The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-11-14
BEHIND THE CURTAIN.

Hall Game had a jolly time recently
fencing with the censorship committee
in the house of parliament. He thinks
the play censor should be abolished. He
sat facing a semi-crcular table, behind
which were ranged a select assortment of
NJ. P.'s, who acted as inquisitors. The
room faced the sunlit waters of the
Thames. and was comfortably filled with
about one hundred of the theatrical elect.
There is not, nor ever, has been,
play reader said Mr.: Caine. He is
only a manuscript reader"
In discussing the morality of the play
'Monna Wanna" was referred to.
I'm the book" said Mr.. Game, she
comes into the tent nude, while in the
play she is wrapped in a cloak.
But" queTied Lord Plymouth does
not the fact that the audience knows she
is nude under that cloak lead to evil
thoughts?"
ARE we not all nude under our cloaks?"
do you consider Mr.. George Edwardes,
who is a supporter of the censor, a good
judge Of the morality of the stage?
Possibly, from the Gaiety standpoint.
Have you ever been in the Gaiety thea
tre?' asked Colonel Lockwood from be-
hind an enormous boutonniere.
MANY times, but not by way Of the
stage door"
Commenting on the evidence Of Sir VIII
liam Gilbert with regar dtO the difference
between novels and plays, Mr.. Game said
Sir William chose a most unhappy Illus
tration when he said a novel might say
quite harmessly, Eliza slipped off her
dressing gown and got into her bath,
but Eliza couldn't be allowed to do so
on the stage. The implication was that
the effect in the drama would be more
demOralizing, yet the truth was exactly
the reverse. ELIAS action on the stage
would only provoke a roar Of laughter,
before which the poor actress would fly,
or ehe would
The truth was that bath was an eX-
tremely familiar piece of property in
plays.
yes, with Eliza in it; but generally be-
hind screen.
Benedick fancied himself as a twirler,
for he boasts, He that hits me. let him
be clapped on the shoulder" and it must
have been a pitcher or coacher in Loves
Labor Lost who cried:
Thou canst not hit il, hit il, hit it;
Thou canst not hit, my good man"
To which Boyet who probably struck
out says: And 1 cannot, another can.
ter" one "who makest a show but darest
not strike" And Henry V cries hope
fully. And so 1 shall catch the fly.
But we think he lost it in the sun. Have
'larums?" asks Petruchio- We have.
such as the swat of willow on pigskin
when a pitcher blows up.
1t is the veteran Falstaff who re-
marks: Here's no scoring but upon the
plate" Sir John had seen lots of men
left on third, you see. A custom of the
bleachers is alluded to when old Uncle
Pandarus, anxious to stand UP and
stretch himself between innings, says to
Cressida:
''Hark, they are coming from the field,
shall we stand up here and see them as
they pass? Good niece, do, sweet Niece
Cressida."
Cressida: AT your pleasure"
Pandarus: Here, here, here's an ex-
cellent place; here we may see most
bravely I'll tell you them all by their
names as they pass by. but mark Troilus
above the rest" Pandarus had a score
card, but wanted to let on to the lady
that he knew the heroes personally.
Louis Napoleon Parker, the dramatist
and director of pageants, explains how
he happens to bear the name he does.
cat the time Of my BIRTH" he says, my
parents were travelling in France in the
remote Norman district called Calvados.
This was the year 1852. l was born a
dying infant 1t was necessary to give
Just been made president of the French
republic. and the government official who
registered my birth named me after the
risen imperial star"
Mr. Parker. who has directed most of
the famous English pageants of the last
plays at Warwick and Dover, defines
them as plays dealing alphabetically with
the history of town or locality" He
wrote Rosemary" in which John Drew
first appeared as star, and sold the
rights to Sir Charles Wyndham for 81
800. The thrifty Sir Charles has made
thousands upon thousands of dollars from
the investment