Albuquerque Morning Journal

PASSION PLAY TO BE REVIVED AT OBERAMMERGAU: REQUESTS FOR SEATS ARE POURING IN

First Regular Performances Will Be Given on May 14; Municipality Rejects a Proposition That a Tax Be Levied on Foreign Visitors; Stern Rebuke Awaits Profiteers.

(BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.)

Oberammergau, Bavaria, March 19 (by the Associated Press.)—Preparations for the first post-war revival of the passion play have progressed sufficiently to enable the committee of elders to announce that the final dress rehearsal will be held May 9. The first regular performance will be given on May 14.

Thirty-five thousand applications for seats and sleeping accommodations already have been received from abroad and while the local management has not yet received indications as to the extent to which Germans will patronize the production of the play, it assumes that German attendance will more than quadruple the foreign patronage.

Summer Performances.

Anticipating an unusual influx of visitors in July and August, the management has decided to give Wednesday performances during these months.

Economic conditions have obliged the village elders considerably to amplify their directing staff, not so much as concerns the production of the play as to solve the problem of accommodating thousands of visitors for whom the comforts and conveniences of travel before the war are now not available.

The conditions under which the play will be revived this year have shocked the rural simplicity of these peasant play producers, and, while determined to prevent the sacred enterprise from becoming basely commercialized, they are now beginning to realize that the war's aftermath has produced an economic environment with which they are compelled to reckon.

The municipality of Oberammergau has peremptorily rejected a proposition that it levy a tax on foreign visitors which, it declares, would be out of harmony with the origin and traditions of the play and also would conflict with the purpose of the present revival which is regarded as one way of achieving reconciliation between Germany and the other nations.

The town fathers, however, announce that they have been forced to assume a considerable initial expense in preparing for the production, reconstructing the theater which will seat 4,300 spectators and in providing costumes.

Oberammergau also is sadly in need of municipal improvements to give the village a presentable attire when the first guests arrive. A new church bell alone called for an outlay of 170,000 marks, while repaving of the main streets has cost almost as much.

Stakes All on Play.

All told, this hamlet which, in peace times, had a budget of insignificant proportions, already has staked its municipal existence on the outcome of this year's productions.

Oberammergau will be able to furnish accommodations for 1,600 visitors who prefer to sleep in the village in order to be on hand for the early opening performance. Unterammergau, close by, is arranging quarters for 1,500 others, while the well known convent at Ettal, half an hour's travel distant, is preparing to install 500 emergency cots. Thus the management of the play believes that it will be amply able to accommodate the overflow of visitors.

The problem of feeding the guests is more intricate and to solve it the elders have appointed a commissary department which will co-operate with the Bavarian food controller and the co-operative society of Regensburg.

Stern rebuke awaits the profiteer who should attempt to conduct a lunch stand here in defiance of established regulations or violate fixed price schedules. In fact, illegitimate dealers and speculators of all categories are being emphatically informed that Oberammergau is bound to prove disappointing to them if they regard it as an opportunity for quick clean-up.