This theatre review was written by
D. Kaplan for the Jewish Forward newspaper, and was
first published on October 23, 1931:
The Amphion Theatre in Williamsburg
is now presenting a new play, already in its third
season, and again it is quite a pure literary thing,
finely staged and finely acted. When a theatre strives
in these difficult times to give the public better,
cleaner goods, such a theatre truly deserves a
compliment. And justifiably they deserves such a
compliment, the company actors of Amphion Theatre, which
is serious, as we have already noted, to win among the
Jewish population of Williamsburg a fairer name for this
theatre, as it had before.
The play is called: "Does It Pay to
Love?"; the content, or subject, is a serious and an
interesting one. In the hands of a great artist there would
have come out of this a true literary wok, a strong
drama or a serious, classical novel. Unfortunately, in
some places he has compiled the individual parts in a
very tanned way, so that the stitches with the threads
looked huddled together. Yet the thing in general is
relatively good and purely literary, and the performance
makes a pleasant, fine impression.
A girl loves a blind, young man.
The girl, Fenitshke, a daughter of a hotel keeper in the
mountains, has better prospects for a shidakh.
Her parents want her to marry the rich young man Dave
Ptashkin, a storekeeper in the mountains, who is a very
honest, fine man, and who is strongly in love with
Fenitshke, however, loves the blind Morris Minkin, a
chemist who had lost his lungs from certain chemical
substances while working on an invention. No speech
helps, nor complaints. When the parents drive Morris
out of the house, she leaves with him.
Fenitshke gives herself up "lion and
life" to her Morris. Not paying attention to him as one
does to a helpless child, he does all the work in the
chemical lab to see his invention come to fruition, and
they travel the world, with Morris visiting the greatest
doctors to make his eyes healthy.
And they succeeded: Morris is a
visionary; his invention is a success. They already give
him a quarter of a million dollars for that. Great is
their happiness. Soon they set up for the wedding.
Suddenly, however, he was struck by
a terrible disaster. Fenitshke becomes involved in an
explosion of chemical uptake substances in the
laboratory. She is barely hanging on to life. After six
months in the hospital, she comes home a cripple with
broken legs.
For the time being, a funny girl
joined forces with Morris, one of those American
girls looking to catch a rich groom "by hook and by
crook," whether I like it or not, whether it's unique or
very disgusting. Morris, who now appears to be nothing
more than a mere flesh and blood, falls into her like an
idol.
He gives up on his precious Fenitshke, with her
beautiful soul and golden heart, she who now has become
a disgusting cripple, with her beautiful face of the young beauty.
For Fenitshkie this is, of course,
a horrible blow, much more horrible to her heart than
the explosion on her body. She leaves for her father in
the mountains, and the ending is, that the old love,
Dave Ptashkin, the caretaker, the true love, marries
her.
* *
*
As you see, it is a serious play
with exceptional stuff for a strong drama. The name,
"Does it Pay to Love?," does not correctly
express the essence of the drama. About love in
general, one can not ask whether it pays off. When one
loves the truth, one does not consider whether it is
worthwhile or not.
The production, as it is said, is a
fine and pleasant purity. The actors play almost
entirely well. Sadie Schoengold, as Fenitshke, mainly
plays in several moments very pleasantly, with feeling
and taste, and strongly won the sympathy of the
audience. She possesses, in a significant measure,
personal appeal and a sweet-sounding speech that appeals
to the heart.
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Sadie
Schoengold |
Sam
Auerbach |
Bennie
Zeidman |
Simon
Wolf |
Ella
Wallerstein |
Sylvia
Fishman |
Helen
Beda |
Max
Kletter |
Abraham
Lax |
Max
Henig |
Sam Auerbach portrays as the
simple, sincere love affair as Dave Ptashkin with his
fine, artistic demeanor. Bennie Zeidman does not play
badly in the role of Abraham Brodsky, Fenitshke's
father, and he sings very tastefully, with feeling.
Simon Wolf plays very pleasantly in
the role of Itsik Ptashkin, the tailor, who breaks into
words and steps into the words "press" and "clean,"
sometimes in a successful way, sometimes with a
secondary, not at all pure way.
A great attraction in the play is
an eight-year-old boy, Abraham Schoengold, who plays as
the orphan Sammy, Ptashkin's child. The small chevra-man
is an actor with every pishtshevkes. He keeps
himself free on stage, often better than the big ones,
and performs his role excellently. And the audience
strongly agrees with the child on the stage, and so
after such beautiful content, shows so much intellect
and "spunk."
Also satisfactory were: Ella
Wallerstein, as Tsirl the widow; Sylvia Fishman, as her
daughter; Helen Beda, as Annie; Liza Tuchman, as Sarah,
Brodsky's wife; the handsome singer Max Kletter, as
Morris Menkin; Abraham Lax, as Eddie the social
director, and Max Henig, as Hersh Menkin.
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