The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-03-06
TASTE IN PLAYS.

The play Oh SdpnO, WHICH was given
last night at the Opera House, Is
dramatized version of what the critics
say is one of the two nastiest books
written by opponents of the modern,
degenerate school of French realism
In it's original form the play, in which
Olga Nethersole starred until the New
York police drove her off the stage,
was simply SO much undraped social
corruption. After that the drama was
expurgated, leaving a rather stupid
imitation of Camille, and this is the
play rendered in Honolulu as the open
ing one of the Roberts series.
We can see no reason why actors and
actresses should choose such plays
when there are so many. clean and
wholesome ones that draw Larger au-
diences, have longer runs and COM
mand better prices. Perhaps 1t IS not
extrayagant to say that all the i'm
moral dramas ever put on the Ameri-
can stage never made such profits as
have the three moral dramas of Tine
Old Homestead" "Shore Acres and
DIR. Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde" To the
everlasting credit of the only theater-
going public which has the money and
disposition to support the best histrion-
ic artists clean plays are the only ones
that really pay-the only ones save the
tragedies which have long since
reached the dignity of classics. Count
the great examples of the American
drama and you find none that seek
their motives in the half-world. The
!Old Homestead is a simple story with
moral directed against the curse OF
drink; Shore Acres" is a pure pastoral
= a
sermons do DIR. Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde"
was written to show how fatal 1t is to
let the baser impulses of man have
| even an occasional outing-and every
line in it is clean. Mansfield, the
greatest American actor since Edwin
Booth, has but one questionable play,
"a Partisan Romance" and that is far
from being play like Sapho. Last
years premier success in New York
theatricals was Crockett's Little Min
ister;" that of the year before was
Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac;" that
of this year is 'L'Aiglon." These noble
plays will live for many seasons yet;
while the foul creation of The Tur-
tle," which was spawned two or three
years ago, barely outlasted one winter
and was unable, even in San Francisco.
could fill the old Baldwin with some
sweet drama of the day; Frank Mayo
could do as we'll with "Pudd nhead
wilson," Gillette could crowd the same
house every secular night for three
weeks with his Secret Service" a
drama of the Civil War; Kathryn
Kidder and Fanny Davenport could
make themselves rich out of the most
splendid creations of Sardou-but the
poor old Turtle" crawled across the
stage of the California theater, from
notoriety to obscurity, in the space of
one week. How long did Sapho
last?
The instinct for a decent stage is
even shown by the patrons of light
opera. Where is the cleaning ballet
that ever competed, in the matter of
profits, with "Pinafore" and Patience
and THE Mikado?" Bright. pure fun,
set to catchy music, always goes;
French Situations however clever in
dialogue, staging or vocal embel-
lishment, are soon discarded.
If these things are true of places like
New York and San Francisco they are
doubly and trebly true of Honolulu
This city simply will not support a the
atrical company that puts any form OF
filth on the stage; but to company
Which brings the best, the best is free
ly given in return. True the town is
now theater-hungry. but it is not the
ater-mad and it knows where to draw
the line. 1t is content to go without
plays If it cannot have those which
satisfy its wholesome appetite.