Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-04
Cleaning the Stage.

few nights ago and the producer and
performers were arraignsd on charges of
participating in an exhibition detri-
mental to public morals. The manage
ment secured an injunction against the
city authorities forbidding further in
reference with the production pending
trial, and the show was resumed. with.
Of course. crowded houses. the adver-
tisement Of the play as indecent occa-
stoned by the publicity of the arrests
having attracted great numbers of
pruriency seekers. Yesterday this in
junction was vacated by the presiding
justice of the Appellate Division. and,
under orders Of Mayor Walker who has
declared war against immoral perform
ances in New York. the police again
raided the thcater. and in the middle
of the matinee performance stopped
the show and arrested the cast. When
some OF the actors appealed to the
audience for sympathy there we're loud
Kisses for the police and some applause
for the protestants. Nevertheless, the
performers we're bundled into patrol
wagons and taken to jug" The case
will be later tried under State statute,
and meanwhile the house will remain
closed to that particular show, and,
possibly, in view Of the persistence of
the management in repeating the per-
Torrance, may be padlocked for a
period
This action is to be heartily approved
by the country at large as in the in
terest of decency on the American
stage. A tendency toward the presen-
tstion of filthy plays has marked the
development of the drama in the United
States for several years. Broadway"
which is supposed to set the dramatic
styles for the American people, has run
to slime and gross vulgarity. Plays
that far exceed the worst obscenities
of the early English and French stage
have been produced and have succeeded
in attracting large audiences for time.
When put on the road some of these
shows have succeeded in some meas
ure, owing to the advertisement they
have received through the criticisms of
those who have fought this trend of
the theater. But few of them have
survived long and none of them has
passed into the record of worthy dra-
matte productions.
very small percentage of the peo-
pie can furnish sustaining and even
profitable support for an indecent play
few thousands out of millions. Only
a comparative handful of the public
responds to the lure of the offensive
Perhaps one out of score of these So
called Broadway successes that trans
gress the rule of public decency has
any actual dramatic merit. Now and
then a conscientious performance is
rendered that is truly artistic while
being actually vulgar. But in the main
in the great majority of cases. indeed
the effort of the playwrights who put
forth these outrageous productions is
to present something that is merely
shocking, perhaps smartly so, but un-
disguisedly an offense to the ears and
the eyes of the community.
Prosecution of the offenders against
the laws of public decency to be eff
fective must have behind it the sup
port of the people. That this support
will be given to the New York authori-
ties, who are now trying to rid the
stage of that city of offal, is to be
hoped, and, in the light of recent hap
penings, is to be expected. New York
is the chief source of this evil. Its
theaters are, in great measure, owned
or controlled by group of people who
have little or no regard for public
morals and who exercise no restraint
whatever over the kind of shows that
are given on their boards so long as
their producers pay the rent. The test
of the play is the box office, and as
long as this may be crowded with filth
seekers, who are always to be found in
any large city, the owners or lessees are
complacent II, however, the paddock
of the law is placed upon the doors of
a theater in which an obnoxious per-
Torrance is rendered a different atti-
tude may be taken, for the betterment
of the stage, or at least for the pre-
vention of an outrage upon the public.