The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-05
RISE OF VAUDEVILLE Self-Interest Leads Wise Managers to Present
 the Best.
PoLI's 25,OOO WEEKLY
Its Popularity Analyzed as Demand for Mental
 Rest.

Vaudeville yesterday a vulgar and often stupid performance appealing on- ly to denizens of the music halls Of London and New York or the cafe chantants of Paris; to-day drawing followers from every class here and abroad, and even attacking the very strongholds of legitimate drama. How has the change come about, and where in lies its appealP
 Having its origin In the Cafe Chan tants of Paris, it's methods were those of the Coney Island music hall and strange to say the first steps toward the high class exhibition of to-day came from New York's notorious Bow cry, where as far back as 1S63 Tony Pastor abolished drinking and smoking in his vaudeville house, Again in Eng land in 1878 impetus was added to the movement when the populace crowded the music halls to applaud the his toric policy of Jingoeism, whose patri- otto ditty, ''We don't want to fight, but by lingo, if we dol" was sung from one end of Britain to the other. Having formed the vaudeville habit, its patrons wanted more and likewise better performances.
 However, not until Keith and Proc tor inaugurated their "continuous" shows to cater to the shopping classes of New York did the variety entertain ment become wise investment for the astute manager. It was feared that when these two pooled their interests in 1906, competition, or "emulation," as our socialist friends prefer to call It., which Is said to be the life of trade, would have a detrimental effect upon the variety show, but Klaw and Er- langer, the theatrical trust. saw the opening and took the opportunity, so that vaudeville turns" are not only improving in refinement but in quality as well. By quality is meant what m The old days was designated head Hner.n Once taught what quality ls, thanks to competition, the house Will no longer stand for gap-fllers or those stupid senseless droning acts once used bv the acontinuous" to empty seats In order to make room for newcomers.
 Inane rubbish is gone forever, and It is to be hoped that though one cannot expect all acts to be of equal merlt- tha words feature and "headliner' wiIl soon be banished forever from the vaudeville vocabulary. Perhaps the number of acts would of necessity pe lessened but better a "short life ana d merry one" than slow lingering death from torturing time killers.
 The taste for vaudeville can be &C., counted for in some part by the oe- mand for variety in life, but a writer in a recent number of the Show Worlc seems to have answered the question more precisely when he says: "fhe writers for theq legitimate stage, fol- lowing the lead set by Ibsen and oth' CTS of his school, have demanded, year by year, more exercise of gray matter on the part of their audiences. They have abandoned the simple methods by which the older dramatists used tc play upon the elementary emotions and sympathies of their hearers. They have substituted subtle psychological and social problems which set people thinking. for the simple stories of ev' eryday life which took no effort of the brain to understand. Esther Pooles and her kin have been banished tc make way for Hedda Gabler and Iris People who go to the play still seek mental rest or intellectual recreation As the battle of life becomes fiercer and more exhausting so does the need increase when pleasure. can be obtain ed through the superficial senses oi hearing and seeing, without the bother of thinking, This is the secret of plot less musical comedy's success in recen year. This is what has created the de. mand for vaudeville"
 And this demand for 'thoughtlcss' amusement in New Haven twice daily fills the local playhouse, Polls, witt it's weekly capacity of nearly 25,OO seekers after pleasure