The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-08-10
The Reverend Josephus Stephan
Says the Average Playhouse
Is Immoral.
QUOTES JAMES ]. BUTLER.
Says Religion, Marriage and Holy
Ceremonies Are Made Sport OF
While Grossest Sins Are
Excused by Players.

In a sermon entitled 1.-THE Truth About
the Theater," preached by the Reverend
Church. South, yesterday morning. the min
lister makes use of an interview of James j..
Butler, which was printed in Saturdays Re-
public.
He not only severely scores the institu-
ton with which Mr.. Butler is connected. but
also theaters In general, and declared that
they form one of the greatest 6emoralizing
agents of the age. He said in part:
1.-THE theater. like many things which ap-
pear right and become popular among the
masses. has subtly hidden in itself elements
Of the greatest moral danger On the very
threshold of the theatrical season. l feel
1t my solemn duty to raise the red light Of
danger before every parent and youth Of
my congregation, and. If 1 could. in every
home in the land. However harmless one
conspicuous play may be- there is no ques-
tion about the evil Of the institution itself.
and its immoral influence on susceptible
minds
When such a man as Jim Butler of
Standard Theater and other fame will say.
as ne OlQ III 0dtuEudS . 1ecPuDhS' Iiahy
dramas are morbid or unclean. Many Of
the melodramas presented each year are
schools of crime They actually make
criminals then 1t Is not necessary to give
many of the multiplied authorities. both
ancient and modern. which condemn the
theater as an immoral institution.
ID, There have been many beautiful ideals Of
what it ought to be. but instead of i'm
T to th<I ihnrn 70
Judgment Of those in a position to know
that the modern theater. both in Europe
and America, is the vilest ever known. Ed
win Booth made an attempt to create a
moral theater in New York. and Henry
Irving in London. but both signally failed.
Moral plays have been repeatedly written,
but refused by managers. who know they
will not draw an audience and fill their
Golfers
THE theater which Plato. Aristotle. Soc
crates. Cato and Tertullian denounced had
no women on the stage. nor were they al
lowed there until about the Seventeenth
Century. While her entrance into any other
department Of life means an infusion Of
virtue. 1t is not so on the stage, for there
she is used for the display OF her shame more
than Of her virtues. The lower the theater
the more women are found. For this rea-
son China and Japan. in this respect. are
superior to us. and the Oriental visitors to
our shores are usually shocked at our in
decenctes on the stage.
mo one needs to go inside for proof that
they are not morally improved. The bill
boards which line our avenues and streets
are fun Of fmmodest. spectacular nudeness,
immoral suggestion. demoralizins scenery.
presented on stages Of all grades. from the
highest to the lowest. II modesty must turn
its gaze from them for self-protection. what
must be the final consequences of sitting
night. after night and gazing for hours on
the living presentation. which, no doubt, Is
worse!
81 Among all the schools the theater is the
most largely attended and effective. but its
main teaching Is that of vice. How few
plays that have not some form of immoral
ity In them. and utterly free from impurity
or its subtle suggestion? There is usually
FEASIBILITY to vice. however tragical the
ending. which makes the teaching seduc-
tive.
UNIVERSITY OF VICE"
Religion is either ridiculed or SO pre-
scented as to become offensive. Criminals
become heroes and the good appear simple
tons. Murder. adultery. divorce theft and
other great crimes are made light Of and
the sacredness of love and the solemnity
OF dying are trified with. Oaths. mock
prayers. and turns and quibs in scripture
are frequent. BY sly hints and cunning in
nuendoes the imagination Is infamed and
evil thoughts are awakened. There is
scarcely an incident Of human life how
ever debasing. that may not be learned at
the theater. making it university of vice
and immortality for the youthful mind.
mo wonder Dumas. the author Of Ca
MILE Macready and others, among act
ors, have placed themselves on record as
seeing that their families kept aloof from
the theater. and Edwin Booth that his wife
and daughter attend no play without care
full investigation as to its character. Mr.
Sothern. in a newspaper article over his
own name, says, I have known some of our
best performers who have found 1t neces,
sary to FIRST attend and see play before
they would allow their wives and daughters
to 60. Why was this necessary? Why,
because they knew there was very little
cleanness in those places. and who better
than they should known
When you consider the fact that 1t il
contrary to the financial interests of the
newspapers of this country to criticise the
theater, but notwithstanding this fact such
criticisms have been Justly and repeatedly
made. On account Of extremes to which 1t
has gone in imbecility and impurity. we
need no better witness. Henry T. Boyn.
after ten years experience with the largest
papers in New York. Chicago and other
large cities, pronoslnces the institution i'm
moral.
IF a man Is known by the company he
keeps, so is an institution. While refined
people attend 1t Is commonplace fact
that the very worst Of every community
are the most constant and multiplied pa
irons. There must be something answer,
ing to and gratifying the tastes of the
depraved and dissolute and immoral to draw
them 60 constantly. The basis of the in
stitution is not philanthropic nor reforma-
tory; 1t is purely money-making business.
To get the largest crowd there must be fur
nished that which suits depraved tastes.
Strawberries will never draw cats like
beefsteak The less morals and religion
Of any community the greater the prosper.
ity Of the stage.
element Scott. a distinguished theatrical
critic of the London press. produced a great
sensation not long ago by saying some
plain things along this line, and especially
that only one woman In a hundred was
safe in following the STAGE and that 1t is
nearly impossible for a woman to remain
pure who adopts the stage as profession
While he admits. as he must. that there are
pure men and women on the stage, It Is be-
cause they maintain their purity and in
tesrity against strong and constant ,tempta-
ton.