Evening star., 1923-12-03
CENSOR'S SPECTER
. STAMPEDES STAGE
FIoodtide of Reform, Result
of Daring, About to
Strike Theater.
BY ROBERT II. SMALL.

NEW YORK, December 3.-Censor-
ship. gaunt and puritanlcal. threatens
the American stage. The reform forces
which have combined in an attack on
the vile plays and revues produced in
New York this season are in such
full cry at this time that nothing
short of a state censor is likely to
appease them. Theatrical managers
have failed to heed the many warn
ing signs held up to them. They
have insisted that the public wanted
risque comedy and costumes as near
the nude as artistic considerations
would permit. The boldness of some
of the producers has been little short
of startling.
But now they are In a fair way of
reaping the whirlwind. Not only are
the professional reformers aroused,
but various church organizations
which work quietly and without os-
tentation. have taken a hand in the
movement to clean up the state and
it is not likely they will stop until
the job is completed.
A state censor here in New York
would be the stage censor for the en-
tire country because of the fact that
productions nowadays are planned and
Iut on in this city. The New York
stage has its influence on all American
drama. A New York run" is the
hallmark of dramatic quality. Lately
II has been In too many instances the
hallmark of indecency. So true is this
that most of the New York produce
tions have had to be toned down for
the road. Two pieces which were not
toned down recently were suppressed
one in Philadelphia and one in Los
Angeles. Many persons in the "busi-
ness" thought that nothing would
shock Los Angeles, but Getting
Gertie's Garter" after an uninterrupted
and uneXpurgated run in the eastern
half of the country, got the goat of the
home of the movies and the police
stepped in.
Thomas Power Limited.
Augustus Thomas. the eminent play
wright, who year ago was named as
the VIII Hays of the spoken drama,
has not had the same right of censor
ship over plays that young Mr.. Hays
has exercised over movie productions.
Mr.. Thomas has been inclined to stand
almost anything they wanted on the
broadway dogs" Some Of these dogs
are now about to turn around and bite
them.
confronts them the producers are
clamoring today to have the citizens
jury plan placed in operation. They
realize that is the most liberal ele-
are abroad in the city. The jury idea
was evolved something more than
year ago and was generally accepted
at that time, both by the managers
and by the officers of the Society for
the Suppression of Vice. 1t also was
accepted by the commissioner of
licenses for his guidance in granting
permits to certain playhouseS to con-
tinue in operation. The stage wasn't
so very bad a year ago. and 80 the
plan fell into innocuous desuetude, or
something akin to that.
Now the stage is about at the
depths and the jury agreement has
run out. The managers want IL re-
leading them in the hope that an ac-
tive jury may shut off the more furi-
Gus and narrow minded of the re-
formers.
Certainly the established panel
from which the play juries of twelve
men and women are to be drawn has
a liberal enough personnel.
Prominent among those near the
top of the list is Bernard NJ. Baruch,
the distinguished chairman of the
war industries board under President
Wilson. 1t also includes Col. Tilling
hast L'Homm edieu Huston, until re-
Gently halloween of the New York
American League base ball team. a
man who believes in the doctrine of
live and let live. Christopher Morley,
the scrivener; owen Davis. the play
wright; Mortimer Schiff, the banker;
prince Pierre Troubetkoy. the artist;
Will Irwin, the writer; Otto H. Kahn,
International financier and head of the
metropolitan Opera Company; these
are some of the panel of $50 prom
tnent citizens suggested for jury duty.
Managers Want Jury.
The managers today are eager to
place themselves at the mercy of the
jury. They beg that someone protect
them from the gathering storm and
show them. miserable sinners that
they are, just how they can put their
houses in order.
Until this new furor against the
stage arose there had been organized
81 pretty general demand for the
abolishment of the state censorship
Of finn 1t looks now as though
that movement was doomed to de-
feat and instead the censorship may
be broadenNd to include every stage
production. Legislation to that ef-
feet already Is being prepared for
introduction at Amy. Under such
a censorship the stage migat easily
lose much of it's legitimate virility,
but the producers will have only
themselves to blame.