The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-08

AftlHt on the SCage. therefore Ne muoJ VIII
a~teChnique 80 ~Clairvoyant that il Is not visi-
bic. enabling him to tell a story that seems
not to be told but 20 happen. The SUCCESSFUL
rOalist must. In short. be neither a prosaic
man. not q trivial one. but a mar Of searching
mind and superb craftsmanship. Far from
resting on superaCAl detail. his chief interest
will lie in the deepest places OF the heart.
IL Is because his interest rests on surface
detail and his insight ia limited to super
fetal reality that David BelascO is not a
r~ealist.
IL IL quite r that MIR. Belasco has never
very stoutly maintained the contrary.
A man Of the theatre in the most intimate
sense Of tho term. all his life a stage director.
producer. ~dramatist. manager. with a
wonderful scenic imagination, and a sense
for the more obvious phase OF dramatic
style unparalleled on our stage. 90 that
nothing he shows can wholly fail OF con-
~victiOn. he has for many years been putting
on plays to the best Of his ability. entertain
ing a vast public and winning for him
self a unique and honorable fame. He has
never preached a philosophy Of life nor
announced that he had ono to preach.
Perhaps life does not greatly interest hum.
his interest in the theatre is 30 tremendous
and 90 absorbing. He 10 not the stun that
preachers are made Of. and all realists arc
preachers of q kind. sinoe no man can go all
In life. finding there only what hs takes to
it, as Emerson said OF the voyager to Europe.
What MIR. Belasco has done has boon TO
write pieces for the playhouse, not Criti-
cisms OF life. Well aware that such pieoes
to bs SUCCESSFUL OF to satisfy his own
standards must. however, specifically
resemble life. he has bent his mind to de-
wise them with all possible air Of proba-
biIity and with all possible fidelity OF
pictorial setting. Especially in tho latter
respect he has sucoeeded as no other man
OF our time has. The sitting room Of Woes
EigeLoD's house in "A Grand Army Man."
or the beautiful outdoor scene with its
trees and ~sapIings and broken gun carriage
and running brook in The Warrens OF
Virginia" or the interior set in the same
play. which. by the simple but imaginative
device Of a window opening from h great
room into the hall. allows tho audience TO See
the tall clock. tho stairs and tho heads OF
people passing in that second room and
gets an o~verpOwering suggestion OF the
-spaciousness and sohdity Of the mansion
are all eloquent proofs OF his scenic power.
n DOWcE bnAb ~ uUb heAhOh w Va
poetry too, and never without tho painters
taste. And in q lees marked degree he has
20 ordered the exits and entrances Of all
his players. guided their manners and
gestures. worded their speeches and put
in sequence their acts al to create again
the sense Of surface reality. So deftly and
50 carefully has he lone it. in fact. that the
unthinking AVE been deceived time and
again at his dramas and supposed that the
pleasure they were deriving ron his well
told stories was the pleasure derived from
the true picture Of life. from thorough
going reality. md because Of that fact
IL becomes the critics duty to point out
that his plays In the main are not reality.
IL would be silly to disparage the romance
or the melodrama-good. healthful art
forms both. and always to be enjoyed.
II would be equally silly to ask or expect
Mr.. Belasco TO write like Sudermann or
Ibsen. Il would be absurd TO belittle his
fine achievement because it 10 not some
thing different. And no CaTping critic
sven from a college English department
would wish to see his plays any less success
full. All thai il asked 10 that il be borne in
mind that his plays are not deeply reality.
that they are good stories. not emotionally
nor intellectually good dramas-in short.
that a popgun is not the crack Of doom.
That a hair. however, sometimes divides
the false and true in drama a. in philosO-
ply "A Grand Army Man" bears witness.
In that play, aided and inspired by the
genius OF David Warfeld, himself a creator
Iess than his playwright and a man Of
and sound convictions Abou his
art. MIR. Belasco has, by a mere shift Of the
emphasis, gone down through his surface
details to the true realism beneath. instead
Of employing the details TO hide the thread
bare conventions Of his story. In that
play, thanks to Wsrfeld, the emphasis
has been placed on character; the story, |
none too fresh nor ~skiifuliy told, has been
subordinated and simplified filth character
interest dwarfs and hides it. What is con-
ventional in the play gives place to what's
real. And a true picture Of American
life has been painted, q true Inc lovely
criticism spoken, il II is not indeed rather
an appreciation than a criticism. Hence
"A Grand Army Man" becomes a distinct
contribution to American drama. while
The Warrens OF Virginia" Ike so many
other Of the Belasco productions. is only
an ephemeral entertainment.
D1g ~ cASh w WI NACChAhAy ICCOIl- L
mend it to all our readers. II some of them
are a little bored at the sentimental love
scene between Gen. Warren and his wife.
knowing full we'll that it is Just there 10
heighten the pathos Of the climax. when
it is certain long before the act is over that
the Generals happiness will be dashed to
earth by the news Of the Union Ambush.
we can only bid them be Of good cheer
this il a melodrama they are looking on,
and besides Frank keenan, as the General
10 acting very well indeed, displaying a
power to suggest tenderness hitherto un-
suspected. Work such V Mr.. Keenan,
does in this play il not lightly 20 be passed
over. He is still q little angular in style.
a little acid, q little suggestive Of the man
whose effects arc somehow cramped in the
creation. so that they do not come from
him quite with ease and s~pontaneity. But
his range is wider in this part thar il has
ever been before. his personal presence
more charming and his emotional ex-
nraaasona Rar Uraafar Tf ~ nI-.-- -.