My Quest After a Good Shylock

By DR. LEON .FRAM

All my life I have been hear-
ing about various great actors
who enacted the role of Shylock
in the "Merchant of Venice" with
such skill as to bring out the
alleged original intention of
Shakespeare — namely, a depic-
tion of the passion of the perse-
cuted Jew against the back-
ground of a profligate and brutal
Christian society. .
Having studied the text of the
"Merchant of Venice". minutely,
I have never been able to see
that such an interpretation of
Sh y lock was possible. It simply
was not in the text. I kept an
open mind, however, and went to
see every actor who gave any
promise of performing this mir-
acle.
I saw, for instance, the Shy-
lock of the great Jewish star,
David Warfield. It was one of the
ugliest pieces of Jew-baiting I
ever witnessed. Now, it was in
continuation of this quest for the
"good Shylock" that I traveled to
Stratford, Ontario. I was house
guest of a couple at whose wed-
ding I had officiated, Mr. and
Mrs. Sol Gerofsky, one of the
small group of Jewish families
who reside in Stratford.
The Stratford Shakespeare Fes-
tival is truly enjoyable. I was
entranced by the performance of
the Greek tragedy, the "King,
Oedipus" of Sophocles. I was de-
lighted with the performance of
Stravinsky's "A Soldier's Tale,"
by a highly gifted group of
Canadian musicians and dancers.

–

But the "Merchant of Ven-
ice," — that was another mat-

The few Jewish intellectuals,
and the non-Jewish liberals, who
defend the "Merchant of Venice"
simply forget the role of Jessica:
4longside of the medieval image
of the wealthy Jew, there was
always the companion image of
the beautiful home life of the
Jew. When Shakespeare puts into
the mouth of Shylock's daugh-
ter all the medieval prejudices
against the Jews and depicts her
as faithless to her father, then
you know that Shakespeare went
out of his. way to make his story
of the Jew even more anti-Jewish
than the prevailing prejudice of
his day required.

The literati, whether Jewish
or non-Jewish, who wonder
why some of us are so anxious
to relegate the "Merchant of
Venice" to the library shelf and
prevent its presentation on the
stage, conveniently forget that
it was the "Shylock image"
which Hitler and Goebbels and
Streicher used so effectively
as a weapon for the demoraliza-
tion of the Christian people of
Europe, and as a tool for the
extermination of six _million
Jews.

16 DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
s -Friday, -August 19, 1955 -

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The "Shylock image" is the
myth of the Jew as the embodi-
ment not only of greed and
blood-thirstiness, but primarily
of power. The power of the Jew
rests upon law. Shylock invokes
the constitution of :Venice to give
him the ,power to cut the pound
of flesh from the heart of An-
tonio. In the courtroom scene,
the Christians are beside them-
selves with frustration because
the Jew's power for evil is rooted
in the law of the state. It was
this Jew-image which Hitler im-
pressed upon the people of Ger-
many, and all of Europe. He
persuaded the German people,
and' came near persuading the
whole world, to abolish all con-
stitutions,' all democratic govern-
ments, in order to destroy this
alleged power of the Jew.

4-

See your travel agent or phone:
ELLENVILLE (N.Y.) 370

This is why Jews who actu-
ally see the "Merchant of
Venice" performed are stricken

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ter. I am now firmly convinced
that the Jews who say that a
decent interpretation of Shy-
lock is possible are merely ex-
pressing wish thoughts.- Cer-
tainly, any careful reading of
the text cannot but reveal the
malice with which William
Shakespeare wrote this play.
It does not in any sense miti-
gate this malice to say that
Shakespeare was a child of his
time — a time when hatred of
the Jews was part of the men-.
tal equipment of every Chris-
tian. It is true that Shakes-
peare put into the mouth of
Shylock one speech in which
he defends the Jew'S position,
namely, that since the Jew is
after all a human being, he has
a right to plot hate and venge-
ance against the Christians
who persecute him. It is a very
feeble defense. The speech, as
given by the Jewish refugee
actor, Frederic Valk, drew no
applause. The argument is so
obviously hollow.

with terror. At the perform-
ance which I witnessed, there
was a disturbance in the tent
theater during the court room
scene. A heavily-accented voice
cried out "It's a shame to pre-
sent such a play—a shame."
The voice subsided, nothing
serious occurred. The play went
on. I am sure that every Jew
in that audience, and-many a
liberal-minded non-Jew, and
this includes the Catholic priest
who sat in the seat next to
mine,- were in sympathy with
that voice even though we
might have regretted its im-
pulsiveness.

Vocational Booklets

Temple Secretaries' Assn.
Becomes LIAHC-Affil*te.-.

The Bnai Brith Vocational
Service Bureau has just issued
five more booklets designed to
aid high school boys and girls in
selecting a career, it was an-
nounced by Dr. Maurice Jacobs,
Chairman of the Bnai Brith na-
tional commission that directs
the work of the Bureau.

The'iiation's -•eading association
of professional administrators has
become a full-fledged affiliate of
the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, parent body of
the nation's Reform temples,• it
was announced I
Dy Dr. Maurice
NT. Eisen drath,
the Union's pres-
ident. The
group, the Na-
ional
on of Temple
Secretaries, was
formed about a
decade ago to
enable temple
B. I. Pincus executives to
pool their information and ex-
change ideas which would in-
crease the efficiency of their op-
erations. Until recently, it was
an adjunct of the Union's Depart-
ment of Synagogue Activities, but
its growth prompted the national
executive board of the Union to
elevate the status to that of
affiliate. President of the Asso-
ciation is Bernard I. Pincus, of
Temple Israel, Boston. First pres-
ident and one of the founders
of the group is Irving I. Katz,
Temple Beth El, Detroit, who is
now honorary president.

Q TY
pig

SOUTH HAVEN'S

Any perforinance on the stage
of the "Merchant of Venice" can-
not possibly have any other con-
notation but that of public Jew-
80 acres of happiness.
baiting. There are those who say
Florida luxury bt
that the Christians in the play
modest rates. Dream
are also depicted as objectionable
SWIMMING POOL.
characters, but this is not true.
Rooms with bath .
The Venetians in the play are
people whom we would call "cafe
Superb food . .
society." They are gamblers and
Planned activities —
idlers, but they-are the kind of
(Free
Orchestra
people who in every society rep-
I, at%
Rhumba Lessons).
resent "fashion"- and are liked
Midnight Snacks, Tennis, Shuffle-
despite their faults. They are
never referred to as Christians.
board, Golf, Horseback Riding,
Throughout the whole play, by
Children's Supervisor.
contrast, Shylock is never ad-
Write or Call Now!
dressed without the appelation
"Jew." Shakespeare intended that
FIDELMAN'S RESORT
Shylock's greed, his capacity for
Ph. 789
South Haven, Mish.
Fortune befriends the bold.—
making money, his hatefulness,
Cicero.
his blood-thirstiness shall typify
the Jew.
I had an interview with Tom
Patterson, who is known as the
"spark plug" of the Stratford
on the Beautiful
Shakespeare Festival. He is a
likeable young man. He is mod-
est and unassuming; you would
See . . .
never imagine that he was re-
sponsible for taking an obscure
town in Ontario and transform-
AFTER SEPTEMBER 1ST AT
ing it suddenly into a world cen-
ter of drama and music. I am
frank to say I had a moment of
World's Largest Pontiac Dealer
extreme alarm when he said that
UN. 3-9300
18650 LIVERNOIS
some of the performances of the
Stratford Company were to be
presented on television. I felt a
sense of great relief when he told
me that the "Merchant of Ven-
ice" would not be included
among the television perform-
ances.

■

FOR SURE BIG SAVINGS

1955 PONTIAC

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Something to Shout About

Who of the intellectuals who
defend the "Merchant of Ven-
ice" would like to see it pre-
sented on television before an
audience of millions? Who of
the literati, would like to see
the "Merfhant of Venice" taken
up by Hollywood and made into
a film to be viewed in every
town and village in America?
Yet, the moment you admit
that the "Merchant of Venice"
may be presented on the stage,
you cannot resist its presenta-
tion by every other medium._
The only way to eliminate the
evil influence of Shakespeare's
"Merchant of Venice" is to re-
sist every instance of its per-
formance, resist every instance
of its use as text in the pub-
lic schools, and insist on its
relegation to the library shelves
where its malignancy is reduc-
ed to a minimum.
It is evident that the con,

science of the Stratford Group
has at last been touched, and they
will refrain from capitalizing on
the morbid curiosity of Jews,
like myself, who keep filling the
tent theater every day and every
night of this torrid summer. Let
not the timid defense agencies,
both of Canada and the United
States, who advised against ef-
forts to prevent the production
of the "Merchant," preen them-
selves on the idea that the Strat-
ford Production has on the whole
passed without incident and that
therefore no harm has been done.
The Detroit News hasorganized
a special excursion train to
Stratford for . "The Merchant of
Venice."
The Detroit News' drama critic
was among the most outspoken in
condemning the Stratford Pro-
duction of "The Merchant of
Venice." I hesitate, therefore, to
try to define the subconscious
motive which might have led
someone on its staff to promote
a. huge attendance for the "Mer-
chant of Venice."
The Stratford Production has
set a precedent which will
plague us. With every instance
of our toleration of the "Mer-
chant of Venice," it will become
easier for others to undertake its
production and more difficult for
us to resist.

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