St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-19
CAUsTIC CRITICISM.
DR.. Burrell After the Show Eel
lows Who Bill the Town With
Flash Paper.

DR.. Burrell After the Show Eel
lows Who Bill the Town With
Flash Paper.
In an article contributed by Rev. D.
J. Burreli in the current number of the
Northwestern Presbyterian, he makes
a vigorous and expressive attack upon
the theaters of Minneapolis. The rev.
erend doctor believes Sunday evening
performances to be violation Of the
statutes and dissertation of the Sab
bath He regrets or rather is surprised
because reputable managers and
actors make no public protest" con-
corning the presence on the stage as
professionals of such persons as
the pugilist Sullivan, Mrs. Les
lie Carter and Eva Hamilton.
But DR.. Burrell is especially severe
when writing of and characterizing the
flash show printing of vaudeville and
spectacular travelling companies. He
has seen in this city bill boards that
taught anything else but moral lesson.
and OH dead walls witnessed painted
sirens in shameless attitudes beckoning
youths to ruin"
Edward p. Hilton, manager of the
Pence, believes that DR.. Burrell re-
ferred to paper" put out by the adj
vance agents of combinations playing at
his house, and that the reverend doc
tor has overlooked the fact that paper
equally as sensational and descriptive
had been boarded by the agent of COM
pany playing at the Grand opera house.
A former theatrical manager, tenn
porarily visiting in Minneapolis, was
asked by a GLOBE reporter what he
thought of Dr.. Burrell's article. II have
read it," he said. land, like most pull
pit screeds directed against the theater,
displays woeful amount of ignorance.
The average preacher can intelligently
discuss the drama, but not one in hun
dred knows anything about the the
alter. DR.. Burrell very rightfully at
tackS the custom of billing shows with
vulgar paper. 1t is most reprehensible,
reflects upon the profession proper, and
may throw the minds of the lewd young
men and women in futter
of uncomfortable excitement who see
it. The practice is not cOuntenanced by
leading managers and members of the
profession. The actors society in New
York appointed committee to draft
set of resolutions, 1 think, last spring,
condemning in the most positive Ian
guage the use of the sort of paper re-
ferred to by Dr. Burrell. Louis Aldrich
was the chairman of that committee.
Again. the persons to whom DR.. Bur-
rell refers as actors, and recognized by
reputable managers and actors as act
ors, are only animated advertisements.
No sane person in the profession recog-
niZeS either one of the three names the
doctor refers to as the property of an
actor or actress. They are merely in
struments in the hands of so-called
managers, who do not scruple to cater
to the depraved tastes of certain classes
of the dear public. The persons re-
ferred to receive no social or artistic
recognition from the hands of the large
majority of earnest and faithful stage
workers. We who make the theater the
scene of our daily and nightly labor.
know that its tone has, during the past
twenty years, immeasurably improved,
and that as moral agent it is to-day
more forceful than ever before in its
hiStOry.n