The San Francisco call., 1897-05-16

CONSCIENTIOUS way III IL mas plO
duced Francis Powers cever little melo-
drama Of Chinatown, THE First Born"
Putting on Chinese play is risky thing
to do, from a box-office standpoint, con-
sidering the strong local feeling against
anything that emanates from Chinatown,
and putting Oh anything daring and orig
..inal by an American playwright is a still
more risky thing 10 do-at least one would
imagine so to judge from the managerial
passion FOR snubbing the American play
wright, and bestowing the cakes and ale
and dollars upon playwrights "made in
Europs." Virtue has met with a substan-
tial reward at the Acazar, for Its attempt
10 encourage native talent has been heart
lily indorsed by large audiences, and Pow
ers has shared with De Wolf Hopper the
honor OF being the only actors in town
called on nightly for an oration.
How beautifully patriotic it sounds for
managers to pirate, as they are in the
habit OF doing, about their consuming de-
sire to obtain American plays! When
You come down to cold facts, though,
scarcely one Of them is moved by the
taintest desire to obtain anything of the
sort. Plays are like hats and bonnets-
the styles originate in Europe, and better
is failure made in London or stamped
with q well-gnown Partisan name than a
work with all the elements of success that
only emanates from plebeian American
source ~ would give a fortune for
good American play" cries the great
American manager in the intervals of
making out his itinerary for a trip to
Europe "in search of novelties" and the
little manager, whose business does not
justify him in exploiting the European
field, keeps his weather eye open for any
English plays he can get, and in his heart
of hearts feels just as much contempt as
the big manager for the struggling Ameri-
can playwright.
Just think of the thousands and thou
sands of American plays that are annually
written by Anne rican writers and rejected,
often unread, by American managers,
and then believe, if you can, the Oft
repeated statement that there is nc merit
in any Of these plays. Does it not stand
to reason that with so much smoke there
must be at least q few sparks here and
there OF true dramatic FIRE? Indeed,
chance now and then gives the lie to the
managers parrot-like formula, Good
American plays are not 10 be had" Look
at the recent instance of my Friend
From India" II. A. du Souchet, the
author, was q humble telegraph oper-
ator. who had the temerity to write
play and send it the round of the theaters,
where it led a nomadic lie for several
years, going from one manager to an
other, despised and rejected by all, till
Smith and Rice were persuaded, almost
bullied, in fact into reluctantly taking
hold Of it. The managers who turned up
their noses at my Friend From India"
and rushed to secure novelties from
Europe" are ready TO kick themselves
now. for il was the richest treasure-trove
of the season just ended, and most of the
imported plays met with no better fate
than they deserved. Sardou's "Spiritism"
headed the list CT colossal tiascos; The
Sign of the Cross Jared little better:
The Seats OF the Mighty" aroused the de-
rision of New YORK, and there were
others, many Others. In fact, the only
really excellent imported plays were
Rosemary" and Under the Red Robe"
and their success was more than dis
counted by the success of an American
play. Gillette's Secret Service" to wit.
We have it on no less authority than
that of the great Barnum that Am ericans
like TO be fooled, and it is the business of
managers TO find what the public likes
and see that it gets it, so these asiuts
gentlemen say with their lips 1--WE want
American plays. tut We cannot get Them"
and in their hearts they know that
American plays are just the last thing
they do want. Meanwhile the dear, gull
lible public hugs the fond delusion that
imported plays are its proper mental pab-
uIum and dutifuliy chortles over imported
Jokes that doubtless have 8 deep signifi-
canoe in the land of their nativity, but
are often absolutely without meaning over
here. If managers will insist on produc-
ing i'm ported and unadapted plays, they
should at least devote part OF the pro-
gramme to a compact little key explaining
the jokes and illusions. which lose their
meaning on crossing the Atlantic.
Just to name one instance. The first
piece played at the Alcazar last week is
English, quite English, you know" and
in one scene good deal of the fun de-
pends on the despairing efforts OF an
elderly and excitable gentleman to find
from a Bradshaw how the trains run 10
Edinburgh. After turning over couple
of hundred pages or so he gives it up as
bad job and sends the girl out for an "a
BC." What was there IN this to touch
the sym pathies and arouse the risibiIities
of the spectator who has never travelled
on English railroads? Nothing, abso-
lutely nothing. But the joke has deep
significance to the man Tor woman) who
has devoted hours of mental anguish
to chasing an elusive train through the
may labyr yrinths of the standard English
railway guide. That man has gener-
alIy found that train starts from half a
dozen depots sim multaneoasly; that in one
column OF Bradshaw it is a baggage-train,
stopping everywhere, and in another COL
umn it is an express, stopping nowhere,
and that Just when it seems to have been
pinned down to Behaving as a well-regu.
lated train should, the columns of Brad
shaw suddenly seem to ioggle things up
again ana send 1t on a wild, erratic tour ali
over the United Kingdom, that ends no
where except in the despair of the person
who wants TO travel py it. The man who
has grappled with this Bradshawean
task and, reduced 10 the verge OF insanity.
has finally sent out for an A
railway guide and found immediate re-
lief, can possibly discover some exquisite
humor in the spectacle OF an irascible and
excited old gentleman looking in hurry
for train in Rradshay " and finally in mad