The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-04
MIRTH OFTEN I'LL TINED
UTTER CAN SPOIL BEST PART OF
A THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE.
Chicago Critic Disgusted wsth the
Way Audiences I'm that Town Act
A Plea for Leniency.

4
theater. often cast blame for a poor at
traction upon their shoulders. when the
| managers are not the ones at fault at all;
old play-goers disappointed over some per-
| formance, distribute adverse comment con-
corning them, and even the merest layman
is not slow TO take a shot at them IL the
entertainment he pays to witness is not up
to his preconceived ideas. Bot you seldom
hear or read criticism concerning the
shortcomings of the audiences, for whom
| the managers cater and for whose pleasure
and instruction many excellent and con-
scientious players give the best that is In
them.
James O'Donnell Bennett, the dramatic
critic of the Chicago Record Herald, has
become Disguised with Chicago audiences
and he is making the fact known in his own
vigorous way indianapolis :heater-goers
who have been made nervous several times
| lately by the inopportune laughter of un-
thinking, or empty headed. persons, during
the artistic rendering of some pathetic or
| heart-touching scene on the stage. will
sympathize with Mr.. BENEFITS attitude
toward these "barbarians," as he calls
| them. Last Tuesday evening. when Mr..
Stoddart, in '"rhe Bonnie Brier Bush" was
| at his best-acting with unfailing art the
\ little heart tragedy of the poor old mistak-
en- Scotchman who has turned his beloved
daughter from his home. and turning his
sorrowing features heavenward with an
appeal to the God he holds in such fearful
awe to give him strength in his bitter
shame"-at this moment of all moments in
| the play, when the greater part of the au-
dience was living with him the great sor-
row of the old mans life. burst of laugh
ter reverberated throughout the theater for
a brief but agonizing period and almost
ruined the scene. Again at the Grand the
week before last, when the demented old
villager in that tender little play, "A Sol
der of Propville,' seized his fireman's hat
and ak when the village fire bells rang.
under the impression that. poor old soul
that he was, he was needed TO put out the
fire. there were always people in the audi
! ences to find something very funny In THIS
pathetic bit Of acting, and to make their
mirth known in no uncertain manner. II
can't understand for the life of me-" Mr.
1 ing room, after the performance, what II
| is that people find to laugh at when the end
of that little play comes. My wife and
both cried over the manuscript when we
first read it, and we never give the little
piece without feeling all wrapped up In the
| pathos of ii. But wherever We CO. there are
teenderness. though. thank heaven. the ma.
jority of people in our audiences receive
II sympathetically."
EASY TO CAUSE TROUBLE
To return to Mr.. Bennett, his latest article
I upon the subject which has been holding
much of his attention is so much TO the
point that the following extract from it
| will be read by most theater-goers with
appreciation:
Whether the nervous stress of life in the
| great cities OF America Is depriving play
goers OF poise and dignity or whether COM
/ mon courtesy is an oid-time virtue no long,
er taught, il certainly seems as If the audi
| ences, even in our best theaters, grew more
| inconsiderate and ill-bred with the passing
| of every The manifestations of
unpleasant conduct do not appear TO be the
result of desire to be downright boorish-
| that acknowledgment, at least, is due the
| offenders-but of kind OF heedlessness and
a laundering tactlessness that Is almost as
hard to forgive as ruffianly desire TO
break up performance would be.
Some people, who are so sluggish men,
| tally that they will let their minds fly off
| on any queer tangent suggested by idle
musings, confess that they feel a mad i'm
pulse to laugh during funeral or in the
midst of some specially solemn passage in
| a church service. The fear of disgrace
makes them smother the inclination or con-
| ceal it behind nervous coughs and snifnings.
| mo such decent respect for the proprie-
| ties of life restraints these giddy creatures
when they take their seats In the play
/ house. They give free rein 10 their gar
| ruiity, suppress no untimely smoker, show
no kindly sympathy with the artist on the
stage, who, in the face of the severe iimi-
tati0ns of acted drama, Is struggling to
give eloquent expression TO fine idea
ure in the scene by projecting themselves
into it in a measure, they could do TO a
surprising degree If they would concentrate
their attention and exercise the imaginative
faculty-in fine. and 10 put IL quite bru-
tally. If they. would use their brains.
ITO one who loves the art OF the stage.
and xxThn CT hA ~ ~ nrft
| among the most exacting and difficult OF
| all the fine arts, IL Is heart-rending to OBJ
serve how often players finest flight can
| be made ridiculous by the impish laughter
| of auditor whose one cackle or snort
| will ruin the effect OF the scene for a score
of people around him-yes. and sometimes
| for the whole theater full, IL the scene be
a very quiet one.
1.-The psychology of such an unseemly
demonstration is rather pretty problem.
What was it that upon such an occasion
| woke, TO use Goldsmith's line of suave de-
| nunciation,
- the loud laugh that spoke the va
cant mind.
Zone cannot say that IL was because the
passage was grotesqueiy read by the actor.
| nor that his gestures were unsuited TO the
| sentiment, nor that the sentiment In itself
was ludicrous. for not infrequently IL will
be one of our best and most tactful play
ers who. while he is speaking a line of glo-
| rious poetry. will be insulted by the frivo-
lous comment of a feather Drained girl or
| the guffaw of a dense male human
VAGRANT IMPULSES.
"Nor. again. is IL because there Is the
least suggestion of comedy. high or low In
a scene that will cause 1t TO arouse filters.
No reason so respectable can be offered In
behalf Of the offendero, who are OF the
same ilk as the people who confess with
simperings and mock chagrin-as though
they were really rather proud of their va
grant. ill-disciplined impulses-that they
felt an insane desire to laugh during a fun
eral or TO scream at the solemnest mo-
ment OF a marriage ceremony.
For surely death Is not comic, nor a
wedding, however gladstone, an excuse for
disorderly conduct.
Not the least curious phase OF this lit
tie problem in unregulated mentality is the
fact that bad actors are not as apt TO suffer
from the inopportune laugh as the very
good ones
Those who have not the taste or the
feeling 10 keep respectful silence when a
| great artist is doing difficult thing do not
possess, by the same token, the sense TO
know when a bad actor is spelling a fine
thing by doing IL wrongly and ludicrously.
To the Judicious playgoer bad acting Is not
source OF amusement, but OF deep pain.
as you Will readily grant III you will recall
almost personal embarra ssment you may
have seen i'm the faces OF a thoroughly cui-
tivated audience when IL was compelled to
hear an atrocious biz of reading TO watch
absurd gesticulation and ridiculous grimac-
m of onfo % haf