The herald., 1897-03-28

men who had secured the passage of the
copyright law which assures protectloh
to dramatiJ and musical composltiohs'
The chief feature of this new law Is tnat
il makes an Injunction obtained for an
alleged piracy of play or opera apply
to the whole country instead of simply
the jurisdiction of the courtgranting the
order as was formerly the rule.
James A. Herne of "Shore Acres
fame. contributed to the February num-
her of the Arena an essay, entitled
"Art for Truths Sake in the Drama
The article is largely autobigraphical
and relates the experiences of Mr.. Herne
in the various roles he has undertaken
during his theatrical career. From
Romeo to Ham Peggoty in a Dickens
drama is a long step, but Mr.. Herne as
sures us that he has played both parts.
He saws: Il have appeared in the en-
tire round of the leading characters OF
the heroic drama. Strange as IL may
now seem, | have played the Romeos,
the Claude Melnottes, the Armand Du-
walls, the Charles Surfaces. the Bene-
dicks. the Cliffords, the Petruchios, ana
all the rest of the fascinating heroes OF
the legitimate and standard drama, and
l was never such very handsome man,
either | was pretty bad in most or
them, / guess. They never appealed TO
me seriously" 1t appears to have been
Mr. Herne's experience that the nearer
he got to the truth as he calls lt,
the more successful was he financially
in the production of his own plays. 1t is
rather difficult to understand exactly
what Mr.. Herne means when he talks
about "the truth" Many of us consider
that the Grandest tragedies played on
the stage today receive their chief trag-
ical element from the fact that they are
so true to life and therefore so terrible.
But Mr.. Herne appears to think that the
whole of dramatic truth lies in simplic-
ity of treatment. in delineation of the
humble things of life, In his own work
he aims to shSS love, pathos, joy and
hate as they exist in the homes of the
humble. Plot is not essentia. to him.
He is very much like Mr.. Howells in his
realism. but where, on the printed page.
Mr.. Howells becomes woefully tedious
Mr.. Herne is interesting, because. using
the stage to express his art, he gives us
color and action. One grows heartily
tired of Howells books, and one can
conceive that even Hernes plays might
in time pail on the taste. Wheaton
bread is wholesome and good. but a
steady diet of it would be very disagree
able. So. Herne is lovely and idyllic
and all that, but after all he only shows
live on one plane of society. And as he
is in his plays. so is he in his essay. He
appears to think that plays like his own
"Shore Acres" contain the whole truth
and that none but plays of such char
acter are truthfully artistic. Fortu-
nately the public does not share his be-
lief and will continue to admire John
Drew as well as James A. Herne. The
Society drama, leaving more serious
productions of the modern stage aside
is just as true to life as what Herne
gives us. Compare Butterflies with
'Shore Acres; each presents its own pc
cular picture of society as it exists to-
day. In the one. we are shown the gay
fittings and butterfly doings of the
Four Hundred, their emotions and their
lives; in the other the lives of simple
Maine people are shown us. People all
over the world love, hate. enjoy and suf-
fer, but they do so in different fashions
according to the plane of life they are
living on. So, in order to get the whole
truth it is necessary to see how the So
ciety woman goes through her expe-
riences as well as how Maine house
wife endures hers
After all, what does Mr.. Herne himself
mean by art for Truths Sake in the
Drama Had the title read Truth for
Arts Sake it had been more intel
ligible. This cry of truth for arts sake
is as old as time, and has had It's ex-
ponents in all climes and in all ages.
considering it in its breadest sense. and
not as relating to the drama alone. mr..
Herne SAYS: Art for truths sake en-
phasizes humanity. Tt is not sufficient
that the subject be attractive or beau
tiful or that it does not offend. Truth
is not always beautiful, but in art for
truths sake 1t is Indispensable Art for
truths sake is serious. its highest pur-
pose has ever been TO perpetuate the
life of its time" Certainly this latter is
true. IT therefore naturally follows that
in order to truthfully mirror the time,
the stage must show us complex human
nature as we'll as primitive human ma
ture-must give us the plays of Dumas
and of Sardou as we'll as of Henry Arthur
Jones and James A. Herne.
The big hat nuisance appears to be
creating a good deal of citation in other
cities 1t is proposed in many places
TO do away with the annoyance by legis-
lation against it, and from one quarter
comes the suggestion that women or
their escorts be compelled TO pay a grad
uated fine, according to the size OF the
hat worn. Thus the woman who wore
a Gainsborough hat. with waving mass
of feathers, would have to pay a fine
much larger than would she who wore
toque, with only an afgrette on it, to bob
before the eyes and annoy the one sitting
directly behind her
Big hat legislation can hardly be con-
sidered prac ticable, and the remedy lies
solely with the theater management. In
certain of the San Francisco theaters to-
day, if a woman wearing large hat does
not take it off before the play begins
she is politely requested to do so by an
usher. This same rule prevails in many
of the eastern theaters.
Here in Los Angeles the big theater hat
has been done away with to a large en-
tent-that is, it Is NO longer much in
evidence at evening performances. At
the matinee it is still as prominent as of
yore. Our gay society girls. who are
the chief patrons of the afternoon per-
formance. are very reluctant to remove
from their pretty heads those charming
confections of flowers and laces and
feathers. which are so dear TO their
hearts and so vastly becoming. How
ever. time will improve even this state
of affairs. and the picture hat. with its
bewilderment of trimming, will then be
reserved for the afternoon promenade
The newspaper reports concerning
rumored rupture between Irving and
Terry are thus commented upon by the
lively London correspondent Of the Dra-
matte Mirror. who says under date of
the 5th instant:
For some days past these rumors con-
cerning the Lyceum and its future have
been of sinister kind, involving, indeed,
nothing less than a large diSspnsion he