ch• -
Purely Commentary
Shylock Controversy . .
Author's Weak 'Approach
on Anti-Semitic Issue
By Philip Sweden to Honor
Slomovitz B-G on Tour of
Unconvincing Defense of 'The Merchant
hant of Venice'
It will be recalled that a great furor arose when ''The
on of "The Merchant of Venice" recently in New Merchant of Venice" was staged by the Stratford, Ontario,
.... , York's Central Park and the televising of the program as part Shakesperean Players. Tyrone Guthrie
(Direct
JTA
The
J Teletype Wire to
, the director, then, too,
ewish News)
of the New York Shakespeare Festival, aroused considerable pleaded against censor ship and
sp oke of the greatness of the
'14 ; debate.
STOCKHOLM—Israel's Prime
play. Actually, "The Merchant" is one of Shakespeare's poorest, Minister
David Ben-Gurion will
•t ! Opinions were divided on the advisability of reviving the and in truth it continues to provoke prejudice and hatred. The be given Sweden's highest hon-
,- ' offensive play. The Jewish War Veterans demonstrated at the reaction in Stratford, Ontario. was quite bad, and there was ors when he arrives here for a
=
offices of Columbia Broadcasting Company in protest against the cause for concern over the effects of the production, especially
1,7.; televising of the Shylock theme. JWV also protested to Mayor on young and uninformed minds.
six-day state visit Aug. 21 ac-
61 ' Wagner and called the telecast "an affront to the many thousands
cording to schedules announced
While the debate was going on , Ra bbi Nathaniel Zimskind, I ; he
'
of patriotic Americans who fought in our defense to
-re by both the Swedish govern-
,4 ,
protect our Hillel director at the University of Georgia, renorted that alment and the Israeli embassy
in
families and community against Old World prejudice and bigo- Jewish child in Athens. Ga., was repeatedly taunted as "Shylock" Stockholm.
Laz
try." But the
play, 21.
staged and directed by Joseph Papp, was as a result of the showing of "The Merchant of Venice" to school
W - !produced
on June
Immediately after his ex-
Rabbi Louis I. Newman called the presentation of the play of children
last drama.
February by the University of Georgia department pected arrival, Tuesday eve-
speech and
"a grave and foolish civic and cultural mistake." Ile said "its
fling , Ben-Gurion will be
In a pamphlet issued by the editor of Jewish Currents, dered a formal reception ten-
telecast . for a mass audience is certain to implant prejudices
by
Morris
U.
Schappes,
under
the
title
"Shylock
and
Anti-Semi-
which may later have dangerous consequences."
Prime Minister Tage Erlander.
But the executive director of the American Shakespeare
tism," evidence is provided that the backbone of the play is All other members of Sweden's
festival at Stratford, Conn.. Joseph Verner Reed, said; " 'The anti-Semitic. Schappes calls attention to the fact that Orson
cabinet, as well as leaders of
Merchant of Venice' is glorious poetry in which Shylock
Welles "abandoned what he said was a lifelong ambition to the Jewish community in this
is really
a sympathetic character having been driven to cruelty through I play Shylock when he announced in January 1960 that he was country. have been invited to
the machinations of a group of heartless, vain young people ; cancelling his scheduled London Production. . . . Welles ex- that gala event.
who were Christians." Commenting
on the protest of the New;; p ained to the London Express: "No, until all the church walls On Aug. 26, the Israeli leader
York Board of Rabbis against the production of the play. Reed ; are clean—and safely clean—I think Shylock, with his Jewish will be the guest of King Gus-
said: "Does the Board of Rabbis want to repeat Hitler's or gaberdine, his golden ducats and his pound of flesh, should
tav IV Adolf at the Monarch's
be kept on the bookshelves until a safer epoch." Welles was summer
Stalin's blunder of applying propaganda to art?"
residence at Sofiero.
referring
The debate went on. A protest against the staging of "The :
to the swastika daubing that then began in Cologne, That night, and the next, he
Merchant of Venice" was expressed, in a letter to the New York i Germany, and spread worldwide.
will b . the guest
,
the Jewish
Advocates
-Imes, by the following New York rabbis:
first in Stockholm,
Rabbi Israel Mdwshowitz, president, New York Board of :series of articles in the Bnai Brith National Jewish Monthly then at Gotesborg. .
defended Shakesneare against the charge that he was an anti-
Other major events on Ben-
Itahhis: • Rabbi Joseph H. I.00kstein of Congregation Kehilath Semite. and Random House has issued a-book. "The Truth About
Jeshurin
Dr. Julius Mark, rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, Rabbi Shylock."
Gurion's schedule are: Lunch
by Dr. Bernard Grebanier, professor of English at with Premier Erlander at the
Louis I. Newman of Rodeph Sholom congregation and Rabbi
J udah Nadich of Park Avenue Synagogue. and the well known ; Brooklyn College.
latter's summer home at Har-
Jewish author, Rufus Learsi (Israel Goldberg).
Prof. Grehanier's study is long, very involved, drags into , pound; receptions and a din-
Their letter stated:
:the discussion many issues, relevant and irrelevant. Indeed, it is ner to be tendered by the
"We are familiar with the attempts that have been made a very thorough study. but it can hardly be called convincing.
Social Democratic Party and
The question is not. as Dr. David Klein put it in the Bnai Brith
to extenuate the character of Shylock and even to exalt him
by the leading trade unions
as a figure of tragic grandeur. We find those attempts un-
magazine, "Was Shakespeare an Anti-Semite?" Any student of in the country; and visits to
history and literature knows that Shakespeare was under the
convincing and futile. To us, Shylock is what the Bard clearly
Sweden's foremost scientific
influence of his times, that there were no Jews in England in his and atomic development in-
intended him to be: an amalgam of vindictiveness, cruelty and
avarice. No actor, however exceptional his talent, has ever been day, that his theme for Shylock was borrowed. The question i stitutes. On the evening of
able to make him appear in any other light.
rather is whether Shylock as portrayed in "The Merchant of Aug. 25. Ben-Gurion will be
"To put it bluntly: this play with Shylock presented as Venice" inspires anti-Semitism. and the answer is in the affirms - the host at an official dinner
the typical Jew amounts to a distortion and defamation of our
tive -- contrary to all the arguments advanced by the Brooklyn
he will tender in honor of
professor.
people and our faith. We find it surprising that with Shake-
Premier Erlander.
.."
Scandinavia
r"
.-.
,
THE
i
speare's tragedies, comedies and histories offering so much to Many Jewish actors portrayed Shylock and were acclaimed
A highlight of the Israeli
choose from, the choice should have fallen on the one play - fo , their interpretations. The defenders of the play call Shy- statesman's visit to Sweden will
which those responsible must have known would offend and . lock a victim of a group of heartless young people. But these be a visit to the Dag Ham-
distress many thousands of their fellow citizens. And this in a
young people were picturesque in Guthrie's version, while marskjold tomb in the ceme-
community that has reason to pride itself on its freedom from
Tubal anneared as another ugly Jewish character. What good
tery at Uppsala. After laying a
bigotry and its harmonious intergroup relations.
can such characters do for Jews who, as in our time, are wreath on the grave of the late
'But this protest is aimed chifly against the arrangements
subjects of derision in many lands--on this very continent? United Nations Secretary-Gen-
to telecast the park production over WCBS. The nark audience,
Prof. Grebanier. alluding to what Shakespeare meant by eral. Ben-Gurion will be given a
it can be safely assumed, will be mature and sophisticated and ShYlock. and defendinc , the great dramatist against the charge ' luncheon at the Carolina Li-
comparatively limited as to numbers. The television audience of anti-Semitism. states: "The man who could conceive of such : brary of Uppsala University.
w ill be a mass audience. It will include impressionable young a sneech (as Shylock's 'Rath not a Jew eyes?' etc.) for his play and will be shown that library's
children and teen-agers, and many of its adults would not pass was plainly a man who was incapable of bigotry against any ; famous collection of old Hebrew
muster on the score of intellectual maturity. race." It's as good a guest as any man's, yet it proves nothing! , manuscripts.
"Does it require much imagination to viSitilli7C the effect The era and the masses for which Shakespeare wrote must be ' Ben-Gurion is scheduled to
on this audience of, for ;.xample, the court scene when Shvlock kent in view, and it should not he forgotten that even Shakes- 'receive a gift of some old He-
insists
on cutting then and there his pound of flesh from - the peare the unprejudiced appealed to his mass audiences.
manuscripts from the li-
heart of the brave, noble and generous .Antonio? Certain grisly
le historical data gathered by the Brooklyn professor is brary.
ev ents
ents of the recent past do not encourage us to be complacent •
of great interest. He has commendably accumulated enlighten-' The Israeli leader is s•hed-
in the face of influences of this sort.
ing facts. It is interesting 'to read his concluding paragraph in i uled to leave for Oslo, Norway,
"As Jews we are naturally concerned about the effect his hook "The Truth About Shylock":
!on Aug. 27.
which this spectacle is bound to have on many of our fellow
* * *
"Directors and actors of Shakespeare's plays are. with few
citizens of other faiths. But we are even more concerned about
evcentions, still racking their ingenuities in the frantic search
JERUSALEM, (JTA) =- Fi-
itti effect on our
own children. We are troubled when we think for new ways of doing him. The greatest novelty of all would
nance Minister Levi Eshkol
how it will shock, bewilder and humiliate them. Nor could any be to present the plays as the author intended them — not as
will be acting Prime Minister,
extenuating comments from the announcer, if such comments
sociological treatises, but as masterworks for the stage, which,
when Premier David Ben-
are intended, remove the bewilderment and pain.
like all dramatic masterworks, have certain universal ethical
Gurion leaves for his tour of
"There will be those who may call this protest an attempt , . ideas to communicate in terms of drama. It is as a contribution
Scandinavia, the cabinet here
to censor or to suppress freedom. They would he mistaken. ' to a re-awakening as to what "The Merchant of Venice' meant i decided.
Its aim is to point out the incongruity of extending municipal to its author that this work has been undertaken. As long as the ' In case Eshkol must leave
sanction and financial support to something that hurts, humili-
Play continues to he viewed as concerned primarily with 'the Israel prior to Ben-Gurion's re-
ates and alarms
countless thousands of the citizens of New Jewish question,' it will not be understood that its real business :turn. the cabinet has designated
'York ('ity. This statement is essentially an appeal to the good- is with matters quite different, quite as important, and even ; Minister of the Interior Moshe
Will and good sense of those involved in this enterprise."
more universal — since they are above distinction of race or Haim Shapiro as the second al-
It u t i in media tely following this lett er. in the issue of June creed."
; ternate at the head of the gov-
IP of the New York Times, appeared a letter from another Jew •
Would at he were more convincing! The world does not . ernment. Eshkol may have to
p aywrii_. t, Elmer Rice. who, as chairman of the National
ylock
as
other
than
a
part of "the Jewish question." and !go to Washington, to attend a
view Sh
the
council on Freedom from Censorship, wrote as follows from his the dramatists are so anxious to glamorize that, like Guthrie, meeting of the board of gover-
borne in Stanford, Conn.:
, their great hero, Shylock, inevitably emerges the villain, and ; nors of the International Bank
"It is indeed regrettable that the New York Board of I the villains — those young hoodlums and rowdies — become the ; for Reconstruction and Develop-
Rabbis is demanding the cancellation of the scheduled telecast 'heroes.
iment.
. No, D r. Grebanier is not convincing. Shylock's role is bag, I Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel's
of the Shakespeare-in-the•Park production of 'The Merchant
V enice.' Some of your readers may recall that this organiza- I bigotry-inspiring,
and "The Merchant of Venice" does little good 1Foreign Minister, will again
lion was one of the pressure groups that prevented, for more I , away from the school rooms where the production can be prop- i lead Israel's delegation to the
than two years, the exhibition in the United States of J. Arthur ' erly
dissected under the able tutorship of men like Prof. Greba- i 'United Nat ons General Assem
-
nier. The moment there is need to dramatize, to glamorize, t
Rank's film version of •Oliver Twist.' The picture was finally
bly this year, the government
released, thanks mainly to the efforts of the American Civil build up mass appeal, Shylock becomes the villain—and
I announced, The Cabinet has
I.iberties Union, which stressed the belief that adherence to villain is then unavoidably the average Jew in the mind of the
the voted that Michael S. Comay,
the principle of unrestricted free expression must outweigh untutored. Dr. Grebanier has not convinced us. Neither did Elmer Israel's permanent representa-
consideration for the sensibilities of any segment of the pope- Rice, who is to be commended for battling against censorship tive at the UN, will head the
lation.
but
who .would do well to take into account Jewish experiences
:deleg
delegation after Mrs. . Meir
"Obviously if every religious, ethnic and professional even in the case of "Oliver Twist" when it is presented to the !leaves. The Assembly will con-
group succeeded in suppressing whatever it regards as inimical unknowing.
vene Sept. 18.
• *
to its special interests, the guarantees of the Bill of Rights
*
would become a mockery and the arts would be reduced to
a The Educational Problems Aired in Jerusalem
Nahon Is Promoted
level of unendurable vapidity.
It's so easy to propose and to adopt resolutions
at conven- to General in Brazil
" 'The Merchant of Venice' may not be the best of Shake- tions — whether
they
held in New York or Washington or
speare's plays. But it is—and has been for 350 years—one of Detroit — and even in be
Jerusalem!
RIO DE JANEIRO, (JTA)—
the most popular; for it is an effective stage piece, affording
Col. Isaac Nahon, a Jew and a
H
'
simple
— to propose day schools, to charge
excellent actin g opportunities, particularly in the parts of
complete member of the Sephardic cOM-
inadequacy of
Portia. Gobbo and Shylock. Of the many fine portrayals of extension of the present-day educational methods, to ask for the munity here, was elevated. to
number of hours of studies by our children! the rank of
Shylock I have seen, the best was by the eminent Jewish actor
general, and placed
But
Jacob
Adler (who, incidentally, spoke Yiddish while the they be able to th e d elegates return to their home cities, will in command of a division of
rest of P.
the company spoke English).
fulfill the intent of the resolutions, will the the Brazilian army. He is 50
"Mr. Papp's production of the play is tasteful and vivid: j a American delegates succeed in getting children who also want years old.
share in sports and in music to give more time to the Jewish
qualities one has learned to associate with him. Its reproduc- !studies?
The elevation of Col. Nahon
lion on the television screen would bring high entertainment I
to a generalship is the third
to many millions who would not
The problems are! But they'll have to be
otherwise have
solved
on
such promotion for a Jew in
to see it."
an opportunity i home grounds, not by resolutions, pious and sincere as they the Brazilian army in the last
- surely are.
I four months.