The sun., 1905-10-08

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~ Hnwafi heaia nu With characters Nv,
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Hen, Wolere eas fcf ths ms, part slfni.
lefly concerned wNh composite neuf%s
BW Nolerc wro's In Tho infancy N dss
matte technique aud fof stage lackins the
meens for the Illusion ~ Intimate and var.
ied feelity HE tendsncy waa always Nv.
ward integrity and vefsimiIltude In his
eharac,srs W. Howard's typ~s always
tend toward pricatufe. and ssnetnlly ,
when n co,nic poin, ls "a 10 sccred they
arrive shsts I, is not enough ~ fnakc
his American girl ahroAd, q stare Daisy
Miller, voioe NE creed Of her kind he m,iat
make her do sll the most absurd things
American afls have evef done In dinner
table anectlots and the cornic pater Her
Ensliah lover not onlv tells ua that hls slow.
meas " comprehension IL that ~ hia
whole race and kind but carries II 10 n
pitch warrantahle only In broad farce. n
is not for Mr., Howard'a French people 10
proclaim their standards OF prerraritai
proprlety when our country woman kisses
the man abe Ia IN marry they fall faintina
In padded chairs Even these vigorous
strokes tend 20 defeat their own end Some
thing within one cries out In protest that
English wit at lts best h quicker and apter
than ours. that French men, instead Of r eing
guilty OF such narrowness and rudcness
are characteristicelly reason and po-
lite
Again. do not contend that such man
ner may not he used legitimately y--.ony
that at its best II II Of n kind TO preclude
anything but the most sweeping generaties
about life and conduct. To Mr.. Howard
and those Of his school dramatic art was
so to speak fresco painting, the effects Of
which were limited in proportion as they
were striking TO the eye. The effects OF
the more modern technique at their strong
est. equal and more than equal, these and
they include besides an infinite range of less
salient observation and feeling.
One must not Of course confuse these
matters Of technique with the creative
spirit of the dramatist In the earnestness
Of his belief in life, in the strength of his grp
upon the simpler essentials of character
and in the sunny vigor Of his humor no
one of the more versatile and dexteroiis
craftsmen Of to-day approaches Hcv ard
The fact remains, however. that his OBJ
solescent manner dims all this. Not even
those who applauded the first performance
of THE Bankers Daughter and -One of
Our Girls" would now see them quite as
they once saw them.
When Mr.. Ade reverts, as lie has In his
pieces Of the present year, to the methods
of the dramatic fresco painter, he ,s pretty |
clearly on the retrograde. What he has |
accomplished In the past has been by means |
of the prevailing intimacy and truth OF his
stage portraits. To strike into earlier
methods Is not only to craInp himself as an
artist, but to forfeit the attention OF his
audiences. On the other hand, by more
nearly approximating modern methods Miss
Furniss has put herself in the line OF or.
tistic and popular success.
As sort Of postscript to his volume on
The Development Of the Drama" Prof.
Brander Matthews appears in the current
Bookmdn to advocate what he calls "a
museum gallery for the drama" For more
than two thousand years the learned world
has been content to regard the MASTER
pieces Of the theater as If they existed only
in the printed page, whereas, as we are now
coming more and more to recognize. their
true and artistic value (for reasons which
/ find have just been limiting att never
quite appears until they are seen and heard
on the boards. In his book Prof. Mat
thews has shown among other things how
related the form, and even the
Of the drama has been to the
executive instrument for which it was
written.
Now he proposes to reproduce in minia-
ture and according to a uniform scale all
the principal playhouses Of the world,
together with the available data as to
costumes and even stage business;
the whole to serve the student and the pro-
ducing manager as much needed object
lesson. The material IS mostly all at hand
Prof. Matthews tells US where. All we
need is an appropriation to assemble it,
and supply as far as possible such matter
as is lacking. The drama has no greater
need. except perhaps first class repertory
theater. and certainly none more easily and
supplied.
l hope Prof. Matthews will forgive me
II point out that not the least convincing
evidence of the need Of museum gallery
is the fact that he himself has gone wrong
with regard to the most important Of all
The theaters Of the past. He speaks of "the
petty proportions" of the Elizabethan play