The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-03-22
STRANGE and DEVIOUS
WAYS OF PLAYS
Heroine May Love the Villain,
but Is Obliged to Marry
the Hero

The heroine of what Alan Dale calls
the "drammerT is more remarkable
young woman than the one in modern
novels. If one thinks the latter is led
round by the nose by the author, it is
nothing to the absolute subserviency of
the stage heroine. She not only has to
do as she is told and have her life
come out to suit the eXigencies of the
plot, but she even has to stand in GER
tain places and in particular positions
at the say so of cross man called
manager. Added to this she has to re-
member the peculiar idiosyncrasies of
stage lovemaking and the devious
ways of stage lovers. When she would
like to look into the heros eyes to see
whether he means it or not, she is
obliged by aforesaid ways to stand
with her back to him and allow him
to make love to her back hair. This
little trick is entirely confined to the
drammer;' in real life persons face
each other and look at each other
squarely; that is, usually. But in plays
the heroine faces the audience, and the
hero looks imploringly at the back of
her head. Should she become impetu-
Gus for Il moment and forget and want
to turn about to look al him she will
have the manager to reckon with later.
Then in the second act there are
moments when she knows that by just
saying a word she could foil the VIII
lain, make happy the hero and finish
the thing in good style. But there's
the man who wrote the play and the
horrid manager glaring at her, and she
has to turn coldly away from the hero,
encourage the villain with a smile and
pretend that she doesn't see q man
who is in plain sight on the other side
of the stage. Indeed there are times
that, besides being blind and stupid,
she must be deaf as we'll We all
know there is place in the first act
when, If she listened to the CONVERSE
ton which takes place within three
feet of her and which is very loud but
which she is not supposed to hear, that
all the trouble would have been saved
and there would be no need of the fol-
lowing three acts.
But of course it cannot be; no hero
Inc can do as she pleaSeS, especially q
stage heroine. Everything is arranged
for her, and if in her secret soul she
loaths the hero, the chaste salute
which he imprints on the top of her
pompadour must be endured with as
good a grace as possible.
Then there are times when she
would like to say what she pleases and
talk back to her maiden aunt, who re-
proves her for maintaining a bowling
acquaintance with the hero. For be it
known that in all properly constructed
'drammer" the hero is in very bad odor
through one or two acts and all the
sympathy with the villain until the
author beings to show that he knows
enough TO reward virtue and punish
vice.
But it is the stupidity of the stage
heroine that is hardest to bear. Even
average intelligence is evidently not
necessary. There is one place in Sc
cret Service" if one remembers, where
when the hero is being led away to
certain death Certain to the audience)
he murmurs into the back hair of the
riK1 h.
word or two of farewell for him. But
not she. She looks out toward the box
office and says coldly that she has
nothing to say. He goes with despair
on his face, everybody is very gloomy
and few impressionable folk in the
front row shed tears, while others feel
an impelling desire to shake the hero
Inc till her teeth rattle. But it should
not be forgotten that another act is
coming, land the heroine has another
chance, which she does not deserve.
Not that she ever looks the hero in the
face; that is too much to hope for in
the drammer, but she is induced to
say yes and 20 give the villain terri
bic glance, which sends him into the
wings.
One comforting thing about Romeo
and Jul1et-one among others-is
that in the balcony scene they look into
each others eyes and appear to forget
the author and the manager But
then Shakespeare's different; he has
not been brought up TO date nor made
over by Belasco or any other genius.
This department extends it's sincerest
sympathy to the heroine of the modern
'drammer,'' who is caught in a trap and
is not free to love the villain or flirt
with the hero, but has to walk a chalk
line prescribed for her by a man who
has a pull with the manager
n