| Show W Y IS TIRED Of O UNCLEAN PLAYS SAYS HENRY HARRIS MI BY B HENRY B B. B HARRIS KAURIS ics ics- York Roine farted n ft campaign lp for drama ic Thc mi mighty flood of public by b oven en more potent on OD brough h the tho t before jt it houses force foree the muSical th the SUJ suggestive eni rn PY viCIOUS f French farcIcal the dy y life of domestic toda New lew firmly con convinced that today m restless heedless 5 flippant mone jettin is really ready for a al York DJovin ying C moral moral- of the tho l ii ced in n a in 10 ot other cr words is tired of gazing on thein the tho York 15 of lust in real life By hr the BB for plays or and nud is hungry and and how triumph of mind L show sho the ivert iver flesh t before I can set forth my reasons clear under under- I belief let us have a his biB I the managers manager's true ion IS ing to tows his theater his players and I bli is primarily a hu business businesslike iness er just like th the tho broker or merchant financial returns To he sure it or possible or lor for hun him to to secure these these producing plays in in an anEg ani anic 1 a without artistic Eg i ic manner uner and and an a It certain sentiment for his Ins K ss t the be mana managers manager's cr s 's true Stion is the box office His Ihs arti artistic tic and mu tie the line Imp of buyers at the box f window must run in io parallel chani chan chan- L i Viewpoint Viewpoint- f a as 5 rs aro not here to republic re- re public taste but to Jo earn the doll dolf dol- dol ol l f the public and if the drama is is reformed if the sta stage c is to tobed tobe be bed bei d d i reform and cleansing the be be started by bv bythe the public and and it be be credited to the theater going oin The same saDie manager er who presents lo lome ne one ODe year in response to tho thoC C demand d for a morbid drama may ma ext eit season offer a n drama dramatic tic version I Little Bopeep or II Old Old Mother urd nd rd H if public interest veers from froni rom decadent morbid drama Mother other Goo Goose The public is is al- al I to lay laJ the sins of the stI stage o edoor door of the manager er The real real I rf the drama in America is is' is tho I I I I man who pays his dollars into the box office window y And who come conic to the box office window window win win win- dow flow in largest larest numbers 1 Who Vho constitute constitute tute New forks fork's theater going population population tion 1 Not the millionaire class T The Tho e eI theaters would close their doors and I manager dramatists and actors would starve if the thc they depended epen ed upon the tho so so- clI called 1 mill millionaire class for support There are arc and millionaires Some have havo interests so 80 far from Bro Broadway Broadway Broad Broad- d. d way that the theater gets not a t penny of their wealth Tho The ma majority especially especial especial e. l ly r the much of millionaire class go to the theater only to see eo and he be seen b So by y people It It i is said also that New York theater managers look I to to the floating population tion the Hon the tour tourists tourists for for for a lar large e proportion tiou tion of their ir r support Who are the tourists Not all aU of them are arc Pittsburg Pitts- Pitts Pittsburg bur burg newly rich newly rich nor Arizona borax kings Icings nor Nevada ea evada a mining magnates It ItI Itis Itis is the tho masses from the provinces who flock into New York York and and line up before before be I fore our box office onice windows Therefore it is the great middle class the class the mass 01 of salaried men and women New Now Yorkers and strangers within our gates gates u o orea rea really settle what shall bo be produced and what banished from the metropolitan stage C. C what have they banished i Notoriety No Advantage First the actor or 01 actress wh whose se drawing power consisted of notoriety an orth unworthy private li life e unduly exploit exploit- I ed cd Not so mans mans- many seasons back when a much heralded divorcee secured an engagement en en- the tile public flocked to see tho the notorious woman and overlooked the play pIny or the real actors Today divorcees knock in vain ain at managerial er nl doors Unsavory Unsavory Un Un- ra or savory heroines of ed and champagne escapades cannot get Jet a hearing hear hear- ing lag Tho The public no longer lODger wishes to see them A fe few lew years ears ago a joung oung woman pronounced not guilt after an hys hp hysterical hysterical hys- hys murder trial asked her own price for fOl a few fes' we weeks ks in vaudeville and got gotI it t. t She packed the houses whore where she though she could neither act nor sing ping This summer a young oung woman of great beauty who bad had fi figured l in an international international in in- scandal after great eat diO difficulty culty secured an engagement on a roof garden gar gAr- den and the public deliberately pointedly pointedly point point- edly ignored her debut Her engagement engage engage- n ment lasted Jasted only a few nights A few years ago a J reach 1 woman oman with ith more or less notorious history in Paris drew Nc New York crowds because she was diabolically clever cr the apotheosis of suggestiveness This year car sh she returned to N New w York probably ahl ably a n more moro finished artiste artisto and surely sureh a more mor beautiful woman yet she was wa's was wa 8 banished to the provinces in a burlesque company All history even of the drama repeats Itself or moves mo In an unbroken circle cIrce and tho the dramatic stor story Is not only circling round to decency but to an even evon higher standard the allegorical presentation of the tho everlasting fl light fight ht between body and mind for soul the same Iame old struggle started started start start- ed In the Garden of Eden the same pame dally daily struggle going on today todar with Wall Vall street Newport Sherry's rry's Tuxedo East Hampton Hamp Hamp- ton arid and Palm Palm Beach for or a background Look at the plays which have made bl big mone money of late late- The Man of the Hour And why Because New Now York which so 50 long believed that to th victor Ictor belonged the spoils Is chafing under the yoko yoke of graft and political dishonor and supports a play in which one man Is strong enough to stand out against graft and maintain his honor The critics who nho said The Lion and the Mouse louse was not a a. great play lived lI to see IL it score with tho the paying public the gr greatest success In the history of the thc stage Why h Its love lo story was almost as old as Adam and Eves Eve's but it showed a 11 phase of oC New York life of which tho the New Yorker is weary the power of oC wealth Was wua broken its manipulator was humbled The rhe plays plas which made good last season sea- sea son eon and which are holding over o this season sea sea- son Include comedies with music but without suggestiveness The Tho chorus girt girl aith Ith the voice has replaced the show girl with the tho frocks Tho The list Includes comedic comedies comedies come come- dies dic of youth an and exuberance exuberance Class Class mate matos Brown of Harvard The Boys of or Company D B B. B and from the year ear heror he- he fore and Tho College Widow Js Is there anything suggestive of at tho the problem pIn play or the French farce farro of questionable morals in The Music Master The Chorus Lad Lady The Squaw Man l The Prince Chap Peter Petel Pan Millions or The Great Divider Divide A public ImbUe Awakening I tell you ou New York Is awakening to tho evils evil within Its social and political life The press pres has stirred d the public conscience and public opinion in turn has hat prodded pi the conscience of the theatrical manager manater and producer by exclaiming We Ye dont don't want New Yorks York's social and political sips sins glossed slosHed over an any longer We e dont don't want the love lovo of money to be bo pictured on the tho sta stage c as a benign Influence once ence but as an influence for or evil ovll Give us the truo true picture p of metropolitan conditions conditions con con- as the laly all press and the fearless tearless magazine writers have dared ared to do Let Letus ua us see lice ourselves as others see sea us We 0 havo been so bus busy making money spending spend spend- ing lag money and then dashing hack ack to tomake tomake tomake make more marc that wo we hAve lost our grip on some of the great fundamental truths of living JIvIng Give them to us from the stage singe We e haven't time to stud study life for our our- selves I Reflect It for Cor us Five yc years yearn ars ago no If I had offered such characters character as aR Manners and Marlon Marion Manners of Tho The Movers in a Broadway production the public would have condemned condemn d them as creatures of Im Imagination Imagination iou iou- purely pure creatures who dl did not exist In New Kew York City Tad Today a Marion Marlon Manners stands for something something- real and tangible a a. new now phase of oC American or more properly speaking peal New York womanhood wo wo- wo- wo manhood Thank God there are vet few fet Marion Marlon l who will sell honor honor- honor their own or their husbands husband's husbands for for luxuries luxuries lux lux- url uries and luxuries alone but the tho public recognizes recognize the typo and the sociological danger sh silo she represents Five FI years ago New York did not r realize realize real real- al- al ize whither Its men and women were drifting Toda Today It Is awake It fair fairly gloats in the exposure of Its own sociological sociological socio socio- sociological logical and political e ells c lis And when It Itcan Itcan can gloat over the fall of ot evil I it t is rend ready for Cor the rise of oC good And that is why I Iam Iam am willing to risk money on producing a miracle or morality pIa play such as The Struggle la Everlasting In which a woman of toda today typifying the wantonness of oC all tho the world a New York woman oman such as iou vou and I nib rub elbows with every dl day fights lights as the flesh against the mind forthe for forthe forthe the possession of the soul I believe NewYork New NewYork NewYork York Is ready to see tho the soul Boul win over the wanton flesh And I believe that It Itla la is reads read for Cor the tha old old story of Pilgrims Pil PJ grims grim's Progress which it has not heard or ma hap oven even recalled since Its childhood childhood childhood child child- hood days And the reason for tor my belie belief be be- lie bet in these things emanates from the box office where the stern voice of the tho press has led the New Net York theater goer ocr tl to ti ask nay to demand the strong clean and moral drama |
