Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-11-05

which, in their entirety make up very
unsatisfactory whole, can be considered
unconventional
Of the performers, it may be said that
Mr.. Wilton Lackaye gives a magnif-
Gently shaded representation Of Reb
Shemuel, the venerable rabbi and Good
Samaritan Of the London ghetto. Miss
Blanche Bates was disappointing, not
because her work was unsatisfactory,
but because in the role assigned to her
she had but one opportunity even to
suggest the plentitude of her dramatic
power David Brandon was played by
Mr.. Frank Worthing in an unconvinc-
ing manner. He gave one the impress
sion that he was simply Topping around
the stage without any specific idea as
to what he was there for, and his vocal
calisthenics were excessively disagree
able. William Norris, as Melchitsedek
Pinchas, a Hebrew poet, was excellent,
if we assume that the tendency to bur-
lesque the role, which cropped out from
time to time, was the result of instruc-
tons. The other members of the cost
were adequate, and many of them par
ticularly good in small, sketchy roles.
Several vicious attacks were made on
Children Of the Ghetto" recently, and
for that reason it would be an exceed
ingly pleasant thing to commend it,
were that possible These TRADES have
been mainly directed against Mr..
Zangwill, who appears to have offend
ed the writer's in some way not eX-
planned One Of the allegations is that
his name has been so plastered over
the play that the latter is almost invls-
ible. AS a matter of fact, the plan to
advertise the piece as the ZangWll
play was an exceedingly shrewd one,
which was prompted by the dictates OF
sound business sense. THE Ghetto
had been running for some time at the
Broadway theatre before the Children
Of the Ghetto" came into town. and
the determination to advertise the lat
ter as "the Zangwill play" was ar
rived at only for the purpose of doing
away with the possibility of conflict
in the minds of the public. Messrs.
Liebler & Co. have given Mr.. Gang
Wills piece a magnificent production;
they have advertised it well and dis
creetly; in short, they have done every
thing that was possible to advance its
success. The piece, in my opinion, has
failed, but the fact remains that it was
a notable departure in the line of stage
representations.
For a long time it has been suggested
that a play dealing almost exclusively
with the Jewish character would not
succeed, and there are those who will
now aver that this view of the matter
has been sustained by the experience
of THE Ghetto and the Children of
the Ghetto" The argument, if it
should be used. would be absolutely
specious, inasmuch as no one ever
claimed that the Jewish play, so called,
should consist exclusively of Jewish
characters Those to which objections
i'll manuscript form have hitherto been
made have contained two or three
Jewish characters only, and most of
them have not been religious in any
respect save that some of the people in
volved happened to be of the Hebrew
faith. These works would have sue
ceeded if they had been good plays,
and would not have succeeded if they
had been poor plays, but it is unques-
tionably mistake to attempt to win
popular support for a stage production
which is given up to the exploitation
of the peculiarities of a section of re-
ligious believers. Even though Chill
dren of the Ghetto" had been a strong
play, and even with the strong adj
vance advertising given it by the book
and later by Messrs. Liebler & Co, it
Is doubtful il it would have achieved