The Topeka state journal., 1897-11-09

used in many of our farces. Here the
rake and the adventures, enVirOned by
the glamour Of fast life. shameless in
speech and conduct, and brought into
amusing relation with the circumspect
personages of the play-always to the
discomforture of the latter-are so eX-
plotted by the cunning of the humorist
as to get into sympathetic relations
with the audience.
One such farce does more harm than
a whole repertOry of problem dramas,
admitting. if you will, that such dramas
are harmful Evil that is made to ap-
pear hideous or destructive is not in
fectious; evil that brings US into sym
pathetic laughter with il is dangerous
indulgenceS that are indecent have a
pernicious effect upon our finer sensi-
bilities
In the particular play in question the
title part and leading spirit is courte-
san and a blackmailer, and she is aid
ed and abetted by type of character
more detested of men than the traitor
or the thief. In the name of modern
farce we tolerate things vastly worse
than the brutal frankneSs of the Eliza
bethan era.
Such plays furnish matter for the en-
emieS of the theater, but the play house
and the art that makes it live do not
look to their enemies, but to their
friends for betterment. Those who Op-
pose the theater as an institution are
generally so denSely ignorant and so
pictureSquely stupid on the subject
that their objections have no influence
whatever upon the conditions that sur
round the art dramatic.
But men and women who find pleas
ure. recreation or edificatiOn in the
theater, who place some value upon it's
offerings as means or harmless amuse-
ment or commendable culture, should
guard against its contamination. To
take a stand against the encrOachments
of the vicious, il is not necessary to be
a tedious puriSt. a refusal to support
degrading entertainments is simply to
assert the Self-reSpecI that should be
inherent in all people OIL the right sort.
The time has come when the habitual
theatergCer must make some such as
sertiOn in self-defense.
Americans are a cOmplacent people.
They are quick to approve what pleases
them and slow to resent what affrOnts
them. The villain of the melOdrama is
some times hissed in our popular priced
theaters, but otherwise the hiss IS
scarcely heard in our play yhouses. If we
were as ready to hiss as We are to ap-
plaud. there would be fewer braZen
creatures on the stage Plays like
The Girl From Paris succeed in re-
spectacle theaters, not because of their
indecencies, but in spite of them, for
they always have some legitimate and
attractive value.
Managers and actors are in some re-
spects less to blame than the public for
the growing tendency toward indecen-
cy in our light amusenents. American
mana gers do little for art or reputation;
packer or the popcorn vendor. They do
not try to discover the only thing the
public wants, but they studiously try
to avoid what the public will not have.
It is the playgoer's privilege to accept
or reject at will 1t is the duty of those
who cherish the delightful traditions.
enjoy the legitimate offerings or reflect
upon the ideal possibilities of the thea
ter, so to emphasize their preferences
that indecency may have no profitable
habitation in the respectable playhouse.