Yiddish Imp

The Zulu and the Zayda. Zayda means grandfather in Yiddish, and a pixyish, diminutive grandpa (Menasha Skulnik) is the hero of this "play with music" set in Johannesburg. This Zayda speaks three languages--Zulu Yiddish, English Yiddish, and Yiddish Yiddish. He has a black African friend and com panion, a tall, open-faced child of good nature (Louis Gossett), who strangely enough also speaks Yiddish a good deal of the time. Playgoers who know only English may feel a sneaking desire to hear their mother tongue, but that would be a questionable mercy when the dialogue runs to such dire profundities as: "Life isn't all roses, you know."

The reason that life isn't all roses is that South Africa has an oppressive racial policy--a bit of news that seems to have hit Co-Playwrights Howard DaSilva and Felix Leon with tardy impact. Inevitably, the odd interracial couple has a run-in with the local Nazi Afrikaner corps, blond and stolid beasts who are decently venal enough to be bought off. Dore Schary, the old Message Pilot of MGM, has directed The Zulu and the Zayda in a spirit of brotherhood that pretty effectively squelches any possible dramatic conflict.

The basic trouble with the play is that it is merely a shrewd exercise in Broadway marketing research. A vast number of New York theatergoers are Jews who savor a Borscht Belt humor and are traditionally susceptible to worthy causes--of which the hottest, currently, is the Negro's plight and rights. This mating of comedy, conscience and commerce fails to generate any excitement.

The consolation prize is Menasha Skulnik, a totally endearing imp of 70. His face is a relief map of mischief and melancholy, and there is a laugh hidden in every crease. The stage may be stationary--Skulnik never is. Visions of sour pickles and gefilte fish seem to dance in his head.

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