Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-14
BY W. HERBERT BLAKE


TN HESE are the days Of the hybrid
in the drama. We seldom hear
II nowadays of farces, comedies or
tragedies Instead we have comedy
dramas. farce-comedies, musical COM
edies. The Cohan brand of entertain
ment has been not inaptly styled mu-
steal melodrama. Most recent So
called melodramas are melo-comedles'
or even melo-farces. We eagerly await
the appearance of the musical farce-
tragedy.
The tendency is interesting as show
ing the disposition on the part of play
builders to produce a varied form OF
entertainment, of general interest ana
almost universal appeal. Its weakness
is it's failure to achieve its own end.
Everyone is interested in good COM
edy or a good tragedy. This Is why
what we call the classics have sur
ViVed. Every healthy minded person
likes a good, sound farce Even the
comic opera, properly speaking, was
not a blend of two things, but new
creation, far more truly so than is
the grand opera There is a spirit,
flavor, a tang to such as the Gll-
bert and Sullivan pieces, or the vi
ennese frivols which mark them as
distinct type or class Of entertain
ment. They are an entity, not ire
uuently ludicrous composite, like "Lu-
cia" or Fedora" They are not for
ever dissolving into their elements of
song and dance and chat. The con-
Versation is Vocalized. The hero
breaks forth into song, as many a
young lover has done or lOnged to do
in the heyday of his passion. The
score and the dance are unified in
stacatto patter. The net effect is
IA f,.1F Fr4ff Of aV~ta mt a I
fractions.
The recent drift away from this ideal
of entertainment is seen in the in
crease of collaborating agents in the
production of drama. For a musical
comedy we have commonly a libret-
tst, a lyricist, composer. Sometimes
we have two or more of each. Then
there are numerous interpolators. in
cluding the all-assuming stage mana
ger. Each puts in his oar and each
shoyes the boat in a different direction.
The compass itself is perpleXed to in
dicate accurately which way the craft
is headed. The outcome is often
monstrosity which blunts the individu-
ality of the original authors by mutu-
ally checkmating it. The composite
pudding is cooked by a small army,
each of whom, unlike the celebrated
Jack Horner, puts IN his plum.
To be worth while a drama or the
Veriest shred of a drama must bear
the imprint of personality. When
many folk toll a the same job, except
each have his technical place, the re-
suit may have a certain massive phys
ical perfection, but it is as lacking in
definite significance as a post on which
a number of youthful sculptOrs have
chiseled each his undying name while
waiting for the village train to pay
it's due devoir and depart. The prin-
ciple of division of industry has only
a relative value in the realm of art
Any other theory Of workmanship is as
senseless in its ultimate result as to
make a dramatic criticism a sort Of
game in which anyone and everyone so
inclined shall add word after word,
each with his separate viewpoint and
intention as to the whole.
If the goal of the modern drama is
compleXity, it appears to be i'm a fair
way of reaching it. But from a wider
perspective it would appear that the
present tendency toward the compli-
Gated and the ornate is bound to have
its reaction. The pendulum will swing
back-or forward, as you will-to the
ideal of simplicity. We shall cease To
head north by northeast, and i'm good
time we shall cease to tack. A COM
pick people makes a complex drama.
AS the coming American shall emerge
from the cosmopolitan intermingling of
races and nations now proceeding, he
will find his theater has passed
through the same process of elimina-
tion and publication, The result will
doubtless adapt itself as need may be
to changing conditions, but its method
and its style will be found to base
themselves again upon the master
pieces of the wise men who labored in
the memorable days long past.