Omaha daily bee., 1906-11-11

nats the use3 II the hoi polloi
doesn't want to be elevated, what
are you goins to do about it7
Na1A Are you going to stick 70 your
task until you change the mere OF
less rudimentary minds Of the great
mass OF thouFhtloss and unthinking and
gradually direct their unframed mental
forces into useful channels, or are you go-
ing to simply let them take thsir own way
and purvey 70 them according 70 their likes
pather than with regard to their needsf
when you sit down 10 sosld the manager
OF pho theater fer presenting that which
~ meretricisus, just recall at the outset
that he has been up against this hoi poIloi
business for a long time and maybe he r.
. a bit skeptioal as to the utleS u trying
to educate the mash at any rate, he
has lost a goO6 zeal Of money trying to get
the public to patroni7e something II doesn't
want to see. One Of the NEST notable ex-
amples of this is the effort 20 get the
patrons Of the popular prico' theaters
to go against drama Of the better class.
Sunday was selected for the experiment.
and with good judgment, for 1t is a gold
play, with q wholesome atmosphere and
enough Of the melodramatic element 70
satisfy All but tina blase patron of the
Kremer acReol ~ drama Ths experiences
up to the present has been NEST discourag-
ing Omaha IL the latsst en- the list. An
along ne line the Etory u the same. Sun
day night the place opoas - capacity; then
business drops on and tie play ''starvss
70 death" That's IL; in the language Of
the ''grip," e "dies Mlra q dog" Moralize
as much as you wish. Hphraim is stin
Joined 70 his idols, aad the gallery god will
insist on having the freight train run
through the parlOr. The manager who
intends to stay In TIE business VIII gov
ern himself accera4nGlV. And yet all who
have the interest Of their fellow man truly
At heart will regret that this q %.
Some grains Of comfort exist in the fact
that the experience Of the steek companies,
Of which there are many now prosPerinE
In the various large cities of the United
States, proves that there is a large and
respectable element OF the public that
twants the better class OF drama. These
people cannOt afford to Patronize the FIRST
&lass theaters on account of the tariff,
which has been raised to a figure that IL
only possible to the wslI-tS-dS, but like 70
see a good play. The stock Company Of
fers this at a moderate figure. 1t is true
that few II any o. these organizations
have real stars on th0tr lists, but are
usually made up of capable actors and
present the plays offered with much intelli-
gent attention to detail. II is impossible
that a profound study can be made Of the
characters, where the bill changes each
week, ana eleven performances are given.
but the element OF clean ana wholesoms
amusement Is there.
Henry Arthur Jones has been lscturina
long and learnedly en- the modern drama
and bem0aning it's sad state Wen. Henry
Arthur is responsible 70 as sreat an extent
as any other enc man fer the present con-
dition OF things 50 Oloquently complained
OF by him and his Arguments and illustra-
lions may be accepted as q self-justihca-
ton to that extent. He mOdestly refralned
from chncking any bouquets at himself
and resisted any impulse to hatter his con.
astemporaries. Ibsen was given sendo1
that would have made the COED old doctor
stroke his whiskers had no lived to hear Il
But the burden of the lecture Is that We
have no modern drama to compare to the
Elizabethan; we have no poet like Shake
speare, and we are afraid to discuss the
great problems with freedom OF thought
and franikness OF expression. Just how
much further on this line a writer could
go than Shaw and SudermRnn and Maeter.
llnck and D'Annunzio have gone or, say,
the mark, Arthur Wing Pinero and Henry
Arthur Jones, one wonders Ibsen wen
them a little better In some respects; hi
plays have the double advantages in SOM
degree OF being clinics as well as litera
ture. But just how a writer. can maxi
matters palmer than they are set forth fl
la Citta Morle" Norma Wanna" &c
Liebe das Leben." Mrs. Warren's Profes
sion." Iris" or MRS. Danes Defense,
not to mention "The Hypocrites," one hest
tatas to imagine These certainly approach
the great question" of life, as conceive
Joy the authors mentioned. with freedom
that necessitates expurgation or suppress
sion.
One other consolation is ours: While W
bave not among us recognized Shake
speare. or Moliere. or Sophoclss, We ma
have. None OF us can tell how long any
the plays being reproduced are going {
live. H. A. ]. might In his next incarns
ton find some one Of his dramas preserve
as the dramas OF the masters have bee
VI handed down to us. Quien sabe? But W
have the advantage over the Greeks
that we have both soPhocles and Shake
speare; over the Elizabethans In that W
nave also Moliere: over the French OF III
Seventeenth century in that we have Henri
Arthur Jones and all who have come b,
tween. Suppose no one today is writin
dramas that will endureG They are doip
something; they smuse and IN greater I
less degree instruct. II Is not In noes
alone that nature has produced Individual
In all other lines OF literary effort nam,
Of men who have gone to rest loom Lara
and lonely; in art, science. war, religion
politics, the truly great ones are few an
are dead. But while we have not anon
those vva yvou1d nounnara r4fh A..