New-York tribune., 1909-12-05
THE PLAYGOER
Plays That Lite and Die. and
Vim.

dressed each year for the last quarter OF
o. century ny somel.,dy wishing well 20 the
drama 20 some one purveying printed ink
n Lac been asked. in one form or another.
for a hundred years. and il has been an
swened in various ways
ANY dramatist worth his footlights
would cheerfuliy write for posterity. IL he
Anew how. His FIRST concern is with audi
enoes now inhabiting this vast round audi
sorium. IL he could formulate a process
Nv which his plays could be sure Of re
N1val every few yesrs for the next ten
generstions he would do without urg-
tng. s-they-are-syndicated can
not be expected 20 indulge In revivals.
lActor-manasers, . ever the race returns
90 the lurid glimpses OF Broadway. can re-
N1ve the plays OF the past. and repertory
theatres are hound 10 do so. after they are
firmly established. But did you ever
trouble TO ask yourself how many Of the
successful plays OF ten years ago YOU would
care 10 ses now? How many plays OF the
last ten years?
Plays are almost as ephemeral as news
.capers. and quite clearly things OF
season as the best selling novels. The
public. like its prosecutors Of old. is al
ways crying for some new thing. And
this craving for novelty Is stirred BY
providers OF public entertainment
AFTER all, when you have excepted Shake
spesres and Two or three Others. there
are very few 'oid plays that are as good
'as the best OF the new. II this is heresy
srlske the most OF Il. and count up the old
,plnys whose reproduction would be wei
lcorned by discriminating audiences nova
slnys- The chances are that you cannot
xlstiy remember the names OF two dozen.
Old plays. IL IS not so easy 10 know
what a New Yorker means by ''an old
play" When he calls a person Just be
s'ond the teens a veteran" what will he
ronsiaer age in a play? The other day a
commentator wrote OF The Little Min
lister and other old plays OF about the
same date" BY that reckoning an early
Clyde Fitch must be "a classic"
A good play seldom Grows old. and a
great play Is always young, even IL IT were
first performed fifty or three hundred
wears ago. Arc there not about as many
great plays as there are great books?
some sun dried folks think that a great
play must be miraculous in .ts origin.
And others have such superstiuOus rev.
nrence for the old times that they believe
most az the play written before $50 were
Ear superior 10 any subsequently produced.
Tho fact is that most Of the ante-hfty
PLAYS were poor stuff. They were filled
with hfalutin. they were deadly dull. ac-
cording 10 present lights. and they were as
true 10 nature AS a gallery OF wax figures.
More good plays were produced in the last
twenty wears than IN the preceding hun
Lred sears. and repertory theatre that
knows its business viii revive some
- them Theatres-as-they-are-s
will bo GLAD 10 sell ,hs rights at low
figure.
n is constantly said that long runs kill
good acting This means, OF course. that
long runs miuicIlze the opportunities for
nctors "a Get anything like adequate
experience IN a varied rounl OF parts. But
song runs also Kill good plays, When the
metropolitan and country runs are finished
she play goes on the shelf
The death and burial of a good play is
cue in these DAYS 10 managerial strangula-
si0n. Theatres-as-they- y-Gre-syndicated do
nor look for "old" plays TO revive. hut for
rev ones 10 run. II is not their Job 10 do
anything else. And as they have had their
grip on the business for SO many years
,hey have nourished the public with the be
Lief that tie new thing Is the best thing.
II modern plays do not live quite as
many years old plays. they ike quite az
snany nights. have as many performances
as the OLD plays had Indeed, some OF the
modern successes have more performances
than tie old favorites had. In the so
called ''palmy DAYS" a successful piece ran
q few nights and then went into roper
rory," and was revived from time 10 time.
Runs were the exception, not the rule. And
she run depended quite as much upon the
players upon the play. a sage observa-
sion which time has not dimmed-
Who nowadays wants 20 see those Vic
rorian favorites, The Marble Heart or
The Iron Chest" or The Green Bushes?
Does any one really wish for n revival Of
The Lady OF Lyons" or "The Dukes Mot.
TO-? Are there yearnings for The Stran-
ger" and Leah the FOrsaken": But
these plays assisted many favorite stars in
rheir courses.
50 twenty-five years ago Mary Anderson
pas going shout the country and filling the
largest theatres with performances Of
.'Fszio." The Daughter OF Roland" 'The
Hunchback" Love" -Ingomar," and other
dreary. inflated plays Of that sort. No
/ body would care enough about those plays
ncw 10 spend car fare on them. our fathers
: and grsndfathers and their forebears liked
20 have their serious plays on stills. and
they had a tenderness for fine phrases.
But sheridan Knowles and Mllman would
to-day empty houses they formerly filled.
Because q few old comedies have sur
Nived the wounds Of time. a notion has
been fostered that there was a golden age
al comedy production which has put sue
ceeding generations TO shame but 'The
School for Scandal" The Rivals" and
''She StOOps 10 Conquer were exceptional
products. not specimens OF class II play
written every year. or six months. by their
authors or contemporaries. They do not
prove that the general playNTfting OF their
time maintained oT even reached their
level Of excellence. II n he audaciOus 10
say that the general level OF production
and appreciation is higher nOw than Il was
1fty OF q hundred oT hundred and thirty
scars ago. n must be said, none the less,
al acting not much can hc asserted
There were giants in those days" among
the players. The contemporary stage has
nD gianis-but players are not this morn
sngs theme. The life Of the play Is under
discussion, and one can scarcely see. in
siice az falls tc human lot. THAI the ten
dency o. Ilaymaling ina 1919 il Inferior to
What ~ q hundred years ago. Dn the con-
irary, II q superior. The abundance OF
cheap common. trashy stun ln no way
.isprOyes Tins There has always been a
market for shOddy. But now there Is a
greater market Than ever before fOr work
81 uncommon. aualifs-a larger public 20
a. appreciate if. And - refefforv fheafres