The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-21

From the Louisville Courier-Journa1 "UY Bates Post, actor. and James
 - O'Donnell Bennett. critic, join O forces in an article for the Chi cago Record-Herald to condemn the oaf who is unable to understand serious play, and laughs where the note of trag- edy is struck
 MT. Post asserts that after he depart ed from the New theatre in ''The Mig ger'' he was surprised and irritated to be greeted by laughter when he read lines that had had quite the opposite et- feet where audiences were composed of meaning.
 To certain empty-minded persons, says MT. Post, any stage kiss. no matter what significance it may have, is comedy, as is every oath uttered, regardless of its tragical intimation.
 The actor gives the following illustra- tion:
 "On a recent evening a passage in the first act of The Nigger' that is full of poetry. that must appeal to all right minded and sensitive persons and that ildS 6ltdt Dtdfll6 Oii thC elOhJB {" oo punctured by some two or three comical belngs in the gallery with smack of lips audible at the moment when Philip kisses his betrothed At this signal from the gallery fully half of the audience broke Into laughter and the laughter was pro- longed.
 An instant after the kiss has been be- slowed, Mir. Sheldon, in what seems to me a very fine stroke, gives us hint of the impending tragedy by causing the audi ence to hear the faint, distant sound of horses hoofs-the sound that heralds amid the romantic beauty and sylvan peace of the scene of Philips happiness the awful event that Is to affect his whole life and intimately to send him back to the people-the colored people-from whom he sprang.
 "The dramatist's craftsmanship here is very telling It cannot fail to impress an audience that will give decent attention to it. The power of the situation has drama in many cities, and certainly we actors have felt its spell and done our best to protect it. But on many a night during my tour this season it's effect has been utterly destroyed by the disgusting ribaldry of few loafers seated aloft. and by the insane response of the audience to their vulgar suggestion"
 MT. Bennett, concurring with MT. Post, quotes from an article in the New York Outlook upon "Our Deteriorated Sense of Humor" as follows:
 t.,x ID, Ya ltov- v-so q play, The Easiest Way was received was inexpressibly shocking. This drama makes an attempt to treat frankly certain unpleasant conditions existing in New York, and especially in the theatrical world. More depressing to the thought ful observer than the play itself was the spectale of the audience receiving the painful revelations of the inner workings of these things with peals of laughter. The truth of the matter probably is that minds trained in the grooves of vaudeville and melodrama do not work upon the ma terial offered them, with the result that any striking line or situation not labeled in large type as a noble sentiment or a fearful appeal jars laugh from them. Melodrama leads them to expect the whitewashing of wedlock as the logical end of The Easiest Way This will | lesitimize the naughty jokes that is to Say, lines full of sickening and sordid | Ira gedy), so meantime, with a conscience at rest, they feel at liberty to enjoy what they conceive to be the comedy pas sages.
 "When, however, the young man re- pudiates the weakly vicious girl, in the end, and she puts on a picture hat and starts for 'Rector's,' puzzled looks are tc be observed upon many features. Ap- plause was faint when the curtain dropped;, the mental state was evidently that of confusion; for to this class of mind the actors exist as so many real people. 'horrid' or lovely to be hated oi amdired What kind of girl ohis native mind may be conceived as asking itself) was this, anyway? She had seemed tc be the heroine. Was she the villainess after all? Yet. confusing as it proved it was still sufficiently amusing and har- rowing to be set down as good show VI
 And again:
 When the pathetic, untattractive It, | i1R Ri i