New-York tribune., 1920-02-15

81 am not ashamed to say that
every Friday night finds me at some
musical comedy, and as near the
front as l can get, so as to get as
much enjoyment as possible out of
the music and the bright eyes and
laughing countenances Of the people
on the stage. l listen with relish to
their nonsense, and am immensely
pleased by the lovemaking of, the
handsome tenor and the beautiful
soprano, and after the antics and the
comedy are over leave the theater
feeling better and refreshed for the
tasks Of the next day.
Fewer Frivolous Plays.
"But, having said this, and thai
still enjoy going to the circus es h
spring, I want to call attention to the
fact that we have fewer frivolous
plays In New York than they have
in any other big city in other lands.
that we have more theaters thar,
Here in New York it would seem
say, in London or Paris, but that is
because here our theaters are all
crowded together in a much smaller
area than in the cities across the
Atlantic. In Paris the theaters are
spread all over the city, and the
same is true Of Petrograd, of Lon
don, of all the big Continental cities.
Paris is noted for its farces, and
even in the great Conedie Fran
caise, which has done so much for
the serious drama and in producing
the plays Of the old masters, farces
which are broad and nonsensical
plays have been presented.
GAS for myself, in connection with
the serious drama, l pay out more
than $4,000 year in advance roy
alties and on contracts in every land
in the world, and yet I cannot get
the sort Of serious play that l want.
OF course, many serious plays are
being written and presented, but to
me they are overly serious and alto
gether too gloomy"
The Reading Taste
And now how about popular litera-
ture? What are the people reading?
Are they proving their frivolous re-
action from the war by devotine
themselves exclusively to books of
a light and frothy character, or
are they going in for more weighty
stuff?
Listen to the statement Of the
manager Of Brentano's, who has q
very good commercial reason for
keeping in close touch with the kind
OF literature the public is demand
ing.
frivolous reading?" he echoed
in reply to q question. "Ccme back
with me-"
He led the way to the back Of the
store and pointed to a tier of book
shelves occupying an important Sec
ton off the main aisle.
"Do you know what kind Of books
are In that section?" he asked.
Books on exporting, foreign trade
and international business. Some of
them contain statistical data and
items about commerce.
Before the war the books on this
subject were kept on the back gal
lery and filled two small sections of
about $50 books each. Now we have
moved the department to the main
floor and the volumes fill six Sec
tions.
"In addition to the works on bust
ness, the popular taste-I mean this
is running more largely than ever
before to subjects on government.
sociology and immigration. In the
front of the store, just to the right
off the street entrance as you come
in, is the section devoted to ESSAYS
on practical problems, the league
OF nations, radicalism, liberalism,
industry, and these books are en-
joying an extraordinary sale.
The Vulgar Not Popular
II have never known the public
to go in for so much serious
reading as now. 1t is true that
immoral books will command .
tremendous sale, but In comparison
with the vast number Of other vol
umes of a really serious, thoughtful
or highly literary or artistic nature
the popularity of the vulgar, cheap