box 31/5
25. ProfessenBernhandi
HXTRAOT FROM
JEWISH CHROHICLE,
2, Finsbury Square, E.0.2,
11.8880
Date
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
SEPTEMBER, 11, 1936
XIx.
non-Jew, recently.“Vo Jews, he declared, Parc a people of sorrows,
Theatre
and the British publie lias got quite enough gloomy anticipations at
present." He also expressed the opinion that the publie was so“ fed
up? with whnt hie called the wider issues ’—polities, foreign
The Year in the Theatre
upheavals, revolutions and the like-that they turned with relieftothe
play which confined itselfto the smaller cirele and the less controversial
probleins of individual men and women.
Why is the Jewish Question Avoided?
If we turn to plays by Jewish authors, we find a rather more
pronlising yield for the gear. Schnitzler's Anatol'’ was put on by the
GREAT DRAMATIC MATERIAL UNUSED
Gate Theatre Studio last Oetober. A very elever play produced at the
same theatre was“ No Longer Mourn, bv Sarah Gertrude Millin, the
Jewish Actors, Playwrights and Public
brilliant South African Jewish writer. Henri Bernstein's“ Promise?
was a success at the Slmftesbury Theatre, while at the same theatre
G.J.“
By
A few wecks ago, an American lady with considerable experiencc of
theatrical matters in the United States, while ona visit to this country
levelled a general charge of frivolity against the London theatre. Tho
aceusation was hotly rebutted, with more warmth, it is to be feared, than
Right: Mme. Fanny
logic. A few current plays whlich discreetly point the way to thoughit
Waxman, a pioneer
beneath a heavy coating of sheer entertaimnent, were cited. But tho
of Viddish Drama.
principal answer lay along quantitative linesthat whereas Broadway
shut down forthe hot months of the gear, thie West End coule boast
Left: Herr He'n¬
an enormous miunber of healthily flourisling productions during Juli)
rich Schnitzler (son
and August—the fact that we have lmd no hot months being
ofche playwright).
judiclously overlookedl.
wo produced
Of course, we were all rendg patriotically to defend the London
Bernhardi.“
stage and politely to refute the outspoken lady'’'s charge. But deep
down in our conseiences, we who frequent and cherish the theatro
had toadmit that the ladv from the States had said, if not “a mouth¬
ful,' to use a former phrase of her countrymen, at least a very
substantial mibble.
the play which followed was also hv Jewish authors, Bella and Samuel
WORLD DRAMA AROUND US
Spewack, whose“ Bov Meets Girl' was a verv bright satire
on the filmn business and met with well-deserved popularity. Humbert
During the past twelve months of the Jewish year, now drawing to
Wolfe's" Regrie of Policeman,' at the Mercury Theatre, was an
a close that affords an opportunity to look back on the activitics of
unusual poetical work##i Ernst Toller's“ No More Pence,“ presented
5696—and it happens that the Jewish New Near comes just after the
at the“ Gate,“ was alfirdy criticism ofthe war mentality.
prineipal break in the theatrical season—there have been developing in
the world vast general problemns affecting the future of every person
which have risento anacuteness that can no longer brook evasion. The
JEWISH ACTORS AND ACTRESSES
Judaco-Christian ideals and morality in goverminent and politics which
Jewish actors during the year have not been prominent in the
had gained a tennous foothold in the course of the centuries, are being
profession. Abraham Sofaer’s brilliant work in“ Bernhardi“ came
threatened on all hands. A barbarian attack from within is seeking
after he had revealed considerable comedlian powers in a rather stupid
to plunge Europe into a second Dark Age. Baal and Moloch aro
play. Leo Genn completed a season of very worthy performances ab
the Old Vie, in which his already considerable talent advanced notice¬
ably. Olga Lindo has liad two successes, in a revival of“ White
Cargo“ and in a new play still running, Miss Sinith.“ That favourite
of thriller plays, Ben Weldon, gave his usual richly amusing version ofa
good-natured gangster in Inside Stand“; Sehna Vaz Dias apreared
in a revival of: Butterfly on the Wheel“; Francis James devoted
some exeellent acting to a piece at the Embassy, entitled“ Goose¬
fenther Bed“; while Loonard Sachs appeared in a piece entitled
* Riviera,“ presented bythe Play Society.
Mr. Henry Cass completed another scason of brilliant productions
A
at the Old Vie, which, to the general regret, he has now left—after a
period of more than the usual length for producers at this great
institution.
Several events of Jewish interest have happened in the theatrical
world during the gear. Mr. Léon M. Lion ran a brilliant Ibsen season
at the Criterion. M. Rene Blum, brother of the illustrious French
Preinier, brought the“ Ballets de Monte Carlo? to the Alhambra.
London was honoured by a scason of Ballet Jooss at the Gaiety and
that great artist had with him his mnusical director, a Jew, Fritz Cohen.
E
Herr Kurt Jooss this vear established a training centre at Dartington
M
Hall, in Devonshiire. The founder of the Ballet which bears his name
Mr. Leon M. Lion.
Leo Genn a:" Brutus.
is practically an exile from Germany, because hie cannot stomach the
clap-trap eharlatanisin which Nazism thrusts upon the people by way
trampling with their earthy feet on Old Testament and New alike;
of approved“art.?
and because of their material feebleness and the ease with whlich hatred.
In the carly months of the civil year, the Niddish Folk Theatre,
envy and spite can be roused against themn, the people of God’s Book
under the direction of Mr. Nathan Isaacovitch, presented a season of
are first to feel thie venom of the new idolatry of brutish force. Here,
Tiddish productions at the Grand Palais, Connnercial Rond. In May,
surely, is subjeet erging out for dramatie expression. In greater or
this enterprise was honoured by the appenrance, under its aegis, of
lesser application, tns momentons druina that is unfoltling before our
eyes offers a host of opportunities for constructive and vieil drainatie
the Wiler ebdbeatum Is still tun glose to #e 11 #
treatinen
25. ProfessenBernhandi
HXTRAOT FROM
JEWISH CHROHICLE,
2, Finsbury Square, E.0.2,
11.8880
Date
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
SEPTEMBER, 11, 1936
XIx.
non-Jew, recently.“Vo Jews, he declared, Parc a people of sorrows,
Theatre
and the British publie lias got quite enough gloomy anticipations at
present." He also expressed the opinion that the publie was so“ fed
up? with whnt hie called the wider issues ’—polities, foreign
The Year in the Theatre
upheavals, revolutions and the like-that they turned with relieftothe
play which confined itselfto the smaller cirele and the less controversial
probleins of individual men and women.
Why is the Jewish Question Avoided?
If we turn to plays by Jewish authors, we find a rather more
pronlising yield for the gear. Schnitzler's Anatol'’ was put on by the
GREAT DRAMATIC MATERIAL UNUSED
Gate Theatre Studio last Oetober. A very elever play produced at the
same theatre was“ No Longer Mourn, bv Sarah Gertrude Millin, the
Jewish Actors, Playwrights and Public
brilliant South African Jewish writer. Henri Bernstein's“ Promise?
was a success at the Slmftesbury Theatre, while at the same theatre
G.J.“
By
A few wecks ago, an American lady with considerable experiencc of
theatrical matters in the United States, while ona visit to this country
levelled a general charge of frivolity against the London theatre. Tho
aceusation was hotly rebutted, with more warmth, it is to be feared, than
Right: Mme. Fanny
logic. A few current plays whlich discreetly point the way to thoughit
Waxman, a pioneer
beneath a heavy coating of sheer entertaimnent, were cited. But tho
of Viddish Drama.
principal answer lay along quantitative linesthat whereas Broadway
shut down forthe hot months of the gear, thie West End coule boast
Left: Herr He'n¬
an enormous miunber of healthily flourisling productions during Juli)
rich Schnitzler (son
and August—the fact that we have lmd no hot months being
ofche playwright).
judiclously overlookedl.
wo produced
Of course, we were all rendg patriotically to defend the London
Bernhardi.“
stage and politely to refute the outspoken lady'’'s charge. But deep
down in our conseiences, we who frequent and cherish the theatro
had toadmit that the ladv from the States had said, if not “a mouth¬
ful,' to use a former phrase of her countrymen, at least a very
substantial mibble.
the play which followed was also hv Jewish authors, Bella and Samuel
WORLD DRAMA AROUND US
Spewack, whose“ Bov Meets Girl' was a verv bright satire
on the filmn business and met with well-deserved popularity. Humbert
During the past twelve months of the Jewish year, now drawing to
Wolfe's" Regrie of Policeman,' at the Mercury Theatre, was an
a close that affords an opportunity to look back on the activitics of
unusual poetical work##i Ernst Toller's“ No More Pence,“ presented
5696—and it happens that the Jewish New Near comes just after the
at the“ Gate,“ was alfirdy criticism ofthe war mentality.
prineipal break in the theatrical season—there have been developing in
the world vast general problemns affecting the future of every person
which have risento anacuteness that can no longer brook evasion. The
JEWISH ACTORS AND ACTRESSES
Judaco-Christian ideals and morality in goverminent and politics which
Jewish actors during the year have not been prominent in the
had gained a tennous foothold in the course of the centuries, are being
profession. Abraham Sofaer’s brilliant work in“ Bernhardi“ came
threatened on all hands. A barbarian attack from within is seeking
after he had revealed considerable comedlian powers in a rather stupid
to plunge Europe into a second Dark Age. Baal and Moloch aro
play. Leo Genn completed a season of very worthy performances ab
the Old Vie, in which his already considerable talent advanced notice¬
ably. Olga Lindo has liad two successes, in a revival of“ White
Cargo“ and in a new play still running, Miss Sinith.“ That favourite
of thriller plays, Ben Weldon, gave his usual richly amusing version ofa
good-natured gangster in Inside Stand“; Sehna Vaz Dias apreared
in a revival of: Butterfly on the Wheel“; Francis James devoted
some exeellent acting to a piece at the Embassy, entitled“ Goose¬
fenther Bed“; while Loonard Sachs appeared in a piece entitled
* Riviera,“ presented bythe Play Society.
Mr. Henry Cass completed another scason of brilliant productions
A
at the Old Vie, which, to the general regret, he has now left—after a
period of more than the usual length for producers at this great
institution.
Several events of Jewish interest have happened in the theatrical
world during the gear. Mr. Léon M. Lion ran a brilliant Ibsen season
at the Criterion. M. Rene Blum, brother of the illustrious French
Preinier, brought the“ Ballets de Monte Carlo? to the Alhambra.
London was honoured by a scason of Ballet Jooss at the Gaiety and
that great artist had with him his mnusical director, a Jew, Fritz Cohen.
E
Herr Kurt Jooss this vear established a training centre at Dartington
M
Hall, in Devonshiire. The founder of the Ballet which bears his name
Mr. Leon M. Lion.
Leo Genn a:" Brutus.
is practically an exile from Germany, because hie cannot stomach the
clap-trap eharlatanisin which Nazism thrusts upon the people by way
trampling with their earthy feet on Old Testament and New alike;
of approved“art.?
and because of their material feebleness and the ease with whlich hatred.
In the carly months of the civil year, the Niddish Folk Theatre,
envy and spite can be roused against themn, the people of God’s Book
under the direction of Mr. Nathan Isaacovitch, presented a season of
are first to feel thie venom of the new idolatry of brutish force. Here,
Tiddish productions at the Grand Palais, Connnercial Rond. In May,
surely, is subjeet erging out for dramatie expression. In greater or
this enterprise was honoured by the appenrance, under its aegis, of
lesser application, tns momentons druina that is unfoltling before our
eyes offers a host of opportunities for constructive and vieil drainatie
the Wiler ebdbeatum Is still tun glose to #e 11 #
treatinen