Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-08-26
Observation-Disclosures


We took occasion Few days ago, in short
comment upon Theatre going, to express our
selves as decidedly favorable to the maintenance
Of the stage. We have, and do long to see this
noble profession elevated tn that standard which
It should attain, and which the great and good
men Of past times, who have made it and insti-
tntion, intended it scOuld occupy. The follow
ing criticism, from the n. Y Express, we entire
" endorse, as being the experience Of every one
who has witnessed the defects which still cling
TO ii in many places, but which public opinion
and IN Independent press are gradually 05!isers-
ting:
There Is scarcely moro damaging element
in connection with the stage here than this latter
influence, of the prevailing farce literature. A
catalogue Of it will at once suggest itself to the
theatre eoer. Deslingin low vulgardialects and
more Or less filthy jests, its villainous English
and still more villainous personations and Prln-
Ciples-( characters it has not, )=-like any other
circumstances have excited temporary atten-
,tion. But the consequences are now realised
by those even who like Mr.. Burton had seemed
to make their harvest of 1t. Ihis sort OF farce
entertainment now well understood by the
public, is looked upon as no better than that
which the brutalised morbid consciousness OF
n criminal in a goal yard, might seek to
drown itself in a still more brutalSed mirti.
It's cbeapness to the manager has been its chief
commentator to success. SiXpence worth Of the
ready made cockey Literature" with a stage
outfit Of rags and slop shop stuff from the near
est Cheap John. and an array Of uctors-the
rubbish of their profession, makes up the stock
and risk for the manager, SO that anything, eV'
en- a niger minstrel audience, would seem sure
to ''pay'f for the outlay uponiL The tempta-
ton of business was irresistible. The chief tao
tician of this sort of Chifonier drama, Mr..
Burton. was s'coining money" in his dirty little
rat trap theatre The "hot-corn" mania preTaiI-
ed also to give popular literary conntenance to
the taste We find our stage accordingly cor
rupted cheated of eTcry moral and ideal char
acteristic. The Hamlets and MacbethS, the Bene-
dicks, the Romeos, and the whole body otlthe
genuine drama, have been pushed from their
stools by the ''Sleeks" the "Jem Baggs, the
.EToodlcsn and John Thamascs, or such like
scuryv distortions of kitchen, scullion drama
The Peter Funk principle, Of fobbing of on an
audience, vulgar contortions of a trunpcry buff
foonery. because of its cheapnesS, has suppressed
eli the noble vocation ofthe stage, until we find at
last our theatres deserted, and even the 'sixpen-
N.Y. outlay incapable of drawing" its beggarly
eqnivalenb ,....
of the stage here, and to the final result of the
farce system of stage management. Let our
readers ask themselves when they have seen n
genuine play properly acted, on New York
staee?-except the sexigenarian efforts of Mr..
WaIlack,-that one 'Shakespcrian revival" at
Mr.. Burton's, and the accident of Boureicaulfs
little summer season. No. 0nr stage seems
tlelnoralized below the capacity ofanything more
than somc trumpery farce. Even in the days
Of tho other buffoon era here,-the burlesque
rage at Mitchel's Olymric,-there was rot such
serious degradation ofthe drama, asMr. Burton's
farce influence Is ansTerable for. Like all 9th
cOrruptions, whether Of taste or Of morals, it
may boast its proHtablcness to few. The re-
onr managers are accountable might well sug.
Rest those thirty pieces of silver the recognized
types Of II E process through Which the author
Cf all good was farcifed, when robed in the old
purple cloa!. TO make pastime for rabb!e ofJe'
Tus0ltn.