Evening star., 1926-04-20
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. G.. M.

q 20.
THE ROMANCE OF THE AMER1--
CAN THEATER. Mary Caroline
Crawford. Little, Brown & Co.
To enterprise of every sort there
come stated points Of pause for the
securer placing of the next step or
advance. This Is true Of all business,
of politics and society and religion, OF
letters and art. These periods OF
overlooking and review result In the
shedding of outworn parts, In the
Tightening up OF that which remains
after such elimination, In q more
compact and capable fronting upon a
present of fresh demands and upon
future that will certainly discard the
lumber of successive pasts.
* \
Such time of pause appears to have
come around again to the business or
the American theater. Conventional
drama at the present is facing so
many departures from even its Inn
mediate past that, clearly, 1t Is es-
sential to gather up the outstanding
features of the hour for a new ap-
proach to the problems OF tomorrow.
Let us look at some Of these new
aspects of dramatic purpose and
agency.
There is first the moving picture.
Shaken at the start by the spectacu-
lar and popular advent Of this novel
instrument of entertainment, the
established theater has to a degree
reconciled itself practically and hope
fully to the vigorous claims or this
lusty rival for general acceptance.
Out from the moving picture ts
emerging the radio playlet. At pres
ent "the voice of the silent drama
stands at the threshold Of experiment.
Crude and faulty as it still unde-
niably Is, nevertheless upon 1t great
unseen audience waits tremendously
excited that by means of hearing and
imagination alone so much of genuine
dramatic effect may be secured. And
only yesterday the newspaper, quot
ing high scientific authority. prom
ised a near day when the eye, too,
will respond to the radio, when this
hidden audience will not only hear the
radio drama but will see it also.
Then, in the comfort Of old shoes and
companionable pipe the man of the
house may sit at home in full en-
joyment of the theater. The radio
drama will then be a. matter OF the
family living room for those who,
either from choice or necessity, en-
ploy this mode of playgoing.
Again. the American drama-both
the opera and the PLAYS pushing
hard against the old European impor-
tations upon which II has so long de-
pended. Young American playwrights
already have a substantial number
of stage successes to their combined
account. These are in the main
4
embody the drama Of our own inStitu-
tions and aims. They project our
own opportunities potential Of both
success and failure. They are repre-
sentative Of this country in its con-
ditions and growth. Native actors
are competently delivering these
plays A striking proof Of this has
come out in the current season when
group Of American girls at the
Metropolitan Opera House demon
strated triumphantly to both au-
diences and critics their capable ar
tiStry. Interesting. too, at this point
to recall that a great foreign COM
poser found in the soil Of America
material for the loveliest Of his SYM
phonies, found it in one Of the negro
spirituals.
Once more, the American theater
has spread amazingly beyond the
established conventional playhouse.
In every city the little theater" is
becoming an institution, serving a
new dramatic purpose, the technic
of it's art modified to meet its deeply
! social intent. Schools and colleges
have their theaters nowadays as COM
monty as they have their study halls
and laboratories. Churches are lean
| ing toward this means of appeal and
! suggestion, remembering tardily that
old religious ceremonies are the real
source of the drama itself. Communi-
ties have their plays and pageants-
each a clear medium of new con-
facts, new neighborhood understand.
ings, a new spirit of closer co-opera-
ton.
Such, sketchily presented. are a
| few of the tremendous and striking
| influences that are beating upon the
American drama. Some OF them are
already fairly fixed. The greater mum.
Der are still on trial, subject to many
, remakings. Their character and
! their number indicate clearly that
| to the American theater has arrived
one of those periodical moments of
, accounting applied to that which this
| institution has already achieved, and
| to that also which, from all present
signs, it may reasonably be expected
| to achieve in the immediate future.
X X v
From two sources come simultane.
ously just such a survey and summary
| of the American theater as the stu.
alton requires. The first of these is
a product of the long experience of
| Montrose Moses in critical dealings
with the art Of the drama. The
! second is a careful and competent
study by Mary Caroline Crawford
along similar lines-a study for certain
of whose parts the author pays direct
tribute to the helpful service of Mr.
Moses himself.
Fifteen years ago Mr. Moses
| gathered into a single volume a
-, drama. Critical and philosophical In
| spirit. the purpose of this early study
was to refute the commonly accepted
idea that there was in existence nc
such thing as an American drama
On the contrary, according to the find
ings of this author. there was ar
American drama, very much alive
| and in a condition Of growth that
needed but slight intelligent encour
agement for it's lusty fruition. Soon
| after the issue of this study, new
| sources of information on the subject
were opened up. Libraries and in
dividuals had succeeded in uncovering
a deal of neglected first-hand informa
| tion on the early American theater
| Following this trail the author sly
years after it's issue revised "Th'
American Dramatist." And now, nine
| years after that revision, he has ir
effect written a new book on the thea.
ter-a book covering vital period ir
| the history Of the American drama
This period covers protest. a breaking
away from set conventions, the open
ing of new channels Of dramatic ex
preston, the adoption Of new theories
of the purpose and technic of the
theater. In a word, this last issue Of
| THE American Dramatist" adds tt
| the historic substance of this subject
| the c0x1tant Of thu M,.oxrol.a&io,an nl lS:1