Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-08-17
PLAY OR ACTOR
QUESTION NOW
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.

~ examination. These have moth
ing to do with either the economic
or the ethical aspect of the affair.
Points in dispute between the actors
and the managers may easily be left
to them for settlement, as the pub
lie is only collectively concerned in
their private arrangements. The
first point is that the managers are
teaching the public that the theater
in America is purely private insti-
tuition. Long ago the coterie in
control Invested it of any public
function it might have possessed,
and now they are emphasizing the
fact
This is being made plain by the
introduction into such houses as re-
main open of second-class players,
the managers themselves taking the
leading roles, yet offering the di-
minished talent of their aggregation
at the price asked for the best per-
Torrance of the selected cast. What
comment might be INDUCED as to
the ethics OF this procedure may be
suspended in favor of consideration
of the relation of the actor to the
drama and the play to the people.
For many seasons Americans have
pampered their favorites of the
stage world. We have as a nation
exalted individuals, setting this one
or that high above others, paying
munificent tribute as proof of adula
ton and with the very natural re-
suit of the one so signally favored
coming to the conclusion that his or
her, existence is a real boon to
human kind. In this note Of protest
no intention exists of depriving the
capable or the talented of full re-
ward for gifts exercised for the edi-
ficaton or advertisement of people
who carelessly or cheerfully con-
tribute to the end. 1t is not me-
ter of especial moment whether e
stipend OF the star amounts into m /
lions or fingers along in that lesser
zone where the multitude can cor
prehend the figures. What is :
concern, though, is the return MADE
for the attentions so lavishly show
cred on the popular darlings of tie
stage Adoring millions have beeu
content if only the worshiped OF .
appears afar off. as in vision, ard
are transported into raptures #
favored with a Closeup tr
screen or stage. Shrewd entrepre-
neu:s, posing as managers" calling
themselves producers and venturlns
to destroy with the thunderbolts of
their displeasure any who presume
to question the infal1ibility of their
dicta, have profited through this
peculiar prediction, realizing that
all that is needed is to SHOW" the
star in some atmosphere or sur
rounding calculated to bring out the
peculiar qualities of his or her gilt
ter, just as the tasty jeweler dis
plays his gem against a background
of black velvet,
Herein is found the evils of the
star" system. the personality Of the
successful PLAYER takes the place of
dramatic ability, and only rarely
does one care to risk failure by sink
ing individual cteristics in
those Of the role essayed. y Some
there are who play the part so as to
make it live, a component OF the
mixture of emotions, passions and
purposes that constitute the legltl-
mate drama. For these, the Lord be
praised! Behind them all is ar
rayed the long line of lesser lights,
who struggle bravely against great
odds to give intelligent expression
to a role necessary to the rounding
out of the play itself into perfect
whole, but overlooked by those who
have eyes for the star alone. These
are the actors. On them finally
must depend the issue, for just as
they are capable of sustaining the
illusion that must be created and
maintained, so will the great one
at the head of the company be en-
abled to register the triumph hoped
for and aimed at
Once upon a time these were
taken into account, because of their
adaptability and capacity for assum-
ing a virtue, portraying passion,
creating the impression that what
they are engaged upon is real. 1t
was the play itself that appealed to
the public, its periods. its situations,
its plot and its lessons, all come in
for careful consideration, and the
critical comment ragged wilder
around the argument of the author
than the personality of the player,
To be an actor in those days meant
to be an artist, capable of conceiv-
ing, Judging and expressing, full of
fine ideas, with a rare appreciation
for dramatic values and the heaven
sent gift of ability to get it over.
But the vogue of the star has we'll
nigh ended this, too. Plays were
not only fitted to the personality
of the exploited one. but players as
we'll had to measure up to the whims
and individual eccentricities of the
man or woman whose name blazed
in BRIGHT lights over the door of the
der.
Out of this has come the de-
cadence of the stage. The theater
is no longer the home of art, but a
place where amusement, more or
less innocuous, although sometimes
risque, and occasionally substituting
sheer vulgarity where crisp and
pungent wit is intended, is dispensed
for the advertisement of the tired
business man" who, as a rule, would
more enjoy his evening at bridge
table or in a pinochle game. If the
strike of the, actors should have the
not impossible result of giving to
America a revival of the theater as
handma;den of art, renewing its
powers for good, and restoring some
of the greatness that has vanished
under the commercializing influ-
ences of the coterie of New York