The sun., 1902-01-26
IDEAS ON AND OF The STAGE.
AHERN or TROY, WHERE JUNGLE
TOMS CABIN" CAME FROM.
Charles Erohman at Yesterdays End az
Ten Years-why Mrs. Campbell should
Act In Camille" or EAST Lynne"
Shame by shaw In a Forbidden Play.

Charles Erohman at Yesterdays End at
Ten Years-Why Mrs. Campbell Should
Act In Camille" or EAST Lynne
Shame by Shaw In Forbidden Play.
Assemblyman Ahehn lives In Troy.
where the play OF Uncle Toms Cabin
came from. He knows full well the dread
full degradation Of the drama since Little
Era first made Trojans weep. The touch
ing simplicity OF that performance has
been almost lost in tradition. Art has
been subjugated by business. Mrs. Stowe
did not get cent for the use OF her name,
and the man who made the drama received
only his wages OF $50 a week while acting
George Harris. In these mercenary days
the author, publisher and dramatizcr Of
a book sordidly exact not less than 10 per
cent Of cash receipts. The payroll OF the
Howard company, which performed the
piece in Troy and afterward in New York,
barely footed up to $3.50 week, exclusive
Of tho three Howards. and their share Of
the profits was no more than sufficient to
leave them, after many years Of popularity,
enough money to live on in quiet decency
the rest Of their lives. Consider how rap
| idly commercialism encroached upon pro-
fessionalism when, not two decades later
such artists as Lotta Crabtree. Maggie
| Mitchell and Joseph jefferson began to
| hoard fortunes in the temples of the drama.
| Mr.. Ahern himself has seen the more
| recent processes of degeneration, even
| though he may have gone no further from
| his city than the six miles to Albany. II
was in his time that Troy had a succession
OF highly legitimate managers averaging
about two per season at its only theatre,
the Adelphi. because their professional
dignity would not lower itself to the level
of hateful monetary adjustments. There
are now two dramatic houses in Troy and
neither has had n change Of management
within five years or more. They have
fallen into the hands of business men who
take their minds off art TO balance the ir
accounts and who maintain ratings at the
commercial agencies. Indeed and alack
the fur has fallen from the coat collars Of
the priests who stand at the portals of the
Temples OF Thespis.
Mr. Ahern is fully aware that dramatic
art, as well as the show business. has drifted
away from the dignity that characterized
il when Ehsd Harris had TO leap with simple
fervor from soap box TO herring box across
the Ohio River, and Simon Legree was
required in a range of versatility. 10 growl
on the shore a. a man and bark as blood
hound He has seen the dear old bare
boards turn into icy waters and warm
cotton fields, and all manner Of depart
ures from tho delightful representations
of Uncle Toms Cabin that left such sights
10 the spectators Imagination. He has
witnessed the abandonment of one after
another of the dramatic standards until
scenes on the stage look like what they
purport 20 be. persons who figure in them
behave like real human beings and some
times he has 10 pull his mind together to
save il from an illusion Of reality. This
awful state Of things appals MIR Ahern,
but does not paralyze him. He is going
10 fix it up all right by law. His bill in
the Assembly will have a committee hear
ing next Wednesday II provides that |
there shall be a board Of State censors |
10 prohibit all but uplifting plays. that |
only such actors As pass an examination |
for ability and morality may perform and |
that other things deemed by him neces-
sary for the elevation Of the stage shall |
come to pass. He has sent out circular |
letter asking the newspapers 10 support |
this measure. To his surprise and pain |
IL has been taken a. joke. and 80 poor a |
hearty laughter, have been given to IT, lie |
pleads for serious attention. Well, then.
Mr. Ahern. your bin j. ignorant. impudent.
ridiculous beyond anything that should |
he p,ssihle 90 a man sent from the city of .
Troy 10 sit in the State legislature.
The tenth anniversary of the opening u
he Empire Theatre came yesterday. Al
though Charles Frohman Wa already
well balanced on hi- feet to stride forward
as producing manager, bis conspicuous
curesr may br sali tu have begun there
By tie old measurements Of sucurr- the
maintenance oi PROSPERITY during a decade
with AuEl" stock company b. a noteworthy /
but here W. hay"a man
whose SrH lork and London houses hayn I
iu chat Irriui multiplied to ten. with pro-
IrirfaIy Interests 300 utlsr-. aud whose
,lmpauIr- boz Anrr'a aud lsludYn numl,rr
~ pfr-.ui over fHuy. IUHf l- q NapYlsou-
l.u tlat rug.Hlsrs much 'usy and som"
uaupr hr.l.H chat, rt'yYyIy kh.vs
u.. .-rIy IUa tlrtIIr rHuuli i- uu aud
D. eager tu complain alu a..lHr 80 Mr
iu.lTau D. au Y.I".f 90 r.uulau .lmulruf,
auI -.u. % if d. aI.r... A4fuur- Nhs-r
I.lN. D.. Iaa nuf liHlu. .I. a..HIa ahHm hr
Ia. n.f m4-r raIs uf aru uII.Ia uIIh au
aU.muH H U.H lH.I UI atuIl.ri dr.fb hIm
Ua.HuaIF uII U. boo luUf.a.HI HH.
il..rI f,aaIia .l uas..s ald Iru.rm.rs
a IuHuIta. H I.afr Hr ia. u. .H I.r
s.Iu s. f..I .. . ....I. aHI Hr lar H"trr
iFIIrl a. a I'd. .0I.IaHf IH H IHrHlII Hatt i.
...I..H, .' I.r tf.|a iH IHa1a li.Iu DaI-
ID. Ua.. HIa. a u..Hr.I.IaIr IH Ilr
boil. .... .... Ha. .N H|.. IH.H.H lIls H.
.. E. .. ....HH.I a..... U.I".