The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-05-24
HEBREWS ON THE STAGE.
Some Reasons for the Success They art
 Making as HumOriSts.

Making as Humorists.
 The last few seasons have brought
 about such a tremendous change in the
 n'lture of music hall humor that it is
 hard to say which is the deader of the | tWo-the stage negro or the stage Irish
 man. One fact alone is self-evident. The stage Hebrew is still on top, and 1t
 is he who by his natural originality and
 cleverness has helped to put many nail in the collins of his two rivals,
 How often nowadays in a first-class music hall do you see what is known as a "burnt-cork artist?' Willis Sweat man is the only one that can be remem- | bered at the moment who continues to furnish the public with originalities Lew Dockstader used to do So, but of late he has gone into the wholesale chestnut business, so that he threatens even to rival MT. Press Eldridge in this respect.
 | There are more colored performers om the stage than ever before, but their wit lies in their feet, and, apart from cer- tain Delsartian sort of fun which they | manage to throw into their cakewalks, | they make no attempt at humor. Then, | again, there never was such a rage for | coon" songs as there is at the present time. But that proves nothing The men and women who make the greatest | hits in singing these songs appear al- I | most invariably in white face. While as | for the stage Irlshman, his fate Is even worse. There are two actors who can still make a comic Irishman endurable to Broadway audience. One is John T. Kelly and the other John Sparks, and even these two artists sometimes have hard row to hoe nowadays in trying to raise a laugh. A good Irish song will always win immediate favor, but since the deaths of Harry Kernell and Kelly, the Rolling Mill Man, the Irish side walk conversationa1ist' has become more or less of a back number. For ev- cry good Irish or negro story that is told on the stage at present you will hear at least ten good Jew jokes. This may be a small matter in itself, but it shows how the wind is blowing, and it is only an-
  fact that the Hebrew is fast monopoli- zing nearly every department of theatri- cal affairs, As theatrical managers tho Hebrews have always more than held their end up in New York, but it is only within the last three or four seasons that they have appeared so generally both as actors and comedians.
 The only successful burlesque compa ny that New York has known in the last ten years is run by the Hebrews, who, although they hire playwrights to write their burlesques, owe most of the fun in them to their own sense of hu- nor, The actress who as heavy woman of a stock company, ranks both as beauty and an actress among the prime New York favorites of the day is Jew ess, and only dropped her own name when she came to play here because her manager feared that her name might handicap her chances of success. And at a Broadway theater which makes a speciality of spectacular productions, by actual count it was discovered that nearly three-quarters of the chorus and ballet were made up of Hebrew women, all more or less comedy and clever
 
 who has been making close study of the American stage this season re- marked:
 The hardest thing for stranger to discover is what you Americans mean when you speak of American humor l go to your theaters and l see for the most part plays by English authors or adaptations from the French. Nathan Hale the one good American play I have seen this year, was charming, but it would scarcely come under the head of humor. I go to your most popular music hall and I laugh till my sides ache, over what? A pair of Dutch CO., medians. Again, at the same theater, l see a performance of a Hester street Jew wh ch is inimitable, but the very point of his sketch lies in the fact that the man has been here such a short time that he cannot speak the language. Then l hear that Nat Goodwin is typical American comedian, but how gan l be expected to believe that when I see him only in such narrowing character as Nathan Hale? Then I rushed to the Casino. "A Dangerous Maid was on the boards, but who were the stars? An English mimic and another German dia- lect comedian. After that 1 went to see Mir. Crane and I am now sadder though no wiser man on the subject of 1 American humor."
 This is, of course, an extreme view, l but, on the other hand, here is the tes- timony of the manager of variety the- ater who prabably knows more about | variety actors and their methods than | any ten other men in town.
 Tt is perfectly true that the Hebrew is | forging to the front in the theatrical | world" said he. He deserves to. Not | only is he naturally clever, but he | throws himself heart and soul into his | work If you know anything about va riety actors you must be aware that l