The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-04

so is ingenuity necessary quality in
| play makir.s, but both are only Sec
donary "'d the first essential to q
good piay Is vivid sense Of reality"
A View of Criticism.
When Mr.. Klaw paused for a mo-
ment to take breath, his interviewer
had chance to ask a question that
had been trembling on his tongue. l;
was this:
IF you kill or the professional crit
les from the newspapers, how are you
going to let the people know what you
have to offer in your show house?'
Send along a reporter who may be
himself an occasional playgoer. He will
feel with the audience. he will laugh
with them, SILVER with them. hiss the
villain with them. and ten chances to
one he will correctly interpret the mes
sage OF the play"
He might damn It, too. from very
Ignorance" It was suggested.
! well, there are plays that should
be damned. 1 never feel any pity for
these. Let the unfit go to the store
house"
| You have expressed yourself
strongly on the question Of indecency
IN the theatre and you have manifest
ed enthusiasm over the current plays;
| there seems to me to be some incon-
| sistency in these two statements"
Not at all" replied the manager;
you remember that I also said in my
opinion all life experience was material
Tor the stage. It depends on how a
play Is built whether 1t Is indecent or
not. l refer TO one which pictures an
experience OF human beings. The only
excuse for indecency is to have none.
The French by reiteration have taught
| US that It Is possible to build a mora
play on an immoral foundation. For
years our playwrights took the French
plays and by omission, by rearrange-
ment, they made an immoral play ii
amounted to that) on moral basis.
! THAT used to spell success; it
doesn't any longer. Our American
public will not now condone coarse
ness simply because 1t is put UP 10
them flippanuy. We have learned
that a half hearted dallying with
things sexual is wholly an evil, and
the prurient shifting around vice -
disgusting. But our audiences are not
or the mid-Nictorian type and they
will see noble flower growing out OF
mud and enjoy Its development We
are now ready TO listen to 'straigh:
out talk but not to what Is Incorrect
ly called double entendre.' In other
words evil cures itself in the sun and
! our audiences have developed strength
to watch the process Of its cure.
| "Whlt Ia tina 60 IA
atre? Most promising, I firmly be-
lieve. Klaw & Erlanger may pass as
other theatrical firms have passed
The disappearance of any OF US will
not make ripple: the stream viii
flow on and there Will be other man
ayers and other combinations OF man
ayers who will sail on the dramatic
current to success 80 long as tnSy
don't permit themselves to float into
back water of art for arts sake.
The public knows that there IS no
such thing in the theatre, as there
isn't in any business. l am proud o.
the record OF Klaw & Erlanger, and
whatever you may hear I shall IA
proud OF it. My personal feelings do
not tinge this justifable pride with re-
greet. Please make that strong
And II you ask me what KIND OF
play Will succeed next year am
bound to answer as my experience
has taught me, 1t will be the play that
the public likes. 1t may have the sad
undercurrent of pain and suffering
that the esthete welcomes as sort o.
back harmony; in other words. It may
be strong drama These notes may
still be kept out Of it. and there Will
ensue another season Of farce and mu-
steal comedy. What is the difference
These too must be built on life, or the
people will have none OF them.
This I surely think: there neysr
VIII be a return TO the rose colo ed
play. consisting Of a sort OF bouqu"'
picked in n garden for Mrs Grunc.
to wear. No. It must be studied from
life, but that need not prevent It from
being full OF beauty and sunshine ana
happiness. We crave these delisa.e.
we playgoers, more and more as 0s
II grow oldenr