New-York tribune., 1907-12-03

fifty odd years of journalism, had not: out tne
substance of all my writing I can conscientiously
and solennly declare has been in profoundly
earnest favor of justice and of kindness to all
worthy persons and of the triumph Of every in
f1uence, whether the stage or anywhere eise'
that is beautiful and therefore right.
! shall deny that have a personal bas'
and very strong one, in favor of DRAMA.-"the
emasCuated, the obvious, the artificial, and the
obsolete as exemplifed by the extensive range
of plays that I have steadfastly commended.-trom
Hamlet to His Last Legs from Faust 10
MY Awful Dad; from Antony and Cleopatra
to "a Night Or: from OLIVIA to THE Great
Ruby; from ''Enoch Arden to Engaged; from
THE Rivals" to "a Royal Family: from The
White Pilgrim to 1.-THE Ticket of Leave Man =;
from ''Ravenswood" to 1.-The Thief; from Charles
T. to Leah kIeschna''; from THE Road to KUN
to 1.-The Witching Hour; and so following NO
good play has been produced that have not ao-
mired and commended: no good actor mas ap-
peared whom have not welcomed and celebrated.
That do admire. but, the contrary, detest
and abhor. what Mr.. Fiske foolishly designates
'the drama of life of ideas. the vire. the subtle
the true, and the modern" as exempiihed oy sucn
foul stuff as Ghosts" Camille "Tanqueray'
"Zaza" "Sapho," THE Wife of Claude, THE
Conquerors." "Monna Wanna Mrs Warren 8
Profession etc. is. I rejoice to say. absolutely
true. Those plays. and others of their kind' con-
tain little except filth tinged here and there with
q sort OF verbal simmer that only makes them
the more obnoxious,-a luminous. redolent atfnos-
phere, suggestive Of Randolph's ''mackerel in the
moonlight, ,''-combined with the deadly duness or
inherent commonplace If that is a Cotton Ma
ther' judgment I glad to stand with cotton
Mather" The ofactory nerves are entitled to, at
least decent consideration. If the prunes ana
prisms standard" criticism would save the stage
and the public from such enormities as La Tos-
ca "TheodOra' etc, by all means that standard
should prevail No thing more than another
has less of my sympathy than the Puritan We"
Of human life. 1 left New England when was
young because I could not endure 1t, and my aver
sion it is stronger than 1t was men,
But it is profound. invincible conviction that
the FrightfuI Example has always done moro harm
than goOd that the analysis of vice and crime,
the vvisection of physical and mental disease, ana
the exhibition of horrors. in theatrical form ana
before mixed audience IN a theatre. are injurious
to society," and therefore ought to be condemned
and. if possible. prevented.
Mr. Fiske has incidentally, and by way OF "fer-
tile irrelevancy," provided his readers with con-
siderable novel information relative to EDWIN FOR
rest Horace Greeley. and my relations with the
New-York Tribune in Horace Greeleys time inc
dramatic department OF The Tribune was lntrusteo
to my charge July. 1866 Horace Greeley died IN
November. 1872 During a period OF seven years.
accordingly wrote about the stage, under Horace
GreeIey's editorial authority. During the ~hoie Oh
that time Horace Greeley never made even 'he
slightest objection to anything written by me- hor
did he. did anybody else, ever attempt to pre-
vent hamper the expression OF my views
about actors and acting, or TO limit the puih VI
them When Horace Greeley IS discussed II would
earth or in It that he afraid of or about Which
he hesitated to express his opinion Horace Greeey
had no contempt for the theatre-as MT. fishe
alleges that had he merely indifferent to II
He seldom attended theatrical performance. lie
went occasionally, to WaacHs Theatre, and a Re"
times, my request he attended performances
elsewhere that I thought would please MIN; that
was all He troubled himself ABOUT drdrls-Ic
criticism "Mr Winter had little to say in The
Tribune" says Mr.. Fiske. during the greeley
regime about actors and acting, compared with
what he has written in that journal IN recent
wears" Upon a shelf me while write stahus
something that may be a phantom. but 1t looks
ike seven huge volumes. containing a coilection
OF the articles that wrote IN The Tribune curing
tho Greeiev regime" Those articles relate to
factors and acting" and they amount to about
eight hundred and odd Tribune columns. The point
is not material to Mr.. Fiske's walls OF woe; ne
intrudes it and therefore it is noticed 1t is not I'M
nortart except as showing that Mr.. t1she mas
spoken without knowledge The completely irrele-
want statement he wishes to make IS tnat my
"strong opinions by no means faForaoIe' aoou'
Forrest both man and actor were prooaoiS
never eInbaImed in print during Forrest $ proIes-
sonal activity There he is again mistaken MI
winter he adds. probably often saw Forrest
There is no probably about IT. saw Edwin fof-
rest in his best days first saw him in lSSi' anu
attentiyely observed his from that time until
his death eighteen years later. saw hiin'
often in all the parts tkat he acted a1ter ne oe
came famous in his profession and, IN the per
formance of my duty as a journalist, l often wrote
about his acting both before joined The Irlouhe
staff and after joined It. and Mr.. Forrest was
acquainted with my writings one OF MS olosra-
pliers James Rees. of Philadelphia-lonS known
in journalism as Cooley Cfbber, ana commonly
called by the actors of his time, Cilley CoopeF'
to1d C'oIonel Forney that days before FCrrests
death he adverted to criticism in The NeW-ho'k
Tribune written by me. Unhappy' ne was o'eI.
sensitive to newspaper comment MY Nie"s VI
Edwin Forrest. "by no means favorapIe' were
never expressed without the reasons for them' nor
were those views dssnilar from views entertained
by some of his closest friends,-for eAalille JIM
Mccullough and William Warfeld-Clapp. ne was
great actor but he had the radical defecI OF n'e -
isn,-tbe erroneous method that is called natural
In one Of the mad scenes of king Lear Tor IN
stance he drooled upon his beard anu 'ne eiioo'
was repulsive. All his acting was more oh ''
uarred by that wrong method LILO shouNo n.y. "
tha stage be literally copied. Jefferson was 'iuS
t,-,1 actor. hut he caused the effect OF mature py
scrupulous attention to the requirements VI w..
Mr. Fiske, who never saw Forrest ana esiuetas -
knows little or nothing about hlfn' oessLa'o -
"a zone of the pioneers" Of the natnral scnoo.
- ba de,loras dominates to-day,-Mr Winter
20 tba contrary Notwithstanding" Again ne 70
mistaken 1 do not maintain thal tno
school" meaning the literal schooi' uoo0 -
dominate AS frequent the theatre 1ar more liah
Mr. Ftske does 1 have only too nluch reason ~
i,no,y that It does dominate, and have protes'eo
against that domination, in the interest," VI -.
of actors and of the public taste. Ii II "ei i.es
on5 ,F tho custom were universal TO copy, 'h uiS
r,.tic art the actual, literal conducI Vi
tbar ryould be even more obnoxious exnlol,iohs On
VIZ, 80 tb.n there are now. Mr. Ffske' begin
ming bv personal abuse because condeineu q uao
n,ay and worse performance mes !, sa4
PAHy a. ,,nora, discussion of standard misrepre-
santations concerning my writings. lie IS hhe tio
cuttIe6sh in that. when disturbed ne eiiii'S Il p
teous irkv fluid to obscure the view
There are various minor points III NIX.
iI "a ,a,ctr,ant upon which have neither
tS 1.-TWO tba patience nor in this newspaper, the
- 90 ren,ark II have learned. he says. that