The times., 1898-09-11
THE PASSING SHOW.


meets is too busy in other directions to
think much. But since. despite the
cheapness of the commodity, brains are
still considered desirable for other pur-
poses than exhibition in medical muse
ums, these very men and women some
times feel constrained 70 express ideas
and, having none of their own, they sim
ply pick up one euphonious phrase or
another and use 1t regardless of rhyme
or reason until someone disputes its veri-
ty with them, when they collapse ipto
declaring themselves determined to stick
to their opinions. And the less opinion
one has the more persisteniy he ciings
to 1t.
One of the sentences that has been for
years in current use concerns ''the de-
generacy of the stage" In most respects
this high-sounding premise is simply
meaningless but enough of it relates to
truth to permit of one ASKING why the
| theater today is In such a condition that
any portion of the argument urged against
1t may seem plausible The person most
benefited by the phrase quoted above
would probably find 1t difficult to make
| any more satisfactory reply to an inquiry
into the sense OF his remark than one 10
the effect that all clever playwrights are
| dead and all good actors have followed
them
| AS a matter OF fact most Of the evils OF
the stage that apparent from the
| front of the house are due to the degen-
! eracy, not of the ;heater itself, but OF the
| art of dramatic criticism. The fact that
! no such precise science is really recog-
nized in this country may make this
| statement sound absurd, and yet Ii is
| clearly worthy of consideration. A feeble
press has much to do with the feebleness
4 of a state No single factor In everyday
| existence controls the power welded by
! the daily newspaper, and, therefore, lack
of influence of the right sort may be cred
| tied with having been decidedly detrimen-
| tai TO the existence of an elevated drama.
/ In Europe. where the reviewers are men
of letters and of learning. the relationship
between the composing and green rooms
is exceedingly close, and the press, weak
| in most other ways, stands steadily for
all that is best behind the footlights.
| That this is not also true here is due to
three causese-the comparative ignorance
| OF the men who write dramatic observa-
! tions, their lack of earnestness and the
/ eupidity OF the journals ON which they
| are employed.
| The profession of stage criticism is to
] great extent puerile In its influence be-
| cause IL is not profession at all. Its
requirements and possibilities are those
| of a science but men do not enter Il with
| a correct understanding of this fact nor
do they attempt to fit themselves after
| ward There is no business in the world
| in which earnestnes5 and honesty are at
! SO great discount The average aspi-
| rant for any other position seeks not
| only to quality himself in advance but
| labors for perfection after attaining it.
1 IL t,fe fat1 faa n a1RiF M
| likings in that direction. But the great
| majority of critics care nothing for their
| chosen tasks and are not az all in SYM
| pathy with the class of people among
| whom they are cast. They know little
| of the dramas past and care less about
| its future. Having seldom any idea that
| acting has any definite standard or limit
| they are unfamiliar with its tangibla
| points and are. therefore. unable to
praise or blame without injustice. The
| larger number of writers on theatrical
affairs merely take UP their editorsf ips
in prefunctory sort of way with the in
tention of holding them until something
better turns up.
OF course. nothing could be so effeetual
in bringing discredt upon the profession.
| especially I'm theatrical circles Half the
unfitness that exists in the work of the
| reviewer would have proven fatal to
| medicine, law or theology long ago had
Ii been noted in those quarters. And yet
there is little reason why there should
be any difference between them The
| critic who feels a correct sense of the
81 responsibilities upon him r should take
,bcare TO possess the attributes of all three
i-he should have the technical knowledge
| of a physician. the judicial sense OF an
| attorney and the power of making HIM
self as much a part of the miniature
| world he has set himself over as is the
| minister g. distinct portion Of his religion
even in the midst of his everyday life.
And yet so far is the practice of this
doctrine from the range OF possibility
that the man who breaches II lays him
self open to being called an ideaiist. ar
| enthusiast and a fanatic Care and la
Dor, admirable In the abstract. are but
laughable when applied to individuals
The prevalent incompetency is not due
wholly to the dramatic critic himself bi,
| largely to his employer. Outside of the
two or three greatest cities in the coun.
try. newspaper owners are not willing Il
recognize criticism as profession anc
Insist upon the reviewers doubling that
work with anything else from police re-
porting up and down. The result is thai
the iaborer has no choice as to his de
gree of proficiency but Irus< strive for q
double object with half the ordinary in
centiye. 1t is not alone in small town:
that horse race men and Office boys ar
sent to report theatrical presentations.
While cities of the size of New Yorl
are of course exempt from these evils
| they are forced into others quite as bad
The metropolis. as the greatest dramati
center in the universe, affords an unlim
tied field for earnest and honest criticism
and yet there is today only one man il
New York who has any real reputation
as a writer on stage matters. Flippan
and personal remark has come to be til
order there, and coarse or maudlin hu
! | NOR has taken the place of sincere ad
vice. consderate praise or qualified con
} demnation One may select almost an
account of a metropolitan production to
: day and read it carefully without findin
2 | therein a single remark that really bear
upon the play under consideration. An
what more can be expected of city tha
| permits its theatrical tastes to be gov
erned by Alan Dale, Leander Richardson
Jessie Wood and James L. Ford?
But the worst of the shames that at
tach to the dramatic criticism of tod j,
is it's dishonesty. In provincial Place
| there are few papers the reviews o
| which are not governed by the amour
of money realized from visiting orsani
zations.. Some few sheets have even tt
| affrontery to commend on Tuesday thos
points in performance which they ar
| constrained to condemn on the day fol
| lowing that on which the combination ha
| left town and after the time in wh.ci
either praise or blame could have am
effect upon the box office receipts
Threats in regard to advertising gener
: ally manage to hush any attempt at rea
criticism in the average journal Man
; ayers expect the newspapers to act a.
IVA .1Afr