El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-02-21
One Act Plays a Hit in New
York-The Sex Play and
Theatrical Gossip.

EW YORK, Feb. ell am glad
~ to see that an old contention OF
mine is being proved true. In
spite OF many ssrepjIcs, I have main
tanned that one act plays can be made
successful. and, more than that that
they can be made to yield a profit for
the producer, which, after all, is the
real reason why any play is produced
The big men who STAGE plays are not
acuated by motives of pure art alone;
the commercial side figures in it, and
In most cases, I am sorry to say, the
commercial side Of the drama plays
the leading role.
To resume, it has been proved that
one act plays can be made successful,
both from q commercial and an artiS-
tic standpoint The drawing powers
of the little Princess theater. where
HolbrOok Blinn and his associates are
presenting one act thrillers, is almost
sufficient proof taken by itself, but
there are other instances which sub
stantiate my point As a play, Louis
Mann's appearance in "Elevating a
Husband" was rather dismal, but when
THE story was confined to the limits
of a single act and presented in vaude-
vile, it met with great success.
Countess Nadine" The WasherWOm-
an Duchess THE Twelve Pound Lock"
and other tabloid dramas have been re-
markable successes when presented in
the vaudeville houses In England
lnGE nave developed the ART OF WIlLlu5
these one act dramas to a higher point.
Perhaps the American playwrights
have not tried their hand at turning
out tabloid drama to a great extent
This is a wonderful field at present.
Barrie and Bernard Shaw have written
some excellent one act dramas and
other Englishmen have followed in
their footsteps.
At least one man is taking up the
Idea here. j. Hartley Manners, who
wrote that delightful little comedy /
peg o. My Heart" in which his wife,
Miss Laurette Taylor, has played here
81 weeks, has written three one act
plays, which, with tabloid drama by
John COrbin, viii comprise a matinee
bill to be presented at the COrt theater
by Miss Taylor and the members Of the I
Peg company every Friday afternoon |
during March. Although it is an
nOunced that the plays viii be pro /
duced merely to give the members OF |
the company some mental diversion J
from their long run in Peg I rather /
suspect that Mr.. Manners and Mr.. /
AIOrOscO have a desire to see how the ]
public will take the plays.
Sex Plays.
7 am in receipt of a letter from (
brother dramatic critic in the west !
who takes issue with me in my con- ]
demnatiOn Of the sex and vice plays, J
of which we have had a surfeft this /
season. He maintains that the presen-
tatOn on the stage Of existing cond1-
one effect-the education Of the young
and the placing of warning signals on
the path of the young girls. Perhaps
these sex plays have attracted a diff
ferent sort of audience on the road
from that which they drew in New 4
York. 1t is sufficient to say that they
did not draw audiences here for any
great length Of time. "The Lure" 'The
Fight" THE House Of Bondage" and
plays of like llk have passed from
our realm. We still have the same
idea presented in films at prices rang
ing from a quarter downward Had
my worthy friend from the west but
stepped into one Of the theaters dur
plays and glanced over the audience he
would at once see my point. The
young birls there, or at least the
majority OF them. were not of the kind
that need q warning Some of these
plays have been worthy notably
Damaged Goods" but others have
been presented, not to preach a sermon.
not to give warning, but to draw the
sensual and depraVed audiences to fill
the Golfers in the box office.
5u-ius Caesar.
After surprising us with new rem
deril~ of "OthellO," William Favers-
ham is giving us a wholly pleasing
version of Caesar We saw him in I
the role Of Anthony last year. but with
a slightly different company from the
one which is now supporting him. This
year, the Brutus is r. ID. Mclean, who
plays the character in forceful style
Pedro De Cordoba makes an admirable
Cassius, While Mr. FaVershom himself
portrays Anthony with an intellectual
Of the character Con-
stance Collier gives an admirable
characterization of POrtia, the wife OF
BrUtus.
Although Faversham has presented
"Ceasar" i'm a way in which it makes
q strong appeal to the audience, the
characters in the play do not render
themselves to the artistic interpreta-
lion as DO the figures in "OthelIO."
'Ceasar." 7 have always found rather
)orcsome, but Faversham and his COM {
1any have succeeded in endOwins it /
..itu more life than is usually seen. /