The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-04
Along Gotbam's Hur1.yIne .Sheeb
By ANNIE KENDRlck WALKER.

New York September 9-(Special.) Tt would be sheer idleness to discuss the vogue of the Salome dance as far as the New York season is concerned, particu- larly as the roof garden season is now on the wane. It is in that peculiar en- vironment that all New York has become enslaved to the barbaric feature which drove Oscar Wilde's degenerate opera from the stage. And now while New York does not appear to have yet be- come satiated with the differing yer slons of Salome, its acceptance of any and all versions is too well known for additional comment.
 The chief interest now lies in the fact that this barbaric feature will be a part of musical comedies and vaudeville com panies playing in the south the coming season. The south Is destined to be del uged with Salome, and if the south ac- cepts as many different versions the vogue will likely continue
 For months New York has been Sa- 1ome mad, and the dramatic critics no longer discuss Salome, but the mad aud fence WHICH lnlS creature HdS tHSidNtQs tl creature of jade stones and jewelled gir- dies and armlets of brilliants. Those who take their Salome seriously have turned upon the audience at roof gardens and are analysing their infatuation for so de- generate a performance They are de- claring that New York is reveling in a riot of ancient barbarism when degen- ota composed of discriminating people, those who condemned the opera Salome when it was ruled off the New York stage, the critics declaring that art could not serve as an excuse for the degeneracy. But the Salome dance has remained under the scarlet light that still beats upon it. It has evolved from Oriental the atres which have demoralized and degrad- ed this country eyer since the first Mid way Plaisance entertained and shocked and pandered to a degenerate taste. It is the very essence of barbaric orientalism, the epitome of all that is beyond the pale of art and beauty, a decadent thing at which New York goes mad.
 And the Salome dance as seen in New York is not new, because versions of it can be seen In the cheapest street car nival It is the environment, the splendid color with which it has been invested, that appeals to the New York audience, the magnifcently staged versions of Eva Tanquay, Mile Dozie La Sylphie, Bessie Deboe, all of them famous for this dance of the seven veils, and one or two ot whom may give their Salome dance be- fore southern audiences the coming sea son.
 Will the south hold it's breath at the dance of the Seven Veils, or will it be entertained, and show it's appreciation oi a degenerate throne in art, in music Will it ask, is the Salome dance after all, as degenerate as the critics insist that it is, does 1t represent and revive a decadent period, and are the au' diences who now witness 1t the expon- ents of a decadent epoch.
 A well known critic has recently ask ed similar questions and perhaps, having observed more than one New York au- dience at Salome dance, he answers his own question.
 Discussing the Salome furor he asks what is the use for such a dance or such costume? It might have been appro- priate enough at the time of Salome and Herod and of the decadent age in which they lived, but If we have advanced in other things, there is no reason to re- turn so far into the mysterious past for "reminiscences of barbarian.
 It is really the story as told by Oscar Wilde which offends most in the opera, for Strauss has written a remarkable score The play was presented by Ma dam Bernhardt in Paris and was order ed discontinued by the French censor. The same was true when an effort was made to present it in London It was withdrawn in New York and it is not likely that it will ever be attempted again. The dance came. with the clos ine scene and the hugging of a bloody head and the kissing of bleeding lips was what made the dance so offensive. In many instances. the head feature of the dance is abandoned. and only the seven wells are used. The dance is purely Oriental There may be art In such evo- Iutions and twists; there is certainly a erotesaueness and vulgarity about it shocking to any one of refined percepti- bilities.
 However. New York has set the stamp of popular approval on "Salome."
 It may be due to the weather that New Yorx's head has turned The season ex- plains many things. The air in summer in New York becomes contaminated by
 
 Ella Wheeler Wilcox explains. it is a sea- son of mild madness. and that much ruin is wrought beneath a sunshade. Usually beginning at Coney Island in the early summer and lasting until late, there is a scarlet mist hanging over its beautiful resorts like pale reflection of hell fire At this season the moral flores of New York deteriorate and grow more flacid under the potency of the dog days. The very witchcraft of prurient obsession seems to possess the managers of the metropolis in the summer time and when the cool days of October come, with their splendid contributions of dramatic genius. with their new plays and their new stars, this midsummer madness may be forgotten, and "Sa- lome" and her grewsome head and the barbaric splendor which surrounds her dance may be allowed to retire again to the pages of history.
 September brings to New York many southerners. who, returning from their