The Washington herald., 1918-05-19
Capital Must Provide q
Great White Way

Not only is there immense war population
to take care Of but there will be constant stream
OF boys in Khaki from the nearby cantonmeuts-
many OF them from Northern States where the
type OF heat gets in this latitude is almost un-
known-and they will look forward to the brief
trips to Washington almost as the hick from Pud-
ding Center looks upon a trip to Broadway. Some
thing must be done care for these boys beyond
the entrtainment facilities that will be offered them
in the cantonments themselves, which are to be
adequate enough, if the plans of the Commission of
Training Camp Activities and the cooperation of
various publicspirited playfolks is any criterion
1t will be revelation to the old guard of
Washingtonans to see the Avenue and street
crowded August nights almost as Broadway is
when the theater crowds pour into it from all
points of the compass. But some of the strangers
within gates are going to suffer much more
from own brand of humidity than we do, and
something should be done for them. We are I'm
doubtedly going to crowd Chicago and Atlantic
City for honors the summer theatrical capital,
but outside the of the theater we are going
to find that Washington has simply outgrown its
old traditions and will ask of amusement purveyors
more than they had planned to give US.
Well Balanced Offerings for
This Week.
The playbills this week include premic. In
Net" at Polls; operetta, "Maytime,' at the
Belasco; and return engagement of the popular
Smith Golden comedy, Turn to the Right" at the
New National This bill represents suggestion of
the balance and proportion which is generally lack
ing in local theatrical offerings. Last week, for
instance, three musical shows were on view, and
no dramas.
We suggest that a directorgeneral of Wash
ington theaters be appointed, to assume the sane
task of coordination and cooperation towards the
local stage as Mr. McAdoo has towards the rail-
roads. 1t might be hard to get the two big booking
offices to lie down in the same bed together, but
what's a little matter like theatrical feud in
times?
Where Are the Plays
of Yesteryear3
The old order is passing swiftly The landmarks
of the American stage and the great forces that
have moulded its development for the past twenty
years are going now even more rapidly than ever
before. Those that not passing into retirement
by reason OF age or long and arduous service,
find that their day is done" through shifting con-
ditions and new quirks in the public taste.
The literary and intellectual flavor of the stage
is almost gone. Itwould be trite to point to the
practically complete disappearance of classical ira
1itions from theater-that fact can be explain
3D. perhaps, by the lack of great players of play
of such forceful personality and intellect that
hey become woven into the warp and wool of the
history of the times in which they live. But it is
not so generally recognized that serious contem-
oorary drama, drama pretending to be either
criticism commentary on life, is vanishing
Inder the stress of present-day conditions.
The generation of theatergoers the young
Iters to whom the days of Richard Mansfield and
2 Mrs. Fiske's Manhattan Company belong to the
limbo of remote past, have been nourished on
vaudeville Standards know of the theater only as
it-or-miss splash-dash entertainment emporium.