The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-09-14

Dlaint from certain quarters, says tle
Minneapolis Times, that the degeneracy
of the drama foretells a speedy ruin OF
all that is truly artistic and beautiful!
on the stage. This is the pessimist's
view There is no degeneracy of the
drama save in the efforts of the new
school to break into the established III
stitutions by the Introduction of things
the people are refusing. And because
the public will not have this new drama
OF the time there Is Il cry that art Is no
longer in demand. As a matter of
truth, the people are only going back
by ma tural methods to first principles.
They are casting aside the erotic play
of recent creation for the wholesome
comedies and tragedies that are always
In demand. 1t is not degeneraCy, II Is
only an Improvement that to the new
school looks like backward step. No
better company than that of Rose
Coughlan last season was ever seen in
n Western playhouse. hut reports from
the leading Eastern cities of the coun-
try showed that it did not attract first
class audiences. because people did not
want play of the sort of "A Woman
of No Importance" In Minneapolis,
and the Western cities, the Objectionable
play was dropped and the company re-
ccived the generous support its excel
lence merited. When Mr.. Willard fol-
lDN tu n w tllltil VI w iillltt NN'AiNN.
week later. in the East. with whole
some plays in which were wholesome
comedy and plain truths. from the lives
of plain people. although with a COM
pany vastly Inferior to that of the
Coghlan company, the theatres We're
everywhere filled.
The peSSiriSt cries aloud because Of
the success of "Old Kentucky" and "'rhe
Old IInrnastN1l aud iS flil N he
cause some second rate-actor who rep
resentS Hamlet or RiCheleu that is not
recognized by the audience. is not
greeted by packed houses. There is No
reason why comedies like those men,
toned should lack success. They rep
resent actual life, and are we'll played,
and because the legitimate" made
qua'tely represented does not attract
large and enthusiastic crowds, the cry
that we are not artistic goes up. It
is 10 the credit of our good sense as
nation that we are natural enough to
so and pay to see things that we
Ike. 1t has no reflection upon our in
telligence that we prefer TO see ala
hama" or "Shore Acres" to Janau-
sheck's Lady Macbeth" The tired
man Of business goes to the playhouse
to be amused, not 10 take up a new
line of study. II he is tired of comedy.
quately stage production of Hamlet"
in his own tongue, not garbled ac-
count of a story that the master SO per-
fectly gave. and that we have learned
To know almost by heart.
il: -
Comedy continues to draw it's thou
sands year after year, and so do the
good, wholesome plays. such as 6rc
given by Marlowe. Mansfield Keene.
Salvlni and others, There is no deoen-
erdcy in the honest field of the stage.
our comedy may differ from that Of
100 years ago, but II a mans name be
Denman Thompson or Dyonisius Dim
pie, who should there he to care? The
new form of comedy brings more
laughs than THE old form did. and that
IS what comedy is for in these days of
electric cars and time table business
men. Talk about the deGencracy of the
most legitimate forms Of drama. How
long aED is 1t since Henry Irving played
"Beckct," The Belle" "HGmlNt." THE
Lyons Mail" and other things in
America for something like eighteen
weeks. and his receipts We're more than
half a million dollars. Nat Goodwin
dragged through q season Of depression,
was Ill part Of the time. and was con-
stantly threatening to quit his tour, yet
he wound up more than 100000 ahead
Of the game. He was playing American
comedy. and the American comedy Of
the conventional school, too. When did
Julia Marlowe fail to score a success in
minneapolis and other live Western
cities?
-:lF:-
No, the stage is not degenerating. un-
less it be that the refusal of the public
ito patronize a new school of salacity is
degeneracy. The erotic drama has had
Its day. Oscar Wilde and his Lady
Windemere's Fan" and the school they
represent, have passed. They We're too
rank for the educated American taste.
But there is always someone to bewail
the passing of the old days-the discon-
tented soul that takes n has-been for
its argument. There was no day in
which the drama was as well off as it
is today 1t never took in so much
money at the front door of the theater,
and Ii never paid out so much at the
stage door. There was never so many
ladies and gentlemen in the profession.
and never SO many students and think
ers. There are fewer drunkards and
more rich men who are actors now
than ever before. II is not a profession
of has-beens, but a profession Of to-bcs.
MOdjeska's new play, THE Career Of
Betty Singleton" is by Clyde Fitch.
The story Is that of an actress in the
time of George H., who runs the scale
OF success from beautiful youth to the
triumph Of mature genius, and then in
privacy grows old and finally dies in
penury Below is Elwyn Barron's
summary of 1t. as embodied in letter
from London to the Chicago Times
Herald:
Among the numerous admirers Of Betty
has been handsome but rakish young
duke, well meaning enough, but shallow,
van and cesirous to win Betty chiefly as
personal triumph in possessing one
whom all the world seemed to be seeking.
Betty. who Is an odd mixture Of fine sent!-
ment, lofty IDEAS and purely selfish vanl-
ties. eagerly accepts the duke, it being
agreed between them that she shall quit
the stage on their marriage. The duke,
by the way, lis several years younger than
Betty. The play opens on the wedding
night, the occasion of Betty's farewell 70
the stage, and she is playing Beatrice in
the presence of a brilliant audience. Most
ingeniousiy all the vital characters are
introduced, and We learn here that there
Is an older man who loves Betty with a
profound, sincere and reverent affection
and that he rather than the duke Is her
fitting mate, and already we perceive that
the duke has wandering eye that Fights
upon another actress, younger, prettier.
about. and Betty realizes unhappiness
from her marriage. A peculiar pride and
womanfness Is developed out Of her frivol-
fy by her sufferings. At last in the pres
ence OF her husband she proclaims her
love for her former suitor, and throwing
herself into this mans arms, laughs out
her contempt for the duke and BIDS the
other take her away whore they may 1--we
open IN their love. Astonished and d,s-
gQsted the duke. who is not altogether n
bad sort. quits the room. The moment he
departs her whole manner changes: she
repulses the man who. taking her at her
word, urges her departure with him, and
tells him. what the audience very well
knows, that all this scene has been no
more than acting and that she loves her
husband madly. Madly, indeed, since her
poor wits fall into ruin under the pressure
of this unshared love. and we see her In
The miserahle GlnrIers where she hns