The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-12-26
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Why "Ihe Deep Purple" is Educa.
tiOn0l.
(Bv Wilson Miner

I have become so accustomed to
receiving at the enc of every week.
a statement that the receipts for the
last eight performances Of THE Deep
Purple" ran into five figures. that I
have resolved my own doubts as to
whether the public desires plays Of
frankly m~elodramatic tendencies.
Some of those who had read the
advance reports of the melodrama
went on record as fearing that a play
Of the acknowledged character of The
Deep Purple" would never draw
Broadway audiences. Yet the play
was One Of the great big hits at the
last New York season. When MIR.
Armstrong and / were writing 1t. we
had no misgivings. We started out,
before We had written a line. to con-
broadest and most uncompromising
morality IMAGINABLE. Let us take
the most firmly established principle
obtatnable." said. the idea that yir.
tue must triumph and vic must be
punished"
That vas the first step. The next
was to find a way of presenting this
laVorite sermon in a new and attrac-
tive dress. This was furnished in the
badger game. Now. o can make
a manly hero and a tender loving
heroine figure in a milk-and- watery
play. and you may not draw thirty
cents. But put them in a red-blooded
melodrama. and let them be rue to
their principles-and you get five fig
ures on h statement at the end Of
the week.
VIII make no doubt of the public's in.
terest in crime. Audiences want to
see all sides of life reflected on the
stage-that Is. all interesting sides
The commonplace may be as estima.
bic as the unusual. but 1t isn't as at.
tractire. So we decided to take an
odd phase Of b~lackmailing. as it is
practiced In New York and every
large city ~daily--the badger game.
We would show the badger in his
most despicable light. and the intend
ed victims in the most favorable atti-
tude. And by presenting incidents
unfamiliar 70 the majority in the
audiences. and therefore Of greater
interest than the ordinary happenings
that come to be dramatized, we should
be doing an educational. as we'll az
privately remunerative work.
When I say THE Deep Purple" ia
educational. I speak seriously. II
shows up crime in detail. turns the
light Of publicity On the doinRs Of a
certain class of law breakers. and thus
provides the citizen with a means OF
Identifying crime. n avoiding the
traps Of the criminals. The greater
the familiarity of the public with the
life o. the underworld. the shorter the
life OF the underworld will be, for
with better understanding will come
a iessening Of opportunities for the
preparation of crime. That ia why
am a firm believer in the policy Of
those newspapers which incline to the
sensational. BY giving the widest
circulation to news of law breaking.
readers are more thoroughly ~acouaint.
ed with methods Of law breakers. and
are thus given the means of defense.
Finishing with the concrete exam
pie. The Deep Purple is a highly
purposeful play. even IL it is about
crooked policemen and swindlers. II
we had made the badger man win.
and the honest chap lose, then We
should be in no position to claim the
support OF the righteous. AS it is.
however, we are as moral as the first
reader.