El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-08-09

DlSSeSL MT the outset OF the season
! seus the pattern and every hack play
/ smith in the country is set to work
! constructing plays along the same lines
! as the big success
We have our seasons of melodrama
! Of society piffIe. of problem plays. up
7 lift dramas. farce comedies and of mu-
/ steal comedy.
Two years ago a detective play and
/ q farce comedy wed with each other
for first nOnOrs- What was the results
/ A spawning Of detective stuff and near
/ farce comedy until you couldn't rest.
( The managers seem to think that the
| public has only one idea at a time and
/ this lasts throughout the season. OF
! course the fact OF the case is that in
most instances the manager himself
has but one idea at a time and he sad
dies his limitations on the public.
Last season, however, there was a
hopeful sign that a change is taking
place There was breaking up Of
the uniformity OF idea fetish, with the
wholesome result that some managers
have now learned that the public taste
/ IS sufficiently versatile to enjoy any
thing that is genuinely representative
OF what II pretends to be-Whether 1t is
an uplift drama with a sermon attached
or a light musical comedy with rag
time melodies. All that is required of
play IS to be written, staged and pre-
scented artistically. By the same token
1t is said that the neither regions only
require few things to make them
I wholly desirable
musica4 comedy IN Lead.
But as long as producing managers
are what they are, mere will always
be predominance of one style of play
throughout the season What this sea-
sons output viii run to is hard to say
Looking over the plans and specifica-
tons of some of the big producers, one
IS led to believe that musical comedy
viii be to the front. Both KlaW and
Erlanger and Charles Frohman are go
ing to put out more shows of this kind
this season than they have ever done
before. But musical comedy is in a
field by itself Good shows of this kind
are always in order, summer or winter,
on Broadway or anywhere else in the
country.
But the signs also point to a prolific
output of what may be called the seri-
Gus drama would put the higher class
comedies under this head. Then there
viii be q Few of the really serious kind
even the poetic drama.
one OF the great complaints Of the
critics OF the American drama is that
so lew native plays appear that have
any literary value whatever. Many
years ago Bronson Howard, our first
important playwright, made the state
ment that plays are built-not writ
ten, and the making Of an American
play seems to have been only a car
penter's job ever since.
Uplifting the Stage.
But there is an undOuDted change
taking place. The American stage is
acquiring more artistic and literary
significance This is due chiefly to
such earnest and intelligent Organiza-
tons as the Drama league of New
YORK and Chicago, and the many other
similar bodies throughout the United
states. But even the movies" are
taking on a better tone and character
Some of the big film producers are de-
voting their energies now solely to put
ting on complete plays-and these of
the better sort.
Vaudeville is just now attracting the
attention of thousands of New Workers,
because of the presence in one of the
Ieadlng variety houses here Of Evelyn
Nesb1t ThaW-the clever former chorus
girl, whose husband shot Stanford
White, the architect
Evelyn Nesbit, as she insists now On
being called, opened at Hammersteins
on Monday and made an instantaneous
hit She appears in a dance with a
male companion, and her act IS far
above the average. of its kind. 1t can
be said IN justice to her, and as a trib-
ute TO her intelligence, that she did not
try IN the least to play on the almost
historical interest her appearance on
the stage excited She attended strict
" and artisucally to the business she
had in had-neitber affecting psuedo-
mOdeSty nor making a bold play for
the favor of her audience.
Mrs. THaW Hit.
That she had the favor of the audi
ence was manifested in repeated rounds
of applause and a demand for q speech.
she told her audiece, simply and unaf-
IecIedlys that her only desire was to
earn sufficient money honestly TO main
tain her later, when she proposes to
take up the serious study of sculpture.
When Mrs. ThaW Sailed for England
a few months ago she had no intention,
she says, to return to the stage The
idea was presented to her on board the
boat going over The person who sua-
Sested 1t to her assumed the role of
agent and, shortly after landing on the
other side, he had her signed at the
London HlppOdreme- When the an
nouncement was first made in London
,Ihat she was going to appear in one of
the music halls, there was a mild pro-
test-Dut not sufficiently serious to
cause either her or her MANAGEMENT
any embarrassment And after her
urst appearance, there was no adverse
Criticism whatever. She won her Eng
Ilsh audiences from the start, Just as
sne mas won that portion Of New York
which goes to vaudeville and there IL
no doubt if she so desires she can
nave a brilliant career on the stage