The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-02-21
NYM CRINELES LETTER
What He Has to Say Of "The
Broken Seal"
WHY If HAS BEEN CRITICISED.
Do tho Critics want tho Drama to stnnd
stm9-shouid the Thcater Be Regarded
s,,,t, as "A place of Rclaxation?-lhe
Onera Mafinecs becoming Popular

wool NJ Palmer's theater under the ''''o
NJ .erhe Broken Seal" II is from the pc"
n Mr. sydney Grundy, and it has iaIlen
unde shallow censure BECAUSE in"
..rudahn and one or two other receno "s
,ourts totake the contcmporaneous uIan'A
49, 10 conventional theatre rut' u Nio-
- Tho foolish prejudice OF The man VINO
;ndoos life entirely from the playhouse
Tbe recentjon which the drama has re
- frorn the critics makes methlnk thaJ
r. 40 not want the theater 70 advance a
-, ond that they are incapable OF appre-
ytatnr any other than a traditional view OF
buman affairs andindisposed totoierate any
writer WHO brings to his subject a larger
and broader view OF lie.
Mr. Grundv's drama rests upon the prob
lem 81 duty. Whether it IS not nooler In
the soul 10 perform what IS clearly a duty
90 lie fellow man. irrespective of the con
saoucnccs 10 those he loves, is the question
bcro dealt with. and an extreme case is I'M
.gned in order TO bring the acute struggle
and the triumph fairly INTO view.
Something Of this sort was done both in
"Judabv and in Margaret Fleming, and
neither play WIS ~ pDPuihA 49,
What would you think, asksThe Herald,
of a young lawyer in private life who, on
learning that his father was once false to a
magisterial duty, sets TO work TO make
that falseness clear TO the world, knowing
that he will break his widowed mothers
heart and ruin his sweetheart's happinesS'
II seems to me that it is not difficult TO
know what the world ought 10 think.
If that young lawyer is attempting 70
correct a wrong. he belongs TO the class LOT
whom the world has erected
and Of whom it has written poems.
But il seems that we cannot III our DAY
write plays about him.
The truth is the conventional man would
rather have a dramatic wrong than an IN
dramatic right, and it is equally true that
from the very nature Of things virtue can
never be as me~lOdramatic as vice. True
beroism in our life is not demonstratlve.
II consists less in a violent defense of viz
tine than in an abiding belief in her.
"Tbe Broken Seal" presents us with two
mon VIII disregard every conventional law
In chewing their consciences. One of them
10 q nriest. and he leaves his church in
order TO tell a secret confessed TO hlm IN
the confessional. that he may punish the
entity and save the innocent. This makes
tne shallow critic shuddw. But 1t IS a per
fectlv allowable dramatic situation, IN
which it is presumed that a duty to God
may be more exacting than a duty TO the
church.
In Judah" a clergyman having told a
falsehood to screen a woman he loved Is
mainly bent upon purging himself from
that lie before the world, and the same
critic / have quoted threw up his hands
and exclaimed. "Why didn't he stick to
the lie like a man. Mr.. A. NJ. Palmer
produced a play once at the Union Square
fheater. the purpose Of which was to show
that il was nobler to take a blow than to
resent IL in certain circumstances The
play ought to have been called 1.-The Other
Check Also" 1t wasn't. 1t was called
1.-THE D~anichef."
Considering that the world had been
1900 years trying to get that idea s4uarely
into its head, il was curious to observe now
far behind the ethical principle the theatrl-
cal Jagged. "The Danicheil" was failure
with the populace, and the conventional
critic wanted the moral hero to pull n PTS
tol and kill his assailant on the spot.
have heard this same Mr.. Palmer say
that the theater was a place of relaxation.
The moment il tried TO do any more than
amuse it an~tagonized its patrons. Doubt
less this is true in a sense. Ethical prob
lens and psychological puzzles strain the
attention and burden the relaxed mind.
The ordinary theater goer wants to leave
his mind with his umbrella, in the cloak
room. The appeal of the ordinary man
ageri is something like this: If you want
20 escape from thought come here. This
is an asylum where you are safe from your
serious self.
There are several conscientious artists in
s'The Broken Seal" and among them Is
Miss Julia Arthur. This actress is one OF
those phenomenal successes which the
theater is continually throwing TO the sur
face. For a long time she roved about the
country. plaving with all kinds of people
and in all kinds of plays, and never achlev-
ing distinction. One of her last ltlnerant
efforts was with the ringmaster Mr.. Harry
lacy All at once she made a hit III an
enhemeral play at the Union Square and
WAS puffed into notoriety overnight.
Then everybody wanted her, and even
Mr.. Harry Lacy, who had aust the
horse market, sent for her.
She * a woman of ability and OF prepos
sessing appearance, but hard work dld mol
secure for her a recognition of either. Ac
cident did it all. She stumbled into success
one night and woke up TO find the towr
talking about her. Mantell did the same
THING. So did Clara Morris. SO Mis-
Arthur. who played for forty dollars
week for six years, can now now command
a hundred and fifty.
The ouality-if indeed it was quality al
all-that distinguished her was strength
She is a f~orceful, somewhat spasmodic anC
slightly old school declaimer. The yer,
antithesis of Marie Burroughs and George
Cayvan. neither of whom demonstrates
only suggests. She came in collision will
an actor, Mr.. Henley, whose boast It'll ina
he wipes the deck" with every Leading
woman. He utterly failed towipe out MIS-
Arthur. She stood up TO him manfully
and in the histrionic scrap scored a sue
cess" as the reporters say. That was how
she become a champion with the boys.
Put in opposition 10 Mrs. Booth, one see
Mt once that she lacks subtlety and hnesse
She doesn't caress-she coerces.
But these forceful women are always
relief TO the public. They seem 10 renew
the stalwartism of the past.
But enough OF the arid drama. / hav
been going to the opera religiously; haven
missed a night. If o suppose that
have taken a score and kept my finger OF
the dotted notes, you are mistaken. hav
sat in a reverie and taken in Meyerbeer
Gounod. Thomas and Verdi with an omniyo