Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-07-28
KISSING AT THE THEATRE.


Whence sudden shouts the neighbor hood sur
And laundering clasps the dreadful Misses rise =
lAddisOn'S Playhouse.
The origin of the custom of expressing disap-
probation at the performance of a play by hiss
ing Is of uncertain date. All the old dramatists
who write IN our tongue seem to have recog-
nlzed NJ as privilege of the audience, and not
to be disputed or gainsaid. Ben Johnson in his
livery Man Out of his Humor," says:
6. Poor worms, they hiss me, whilst at home,
Can be eontented to applaud myself
Here is the term distinctly brought into oppo-
stiOn to the word applaud" the idea being
manifestly drawn from theatrical usage. The
lines ut the head of this paper show that, Mt q
much later period in the literary history OF
England the same custom existed. Goldsmith
still later, in bis prologue to Zobeide," al.
ludes to the critics in this wise:
. hear hissing-there are serpents here,r
Milton, in the tenth book of his great poem
thus describes the reception with which Satan
bOastful speech after the fall of Adam and Eve
was received in PandemOnium:
so having said, while he stood, expecting
Their universal shout and high applause
10 MI MS ear; when, contrary, he hears
On all sides, from innumerable tongues
dismal, universal hiss, the sound
or public scorn.''
Here, again, we find the terms applause" and
hiss used in opposition, and that, too, with
an eNluentIy dramatic reference
Dr. johnson, in his Life of Addison. saws. che
wrote the opera of ROsamOnd, which, when ex-
hlolted on the stage, was either hissed or neg
lectoi -
We have said that the old dramatists in our
language recognized this custom as an indispu-
table privilege and undoubted right of the au-
dlence This they manifested specially in their
Proiosues and ePilogues, in which they were
always very deferential to the pit For ex
ample: In the prologue to . The Captain -
Fletcher prays the audience MOI to damn his
piece rsshly; adding:
"For We NAV,
w ben this is hissed to ashes, have play,
And here, to hiss this"
And IN the epilogue to the same comedy, he
coDjures them thus:
- Ii YOU mislike this play utterly,
For your own nobleness vet do not hiss,
In the prologue to the Two Noble Kins-
men, the same poet, acknowledging his in
debtedness for the story to Chaucer de precates
the rash Judgment Of the audience by suggest
ing
If the frst sound this child hear he a hiss
How will il strike the bones of that good man.
And make him cry from underground.
And IN the epilogue, the poet, examining the
faces Of his audience to see how they like his
play, and, finding among them one suspicious
looking critic, says
Against his conscience, let him hiss and kill
Our market -
We might multiply these illustrations. all
fHfHif"m almost, from the works of the dram
atlSts not only OF our own but othe, languages
living and dead. But these must suffice for
this part of the purpose of the present article
1t Is custom, then, that gives this prescriptive
right Of Kissing to the audience at a public
theatre, just as 1t is the custom that gives them
the rlghttO applaud Sometimes it has occur
red that the managers have been displeased at
decided manifestations of disapprobation, on
the part of the audience, leveled either against
the author or the actor, and have endeayored
TO make II out a disturbance Of the peace and
breach of the law. But we believe that eff
forts of this Kind have commonly proved abor-
tive. We do not remember having heard of
any legal proceedings commenced against one
OF theatrical audience for a too ecstatic de-
monstrahon of appreciation of what he had wit
messed upon the stage; though it must be con-
ceied, we .shink, that applausiYe manifesto
mons Of the popular opinion are ut least as
noisy as the usual modes Of condemnation
The truth IL that the privileges alike of ap-
plauding and Kissing must be exercised with a
iue regard 10 the prOprieties of the occasion
that exeItes either; and il is the delicate point
20 be ascertained when the line of propriety
mad been OverStepped. The circumstances
must govern the case. If any author puts a
play before the public, and it is found by the
tribunal to which he submits it to be unworthy
an approval now Is the Judge appealed to 10 eX-
press his opinion! lie is not Obliged to decide
at all says one. True! But he has certainly
right to do so, if he pleases, and moreover
TINS he Is In effect invited to DO We see no
harm that can arise out Of permitting the gen.
tie sibiiIatiUn, which has checked the assump-
ton Of good deal Of hopeless medocrty. to
take Its course and have its quiet way in such
a case
Again, suppose an actor is habitually and
nagrantly imperfect or incompetent and he ia
thrust before the audience nightly. to the utter
destruction OF the scene performed; OF, being
competent enough, he be careless aud regard
less OF the duty he is expected to discharge 10
the audience, CT he is INDIGENOUS in his man
ners upon the stage, violating courtesy or de-
cency, or making himself otherwise disagreea-
bic, how Is he or his manager to be brought to
Is sense of which is due to the public. from
either or both? The audience we think. have
right TO express their opinion in such case,
In a language which is never misu nderstood 81
language which the old poets we have been
quoting deprecated, ut once the privilege of
the author to utter, and their obligation. when
uttered, to acknowledge
With regard 10 exceptional cases we have of
course nothing here to say. Sufficient unto
the day Is the evil thereof" We have heard
diSorderly applause, and Oftener than we have
heard orderly Kissing at the theatre. The de-
cis'on OF the questions. what is ORDERLY and
what IS not, may we'll enough DO left To tbs
common sense of the audience in the FIRST
place and Of the legal tribunals, rs the last
res"rt--N. -. pIc0yHRe