The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-11-24
RAIN IS TERMED
TAINTED MEAT
BY DR.. MORDECA]
Record Congregatio
Hears Pastors Denun-
ciation Of Play

Raw meat, tanned in spots, but with
the faint completely camoufaged Dy
nhilosonhicaI cant-that was Rev.
Trevor Mordecai's verdict Of the drama.
.Roin." in his Sunday evening sermon
ON this play, which has become one OF
the outstanding dramatic successes on
the American stage.
DR.. Mordecai's sermon, delivered to
the largest congregation which ever az
tended a regular service IN the flrSt
PRESBYTERIAN church, was extremely well
received.
Rev. Mordecai took exception to the
philosophy Of the drama. asserting thar
close insncction would prove that many
of the fine sounding phrases were snail
low.
/ .9There were a great many platitudes
and exaggerations, and many Iasci,ia ~
phrases that caught the ear and that
hid fair to WOO the intellect, but on
closer insnection the truth they were
intended to enunciate was extremely
shallow and certainly misleading, hev.
Mordecai said. LET me give you an
example of what mean:
DIR. McPhail, one of the main char
acters, in reply to remark maoe
by his host that the missionaries
disturbed the peaceful and happy lives
of peaceful and happy people III oroer
to save their souls. says: Inougntless
of men not to develop soW without
losing the Garden OF Eden. -,
ION hearing this, l, for one, found
mvself thinking it sounded as if some
thing worthwhile had been said, but
little thought revealed its shallowness
lonaqthe mind Immediately ystigmatizef
II ma n flippant remark, saying little and
meaning less"
Raw Meat Seen
After denying that the play could
qualify ms n Freudian drama, Rev. Nor
decoi continued what we did see,
however, in the play, Rain, according
to one paper, was not only theatrical
meat. but raw meat, underscored an3
thrown in devastating slabs at our feet.
That criticism is quite true. The mea'
was certainly raw-tainted in spots.
Perhaps that was its outstanding charac-
teristic, The faint, however, was clever
" camouflaged by a great deal OF
philosophical cant.
IAN that can be said for the play is
that it is a conspicuous example OF
modern realism, but there is a
menace in realism too ruthlessly express
cd. because many of the people who at
tend the theater are not thinking people
A play may be imminently true to life
superb piece of realism; but that Is
no justification for its production be-
fore the footlights.
"A house of ill-fame and the sad and
whitening tragedies that lie across its
threshold may work into mighty plot {;
the character delineation may be unsur-
passed and its reflections of life's lights
and shadows may be most gripping. An
intensely human drama may be written
about it. but /. for one. have no desire
TO see upon the stage the glamor of pros
titution or the tawdry tinsel of the
brOthel."
Not True Today
In discussing the speech of one of the
characters in the play who says, I'VE
live in q day of the new commandments,
Thou shalt not commit enjoyment"
Rev. Mordeaci declared that this might
have been true 80 years ago, but it is
not true today.
THE church is most lenient, little
700 lenient, l should say, and, in making
the mistake of trying to compete with
the amusement houses in her efforts to
DltuSC, BIC ID Inv -
grandmother playing basketball and
playing in all seriousness"
After discussing the missionary and
the woman of the streets as portrayed in
the play. Rev. MOrdecai gave as his
opinion that the missionarys approach
was wrong; that he acted as a jailer
rather than as a guide, and that gentle
hess, kindness and patience found no
place in his gospel of redemption.
Minister Fell Hard
But you say he fell. True, but that
fact does not make him coward or a
hypocrite. 1t was still the fall of Il
strong man, 1 say it was the fall of a
man who had climbed the heights of
conviction and remuneration and when
he fell, he fell long way. Some peo-
pie can't fall, they have nowhere to fall
from. If you fall off molehill, you
will suffer no bruise
I'm closing let me say that / really
am not concerned with the play or with
its characters, but / am concerned and
deeply concerned lest the average man
viii make the same mistake of identify
ing the religion of Jesus Christ with the
mistaken zeal of the missionary"