New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-26
By HAYWOOD BROUN

Montague Glass has broken MS rose
colored spectacles. The people Of the
cloak and suit trade fare much more
harshly at his hands IN object
Matrimony" than they did in the two
plays about Abe and Mawruss. Seem
ingly Mr.. Glass no longer contends
that a man may be an open target for
Samuel Hopkins Adams in his BUSH
ness dealings and yet a model hus-
band.
The new play has almost as much
humOr as the ones about Potash and
Perlmutter, but II lacks the mellow
quality which did so much TO round
out those studies OF Jewish character
In the earlier plays Mr.. Glass un-
doubtedly exaggerated probability for
the sake Of sentimental appeal. II was
asking a good deal 70 request the ac-
ceptance of the fact that Potash and
Perlmutter were willing 20 beggar
themselves for the sake OF a fOriOrn
fugitive from Russia. However. peo-
pie did believe it for hundreds Of
nights in all parts of the world. The
incident itself might have been i'm
probable, but il was a symbol for a
truth. Mr. Glass pointed out that the
Jew, whom the world thought Of only
as a money grubber, was at heart a
Grass sentimentalist.
Shakespeare found this out a good
many years before, and embodied mis-
discovery in an interesting play, al
though he lacked the skill Of Mr. Glass
in developing the humors of dialect.
Shylock, you may remember, insisted
upon his pound Of flesh, not because he
was a business man, but because, ike
all sentimentalists. he gloriied his
hates just as he did his loves.
But the authors Of "Object Matri-
mony" have followed neither Shake
speare nor the Montague Glass Of other
seasons. Their play deals with neither
loves nor hates. 1t is concerned only
with the laughablp characteristics Of
the Jewish tradesmen. Although almost
always funny the play is seldom kind
ly. We laughed with Abe and Nawruss,
but our mirth is directed only At Zw.e-
bel and Lesengelt.
The best player in "Obje Matri-
mony" is Jess Dandy His Joseph
Zwiebel is written in a 1uch smaller
compass than the Abe Potash with
which Barney Bernard astonished New
York last season. Probably Mr.. Dandy
has not the power of Mr.. Bernard, bus
it is hardly fair 10 assume this much,
ss the part certainly gives him no such
wide opportunities. Zwiebel is not an
| like Potash He, too, is a pessimist,
but the malady has struck deeper than
in the case Of Potash. In him sus-
picion has degenerated into meanness.
A. matter Of fact ali the folk Of
the piece arc a rather sorry lot and
they play a mean game. The hero sets
out deliberately 20 save his business by
engaging himself to a girl whom he
has no intention of marrying. IL is
true that Birdie is fat but Maciyn Ar
buckle. Frank Mcintyre and score Of
others have disproved the theory that
aGipose tissue is anRsthetlc.
During the greater part OF the play
Il is possible TO laugh at the woes OF
Birdie, but there is always the danger
that at the last minute unbidden sym
patty will arise for her. In order 20
divert friendship from the luckless
girl Glass and Goodman have made her
very homely and her father, julius
meaner than all the rest. Il IS julius
who auctions of the wedding break
fast to the faithless bridegroom in the
last act when Milton admits that he Is
gong 70 marry A.AeAA q anu -+Ss -'+---N-
Marjorie Wood gives a spirited per-
formance as Clara, and Jules Jordan IS
an amusing Lesengelt. Jean Temple
makes Birdie sufficiently ludicrous.
Mathilde Cottrelly does we'll in a part
more limited than those afforded her in
the two previous Glass productions.
The play is to be commended be-
cause II has a relation 10 life despite
its exaggerations. This relation is not
as close as it might have been II the
authors had not insisted on keeping
their characters fat and showing only
one side. The humor of the play IS
sbounding. but it could afford to trade
a good many clever lines for one such
scene as that between Potash and his
wife after failure has come upon them.
After all, there are three dimensions
and maybe four to life.