Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-22
LOCKE SCORES
MODERN STAGE
BRANDS 1T PRIME CAUSE OF
DIVORCE EVIL
DRAMA JEERs AT THE, HOME AND
THE CHURCH
Those Who Attend Worship Sundays
Go During the Week to Witness
Debauching and Destructive
Performances

DR.. Charles Edward Locke, pastor OF
the First Methodist Episcopal church,
preached last evening on the subjest
IF Christ Should Come to Los Angeles
What Amusements Would He Ap-
prove?" The text was from Ecclesias-
tes ga, "a time to weep and a time To
laugh" DR.. Locke said in part:
"A merry heart doeth good like a
medicine is a proverb of the Bible.
There is a note of joy throughout the
Bible. Good hunor has a wide mission.
Recreation is as necessary as creation.
A man who never rests will soon cease
to labor. If Christ were to come among
us what would he do with our amuSe-
ments? Are we not coming to be d
frivolous people? All amusenents
should be stimulating and not enervat-
ing to our physical natures; they should
furnish US relaxation for our minds
without vitiatiOn, and should prove a
tonic to our nerve energies. He who
poisons his mind with his pleasures
cannot hope to have his mind pure for
his daily tasks.
MANY pleasures today are so full of
frivohty and dissipation that people
must go home to rest when their out
ings, which were intended for recupera-
tion, are ended. The evil things we see
and hear come back to US to make us
evil; as a man thinketh, SO is he. We
should not seek for amusement at the
expense of the people who are as much
entitled to rest and pleasure as our
selves. Much of the Sabbath desecra-
ton today requires a multitude of wor-
thy people to labor seven days a week.
Neither should our amusements be per-
mitted to treSpaSs upon the established
principles of right and wrong. Evil is
always insidious.
Would DenoUnce Theater
'If Jesus Christ were to come to Los
Angeles would he not severely denounce
the modern theater? If you would
know the morals of a people, see how
they pass their evenings and hours of
recreation. 1 do not inveigh tonight
against the good men and women who
may be identified with the nations
amusements, but I would fail in my
duty to this congregation if 1 remained
silent while this great evil, sometimes
insidiously, more often aggressively,
continues to defile and deSpoil society.
1.-THE editor of the Portland Ore
gonian, one of the acknowledged great
journalists of this country, a man who
does not write from the viewpoint of a
churchman, says in an editorial: The
fact is that the commercial spirit has
taken possession of the dramatist and
box office. The only question either one
cares to ask is will it draw? Owing
to this we have drunkenness and adul-
terry portrayed as eXcruciating jokes.
Sympathy is courted for the libertines
of both sexes; escapadeS are treated as
harmless pleasantrieS, and complicated
situations are created in which the
sense of right and wrong is hopeleSsly
confused. Every play in which the mo-
tive power turns about the sexual pas
sion is indecent Every play where
wrong is gilded over with wit, -humor
~ y 11,rr
where the marriage is treated as any
thing else than sacred and irrefra gable
sets the foundation of society to crumb-
ling
Probably the most faithful charac-
terizatiOn Of the present day theaters
has been given to US recently by Will
liam Winter. the most distinguished
dramatic critic of our day. He says:
Our theater is still largely in the
clutches of hucksters bent on appealing
to the lower instincts of the mob. You
cannot deIuge the human mind for two
or three hours with the Shiny details
Of depravity, disease and crime and
then purify it with little squib of
moral precept.
Season of Pruriency
The present dramatic season has
started with story of f1orid didactiC-
ism about amatory incontinence; q
story of infidelity in marriage and the
consequences thereof and two versions
of story of depravity, adultery, dis
ease, madness and murder. There are,
Of course, other plays and clean ones;
but those dramas Of carnal passion and
misery are the conspicuous features Of
the moment in our theater. Those are
the plays for which attention has been
especially claimed, and upon which it
has been especially bestowed. Who is
the better for them? The same old dis
tressing picture is shown, and the same
old rancid scrap of stale morality is
dangled before the public nose as if
any human being having access to the
New Testament stands in the slightest
need of preceptS cOmmendatOry of
access to the newspapers has any need
Of additional information as to crea-
lures of depravity, deeds of crime and
scenes of horror
"a brilliant young actress when
pressed for a reason why she always
played the part of the most depraved
characters frankly confessed that these
parts were forced upon her by her
managers. Thus is evil in it's lowest
forms ingratiated by the representa-
tions of a talented and beautiful
woman.
''The theater .outrageously assails the
Sanctity of the marriage VOW, and is
the most fruitful cause of the curse of
divorce in our country. The theater
discounts personal character and integ-
rity, it burlesques patriotism and jeers
at the home and the church. It ought
to be pursued and driven out-aS we
would be rid of obscenity, arson and
smallpox. 1t is pestiferous contagion
and should be quarantined and fumi-
gated. It is a despoiler of our boys
WTTm az TRrn