New-York tribune., 1920-09-19
By Harriette Underhill

One OF the first assignments we re-
ceived after We gave up being kennel
editor and went to work in the dra-
matte department was to 60 and re-
view the show at the Columbia Thea
ter. We rushed back to the Office, de-
claring that the show was one of the
best we had ever seen and that the
actors had talent. This was set down
10 inherent enthusiasm. Our copy was
blue penciled, with all Of the adjectives
marked out, and the erstwhile dra-
matte editor told us we were a low
brow. None of these things damped
our ardor, however, and We retained
our fondness for burlesque shows and
our job of writing reviews Of them
And now along comes an actor who
learned his business in burlesque, be-
ing the original Busy Izzy" in fact;
for every one knsws that Busy Izzy"
IS like Beatrice Farfax-the name
lives on and only the personnel
changes. He is George Sidney, who
gives such remarkable portrayal of
lsidore Solomon in Aaron Hoffman's
new play, "Welcome Stranger" which
opened at the Cohan & Harris Theater
Monday night.
welcome Stranger" is play about
how the people in "lttle New Eng
land town" disliked Hebrews and of
Mayor explained to Isidore, ut is not
YOU TO whom we object, but you are
the nucleus" "The WHAT" says Isl
dore: "The nucleus of ghetto" says
the Mayor. And then a horrible thing
happens to the Mayor! In the next to
The last act it is proven that he. him
self. is a Jew, and his dear old mother
writes him a letter in those funny
square characters which you read
h;'e award. : nd oh, the Kisses that
greeted this disclosure. Many an en-
'husiastic trst-nght audience have we
seen, but never one quite as enthusi-
astic as that which hissed Edmund
Breeso and applauded George Sidney.
1t was case of letting George do it,
and George proved quite equal to the
occa sion.
And here was this hero whom the
populace applaudcd ard the critics &C
claimed none other than our old friend
Busy Izzy"!
We felt a thrill of pride as the eve
ming progressed, and after the final
curtain asked Sam Harris if we could
20 back stage and talk to Mr. Sidney.
~" N"r" was. smiIinGly and frankly
pleased with the success OF the open-
said Mr.. Sidney, without the trace of
an accent, and, thank goodness. he
uses none on the stage. I'VE ran for
SO many months in Chicago that we
figured VIC had exhausted every Jew in
The city
at will take longer than few
months to do that in New York." we
said: win conviction.
"ies." hc ;.nSwcred. "we think that
we viii k"Vc TO run at least three years
in New York to accomplish the same
results. And then, you know, we have
got TO figure that lot of Gentiles will
want TO see it, too. It's mons -scctarian,
YOU know
COT course; Isidore reads the Bible
and health and science and goes to
prayer meeting and acts just like a
thr'sti"n ought to act but often doesn't
Isn't it fplny in your first success
YOU were IN l1zy and now YOU are an
lzzy again? oh, we've kept track Of
vou' Aud weren't YOU with Fanny
Brice in why Worry and with Doug
las Fairbanks in The Show Shop'?'
"les. and with Harry Won Tilzer in
vaudeville We did an act something
like the old Weber Fields act. Did
YOU ever see US? But of course it
was dialect. and I've always wanted to
get away from that. Most people in