The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-03-13
A CLEANER THEATER.

art for arts sake" used to be defense put
forward by theater managers or press agents or
whoever had the job of defending some particular
y offensive play but of late the plea has lost much
of its force because the public has come to under
stand that there has been much real harm done by
certain productions. and the men who are trying
to please the public have found that nastiness
on the stage has niuriously affected the box Office
receipts sc we nave effort entirely ASSOCIATED
from any church or other "meddlesome" organiza.
ton to insist a cleaner form of entertainment
This is as it should be. In Protestant America,
where the protestations of the church against
any form of immortality and vice, if Needed would
take away mans Freedom" the peculiar obscenty
of certain stage productions has developed such
a degree of nastiness that decent men and women
outside the many churches have joined forces with
the religious organizations in a demand for ces-
sation of the artistic" plays. Klaw & Erlanger,
the Frohmans and other prominent theatrical
leaders and promoters, have put ban certain
classes of productions. and have been assured
that the passing Of the problem drama. the
Saphos, the Salomes and others of their kind is at
hand. God grant that such may be the case
All of use who believe the stage offers form
of entertainment and education, who believe the
art of the theater can be made a pleasing and
profitable form of amusement for the people, will
join hands in encouraging the movement which
has for It's object the putting out of existence of
plays which teach a doubtful lesson. and which
pour suggestions into the mind through the eye
and ear which would attempt to describe
in decent company. The attitude Of the church OH
this matter has always been just what this new
movement represents. Sometimes it takes the pub
lie long time to come around to the church's way
of thinking, but it eventually gets there
In so-called musical comedy and on the vaude
vile stage the offenses against decency have been
more pronounced than in the legitimate field,
though fortunately the people of Salt Lake have
been spared to a very large extent from the in1ic-
ton of the worst. The vaudeville houses here have
generally been clean and wholesome and the zen
tertainments" which create furore i'll New York
find the field of the metropolis so inviting that
they seldom wander far away from home, for which
of the west are, and ought to be. very thankful
Only occasionally does some play of doubtful
morality reach Salt Lake, but the lovers of the
drama should be spared even the occasional pre-
sensations which excite, sicken and disgust
Decent people do not go into the underworld to
seek entertainment. and the stage should not be
made medium for bringing the underworld before
decent people. They not interested in the char
acters there found do not care to associate with
them even for a moment. and certainly they can
derive mental or moral uplft from seeing
vivid stage picture of their escapades. 1t may be
art. but there is so much art i'll the world so
many pleasing and uplifting things which can be
produced on the stage, that it is entirely unneces
sary to seek the doubtful. so say nothing of the
immoral, to furnish entertainment for the public.
We are glad the managers who have in the past
been identified with advanced art" have discovered
there are more decent people who attend theaters
than others, and that they have decided to sin no
more in this regard The stage may be helpful
and clean. Let us have it SO.