The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-09-19
FRESH THEATRICAL MATTER.
royrDY OF LIFE IN WHAT MR. HoFT
Ills a. TEMPERANCE TOWN."

of character Among villages
S.,.,s. AVID Foes OF n Proh,bitory Liquor
,u-,ontinuous Entertainment at tho
g.,or sauar--Sew Vaudeville singers.
,,or MAY by Charles II. Hoyt was given to
o,n,ctant audience last evening at the
I.dison s1uaro Theatre. 1t was not dram
.,I,,d variety show. nor altogether farcical.
90 . fair and square attempt at American
.on.dy II contained elements OF fun such
=. tho author had put into his merely merry
20 I'm the way Of broadly humor-
80. Characterization and incidents. but It
10 resemblance to "A Midnight
p.u" more than TO any OF his other works
.,,ho.rh it was OF a lower grade than that in
-. rurnose and purport. Mr.. Hoyt had tried
.arotu further and higher than to make people
,.reh no doubt. but he had not succeeded
:. his lnudahle endeavor. The audience
-, de,ermiucd to be pleased and so 1t was
-,,h the comicaities. but 1t did not like the
'.,io,e matter at all and by the time the very
,o,ular playwright was called out. at the end
,I,bs third act a verdict OF rejection had been
rendered
q. thanked tho asscmblage for its kindly
demonstration. and said that. as he had meant
~ nroyIdc amusement only. he would not
.r.rrel with those who could not agree with
Ma views OF the theme with which he had
dealt
The fresh output by Mr.. Hoyt Ia entitled
"a Temperance Town." and that is a misno-
mar. because the theme is not the temperate
use OF alcoholic drink. but the attempt to en-
force total abstinence. The subject Is satir-
i,ed and no believer in prohibition laws will
h. able TO sit comfortably In the Madison
souare Theatre while this play remains there.
,or II exposes and attacks such statutes as
nat Cha cta 70
the case, as the author desires to present It.
are created by him. or drawn from real life.
The example OF a law breaking rumseller is a
cripple who has been q brave soldier: the
,lereyman who advocates prohibition Is an
unreasonable fanatic: another enemy Of the
traffic is hypocritic druggist who soils alco-
holic beverages privately: the representative
drunkard is not an utterly bad fellow.
and In other ways the comedy may be Justly
regarded as inimical to compulsory alb
stemiousness For instance. one OF the most
effective scenes shows the exterior OF the vii
LACE church on a Thanksgiving evening.
with the PASTORS rabd denunciation OF
rum audible from tho inside. while his
own cast-or daughter lies fainting there
in the street. until succored by the
town sot. 1t is clear that the dramatist set out
Of rum. and the bad that is In some haters OF
rum His task in that respect has been easy.
as would be that OF anybody who should I'M
dertake the opposite treatment OF the subject.
Tho failure Of "A Temperance Town be-
fore q refined New York audience was not
clnsed by Mr.. Hoyt's attack upon prohibition
Ism for It is likely that a majority was OF his
way Of thinking. but by the repellant nature Of
his illustrations, The scenes in village bar
room were unpleasant. the jibes at morality
aud religion were distasteful, and most OF the
Characters whether bibulous or abstemious-
were not agreeable acQuaintances. The two
love stories. which the action carried along.
commanded no attention partly because the
actors engaged in them were not very
clever. but chiefly through their lack
OF any novelty or charm whatever. But
praise may be written for the peculiar Hoyt-
Ian pleasantly Of language and characteriZa-
ton. which was plentiful and provocative OF
much laughter. A burlesQue trial in court
was the last and best liked act. while those
passages planned to make strongly dra-
matte impression were futile.