The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-08

happen next. And yet the r0alist cannOt
ignore his story and remain q successful
artist on the stage. Therefore he must win
atechnique 90 c~lairvoyaut that IL 10 not visi-
BILE. enabling him TO tell a story that seems
not to be told but 70 happen. Tn successful
realist must. In short. be neither a prosa'~
] man. not trivial one. but q man Of searching
mind and superb craftsmanship. Far from
resting ON superhcAl detail. his chief interest
will lie in the deepest places OF the heart.
10 Is because his interest rests on surface
detail his insight In limited TO super
fetal reality that David BelascO is not a
realist.
Il IL quite true that MIR. Relasco has never
very stoutly maintained the contrary.
A man Of the theatre in the most intimate
. sense 81 tho term. all his life a stage director.
producer. dramatist. manager. with a
wonderful scenic Imagination, and a sense
for the more obvious phase Of dramatic
style unparalleled on our stage. 90 that
nothing he shows can wholly fail OF con-
v~ictiOn, he has for many years been putting
on plays 10 the best OF his ability. entertain
ing q vast public and winning for HIM
self a unique and honorable fame. He has
never preached q philosophy Of { nor
announced that he had ons 10 preach.
Perhaps life does not greatly interest him.
his interest in the theatre is 90 tremendous
and % absorbing. He 10 not the stun that
preachers are made Of. n all realists arc
preachers OF a kind. sinOe no man can ESQ all
In life. finding there only what he takes TO
it. as Emerson said OF the voyagert to Europe.
What Mr.. Belasco has done a been TO
write pieces for the playhouse, not criti-
c,sms of life. Well aware that such pieces
to be successful OF to satisfy his own
standards must. however, superficsaIly
resemble life, he has bent his mind TO do
wise them with all possible air OF proba-
biIity N with all possible fidelity Of
pictorial setting. Especially in the latter
respect he has sicoeeded a. no other man
OF our time has. The sitting room Of Wees
EigeIoup's house in a Grand Army Man.
or the beautiful outdoor scene with its
trees and sapIings and broken gun carriage
and running brook in The Warrens OF
Virginia. or the interior SGT In the same
play. which. by the simple but imaginative
device Of . window opening from the great
room into che hall. allows the audience TO sec
the tall clock. tho stairs and the heads Of
people passing in hat second room and
gets an O~verpOwering suggestion OF the
s~paciousness and soidity of the mansion
are all eloquent proofs OF his scenic power.
a power that IL not without It's touch Of
poetry too, and never without the painters
taste. And in q less marked degree he has
80 ordered the exits n entrances Of all
his players, guided their manners and
gestures. worded their speeches and put
in sequence their acts az to create again
the sense OF surface reality. So deftly and
80 carefully has he lone IL. In fact. that the
unthinkinR have been deceived time and
again AT his dramas n supposed that the
pleasure they were deriving from his we'll
told stories Was the pleasure derived from
the true picture Of life. from thorough
going reality. And because Of that fact
it becomes the critics duty to point out
that his plays In the main are not reality.
IL would be silly to disparage the romance
or the melodrama-good. healthful art
forms both. and always to DO enjoyed.
IL would be equally silly to ask or expect
Mr.. Belasco to write like Sudermann or
Ibsen. Il would DO absurd to belittle his
fine achievement because it 10 not ONE
thing different. And nc carping critic
even from a college English department
would wish to sec his plays any less success
full. All that is asked is that Il be borne in
mind that his plays are not deeply reality,
that they are good stories. not emotionally
moi intellectually good dramss-in short,
that a popgun is not the crack Of doom.
That a hair, however, sometimes divides
the false and true in drama as in philosO-
ply "A Grand Army Man" bears witness.
In that play, aided and inspired by the
genius OF David Warield, himself a creator
no lees than his playwright and a man Of
reasoned and sound convictions about his
art, Mr.. Belasco has. by q mere shift Of the
emphasis, gone down through his surface
details to the true realism beneath, instead
Of employing the details to hide the thread
pare conventions Of his story In that
play, thanks TO Wsrfield, the emphasis
has been placed on character; the story,
none too fresh nor skilfully told, has been
subordinated and simplified till the character
interest dwarfs and hides it. What is con-
ventional in the play gives place to what's
real. And a true picture Of American
life has been painted, q true and lovely
criticism spoken, IL II is not indeed rather
an appreciation than a criticism. Hence
"A Grand Army Man" becomes a distinct
contribution to American drama, while
The Warrens Of Virginia" like so many
other Of the Belasco productions, is only
an ephemeral entertainment.
But as such we can cheerfully recon-
mend it to all our readers. II some OF them
are a little bored at the sentimental love
scene between Pen Warren and his wife,
knowing full well that it is just there to
heighten the pathos Of the climax, when
il is certain long before the act is over that
the Generals happiness will be dashed to
earth by the news Of the Union Ambush,
We can only bid them be Of good cheer
this is a melodrama they are looking on,
and besides Frank Keenan, as the General
Is acting very well indeed, displaying a
power to suggest tenderness hitherto I'M
suspected. Work sue 10 Mr.. keenan,
does in this play is not lightly TO be passed
over. He il still q little angular in style,
a little acid, q little suggestive OF the man
whose effects are somehow cramped in the
creation, so that they do not come from
him anita Nth aaaA and anonkanaikw Rae