Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1922-05-27
nage Potter of Oberammergau
Refused S. ,OOO,OOOfrOmM Movies

picked a more demure and yirgin-pure
character 1t is u great honor in Ba-
Narla to be named for this part, and
according to an old tradition the priest
VINO takes the village confessions has
the veto power on any candidate.
Martha has that virginia. forehead
Whlch CharacteriZes the best paintings
Ot the Virgin Mary. She is only TWEEN
ty-rour, and has never played before,
but she will make the proper impress
sion by her evident purity and char
acter.
Martha was much embarrassed at
having to receive Il strange foreigner
ana talk about herself. She led me
out of her fathers shop, where l found
her, and into her own room. The only
place for me to sit was her modest
little bed, while she faced me nervous
~ from little stool. l don't know
which of the two of us was the most
embarrassed, but she gradually re-
HeNed our mutual restraint as She told
me how she was reared In the con-
vent and had received the education
necessary to be a governess. She lived
so hidden in her fathers house that
She could not believe it when she was
told last November that the village
council had elected her TO the role of
Mary. She did not suppose any one
had noticed her enough for that.
What are you going to do with the
will Z
mind still on the forbidden mercenary
angle
Il don't know" she replied, rather
startled. There Is not anything /
want"
Yes, but the last Mary got 900
marks, which would be forty or fifty
thousand marks now"
She turned surprised eyes at me as
l mentioned the figure, but said moth
ing.
A Gay Little 1Macdaene"
Paula Kendl, the Mary 1agdalene.
is quite gay little person. She Is only
twenty-one She comes from family
which has produced many Passion
players. Her mother is a daughter Of
Josef Meyer the most famous Christ
Of the last century Her father is the
wood-carver who has played the part
of John the Baptist
When | asked her what she was
going to do with the money she earned,
she said she was going to travel. She
has spent all her life in the village
and she wants to 80 out and look
about q bit.
The man who will play John the
Baptist this year is also a first-timer
l had to seek him in the forest where
he was saving wood. 1t was about the
dinner hour and he struck work and
walked home with me, and there he
sat down to his sausage, potatoes and
beer, while he told me that it had al
ways been his ambition to play this
part, and he had succeeded in his
great wish at the early age Of twenty
three. He is "a very serious young
chap, quite in the spirit Of the com
munity. He Is the nephew of the
Herod.
None Likes the JUDAS" Part.
1t is always difficult to get anyone
to take the part Of Judas. because the
stigma clings to the actor in private
life He must be no less honorable
than another to have so important q.
role but he is forever afterwards IN
der a slight cloud 1t Is played this
year by Karl Mayer.
Perhaps the whole Oberammergau
community feels just a little under a
cloud as their Judases always do
They have been cut off from the whole
world, a part Of q nation which has
been at war with most % the world
Now they are preparing to receive the
whole world again, and they are not
sed to the idea yet. They still heve
that Judas-Iike cloud over them. Eat
as they viii say in their announce
ments:
"Sixty-seven sons Of the village lost
their lives in the war. Let us think
If them with honor and with them Of
the heroes Of all places and nations. be
they friends or former enemies"
They do not yet realize that no one
who comes to Oberammergau will
come with the thought Of the war
still In mini.--Aksel Faber In the New
York World