The Indianapolis journal., 1884-01-11
THE AMERICAN DRAMA.
The Causes of Its Mushroom Growth and
What the Future May Produce.

Nnab TIE hutufe May EfOuuce.
From address Of JudgeG. c. Barrett.
The American drama does not differ from any
other drama save in the distinctive form which
our republican institutions take. Wherever
there Is a human heart there is drama. The
present unsatisfactory condition of the drama
here may be attributed to three great prominent
causes: first, the lack of general art cultures
second, the intensity of our life struggles third
the demoralizing effect Of the war. While all
these are applicable to the American drama they
also go to the root of the whole subject OF dra-
matte decadence.
Education is more generally diffused here
than in any other country. But there is a want
of art cultivation-that cultivation which en-
ables one to speak well OF matters outside OF MS
own walk in life-which enables business man
to discuss gracefully questions pertaining to
statuary, music, the drama, cookery Laughter,
and ali the other fine arts. There certainly Is
that deficiency in our otherwise rapidly deyel-
oping civilization When we Intervene with
this the intensity of struggle for existence
we have condition of things unfavorable-es-
sentially soto the higher forms of art, and
naturally favorable to the mushroom growth
of the lower. The higher forms delight us
through the mind and the heart The lower
forms amuse us through the senses. Is 1t
wonderful that these lower forms should appeal
to the tired worker and to the exhausted pro
| fessional man uncultivated in artl He does not
want to be moved to tears. Life is tragedy and
| drama enough to him. He wants something to
please the eye, to tickle the ear to crafty the
fancy to make him laugh to remove the strain
| the terrible tension upon his oVerwroughtnerNes
| A learned judge confessed to me that the
only thing he really enjoyed was good old-fash-
! ioned variety show.
Then, as to the war It is undeniable that the
war raised suddenly to aff1uence a lot of litter
ate, common place. vulgar people. These largely
4 changed and colored the style of our enter
| tainments. Something more sensuous
than the variety show is wanted
so are treated to opera bouffe operetta, opera
eomique burlesque and all that these terms inn
ply To meet this demand there naturally arose
a new class of managers With few tenacious
| and honorable exceptions the old managers had
to succumb. The new men We're supposed to be
capitalists. They certainly We're ignoramuses-
ignorant of the profession they entered, ignorant
of its traditions, ignorant of its methods, The
outcome of this public taste pandered toby such
caterers means the substantial destruction of the
only school of acting we had-our good old stock
companies
AS to the remedy: We must wait for natural
processes. for greater cultivation, for less rapidly
acquired wealth, better literary preparation.
Nor must we ignore genius as a factor in the
scheme of evolution The dramatic genius will
not come from the bench. He will not come
from the stage, nor will he be associated with
stage mechanism. AS to the character and quail
ity of his genius we may be certain. He will be
a poet. He may never have penned line of
verse but he will be poet. He will not confne
himself to a study of the beautiful the pre-
sentation. of the good, much less of the ''goody
good but of the true. He will paint what he
finds of good and of beauty. He will paint Just
what he sees, whether he secs it Subiectively or
obiectivey-not what the commonplace mate
rial eye sees upon the surface of things, but that
which can alone be seen through the spirit and
by the poets eye-the depths of the human
heart, the eternal verify of human nature