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In the Parkway Theatre in Brownsville, there
is now a musical comedy, "The Straw Soldier," which well deserves
the name of an anti-war production.The content is from the time of
the World War, when America entered into the war, and from the
events immediately after this. The show contains many jokes, funny
pranks on soldiers and their heroism, but also it has several
serious, sad scenes that make a strong impression, calling forth a
curse upon all warriors and war-leaders.
The author of the
comedy, Isidore Friedman, was an American soldier himself in France,
lying there in the trenches, and apparently horrible things (he once
described it in the "Forward," and a long series of articles under
the name, "A Year Between Life and Death"). Here in the comedy, he
brought in several scenes from that. His experiences are from that
mass, and they make the desired impression with their sincerity, the
bitter truth that they present.
For example: in the
first act, which takes place in a trench on a battlefield in France,
it is shown how the soldiers tremble as they walk into the fire,
trembling before death. The feeling of proving yourself a hero and
waving a medal is lost in the sea of fear, of unheard of pride for
the future.
And more such natural human traits.
Very
touching is the scene where a mother sees her son who has returned
from the battlefield, but he lacks a hand. She is the same as she saw him, a
living person, but the sleeve that hangs next to him, makes her heart
laugh.
The more serious, sad songs are only a small part of
the production. As a musical comedy,of course, it had to be filled
with a lot of funny scenes, with strength and laughter to
please the audience, as well as with a lip-smacking of the old,
amusing melodramatic fashion, as befits a musical comedy.
The
main jokemaker and clown is Menasha
Skulnik. He is this straw soldier who comes out everywhere. Poor
thng, a coward, but full of a gentle, natural-human grace, he wins the
sympathy of the audience. For Menasha Skulnik, an actor does not
really need to create any role; he plays the role himself with his
funny humor, with his funny antics. The role is not important --
Menasha Skulnik is important. From his special way of speaking, from
his comical gait, from his every turn, the audience keeps laughing,
and that's all that is needed.
About the jokes, it is what
he always does. I would like to note here a couple of them, the not
very clean ones (e.g. with castor oil and "loyfn"), he
meant to throw it out, and it wouldn't have hurt him at all. They
remind us of the bad jokes and disgusting bullshit with which a
well-known star works out ... on the Yiddish stage.
A
cheerful pair who create jokes and laughter for the audience are
Irving Jacobson and Mae Schoenfeld -- he as a Jewish soldier on the
battlefield, and she as a young French girl. They fall in love, come
to America and get married, and she tries to become a proper Jewish
wife.
Anna Toback takes the main role in the musical part of the
production. She speaks pleasantly and perfectly fine and generally
makes a fine impression with her appearance and figure.
Sara Skulnik plays the role of the
mother whose son comes from the battlefield without a hand. She does
not have much to play, but the small scene that she leads with him
has a certain heartiness.
Also participating are: Isidore Friedman, Frances
Weintraub, Morris Novikov, Shimen Ruskin, Sidney Zwerling, Zvi
Scooler, Max honig, Larry Gilbert, Jacob Himmelstein and Isidore
Lipinsky.
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