Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1922-04-20
ACROSS TIE
BRII)lIEAU
)NTEIS SIDE

2%A a. q AkzS ~ Z - i
We have with US again no less a
] parsonage than Roscoe-in parenthe-
sis, Fatty-Arbuckle, the hippopota-
nus-like comedian of the celluIoId
foundry at Hollywood. Young peo-
pie and old, are to be again accorded
! the delectable privilege Of seeing him
grimace and cavort through mile Of
film. The picture men are planning
to test the strength and temperature
Of public feeling on the subject of the
postgraduate debauchee class of
Movieland's School Of polite crime.
If they get a few more nickels than
/ it takes to pay expenses, these pand-
erers to the vitiated taste of fappers
and pool room lizards will tell the
world that the decent American pub
! lie doesn't care how filthy and vile the
minds and acts Of its pet entertain
I ers are. But the decent American pub
lie does care just the same. The CUES
tion is: Are there enough people who
viii pay money for seeing anything,
no matter how vile, that will make
| them laugh?"
Sadly enough the answer probably
IS "yes." A critic in last Sundays
Milwaukee Journal declared that the
average theatre-going audience laughs
at the most serious passages Of seri-
Gus play, not because the play is not
we'll written, nor because of any weak
ness. or ill-done part in the acting,
but because the people in the audience
don't know any better. They go to
shows to laugh and be amused; and
the prevailing comment among the
people at the theatre is: CAV, gee, I
Iwisht he'd do soemthing funny"
The fact is that the decent, intelIi-
gent, clean-minded American public
is ''of of shows" The theatre manag-
ers have got the idea firmly fixed in
their one (side) track minds that the
people won't pay to see show if it is
not nasty. So that's the only kind
they will put on as a commercial pro-
position. Therefore, the decent folks
stay away from the theatre unless
show comes along that is backed by
rock-ribbed guarantee that it is clean
and fit to look at. Then they go, and
the regular theatre-goer takes a night
off.
The tragedy Of it is that there has
come to be enough people who love the
.salaciousness and spciness of bed
room plays and booze parties, to make
the sh0w-business profitable. They
say the smaller cities, like Wisconsin
Rapids, are "poor show towns" which
simply means that in these cities the
majority of the people want their en-
tertainment, like their lives, to be
clean and wholesome There are not
enough Of Of the street-walkers, near
and would-be street
walkers, and their friends to make up
la profitable audience in the little
towns. In the big cities, there are, by
the sheer weight of numbers, even
though the proportion may not be
much greater-probably is not.
II one in every five hundred people
in Chicago read "Sexy Stories" or
''Tuff TRASH" and tried to live up to
what they read, that makes good
big subscription list or fair Sized
nightly audience-in Chicago. But,
if the same proportion does the same
thing in the Rapids it means only a
couple of dozen people.
Shakespeare's best plays, without
the modern accessories Of lacy legs
and barred bosoms, draw big crowds
anywhere, today, but somehow the
fact fails to make the front page Of
the Sunday edition. In 81 American
towns out of hundred, "Uncle Toms
Cabin" will draw a bigger and more
mill and three miles Of the river bank
and Islands adjacent, commencing at
point about twenty rods south Of
the present bridge location and run
ming north to within about one-half
mile Of the mouth Of Mosquito Greek.
His brother finally decided he did not
wish to move to the rapids, and with
drew from the deal, SO father after
wards sold a third interest each to