Canadian Film Ed itoi Criticizes
Stratford Shylock Interpretation

Hye Bossin, managing editor
of Canadian Film Weekly, writ-
ing in his column "On the
Square," had this to say about
the Stratford presentation of
`'The Merchant of Venice":
"Tyrone Guthrie's • direction
and his pre-play protestations
could not make kosher a vehicle
in which all but two of its many
characters are or seem to be
anti-Semites. The airy-fairy at-
mosphere he gave it, designed
perhaps to blunt its
• painful
points, served only to highlight
the -ancient libel—the same one
which the late Mr. Hitler so
relied on to excuse the murder of
millions. Shakespeare's lovely
people, made lovelier by the art
of Guthrie and Tanya Moisei-
witsch, do such unlovely things—
and do them with such an air
of rightness! It's true that the
real • nature of their conduct is
obvious to anyone who wants to
think about it. But Shakespeare,
for the most part, so wrote the
play as to direct the thinking
of the theatregoer toward the
side of all these lovely people.
"Generally speaking, the non-
Shylock scenes reminded me of
the musical, 'Kismet.' As for
Shylock, Frederick Valk is strict-
ly from the scenery-chewing
theatre of the 90's, his interpreta-
tion being a somewhat hammed-
up version of the one Donald
Wolfit did here some years ago.
But it seems to belong in the
unreal mood of the goings-on.
Valk had a merry-old-soul way
about him upon entrance and he
bore the subsequent adversities
with poor and noisy grace. Or
perhaps none at all. He sacrificed
the one element of the Shylock
characterization that I always
felt rang true and which, per-
haps, began with Irving. Shylock
usually walked through the play
with the ancient dignity of his
race, a dignity that is a shield
against the taunts of the violent-
ly ignorant. That dignity can
hardly be spared in present-day

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portrayals."
"This is not to say that 'The
Merchant of Venice' should not
be played by those who wish to
exercise their democratic right to
do so, or that it should not be
seen by those who would like to
see it. 'How does one protest
against a work of anti-Jewish
bias and at the same time refrain
from censoring artistic expres-
sion?' asked Rabbi Reuben Slo-
nim of Toronto, a Variety Club
chaplain. 'When art becomes en-
meshed with broad, naked preju-
dice, where does one draw the
line?' Still there are people who
think the line should be drawn,
among them critic Hugh Finlay-
son of The Detroit News. He
wrote that 'Time has caught up
with The Merchant of Venice'
and that it was a 'dull and ob-
vious play'."
In a subsequent issue of Cana-
dian Film Weekly, Mr. Bossin
wrote:
Is prejudice fed by "The
Merchant of Venice?" The ar-
gument still rages. In his intro-
duction to M. F. Madder's "The
Jew in the Literature of Eng-
land" Prof. Howard Miunford
Jones of Harvard wrote: "Does
art imitate nature or does na-
ture, as Oscar Wilde hinted,
imitate art? Confronted by the
practical problem of the Jew
in a hostile world, we discover
to our amazement that what
we thought were idle questions
of aesthetic paradox have be-
come practical problems influ-
encing the conduct of men."
Guthrie Provokes Issue
MONTREAL.—(JTA)--The re-
ported invitation to Dr. Tyrone
Guthrie and the Stratford play-
ers, by Habimah, to present "The
Merchant of Venice" in Israel,
has stirred a new controversial
discussion in Canada.
The invitation has provoked
discussion here since there is a
sharp division of opinion among
critics in the United States and
Canada on the Stratford group's
performance of the "Merchant of
Venice." The controversy rages
about the character of Shylock,
with some American and Cana-
dian Critics welcoming the play
as one about anti-Semitism and
lack of Christian charity in
Renaissance Italy while equally
well known critics deplore the
staging of the play which they
characterize as an anti-Semitic
tract.

A. M. Abrahams, Revisionist, Dies
JOHANNESBURG (JTA) — A.
M. Abrahams, Revisionist leader
and journalist of London, who
was visiting in South Africa, died
here at the age of 56. He became
ill last Tuesday evening after ad-
dressing a public meeting and
was taken to a hospital on
Wednesday. Arrangements have
been made to have him buried
in Israel:

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AS THE YOUNGEST man ever
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local BB is on a forward march
• . Already, 21 lodges comprise
a record total locally ... and the
membership of over 7,500 is the
greatest yet . . . The latter figure
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C * *

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are to honor District President
Sidney Karbel - with a good por-
tion of the increase toward the
intended membership goal.
* * *

Given
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Curtis is Bernie Schwartz . . .
Both are Jewish.
• * *
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Chapter in Belgium
KE. 1-98121
WASHINGTON, D. C.—For the
first time, Jewish youth in Bel-
gium have formed a chapter of
the Bnai Brith Youth Organiza-
tion, it has been announced by
BBYO headquarters here.

kflITION PARK

Dr. Gonik Named Director.
General .0f World Ose
PARIS (JTA)—Dr. Alexander
Gonik has been appointed direc-
tor general of the OSE World
Union. A native of Poland, Dr.
Gonik studied medicine in Italy
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