The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-08
OF THE HEATH
VICIOUS FOES OF STAGE, AND
OFFICES ONLY FOOLISH.

The vigorous action by the authorities of
Reading against an indecent theatrical show
should delight every true friend OF the stage on
either side OF the footlights. Companies of
shameless men and unfortunate women travel
through the land. amblazoning their vicious ex.
ploits in pictures on tho public walls, where no
eyes can escape them. thus Increasing that
prejudice against actors which IL generally Civ
ing place to esteem, and inviting people OF care
less Judgment to witness nasty performances.
These brazen burlesquers sometimes get into
the cheap vaudeville houses of tho Bowery and
Eighth avenue, but New York is not af-
fronted In that way to anything like
the extent that most other cities suffer. Theat-
Rical managers. authors, and actors engaged in
worthy work may well laugh at tho attacks of
those pretentious idiots and dishonest adven-
turers who, in tho guise of reformers. mako
comic onslaughts from the outside Of q profess
sion which they are unable to get probably
Into. Such futile undertakings as the dead
Theatre of Arts and Letters and tho not yet
alive Criterion Independent Theatre do no harm
70 anything except the wallets Of their deluded
founders. But the meretricious Snowman il o
0talwart and very injurious enemy of both art
and business In the drama, and the real friends
of the theatre in its best estate should like to
put him into Jail.
What In known In the parlance Of the Rialto
- III angel usually COMES OUT OF n tneaLf1-
cal venture with singed wings. In the case of
the Criterion independent Theatre the angel"
10 understood to be a Western woman. and her
risk 10 said to be limited to $4,000, which
amount Of money she may or may not be willing
20 throw away in an effort to " elevate" a stage
which really isn't very low. But that sum will
mot 60 far in such an enterprise, and actors who
gre invited to take engagements will desire to
the hands of several OF the men who
have attached themselves to it: The
that choice Of material which has been rejected
OF its shocking indecencies, is defensible on the
grounds that it is tho work Of a genius. that It
sivsnsss. and that there l. I an interest : Is for eSO sH:
p Pc tS. in p It, realism %dn11 +. While ;anl;.t the gredaetion Of
spp aSS' to ' peop SoV WITH 10 h hoSitin G minds is' de, is Sn
only Of wholesome recreation at the theatre, It's
quite within the proper purpose Of an "indepsn.
few, while not desired BY the many nor beneficial
SMASHED SsaS%; D y 81 Op sas aas Seitze se' and Pc aSi
before that time. tho second bill Is to be made
The Wife of soarlI'. from Gsrman. French
will, be then that the burning of the final
feathers on the wings Of the plucked !" angel"
will be smelt.
Benjamin F. Keith, owner ofthe Union Square
and theatres in Providence and Boston, is back
from o long tour in the Old World. II visited
great many places Of amusement In the course
of my travels" he said yesterday. "and found
to my surprise that the so-called legitimate
theatres were not especially prosperous. while
those in which vaudeville entertainments were
given enjoyed a good share of public support.
The music halls throughout Europe. as we'll as
In England, were generally thriving. Tho
quality of the variety entertainments on
the Continent was not nearly 80 meritorious
a. the average with us in America, but in
London excellent bills are presented-perhaps
the strongest to DO found anywhere. The char.
acter Of the larger music halls there has Inn
proved very much over what was true Of them
some years ago. I think that the reform is due,
in part at least. to the earnest agitation by Mrs.
4 Chant and. others, who exposed and .assailed
= certain evils in those resorts vigorously. This
change was noticeable particularly at the Lon
business in America, large as it is now, is yet in
direction in the main. and 1t commands, when
clean as we'll as diverting. the support of tho
widest AID most trustworthy patrons Of tho
theatre are the respectable folks, who don't like
immortality In the form of amusement, and who
are appreciative of decency on The stage, alike
in either dignity or frivolity." Mr.. Keith said
rum and a geological garden to his Boston
theatre, and has studied such Institutions in
Europe for that purpose.
Madeleine Lucette Ryley has added to "An
American Citizen an element rare enough now
edays to be nearly q novelty. She has placed
her hero after the first act IN a foreign coun.
Try, and in contrast with the customs of q So
ciety wholly different to his own. Comedies
II international life have not been frequent
within recent years. Bronson Howard wrote
I'm "Aristocracy' the last serious play on the
subject, and Sardou's perfunctory Americans
Abroad" finished up the list of the comedies
But more of them are likely to come in the fu
ture, and the value of this element Is very
plainly shown in Mrs. Ryley's latest play
There the foreign scenes are merely farcical
but the suggestion of the interest that would
come from a more serious or even q somewhat
satirical treatment of the Same incidents II
strong. But Mrs. Ryley is rarely ~satirical
and while her humor is certain, it 10 alwayl
direct.
Mr.. Goodwin's personality was never more
appropriately shown or. maybe, disguised. thar
1t Is In IAN American Citizen and whilt
Beresford Cru0er has many Of tho qualities
which might readily mako the type vulgar. thai
has been so carefully avoided that In this play
Which almost equals the esteem feit for him BY
Western an,x AUDIENCES . yspS ut i Bssr, f;Srant G ;rtsg wd hSd
never 1sSs 0hh, have a h xS5 ; ntit' Mr. aii'ef Gooaw sfls S ESsis 3
manner not exactly refined or distinguished
sSr1 se q ah ehf hero u "a & w 1ns ssPsSaaiGliit hsSs'
VINO might we'll have been wide awake, active,
rather sr0o 9n y, ~ ia an and !, not no HI h shso dam nag
the public would never have turned again to
Mr.. Goodwin. Luckily. Mr.. Ryley drew the
never once allowed to appear CONSEQUENTLY
And with Mr.. Goodwin playing before an
American audience this was not an easy task,
With all her cleverness--and IAN American
Citizen" has more coherency, form, and rea.
condolences than any OF her plays, including
christopher, Jr."-Mrs. ,Ryley has a curious
knack OF doing exactly the wrong thing in q
very exasperating way: Why, in the present
play, the comic old maid should be compelled
70 marry a commercial villain nobody knows
The old woman had done nothing to deserve
such q fate. The same characteristic was no
ticed In "A Coat Of Many Colors,' where the
mother of the young girl in the play was about
70 marry the heros father. and she was an en-
Greiiy unexcused woman, who deserted hel
husband for no other reason than because sh,
wanted to. such curious perycrsities O
fancy appear in nearly all of Mrs. Ryley's play
In one, form or another. They are never es
sential to tho story. and rather compli
cate situations that would otherwise h
simpler. There is 30 much cleverness in he