The sun., 1901-05-26
INTERESTS OF THE DRAMA.
H ANDREW CARNEGIE CAPITALIxEs
Ay INDEPENDENT THEATREy
Common Sense About stage Commsrciaiism
and Public Taste, With Illustrations OF Bo'h
Mr.. Paimer's Defence OF Things ss They
Are and Belief Of what They Might BE.

that he has had much experience with good
grades Of drama, but also because no argues
scnslhly against the feasibility o! such an
institution. Mr. Palmer takes up the subject
IN the Theatre and vigorously snakes the
nonsense out OF It. Advocates OF an inde-
pendent theatre src prone 20 attribute what
they are pleased to call the degrad7ton
of the stage" 70 the commercial manager,
and Il Is thcir delight to represent him "a an
enomy OF dramatic art. From my point
of view" Mr. Palmer hrayely declares. no
appears to be the only able friend that dra-
matte art has left. SO far nobody besides
hin has stepped forward TO It's support. II u
were not for him what would become OF The
actors who call the practice OF that art their
profession? And what would become of
the plnyvrigats, past and present? when
you come 70 think OF It, was there ever
good manager in the whole history OF the
stage who was not commercial In the sense
OF wanting TO make money out OF his eNorts!
MIR Palmer cites tho names of Shakespeare.
Cibber Garrick. Macready and even Goethe
70 provo his point that pecuniary reward
has been an incentive with illustrlous
men Of the drama He holds that the So
called commercial managers are the best
managers. and that the American theatre
and public have been well served by them.
But hgving swept aside tho foolish ideas
shat have controlled and ruined all tho at
tempts thus far to establish an Independent
temple o. the .rana In America, Mr. Palmer
urges ~ ia Theatre that one might
BE- made blrssinc to our stage Such
tacetre should. he says. pr sent only moral
plays OF a high literary quality, with III"
actors chosen for ttness and not through
favoritism. and with absolute faithfulness n
10 the mountings. He admits that such
q theatre would require q sufficient indorse-
ncnt 20 maintain 1t regardless OF popular
favor. AZ least until support were gained
b. tho creation Of m appreciative taste
That |, the weak spot in Mr. Palmcr's view
OF the subject No theatre could be indo-
pendent without audiences. Not many peo-
pie would go to see even artistically perfect
performances that were not otherwise inter-
esting Our commercial managers now put
on sale the very bost plays and acting that
tle public will tuy Nevertheless II is TO be
wished that Mr.. Carnegie will capitalize and
Mr. Palmer direct IN experiment NO harm
could come OF It and much good might
No quicker alertness for merit nor kecner
relish for it than Broadway audiences possess
can be found anywhere When Bcerbohm
Tree Te0Q IN inc IFWbNuptEs On tll' ih.E u4NfE
his production hero OF The Seats Of the
Mighty" that IL was poor play, he denounced
the judgment Of the reviewers When n
fortnight Of dwindlng audiences took no
interest in IT, he declared that London would
show New York how TO wc!cor" piece or
fne literature Instead the Londoncrs wero
much loss polite than We had been In reject
ing il The acting version Of "Uneavened
-. Cot ~ .t.l
ascrlbed by some observers to our inappre-
citation OF literature at the theatre, has just
had the same rejection In Boston. where thcy
counted on a glad acceptance The fact is
tho books satire OF the new woman was
lost almost alto gether in the dramatizotion
and the residue was tedious dglness Tho
Ghetto" and "Grnlth Davenport" passed
through the same instructive process OF un-
successful appeal from New Yorks disravor
20 Boston's vaunted culture Their aifecta-
tion Of intrinsic superiority availed no moro
there than here
u was not because they were too good
as literature for theatrical purposes. nor
yet that they possessed very little Of that
quality. that those thrco plays were liked
By unrenluneratively few people, Another
example worth looking into Is that OF I'm
Balcony" as performed by Mr. skinner Mrs
lie Moync and Miss Robson They deliv cred
Erownlng's piece with fine clocutionary skill.
and with all the dramatic spirit. which was
not much. that the motionless periods Of
blank verse permitted This was a case Of
excellent art applied to only toerable litera-
turc The management knew It's business,
and arranged tour OF single afternoons or
evenings in cities where theatrical visitors
usually stop longer Nothing in In a Bal
cony" warranted an expectation that, as
given on the stage, II would crafty other
than mere curiosity, excepting with those
affected by the Browning fad Viewed In
that way the production was probably as
prosperous as those concerned In IL looked,
for. although it may be that Mrs Lc Moyne.
who had for many years read Browning
poetry publicly, was disappointed by the
general disregard Of II when the opportunity
came to see 1t PLAYED The point sought 10
be made here is that while most Of us insist
that time and money spent AZ the theatre
shall bring diversion the chaps who put on
airs Of superiority In theatrical taste are
silly. We always take to plays that are lit
erary and otherwise interesting. and often
n those that are only the one or the other.
but never to those that are neither
The size and cuaUty OF tho three udencos
that witnessed Nat c. Goodw.n3 experiment
with Tho Mcrcl ant OF Venice" proved how
eager weare to see an earnest effort upward
Few Of US expected that Mir Goodwin would
give better than toicrable performance Of
Shylock We all knew we'll enough that Re
would prove incapable OF n great achieve
ment Yet we throngcd 70 encourage him
In an earnest endcavor, and We treated his
effort politely We did not cry Boo" at
him. as our London cousins might have done.
and We even appiauded him as much as our
prevail Mr Goodwin Will not stand lower
IN theatrical esteem than he did n week ago
that j. to saw, II he checks his mistaken
ambition to play parts manfestly beyond
his pos~i5il:ieJ, and dcvotcS his talent to
p.easlntry principally
The only new play las; week dd not compel
It's audiences 10 think OF what thov were
laughing At Everything in The Brixron
Burglary" can be anticipated II Is the
most thoroughly English farce seen hero
since a Little Ray of sunshine aud couldn't
have happened. anywhere elso but at the
London strand or Icrrv's Transpanting
wholly comic pieces is risky. \ good drama
with an engroSsingy serious story is almost
sure OF universal slccesS. bu, each national
ity has ts characteristic form Of farce No
recent piece oi French fun has duplicated
its Par, sIcccss In New Nork German
non sense 50 seldom amusNs us that not moro
than three have been translated SuCc,ss-
full IL ~ many wears The funny pieces