Abstract

Morris Gest and the Passion Play

A short time ago as the author passed the New York Hippodrome on Sixth Avenue he was arrested by the colorful spectacle before his eyes. Against the rococo facade of the huge old playhouse great electric signs in dazzling white and amber cried out through the gathering dusk the news of the presentation of the "Passion Play." A cluster of immense incandescent bulbs cast a fierce white light over the sidewalk beneath the theater marquee and on a radiant quartet of angels newly painted on the under side of the canopy. The newly decorated lobby, filled with a glittering and expectant throng, was surrounded with tawdry imitations of stained-glass windows and translucent saints. An officious cordon of police patrolled the sidewalk, plagued the crowd of idle onlookers, and cleared a pathway for high hats as they emerged from limousines and taxicabs.