Israel Zangwill

[lynn cates]

Vasilliev

Hello Maria. Could you repost on the Vasilliev thread (Saviour of Souls)? I'd like to respond a bit later to those excellent questions.

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

I'll do that immediately, Lynn. (And I can't help wondering if Vasiliev is not another Pedachenko.)
A thousand apologies to Chris Phillips for having highjacked his thread.

[Errata]

Evidently I may have lied about Henry Irving being Jewish. I was told he was, but admittedly didn't look any farther into it. Mea Culpa.

On the other hand, it may still stand for that stanza. If there are Jews a century later who claim him as one of their own, they may well have done so at the time. Thus illustrating Zangwill's point.

[Errata]

His story is interesting because he was both educated at the Jews' Free School in Spitalfields and taught there as well. He got into trouble with the administration of the school because his literary works, largely satires of East End Jewish life, were viewed as showing the Jews in a bad light. He then had to sever his relationship with the school.

In our community he is considered one of the heroes of the zionist movement, and some consider him as the guy with the better plan that we chose not to go with.

On a personal note, he is quite dear to me for solving one of the great mysteries in my life, which is why on earth are there so many Jews in Texas. In Houston there are so many Jews the major Conservative Synagogue is about as big as a football field and is nicknamed Beth Astrodome. I mean, a lot of Jews. In Texas. Texas of all places. That bothered me for a decade.

[Archaic]

"Antics" and Henry Irving

Actually, Archaic, I too was thiking of the lion in the play inside of the play in A midsummer night's dream, as well as of the Goldoni play L'impressario delle Smyrne {The impressario from Smyrna}, where the impressario in question gets inundated with all kinds of different actors in search of a job who are specialists in playing a lion, and a horse, etc..

PS.: I consider "feline mew" as referring to a comic part, and "antics fit to make the angels weep" as referring to a tragic part.

Hi Maria.

My impression was that throughout his piece Zangwell is referencing individuals, events, etc., that were popular enough to be immediately recognizable to those reading his lines- otherwise those lines would have very little meaning or wit for his audience. Personally I think Shakespeare, and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in particular, fits the bill far better than Goldoni.

"Antics" is a word usually applied to something either very funny or very strange, as in the "funny antics of a clown" or the "the queer antics of a lunatic". Both usages were common in the Victorian era. Off the top of my head I can't think of any connection between "antics" and "tragedy" in English. They are pretty nearly opposites.

A dictionary gives these definition: "Antics- a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement."

Here are several more detailed definitions.

Antic– noun
1.Usually, antics.
a.a playful trick or prank; caper.
b.a grotesque, fantastic, or ludicrous gesture, act, or posture.
2.Archaic .
a.an actor in a grotesque or ridiculous presentation.
b.a buffoon; clown.
3.Obsolete .
a. a grotesque theatrical presentation; ridiculous interlude.

I think the last definition, #3, probably hits the nail on the head.


Hi Errata.

You are correct, the great actor Henry Irving was of Jewish descent, though people have always argued about "what percentage".

Best regards,
Archaic

[mklhawley]

The same Henry Irving that was close friends with Tumblety's ex-boyfriend, Henry Hall Caine! ...Sorry, I had to get that in.

[Mayerling]

A couple of points:

1) As far as I know, Sir Henry Irving was not Jewish. However, his son Henry Irving was a prominent actor and then lawyer. Henry Jr. was also a writer on true crime and a founder of the group "Our Society" which is still in existanc and meets to discuss matters of crime and detection.

2) Sir Henry Beerbohm Tree was of Jewish ancestry (as was his brother the writer and cartoonist Sir Max Beerbohm, but the family (like Disraeli's) had converted to Anglicanism.

3) Israel Zangwill is recalled today for inventing the term (or publicizing it first) "the melting pot", which was the title of one of his books. He actually wrote a large number of novels, but is still read by mystery lovers for his locked room tale, THE BIG BOW MYSTERY. Published in the 1890s, it was published in installments in which the public was invited to guess who murdered the victim in a locked room. It was a story influenced by the recent Israel Lipski Murder Case (1887), which created a temperary groundswell of anti-Semitism in Whitechapel, just in time for "Jack". A vert clever film based on this story (and starring Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and George Coulouris) called THE VERDICT came out in 1946,

Zangwill at first supported Zionism, but as he got older became disenchanted, an wrote a newspaper editiorial attackeing it entitled, "Watchman, Whither is the Night".

Jeff

[miss marple]

I dont think it refers to Bottom anyway,Henry Irving was of west country descent, real name Henry Brodribb, He was a tragedian and never played Bottom. He was not Jewish although one of his most famous roles was Shylock.
Beerbolm Tree played Bottom, but not till the 1900s.
The first verse seems to refer to Henry Morton Stanley. Mudie's was the famous circulating library.
Interesting to work out all the verses.
Anyway the poem is making the ironic point that clever man are claimed by the Jews, but when somebody does something wrong, the Christians accuse him of being Jewish!
Miss Marple

[Phil H]

Irving's Shylock was the first to get away from the ranting, one-dimensional characterisation which had been the norm in the C18th and early C19th on the English stage.

Irving gave the Jew a nobility and a depth that was seen as almost revolutionary at the time. He sought to set him in a period and render him understandable to an audience.

This was Irving's great contribution to theatre - a naturalness (though it would now be perceived as total over-acting) by contrast to what had gone before, that was shocking and controversial in its day.

I cannot see the Guv'nor as ever having played "Bottom" even in his earlier days. I have certainly never seen any mention of it.

Phil

[Archaic]

Hi everyone.

As I stated in my previous post, I don't think Irving ever played Bottom either - but that wasn't really the point of the Shakespearean reference in Zangwill's stanza.

The stanza refers to a Jewish actor playing a memorable theater part that sounds very much like a scene from one of Shakespeare's comedy's. Any Shakespearean scholar will immediately recognize which "feline's mew" can make audiences and (angels) laugh until they cry- it's the scene in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.

But Zangwill might have been referring to any and all Jewish actors in any and all plays, and simply using a reference to Shakespeare to get that broader point across as efficiently as possible because his readers would readily understand the allusion.

It's also entirely possible that Zangwill is directly referencing a Jewish actor of the period, but perhaps that the individual didn't achieve such "undying fame" in the theater that we still remember him 120 years later. There were countless theaters and acting companies in those days.

Zangwill was of course writing his lines for a contemporary audience who I'm sure could more readily work out his clever references than we can today.
(Though it really is fun to try! )

And as others have pointed out, Zangwill's poem isn't about one Jewish individual, it's about the accomplishments of many different Jews- and it's also about the fact that Jews were routinely scapegoated when it suited the public's fancy, as in the Jack the Ripper reference.

Best regards,
Archaic

PS: Mayerling, I didn't realize that Zangwill popularized the term "melting pot". Thanks for mentioning that.

[Mayerling]

Hi everyone.



Best regards,
Archaic

PS: Mayerling, I didn't realize that Zangwill popularized the term "melting pot". Thanks for mentioning that.

You're welcome!