Max Reinhardt Honored by European Dramatic and Stage Celebrities

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Two thousand representatives of European dramatic art assembled to honor Max Reinhardt on the occasion of his twenty-fifth anniversary as a dramatic producer.

A committee representing eight nations had invited 800 guests to Reinhardt’s Deutsches Theatre. On the committee were David Belasco, George Bernard Shaw, Maxim Gorky, Constantine Stanislavski, Gerhart Hauptmann, Georg Brandes, Firmin Germier, Tristan Bernard, Richard Strauss and Franz Molnar.

Herr Beker, Prussian Minister of Culture, hailed his achievements on behalf of the Reich and Prussian Governments, and Mayor Boess for the City of Berlin. Tristan Bernard, foremost French dramatist, came specially from Paris to salute Reinhardt as author of the pact between the French and German stages. Gerhart Hauptmann voiced the praise of the German dramatic school.

Laudatory telegrams were received from David Belasco and Morris Gest, the latter of whom was the first manager to take Reinhardt across the Atlantic for staging “The Miracle,” and under whose auspices he will pay a second visit to America in December.

Following the celebration at the Deutsches Theatre, a banquet and ball was held.

An indorsement of the Pan-European idea was given by Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, President of the Reichsbank in Berlin. It was the first public utterance of the German financial leader on the subject and evoked much interest in all quarters.

Dr. Schacht made his remarks before a large company of invited guests, chiefly political leaders of all parties, at the home of the President of the Reichstag, Paul Loebe.

“The battle against Chauvinistic nationalism must be the keynote of future diplomacy,” he declared. “Nationalism means not only a right but a duty to enlarge and enrich modern civilization.

“The greatest advantages would accrue if, instead of numerous small, artificially restricted markets, a large common market were created.”

Former Alderman Louis Zeltner, a member of the East Side Board of Trade, N. Y., protested against the use by the press, in writing of the proposed Heckscher housing plans, of the word “slums” in referring to the east side.

Count Arthur Cherep-Spiridovich, whose death in Barrett Manor, Arrochar, S. I., nine days ago was at first pronounced due to accidental asphyxiation, was reported by the Staten Island police to have taken his own life as a result of abject poverty and the complete failure of his schemes.

Hannah Freud, first woman to become a member of the New York Real Estate Board, and said to be the largest woman real estate operator in New York City, died Saturday night in her apartment in the Hotel Commodore. She was seventy-six years old and had been in the real estate business in New York City for forty years.

Miss Freud came to New York from San Francisco, Her brother, the late J. Richard Freud, was a member of the State Senate of California.

George Eilperin, formerly Acting Collector and Chief Field Deputy of Internal Revenue, left the Treasury Department after many years of service, to enter the practice of law. He is a brother of Magistrate Jacob Eilperin. Eilperin will be associated with Harold L. Turk, Republican leader of the Eighth Assembly District, Brooklyn, N. Y., in the firm of Turk and Eilperin.

Three Jewish students are among the thirty students who received awards known as the Perry McDonough Collins Scholarships at New York University.

BREVITIES

Metropolitan newspapers yesterday published the following incident which occurred during Dr. Stephen S. Wise’s sermon on Christianity and Judaism at the Free Synagogue on Sunday:

Dr. Wise interrupted his sermon to rebuke publicly an unidentified woman seated near the front of the congregation, who was applying lip-stick and powder to her face during his discourse.

“How do you expect a man to preach while you are completing your toilet in one of the front rows?” demanded the Rabbi. “What would you think of me if I were to stand here trimming my finger-nails as I talked to you. If that is what you come unto the house of God for, you had better stay away. It is bad enough to start putting on your hats and coats before the benediction is completed, as many of you do, but to make up your faces during worship is going a bit too far. If it ever happens again I shall certainly ask the lady to leave the hail.”

Dr. Wise then returned to his sermon, in which he declared a merger between Christianity and Judaism impossible but held out hope for mutual sympathy and admiration based on tolerance and understanding.

A revised English translation of Adolph Franck’s “The Kabbalah” has just been issued by the Kabbalah Publishing Company, New York. This book, originally published in French, is an interpretation of the Kabbalistic teachings.

Harry Houdini, world famous as a magician, and an exposer of spiritualistic frauds, died in Detroit on Sunday.

Houdini was born on April 6, 1874. His name originally was Eric Weiss and he was the son of a rabbi, Rev. Mayer Samuel Weiss. He did not take the name Harry Houdini until he had been a performer for many years.

During the last few years Houdini had become internationally known as a tireless enemy and exposer of fraudulent mediums and all false claims in the field of spiritualism. He was a member of the Scientific American committee that investigated Margery. the Boston medium. He was the author of “Spooks and Spiritualism.” “The Unmasking of Robert Houdin,” “Handcuff Secrets,” and “Rope Ties and Escapes.” His library, chiefly devoted to works on the theatre, to magic and the black arts which has been valued at $500,000, has been willed to the National Museum at Washington.

In July, 1926, Houdini was elected for the ninth successive time President of the Society of American Magicians. He also was President of the Magicians’ Club of London and a life member of the Authors’ Club of London.

Three million aliens living in the United States, who entered the country illegally, but who cannot be deported in compliance with immigration laws, will become citizens if a bill to be introduced in the next session of Congress by Representative Sol Bloom of New York, becomes a law. Announcing the proposal, he said:

“It is wrong to permit such a large body of aliens to enjoy every privilege of our country and its citizenship, without assuming the obligations required of citizenship. In fact, it does not tend to promote the best interests of this country.”

Representative Bloom has written a letter to President Coolidge in which he advocates an appropriation for the filming of the Constitution for presentation to the schools and churches and at citizens’ meetings. He will offer such a bill in the next session of Congress, he stated.

“You hear the word ‘Constitution’ on every side, yet there are comparatively very few who know what the Constitution is all about, what it means and what part it played in the life of the nation. The motion picture which I advocate, will tell effectively and for all time the story of our greatest historical possession. If the teaching of the Constitution by means of a moving picture is adopted, I am certain that a new means will be gained for promoting true citizenship and a higher sense of public duty among Americans,” Congressman Bloom stated.

Five hundred persons paid $50 a plate at a dinner in the Broadway Central Hotel to raise a special fund for the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School at 163 to 167 Henry Street, New York City, and to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary. The fund is to be used to complete a new annex to the school, which will include a roof playground, gymnasium and auditorium.