Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-28

" INV va may HbAAt AaN
have the satisfaction Of seeing banality and
indecency banished from the American
stage. At no time since the problem"
play and the French farce we're first sprung
on US have these gentlemen ceased for a
moment In their outcry against the practice.
That they have not already carried their
point is no fault Of theirs. and yet The
honest critic finds little OF encouragement
in the public support given to that which
r. actually bad, and the evil Of which is
easily apparent to any one who will give
the matter the least OF serious attention.
| True, this support comes from the thought
less and the careless. but that in nowise
lessons the duty or the obligation Of the
critic, for he must endeavor always to in
duce the thoughtless to think and the
careless to care. Thus. the honest, capable
critics, although their efforts are seem
inEly futile, in reality are building for the
future, working always for a higher moral
and literary standard. It may not be In
their time that the change will have been
wrought In its fullness, but they are sure
Of the satisfaction OF having done what
they could to uplift the mental and moral
tone Of their times. And although the play
that deals with the sex questions is still
being written and acted, and by capable
writer's and actors, the equally capable
CTlIlCb nave not TtldAbu " q SHAN 49,
vigilance. 1t Is good, therefore, to read
the thoughtful, scholarly, and withal spir-
tied review written by Mr.. William Win
ter. the eminent dramatic critic OF the
New York Tribune. after seeing the new
Pinero play. Iris" Of which so much has
been said, and for which so much was
promised. OF this piece, which was re-
Gently given for the first time In New YORK
with Virginia Harmed cast Tor the name
part, Mr.. Winter writes;
The Movement continues-the Move
ment. as defined by Henry Arthur Jones,
Ito treat the Great Realities OF modern
life upon the stage Five years ago a.
Ss9 9rdtes.d 70 on MF gagged SSeds or otherwise OBJ;
structed. needing some OF those Iemeuidi
aids that are pertinent,y sugsestCG 1,sGS
Various resolute persons. as noted Dy MI
Jones. were Sweating In It's serNlce, ato
"sweat." I'm the sanguine, not to say humid
belief that, sooner or later, through a mp
eral expenditure Of PerspiT beiiSf has IA Been
1ustihed-mainly through the tervld lhuus-
try of Mr.. Pinero, who appears 70 ps Ihe
chief sweater of the whole devoted banu'
and. with Mr.. Pinero's drama OF ITS -
which, last night, was revealed, IN an us
naked nastiness. at the Criterion theateT-.
The Movement makes a squirt which ought
10 carry II well forward, II not actlaly 10
the goal.
In Iris the great realities of our mod
ern life are a demirep, an ass ano a
blackguard-Iris Bellamy, Lawrence trent
with and Frederick Maldonaldo. IRIS BEL
lamy is a young widow. who, from her oe-
ceased husband, has inheIIte1 a" % Ingns
as she remains single, and with Whlch she
cannot. under any circumstances, bear 70
part. T~rentwith is impecunious, but MAJ,
donaldo is rich. Both these men love
iris and Dotn propose marriage 20 her.
Her Love responds to Trentwith, but her
MONEY prefers Maldonaldo; it 10 a case Of
cupidity against Cupid. In this dilemma
she first accepts Maldonaldo' men re1eT
'Trentwith's paramount, pending the happy
day when he shall have made a fortune In
without mourning the dreaded blight Of
poverty. That blight, however, suddenly
comes upon her. through the dishonesty OF
her business agent, and she is left with
but barely a pittance, yet, even 50, she de-
clines to marry Trentwith: and this donkey
departs from her to seek for wealth. Then,
of course. the rubicund Maldonaldo APP
pears. with plenty of money, and. equally
OF course, Iris becomes his mistress. In
due time Trentwtth returns, to lind his
former paramour I'm her sin and shame
with anotner man, 10 cypress eSst M 81 a.
fairs, and, Notwithstanding her ferYid as
surances of devoted fidelity, to repudiate
and repel her. Ultimately Nationwide dis
covers the state OF her affections, and that
he has been only playing second fiddle, and
IN a frenzy of Jealous rage-deporting him
self like the brutal and loathsome ruffian
that he is-he kicks her into the street and
then proceeds to smash her furniture. That,
in substance. is the play, a play In which
not a single important Incident is clean
and not a single character worthy of re
Bpect; a play in which people talk and act
as II there were no such thing on earth
as moral principle or physical purity and as
81 they were living In a society bereft alike
OF virtue. decency and common sense. Worse
compounds of libertinism and carnality
have. unhappily, more than once been seen
upon our stage; but no compound Of those
ingredients quite so pretentious in form or
quite so specious IN its pretension has
hitherto been exhibited: for Iris, with her
beauty, her impulse, her passion, her
Vacuity OF principle, her habby character
weakness and sin, is the specialization of
those multtudinOus beings who make most
OF the trouble in the world. the great COM
II is always said, in eNtenuation of the
onense of dramas of this kind. that they
Il is. invariably. a trite and trivial lesson
and completely superfuous. Fire will burn.
Be %virtuous and you Will be happy. Twice
two is four. That is the substance of the
7 lesson" In the name OF the Prophet
!. be warned against a life of vice and shame.
Neither man nor woman, not naturally
unchsste, needs any enlightenment as to
matter OF fact, dramas of the kind are not
presented from any moral impulse OF. with
made, for the reason thai illicit love
which is their invariable theme-in. its
aeter, In the existing social environment,
readily operates so as to create effective
msde and presSnted Because these 'sitIa.
lions commonly impress the amiable multi
tude, and are therefore remunerative in
money. No spectator ever prohted by any
one OF them, or ever will. Their only prac-
tical effect Is TO MI the mind of the OBJ
server with images of immoral character
and pictures OF licentious life; 10 set the
imagination brooding upon iniquities and
60 sadden the heart with an almost despair
ing sense OF human frailty and wickedness
Amateur critics OF life and Of the stage
are always tremendously moved by them.
declaring them TO be strong" So, I'm a
certain sense, they are; but so Is an
onion. or a polecat. Let us said DIT
johnson, free our minds from cant" The
true motive OF all such plays as 'Iris' IL
sordid. shopkeeping craft. and the actua
influence Of all OF them is the sophistica-
ton OF reason, the dehlement OF morality
and the perversion OF taste. They operate
upon the mind very much as bad water
operates upon the body: in both cases the
result Is disease.
The publieist who takes this view Of THU