The Washington times., 1915-02-14

With New York enraptured In the dis
covery Of an English playwright named
Richard/ Brinsley Sheridan through the
production Of "The Critic" and London
working itself into Mysteries over the
critics, somebody is likely to learn that
oliver Goldsmith wrote play called
she Stoops to Conquer" one OF these
days and surprise the world by pro-
ducing 1t!
This doesn't mean. Of course. that
play called she Stoops to Conquer
hasn't been produced several times. IL
has. But unfortunately 1t hasn't been
much more than the kernel OF me
Oliver Goldsmith idea which has oeeh
allowed to prevail.
The people who produced IT usually
felt impelled to do the thing as all or
the actors and actresses Of the Enslish
stsxe have done it-which means that
the various Goldsmith motifs have oeeh
swallowed up In the persona! ldios!h-
crasies Of the people who played tne
PARTS during the various generations
through which the play has run us uh-
common course.
PEOPLE who are looking for the pure
rood for thought stamp on dramatic
nroducts could not do better than eX-
anime some Of the old English come
dies. Those OF US who have maze iuore
or less Of a study OF the Enshsh IAN
guage-some of US. 1t Is true. WIN the
idea OF finding how best to give II
snec,es OF intellectual twilight sleep
that we might give birth to ideas that
would otherwise cause It excessive pain
h.vs been smitten with the notion that
when Goldsmith ana Sheridan wrote
their plays they put into dramatic FORM
about the purcst specimens OK Enshsh
! writing that are to be found. j,
And they did this because they llred
in a day that permitted them to eaten
/ the language when 1t first reached ma
! turity--when it was IN the first blush
| and vigor Of that glorious age "hlch
| signifies the extreme height OF express
sive power.
! When thew sought words with which
to give circulation to their thoughts
| thew had only the purest English words
upon which to draw. We call Shakes
peare a genius not only because or the
! wonderful ideas that are expressed IN
his works, but because Of the marvellous
use he made Of the 5000 or 10000 words
that then formed the limit OF the Ian
guage in which he wrote
| During the wears that interviewed he
tween Shakespeare and Sheridan tne
language grew to about 5000 words:
These figures are round NUMBERS pu,
|
that 5000 words. more or less. Is the
whole of the English language, as we
know 1t today,
| We have corrupted 1t until there are
some half a million words In the die
basis Of all We have now. meaning that
our language today wouldn't assay more
than that number Of real words If II
was put through n rigid laboratory test
Hence when writer's Of that day wrote
something that lived at all-it was writ
ten to live for all tims. And IT was
EXPRESSED in a language that all time
will understand. proclaiming ideas that
are pertinent to mankind rather than to
"a particular period or place. That Is
why they lived. That Is why The
CRITIC is a modern play today-just as
It was a modern play 13o years ago
and just as 1t will be modern play lSo
years from now. =.
| Tho raw material for thought wasn't
any more raw in the time OF Cain than
1t is today. when an English gentleman
meets a German gentleman upon a Bel
gian highway.
roll whom almost everyone In Wash
;ington remembers SO plea sanity. Is hav-
ing all sorts of nice things said about
ber by the good people OF Mt Vernon
L.,
other places who wander into Mt. Yer.
non to change tlres-both rubber and
business. She played "Oliver Twist II
the play Of that name. to Tom Terriss
Fagin. recently. and drew new attention
to herself. Next week, she takes a whir
at musical comedy with JEFF d'Angelis
as the featured member Of the cast.
Eva Tanguays personal press agent
naively writes me that the general pub
lie has no idea what trouble his fail
employer has in securing her songs,
Excepting only her costumes and the
manner In which she sings the songs
the general public is willing TO admit
one of the things that has troubled 4
least Of all Is the matter of where Mis-.
Tanguay gets her songs. And In its
general attitude the public may BE- sait
to have adopted line from one OF Miss
Tanguay's most famous vocal exercises
When one comes to think of It, how
over, IT is rather remarkable that any
one should write songs that Mt person
Aiaty - 6stAchsd from the common hert