The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-02-02

stood unless the case Is visibly illus
trS:ed Cn the stage. Those who dance
to her fiddling pretend to believe the
same thing. although some of them are
ordinarily quite intelligent and respect
able people who do not need to be told
that two and two make four Happily,
the problem-play folly is too transpar-
ent to last. Ibsen, who Is a bottom
less pit of feverish and distorted i'm
agination. may gently drift along
through his second childhood, uttering
distempered plays at frequent intervals.
but his influence Is waning and his ca
pacity for mischief Is rapidly approach
ing its limit. He has endeavored to fill
the theaters with gloom, but the effort
Is failure. The people prefer sweet
ness and light to the horrors of the
sociologic dlssectlng room, and their
preferences are quite likely to control
the game, now that the folly of giving
the stage over to erotic discussions Is
so apparent. AS sincere human inter-
est Is wanted in plays it follows that the
old form of the drama, together with
the moderniZed, but not vulgariZed
melodrama, must be the resource in the
near future. Many who remember the
electric success of The Two Orphans"
and the long succession of admirable
plays that followed at not infrequent
intervals will regard the increasing
probability of return to plays Of that
class with entire satisfaction. Not
only have erotic plays and farce come
dies worn out their welcome, but the
anemic drawing groom comedy, with it's
cackle and small talk, is now out of the
running The people are beginning to
cry out for bone, sinew, sincerity and
truth, and they are going to get 1t.
Dramatists who have dawdled to th4
blessings Of drawing room inanltles and
have attempted to picture society by
delineating shams and shoddy must
sharpen their pencils for nober efforts
or be lost in the forthcoming shuttle"
With due Difference to this same au-
thor!ty, we must borrow one more of
his clever paragraphs, as follows:
And now the bounding west, to wit, the
state of Missouri, has come to the front as
the avenger Of those patrons of the the
ater-and their name is legion-who have
from the high hat which the ladies persist
In wearing. Only the other day member
of the Missouri Legislature introduced q
Dill proclaiming, and In good set terms de-
claring, that II shall be a misdemeanor
subject to fine, for any one to wear ap-
parel in place of public amusement cal
culated to obstruct the view and therefore
curtail the pleasure of others who have
paid their good coin for a chance at some
ftalt IIAs
of the darkness. and the lawyers say that
as common law right is involved the new
enactment will be constitutional and proof
against all the slings and arrows that
may be directed against 1t. But the idea
Is almost too millennal in its scope to be
entertained without some grains of al
lowance, or to put 1t into the ordinary yo-
cabulary, the news Is almost too good to
be true. They will be telling us next that
all sorts of nuisances in the theater and in
the cars may be abated, by the simple
process of swearing out a warrant charg-
ing misdemeanor against the offender.
The fellow who comes late, crowds out be-
tween the acts, hangs his coat over the
back of his chair SO that it occupies half
of the stall behind him-in fact, the all
| around swine of every name and nature
| may by the same token be hauled out
under this new dispensation and made to
pay roundly for interfering with the
| vested rights of others. OF course this
| is merely an Utopian dream. The Ameri-
can people will continue to suffer in ST.
lence as they have for years. They are
too busy with their shopkeeping and
money-gettng to trouble themselves
either in regard to the character of their
public servants or with reference to the in
suits and annoyances they suffer from the
| omnpresent boor
The announcement that "Nym
| Crinkle" (Andrew c. Wheeler) has re-
considered his determination to aban.
don dramatic criticism will be welcome
news to many warm admirers of this