The San Francisco call., 1906-07-08

of course, for Mr. Smith has marvel
Gus gift for writing songs. He must
/ have turned out thousands in his long
and active career, and ii is doubtful
If he ever produced really bad one
The Players" Everybody's Magazine
for July.
Richard Mansfield. in an interview
given to the Theater Magazine. ex-
plains the reason for the impression
+ prevailing In some quarters that he is
rigid disciplinarian. The writer OF
/ the interview says:
THAT Mr.. Mansfield is sensitive to
the malicious criticism of a certain sec
/ tion of the press. and that he is fully
aware his personal unpopularity in GER
! tain small quarters comes from the
tion of the many little annoyances of
] daily stage life. goes without saving.
ict he does not concern himself Sc
riously with this phase or his profess
sional career. He accepts ii rather as
4 natural result of clinging tenaciously
to Il settled policy of procedure neces-
sary to attaining a definite artistic
goal. lie knows that rigid and mex
orable stage discipline and an absolute
one man dictatorship of his company is
necessary to working out his we'll
defined ideas and ideals. He explained
himself as follows
When man faces the question of
his professional future, he must follow
one of two paths. One is the easy path
to personal popularity at the expense
of actual and really artistic success
and there is that other path which cuts
through all barriers. regardless of all
distractions and ObliviOuS 10 empty
fiattery. 1t is easy to proceed along
the lines OF least resistance. but in
Il fnfrlc CO tcf fr1nx III a
his ideals and rest content with
cheaper rewards. l chose to cling TO
what / thought was the highest and
best in dramatic art. ] realized that
had a responsibility to perform to-
ward the future of dramatic art in
America; and If by cutting straight TO
the line and taking the harder path
have antagonized some OF those not In
sympathy with me, l. am recompensed
in other and more substantial direc-
tions. namely. the feeling that I've been
true to myself and my ideals of drama
tic 1.-THE Theater.
Ibsen had exactly the me sentiment
that Hamlet had in thinking that the
world was all wrong. Did he suggest
a remedy? No. He simply exercised
a certain skill and vented himself of
morbid hatred of existing things Not
bold enough to preach anarchy as
solution. he exertcd his skill to demon
strate that society. as at present con-
stituted. Is anarchy. AS the Theater
Magazine has once before remarked in
speaking OF Ibsen. his plays lead us
to feel and believe that Denmark or
Scandinavia is one of the purlfeus of
hell. The political corruption which he
has pictured in THE Pillars of Society"
is beyond what may be conceived by
the fondest enemy of the United
States
In his various PLAYS his characters
commit every public and secret crime
They are the most pitiless collection
of grafters and brutes Imaginable. The
women of his country are worse than
the men of his country Selfishness.
greed. infideity. treachery Of friend
ship. domestic unhappiness. Illicit love.
everything that is disagreeahle and
abhorrent in human naturA-the whole
gar1ut is there in his PLAYS Ibsen
loved the truth; hut he revealed few
secrets. and was more of railer than
a prophet. Nevertheless. his power.
cannot be denied. His plays suffer
from a certain prevircisl;rm and are
inscvutahle In their philosophy. His
real Influence is not with the masses
but with dramatists the world over.
He was q master of technique. He