Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-15
BY W. HERBERT BLAKE

II per exploits some petty scandal
- in the life of an obscure actress 1t
pays unconscious homage to the popu-
lar ideal and tradition of the stage. A
scandal behind the wings is good
news" for the precise reason that a
similar happening in the underworld
is dead matter" and the persisting
perception of the public that personal
virtue and heroism are essential 10
great acting is responsible for thls
canon of the copy desk. Every auditor
has an idealized conception of his IA
vorite actor-hence the amusing deVel-
opments of the matinee Idol craze in
America. When that idol falls there
is a "story," there is news, and the
value of the news is exactly proper
toned to the degree of faith which has
been surprised into momentary dlsllIu-
sion.
1t was Oscar Wilde who sang that
leach man kills the thing he loves
saying whose theological and artistic
significance never has been fully
grasped by his commentators. 1t Is
human to be amazed at the dethrone-
ment of an ideal. Even those who
have not worshiped at its shrine are
pleasurably excited at the blows of the
jconoclast. The true devotee, on the
other hand, is merely grieved and goes
about seeking some other stage hero
on whom to pin his faith. That taith
itself is ineradicable in the popular
mind. Indeed, 1t is essential to the
apprehension of a masterpiece that we
believe in the honor and sincerity Ut
the men and women who are enacting
it, Forever, under the wand OF the
great dramatists, this spell is being
woven about us. this message is reach-
ing our hearts. We leave the play
house in a glow of enthusiasm, tread
l,a ~ hGpU r.
nate for US. Our inner synthesis or
goodness and beauty has been visual
ized.
Then comes the newspaper. The
neWspaper exists TO amaze Its ethical
function is to shake the body polltc
from a too oblivious surrender to an
unthinking optimism into a realization
of concrete facts. Its artistic function
is TO astonish. Something new about
something old, what we don't know
about what we do know; so might the
commodity, news, be roughly defined.
More than any other human institu-
tion. the newspaper practically relies
on popular faith. We must believe in
a thing before we can be shocked or
startled about any new development
connected with that thing. To be hor-
rifed at a murder we must believe
there is such a thing as murder and
such a thing as horror. We must be
lieve, very likely unconsciously that
murder is horrible. To be interested in
the misdeeds of an actor, senator, a
social leader, a clergyman or the otil-
cial of a labor union we must believe
in the stage, government, society, the
church and the value of industrial or
ganization. All these are ideals, and
surprised ideals are the newspaper s
stock in trade-not because it so de-
sres, but because of the measureless
and gigantic human instinct for curl
Osity and astonishment. If we did not
believe in the ideal and actual purity
of these institutions we should accept
the occasional derelictOns Of their rep
resentatiVes with yaWn of resigna-
ton Doubtless some over-blase and
incredulous folk do, just as swearing
in time becomes too "superstitious' a
thing for those who DO not believe in
a Cod But for the ma sses the biggest
type and the reddest ink never blot out
the immemorial mysteries Of life, and
among these the mystery Of the stage
IS ever real and ever vivid.
When scandal smrches the most in
significant chorus girl in a second rate
musical company we read of it with
avidity. Is this wholly a prurient in
quisittveness? I think not. ii is rather
the sharp and tingling consciousness
forced upon MS that a member of pro
fession toward which we have looked
which HpprOXimates perfection, has
stepped out of the picture. We do NOT
cease to admire and respect the pic
ture. We rather marvel that it holds
It's place in the frame, and are thank
full, too. But we watch the figure that
has stepped down from the frame of
our idealization. We read the "story.'
So our avid reading Of theatrical
scandal proves our unbOunding faith in
the Stage as an institution, Il power
for good, as for evil a great mystery
which all the intestinal revelations of
back stage and switchboard and scene
shifting in the magazines cannot quite
ratioualize. Now and then some
actress, wounded professionally by the
jeering publicity given 10 the misdee1s
of her humber fellow workers, protests
in q spirit of delicious sciOus-
ness. Delicious? Yes, and pathetic, too.
Such is the interesting article, of fine
perceptive idealism, by Mabel ITALIA
ferrO in the current Success. Her most
pointed criticism of the press is cN-
pressed because, as she declares, il
ignores the scandals in high society
giving the erTing anomalies OF stage
folk the preference in point Of type
and Spread" But, granting that un-
subsidized newspapers ever willingly
ignore a society scandal, which / doubt