The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-10-31

New York. Oct. SO.-Two of the new
dramas here are so much in contrast, so
illustrative of contrary purposes and pro-
cesses, that hope you will find the tol-
lowing accounts of them readable.
"Springtime' is five mems efforts to
create a heroine with whom one Of those
mems wife may be popularized. or
course, the husband is the quintet's cap
italist. That Is theatrical business. Is
raep' is an Israelite's dramatic presenta-
ton of the Christian versus Jewish anil
mostly which extends throughout the civ
ilized world. That has been a dramatic
subject for unnumbered plays from
Leah, the Forsaken," down to last
springs The House Next Door and
Meyer and Son."
Henri Bernstein, the Israelite author of
Israel" is a Partisan, and naturally
makes the French anti-Semitic movement
the theme of his play. For. the same Pa
risian reason, and despite his serious in
tent to deal dignifiedly with portentous
subject, he makes adultery the gtst OF
his fiction. The Prince of Clar is a jew
hater and batter Of the most rabid sort.
The Jew on whom he concentrates his
antagonism is Justin Gutlieb, a wealthy
banker. The prince Is a leader among
those Frenchmen who made a martyr OF
Dreyfus, and put the Jew-Christian clash
into politics. He deems ii duty to force
a duel upon Gutlieb unless he abjsctiy
quits club to which both belong. The
Christians superior skill at fencing Will
make him sure and safe to kill the Jew
but when they cross rapiers and the Older
man bravely awaits a mortal thrust, the
younger wounds him very slightly and de-
clares himself satisfied. Why this strange
change of purpose? The Christian has
| learned that the Jew he chose for vicar
ious slaughter is his father.
A Powerful Drama.
The duel isn't fought in the play, bui
the cause of it's shift from real to mocl
4 lalr "a mi QRf of ThTaE =
erful forty minutes of drama. Th'
/ princes mother, a proud duchess, is ag
/ 0nized by the prospect that her son vii
kill his father. She begs her long-ag'
/ sons hands rather than be a cowardll
/ representative of Judaism. She implore
her son to quail urging that the duel vii
make him a murderer; but he declare
| that the cause of which he is the cham
| pion demands it. Her frantic appeal
/ arouse his curiosity as to her motive
| however. and a long dialogue, written AM
spoken intensely, leads to the mother
| confession to the count that he Is the II
| legitimate son of the Jew whom he ha
picked out for slaughter.
The frenzy of the prince is maniaca
| on learning that he is half Jew. tn
| actor is a Graham Browne, from London
| and so explosive that few snickered a
| him; but the many came at once to hi
support with applause. Another Lon
| doner, Constance Collier, acts the mothe
I
| Jewess that her assignment to the rol
| Of the Christian woman seems singular
and her Israelite lover of the by-gon
liaison is personated finely by the any
thing but Jewish Edwin Arden. Tha
doesn't matter, though, and nothing ha
been more honestly applauded by Ne'
Workers in a long while than this seen
of a mother driven by a son to divulg
her shame.
A friend of the author tells me that h
wrote that middle third of Israel frs
and rapidly, out of his minds fu
ness of the subject That was easy. Tn
acts to precede and follow were harde
The play starts in Paris club. A hall
dozen members discuss and approx
Prince Glars intention to drive JUST
Gutlieb out, while the banker has but on
defender; but between the six and tn
one, the pro and con of boycotting Jew
is thoroughly gone over. Then the primo
comes in, waylays Gutlieb, and doesn
strike his face with a glOve-as usual
stage provocations to duels-but knock
his hat off with q cane The curtai
goes down with neither of the plays tv
women having been seen.
Probably Bernstein tagged his brai
much more over the final act He ha
revealed the Israelite father to II
Christian son with grievOus effect c
| them and the mother. what is to b
come OF me?' the son cried in his agOn
He hated his father, despised his mothe
! and what was left in life for him b'
the ridicule of friends and foes alike
J Suicidel That seemed to him the logic
answer; and the author wrote suicid
denouement; and French audiences don
dislike mortuary conclusions; but he ma
] have had thrifty eye on the Americs
preference for happy wedlock for an on
: come. Paris saw but one woman in Il
: whole play, the mother, and she in Il
{ second act only. In the amendment f
] New York a gentle girl friend of Il
= prince is introduced to do nothing uni
r he is about to shoot himself. Then 81
asks him to live because she loves hin
and he consents to live with her as ha
[ PLY as possible.
From Polly to Nell.
Never have 1 seen such contrariety
? | opinion as that which was for and again
| Nell and 'Springtime" at its start in Ne