The times., 1898-10-02

OF which could not bring more than
brief run at best. Risks such as are
taken at present would be foolhardy un-
der any other than existing conditions.
The actors we laud and worship from a
distance because of the glamor Father
Time has cast over them would not be at
all likely to pass muster now. Edwin
Forrest and many of his contemporaries
were confessed ranters. while McCul-
Tough and McReady both lacked in many
of these essentials of the not-too-manda-
tory age in which they worked. Even
Booth was less appreciated late in life
not because his art had changed but be-
cause public standards had. Charlotte
Cushman in her prime never had the
ability possessed by Mrs. Fiske, Eleanore
Duse. Sarah Bernhardt or two or three
other of our celebrities, nor could she
have survived the critical standard in
which they are judged The hundreds OF
years that serve as a reproach for the
clan mentioned above probably never pro-
duced an actor with the finish of Nat
Goodwin, with the artistic tendencies of
E. S. Willard or with the observation and
scholarly detail of Richard Mansfield.
Held in the same balance, compared by
the same test, brought into the light of
fair play and judged by the higher ideas
of today, our contemporary actors are In
every way superior to the more rever-
enced ones who have preceded them and
whom death has unhappily prevented
from being present for comparison. And
in another fifty years, when a coming
generation of stars has improved on the
present one. the men at whom we are
laughing now will be the greatest players
the world has ever known-untH another
generation has removed them.
,xIa % IA
pare with those we have now in finish and
cleverness. When we see the old dramas
that served our forefathers and note
their cruditieS of construction and the
slight uses made of great opportunities,
we are sorely tempted to lose faith in
sentiment Beside the grace and force
of our modern products, successes of years
gone back pale into insignificance. The
reyivals at which we are so surprised
become financial successes merely because
he would be brave man who would con-
feSs to seeing faults In works that have
become standard. And yet ii is true that
those very pieces would be refused today
by any manager in the businessman none
bar nobody. "Richelieu,' The FOOLS
Revenge The Marble Heart" all writ
ten around a single incident, for the un-
developed power of which one has to toll
crate the inane dialogue OF an evening;
Still Waters Run Deep" ''Our Boys.
Robert Macaire," full of stilted speeches
and worthless matter thrown together
without opportunity or action; The Col
cen Bawn." and kindred writings. only
on a par with the cheapest melodramas
TO be seen In our popular-priced theaters.
Such statements are blows to tradition,
undoubtedly. and will be combated as
such. but they are true nevertheless. For
the ordinary uses of the stage as a dra-
matte property. "Triiby'' is a better play
than even Hamlet" and Secret Service
a greater work than the combined writ
ings Of Boucicault.
And the productions of the present time
Managers take on the road organizations
of high-salaried people. hundreds of cos
tunes and tons of special scenery. En-
larged orchestras and cforuses of 100 peo-
pie each are not in the least uncommon
while even melodramas are staged eIab-
orately and fitted out with costly me-
chanical effects. Special cars or even
trains, big STATS of advertising men and
any number of costly effects are now
| the rule rather than the exception.
What would an audience OF today say
| at discovering that Juliet was standing
| on dozen inverted soap boxes while
| listening to the honeyed words of her lover
or at noting that the same poverty
/ stricken house &at had served two acts
| become the palace of a Doge? Patched
| tights and ill-ftting wigs are no longer
| tolerated and the property man has ceas
| ed to be a shows costumer An actor
! whose mad rush up and down the stage
was occasionally varied by a trip 10 IN,
| wings that he might learn his next lin,
| from the prompter there, would hardly
| be prime favorite just now nor would
| helmet made OF a coffee pot-such az
/ Felix Morris describes having worn al
| one time-find praise from the critics IL
an age when the fashion OF plumes a
| certain periods is taken into account il
reviews and stars sandpaper the soles o
their shoes nightly when playing gentle
| men.
And though we may talk about tn
| farces Of today, and the frivolity of ou
! audiences. no intelligent house is eve
| called upon, save at amateur affairs, I
sit through performances of such edify
ing pieces as Box and Cox or "Slashe
and Crasher."
Improvement is the order of the age
and the theater has taken advantage O
that order as much as any other institu
ton. There is nothing degenerate abou
the playhouse of the nineteenth century
about the dramas presented there. III
actors appearing in them nor the me
and women who attend. The existin
conditions OF the stage are more favora
bic than ever before, and those who cor
tend differently either are blinded b