The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1909-12-24
MORA DtCiM n eAAA.

A great DIAL Is being written in
this day and time on the decline in
the literary and artistic tone of the
plays that are being put on the
stsge. To the same extent there is
a strong downward movement in
their morality. It would be proper
III considering this matter to ~,
back to the novels that ar beng
turned out in an avalanche from
the press, because the plays that are
put on the stage today are merely
dramatizations of the stories that
make up the output Of modern fc-
ton.
In What is called literary fiction
there has been a great change in
recent years in what is necessary to
please the popular taste. The peo-
pie who were once guided by the
critics, have como to judge for
themselves, and while the stories
that are praised the most by those
who profess to apply the tastes OF
literary standard only sell to the
numbers of a few thousands each,
those which are regarded as the
baldest sort Of trash run into the
hundred thousands issues, and nat
urally the writer of real literature
must be more or less mortified to
find that so few persons care for his
books in comparison with the rank
stuff that is pleasing possibly mil
lions of readers and is filing the
pockets of the panderers to popular
taste.
Some years ago the stage favor.
ties were plays in which there was
3. great deal of wild and daring ad-
venture and a great deal of wrong
doing, but the doors of evil were al
ways brought to justice, or even
more summary retribution. But
the appetite for poetic justice is be-
ing dulled, and today there is more
sympathy with a clever and good
looking criminal than with the in
nocents whom he has wronged, and
no stage story is rejectel because of
any strong flavor of immortality it
may have.
II is natural that the blame of
the decline in the character of the
drama be loaded on the manager,
but it is doubtful if all the blame
can be charged to him. He is only
the creature that Goethe portrayed
in his Preface to Faust. He is more
or less governed by the box Office
receipts, and when q play pays that
is a sign that it meets the popular
demand. It would be foolish to at
tempt to force plays on the people
when they will not 60 to see them.
A writer, who deplores the de
parture of the old stock company
popularity, declares that even when
there was no long runs there was a
good all around average. Actors
were content to remain with the
same company. The result was
consistency, harmony and satisfac-
ton to all concerned. One cannot
fail to note one phenomenon result
ing from this overwhelming selfish
ness of the manager, whose greed
exceeds that of any known animal;
people are rapidly losing all interest
in the really intellectual dramas and
are cultivating q taste for vaude
vile and the music hall. The only
hopeful sign he sees in the modern
management of the theatre is that
the competition among dramatic au-
thorsis 80 keen that a higher q~la]ity
of humor and comedy is slowly be-
coming apparent. There would also
seem to be a strong reaction Oh the
part of educated people against the
poor stuff thrown at them across the
footlights, so that the unedu"ateb
may be dazzled by sensation and
elaborate staging, all of which sig
nlfes nothing in point of instruct
iveness. And az the thinking POI
ton of human society makes the
theatre q profitable possibility, it
seems likely that the manager may
amend his method, be more aitru.
istic, when his best clients begin 10
fail off.
No such reaction has yet started
The public appetite for trash has
rot yet been aDnnaaed Crime and