The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-08
ANSPACHER TURNS
 ANALYTIC LIGHT ON DRAMAS INFLUENCE
Writer and Lecturer EnthrallS Great Audience In Jefferson
 Theatre With Vivid Bits of
 Insight Into Making
By EsTELLE BETHEA HALE

Fly ESTELLE BETHEA HALE Advancing new ideas on the appreciation of the drama, en- Tightening his audience on old ones, with brief and unexpect- ed flashes of delightful humor, Louis K. Anspacher, dramat- ist, writer and poet, enter tained the Drama league Tues
 day afternoon at the Jefferson theatre.
 The lecture on the subject of the drama as social force of democracy
 was delivered to one of the largest audiences the Drama league has ever had. Keen appreciation was demon
 stra:ed by frequent applause, as MT. Anspacher took the drama through the gamut of it's relation to the common things of life in three senses, by shap- ing life, by expressing it, and by con- , centrating the forces of life into action All of this the dramatist claimed is done by the drama, the literature of the vast threading public. A BRIEF CHRONICLE
 OF THE TIME
 Great drama is hopelessly contem- porary," said Mir Anspacher. Tt is amazingly immediate, the drama of current fact following close on the ap pearance of the thing itself. Shakes peare was a chronicler of his time. In 1904 everything in England was nation ally Scotch in honor of the new Scot tish ruler. Then comes Shakespeare
 Johnny on the spot with his great Scottish drama, Macbeth. In 1898 few Jews were left in England, among them was Dr. Lopez, famous Jewish physi- clan, who was unjustly executed. At about the same time there arose doubt that Magellan really sailed through the strait bearing his name, and a wager was made between a Jew and Gen. tile, being pound of flesh, on the ques- tion In this case the Gentle won. The case, however, was appealed by the Jew, and they were both fined for the suicidal wager. The unusual story spread throughout England. In 1899 Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice made it's appearance, combining the two occurrences. The Tempest was based the picturesque stories and findings of explorers in the Bermuda Isles."
 The speaker illustrated the concen- trating, driving force of the drama with speech from a Russian drama, where the actor exclaims: This is a land where everybody steals but Christ, and he doesn't because his hands are nailed"
 How long will a country remain in- active with such speeches brought be- fore them in their drama?" asked Mr. Anspacher, and continued: Tt was GalSworthy'S 'JuSticet o,1 the prison reform in England shortly afterward."
 For the expressive power of the drama the speaker said it is a registry of the social force of the time. His tory may give you the facts but the drama gives you the underlying mo- tives of the soul behind those facts" WHAT IS DRAMA
 AND A DRAMATIST?
 When 1 speak of the drama I ex- clude the musical comedies and all of the lightly entertaining plays that get at no issue. The time has passed for the drama on the pale little lady, shut up in the tower from which the TO- mantle James K. Hackett rescues her. The movies are doing all of this superb ly. People can see the real thing so far as the external drama is concerned, in the movies for 80 cents. Take for in- stance, Douglas Fairbanks. A drama must have ideas, deal in conflicts of will and ideals. Such men as Ipsom, Bernard Shaw and others like them are dramatists. They exalt the common" The speaker thought the chief powers of Shaw lay in his ability to ridicule, or in destructive criticism. "He hits every blockhead for miles around. If Shaw had the constructive power that he has destructive, he would be the greatest dramatist"