The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-04-22
Indignant Letters Demand That
Lord Hopctown Suppress the
offensive Play.
INVESTIGATION IS ORDERED.
Stage Version VIII Be Compared
With the Book as Passed by
the Official En-
aminer.
SPECIAL FL chETE.

~ ~ i-AL !al t.Ats-s.-
London. SATURDAY, April 2L-roTyri-ht
ls". hy the New York Herald ComranyD
'Zaza" has aroused the Noncomfor'nts'
conscience. As d result, Lord HoprtoWn
the Lord Chamberlain. has received scores
Of indignant letters demanding that he
suppress the play. These letters complain
~, SO much Of the actual text Of ;he piece
as Of its sus-gcsuycG.Ss
II j. said That the Lord Chamberlain de-
manied an explanation Of ar. Il. y. Rcd
ford. The Examiner OF Stage Plays. who
read the manuscript e Belasco's English
translation Of .Iazl' when II was submit
ted to him. some eighteen months aso. and
that Mr.. bedford reported there WIS moth
ing in The play which could be regarded as
offensive u public decency
This explanation old nos satisfy the Lord
Chamberlain. who directed that the copy
of the play as now acted at the GacTicil
Theater and the copy originally submitted
should he given to Mr.. Bedford for the pur-
pose Of comparison.
Upor his DECISION rests the fake Of "a
"a" as there is no appeal from the juds-
ment of the Lord Chamberlain, which viii
be based on the report Of the Examiner.
ENGLAND'S PLAY CENSORSHIP.
New York. April 2l-Prorided that there
Is no difference between the text Of the
play of ''Zaza" IS originally submitted to
the Lord Chamberlain and the acting stage
version. there is no reason to suppose that
that official Will interfere with the running
of the play. If the text is tho same, it
may be presumed that the official sanction
has already been given to the performance
by the plays passing the censor In the
first instance.
The Lord Chamberlain in tho present
Ministry is tie Ear! Of Hopetown, appoint
cd in 1928. He has been Lord High Com
missioner TO the General Assembly of the
Church OF Scotland. and was Governor of
Victoria, Australia from 1883 to 1851.
Owing to practice in England of submit
ting every play prologue or e~pilogue to the
Lord Chamberlain, in his capacity as cen
SCR of plays, before 1t can be produced on
Tie stage, any stoppage OF q play on the
ground of It's immortality can be but OF the
tarest occurrence. Players fram the time
Of Shakespeare were long under the close
patronage of the crown. and it fell TO the
Lord Chamberlain. ne q great court official,
10 issue licenses fer the patent theaters and
to Siipervis. every play to be acted.
Outside London and Westminster and
where the court resides, theaters in Eng
land are licensed by a joint board of the
local Magistrates and the Country Council.
Nv II A-at VI NAIc " iaAA- >
office for the censorship Of plays wherever
they are produced on the stage is, however,
sui maintained. The present Examiner OF
Stage Plays. responsible to the Lord Cham
herlain. is George Alexander Bedford.
OF late years there has been more or less
criticism Of the moral tendency Of such
plays as The Second Mrs. Tanqueray."
The Derenerates' and the reproductions
If the more pronounced OF French dramas.
The censor's influence has been exercised, If
at all. before the play appeared in public
and not afterwards But politics, rather
than morals. have occasionally led to the
crnsor's Interference. as it has been found
that personal or national susceptibliities
have been wounded in the actual per-
formauCes.
Thus. when several members of Mr..
Gladstone's first ministry were severely
satiriZed at a leading London tbeater. some
intervention took place. And a year or
Two ago. when diplomatic relations with an
unpopular Eastern pctentate We're IN dan
ger Of A rupture. there was a modification
Of a play which on the stage bore TOO
pointed a reference. Even the playful allu-
sious Of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera have
not escaped a demand from foreign critics
in London for some such pairing down. but
the Lord Chamberlain has r!sked the
chance of an international break over such
a cause.
The penalty for disobeytng the Lord
Chamberlain, when he disaliows a play as
Incompatible with the preservation Of good
Manners. dccorum or the public peace ~
a fiue of So The license Of the theater
would. in SUCH a case. become void.