Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-26
By w. HERBERT BLAKE

"A swift to respond to the festal
spirit Actors feel Christmas in the
air, so to speak, long weeks before
shopping becomes a burden, and the
postman's daily delivery dreaded or
deal to that august functionary. Prob
ably that is because most actors are
healthy-minded children at heart, to
whom the great years are so many un-
winding tapestries whereon to dance
and sing and frolc. Certain 1t is that
to step inside a playhouse during holi-
day week is to enter a place Of print
tive and abounding joy. Savage farces
grow unconsciously humane and ten
der-hearted with the leaping spirits OF
the players who enact them. stern
and forblddlng problem plays take on
sly ways of wit and Celtic frivolity.
George Bernard Shaw smiles without
a sneer. Charles Klein moralizes with
out a sermon. (Sir) Arthur Wing Pi-
nero forgets he is a bart. and gets
shamelessly drunk on the glees and ter
rors OF simple, unpestcred folk Even
critics of the drama have been known
TO smile-timorously. For two short
weeks the stage touches equally the
life OF the common man, and then goes
buoyantly forth to face the riddles of
the universe, which it, like every 9TH
er institution of mans making, must
wrestle with in fear and undying hope
From constant parallel study of cur
rent books and reigning plays | have
come to the conclusion that the thea
ter at its best and worst is far
decenter and moro kindly place to live
in than modern book covers Public
opinion, no less than physical neces-
sity, fixes certain bounds beyond which
no successful playwright may set his
foot The general public is saner and
more moral than the reading public.
The crowd is kinder than the philoso-
pliers or the loglcians. Courtesy is a
human instinct, not an intellectual alb
straction. 1t is amusing to observe the
curious mutual restraint with which
the individual units Of an audience re-
act one upon another. Scientifically
speaking, no one mans opinion Of a
play is quite his own. He may have
controlling conviction that certain
thing Is well done or i'll done, or is not
worth attempting. That conviction viii
II guide his thought and talk about the
play, as north star guides the mariner
He may lose his compass, but the north
star appears TO be tolerably enduring.
But TO modify and modulate that con-
viction there swarm about him the hiv
ing thoughts and emotions, silent and
vocal of the audience. If he Is honest,
our friend the much-abused average
man, does not shut his eyes or his ears
to these homing bees. In the democ-
racy of art every citizen has a vote,
and every vote affects every other
For this reason, the opinion of an audi
ence at play is a definite and a uni
fled thing, however difficult to under
stand. Everybody votes freely and
carelessly, as sometimes at a primary.
The hard job is to count the returns.
Any play can be novelized, and, If
capably done, the product may readily
become one of the coveted six best
Sellers" But the novel that can be sue
cessfully dramatiZed is as rare as q
four-leafed clover. This is not purely
a matter of morals, although from OBJ
servation of their work, printed or
acted l should say that the average
playwright or actor is far cleaner in
mind than the average popular novel
ist of the day. II is practical matter
as simple as props. A book is a prop
to the mind Props are useful, but not
Indispensable. A play is a more intricate
thing. Any play, to win, must con-
vince us To do so, IL must reflect a
certain standard of justice and mercy,
or if you will have it SO, of fitness and
tolerance. A book may be purely in
= telectual, so far as any creature of
imam can be, A play cannot even be
purely motional-although some mis-
guided actresses have tried pathetic
ally to prove just that thesis. For a
play must reflect in radiant or sorrbw-
"a tul nueS the llI6 llldI We i've. ana IndL
life has been a bit too much for the
descriptive and definitive powers of the
qseenest minds who have tried to cir
I cumscribe ii in any narrow orbit.
vicious or an unsymmetrical play
lacks ballast and balance. Nobody
knows what the playwright means. He
may be right or wrong, for all we know
One thing we do know, he does not
make his meaning clear. He is a
a sophist. While he tells us one thing, he
y is bent on our thinking another. His
double entendre Is not habit of
morals but habit of mind. He can't
think straight. He needs a straitjacket
The play which pulls us up in our
seats with jerk of joy or a grunt of
anger is one which impresses us either
as living panorama of life or a phil
osophic digest of its meaning. To get
the money and the hands drama
cannot be a mere impressionistic re-
nection of a morbidly fascinating per
sonality, as can a novel; We will never
see Marie Bashkirtseff on the stage, or
even poor little Mary Maclane. Rous-
seau, for all his genius, was pigny
compared with Won Barwig; he never
could have placated the fat giantess at
the dime museum. He might have
wept over her, which would have
spoiled the show and likely raised a
riot For in a play we see people doing
the things the author has imagined. In
a book, too often, we merely imagine
people seeing the things the author has
done. Reading a novel. we may refuse
to sympathize or condemn. We can
smoke a pipe. instead, In most play
houses to my own great grief, pipe
dreams are not the mode. A book is
aerhaps naturally, narcotic, to soothel