The herald., 1895-03-23


The mummy that has lain at peace In
fragrant cloths for centuries beside the
flowing Nile--he. too, loved, feared,
hoped, suffered. died
So that, though Shore Acres is an
American play it is not an American
play in the sense we have intended. 1t
is not an American play in the sense that
it is an enduring play, American in sub
ject, the work of an American author.
For unless the American play be likely to
endure, it is not worth while considering
it when we are discussing the prospect OF
even the hope of a body of American lit
erature. dramatic in form. which shall
become and remain one of the glories OF
our civilization.
Yet Shore Acres and Friends are among
and Men and Women and the Charity
Ball. Young Mrs. Winthrop, Esmeralda,
Saratoga. A Gold Mine. The Old Home
stead Uncle Josh. The Mighty Dollar,
The Senator, The County Fair, and a host
of others which have lived and died-all
these are on nearly the same level of eX-
cellence. Alabama and In Missouri must
be placed little higher and Beau Brum-
neil and His Grace de Grammont. which
though foreign in subject, are the work
of an American, MIR. Clyde Fitch. must
be placed higher still But none of these,
! in my opinion, will be witnes ed or read
by our children.
The great American dramatist, he who
will preciptate the beauty of human ma
| ture in America and depict it behind the
| footlights for our instruction and delight,
| is still walking arm and arm with the
! great American novelist in the wings of
| the theater of life, patiently awaiting his
| cue to come upon the stage. If his cue
| has not been uttered it is not because he
Is not ready for it, but because the
| drama of American civilization has not
| vet progressed far enough; because the
! l.. h.,T
| qured has not yet arrived. The theater
! in the United States, as it was in Greece
and Rome as it is III France and Eng
! land, rs the mirror which re-
! fleets the people. Nothing appears
therein which does not already exist in
real life. The novelist may prophesy. the
poet may dream, the statesman may lead,
the preacher may prod, but the dramatist
can only illustrate.
Ii a man is known by the company he
keeps, nation is known by the PLAYERS it
patronizes, for the players are nothing
more than echoes or reflections OF the
life of the nation. The dramatic art un
like the other arts can move no faster
than the people surrounding its professors
and eXponents; for to make its effort Wis
ible and audible requires so much money
that the thcater has of necessity become
a business enterprise whose only possible
endeavor is to give to the public what the
public wants and whose poser as work
ing force for good is limited by the meas
ure of success it wins in its endeavor. Ii
the public be ignorant, unrefned, shall
low, it will want players that require for
the enjoyment of them no other qualities;
and it will get them. If the public wants
plays requiring for the enjoyment of
them knowledge education, refinement,
thought, such plays will be supplied, for
the very qualities that cause the desire
are invariably capable of satisfying it.
The existence of the desire presupposes
the power of satisfaction.
Therefore, if we wish to guess how long
a time will lapse before our civilization
will produce great dramatist and before
the great dramatist will produce great
drama, it is the part of wisdom to OBJ
serve the tendency of the theater. From
that tendency we may get some idea of
the advancement of the nation as nation
in that which purities and III that which
elevates. 1t will not be sufficient to OBJ
serve the tendency in one part, nor in a
few parts of the country, for obviously it
would be misleading. For example, to
Judge the West by New York, which is a
monstrous aggregation of persons of
whom all these not foreigners are domi-
mated and impelled by foreign taste and
foreign thought. Nor would it be less
misleading to Judge Chicago by Califor-
mia, which is separated from the source of
theatrical supply by so many miles at
is enabled to see only a few of the pro-
ducts of the dramatist and the manager
and which, therefore, even though infre-
quency of indulgence did not give edge
to appetite, would be not well qualified to
serve as an index to the nation S thought
But ii it be possible to discover, by OBJ
serving the tendency of taste in all the
various parts of the country, what the
Tendency of the national taste really is, we
may hazard pretty shrewd guess at our
present distance from the great dramatst.
For this purpose | have been at some
pains to collect dala of the theatrical
success and failures in the United
States during the past year. 1t is not
necessary to give these data in detail at
this time; it is enough to know that they
are most encouraging to those who think
our intellectual not infinitely less import
ant than our material progress The fail
ures, with hardly an exception, have de-
served failure; and while some attractions
have succeeded when they have not de-
served success, the most notable successes
have been made by attractions that APP
pealed to the higher and better qualities
of mankind. The Black Crook was enor-
mously profitable two years ago last year
it hardly paid expenses. That act may
mean either that the piece grew tiresome
or that there was greater number of at
tractive competitors; of course. it cannot
mean that between the two years there
WIS ~ CIldllSe III DuDilt luSUe. Inc Urutn
appears to be that people patronized The
Black Crook because it was good of its
kind and there were not many attractions
of Il better kind SO good of their kind
But last year there was a sudden and
great accession of high class attractions
They were patronized literally and The
Black Crook was neglected. This is but
one of many similar circumstances which
all go to support the contention that as
time passes the public is coming to pre-
fer better to good, high to low, intellec-
tual to sensuous pleasure in the theater
The conspicuous failures have been low
ana sensuous in character called farce
comedies, French (that is to say un-
healthy FrenCh) dramas of the dssecting
room where morals and morality are cut
to pieces and exhibited to the ribald
laughter of the irreverent and depraved
and plays that were ventured because OF
the unwholesome notoriety of the persons
spcuous successes have been dramas of
serious meaning which not only touched
the heart and stirred the emotions but
also affected the intellect. The lesson has
not been lost upon the theatrical mana
gers. Their plans for the future have all
been colored by it, and the consequence
will be that next year there will be fewer
vulgar and idotic farces and vastly
greater number of refined and serious ap-
peals to the higher nature.
If this taste persist, if this tendency
there is every likelihood |
they will-the time is not far off when |
they will give birth to the man who shall !