San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-12-20
FAMOUS CRITIC
FROWNS UPON
LOT t PLAYS
Alan Dale's Big Grievance
Is That He Keeps
Being Invited.
By ALAN DALE
Famous Dramatic Critic Of Univer-
sal Service.

sal service.
NEW YORK, Dec. 19.-My mai
seems to be divided among those Wit
want to 60 on the stage, and thost
who are on the stage, and ask mt
to see them act. / prefer the latter
because they are more readily copet
with-I do not go to see them act.
Some of them appear at tnesC
stcalthy intimate" cult theaters, q
.she subject Of which l must say 9
few fearful words, these "theaters
are cropping W SO persistently that
hope seems TO have vanished. Orig
finally they were intended as a revolt
from Broadway. The effect of their
multiplication will drive everybody
TO Broadway. They are. for the most
part, so drab, 30 ostentatiously DIS
NAL. SO arrogantly poverty-stricken,
and 90 inartistically Bohemian, that
Broadway in its worst moments, was
never as cruel and as doleful.
/ am invited to them all-why, l
don't know. 1t isn't quite fair TO
ask me to these mushroom iniquities.
Yet / get 'em all-baekstairs players,
and kitchen PLAYERS, and pantry play
crs. and wardrobe players, in garrets
and cellars, and garages, and base
meDts. and lofts, and stables.
Most of them CONSIDERABLY affect
Sunday nights, and after my week
has oyerflowed with matinees, and
evening performances so persistently
that j am literally unable to crowd
them all in seven more days-I am
courteously invited TO resign my Sun
day nights rest, and see the Wine
bin Players, in their latest revolt.
Oh, / have succumbed occasionally
from q sense of duty.
But after all, these pompously Sin
innate" affairs bore me tremendously.
] say that artistic novelty might be
discovered. Pigs might fly. They
do not. Nor can say that these tiny
movements" have SO far been worth
the annoyance they cause. Nothing
is iscoyered-except how TO make
torture of what has always been one
of the most delightful experiences in
life. Accepting the programs of these
people for what they profess to be, j
have time and again sat in these
damp, ill-smelling, uncomfortable and
often discouraging resorts with net
profit of-nothing.
They insolently demand criticism !
Why: If they be so tremendously
epoch-making, and 50 mutinous. and
inconoclastic. why should the dread
full and despised reviewers Of Broad
way plays be asked TO inspect them?
If the Broadway producers are blind
enough to reject these wine-bin players
and their offerings. should not the |
same myopia be redited TO the critics: |
These uncosy resorts merely seem |
10 produce the plays that are hope
less from any point of view. Some |
times. they present positive lunacies-
unintelligible stuff, the only hope OF |
which is that it will appeal TO those |
who pretend TO read symbolism" into |
shem. Once the small theater pro-
fesses symbolism, and it is doomed.
Dreary affairs in dark kitchens are |
very popular. Dismal sex discussions |
prevail. Foreign plays done in some |
occult section of Europe are sought |
after and curious thought-kinks are |
evoked. This is perfectly justifiable, |
il the patrons Of these cults want |
them. am merely complaining be
cause they ask me 10 view them, and |
are quite put out, and offended il
don't. Why should j.
These intimate" gatherings seem
10 be as avid for publicity as the
regular, unredeemed theaters. Whys |
What on earth have they 10 do with
publicity: That means filthy lucrc,
and they professedly do not clamor
for that. They are. or they think
they are. or they say they are, out
for Fart"
There are plays perhaps too clever.
and too brilliant for Broadway say
perhaps. I'd gladly see these. I'd
love them. ] have no real brief for
But / never do see any
thing of the sort in these lofts. and
and bandboxes. Never.
Plays that are too clever and too
brilliant for Broadway are generally
produced on Broadway. Only the
plays that affect symbolism and whose
characters talk ike dement's. and
cerebral inyalids, seem to reach the
intimacies.
Ny life belongs to the theater. IT
i ct the service Of the theater. ]
have, aud do, live for the theater. and
have nothing else TO do but go 10
the fheater. Therefore. il is in no
spirit Of neglect that / make these
] do not mind sitting in
kitchens. and pantries, and store
rooms and garbage receptacles If it
,e 20 see something worth while that
las established itself. What I do OBJ
I>ct 70, is being invited TO see these
lffnirs as they open-aBd they AL
WAYS open-when real dramatic ef-
'ort calls me elsewhere. Sometimes, il
: nerve-racking. They are merely
Oily. or ugly. or pretentiouslv ludi-
.rous or profoundly impossible from
my angle.