The Washington times., 1904-01-31
GLORY or Disgrace?
Is the Stage Today a Ma
tional Honor or a SiCken-
inq FaiIure2-GTeat Doc
tors Who Disagree.

Opposing views of the theater-op-
posed more decidedly than the Aurora
Borealis and the Southern Cross-came
TO light in New York last week. The
authors were William Dean Howells and
Wnl!am Winter Each OF these men is
qualified to offer expert testimony on
the drama, and IL IS no derogation OF
their Judgment that they disagree.
Mr.. Howells, in the current Harper
Weekly has some suggestive things 10
say on "the privileges Of the theater-
He believes that We have today drama
which merits the best the modern stage
can do for it, and a theater which IN
enlightened adequacy deserves the most
that an audience can do for it.
National and Racial Pride.
1--WE can." he says. crafty both
national and, a racial pride in its excel
Ience." but II has at least an equal
claim on U.S. We owe to It an educated
intelligence and an enlightened taste.
The playgoer OF today should under
stand what he is seeing and enjoying AT
the theater. '.He must regard himself
not merely as a vessel to be filed with
Measure from the stage. He fought to
realize that he is part OF a great and
splendid tradition, that he inhcrits the
nlace of the Athenian who saw the
niavs OF Euripfdes and Menauder under
xhe blue Attic skies; Of the Elizabethan
Engiishman who stood in the mud at
the Globe to witness the first produc-
lion of Romeo and Juliet and
try TO live up TO his responsibilities as
well as privileges.
How fully this contradicts the view OF
Mr. Winter! The latter went to see
Annie Russell In The Younger Mrs.
PAIRING and was moved by the per-
formance 20 comment on the stage Oh
today as a medium of art. II should be
said in fairness to Miss Russell that
other critics thought better of her act
ing. But the review is too rich. TO spoil
with any further annexation.
A General Disgrace.
The acti-,s of Miss Russell" said Mr.
Winter, has always lacked ginger. ana
lately Il has become absolutely mawk-
ish and. fat. This performer-like some
others who might be mentioned-neecs
either rejuvenation or retirement
''Only those persons whose duty 1t Is
TO write about the stage can quite ap-
preciate the melancholy fact that most
of the contemporary things that are
praised are praised only because they
used TO be fine and because 1t Is hard
and painful to admit that they are fine
no longer.
There are more than forty theaters
in and about New York. and there Is
scarcely one OF them in which anybody
Is doing anything that is interesting or
important. They are open. as wood
yards are open. and scores Of persons
are saving wood IN them. Veterans.
who might have played before Noah.
when he landed from the Ark, wander
~.
Persons who were 'supers' yesterday
are stars today. Three-cornered girls,
proclaimed as actresses rasp the well
kin with voices that rival the screech
OF the peacock.
Degenerates and Thugs
''The Shiny muck Of Mr. Ibsen and
the lunacy of Mr.. Maeterlinck are made
TO trickle into the public mind and turn
the public stomach. Degenerates from
foreign lands. provided with rancid
plays about libertines and wantons. fix
a steadfsst gaze on the coast Of Green
land and whisper 10 the scenery in-fhe
third groove. and are Wanted es pFodi-
gies OF genius and Intensity.
Historical demireps Of England and
France are theatricaliy celebrated for
social delectation. Women whom scan
dalous divorce has made notorious
difFuse upon the theater the effiuvia Of
their foul repute. Prszefghters and un-
speakable cranks-John /. Sullivan, and
Kid Mccoy. and Carrie Nation-are
obtruded as actors
''The plays Of the hour are mostly
furnished by writer's who manifest the
brain of the rabbit combined with the
dignity Of the wet hen.
''It seems only necessary to open a
hole in the wall and call IT theater.
and a multitude rushes into II, 70 sweat
and snigger. There has not been time
in fifty years when the theater was at
so low level as il has reached today
when the impulse is vanity. the motive
is greed. the method is sordid engross-
ment. the aim is exclusively business
and the result is a barren tranic and
an arid waste.
Elevation" Not Needed-Aeting.
Voices. indeed, are faintI,, crying in
the wilderness. to signify that somebody
beneath the underbrush wants to 'eie-
vate the drama but these. in every
case. are found TO be the voices Of
visionary zanies, like the sentimental
W. B. Yeats. whose actual purpose Is
only 20 elevate themselves The art OF
acting needs no elevation II only
needs competent representative and
capable and efficient exercise and dis
play; and the present state of things
will endure until the number Of
theaters Is greatly reduced. the hydra
Of monopoly strangled and destroyed, a
horde Of Incompetent performers driven
into other pursuits, for which they are
fitted. the played-out veterans tucked up
in their little beds. and the arena. made
clear for the men and women who can
really act"
Readers OF The Times can take their
choice. The Times is inclined TO craw-
Iish when such noted doctors fall out;
but maybe when these antagonistic
opinions have been fully considered Il
will publish n third estimate less
weighty than these two. and different