José Ruben
{{Short description|French-born American actor}}
{{Infobox person
| name = José Ruben
| image = José Ruben 1916.png
| alt = Image of José Ruben from 1916
| caption = José Ruben 1916
| nationality = French (1884)
American (1918)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1884|12|8}}
| birth_place = Paris, France
| death_date = {{nowrap|{{Death date and age|mf=yes|1969|04|28|1884|12|8}}}}
| death_place = New York City, New York
| resting_place =
| education = Conservatoire de Paris
| alma_mater = La Sorbonne (attended)
| occupation = Actor, Director
| years_active = 1904-1956
| other_names =
| spouse = {{ubl
| {{marriage|Mary Nash|1918|1927|end=divorce}}
| {{marriage|Victoria Wehrum|1949}}
}}
}}
José Ruben (December 8, 1884 – April 28, 1969)New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturlization Records, 1794-1943 for Jose Ruben, Southern District, New York, (Roll 0162), Petition No. 22314, retrieved from Ancestry.com{{cite news |title=Jose Ruben Dies; Actor, Director |work=New York Times |date=April 30, 1969 |location=New York, New York |page=47 |via = NYTimes.com}} was a French-born actor whose career from 1910 on was in the United States. He first rose to prominence in 1916-1917 with the Washington Square Players, and for the next ten years was a highly regarded lead player. He acted in over twenty silent films and was a fixture on Broadway stages, as both performer and director, for over forty years. He also taught drama at Barnard College and was a stage director for the New York City Opera.
Early life
Ruben was born in Paris, France, to a family wealthy enough to fund his education and travel. He had at least two younger sisters. According to an early profile, he could outargue anyone in the family, so it was decided he should study law.{{cite news |title=The Story of M. Ruben |work=New York Times |date=January 14, 1917 |location=New York, New York |page=69 |via = NYTimes.com}} He had studied English in secondary school, but found it difficult to understand native speakers, so he spent six months living in London in order to develop an ear for the language.
After two years at the Sorbonne, he abandoned law to enter the Conservatoire de Paris as a dramatics student. He completed the two-year course in 1904 and became an apprentice at the Théâtre l'Louvre. The following year Ruben joined the Théâtre de l'Odéon, from which he entered Sarah Bernhardt's troupe in 1906. Ruben stayed with Bernhardt for the next four years, playing in a large repertoire of French-language productions throughout France, England, and other parts of Europe.
Arrival in America
Ruben was still a member of Bernhardt's troupe when it arrived in America for a tour in 1910. Beginning with L'Aiglon by Edmond Rostand in Chicago on October 31, 1910,{{cite news |last=Hammond |first=Percy |title=Madame Bernhardt Defies Time in "L'Aiglon" |work=Chicago Tribune |date=November 1, 1910 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}} the tour performed a different production from its repertoire of twenty plays each night. Lost among a troupe of forty-six, with the critics attention focused almost exclusively on Bernhardt, it is not possible to detail Ruben's contribution to the tour, which finished up with Camille in New York City on June 21, 1911.{{cite news |title=Cheers for Bernhardt |work=The New York Times |date=June 22, 1911 |location=New York, New York |page=11 |via = Newspapers.com}} While Bernhardt and her troupe sailed for France the following day, Ruben stayed behind in America.{{cite news |title=Plays and Players |work=Times Union |date=October 12, 1911 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=12 |via = Newspapers.com}} When teaching at Barnard College in 1944, a school reporter asked him about Sarah Bernhardt, to which he "reluctantly" replied: "She was a great actress in that time, but I dread to think of how audiences would react to her today".{{cite news |last=Zeiger |first=Joan |title=Jose Ruben Returns Here As New Course Instructor |work=Barnard Bulletin |date=October 16, 1944 |location=New York, New York |pages=3–4 |via = Newspapers.com}}
''The Garden of Allah''
Through Bernhardt's American business manager Ruben met producer George C. Tyler,Tyler would be remarkably omnipresent throughout Ruben's stage and film career. who in turn introduced him to Robert Hichens and Mary Anderson. Hichens and Anderson decided Ruben would be perfect in the role of Batouch for their stage version of Hichen's The Garden of Allah, which Tyler was producing for Liebler & Company. The play opened October 21, 1911, at the Century Theatre, marking Ruben's first verifiable Broadway credit and his first English-language role.{{cite news |title=Lewis Waller Scores In "The Garden of Allah" |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=October 22, 1911 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=11 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben was one of only two supporting actors singled out for praise by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reviewer, and also earned commendation from the New York World critic.{{cite news |title="The Garden of Allah" |work=Des Moines Register |date=October 25, 1911 |location=Des Moines, Iowa |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} Described as a spectacle with a story, the production was the largest ever mounted on an American stage to that point. The cast included numerous authentic inhabitants of Tunisia and Algeria, as well as livestock. When the play closed on May 18, 1912, it had been viewed by 375,000 people,{{cite news |title=Plays and Players |work=The Buffalo Commercial |date=May 18, 1912 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} and established Ruben as able to handle English-language roles.
The Liebler Company cast Ruben for its national tour of The Garden of Allah starting in Chicago at the Auditorium on August 31, 1912.{{cite news |title=Liebler & Co's Season Is Getting Underway |work=The Times-Tribune |date=August 28, 1912 |location=Scranton, Pennsylvania |page=14 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Barred From Hotels, Arabs Live in Loft |work=The Inter Ocean |date=August 27, 1912 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}} The tour encompassed actors, props, sets, and livestock (camels, goats, horses, and mules) used in the production. While the animals were housed in a nearby stable, those cast members actually from North Africa were accommodated in a warehouse, since no Chicago hotel would accept them as guests. The tour visited Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia throughout the Fall of 1912, playing Boston from January thru March 1913.{{cite news |title="The Garden of Allah" In Its Final Fortnight Here |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 9, 1913 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=50 |via = Newspapers.com}} While in Boston, Ruben filed a Petition for Naturalization, with the help of the tour's manager and two journalists as witnesses.{{cite news |title=Takes Out First Papers |work=The Boston Globe |date=January 24, 1913 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben continued with the tour until it finished in May 1913.{{cite news |title="Garden of Allah" A Great Spectacle |work=The Scranton Truth |date=May 9, 1913 |location=Scranton, Pennsylvania |page=11 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Ruben and Madame Yorska
Ruben joined the company of the French Drama Society in Manhattan in December 1913.{{cite news |title=French Players Rehearsal |work=New York Tribune |date=December 21, 1913 |location=New York, New York |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} This was headed by Madame Yorska, like Ruben a former pupil of Bernhardt.{{cite news |title=Paris Applauds American Woman |work=Los Angeles Evening Post-Record |date=January 19, 1912 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com}} A colossal poseur, her real name was Elsie Stern; she was from New Orleans, Louisiana, but was perfectly willing to let journalists and audiences think she was French. The troupe performed matinee programs at the Harris Theatre, before going on tour. Ruben played all the leading male roles opposite Madame Yorska.{{cite news |title=Mme. Yorska Thursday |work=Evening Star |date=February 22, 1914 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}} The tour finished up the season in Ottawa, Canada, during May 1914.
During the early fall of 1914, Madame Yorska's troupe toured on a vaudeville circuit in a one-act play called Days of War, with Ruben as the male lead. Ironically, one reviewer praised Ruben's performance while mentioning difficulty understanding Yorska's strongly accented English.{{cite news |last=Hammond |first=Percy |title=Madame Yorska Appears in Timely War Sketch |work=Chicago Tribune |date=October 16, 1914 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=11 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben returned with the troupe to New York City and for the winter of 1914-1915 played French-language works in Manhattan and a few nearby cities.{{cite news |title=French Players Make Bow |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |date=November 26, 1914 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}} During the first half of 1915 Ruben continued with Madame Yorska's troupe, again playing Days of War in vaudeville theatres,{{cite news |title=Orpheum Bill Has Well Balanced Program |work=The Fresno Morning Republican |date=April 14, 1915 |location=Fresno, California |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} and performing benefits for French war relief.{{cite news |title=Red Cross Benefit |work=Los Angeles Times |date=June 20, 1915 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=14 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Biograph film work
Ruben appears to have detached himself from Madame Yorska's troupe in the summer of 1915. He returned to New York where he made a short film, A Daughter of Earth.{{cite news |title=Tomorrow -Biograph- A Daughter of Earth |work=Freeport Journal-Standard |date=August 5, 1915 |location=Freeport, Illinois |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}} This was the first of many pictures he would make at the Biograph Company during 1915-1916, but not his first film. He had done an independently produced short called Lord Chumley in 1913-1914, for which his role is unknown and verification is lacking.
With his fourth Biograph short, Ashes of Inspiration, Ruben became the central figure in the storyline, an artist torn between his wife and his muse.{{cite news |title=Lyric |work=Reading Times |date=September 6, 1915 |location=Reading, Pennsylvania |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} He is again the central figure in his fifth short for Biograph, The Rehearsal, this time as a playwright with a treacherous fiancé and a new helpmate.{{cite news |title=Wonderland |work=Pittsburgh Daily Post |date=September 19, 1915 |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |page=24 |via = Newspapers.com}} His first longer work was a Biograph special three-reeler, produced in association with Klaw and Erlanger, titled His Hand and Seal,{{cite news |title=Stage and Screen |work=The Post-Star |date=November 11, 1915 |location=Glens Falls, New York |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}} from a story by Carolyn Wells.{{cite news |title=The Penn |work=The News-Journal |date=November 22, 1915 |location=Lancaster, Pennsylvania |page=12 |via = Newspapers.com}} By the time Biograph stopped making movies in late spring 1916, Ruben had appeared as a lead in twenty-three films.
Washington Square Players
Ruben had returned to the stage briefly in May 1916,{{cite news |title="Through the Ages", "The Devil's Invention" New Offerings of Week |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=May 7, 1916 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=34 |via = Newspapers.com}} but otherwise had no known performing work for several months after the steady job with Biograph ended. It was perhaps a measure of desperation that saw him join the Washington Square Players (WSP), a semi-amateur troupe that drew lots of critical attention but which couldn't afford to match professional Broadway salaries.According to columnist Louis Sheaffer, Ruben went from $500 a week at Biograph to $50 a week with the WSP. See Brooklyn Daily Eagle for March 22, 1951, page 6. Ruben appeared with the WSP on the first bill of their third season.{{cite news |title=Washington Square Players Begin New Season Auspiciously |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=October 3, 1916 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}} The WSP specialized in one-act plays, usually presenting four on each bill. Ruben debuted in Lover's Luck, immediately drawing praise from the critics.{{cite news |title=Novel Playlets in Comedy's New Bill |work=The New York Times |date=October 3, 1916 |location=New York, New York |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} His professional training and experience stood out among the largely untrained players, most of whom had careers other than the stage. Alexander Woollcott went so far as to say that Ruben "is by far the best actor the group has known".{{cite news |last=Woollcott |first=Alexander |title=Second Thoughts on First Nights |work=The New York Times |date=October 8, 1916 |location=New York, New York |page=30 |via = Newspapers.com}}
File:Ad for Washington Square Players from New York Times Nov 16, 1916 page 9.jpg
The WSP responded to the favorable notices by casting Ruben in three playlets for its second bill starting November 13, 1916.{{cite news |title=Four New Plays Seen at Comedy |work=The Sun |date=November 14, 1916 |location=New York, New York |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} He played an unwed husband in Another Way Out, an original satire of Greenwich Village social mores by Lawrence Langner; the tragic lead in Bushido, a translated excerpt from an 18th Century Japanese play by Takeda Izumo; and a self-absorbed character in Altruism, a satirical farce by Karl Ettlinger.{{cite news |last=Broun |first=Heywood |title=Best Bill Seen at the Comedy |work=New York Tribune |date=November 14, 1916 |location=New York, New York |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}} Of Ruben in Bushido, Heywood Broun wrote "José Ruben gives an extraordinarily impressive performance as the father who sacrifices his son. It is the best bit of acting in the evening...". The critic for The New York Times agreed, while also praising Ruben for the other two plays in which he performed.{{cite news |title=Japanese Tragedy Admirably Staged |work=The New York Times |date=November 14, 1916 |location=New York, New York |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}} This program of plays, strongly supported by Ruben's acting, would become the most successful of all WSP bills, playing over 100 performances thru February 1917.{{cite news |title=(Advertisement) |work=New York Herald |date=February 4, 1917 |location=New York, New York |page=31 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Midway thru this four-month run Ruben played the lead in a special matinee for WSP subscribers only,{{cite news |title='The Life of Man' Well Presented |work=New York Times |date=January 15, 1917 |location=New York, New York |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}} and was also the subject of a profile in The New York Times. For the season's third bill he performed in just one play, A Private Account, for which the New York Herald said Ruben was "the greatest find the Washington Square Players have made this season".At the time this was universally acknowledged by critics, but in hindsight a young drama apprentice from Buffalo, New York, who made her professional debut with one line in Bushido, would go on to greater fame as Katharine Cornell.{{cite news |title=Four One Act Plays Given at Comedy |work=New York Herald |date=February 13, 1917 |location=New York, New York |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} Illness limited Ruben's participation in the WSP's fourth bill of the season,{{cite news |title=Three Plays Given at the Comedy |work=The Sun |date=March 22, 1917 |location=New York, New York |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}} but he recovered in time to star with Mary Shaw in Ghosts, which ended the season. Meant for a one week engagement, it was held over for three weeks due to popular demand.{{cite news |title=Plays and Players |work=New York Tribune |date=May 18, 1917 |location=New York, New York |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} Alexander Woollcott and Heywood Broun again wrote highly of Ruben's acting as Oswald Alving.{{cite news |title=Satisfying Revival of Ibsen's 'Ghosts' |work=New York Times |date=May 8, 1917 |location=New York, New York |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |last=Broun |first=Heywood |title="Ghosts" Is Not Played Well By Washington Square Players |work=New York Tribune |date=May 8, 1917 |location=New York, New York |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}}
''Madame Sand''
Ruben left the WSP after a single season. He signed with director Arthur Hopkins in June 1917 for a production to be mounted that fall.{{cite news |title=Notes and Comments on Plays and Players |work=The Indianapolis News |date=June 16, 1917 |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |page=27 |via = Newspapers.com}} This was Madame Sand, a comedy about George Sand and her lovers by Philip Moeller starring Mrs. Fiske. The production previewed in Baltimore during late October,{{cite news |last=Hammond |first=Percy |title=News and Views of the Theaters |work=Chicago Tribune |date=October 28, 1917 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=35 |via = Newspapers.com}} and premiered at Broadway's Criterion Theatre on November 19, 1917.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Fiske Is Seen in Moeller's Play |work=The Sun |date=November 20, 1917 |location=New York, New York |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} Aside from Mrs. Fiske, who wore pants and smoked cigars while in character, Ruben was the only actor singled out for praise by critics.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Fiske Smokes Cigars in New Play |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=November 20, 1917 |location=St. Louis, Missouri |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Playhouse Paragraphs |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=November 25, 1917 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=18 |via = Newspapers.com}} The reviewer for Brooklyn Life said Ruben's acting "is not eclipsed even by that of so great an actress as Mrs. Fiske, and he far surpasses any member of her supporting company".{{cite news |title=Plays and Players |work=Brooklyn Life |date=December 1, 1917 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=18 |via = Newspapers.com}} Burns Mantle recognized that the play itself would appeal only to "a limited and intellectual public";{{cite news |last=Mantle |first=Burns |title=Burns Mantle's New York Letter |work=Chicago Tribune |date=December 2, 1917 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=65 |via = Newspapers.com}} it closed at the Knickerbocker Theatre on January 12, 1918.{{cite news |title=Theatrical Notes |work=Times Union |date=January 10, 1918 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} Madame Sand then went on tour for two months, with Ruben continuing in his role.{{cite news |last=Hammond |first=Percy |title=Mrs. Fiske in "Madame Sand" |work=Chicago Tribune |date=January 22, 1918 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=17 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title="Mme Sand" Acted by Mrs. Fiske |work=The Boston Globe |date=March 5, 1918 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Broadway stage: 1918-1920
Laurette Taylor chose Ruben for a program of excerpts from three Shakespeare plays, in which he played Romeo to her Juliet in the balcony scene.{{cite news |title=Laurette Taylor As Juliet, Portia And Katherine |work=New York Tribune |date=March 31, 1918 |location=New York, New York |page=34 |via = Newspapers.com}} It played for a single matinee at the Criterion Theatre on April 5, 1918, to a small audience of fellow actors.{{cite news |title=Miss Taylor Dips Into Shakespeare |work=The Sun |date=April 6, 1918 |location=New York, New York |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} Her performance was panned by reviewers,{{cite news |title=Fails to Improve Portia |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=April 6, 1918 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |last=Broun |first=Heywood |title=Laurette Taylor Not at Her Best in Matinee of Shakespeare |work=New York Tribune |date=April 6, 1918 |location=New York, New York |page=13 |via = Newspapers.com}} and even Ruben drew a very rare poor review, with only Heywood Broun commending him.
Ruben had more success partnering with Olive Wyndham in an English translation of Georges Courteline's The Fine System, which played on the B. F. Keith vaudeville circuit during May and June 1918.{{cite news |title=A Charming Playlet Given at Palace |work=New York Tribune |date=May 7, 1918 |location=New York, New York |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=B. F. Keith's Today |work=The Washington Herald |date=June 9, 1918 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=13 |via = Newspapers.com}} He was then cast in I.O.U., which co-starred Mary Nash; it opened at the Savoy Theatre in Asbury Park, New Jersey on August 5, 1918.{{cite news |title="I.O.U." Is Drama with Real Punch |work=Asbury Park Press |date=August 6, 1918 |location=Asbury Park, New Jersey |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben's character changed from the Japanese "Baron Tori" in the tryouts to the East Indian "Ramdah Sima" by the time the play reached Broadway on October 5, 1918,{{cite news |title=I.O.U Proves Flash in Pan at Belmont |work=The Sun |date=October 6, 1918 |location=New York, New York |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} but no rewriting could save this play. It closed after a brief run, upon which Ruben married his co-star.{{cite news |title=Plays and Players |work=New York Tribune |date=October 24, 1918 |location=New York, New York |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} Newspapers made much of their romance, with a full-page story and photos, even suggesting the play folded early because they couldn't convincingly play antagonists.{{cite news |title=How Mary Nash Found Real Love In Her Make-Believe Play |work=The Tennessean |date=November 24, 1918 |location=Nashville, Tennessee |page=51 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Almost immediately the couple's work pulled them apart; Nash went into another New York play while Ruben joined the touring company of A Marriage of Convenience.{{cite news |title=At the Theatres |work=The Chronicle-Telegram |date=December 7, 1918 |location=Elryia, Ohio |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com}} The tour finished up in January 1919; there is a seven-month gap before Ruben's next known performing work. During the latter part of this time Actors' Equity Association (AEA) launched an actor's strike. Ruben was elected to the board of the Actors' Fidelity League,{{cite news |title=Betwixt and Between - the Fidelity Borad (photo caption) |work=Daily News |date=August 27, 1919 |location=New York, New York |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com}} a new organization of actors opposed to the strike tactics of AEA.{{cite news |title=Stage Strike Closes Two More Houses |work=New York Tribune |date=August 24, 1919 |location=New York, New York |page=1 |via = Newspapers.com}} However, with the backing of Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor, the AEA won out.{{cite news |title=5 Shows Open as Strike Ends |work=Times Union |date=September 7, 1919 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com}}
The Dancer by Edward Locke opened October 1, 1919, at the Harris Theatre.{{cite news |last=Broun |first=Heywood |title="The Dancer" Is New Play By Edward Locke at the Harris |work=New York Tribune |date=October 2, 1919 |location=New York, New York |page=11 |via = Newspapers.com}} A story about a Russian ballerina, it had a lead actress who could neither dance nor speak with a convincing accent. Heywood Broun and Alexander Woollcott blasted the acting, with the exception of Ruben.{{cite news |last=Woollcott |first=Alexander |title=The Play |work=The New York Times |date=October 2, 1919 |location=New York, New York |page=20 |via = Nytimes.com}} Ruben next appeared as a morphine-addicted pianist in Sacred and Profane Love by Arnold Bennett, which opened in February 1920.{{cite news |title='Sacred and Profane Love' Stars Elsie Ferguson |work=Times Union |date=February 24, 1920 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}} This production had a good run, and towards the end of it Ruben gave a long interview to the New York Tribune in which he discussed acting.{{cite news |title=Sincerity Is the Secret of the Histrionic Art, Says Clever Jose Ruben |work=New York Tribune |date=May 2, 1920 |location=New York, New York |page=42 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Mary Nash was then appearing on the English stage in The Man Who Came Back. Ruben applied for his first passport as a US Citizen on May 1, 1920,U.S., Passport Applications, 1795-1925 for Jose Ruben; Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925 > 1920 > Roll 1188 - Certificates: 27000 - 27375, retrieved from Ancestry.com giving his destination as England and his reason for travelling as "To visit my wife Mary Nash now playing in London". The application also revealed he was residing at the Algonquin Hotel in New York. Ruben sailed on May 15, intending to return in time to start rehearsal on his next play, The Checkerboard.{{cite news |title=Ruben Sails for London |work=Daily News |date=May 18, 1920 |location=New York, New York |page=38 |via = Newspapers.com}} After a few weeks of tryouts, this comedy opened on Broadway in mid-August,Before air-conditioned theaters, a summer opening in Manhattan signalled a property for which the backers had few expectations. with Ruben as the star.{{cite news |title=Stage Notes |work=Times Union |date=August 16, 1920 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} Critics were not impressed, one opining that Ruben "did well but in an unenthusiastic way".{{cite news |title="Checkerboard" Interesting with Jose Ruben in Lead |work=Times Union |date=August 20, 1920 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} Alexander Woollcott blamed the writing, saying the play was amusing but not believable.{{cite news |last=Woollcott |first=Alexander |title=The Play |work=The New York Times |date=August 20, 1920 |location=New York, New York |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}} It closed on September 4, 1920,{{cite news |last=McElliott |first= |title=This and That in the Theatre |work=Daily News |date=September 3, 1920 |location=New York, New York |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}} but Ruben was soon at work staging Thy Name Is Woman, in which both he and Mary Nash would star.{{cite news |title="Jimmie" Opens the New Apollo; Nash in "Thy Name Is Woman" |work=New York Herald |date=November 14, 1920 |location=New York, New York |page=46 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben played a deformed, malignant smuggler in the Spanish Pyrenees, who stabs his wife Guerita (Mary Nash) when she betrays him with a young soldier (Curtis Cooksey).{{cite news |title=Mary Nash Appears in New Melodrama |work=The Brooklyn Citizen |date=November 16, 1920 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}} The play was successful, running for over fifteen weeks at the Playhouse Theatre then moving to other theatres for another three weeks{{cite news |title=Majestic Theatre: "Thy Name Is Woman" |work=The Chat |date=February 26, 1921 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=22 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title="Thy Name Is Woman" At Teller's Shubert |work=The Standard Union |date=March 15, 1921 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} before going on tour thru May 1921. It later was adapted for a 1924 silent film, Thy Name Is Woman.
Stage and screen: 1921-1924
Ruben next starred with Clare Eames in Swords, a costume drama by Sidney Howard, which opened on Broadway on September 1, 1921.{{cite news |last=Belgion |first=Montgomery |title="Swords" Proves Splendid Drama for Clare Eames |work=Daily News |date=September 2, 1921 |location=New York, New York |page=41 |via = Newspapers.com}} It closed on October 1,{{cite news |title=Amusements: National (ad) |work=New York Herald |date=October 1, 1921 |location=New York, New York |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} done in by warm weather according to one reviewer.{{cite news |last=Hammond |first=Percy |title=Flashes of Wit Rare in Current New York Plays |work=Buffalo Courier |date=October 2, 1921 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=17 |via = Newspapers.com}}
File:José Ruben in "The Man from Home" (1922).png
During late 1921 Ruben travelled to Italy to shoot a film called The Man from Home,{{cite news |title=Daily Squint at the Movie Stars |work=Star-Gazette |date=December 10, 1921 |location=Elmira, New York |page=12 |via = Newspapers.com}} which was released by April 1922.{{cite news |title='The Man from Home', from Tarkington Play, Joins Novelties on the Screen |work=New York Herald |date=April 30, 1922 |location=New York, New York |page=40 |via = Newspapers.com}} He had begun another film, When Knighthood Was in Flower, earlier in the year but suffered a serious eye injury on the set that forced him to stop all performing work.{{cite news |title=Movie Facts and Fancies |work=The Boston Globe |date=July 12, 1922 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=14 |via = Newspapers.com}} By October 1922 he had recovered well enough to make another film titled Black Fury,{{cite news |title=Shadows on the Screen |work=New York Tribune |date=October 22, 1922 |location=New York, New York |page=50 |via = Newspapers.com}} which was released as Dark Secrets in January 1923. Reviewer Paul Gallico called it "trashy" and said Ruben was "the only one in the picture worth watching".{{cite news |last=Gallico |first=P. W. |title=Dark Secrets Has a Good Villain and Not Much More |work=Daily News |date=January 25, 1923 |location=New York, New York |page=49 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Ruben resumed stage acting with Gringo, an unusual first play by Sophie Treadwell.{{cite news |last=Woollcott |first=Alexander |title=The Reviewing Stand |work=New York Herald |date=December 15, 1922 |location=New York, New York |page=14 |via = Newspapers.com}} Alexander Woollcott said Ruben was "expert and vivid and engaging", but other critics felt the play's faults outweighed the acting.{{cite news |last=Pollock |first=Arthur |title=The New Plays |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=December 15, 1922 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=18 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |last=Mantle |first=Burns |title="Gringo" Another of Those Bandit Plays |work=Daily News |date=December 15, 1922 |location=New York, New York |page=56 |via = Newspapers.com}} The playwright herself wrote an article praising Ruben's performance,{{cite news |last=Treadwell |first=Sophie |title=Villa's Voice, the Voice of Mexico, Rings from the Lips of Jose Ruben |work=New York Tribune |date=December 24, 1922 |location=New York, New York |page=37 |via = Newspapers.com}} but the production closed January 13, 1923.{{cite news |title=Gringo Quits Tonight |work=Daily News |date=January 13, 1923 |location=New York, New York |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}}
The Exile was a romantic comedy written by Sidney Toler, for which Ruben both directed and starred. It opened for a week-long preview on March 5, 1923, at the Montauk Theatre in Brooklyn, with opera singer Eleanor Painter as co-star. Critic Arthur Pollock thought Toler's writing too long on exposition and short of dramatic action.{{cite news |last=Pollock |first=Arthur |title="The Exile", New Play by Sidney Toler, Has Debut at Montauk |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=March 6, 1923 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=12 |via = Newspapers.com}} It moved over to Broadway on April 9, 1923, where the reviewer Burns Mantle considered it to have only one exciting scene;{{cite news |last=Mantle |first=Burns |title="The Exile" Offers Romance and Song |work=Daily News |date=April 12, 1923 |location=New York, New York |page=40 |via = Newspapers.com}} audiences agreed and it closed on May 5, 1923.{{cite news |last=Mantle |first=Burns |title=Summer Season Starts Plays On And Off Stage |work=Daily News |date=May 5, 1923 |location=New York, New York |page=40 |via = Newspapers.com}}
There followed a six-month hiatus in Ruben's performing career, broken in late 1923 by a one-act drama on the B. F. Keith vaudeville circuit.{{cite news |title=Theatre Notes |work=Daily News |date=November 1, 1923 |location=New York, New York |page=48 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=B. F. Keith's |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=December 16, 1923 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=33 |via = Newspapers.com}} During February 1924, he produced and staged The Woman Hunter for regional theater, but did not appear in it.{{cite news |title=Lyceum |work=The News |date=February 9, 1924 |location=Paterson, New Jersey |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} He did appear in a series of French-language matinees given at the Gaiety Theatre by Mme. Simone's company during March 1924.{{cite news |last=Mantle |first=Burns |title=La Gallienne, Ruben Will Support Simone |work=Daily News |date=March 8, 1924 |location=New York, New York |page=18 |via = Newspapers.com}}
His next performance was on Broadway for a revival of the 1904 melodrama, Leah Kleschna. Upon opening April 21, 1924, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle said "Not all the stars in this resuscitation of Leah Kleschna are entirely familiar with their lines".{{cite news |title=In Manhattan |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=April 22, 1924 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}} Despite an all-star cast, it closed May 17, 1924,{{cite news |title="Leah Kleschna" To Close |work=Times Union |date=May 11, 1924 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=15 |via = Newspapers.com}} then went on tour to Boston and Chicago thru June. October 1, 1924, saw Ruben once more on Broadway, in a dramatic fantasy called Bewitched.{{cite news |last=Mantle |first=Burns |title=Romance "Bewitched" in Enchanted Forest |work=Daily News |date=October 2, 1924 |location=New York, New York |page=88 |via = Newspapers.com}} After just two weeks it switched theaters,{{cite news |title=Theatre Notes |work=Daily News |date=October 15, 1924 |location=New York, New York |page=24 |via = Newspapers.com}} but closed for good on October 25 when its producer ran out of money.{{cite news |title=From Day to Day in Old New York |work=The Buffalo Enquirer |date=October 30, 1924 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben's last performing job for the year was also his final motion picture, Salome of the Tenements, for which he had a leading part.{{cite news |title=Screenland's New Center of Gravity |work=Daily News |date=November 16, 1924 |location=New York, New York |page=69 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Stage performances: 1925-1928
Ruben went through a ten-month hiatus of performing from December 1924 thru September 1925.The cause of this is unknown, but may have to do with his membership in the Actor's Fidelity League. During a threatened strike in August 1924, Actor's Equity had won a closed shop concession from the Producing Managers' Association that eventually choked off membership in the rival league. He broke the dry spell in late September 1925, taking over the lead in the touring company for The Firebrand{{cite news |title=Osculatory Stunts |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=September 20, 1925 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=89 |via = Newspapers.com}} when Joseph Schildkraut fell ill.{{cite news |title=Shuberts Getting 7 New Theatres for Gay Rialto |work=Daily News |date=September 20, 1925 |location=New York, New York |page=145 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben finished up the tour by November when he started rehearsals for the Theatre Guild production of Merchants of Glory.{{cite news |title=In Guild Play |work=Daily News |date=November 24, 1925 |location=New York, New York |page=192 |via = Newspapers.com}} This opened at the Guild Theatre on December 14, 1925.{{cite news |title=In France and Here |work=Times Union |date=December 15, 1925 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} A cynical satire on war profiteers and sham patriots by Marcel Pagnol and Paul Nivoix, its humor didn't translate well from the original French.
His first radio appearance, a ten-minute interview, occurred on January 4, 1926, over WGBS in New York City.{{cite news |title=Radio Broadcasting Programs |work=The Hartford Courant |date=January 3, 1926 |location=Hartford, Connecticut |page= |via = Newspapers.com}} That spring Ruben reprised his portrayal of Oswald Alving in Ghosts, a production of the Actors' Theatre that co-starred Lucile Watson.{{cite news |title=The New Plays |work=Times Union |date=March 17, 1926 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=15 |via = Newspapers.com}} No sooner had its run finished then he appeared with his wife and sister-in-law in The Two Orphans, a revival of an old melodrama.{{cite news |last=Keefe |first=Willard |title=The New Plays |work=Times Union |date=April 6, 1926 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}}
In March 1927 Ruben played the lead in Closed Doors, a drama by Mercedes de Acosta.{{cite news |title=Theatre Briefs: Werba's Brooklyn Theatre |work=The Chat |date=March 5, 1927 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=25 |via = Newspapers.com}} Meant to be a tryout for Broadway, it was shut down by the producer after just a few performances and deferred to later in the season.{{cite news |title='Closed Doors' Shut Until Next Season |work=Daily News |date=March 14, 1927 |location=New York, New York |page=57 |via = Newspapers.com}} Suddenly unemployed, the two stars Ruben and Florence Eldridge took to vaudeville with a one-act playlet by Ruben called The Crest of the Wave.{{cite news |title=Trying Vaudeville |work=Evening Express |date=April 6, 1927 |location=Portland, Maine |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Ruben appeared briefly in a successful gangster melodrama called Speakeasy in late summer 1927,{{cite news |title=Jamaica's New Play |work=Times Union |date=September 13, 1927 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=37 |via = Newspapers.com}} but then had to return to Closed Doors, now renamed Jacob Slovak, when it resumed production in October 1927.{{cite news |last=Field |first=Rowland |title=The New Play |work=Times Union |date=October 6, 1927 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=54 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben's last major performance as a lead actor was for The Red Robe, a musical version of Under the Red Robe by Stanley J. Weyman, which opened on Broadway during late December 1928.{{cite news |last=Mantle |first=Burns |title="The Red Robe" Is Another of Those Musketeer Plays |work=Daily News |date=December 27, 1928 |location=New York, New York |page=73 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Directing: 1929-1943
This period of Ruben's career marked the transition away from acting to directing. From 1929 on his principal occupation would be stage directing, though he did still take on occasional supporting roles. He directed Robert Wilder's Sweet Chariot in 1930.https://playbill.com/production/sweet-chariot-ambassador-theatre-vault-0000001098
This period also saw the production of Alice Takat, adapted by Ruben from a Hungarian story by Dezső Szomory, which opened on Broadway on February 10, 1936.{{cite news |last=Pollock |first=Arthur |title=The Theater |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=February 11, 1936 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=14 |via = Newspapers.com}} Though Ruben had written one-act playlets for vaudeville before, this was his only attempt to handle a larger work. Produced by Ed Wynn, it starred Mady Christians and Russell Hardie. It was a flop, withdrawn after only eight performances,{{cite news |last=Field |first=Rowland |title=Both Sides of the Curtain |work=Times Union |date=February 15, 1936 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=15 |via = Newspapers.com}} and Ruben settled back to directing.
Later activities
=Barnard College=
During the fall of 1943 the "Wigs and Cues" student drama club at Barnard College mounted a production of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II.{{cite news |title=Acting, Staging, Costuming of "Edward II" Praised |work=Barnard Bulletin |date=January 10, 1944 |location=New York, New York |page=1 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben was asked by English department head Dr. Minor Latham to direct the student-chosen production, which was performed on December 16–17, 1943 at the college's Brinckerhoff Theatre. The two student leads were Leora Dana as Edward II and Jennifer Howard as Mortimer.
This led to Ruben becoming a part-time lecturer in the English department during the Fall term of 1944,{{cite news |title=Dean Discloses Staff Changes |work=Barnard Bulletin |date=September 27, 1944 |location=New York, New York |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} conducting a course called "Dramatic Workshop".{{cite news |title=Ruben, Freeman Offer "Dramatic Workshop" Course |work=Barnard Bulletin |date=April 27, 1944 |location=New York, New York |page=1 |via = Newspapers.com}} He was paired with instructor Marcia Freeman, who handled the course administrative duties.{{cite news |title=W&C Tryouts for Julius Caesar Are to Be Continued In Theatre |work=Barnard Bulletin |date=November 6, 1944 |location=New York, New York |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben and Freeman, along with Dr. Latham, auditioned students for that terms dramatic production of Julius Caesar, directed by Ruben and given in December 1944.{{cite news |last=Zeiger |first=Joan |title=Dana, Murphy, Ragsdale Make 'Caesar' Roles Live |work=Barnard Bulletin |date=December 14, 1944 |location=New York, New York |page=1 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben left the position in February 1945,{{cite news |title=Teaching Staff Changes Listed |work=Barnard Bulletin |date=February 15, 1945 |location=New York, New York |page=1 |via = Newspapers.com}} to begin preparations for staging productions for the New York City Center Opera.{{cite news |title=Opening Fourth Season |work=The Brooklyn Citizen |date=February 14, 1945 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Ruben returned to lecturing at Barnard for the winter session of 1945-46.{{cite news |title=List Changes in Faculty |work=Barnard Bulletin |date=September 26, 1945 |location=New York, New York |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}} He also cast and directed the drama club's production of The Duchess of Malfi in December 1945.{{cite news |title=Leora Dana Stars in Barnard Production of Webster Play |work=Barnard Bulletin |date=December 10, 1945 |location=New York, New York |page=1 |via = Newspapers.com}}
=Opera staging=
During 1944, Ruben branched out to staging operas and related musical performances, starting with the Belmont Operetta Company at New York City Center. He did the stage direction for The New Moon,{{cite news |last=Price |first=Edgar |title=The Premiere |work=The Brooklyn Citizen |date=May 18, 1944 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}} then staged La bohème, La traviata, and Manon Lescaut for the New York City Center Opera's fall season,{{cite news |title=Massenet 'Manon', Two Debuts, in City Opera Week |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=March 18, 1951 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=32 |via = Newspapers.com}} and Der fliegende Holländer and Faust for its 1945 spring season.{{cite news |title=Center Opens |work=Daily News |date=April 2, 1945 |location=New York, New York |page=25 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben went to the West Coast in spring 1946 to stage The Vagabond King for the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera,{{cite news |last=Schallert |first=Edwin |title='Vagabond King' Handled in Dazzling Fashion |work=Los Angeles Times |date=May 4, 1946 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}} and the San Francisco Light Opera Association.{{cite news |last=Soames |first=Wood |title=Curtain Calls: Friml Opus Hailed in S.F. |work=Oakland Tribune |date=May 28, 1946 |location=Oakland, California |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}}
Ruben shared stage direction duties for the Chicago Opera's fall 1946 season.{{cite news |last=Cassidy |first=Claudia |title=Here's the Program for the Chicago Opera Company |work=Chicago Tribune |date=June 30, 1946 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=78 |via = Newspapers.com}} He handled the stage direction for a Broadway musical, Toplitzky of Notre Dame during the late fall of 1946.{{cite news |last=Sylvester |first=Robert |title='Toplitzky of Notre Dame' Is a Credit to the B'way Alumni |work=Daily News |date=December 27, 1946 |location=New York, New York |page=196 |via = Newspapers.com}} With spring 1947, Ruben returned to the West Coast to stage The Three Musketeers for both the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera,{{cite news |title='Three Musketeers' Has Jose Ruben As Its Director |work=Hollywood Citizen News |date=June 6, 1947 |location=Hollywood, California |page=16 |via = Newspapers.com}} and the San Francisco Light Opera Association.{{cite news |title='3 Musketeers' Starts July 7 |work=San Francisco Examiner |date=July 2, 1947 |location=San Francisco, California |page=15 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben returned to San Francisco in 1950 to stage Rose-Marie.{{cite news |title=Patrice Munsel and a Modern, Lavish Hand Revive Rose Marie |work=The Sacramento Bee |date=July 8, 1950 |location=Sacramento, California |page=23 |via = Newspapers.com}}
For the New York City Center Opera's 1951 spring season Ruben devised staging for a new work in its repertoire, Manon.{{cite news |title='Manon' Director |work=Daily News |date=March 12, 1951 |location=New York, New York |page=61 |via = Newspapers.com}} For the fall season he created staging for Rigoletto.{{cite news |title=City Rigoletto; New Balanchine |work=Daily News |date=September 6, 1951 |location=New York, New York |page=463 |via = Newspapers.com}}
=Last performance=
Ruben's last performance came in 1956 with the broad comedy The Great Sebastians, which starred Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt.{{cite news |last=Chapman |first=John |title=Lunt, Fontanne, Lindsay, Crouse Hit Jackpot in 'Great Sebastians' |work=Daily News |date=January 6, 1956 |location=New York, New York |page=261 |via = Newspapers.com}} The play opened on January 4, 1956, at the ANTA Theatre, when Ruben was already 71. A Cold War stage version of To Be or Not to Be, it was an audience pleaser. After a month, it moved to the Coronet Theatre where it played through to June 1956.
Death and remembrance
After thirteen years of retirement, Ruben died in University Hospital on April 28, 1969, at the age of 84, though newspapers reported it as 80. The New York Daily News ran a 16-line obituary that concluded with this career highlight: "In 1916, he played in a performance which marked the stage debut of Katherine [sic] Cornell".{{cite news |title=Obituary: José Ruben |work=Daily News |date=April 30, 1969 |location=New York, New York |page=93 |via = Newspapers.com}} The New York Times, whose editors had better memories, gave him a two-column article covering his life and career.
Personal life
According to both his Petition for Naturalization (1913) and his Passport Application (1920), Ruben stood {{convert|5|ft|7|in|cm|abbr=on}} and weighed {{convert|150|lb|kg}}, with dark hair and blue eyes. Both documents also give his birth year as 1884, unlike his much later social security file which had 1888.Jose Ruben in the U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, retrieved from Ancestry.com
Ruben married actress Mary Nash on October 19, 1918, at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament. They had met while rehearsing in I.O.U..{{cite news |title=Mary Nash |work=The New York Sun |date=November 3, 1918 |location=New York, New York |page=32 |via = Newspapers.com}} Ruben directed and performed with Nash in Thy Name Is Woman during 1920-21. The play was set in Spain; Nash told an interviewer that her husband had travelled in Spain and Italy and knew both languages.{{cite news |title=Miss Nash Defends Her Foreign Accent in Play |work=New York Herald |date=November 21, 1920 |location=New York, New York |page=38 |via = Newspapers.com}} A brief article from March 1923 mentioned that the couple lived together with Nash's sister Florence Nash, and that all three supported each others' acting careers.{{cite news |title=Jose Ruben, the Actor |work=The Standard Union |date=March 8, 1923 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=18 |via = Newspapers.com}} The couple performed together in a 1926 stage play, but this appears to be the last reference to Nash and Ruben associating. The couple eventually divorced.
While teaching at Barnard College in 1944, Ruben was interviewed by a reporter for the school paper, who said he "spoke British", presumably meaning his English followed Received Pronunciation. She also described him at age 60: "...smokes with an amber cigarette holder: wears neat, gentle clothes, horn-rimmed glasses, and uses the bilinguist's rather vivid vocabulary". He told her that he had no hobbies other than work.
Victoria "Torrie" Wehrum (1909-1990),Victoria W. Ruben in the U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current, retrieved from Ancestry.com head of the Book Department of Bloomingdale's,{{cite news |title=Show Shops |work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=January 6, 1956 |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |page=16 |via = Newspapers.com}} and Ruben were married on September 29, 1949, in Manhattan,{{cite news |title=Wehrum-Ruben |work=Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph |date=October 11, 1949 |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |page=21 |via = Newspapers.com}} and remained so at his death in 1969.
Stage performances
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="font-size: 90%"
|+ Listed by year of first performance, excluding works which he directed only (French-language roles before 1911, and many from 1913–1915, cannot be documented) |
| scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Play ! scope="col" | Role ! scope="col" | Venue ! scope="col" | Notes |
|---|
| 1911
| Batouch | Ruben's earliest credited performance, his Broadway debut, and his first English-language role. |
| rowspan=2|1912
|Le Passant | Street Singer | One-act drama by François Coppée has Ruben as a Florentine street singer who captivates Beverly Sitgreaves. Ruben also gave a reading of Enrage at this one-off matinee program, performed while he was still appearing evenings in The Garden of Allah.{{cite news |title=Theater Topics |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=February 14, 1912 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=28 |via = Newspapers.com}} |
| The Garden of Allah
| Batouch | Touring Company | The travelling spectacle toured from late August 1912 thru May 1913. |
| rowspan=2|1913
| La Vierge folle/Le Passant | Marcel Armoury / Street Singer | One-act plays by Bataille and Coppée respectively. |
| Andromaque
| | Harris Theatre | Classic tragedy by Jean Racine. |
| rowspan=3|1914
| Le Mari Amoureaux des a Femme | Octave D'Ubeville | Belasco TheaterThis was in Washington, D.C. | The then Italian Ambassador to the US, Cusani Confalonieri, had translated this comedy by Giuseppe Giacosa into French.{{cite news |title=Diplomat's Work Seen in Belasco Production |work=The Washington Times |date=February 27, 1914 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} |
| Days of War
| Count Dolga | Vaudeville circuit | One-act drama had Madame Yorska as a dancer pursued by Ruben whom she denounces as a spy. |
| Le Vieil Homme
| | Little Theater | Five-act drama of social life by Georges de Porto-Riche. |
| rowspan=5|1916
|Through the AgesThe original 1904 play was called Eros i Psyche in Polish. | | Garrick TheatreThis was located in Philadelphia. | American debut of play by Jerzy Żuławski, starred Madame Yorska and Robert T. Haines, with Florence Short, Roy Hoyer, Ruth Sharpe. |
| Lover's Luck
| Marcel Desroches | Ruben's debut with the Washington Square Players (WSP) was this one-act work by Porto-Riche in English translation. |
| Another Way Out
| Gerard Larue | Comedy Theatre | One-act satire on Greenwich Village social mores by Lawrence Langner played on the same bill as Bushido and Altruism. |
| Bushido
| Masuo | Comedy Theatre | The WSP's most successful production was this extract from a work by Takeda Izumo, designed and staged by Michio Itō. |
| Altruism
| | Comedy Theatre | One-act play by Karl Ettlinger was skipped by most reviewers as Bushido ran so long. |
| rowspan=5|1917
| Man | Comedy Theatre | Full length play by Leonid Andreyev was a limited engagement performance for WSP subscribers. |
| A Private Account
| Edward Trielle | Comedy Theatre | One-act play by Georges Courteline, given in English translation, also starred Margaret Mower. |
| The Poor Fool
| Hugo Haist | Comedy Theatre | One-act play by Hermann Bahr, given in English translation, was poorly received by critics. |
| Ghosts
| Oswald Alving | Comedy Theatre | Ruben and Mary Shaw played the leads in this Henrik Ibsen tragedy, which also featured Margaret Mower, T.W. Gibson, and Arthur Hohl. |
| Madame Sand
| Criterion Theatre | Comedy by Philip Moeller, directed by Arthur Hopkins, with sets by Rollo Peters. Starred Mrs. Fiske, with Ferdinand Gottschalk, Olin Field, John Davidson, Walter Kingsford, Owen Meech, and Arthur Cross. |
| rowspan=5|1918
|Madame Sand | Alfred de Musset | Touring company | Ruben performed with the tour for two months of engagements. |
| Romeo and Juliet
| Romeo | Criterion Theatre | Laurette Taylor played Juliet in this two-character excerpt from the balcony scene. |
| The Fine System
| | Vaudeville circuit | Olive Wyndham co-starred with Ruben in a one-act play by Georges Courteline, in English translation. |
| I.O.U.
| Baron Tori | Touring Company | Stage adaption by Willard Mack and Hector Turnbull of the latter's screenplay for The Cheat. Directed by John Cromwell, it co-starred Mary Nash. |
| A Marriage of Convenience
| Chevalier de Valclos | Touring Company | From a four-act play by Alexandre Dumas, this production starred Henry Miller and Ruth Chatterton.{{cite news |title="A Marriage of Convenience" at the Hollis |work=The Boston Globe |date=December 22, 1918 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=32 |via = Newspapers.com}} |
| 1919
|The Dancer | Bejdan Borivenko | Produced by the Shuberts, this play by Edward Locke starred Isabelle Lowe, John Halliday, Effingham Pinto, and Ruben. |
| rowspan=4|1920
|Sacred and Profane Love | Emilio Diaz | Four-act play by Arnold Bennett, starred Elsie Ferguson. |
| Maker of Dreams
| Pierrot | One-act play by Oliphant Downs, given as two matinee benefits by the Actors' Fidelity League; with Ruth Chatterton and Howard Kyle.{{cite news |title=Actors Give Benefit |work=Times Union |date=April 28, 1920 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}} |
| The Checkerboard
| Feodor Masimoff | Previews | By Frederick and Fanny Hatton, staged by Clifford Brooke, starred Ruben with Donald McDonald, Miriam Sears, Dorothy Smoller, Kate Mayhew.{{cite news |title='Checkerboard' Is Novel, Pleasing |work=Asbury Park Press |date=August 13, 1920 |location=Asbury Park, New Jersey |page=17 |via = Newspapers.com}} |
| Thy Name Is Woman
| Pedro | Four-act drama by Carl Schoner and Benjamin F. Glazer, directed by Ruben, and starring him and Mary Nash, with Curtis Cooksey and Edwin Maynard. |
| 1921
|Swords | Cannetto | National Theatre | Costume drama by Sidney Howard, staged and produced by Brock Pemberton, starred Clare Eames and Ruben, with Charles Waldron, Raymond Bloomer, Jane Darwell. |
| 1922
|Gringo | Tito, el Tuerto | Comedy Theatre | By Sophie Treadwell, staged and produced by Guthrie McClintic, starred Ruben, with Edna Hibbard, Richard Barbee, Edna Walton, Frederick Perry. |
| rowspan=2|1923
|The Exile | Jacques Cortot | Montauk Theatre | Costume drama by Sidney Toler, staged by and starring Ruben, co-starring Eleanor Painter, with Etienne Girardot, Marion Abbott, Sydney Riggs, Wallis Clark. |
| The Greaser
| Tito | Vaudville circuit | One-act condensation of Gringo marked Ruben's return to performing after a six-month hiatus. |
| rowspan=6|1924
|The Woman Hunter | | Lyceum TheaterThis was in Paterson, New Jersey. | Three-act play by Lewis Slodan and James Tracey; produced and staged by Ruben, who did not appear in it. Starred Ruth Shepley, with Charlotte Walker, William Boyd, Saxon Kling. |
| La Vierge folle
| M. De Charence | One-act play by Henry Bataille, given twice as a matinee. Starring Mme. Simone, Eva La Gallienne, and Ruben, with M. de Rigoult, M. Delaqueriere, Mlle. Tilden.{{cite news |last=Mantle |first=Burns |title=Simone Returns In La Vierge Folle |work=Daily News |date=March 22, 1924 |location=New York, New York |page=42 |via = Newspapers.com}} |
| La Coutouriere de Luneville
| M. Rallon | Gaiety Theatre | One-act play by Alfred Savoir, given twice as a matinee. Starred Mme. Simone and Ruben.{{cite news |title=Mme. Simone in Another Performance at the Gaiety |work=Brooklyn Citizen |date=March 26, 1924 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}} |
| Le Passe
| | Gaiety Theatre | One-act play by Porto-Riche, given twice as a matinee. Starred Mme. Simone and Ruben, with José Delaqueriere, Henry Morrell, Emile Villamin.{{cite news |title=Mme. Simone in "Le Passe" |work=The Standard Union |date=March 28, 1924 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=14 |via = Newspapers.com}} |
| Leah Kleschna
| Schram | Revival of melodrama by C. M. S. McLellan starred William Faversham, Arnold Daly, Helen Gahagan, Ruben, Arnold Korff, and Lowell Sherman. |
| Bewitched
| Marquis | National Theatre | Dramatic fantasy by Edward Sheldon and Sidney Howard, designed by Lee Simonson, starred Ruben, Florence Eldridge, and Glenn Anders. |
| rowspan=2|1925
|The Firebrand | Touring Company | Ruben took over the role Joseph Schildkraut had originated on Broadway; starred Ruben, Nana Bryant and Frank Morgan. |
| Merchants of Glory
| Monsieur Denis | By Marcel Pagnol and Paul Nivoix, translated by Ralph Roeder, staged by Philip Moeller, starring Augustin Duncan and Ruben, with Helen Westley. |
| rowspan=2|1926
|Ghosts | Oswald Alving | Comedy Theatre | Ruben reprised the role at the same theatre from WSP days. Starred Lucile Watson, with Edward Fielding, Hortense Alden, J. M. Kerrigan. |
| The Two Orphans
| Pierre Frouchard | Ruben played a cripple in this short-lived revival that starred his wife Mary Nash and her sister Florence Nash. |
| rowspan=4|1927
|Closed Doors | Jacob Slovak | Werba's Brooklyn Theatre | Drama by Mercedes de Acosta, staged by Edward Goodman, starred Ruben, with Florence Eldridge, Robert Strange, and Kate Morgan. |
| The Crest of the Wave
| | Vaudeville circuit | One-act playlet by Ruben starred him and Florence Eldridge. |
| Speakeasy
| Fuzzy Arnold |
| Jacob Slovak
| Jacob Slovak | Greenwich Village Theatre | Closed Doors rewrite; staged by James Light, starring Ruben and Miriam Doyle, with Arthur Hughes, Beatrice Moreland, and Robert Abbott. |
| 1928
|The Red Robe | Cardinal Richelieu | Shubert Theatre | Based on Under the Red Robe by Stanley J. Weyman, staged by Stanley Logan, it starred Ruben, Walter Woolf, Helen Gilliland, John Goldsworthy. |
| rowspan=2|1931
|As You Desire Me | Boffi | | |
| The Cat and the Fiddle
| Clement Daudat | | |
| 1933
|The Drums Begin | Gaston Corday | | |
| 1934
|Rain from Heaven | Nikolai Jurin | | |
| 1936
|Matrimony Pfd | Andre Lorre | | Ruben staged and performed in this play |
| 1938
|Madame Capet | Herman | | Ruben directed and performed in this |
| 1943
| Louis XI | | |
| 1956
|The Great Sebastians | Karel Cerny | Ruben's last performance was this moderately successful comedy, starring Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, with Ben Astar, Simon Oakland, Arny Freeman, Joseph Holland, and Eugenia Rawls. |
Filmography
Notes
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References
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Category:20th-century French male actors
Category:French theatre directors
Category:Barnard College faculty
Category:University of Paris alumni
Category:French emigrants to the United States