The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-16
The DRAMATIC TOP HUMMING.
A SEASON or MANY GOOD PLAYS
BRINGS 4 Dull DECEMBER.
Forbes Robertson ON the Multitude of
American Theatre Adv ent Of the
American Drama-New PIaywrights-
u. 4. Jones Oh the National Theatre.

American Theatres-The Adv cnt Of the
American Drama-New Piaywrights-
u. 4. Jones on the National Theatre.
The noteworthy thing about the last
week IN tine theatres is that they have
been almost barren Of novelties. In the
seven days just over there has beenonly one
new play, The Light Eternal a con-
ventional religious melodrama OF mediocre
appeal. In the coming week the only
new play of any promise is Wilton Lack,
ayes df1matizatior of LES M~iserables,
which he calls -The Law and the Man.
To be sure, it usually happens hat tho
last week before Christmas is a slack one
for the mana gers are unwilling to risk
a piece when the public IL preoccupled
with personal affairs. But the weeks
preceding that have usually been marked
by many changes OF bill. The fact that
there is no news from the playhouses
is the best of news. The dramatic top
is asleep because the dramatic top Is
nightly spinning. There never has been
a season in which, artistically as well as
commercially the American dramaw was more
vigorously active.
The case Is more remarkable bee ause OF
the enormous increase of late in the number
Of theatres. Five years ago the opening
81 a new playhouse was an event % almost
national interest. To-day it attracts merely
perfunctory notice. Thanks TO a series OF
popular Successes, the local public has
already become acquainted with the brill
liant expanses Of art nouredu in the New
Amsterdam, the cool green spaciousness
OF the Hudson, the sober Intimacy ana
comfort of the New Lyceum, and the metal
IL II - .-..a NkA vrsa -NhA Tomato
salad Of p~layhousss, as a wit once called
It.. Even the Majestic, 80 far up on Broad
way that it overlooks Central Park, is not
. unknown. But when you speak OF the
Liberty, the Hackett, the Aston and the.
Lincoln Square. the man in the street looks
blank. Any cab driver but a nighthawk
Of the Rialto is likely to ask for further
directions. Yet these newest theatres, no
less than their elders, ave stood pat in
December.
Forbes Robertson lately remarked that
the playgoing public is larger in America
than in any other country. In London,
he said. there are at most six houses de-
voted to legitimate plays, whereas in New
York there are close upon a dozen. Such
a basis of comparison is unstable, for the
New York theatre is rare which excludes
lhItC dlb lltibNAl dAAd VI ONIh 'AN
comedy. 4 recent issue Of the Times in
dicates that-taking a somewhat broader
view-there are thirteen London houses
giving dramatic pieces which range from
farce and melodrama 10 legitimate drama
and Shakespeare. Last week in New York
there were sixteen. In Paris and Berlin.
Forbes Robertson continued, the number
of theatres is even less than in London.
The Gtafapaanf ia frtIn ann1uh thnuOh fhara
is compensation on the Continent in the
fact that the quantity, variety and OK
c~ellence Of the output is greater.
The fact remains, however, that the more
or less legitimate drama has a strong follow
ing in America. There has never been
n time, moreover, when the native drama
was az well represented as now and as full
of promise. OF plays from the Continent
there are none. From the school Of English
playwrights we nave only two pieces--The
Hypocritee,' in which Mr.. Henry Arthur
Jones's sincerity and technical skill triumph
in spite Of a reversion to his earlier and
more melodramatic style OF writing, snd
His House in Order in which Pinero
also. as far as the minor characters are
concerned, reverts to an earlier manner.
In the output of the elder American
play WAA6hJo ehCAO 40 = DAAAAAA1
that the well of new impulse is running
dry. Augustus Thomas has as yet given
us nothing. In THE Rose of the Rancho"
It 10 more than ever evident that Mr.. Belasco
has relied upon an obscure collaborator
for the dramatic portion OF his Offering.
In the first act Of -Clarice' Mr.. Gillette
rises furt her than he has ever before risen
into the sphere of comedy, but the rest
- ~. nIo.. - sbaa- ,,al,l.un,a and fa- L..
low his previous best. OF the three Of Clyde
Ftch's new pieces only one as yet has
reached US. There are indications that
in "The Truth" in which Clara Bloodgood
is appearing on tour, he has given us a
character study of feminine ~mendacity
that rivals his study Of jealousy in The
Girl With the Green Eyes; but the piece
in which Miss Eleanor Robson is appearing,
The Girl Who Has Everything, is a mere
rechauffe OF material used before to better
advantage.
What has thus far made the season mem
orable is the injection of new blood. 1t
Is conceivable that the pIaywrights just
named would object to having Charles
Klein and Langdon Mitchell classed as
belonging to IA new generation. Ger
tsinly they are no novices. But each Of
tuciu a dtJhNhVu u 70 ODJccL
In a new way and with a purpose essentially
sincere. hough with imperfect success.
Even the difficult theme OF labor and capital
might have had "A less laxative and nom
committsl treatment than Mr.. Klein has
given it in The Daughters Of Men" and the
problems OF American divorce deserve
a far more truthful representation than
Mr.. Mitchell has given them in The New
York Idea But the fact that such subjects
have been attempted at all gives their
authors an enviable distinction. The popu-
lar verdict on Mr.. Klein's play is still un-
determined, but Mrs. Fiske and her COM
pany have succeeded in giving the divorce
play extraordinary vogue, though it makes
rs appeal rather as an irresponsible farce
than as the serious study Of manners which,
Mr.. Mitchell now proclaims, he intended.
The unqualified SUCCESSES Of the season
have been from four playwrights Of I'M
qualified youth, three of whom have hitherto
been, 80 far as the drama is concerned, Of
unqualified obscurity. The Chorus Lady, "
by James Forbes, Newspaper man, press
agent and story writer; "1he Three Of U.s.