The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-03-09
BY LAWRENCE REAMER.

- VERY once in a while there
r blows into the theatre from
some unknown quarter of the
universe a wind that is so Ill it brings
no good. 1t happens that just at this
time such a parching blast is sweeping
on the New York stage with the IN
evitable deadly result Four city the
aires which have in the past housed
most reputable dramatic enterprises
are given over to farce which has only
a meretricious appeal. Just how fierce
1y this blast Is now blowing over the
stage may be understood from the
dedication of the Little Theatre, hither-
10 Winthrop Ames's most select play
house, to please Get Married" which
is of all these pieces possibly the
coarsest.
Did the War Bring This Taste.
Is this demand for such entertain
nent a survival of the orEiastic cele-
bration of the armistice which New
York so eagerly forgot and prefers now
not to recall? Is there anything in
the feeling of relief from the long war
that has turned the thoughts of tho
atregoers TO species Of unbrided
merriment which they would never
have thought of at other times? Man
ayers say that in merely satisfying the
public demand they are following a
declaration of taste which has mani
tested itself the world over since the
war came to an end. In Paris they
will tell you the supply of new come
dies with these piquant scenes has so
entirely failed to satisfy the public that
older pieces which are known to be
especially high" have been taken out
OF their dust and put on the stage once
again. 1t is recognized that in Lon
don the revues which supply the enter
tainment at two-thirds of the theatres
are somewhat more highly spiced than
they ever were before. The managers
tn this city as well as in London aver
they are merely meeting a demand
when they supply the sort of farce that
is smirching four hitherto respectable
city theatres.
The Search for the Mud.
Be that as 1t may. the search for
these plays began several months ago.
1t was in the air that something Of the
kind would bring fortune TO the the
aires. Managers sent out hurry calls
TO the play agents. TRANSACTIONS of
French plays from the gayest and least
scrupulous of the Boulevard theatres
were in demand-the mad days of a
decade or more ago when Paul Potter 5
The Girl from Rector's" made so
much money for a. II. Woods that
every New York manager was seeking
play that might prove equally popu-
lar. But there were not many Of that
kind to be had.
But when the managers set out in
their recent search for the same sort
OF play il suddenly developed that the
work of French origin was not in de-
nand. 1t appears that a school OF
native playwrights had come into eX-
istence that could supply material
which would shock the audience just
as much and yet be free from the
danger of bringing in the police, since
there was in reality nothing innately
bad at the bottom ,Cf the story. But
the great merit of the American arti-
Gle lay in its ability TO surround what
was in reality an entirely harmless
intrigue with more rawness and sug-
gestion than the most abandoned
boulevard imagination could devise
Let us then by all means spoke the
American manager, give the native
article. II two unknown American
writer's can turn out anything as much
like the French as up in Mabel's
Room" then let them come ON with
their "A Sleepless Night" and please
Get Married"
The Morality wheeze.
or course there are admirers OF
French farce who will tell you about
its reasonableness and the inevitable
Justice which Furnishes the phllander.
--!y husband or the skittish -ife. He
will tell you of the Nemesis whicf
overtakes one or the other in French
farce from the day of Moliere down
OF course there may be among the
French theatregoers who sit through
these dregs in order to see virtue tri
umph. But they must be in Paris
The tired business man who guffaw'
at French farce or its imitation in New
York Is pleased by the mOmentary
piquancy Of the situaton with M
thought OF the beautiful justice which
was to be witnessed at the end 1t Il
the laugh at the minute they are seek
ing for. But the philosophers woult
have US believe that much further
down lies the real enjoyment of thes
prurient pieces.
Whatever may be said OF these farce