RABBINICAL GROWTH

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 6, 29 March 1927, Page 1

RABBINICAL GROWTH

HENRY MORTIMER’S WHISKERS “ABIE’S” CANADIAN “RABBI”! ‘‘MAUNGANUI’’ PASSENGERS CURIOUS Although Henry Mortimer, the wellknown American actor and brother-in-law of Dorothy Gish, who plays the rabbi in “Abie’s Irish Rose,” is not a Hebrew, he is often taken for a member of the Ancient Race. Probably, it is his whiskers. Ever since he left New York last year Mr. Mortimer has sported rabbinical whiskers. Complete with his natty little beard Henry Mortimer, otherwise known as “the Rev. Rabbi Solomons,” arrived from Sydney to-day by the Maunganui. This is his first visit to New

Zealand, though he has wandered through most of the countries of the world. The opportunity to view the unique wonders of Maoriland was one of the reasons that prompted him to make the tour. THE REASON WHY Why does he wear the hirsute adornment? Well, to begin with, Henry Mortimer is a thoroughly conscientious actor who believes in living liis part on the stage. And then again to remove the rabbinical growth nightly after each performance of “Abie” would eventually become rather a painful process to the scholarly and dignified Rabbi Solomons. So, silently he suffers the glances of the curious, and is not offended when mistaken for a Frenchman, as was the case one day in Australia. Henry Mortimer cames from a Canadian family learned in the law. His grandfather was a Toronto K.C. who eventually reached Senatorial rank and played an important part in the sister Dominion’s early government. James. A. Rennie, famous in New York as “a leading man,” and the husband of Dorothy Gish, is his brother. He is also a “Lamb.” That is to say, he is a member of the celebrated “Lamb’s Club” of New York, of which Hugh J. Ward is one of the few members in this part of the world. Mr. Mortimer has also the distinction of being a member of the Players’ Club, which is housed in the New York home of Edwin Booth, the great actor. So often has Mr. Mortimer played the rabbi that it is almost second nature with him. Though he was not in the New York cast of the play which made Anne Nichols a multimillionairess, he considers that the company which this astute playwright sent to Australia and New Zealand an even better one. For over five years “Abie’s Irish Rose” has played to New York’s audiences, creating new world records despite the initial adverse handling by the critics.