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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1916)
' V. The Omaha Sunday Ds I improper BSslw Ciu.p.re 1 h ' , j f r ..-.S-.-.i . iv- ' - Tv vi '.m,: m. Assert Cadks Martinet, Once "The Toagt of Three Cities," Now Mentally. Un balanced and Destitute, a ' ' Charge of the Actors Fund. By William A. Brady Th Distinguished Manager and Play . Producer.. 'TT U my conrlctlon that a bad play I Tlcloua or Immoral la a boomerang " which aooner or later strikes one or alt of the participants in It. This punish jnent Is well deserved by those who ex ploit Improper plays. The bad play Is well named, because It la bad (or the actor, the author, the manager and the audience. I hold that the public who make up the audlonces are most to blame. Going to a theatre where you know an Improper play is being produced Is like going to grocer's or butcher's whero you know tainted provisions aro sold. It you pat ronize such venders you deserve the nier chandlse you get for your money. Tua subtle 1a most to blame because the pub llo la the patron and buys what it wants. t Next In the roll of rcvponslbillty ia the ene who conceived the play. Th author la morally responnlble for the tda which ha develops into ploy form. If that Idea is corrupt, the product will be corruption. The man who conceive, produces and 1 vends auch wares is guilty at least as a iBorallaw breaker. i Third in the order of responsibility and blameworthiness is the manager. 14 -knows what he la doing, lie buya the play knowing what he iw doing. With , the same clear vision he engaeea the' cast. Perfectly aware of the pruriency ., of the output, he rehearses th play, ad vertises it, and on the first night of Ita production offers It to the public In the guise of entertainment. He can. never dodge his share of the blame on the plea .. that he didn't understand what it was. all about. v On the other band the actor can truth fully set up that plea, lie needs an en--'" gagement, he accepts the first offer, he , t gets, and often signs a contract without full knowledge of what he will be ex- pec ted to do and say. Having signed., the contract be is to a 'great extent in the hands of bla manager, who directs lila fortunes. Very earnestly do I assert ' that the player is least of all to blame for the vicious playn which be acta a ' part. He is not a free will agent Ills necessity makes him a puppet. ills sense of responsibility often makea him deter .mine to go through with a thing which bla conscience does not approve, because tie believes he should be true to the maa : .who haa given him his job and has chance. ' Yet the punishment often falls niot heavily on the person least responsible, the actor or actress who has originated or ven followed some one else In a vicious role. Instances come readily to the mind , of actresses who, because of success In ' such roles have gon to the muck heap of fate for the playing of those parts.' In other words, the public that, patronised the play and made the actress temporarily popular, neglecta, chills and starves her. or would do so, were it not for the saving grace of the Actors' Fund. 1 The public is a fickle master. It ! curi ous, but it la not constant. . The public's puuUhtuent of the player who bas sinned against its good taste and 1U standard of morality Id a boomerang. It la not like the audden kick of a gun. but like the alow, sure rounding of a cannon, guided by a determined, relent less gunner. That punishment la as cure as the revolutions of the earth. All mistaken producttona of this kind are made by the young. They are part of the rashness of youth. Not all players have been tempted nor have yielded to ucb temptation. Nor have aft authors, liut managers, almost without exception, , have in their youth produced detestable tYench farcea or viclousnewi in some other dramatic guise. This by no accl deut The manaicers were not in them selves evil mlnded. They bad no wUh to experiment with the public taste, hey thought the public wanted such reductions, and they furnished them. I myself am not guiltless. When 1 wag MrtfLeslle Carter as the bifamou Notoriously Dad Plays and . Misfortunes of Players in Them THE TURTLE" and "THE MAKRIAfiE GAME", wre two' disreputable playa In which Sadie Martinet took the leading part. Miss Martinet haa de clared that she has had nothing but mUfortuna aince. She' is now pennl Icns, her mind gone and an inmate of the Actors' Fund Charity Home. "I)U BARRY." a play In which Mr. Leslie Carter Impersonated 'the moat notorious woman of the court of Louis XV who for her extravagance was beheaded during the French revolution. Mrs. Carter recently be came a bankrupt. "THE DEGENERATES," a drama which' portray the most deplorable ten . drnciea of modern' society, was prominent In the repertory of Lily Langtry. Since she appeared In that play Mrs. Langtry'a vogue with theatrical managers and the public has steadily declined. . , "SAPHO." a play so Indecent that Olga Nethersole wan arretted and tried before a New York Judge and jury for producing it. I Since that affair -, t Miss Nethersole has lost much of her former favor with American . " audiences. "THE CLEMENCEAU CASE" was e7s worse In Ita affront to social conven. , tions than was "Sap ho. Pearl Eytinge appeared in "The Clemenceau Caae" aa a star. Not long afterward aha became a victim of drugs and died miaerably. "ORANGE BLOSSOMS,' the very boldest and most Impudent of attempts to corrupt theatre audlencea presented Pilar Morln aa its leading actress. r "j That great artist never regained her former status. She i now giving dramatic art lessons In a Harlem, New York, flat. , .;. , OFFENSIVE REALISM In playing such characters aa Juliet. Charlotte Corday ' and the heroine of "The Queen's Necklace," is held responsible for the gradual decline of Mra. Jamea Brown Potter's popularity. THE CONQUERORS" and The Girl from RcctorY were playa containing acenea offensive to public taate. Paul M. Potter, their author, haa lost much of the reputation and fortune gained by his dramatization of Du Maurier'a Trilby." , , . . ..... OFFENSIVE BURLESQUES Michael Leavitt. the moat' celebrated producer of this sort of entertainment, recently waa driven to accept a benefit to. relieve hia preasiag neceaaitlea. younger, I produced aeverat plays that were far from creditable to me. One waa the "Clemenceau Case." Another, was Thou Shalt Not." a play by Albert Roea. Yet when the city authorities in--terfered with the performances of "Thou Shalt Not," I asked them to read their Cymbeltne. The motive and action were alintlar. The plays differed in power of treatment and in locale. But I waa not responsible, at my critics have said, for that wretched play, "The Turtle." I owned an interest In "The Turtle," and disposed of it. At the last for' personal reasons I rehearsed It. Grace George was playiug a small part in It. and to relieve her from the em barrassment ct areaklng some dreadful Itnea I rehearsed the play, and while re- hearsing modified It. The cast Included the alnce unfortunate Sadie M art t not. , Mlaa George disliked the piece and the character aha played. Otherwise, bad ahe continued playing in that kind of roles her goal would have been far dif ferent from the one she baa reached. It haa been said that a new generation of playgoers arlaes every Ave year a. .It la true that there la a new one at leaat every ten years. This new generation of playgoera overflows with curioaity and run to ee everything that is new. The more piquant It la the better. The bad play draws the crowd. There la no use denying this, but let me Illustrate the situation by a parallel caae. Take a great painter of portraits, say Eargent or Chase. They have painted superb por traits. Suppose that either of these artlsta should paint a auggeative figure for a Tlcloua purpose and exhibit It la I:" : r'i - ' ( Actor, Da Bany.' Mrs.Wer Has Been Bankrupt and Sued by Many Creditors a Fifth avenue winaow. A greater crowd would rush to tee that painting than would ever gather to see meritorious por traits by thote eminent, painters. But watch what follows. ' The crowd. Its curiosity sated, becomes disgusted. There Is a revulsion of feel ing: Those artists have committed a crime against good taate and morality, and slowly, but surely, the crowd, that patronlxed begtna ita punishment Un fair T Yea. Unjuatf Unquestionably so. But that Is the way of the public whom we have offended. I ! said that the bad play, by which I mean filth for fllth'e sake, was bad for all connected with It. ,It is true. The vicious play reacts upon the audience by vitiating Its taste. That playgoer who has been following the worat playa he could find ceases to enjoy the good onea. It reacts upon the author by corrupting hia Judgment. It so falsifies his stan darda that he becomes uncertain of what the public- will like or won't like. It Weakens his confidence In his own esti mate of material. It paralyses his power to do good work. The punishment Is that he becomes unable to write a clean, fine play. Hia mind has become taluted. Such aa author, one who la a pioneer among writers of the wrong kind of plays for the . American stage, came to me only to-day with a play on an ' impossible theme. He wanted me to buy a comedy drama on "War babies." Ha has a bril liant mind, he la a charming fellow, but hia own work Is a Frankenstein that Is destroying him. Yes, the manager la punished, sum- Coyrl(ht. 1914. by tke 8tar Company Bee Magazine Pase t '!a r " ; VI 4 7 'rV .'. . Oljja Nethersole in a Scene from "Sapho." Since IIe,r Arrest for Producing the Play Her . Popularity lias Waned. tnarlly. and 'severely punished. Public opinion la hia Judge. The public seems to recognise and condone youthful follies of management Charles Krohman, long ago produced one French farce after . another, but he would produce no more. He wanted to produce only fine, clean plays. He was. true to his resolution. He was the manager beyond all others whose face was- turned toward the sun. .1 can easily Imagine the look on his face when he said: "Why tear death? It is a I beautiful adventure." Hia conscience waa clear. The public' forgave hia early errors and taate in judgment I believe It has forgiven mine. The one exception to my own reforma tion in thla regard Is The Family Cup board." ' But I regarded that play aa big drama, and that It contained a lesson that was unforgettable and profitable to mem be ra of a family. And I have cloaed that But the public makes of the man ager who peralsta In producing filth a . aoclal Ishmael. The actor suffers doubly who Is en- Oreat Britain Rlfhta Reserved. are S- .... ' : t t i La Mv Since She Appeared in the Play.' ' V. x fi 1 . - ivy Sadie Martinot in Scene gaged In the production of a bad play. Hia own standards of art fall beneath hia feet The vengeance of the public strikes hardest at him, because he la the concrete object the symbol of the bad taate and vlclousneas that have been thrust upon them. - - Even the manager who has engaged the player for a certain line of parts hasn't the courage to give him or her a chance In an entirely different class of characters, so that In the profession and out of it It is possible and probable that the brand of the evil part that has been played will remain upon the originator of it. When a man has reached fifty he ac qulrea a true sense of values. At least the true man doea. He leavea hia mis takes behind him and he presses forward to the finer, better things of life. He '"St llrsJ Lily-Lanjjtry -Whose Professional Decline Began i Soon After She Produced "The Degenerates." William A. Brady s the History of the Stage Shows That Every Bad Play Brings a shmerit to Author and Manager . T,- .' .. t--v .. . Phot. the Much-Criticised Disrobing in 'The Turtle." - cares more for his family, more for hi standing in the community, more for , words of genuine commendation from the ; worthy. There is more of life behind him than ahead of him. He wants to make that remainder of life upright and free from mistakes. That time haa come to me. My wife aided my determination, and I frankly avow my resolution that no bad play will ever be produced by me. . or that I will help in the direction of tt. Nor will I permit my wife or daughtei to appear in one. We are at the dawn of a great nea industry. Almost all things are possible to the motion picture art. We will aec it used in the schools and colleges. It will be one of the, great forces of this century, unless managers with muddy minds Inject filth into It In tt.e name of drama. I 'I - I I ' ' W 1 i -r i ... -:. - f r k n i