Arizona republican., 1909-02-17

raid on an establishment which would not be mentioned before decent wo- men. Men in their clubs may have talked among therf1selves of such scenes and of such persons, but thow would you feel some evening to have your 16-year-old daughter opeh up a dinner table dissertation on subjects to which you wouldn't think of allud- ing before a decent woman? The mo- ment such play appears and becomes known about town its drawing power is limitetf to the people who care for it and who do not care what other people think or say, There are not many such except in large cities, and because these malodorbus productions can not hope to succeed in smaller communities, where this element Is too small to pay a profit. they can not hope to live longer than they can interest metropolitan centers.
 The Problem Confronts the Coun-
 try No.
 But-and here's the rub-if this wave of suggestive drama, vaudeville and musical comedy continues to grow bigger, its audience is bound to in crease The children of today are go- ing to be the play going adults of to- morrow If they acquire a taste for the immoral in theatricaIs while they are young, they will demand its satis- faction when they are older, and with the increase in the demand there will come, naturally, a further increase in the supply. And there you are. That is the problem which Gpnfronts this country right now. It has confronted other countries in the past, and largely because they Individually have failed to solve it we are being flooded with an overflow of theatrical sewage from artistically decadent Europe. AS sure ly as the theater is one of the greatest factories in molding manners and nor als, just so surely will this flood of perverting theatricals have it's effect on American life of the next genera ton.
 The hope of the American drama rests with the playgoers outside New York Our biggest city is partly freak religions, who practice freak oc- cupations, and who enjoy freak the atricals. A freak play which pleases their freak fancies can be tremendous ly successful as long as it remains in Gotham, just as the other and bet ter kind of attraction can-for there are all Kinds of folk residing at the south of the Hudson. But the mo- ment one of these freak productions lifts its anchor and starts out on that mysterious thoroughfare known in theater land as "The Road it meets a different reception. Especially is this true if it smacks of the Tender loin, the Latin quarter, or women of the half-world. As long as this con dition obtains the American drama is safe. The moment the south and the middle west acquire an appetite for the bizarre look out
 We Must Keep the Stage Clean.
 To make the stage clean tomorrow We must keep it clean today. It will be fatal error to our national prog ress to let 1t reflect the rottenness- even the giIded rottenness-of life Sunshine is the light that counts. Two hours of it mean more to the world than twelve hours of electricity. Why depict the sordid things that exist in the dark? Invariably a pIaywright's excuse is that these things exist-they are truths-truths that we try to cover and keep from our homes. What good is to come of our dragging them shrieking and blinking to the foot lights and exposing them there to the aters full of amusement-loving people? A manager, often called the "Melo- drama King" told me, a few days ago, ha price thrillers successfully without having wayward girls and slum life in the spot light. I produced Via Wireless" a high-price melodrama, with the aid of neither. and venture the prediction that it will succeed monumentally for years to come. Do you suppose for an instant that the plays of Charles Klein, George Broad hurst, Augustus Thomas and Eugene Presbrey are not made more valuable financially and artistically by their freedom from filth? Of course you don't. Nine-tenths of the American theater-goers are good. and have a wholesome admiration for decent things and decent people depicted in an interesting way. That's why they still prefer the writings of possibly in ferior native playwrights, whose nor als are clean. to the clever works of French, English and Italian drama- lists. whose plays reflect the very thing we must avoid-artistic deca- dence.
 "A place for your wife. your moth CT, your sister, and your sweetheart" Is the label I tackled on Luna Park when I first opened it. It's there yet and will remain as long as I am pro- prietor. It is my motto in theatricals. and l believe it good enough to pass along. Properly lived up to it can not fail of profit. While some are selling the hcentious for profit, I think I will get higher price for the cleanly.
 A MEMORIAL SERVIcE-The W. c. T. U. will hold a Francis Willard memorial service at the home of Mrs