New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-10-30
THE MUSIC HALL.
MR. MoDOUGALL'S NEW SOCIAL. PURITY
CRUSADE AND WHAT CAME OF IT.


the spasm Of virtue now comes oftener, and
the British public is at this moment undergoing
| one Of these periodical attacks. The Music Hall
has been selected 10 supply the wanted sensation.
| IL is the season OF licensing. Once year each
of these singular places of amusement has to apply
| for license. Formerly il was TO the Middlesex
| Magistrates that the petitioners had TO address
| themselves. Now it is to that extraordinary
| company Of parocbial patriots known as the
London County Council. But new thing has
| happened. The County Council appointed
| committee to look into the question Of licenses
and this committee seems TO have appointed one
Of its members, Mr.. McDougall, TO inspect the
present music halls and report on them. lie
has inspected them, and somehow other the
result of his inquiries and inspections has in pas
| or in whole become public. He and his CON-
mittee have raised such storm that they have
been practically disavowed by the County Council
itself The licenses which the committee refused
the Council has granted. In the face of public
opinion and under the guidance Of a chairman
who is a man Of the world and Of sense, they
could not do otherwise But the spirit Of the
Inquisition survives. Messrs McDougall and
Charrington will persevere, and it is well worth
while to see what their spirit is, and what their
acts have been.
PROBABLY 10 6ucn eHOrt In DeDau OF mOEbllty
had been made since the memorable year when
prudish Lord Chamberlain undertook TO regulate
the length of the skirts Of the ballet. He was
laughed back into the obscurity Of St. Jamess
Palace, and the skirts of the ballet grew, IL
anything shorter RATHER than longer. One need
not be prophet to predict that before long soma
similar fate win befall Mr.. McDougall and his
fellow Puritans. They are attempting the i'm
possible. Not word need be said against their
motives and much less could he said in defence
Of the music halls if they were attacked on tho
right ground or in the right way. What Messrs.
McDougall x Co. are trying 20 do is TO close
all such places of entertainment as do not come
up to their own standard of morality. They
can never do that. They complain OF music
halls on two grounds: first, that the perform
ances are, some of them are, indecent; ana
second, that those who attend these performances
are, or some Of them are, no better than they
should be- Indecent songs are sung the dances
are indecent, and the women who pay TO go In
are plying their trade as pros'ltutes-such, in
plain words is the substance Of the indictment
against the music halls.
Well, instead of commenting on the absurdity
of this crusade, let us see what has happened.
The committee Of the County Council have hnd
their sittings the music hall proprietors have
appeared before them, evidence has been heard,
speeches have been made by counsel, some licenses
have been refused, and other licenses have been
granted. On what principle? What rule has
been followed? What is the distinction between
bad and good, between moral and immoral, be-
tween decent and indecent. which has been made
the basis of these decisions? There is none;
absolutely none The committee, though fanatlcal
and perhaps prurient have acted honestly 10 the
best of their lights They have taken pains
to arrive at the truth and to form sound opinions,
and they have made themselves the laughing
sroclx-I suppose in New-YOrk you would say
the Anthony Comstock-Of the public, or OF all
that part of the public who know anything about
the matter. They have refused TO license one
hall because of what is here known as a skirt
dance. You saw Miss Lefty Lind and her COM
rades dance it in New York. All depends on how
it is done and who looks on; or in what spirit
he looks on. The eye, Carlyle said long ago
that which the eye brings with it, the means
of seeing. This particular dance which so startled
Mr. McDougall happened to be one of the mosr
decent of all. TO him, l suppose, it was novel,
and therefore wrong But it cost the proprietor
his license On the same day the same committee
granted to another hall where the same dance
is given the license they had before refused
because of this same dance.
That is pretty strong case, but there is
stronger. They have refused TO license the
Aquarium because it is resort for prostitutes
and they have granted license TO the Empire
The innocent public infers that the Empire
must be free from those undesirable persons whose
presence at the Aquarium requires it to be closed.
The less innocent public knows that one is just
as much their haunt as the other The differ.
ence is not difference of degree, but Of kind
The class of women at the Aquarium is lower.
The entrance fee is a shilling at the Empire II
is five shillings. IL is not desirable TO go into
further details, but have said enough TO hint
at the source OF Mr.. McDougals mistake. The
example is conclusive. To refuse a license on
the grounds alleged 10 either the Aquarium OF
Empire is absurd To refuse it 10 one and
grant it to the other is an injustice, and a
sufficient condemnation Of the whole business.
We are all in favor of morality, but who now
believes in making men and women virtuous by
Act of Parliament, or that the County Council
can do what Parliament is confesedly impotent
TO do?
The music halls are what they are because the
British public is what it is There Is a proper.
ton of ndecency in the amusement they pro-
vide; not very large proportion. Such as IL
is no censorship can put IL down. The amount
of it depends on the audience. There is less
tonight and more tomorrow. The song is often
nothing; the singing Of it is everything the
gesture, the innuendo, the grimace the gag
A hiss stops it, cheer sets it going; each nights
public does its own censuring, or omits to do il.
as the case may be. What is permanent and
continual is vulgarity. Unhappily there is
public, and in London a very large one which
likes vulgarity, which caros nothing Tor
art and knows nothing Of it, which likes sing
song and garish paint and cracked voices and the
pictures of coarse and low life and the VIII OF
the gutter. The music hall provides all these
1t provides something better, also. The moss
admirable and beautiful performances are often
TO be seen there, fcatS of skill and strength ana
patient training The Schaefers, that unriyaliea