The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-12-28

VIZ 10 hooub 70 Oecoinc mother,
while in The Dancing Grip the
question OF good taste Is still more
dehatable. But these, OF course, are
foreign productions. The American peo-
pie, IL IL really some satisfaction % state.
would never countenance the use OF such
motives" by an American author. Their
attendance at and enjoyment OF the pre-
sentation Of these foreign product ms
shows the native-born clevernsss OF our
people in drawing fine distinctions in mental
morality. Mr.. Thomas had nothing to saw
about Reckless Temple" beyond the frank
and unconcerned remark that IL was a fail
ure; bnt later on, In referring 20 foreign
plays produced here, he hit the nail on the
head exactly.
To get back 70 the play about which
everybody is just now talking, Mr. Thomas
was asked TO relate the origin Of ALA
bama" 81 had seen a good deal Of the south
in my theatrical travels" he said, land il
often struck me that there was no play
really delineative of southern lie and char
acter as it is. There had been any number
written about the south: The White
Slave, The Octoroon, Uncle Toms Cabin. ,
aud so on, which treated It from a mslo-
dramatic point OF view. But the south is
essentially idylic. II there is any poetry in
the country at all ii is there. had the
south in my mind a long time as the back
ground for a play. but did not have the
story,
Last February / roomed at the Lambs
Club. One day Ned Holland, the leading
comedian at Palmsr's, sat down TO the piano
and played a pretty little melody called
Down on the Farm In some way this
suggested or produced In my mind pict-
ure. Now, ] am not going TO excuse nv
self because l cannot explain how this came
about, for no man can explain the proc
esses OF mental suggestion. The picture
was OF an old gateway bad seen ia Ala
bama, one Of the posts bearing the marks Of
cannon shot. and nearby a whits-haired old
man. Around this sentimental picture |
began TO build q sentimental story, and it
grew and grew and became as a day dream
to me. Thus was Alabama written. Il
was finished by the end of February, and
was played, as you know, in Palmers thea
ter on the first day Of April"
"And you have gone on working hard
ever sincef"
Eyes; Mr.. Palmer has another play of
mine, which he will put on at the first Oh
portunity. 1t is called Surrender and it
treats OF the war In a purely comic and do
nestle way. containing nothing OF melo-
dramatic interest. 1t is as much comedy as
'Ours' or The Passing Regiment It is
laid in the south, but only the domestic and
eonical side Of the war is shown. The only
question Ii whether people will accept
comedy In connection with a subject they
are won't TO regard very seriously. But the
old sectional feeling Is dying out, and 1t
may be that Surrender will help TO bury
IL. ! have also written for Mr.. Palmer a
play dealing with western life, which ia a
study OF local color and character about
Wisconsin and Minnesota, just as ALA
bema' Is OF the south. THIS play has not
been christened yet That's about all
have done 80 far he concluded.
From this point the conversation became
impersonal and turned upon the pebuliari-
ties of construction and the success or nom
success Of the recent productions of both
foreign and American playwrights. In the
course OF thfs Mr.. Thomas said of the
latter:
ITO my mind the American dramatlst
from now on win obtain more substantial
recognition than ne does to-day. And / Will
tell you my reasons for thinking so. The
public are becoming more and more tired
OF the foreign play. l know that TO be q
fact, and I believe the cause for it to lie In
what we define as American humor.
In an interview the other day Mr..
Howells said something TO the effect
that the American, joking as the American
does. Is apt 70 be taken seriously by the
English, and that what be means for mere
ly 1esting expression they receive as his
serious belief. Now, IL chat be the bent of
the English mind, It stands 20 reasou that
In the writings OF the English drAtnatists
there must be absence of that element Of
humor which is the most agreeable thing
to an American audience. In any place
you may 20 TO in this country, whether
north or south or west, you find COM
munity In which this same hnmor is to
large degree the currency of their ideas.
Eliminate that from play and the play Is
too heavy for the American digestion. All
English plays lack that essential thing,
humor.
"Now the French play-take 'Thermidor'
as an example-has a looseuess on the moral
side which the American public resents.
They resent 1t because the American audi
ence differs from the French. In Paris no
unmarried woman goes to the theater, or
anywhere. without chaperon. Here the
young miss and her adnlirer 20 TO the thea
ter unattended, and the meaning of the
play must be accepted and understood by
both Of them, or painfully ignored by both,
either course being equally painful and en-
barrassing. These two things, the demaDd
Tor humor and the demand for purity In che
American play are going to make our the
atrical market exclusive for the America n
writer"
'And, what, Mr.. Thomas, of the Ameri-
can dramatist Of the futurep
He will be, as in the past, the newspaper
man. Bronson Howard, Rosenfeld, Guy
Carleton. in fact all the prominent dra-
matio writers. have been writers for the
press The newspaper is the greatest school
for the study OF character. aud the truthful
deliseation of character is the most impor-
tant element Of the American play. The
great success of our farce comedies is due to
the fact that they are good character studies.
although exaggerated. Impossible Vidooqs
are out Of bhe question, aud a pair Of Charlie
Myers whiskers don't deceive any body now
adays.
great deal of time Ia consoiontiousIy study
Ing what they call THE Masters.' Sheridan
and Sar6ou and the rest are in no sense a
guida. Sheridan's dialogue would not be &C.
cepted to-day. These young men. as the
teacher Of landscape pointing would say,
must go to nature"
CTJRIOTIG ON GHnRG