PAGE SIX 'THE MICHIGAN DAILY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1923,
all good men and bad are forced to advantages and its disadvantages. Its
cross the bridge over hell-pit named greatest advantage is that it probably T he P ortm anteau Players
"Sirat" (Sirach). The sinners are restrains many rash actions since it
chained and then goaded across, while affords the hate-filled mind an outlet MILLARD PRYOR
the incipient inhabitants of paradise through the imagination. Many an
trip along happily, delighted at the angry man will rest easy with the "Bow are we staid grown-ups going ever watchful influence of Stuart
sight of hell like tourists visiting a assurance that before long. his enemy to find a chance to run away to the Walker, the man who has made this
blast furnace. But the Bridge Sirat is will suffer deliciously. On the other fairyland of our imagination if it is form of art possible and who sees i-
treacherous and unsafe: it is, as a hand, as a goad to virtue, hell must not in the theater?" asks Mr. Stuart the Portmanteau Theatre the result
matter of fact, no wider than a fine ever be a failure. I believe it was
hair, and is as sharp as the edge of Maxim Gorki who said: "I think that Walker while speaking of the purpose of years of dreaming and planning.
a sword. But God has made his chos- unless a man had done apother good, of his Porimantesa theater and aiml- Mr. Walker's reputation is already
en people into tight-rope walkers who then he has done wrong." or as La lar forms of drama. And it is a state- well known here and needs little com,
easily pass over the gulf to where the Rochefoucauld had it: "No man de- ment of this nature thatareveals rath- met It is sufficient that he is con
beauteous damsels are. The sinners, serves to be praised for his goodness er better than almost anything else d eIs ffth a bems on-
however, slip off the string when they unless he has the strength of charac-u the real moving sprit ack of the eidered one of the foremost produces
are just about in the middle and tum- ter to be wicked. All other goodness success of Mr. Walker and other mem of truly artistic drama and that he is
ble into the lake of fire, therein for- is generally nothing but indolence or hers of the anti-realist school. The many leagues ahead of the majority
ever to suffer-unless they be no impotency -of will." A virtue which term anti-realist is used advisedly for of his contemporaries. Perhaps one
worse than indiscreet Moslems i is mercenary or which is obtained it seems to be about the only true of the most notable things is the fact
which case they will be pardoned; through fear for one's hide is not vir- term for this school of art. These that he served for several years as
only the heretics suffer intolerably tue at all. A man who thinks hell- men cannot be called romanticists in right hand man to David Belasco who
and eternally. thoughts is -hellishly- bad off. Islam the usual sense, they are decidedly not is almost the antithesis of Stuart
s encourages this. classicists, and they are still about as Walker in his technique.
interesting also is it to observe what But perhaps we, Westerners lay too far away from the realists as pos- With his portable theater, his com-
Ineetn loi tt bev ha a ehp e etresly toosble. any of well trained and capable at-
sort of tortures are pictured as char- much stress upon the Moslem "ignor- pay
acteriatic of Mall; since there is quite ance." It is true that it is base; but The Portmanteau part of the name ors, and his own genius Mr. Walker
a quible among commentators on Is. menaces are never as menacing as comes from the fact that this organiz- has very well succeeded in doing what
lam as to the exact nature of the they sound. Islam in spite of itself ation carries with them a portable he set out to do. That is to make it
punishment-some holding it to be is imbibing the secular and scientific theatre that can be erected almost possible -for people to see some of
mental, others contending that it II spirit of the age. Already her think anywhere and under almost any con- their day-dreams and some of their
physical. Mohammed says: "Hell is ers, like Ameer Ali, are beginning to ditions. And incidentally this piece of childhood fancies in a more concrete
a fire of which the source is the wrath spiritualize their religion, and it is equipment is quite a work of art in it- form, but never so concrete that they
of God, and it is kindled in sin and possible, (though it hardly seems pro- self. Beautiful as well as service- seem to be prosaic and commonplace.
the flames thereof reach the heart bable), that some time soon the Mo- able, it enables the producer to secure As for the plays that are to be put
first of all." (CIV:6). There is a fruit hammedans will-undergo a religious remarkable results that would be im- on in Hill auditorium, the selection is
first of all" (CIVm6d ZTkkre i revolution as the western world has, possible in any but the finest equipped about as wise as could be made. In
bears thorny bitterd Zfruit, round like from which will spring a socialism theaters of the country. The electric the afternoon the two one-act plays
bars thorn hitte fruit, roundl making the wresent doctrines al, switch board, the cost of which alone "The Gods of the Mountain" and "The
an apple and shaped like devils' and the superstitions absurd. runs into the thousands of dollars, Murderers" both by Lord Dunsany
must eat constantly. They are to be enables the action to secure the ben- who is an ideal author for this type
iE fit of all the latest development in of production will occupy most of the
the intricacies of stage lighting. This time. But as curtain interludes there
they shall have running sores. Every- Then with bleeding lips she kissed time Btw shrt skerles there
thin intruh wll hppe tothe mepiece of property can be held. re will be two short sketches by Mr.
thing in truth will happen to them me sponsibe for a large part of the suc- Walker himself called "The Medicine
which ought to happen to the enemies And my cheek burned. cess of the whirlwind scene that will Show" and "The Very Naked Boy."
of Mohammed. It is all a physical But there was nothing said; be witnessed Tuesday night in the i- However, the real event of the day
affair, though, and is strikingly realis- So finally I turned eral presentation of the Old-Test- wI e the even he
tic. It is an enlarged copy of worldly And asked her in a whisper, why ment text of the Book of Job. will be o t e evening wen The
horrors. "Heaven is a prophecy ut- Her lips bled: B-Nne.deBook of Job is presented. This is a
tered by the lips of despair; and hell But nowhere does this care in me- real undertaking. It must only be re-
is an inference from history.,, chanical equipment interfere with the membered that this book is considered
If all this nonsense were merely a "Literature is the sensuous art of simplicity of all the dramatization. It by many critics to be the greatest
devil story, then it would be funny causing- exquisite impressions by is there but it is so effective that it is drama in the world. Some authorities
and interesting; but the tragedy ofit means of words.' never noticed-which is the mark of have said that this philosophic story-
is that thousands of people in this from "The Hill of Dreams" true artistry. However, back of both poem stands as one of the world's
twentieth century believe this as thor- by Arthur Machen. players and theater can be seen the greatest pieces of literature.
oughly as others believe in the Resur-
rection of Jesus and his immaculate
conception. Not only do they believe
all this, but they let their imaginations
wander even further, and themselves Striking Pay Dirt Talking in terms of balance
elaborate upon their Prophet's night-at Collehc
mare. Thus there is this additional sheets now, upon which side of the
story about hell which Lane-Poole
quotes: Hell is black fire, for after
burning at red heat for a thousand
years. it grew to white-heat, and now
it is the very hottest possible-black- your college training?
hot. This shows the effect of the
theory of evolution on hell. So hot I
black heat it is said that "when Adam Will you post it on the debit side
asked the archangel Gabriel for r
small piece of Hell to boil his kettle or will you capitalze it, making it
with, the fiery atom shriveled up the
mountain on which it was placed and usefull ron?
burned its way back to the internal
regions below."
In a modern missionary book by What you do is entirely up to you. The advantages
Mirza Gulanm Ahmad entitled: "The you have here can only aid you in making your time
Teachings of Islam" this eminentlywm
intellectual writer goes so far as to worth-while. You must make the most of them.
confirm the rumor that after death the
souls of good men take on white bod Devote a little of your enthusiasm to work; Cul-
ies while the souls of sinners take on
black ones by saying: "I have person- tivate a sense of responsibility, realize the purpose for
al experience in this matter. Many
a time, when fully awake, I have seen which you are here; work hard-you'll still have time
visions in which I saw those who were for play; give the best that you have. The best will
dead. I have seen many an evil doer
and a wicked person with a body quite come back to you.
dark and smoky. I have personal ac-
quaintance with these matters andl( Then your colleg life will be full and profitable. It
assert it forcibly that as Almightycr
God has said, every one is granted a will be worth-while. You'll be striking real pay dirt,
body either transparent or dark."
(Page 134-5). When a man writes thisi not merely panning it all unprofitably.
stuff in 1896 and when his book is
published in our country as late as
1910; it is not difficult to perceive
what the human mind is capable of.ie A
If this comes from a scholarly Mos- TWO OFFICES--DOWN TOWN-tUNIVERSITY AVE.
lem, what must be the average man's
superstition and his hell?
* f
The idea of hell, of course, has its