The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-22
THE AMERICAN STAGE.
Is Becoming Almost IntoIerably ln-
 decent

"The stage is attempting to achieve freedom which it can interpret into filth" says Samuel Hopkins Adams in his article, The Indecent Stage, in the May American Magazine. 'Fhere are times when it is desirable to be frank on forbidden topics" comments the ed- itor in a foreword and MT. Adams has no hesitation in calling a spade a spade. He says:
 At one period of the present theat- rical season, one-ffth of all the dra- matic presentments in New oYrk were of dubious character using the ad1ec- tive in it's most charitable sense. Hah a dozen of them were sheer physical brutishness the appeal to the fahoo that turks within all of us, to the beast that we hold in leash, out of respect to ourselves and to our fellows. Sensu- ality it is called in men. In women it is named, more politely, curoslty' To the police of all the cities it IS Ia miliar in the worst and extremest type of slum-party. The Paris guide, that loathsome fattener on the vices of oth- CTS, lives from it. It pays the wine bills in the brothels of New Orleans, Chicago and Denver. To stimulate this appetite, to divert it to it's own profit, is the pres ent design of the enterprising and pro gressive theatrical manager
 Bold frankness of exploitation char acterizes the attempt, "A Spicy Salad' with Very Little Dressing, is the lure thrown out in print by one manager The Show That Made Trenton Famous, is another catchline, the production which it advertises having been sup pressed in the New Jersey capital Again. prurient farce from the Ger man takes extra advertising space m the metropolitan press, ostensibly to pub fish the fact that it's performance was permitted in certain outside cities, but the leer of the sagacious manager is only too apparent. The real meaning for the conveyance of which to the pub lie mind hard money has been paid' IS that the play is such as to invite sup pression. Thus lhe question is put fairly and squarely. Can the worst be made to pay? If it pays, 1t will be produced
 on what follows, be 1t remembered, I am not discussing the typical Amerl- can drama, but a definite, dangerous, and influential type of stage presenta- ton which is becoming Americanized. For the influence comes largely from without Propriety has always been, If not the invariable rule, at least the touchstone of our stage. Classics such as Faust have been edited down to it's requirements. Raw Shakespeare IS still too much for us. Occasional lapses there have been, wherein the profitable Yahoo has had his appetite appeased' but they have been sporadic until the present phase. Never has there been time when the phallic sign might simui- taneously have been displayed above the doors of four New York theatres, as ap- propriately as at the entrance to the lupanaria of decadent Rome. True, there was The Black Crook 30 years ago, and one or two others of it's ilk, designated in the bated breath of those naive and prudent days as 1eg-shows.' By what printable anatomical term, If one may so speculate. could the modern Salome dance be completely described, to the old-time 'rounder' of Nibbo's GardenY If Faust elevated the startled eye brows of a generation ago, what would have been thought of The Devil whlch has all the diabolicism of Faust mod ernized and vulgarized, without one re- deeming touch of the great dramas po- etic and moral beauty?
 '"rhe musical shows in their incep- ton, lost nothing of brightness or gay ety by being decent As I remember the first of the famous Casino produc- tions The Passing Show there was not a situation or line in 1t that could offend And this has been, though not without exceptions, the general rule, right up to 'Florodora' and The Red MIL The problem of sex which, in one form or another must be the vital element in all emotional representation of human life. was, up to svithin recent years, handled either charily or with entire seriousness. Where the seamy side of life was presented, the presen- tation comprised more sense of moral and less of physical proportions than today. Ten years ago we did not chuckle over adultery or joke about prostitu- tion."