"POTASH & PERLMUTTER"

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 92, 25 May 1914, Page 5

"POTASH & PERLMUTTER"

FUN, PATHOS, AND CHARACTER.

Had the second act been quite as funny as the first, and the third equal to either, i 1 Potash and Perlmutter'' would have filled Queen's Theatre for ten years, more or less. But perhaps it was impossible for any play fully to maintain such high spirits, freshness, and entertainment through all its length; so, as it is, Mr Montague Glass's comedy may exhaust its popularity in 12 months or so—surely not earlier, wrote a critic in the London "Express." It is the most original, laughable, delicious thing—with a thread of genuine human sentiment all through. Every character is Jewish, and the Hebrew traits—the hard bargaining, the "closeness' ' as to pennies, the generosity, the loyalty to race and love of family—are shown to us with .a humour, reality, and spontaneity which in the first act kept the house in one continual ripple of laughter, with occasional roars; and all through, when things were not quite so incessantly exhilarating, still amused and entertained to a most unusual degree.

'' Potash and . Perlmutter" i 3 an American play which has kept New York laughing for a year. It is a comedy of character, a real comedy, despite its tremendous fun, because there is nothing improbable in its incidents, and because its sentiment is sincere. Additionally, there is nothing in it which an English audience cannot understand and appreciate.

Potash and Perlmutter are GermanAmerican Jews —partners in a wholesale clothiers' business; so alike and yet so different, so peppery and yet so devoted to each other, so superficially mean and so profoundly generous and .tenderhearted.

They squabble and nag each other all day long, and always agree at the finish; they salt their tremendous loquacity with the quaintest Jewish jargon; they begin by bulldozing every one, and end by acting in the most Quixotic fashion; they save silly cents, and end by bringing themselves to the verge of ruin by a superb act of sacrifice to rescue a young compatriot from being extradited to Russia on a capital charge of political bomb-throwing. And through it all they keep us laughing, laughing, laughing. Towards the end the piece grows more pathetic, and Jess humorous, but it has always human interest, freshness, and charm. FLESH AND BLOOD. Every character lives. The two partners are head and shoulders above the rest, but the others are all flesh and blood. The ' swanking'' commercial traveller, all promises and no "orders," the rascally solicitor-estate agent-trade union leader, ,th>e. lady designer of costumes —all are . types, each is an individual. Every moment brings its quaint fun. There ! are "notions'' and ' 1 wrinkles'' from first to last.

. . Feldman, the lawyer, for instance, is the legal representative of Potash and Perlmutter. Hie is also, however,, an estate agent, and has long tried to persuade them to remove to larger premises. But trade is slumping, and they continually postpone the signing of the new lease. Feldman is anxious for his commission on the deal. He therefore, ■ as union delegate, calls a strike of their employees :on the ground that the present warehouse is unhealthy! The strike will end the moment the new lease is sign&df "Potash and Perlmutter" is all like that. Boris Andrieff, a young composer and political refugee, is a book-keeper in their store, and Potash and Perlmutter squabble about him incessantly and secretly raise his wages one against the other. Boris, quite penniless, loves, and is loved by, Irma, the daughter of Potash, and in a charming scene her father gives the little girl he idolises to the young man. How Potash and Perlmutter go bail in twenty thousand dollars for Boris, how Potash spirits him off to Canada, thinking that there is a flaw in the prosecution, and that he will not lose the money, even if Boris runs away; how it is discovered that there is no such flaw, and that Potash is on the brink of ruin; how Perlmutter stands by his old friend; and how, at last, all ends happily, is shown by Mr Glass with the deftest and most whimsical of touches, nev;er losing grip of the theme, although gradually drifting to tears rather than holding on to the smiles. SURENESS OF TOUCH. It was, in good truth, an evening full of spirit and the allurement of the original. There is something grotesque in the piece, and yet it has always the appearance of truth to nature. Such a play demands an "absolute sureness of touch and vividness of colour, and at it gets both. The two admirable American actors, Mr Robert Leonard and Mr Augustus Yorke, Potash and Perlmutter, cpuld not possibly be better. Both are delightful comedians, and much more than comedians. They have only to remember that they are acting to English audiences- wio cannot follow the curious vernacular without effort, and .not' to be too rapid in their utterance. They provide a duet of fun, pathos, and character which should attract all I London.