The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-11-25
THE STAGE.

Mr.. John Drew has an article in The
Independent of the 9Th inst. on
Changes and Tendencies of the Amer
lean Stage" There is very little in the
article to commend attention. We do
not think there will be a general con-
census in Mr.. Drew's view that in Am
erica the influence of the stage is on
the side Of morals. nor will people gen
orally acquiesce in the statement that
everywhere on the stage today vice is
scourged and virtue triumphant no
more than they will acquiesce in Mr..
Drew's statement that the public's
taste is absolutely healthy. The New
York stage for the past year has been
the scene of the most riotous and indie
cent plays almost in the history of the
world. and the public taste which Mr.
Drew calls healthy has furnished a
patronage in excess of the capacity of
the house wherein these indecent plays
have been produced.
The stage has long been held in i'll
repute and has been the target for
much we'll directed and eloquent abuse,
and the reasons for this are not far TO
be sought in the case of the English
speaking world. Powerful alike for
good or evil, the stage has unfortunately
too often tended towards the latter and
in so far earned maledictions.
The sombpe Puritan spirit that rom
mated English religious thought, loved
righteousness and hated iniquity with
fierceness and a narrowness that pre-
vented anything like sane discrimfna-
ton; and the stage as a whole conse- |
quently came under the ban of the pull |
pit and was assailed as a thing essen |
tally evil. Such an opposition is as !
useless as it is unfair. It is a legiti- |
mate form Of amusement; it offers a |
field for the noblest display of poetic |
genius, and it has always been a per-
manent fixture in the intellectual life
of every civilized people. 1t can neither
be, rooted out nor cried down were such
a hing needful or desirable. 1t viii
possibly never be without cause for re-
proAch, as it will always reflect the
popular taste; and as long as there are
classes TO whom the low and immoral
are fascinating, there viii be plays and
players to cater to their tastes.
But on the other hand, there will all
ways be those who lift the stage to
high planes and throw their influence
for what is good and beautiful in their
art. The writer in The Independent. 4
Mr. Drew himself, is certainly an ex- .
ample Of this class. If, in our own day /.
it should seem that the stage has set
out to present all the ugliness and mol
luton of humanity under the name Of
realism" and to teach that Illicit love :
was the highest inspiration of the ORA :
matte art, such as we see Mrs. Carter
doing in 'Zaza," we have only to re- =
member that we have had such men
as Booth and such women as Mary An
ierson, and still have such men as lief
ferson and John Drew. Wilson Barrett
and Sir Henry Irving, with such women v
Is Miss Adams, Julia Marlowe and Miss
Rehan, whose ideals of art have boon :
)oble and whose influence has beer, on
he side of what was high and morally :
pure. Such names as these redeem +ba
stage from sweeping condemnation ana :
lit it above the cesspool into which ?
women as Mrs. Carter are endeavorin. s
o drag it. :, -