The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-09-17

Vaudeville.
For years the dramatists have been
endeavortng to pluck the heart out of
set 1t, with all its theatric possibilities,
upon the stage. Newspapers and
newspaper making have fascination
Tor the layman, who finds them sur
rounded by a romantic atmosphere,
and it takes but little philosophy to
understand the greatness of the power
they WELD. To the newspaper Office,
therefore, the playwrights have come
In search of local color and a theme,
but until the present season they have
with the press itself turning their de-
feat into a route by its Cossacks, the
dramatic critics.
After numerous failures, so COM
plete that most of their titles are for
gotten, the theatrical managers have
come to the conclusion that newspaper
plays, like Shakespeare. spell ruin"
Hopefully, however, the authors have
perennially returned to the attack,
and the fall of 1903 brought out two
dramas of journalism of unusual inter
est, while third is on the horizon,
awaiting importation from London.
They are:
THE Fourth Estate" by Joseph
Medill Patterson and Harriet Ford.
1.-THE Earth by James Bernard Fa-
gan.
What the Public Wants" by Arnold
Bennett.
The latter two are of English origin,
and have attracted much attention
there because of their frank handling
of the type of publicist who owns
newspapers in strings" which is rep
resented in England by Lord North
cliffe. and in this country by William
r. Hearst. '"The Fourth Estate" had
its premiere at Wallack's theater. New
York, the first week in October. 1909,
and 1.-THE Earth was produced at the
Olympic theater, Chicago. early in
November.
Young Mr. Patterson, assisted in
dramatic technique by Miss Ford, does
not go in for CONGRATULATIONS of his
play of 1.-THE Fourth Estate" He I'M
dertakes to put an entire newspaper
plant upon the stage, and to show how
it is operated. with editors. reporters;
printers, linotype machines, and all
the rest of it. He presents it in full
blast, and, thanks to careful staging,
the picture is convincing in its illusion.
Carping newspaper men find no false
notes in its local color, as they did in
1.-The Stolen Story" for example.
Mr.. Fagan's 1.-The Earth takes a
broader view of the fourth estate
| but is not SO keen upon showing how
| it does its work. 1t was produced in
London last spring at the Kingsway
! theater, with Miss Lena Ashwell as
| the star and with Norman McKinnel
playing the role of a newspaper baron
In this country it is the vehicle for
| the stellar debut of Edmund Breese
who has become identified with the
characterization OF overbearing plut-
| ocrats whether of high finance OIL
| journalism, through hia creation OF
John Burket Ryder in THE Lion and
| the Mouse"
| The second of the English newspa-
! per plays, What the Public Wants,
| is accorded higher value for serious
workmanship and psychologist insight
| by the British critics, although lack.
| ing the brilliant Interpretation of Lena
Ashwell and Norman McKinnell, i
| did not attract SO much attention
among theater-goers. Nevertheless, Il
| doubtless will be presented in thi:
country, following the vogue of news
| paper dramas, Just as 1.-THE Fourth
Estate will be taken over to London
This piece is by Arthur Bennett, 6
dramatic critic and man of letters OF
considerable standing in England.
THE Fourth Estate which comes
| to the Grand theater in Topeka on