The record-union., 1899-06-21
ADJUSTMENTS.

At the Clunde Opera-house this even-
ing the much talked Of farce comedy
The Turtle" The San Francisco daily
press denounced it as indecent. The OBJ
jections were eliminated and the play
reproduced and then. they declared It
stupid. Here, the management say. It
will be put upon the stage in its orig
dnal form, and they contend that 1t IS
neither immoral NOR in any way Often
sive and that the chief scene OF which
so much has been said, is not better
nor worse than the chamber scene IN
the opera Fra Dfavolo.,' They claim
that it ran weeks and months in Boston
and New York and was not condemned
as indecent. They say it is an 'audac-
ious French farces' but that it is not
a play even the prudish need avoid.
They add: The Turtle scintillates
with wit, bristles with screaming farci-
cal situations and is purely Partisan III
its piquancy. 1t is acted by American
players of distinction, with French
finesse. 1t is both artistic and auda-
cous. 1t is deft but daring, and in no
manner, shape or form offends the most
exacting''
The San Francisco weekly press most
ly score the San Francisco daily press
for sudden modesty and intimates that
other than unselfish reasons actuated
the dailies. The San Francisco News
Letter" says the situation may be at
times piquant, but they are never
'fllthy.' Gentlemen who had the priv
ilege Of European training and who
have read something and seen some
thing, could not have raved against
''The Turtle" Suderman's Die Ehre''
is bit-a good bit-broader; the Ger
mans are morally and intellectually at
least as good as the Americans, yet no
stupid critics rose there to condemn It.
What has art to do with morality-the
stupid morality of the mentally incom-
petent? Have they read the Greek
tragedies? Have they seen the great
nude forms in the galleries of Dresden,
Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Warsaw ard
st. Petersburg? What barbarians we
are, to be sure-not SO much in frown-
ing upon art (for stupidity is public
virtue) but in giving ear to some ef
the art critics braying and abide by
their judgment. There was no inde-
cency in The Turtle but stripped of
its piquancies. it was as stupid as the
saints who advocated the stripping
The San Francisco Music ard
DIdIud says. new 1OIh, oOStO1t,
Philadelphia and Chicago are already
on the broad grin at the sudden exhi-
bition of virtue in San Francisco. 1t
was expected that the press of the
Golden Gate would make the usual OBJ
lection to a new play That is the
custom of the critic but the spectacle
of the rising of the reprobates to pre-
vent its production is funnier than any
thing in the funny Turtle ITSELF
The San Francisco Wasp" pro-
nounces the piece immoral and pro-
ceedls to compare it with other pieces
which are given without word Of OBJ
lection by critics or theater going pub
lie. To all this the mana cement re-
plies: with the endorsement of
six months run TO representative New
York audiences at a Broadway thea
ter, all fears should be dispelled as to
the coarseness or vulgarity of 'Tnc
Turtle The much discussed disrobe-
ment scene in the second act may be
trifie risque, but it is not in the least
suggestive, and as artistically handled
by Miss Isabelle Evesson it becomes
absolutely poetic. In short, The Tur-
tie" is dainty suggestive dish, bun
so delicately served that it is palata-
bic to the most refined taste. Miss
Evesson herself warmly defends the
piece and contends that her part, most
assailed, is artistic and inoffensive to
the pure minded. Thus the public has
both sides of a controversy and is sufH-
GENTLY informed to say whether or no..
it will take for granted what the ep-
ponents of the play contend, that 1t Is
broad, suggestive and immoral, or what
dts friends held, that it is French, funny
and harmless.
At the Clunie Opera-house Friday
and Saturday and Saturday matines
: the Herbert Kelcey and Effie Shannon
Company in Clyde Fftch's latest society
drama, The Moth and the Flame"
The San Francisco morning press
found the play to be inoffensive as to
morals, correct as to manners and pre-
sented by an excellent company. But
its philosophy was assailed and its
methods condemned as unnatural, and
it's chief situations as cruel and i'm
probable. Besides it was harshly criti-
.cised because of its English, and upon
the charge that it places a woman on
the pillory to supply humor for the
play. The San Francisco evening press
declared the piece to be wholesome,
~
admirable in construction The Los
Angeles press. however, approved the
play as artistic, natural, rich in pathos,
If strong in presentation of human ma
ture as it is; that the play Is artistic.
original in conception, and that what
one San Francisco paper charged it
with, "a drama with a touch of
Frenchiness and very much of Ameri-
can vulgarity." is wholly untrue. The
Los Angeles Record" says the dia-
logue is brilliant
The Moth and the Flame" which
was produced last night at the Los
Angeles Theater, is refreshing. To the
mind jaded with the twadd1e and
horse play Of farce comedy, sickened
with trite situations and too obvious
jokes, the Intellectually suggestive dia-
logue of The Moth and the Flame"
i