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A STRING OF PEARLS1,
by Sholem Asch
Here
is the cast from the Yiddish Art Theatre
production of this play when it opened at the
Nora Bayes Theatre in New York City, on December
7, 1925 (listed in alphabetical order):
Julius Adler,
Bella Bellarina, Izidore Casher, Miriam Elias,
Lazar Freed, Mrs. Goldberg, Emil Hirsch, Abraham
Kubansky, Jacob Mestel, Sonia Radina, Maurice
Schwartz, Mark Schweid, Philip Sherman, Chaim
Schneyer, Leonid Snegoff, Morris Strassberg,
Abraham Teitelbaum, Minnie Toller and Boris
Weiner.
So, here is the synopsis of Heyse's "King Saul."
The name of the actor or actress who portrayed a
particular role is indicated in parentheses:
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The present play,
whose peaceful, idyllic beginning contrasts so
strikingly with the grim tragedy that soon
follows, and whose symbolic ending proclaims
triumphantly the brotherhood of man, is a
profoundly beautiful war drama. Its aim is not
so much to portray war's desolation--although it
does this most vividly--as to castigate men for
their criminal folly in setting up patriotism as
an idol, and thereby violating the divine
Commandment, which says, "Thou shalt have no
other gods before me." The author, Sholem Asch,
is one of the greatest of contemporary Yiddish
writers, of whom Isaac Goldberg once wrote that
"at his best he has given to Yiddish literature
some of its most enduring pages." His novels,
short stories, and plays have been translated
into many languages, including English. To the
American public he is best known as the author
of "The God of Vengeance," a play which Max
Reinhardt was the first to produce at his famous
playhouse in Berlin.
ACT ONE
Melech (Maurice
Schwartz)--a Jewish patriarch, wealthy, pious,
charitable, hospitable, and universally esteemed
in the small border town of which he is the
leading Jewish citizen--is about to sit down
with his household to the Sabbath eve meal, his
happiness disturbed only by the absence of
strangers in town to whom he might offer his
hospitality, especially on this Friday evening,
when the fiancé (Lazar Freed) of his youngest
daughter (Bella Bellarina) is celebrating the
Sabbath under his rooftree. Presently guests
arrive (Abraham Teitelbaum, Chaim Schneyer,
Jacob Mestel, Mark Schweid and Morris
Strassberg). These, however, prove to be not the
ordinary kind of guests, but refugees form a
nearby town who bring word that war has broken
out, and that the military authorities had
driven them out of their homes. Soon local Jews
rush in to report that troops have arrived in
town, and that of the commanding officer (Leonid
Snegoff) is asking for Melech. The latter, full
of faith in God and in his fellow men, refuses
to entertain any worries on the Sabbath and bids
all to partake of the Sabbath meal with him.
Presently the military commander arrives in the
company of a Christian neighbor (Izidore Casher)
of Melech's, who has long been coveting the
latter's house and fair daughter. Instigated by
this neighbor, the commanding officer
requisitions Melech's house for his own use,
orders Melech to turn over to him all the gold,
silver, money and goods in his possession,
levies a large contribution in money and
provisions upon the Jewish community to be paid
within twenty-four hours, and makes Melech
responsible for its punctual delivery. And to
cap it all, he drafts all the younger Jews
present for forced labor.
ACT TWO
The next evening
finds Melech and his family installed in the
basement of his own house. There is a steady
stream of Jews who come with their mites.
Disregarding the protests of his faithful
servant (Mrs. Goldberg), Melech returns their
contributions to the more needy Jews, with the
result that when the commanding officer arrives
to collect the levy, the amount collected proves
to be far too short. He threatens to execute
Melech, but the aforesaid obliging neighbor,
noticing a string of pearls in the pile turned
over to the military, which he knew belonged to
Melech's youngest daughter, advises him to spare
Melech's life if the latter will present the
commander with his fair daughter, for whose
beauty he vouches. Melech spurns the commander's
offer to spare his life on such terms. Once more
the officious neighbor intervenes and suggests
that Melech is holding out for better conditions
and will surely give up his daughter if he is
offered both his life and the string of pearls.
The commander contemptuously throws the pearls
at Melech, and saying that he would soon send
soldiers to fetch the daughter, departs.
ACT THREE
Melech's faith in
God is still unshaken. At his advice, his wife
(Miriam Elias) dresses their daughter in the old
garments of her great-grandmother and puts ashes
and a big hood on her hair to make her look old.
Then he himself places the aforementioned string
of pearls, likewise inherited from the same
pious ancestor, upon her neck and attaches a
knife to it which she is to keep concealed, and
with which she is to kill herself only when
actually face to face with dishonor. The ruse
works so well, that when the soldiers come to
fetch the daughter, they mistake the latter for
a beldame and depart empty-handed. Alas, they
were not wholly mistaken, for when, following
their exit the big hood is removed from the
daughter, if appears that she had in the
meantime grown gray and old from fear, whereas
her mother weeps while Melech praises the Lord
for having at last delivered his daughter from
the danger of dishonor. Presently the commanding
officer himself arrives and demands that they
surrender their daughter. They point to her, but
he refuses to believe it. He accuses the
Christian neighbor who accompanies him, of
collusion with the Jew in a plot to cheat him
out of the costly string of pearls and has him
arrested. Then he orders all the Jews to clear
out of the town within twelve hours.
ACT FOUR
The homeless Jews
are trudging along a road in the dead of the
night, going they know not wither. Only the dead
and the sick are carried on wagons. The road
happens to be hard by the front, where fighting
is in progress. Melech grows faint, but refuses
the offer of his fellow refugees to place him in
a wagon. He bids them all proceed while he sinks
on the road. He falls into a trance and has a
vision. Soldiers from all the combatant nations
appear to him. He hails them as his children and
rebukes them for having consented to fight and
shed human blood. They defend themselves on the
score of patriotism, but he insists that God is
higher than all such man-made idols as
patriotism, and that He has commanded us,
saying, "Thou shalt not murder." Our present
affliction, he tells them, is the punishment
that God has meted out to us for having violated
His divine Commandment; therefore, he urges
them, you must each beg the other for pardon and
forgiveness. Moved by his words, they do so and
clasp hands, whereat Melech jubilates, and
blowing a ram's horn, hails the dawn of the
brotherhood of man. Attracted by the sound of
the horn, a commanding officer appears on the
scene, and seeing his soldiers fraternize with
the enemy, cries treason. The soldiers leve
their guns at him, then all vanish in smoke.
Melech opens his eyes and begs his wife, who
together with their daughter has remained by his
side, to give him his holiday garments.
"For I have heard the call of the trumpet
heralding the dawn of the universal Sabbath." |
