Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-07-20

rw York, July t7--Charles
Jslcxn is dominant figure In
v our American drama as the uu-
] thor OF "Thc Music MASTER and
,c,n Lion and the Mouse" the two
.,ost successful plays In this country
-,,,hin the last three years, whether
nam America or foreign sources.
Dwhat do You think of our American
s,a,na. Mr.. Klein" I asked him the
otber day. What of Its future are we
n equal or to surpass the drama OF
torel-n countries?'
eThe future OF our drama?" said Mir.
t,loin. 'it Is to be the American play,
~ Americans, of Americans, for Am
erlcans II Is the marked tendency to-
ward this achievement that Is the strik-
IN feature In our theatre OF today. II
r. something we may both be glad and
nro,d of. The drama of this country
L 50 10 speak. at present In it's swad-
sliny clothes, because the drama In
any nation Is the last form of art to
he influenced and to develope. Material
and physical ansion--cfvilization, in
yention poetry, literature, these all
come FIRST, and then finally one drama.
WE have reached that stage where the
NAV is becoming better and better, and
ihn life and thought and manners of our
own times,
~ believe In the American play, both
IN ne present aspect and its future pos
sihiIities," Mr.. Klein continued. 'It is
evident that this country Is rapidly be-
coming the center of the world stage.
nm. life is full of dramatic material.
ana there are already many young
dramatists capable of handling 1t to
great advantage. With time and ex-
perience they viii become more potent.
It was not many years ago when our
managers bought practically all their
plays in the European markets. There
was decided managerial prejudice
AGAINST homemade wares, and not l
confess without reason, for American
PLAYS were appallingly crude In con-
ceptlon and treatment, as compared
with the technical masterpieces of the
English, French and German stages
To attempt to compete with the for
eign dramatists our own playwrights
werc forced to copy the plays from
abroad. to copy their style, their set
tngs, to initiate their technique and to
write of another and artificial world,
with which from experience and know-
ledge they were not actually familiar.
IAN imitation being always less virile
than an original, our public preferred
the importations. for these, at least
were good plays, technically. 1t is
hardly an eNaggeration to say that the
French and British dramas succeeded
because we had no good plays of our
own. That time is passing. If 1t is not
already past. In the last five years
managers Cthey must first be convinced
before the public can benefiD have
learned that home plays. based on
American IDEAS and life. can succeed,
and succeed in large measure, not only
critically, but can also please the man
ayers god, the box Office
1T is quite true that foreign plays do
score here even today" said Mr.. Klein,
"but at least one reason for this is that
we have not yet built up a drama of
our own sufficient to supply the theat-
rical demand or to replace entirely the
foreign output And 1t is also fact
that really good play. with a broad
and cosmopolitan appeal will succeed
IN any country. but, unfortunately,
plays of this type are not common. We
shall always have foreign made plays
succeed abroad. too, but / firmly be-
iieve that 10 years from now, for ex-
ample, a French success in New York
will be as rare as a Broadway success
now is in Paris. We are willing to ac-
cept foreign plays only when we have
not instead plays of our own.
1T is a fact that every nation has
its own life and ideas, principles and
methods, and these naturally viii be ex-
plotted consciously or pnconsciously by
the dramatists of that nation. Coun-
tries, as we'll as persons. have an in
oividuality, a taste, certain narrow
ness, If you will, and even great plays,
with a vital story of human emotion,
will in details reflect the nationality OF
the playwright. Other nations accept
ing the play because of it's big basic
idea may therefore accept those de-
tails, characteristic of another nation.
not because they appreciate them. but
in spite of the fact that they do not.
The people Of the land of the play un-
derstand both the vitality of the play
and its details. There is local color
IN plays.
THE English know we are nation
Of hustlers and believers in the strenu-
GUS perhaps they know this to their
cost, but they do not sympathize with
our life nor adopt its methods for their
own. No successful American bust
ness man. If occasion demands, VIII
think twice about doing without his