The times., 1901-04-14
THE PASSING SHOW.

The announcement that John Drew will
present a dramatization of that widely
read novel, Richard Carvel." in this city
this week is especially notable in that it
will doubtless be the last species of the
made-oyer story for stage purposes that
local theatregoers will be offered this sea-
son, unless ITO Have and to Hold
reaches Washington after season Of du-
bious prosperity in New York. where all
the efforts of the fertile Charles Froh-
man to thrust the thriller down the
throats of the metropolitan amusement-
seekers proved unsuccessful.
During the past year original dramatic
art has been in eclipse-although only
temporarily. The vogue for dramatized
novels which threatened to put the play
wright out of business last Septemb Der
has apparently run its course and there
is every reason to believe that next sea
son viii see a return to the products of
the dramatists mind and a relegation to
oblivion Of the stage hack who armed
with two copies of popular novel, "a
pair of scissors, a paste pot and brush
could turn out a dramatization of story
over night. We have within the past year
had Sherlock Holmes" "Sapho," Quo
Vadis," Her Majesty Janice Mere
dith, David Harum," the Anthony Hope
tales, ''The Battle of the Strong" The
Sprightly Romance of Marsac" ''Unleay-
ened Bread, I'm the Palace of the King.
and heaven only knows how many others
there were that were not permitted to come
within the limits of the District And
now the news that the last of the lot will
be here this week is indeed joyous in
telligence. and if for no other reason Mr.
Drew should be given series of immense
audiences.
1t is easy to understand the promptings
of the theatrical managers TO reproduce
behind the footlights every story that
attains an unusual popularity throughout
the country. The gossip about a success
fcl novel is just so much good, free ad-
vertising, especially as the great majority
or people are always anxious to have Wis
ualized for them the characters in novels
IN which they have been or are intensely
Interested. They care only for the story.
The literary art of a novel has no charm
for the many. The higher art of the novel
Is, generally speaking, lost on the crowd
The intelligence TO which the stage ap-
peals Is not the intelligence that is cap
tured by fine book. A play must as a
rule, be written down to the crowd IL
Is safe to say that there is no really great
literary work that does not suffer by
oramatizauon. Much of Shakespeare that
charms in the study. is lost on the boards
IN the opinion of many competent critics.
And the dramatization of any great novel
necessarily cheapens it and TO a certain
extent vugarizes ii. One need only ap-
peal TO the memories of FTrilby," "Quo
Nadis, or Henry Miller's version of THE
Tale of Two Cities three OF the most
successful specimens-for proof of the as
sertion
The general declaration may be made
that the fashion of dramatizing novels
or rather the universal craze for drama
tiZed novels, has not been beneficial to
the public taste. Any play made out of
novel Is almost certain to be a deteriora-
ton of the qualities of the novel, unless
of course, the story has been especially
built upon the tawdry lines which render
ii particularly fit for metamorphosis into
a successful drama, as was the case with
Viola Aliens play, In the Palace of the
The great novel loses all it's subtlety
when transformed into play. The play
must be dismally obvious The finer
shades of character are lost in the conces-
sion TO the demand for emphasis and the
hackneyed necessities Of situations
The play made over from a good novel
must be nothing but piece of perfume
tory stage-carpentry. The good novel Is
an artistic whole. The play made out of
II Is q thing OF shreds and patches. A
novel has TO be adapted" to narrow de-
mands and necessities. The play made
from a novel must eliminate all that
winch makes the volume charming, it's
appeal to the readers sense of its value
as criticism of life The scope of a
novel is circumscribed in play These
things are so true that they scarce need
demonstration, and, aside from the fact
that Charles FrOhman and the various
other managers who have presented"
or SO have believed there was money in
the business" there has been absolutely
no exalted reason for the vogue.
II is, of course, true that the novelist
likes the sort of glory and fame that
come to the playwright. 1t is more pal
pable and tangible than the honor which
comes from a literary success The sight
OF ones own creations delighting audi
ences-although the delight is of a low
er order-ls much more gratifying than
the mere figures of the circulation of a
book. The novelist doesn't see the people
enjoying his product He can see and
hear them enjoying his play, though. The
tact is. the most successfully dramatized
novels have been Indifferent or bad
novels The play from novel that sue
ceeds Is the play that is based on novel
hlngeing on d particular kind of false
sentimentalfsm. That is the secret of
the success Of Camille" 1t is, In fact
Lynne and "Sapho." The bad but pop-
ular romance makes bad but poDular
play.
The great novel or the good novel is
deVitallZed when turned into a play OF
course, II is possible that a really great
novel might be turned into a great piay If
the transformation We're done by a great
dramatlst, as Shakespeare turned ''Ro-
cacio' into line plays or as DR. Marlowe
made d great tragedy out of the old
story of ''Dr. Faustus," but imagine a
great play being turned out of the play
foundry of the eminent Edward e Rose
or Leo Ditrichsteini The metamorphosis
of a novel into a play, nowadays is es-
sentially hackwork. 1t is done because
the characters are farTiiiar - the roNnln
ata a he atala mill ..Iy h. Il.