Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-06
BY w. HERBERT BLAKE

w Ter OIL the tHdlT Oh EHBllSu vi
the University of Michigan told
a local audience that 1.-THE Witching
Hour and 1.-THE Servant in the House"
were proofs of the renaissance of pop
ular mysticism she might have gone
further and found in the stage itself
the eternal exponent of romantic ver-
ity. From the very first miracle play,
conceived in the heart of the mediaeval
church, to George Arliss' Devil the
drama is all on the side of the super
natural And, conversely, one notes
with interest that it is usually the ra-
tionalistic camp among the modern
clergy which is arrayed against the
primitive gayeties of the footlights.
Mrs. Potter's study of the modern
drama unearths the same human motif
in such differing plays as Augustus
Thomas hypnotic comedy and Maeter-
lincks "Pelleas and Melisande." The
American view of mysticism, as the
stage voices it. she finds "at once child
like and practical" The same might
be said of the popular American at
titude toward the stage. Not even our
critics in this country are blase, and
even William Winter and Alan Dale
occasionally enjoy a performance. In
our restless intellectual analysis of
every other aspect of life. the play
house is still a city of refuge for tired
souls. We all believe in fairies-When
Peter Pan is the priest of the super
natural No sooner have the material
lists dissipated our faith in original sin
and the spiritual embodiment of evil
than we find the former treading the
boards in the persons of innumerable
Salomes, and 1.-The Devil riots in fam
ing crimson from the billboards at our
elbow The modern drama may not
be moral but it is certainly more
orothodox than many a theological
seminary
Whence comes this elemental con-
servatism of the theater? Why does
the vivisecting problem play fail and
the crude "heart" drama succeed?
Why does a distinctvely "intellectuaP
actress like Mrs. Fiske reject a dozen
delicate comedy roles for a rough,
gripping. evangelical appeal in "Salva-
ton Nell'? What secret alchemy has
made popular price classics of EVERY
man" and "Parsifal'?
| think we must renew our allegt-
ance to the gallery god. To get at the
knack of commercial success in the
mimic world we must make ourselves
small, as did Alice in Wonderland.
When Belasco tells us he finds his dra
matte material in the unconscious sug-
gestions of the man in the street we
should take him at his word. The
kingdom of romance, like the kingdom
of heaven. is within the hearts of the
masses The great artists only make
it visible and tangible They hold the
mirror up to the heart of the common
man. and common men acclaim the re-
Election true
But it is in the average vaudeville
bill that the poor whom the world and
the philosophers defraud regain their
birthright. Who will be the poet to
visualize the magic which inhares in
the prineVal monotOny of the Juggling
balls or the flying trapeze? Why does
the sober citizen who sells furniture or
stove polish by day become an emo
tional inebriate over spangles and
capering toes? If it is all bestiality,
then was King David merely british
when he danced and sang at the bring
ing of the ark to Jerusalem, under the
sneering eyes of the arch-ratiOnalist
Michel? If the rage for musical COM
edy is all sensual and debased, how eX
plain the permanence Of the simple
banal love song, which every Keen
eyed manager knows is his surest re-
course?
The truth is, the playhouse is the
citadel of two flags on which the mod
ern world is Intellectually training it's
heaviest guns-Romance and Democ
racy. The ancient pagan joy which the
CnuTCn Oh IHe Ulluuie ages Win All IT'S
excesses, guarded for man as it did its
very life, has been outlawed alike by
good society and the prophets of
new social order To the newer
evangels, like Bernard Shaw, we are
either Supermen or insects, without a
chance of fun or frolic in either ca
pacity. Ibsen rears the standard of
revolt, but cannot show us the path to
the Joy of life. Weary and dsheart-
ened, we turn to the modern mystics.
And they are only the elder mystics in
masque and domino. THE Servant in
the House" is "The Invisible Prince"
of the fairy book. THE Devil is
Faust's chummy and terrible Mephisto,
"Everyman" is indeed every man. And
in "Parsifar' we see our own tortured,
struggling souls. even as we know the
gods for kinsmen in the music cycles
of Wagner
The guardian fairies Of stageland are
all democrats and romanticists For
king and page toiler and esthete, drab
and belle alike, their wands reopen the
gates Of that Eden wherefrom the an
gel with flaming sword bars all who
come not with the spirit of the little
child.