New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-07-14
THEATRICAL Reform.

How many projects have there been for the
reform of the theater and for the resuscta-
ton of that mysterious thing which, Tor the
PURPOSES of discussion, Is called " the Legitl-
mate Dramar2 And now, when everybody
managers, actors aud the kind public seems
TO be dissatisfied with the condition of the
stage. the reader who is interested in such
matters knows how critics mourn over Its
decay, how generally it is acknowledged that
il has been better, and how ferventy it is
hoped that it may he better again. A great
deal of this is mere repetition of what was
said in the last century, and probably Will be
said in the next. 1.-The palmy days of the
- drama" are as mythical as the golden age
of the poets, at the same time it must be
admitted that the stage would be different
from every othel branch of human enter
prise if it never fell into errors, and if
it were essentially incapable of reform.
And as no reform can now be cODsid-
cred attanable unless through the corporate
cXertions of a society, the lovers of Thespian
legitimacy will be enraptured to learn that IN
Boston, whence all things truly iesthetlcal
do proceed, "The Ncw-Engand Theater Re
"form Association "has been organized, and has
hired AN Office for the transaction of Its mOmen
tous business, in which Office daily sits its Secre
tary, prepared to write and also be written to.
We suppose that there is likewise President
and at least one VicePresident and Treasurer
and Board of Directors-only we see nothing
said about such functi0narcs Nor are we IA
v0red with any synopsis of the methods of re-
forming the theater which will be suggested
or sanctioned by the Ne. T. II. A. The first
thing we would humbly hint TO be done, is to
offer Il noble reward for truly American
drama. from which the old man of the old
school, and the walking gentleman of no
school in particular, and the funny man
who comes nearest to making us cry, and
fine serious man who usually sets lis to laugh
ing. and the chambermaid with u smart cap,
and the ancient virgin all stays and very nice,
shall be rigidly excluded, together with the
auburn daughters of the deml-monde, and
foreigners whose nativity it would puzzle
the greatest of tourists to determine. An
American drama How long we have longed
for it, and how long it will be before we get
it, unless the Boston society shall be lucky
enough to discover an American dramatlst, who
will not meAnder across the ocean for his sub
iect, his scene and his dramotis perSonG.
We observe that the New England Theater
Reform Association has but one Secretary
and we fear that it does not fully recognize
the vastness and the variety of the work
which it has cut out for itself. OF course, it
will sanction nothing but the Legitimate y; but
does anybody know precisely what the legiti-
mate Is 1t is not legs of Ceruse; nor spectacle
nor horses nor the boute business f; nor yet, as
A. =. - IL t,raa ct- Of larly
with all the unities preserved, and with every
body dead when the curtain goes down; nor
is it comedy, with the coats, wigs breeches,
buckles and oaths of our great grandfathers
1t should have wit in it, but it should be the
wit of our houses, shops, streets, railway cars.
caucuses, and not the wit of Congreve or of
Sheridan since we cannot have garden mere
ly by sticking into its beds the dried contents