Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-12-22
BEST THOUGHT OF AMERICA
Digest of the Magazines

ground that the drama is the only deieo@
crat Of all the arts"
| II ls the only art which the peopie fhens
! selves control, and through that control direct
! u the drama Is to fulfil this basic conditions
| II must be expressed In a form that the mass
| will accept and support The box once thsfsl
fore, is tho only sure measure OF the extent
TO which the drama satisfies the public need
The world is fun Of poets and philosophers
trying TO get free ride the car Of drana
without paying the fare and they aiwaya look
Frieved when their transfers from literary
lines are not accepted
Mr. de Mile does not care for drama
leagues. lie writes:
The professional dramatst takes issue with
class which were Il powerful enough. would
menace tho democracy OF dramatic AFT as ans
hierarchy OF brains tends 70 limit progressive
thought The "hlghbrow" would take from the
people its right OF dramatic suffrage, ana COM
pei the public to vote for PLAYS nominated b.
the machine" and this method OF selsefipn
would undoubtedly corrupt drama even ~ it
docs politics.
Not that \the hghbrow is himself corrupts
on tho contrary he ls almost always, a pergon
Of high ideals, and atrulstic instincts. but his
failure Is that he Is, essentially an ariatocrat.
and consequently has the desire TO think for
others; whereas good plays always perform the
useful office Of showing the people what they
themselves think and believe. to the end that
they may comprehend the meaning and value
OF their own ideas.
While by no means CHASING them In the
same category, he has no more sympathy
with the police "buttlng in TO theatres than
he has with drama leagues
1t is infinitely better for the public to choose
not to see indecency on the stage than to be
prevented from seeing It. II they do choose
TO It, the act VIII hurt them little more
thnn the desire, and It will more quickly erad-
cate the desire. OF course, there viii always
be level at which the police may properly act.
but II is we'll to let the level BIO so low that it
is unquestionably upon the ground OF physical
indecency and not high as to confuse the
function OF the police with that Of the dramatlc
critic.
About TroRlodytes
Vogue, in its characteristically smart
metropolitan manner gives US an enticIng
glimpse of "on and or Fifth Avenue" %
The small theatres OF New ToriS--for New
York like Paris has its bonbonnere theatres
are every night the rendezvous FOR the srnartest
theatre audiences along Broadway. Here are
presented the more intimate. more sophistcat-
ed. more cosmopolitan sort of plays. In these
tiny. exclusive Jewel boxes Of theatres, every
one knows every one else, and II Is extremely
cosy having afternoon tea midnight coffee
in a little underground salon. The latest ara
smartest addition to the New York bonbonnlere
has been christened The Punch and Judy. En-
tering this tiny theatre is like entering a dolls
house All told II contains but 800 seats,
Then there is the Princess, which often pre-
sents thrlllers worthy OF the Grand Gugnol IN
Paris. In one weeks offering. there was ono
death in the first play, two in the second, and
one In the third. In tho last, prehistoric
painted woman piled her cunning arts and wiies
to the horror and dismay Of her respectable
troglodyte sisters. in quite the manner OF the
modern courtesan, showing that after centuries
human nature remains much the same