The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-10-21
Theatrical Censorship.

The subject OF retaining or abOushing the
censorship exercised over the theatres Of Great
Britain by the Lord Chamberlain has recently
been under examination by committee Of the
British Parliament The evidence there in
troduced was both amusing and instructive;
but its general tendency was rather against
any restrictions by the government upon the
action of dramatic authors or managers. The
testimony Of the experienced gentlemen sum-
moned before the committee illustrated many
absurdities and inconsistencies on the part Of
the censors, which tended, in great measure,
to show the worthlessness Of the system re-
garded as provision against the violation Of
good morals and decency on the part Of play
wrights and actors. In many cases the interview
ton Of the censor was proved to be ludicrous,
and the subterfuges adopted to make an i'm
propriety look like propriety was simply
childish.
How much better is the censorship of public
opinion and q critical press, which, thanks to
the HERALD, is now beginning to be felt in this
country, where public decency is insisted upon
in the production Of plays on the penalty Of
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from the government; If an immoral drama is
put upon the stage by avaricious managers
the press at once communicates the facts to
the public, and it receives the most emphatic
condemnation which can be expressed by the
people staying away from the theatre where 1t
our theatres conducted upon loose principles,
purely sensational plays, and others Of equivo-
cal morality, and some Of a pantomimic
character, whose morality is not at all equivocal,
put upon the stage but these houses are con-
trolled by the low and vulgar instincts of the
theatrical manager, who, in the pursuit Of his
profession, never loses his self-respect nor
forgets the obligations he owes to society.
And as an evidence Of the force and
value of public opinion as the most potent
system of censorship, we see the theatres
thus conducted abandoned by the refined
and highly intelligent of the community
and potronized only by small audiences COM
posed Of the prurient and the uncultured por-
ton of our population, who, by and by, we
trust and believe, will acquire better taste
and seek the pleasure of dramatic art where
minds and motives which now prevail In the
management of what were once regarded as
our leading theatres
We see, for example, such performances as
those of Ristori and Dawson, the representa-
tives of the drama in two foreign languages,
and the Opera Comsique, rendered in, another
foreign tongue, drawing immense audiences,
composed Of the very pick and choice Of our
metropolitan and suburban residents With
all the drawbacks which attend the full enjoy
ment of representation in Language
understood only by . few, the tragedies of
Ristori, the works of Shakspere and Kotzebue
produced in German by Dawson, and the
operas Of Auber and Halevy sung by the ad-
mirable troupe at the French theatre, are the
great attractions Of the day. This is in great
measure owing to the recognition which the
merits Of these artists received from indepen.
dent criticism, but in measure, also, from the
discrimination Of the public, who are not slow
to discover the difference between true art and
its counterfeit presentment
Although it may seem that censorship
under government authority would not be out
of place in some Of our theatres and shows,
there is no necessity in this country, whatever
may exist in England, for any more authorita-
tive interference than that Of an independent
press and an enlightened public, except in
cases of gross indecency, where the police
authorities should interfere to suppress i'm
proper exhibitions