‘WELCOME STRANGER’

Evening Star, Issue 17766, 14 September 1921, Page 8

‘WELCOME STRANGER ’

JULES JORDAN AND JOHN D. O’HARA. Of ‘ Welcome Stranger,’ tho new J. C. Williamson play which is to commence tomorrow at His Majesty’s for a short season, with John D. O’Hara and Jules Jordan in the leading roles, a well-known critic, writes: —“ Tne central figure in ‘ Welcome Stranger ’ is a Jew—a persevering, indefatigable specimen of the race, who has been staged by the author in such a manner as to soften tho harsh lines—or supposedly' hard lines—of the national character, and throw into relief the charming bonhomie of tho man, who meets racial prejudices with even good nature and overcomes evil with good. The author, Mr Aaron Hoffman, has drawn his play skilfully, and brightened a good plot with a rich vein of dialogue which is quaintly Jewish in its most brilliant lines. Isadora Solomon, the leading figure in the play, arrives in the middle of a blizzard at the solitary hotel that graces a little New England town. Tho group of influential townsmen who aro monopolising the stove determine to freeze him out of the town; but lie is not so easily frozen, and, although ho has to spend the night in the vestibule, he makes the acquaintance of amiable old Clem Bemis, the 1 crank ’ of the town, who is ridiculed for bis unconquerable faith in the water power that is running to waste in the falls, and only requires a moneyed partner to launch out into tho revolutionising of the town. The two opposite characters get together by a clover stroke of draftmauship, and tho resultant partnership, slow in its development against heavy local odds, works a wonderful transformation in the town. This is the broad outline of tho plot. Interspersed in the action there is a dual romance, which lends daintiness and balance to tho play, and incidentally serves to show the solicitude of the Jew for those who are in need of protection. Tho interpretation of ‘Welcome Stranger’ has been safely entrusted to a. master of the part of Izzy Solomon. The first impression of Mr Jules Jordan sots ono wondering whether Jordan is a Jewish name, for there on the stage is a typical Jew, faultless in every detail, and most whimsically Yiddish in his utterance. From the moment of his arrival there is a hearty laugh to almost every minute of the play. Mr O’Hara presents a delightful old inventor and dreamer, but withal a very human type of manhood, which expands as the two partners gradually gain the good-will of the” citizens, upon whom their hydroelectrical development schemes are having such an enlightening effect. The parts are complementary, and satisfying in the happy blending of racial tolerance—a lesson which probably requires some pointing in the United States.” ‘ Welcome Stranger ’ is to bo staged for three nights, when another new play will bo produced, with John D. O’Hara in the leading role of a cross-grained old banker in ‘ Three Wise Fools,"’ which has had a phenomenal ran in England, America, and Australia. Tho box plans are now open for the whole season at The Bristol.