-

mPerRonlEwisn(ARolviG4

PAGE TWELVE

.1•••••

■

Lion type of Hebrew stage comedian.
He wore a heavy beard, he had a
thick dialect, he impersonated cloth-
ing merchants, diamond vendors and
the like. In fact, he was starring in
a road show called "Busy Izzy." That
title should tell you just what kind I
of a role he handled. You should' be I
able to Visualize him easily as he was ,
then. His work was not distasteful I
to him. He was merely giving the pub-
lic what it wanted, and what it was
willing to pay for. Ile knew that all
Jews were not hustling, grabbing,
money-mad little clothing merchants,
with sometimes repellent mannerisms;
that, in fact, perhaps only one of a
thousand was anywhere near that
type. But if the public had a precon•
ceived notion that Jaws were like that,
well, why disillusion them?
VI"
Mr. Sidney had to make his living,
just as did Irish Comedians, Swede
comedians and German comedians. So
he just kept on doing what was ex-
pected of him. And then one day he
met an actress who is now a well-
known and popular Broadway star. As
soon as she was introduced to him,
and spoke to him for a few minutes
her eyes brightened and she seemed
excited over something. But she didn't
explain the cause. A few days later
a theatrical manager of the company
in which the actress was then playing,
sent for Mr. Sidney. As soon as he
glanced at him, he, too, acted in the
same fashion as did the actress when
meeting him a few days before. Then
he broke the surprising news. He
THE DONKEY EXPRESS OF JERUSALEM
Which makes two trips daily through the Holy City bringing pasteurized wanted Mr. Sidney to star in a new
milk to babies of all creeds as part of the elaborate infant welfare work play which he was then considering, a
carried on by Hadassah, the American women's Zionist organization. Nathan play in which the leading character
Straus, veteran philanthropist, who was the pioneer pasteurized milk advo- was a Jew—not a Jew comedian, but
Members of Detroit Stock Exchange
cate in this country, has been active in the infant welfare work of Hadassah a regular, ordinary, everyday human
and has personally established I pasteurized milk stations in Palestine, being.
Mr. Sidney is noted for his lack
in connection with Hadassah's "Drop of Milk" health campaign.
of arrogance, for his habit of self-de-
preciation, for his extreme modesty,
surprising attributes for one who has I
spent his life in the atmosphere of the
1
theater. This atmosphere is not ix
actly conducive to self-effacement, per-;
cca
2.S eStO da e-a n ca
haps you know. At any rate, Mr. Sid-
By CABOL BIRD
ney expressed his surprise at the re
quest. Also, he turned down the flat-
There was a time, not long ago, of his race, a magnifier of racial char- tering offer.
when a Hebrew comedian without a acteristics. That the day should ar-
THE SEASON'S GREETINGS
"What! You expect me to appear
beard and a dialect wouldn't have rive when the stage would introduce
without a beard and speak without a
o been considered a Hebrew comedian a Jew as he really is, without his bur-
nt all. And if ever a producer had lesque trimmings—shorn of his beard dialect!" he exclaimed in astonish-
ment. "Why, I couldn't do that. My
been no presumptuous as to put out and accent, his extravagant hand ges-
a play in which a Hebrew character tures, diamondless, and far from vul- dialect is part of me by this time. My
wasn't supposed to be funny, he gar—seemed in those days of careless beard is as necessary to me as is my
nose. No you will have to select some-
would have sounded his own financial burlesque comedy quite impossible.
one else. I am a Hebrew comedian.,
doom. Who, in those days, would But the miracle happened. Today Who should ever expect me to play a
have expected a Jew on the stage to theater-goers are given the opportu- serious role?"
do much more than mutter "Oi, oi," nity to see on the stage a Jew as he
But when the author of the new ,
place his finger at his nose in the really is—say at home—kindly, lov- play met Mr. Sidney, he, t" joined :
manner of oath, and talk abuot ge- able, childishly affectionate, droll, has- the chorusrequests
him to my(
t . ■ 1
f h'
of re, ,
filte fish and the clothing business? morons, extraordinarily fond of his himself a chalice in a new branch of
No one. The Hebrew characters were fam il y and all t he th ipg,s connected tn
the profession. Finally, after much!
the Charlie Chaplins of their race. wit
h his home. There may sometimes urgin g, he was prevailed
,'
upon to ac-I
So true did they all run to the same be an air of pathos about him; he cent the role of a theatrical manager, I
type that few persons outside the may appear slightly tragic at times, a sort of matchmaker of a traveling
Hebrew race itself ever dreamed but or he may be extremely shrewd in company, in the play called "The Show
what the average Jew in his home business deals, but rarely nowadays Shop." To Mrs. Sidney he gives the
acted the same way as did his proto- is he shown as he most assuredly is credit for his ultimate decision.
not, nine cases out of ten—a vast-
:firs
type on the stage.
M Sidney, in his dressing-room at
Everyone laughed at Jakie's queer, garian, crudely unfamiliar with the the Harris, told about the difficulties
he
experienced when first taking the
crooked nose,. at his funny, too large English language, raving constantly
plunge from the field of practically
derby hat, which slid down over his about money.
t, burlesque comedy to straight drama.
Sidney is one of the first,
.
George
big, protruding ears; at his large,
CHERRY 5278
flat feet which pointed out, his sizes if not the original pioneer, to break .y couldn't refrain from raising my
1360 PENOBSCOT BLDG.
too large second-hand suit, at the new paths in stage history for the voice in protest once in a while. I pro-
strange guttural sounds he made ev- Hebrew actor, Mr. Sidney, in the lead- tested about the play itself at first. I
cry time he talked. Every second ing role M "Welcome Stranger,' didn't believe that the general public
word he uttered was "mazuma" or showw4hat a man with even such a would be interested in a play which Z-3cnt-,c-cac7c-Pr7457
"gen." If the scene happened to show name as "Isidore Solomon" can be a dealt entirely with life back stage—,
, .CHIBXHII-011tOttlIttl***ItX1*****04-0-0-0-120-0-04:KHIB2-0000-0111-0*-000-0d*****0
him at table, he was always drinking simple, lovable man, with the same with the theatrical profession.
„ When my fears on this score were
faults and the same share of excel.
..---=. , s soup or ordering his dishes price
•
s..
lent
attributes
as
any
other
human
:dissipated,
1
began
worrying
about
;
...... first. Afterward he wept and kissed
being. Ile portrays the new type of my accent. I kept asking everyone l;
=
._. the coin tip he left, if he ever left stage Jew, and he does it so well ' ; met whether I talked like an Ameri- 1
g.-
any. Ile was always in the clothing,
and so naturally that, without realiz- , can or not. I was fearfufl that dur-
-
business,
and
he
invariably
wore
large
. .='
ing it Or striving for it, he has be- , irtg a most important scene I might
-==. diamond stickpins and diamond rings.
come a sort of propagandist for his , launch into a dialect and bring forth
= No one ever dreamed that a day
!laughter instead of tears. That difli-
DETROIT, MICH.
= would conic when a • stage Hebrew race.
„
Some eight or ten years ago , catty.
over with, I became anxious
would be east as anything but a
Founded 1867.
George
Sidney
was
the
then
regula-
about
getting
my
lines
letter-perfect.
comedian—a grotesque, a burlesque
— :I n the work I had been doing, manY ,

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word for word, and it worried me to
think that everyone in the cast took
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mess the whole thing.
I felt strange in my new makeup, a
We
solicit
your patronage
, regulation business suit. When I saw
groups of actors or those connected;
with the play standing around during
0
rehearsal looking at me, I wondered'
_; what comments they were making.;
NI Did they think my short, fat, funny
• build only suited to comedy roles, and •
A. F. Moore, Secretary
J. J. Mooney, President
unfitted for the one I was •
u- portraying? I was told to drop all
FE comedy and just act natural. As
0
ROY W. ANGER
-•
result I felt strangely lust. Shorn of
Illanager Wayne County Agency
▪ my regular habiliments, of my beard,;
B ; of accent, my mannerisms, my conicity ,
▪ li n es, I felt that I was not acting. 1
E I was convinced that neither the play 000-000-0.0.0*-000O00-0-0400 * 0-0-0-00.000{0-00-0-0-00M2 0-0-00 0-000000-0
T.2
nor I would gas over. Constant worry
- -
E drove me into insomnia. When I did
• sleep it was fitful. I spoke my lines
M in Tay sleep. I muttered and groaned
• and sobbed during the long hours of
▪ , the night. I felt that I never could
go through with the thing—"
As far as build and personal ap-;
Ei pearance are concerned, Mr. Sidney
scents better equipped to play comedy
Es : or burlesque comedy. He bears sonic.;
what of a resemblance to the late John ;
Bunny, whom, by the way, Mr. Sid- 1
ney once managed in a road show. Ile
•
is short, quite stout, pudgy might be
MEMBERS:
the better word. He has a humorous,
▪
cast of countenance, short legs and a
NEW YORK STOCK EXCIIANGE
slightly bald head. Nevertheless, as
Isidore Solomon, the little traveling
▪
NEW YORK COTTON EXCHANGE
man, who arrives at a small New Eng-
•
PHILADELPHIA STOCK EXCHANGE
lang village one New Year's eve, and
CHICAGO STOCK EXCHANGE
is snubbed and discriminated against
CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE
m by the natives, he moves his audience
to tears.
DETROIT STOCK EXCHANGE
N". 1 Asked to analyze this, Mr. Sidney
ASSOCIATE NEW YORK CURB MARKET
explained:
comic character very often
K
_Ez
z.- rouses sympathy. There is something
Mx pathetic about the very fact that no
one takes him seriously—that every-
one laughs at him. even when he ex-
•
pects sympathy or merely human un-
•
328-32 BUHL BUILDING
derstanding. I find that in certain
- roles the things left unsaid and un-
Telephone Cadillac 4332
done are more important than those
which are not. I have very often found
▪
-r._- that a slight gesture, a facial expres
sion, the droop of a shoulder, or es-en
SPECIALIZING IN —
a quiet, still posture, is more effectiv e
than more extravagant acting. Wha t
I could be more pathetic than the sta ge
MI' picture of that lonely, badly treated,;,
- kindly Jew standing there in the ho-'
-E-T.
- -- tel lobby on New Year's eve, deprived
=--
1 __
-
- of a bed to sleep in because of his I
--==
_ race? What could I do to make him I
-- appear more pathetic than he actually
..-.'
'-"----.. was? So I merely stand still, hunch I
my shoulders • mere trifle, perhaps,
and let my facial expression and my
silent, lonely figure do the rest. If ;
•
an audience isn't going to be moved
by that sight it never will be by any-
-
thing else.
BOUGHT AND SOLD
"No, I never could go back to the ,
•
Is ard and dialect plays.
"I enjoy tso much depicting the
E i average Jew as he actually is, whether
4835 WOODWARD AVE., ROOM 210
he is a comedy character or • straight
drama one—kindly, losable. sympa-
to
help
the
under
dog,.
thetic, eager
Phone Glendale 5431
"-"- and, generally, an all-around regular
human being."—The Theater Maga. '
004)***0-00t)
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5687

1926

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1926

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