The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-29
THE SMALL TOWN CRITIC

Cdll lHe typlCdliy fdlny OIeSOu OuHuoy
 afternoon, 10 or 12 years ago. when Daphne Pollard dawned upon my impress
 sionable youthful vision. She was just
 as dainty a Daphne then as she was
 when she justified the existence of
 certain Passing Show, but New York
 was long in learning it. Nan Halperin found herself in some unspeakabe place
 in Texas after transforming down from
 Minneapolis. Marjorie Rambeau is to-
 day hailed as one of the most polished
 actresses on the American stage but she
 put in many a season out in Kos Angeles
 in Stock, while we critics of that day in
 the film metropolis passed like number
 of seasons proclaiming to all within hear ing how good she was
 No, it is not just ignorance which af-
 flicts the small town critic. He is suf-
 fering rather from dramatic indigestion.
 He knows so much he finds. it impos-
 sibe to- say anything really human in
 the six or eight inches the average editor
 allots him. When his superior is more
 generous, as happens occasionally on
 Saturday or a Monday when the paper is
 wide open" to borrow the foremans s
 phrase. the critic is apt to splash around
 in a column of type to no better advan-
 tage than skinny girl in the ocean that
 fronts on Atlantic City. It is fundamen-
 tally impossible for him to impress his
 constituency if he does not lug in a men
 tion of Hauptmann and Ibsen, for the
 modern drama" he regards as his per
 sonal property, not realizing that the
 pet succumbed several seasons ago, after
 a long, lingering illness.
 Incidentally, it might be mentioned that
 the small town dramatic critic usually is
 engaged in one or two dramatizations and
 that his appreciation of the "unties" is
 too acute for ordinary consumption.
 But to get down to the real meat of the
 Arser oktO k1.l k<>rxrv
 critic is not useless, provided an all-seeing
 Providence will take pains in future to endow him with little common horse sense. He is a great deal more valuable
 than his greatly admired model in New
 York. Of what use is New York critic? Judicious advertising will put across any play for month in New York, if it's manager is not too cautious regarding the
 use of his money. After that it may be a success or al failure according to the publcs own verdict, irrespective of whether or not every critic in town con- demned it.
 With 5,000,000 or 10,00O,OOO, or whatever the New York population is this morn ing, to draw against it is a simple and not necessarily heartless matter to fill
 an ordinary sized theatre for month or two With 50,000 or 100000, the pro- portion of people who will or can afford to take a chance on spending $2 is not in the same ratio.
 There is where the honest small town critic comes in. Even managers as big oted as the one who started me on all this, will admit that hdeous crimes are committed in the name of art in the '.provinces.'' Clever press agentry will make most any show sound good in the advance notices It is always easy to quote New York. What Metcalf sa8d in praise of New York production-he has been known to do it--niay have been well deserved there, but the country at large does not know what liberties a thrifty manager may have taken with the cast sent on the road. Every dollar that the small town critic can divert from these stage impositions t6the cash box of the really meritorious show is just so much done for the best interests of the thea tre To the actor all but the big four cities arc small towns. Atlanta is a small town, so is Sleepy Eye, Minn. So are Hart ford, Conn., and Boise Idaho. But in their particular sections each one, with the possible exception of Sleepy Eye is a metropolis and the opinions of the critics on the larger town papers of the
 vicinity are picked up by the smaller sheets. Des Moines is mighty infini- tesimal dot Son aSNew York booking of flee map but in Waterloo, Ia.. the Des Moines theatrical opinion is regarded with respect. I know because I have l done shows in both towns. The Columbus, N. C., daily picks up by Richmond re- marks regarding the musical shortcom- l ings of the Watch Your Step road | company-and Charles Dillingham; does not like me but the people of Columbus shall call me blessed.
 l Teach the small town critic to judge production not by opinion gathered from I his and-picked library but somewhat by l the standard of his community, always with the idea of endeavorng to raise that ] standard through a tolerant understand 1 ing rather than by mighty condescen- sion; reform him from his habit of bor- 1 rowing witty phrases without credit. ] from Arthur Hornblow or Alan Dale, in- struct him that Al G. Field and Guy Bates Post may each have excellent offer ings when considered merely as entertain ments, and you should with patience 1 evolve an exceedingly useful cog in the l theatrical machinery
 | Cure him of his personal excentricites you probably never can. The small town critic will go on to the bitter end, wear | ing his tortoise shell glasses and putting in his two weeks vacation in ''the big town pestering Dixie Hines for passes :. on the strength of having run the New
 York Theatre Review every Saturday
 on bis page,