The Denver Jewish news. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1915-1925, 1921-01-26
On wife the Motley. Jew
ish Life Burlesque
CONTINUED from Page One. J

reproduces the English or rather the
English jargon of the. two manufac-
turers that he succeeds in evoking
smile on the readers face.
Again. as in the case of Lapidowitz.
we get no glimpse OF the inner work
ings of the heros' souls the inner lives
and the mOtiyes-eNcept the very sup
CRITICAL ones-which govern their con-
ducC and actions. Potash and Perl
mutter together with all the second
AIRY characters of the stories, appear
before us like performers in farce
or cheap comedy in sort of funny
dance. in burlesque syncopation. As
l have already mentioned, the only
difference between GLASS; characters
and those of Leasing and others is that
Potash and Perlmuttcr are supposed
to be honest and upright gentlemen
well intentioned and good-natured, in
fact. at times, too good to be true.
They go out of the way to do each
other n service, and in general. are
types of good" Jews.
Needless to say, much of the humor
in their conversation is due not only
10 their peculiarly twisted English bu.
also to the numerous Hebrew and Ger
man phrases with which it is inter
spersed. The readers, not understand
ing, are apt to and do laugh at these
foreign elements in Potash's and Perl
mutter's speech.
The same must be said of all the
other characters in the Potash anu
Perlmutter series-who are invariably
funny, but only specifically so. 1t
seems as tho Glass missed an oppor'
tuni,y to give true picture of the
cloak and suit trade. by skimmins
the surface only. Another sin of omis
sion is similar to that of Dumas MS
torical romances in which the common
people never figure. and only kings
queens and dukes and other exalted
personages fill the pages. Likewise
in Glass's stories we come across on
iy the "aristrocracy' of the cloak and
suit trade the manufacturers, til"
statesmen. the lawyers. but hardly ever
duce all those garments III the sweat
of their brow. They seem to be al
most non existent, nor can one pos
sihly learn of the attitude of Potash
end Perlmutter towards their ''hunds."
which attitude is. first. last and fore
most. the true measure OF man, par
ticularly II he happens to Ike an en-
pIoyer. Cordial treatment. of ones
superiors or equals is by no means an
Indication of Il mans real character
it is his treatment of those dependent
on him that gives an adequate idea OF
it. Why did not Glass attempt to
show this? Or, perhaps, had he done
1t. the two amiable gentlemen would
be shown in their true light, as eN-
ploiters of their fellow-beings. Or did
he fear that his amusing and "en-
tertaining' stories would assume too
serious trend for his American read
ers and would lose the status of best
sellers?
Be that as it may, these stories
seem TO have found great favor with
the American public which, it must
he admitted. is very fond of II circus
a show which ranks second only to "A
prize fight.
have spoken here only of two au-
thOrs, but they are che most represent
tative and. must admit. most talent
ed of all this group of entertainers
The period of ION With the Motley
in Jewish-American fiction is by no
means at an end. and II number OF
imitntors of Glass and Leasing have
arisen who are trying to amusc the
public with side shows of their own.
based Oh the same principles as tn"
tale about the original I.apidowitzcs.
Potashes, Perlmutters ct, tutti guant..
In the meantime, another era has
begun, and that is the era of earnest
consideration and responsibility. This
period is hardly fifteen years old and
some of its representatives are Mary
Antin, Abraham Cahan. Elias Tobcn-
kin. Bertha Pearl, NJ. L. tavagc, Sid
ney Myburg, Fannie Hurst and last
but not least Anzia Yezierska, the lat
est addition to this group of authors
Their works and types will be the
subject of my next article.
Rabbi l. Mortimer Bloom, of the
Hebrew Tabernacle, 1JSth street and
broadway. New York announces the
az. Of MOI