The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1908-08-30
ACTRESS DEFENDS
"hELODRANNER'
Miss Comstock Declares
Thrillers Will Live After
Tragedy and Comedy.
By NANNErTE coMsToCK.

IN considering melodrama as Il Is
played today. we may as well discard
the chronological meaning which has
long given place to a technical under>
standing very well known among artists
and 10 some extent among "showmen''
and the public.
IL is only when we reacn the higheD
strata OF melodrama that tae parting
Of the ways between ignorance and In
formatic4l begins. Few think Of the
Lyons Mail" THE Bells" THE Two
Orphans" as melodrama. The authority
Of the producing artist or the skill OF
the author may easily blind one 10 the
fact that these plays differ from The
Women Slaves Of New York" Of The
Queen OF the Opium Ring IN degree
not in kind. As a possible play either
Of these last may be superior 10 '-Sher-
lock Holmes for instance, but the dom
nance of Mr.. Gillette and the vogue OF
Sir Conan Doyle draws TO the play
house crowds Of the very sort OF peOpls
who speak Of 'meIodrama" with a grin
when they don't dismiss il with a snee-.
Yet there is no dramatic form which
lives Ike melOdrama. Tragedy may havo
as long life. but it is not produced
as often as meiodrsma There are long
periods which some may call decadence
when the public will not have tragedy.
There Is never a time when meI0drama
does not draw I'm other words. inter-
est the public
The crowd in the village street re-
cognizes the art Of the story teller,
who eliminates extraneous details. en-
larges dramatic values, suppresses the
commonplace exalts the heroic, brings
out the humorous high light: he who
has not that faculty-gfven absolutely
the same story 10 tells nothing but
a prosy gossip. And what else is the
realist playwright Of today but a gos-
sip, in the name OF art, in the name OF
truth, as transcriber of the really
happened" boring his audience with a
prOsy narration Of the unimportant
dOings or commonplace and unlnter-
esting people. These are the plays which
appeal in vain 70 the public Nothing
ever brings them TO light but a "cult"
or association for the purpose of log
rolling into success work which could
not succeed upon its merits.
AS long as paintings are esteemed
above photographs; as long as car
toons, even, appeal rather than me-
chanicaI drawings. so long viii melo-
though the hero's deeds be improbable.
They are possible TO many-say an act
apiece-and our author has as much
right TO construct for US an ideal ig-
ure, as the painter has TO have one
model sit for the figure and another
for the face. Shall we not have our
locals the flower Of our Imagination,
even in the theater? Must the sordid
struggle Of the work day be succeeded
by pathological study in the playhouse
at night? Must we give up the pleas
ure Of Illusion. Of delight in virtue tri-
umI hant for the technical delight Of
study IN dramatic composition?
Melodrama. which has outlived a thou
sand shifts o. public taste, a thousand
art fads. and which has its spUrts as
well. but always goes on cO-incideutallY
with them all, viii outlive even tragedy
in spite of our smiling patronage. Trag-
edy is rigid and monochrome. MeIo-
drama at its best, has the thrill Of
but does not disdain the smile
which makes the dimple to catch the
falling tear"
We gannOt stop melodrama until we
suppress the newspapers. There's not
a day we do not hear of some engineer
who cIings to his death-bed TO save
his charge. some fireman who in sim
pie Guty risks his life without wonder,
some man who weeps that his depend
ents may smile some physical weakling
with a great soul sinking under self
imposed and aItruistic task. We must
begin by suppressing the meIodrama OF
life. not only ny substituting pessimism
for optimistic ideal. but by suppresslng
the records OF the day