The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-01-04
~ ESTHER GRIFFIN WHITE.

oV o0uVVVN
1.-THE Man From Home!"
What constitutes the hold this play
has upon the affections Of the Ameri-
can public?
For it is easy enough to see that.
transferred to foreign stage. it would
lose in appeal.
1t is not so much that 1t draws a
picture OF the great average Ameri-
can as he is known in Maine. Mississ-
ippi. Dakota. Indiana or California.
Nor still That it breathes the spirit
of that democracy which is, after all,
the foundation of our social institu-
lions even il. in certain phases, it is
badly mangled.
Nor still that its humour is of the
most exquisite.
But, perhaps, because it paints the
portrait of a Man-big. sane. gener-
Gus. just. chivalrous. protective-a
Man as he should be in the sight of
God.
Maybe it's because there are so few
of them that makes the stage silhout-
te more vivid.
And IL this Is accounted, by some
delightful optimist, a cynicism, let him
look round and see how many realize
the ideal OF THE Man From Home.
Although. in embryo he may be
found often enough even in Indiana.
The record of this play is remark.
able in the annals of the American
stage. aside from "Ben-Hur," which
has a dozen years to its credit and
"The Old Homestead" which has play.
century.
THE Man From Home" written as
everybody knows by Booth Tarking.
ton. the Indiana novelist and play.
wright. and Harry Leon Wilson, New
Yorker, was first produced in Chica
90 in 1908. 1t ran in that city for
one year, going to New York, where
1t remained two.
Eighteen weeks in Boston, fourteen
in Philadelphia and now in Indiana
polls, for the first time, where it is
playing to great audiences daily at the
Murat theater-one of the biggest in
the country.
And. where. after all. was it's great
est success-its longest rum"
On that very great white way
the home Of THE Girl From Rector's,
THE Soul Kiss" and "The Girl in the
; Taxi"
Which may 60 to prove a number OF
But it is the truth that a theatric pro-
duction which makes an appeal to
the highest ideal of the average man.
and, in the portrayal, presents him
realistically is the play that has the
most catholic influence.
And, in its essence. the stage is a
greater teacher of ethics than the
church.
This is because it breaches in sym.
bols and pictures rather than making
direct assault upon the reason, the
will or the emotion.
Humanity is a child.
1t likes color, movement. action.
1t loves, above all else. pictures
That Is one explanation of the stages
lure. 1t presents not one, but a series
of pictures.
AVN SoIuiSs LII polul anu Cdut0 DO
Nor seriously. as in sound. But in
living. breathing, palpitating present
ment Of life as men think they know
it. or imagine they see it.
And. paradOxically enough. stage art
in it's apogee of naturalness, is an arti
fetal product. 1t is built upon q
foundation of artifice. The most reals
tic exponent of the art is he who
feigns the most skillfully.
AS stated once before otherwhere
art is a perfect balance. Art is Meth
err moral nor immoral in its effect. II
is only what is termed so when it
does not preserve an absolute equili
brium.
Art, like nature. is immoral
And when it seems moral" or lin
moral''-as those words have beer
more or less mistakenly coined. in
terpreted and applied, it is merely
i! lacking in the proper values.
The relation of values in an arts