of the earth for their own edification. Now he shows us the pathos of hunger frusteratrd at the very point of satis- faction; when the child with a pitcher full of soup that is to form the only meal of the day for a whole brood, falls, breaks the vessel and spills the contents Now he shows us a minister of an emasculated religion struggling with its mountains of absurdities which are manipulated by grasping, soulless ;sten to puff up their own importance and to bolster up_ hank accounts. Now he -------------------- ----- - OPEN 11:00 A. M. TO 1:00 P. M. Most Completely Equipped and Most Sanitary Restaurant in Michigan HOME MADE PASTRIES BEST COOKS OBTAINABLE Smart Apparel For The Builders of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine Stout Women (Sizes 39 to 56) 1 N the issue of October 3rd, The Chronicle I will publish a complete list of all Detroit's contributors to the Palestine Restoration Fund, and the amounts contributed by them. Fashionable garments that lend a slender appearance and flt port e ctly. Coats $49.75 to $375 Suits ....... $45 to $350 Dresses All those who wish to be included in the 539.75 to $350 Corsets, Underwear Hosiery Holy Land Honor Roll, will please Building before the 29th of September, A dramatist in England of equal wealth, of talent and even greater art- istry, is Sir Arthur Wins; Piller° (born in 1855). l'inero k the son of a newish solicitor of Portugese descent. While Zangwill is a its of the Jews, Pinero is an Englishman of the English. His whole life is a direct contrast to that of the author of "The \felting Pot." The only thing Jewish noticeable in Pittero is that particular quaint humor, the effervescence of a sad life, that is so current among Jews. Outside of this. all the dramas of his that I have read could have been written by any other highly gifted and prodigiously toiling Englishman. For Pinero knew Jewish life very little. He started as a ham actor in Scotland. Then he took to writing and wrote enough dramas whose titles would fill a couple of pages. For a number of years his work was of little significance. Indeed, he had written about five years before he WWII recognition even among his friends. "The Money Spinners," written in 1880. won him approval from appreciative friends and enough pecun- iary returns to make it possible for him to go on with his work. But like a huge bird at the beginning of its flight, he took a long time flapping his wings and running along the ground. But once he had risen he was soon far above the clouds reaching higher and higher till he had attained to the uppermost regions. 1,Vith the production of "The Second Mrs, Tanquerary,". in I893 his fame spread over the whole civilized world. It is an epoch-making drama and marks the turning point not only of English dramatic literature but of the whole of Europe and of America. Its author immediately took hum place among the world's greatest dramatists—Henrik Ib- sen, Sudermann, Hatipmann. Bjornson, Strindberg. Andreyev. The drama struck a new note. which gave a potent stimulus to playwrights and producers. For the life of the stage, especially in England. had been throttled Ice an accu- mulation of outworn artificialities and soulless formulas. \\int the production of this play the author has swept them all out of existence as if by a magic brush, and has shown how an honest and subtle technique coupled with a real message were more valuable than all the lilatherings of the critics, whose training prejudices them against all that is new.. ".1n electric thrill was com- municated to the whole theatrical life of Europe." is the way the Encyclo- paedia Britanica puts it. ORM4L'AMITENEEMEIMEATEMINCREVRE:in, + N. "Meet Friedberg :$ 4 N Wear Diamonds" N N : il il P. $ lit; k m■I ' * : I kii , Rti !! " * 4i iki and rall? d'sicarti' tsls one of e i chshurarnod the thous- daily existence. Sometimes they are the vehicles of sheer beauty as such. Sometimes they give form to the ex- pressions of a soul in rebellion against the powers that be, hurling defiance at its oppressors and making mock at a 1 spurious eta ilization. : i21 To say that in the United States liter- ature is thoroughly commercialized is to make the least damaging accusation against it. It is more. It is monopol- ized by a clique to whose vanities and senselessness you must pander or crawl into a corner and die. Talent, genesis, which means originality and excellence, have absolutely no place in it. If they ever creep into the works of established dramatists they are ruthlessly effaced by bands of hired assassins whose sole business is the maintaining of our popular superstitions, our popular ideals and popular stupidities, often against the protests of the public itself. These sinister powers have made life so bitter for the greatest genuinely American genuises, l'oe, Whitmanand Mark Twain, that the first could find no way out of tie misery than by poisoning sz himself with drink in his prime; and the second had to spend his old age begging from door to door. Today one of the "marked men" in America is Theodor Dreiser-merely because he had once happened to write a coved that dis- pleased the Puritanic prudery of the wife of one of America's biggest pub. it: • F: Ei r. P : -. . Fri ii. fi m A iri •. i0 til 591 • .. •• Fri saneness P 4 N 208-210 GRISWOLD ST. lumemp,:conniamo ummiumenit,i The result is that the born literary man in America writes "ads," and the born "ail" Wtiter Writes novels and dramas. When the average American literary man finds he can make more money packing pork lie quits writing. lu European countries the man who spends his life on 0 certain art is the man whose voice makes itself felt in that field. In America the Irian who has made a couple of million in selling hog livers or in smuggling whisks across the ladder thereby considers himself fit to pass judgment on the lyric qualities of a Shakespearian sonnet or on a bravura passage in a l.alo symphony-- and his voice is the voice heeded. Now I trust it will be possible to appreciate what our Jewish dramatists could contribute to .ktnericati dramatic art. The words "good" or 'had" as applied to American and European lit- eratures signify different things. "The Life of Man," by Andreyev, is a great drama. Its two American imitations, "Youth" and "Everywoman," are also great dramas. But the first is a world tragedy. The others are comparatively cheap imitations, diluted and sweetened to make them digestable by an audience of adults with the literary- stomachs of Sunday School children. TEA ROOM SERVICE ICE CREAM SODAS CARLTON'S Chocolates Opposite Temple Beth El After the Dance Invite Her to Carlton's UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT 350 Jefferson Avenue, East LAW SCHOOL American Jewish Dramatists. Among America's big dramatists Charles Klein, born in London, England, in 1867, holds a front seat. Ile is a Noah in his generation, Ile served his apprenticeship as a "reader" under - Charles Froliman; his life has been spent in the immediate vicinity of the theater and---the lux-office up to the end, about five years ago. A few of the titles of his dramas will give, I hope, a fair idea of their contents. "A Paltry Nfillion," "By Proxy," "A Royal Rouge," "A alile a Minute," etc. In his "Music Master," however, he rises • to extra- ordinarily fine dramatic powers. This play lifts him out from the sphere of the usual clever stage carpentry which is the only thing at bottom of most of our dramas. Had he performed this miracle with an American character he would have written the American play. This drama did for the American stage what Pinenes "The Second Mrs. Tan- quray," had done for the world stage. It has shown that the theater may be The Jew at the front ranks among made interesting without resorting to the the French playwrites today is Henri craft of the steeplechaser, the high- IDA Bernstein. Ile is a Roumanian by birth, jumper, the spell-binder—to the antics naturalized in France. Ever since the of a Charlie Chaplin leaping from roof production of his play, "Le Marche," to roof with a dog wagging his tail from in 1901, he has been recognized among a hole in his "pants," or to the childish the masters of the land. But he had fun of watching Charlie bolt hot mince- to contend against fearful odds—French pie at the rate of two hundred bites to clericalism, which though dead since the the minute. "The Music Master" is a days of the Dreyfus episode, is not yet I continued On Page S.) buried. When his "Apses Mai" was produced in 1912 at the Comedic Fran- IIIMIEREEIRESERsumfarm- caise he wets ed national recognition. amsmamIEMEIMEMEIREIMMEEITOIIEIRII Then the clericals got busy in all earnestness. Led by Leon Datilset, they trumped up charges accusing him of evading the military service. In court he rose in his own defense and con- cluded: "It is true that I was born in Roumania. It is also true that I Was naturalized too late to serve in the National Army. But on the day France is attacked I shall be among the first to offer myself in her defense." Two years Liter France found herself engaged in the Great NVar and Bern- stein was among the first to join. While lie lay wounded in a hospital he con- ceived his latest drama. "L'Elevation," which won extraordinary appreciation in France and which was recently brought to the United States by Grace George. Bernstein's work proclaims him the Frenchman, which means an extraord- arily painstaking individual in literature, an unusual and often unduly polished artist, the soul of whose product is form. He is a Latin—with a keen eye for beauty—beauty first and last and all the time. One store European Jewish play- wright and we shall turn to the United States: Arthur Schnitzler. Schnitzler is the on of a Viennese Jewish throat specialist, born in 1862. Ile is a scien- tist-artist, being a practicing physician. His productions are second only to those of 11aumnann and Sodermann and Wolekid. Like Zangwill, he also writes novels and short stories. And like Chechoy, his work is full of his medical experiences. Ilis play mod esteemed is the one entitled "The Lonely \Vay," but the one of most in- terest to Jews is "Professor Bern- hardi," which pictures the bAterness of a Jew living amid antiSeinitic sur- roundings. The Freshman class in the law school began Wednes- day, Sept. 15th, at 4:30 p. m. Ladies and gentlemen looking for a law course should hesitate no longer. Enroll in this course NOW. With a staff of well known judges and lawyers, this school offers every facility and advantage to those wish- ing to learn law. Courses in FOREIGN TRADE, FEDERAL TAXA- TION, and COMMERCIAL ART will open TUESDAY, OCT. 5, 1920 For further particulars apply School of Commerce and Finance, // CONCERTS SARA DI V INOF F VIOLIN 101 East Willis o......, INSTRUCTION PIANO Glendale 3770-W MR. SIEDLITZ RETURNS e(AWTTER OF INTEREST) London, England, September 2, 1920. „, yant 255 Woodward Are. 2nd Floor, Washington Arcade p The Forest Fur Co., 21-23 Washington Boulevard, (Opp. Edison Electric Co.) Detroit, Mich., U. S. A. Dear Sirs:— mail their checks to Mr. Fred M. Butzel, 1012 Union Trust gives us a picture of a powerful war god stirs ived from antiquity before whose cruel visage the priesthood of all the earth is pouring out mighty liba- tions in the form It( their own ink and oratory and of the heart's blood of the human race. In all this terrible serious- ness Zangwill is always humorous,. in spite of the fact that since his birth (18441 he has been surrounded by a lifethat rarely lent itself to laughter- - unless it was the laughter that is meant to hide a tear. His early childhood days in Bristol; Plymouth, and after his ninth year in the notorious Spitalfields of Loudon, had brought him into contact with the raw, ugly phases of existence. and cut his artistic sensitive hello with a razor-edge keenness. And yet, in justice to him, one should not disregard his limitati ons.He is primarily a writer of prose. His prose sentences are charged with a sonority and articulation which in places attain a sheer beauty that almost pains. 1 here are passages in "The Children of the Ghetto" that leave the sensitive reader in ecstatic reveries as I I he had drunk hashish or some other potion of an oriental charmer. But his verse — at least most of his verse that I have read is wooden. It does not sing itself-- an indispensable requisite in all poetry whether the most ancient or ultra mod- ern. It contains the music produced on a piano by hammering the keys on a cracked sounding board, or of playing on a violin with a riven body. Aside from that he is counted among the greatest English dramatist, of our day. His IlaMe Is uttered • with the same breath as that of Shaw, Barrie. Gals- s w,Toirttel,ty... and of the other foremost play- or see his work-be it the drama, the novel, the short story, or the symphony. To justify the deplorable attitude of the average American toward art, the cultured American tells you that the European takes his play seriously and Iris work lightly w bile the American takes his work seriously and his day lightly. This is a superficial explanation. For literature, art, music, are not merely diversions. They are the deep-most ex- pressions of the human soul as it loses, hates. hopes, dreams, and gropes . its way higher and higher toward the light. Sometimes they partake of the spirit of philosphic religion, giving utterance to its awe and wonder at the inscrutable With Schnitzler. George Hirschberg should perhaps find a place in this article. but alas! the sudden blaze of his younger day, became banked all too soon and unless it rise and show osslf a living tlame again. he will be molted into the background. Before crossing over to the United States it is necessary to take a glimpse at the attitude toward literature in gen- eral of the at erage American. For very few men, no matter what their original talents, may rise much above the particu- lar attitude of those mho are to real Cl The fur market of Europe is just about cleaned out. We can congratulate ourselves for buying the Mole, Mink and Hudson Seal, Alaska Seal, and Russian Orman skins when we did, escaping the tariff charge now levied. By this time you will have the skins made up into those unique models I got from Du Bau Brothers of Paris. They are showing with great popularity the shawl and coat combination. Also the smart "Throw Coat" in Mink or Orman will be an original design that none of the other Detroit fur shops will be showing. By the time I arrive in Detroit, I hope you will be displaying these fur creations and making particular note to the women in De- troit of the amount that can be saved at the Forest Fur Co., because of our good fortune at the markets. A Real Hudson Seal Coat trimmed in Mink or Martin at $425 or a Mole skin, designed to order, at $450 will surely be of interest to the community. Being a new firm in Detroit, and unknown to many there, it is a very wise plan to sell all our garments on the basis of l(re profit. I will b eon Detroit by the 20th and may be of service to our cus- tomers in explaining the different furs, their wearing qualities and characteristics, many of which are known only by the expert. Yours truly, J. SIEDLITZ. ,Y6.72MMEMIEREESTIMI=EZZ=SzJcicoMireESRMEEMErargr32Zircr" e i 5 0