(2 of 3)
Between Anton and Alois Lang is no great friendship, nor any notable rivalry. Long ago Anton signified his willingness to resign the role. There was the matter of his age, and resignation did not mean the loss of money. The Passion Players receive negligible salaries — one-fourth of the profits, another fourth for expenses, another for furnishing the pensions, an other for communal purposes. Said Catholic America last week: "A dentist's bill which Mr. Lang contracted after the Passion Play was eight times as large as the sum he received for . . . 68 performances." Possibly, however, Anton Lang resents the fact that his daughter was not chosen for the leading female rôle.
The Virgin. Anni Rutz, awkward, homely, sweet-tempered daughter of a widowed candy shop proprietress, will play the Virgin this year. Anni is a typist in a saw mill, the first blonde to play Mary in the living memory of Oberammergau. No trouble has she had in fulfilling the obligation of the chosen Virgin to lead a seemly life. For a while it seemed that her younger, much prettier and lazier sister might receive the vote, but the Oberammergau electors are discerning men, not to be influenced by appearances.
The Mary Magdalene. They did not choose Hansi Preisinger for the Virgin, for instance, because she is engaged to an engineer in Munich. Those who hurriedly enter her father's Hotel Alte Post after dark are apt to find Hansi embracing her young man in the shadowy taproom, and such actions would be frowned upon on the part of the chosen Virgin. But Hansi is a fresh, strapping brunette, popular, capable, so she was elected to play Mary Magdalene. Her mother and father, the latter somewhat weakened by a convivial life, display satisfaction in their daughter's success; Hansi cheerily conceals her regret that she cannot appear as Mary.
The Judas. Guido Mayr, hale, clever woodcarver, is to be villain for the second time. But Johann Zwink, who played the role several times, will continue to be missed whether Mayr is good or bad. For Zwink, a mellow, watery-eyed, lovable ancient, now exceedingly poor, is considered by many in the village to have been the best character actor that Oberammergau ever had. His was naturally a Judas face. Because his spirit was quite otherwise, he used to rehearse his part by walking about town, mumbling imprecations in his beard against the Christ until he almost believed them, became suicidally inclined. It has long been Johann Zwink's great desire that his son might succeed him. But the son is given to carousals and balladry unbecoming a Passion Player.
The Director is Johann Georg Lang, 40, a teacher of woodcarving who is unrelated to either Alois or Anton Lang. A lively man of theories, he has eliminated much of the archaic flavor of the production; has, for example, substituted for the usual motley of costumes a color scheme of white, gold and grey.