Omaha daily bee., 1909-03-14
LONDON INTELLECTUAL NOW
Great Demand Exists for Literary
Lions at Dinner.
POETS LICENSE AT POETS CLUB
NumberIcss clubs that Discuss All
Kiuds of Questions-First of All
Are the Societies for Ele-
waiting the Drama.

LONDON. March 13.-There is no place
in all the world where lions can he made
to roar so easily and entertainingly as
they dc in London. High-browed intellec-
utahty is the English fad Of the present
day, and debating clubs, clubs for the ele-
walton of the drama. for the discussion
Of poetry and for social Improvement exist
in legions, and to their meetings most will
ingly come the intellectual lions and read
papers or lead discussions.
First of all there are the societies for
the elevation of the drama, any number
OF them, with new ones cropping up all
the time. Plawwrights offer their plays
gratuitUusly to these organizations In the
nope that a performance will bring at least
recognition Of their merit. Actors who
have for years been established London
favorites give their services at a small fee
for the mere Joy of acting before a really
intelligent audience.
performances are given on Sunday even
ings, and it is possible to spend every
Sunday at the theater il one wishes to
subscribe freely to all the societies. They
must be supported entirely by subscrip-
ton, for If tickets were sold the censor
would be able To prohibit many of the
plays and the rigorous English Sunday
laws would stop the breaking Of the Sab
bath.
Work of stage Society.
The Stage society is the largest, best
known and most successful of these or
CARNATIONS. Such men as Bernard Shaw,
William Archer and Granville Baker were
among the founders, and now after ten
years they still give a great deal OF time
TO the reading and selection of suitable
plays and the production of them, while
such actors as Fisher White, Leon Quar-
termaine, Norman Mackinnel and Henry
Ainley and such actresses as Ethel Irving,
Hilda T~revelyan, Marion Terry, Lillah
Mccarthy and Margaret Halston, whose
names are household words in London.
give their services.
The Pioneers and the English Play So
ciety are other organizations of the same
sort. They succeed in getting well known
managers like Sir Charles Wyndham, Fred
erick Harrison, Arthur Bourchier and j.
Grant Allen among their subscribers and
helpers.
Then there are the Sunday night debat-
ing clubs which discuss the drame some
times over dinner tables, some times with
out any feast save that of reason. OF these
the o. p. club, the Dramatic Debaters and
the P~laygoers are the best known.
The o. Z. club has a Sunday even
ing dinner at which speeches are
made, with some actress in the chair to
call upon the speakers. Miss Marie 1Ohr,
Miss Constance Collier, Miss Dofothea
Baird and Miss Ellen Terry nave all pre-
sided there, and Max Beerhohm, II. Il.
Irving and Mostyn Pigott have been re-
cent attractions.
The o. p. not long ago got
particularly frivolous and invited the whole
Merry Widow" company to dinner, an
invitation accepted with alacrity. Maud
Allen gave them n deep and soulful lecture
on dancing and it's meaning the other sun
day. How they succeeded in Turing her
to their dinner no one knows, but she came
and talked about terpsichorian art far less
ably than she exhibits it at the Palace
Music hall.