The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1913-11-11

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Behind the Times.
Up-to-date in almost everything else,
the kaiser is declared to be behind the
times" in the modern development of
the theatre. He owns half a dozen
royal theatres and as many royal opera
houses. He employs small army of
approximately 1900 singers, actors, ac-
tresses, dancers, ballet and chorus
girls, orchestra members; mechanics,
stage hands, etc., and pays the differ
ence between their salaries and the box
office receipts out of his royal pocket.
This difference" amounts to over
100000 some years. Aside from his
own theatres and operas, he has been
apathetic to the point of Indifference
some say even agonistic-toward
the modern development of the drama
and the theatre.
The kaiser never goes to any theatre
except his own nor to any opera but
the royal. In these he can dictate
what is to be played or sung for his
edifcation. Musical farccs, operettes
and some of the modern dramas are an
abomination to his sight. He has
never seen a problem play" The
crown prince and the crown princess
may often be seen at the other theatres,
the crown prince particularly, having
a prediction for operettes, Sherlock
Holmes dramas and the circus of which
there are two in Berlin. Prince August
Wilhelm is a regular patron of Pro-
which, for stage art, and star actresses
and actors, is the last word in Ger
many if not in Europe. But the kaiser
goes to none Of these.
Kaiser not in Touch.
1t naturally follows that the kaiser
has not kept in touch with the develop
ment Of modern German drama and
the German theatre. His personality
and impetus, felt in almost every other
branch of art, science and nationwide
enterprise, is utterly lacking in the de-
velopment of the German theatre and
dramatic art. His aversion to the
modern theatre may be said to be due
to the fact that he does not like the
trend of its development. For the
kaiser the stage is first and above all,
a moral and educational institution.
His whole conception of art, particu-
larly the stage, is that it must teach"
He damands practical results of the
theatre, not merely amusement and
time-killing. The kaiser demands that
the stage be periodically monarchial,
ennobling, uplifting and educational in
the interests of the existing state and
society He dislikes realism and ma
tura1ism on the stage and all the things
make light of marital relations, disre-
spect for authority, and riducule of
existing institutions.
His conception of the stage finds ex-
preston in the repertoire of the royal |
opera and the bill in his theatres. In
the opera it is the mystic Wagnerian |
music drama and in the royal theatre, |
patriotic military plays. His favorite, |
and one which he never tires of see
ing, is 1.-THE Great King" The plays |
at the royal theatre are always pro
per" in every sense of the word. Moth
ing questionable or "problem-like" is
ever staged there. AS result of the
kaisers indifference to the modern
theatre and drama together with the
"Kino" or movies" contagion, which
has seized upon Germany and Austria,
the theatrical profession claims con-
ditions never were worse morally. In
a book recently published, an actress,
writing under the name of Helen
declared that the path
of success for an actress in Germany
'leads through the bedroom Of the
theatrical manager"
About the Wage Question.
An inquiry into the wage question