The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-03-13
Dayid warfieId mt English's.


THE Auctioneer, on view at English's,
is a spectacle that has great deal more in
it than the casual observer catches. Ii is
a production Of peculiar combination ard
one that exhibits with unique clearness the
point at which the American drama has
arrived. Years ago when David Warfield
was known only as a caricaturer i'm vaude-
vile farces he was praised for his mimicry
of immigrants of different nationalities.
More recently he became famous as theatri-
cal fame goes a burlesquer of the Jew
in the shows of the Weber Fields stock
company. He had desire to impersonate
the poor Jew of the New York Ghetto seri-
ously. and David Belasco agreed with him
that it might be a profitable venture. Lee
Arthur and Charles Klein. writer's for the
stage. made play. Mr.. Belasco reformed
ii and Mr.. Warfeld and his company pre-
sent 1.-THE Auctioneer"
Mr.. Beasco is a sort of adventurer. He
has remarkable talent for making stage
pictures that have a great effect the
unthinking. He will violate any probable
ity or consistency to gain his end. ''Zaza"
was a recent example in this city. Mr..
Warfield wished to present the result of
his study of the Ghetto. and he does it fine
ly. The play, which is the work Of Mr.
Belasco. Mr.. Arthur and Mr.. Klein. is
revamping Of old ideas strung together
without skill, without A semblance OF ar
tistic appreciation of the fact Mr.. War
/ field should have a play describing faith
I fully the life of the people of Hester street
instead of a melodrama COR farce that sug-
gests George Monroe's Mrs. b O'Shaug-
/ to see true actor. dramatic artist. should
/ go TO a performance of Mr.. Warfield in
/ THE Auctioneer.
IS h.
/ from episode to episode in Mr.. Warfeld's
/ impersonation of Simon Levi without at
( tempting to connect them logically. Levi
is Of middle age. slight, bent, sparse of
hair and beard and clumsy with his feet.
He has clothing shop and has prospered.
He is married and has adopted a gentle
/ girl. His brother-in-law, Jacob Sampson,
suggests that the girl should have been
brought up by people of her own faith
! Levi then tells the story OF the beginning of
\ his career in America. He came across the
/ Atlantic, and when he arrived he had no
assets but a peddler's basket. He took
/ a room in tenement house-a room so
small that he had undress in the hall
He earned not enough to pay his living
expenses, and he fell i'll. A woman on the
same floor took soup to him and bought
/ him medicine. When the woman died, Levi
and his wife took her daughter. The pathos
of this simple recital affected last nights
audience as one seldom sees an audience
touched by the words of an actor. The
\ theater impreSsively still
Levi invests $4,000 in some bonds and
takes house on Lexington avenue. This
scene. in the second act of the play, is typ
ical of Mr.. Belasco. 1t is the old trick of
/ showing an ignorant man COmlcally out or
! place in rich surroundings. A party is on.
and at its height word is brought to Levi
that he was swindled when he bought the
bonds. A detective arrests the young
/ that is to marry Lewis adopted daughter.
/ He is charged with completely in the crime
Levi sees his wife and daughter weeping,
sees his guests laughing in the next ROOM
unmindful of the tragedy. He tries vainly
\ to comfort the two women. He is troubled
/ and puzzled, smiling vaguely moment
| wiping tears away furtively the next. un-
able TO understand exactly his predicament
The next scene, the front of a great de
| partment store, shows Levi with his old
basket full of monkeys-on-sticks. The
street throng envelopes him and he Of
/ fers the toys to the passers-by for five
| cents each. An English servant that he
had employed during his brief sojourn on
| Lexington avenue recognizes him in his
| changed appearance The Jew apparently
| is happy, doing well enough, but while
| they are talking he hesitates i'm his speech
and sways. He is faint from hunger He
| has just bought two cents worth of chest
nuts from vendor and has been incensed
because the nuts were bad. The servant
| offers him money Levi smiles
chokes, presses his friends hand and hur-
rieS away, leaving the money in the sery-
ants hand. Returning soon afterward he
/ collides with the man that swindIed him.
| Inc man tries 10 get away, but Levi
/ catches his coat and calls for help. A po-
| liceman tears them apart. Lewis would
! be sOn-in-law appears and tells the DO
hceman that there is a warrant for the
mans arrest. The policeman takes the
| Swindler away. Levi is hySterical with
| excitement. He dances about, clapping
! his hands and crying ecstatically. The
| crowd thinks him crazy. His state is in
! describably pitiful. The final scene sets
matters right and Levi and his wife are
| made happy.
!
The comic incidents of the play are many
and they are all creations of Mr.. Warfeld
with some assistance from Marie Bates
who is we'll placed in the role of an Irish
woman of the tenement district. Some of
/ the fun, especially in the first act, is bur
/ lesque but this fault is due TO Mr.. War
/ fields having no play worthy the name
and consequently having to resort to buff
/ fOonery. LII is of the cOmic-weekly, second
hand-clothing-Store sort But the truthful
moments of the play are numerous enough
/ TO reward the spectator, and they show
what may be done in this field when an
artist like Mr.. Warfeld enters it. MAY he
auspices of a manager of intellectual mo-
/ tive
I The scenery is repete with detail, and the
/ stage management il excellent These
things are Mr.. Belasco's virtues Mr.
/ Warfield is the only one of the Jews i'm
/ personated that speaks in the accent, but
] Marie Davis acts Sympathetically as Mrs
! Levi and Harry Rogers and Helene Phillips
I TT themselves to their parts. those of Jacob
/ Sampson and his wife. Horace James il
! the English servant and Odell Williams
I Is ward-heeler. second performance