The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-10-28
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us William Winter, the veteran dramatic
critic, continues to voice his protest
against problem plays which dig UP the
mud and slime Of society without solv-
ing any question. He would have the
theater adhere to the standard Of
beauty and simplicity.
The trouble with. the theater is that
its present standard is that Of profit
rather than beauty. The plays are
made or remadeein the box office. The
true basis Of a successful play as laid
down by Charles Frohman in advice to
aspiring dramatists some years ago is
Ia love story, not necessarily novel, but
well told and with a frightening inter
est to the end. That the love story is
the right basis is shown by the fact
that when the dramatist attempted to
put Sherlock Holmes on the stage he
had to be made a lover. The love story
was not very convincing and Holmes
did not appear. to great advantage IN
the role, but this only made the conces-
sion to the theory the more marked. In
such play as cold Kentucky which
be conceded that the loye story is the
thing after all. Even such play Of
action as 1tSecret Service could not
carry itself without love story.
The playwrights of the present have
largely abandoned the love story in it's
natural and normal aspects to dilate
upon some aspect of life in which love
j has been wrenched from it's mornings.
| They confess their inability to do with
| -, L l.eS-
inability to handle it naturally.
One is impressed with the number
Of recent magazine stories in which the
love motive has been entirely aban-
doned or pushed into the background.
Detective yarns are at their height Of
we are in the puzzle age. It is pigs
/ in clover' in literature. The reader
/ hurries along eagerly attempting to
solve the mystery in advance Of the
author or he lazily floats with the mar
rative expecting great sensation when
i the denoument is reached. Usually in
stead of excitement he acknowledges a
feeling of disappointment and depres-
sion when the author has reached the
end of his invention and is compelled
to bring the story to a close.
! Another brand of stories which seem
to be quite eagerly swallowed by mag
!, azine editors include sort of sympa-
1 thetic motive in which it is extremely
difficult to work up any real interest.
based upon the efforts of railroads to
cross the land of rural heroes by the
exercise of the right of eminent do
main. In one an old man is represented
as being so enamored that he simply
won't have the railroad at all, not even
if the cowafdly corporation makes him
as rich as Croesus in exchange. He
gets out the musket, which, his grand
father carried IN the revolution, ano
shoots three Of the invaders, includine
the superintendent of the work. But
not even trees, the memory of Mary OF
the revolutionary musket succeeds il
enlisting our sympathies. The old mar
;, appears to be Supremacy selfish and his
resistance to the extent of murder il
). SO overdone as to mark the whole at
: tempt at story as ridiculous rather
) than an artistic invention.
The other was the story Of an edito
| who had put up 100000 building OF
! a lot on which it appears that al
: enemy held tax title some forty year
z Of age. Faced with an ejectment sui
r he counters on the railroad of whicl
;, the enemy is the president by buyinI
up farm which the railroad is abou
8 In order to get the cemetery out Of tn
t way the railroad compromises with TIL
=, editor, giving up to him quit-clair
: deed to the ground on which his build
i ing stands and $4,000 in cash to boot
r The writer has not managed his law o
s his facts very cleverly, because it az
9 pears that the railroad had begu
: operations to cross the farm before tn
: cemetery scheme was thought Of. Pre-
Y sumably the courts would have mad
r short work of such a barefaced efol
Il the tax title on the building lot it doe
g not seem probable that an investmen
+ Of the amount named would be mad
Il without some little examination of tn
, records.
|, It is difficult to fathom the motiv
e in either of these stories, unless it !:
t that railroads should be opposed foot
. and nail because they are so graspins
y The history Of railroading, howeve
) shows that every foot of land the
r. have bought or condemned for right {
. way has been paid for at very sui
= stantial prices. This class Of Store
. is Cuc ACSCNAAS VAuO VI "a
, undertaking epoch.
II =. ..t II t,5-e..-.
d Their artistic defect is that the pc
o sonal interest is extremely tenuou
. The murderous old farmer does not "a
! peal to us nor are we greatly uplifte
l. by the morality Of the editor dividi1
q. with his agent $4,000 Of blackma
20 over and above any moral hold
- :, might have had on the corporatio
* Literary art is a thing of lines al
IN shades. It is susceptible of consiste
treatment. Like piece Of architectu
= it cannot be marred with falsehot
9 without the falsehood being detecte
The mansard roof on a Greek temp
e. may be more apparent to the eye thu
10 the false motive in a story to the mir
but both produce a feeling of dissati
70 faction which is an index of the
1t falsity. .;s.
~ The drama has been commercializ
y and apparently literature is followil
+. in the same direction. The magazi
:. writer's, who have a wider vogue th'
the writer's of bound volumes, are wr
ing rapidly, too rapidly. The nov
j nuisance which is accentuated in t
short fiction. Of the magazines has |