The Denver Jewish news., 1923-05-02
BY GERsHoN AGRONsKY

its cause.
BY GERSHON AGRONSKY
Copyright, 1929. Jewish Correspondence
Rureau.)
The celebration last Sunday In the
Seventy-first Regiment Armory of the
fiftieth year Of the Jewish theatre calls
attention to the fact that. whether you
love or fear 1t. the Yiddish stage can
not be ignored. Depending always ON
your point of view, it is either u pow
crful factor for good in Jewish life or
n depl0rable breeder of evil. With the
Yiddish press and literature, the Yid-
dish stage represents determination
on the part of the wide masses to sur
vivc as Jews. maintaining old contacts
under new. sometimes untried guiseS.
The Yiddish stage not only wills to
live. but TO constantly improve. In
some instances ii succeeds in imprOv-
ing. The expression of such n deter
mination will not be stillet. Nor can
it be killed by propaganda directed
against IL as n fOreign-lnngung insti
tuition. II can only die a natural death
If and when the forces which called
1t into being disappear. Chief among
these forces. OF course. IL the public.
The Yiil,lish stage will not survive. and
certainly not prosper. without res,ll-
lar public. 1t will not prosper as an
exotic replica of the fnst-vanishing
ghetto for the uptown summer. Jew
ish and non-Jewish.
And there's the rub. The Yiddish
stage appears to e enjoying pros
porous present without any prospects
of future. II is In the same boots as
the Yiddish press and literature. The
growing Jewish generation in America
is. with rnrc exceptions. not part of the
Yidtlish-reading public and theatre
audience. A noted Jewish publicist re-
marked recently that there IL precious
little jay In, writing always for a mid
die and past middlc-agcd reading pub
lie. Perhaps he Over-reachel himself.
The present Yiddisli reading public Is
not entirely middle aged. There are
still Young men and women who
brought their Yiddish from overseas
and who had not discarded it directly
they learned to unfold the English
newspapers. But they are all mature
men and women by now. The Jewish
youth, however. the second generation
of the immigrants who came from
Russia in the eighties and in 1905.
may or may not read the half-page
or single column of English in the Jew
ish dnilies. But except with the alOOf
ness of one performing an unusual
feat. they do not turn TO the body of
the Yiddish newspaper. The same
youth may on occasions be persuaded
TO accompany the parent to Yiddisf
performance. At nll other times the
ways of parent and child part near
Times Square. the youth packing bal
comics of the Broadway theatres. the
older folks going on the 9th street
and Madison avenue, and way down
where Second avenue ends.
The trouble with the Jewish thea tire ?
Its trouble in this country is then, that
it mas no youthful audience to keep
i,Drast of its development. Thprc iS
nothing else intrinsically the matter
with it. Considering its humble gin
ming ard tender age. remembering that
as Jewish drama. dramatist and play
rr, the progress the Jewish stngc has
made Is phenomenal. II should b. re
called u so that the Jewish DRAM. re-
co'vcd very little announcement.
Houndcd by the official authorities In
Russia, hoycotted by the Jewish or,h-
odOyy rs something impiOus. frowned
upon by the Jewish inte'lectu,, snobs
effort they loudly acclaimed whC initi-
atcd b.: noil-Jews. whnt chanc, I'D the
Yiddish stage have? And yet it sue
cect.cd And. without any traditions
If its own. it did marvcllously little
borrowing rIom Goldfadden :r 1877
TO Sackler 1923. Jewish playwrights en-
deavOred almost always to make the
boards resound with things Jewish.
with portrayals of actual or allegorical
types and events. There has been and
is great deal of adaptation. of which
Jakob Gordon was master. but of
downright imitation there is rs little
as possible.
The performances, considering that
they are almost always given by stock
companies, usually show as much latent
talent and actual dramatic quality as
stock companies on any other stage.
There las survived distressing
amount of vulgariZation and slap-stick