Jewish Artists' Contributions Rate High
In 50 Years of the American Theater
By HENRY W. LEVY
When the curtains lowered i n
30-odd theatres in New Yor
City at 11 p.m. on Memoria 1
Day the American theatre of fi
cials completed the first hal f
of the twentieth century, fo r
Br o a d w a y tradition ha
ruled that the 1949-50 seaso n
ended with the performance
that evening. It is interesting
at this middle point, to analyz e
the role Jews have played in th e
American theatre.
When you think of producer
such names come to mind a
David Balasco, Charles an d
Daniel Frohman, Sam H. Harris
the Shubert Brothers, Klaw an d
Erlanger, Herman Shtunlin, Je d
Harris, Vinton Freedly, th e
Theatre Guild's Theresa Helbur n
and Lawrence • Langer, Edga r
and Arch Selwyn, A. H. Woods
Lee Sabinson, Billy Rose, Ker
mit Bloomgarden and Max Gor
don—to name just a few.
Some doubled as directors-
Belasco, the Frohmans, Shum
lin, Jed Harris and the Guil d
duo. To this list you add Georg e
S. Kaufman, Lee Strassberg
Harold Clurman, Moss Hart
Shepard Traube, Chester Erskin
Garson Kanin, Elmer Rice, Le o
Bulgakov and Max Reinhardt.
Noted Actors
Of actors: David Warfield, a s
Shylock; Nazimova, America' s
foremost interpreter of Ibsen:
Bertha Kalich, great star o f
Second Avenue's Yiddish stage
who made the jump to Broad-
the Schildkrauts, father
and son; Louis Wolheim of
"What Price Glory"; John Gar-
field, J. Edward Bromberg, and
Celia and Luther Adler, Edward
G. Robinson, Florence Reed,
and Paul Muni.
Joe Weber and Lou Fields, the
earliest of the great Jewish mus-
ical comics, and later day musi-
cal comedy figures as Al Jolson,
Eddie Cantor, Milton Berle and
Danny Kaye.
With every professional critic's
opinion his own, it is wise to
turn to the thirty-three Burns
Mantle Yearbooks of the Thea-
tre in which that critic chose
the ten best plays of the year
since 1919-20.
Playwrights' Contributions
You get an idea of the contri-
bution of Jewish playwrights to
the theatre's "Best" when you
note that of 330 plays chosen
in the Mantle Yearbooks as the
best of the past 50 years, 89 have
been of Jewish authorship.
George S. Kaufman has been
represented on the Mantle
"Best" lists eighteen times, lead-
ing all other playwrights.
In second place among Jewish
authors is Moss Hart, ten "Best"
plays to his credit, six collabora-
tions with Kaufman during the
1930-40 decade.
Not far behind are Elmer Rice
and S. N. Behrman, six listings
each; Lillian Hellman, five; Sid-
ney Kingsley, Rose Franken and
Edna Ferber (all collaborators
with Kaufman), four each; Clif-
ford Odets, Samson Raphaelson,
Ferenc Molnar and Joseph
Fields, three each.
Pulitzer Prize Plays
Check the list of plays that
won the Pulitzer Prize of the
annual New York Drama Critics
Award. The _Drama Critics have
made eleven selections in recent
years, four to Jewish authors.
In 29 years Pulitzer laurels
have gone to Jewish playwrights
six times.
"Death of a Salesman," by
Arthur Miller, won both the
Pulitzer and Critics' awards. Only
two other plays have won the
accolade of both groups. William
Saroyan's "Time of Your Life"
and Tennessee Williams' "A
Streetcar Named Desire."
Other plays of Jewish author-
ship that won Pulitzer Prizes are:
"Street Scene" by Elmer Rice; "Of
Thee I Sing" by George S. Kauf-
man and Morrie Ryskind music
and lyrics by George and Ira
Gershwin, the first musical ever
to be so honored; "Men in
White" by Sidney Kingsley;
"You Can't Take It With You"
by George Kaufman and Moss
Hart; and "South Pacific" by
Richard Rodgers and Oscar
Hammerstein 2nd (with Joshua.
Logan).
Other plays to win the Critics'
Award are : "Watch on the
Rhine" by Lillian Hellman; "The
Patriots" by Sidney Kingsley
and "All My Sons" by Arthur
Miller.
Musical Leaders
In the American musical, for
many years: Sigmund Romberg,
Franz Lehar, Otto Harbach, Os-
car Straus, and even Jerome
Kern continued thetradition of
Victor Herbert.
In the later years of the half
century, Richard Rodgers and
Lorenzo Hart brought "Con-
necticut Yankee." George Gersh-
win, "Lady Be Good," "Oh Kay,"
and "Porgy and Bess," Jerome
Kern and Oscar Hammerstein,
2nd, "Showboat."
Irving Berlin wrote "This Is
the Army," and the swash-
buckling "Annie Get Your Gun."
Howard Deitz, Arthur Schwartz,
Irving Berlin and Morrie Ry-
skind revolutionized the revue
with the "Music Bdx Revues,"
the "Little Shows," and similar
ventures.
But it was Richard Rodgers,
teamed with Oscar Hammer-
steind, 2nd, who created a new
type of American musical by in-
troducing the musical with a
plot, three of which hold one ,two
three positions as .the longest
running musicals in history;
"Oklahoma," "Annie Get Your
Gun," and "Carousel."
Congress Asks Brazil
Expel War Criminal
The World Jewish Congress
appealed to the Brazilian Gov-
ernment to expel Herbert Cuk-
ars; a former Latvian citizen
who recently immigrated to
Brazil.
Mouricio Nabuco, Brazilian
Ambassador to the United
States, has been informed that
the Congress is in possession of
evidence that Cukars, an of-
ficial of the Gestapo in Riga,
Latvia, and a leader of the Lat-
vian Nazi Party was one of the
persons directly in charge of the
mass extermirkation of the Jews
of the Riga ghetto.
Fenkell of Greenfield
The New Year
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