Word: balaams
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...What animal did Balaam smite cruelly...
...comic interlude Balaam appears belaboring his ass, which balks at the shining angel in his path. The High Priest was also intended as a comic figure. In scorn and derision he listens to the prophecies, laughs raucously at Saint Augustine's chant, and harangues his Jewish followers. He contrasts grotesquely with the sober, dignified Augustus who calmly opposes his biblical arguments to the raging High Priest and his followers...
Unfortunately this interesting prelude had to be cut to a bare outline. Much or all of the humor in the disputes would be lost on a modern audience and the broadly humorous Balaam could for obvious resons not be introduced. Nevertheless, the five characters who remained of the Prophet Play, Isaiah Aaron, the Sibyl, the High Priest and St. Augustine, ably acted as they were, gave a sufficiently vivid impression of this characteristically German portion of the miracle...