Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-06-17
SOMETHING HUMAN
By DR.. Frank Crane

AS we go down the ways Of this busy age,
the thing that makes us stop and wonder,
the thing that is like the discovery Of hid
treasure or pearl Of great price, is Some
thing Human.
have just seen two whopping human
treasures. One is the writing about Mexico
by Ibanez, wonderful piece Of journalism,
OF which may speak later.
The other is moving picture entitled
"Humoresque," based on story by Fannie
Hurst. smrx
The intense humanity of it is emphasized
by the fact that 1t is all about people who
live in a world entirely different from any ]
have known. Something human appears all
the more human when it is Japanese, or Hot
tentot, or Eskimo. Then it is brought home
environment from yours, are, after all, blood
of the same blood and spirit of the same
spirit.
The characters in this movie are taken
from the Ghetto. They are all Jewish. In
this story we are thrust into the midst Of this
little world, close and clannish as ever a.
little world was, and our hearts are melted
within us at the realization Of our common
humanity.
The real star of the play is the Jewish
mother performed by Vera Gordon, who is
not starred at all on the program, and OF
whom l have never heard. have no hest
tation in saying that it is the most remark
ever seen upon the screen.
She is the incarnation of what, after all,
is the most interesting type in all the world
"a mother. She is the most perfect repre-
sentation of motherhood I have ever seen.
All the strong currents of mother feeling, az
lection, fear, tenderness, apprehension, gloat-
ing, pride and JOY stream from her face in
an overwhelming tide.
While I have never had the acquaintance
of any lady Of the Ghetto, I had the feeling
as if my own mother had enveloped me in
her personality.
The art of the thing is unconscious Some
how the spectator feels that neither the
writer of the play, nor the director of the
film production, nor the actors themselves
really intended to do the smashing thing
they have done. They we're intent upon tell
ing story and making good pictures and
developing the love scenes between the boy
and girl and showing the trials Of a strug-
1t is the simple, naive, child-hearted Jwsh
mother that walks away with the whole per-
Torrance.
For, after all, it is the mother who is the
one universal figure. It is the mother who
is the real League of Nations. 1t is in moth
erhood that there is neither Jew nor Cen
tile, Greek nor Barbarian, bond nor free.
There are manner of tongues, customs
tastes and Emergencies among human beings
but the one strong red cord that binds them
forever together is Motherhood.
And this is the truest, deepest business Of
the theater: to reveal to us our humanity
to show US strange types, and how, after all,
they are not strange at all.
Here is the real hope of mankind: that
underneath all our differences, our struggles
for precedence, our race hates, our clashing
selfishness, our claimant competitions, our
wars and rumors Of wars, our contests of
classes, our angry diputes Of labor and CAPT
FOL I{Nf ord
cialism-underneath all these is the mothers
lap, around all these are the mothers ever
! lasting arms.
Most books are written, most plays are
tnkered up. Once in while story is born,
not made "Humoresque" was born, and
don't forget that the greatest figure in it is
the Jewish mamma.
copyright, 1920, by Frank Crane)