The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1900-02-27

Theatrical Trust
In a recent address before the Play
goers' club OF London one OF tho mem
bers explained that his ideal thcater
was not any existing playhouse:
II was not a theater which ever did
exist, and he might add 1t never would
exist. II would never. except In iso-
lated instances. quite realize tho dreams
OF its lovers. because each realization
would inspire another dream. And the
theater was an exceedingly complex in
strument depending not on the genius
and intellect Of one man. but the genius
and intellect. and he would say. high
moral qualities OF a large number OF
men and women. BY a happy accident
me saw now and again an ideal per-
formance of play, but perfection was
on the whole rnattalnahle Tonight
you might have an ideal Romeo and
Juliet; tomorrow Romeo would have
the ghost of his tallor's bill at his ell
bow, and Juliet would have received
bad news about her youngest grand
daughter. The ideal theater was not a
fact, but an Inspiration but It was,
nevertheless, beautiful and fascinat-
ing vision always worth while trying
to realize. The trouble was that here
the ideal theater could hardly be said
to exis, even as a vision because tho
actual theater was so very remote
from the ideal. They must clear their
minds of the theater as 1t was before
they could conceive the theater as 1t
ought to be. There were those who re-
garded the theater as the handmaiden
of frivo,ity, IL not OF vice. AS the
theater was now constituted in Great
Britain he Shought the Puritan point
of view had a good deal to say for It
self The British theater--and he
would irclude the colonies and Amer
lea also-was absolutely unworthy
of the English-speaklng race. There
were, of course, exceptions, but he said
deliberately that the people who con-
demned the existing theater were in
the right--at best 1t was very far from
what it should be: at worst. It was all
that 1t should not be.
1.-THE Theatrical Syndicate" is the
subject of an essay by Norman Hap
good, the New York critic, which ap-
pears ia the first number of the new
International Monthly. Mr.. Hapgood
probes deeply into the so-called thea
rical trust, and his deductions have
caused something akin to a sensation
In the world of players and managers.
Mr.. Hapgood makes the declaration
that no force plays so distinct and
strong a part today in the develop
ment of the drama as the theatrical
trust He prefaces his story OF its in
ceptlon and scope with this statement:
Its growth has been rapid; It's power
Is immense, and the history of It's rise,
IL Intimately known, sounds like a
melodrama or sat,rical romance. The
first three acts OF it's story are to be
here given. The remaining two. the
decline and fall, may be narrated a
few years later. Average human ma
ture among actors and managers has
many constant features. The trust 10
supported by the love OF money. 1t Ia
wholly commercial. How many out
side OF it are influenced wholly by un-
selfish considerations? There Is soms
truth in talk about art, but more cant.
Most OF the trouble between the actors
and the syndicate has been over terms
and in most cases when the players
who talked most about intelligence
and freedom were offered more money
they became silent"