The Washington herald., 1914-01-25
By JAMES 5. MErCALF.


The House of Bondage" just done
at the Lonsacre rhsater. was accom-
plished under the encouragement Of
the Rohinson-MedicaI Review OF Rs
views' Sociological Fund auspicss.
Mr.. Reginald Wright Kaufman Sc
cured for ''The House OF Bondage" -
book. q very large sale. The theatri-
cal possibilities OF the thing. based on
its wide advertisement were very ap-
parent to the sexual uplift cohorts.
They tried it first at a theater In the
Bronx. where the play and its principal
actors were promptly raided by the
police as being combined in an immoral
exploitation. The criminal action re-
sulting from the raid is still in the
courts. not yet decided, and very likely
to result in some sort OF judicial
whitewashing. owing to the timidity
of our judges in cases of this kind.
Anyhow, pending decision and with
the criminal authorities hesitating to
take any drastic action until they are
backed up by the courts. the same
combination of moral uplifters and
money-getterS had the nerve 10 put the
piece on at q reputable theater In the
heart of the theater district. For 2
reviewer to write Of The House OF
Bondage" as anything In the way OF
QEau8tiC lS 10 pTiuB StteAStSta eoWh
to the level of the thing itself. which
is beneath the consideration Of clean
minded persons. As a play, 1t Is cheap
and dirty melodrama, to which even
New York's newspapers have been
wise enough to give only the most
perfunctory notice In the cast are
some actors Of artistic reputation. and
ii is perhaps charitable in the circum-
stances not to mention them or their
r&-l t. ,f.k
It is fair to assume only the vicissi-
tudes Of their profession made them
undertake.
Russia and the Jews.
Considering New York's tremendous
Jewish population. "The yellow Ticket"
ought to be a great success. 1t Is an
energetic and active play as a play,
but its strongest claim to considera-
tion in New York is the way in which
IL exploits and presumably exagger-
ates for dramatic purposes R0ssia's
cruel treatment Of her Jewish sub
jects.
The yellow ticket which gives the play
its title is q document that permits its
holder, who must be an acknowledged
prostitute, to live anywhere and 60 any,
where in the Russian dominions. This
is wide liberty for a Russian subject.
especially one of the Jewish race, and
the heroine of the play, who is young
and attractive, secures this kind OF .
passport for the exemptions from op-
preston II secures and not because she
engages in the calling 1t represents. In
fact she is a good girl and gains the af-
fections of young American newspaper
man. who has gone to Russia to paint
the horrors of that country for his home
paper. To save the young Jewish girl
from the consequences Of having fatally
hat-pinned the chief of the Russian Sc
cret police in defense of her honor. he
waves in the very teeth of the Russian
bear the American nag and the awful
to Russia II 1t incurs the
ill-will of the journal he represents.
The effect of these awful threats Ii
Not only is the American
man at once excused from
the exile to Siberia which he was about
to experience because he had angered
an important police official. but the
young Jewess who had been SO prompt
with her hatpin was simultaneously |
turned over to him to bring to America, |
to become an anti-Russian |
agitator. --s-r-r -
AS melodrama, THE Yellow Ticket" |
might be interesting IL We did not have
to trust the author so implicitly about |
the extremely improbable way things |
have an even worse reputation than New
York's finest" but Mr.. Michael Nor.
ton strains even the New York imagina-
tion in the extent to which he allows
the headssof the secret service to go in