Omaha daily bee., 1920-11-28
NeW York Critics
Loud in Praise of
Young Ben-Ami
BY Burns Mantle.

NEW 4ORk.-(Special Core
~ spondence. Jacob Ben-Ami. ,
young Jewish actor who hail.
IRON Odessa, but who achieved
something of local reputation las
season Tor his work as a member O,
the Jewish Art theater, is the mos
talked OF actor in New York ius,
now. He played his first part ir
English last week in a play called
Samson and Delilah." at the Green.
wich Village theater, and was im.
med!ately proclaimed great"
Much OF the praise accorded him
may be traced to the eagerness oi
those emotional reviewers who are
inclined to overpraise the newcomer
IN their effort to do him justice, bu,
that much of his success was hon
estly won, and he may legitimately
be numbered with the most promis-
ing OF the younger men of the stage
there is no gainSaying.
The part he played is one with
which he is thoroughly familiar, hav-
ing been in his repertoire for some
time. 1t is that Of a post -dramatist
who has written play called Sam
son and Delilah." IN which his wife
is to have the leading role. In the
poets play, which has an allegorical
background. Samson. representing
poetry and art, is betrayed by De-
llah, the theater. to the Philistines,
who are the public Paralelng this
plot is that of the play proper in
which the young Samson is the trust
ing husband Delilah his philandering
wife, and the king of the Phlistines
beeiy furniture dealersto whom she
gives her love. =
The big scene of the play is that
of the second act in which the poets
play is being rehearsed under his
personal direction. Disguised with
the performance Of the actor as
signed to the role of Samson, the
poet undertakes to read the impas-
4 stoned lines himself. Impressed by
the ardor with which his Delilah re-
spends to his Samson, his awaken
ing jealousy of her is momentarilv
quoted, until he realizes that she has
been deliberately playing over his
head to her lover, who is one of the
onlookers. Then his passion breaks,
and in scene of gripping dramatic
intensity he attacks the smirkinp
Philistine.
1t is one of these carefully builded
scenes playing which no competent
actor Could utterly fail. but it is only
fair to Ben-Ami to say that no Amer
lcan actor, with the possible excep-
ton of John Barrymore, could play
it as well as he He has another in
spired moment in the concluding act
when, half crazed by his grief he
wanders back to his home intent up
on killing the guilty lovers. Pa
thetically arrayed as the aveneing
Samson in a fantastic costume he
has fashioned from torn newspapers,
he waveringly points a revolver at
their heads and then, as his courage
fails, permits them to escape and
sends the bullet into his own heart.
1t is fine theatrical realism he
achieves in this scene, and his aud
fence became cheering crowd of
admirers at its conclusion.
Ben-Ami is young man of me-
dium stature, possessed of a melo-
dious voice and the temperament of
the born actor. He has a fine sense
of character and due regard for
the conventions of the theater which
he skillfully dominates in place of
being ruled by them. His English
speech is only slightly accented, and
he commands spiritual quality that
will carry him far in the romantic
and tragic roles which are his forte.
If he also possesses the variety and
range which his friends claim for
him, his position in the American
theater is assured.
He is capably assissed by Pauline
Lord as the wife and Robert T.
~Haines as the furniture dealer, and
Arthur Hopkins has provided him
with an adequate and attractive set
ting for his debut.
Mary Nash, returning from her
season in London with "The Man
Who Came Back" is playing an
other passion-torn lady in "Thy
Name Is Woman" nj the Forty
eighth street theater. 1t is not much
OF a play, and is carried entirely by
three characters, but It affords Miss
Nash an opportunity to revel in that
temptestuous acting il which she de-
lights.
The wife in this instance is a
young woman married to an anemic
and rather sickly tanner. who devotes
most of his time to smuggling laces