Omaha daily bee., 1917-09-30
Advantages and Limitations OF
Each in Presenting Plays
and Providing Entertain
ment for People.
BY T. w. MCCULLOUGH.

.9 HATENER may be said
1tATk about the solid foundation
of the stage, or its mag
- nj fl icent superstructure
lS4SSNN decked with the trophies
49, of art and literature, those
who have to do with the daily ad-
ministration of the theater are chiefly
impressed with its uncertainties. Sue
cess at the theater depends on pub
lie favor. and experience has demon
strated this to b. an elusive and not
at all dependable factor. The public
is tickle, changes its mind frequently,
and is not at all to be depended upon
in the matter of its tastes or whims
in the way of amusement. 1t will go
into ectstac,es over one thing, and
will coldly pass by another exactly
similar. 1t will pour out its laudation
and its cash to the reward of one
actor, ard allow another of equal
merit and capacity to go hungry. and
no man can say why. Therefore, we
find more grav hairs than big fortunes
in the box offices One problem is al
ways before the manager-to find out
what the public wants and furnish it
before the mood changes.
Paradoxi-al as it may seem, with
the coming of the war has come a
revival at the theaters. At the outset,
activities in the mimic world we're
checked. This may have been direct
ly attributable to the war as con-
trolling cause, or it may be ascribed
to the fact that ir America a decline
had already set in. and the 'legiv-
mate" was already in a parlous way.
Folks had tired of tie musical COM
edy. the risky French farces and the
equally risoue but not always so OBJ
vious English problem play had
palled on tie public taste, the porno-
graphic drama added its dead weight
to the load already burdening the tot
tering structure, and the movies had
put the "gaier, entirely out of COM
mission. Then, the big musical re-
views and the burlesoue shows had
almost entirely eliminated the musical
comedies. and only few managers
uncertain seas whosa waters dashed
more ominously day by day or, rather,
nioht by night, around the front doors
of the theaters that s:aved open, and
from the outlying districts went back
TO New York such discouragilg word
as confirmed the raonates there in
their opinion that business was bad
Sha fxxya
as Omaha have alrost zone without
good theatrical attractions. just
few companies have 3tragpled along,
enough to keen the light from flick
ering out entirely. but not such as
would warrant even the most opti1pis-
tic of press agents calling the seasons
brilliant.
While this was going OIL for the real
stage, the moving picture industry
was swelling like Jonah's gourd. 1t
did not exactly grow up over night.
but if any man of enterprise could
have foreseen five years ago what &C
tually has happened and backed his
judgment he would be able by this
time to pay the war debt with his
profits. Not even the automobile has
shown such growth as has attended
the development of the moving pic
ture. 1t suddenly passed from the
condition of a tov or a curiosity to
that of an established feature of
American life. Promoters took hold,
but the business grew faster than any,
one connected with it, and the men
who had ventured their money in the
enterprise found themselves in the
strange position of having to struggle
to keep up with the game they sought
to push. The public wanted the
movies" and apparently still wants
them. Every now and then some
wiseacre rises up and delivers himself
of the prediction that the day of the
moving picture is about over and that
the people are getting tired of watch
ing shadows, brit the answer is always
in the form of new palace for the
exhibition of those same shadows, and
the rush to see them grows. instead of
diminishes.
Many reasons may be cited tor the
popularity of the moving pictures.
Greatest among these is that of price.
The "neighborhood" house gives its
little entertainment for a nickel:
downtown the price runs from a dime
up TO in some places half dollar, but
for the latter figure one gets comforts
in proportion. For these prices one
may have from half an hour to two
hours of rational entertainment under
co"dition that are pleasant at worst,
and in most houses nowadays are such
as conduce to the highest enjoyment.
In this way the moving picture exhib-
itors have looked after their public
we'll. In the best houses, of which
Omaha has some splendid representa-
lives. music is afforded of excellent
quality. often specially scored or par
1icularly ADAPTED for the film on ex-
libition, while II the creature COM
ioris of the patrons are carefully
looked after and delicately catered to.
Going to the movies, from this point
Of view, is no longer an adventure.
but just trip in search of comfort.
From the sta1dpo mt of art itself,
much may be said for and against the
"movic." Its greatest disadvantage is
that it is but shadow. that it must
always be made in such way as will
bring out the points, and this only can