Omaha daily bee., 1906-05-27
Gossip About Plays, Players and PlayhOuses

evil is given a stimulus by watching the
unfolding OF a story In which vice pre-
dominates. Even Il this were not true, the
plays that glorify the baser side Of life are
unnecessary. They conserve no good pur-
pose and therefore should not be tolerated.
-
At different times the defenders Of OBJ
jectionable plays, of every degree, have
brought forward the argument that we do
not face the problem involved with sum
Client courage; that we are either Of a
squeamsh turn OF mind. or we give 70
the discussion such a turn by our evil
thoughts as to destroy it's intended good
and make real bad OF IT, Bernard Shaw,
one OF the worst offenders In the line OF
discussion Of unpleasant things in public,
says our civilization is a failure because
we have not reached that point where GER
tain subjects more or less tabooed cannot
be talked about with the freedom assumed
In conversation pertaining to the weather
Mr.. Shaw and his kind forget that all are
not gifted with that mental poise that
permits the handling OF these topics In the
abstract. That what are to some merely
the matter for abstruse disquisition are TO
others the occasion for personal investiEa-
ton and experiment II all men and
women had attained the stage OF mental
OF thinkers the dirt" drama question
would settle itself, for then the stage and
all other. educational institutions would be
devoted to a higher and broader culture
than now seems possible. It is not DIM
cut to conceive that such q state can be
reached, but the parade Of the moral de-
lnduencies and deficiencies Of mankind at
present is not in the least conducive TO
the hoped-for end Certain phases OF the
question may be safely discussed before
mixed audiences in which all grades Of
intelligence and all qualities Of moral
fiber may be contained, but other phases
can as yet be debated only in camera.
.
II is not true that our civilization is a
failure because this is so. Nor is it
sign OF decadence that we no longer toll
crate in public things that were once com
mon. Man may have increased in his
capacity for physical enjoyment, and the
chief outward sign of his advance in his
journey upward from savagery may be in
the comforts and luxuries with which he
surrounds himself, but 1t is also true that
man has at the same time increased In his
mental capacity and that his appreciation
of the higher things of life has grown
with bis penchant for the grosser. 1t is
not given solely to the shawites to feel
the uplft OF the finer things of life.
Neither does II follow that because a man
enjoys the eating of a three-inch steak
that he Is devoid Of those sensibilities es-
sential TO the enjoyment of a sunrise of
delicate poem. Civilization Is not sensual
ism, and the type is not deteriornting under
the sunshine of material prosperity. Ber-
nard Shaw himself Is a most remarkable
illustration Of this proposition. with all his
idiosyncrasles and occasional symptoms of
insanity. His contention for a greater
freedom Of the sexes is not an original
thought with him. and his citation Of the
practices of the savage is hardly a happy
one. The doctrine of natural selection is
as dinlcult TO avoid in this as in any other
phase OF inquiry. and applies with tre-
mendous force to the proposition that man
has made no advance In spiritual things
because he shows outwardly a greater pre-
disposition to the merely physical But
this is wandering away from the original
thought
1t was Intended at the outset to voice
again a protest against the quality of plays
served OF recent times at the cheaper the
aters, and which will likely continue to
be presented. Depictions of bawdy houses,
thieves dens, slums and haunts of vice
: and wickedness are not needed for the
illustration OF moral precepts, and preach
ments that are offered in this guse IN
variably fail of good. Familiarity with vice
has but one effect. The press OF America
can do a service to the public by making
it unpopular to ofTer any play whose action
deals solely with those vices which police
i authorities in all ages have battled against.
In one way the managers themselves have
contributed to solution of this question,
companies, by which plays of high grade
are produced at moderate charges, TO the
n public Every city of any Importance
q now has its stock organization, devoted to
the production OF at least one new play
each week, and only plays of the better
class are offered. II is probably true that
occasionally these plays are beyond the
capacity OF the company. but It is far
better to see good play by a poor CON-
y pany than a possibly bad play by a good
. company. The further fact that these COM
panies have been invariably successful ia
the best possible evidence that they are
on the right track. To the manager who
, insists that the vicious play is demanded
l. because II is patronised, the answer is
: that vice in any form will flourish when
unrestrained, and that society at large is
Just as much concerned in the suppression
! Of any other form of evil, It has been
= demonstrated time after time that whole
some plays draw as much money to the
box office as the unwholesome and the
!. managers ought to take sufficient interest
= in deeency to aid In suppressing the evil
that has grown out Of the desire for the
= merely sensational
d In the death of Ibsen the world loses
ie great writer and deep thinker. His place
a in dramatic literature is secure among the
"a foremost. II was Ibsen's misfortune q
" lack the sympathetic support Of thos,
a closest to him. and the disappointment tha
lie grew out OF this developed into a morbid
'e ness that tinges all his writings. IbseI
lie has been accused OF bringing the techni
g. oalities OF a clinic into the theater. II 4
D. admitted. even by his strongest supporters
he that he was advanced in his ideas. bu
he he attacked his subject with the certaint
Id OF conviction. and dssected it with marvel
re lous accuracy. The only objection that ca
Is be lodged with security against him 1
Of based on propriety alone. He illuminate
~ his ideas no other modern writer has
~ ba clarity Of hla a,rraosiftou ha{pu anr..