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DETROIT JEWISH CIIRONICLE

Thursday, October 5, 1950

Page 6

Part on Stage
From Noah to Berlin---Jews Play
_oc1 ern A merican Theater

an Drama 131
•
Activity
in
Americ
sh
History of J
to Jews
D ives Great By Debt
od
HENRY
W.
LEVY
Dates Back to Pre-Revolutionary Peri
WHEN THE CURTAINS were lowered in 30-odd theaters

By RABBI LEON SPITZ

in New York City at 11 p.m. on Memorial Day the
T IS USUALLY conceded that Jewish participation in every phase of the American theater, American theater officially completed the first half of the
I production, playingwriting, acting, is both abundant and significant. This interest was
present almost from the first and continued during the two past centuries. It is intriguing 20th century, for Broadway tradition has ruled that the 1949-

that a so-called Jewish theme, The Merchant of Venice, was the first play to be produced interesting
50 season ended
the point
performances
that evening.
It to
is
at this with
middle
in our amazing
century,
on the American stage as early as 1750. Henry W. Longfellow wrote but never produced a analyze the role that Jews have played in — the American
- — --
theater.
Chanuka play under the title "Judas Maccabees."
and

ard, Bert Lahr, Milton Berle

This can be done in terms of Danny Kaye.
credit a number of historical
The authoritative chroniclers of •
• • •
the American stage, William Dun- family drifted into the theater- plays which had been success- producers, of directors, of actors,

of scenic designers and play-
lap and Charles Patrick Daly, world. Aaron and Jonah Phillips fully produced.
IN THE REALM of stage de-
wrights. When you think of pro-
substantiate the records of the were uncle and nephew; Samuel
signers,
Jo Mielziner is probably
In
a
pamphlet
which
went
un-
half'dozen or so early American and Emanuel Judah were father der the title, Gotham and the ducers such names immediately the greatest. But there are others:
and
son;
Isaac
and
Washington
comes
to
mind
as
David
Belasco,
Jewish dramatists and actors.
Boris Aronson, Aline Bernstein,
Harby were brothers. These were Gothamites, Judah censured New
These Jewish dramatists were theatrical families. They belonged York society and particularly its Charles and Daniel Frohman, Lee Simonson, to name just a
Sam H. Harris, the Shubert
fully aware that a persistent hos-
the same generation, and theater in 1823, as "a house of Brothers, Klaw and Erlanger, few.
tility was directed against the to
But it was Shakespeare who
worked or feuded as the occasion
Herman Shumlin, Jed Harris,
theater in American Clerical cir- might demand, with one another.
has
never been contradicted since
Vinton Freedly, the Theater
cles. Even the First American
he said, "The play's the thing,"
Guild's
Theresa
Helburn
and
Mordecai
M.
Noah,
who
was
Continental Congress yielded to
.awrence Langner. Edgar and and it is thus quite proper that
that agitation when it discounte- one of the most colorful person-
Arch
Selwyn, A. H. Woods, Lee the importance of Jews in the
alities of his generation, a flam-
nanced on October 24, 1774 "gaM- boyant politician, physical's; a
Sabinson,
Billy Rose, Kermit 20th century American theater
ing, cock fighting, exhibition of
Bloomgarden
and Max Gordon, should be evaluated on the basis
stolid,
heavyset
man,
with
a
large
shows, plays and other expensive
of our playwrights. •
face and bushy eyebrows, who
:0
name
just
a
few.
diversions."
With every professional critic's
had
killed
his
man
in
a
duel
and
have
Some of these producers
A quarter of a century later battled for the prestige of his
opinion his own, and with these
doubled as directors — Belasco,
Justice Samuel Sewall protested country in faraway, exotic North
evaluations as ephemeral as yes-
the Frohmans, Shumlin, Jed Har- terday's newspaper, it is perhaps
vehemently against granting per- Africa, was the kind of a person
ris
and
the
Guild
duo—and
to
mission to produce a play in the who would be expected to in-
wise to turn to the 33 Burns
this list you must add such out- Mantle Yearbooks of the Theater
chamber of the City Council in dulge in sentimental and patriotic
S.
standing directors as George
"Christian Boston."
(one for each theatrical season
Kaufman, Lee Strassberg, Harold since the year 1919-20 and two
Still, 32 years later, President drama.
Clurman,
Moss
Hart,
Shepard
Dwight of Yale College stormed! In his old age he reminisced
volumes covering the ' first 20
in New Haven that to "indulge a that he had "a hankering for the
Traube. Chester .Erskin, Garson years of the century) in which
taste of playgoing meant nothing ', national drama, a kind of juven-
Kanin, Elmer Rice, Leo Bulgakov, that eminent critic chose the Ten
and, of course, the great Max
more nor less than the loss of ' ile patriotism."
Best Plays of the Year (since his
To a critic, the editor of a rival
• Reinhardt.
one's immortal soul."
death in 1948 the chore has been
This antipathy to the theater New YorR newspaper, who took
Of actors there are also many: taken over by John Chapman).
may be explained by the fact that him to task for writing such stuff,
David Warfield remembered as
Statistically, you get an idea of
actors often appeared on the he replied, caustically: "In con-
both The Music Master and Shy
lock; the exotic Nazimova, Am- the contribution of Jewish play ,-
stage drunk, spectators were riot- fidence, let me whisper my sus-
erica's foremost interpreter of wrights to the theater's "Best '
ous, and that special boxes were picions in your ear. I fearthat
assigned to loose women. Ad- you never cordially approv the
Ibsen; Bertha Kalich, the great,when you note that of the 330
vertisements in current New York Principles of our Revolutionary DINA HALPERN, internation- star of Second Avenue's Yiddish I plays chosen best
in the of Mantle
the past Year-
fifty
as the them have been of
newspapers by theatrical pro- W1 ."
al star of the Yiddish stage and stage, who successfully made the I books
89
of
ducers announced that no spec- Noah, however, had also his an exponent of the great jump to highly dramatic roles on y ears,
tators would be permitted to visit contemporary defenders. "These dramatic literature developed
the Schildkrauts, Path- Jewish authorship.
I plays," another critic wrote, "are by that theater will be present- 1Broadway; . the unforgettable George S. Kaufman, who has
.
backstage.
er and son
On the other hand a more , well calculated to keep alive the ed by the Shaarey Zedek Men's Louis Wolheim of What Price been writing plays for more than
pleasing picture is afforded by morality of the national services. 1 Club at 8:30 p.m., Tuesday at Glory; John Garfield, J. Edward 30 years and can well lay claim
Mordecai M. Noah in a Letter of I The theater-going public gave the' the synagogue. Miss Halpern Bromberg, and Celia and Luther to being the most successful col-
Theatrical Reminiscences. Noah plays a magnificent reception will present a series of selec- Adler who went on from the laborator in American theatrical
tions from Jewish folk humor, Group Theater to so many out- history, has been represented on
defended the theater and ex- time and time again."
the Mantle "Best" lists no less
poetry and drama.
standing roles; Edward G. Rob- than 18 times, leading all other
pressed the satisfaction which he i Noah deplored the fact that
standing
&rived from Witnessing good even distinguished playwrights
Kibitzer
dayer
and
a
inson, both as The
plays. After the show he used to (and among these he named Isaac
s as a playwrights.
where folly reigns sub- in his pre-Hollywood
In second place among Jewish
go home and early to bed, thus Harby — a Jewish playwright, misery,
avoiding Philadelphia night-life. I editor and s c h o o 1 in a s t e r of lime, where vice doth pall, Thou Theater Guild
d the authors is the more youthful Moss
Reed
Hart; with 10 "Best" plays to his
memorable Mother Goddam of credit, six of which were collab-
specifically
assailed inion
There
is
personalities like 13 e n j a m i n ed with neither wealth nor who,
They Shanghai Gesture .
lie inh is op, made
orations with Kaufman during
Paul Muni, the Counselor at Law;
Franklin, James Fenimore Coop- honor."
thou
'Slew loads of words
er, Hawthorne, did not turn to the Samuel Judah and Emanuel B.
Lee Cobb, the Willie Loman of the 1930-40 decade. .
Since then, Hart has gone on
drama as a major outlet for their Phillips earned their living in the
niayest together lay
The Death of a Salesman; Ethel
. practice of law; Aaron Phillips
Merman and Kitty Carlisle, two . to even greater fame on his own,
And swear, t hough damned,
artistic self-expression.
it is a play-
unlike but great musical starst I while Kaufman, for the most
Despite all this, the handful of and Emanuel
Judah writers,
were actors
ll as dramatic
Isaac
as well
For brainless rouge, there
Philip Loeb, Sam Levine and part, has had lean days.
Jewish dramatists and actors
cannot be, no greater cheat
Keenan Wynn, comic satirists; Not too far behind are two of
were not deterred from dedicat- Harby remained a schoolmaster
and journalist, as did also his
Than thou art already."
the
German dialect comedians of America's major playwrights, El-
ing themselves quite seriously to
Harby.
the early years of the century, mer Rice and S. N. Behrman,
the American theater. It may be brother
Washington
Noah
himself was engaged in a He summed up his appraisal of
Louis Mann, George Sidney, Sam each with six listings.
that they reacted to a Jewish' variety of activities: consul to Noah:s dramatic writings as "in-.
tradition"
of
playwriting
and
Tunis, sheriff of New York coun- lipid garbage with which he sat- and Barney Bernard; Sylvia Sid- Following are Lillian Hellman
"
ney and Melvyn Douglas who with five; Sidney Kingsley, Rose
playacting
which
a primitive
level went back
to on
Talmudic
days. ' tY, collector of the Port of New , orates the public yearly."
Franken and Edna Ferber (all
York, and editor of half a dozen , Jonas S. Phillips, a Philadel- went on to even greater fame in collaborators
with Kaufman) four
dram-
the
movies;
Joe
Weber
and
Lou
as
a
This very early Jewish interest New York newspapers at one phian, became known
great each; and Clifford Odets, Samson
atist
early
in
1833,
produced
sev-
I
Fields,
the
earliest
of
the
in so-called Jewish drama re time or another.
Ferenc Molnar and
• • • •
eral plays quite successfully, then Jswish musical.comies; and such Raphaelson,
asserted itself in Western Europe
Joseph Fields with three plays
NEVERTHELESS, even Noah studIed law and subsequen'ly he- later day musical comedy figures each. Other repeat authors are:
during the early part of the nine-
teenth century. Simultaneously,. , was not spared the accusation of came an assistant district attorney • as Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, John Wexley, Norman Krasna,
American Jewish playwrights having sold out his "garbage for New York County. His drama, George Jesse], Fannie Brice, Lou Samuel Spewack, Arthur Miller,
! drama" for "gold:' Just how too, savored of the melodramatic. 1 Holtz, the Marx Brothers, Ed
launched their dramatic careers
(Continued on Next Page)
To the younger groups be Wynn, Willie and-Eugene How-
as well as intemperate
in the American theater.
—
---- —
•
•
this charge was, is attestee by the longed Emanuel Judah and Wash I
•
a
dinner
cele-
at
raglan Ila rhy. Judah was the writing. And largely on that basis the toastmaster
MORDECAI M. NOAH served following incident:
Only a few hours after his most son of the notorious author of he a it cm atel y 1 a u d e d and bration in honor of the famous
as president o f New York's ortho-
. actor, Kean. "I was always a firm
and the Gothamites, and damned the letter's plays.
dox Jewish congregation and was successful play, The Siege of
immersed
in Jewish Harby
cultural
and
was burnt
performed,
con-
political problems.
was
the Tripoli,
flagration
clown a the
theater, was a native New Yorker. lie, Poe intentionally neglected to friend of the drama," he said on
wa. s an extremely popular actor, •
"father" of Reform Judaism in and Noah turned over his share posse. sod a golden vaice and an mention
Noah who
was of univer-
occasion with adequate jus-
. sally regarded
as one
the dis- ! ' that
tification.
of the box-office receipts to the impressive
He made manner.
his debut in 1823 and ' tinguished playwrights of the! Dr. Isaac Goldberg supplies the
America.
But, while the European Jew- actors who were left withr•it em- acted in both melodrama and generation, in his, Poe's, bio- • extremely interesting informa-
graphic work, The Literati of tion that Mordecai M. Noah's pa-
• .
ish dramatists wrote in a ghetto- ployment•
he nation was New York City, published in triotic melodrama, The Hero of
milieu on Biblical and Jewish , Apparently, all the finan c ia l
comedy. The
' Lake George, wa. revived only
themes—in Yiddist or Hebrew for gain his entire theatrical career shocked when he was unfortun- 1346
exlusively Jewish audiences, our of many years brought him was a ately drowned in the waters of
In contrast, Noah was kindly I i several years ago at the Millen
Columbia
American Jewish I
dramatists dedi- ' pair of handsome silver pitchers the Gulf of Mexico on a vacation ' disposed towards his conte•npo- ' Academic Theater by connection
cated their labors entirely to the which the management pi esente cruise, still quite a young man. raneous phlywrights. Of IsaaclUniversity students in
American theater, wrote in Eng- him 'at a premiere performance In Charleston, S. C., Washing- Harby he wrote that "his talents with the Tercentenary Anniver-
are of the finest order and who is sary of George Washington.
lish on American topics, and per- of his Greek Captive, a stirring
I So, all in all, that gallant little
formed for American audiences. propaganda piece advocating
then
Harby,
a
young
brother
of
• • Isaac Harby and associated with a bold yet a chaste poet."
••
•
It
is
fair
to
state
that
Noah
was'
group of Jewish playwrights and
wrote the pop-
These Jewish pioneers of the restoration of ic p
• • c
dependence of Greece which was him
his school,
not as conceited as Edgar Allen actors made both a sign'
Mar in plack
Nick of the Woods•
early American theater were'
and
others
painted
him.:
substantial
contribution
to the
• • •
1 Poe
among the prime movers in the , then in Turkish hands.
DRAMATIC
CRITICISM
was
When,
at
a
premiere
of
one
of
his
progress
of
the
early
American
effort to introduce on the stage : For a reason which has never
•
feud cud-
native American drama, native been revealed a • between the , in those' days, frankly sped ing, highly successful plays, the t thea- I theater.
in the
ter reverberated with tumultu-! This contrtbutio
brought out
material,
native
actors,
everyone
denly
ous
cries,
Author!
Author!
he
re-
course
of
the
years
become
great-
of them were themselves Ameri- ' two most spectacular Jewish I neither honest nor legitimate.
on
the
stage
and
ly
enhanced
and
today
it
is
gen-
can-born, which may account for dramatists of the day. Mordecai I Even Edgar Allen
Poe
stooped
out
fused
to
step
e w-
erous, abundant and vitally im-
Noahand his cousin. Samuel to this sort of theatrical revs se take a bow.
B. Judah. \vbs. tsas hitrself no , ing. Of all things, he expressed
Yet he consented to serve as' portant.
. of . the • same mean playwright and had to his an undue interest in Noah's hand-
drama."
.
.
Somehow,
members

Yiddish Star