The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-28
Gotham

campaign ana a thlTd new play, tIhe
Black Politician" deals with the same
subject of municipal affairs facetiously-
VIII it come to pass that. in the pro-
cesses OF electioneering, parties viii
have their theatres, as well as their
newspapers, TO make public opinion?
The two of the named plays that are
serious are outspolen partisans for
work against wealth The Jungle
throws away a chance of popularity
SO it looks to me-by an adhesion to po-
htics as a thesis. while The Under
tow strikes right into prosperity with
the popuiace-as / view it-by doing
that very same thing. It is a case of
hit and miss in two shots at one mark.
The stage version of Upton Sinclair's
novel omits altogether the matter
which made the book bomb for the
meat trust. Think of a play made out
of Sinclair's upheaving story of Chica-
go slaughter house horrors yet contain
ing no glimpse or mention of those re-
Violations that turned the stomachs of
the eating world I don't say that it
would be possible or desirable to put on
the stage representations or the filth
and cruelty of the stockyards and
packing houses Yet who would go 20
a performance OF THE Jungle" with
out expecting TO see bullock knocked
IN the head, or q carcass cut up, or saul
sages linked, or scraps canned. as de-
scribed in the official reports to Uncle
Sam which Upton Sinclair melted
Even you-honest, now-wouldn't you
be disappointed II you didn't get sight
of that. uniucfy devil who, so Upton
said. fell into g superheated vat. was
boilod clean to his bones, and thereby
turnad a number of eaters of canned
meat into unwilling eannibals? Think
what a good meicdrama rfddance of the
villain might be made Of that incident.
X X
However, the dramatist is Margaret
Mayo. ana could you demand g. play
Of stomach ache along with heartaehe
from sensitive lady? OF course. the
play. lacking those essentials OF real
ism, disappoints its audience Instead
Of being a stage exposition of the
Matchmaking horrors of Chicago'S Pack
Iingfown. IL merely utilities the portions
of the book relating to the small and
mean methods OF degradation in that
place of meat milking. Sinclair is
named In the program as Mrs. Mayo's
coI1aborator, and so his judgment must
have agreed with hers that none OF the
books sensationalisIn was available for
the stage. Therefore we get a play in
which Connor, the political boss of
iPackingtoWn, II the pursuer of the
pretty wife Of Rudkus. the workman.
1T Is all very like the familiar Bowery
Inelodrama OF affiuent vice torturing
Impoverished virtue. An act each is de-
voted to the wedding supper I'm Pack
ingtown saloon, with Connor hawking
for the dove OF bride: the squalid
home of the married pair, with the
scoundrel forcing the wife to choose
between adultery with him and starva-
ton for her family; the luxurious
apartments of the boss, where his be-
dizened mistress presides over icen-
tious orgy, and where the wife comes
to sacrifice her honor for her husbands
and child's sake, to revolt at the or
deal, yet to be accused by her husband;
and five-year-after reunion of the
tramping husband and the waiting wife
on an Illinois farm
X y
The political element in the drama of
1.-THE jungle" crops up strongest in an
asserted dominance of trades unions in
PackingtoWn by the boss, Conner, who
is also a manager OF a packing plant,
and a CRATER in both capacities. But
his motive is his desire for the pretty
wife, which impels him to have her
husband blacklisted by all the unions
from Chicago to Kansas City. Thus
bestial lechery. rather than any phase
OF political corruption. becomes the
main factor.
II is not so with THE Undertow." in
which politics is the principal and con-
stantiy foremost theme. But first let
me tell you about the viccisitudes of
play writing as illustrated in this dra-
ma by Eugene Walter. 1t was accepted
for production by New York thea
tricai firm, but there was delay in
putting 1t on the stage, during which
a play on the subject of municipal
graft, THE Man of the Hour" was in
frpduced. The similarities are aston
fishing, yet there is no suspicion that
- IL In Oh. Low n
mayor Is elected upon his pledge TO
circumYent graft in public utilities by
tvetoing a franchise for street railway
company; in each the grafters endeavor
TO make him betray the peoples cause;
in each the love of a girl is a potential
influence; in each a judge is bribed by
a trust; and IN each the third act is ia
a city hall, with aldermen and corrupt
ing bosses combining against the
mayor. Now. as IT seems to me. the
success of Broadhurst's THE Man Of
the Hour with one manager ought to
have made the other manager all the
more eager to bring out Walters THE
Undertow" But it didn't work that
way. The Undertow" was put on the
shelf, and Is now taken down by one
of the Keith & Proctor New York stock
companies while the other simulta-
neously performs The Jungle" This
trying out OF new plays by stock organ
izations is an innovation in the thea
trfcal business. In these circumstances
a special stage director is employed for
each piece, the companies are strong in
numbers and ability, and thereby many
of the detriments Of week-change hur-
ry-skurry are obviated. Thus It is
proved by an adequate performance OF
THE Undertow" that. il 1t had been in
troduced in a 50 theatre, instead Of a
half-dollar. it would have got an initial
propulsion at the top of the theatrical
toboggan. OF course. everybody knows
how to run a theatre. a hotel or a news
paper better than the men trained 20
the business. and IL is easy TO say, now
that 1.-The Undertow' is acted that il
shouldn't have been put aside because
The Man Of the Hour" had got out
ahead of 1t.