Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-22
AfnuSef III

supply Of capable actors more nearly equal
to the demand, and then Art will have a
show, and maybe the critic can come in
and live UP TO the name Lord Byron made
for him in English Bards and Scotch Re
viewers" II unsparing denunciation Of
what Is false OF lacking in quality. no mat
ter how honestly II is set forth, will hasten
this day, then every dramatic critic in the
country should at once open his acidulous
faucet and let the immature thespians have
1t full force.
What a Junction thought is" sighed
Mr.. Toodle. Commercial spirit" reminds
one Of the revolt Of Minnie Madden Fiske,
Henrietta Crosman and others against the
theatrical octopus. For two seasons they
stood out and appeared at only indie
pendent" theaters, in the meantime secur-
Ing much advertising for their stand in
favor Of Art without the Box once. It
may be that some were deluded into the
notion that these persons independent OF
the Booking Trust we're also independent
Of the sordid consideration OF so much per
and that the S. r. O. had for them no
meaning. Well, don't you believe it. An
nouncement was made in New York last
week that Mr.. Maurice Campbell. who
iAohobto TIC ClOoundut MI. t1bTTlSOn trey
Fiske, who manages Minnie Madden Fiske,
and Mr.. James K. Hackett, who manages
himself. had formed the Independent
Booking Agency Not to compete with the
Erlanger affair. oh, dear, no. Merely to
facilitate their own business. And to take
care OF such business as may come to
them in a legitimate way. Managers will be
readily able to see the difference between
the abhorred theatrical syndicate and the
Independent Booking agency.
That idea of The Bee in regard to the
conducting Of an advance sale with a view
to circumventing the Spectator is grow
Ing. Woodward & Burgess announce that
with the beginning of next season they will
adopt 1t in connection with the three the
aters under their control in Kansas CITY.
including the new Baltimore theater, which
Is to be opened in September. The manage
ment OF the Tootle at st. Joseph will adopt
1t, and 1t is under consideration by others.
The Bee plan is simple and effective. 1t
merely provides for the reservation of seats
by letter or note. and has proven thor
oughly effective in practice.
Mansfield stories are many, but none of
them are better than this one, told by the
New York Times:
hIchdIu NansIelu, IKE all proud fathers,
smart sayings of his boy. George, a rather
precocious youngster. The actors son hav-
chanical, and especially for railroads, Mr..
Mansfield bought the lad a toy railroad
q circular track. Like all boys. Young
George was of an inquisitive mind. and
wanted to see what made the train move.
so II was but a short time before his nurse
took 1t, all smashed and broken, to the
garbage can;
nursery to play with the boy. and, looking
around, asked;
George, where is that railroad I gave
George hesitated awhile, says the actor,
and then replied:
Papa, l guess it's gone into the hands
of a receiver"
Decency is demanded more than ever on
the stage. We have tried the indecent, and
We do not like 1t. If We cannot have plays
that are clean, let us not have any. These
are the sentiments of the people as re-
fected by the writers on the drama and it's
allied topics In the American papers. In
the last Sunday Issue Of the Chicago Chron-
icle the matter is thus treated:
In looking back over the season lust
closed, comparing the record here of I'M
varying prosperity with the complaint OF
unsatisfactory conditions in New York,
rested by the loud b~oastlng of the ire
mendous popular success of "Du Barry"
In the eastern metropolis, the success Of a
stage exposition of the career of one OF
the most ineXcusable of ai the countless
wantons into which royalty has turned so
many women who might have been, had
royalty not been. fairly decent women.
There has been some reason, in the lately
increased interest in the revival of some
OF the older and cleaner plays, to hope that
this interest indicated that the presidency
Of the uncle9n is passing. as a fashion Of
OF life. But when the exposition of the
morally crapulous character and unclean
mistress of royalty drawn from the social
gutter proves to be the one great tre-
mendous success OF The chief metropolitan
open fashion for iubricity Of exhibition is
not passing so rapidly as one could hops.
aspects of humanity-if they are most
worth the time and attention and money
Of the ~pgblie-what are decency and clean
erected into hrst piace this kind Of Vile
deep mourning for the death of the devil
out of human affairs?
pt Ma' w %nlalsg of .z sns HO sSSsb. Times .s:m has
hlled with a profound disgust. isee,"" he
clenched, listen to the shrill note gradually
coming into her voice. Then sit tight in
physical abandonment and degradation.
And when you have wallowed in the crapu-
lous and been dragged through the sordid
by the sham sentimental for five acts at
the end of IT all the question occurs: is
even Nine. Rejane worth itT"
No, indeed no. Neither Nine. Rejane nor
Dramatist Belasco nor Dramatist Fitch
no. nor all art In all forms put together
is worth IT" II the race cannot be ar
tistic without being indecent IT would
better forswear art than decency. II 1t
cannot be decent hrst-if 1t must be nasty.
and putrid. through art or anything else
then II would better not be at all. Not the
supremest excellence of art can ever ex-
cuse indecency and moral rottenness.
Coming Events.
The Ferris Stock company still maintains
its record breaking business at the Boyd's.