The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
The Crurade Agairtrt theLondonMuxicHallx
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British Clergymen Warn Against
Indecent Dances and Plays Which
Bernard Shaw Defends
'r
AmW Swggeetive LmmIm
Mw4c Hall Dance That Met
Objeeite.
Bernard Shaw's
Curious Plea r
for Tolerance
By Bernard Shaw
At working playwright, I wise ts
aamUsaa hmwiIh tka wMMw he
kas pHMMd at the awto hall pertera
o far ha ha hffd the ttl
1m H dealing; witk that 1m has M
Mimed tht tlwci aw 1m m peaarMa dh.
teres m among good cltlaeas concerning
them. He mm u4
the wort "sagges
tlTe" without any
apparent sense of
tha fact that the
comma thaegsttoM
ot H ay vulgar po4 has at4K intol
erably otfeesrr. Aa4 ke the word "pb
JectleaeMa" hKK were a teseral agree
ment m t what la objectionable and wkat
ta aot, ta ptt ot the fart that tke vary
eatrtaianata in which ka himself ob
Jet4 ka4 proved highly attractive to large
neather of people who teste to entitled
to tke aaaw eeasMeratlea aa kta own.
ba the fe of It, tke Blahop ot Xtaatag.
toa ta iewaadtag that tin plays that he
happens ta Mke shall We tolerated aad
these whtok ka happens at to Mice akall
ka beaaed. Ha Sa aMlag that what ka
apprevee of la rlgkt, aad what he dteep
preves ot wroag. Now, I have sot en
tka pertteater play wklch ka so saaefc 41
Hkaa; bat Mppeee I go to aea it ta-nlght
aad writ a letter to you to-morrow to ay
that I aser are et k, what will tka Slake
hare to ear T
He will have either to admit that hie
epKhet ot ebjectleaable mesne simply gig.
liked ky tke Btskop ot Kensington, or ka
will kare to declare boldly that ke and I
staad la tke relation of God and the Devil.
And, kowerer bia courtesy and .his mod
esty may recoil from this extremity, whea
H la atated in plain EagUen, I think he
aa got tkere witkout noticing It. At all
events, ha ta clearly proceedlag oa tke
assumption that hie conscience 1 mora
eaiigkieaad tkaa that ot the people who
S9 to the Palace Thoatre and enjoy what
they aee there. It the Bishop may shut
the Palace Theatre oa thla assumption,
tken tka Koncomformlst patrons of tho
Palace Theatre (aad It has many ot them)
aaay skat tip tke Church of England by
taraiag tke assumption Inside out. The
aword ef persecution always has two
By "aeegtiveM tke Bishop stews sug
gestive of sexual emotion. Now, a Bishop
wko goes Into a theatre and declares that
tke performances there must aot suggest
eexuel emotion la In the position ot a play
wright flng Into a church and declaring
that tka servleea there must not suggest
raUgloae amotion. The suggestion,
grntlacattoa and educatloa ot sexual emo
ttea Sa eae ef tke mala uses and glories
eC tk tkaatre. It share that function with
all tfca as art. Tka, sculpture courts of
tka Yfeteria aad Albert Museum in the
Bishop's disease are crowded with naked
agora ot sack extraordiaary beauty, re-
A VIGOROUS campaign to suppress
what they consider Indecent dis
plays in the1 theatres and music
halls la now being led by the Bishop of
London, aided by tho Bishop of Kensing
ton and ether prominent English clergy
men. T The movement began with a protest to
the Lord Chamberlain by the Bishop of
Kensington against a dance at one of the
larger London theatres. The Lord Cham
berlaln, who has control of all theatre
licenses, threatened to withdraw this par-
ticular license unless the dance were
modified.
Protests against other theatres fol
lowed, and immediately London became
divided into rival camps, ono claiming the
fullest liberty for the stage, the ether
clamoring for a fuller censorship and re
striction. Great fplk and little folk alike have
taken part in tho discussion. Among tho
former Is George Bernard Shaw, the dis
tinguished playwright and essayist, who
has unllmbcrcd his needle guns of satire
and logic against tho Bishops. His inter
esting explanation of his attitude Is
printed upon this page.
1 i
8V
3t:
fl
A Pose of the Famous
English Dancers Oy-ra
and Phyllis Monkman in
"Keep Smiling," Objected
to as Offensive in Its
'Intimacy.
And Below
The "Hello, Honey"
Scene from the Same
Entertainment, Which
Was Declared "Inde
cent" by the Bishop of
London. '
a
mi
st
The "X-Ray Ballet" at the London Alhambra, the Largest London Music Hall. This
Parody of a Freakish Fashion Has Been Denounced by tha Campaigners! Who
Assert That the Display Is Most Indecent.
aVK
4
1
'J 1 1
M.
Tin
The "Corsetiere Parade" These Girls, Attired as Shown Here, Marched Through the Audi
ence of One of the English Theatres at Each Performance. The Feature Was Strong
ly Objected to by the "Purity Campaigners" and Has Now Been Withdrawn.
taaaMat and sxprss
stea ot tke aigker hu
man qualltle that our
young people, contem
plating them, will And
fcaaer objects ot de
sire repulsive.
Ia the National Gallery body and soul
are Impartially catered for; men "have worshipped-
Venuses and fallen In love with
virgins. There it a voluptuous side to
religious ecstasy, and a religious side to
voluptuous ecstasy, the notion that ono is
leas sacred than tho other is the opportu
nity ot the psyclatrlst who .seeks to dis
credit tke saints by showing that the pas
sion which exalted them was la Its asmse
capable also of degrading sinners.
Now let us turn to tho results ot cut
ting off young peoplo not to mention old
ones-r-from voluptuous art. We have fam
ilies who bring up their children In tho
belief that an undrnped statuo Is an abom
ination; that a girl or a youth who looks
at a picture by Paul Veronese is corrupted
forever; that tho theatro in which "Tris
tan and Isolde" or "Romeo and Juliet" Is
performed is tho gato ot hell, and that the
contemplation ot a figure attractively
dressed or revealing more ot its outline,
than a Chinaman's dress does Is an act ot
the most profligate Indecency. Ot Chi-
aee sax aorallty I moat note write la the
pages ot a newspaper.
Ot tho English and Scottish sex moral
ity, that is produced by this starvation
and blasphemous vilification qt vital emo
tions, I will say only this; that It is so
morbid and abomlnablo, so hatefully ob
Bessed by the things that tempt it, so mer
ciless in its persecution of all the dins
grace which grows in the soil of our Bex
Instincts when they are not deliberately
purverted and poisoned, that if It could bo
Imposed, as some people would Impose it
If they could, on the whole community, for
a single generation, the Bishop, even at
the risk of martyrdom, would reopen the
falace Theatre with "his episcopal bene
diction, and implore the lady to whose
performances he now objects to return to
the stage even at the sacrifice of the laBt
rag of her clothing.
I venture to suggest that whea the
Bishop heard that there was an objection
able (to him) entertainment at the Palace
Theatre the simple aad natural course tor
him was aot to have gone there. That is
how sensible people act And tke result
Is that If a manager offers a widely ob
jectionable eatertatasaent to the publlo he
very sooa finds out his mistake and with
draws it
It is my owa custom as a playwright
to make my plays "suggestive" of relig
ious emotion. This makes them extremely
objectionable to irreligious people. But
they have tho remedy in their own hands.
They stay away. Tho Bishop will bo glal
to bear that there are not many of them,
but It Is a significant fact that they fre
quently express a wish that the censor
would suppress religious plays tljat that ha
occasionally complies.
In short tho Bishop and his friends are
not alone in proposing their own tastes and
convictions at the measure of what Is per
missible in the theatre. But If such lndi-
John Armstrong Chaloner's Queer Sonnets
M
THE SLIT-SKIRT.
Thls fashion la a nasty, shameless trick,
Tis nothing less 'tis simply scandalous I
Or eke a Turk-f urk i PachTdermatousf U '
7 J?ak! Bhoat Ner yelp with trightl
aSh 5L6 UmM "hatiea ot blackest Hell
And once got back, shout out'Tve Been a sight
That ta this company I'm. 'shamed to telll"
The vilest days ot dark Imperial Rome.
Tne most debauched epochs of the East
Kept naked women closely hid at home
In the Slave-Quarter, or, to grace a feast
Twos left unto the present century
To bare female beauty to tho passor-byl
THE DEVILSHORSESHOE.' .
A fecund sight for a philosopher , si
Rich as Oolconda's mine in lessons rarer?-'
That gein-bedlzen'd 'horse-shoe' at th' Opera,-"
Replete with costly hags and matrons falrl
His votaresses doth Mammon there array,
His Anoaxonlan Phalanx dread to facel
To Mammon there do they their homago pay.
R. JOHN ARMSTRONG CHALONER, once the husband
of Amelle Hives, the novelist, and who escaped from
Bloomingdale Insane Asylum in New York, where he
was confined as a lunatic, has published a book of curious
sociological and satirical sonnets from which the four
printed below are selected.
8pang'ld with Jewels, satins, silks and lace,
Crones whose old bosoms In their corsets creak;
Beldams whose slightest glance would fright a horse;
Ghouls whon they speak one hears the grave-mole
squeak
Their escorts parvenus of feature coarse,
A rich array of Luxury and VIcel
But In Bplte of them, the music's very nice."
THE "FEMALE FACE OF THE N. Y. l,4O0." .
Hard's a "pelter'a" Is Its physiognomy!
And Just about as bad as Spelter" some.
At this somo critics may cry out "Oh! myl
How can ho, 'The 400 so sore sural"
To which I swift reply, "Not all, my friend.
Are thus Intended to be limned by me,
"-opyrlgbt ltlS, by the Star Company, Croat Britain Rights Ruervtd.
Tho' some it truth be told must be so penned,
Altho' the penning grlevo me grievously.
Purse-proud conceit and coldness hearts of flint
Mean-birth by fortune's wheel made sudden rich
Are on their faces stamped by Nature's mint
Whilst of charity show they less than wltchl
The daughters ot the poor do stand aghast
As o'er their doings their pure eyes are cast"
A PRUDE-TERMAGANT.
As thy smug features, Madam, we do scan
Tlp-tllted nose and bony, horse-like Jaw
We say, "Nature surely meant her for a man
Here catch we Nature In a fatal flaw."
But then think we: "No. Nature knoweth deep.
Her ways pass finding out In many things.
Such hags as these are built for husbands weak
For whiffling, piffling, little mannlklns."
Vour husband's weak as water in a ditch;
Ask his opinion he will Bay "See Mayl"
Bo Nature made thee. Madam, near-male-wltch
Who, "Hubbya" part In politics might play.
As spiteful and hard-hearted as you're rude
History says "Part termagant Part nnid "
vidual and sectarian standards were toler
ated we should have no plays at all, for
there never yet was a play that did not
offend somebody's taste.
I must remind the Bishop that If the
taste for voluptuous entertainment is some
times morbid, the taste for religious edi
fication Is open to preclsoly the same ob
jection. If I had a rneurotlo daughter I
would much rather risk taking her to the
Palaeo Theatre than to a revival meeting.
Nobody has yet counted the homes and
characters wrecked by Intemperance ln're
llglouB emotion. When wo begin to keep
such statistics tho chapel may find its
attitude of moral superiority to the the
atre, and even to tho publlo house, hard
to maintain, and may learn a Ilttlo need
ed charity.
We all need to be reminded of the need
for temperance and toleration in religious
emotion and in political emotion, as well
as In sexual emotion. But the Bishop must
not conclude that I want to close up all
places ot worship; on the contrary, I preaob
in them. I do not even clamor for the sup
pression of political party meetings, though
nothing mora foolish and demoralizing ex
ists in England to-day. I live and let live.
As long as I am not compelled to attend
revival meetings or party meetings, or the
atres at which the sexual emotions are Ig
nored or reviled, I am prepared to tolerate
them on reciprocal terms; for, though I am
unable to conceive any good coming to any
human being aa a set-off to their hysterlo,
their rancorous bigotry, and their dullness
and falsehood, I Jcnow that those who like
the mare equally unable to conceive any
good coming of the sort ot assemblies I
frequent; so I mind my own business and
obey the old precept: "He that is unright
eous let him do unrighteousness still; and
he that Is filthy, let him be made filthy still;'
and he that is righteous, let him do right
eousness still; and he that is holy' let him
be made holy stilt"
For none of us can feel quite sure In
which category the final Judgment may
place us; and, In the meantime, the music
hall is aa much entitled to the benefit ot
the doubt as the Bishop ot Kenslng.
ton.
