The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23
~ JOSEPH I. e. CLARKE.

Charles Klein and such dates In
~ his all too brief career as have
been published since the Ger
man torpedo ade the huge Lusitania
lis coffin, should not suffice as the
lie story of remarkable personality
The su.len waters took no warmer
heart to their cold embrace. and not
many finer brains. one who speaks
from nearly n quarter Of a century Of
IT endship and knew the man well can
odd that greater possibilities went
down with him than anything he had
achieved.
Like all men Of genius he wrought
unevenly. The manifestations of his
super-excellences came Unexpectedly
Exercising a craft wherein success or
failure cannot be predicted. we gen-
orally speak OF the work of the drama
list by his successes and let the rest
20. 1t Is the easier way. but not the
most satisfying.
The great thing In all work is to
recognize quality as the nearest we
may come to reaching Judgment. In
ability to reach and surely touch the
finer human emotions. whether of
pity. sympathy or paternal love. and by
simple def means stir fine compile
mentary humor. there is no better ex-
ample In the modern drama than The
Music Master" A continent literally
wept and smiled with Charles Klein
when he had put forth that play.
There were similar qualities in The
Hon. John Grigsby" Of years before:
not as finely polished. perhaps not so
ably interpreted. IL was at any rate
not so carefully studied and was liter
ally dashed off to meet a sudden de-
mand. His greatest success, The Lion
and the Mouse" so vsriously inter-
preted belonged to line Of social
conflict plays and was intended not
so much to hold great wealth up to
disesteem as to show the resolving
power Of love In breaking down tre-
mendous obstacles and VIGOROUSLY
coming to Its own.
The hardRess Of the money king
resided mostly In the raspine tones of
the actors voice. for owervant
brother dramatists saw that he liter
ally fed the daring of the young
woman who broke In upon him. 1t
will he recollected also that the sole
signs OF hts double sway OF the money
market and the Congress We're that
he had two telephones on his fiat top
desk and through one of them barked
a message to let the Senator wait.
The first and last acts OF the play
were negligible. everyday stun: the
second and third acts were scintillant
with genius. The lift and the COM
polling pull Of them Lay bare their
method: inveigh against their unlike
lihood strip them as you may. they
stood out defying analysis, and beyond
the reach OF mere talent to initiate
or define. Again the ringing applause
Of Q continent was his Not one
IN ten thousand Of those who rocked
with laughter or he'd their breath
with sudden gasp at the humor or
the real underlying pathos of Pot
ash and Perlmutter' knew that II was
the same master hand which had
fashioned THE Music Master" that
hsd strung the Montague Glass fables
along the dramatic necklace Of the
Jewish partners.
SO from these three instances Of the
debt of our poor humanity To Charles
Klein---a kindly, wholesome charming
debt-let us give sigh or tear
to his memory as we glance at his
quaint history.
He was born in London ~ Jewish
parents on January I. 1867, and was
reared in an art atmosphere much
out OF the usual in that big prosaic
town. His father taught languages
In a collegiate school in Camden Town
"a shy. quiet little man. His mother,
a busting, active woman, taught de-
pertinent In the West End There