The San Francisco call., 1910-06-12
PASSION PLAY FREE
OF COMMERCIALISM
Famous Spectacle at Oberam=
mergau Clear of Taint of
Money Making

reached Oberammergau on the evening
of day of driving rain, after four
hours journey from Munich, says a
correspondent.
1 had been fortunate enough to Sc
cure a room in the house of Anton
Lang, the Christus of this years PAS
sion Play" and of that of 1900, and
got there in time for supper.
There were three tables in the up
stairs dining room. ready for the many
people who will take their meals here,
even if they sleep elsewhere, during
the performances, but on the evening
of my arrival there were only enough
of us to fill one. Frau Lang, who
speaks English perfectly, sat at the
head of it and her husband at the other
end
Before the evening was over one at
least of the ideas with which L had
come to Oberammergau was destroyed.
/ had thought that the Passion Play
was in danger of becoming CONNER
cialized if it had not already become
so. Nothing could be farther from the
truth, at least as far as the people of
Oberammergau are concerned Every
thing / have heard and seen going
about among the people before the
great invasion for the first perform
ances has set in confirms MY convic-
tion that the spirit in which they per-
form their sacred mysteries is the same
as animated their fathers, when, near
ly 400 years ago, they vowed their
services to be l,ept up forever in this
way, and that whatever is done outside
this remote Bavarian village to ex-
plot them for commercial ends they
themselves will have no part nor lot in
it, and will resist it to the utmost of
their power.
MANY AMERICAN VISITORS
1t is in American that interest in the
Oberammergau Passion Play and all
that concerns it seems to burn hottest.
1 should say that 8 of 10 of the ar
rivals are American, and so it will be
all through the summer. They are
coming over in thousands, even from
the far western states, and there must
be hundreds of people now in America
who are making money out of the
Passion Play" in one way or another
There are people who do nothing but
lecture on it in one town or another,
year in and year out, and they can al
ways draw audiences, and there are
actually cinematograph shows purport-
ing to be taken from the Oberammer-
gau players, although no such thing
has ever been allowed to be done here
and none but official photographs even
must be taken.
AS we talked about these things over
the supper table. of the attempted traf-
f1c in seats. the regulation of which
has given endless trouble, of the spec
ulators who have tried to buy up house
accommodation, and the startling offers
that have been made-and refused
and of all the other temptations which
these simple villagers have been called
upon to resist, I looked at Anton Lang
sitting quietly at the end of the table
and thought that he had qualities that
fitted him to portray the Master deeper
even than those symbolized in his
beautiful face.
/ suppose there is no actor in the
world who could make bigger income
than if he were to succumb to pressure
and play his part elsewhere than in
Oberammergau.
SPIRIT OF THE ACTORS
In view of the number of people
whom he knows to have been religious
ly affected by the Passion Play" he
might even persuade himself that he
was doing a good work in going out
into the world to do so.
Somethingsof the sort was suggested
simply: No; I feel that if 1 were to
act the Christus anywhere but here the
power would be taken from me-" That
is the spirit that animates every one of
the Oberammergau players. They are
performing a high religious duty, and
temptation to make money out of their
fame simply falls off them. It is only
sometimes a little difficult to know
what to do in Oberammergau itself.
Anton Lang is typical of all of them,
and when one considers what they
might do If they were, as is sometimes
unfairly said, commercialized, and the
lives they actually lead, ones respect
becomes bewilderment. He is a work
ing potter. with little shop attached
to his house.
He gets for his services to the play
this actor marvelously endowed for the
greatest part that any actor could play,
in the only place in which it could be
played-rather less than 1915, and this
includes nearly six months of constant
rehearsals and committee meetings.
and five months of performance. 1t is
about what he would earn at his trade
during the time he is prevented from
working at 1t. That is the scale on
which all the performers are paid, and
1900 marks is the highest salary