The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1877-08-23

ANe WA"ta" ~ hnFNWAi
Il ID alleged that We have no
representative American plays writ
ten by Americans, Bret harte and
Mark Twain have tried their hands,
hut the ohllque'optiood individual nom
tho land Of gonga aud joss houses fig-
ures rather too promlaououaly Ia their
creations 10 entllo them 20 be- olassed
s purely Americaa, But Il cannot bo
said that America has no drumatists.
In the front rank stands Mr., q, w.
rayleure, whose pen to-day furnishes
more plays nov before the public than
any writer In America. That he IA u
close student ofpasaing events may be
CLEANED from the following extract
from lelto' written by him TO the
city editor Of this paper, and an II IL an
ofl'hand production, proves more con-
clusively that his doductiona ARE cor
rect than II II had been the result OF
labored effort
The sands OF the Mississippi ara not
more shifting than tho popular taste
regarding plays. What was met with
approval two years ago now awakens
no Interest, and the plays that three
seasons back drew crowded houses,
cannot attract sufficient numbers TO
warrant their production, even In pro.
yinoIal localities. The letter quoted
from, was written IN answer TO one
asking Mr. Us. opinion regarding tho
plot of play stlll In embryo. But tho
criticism Is so Just, that 1t viii proba-
bly, never emerge from lis chrysallis.
Mr. Toyleure says;
don't like the plot. There
are cycles Of public taste IN som
tlmont as In fashion. IL Is not
unlikely, therefore, that one OF these
days we may get baok, theatrlcally, to
the melodramatio interest which
Schiller poetized and our English
cousins 6rutallzed; but that wont DO
In our time.
The plot spoken OF In the letter to
him hinges upon that interest, that II
to say, deals with violent element of
suspense and suffering, and IL there
fore remote from the current theatrical
taste, Az the orthodox hellilfe Ia from
the received religion OF to-day. The
proof OF my argumenlatiye pudding
may be found In general results. The
chief factors In dramatic success now,
are the emotional and sympathetic.
Even the heroic has been seit out in
the cold, Nor has the results been cont
fined TO the stage. In the pulpit, in
poetry aud literature, the same ten'
dency to get ON the common plane OF
| life humanity with "a capital Ii, is "a
better world prevails. The age is too
pretentious Tor pastorals, aud too utili.
tartan and cynical for heroics. THE
age Of ohivalry Is pasL' II NJ Not y
bit, but our hero OF to-day wears no ar.
NOR aud "totesp no lance. IL may be
"Doon Slmmonds, or Jim Bledsoe, or
| Prof. Bergh, but It's the man and not
his panoply which attracts.
Robert Il Lee, the purest gentleman
know Of, Ia worshlpped more, for the
beauty and symmetry OF his character
than for his skill in planning a cam
paign, or his success in the trade Of
war.
Note the changes in theatrical tastes
In the last decade.
F'irst-spectacle, "rhe Black Crook
Second Burlesque, Lydia Thompson
and her Blondes Third Practical
fun, "Humpty DumPty,h Fourth
Melodramatic, "Across the Continent
Fifth Society. divorce" Sixth
Sympathetic, 1.-THE Two Orphans
Seventh Emotional, Lied Estray,n
etc. Eighth--Comedy, "Col, Sellers
''rhe Almighty Dollar "The Big
Bonanza" etc, etc The latter eie-
ment (boyish mirth) IN now the rage.
Through all these changes observe al
ways the intellectual development.
The stage is more brilliant, more nat
ural aud more prosperous now-a- days
than ever before Rntecedent to 1860.