Omaha daily bee., 1910-04-17

a matter Of fact, we are the pivot. SO we
consider it fitted for our experiment"
Mr., Greet has an interesting collection
of cards as a result Of an experiment to
see what sort OF plays the audiences like.
The cards are distributed, the blanks to be
filled with name and address and sugges-
ton for a play to be given during a vacant
week and left at the box office.
Votes for women DO not figure in this
contest of ours" says Mr.. Greet. although
the majority who file cards are women.
Answers come from all parts Of New York,
Brooklyn and as far away as New Haven.
We asked whether we should give a Greek
or a modern play. but many specific names
have been volunteered. There have been
calls for Antigone.' for 'Oedipus Rex in
the first class, and for 'Pippa Passes
The Colleen Bawn,' The Jew of Malta
as far back as Marlowe, you see.
Now how many people IN the average
audience OF the average theater Of this
town do you suppose would even know
who wrote The Jew Of Malta much less
ask TO have II ~prOduced2 At present the
contest between the Greek and the modern
drama is neck to neck, but the strongest
demand seems TO be for Shakespeare
This way of taking suggestion from the
audience is by no means novel in London
nor in the provinces, says Mr.. Greet, al
though It does seem a trifle peculiar in
New York.
The people-what term the people, 8
he resumes desire Shakespeare. At the
Academy OF Music performances the
theater has been rowde And likewise
down on the Bowery at the Yiddish thea
tsrs. and even up at sixty-second street,
1t has been Shakespeare and the classical
plays that have drawn the largest audi
Snces, although in Just what degree to see
the performance Is hard to tell.
Among the first class Of theatergoers
/ mentioned We have grown so accss-
toned to the social atmosphere that II
is hard to determine the position OF the
stage, To be sure. Mrs. Plantagenet Shocks
is there, but It is partly because she
knows Mrs. Montgomery Browns is to be
there. l take it as a bad sign. a very
bad sign, when members Of the audience
want their names to be announced on the
program, they have not gone for the
performance sake merely. II at ali
why, one might as well label In church
the names Of the pewholders on the pages
opposite the hymns. You see what mean,
the distorted motive. l suppose these peo-
pie would resent being classed with GER
tain brands Of whiskey and makes Of cor
sets. but that is what they really have
come to-self-advertisemen
Whether they 80 to the theater and
opera for its own sake or for the love OF
notoriety no one can presume to say. /
can't recall that this practice exists at
home. though changes take place quickly
In London nowadays; nor In Paris, Frank
fort, Munich or Vienna, The point is, how
ever, that il Is entirely foreign TO what
l term the peoples playhouse. Here are
none at the door taking names OF oele-
brities and details OF costumlng, and the
audience would not stand such a procedure
even II the Information were wanted, They
have come to see the play merely; no
other elements are present,
As TO the prospects for a steady season
Of plays worth while IN New York, Mr..
Greet is hopeful, but not too much so.
New York is 80 transitory,' he says.
"The population alters, And somewhere
have heard that only one-fifth Of the
theaterEoing public are native New York
ers.
Just what this huge unknown mass Is
that daily ard nightly fills the half hum
dred theeters ! do not know, nor whence
u comes, nor where il goes. But / do
know that what / have termed the third
degree live right here in the city. are the
,nknown residents Of New York. II they
would stay fixed our problem would be
less difficult.
"on the whole, matters are improving.
I am glad to see the great dramatic deyei-
opment that Is going on. When I first
came over, under Charles Frohman's man
agement. he said that my ideas were ten
years in advance Of American sentiment
! have been here seven years now and am
eagerly watching what the next three may
bring forth.
Il then suggested an enterprise for