The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-01-14

The organization OF the Vaudeville III
and the opening OF the performances 1t was
designed to give are interesting and some
what suggestive as a phase of the social de-
~velopment OF this town.
This club contains several hundred mem
bers. and among them are many men who
are associated with the more exclusive
circles OF fashion in New York. Its purpose
is to provide for its members q series OF
variety entertainments. rs they are termed
In tho phrnseology of the theatre. which be-
gin as late as II o'clock in tho evening and
continue until 1 in the morning. That is.
they take place after the close OF the public
theatres and concert halls, from which the
performers before the club can accordingly
be secured.
Hence the Vaudeville Clubs mission ap-
pears to be exactly opposite to the mission
OF the Theatre Of Arts and Letters. for the
one is to provide n sort Of entertainment
which may be very diverting. but is not
held to be Of n high moral aud intellectual
quality, and the other has for its avowed
end the elevation OF the drama by the pres
e~ntation OF plays rejected by theatrical
managers because they have too much OF
that quality. or. at any rate. because they
do not seem to hit the popular taste. 1t is
noteworthy that the first performance of
the Theatre OF Arts aud Letters seemed to
try the patience OF the audience to some
extent. but the variety entertainment first
offered by the Vaudeville Gu on Tuesday
evening was received with nue. delight by
both the men and women present. and they
were generally people Of great refinement.
This club. moreover, has introduced the
customs OF the concert hall. Tables for
refreshments are provided. and smoking is
permitted in any part OF the handsome
theatre which Mr.. STANFORD WHITE has
constructed for the association in the re-
mains of the burned Metropolitan Opera
House. 1t gives a sort OF free-and-easy
entertainment both on the stage and on the
floor, but the NAM ladies present on the
first night seemed to find no fault with it.
Apparently they enjoyed it fully as much
as the men. or course. the performers
toned dow their exhibitions to some
extent in such a presence. but it was n
concert hall variety entertainment all
the same. and the drinking and smok-
ing OF the men made the imitation
the moro exact. The ~lateness OF the hour
at which it occurred was suggestive Of
cudugcS III SlClhl lliDlIS NIllCl LlNc lihcu
place in New York during the last genera
ton. But most striking OF all WAS tho
| readiness Of ladies OF fashion and conserva-
tive religious associations to attend such a
performance. By that We do not mean to
infer that the entertainment was objection
able In itself on any score Of morality or
good taste. but the viewing OF it by
these women gave evidence that they
had dismissed rrejudices which con-
trolled the conduct OF their mothers.
An enterprise like the Vaudeville Clubs
would have provoked the indignant pro-
| test OF the matrons Of n generation ago.
They would not have joined a company OF
drinking and smoking men to look on such
n performance: and they would have kept
their daughters from It in dread and horror
OF associations. They would not have rc-
garded it as nice. But good women eyes
have become accustomed of late years to
viewing exhibitions on the stage from which
formerly they would have felt obliged to
turn as ~immodest. The dresses of ballet
dancers and chorus girls ave been abbrc-
waited greatly since the days of FANNY
ELSsLLI, but their shortening has come
gradually and people have got accustomed
to it: and they have found that really they
arc not immodest when they are made TO
serve the purposes OF art.
1t Is suggestive, however. that ladies
OF New York ut this period. women OF
delicacy and refinement. have no scru-
pies about attending n midnight concert
hall performance amid the fumes of tobacco
smoke and the iinS!ing Of wine and beer
glasses. 1t shows that they are DESTROYS OF
making themselves more and more the
comrades Of men. and for that purpose are
overcoming fastidious scruples that once
were regarded as a feminine requisite.
We do not criticise. We do not complain.
We only record the interesting fact. de-
claring as we do so that never before in the
history OF the world were women so ire
sistible as they are now in their charms
OF person. of heart. and OF mind. We are
not afraid OF giving them all the freedom
they want. They will not abuse the
liberty. They will continue to be the great
refining and elevating influence in the
world. The separation of men and women
in their measures Is bad for men.