Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-03-23
THE PLAY IN NEW Vol
BY CHARMING POLLOCK.

-Thu Spoiled
Tho police did not succeed In sup
| pressing Mira. WaIren's Profession. :
Lack OF public interest seems In n fair
way TO bring about what was not ac-
| ccn.pIlslled by Anthony ComstOck, Just
/ 50 surely as water finds It's own level
that which Is to be will be- ana some
| day We shall learn thst she law OF 1ire
| need NOT be enforced by act OF estsls-
tare. Nevertheless. 1t is excitement
/ that killed Mrs. Warren" The asIta-
l zion OF last year. when the play was
, stopped after one performance at the
\ tiaTTick thenteT. Ohscured the question
! whether George Bernard Shaw-s COM
cdy was q good or a bad play. and efI
| only the question whether II WAS !,
! moral Or an immoral ono. Satisfied
that II is the former. thenteTgoers have
become absolutely Indifferent to the new
| pstduction az the Manhattan.
thInk no sober and unprecedented
person can deny the merit OF Mrs.
Warren's Profession Ii is a partic-
ularly frank and sane discussion OF a
subject that needs discussion more and
has been discussed less than almost any
other topic OF our time ANY preach
ment which sets people thinking that
ut can't be right that there aren't
| better opportunities for women must
I be beneficial and, TO my mind. this
disposes finally Of the question whcth-
er o. not Shaw's drama should be
tolerated Mrs, ,Warren's Profess
sion is not really q play. II We adnllt
THAI n play nSust trear OF a nlan and
woman who meet In the first act, love
In the second, separate In the third
and are reunited In the fourth. but 1t
is certainly Il most interesting disser-
tation on the condition from which
springs harlOtry.
JUST how possible 4. Is to secure For
such a work an audience moi composed
principally of filth hunters ] should
not Hike to say. That which witnessed
the piece on its opening night at the
Manhattan WAS positively ghoulish. 1T
seized with avidlty upon everything
that its senses took to be rotten, and
laughed ad applauded industriously in
the wrong places. Undoubtedly, the
management catered to this sort OF
people, presenting the play with no
other purpose than that OF trading up
on It's unsayory reputation The COM
pany. numbering only six actors and
actresses. was pretty uniformly bad,
and the whole perfornance-by which
[ mean alike that behind the prosecen-
iunl arch and that in front OF twas
discouraging. Mrs Warren's Pro-
fcssion" is not destined 10 have long
life In New York
Last Mondays advertisements of the
New Amsterdam Theater contained this
announcements ''On account OF the
strain. Mr.. Mansfield Will NOT be able 10
play Peer Gynt' after these few per-
forrNances. 1t was not stated whether
the strain WAS on the public. the box of-
flee OF MIR. Mansfield. The great actors
health has always been most ucconlrno-
dating. When he first appeared in -'Dr
that the Strain prevented Mr.. Mans~
nelds offering the piece except OH Sat-
urdays after which evening he had
Sunday for rest, Subsequently, how
ever IL was discovered that the Steven-
son story was the best drawing card
in his repertoire and the Mans field con~
stitutIon straightway adapted itself To-
the possibilities OF monetary gain. II
am not mistaken -Dr Jekyll and MIR,
Hyde was Offered sometimes as often
as four times IN q singh week, Under
these olrcun stances may be for
given for the cruelty Of surprising that
Mr.. Mansfield would have borne up un-
der the strain If 1bsen'S poem had
been more enthusiastically received by
New York.
Snow covers the streets of this thirty
ing village and our only indication Of
coming spring Is the announcement that
Barnur1 81 fsailey's circus will begin its
regular annual enga cement Az Madison
Square Garden on March 81. Already
the shop windows are rosy with posters
OF gentlemen leaping impossible dis
tances through the air, and OF the most
exquisite women poised on one toe be-
side noble steeds. All, II nature were
only as lavish with beauty as are the
makers OF circus Autographs.
You who live out of town have the
better OF US as regards the big show"
A circus under a roof bears the same
relation n a real circus that a swim
ming tank does 10 the Atlantic ocean.
There LIS no atmosphere under these
conditions: but what is a circus with
Qua its atmosphere Elcho answers
Nothing" You can see aerial acts in
a vaudeville theater, races at a driving
park, freaks In a dime museum, No:
what makes the circus worth while is
the sight OF the big tents and the har-
ing pictures beIlying In the wind; the
feel OF the soft earth under your fest,
and OF the hard boards under another
portion Of your tired anatomy; the
smell OF roasting peanuts and fresh
turned loan; the sound OF brayIHg
bands and crying hawkers; the taste
of lemonade and OF mud thrown up by
the chariot wheels. Every Improvement
In the circus substracts from its charm
TO me. I bewailed the abandonment Ot
the parade, and cushioned chairs were
never half so fine as the top board from
which, now and then i used 10 peep
out under the flaps OF the tent
Just TO make sure that there
SELL was a real word--a prOsaic world
In which nobody wore link tights or
got applauded for being fired into
the air from the mouth of a cannon.