The New York herald., 1922-11-30
JACK JOHNSON SAYS
HE'LL PLAY 'OTHELLO'
Sultan of Morocco to Be
Backer and Send Over
Native Cast.
LINES NEED JAZZING
Heavyweight Would Like
to Use Fists Instead of
Swordplay.
STARTED IN BULL RINGS
Mississippi Grown 'Desdemona'
Will Not Require Any
White Paint.
STARTED IN BULL RINGS

Just before Jack johnson left Grand
Central Terminal yesterday for De-
troit he liberated the awful secret that
he is going to play OthelIo. More than
just that, 1t is going to be OtheIto
as William Shakespeare saw OtheHo.
No less august a parsonage than
Moulai Youssef, Sultan of Morocco
weight champion and Moulai has
promised Jack that the private mu-
seums of his Serene Highness shall
provide the armor. sets and garments
with which this Othello is to be girded,
enhanced and clothed.
Let the Straford-on-Avon Klanton
OF the Ku Klux Klan do what 1t will,
Jack johnson will appear as the Moor
Of Venice no later than October l.,
1928, supported by 200 native Moroc-
cans especially selected and trans
ported by Moulai Youssef, and beau
tiful damsel from Natchez who, with
out liquid powder or white lead. will
play Desdemond. BY several hundred
Sh1Qco SllO WILL Dc IlIc WIllt5I per
son in the cast, although it is to be an
all negro troupe, to be known as the
Jack Johnson Dramatic Players, Inc.
May Need Improvement.
True, here and there the play, as
William Shakespeare did IT, may have
TO be touched up a bit to meet ex-
isencies and certain differences OF
'fiewpoint that Jack holds-not that he
Gees much error in the way the author
wrote it-but in the main Il will be an
| easily recognized Othelto done In the
ioriginal. The touching up will not
tamount to rewriting the play or any
one of the scenes. Just a few neat
twists here and there to fetch certain
old gags up to date and IL is here
set down with a certain amount Of
pride that Jack himself said yesterday
that up until the moment of his de-
parture for Detroit he had met no one
more capable OF attending to these little
shortcomings IN the original text than
this New YORK HERALD reporter. II
was very nice of Jack to say 1t and
Jack said that the wages would be en-
Eyes, sir" said Jack. New York
might just as well get good grip on
It's seat right off, because next fall
it's going around sharp curve. L
ain't handing myself much when l say
that I know this OtheIlo is going TO
roll 'em on the floor. I'm no hand at
Dragging. Nobody ever heard LII
Arthur say he was a great fighter. and
nobody's heard me say that my Othello
Is going to make 'em forget the show
was ever put on before. But I've seen
a lot of boys breaking out into Shak-
speare and / amt seen anything that
makes me think 1 can't get away with
IT,"
Moses A. Sachs, $50 Broadway, is
Jacks lawyer and Mr.. Sachs has drawn
up the articles OF Incorporation, which
are to be filed soon. The main hitch
Just now is found in the demand OF
the Natchez DeSdenlou1 that her name
be included In the list of incorporators.
Mr.. Sachs said yesterday that all real
doubt that Jack will do OthoIlo disap-
peared some time ago.
sultan Cause of II.
Tell you how II was" said Jack, to
THE NEW YORK HERALD reporter. '1
was in Spain knocking around the bull
nght rings. busting Spanish white hopes
occasionally and chuckiug Spanish