{"numero_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_sha256": "a105120ebdd870faf62d5d762a9a19f153b338299920a9ff55b743734f0fe700", "source_tei": "https://github.com/Princeton-CDH/bluemountain-transcriptions/blob/main/periodicals/bmtnaau/issues/1924/01_01/bmtnaau_1924-01_01.tei.xml", "source_mets": "https://github.com/pulibrary/BlueMountain/blob/main/metadata/periodicals/bmtnaau/issues/1924/01_01/bmtnaau_1924-01_01.mets.xml", "url_numero": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01", "articles": [{"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c001", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c001", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "1", "page_fin": "4", "image_debut": 1, "image_fin": 4, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.1", "titre_corps": "FOREWORD : AFTER THE PRACTICE THE THEORY", "titre_sommaire": "FOREWORD : AFTER THE PRACTICE THE THEORY", "signature_source": "J. S", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 1, "page_imprimee": "1", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.1", "debut_caractere": 20, "fin_caractere_exclue": 978, "texte": "FOREWORD\nAFTER THE PRACTICE THE THEORY.\n\nIN many a volume these past years \" The Mask \" has\nr attacked those people and tendencies which were\nbaulking the advance of the English Stage.\nIt did not set out to do so before it had first made\nvery sure as to what these people and tendencies were,\nand how they went against the best traditions of the\nTheatre.\nBut it was not only to the English Stage that we\naddressed ourselves; it was also to other Theatres in other\nlands. And since 1908, when our first volume appeared,\nthere is scarcely a Theatre which has not written to us\nthanking us for our work, scarcely a dramatist or performer\nbut has shown us how well it is acknowledged that our\nwork has not been thrown away. Nearly all have realized\nour direction to be the right one, and for this we are\nvery grateful to them, and proud to continue to be of\nservice so long as they continue to encourage us.\nThe English Theatre has been considerably less cordial"}, {"page_pdf": 2, "page_imprimee": "2", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.2", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1671, "texte": "than it might have been, and for this reason: a\nreason best illustrated by the following example.\nSuppose, only suppose, us to have asserted that actors\nshould always use Masks and never show their real faces.\nNo foreign actor has ever considered such an assertion\nto imply a personal insult, an impossibility, or a preposterous\nnotion. To the foreign actor the question of \"to mask\nor not to mask \" has been a topic of eager or indifferent\nconversation for a century or longer. But mention a mask\nin England, and stage and critical agitation sets in.\nAgain, mention \" Improwisation \" and Britain once\nmore becomes troubled.\n... mention anything with which we are not very\nfamiliar familiar to boredom and up bristles an\nutterly needless animosity to what other lands consider quite\npossible and possibly well worth while.\nAnd so it comes to pass that the other lands have\nbenefitted by those little suggestions, mostly derived from\nancient sources, we have from time to time put forward,\nwhereas England has not benefitted.\nWe printed our journal in English and others than\nthose of the English tongue took the trouble to read us.\nThe foreigner has not that chronic antipathy to a new\nsuggestion which seems to possess theatrical groups of\npeople in England, who, having protested, more than often\ngo quickly round the corner and sell the new suggestion\nfor money.\nYour foreigner has liked or disliked our suggestions:\nhas used or rejected them : has sold them or has exchanged\nthem with us for some kind word: but he has never\n\" deplored \" with comic indignation our daring to occupy\nourselves with a matter that concerned us, and our venturing\nto suggest improvements."}, {"page_pdf": 3, "page_imprimee": "3", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.3", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1563, "texte": "From the North, from Holland, Germany and Russia,\nall sorts of vibrating messages of good-will have come.\nBut, even more and better, good understanding.\nFrom the centre, Switzerland, all kinds of friendliness\nand often assistence.\nFrom France precious words of help.\nFrom Italy, unceasing encouragement and appreciation.\nFrom Japan interest and good will.\nAnd of course from America.\nFrom all those Theatres which one calls the most\nadvanced (a) has come a friendliness such as the English\nTheatre seems unable either to formulate or pronounce\npossibly not feeling at all friendlily.\nIn England there are half a dozen theatres of this\nkind, only considerably less active than those on the Con-\ntinent. One of the things they have shelved as unneces-\nsary has been to send to us the good word to which\nwe refer. Not one English Company has sent us its good\nwishes through its Director: many Foreign Theatres have\ndone so.\nAnd if anyone takes the trouble to look through\n\" The Mask \" he will see that our whole attitude has been\none of outstretched hands to the more advanced and more\nwide-awake Theatres of our own Land.\nIt can be seen that we were turned towards these\ntheatres looking for some sign of friendly cooperation.\n_ ▼ /> ' _ 1 i\nNot one sign of any such good will from them has\nreached us.\nLet them accordingly blame themselves but not us\n■— if we begin to wonder if we have not made a mistake\nin imagining they are advancing at all.\n\n(a) Even the word advanced is jeered at in England, as though to advance were not the aim of everyone\nand everything."}, {"page_pdf": 4, "page_imprimee": "4", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.4", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1033, "texte": "Well, you, our friends in France, in Holland, in\nSwitzerland, in Italy, in Russia, Germany and America,\nyou at any rate are not tongue-tied: possess large-hearted\nunderstanding of what constitutes human endeavour.... and;\nwe welcome this opportunity to salute you from afar and\nto say that even when seeming most critical we are ever\nconscious of your friendliness to us, and are ever friendly to you.\ni m\nAnd greetings, too, to our friends in England, ...to the\npoets, poet-dramatists, painters, writers, architects, musicians\nand our other readers.\nAs you know well, we have not stood for your an-\nnexation of the Theatre; indeed, we have been at times\npossibly a little too blunt in saying that only Theatre men\ncould legitimately claim to guide the development of the\nTheatre.\nThis has not offended you, ...you are who you are. I\nAnd we are not at all sure that we may not before\nvery long be looking to you to do the work which all the\nworld has looked to our English theatre men to do, and,\ntill now, has looked in vain.\n\nJ. S."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c003", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c003", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "n. p.", "page_fin": "n. p.", "image_debut": 5, "image_fin": 5, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.2", "titre_corps": "A STAGE SCENE: AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY DESIGN OF THE ITALIAN SCHOOL", "titre_sommaire": "A STAGE SCENE: AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY DESIGN OF THE ITALIAN SCHOOL", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 5, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.5", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 475, "texte": "A STAGE SCENE: AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY DESIGN OF THE ITALIAN SCHOOL.\nThe original drawing in pen and ink was and is preserved at the\nVictoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. Numbered 2266,\nIt is attributed to the Galli Family (ie: Bibiena).\nIt is from the Collection of Sir Thomas Lawrence R. A,\nWe should not say it was by any of the Family Galli, but rather by some\none later: possibly Gonzaga (1750 ? - 1831). Compare with Tav. LVII\n”La Scenografia“ (Ferrari).\nPlate 2."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c004", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c004", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "5", "page_fin": "6", "image_debut": 7, "image_fin": 8, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.3", "titre_corps": "TOWARDS UNITY : AFTER THE PRACTICE THE THEORY", "titre_sommaire": "TOWARDS UNITY : AFTER THE PRACTICE THE THEORY", "signature_source": "J. S", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 7, "page_imprimee": "5", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.7", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1305, "texte": "TOWARDS UNITY.\nAFTER THE PRACTICE THE THEORY.\n\nThe following article by Mr Monkhouse (b. 1858) is\nreprinted by his hind permission from The Man-\nchester Guardian \" of April 6th 1923.\nNo one needs to be reminded that Mr is\none of the foremost Dramatic Critics of Great\na novelist and play-Writer of no mean order. His Club\nbeing the Dramatists of which Sir Arthur Pinero 1855)\nis the President, and doubtless Mr Jones {b. 1851) and\nSir James Barrie (b. 1860) members, it is all the more\ndelightful that this, as so many of his articles on things\nDramatic, shines with the good sun of toleration: (\nmalicious will mutter \"condescension and it is healthy\nin the malicious to mutter). Mr . we must\nremember, belongs to no \"Old School \", but he is,\nwith Pinero, Jones and most of the riper play-writers, a\nfew years older than the members of the New Movement.\nIn every age youth, when it feels like it, should dash\nahead and the youth in the New Movement felt like\nit: no harm in that. In dashing ahead youth is apt\nto be a little rough how else would it clear the ditches\nand hedges which the age goes on digging and plan-\nting. It is apt to forget the very little ordinary fact\nthat after all your elders, if not your betters, are your\nelders. And when your elders have the advantage of\n\nContinued on Page 6."}, {"page_pdf": 8, "page_imprimee": "6", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.8", "debut_caractere": 1776, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2334, "texte": "some fifteen to twenty-two years of you and yet remain as\nyoung as you are, your young men are apt to decide on\nan immediate spurt. Over they go. Some tumble and\npick up again.... some speed far ahead ....anyhow on\ngoes the race. And it is exceptionally delightful to\nfind Mr Monkhouse with us all, though of course he\ncannot subscribe to every one of our dash-ahead\nsuggestions.\nWe would like to see many more with us in the\nsame sense; and we hope it is not all our fault that\nour big group has lacked their pleasant and honourable\npresence so long.\n\nJ. S."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c006", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c006", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "6", "page_fin": "9", "image_debut": 8, "image_fin": 11, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.4", "titre_corps": "PERPETUAL MOTION", "titre_sommaire": "PERPETUAL MOTION", "signature_source": "ALAN NOBLE MONKHOUSE", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 8, "page_imprimee": "6", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.8", "debut_caractere": 2336, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3540, "texte": "PERPETUAL MOTION.\nBY ALAN NOBLE MONKHOUSE.\nm\nSOME plain people who like good plays must\nbe getting a little puzzled over this talk\nabout presentation and representation, symbolism\nand expression, and would like to understand\nmore about the New Movement. It seems that\nat various stages of the drama's history its ele-\nments get out of proportion to one another;\nthe author may be the person of chief importance,\nor the actor, or even the producer. The pro-\nducer is getting something of an innings now,\nand the literary man is invited to take a wide\nview, to recognize production as a great art,,\nscenery as at least as important as the \" literary\nfragment \", and \" realism \"as obsolete. Poor\nliterature ! Poor literary dramatists! They had\nthought that with the growth of interest in\ndrama they were going to have a chance at\nlast. The repertory theatre brought a little mild\nenthusiasm for them, but repertory proved to be\nan uphill job, and was almost effaced by the\nwar. Certainly it gave to Manchester the most\n\n(1) It Was Mr Craig who drew our attention to this article and wrote\nMr Monkhouse that he would like to make some comments on it. These\ncomments, \" For Plain People \" follow this article."}, {"page_pdf": 9, "page_imprimee": "7", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.9", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1777, "texte": "interesting phase of the theatre it has ever had,\nand in Birmingham and elsewhere it is still\nalive. But I fancy that, moving with the times, the\npresent repertory theatres are a little shy of the\nmodern prose play.\n* It is no new experience for the author to\nbe slighted. I read the other day a story by\nMr. Booth Tarkington about a play which was\nconceived and written as a study in egoism.\nThe great actor who was to play the chief\npart, however, preferred nobility, and so the part\nbecame nobler and nobler till it was completely\nturned round. The author was told that he was\nquite mistaken in imagining that what he had\nwritten was a play. \" A play isn't something\nyou read; it's something actors do on a stage;\nand they can't afford to do it unless the public\npays to watch 'em. If it won't buy tickets\nyou haven't got a play; you've only got some\ntypewriting \". There we are! Our efforts are\nreduced to some typewriting. Mr Tarkington's\nactor thought, too, that he would like to play\nSt. Paul in silver armour: \" Play it as a spi-\nritual character, but not solemn.... Have the\nwhole play spiritual but light \". Evidently he\nhad the notion. St. Paul in silver armour,\nclearly, is not representational, not realistic. Yet\nMr. Tarkington, whose tale was written a de-\ncade ago, appears to think that the phase he\ndescribes is obsolete. The difference is that\nthe actor-manager he describes was a blatant\ncreature whom we may scorn; the later enemy\nto the literary dramatist's peace is a cultivated\nman with all the arts at his finger-ends and the\nproportions all right. Perhaps the \" literary-\nminded critics \" have thought too much of lite-\nrature, and now they are nervous and puzzled\nas to what the New Movement is up to. Is\nthe art of the dramatist to be lonely work no"}, {"page_pdf": 10, "page_imprimee": "8", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.10", "debut_caractere": 2171, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3988, "texte": "longer? Will first-rate dramatists submit to col-\nlaboration? Is a play to be the production of\nvarious artists working together in harmony (like\nthe contributors to a musical comedy) or of one\nmasterful person with a smattering of all the\narts? Must the dramatist of the future be adept\nat music, painting, lighting, architecture, furniture,\ndancing ? It would narrow the field considerably.\nAnd already a good-deal has been done in collabo-\nration. Big actor-managers have often insisted\non it, and their simple method was to bully\nauthors into accepting their cuts or their addi-\ntions. Those who would , have their work on\nthe stage can hardly be adamantine in their\negoism. For instance, Gilbert and Sullivan made\na success of their work, and though, I suppose,\nSullivan was the man of genius and Gilbert\nonly a man of talent, the latter must have directed\nthe course of the enterprise. An* two men ride\nof a horse, one must ride behind, and the dra-\nmatist wants to know which it will be. Some\nof the repertory producers were almost touchingly\nreverential towards the dramatist's scrip; but\nhow is it to be with the super-producer? I don't\nknow. We must wait and see. The awful\nmistake would be to permit it to get about that\nsome of us think New Movements must be\nsimply rubbish, and that Mr Gordon Craig, for\ninstance, is negligible. Every sensible person\nagrees that he is not, and it is notable that\nhe has often had a good word for theatrical\nenterprise that is hardly within his own scope.\nDoubtless there is a New Movement, but\nit isn't always easy to distinguish its manifesta-\ntions from those of the old. That the theatre\nis not simply a matter of words is clear to\nanybody who has been even to a modern panto-\nmime. The transformation scene may sometimes\nbe garish, but put it into the hands of a man"}, {"page_pdf": 11, "page_imprimee": "9", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.11", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1857, "texte": "of genius! I confess that, though I used to find\nit splendid, I preferred the words 44 Here we\nare again \". And, indeed, the New Movement\npeople will make a great mistake if they under-\nvalue words. It is words that last when\nactors are in their graves and pageants leave\nnot a wrack behind. And it would be a mis-\ntake, too, to think that there is no vitality left\nin the modern prose play. The majority of\nintelligent people who go to the theatre prefer\nit to any other, though they may constantly be trying\nto like sorts which they think will do them good.\nWhat we want is good plays ; it hardly matters\nwhat sort. Let us take innovation in a friendly\nspirit, the spirit of pragmatism. Let us have poe-\ntical plays, fantastic plays, plays in which the set-\nting is something more than a stale convention.\nLet us have symbolic plays, always remembering\nthat few people are ready to follow far along\nthe route of symbolism. Perhaps the symbolists\nwill slip in their essentials while they capture\ntheir public by pageantry, and we may remember\nthat Shakespeare foisted his poetry upon the world\nby means of old melo dramas and hackneyed stories.\nWe are told that words have been of less\naccount in the theatre than many of us suppose,\nbut one has a good deal of confidence in words.\nIt is for us to 44 keep the young generation in\nhail but the writer of plays certainly would\nnot be content to provide the libretto for a\nbackground. Perhaps this isn't putting it quite\nfairly. Those of us who are provided only with\n44 some typewriting \" would be sorry to be ruled out,\nbut if a great change is coming I don't think it will\ncome quickly. In the meantime we must try to be\nsympathetic and understanding to anything new\nand strange. And it might be amusing to see\nhow a producer got on with a team of rampant\negoists who all insisted on presenting themselves."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c007", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c007", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "5", "page_fin": "6", "image_debut": 7, "image_fin": 8, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.5", "titre_corps": "THE MASK'S CREED : REPRINTED ONCE MORE TO MAKE QUITE SURE", "titre_sommaire": "THE MASK'S CREED : REPRINTED ONCE MORE TO MAKE QUITE SURE", "signature_source": "GORDON CRAIG", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 7, "page_imprimee": "5", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.7", "debut_caractere": 1307, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3226, "texte": "THE MASK'S CREED.\nREPRINTED ONCE MORE\nTO MAKE QUITE SURE.\n\nNEED THE MASK make any\nprotestations of faith this year ?M.\nYou know its beliefs. Do you think\nthey will change today ?... Why should\nthey ?\nNothing is more easy than that it\nshould remain staunch to its Cause.\nIt is a Cause which, when it bears\nfruit, will bring a little benefit to\neverybody.\nBut as that Cause is always being\nmisrepresented and belittled by those\ncurious folk who seem to want the\nworld to stand still so that they may\nmake a remark and ten per cent, let\nus once more rehearse the Creed.\nq THE MASK BELIEVES in The\nTheatre and in!; The Drama whether\nwritten, acted, sung or spoken.\nq THE MASK BELIEVES m it all.\nq THE MASK BELIEVES in the\nActor and in the Actress.\nqIT BELIEVES in the Marion-\nnettes and in Masks,\nq IT BELIEVES in Sceneries and\nMusics and in Dancing, in Dancers,\nMusicians, Scenographers and Dra-\nmatists,\nq BELIEVES in every blessed or\ncursed ever was, is or shall\nbe in The Theatre.... if Theatrical.\nq BELIEVES in The Theatre of\nEurope and; in the Theatre of Ame-\nrica. Not alone in one local Thea-\ntrical group.\n$1 BELIEVES in, and venerates, the\ngreat Asiatic Theatre.\nq IT BELIEVES in the FUTURE\nOF THE THEATRE.... not alone\nin the future of a phase of the Lon-\ndon, Paris, or Honolulo Theatre, but\nin]; the whole.\nq IT LOVES AND ADORES all\nthat can be called The Theatre.\nq IT IS ENTRANCED by the -Thea-\ntrical. \" Which some day is to be-\ncome the Theatrical without inverted\ncommas.\nIT LOVES the dust and the rags\nand the paint and the daub and dirt\nof the Old Theatre its ancient\n5me11.,., its strange air.... its queer\nways.... ALL.\nHOW SHOULD - THE MASK \"\nNOT LOVE IT ALL ?\nq As for those who misrepresent THE\nMASK, tell them from me that W9\nknow our own Mother, and what she\nexpects of us, and that no one but\nshe shall dictate to us our duty.\nq THE THEATRE is our Mother.\nIts arms encircle the Globe. It is not"}, {"page_pdf": 8, "page_imprimee": "6", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.8", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1774, "texte": "Parochial,... not hypocritical.... not pa-\nthetic.... not pious.... not puffed up....\nstarched or spotless. Not a piece of\nVirtue without any goodness, but\nHuman.\nIts faults become ours.\nDo you suppose we shall not love\nthese faults.... What?\nOr do you suppose either that we\nshall tolerate them in ourselves for\nlong*... What ?\nIf our Home is not quite as perfect\nas that of the other Muses it can be....\nand so it shall be.\nGive us time to put it in better\norder....\nGive us bricks to build the founda-\ntions of a new one.\nSend no more incompetents to our\naid. .. send no more advice, no more\nweak-kneed patrons.... send us more\nsolid assistance if you wi11.... reliable\nmen and enough money...4, we need\nboth.\nAnd help us by routing misrepre-\nsentation.\nq YOU, OUR READERS AND\nENCOURAGERS, nail the lies to the\ndoors of the liars...,\nThe Tarradiddle that we want no\nDrama.\nThe Yarn that we want nothing but\nScenery.\nThe Whopper that we despise the\nActor.... that we wish to glorify the\nProducer 0n1y.... that our theories are\nrash innovations, are not based upon\nthe oldest and best traditions.... And\nthat special fib of the fib-mongers, that\nwe are exclusive, that we want a pre-\ncious Theatre de Luxe.... nail it up ! !\nWe exclude nothing except the non-\nDramatic.... the non-Theatrical; and\nthe great traditions we reverence.\nWe include all and every good\nform of Theatre in our Programme,\nwe do not exclude the worst : already\nwe have changed some of the worst\ntheatres into good ones.\nSo Trace the lies up and down the\ncities to the housedoors of the liars\nand nail them there. Do that part of\nthe work for us and we will do\nthe rest.\nq. And say besides that it was I who\nasked you to do so on behalf of THE\nMASK and the Dramatic Genius of\nthe World.\n\nGORDON CRAIG."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c009", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c009", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "7", "page_fin": "9", "image_debut": 9, "image_fin": 11, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.6", "titre_corps": "SOTTOVOCE : SOME SIDE NOTES ON A LEADING ARTICLE", "titre_sommaire": "SOTTOVOCE : SOME SIDE NOTES ON A LEADING ARTICLE", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 9, "page_imprimee": "7", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.9", "debut_caractere": 1779, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3779, "texte": "SOTTOVOCE.\nSOME SIDE NOTES ON\nA LEADING ARTICLE .\nn The awful mistake would be to\npermit it to get about that some of us\nthink New Movements must be simply\nrubbish and that Mr. Gordon Craig, for\ninstance, is negligible n. (Monkhouse).\nIT would be a still graver mistake if\nit were allowed to get about that\nwe cannot reverence the true dramatic\nwriter and value his presence in our\ntheatres.\nAs grave an error as it would be\nto dream that we can confound the\ntrue dramatic writers with the false\nones.\nOur first test of a play is, can it\nact ? But our second test (and it is\nno slight one either) is the quality of\nthe material,—the way it is made—\nthe style. If it show the signs of\nhaving been made to suit a cheap\ntaste, pandering to a narrow-minded,\nnarrow-hearted section of the public,\nwe find it bad. If its subject is petty\nand its treatment as petty when judged\nby the highest English standards we\nfind it bad.\nThe truth which cannot be avoided\nis that we have a very great English\nstandard.\nSHAKESPEARE and the Eliza-\nbethans.\nSHERIDAN and the Georgians.\nOur moderns are not so behindhand\nwhen we consider that the whole race\nof Dramatic authors has been tied\ndown for some hundred years—tied\nup—-gagged, and then told, You are\nfree, gentlemen ; express —yourselves....\nThe poets have expressed them-\nselves. Perhaps their noble muse found\na way to penetrate the place into\nwhich the more pedestrian muse was\nunable to pass.\nBut the prose dramatic writers have\nnot quite found their old voice.\nIt was a hard thing to laugh gaily\nand cry 41 all's well in a world ren-\ndered obscure as a dungeon—cold as\nstone;—in a world where the ma-\nchine up to now has not either justi-\nfied its existence or rendered us a jot\nmore human.\nSo the prose dramatists chatted over\nit with us in our drawing-room plushy\ntheatres and did what they thought\nwas best.\nPerhaps it was not possible for them\nto lead their audiences—so may-be it\nwas just as well to talk it over —\nagreeing — arguing — putting problems"}, {"page_pdf": 10, "page_imprimee": "8", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.10", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2169, "texte": "new to the new race but old and\ndone with by the race gone by.\nAll this may be so :\nBut we must go on. The Theatre\nmust advance or slip back down the\nslope. It must even offend the new\nrace by its attitude, laugh the stalls\nand dress-circle out of themselves—or\nrather out of the mood which the\nage has forced these two groups to\nput\" on.\nIndeed we can reverence the true\ndramatic prose writer—and we await\nhis coming among the poets.\n\" The man of genius.'* (Monkhouse).\n*\nPERHAPS the fact that discrimi-\nnation in regard to genius, and\nrespect for it, is less usual in England\nthan in other lands, helps to explain\nsome of our Theatre as well as our\nother deficiencies.\nMR Thomas Kelly, wandering this\nsummer in England, came to the\nvillage of Somersby where Tennyson\nlived and wrote.\nThere he met with a man on the\nroad \" who leaned against a white gate\nacross which was hung a bundle of\nrabbits He talked awhile of Ten-\nnyson, ending up with \" what good is\npoetry, Mister? You'd may-be write\nit yourself, but what I want to know\nis this. Can any poet tell me why I\ncan get but ten-pence a pair for\nthem rabbits as'll be sold in Grimsby\ntomorrow for one-and-six each ? Can\nany poet explain that for me? \"\nNow in Italy (may-be in other\nlands) if you speak of a poet and his\nverse to a peasant, or to a commercial\ntraveller, to the average man, he will\nrise to the theme, not drag it down to\nthe meaner level of one-and-six.\nDante, or Carducci, or D'Annunzio,\nis \"un uomo di genio \" \" a man of\ngenius \".\nI asked a quite ordinary traveller in\na train who was reading in the paper\nof a speech D'Annunzio had just made\nin Roma, whether the poet had said\nanything sensible. In a grave plain\nface his eye moved with fire as he\nanswered me without any other gesture\nat all, \" Of course; he is a man of ge-\nnius \"; and he said this as who should\nsay \" How could he not speak with\nthe truest sense, for a man who has\ngenius can but utter the nearest thing to\ntruth \". In Italy your ordinary man\nutters the word genius now and again\nwithout feeling he has to apologize,\nahd without the awkward habitual\ncough.\nIt may be that one reason why we\nhave no National Theatre in England"}, {"page_pdf": 11, "page_imprimee": "9", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.11", "debut_caractere": 1859, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3575, "texte": "is because one-and-sixpence haunts us\nas it haunted the rabbit man. Nor\nShakespeare for us nor Tennyson\nfor him till they can answer the\nriddle of how to sell rabbits at a big\nprofit and make a National Theatre\npay\nNational Folly !\n44 When pageants leave not a wrack\nbehind. \" (MonkJhouse).\nTHIS line in Mr tMonkhouse*s able\narticle on the New Movement\nhelps as a reminder that there is hardly\nanything which abides. If Pageants\npass the swiftest may-be some men\nand women will say 44 He made his\nthings not to last—not for people of\ntomorrow—only for us, \" and learn to\nappreciate this.—who knows.\nBut there is another possibility.\nInigo Jones's pageant-like works are\nshortly to be published by the Wal-\npole Society in London, Made from\n1604 to 1640, they seem to have\nsurvived fairly well for close upon three\nhundred years.\nMay be it is because of some more\nor less permanent excellence in the\ndesigns that these survive. And may\nnot some young fellow of tomorrow\ndo his work so well—writing it down\nand drawing it in—that in three hun-\ndred years from now there will be\nmen and women who care to say\n44 He made these things well—let us\ntake care of them \".\n44 The Spirit of Pragmatism.\n(Monkhouse).\nWORDS are very often difficult,\nit has to be admitted. This\nword Pragmatism, for example. Not\nusing it in my speech or writings I\nlooked it up in the Oxford Dictionary\n—the concise one of 1911. There I\nfind this tale : ;\nPragmatism, n. Officiousness\npedantry ; matter-of-fact treatment of\nthings; (Philos,) doctrine that esti-\nmates any assertion solely by its practical\nbearing upon human interests.\nSince reading this I have not dared\nto look up the word 44 yes \" lest I\nmight find that it also means 44 no. \""}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c011", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c011", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "10", "page_fin": "16", "image_debut": 12, "image_fin": 18, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.7", "titre_corps": "FOR PLAIN PEOPLE : SOME COMMENTS ON MR. MONKHOUSE'S ARTICLE", "titre_sommaire": "FOR PLAIN PEOPLE : SOME COMMENTS ON MR. MONKHOUSE'S ARTICLE", "signature_source": "GORDON CRAIG", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 12, "page_imprimee": "10", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.12", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2984, "texte": "FOR PLAIN\nPEOPLE.\nSOME COMMENTS\nON MR. MONKHOUSE'S\nARTICLE,\nBY GORDON CRAIG.\nAS The Mask goes to Roma, Moscow,\nNew York, California and Japan,\nlet me state before I write these Notes\nthat it is felt that they can only interest\nreaders in England. Our friends abroad\nwill remember that England is entirely\nsurrounded by water, and things such as\nideas take a long time reaching us in En-\ngland : for we were born obstinate—and\nit can't be helped. I am as obstinate as\nmy fellow Englishmen—perhaps a little\nmore so—and to an Italian or a Musco-\nvite this must seem strange and a little\npreposterous. Well, everyone has his own\ntroubles ; so, if you be good Europeans,\nbear with ours. It will all come right\nbefore long.\n\" Some plain people who like good\n\" plays must be getting a little puzzled\n*' over this talk about presentation and re-\npresentation, symbolism and expression\n\" and would like to understand more\n\" about the New Movement\n(A. N. MONKHOUSE).\nIt is significant that the author of\n\" Perpetual Motion \" should proclaim that\nit is words which are at the root of\nthis bad business of having puzzled plain\npeople.\nIf words are quite all that the world has\nclaimed for them these many centuries they\nshould puzzle no one. The four words\nwhich are puzzling the plain people (and\nI may admit I claim to be one of these\nin that they puzzle me too) are \" pre-\nsentation \", \" representation \", \" symbo-\nlism and \" expression There is\nno harm in the things themselves; it's\nonly the words which are puzzling, and\nthe talk which gathers around these things.\nBut what is perfectly clear to understand\nis Mr. Monkhouse and this first sentence\nof his, \" Some plain people would like to\nunderstand more about the New Move-\nment \". Good for words this time.\nI don't know whether I am sufficient\nauthority to speak about this. Iso like\nto feel that I am sufficient to practise it.\nI find that comes easily.... like walking\nor eating. But unfortunately, in a book,\none cannot show the New Movement.\nOne is limited to speaking about it, and\nas many have quite rightly said, speech\nis not my forte. I have tried to express\nby means of words in a few books, what\nI have felt about the Theatre, seen in the\nTheatre, and, sometimes, done in the\nTheatre ; but I have never felt that my\nwords succeeded because I have had a too\nhigh standard before me. I have had an\nactual model always before me, which I\nhave been unable to follow.\nThat model is simply another book:\n\" Scientific Ideas of To-day \", by Charles\nR. Gibson. It seems to have been writ-\nten some time before 1909, and was\npublished in that year. It purposes to\nbe a popular account of the nature of\nMathematics, Electricity, Light, Heat, etc\nin non-technical terms. Three editions of\nit came out in one year alone ; and I\nhear that six editions have now been\npublished. \\ln his preface the author states\nthat he \" endeavours to explain the scien-\ntific facts of to-day without using language\nbeyond the reach of any reader ; and that"}, {"page_pdf": 13, "page_imprimee": "11", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.13", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3389, "texte": "his explanation demands no previous know-\nledge of science whatever and no acquain-\ntance with mathematics He then gives\n\" A. WARNING \" which is short and\nprinted on a page by itself 4 4 Do not read\nChapter Two before you have understood\nthe whole of Chapter One He adds\nthat it becomes very simple as you go\non, each chapter leading to the succee-\nding one like easy stepping stones across\na wide river.\nThis book by Mr Gibson may be\nvery simple. I was never able to proceed\nbeyond Chapter Two. Please do not\nsuspect me of irony. This is a direct\nstatement of fact made in all respect for\nthe wonders of Science, and this won-\nderful little book. Two chapters sufficed\nme. I understood them .... liked them ....\nbut could not go on.\nYou may say I am not very well\nequipped in brains if 1 cannot get be-\nyond Chapter Two, but I must remind\nyou quite candidly that 1 am one of the\nplain people puzzled over this talk about\nmolecules, diffusion, cohesion, and chemical\naffinity. And not only puzzled;—ama-\nzed—alarmed, but anyhow held spell-\nbound.\n> And, 1 flatter myself, I am in one\nother way like Mr. Monkhouse ; I prefer\nto feel content not to quite comprehend\nthis new thing, this science, .... not to\nknow more, as he is happier to feel con-\ntent without entirely understanding the\n44 New Movement \" in Art. Because I\nbelieve we would both rather do that\nthan risk losing something that is before\nus, and risk losing our peace of mind\nwhich is with us now. Mr. Monkhouse's\nquestion is 44 Why shouldn't we have a\nNew Movement? \" Just as I, looking at\nmy scientific book and seeing Chapter 24\non 44 What is Gravitation?reply to\nmyself (though I have not passed Chapter 2)\n44 Whv not Gravitation ?\" I know no\nmore about it than Mr Monkhouse knows\nabout the New Movement and Presen-\ntation and Symbolism. 1 do not mean\nthis rudely. I mean that he feels well\ntowards it without knowing it. And the\ngist of what I want to say is that none\nof us can know it so well as the superior\npeople (ie: the Idle) suppose. Let the su-\nperior people know and other superior\npeople disbelieve and let us remain in our\nignorance without doubting that it exists.\nWe believe right enough. It is only scep-\nticism, a disbelief of all things beyond\nour power to understand immediately,\nwhich robs us of too many a good thing.\nAnd it is because Mr. Monkhouse\nshows no scepticism whatever that 1 can\nlisten as he speaks to us about these\nthings.\nMr. Monkhouse opens the ball by\nsaying that it seems 44 the producer is\ngetting something of an innings now, and\nthe literary man is invited to a wide\nview, to recognize production as a great\nart, scenery as at least as important as the\n44 literary fragment and 44 realism \"as\nobsolete. Poor literature Poor literary\ndramatists !They had thought that with\nthe growth of interest in drama they were\ngoing to have a chance at last \".\nAs you know, (or may not know) it\nhas been the custom in our land (and in\nmost other lands) for our evening's enter-\ntainment, be it what it may, to be pre-\npared for us in the following manner. The\nman who is going to give the entertain-\nment, to do most of the work, to have\nall the responsibility, and to get the most\nmoney for it, is usually called the manager\nof the theatre. Very often that manager\nis a gentleman with his thoughts entirely\ngiven to making as much money as he\nreasonably can and a certain ambition to\ndo well."}, {"page_pdf": 14, "page_imprimee": "12", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.14", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3521, "texte": "If he be an actor, he has a double\nwish. It is to enjoy himself while ma-\nking as much money as he can. To\nenjoy a first sensation of appearing, a se-\ncond sensation of holding a mass of people\nunder his. sway, a third sensation of exhi-\nbiting his faculties, a fourth sensation, that\nof realized ambition, and a number of\nminor sensations such as that of doing as\nwell as possible and of doing so at the\nleast possible expense, of winning the best\nopinions and of being a first-class actor.\nMr. Monkhouse says, \"\nmay be the person of chief importance;\nor' the actor, or even producer\nNow, the man who seems to me of\nchief importance is none of these, but is\nthe Manager. Seldom is it that you see\nan author doing the work of managing a\ntheatre of his own. I say this in no dis-\nparagement whatever of the author, I mere-\nly state it as a fact. Therefore while\nwe may say with perfect justice that Sir\nArthur Pinero, because of his intellect,\ntaste, and gifts, is a very much more impor-\ntant author than, was Sir Augustus Harris,\nwho, as some of you will remember, was\nthe manager of Drury Lane Theatre, and\na very much more important author than\nwas Mr Charles Frohman, whom I think all\nof you will remember, we have to admit,\nstrange as it may sound, that Harris and\nFrohman were both more important to\nthe Theatre and to the audience than\nthe greatest of dramatists; for plain people\ncannot wait for the future spite the fact\nthat the words can. (\"It is the words\nthat last A. N. MONKHOUSE).\nFor we \" plain people \" cannot see\nor hear the play until Harris and Frohman\nmove, unless some actor, as I have said\nabove, will undertake the matter of ope-\nning a theatre, thus adding an immense\nburden to his shoulders.... a burden which\na number of actors carry grandly and gaily.\nBut inasmuch as they accept this heavy,\nand I think unnecessary, burden, in sc\nmuch must they pay for it with a loss\nto their power as actors : and their loss\nis ours.\nSo we see that it is not author, actor\nor producer, (the three named by Mr.\nMonkhouse) who is really of prime im-\nportance. It really is the manager; and after\nhim comes the actor, but only when he\nis manager.\nNow for the Producer. This is a new\nname for the office of stage manager.\nWhen we plain people go to a theatre\nall that happens in the front of the house\nas it is called where we sit or walk about\nis (good and bad) the work of the ma-\nnager of the Theatre; the business manager.\nAll that happens on the stage after\nthe curtain rises is the work of the pro-\nducer, ie: stage manager, or, if he be two\npersons, the two are responsible. So we\nsee the producer or stage manager is se-\ncond in value. Theatre Manager first,\nStage Manager or Producer second. We\narrive at the Theatre and cannot find the\nbox office easily.... a fault of the manager.\nWe get two stalls ; they creak and are\nnot comfortable ; second fault of the ma\nnager. The auditorium is badly lighted,\ndraughty, and programmes have to be\ncalled for; ....faults of the manager. Afte?\nthe curtain rises three people come in latt\nand push by us to their seats, ....fault c\nthe manager. In short, his task is t\nmake us all comfortable and to provid\nus with all we want when in our seats\nwhen going to them and leaving them.\nBut it is the producer whom we mus\nthank or blame for the performance. Hi\nis the responsibility, his must be the au\nthority. If we are interested two or three\nminutes after the curtain has risen we must\nthank the Producer, not the play-writer.\nBecause the best of plays can bore us"}, {"page_pdf": 15, "page_imprimee": "13", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.15", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3612, "texte": "straightway unless produced well. It is\nrather like our bread. The wheat, the\nthreshing, the yeast, the flour, the ovens,\nthe shopman and the delivery may be of\nthe very best; all will be rendered useless\nand flat if the master-baker is incompe-\ntent. It is him we have to thank for a\ngood loaf.\nIt stands to reason that the man who\ncommands the very stage itself, arranges\nwhat the actors shall do through the\ncourse of four or five acts, or what the\ndancers shall do in the course of a ballet,\nor the singers and chorus in the course\nof an opera, must be a man in a unique\nposition the position in fact. And for\nsuch a position a capable man is needed.\nYet capable as he is, there can be no\ncomparison whatever between the capable\nproducer stage manager and the most\ncapable play-writer.\nTo illustrate it in a plain and homely\nway ; We all have houses, and in our\nhouses somebody cooks and somebody lays\nthe table ; and I think we will be agreed\nthat, while both are important, it is the\ncook who does the trick. And so with\nthe playwriter and the producer. It is,\nwhen all is said and done, the play-writer\nwho does the trick (a).\nThe best of cooks will always be wan-\nting to manage you and me, and I don't\nknow whether you will agree with me, but\nI feel that this is out of the question; the\nhouseholder is sole manager, and so with\na theatre; therefore, whoever is theatre holder\nis the master of the house be he the\nauthor, producer, actor or anyone.\nThe manager of the Theatre is there-\nfore the master of it; and at the same\ntime servant of the public with sufficiently\ngrave responsibilities towards that public.\nAll others in the theatre, all whose work\nis brought on to the stage, are the servants\nof the public.\nIt should be repeated over and over\nagain until it is realized, that unless these\nservants are obedient to the manager under\nsuch discipline as the best ships steam\nunder, and such discipline as every sound\nbusiness is founded on, a great deal less\nthan the best work will be the result.\nSome of us when we hear the words,\n\" discipline \" service \", \" obedience \",\nare apt to wince a little.\nAnd I can imagine that Sir Arthur\nPinero, Mr Bourchier, and I myself would\nall three of us wince pretty considerably\nif it were proposed to us that we should\ncome to Drury Garden Theatre to be the\nservants of Sir Thomas Rashy. Goodness\nknows why we should feel like that, but\nwe should. We might not show it. We\nmight smile, meet and shake hands, and\nlisten to Sir T. Rashy's directions and\nthose of his able lieutenant Mr Codlin,\nand we might set to work cooking and\nserving up the banquet that Sir Thomas\n(with Mr Codlins's assistence) was pre-\nparing for his clients. And the first-night\nof \" Heptameron Afternoons \" at Drury\nGarden might go off without a hitch ; and\nyet I do not think that there would be great\nvalue in the work; and thus he, the person\nwanting the very best that the Theatre\nhas to offer, would not get the very best.\nThis poor result would be the fruit of\nour never having really become the ser-\nvants of Sir Thomas Rashy. For I\nbelieve that the spirit of good service in\nany united group of closely associated men\nand women must produce very excellent\nthings. This is a platitude, is it not ?\nWhy do I speak in terms of wonderment\n\n(a) It is, I am told, really very difficult to get a good\ncook nowadays.\n(b) I do not, of course, mean that if a man buys up\nten theatres and rents them out that he is master of the\nTheatre. That is merely like a man who owns large\nproperties and from whom we rent a house, becoming,\nfor our part, the master of the house we rent from him."}, {"page_pdf": 16, "page_imprimee": "14", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.16", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4200, "texte": "of something which has been proved since\nthe world began. Why do I lay such\nstress on it? Were it rather more in evi-\ndence in the theatre I suppose I should\nnot. The lack of it is very plain, and\nas the plain reason is what we plain people\nwant to get at, it is well to repeat it (c).\nSo now that we are agreed that it is\nthe manager who is the master and the\nrest of us servants, we can continue to\nconsider the rest of Mr. Monkhouse's\nquestions. For one of the charms of his\nessay is that it is written almost as a series\nof questions.\nThe chief question that he seems to\nask is this. Is the literary dramatist, (and\nhe uses this term) not of greater value\nthan the super-producer (he uses this term\nalso). I must admit that lam not par-\nticulary interested in the literary dramatist,\nbut I am far more interested in him than\nin the super-producer. Mr. Monkhouse,\nin the course of his essay, mentions five\nnames only, Shakespeare, Booth Tarking-\nton, Gilbert, Sullivan, and my own. I\ncannot see that in giving those five names\nhe has cited a single example of a literary\ndramatist or a super-producer. Still I\nalmost fancy I am by implication meant\nto stand for the super-producer.\nIf I may be allowed to speak of myself for just one\nmoment and forget myself again immediately, I would ask\nyou to put out of your head that I am anything other\nthan an ordinary stage-manager devoted to the whole\npurpose of the Theatre and the Drama, an immense admirer\nof every line of great dramatic writing with a reverence\nfor that which is behind it, and with but one desire, to\nsee all actors, play-makers, scenic men and the rest, if they\nreverence the Drama and its House, united, without per-\nsonal interests, to re-establish our English Theatre, putting\nthe best brains and spirit to the service of the best director\nso that he may serve you, the plain people.\nI hope that is plain enough.\nC| As Shakespeare is the only real dra-\nmatist mentioned I find it difficult to\nunderstand what Mr. Monkhouse means\nin that passage quoted above where he\nsays that the producer is coming along\nand that the literary man is invited to\ntake a wider view and to recognize that\n\" scenery is as important as the literary\nfragment \" ; and he grieves with the\n\" poor literary dramatists \" who thought\nthey were \" going to have a chance\nat last \". Ido not know what you think,\nbut it seems to me that here our friend\nMr. Monkhouse is a little offended on\nbehalf of very successful men play-\nwriters who have had nothing to com-\nplain of. If he had mentioned some one\nmodern writer it would have been easier\nfor plain people to understand exactly the\nkind of literary dramatist that he meant\nShakespeare is the only one he mentioned,\nand Shakespeare admittedly has always\nhad a chance. His name is probably one\nof the four best known names in the world,\nso he has to be ruled out of our talk if\nwe are to arrive at some understanding (eb\nI don't know whether to look on\nShakespeare as an extraordinary or as a plain\nman. Was he like us ? I don't feel that\nI am at all like him, and I don't suppose\nthat you feel so either. Therefore he\ncouldn't have been quite a plain man, yet\nhis service was what we call plain as\na pike staff. I take it he was a poet,\nfirst and last ; and I would suggest that\nthere are more poetic than dramatic\nlines in his plays if they be counted ; his\ndramatic figures seem often to wade with\ndifficulty through that which we call the\n\n(c) Perhaps even Mr Monkhouse does not quite know\nhow undisciplined is our Theatre ....or guess why. Wrong\nmen in wrong place, Mr. Monkhouse.\n(d) (unless you allow Gilbert in the same field)\n(€* Gilbert was only a man of talent \"; Monkhouse).\n(e) It might be easily pointed out that Shakespeare\nwas a perfect servant (ie. perfect friend) to the manager\nof the theatre, who, I understand, was Burhage the actor.\nBut such a theme would I believe run into many pages,\nfor I believe it could be proved that Shakespeare was\nalways ready to patch up and to better rather inferior plays\nby other inferior men which Burbage thought could be\nturned into successes.... always ready, not condescending.\n(f) Not Thomas Moore's \" poetics \" ; \"Now Tom\ndon't be poetic ; (Byron)."}, {"page_pdf": 17, "page_imprimee": "15", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.17", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3469, "texte": "\"poetry**. They can be theatrical enough at\ntimes too— even stagey— and Shakespeare\nis not above blundering. He is anything\nbut the perfect workman and we must\nnot forget that his plays are not very\noften seen on the English stage.\nTherefore as Mr. Monkhouse names\nnone of his literary dramatists, and as we\nwant to work along plain lines and have\nname:, dates, and facts, he forces us to\nsuppose people. This makes things rather\ndifficult for us. We have to imagine\nwho those poor literary dramatists of his\nare. As there is no help for it, ~ let us\nin a friendly spirit make some guesses.\nI am going to guess the name Monkhouse\nfirst. I am going to add the name of\nMasefield next; —and wind up with the\nname Barrie. Here are three writers of\nplays: little known, better known, best\nknown : little chance, more chance, most\nchance. Of these literary dramatists, Mr.\nMonkhouse has this to say : \"\nfirst-rate dramatists submit to\nIs a play to be the production of various\nartists wording together in harmony (like\ncontributors to a musical comedy) or of\none masterful person with a smattering of\nall the arts ? Must the dramatist of the\nfuture be adept at music, lighting,\narchitecture, furniture, dancing ? He then\nadds later on : \"But the writer of plays\ncertainly would not be content to provide\nthe libretto for a background \". And he\nthen adds quickly and very delightfully\n\" Perhaps this isn't putting it quite fairly \".\nWell—it is not putting it quite fairly. It\nis not putting it fairly to himself, to\nMasefield or to any man of spirit who has\nnot become \" important '*.\nCan any reason be found for men\nnot working famously together, or being\nunready to help each other ?\nThat is the plain truth is it not ?\nIs the question of our doing our work\nso lacking in all reality and seriousness\nthat we can feel at all like that? That we\ncan feel that anything is beneath us ?\nJohn Masefield is a poet, but is none\nthe less a man living upon this brown\nearth ; and not suspended by wires in the\nsky, nor even, by the powers of his noble\nimagination, raised too far above the good\nground. But if such a man were our\nonly writer in my theatre, our main stay\nfor all our dramas, and if he were to tell\nme he could not possibly write for me\nten lines here and five lines there for\nsome ballet or some opera—provided it\nwas a noble ballet, a delightful opera—\nwhich we were at work on in my Theatre,\nand he with us as Shakespeare was with\nBurbage, ....if he could excuse himself, and\nthese lines positively called for by the na-\nture of the whole performance, it would\nbe a very sad affair. But since he could\nwrite them, I for one believe he would.\nLiving in Twentieth Century England\nhe might perhaps refuse to give up his\nmany hours of writing, reduce them, and\nconfine himself with the rest of us to this\none matter of Drama and Theatre ....he\nin the Theatre all the time (Shakespearean).\nI do not know ;—but I hardly think he\nwould refuse to write what we so sorely\nneeded.\nIf I couldn't get this, from my friend,\nthe poet, could some one else? Could the\nFrohman of the day ? the man who is\nthe real master of the House.... today\na house in ruins ?\nNo, for though the Frohmans have the\nmoney,—which is the first essential, the\nproducer has the rest minus the money.\nNow we are coming to Hecuba.\nAs it is plain that to get the poets,\nplaywright, carpenters, geniuses and all into\none theatre there are two things essential,\nThe first, Money,\nThe second, Wits to produce,"}, {"page_pdf": 18, "page_imprimee": "16", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.18", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2078, "texte": "and that these two must be united in the\nsame person, which would you say it were\neasier to bring about ?\n(1) That the rich man, that is, our\nbusiness manager, should enter the King-\ndom of Heaven, and, by a miracle never\nyet known, become an artist - producer\nteeming with ideas, or\n•*» (2) that the artist-producer should\nbe visited by some member of those lower\ninfernal regions where the Rhinegold is\nguarded by the three Rhine-maidens and\nthat he, becoming rich in what every worker\nneeds, should be able to pay every worker\nwhat he needs and make the House fit\nfor a poet to be able to enter it ?\nWhich of these two proposals would\nwin your vote as being the most possible\nof the two? I cannot tell. But this much\nis certain, the first is a failure.\nIt is of course because the artist-pro-\nducers, of England, America and France,\nthe men of the theatre, the men teeming with\nideas, with all but money, have been re-\nfused the means to control the Theatre,\nto make it fit for the Poet to work in,\nthat you have no real theatre today.\n—What gives \" a chance \" to the\nplaywrights,—what helps men to be \"wor-\nking together in harmony \",—what makes a\nman more \"content to provide librettos \" or\nbread or music or any or everything,—what\nhelps poetry, painting, criticism, life itself?....\nthe Frohmans of the hour, the means to\nwork and to live,—money. For money\nin the hands of men of talent makes them\nin these days men of authority. With au-\nthority of this kind alone can they do what\nhas to be done: fortify their playhouse.\nAnd if money is given to the Froh-\nmans, Harrisses and the rest, what happens?\n—Rubbish is raised to the theatrical throne\nand the good things are beaten down.\nBeating them down creates a revolution.\nThe New Movement was a Revolution.\nWe were called Reformers. I said at\nthe time we were no such thing. The\naffable know-betters smiled at our pro-\ntests. The wits began to stir and intel-\nligence overturned that folly which dreamed\nto rule. Intelligence then began to recon-\nstruct. Intelligence is constructing today.\nWe are building a new house."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c013", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c013", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "16", "page_fin": "16", "image_debut": 18, "image_fin": 18, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.8", "titre_corps": "THE ART OF THE THEATRE", "titre_sommaire": "THE ART OF THE THEATRE", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 18, "page_imprimee": "16", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.18", "debut_caractere": 2080, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2580, "texte": "THE ART OF THE THEATRE.\nTHIS term \" Art of the Theatre \" is taken to\nmean the pictorial part of a stage picture,\nThat is the incorrect way to take it. The term\nmeans the whole result as heard and seen on\nthe stages Play - music - scene - acting -\ndancing - lighting - singing - all.\nThe play-making taken alone is a craft: Acting\nis a craft: The Scenic work a craft: Dancing a\ncraft: each part is a craft. Taken together\nthey form a whole, and that whole today goes\nby the name of the Theatrical Art."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c015", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c015", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "16", "page_fin": "16", "image_debut": 18, "image_fin": 18, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.9", "titre_corps": "A DEFINITION", "titre_sommaire": "A DEFINITION", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 18, "page_imprimee": "16", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.18", "debut_caractere": 2582, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2709, "texte": "A DEFINITION.\nPLAYWRIGHT: SHIPWRIGHT: WHEELWRIGHT.\nA Wright is plain English, and means a\nworkman : A workman who is craftsman."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c017", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c017", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "17", "page_fin": "17", "image_debut": 19, "image_fin": 19, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.10", "titre_corps": "VUE DES RESTES DU THEATRE DE MARCELLUS SUR LA PEACE MONTANARA A ROME", "titre_sommaire": "VUE DES RESTES DU THEATRE DE MARCELLUS SUR LA PEACE MONTANARA A ROME", "signature_source": "A. L. T. Vandeyer", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 19, "page_imprimee": "17", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.19", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 358, "texte": "VUE DES RESTES DU THEATRE DE MARCELLUS SUR LA PEACE MONTANARA A ROME.\nFrom \"Description du Thèâtre de Marcellus à Rome \"by A. L. T. Vandeyer (Paris) 1812. Born in 1756, at twenty-seven\nyears old in 1783 he wins the Grand Prix de Rome and in 1786 he is in Rome and designs and engraves eight plates showing\nthis Theatre and his own idea of its original state."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c018", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c018", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "19", "page_fin": "21", "image_debut": 21, "image_fin": 25, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.11", "titre_corps": "ACCA : A NEW STAGE LANGUAGE BY THE AUTHOR OF \"FILMS\"", "titre_sommaire": "ACCA : A NEW STAGE LANGUAGE BY THE AUTHOR OF \"FILMS\"", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 21, "page_imprimee": "19", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.21", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3398, "texte": "ACCA: A NEW\nSTAGE LANGUAGE.\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \"FILMS”\n\nOTHERS have travelled more than I\nhave .... others have even settled\ndown in the land I write from ; and yet,\nso far as I know, not another but I has\ncome to realize that it doesn't matter a\nscrap what is said what actual words\nare said since words are all nonsense,\nand speech quite without value any more.\nI mean in theatricals.\nI would not go so far as does Mr Gordon\nCraig, who, (if tattle is to be relied on),\nis reported to advocate the banishment\nof all speech from the boards; but I would\nexperiment with a new kind of speech, a\nspeech I should call ACCA. This new\nkind of speech should be made up of soft\nand harsh, sharp and sweet, deep and\nshrill sounds ; but I would allow no teethy\nH' s in the language.\nThat is why I should call the new speech\nACCA, .... ACCA being the Italian\nequivalent for H. (a)\nI should exclude every H for this\nreason : because it has got itself entangled\nwith the T's and the W's and other\nletters, and too many windy words are\nthe result. I here give you some. Thy,\nThe, Then, Thatch, Think, Thou, Through,\nThorn, Theatre, Thorough, Thoroughly,\nThermometer, Theology, Thumb, Other,\nBoth, Whether, Without, Worth, Writhe,\nWreath, Wroth and so on, mere wind\nand froth.\nWith German examples I will not\nweary you ; but consider the Dutch and\nRussian words, ' Kaiser Gracht ' and\nOcean Horoscio '.\nTo listen to the northern actors uttering\nthese wild and whirling words, so like\nthe sound of gas when it is escaping, is\nto be made aware that something has\nhappened which should have been pre-\nvented. If, later, one knows that only an\noperation on the language will avail, at\nfirst one imagines that an operation should\nbe performed on the performers nHe\nmust have his H cut out \".\nThis being at such a moment a difficult\nmatter, more especially since, while it might\nbe successful in the case of the first eighty\npatients, it would be a waste of time in\neighty-one, since, with him, ' tis uncertain\nwhere one may find it. On the floor this\nmoment the next it is right in front\nof my eye. A knife would possibly be\ntoo slow for number eighty-one.\nIt being therefore out of the question\nto curb the language, to rid it of its\nwhistling, its wet and draughty way, the\nonly thing I can do is to try to invent a\nnew language for the stage.\nThere is no H in the Italian language\nWhat an Italian actor wants to say can\nbe said without smothering the words so\nthat they tumble out splashed and breathless\nor withered up. The English, Dutch, Ger-\nman or Russian actor must labour with\nhis language to the end of his days, uncon-\nscious that he is uttering hideous sounds,\ndying and being buried, buried quite unaware\nthat he displeased thousands of Europeans\nand caused them to ask themselves, \" Is\nthat a language for poets, dramatists and\ngentlemen?\nWell, for poets, dramatists, and gen-\ntlemen it may be. To read Shakespeare\nsilently may be delicious; to read him aloud\n\n(a) Vide \" A Short Italian Dictionary\" by Alfred\nHoare MA. Cambridge. At the University Press. 1918.\nPage 179.\n(b) Here our author only exaggerates a hairsbreadth ;\nfor, though the letter exists in Italian, it occurs so rarely\nthat the great Vocabulary of the ic Crusca \" (edition*of\n1612) devotes to it barely one column of its 960 double\ncolumn pages. This absense of the His one of the best\nreasons for Opera being sung to Italian words. Ed."}, {"page_pdf": 22, "page_imprimee": "20", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.22", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3277, "texte": "even by flashes of spluttering H-befogged\nlightning, can never be too pleasant. I have\njust been to Vienna and heard the actors\nstill doing it there in German; have been\nto Munich,... the same tale to tell; have\nbeen to the Hague and to Kiev, and\nthere the same thick padded noises as\nof many ghosts brushing the palates of\nThuringen priests.\nI returned home to Bergamo and there\nonce more I heard a real language for\nhuman beings, real speech, and crisp and\nreasonable actor noises. For I must add\nhere that I understand little or no Italian;\nand, while this is a disadvantage to me\nwhen eating, driving or leaving a hotel,\nit is an absolute advantage when in an\nItalian theatre.\nWhen I go there it is to see actors\nand note acting. It is rather an original\nnotion, this of mine, so I am told, but I\ngo there for this specific reason, and have\ngone there for this reason for over fourteen\nyear.\nAnd in those 168 months I have\nfound this one quite certain thing: and\nthat is, that acting is much to do with\nsound and with movement, with meaning\ngestures, but meaningless words. The\nsounds, those I must have, many sounds;\nthat is why to me the bioscope is not,\nand can never be, quite satisfactory.\nSo I propose a new language, to be\ncalled ACCA, .... the actors' tongue.\nI have already made a list of about\ntwelve thousand words for this new lan-\nguage, or, more properly speaking, of\nabout twelve thousand sounds; but, until\nwe have about thirty-three thousand, I\ncannot put the book on the Rialto. As\nit is, with the few words of ACCA at\nmy command, I am able to get through\na small comedy, (improvised, of course),\nwith a few fellow students interested in\nthis undertaking. And I may as well\npresently give you a few speeches to show\nyou how it sounds, and I will tell you\nwhat the speeches mean.\nAlthough at first we improvised the\nwhole comedy, by the time we had played\nit some thirty to forty times we grew so\nfamiliar with the situations that the speeches\nused to settle down, as it were, and\nbecoming fixed, remained unaltered because\nwe found we could not better them.\nThen one of our assistants took down our\nthirty-eighth performance by shorthand,\n.... yes, it was the thirty-eighth. .... in\nour new language \" zax 000 n.\nNow for a moment compare the two\nsounds \" Thirty eighth \" with n zax 000 \".\nThirty eighth contains three Hs and two\nths and an eigh. 000 stands for 30,\nzax for 8 zit being 7, zot being 6,\nzox 5, zon 4, zi 3, zo 2, and zu being\none.\nAll which to you means nothing\nat all.\nAll the better. The test of your power\nto enjoy and follow a drama is to be\nable to follow sound and gesture:\nany empty fellow can swallow sense and\nnot be a jot the wiser afterwards. If\nthis needs proof it is in the pudding for\nthose with good digestion and taste-proof\npalates. For great sense has been pouring\nout of the brains of dramatists for some\nthousands of years but no one is the wiser\nfor it.\nSo the test of your power to enjoy a\ndrama is to be whether you can follow\nits sound and gesture and get the hang\nof it from that alone.\nFor example, if I am acting the part\nof a priest or a prophet, (not a false\nprophet, a real one), and have to bring\ngood tidings to men who are in darkness,\nand if I say quite distinctly \" Hail!\n\n(c) In Germany acht und dreizich."}, {"page_pdf": 25, "page_imprimee": "21", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.25", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1848, "texte": "Behold I bring you good tidings of great\njoy ! 11 I say something which does not\neven convince and illumine the darkness\nand obscurity which is in the minds of the\nsimplest of shepherds, let alone the silliest\nof sheep, and which we too have heard\nso often that I suppose we are grown\ntired of hearing it. (In these days of\nscepticism we must always take care to\nsay nothing which offend unbelievers).\nBut when the priest or angel points\nto the big new star in the night sky, the\nactor thrills.... \" even shepherds weep \" ;\nand all, if not quite clear, is to be well\nguessed at. The next words \" Follow\nthe star \" bring them to earth again.\n\" How follow a star ? What does he\nmean ? \" But as the star moves over the\nsky, night by night, dipping behind Beth-\nlehem, somehow or other, the densest\nshepherd suddenly becomes one of the\n4 illuminati \\ He leaps to his feet and\ncries out \" Ho cazza man nox alia\nmazza \", and rushes off like the wind\nin its direction, and the others follow like\nthe leaves, and the shepherd dog goes to\nsleep again.\nAnd audiences are not more clever\nthan such shepherds and not more stupid.\nBut they are kind as are the shepherds,\nvery kind and patient, and endure. For\nmany years they have borne more than\nwe should have asked them to bear.\nA hash of incomprehensible matter has\nbeen prepared for them by immensely\nprofound but quite inarticulate play-writers,\nand uttered for them by, unfortunately,\nword-perfect actors.\nOnce every twenty-five years acting\nhas dared to usurp its own throne, but\nhas remembered its place just in time and\ngone back to the mat.\nThat, I hazard a hope, is now to be\nchanged. The tongue of the actor shall\nfor the first time be freed : that is to\nsay, if my dictionary of A CCA, the\nactor's language, reaches its thirty third\nthousandth word.\n\n(d) 44 II Teatro dialettale Bolognese Page 33."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c019", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c019", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "n. p.", "page_fin": "n. p.", "image_debut": 23, "image_fin": 23, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.11.1", "titre_corps": "JAPANESE PUPPETS", "titre_sommaire": "JAPANESE PUPPETS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 23, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.23", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 89, "texte": "Heads exquisitely made. Not so comic as our Westerners too often seem to think necessary."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c020", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c020", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "n. p.", "page_fin": "n. p.", "image_debut": 23, "image_fin": 23, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.11.2", "titre_corps": "JAPANESE PUPPETS", "titre_sommaire": "JAPANESE PUPPETS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 23, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.23", "debut_caractere": 91, "fin_caractere_exclue": 171, "texte": "An interesting framework for a Puppet, Japan. Modern.\nJAPANESE PUPPETS.\nPlate 3."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c021", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c021", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "21", "page_fin": "21", "image_debut": 25, "image_fin": 25, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.12", "titre_corps": "THREE REFLECTIONS", "titre_sommaire": "THREE REFLECTIONS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 25, "page_imprimee": "21", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.25", "debut_caractere": 1850, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2764, "texte": "THREE REFLECTIONS.\nWE are growing too loquacious, both on the\nstage and off. We make disquisitions\nwhich render us only more and more dim-sighted,\nand excursions that only consume our stores.\nW. S. Landor. (Pericles).\nI for my part should be glad to break myself\nof talking altogether, and speak like creative\nnature only in pictures. Goethe.\nIT may be truthfully said of man too that when\nhe is most impressed he is silent and that when\nhe is silent he impresses us most.\nWe will surround the people with symbols\nin silence ; in silence we will reveal the Movement\nof Things.... this is the nature of our Art.\nThe Mask, Vol I, page 2, 1908.\nENGLAND discovering Stanislawsky promises\nto be a joke. Are they not funny when\nthese foreigners show them that \" the spoken\nword \" is not so essential as they thought it was;\nin fact the words don't matter, the gestures\nare so eloquent!\nExtract from a Letter from London."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c023", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c023", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "22", "page_fin": "25", "image_debut": 26, "image_fin": 29, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.13", "titre_corps": "MORE NOTES ON A JOURNEY", "titre_sommaire": "MORE NOTES ON A JOURNEY", "signature_source": "FRANÇOIS M. FLORIAN", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 26, "page_imprimee": "22", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.26", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3756, "texte": "MORE NOTES ON A JOURNEY.\nBY FRANÇOIS M. FLORIAN.\nWOMEN kill the Drama! \" in this \" age\nof hysterical refinement \".... \" the tune\nin the Theatre is being called by women (a)\nwhose taste is for light stuff rather than for\nsolid material. \" So run the phrases in to-\nday's \" Daily News \" 00—some of them your\nMr. St John Ervine's phrases, —and \" Quite\ntrue \" replies your Miss Sybil Thorndike\n\" the men choose the music-hall and revues\nthe women love the sentimental play. \"\nIt remains, alas, for me to utter the word\n\" meat. \"\nIf it offend, that is what was to be expected.\nMeat is bought with money. All other\nsolid things are to be bought with the same\nsolid stuff. Froth for froth—eye for eye—\n\" hear with ears and understand \"—but the\nEditor will use his blue pencil if I begin to\nget at all vague.\n€[[ The Editor of The Masfe wants nothing\nvague —he only wants the impossible. For is\nit not impossible to \" write aa article of some\nthree thousand words in which you explain\nclearly the situation in the London Theatre\nfrom a French point of view —fairly, without\nover or under statement \" ? I have therefore\nbegun my article by stating fairly what another\noutsider in the stalls considers is the trouble and\nwhat an insider in the dressing-rooms thinks\nis wrong.\n€| And a really rather queer thing has\nnappened since 1 wrote the above line.\nI had better tell you, and, in telling, my\narticle will finish itselfwithout more puzzle-\nment for meall I shall have to do will be\nto copy out a conversation.\nI was reading my \" Daily News \" and\nother papers in a second-class compartment\nbetween Chambery and Aix-les-Bains. I be-\ngan to scribble :—I had to stop :—I finished\nthe rest of the article in a compartment of the\ntrain de Luxe between Aix and Paris.\nThis is what happened.\nOn getting to the word \" wrong \" at the\nend of my second paragraph I felt utterly\nunable to go on. Why should I have to quote\nwhat Miss Thorndike says —what Mr Ervine\nsays—what the \" Daily News \" said ?... Why\nall this ? 1 questioned.\nAnd then I admit I brightened up a bit\non recalling the right answer, which was,\nand which is, quite right—that other people's\nopinions are very often valuable especially if\nthe people who hold them speak from long\nexperience.\nWell, I understand that long experience\nhas neither beenMrErvine's lot nor Miss Thorn-\ndike's ; but they are both sufficiently experien-\nced to know a good deal more of the truth\nabout these things than I, more especially since\none has been in London for three years and\nthe other for a life-time. \" I would I knew\nmore! \" I sighed, \" or I would Iknew someone\nwh0.... \" but it was 12 o'clock, mid-day,\na fine view sliding by, I stopped writing,\nspeaking, thinking and gave myself up to\ndreaming, and before long the train was at\nrest—here was Aix at last; to the deuce\nwith London and all its Saints, its size, its.\nwealth—all too like my Paris let me, if I must\nwrite of London, write of its spirit of aspira-\ntion and its earnest attempts for better and\never better things so that.—\n\" Premiere serveeece! \"—cries an elec-\ntric voice, ....and saves the situation.\nAll was gaiety and grand again. To the\nmere Frenchman in the corridor, food solves\nmost problems.... and to feed in motion in a\ncontinental wagon restaurant is to me parti-\ncularly exhilerating... to pass between two\ncottages where they are eating a homely\npotage while being served with Boeuf a la\nmode!!! that's the ticket! Beef—meat—meat\nthe final word on earth.\nI little thought, as I thought this, that in\nan hour's time I should be doubting this\nimmense truth.\n\n(a) He means the English Theatre. In Italy I sau)\n}hat the theatre was for both sexes as in France.\n(b) October / 923, in a report of a speech made\nat the dinner of the Authors9 Club."}, {"page_pdf": 27, "page_imprimee": "23", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.27", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4453, "texte": "I was lucky; the seat reserved for me\nwas at a table for two ; in front of me sat a\ngentleman for whom Boeuf a la Mode seemed\nto have been invented. A man of the world,\nyet, some would say, without any of the nicer\ncourtesies of the world, he grunted and blin-\nked at me when I made the customary \" with\nyour permission \" inclining slightly towards him.\nIt was wasted on him; plain words and plain\nactions, that was his motto. Beef was beef\nfor him \" la mode \" quite thrown away.\nI took my seat and troubled little more\nabout him. I enjoyed my lunch in silence:\nhe went through his rather less silently: we\ncame to the end of it and he began to settle\ndown and sigh rather gloriously; immense\nEnglish contentment anyhow swelled itself out\nwith a last long rumbling organ note as in\nsome of Handel's big pieces.\nJust as these contented sighs were ending,\nI discovered that everyone else in the wagon\nrestaurant was gone, and now the head waiter\nwas speaking to us saying \" you must go for\nthe second service is to be prepared. \" My\nneighbour laughed. \" I want another liqueur \"\nhe said to the waiter, \" and I want to sit\nhere and enjoy it slowly. \" \" Very sorry \"\nsaid the man, \" you can't; we have the\nsecond service to prepare. \" \" But if I pay for\nthe table ? \" The waiter grew impatient:\n\" Now, Sir, I must ask you to go immediate-\nly, \" and napkins began to flick and bottles\nto fall and crumbs to fly all around my great\nneighbour so that he too rose as I had done,\nand, ordering liqueurs to be sent to his com-\npartment, invited me to sit with him and\ntry one.\n\" They turn you out \" he grumbled \" as\nthough you were so much cattle, ....what ? \"\nRather on the side of being ferocious, that\n\" what: \" a grunt, a flare, a \" Damme if\nI don't....\" ....but I hurried on in front of him,\npressing past the distinguished folk who were\nblocking the corridors.\nWhen we reached the middle of the car-\npeted train-de-luxe compartment, my boeuf-\neater touched me on the shoulder; \" Here \"\nsaid he, and went into a fairy palace of a\nplace. \" I can see you're an artist, or a writer,\nor something of the kind \" he said, \" I supposS\nyou can enjoy a good cigar.... what? \"\n1 said ' thank you ' in a finikin kind of\nvoice and sat down. It was a wonderfully\ngood Havanah, but after the half Toscana I\nhad just finished it seemed like humbug.\nI told him that I smoked Toscana cigars as\na rule, when I could get them. \" When you\ncan get 'em \" he repeated, \" but you don't\nlikfi 'em, what ? \" 1 began explaining the\nsuperiority of the ancient Toscana over all\nother smokes when he burst in impatiently\nwith \" You're one of those new-fangled aes-\nthetes; what is it you d 0?... write?... paint?\nI took yop for a piano-player at first, what ? \"\n\" I'm a journalist \" I said, \" and I do\nwrite a book when I can, but it's bad pay—\nand.... \" I paused.\n\" I know \" he said, \" that's right, you\nstick to your business. Business first—plea-\nsure afterwards. It's an old motto and a\nsound one. \"\nYet, though his theory was all for business,\nit's odd, but the next moment he was asking\nme about my books. \" What sort of books?\n. ..novels? \" \" No, plays \". \" Plays! \" he\ncrowed, \" does anyone ever act 'em ?\n\" I have not yet been fortunate enough to\nhave one acted \" I said. \" And not likely\nto. \" he chuckled ; \" Plays are no good\nnowadays, no meat in 'em. \" \" (The word\nmeat made me jump) \" \" Look at Barrie\"\nhe went on, \" sloppy stuff, I call it\n....makes you want to leave the play 'ouse \".\nIt was the first slip he had made; but\nhere the liqueurs came in and his eye became\nfirm again, for it had winced for an instant.\nHe went straight for a bottle of Curasao,\nS. T. Millet et Cie. \" Leave this; two\nglasses. 150 francs.... that's all right.... off you\ngo \". We were alone again.\n\" Now taste that and tell me if it's good? \"\nI tasted and I said it was very good.\n\" That's mine \" he said. \" 'Tis good \"\nhe said, still sipping. \" I make it at .... a\nbottle and sell it at .... \" : I forget his exact\nfigures. \" For thirty years that bottle has never\nfailed \". \"Yes, it's good \", he said once\nmore, and put down his glass.\n\" So you write plays, do you. what\nsort ? funny ones ? \"\n1 saw it was impossible to tell him of my\ntragedy \" La Fille Verte \" that I had been\nat work on for the last four years ; so I said\nwithout thinking, \" Rather funny 1 write\nRevues \".\n\"Do you, by Jove! \" he cried out, waking\nup for the first time, and he poured two\nmore glasses and took another sip."}, {"page_pdf": 28, "page_imprimee": "24", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.28", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4298, "texte": "\" I like a good revue \" he said with\ndeliberation. \" I like a revue for a lot of\nreasons. First there's meat in a revue.\n(\" Se-cond serveeece \" rang out in the corri-\ndor). \"To look at you Fd not have thought\nyou were much hand at that game. What's\nyour theatre? \"\n\" The Odeon \" I said, bold as brass.\n\"Ah good place; it's not mine\nthough never went there. Mine's the\nNew Apollo ever been there ? \"\n\" Yes I said.\n\" Well then, what do you think of the\ngirls ? Eh ? pretty fine troupe of girls, what ? \"\nI nodded with my eyebrows up. \" Now\nwho finds 'em? \" he went on; \" who pro-\nvides for 'em, 1 want to know ? I'll tell you,\nmister \", he went on, \" Money finds 'em\nand we provide the money for 'em \".\n\" Money \" he said with power, \" money is\nwhat buys the meat \".\nAll this awful truth was just what I had\nbeen writing in my second-class compartment\nonly an hour back when I was forced to give\nin, not knowing what more to write not\nhaving another argument left in favour of\nmoney, meat, and the two in partnership. I\nrealized in a flash that it was no longer left to\nme to have to invent an article. I was intensely\nrelieved, all the more so since I was not\nat all sure I believed in what I had been\nwriting.\nAll I had to do was to interview my\ncompanion.\nI ventured to begin. \" But you do not\nmanage the ' New Apollo ' ?\" \" No \", he said\n\" we put a man in, clever sort of young\nbantam; he gets us lots of stuff over from\nFrance and America. Nice young ladies,\nvery nice young ladies ....not too much intel-\nligence ; and nice manners, very nice man-\nners \". He leaned forward rather eagerly.\n\" Do you know, I've had one of these girls\nto supper with me at the Carlton Hotel, and\na couple of Duchesses and a Peer of the\nrealm feeding at the next table, and my young\nwoman's manners were as dandy as theirs ;\nin fact she looked the better lady \". After\nthis he leaned back and seemed to ask appre-\nciation.\nI could willingly give it for I have seen\nfine manners in every kind of woman, and\nalways thrilled at the sight.\n\" Good hearted girls too \" ; I nodded ;\n\" very very good hearted and no malice \".\n\" Ah, that's what I say \" he ground out as\nthough addressing the tribunal of the Last\nJudgement, \" and that's why (he thumped the\nseat once) I put my money on these girls and\nwhy I will not put my money on those\nintellectual actresses as they're called \".\nI asked him who he was thinking of in\nparticular. \" Humm, no one ....no one in\nparticular. I've had dozens of 'em round\nabout, trying to get my money to run their\nintellectual theatres. 1 don't like them or\ntheir Theatres, or their agents. Do you? \"\n\" Well, I must admit that one or two \".\nOne or two is one or two too many \"\n- _ _ «/\nhe said gravely. \" What do I want, young\nman, with crying and silliness when I go to\na playhouse? ....I want the girls to look fresh\nand happy and to move about sprightly and\nneat. I don't want , or Art or\nwhatever it's called. I want a girl to be a\ngirl to sing a good song and dance a\nbit; but above all to look well fed, well\ncared for, tidy and neat. That's the beginning\nand the end of the whole business; and\nthat's why I put my money into the \" New\nApollo \" and why my friends do the same \".\nI could get nothing further from him.\nI saw that. His idea of Theatre began and\nended in fresh girls, girls who were la-\ndylike and good-hearted and lively. There\nwas nothing for me to protest against in that.\nI knew many of these young women and I\nhad always found them all he said. As for\nsuggesting to him that perhaps the Theatre\nwas not the place for merely a display of\ngirl, however nice, I saw it would be useless,\nhe would come back straight to his Who\npays for 'em \" and the wheel would revolve\nand revolve.\nIt was futile to go for him as having no\ndecency, for he had: it was preposterous\nto lecture him, for he would have lectured\nme. Who was I, that I, a Frenchman, should\nset myself up to reprimand six hundred of\nthe richest men in England because they\nhad the remarkable sound common sense of\nliking to see pretty girls and taking them\nout to supper and back home to play\ncards ? Heavens : are journalists to turn pious\nhumbugs ? and in a train de luxe too ?\nBesides, in France we have six thousand of\nthem, all capital men. If money be what we\nare all longing to get, what it can buy should"}, {"page_pdf": 29, "page_imprimee": "25", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.29", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2073, "texte": "be surely good enough for us to accept along\nwith it. And to begin to hum and haw about\nthe evils of money to a man who has it, seems\na little lacking in wit. And the train stopped\nat Dijon.\nMy companion got out. \" There! \" said\nhe, flinging me the rest of his ticket on to\nParis, \"You can use that. You're an odd\nsort of chap. I don't like you writers as a\nrule : I don't trust you, but let's hope you're\nhuman \" ....and with that he was gone.\n\" Let's hope I'm human \" I repeated as\nI picked it up. I recalled a strange book I\nhad once read \" Human, all too human \",\nand turned from the gloomy recollection of it\nwith even more boredom than my late compa-\nnion had turned once or twice from me. \" Too\nfull of the milk of human kindness to \":\nthat's Lady Macbeth. I don't see her here;\nnor Nietzsche; the compartment is still vi-\nbrating with that other humanism which has but\nnow gone out.\n\" To err is human, to forgive,...\nWhat nonsense these thin phrases of the\npen are here in this train de luxe with the\nglamour of that huge reality still present.\nHuman ?—meat ?—the money too ?\n—\" we've got the money too!\nYou have a song with some such refrain,\n1 think.\nPerhaps if the the three were put in\nseparate compartments\nI rose up and went back to my second-\nclass compartment,\nBack there once more I end my article-\nI sum up the whole matter.\nThe English Theatre is perfectly right as\nit is, only it is no longer quite a Theatre\nwhile it remains as it i 5....\nVery admirable common-sense men run the\nEnglish playhouses for sound and quite human\npurposes of their own. These purposes are\nnot those either of the Dramatist, the Artist,\nor the intelligent men and women of London.\nNeither are they purposes that I believe The\nMask has at heart.\nI should say that women do not kill the\nDrama ;\nthat this is not an age of hysterical experiment;\nthat the tune in the Theatre is unfortu-\nnately not being called by ladies ;\nand that the English Theatre is a kind\nof tidy and well organized Smithfield market.\nWith these well-meant but possibly utterly\nincorrect conclusions I end."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c024", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c024", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "25", "page_fin": "26", "image_debut": 29, "image_fin": 30, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.14", "titre_corps": "ON GETTING TO PARIS", "titre_sommaire": "ON GETTING TO PARIS", "signature_source": "F. M. F", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 29, "page_imprimee": "25", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.29", "debut_caractere": 2075, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4000, "texte": "ON GETTING TO PARIS.\n\nI have to thank the Editor of The Mask that\nhe is so agreable to the whims of the\nplay writer-critic.... often, doubtless, a very pre-\ncise and practical being, but in my case lia-\nble to be at any moment unable to write on\nthis or that topic, even those he himself fan-\ncied yesterday.\nFor example, I had the very best of in-\ntentions of writing an article about M. Co-\npeau and his theatre which is no theatre:\nI said I would in my Notes in the last num-\nber of The Mask. But after visiting the little\nplayhouse in Rue du Vieux Colombier I saw\nsome obvious signs which indicated that after\nall it was a theatre.\nM. Copeau is a most energetic man, and,\nwhat is more, he seems to be a very econo-\nmic one. He is always at work, at new\nwork, and never wastes either a minute, a\nfranc, or a notion. I imagine him to be all\nthis,— and I imagine him to be a man who\nwould take infinite pains trying to put into\npractise a number of the multitudinous ideas\nwhich, say, The Mask or some such storehouse\nhad to offer him.\n1 saw some signs of this too at the Vieux\nColombier.\nBut I was at heart a little grieved. One\nmore man wasted, is what I felt; for I felt\nthat somehow or other the whole affair was\nnot enough. How I regret to have to say\n\" it lacked meat. \" I prefer on second thoughts\nto say it lacked body. Brains it had, some taste,\nexperiment, big endeavour. It had hands, feet,\nhead, tail, trunk, but somehow none were in\ntheir right place.\nHere is a first-rate second-class man, I\nthought. We could have agreed well in the\ntrain from Aix to Paris. No plush nor li-\nqueurs for him, ho vulgarities. He is no\nParsival either, no head-in-the clouds, he's\nhuman, a first-rate man.\nAnd my thoughts flew across the Seine to the\nold house of Moliere. \" What possessed such\na first-class place to become so second rate ?\nI thought; and why does not the Comedie,\nsince it is what it is and can only be less in"}, {"page_pdf": 30, "page_imprimee": "26", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.30", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2931, "texte": "being little, why does she not reach out her\narms and take to her heart the few men who,\nif second-ciass are first-rate, first-rate at ser-\nvice, ready to serve her, who always have been\nready.\nAnd Copeau is one such.\nWhy did not the Comedie in 1913 invite\nyoung M. Copeau to bring his quick intelli-\ngence and his comrades to the service of the\nold house ?\nNo Frenchman in the Theatre but has\neverything to learn when he enters the Co-\nmedie, but some Frenchmen besides that have\nmuch to bring.\nM. Copeau had and still has to learn that\nwhich shall give his work an ease it lacks;\nhe could have acquired it at the Frangaise.\nThe Fransaise had and still has to learn that\nthis is not 1880 and M. Copeau could have\ntaught it that.\nThese two being divided, it comes about\nthat my fine city of Paris is the loser; all\nbecause humanity is (even in a city, in a\nvillage even) divided by its little egoism.\nNot that the theatres of my city alone suffer\nin this matter: ' tis the same in England ;\nand, I am told, no different in some of the\nAmerican States.\nWhat a grievous pity !\nAnd what is the result?\nA new Movement in the Theatre has been\nforced upon the more active intelligences in\nevery land.\nFor my part, being so many years a de-\nvotee of the old-fashioned playhouse —ever\nmore devoted to Rossini and Scribe than I\ncould become to Debussy and Ibsen ; more\nat home before a sumptuous setting by M. Cam-\nbon than I can bring myself to be when I see\nthose admirable experiments of your own M.\nCraig, those of M. Appia, or the very pretty\nfantastics of the so-different M. Bakst,... I can-\nnot truthfully say (or at any rate write) that I\nam one at all points with this New Move-\nment. This is mainly due to my training and\nenvironment.\nBut I am quite aware that the New Move-\nment has arrived. And that the old order is\npassing.—l regret it;—and I only hope that\nat any rate in this New Movement your first-\nrate English men of the second order, will\nnot fail as M. Copeau did in our city, to come\ninto touch with the first-rate men of the first\norder and serve them.\nWhat I say of M. Copeau I would say\nof others. In London a Mr Randean is just\nso as is M. Copeau.... a good second class\nman. Mr. Fagan, Mr. Playfair, Mr. Mc Dermott\nare others. Their work lacks certain qualities\nwhich are never to be acquired. All these able\nmen need is to ally themselves with some man\nofgenius or some House, (if such exist in\nEngland) like our Comedie.\nFor it is by the unity of the lesser talents\nadhering with tenacity and may I say fidelity\n(or is the century too old ?) to the larger talents\nthat all our European theatres will come (may\nbe, and I hope so) to the stature which our an-\ncient Comedie Frangaise once could boast.\nI would recall the name La Grange to\nillustrate my exact meaning.\nShould this become a reality, then indeed\nthe New Movement may win the Public trust\n—even as now it seems to have won its svm-\npathy.\n\nF. M. F."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c026", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c026", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "26", "page_fin": "26", "image_debut": 30, "image_fin": 30, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.15", "titre_corps": "CHARLES VARLET DE LA GRANGE : 1640-1692", "titre_sommaire": "CHARLES VARLET DE LA GRANGE : 1640-1692", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 30, "page_imprimee": "26", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.30", "debut_caractere": 2933, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4546, "texte": "CHARLES VARLET DE LA GRANGE.\n1640-1692.\nLA Grange was a very remarkable man. Possessed of\nmany talents, he preferred to be the right-hand man\nof Moli&re, and to remain so, rather than push into a place\nat all above his station.\nCharles Varlet, sieur de la Grange, was born at Amiens\nabout 1639 or 1640, and died in Paris in 1692. We\ntranslate the following biographical note from the French\nEncyclopaedia, \" Le Nouveau Larousse\nAfter having acted for some time in the provinces, La\nGrange entered the troupe of Moli&re, with whom he went\nto make his d6but in Paris. It was in his favour that Mo-\nli£re, six years before his death, resigned his position as\norateur of the troupe of the Palais Royal : it was he who\nin 1667 was commissioned by Moli£re to go with La Tho-\nrilli&re to present a petition to the king, at Lille, protesting\nagainst the interdiction of Tartufe.\nAt the death of Moli&re he passed to the theatre\nGu6negaud ; then, after the fusion with the hotel de Bour-\ngogne, replaced Hauteroche as orateur of the troupe. He\ndistinguished himself in roles of high comedy. He published,\nin 1682, with Vinot, a memorable edition of Moli&re. But\nhe is above all known for his *' Extrait des recettes et des\naffaires de la Comedie depuis Paques de 1659\njusqiTau ler Septembre 1685, appartenant au sieur de La-\ngrange, comedien du roi.\nThis register, wherein he entered the pieces, the receipts,\nthe expenses of each day, the births, marriages and deaths\nwhich took place in the troupe, is of value to the history\nof Moliere and his comedians, and makes one love the\nexactitude and good humour of the author."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c027", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c027", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "29", "page_fin": "30", "image_debut": 31, "image_fin": 32, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.16", "titre_corps": "LONDON AND COTTON WOOL : WITH A PROTEST AGAINST IMPROVISATION IN THE THEATRE", "titre_sommaire": "LONDON AND COTTON WOOL : WITH A PROTEST AGAINST IMPROVISATION IN THE THEATRE", "signature_source": "HENRY PHIPS", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 31, "page_imprimee": "29", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.31", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4320, "texte": "LONDON AND\nCOTTON WOOL.\nWITH A PROTEST AGAINST\nIMPROVISATION IN THE THEATRE\nBY HENRY PHIPS.\n1 should hate to be at all critical about any\nof the strong points of London : I can only\nadmire them. Some find London too com-\nfortable and want things shaken up. To me\none of its strong points is its extravagant use\nof cotton wool, and I have just returned from\nLondon, having rolled from one bale on to\nanother all the time 1 was there.\n1 stayed sixteen days and can assure\nthose who have heard folk grumble about the\ndiscomforts, the inconveniences, the accursed\nmanagement of London, that there is not an\nounce of truth in one of these grumblings.\nFor London is paved with cotton wool,\nlest the feet be bruised: its walls are padded\nwith cotton wool to protect us from the\nslightest bump; its kind servants of the public\nraise us up, and lower us, glide us here,\nlunch us, tea us, cake us, and glide us back;\nfill our mouths with about sixty-five different\nbrands of cigarettes, about forty-three different\nkinds of cigars, some eighty different mixtures\nof delicious tobaccos ; play on musical instru-\nments for us, steer us across dangerous streets\nso that no more danger dare exist for us, and,\nwhile comforting our physical existence for us\nbeyond our deserts, steal from us ever so\ngently but ever so finally every desire to do\nanything. For while we are kept happy and\nsmiling money walks into our pockets.\nTo find a single fault with this cotton\nwool comfort is, for me, out of the question....\nI came from the East .... from Ceylon. I\nstopped at Taranto, passed through Italy, on\nto France, and so to London. Out East\nwool is scarce, at Taranto unknown, in Italy\nseldom used.\nAt Calais all is still a bit rough and\ntumble, but at Dover as I land, my luggage\nis taken gently from me by honest men,\nquietly taken to a train de luxe, second class.\nNo hustle no bustle —. Tea floats\ntowards me ; all is warm and cosy. Some\neighty or ninety papers spread out on a highly\npolished stall, lie awaiting me. They cost\nmuch, more than any in Ceylon, in Taranto,\nand in France, but they are perfect. The\npaper is perfect and the workmanship fault-\nless and half the letter-press excellent....\nAnd what I need in life, after a perfect\nseat and a perfect tea, is a perfect journal.\nSome fools would say that all these things\nare superfluous, and deadening to the senses,\nand that to find eight or nine different tobaccos\non landing, after having had but two in all\nItaly, is bad for one ....what utter rubbish!\nAs well say that to offer me a choice of\ntwenty-three different cigarettes for the ordinary\nand sole Macedonia cigarettes of Italy and the\nZomba of Ceylon is bad for me : that to\nfind twelve or thirteen tobacconists, nine or ten\nhosiers, twelve to sixteen cinemas, and eighteen\nto twenty restaurants in the first street into\nwhich I am led on arriving at London is as\nbad for me, as it is bad for him or her, my\nfellow-passenger, to be met by the adverti-\nsements of some hundred or so shops offering\nother unnecessary luxuries.\nMy only reply to that is, give me Luxuries,\nand the necessities will take care of themselves\n....pamper me well and good, and I'll disci-\npline myself. So long as I have a stall made\nof perfect springs, leather, velvet, plush, ample\nand soft, the play will be perfect, whatever\nit may be.\nI know that this is to be held by the\nEditor of \" The Mask \" to be a form of\nheresy, since the Editor is rather severe about\nhow I am to enjoy my theatres. He is all\nfor Mussolini and a discipline which takes no\nexcuse. He wants the Theatres to exert\nthemselves and the slack and supercilious\ndramatic critics to be sacked. So I won't\nattempt to excuse myself: all I would say is\nthis: That if, after the cosiest tea in the\nworld, and a little exercise on the soft\nAxminster carpets in my hotel, I am plunged\ninto discomfort in a Theatre, I shall (do you\nthink I shall ?) be more critical of the piece\nthan if the lull goes on. Give me the lull\nof the dope and the Drama can be what it\nlikes.\nI count it as a good thing that we all be\nsaved as much exertion as possible in London.\nYour journal, I know, once advocated the\nItalian thing called Improvisation. Well, I\nhave been purchasing some very rare books\non that art, and I find that Improvisation is\na most undesirable business. That it demands"}, {"page_pdf": 32, "page_imprimee": "30", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.32", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2419, "texte": "a great deal of the actors is not my point.\nMy point is that it demands far too much of\nthe spectators.\nTo pay 10/6 for a stall is enough; to\nhave to exert oneself further is preposterous.\nAnd Improvisation seems to call for a horrid\nattention from everyone in the house ; it even\npresupposes a state of intelligence and wide-\nawakeness. Lull and 101 l which are, after all,\nthe twin spirits of every sort of fine entertain-\nment, would be positively driven out of the\ntheatre which introduced Improvisation. That's\nwhy I am against it.\nA glance at the reproduction on page 13\nof volume nine of \" The Mask \", issued last\nOctober, shows the first part of the first act of\nthe book of the play called \" La Schiava \",\nwritten down by some actor in 1600 or\nearlier, and acted many a time and oft in\nItaly. Heaven forbid that our admirable actors\nshould ever be forced to attempt such a dog's\ntask as the one. implied by this book.\nFor it shows that what Mr Gordon Craig\nhas told us for years is only too true. It\nproves conclusively that actors were once upon\na time actually expected to invent their own\ndialogue!! I couldn't do it myself, so 1 take\nit no ordinary actor could do it, and I believe\nit would take a very athletic intuition to com-\npass such a job.\nMr G. B. Ambrose translated it into\nEnglish so that we could see for ourselves,\nword for word, step for step, the cruel task\nthe actors were put to thank God, only\nonce-upon-a-time.\nTo expect this of actors of today is going\ntoo far. Their work is arduous enough as\nit is. Seldom sure of what they are going\nto do for a living tomorrow, half their time is\nperforce given up to getting an engagement,\ntheir work at the Club, fixing up a tour, and\nfinding a stop-gap somehow when a play has\nbeen a failure. The actors' work is, further-\nmore, a profession. They have no wish, so far\nas I can ascertain, that their work be held to\nbe an art, and certainly not a laborious kind\nof art such as improvisation would make it.\nWell, some of the most reliable dramatic\ncritics can be trusted to see that no London\nactors shall ever be imposed on and asked\nto make any such effort: yes, our really great\ndramatic critic, Mr Agate, and Mr Godfrey\n1 urner and a few more can be trusted to\ndo this. Their pooled intelligence will see\nto it that nothing is done in a hurry and\nI hope they will above all things always take\na nice long time about seeing that nothing\nbe done."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c029", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c029", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "30", "page_fin": "32", "image_debut": 32, "image_fin": 34, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.17", "titre_corps": "THE LAST FOG OF REALISM", "titre_sommaire": "THE LAST FOG OF REALISM", "signature_source": "JAN KLAASSEN", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 32, "page_imprimee": "30", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.32", "debut_caractere": 2421, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3991, "texte": "THE LAST FOG\nOF REALISM\nBY JAN KLAASSEN.\nREALISM is one of the Patent Medicines\nof Art.\nRealism, for which no sound artists have\never had any use until these later morbid\ndays, and which these artists rejected almost\nas soon as they had touched it, ....Realism\nstill creeps up and down the boards of the\nTheatre.\nThe best of Realism is that anyone can\npractise it. Being easiest it appeals to the\nlaziest of thinkers and workers in the arts.\nThe worst of Realism is in its appearance..\nIt looks and sounds badly. It has always the\"\nlook of having been very difficult. While a play\nby Tolstoi seems an appalling series of dif-\nficulties overcome, a play by Moliere looks;\nand sounds as easy as a romp.\nThe evidence of difficulty and effort is.\never present in a novel by Zola or Tolstoi,,\na play by Ibsen or Strindberg, an opera by\nDebussy. \" They grunt and sweat under a\nweary life they surmount obstacles before\nour very eyes, whereas the first rule of art is\nanyhow to avoid thai. You will not find.\nMoliere, Sheridan, Rossini, Bizet, pretending\nto have just overcome stupendous difficulties\ntaking their own style and method with\nthat awful solemnity which belongs by sole\nright to the quiet prig.\nRealism is mean it is the short measure\nof those who were born to serve behind\ncounters, who study the \" Kodak \", and who\nrarely go in for charades on winter evenings.\nRealism is a setting sun and as is sad.\nRealism is the happy thought of the nou-\nveau riche. It aims to seem like its betters,\nto assume a profound air it might have been,\nborn with with other parents."}, {"page_pdf": 33, "page_imprimee": "31", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.33", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4129, "texte": "And you either like it or you don't.\nStage Realism is a strange form of exag-\ngeration, carefully avoided by the ' ancients,\nwho employed other means for holding the\nattention of the spectators.\nOne of the perfections lacking to Realism\nis ease. There is ever something jerky,\nhusky and agitated in its hushed nonsense.\nRussia without Realism would have been\nan impossible place. Any other land with it\nbecomes intolerable. I think that Russia be-\ngins to realize this now.\nREALISM IS A TAKE-IN.\nTHERE are some ridiculous points about\nRealism. Compared by us all with Art\nit is really its antithesis.\nWhereas Art is a genuine thing,\nRealism is a take-in. That which we find is\nmarvellous real one day, looked at or listened\nto a hundred years later becomes extravagantly,\nridiculously unreal (a).\n€J The Stage should never have | used\nRealism, for it is the very first resort of the\ndesperately serious amateur.\nIf in painting and engraving and in the\nnovel there be some reason for a canter now\nand then on the poor nag, the stage and the\nactor should have answered nay.\nFor whereas author and designer can\nget off the animal, the actor, once on, seems\nto be obliged to stick. It seems made for\nhim; actor and realism become a new centaur.\nOnly this time tis the actor who is the back\npart of the animal, and Realism raises a proud\nwax head and arms in front.\nTHE EASIEST WAY.\nFOR an actor it is without exception the\neasiest v/ay of performing. For the stage\nmanager and scenic man there are no diffi-\nculties.\n€J Provided the play is written on real\nenough lines the emotions not too deep or\nfierce, the actor should find the realistic mount\nthe easiest nag to learn to ride on. Don\nQuixote on a wooden horse goes too far. No\none will ever go too far on the nag Realism.\n€J Realism fools you.\nIt fools you into believing many things,\nand it is all the more curious that Realism\nshould be considered somehow related to Art,\nsince Art never even attempts to fool you.\n€J Whereas artists since the year two\n(after the cave-men who drew realistic bi-\nsons and deer), have, it seems to me, always\nrather pointed off the earth, and raved over-\nmuch about the stars, the realists, being the\nrevolutionary bad boys of the family, have\ndenied the existence of stars. \" Pin pricks\nin a black cloth ; frauds \", they have replied\n....and the incredible thing is that they have\nbelieved what they were saying.\nOh, and they believe well in what they are\ndoing, these realists.... their own sayings and\ndoings are more to them than the stars.\nFor it is not as though these realists\nmerely swept up the litter of sentimentalism\nand what they are pleased to call \" Theatrica-\nlism \" and made all neat and tidy again.\nTheir sweeping lasts on for hours and at the\nend all the stars are in the dustpan. The\nsky is clear at last one limpid stretch\nof grey fog. All our old beliefs are forced\nto yield to the brusque monotonous swish of\ntheir brooms. They sweep and char sing-\ning Ca ca ira, and many an artist emigrates\nto lands where people are to be found strongly\nat peace with the old belief in the impossible.\nSuch artists walk in the sun, watch its\ncourse, marvel at it and measure its shadows :\nthey stand by the sea and again marvel at\nits ways; and from these two immensities\ndown to a leaf, a grain of sand, they con-\ntinue to marvel seek to know no more\nand are at peace with it and create mas-\nterpieces.\nNot so the realist. He is often a gentle-\nhearted being most loveable ; but if he\nraises his eyes to the sun he must pucker his\nbrows and purse his lips and begin to puzzle\nand to worry : then an argument lasting eight\nhours begins if two of 'em are together. If by\nthe sea, he must be frowning because it is so\nlarge, whistles a slow and gloomy jig because\nit is so deep, shuffles up and down on the\nsands before it because he'll be damned if\nhe'll bathe. He does not assert that sea and\nsun are impossible because he sees them there.\nBut he denies the spirit which has made them.\nThe proper study of mankind is man. \"If\nthe sun can be of use to man \" and here\n\n(a) Callot's Last Supper and his other Biblical\nthings for example."}, {"page_pdf": 34, "page_imprimee": "32", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.34", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 377, "texte": "he corrects himself \"if the sun can be of\nuse to me, then I will give some time to its\nstudy; but if it cannot it can stay where it is\nAnd, priding himself upon the precision of his\neyes, he quizzes at nature and perceives in\nall its old glory about as much as a poor bat.\nWell, the sun will rise, spite of the bats,\nand realism will then go with them into the\nbarns once more."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c030", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c030", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "32", "page_fin": "32", "image_debut": 34, "image_fin": 34, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.18", "titre_corps": "TO THE REALISTS OF 1810 : TO THE ACCUSER WHO IS THE GOD OF THE WORLD", "titre_sommaire": "TO THE REALISTS OF 1810 : TO THE ACCUSER WHO IS THE GOD OF THE WORLD", "signature_source": "Victor Hugo", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 34, "page_imprimee": "32", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.34", "debut_caractere": 379, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1366, "texte": "TO THE REALISTS\nOF 1810.\nTO THE ACCUSER WHO IS\nTHE GOD OF THE WORLD.\nVictor Hugo, (William Shakespeare).\nTruly, my Satan, thou art but a dunce.\nAnd dost not know the garment from the man;\nEvery harlot was a virgin once,\nNor canst thou ever change Kate into Nan.\nTho' thou art worship'd by the names divine\nOf Jesus and Jehovah, thou art still\nThe Son of Morn in weary Night's decline,\nThe lost traveller's dream under the hill.\nAND as they made nothing of it in 1810 they still make\nnothing of it today. Bats and moles, blind and\ndeaf. . . . goori . . good.\nBut the sun is rising you know, dear little bats, good\nlittle moles, We cannot possibly delay its warmth, its\nrays an hour longer : ....get quick into the barns, burrow\nquickly into the old earth. — Buona nolle.\nTOO much matter is the evil of our day. Hence a cer-\ntain dnlness.\nIN the poet and in the artist there is the infinite. It is\nthis ingredient, the infinite, which gives to this kind of\ngenius the irreducible grandeur."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c032", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c032", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "32", "page_fin": "34", "image_debut": 34, "image_fin": 36, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.19", "titre_corps": "THEN AND NOW. 1723-1923", "titre_sommaire": "THEN AND NOW. 1723-1923", "signature_source": "GEORGES DEVOTO", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 34, "page_imprimee": "32", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.34", "debut_caractere": 2407, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4229, "texte": "THEN AND NOW.\n1723-1923.\nBY GEORGES DEVOTO.\n\nTHE Theatre is no longer of the same im-\nportance to Europeans as once it was.\nEven in Italy where, in essentials, it is as\ngood as it always was, it does not hold the place\nit did. Which is a very good thing.\n€J And what is there which holds exactly\nthe same place as of old ?\nSome things have spread themselves and,\ninstead of one seat occupy fifty seats- Some\nother things have been obliged to give up\ntheir seats so that \" neighbour\" may have more\nthan he needs.\nIt's a wonderful new arrangement.\nThe Theatre has had to give up it's seat....\nand is now standing. Perhaps it once oc-\ncupied too many places. Be that as it may,\nit now has to stand.\nAnd, as I said above, this is a very\ngood thing. It may teach it something it had\nto learn.\n€J In the eighteenth century the Theatre\nwas the only place to go to after dinner to\nmeet your friends ....to discuss politics ....to\nmake love ....to make mischief ....or to show\nindifference to love, politics or friendship while\npretending to be entirely concerned with the\nfoolish spectacle on the stage.\nIn the eighteenth century \" The women\nentered their palchi well cured of any wish\nto attend, to see or to hear \" (a).\n.... \" through the whole of Italy they con-\nsidered the theatre as a place for rendezvous \"\n(Sharp, 1765), \"to exchange visits \". Like bees\nthey buzzed all the time—popped in like bees\ndo first into one cell then into the next. D' Es-\npinchal, for example, in 1 780-1790 in Roma,\nTorino and Paris was no sooner in one loge\nthan he left to visit another; if he has to\nvisit twenty out of the sixty loges and stays\nfive minutes in each he will have to give one\nhour and forty minutes to this pretty pas-\ntime.\nAnd he would visit at least twenty, for\nwherever he went he knew everyon. In his vo-\n\n(a) Bellorini."}, {"page_pdf": 36, "page_imprimee": "34", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.36", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2478, "texte": "luminous record of theatricals he never forgets\nhimself so far as to make any mention of the\nplays, operas and performers beyond recording\nwhat were the names, ....what the hours, ....who\nwas in the house.\nThe spectators talked very loudly ....the\nplace was very dark ....it was very much like\na modern restaurant where excellent musicians\noften play to dumb ears and through talk which\nhums or rattles on like the town or country\ntraffic.\n€J A great singer, dancer or actor might\noccasionally silence the spectators to attention.\nTo do so something resembling the superhuman\nhad to be exerted. The Theatrical had to\nbecome doubly, trebly Theatrical to tell, to\ndominate the chattering, to pierce the obscu-\nrity of the Theatres, to cut through the dense\nand often choking atmosphere.\n€J We may believe that sie old manner\nof acting came in here very usefully.\nAs no one was attending there would\nbe no applause ; and indeed until the early\n19th century there was not applause (b).\n€$ But 1 ask myself, was the Theatre ever\nof any importance except as providing a meet-\ning place for busybodies and folk a bit frigh-\ntened in the dimly-lighted salons of their\nhouses.... \" candlelight \" (c).\nYes, today it has another importance.\nIt is the place people go to find quiet and\nrecollect there why they did as they did yes-\nterday in Parliament, at the office, at Mrs\nJones's, and to puzzle out what they shall do\ntomorrow.\nAgain as in the 18th century they look\nblankly at the stage and understand nothing\nthat is going on there, or, understanding that\nlittle, sigh and are really grateful that it is\nnot more.\nOh ....There is Madam Z How\nshall I explain what it really was I said to\nher friend Madam Y this morning \".\nThat man in the fifth row sitting so silently\nalways intent on the stage and now reading\nhis programme, he is interested in the Theatre,\nwhat ?\n44 Not on your life \" as the Americans\nsay. He is tired after the day's work in his\noffice—and the play distracts him a little ; he\ndoes all he can to be distracted more; ....but\nonly distracted. Real interest ....real joy ....real\nunderstanding of what is going on upon the stage\nhe has none.\nWhat? ....would you ask a hard-working\nman of sound commonsense and a good deal\nof natural distinction to be interested, to be\njoyful, to understand THAT?\nq The Theatre is no longer of the same\nimportance to Europeans as it was.\nFor obvious reasons.\n\n(b) Fischel.\n(c) Craig. \"On Stage Lighting \" The Chap-\nbook \"• Nov. 1922."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c033", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c033", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "32", "page_fin": "33", "image_debut": 34, "image_fin": 35, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.19.1", "titre_corps": "ANNOUNCEMENT OF A PERFORMANCE AT THE TEATRO MALVEZZI, BOLOGNA IN 1742", "titre_sommaire": "ANNOUNCEMENT OF A PERFORMANCE AT THE TEATRO MALVEZZI, BOLOGNA IN 1742", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 35, "page_imprimee": "33", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.35", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 267, "texte": "ANNOUNCEMENT OF A PERFORMANCE AT THE\nTEATRO MALVEZZI, BOLOGNA IN 1742,\nWith Scenery designed by Giuseppe Galli Bibiena .\nA rare Poster on white handmade paper measuring about 52 inches by 40 inches, for a performance remarkable for several reasons.\n(see Note page 32)"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c031", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c031", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "32", "page_fin": "32", "image_debut": 34, "image_fin": 34, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.19.1.1", "titre_corps": "A NOTE ON THE POSTER. Page 33", "titre_sommaire": "A NOTE ON THE POSTER. Page 33", "signature_source": "M. B", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 34, "page_imprimee": "32", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.34", "debut_caractere": 1368, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2405, "texte": "A NOTE ON THE POSTER. Page 33.\nM. B.\nTHE Teatro Malvezzi was built in 1655. In 1680 it\nwas rebuilt ; in 1697 it was enlarged and decorated\nby Ferdinando Bibiena and Francesco his brother. In 1 745\nit was burnt down. (Ricci). While it existed it was, with the\nTeairo Formagliari, built in 1646, the chief theatre of Bologna.\nThe performances given were what v/e should today\ngroan about but which in those days they enjoyed : that\nis to say, they were made frankly without hope of even\npaying expenses.\nThis \" L' Eumene \" with music by jommelli, with\nscenes by Bibiena, costumes by Landi, dances by Sovve-\nlerre, was performed 27 times only, 39,176 lire-were\nspent; 24,515 lire were taken. There was therefore a\nloss of 14,660 lire on the 27 performances. But the\ngame was good sport,—not called sport but fine art. Jom-\nmelli received 900 : lire five singers between them received\n9,730 lire. For lighting'the stage and the front of the house\n2106 lire were spent on wax and oil. The orchestra re-\nceived 93 lire 13 for each performance."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c034", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c034", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "34", "page_fin": "34", "image_debut": 36, "image_fin": 36, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.20", "titre_corps": "PISPISPIGLORIO", "titre_sommaire": "PISPISPIGLORIO", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 36, "page_imprimee": "34", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.36", "debut_caractere": 2480, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4586, "texte": "PISPISPIGLORIO.\nTEATRO. Noi non siamo gli antichi, e percio non ab-\nbiamo nb circhi, ne stadj, nb termi, n& anfiteatri, ne\nteatri. I nostri Teatri scno una specia alveari, dove si va\nnon per vedere, n& per udire drammi, ma per farvi un\npispispiglorio di cellula in cellula. Se vogliamo Teairo,\nfacciamocelo Ncome insegna Vitruvio, e Palladio, e tanti ahri,\nche han dimostrato che nel interno deve il teatro essere per\ngli spettatori gradinato semicircolarmente; e all'esterno deco-\nrato in modo che si riconosca subito per Teatro.\nFrom Francesco Milizia: Di-\nzionario delle belle Arti, etc.\nBassano 1797. Vol. 2: p. 268.\nWhich, being translated, reads as follows: -\n44 THEATRE. We are not the ancients, and so we\nhave neither circuses, nor stadiums, nor baths, nor amphi-\ntheatres, nor theatres. Our Theatres are a species of bee-\nhives, where one goes not to see, nor to hear, dramas, but\nto make a buzz buzz buzz (pispispiglorio) from cell to cell.\nIf we want a Theatre, let us make it as shown by Vi-\ntruvius and Palladio and so many others, who have demon-\nstrated that in the interior the Theatre ought to be in se-\nmicircular grades for the spectators; and on the exterior de-\ncorated in such a manner that it may be at once recognized\nas Theatre \".\nMilizia (1725-1793) was architect and writer, and\nnot like that typical eighteenth century gossip cTEspinchal,\nwhose sole object in going to a Theatre seems to have\nbeen to visit acquaintances, box after box, until he dropped\ninto a seat in the last box from sheer fatigue.\nOne almost fancies Milizia must have seen d* Espinchal\nin the Teatro Aliberti in Roma playing the bee from cell\nto cell when inspired to describe the Theatre as he does.\nWHAT a good word ! ....this Italian noise to describe\nchattering in whispers, ....Pispispiglorio. Dante\nuses it in a contracted form twice in the Purgatorio.\nI suppose that in the eighteenth century, when Milizia\nwrote, it had grown more elaborate as suitable to Baroque\n—may-be it was seldom so printed. Yet there was a word\nlike it, Pissipissi which signified to whisper the Paternoster\nunder the breath."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c035", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c035", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "n. p.", "page_fin": "n. p.", "image_debut": 37, "image_fin": 37, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.21", "titre_corps": "SICILIAN PUPPETS", "titre_sommaire": "SICILIAN PUPPETS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 37, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.37", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 120, "texte": "SICILIAN PUPPETS.\nThe eye of the spectator is not fastidious, so no very great thought is given to appearances.\nPlate 4."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c036", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c036", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "35", "page_fin": "37", "image_debut": 39, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22", "titre_corps": "BOOK REVIEWS", "titre_sommaire": "BOOK REVIEWS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "35", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6031, "texte": "BOOK REVIEWS\n\nSHAKESPEARE'S FELLOWS by\nG. B. Harrison M. A. John Lane,\n6/- net.\nTHE purpose of the book is to pro-\nvide a background for the study\nof the early dramatists, and this the\nauthor does with care and' without\nbeing long over it. In 202 pages and\nwith an Index he guides us pleasantly\nthrough difficult paths in a tanglewood\nplace.\nWe like the plain English under-\nstanding of Burbage, for example....\navoiding all surmise as to this man's\ntalents and regrets at what he could\nnot do, and what he failed to do, he\ntells us what he did, which was to make\n4< one of the greatest contributions to Eli-\nzabethan Drama : he gave it a stage. \"\nNowadays the critics would blame\nhim for being so material.... would ask\n44 what have bricks and mortar to do\nwith Drama?—no, Mr Burbage, it is\nthe word which abides.... the word is\nthe spirit of Drama—the word....\nWords, words, words.\n\nDRAMA, MUSIC-DRAMA, AND\nRELIGION, by Ramsden B aim-\nforth. The Year Book Press, London.\nTHE author brings to this study all\nthat knowledge of Ethical and\nReligious values which he revealed in\nhis 44 The Bible from the Standpoint\nof the Higher Criticism. \" He holds\nwith Hamlet that 44 the play's the thing,\nwherein I'll catch the conscience of the\nKing, \" and King Demos, ie : official-\ndom, is the King he would see worsted\nby the best propaganda plays.\nHe finds the plays of Mr Galswor-\nthy, Mr G. B. Shaw, Ibsen and others\n44 are so effective in their moral and\nspiritual appeal: \" praises the Passion\nPlays for this reason, and the music-\ndramas of Wagner.\nTo these last he devotes nearly the\nwhole of his little 93 page book, and\none feels that he is probably exact in\nhis estimate of Wagner as aiming al-\nways toward righteousness.\n\nTHE LIFE AND DEA TH OF SIR\nJOHN FALSTAFF with an Intro-\nduction by George Radford. /. M.\nDent & Sons. Ltd. 12/6,\nHORACE Walpole, who once\nwrote, relative to Shakespeare's\n41 Henry IV, \" 44 Now I hold a per-\nfect comedy to be the perfection of\nhuman composition, and I firmly be-\nlieve that fifty Iliads could be created\nsooner than another such character as\nFalstaff \", would surely have welcomed\na volume in which the entire Life of\nFalstaff in all 44 the joyous, humou-\nrous and outrageous pitch of his gam*\nbol faculties \" is gathered together and\ncoordinated from the various plays, as\nin this attractive volume issued, with\n14 coloured Illustrations by Signor\nG. B. Galizzi, from Aldine House\nthe House of Dent.\n\nTHE DRAMA AND THE STAGE\nby Ludwig Lewisohn. Harcourt, Brace\n& Co. New York• $ 2 net.\nMR Lewisohn is a lucid and pains-\ntaking writer, who likes obser-\nving his theatre and setting down what\nhe observes in little essays. It is a\ncollection of such, originally published\nin The Nation, which he has now\nissued in book-form.\n\nGREEN ROOM GOSSIP by Ar-\nchibald Haddon. Stanley Paul & Co.\nA little volume full of good-na-\ntured and often amusing gossip\nabout stage life and stage people by\nthe dramatic critic of the Daily Express.\nMr Haddon has fulfilled his office for\nthat paper for twenty years without a\nbreak, and has therefore had conside-\nrable opportunity of familiarizing him-\nself with theatre conditions behind as\nwell as before the curtain. He has\nalso had the chance of watching and\ncomparing times past and present, seen\nmost of the great actors and actresses\ndisappear, and not seen the arrival of\nthose of equal stature, qualified to take\ntheir places: for, as he asks, 44 If Irving\nwere alive, is there an actor in har-\nness to-day who would be worthy to\ntie the laces in his shoes? \" Those\ngrand old actors \", he continues, 44 had\nbrains as well as mere deportment\nand, though their names 44 may be only\nhearsay to the careless modern playgoer,\nignorant of the wonderful traditions of\nthe British theatre \", 44 their genius has\nbeen made immortal by such pens as\nthat of Lamb, Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt,\nForster, Lewes, and by many a great\npoet of their time \". 4 By jove! he is\na soul! ' exclaimed Byron after seeing\nEdmund Kean; 4 life, nature, truth,\nwithout exaggeration or diminution'.\n4 Garrick's face ', said Dibdin, 4 was\nwhat he obliged you to fancy it age,\nyouth, plenty, poverty, everything it\nassumed '.\nBut for all this there are some\nactors today, and we think Mr. Had-\ndon just the man to discover them.\n\nOPERA SYNOPSES, by J. Walker\n'Mc. Spadden. G. G. Harrop & Co.\nTHIS little volume sets out to be a\n44 guide to the plots and charac-\nters of the standard operas and gives,\nin fact, the scenarios of nearly seventy\nof them, including 4 grand 4 romantic '\nand 4 light ', and the selection has been\nmade with the intention of including\nall the operas produced in recent years\nwhich are likely to remain permanently\nin favour. These brief, clear outlines\nof the various stories together with lists\nof the characters, the manner in which\nthe parts are distributed among the dif-\nferent voices, the dates of first produc-\ntions, and other like details, will be\nof service to many who would be glad\nto be more familiar with these things.\n\nCONFESSIONS OF AN OPERA\nSINGER by Kathleen Howard....\nA. A. Knopf. 1918. New York. $2.\nIF anyone wishes to learn what woman\nfeels like when struggling to succeed, to\nbe an operatic singer, determined to\ndo this in Germany and America,—\nthis book will explain. Miss Howard\nmet with several adventures and some\nof these she tells us about. I have\nplaced it on my shelf side with Queen\nVictoria's 44 Life in the Highlands \"\nnot because it is at all like that work but\nbecause it is so unlike ; indeed Queen\nVictoria could not have written the\npassages on 44 Travels \" pages 14 and\n245 of the 46 Confessions. \"\n\nby John Cournos. Wm Hei-\nnemann. 7/6 net.\nMr Cournos needs no introduction,\nand this book 44 Babel \" has already\nbeen introduced to our readers by his\ntwo former books, 44 The Mask \" and\n44 The Wall M.\n44 Babel \" is a readable book. It\nhas all the qualities of a popular book\nand a dozen qualities of a book which\ncannot be popular.\nThese are not thrust forward—one\nis less aware of the author than one\nis of his characters."}, {"page_pdf": 40, "page_imprimee": "36", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6598, "texte": "The place wherein they move is\nLondon—sometimes Paris and New\nYork—but London is the Babel.\nThese is a scene of the death of a\nwoman which is one of the very best\nthings Mr Cournos has done, and a\nfigure 44 Judith, \" who seems destined\nto pass into another book and become\na very famous creation.\nIt is a human book and full of no-\nble things. Above all things very rea-\ndable.... and since books are written\nto be read it is fortunate for Mr Hei-\nnemann to have found what must\nprove to be one of the best selling\nnovels he has ever handled, and be-\nfore long to enter its 15th thousand.\n\nA VALUABLE CATALOGUE, (a)\nTHERE are some things which take\nrather longer than others before\none can learn how good they are.\nAnd a good Catalogue of Books is\nlike that.\nThe value of the Catalogue of Thea-\ntre Books which was prepared in 1922\nby Mr G. H. Palmer assisted by\nMr A. van de Put grows on me every\nlime I use it.... and anyone who is\nstudying the Theatre will find it of\nthe utmost service to him.\nNot only books dealing with the\nNew Movement are catalogued, but\nthose dealing with the Theatre of\npast ages.\nI do not know if the Catalogue is\nstill procurable, but if it be so I advise\neveryone who reads The Mask for\npurposes of study to make sure of se-\ncuring a copy.\n(a) '• List of IVorfcs on the Art of the\nTheatre in the Victoria and Albert Mu-\nseum Library. \" (no date) issued in 1922.\n\nDAS INDISCHE DRAMA by Slen\nKonow. Leipzig. Vereinigung Wis-\nsenschaftlicher Veileger. 1920. 5-j\nIn one of those able Brochures which\nthe Continent is always yielding us for\nthe price of a few pence Professor\nKonow condenses in 138 pages an\nenormous amount of learning, the re-\nsult of (one imagines) years of re-\nsearch.\nIt is a book to be read with Dr Coo-\nmaraswamy's 44 Mirror of Gesture, \"\nand like that book it emphasizes the\npoint that, except these plays be per-\nformed in India and before a special\naudience of those initiated in the pre-\ncise meaning of gestures, the sense of\nthe play will escape us.\nProfessor Konow points out that the\naudience should consist of none but the\nmost intelligent; an awful blow for the\nlow brows.... but at any rate no com-\nfort for those on high, for it is a pe-\nculiar intelligence, ie. a Hindu intelli-\ngence, which is required.\nWith our European Stage as it is,\nand our English Stage where it is, it\nnot a book which can help us very\nmuch.\nMr Horace Hayman Wilson's 44 Se-\nlect Specimens of the Theatre of the\nHindus \" 1827 is, one would imagine,\nmore to our purpose, till one rea-\nlizes that one has had it to no pur-\npose for close upon a hundred years.\n\nA HISTORY OF ART by Dr. G.\nCarotti. Vol. 111. Translated by Janet\nRoss ; with 357 Illustrations. Duck-\nworth & Co. London. Price 8/—.\nHISTORIES of Art are as a rule\nlifeless things, and are generally\nbulky affairs: and I like this History\nof Art because it is one of the smal-\nlest of books (barely larger than a\nTauchnitz volume) and not lifeless.\nFor me the life of History is in the\namount of dates, references and bare\nreports of what remains. n Perhaps 11\nand n it seems n are words a Historian\nshould avoid, and Dr. Carotti and his\nTranslator avoid them.\nTo judge from this volume dealing\nwith the art of Upper and Southern\nItaly in the middle ages, Art would seem\nto be all contained in churches and\npalaces.\nWas mankind of that age always in\na church and for ever holding com-\nmittee meetings in some Palazzo della\nRagione? Was it all the time on pa-\nrade ? one asks oneself. If not, where\nare the signs of Art in the everyday\nhouses, ...in the off hours especially.\nOr were there none ?\nIf there was Art at such times and\nin such places why does not Dr. Ca-\nrotti show us some examples? His 357\ntiny illustrations give us superb chur-\nches, crosses, thrones, pulpets, doors of\nchurches, candelabre, cloisters and tombs:\nbut of art in the every-day life there\nare no visible signs.\nAnd so, if not lifeless, this History\nis not quite real anough.\nI suppose a plough or an oven cannot\nbe called a work of art, and to men-\ntion one and show us one (if one exist)\nwould be playing at History when there\nare fifty cathedrals, sixty bishop's thrones\nand seventy tombs pushing to the fore.\nYet to introduce a few lowly items\nlike ploughs, ovens, barrels and other\nsuch humble things might perhaps stir\nsomething of us which does not stir at\nthe overwhelming sight and story of the\necclesiastical and civic life with the life\nplucked out of it.\nDr. Carotti is a ucky man to have\nenlisted Mrs Strong and Madame Beryl\nde Zoete as translators of his first two\nvolumes and now to have Mrs Janet\nRoss's erudite and sympathetic assistence.\n\nPOUR MESURE par\nWilliam Shakespeare: traduction et\npreface de Guy de Pontales, ornernenis\ngraves sur hois par Jean-Louis Gam-\npert. Paris. Societe Litteraire de France.\n1921. Frs. 30. net,\nOne thousand copies have been is-\nsued of this finely printed book, (prin-\nted by M. Paul Herissey at Evreux).\nThe preface is charming and char-\nming too are the wood engravings by\nM. Garnpert, designs not in the least\nstagey, but most dramatic.\nThe cuts seem to have been printed\nfrom the wood blocks, so that collec-\ntors have more than half a dozen pieces\nof original work, and for the small sum\nof thirty francs.\n\nCATALOGO DEL MUSEO TEA-\nTRALE ALLA SCALA. II Piccolo\nCicerone Moderno. No, 12. Alfieri &\nLacroix. Milano.\nIT is the rule aud not the exception\nthat all the historical work dealing\nwith the Italian Theatre is good. But\nthe catalogue of the Museo Teatrale of\nthe Teatro Scala in Milano is very bad.\nLet me say at once that it was printed\nbefore Signor Scandiani came into power\nthere.\nThe collection itself is a very pretty\none, only I have always found diffi-\nculty in getting to see it when I wanted\nto. So far as I can gather it is open\nto those who are spectators at the af-\nternoon and evening performances, and\nto no one else; and as the waits be-\ntween the acts are never more than ten\nor fifteen minutes, I was never able to\ngive proper time and thought to the\ncollection as I should like to have done.\nI should also like to find in the Museo\ntables at which I could write as I study.\nBut there are no tables, and many of\nthe prints are hung too high for me to\nsee in detail. Yet a design for the\ntheatre must be studied close at hand\nand not far off.\nSo when I visited the collection I\nwas disappointed. But I said, 44 I shall\ntake the 1 16 page catalogue away with'\nme and it shall tell me all that I need\nto know \".\nI got it home, but found, as I have\nsaid, that it was very bad.\nI like to see the name of Adrienne\nLecouvreur as it is written. 1 do not"}, {"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5477, "texte": "want her translated into Italian \"Adria-\nna Nor do I like to hear of Gio-\nvanni Filippo Kemble or Signora Do-\nbelin. I wish to hear of John Phillip\nKemble and Fraulein Dobelin. As for\nDavide Garrick as Amletto who died\nin Londra, ...it sounds and looks droll\nto me. He is David Garrick, he acts\nHamlet and he died in London. I\nknow some of us write of Julius Caesar\nwho died in Rome, but when we\ndo so we are at fault. We should\nwrite of Giulio Cesare who died in\nRoma.\nThere are too many entries of athletes\nand gladiators in this volume. There\nis even \" una tigre ed un lione \"\n....not marionettes as one might expect,\n....but Roman plaques.\nThen we have an odd entry under\nscenografia: it runs: \" I. Gioachino Ros-\nsini Maestro compositore. \"\nIt is a bust in bronze by Maricchotti,\nand it has nothing whatever to do with\nscenografia.\nAs many of the exhibits in the mu-\nseum are very interesting, they deserve\na better catalogue, and I hope that\nSignor Scandiani will see that one is\npublished.\n\nFASCISM by Odon Por, Translated\nby E. Townshen d. The Labour Pub-\nlishing Co. Ltd. 7/6.\nA small book of over 300 pages on\nthis practical Movement scouted by\neveryone two to three years ago as\n\" impossible \" dangerous \"or \" non-\nexistent \".\nIt is a clear and practical book,\nshowing in what way Labour is closely\nconnected with Fascism : showing also\nhow Fascism possesses Labour \"\nhas not, ....the power of appealing to\nthe imagination of a people, pro-\nvided imagination has not been utterly\ncondemned as a worthless quality by\nthe people's rulers.\nThere is something about /E in the\nvolume.\n\n\\\nCONTEMPORARY DRAMA IN\nIRELAND by E. A. Boyd. The\nTalbot Press, Dublin, Price 61- net.\n/CONTEMPORARY Drama.... and\nin Ireland.\nI grow depressed holding this book\nin my hands, .... turning its leaves. It's\ntoo tragic.... this \"Tenebrae\". It\nsaddens me too much: ....the lights\ncannot be lighted again. Whether it\nmatters or no I can't say, it saddens\nme too much.\nAs I turn the book I see the name\nEdward Martyn, -and there too are\nWilliam Butler Yeats, Synge, Colum,\nGregory, Boyle and /E....\nWhat is it all about ? I thought I\nwas sure what it was all about: but\nthe wind is howling outside as I write\nthis, and were I to open a window\nto see the last lights in the room would\nall go out.\n\" Lennox Robinson is one of the\nmost important of these writers for he\nhas shown\nI have heard the Irish actors and\nseen them on the stage. I like them\nso much. They came to London, went\nto America, and it all seemed some-\nthing like a foreign company going the\nrounds; there was something they seem-\ned to be wanting to say: it was as\nthough they wished to do something.\nBut I cannot tell what it was they\nwanted to say or do. I am only for\nthe moment conscious of \" Tenebrae\n\nMUSIC IN SPAIN by Carl Van\nVechten. A. A. Knopf. New York•\n1918. $ 1.50.\nMR Van Vechten may be trust-\nworthy in his facts about the\nmusic in Spain: from a former work\nof his we should have judged him fitted\nto write better about the castles there.\n\nHET TONEEL DECOR by J. W.\nF. Buning; A Reeks Monograph of\nthe Toegepaste Kunsten, W. L. &\nJ. Brusse. Rotterdam. Holland.\nIN a small brochure of 47 pages il-\nlustrated by 44 interesting designs,\nplans, and projects, Mr Werumens Bu-\nning of Amsterdam gives us a great\ndeal of information about the Dutch\nhistory and methods of decorating their\nstages since 1908, all valuable to the\nhistorian. He takes M. Appia's \" Die\nscenische illusion liegt in der Lebendi-\ngen gegenwart des darstellers \" as his\nmotto, and, in the designs he shows\nus, proves that if theoretically this be\nthe truth, the practice of performers is\nto depend on a good deal beside their\nown gegenwart,.... in fact they are to\nleave the task of creating the illusion\nto an enormous extent to the scene,\nand the more expressive the scene the\nbetter ; the more that expression leave\nnothing to the imagination the easier.\nPractically all the 44 designs are\nnew to us, unless by chance we have\nbeen in Holland lately, and even then\nsome are still quite new.\nI cannot make out exactly what is\nthe price of this brochure, (which has\na charmingly designed wrapper in co-\nlours), but it seems to be at most a\nvery few shillings.\n\nWHAT THE BUTLER SAW, by\nEric Horne (Butler) ; T. Werner\nLaurie Ltd. Price. 12/6 net.\nTHIS is a book rather like that volume\nof \" Reminiscences \" by Michael\nKe11y,... the one Theodore Hook wrote\nfor him in 1826.\nIt's good reading, easy reading,...\nwas it easy writing ?.... and who\nwrote it ?\nThese kind of books are in some\nways so rich that, if they never be-\ncome celebrated or the writers of them\nvalued, the stuff in them serves many\nanother author in the centuries to\ncome,\nFor there is live stuff in such books.\nIt lives on, but is always kept down\nuntil it has been squeezed of all its\njuice by authors; some hundred years\nlater it is reprinted, few copies sold,\nstill talked of by authors and others,\nand yet never held to be worth much.\nLike the butlers and actors them-\nselves, these books often have more in\nthem than their betters, and yet 'tis\nstyle which we value in man and in\nbooks, and I suppose we.are right in\nour valuation.\nAnd since we have here our butler's\nword for it that style is what counts\nwith him, the vote goes to style.... the\nold style.\n\nMAH JONG by Etienne. Methuen :\nPrice 3/6 net.\nTHIS is a useful little book, and\nenables everyone easily to learn\nhow to play the fascinating game of\nMah Jong. It is besides prettity bound\nand clearly printed."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c038", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c038", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "35", "page_fin": "35", "image_debut": 39, "image_fin": 39, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.2", "titre_corps": "SHAKESPEARE'S FELLOWS by G.B. Harrison", "titre_sommaire": "SHAKESPEARE'S FELLOWS by G.B. Harrison", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "35", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 14, "fin_caractere_exclue": 883, "texte": "SHAKESPEARE'S FELLOWS by\nG. B. Harrison M. A. John Lane,\n6/- net.\nTHE purpose of the book is to pro-\nvide a background for the study\nof the early dramatists, and this the\nauthor does with care and' without\nbeing long over it. In 202 pages and\nwith an Index he guides us pleasantly\nthrough difficult paths in a tanglewood\nplace.\nWe like the plain English under-\nstanding of Burbage, for example....\navoiding all surmise as to this man's\ntalents and regrets at what he could\nnot do, and what he failed to do, he\ntells us what he did, which was to make\n4< one of the greatest contributions to Eli-\nzabethan Drama : he gave it a stage. \"\nNowadays the critics would blame\nhim for being so material.... would ask\n44 what have bricks and mortar to do\nwith Drama?—no, Mr Burbage, it is\nthe word which abides.... the word is\nthe spirit of Drama—the word....\nWords, words, words."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c039", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c039", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "35", "page_fin": "35", "image_debut": 39, "image_fin": 39, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.3", "titre_corps": "DRAMA, MUSIC-DRAMA, AND RELIGION by Ramsden Balmforth", "titre_sommaire": "DRAMA, MUSIC-DRAMA, AND RELIGION by Ramsden Balmforth", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "35", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 885, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1722, "texte": "DRAMA, MUSIC-DRAMA, AND\nRELIGION, by Ramsden B aim-\nforth. The Year Book Press, London.\nTHE author brings to this study all\nthat knowledge of Ethical and\nReligious values which he revealed in\nhis 44 The Bible from the Standpoint\nof the Higher Criticism. \" He holds\nwith Hamlet that 44 the play's the thing,\nwherein I'll catch the conscience of the\nKing, \" and King Demos, ie : official-\ndom, is the King he would see worsted\nby the best propaganda plays.\nHe finds the plays of Mr Galswor-\nthy, Mr G. B. Shaw, Ibsen and others\n44 are so effective in their moral and\nspiritual appeal: \" praises the Passion\nPlays for this reason, and the music-\ndramas of Wagner.\nTo these last he devotes nearly the\nwhole of his little 93 page book, and\none feels that he is probably exact in\nhis estimate of Wagner as aiming al-\nways toward righteousness."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c040", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c040", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "35", "page_fin": "35", "image_debut": 39, "image_fin": 39, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.4", "titre_corps": "THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SIR JOHN FALSTAFF by Ludwig Lewisohn", "titre_sommaire": "THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SIR JOHN FALSTAFF by Ludwig Lewisohn", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "35", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 1724, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2440, "texte": "THE LIFE AND DEA TH OF SIR\nJOHN FALSTAFF with an Intro-\nduction by George Radford. /. M.\nDent & Sons. Ltd. 12/6,\nHORACE Walpole, who once\nwrote, relative to Shakespeare's\n41 Henry IV, \" 44 Now I hold a per-\nfect comedy to be the perfection of\nhuman composition, and I firmly be-\nlieve that fifty Iliads could be created\nsooner than another such character as\nFalstaff \", would surely have welcomed\na volume in which the entire Life of\nFalstaff in all 44 the joyous, humou-\nrous and outrageous pitch of his gam*\nbol faculties \" is gathered together and\ncoordinated from the various plays, as\nin this attractive volume issued, with\n14 coloured Illustrations by Signor\nG. B. Galizzi, from Aldine House\nthe House of Dent."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c041", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c041", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "35", "page_fin": "35", "image_debut": 39, "image_fin": 39, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.5", "titre_corps": "THE DRAMA AND THE STAGE", "titre_sommaire": "THE DRAMA AND THE STAGE", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "35", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 2442, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2763, "texte": "THE DRAMA AND THE STAGE\nby Ludwig Lewisohn. Harcourt, Brace\n& Co. New York• $ 2 net.\nMR Lewisohn is a lucid and pains-\ntaking writer, who likes obser-\nving his theatre and setting down what\nhe observes in little essays. It is a\ncollection of such, originally published\nin The Nation, which he has now\nissued in book-form."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c042", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c042", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "35", "page_fin": "35", "image_debut": 39, "image_fin": 39, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.6", "titre_corps": "GREEN ROOM GOSSIP by Archibald Haddon", "titre_sommaire": "GREEN ROOM GOSSIP by Archibald Haddon", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "35", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 2765, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4267, "texte": "GREEN ROOM GOSSIP by Ar-\nchibald Haddon. Stanley Paul & Co.\nA little volume full of good-na-\ntured and often amusing gossip\nabout stage life and stage people by\nthe dramatic critic of the Daily Express.\nMr Haddon has fulfilled his office for\nthat paper for twenty years without a\nbreak, and has therefore had conside-\nrable opportunity of familiarizing him-\nself with theatre conditions behind as\nwell as before the curtain. He has\nalso had the chance of watching and\ncomparing times past and present, seen\nmost of the great actors and actresses\ndisappear, and not seen the arrival of\nthose of equal stature, qualified to take\ntheir places: for, as he asks, 44 If Irving\nwere alive, is there an actor in har-\nness to-day who would be worthy to\ntie the laces in his shoes? \" Those\ngrand old actors \", he continues, 44 had\nbrains as well as mere deportment\nand, though their names 44 may be only\nhearsay to the careless modern playgoer,\nignorant of the wonderful traditions of\nthe British theatre \", 44 their genius has\nbeen made immortal by such pens as\nthat of Lamb, Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt,\nForster, Lewes, and by many a great\npoet of their time \". 4 By jove! he is\na soul! ' exclaimed Byron after seeing\nEdmund Kean; 4 life, nature, truth,\nwithout exaggeration or diminution'.\n4 Garrick's face ', said Dibdin, 4 was\nwhat he obliged you to fancy it age,\nyouth, plenty, poverty, everything it\nassumed '.\nBut for all this there are some\nactors today, and we think Mr. Had-\ndon just the man to discover them."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c043", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c043", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "35", "page_fin": "35", "image_debut": 39, "image_fin": 39, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.7", "titre_corps": "OPERA SYNOPSES, by J. Walker McSPadden", "titre_sommaire": "OPERA SYNOPSES, by J. Walker McSPadden", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "35", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 4269, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4997, "texte": "OPERA SYNOPSES, by J. Walker\n'Mc. Spadden. G. G. Harrop & Co.\nTHIS little volume sets out to be a\n44 guide to the plots and charac-\nters of the standard operas and gives,\nin fact, the scenarios of nearly seventy\nof them, including 4 grand 4 romantic '\nand 4 light ', and the selection has been\nmade with the intention of including\nall the operas produced in recent years\nwhich are likely to remain permanently\nin favour. These brief, clear outlines\nof the various stories together with lists\nof the characters, the manner in which\nthe parts are distributed among the dif-\nferent voices, the dates of first produc-\ntions, and other like details, will be\nof service to many who would be glad\nto be more familiar with these things."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c044", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c044", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "35", "page_fin": "35", "image_debut": 39, "image_fin": 39, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.8", "titre_corps": "CONFESSIONS OF AN OPERA SINGER by Kathleen Howard", "titre_sommaire": "CONFESSIONS OF AN OPERA SINGER by Kathleen Howard", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "35", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 4999, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5605, "texte": "CONFESSIONS OF AN OPERA\nSINGER by Kathleen Howard....\nA. A. Knopf. 1918. New York. $2.\nIF anyone wishes to learn what woman\nfeels like when struggling to succeed, to\nbe an operatic singer, determined to\ndo this in Germany and America,—\nthis book will explain. Miss Howard\nmet with several adventures and some\nof these she tells us about. I have\nplaced it on my shelf side with Queen\nVictoria's 44 Life in the Highlands \"\nnot because it is at all like that work but\nbecause it is so unlike ; indeed Queen\nVictoria could not have written the\npassages on 44 Travels \" pages 14 and\n245 of the 46 Confessions. \""}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c045", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c045", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "35", "page_fin": "36", "image_debut": 39, "image_fin": 40, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.9", "titre_corps": "BABEL by John Cournos", "titre_sommaire": "BABEL by John Cournos", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "35", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 5607, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6031, "texte": "by John Cournos. Wm Hei-\nnemann. 7/6 net.\nMr Cournos needs no introduction,\nand this book 44 Babel \" has already\nbeen introduced to our readers by his\ntwo former books, 44 The Mask \" and\n44 The Wall M.\n44 Babel \" is a readable book. It\nhas all the qualities of a popular book\nand a dozen qualities of a book which\ncannot be popular.\nThese are not thrust forward—one\nis less aware of the author than one\nis of his characters."}, {"page_pdf": 40, "page_imprimee": "36", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 588, "texte": "The place wherein they move is\nLondon—sometimes Paris and New\nYork—but London is the Babel.\nThese is a scene of the death of a\nwoman which is one of the very best\nthings Mr Cournos has done, and a\nfigure 44 Judith, \" who seems destined\nto pass into another book and become\na very famous creation.\nIt is a human book and full of no-\nble things. Above all things very rea-\ndable.... and since books are written\nto be read it is fortunate for Mr Hei-\nnemann to have found what must\nprove to be one of the best selling\nnovels he has ever handled, and be-\nfore long to enter its 15th thousand."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c046", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c046", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "36", "page_fin": "36", "image_debut": 40, "image_fin": 40, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.10", "titre_corps": "A VALUABLE CATALOGUE", "titre_sommaire": "A VALUABLE CATALOGUE", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 40, "page_imprimee": "36", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 590, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1391, "texte": "A VALUABLE CATALOGUE, (a)\nTHERE are some things which take\nrather longer than others before\none can learn how good they are.\nAnd a good Catalogue of Books is\nlike that.\nThe value of the Catalogue of Thea-\ntre Books which was prepared in 1922\nby Mr G. H. Palmer assisted by\nMr A. van de Put grows on me every\nlime I use it.... and anyone who is\nstudying the Theatre will find it of\nthe utmost service to him.\nNot only books dealing with the\nNew Movement are catalogued, but\nthose dealing with the Theatre of\npast ages.\nI do not know if the Catalogue is\nstill procurable, but if it be so I advise\neveryone who reads The Mask for\npurposes of study to make sure of se-\ncuring a copy.\n(a) '• List of IVorfcs on the Art of the\nTheatre in the Victoria and Albert Mu-\nseum Library. \" (no date) issued in 1922."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c047", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c047", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "36", "page_fin": "36", "image_debut": 40, "image_fin": 40, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.11", "titre_corps": "DAS INDISCHE DRAMA by Sten Konow", "titre_sommaire": "DAS INDISCHE DRAMA by Sten Konow", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 40, "page_imprimee": "36", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 1393, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2593, "texte": "DAS INDISCHE DRAMA by Slen\nKonow. Leipzig. Vereinigung Wis-\nsenschaftlicher Veileger. 1920. 5-j\nIn one of those able Brochures which\nthe Continent is always yielding us for\nthe price of a few pence Professor\nKonow condenses in 138 pages an\nenormous amount of learning, the re-\nsult of (one imagines) years of re-\nsearch.\nIt is a book to be read with Dr Coo-\nmaraswamy's 44 Mirror of Gesture, \"\nand like that book it emphasizes the\npoint that, except these plays be per-\nformed in India and before a special\naudience of those initiated in the pre-\ncise meaning of gestures, the sense of\nthe play will escape us.\nProfessor Konow points out that the\naudience should consist of none but the\nmost intelligent; an awful blow for the\nlow brows.... but at any rate no com-\nfort for those on high, for it is a pe-\nculiar intelligence, ie. a Hindu intelli-\ngence, which is required.\nWith our European Stage as it is,\nand our English Stage where it is, it\nnot a book which can help us very\nmuch.\nMr Horace Hayman Wilson's 44 Se-\nlect Specimens of the Theatre of the\nHindus \" 1827 is, one would imagine,\nmore to our purpose, till one rea-\nlizes that one has had it to no pur-\npose for close upon a hundred years."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c048", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c048", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "36", "page_fin": "36", "image_debut": 40, "image_fin": 40, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.12", "titre_corps": "A HISTORY OF ART by Dr. G. Carotti", "titre_sommaire": "A HISTORY OF ART by Dr. G. Carotti", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 40, "page_imprimee": "36", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 2595, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4628, "texte": "A HISTORY OF ART by Dr. G.\nCarotti. Vol. 111. Translated by Janet\nRoss ; with 357 Illustrations. Duck-\nworth & Co. London. Price 8/—.\nHISTORIES of Art are as a rule\nlifeless things, and are generally\nbulky affairs: and I like this History\nof Art because it is one of the smal-\nlest of books (barely larger than a\nTauchnitz volume) and not lifeless.\nFor me the life of History is in the\namount of dates, references and bare\nreports of what remains. n Perhaps 11\nand n it seems n are words a Historian\nshould avoid, and Dr. Carotti and his\nTranslator avoid them.\nTo judge from this volume dealing\nwith the art of Upper and Southern\nItaly in the middle ages, Art would seem\nto be all contained in churches and\npalaces.\nWas mankind of that age always in\na church and for ever holding com-\nmittee meetings in some Palazzo della\nRagione? Was it all the time on pa-\nrade ? one asks oneself. If not, where\nare the signs of Art in the everyday\nhouses, ...in the off hours especially.\nOr were there none ?\nIf there was Art at such times and\nin such places why does not Dr. Ca-\nrotti show us some examples? His 357\ntiny illustrations give us superb chur-\nches, crosses, thrones, pulpets, doors of\nchurches, candelabre, cloisters and tombs:\nbut of art in the every-day life there\nare no visible signs.\nAnd so, if not lifeless, this History\nis not quite real anough.\nI suppose a plough or an oven cannot\nbe called a work of art, and to men-\ntion one and show us one (if one exist)\nwould be playing at History when there\nare fifty cathedrals, sixty bishop's thrones\nand seventy tombs pushing to the fore.\nYet to introduce a few lowly items\nlike ploughs, ovens, barrels and other\nsuch humble things might perhaps stir\nsomething of us which does not stir at\nthe overwhelming sight and story of the\necclesiastical and civic life with the life\nplucked out of it.\nDr. Carotti is a ucky man to have\nenlisted Mrs Strong and Madame Beryl\nde Zoete as translators of his first two\nvolumes and now to have Mrs Janet\nRoss's erudite and sympathetic assistence."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c049", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c049", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "36", "page_fin": "36", "image_debut": 40, "image_fin": 40, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.13", "titre_corps": "MESURE POUR MESURE par William Shakespeare", "titre_sommaire": "MESURE POUR MESURE par William Shakespeare", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 40, "page_imprimee": "36", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 4630, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5235, "texte": "POUR MESURE par\nWilliam Shakespeare: traduction et\npreface de Guy de Pontales, ornernenis\ngraves sur hois par Jean-Louis Gam-\npert. Paris. Societe Litteraire de France.\n1921. Frs. 30. net,\nOne thousand copies have been is-\nsued of this finely printed book, (prin-\nted by M. Paul Herissey at Evreux).\nThe preface is charming and char-\nming too are the wood engravings by\nM. Garnpert, designs not in the least\nstagey, but most dramatic.\nThe cuts seem to have been printed\nfrom the wood blocks, so that collec-\ntors have more than half a dozen pieces\nof original work, and for the small sum\nof thirty francs."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c050", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c050", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "36", "page_fin": "37", "image_debut": 40, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.14", "titre_corps": "CATALOGO DEL MUSEO TEATRALE ALLA SCALA", "titre_sommaire": "CATALOGO DEL MUSEO TEATRALE ALLA SCALA", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 40, "page_imprimee": "36", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 5237, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6598, "texte": "CATALOGO DEL MUSEO TEA-\nTRALE ALLA SCALA. II Piccolo\nCicerone Moderno. No, 12. Alfieri &\nLacroix. Milano.\nIT is the rule aud not the exception\nthat all the historical work dealing\nwith the Italian Theatre is good. But\nthe catalogue of the Museo Teatrale of\nthe Teatro Scala in Milano is very bad.\nLet me say at once that it was printed\nbefore Signor Scandiani came into power\nthere.\nThe collection itself is a very pretty\none, only I have always found diffi-\nculty in getting to see it when I wanted\nto. So far as I can gather it is open\nto those who are spectators at the af-\nternoon and evening performances, and\nto no one else; and as the waits be-\ntween the acts are never more than ten\nor fifteen minutes, I was never able to\ngive proper time and thought to the\ncollection as I should like to have done.\nI should also like to find in the Museo\ntables at which I could write as I study.\nBut there are no tables, and many of\nthe prints are hung too high for me to\nsee in detail. Yet a design for the\ntheatre must be studied close at hand\nand not far off.\nSo when I visited the collection I\nwas disappointed. But I said, 44 I shall\ntake the 1 16 page catalogue away with'\nme and it shall tell me all that I need\nto know \".\nI got it home, but found, as I have\nsaid, that it was very bad.\nI like to see the name of Adrienne\nLecouvreur as it is written. 1 do not"}, {"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 996, "texte": "want her translated into Italian \"Adria-\nna Nor do I like to hear of Gio-\nvanni Filippo Kemble or Signora Do-\nbelin. I wish to hear of John Phillip\nKemble and Fraulein Dobelin. As for\nDavide Garrick as Amletto who died\nin Londra, ...it sounds and looks droll\nto me. He is David Garrick, he acts\nHamlet and he died in London. I\nknow some of us write of Julius Caesar\nwho died in Rome, but when we\ndo so we are at fault. We should\nwrite of Giulio Cesare who died in\nRoma.\nThere are too many entries of athletes\nand gladiators in this volume. There\nis even \" una tigre ed un lione \"\n....not marionettes as one might expect,\n....but Roman plaques.\nThen we have an odd entry under\nscenografia: it runs: \" I. Gioachino Ros-\nsini Maestro compositore. \"\nIt is a bust in bronze by Maricchotti,\nand it has nothing whatever to do with\nscenografia.\nAs many of the exhibits in the mu-\nseum are very interesting, they deserve\na better catalogue, and I hope that\nSignor Scandiani will see that one is\npublished."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c051", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c051", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "37", "page_fin": "37", "image_debut": 41, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.15", "titre_corps": "FASCISM by Odon Por", "titre_sommaire": "FASCISM by Odon Por", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 998, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1590, "texte": "FASCISM by Odon Por, Translated\nby E. Townshen d. The Labour Pub-\nlishing Co. Ltd. 7/6.\nA small book of over 300 pages on\nthis practical Movement scouted by\neveryone two to three years ago as\n\" impossible \" dangerous \"or \" non-\nexistent \".\nIt is a clear and practical book,\nshowing in what way Labour is closely\nconnected with Fascism : showing also\nhow Fascism possesses Labour \"\nhas not, ....the power of appealing to\nthe imagination of a people, pro-\nvided imagination has not been utterly\ncondemned as a worthless quality by\nthe people's rulers.\nThere is something about /E in the\nvolume."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c052", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c052", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "37", "page_fin": "37", "image_debut": 41, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.16", "titre_corps": "CONTEMPORARY DRAMA IN IRELAND by E.A. Boyd", "titre_sommaire": "CONTEMPORARY DRAMA IN IRELAND by E.A. Boyd", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 1592, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2758, "texte": "\\\nCONTEMPORARY DRAMA IN\nIRELAND by E. A. Boyd. The\nTalbot Press, Dublin, Price 61- net.\n/CONTEMPORARY Drama.... and\nin Ireland.\nI grow depressed holding this book\nin my hands, .... turning its leaves. It's\ntoo tragic.... this \"Tenebrae\". It\nsaddens me too much: ....the lights\ncannot be lighted again. Whether it\nmatters or no I can't say, it saddens\nme too much.\nAs I turn the book I see the name\nEdward Martyn, -and there too are\nWilliam Butler Yeats, Synge, Colum,\nGregory, Boyle and /E....\nWhat is it all about ? I thought I\nwas sure what it was all about: but\nthe wind is howling outside as I write\nthis, and were I to open a window\nto see the last lights in the room would\nall go out.\n\" Lennox Robinson is one of the\nmost important of these writers for he\nhas shown\nI have heard the Irish actors and\nseen them on the stage. I like them\nso much. They came to London, went\nto America, and it all seemed some-\nthing like a foreign company going the\nrounds; there was something they seem-\ned to be wanting to say: it was as\nthough they wished to do something.\nBut I cannot tell what it was they\nwanted to say or do. I am only for\nthe moment conscious of \" Tenebrae"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c053", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c053", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "37", "page_fin": "37", "image_debut": 41, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.17", "titre_corps": "MUSIC IN SPAIN by Carl Van Vechten", "titre_sommaire": "MUSIC IN SPAIN by Carl Van Vechten", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 2760, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3007, "texte": "MUSIC IN SPAIN by Carl Van\nVechten. A. A. Knopf. New York•\n1918. $ 1.50.\nMR Van Vechten may be trust-\nworthy in his facts about the\nmusic in Spain: from a former work\nof his we should have judged him fitted\nto write better about the castles there."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c054", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c054", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "37", "page_fin": "37", "image_debut": 41, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.18", "titre_corps": "HET TONEEL DECOR by J. W F. Buning", "titre_sommaire": "HET TONEEL DECOR by J. W F. Buning", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 3009, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4196, "texte": "HET TONEEL DECOR by J. W.\nF. Buning; A Reeks Monograph of\nthe Toegepaste Kunsten, W. L. &\nJ. Brusse. Rotterdam. Holland.\nIN a small brochure of 47 pages il-\nlustrated by 44 interesting designs,\nplans, and projects, Mr Werumens Bu-\nning of Amsterdam gives us a great\ndeal of information about the Dutch\nhistory and methods of decorating their\nstages since 1908, all valuable to the\nhistorian. He takes M. Appia's \" Die\nscenische illusion liegt in der Lebendi-\ngen gegenwart des darstellers \" as his\nmotto, and, in the designs he shows\nus, proves that if theoretically this be\nthe truth, the practice of performers is\nto depend on a good deal beside their\nown gegenwart,.... in fact they are to\nleave the task of creating the illusion\nto an enormous extent to the scene,\nand the more expressive the scene the\nbetter ; the more that expression leave\nnothing to the imagination the easier.\nPractically all the 44 designs are\nnew to us, unless by chance we have\nbeen in Holland lately, and even then\nsome are still quite new.\nI cannot make out exactly what is\nthe price of this brochure, (which has\na charmingly designed wrapper in co-\nlours), but it seems to be at most a\nvery few shillings."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c055", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c055", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "37", "page_fin": "37", "image_debut": 41, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.19", "titre_corps": "WHAT THE BUTLER SAW, by Eric Horne", "titre_sommaire": "WHAT THE BUTLER SAW, by Eric Horne", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 4198, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5267, "texte": "WHAT THE BUTLER SAW, by\nEric Horne (Butler) ; T. Werner\nLaurie Ltd. Price. 12/6 net.\nTHIS is a book rather like that volume\nof \" Reminiscences \" by Michael\nKe11y,... the one Theodore Hook wrote\nfor him in 1826.\nIt's good reading, easy reading,...\nwas it easy writing ?.... and who\nwrote it ?\nThese kind of books are in some\nways so rich that, if they never be-\ncome celebrated or the writers of them\nvalued, the stuff in them serves many\nanother author in the centuries to\ncome,\nFor there is live stuff in such books.\nIt lives on, but is always kept down\nuntil it has been squeezed of all its\njuice by authors; some hundred years\nlater it is reprinted, few copies sold,\nstill talked of by authors and others,\nand yet never held to be worth much.\nLike the butlers and actors them-\nselves, these books often have more in\nthem than their betters, and yet 'tis\nstyle which we value in man and in\nbooks, and I suppose we.are right in\nour valuation.\nAnd since we have here our butler's\nword for it that style is what counts\nwith him, the vote goes to style.... the\nold style."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c056", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c056", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "37", "page_fin": "37", "image_debut": 41, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.22.20", "titre_corps": "MAH JONG by Etienne", "titre_sommaire": "MAH JONG by Etienne", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 5269, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5477, "texte": "MAH JONG by Etienne. Methuen :\nPrice 3/6 net.\nTHIS is a useful little book, and\nenables everyone easily to learn\nhow to play the fascinating game of\nMah Jong. It is besides prettity bound\nand clearly printed."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c057", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c057", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "37", "page_fin": "37", "image_debut": 41, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.23", "titre_corps": "BOOK NOTES", "titre_sommaire": "BOOK NOTES", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 5479, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6026, "texte": "BOOK NOTES.\n\n\"PLAYWRIGHTS ON PLAY-\nMAKING\" by Professor Brander Mat-\nthews has come out. A Manchester\npaper said that \" The strength of his\n(Prof. Brander Matthews's) book is in\nthe advocacy of the theatrical for the\ntheatre. \"\nThat's right! We too feel that the\nTheatrical is, in away, made for the\nTheatre. At Columbia University it\nhas never led to much.\n\no \" WHO'S WHO AT SEA o\n\" Who's Who at Sea \" seems to be\na new book just issued. This is good\nnews, for we have always wanted to\nknow more about five or six of the\nEnglish Dramatic Critics."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c058", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c058", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "37", "page_fin": "37", "image_debut": 41, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.23.1", "titre_corps": "\"PLAYWRIGHTS ON PLAYMAKING\"", "titre_sommaire": "\"PLAYWRIGHTS ON PLAYMAKING\"", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 5492, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5836, "texte": "\"PLAYWRIGHTS ON PLAY-\nMAKING\" by Professor Brander Mat-\nthews has come out. A Manchester\npaper said that \" The strength of his\n(Prof. Brander Matthews's) book is in\nthe advocacy of the theatrical for the\ntheatre. \"\nThat's right! We too feel that the\nTheatrical is, in away, made for the\nTheatre. At Columbia University it\nhas never led to much."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c059", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c059", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "37", "page_fin": "37", "image_debut": 41, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.23.2", "titre_corps": "WHO'S WHO AT SEA", "titre_sommaire": "WHO'S WHO AT SEA", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 5838, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6026, "texte": "o \" WHO'S WHO AT SEA o\n\" Who's Who at Sea \" seems to be\na new book just issued. This is good\nnews, for we have always wanted to\nknow more about five or six of the\nEnglish Dramatic Critics."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c060", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c060", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "38", "page_fin": "38", "image_debut": 42, "image_fin": 42, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.24", "titre_corps": "THE PENNY GAFF", "titre_sommaire": "THE PENNY GAFF", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 42, "page_imprimee": "38", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.42", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2809, "texte": "THE PENNY GAFF.\nHOW pleasant it is to hear Mr\nWalkley in his new book lecturing\nthe crowd and its popular-minded critics\nScott and Sarcey on the weakness of\nits common-sense 44 in confrontation with\nany new movement \".\n44 Their criticism *\\ writes A. B. W.\n14 though influential, can hardly be said\nto have been an influence for good \".\nAnd then it is that he tells us where\nit 44 broke down \" : 44 both men....\nwere absolutely 4 floored ' by Ibsen \".\nNew movements should not, of course,\n44f100r\" popular-minded critics. But what\nif they 44 floor \" superior minded ones ?\nVide A.B.W on the Theatre Exhibition.\nIt cannot be possible that Mr. Walk-\nley, Mr. Clement Scott and L'Oncle\nSarcey are all popular-minded critics....\nor is it possible ?\nStill, one thing is as good as ano-\nther to write about if one writes as\nwell as A. B. W„ But to become a\ndramatic critic and remain one for fifty-\nthree years on this plea may not\nbe exactly 44 an influence for good \".\nonly that.\nThat is being popular minded with\nthe cynics.... no proper minded cynic\ncares twopence for the Theatre as an\nart or an institution. He will, if he\nhave some sense, use the Theatre :\nlive by it even,... live on it,... but\ncare for it ?... 44 Lawks\nWell, who knows : may be in time\nhe comes to learn to care for it more\nthan all else; for nature is even more\ncynical than he, poor boy, and will\nbring his head to the dust, his lips even\nto the tattered edge of the muddy skirt\nhe once so slightingly sneered at.\nMR St John Ervine, but late the\nDramatic Critic of 44 The Obser-\nver \", once told Mr Craig, that he\nshould be less self-reliant and should\nlearn to depend on the 44 pooled in-\ntelligence \" of people.\nIf Mr Craig should ever come to a\ntheatre of his own is it not more than\nlikely he would prefer to depend upon\ntheTunique intelligence of some one like\nMr St John Ervine ? We put it to you.\nBut Mr Ervine has lately gone one\nbetter than that, and has referred to\nMr Craig's 44 damned personality \".\nThis in 44 Drama \", the organ of the\nBritish Drama League t00,... rather\nodd !... and in comment upon a letter\nof Mr John Semar's, which, by the\nway, bore no allusion to Mr Craig at all.\nThus is the sweet and gentle perso-\nnality of Mr Ervine most adequately\nrevealed to all.\nWE asked in our last where was\nSir Gerald Du Maurier, where\nMiss Viola Tree, where Miss Nielson\nTerry at the opening of the Interna-\ntional Theatre Exhibition in London.\nNow we know where Sir Gerald was....\nin Fleet Street preparing 44 Stage Props \".\n44 Stage Props \" is a monumental li-\nterary achievement of the present lea-\nding lights in the London theatre. If\nyou have not seen it, secure it, and it\nwill illuminate for you the present con-\ntentment of the theatrical profession in\nLondon.\n44 Stage Props is to be purchased\nat all book sellers."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c062", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c062", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "38", "page_fin": "38", "image_debut": 42, "image_fin": 42, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.25", "titre_corps": "LONDON PARTICULAR", "titre_sommaire": "LONDON PARTICULAR", "signature_source": "G. C", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 42, "page_imprimee": "38", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.42", "debut_caractere": 2811, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5858, "texte": "LONDON PARTICULAR\nG. C.\n\" London Particular (or London ivy),\n\" a thick yellow or black fog, the product\n\"of certain atmospheric conditions and\n11 carbon : formerly peculiar to London ;\n41 Now common in ?nost large manufactu-\n\" ring cities situated near water and lying\n\" low. (1832)\nJ. S. Farmer & IV. E. Henley.\n. 44 A Dictionary of Slang 1912.\nT TNDER this Heading we intend to\nreprint a few of the brightest\nparagraphs on the Theatre, etc. from the\nLondon Press or Books. Not exactly\nIncorrect—not quite correct—just bright.\nWe reprint them so that our friends\nin America, France and Russia can\nsee from far off just how it is that En-\ngland has secured the £fW of theatre\nshe has at present, and in the hope\nthat the younger members of the Theatre\nwill do something with us to get a\nbetter 1 heatre.\nI mused: 44 The critics and the ama-\nteur critics said they couldn't under-\nstand my book: words perhaps are dif-\nficult to manage: let us read the news-\npaper \".\nI take up a London Daily. I see\nthat sun spots are giving our worthy\ntown cause for much uneasiness.\nWhat are sun spots ? I wondered.\n44 Where's the Encyclopaedia \", I call\nout: it comes; I turn to 44Sun\", and\nthis is what I find.\n44 Sun.\n44 .... Observations of the sun-spots\n44 show that the sun rotates in about 25\n44 days, but the lower latitudes rotate\n44 faster than the higher. The con-\n-44 tinuous spectrum yielded by the pho-\n-44 tosphere is crossed by thousands of\n44 dark lines (Fraunhofer lines) due to\n44 absorption by the gases of the chro-\n-44 mosphere. Comparison of these with\n44 the spectra of terrestrial substances\n44 has led to the identification of many\n44 elements in the sun. The lower layer\n44 of the chromosphere consists chiefly of\n44 metallic vapours, which give the so-\n-44 called 4 Flash' spectrum of bright\n44 lines at total solar eclipses. Promi-\n-44 nences are now observed by means\n44 of the K line of calcium, which ele-\n-44 ment is present to a notable extent\n44 in the chromosphere. Quiescent pro-\n-44 minences, consisting chiefly of hydro-\n-44 gen and helium, are of various forms\n44 and may reach an altitude of 70,000\n44 miles \".\nAnd this is a passage from the\nEditor's Preface : 44 .... Such a work\n44 as this would be of little value in-\n-44 deed if it did not deal with the terms\n44 which daily emerge in speech and wri-\n-44 ting—the words in this work have ge-\n-44 nerally been hoarded with miserly\n44 care, the only provision being that at\n44 no time should clearness be sacrificed.\n44.... Science and philosophy, in which.\n44 the 44 average man \"is legitimately so\n44 interested, are both expounded so far\n44 as possible in the language of ordi-\n-44 nary speech....\".\nNothing could persuade me to give\naway the name of this popular, and ge-\nnerally first-class little Encyclopaedia.\nI have enjoyed it so often : often it is\nvery informing. But what is one to\nthink of words when an average man\ngets an utterly unilluminating passage\nlike this, purposing to be a clear re-\nport as to sun-spots 44 in the language\nof ordinary speech n ?"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c063", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c063", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "38", "page_fin": "38", "image_debut": 42, "image_fin": 42, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.26", "titre_corps": "ATTENTION!", "titre_sommaire": "ATTENTION!", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 42, "page_imprimee": "38", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.42", "debut_caractere": 5860, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6259, "texte": "ATTENTION!\nFrom THE WEEKLY DESPATCH.\nOct. 21.1923. Carmelite House. E. C. 4.\nThe new theatrical partnership of\nSir Alfred Butt and Mr Basil Dean at\nthe Queen's Theatre is one of the very\nbest things which could have happened.*\nTo see vast interests like those of Sir\nAlfred working in harmony with ge-\nnius such as that of Mr Dean, should\nmake an appeal even to the gloomy\nheart of Mr. Gordon Craig."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c064", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c064", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "39", "page_fin": "40", "image_debut": 43, "image_fin": 44, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.27", "titre_corps": "LETTERS TO THE EDITOR JANUARY 1924", "titre_sommaire": "LETTERS TO THE EDITOR JANUARY 1924", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "39", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2257, "texte": "LETTERS\nTO THE\nEDITOR\nJANUARY\n1924\n\nMR GORDON CRAIG & AMERICA.\nYours sincerely,\nGordon Craig.\nDear Semar :\nMAY I draw your attention to a statement made in an\nEnglish paper and attributed to Mr Nathan to the effect\nthat Mr Arthur Hopkins made me an offer of $ 100,000\nto go to America which I refused.\nAs many may imagine from this that someone or other\nhas made me such a definite offer on Mr Hopkins s behalf, I\nwish to let you know that I have never received any such\noffer, therefore I can have refused none.\nI feel sure that Mr Nathan made a rather different\nstatement to the reporters, and that they would have reported\ncorrectly had they understood it.\nRapallo, Italy.\nP. S, - By the way, should I ever go to America it\nwould not be to produce a play or two. 1 should go\nthere as anywhere else to be of use in helping to develope\nthe powers of any new American Theatre, that felt I could\nbe of some permanent use, not to show off my own powers.\n\nPRE-RAPHAELITE OPERA.\nFaithfully\nR. T. Vade.\nSir:\nI cannot quite understand how it is that the Musical Critic\non the \" Manchester Guardian\" comes to speak of\n\" Louise ** by Charpentier as \" a Pre-Raphaelite Opera .\nThe 1912 edition of the u Dictionary of Music and\nMusicians\" (Grove) has no word about Pre-Raphaelite\nOpera. It is, then, a 1913-1923 label, and describes\na music, I suppose, rather like Pre-Handelian architecture.\nBut there again, what is Pre-Handelian architecture ?\nAs well call a certain breed of calf Pre-Turtle.\nThe music previous to the time of Raffaele Santi, ie:\nRaffaello,—and never Raphael—was the same music as\nthat which came after him. He lived between 1483 and\n1520 and the first opera came along in 1600.\nHow Charpentier's opera \" Louise \" can resemble\nopera which never existed is a little puzzling.\nAfter stating that this is a \" Pre-Raphaelite opera\nthe Critic later on says; li Pre-Raphaelitism in detail\ntends if over done to endanger rather than strengthen the\nwhole \". Again, \" He has put everything on the boards\nwith a Galsworthyan impartiality and fairness 9 .\nSo Galsworthy is a Pre-Raphaelite too,—and Raphael\nis partial and unfair, as is every other artist since 1520\nand the age of Ruskin. — Wonderful.\nHeath Street, Hampstead.\n\nMODERN ENGLISH SOCIETY COMEDY."}, {"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "39", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 3485, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3508, "texte": "THE ROMAN MARIONNETTES."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c066", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c066", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "39", "page_fin": "39", "image_debut": 43, "image_fin": 43, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.27.2", "titre_corps": "MR GORDON CRAIG & AMERICA", "titre_sommaire": "MR GORDON CRAIG & AMERICA", "signature_source": "Gordon Craig", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "39", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 36, "fin_caractere_exclue": 951, "texte": "MR GORDON CRAIG & AMERICA.\nYours sincerely,\nGordon Craig.\nDear Semar :\nMAY I draw your attention to a statement made in an\nEnglish paper and attributed to Mr Nathan to the effect\nthat Mr Arthur Hopkins made me an offer of $ 100,000\nto go to America which I refused.\nAs many may imagine from this that someone or other\nhas made me such a definite offer on Mr Hopkins s behalf, I\nwish to let you know that I have never received any such\noffer, therefore I can have refused none.\nI feel sure that Mr Nathan made a rather different\nstatement to the reporters, and that they would have reported\ncorrectly had they understood it.\nRapallo, Italy.\nP. S, - By the way, should I ever go to America it\nwould not be to produce a play or two. 1 should go\nthere as anywhere else to be of use in helping to develope\nthe powers of any new American Theatre, that felt I could\nbe of some permanent use, not to show off my own powers."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c067", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c067", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "39", "page_fin": "39", "image_debut": 43, "image_fin": 43, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.27.3", "titre_corps": "PRE-RAPHAELITE OPERA", "titre_sommaire": "PRE-RAPHAELITE OPERA", "signature_source": "R. T. Vade", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "39", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 953, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2225, "texte": "PRE-RAPHAELITE OPERA.\nFaithfully\nR. T. Vade.\nSir:\nI cannot quite understand how it is that the Musical Critic\non the \" Manchester Guardian\" comes to speak of\n\" Louise ** by Charpentier as \" a Pre-Raphaelite Opera .\nThe 1912 edition of the u Dictionary of Music and\nMusicians\" (Grove) has no word about Pre-Raphaelite\nOpera. It is, then, a 1913-1923 label, and describes\na music, I suppose, rather like Pre-Handelian architecture.\nBut there again, what is Pre-Handelian architecture ?\nAs well call a certain breed of calf Pre-Turtle.\nThe music previous to the time of Raffaele Santi, ie:\nRaffaello,—and never Raphael—was the same music as\nthat which came after him. He lived between 1483 and\n1520 and the first opera came along in 1600.\nHow Charpentier's opera \" Louise \" can resemble\nopera which never existed is a little puzzling.\nAfter stating that this is a \" Pre-Raphaelite opera\nthe Critic later on says; li Pre-Raphaelitism in detail\ntends if over done to endanger rather than strengthen the\nwhole \". Again, \" He has put everything on the boards\nwith a Galsworthyan impartiality and fairness 9 .\nSo Galsworthy is a Pre-Raphaelite too,—and Raphael\nis partial and unfair, as is every other artist since 1520\nand the age of Ruskin. — Wonderful.\nHeath Street, Hampstead."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c068", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c068", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "39", "page_fin": "39", "image_debut": 43, "image_fin": 43, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.27.4", "titre_corps": "MODERN ENGLISH SOCIETY COMEDY", "titre_sommaire": "MODERN ENGLISH SOCIETY COMEDY", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "39", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 2227, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2257, "texte": "MODERN ENGLISH SOCIETY COMEDY."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c069", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c069", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "39", "page_fin": "39", "image_debut": 43, "image_fin": 43, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.27.4.1", "titre_corps": "[Sans titre]", "titre_sommaire": "[Sans titre]", "signature_source": "Benjamin Rossen", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "39", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 2259, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3003, "texte": "Faithfully,\nBenjamin Rossen.\nSir:\nI have been reading many plays since Mr Rankin put his\nquestion in Volume 9 asking if someone could name a\nmodern English society comedy or comic opera equal for\nbrilliance of treatment and sanity of thought to \" The\nSchool for Scandal\" and \"The Beggar's Opera\".\nThe result of my search is that no such comedy has\nturned up.\nI cannot answer the second question, why none has\nbeen found by me, for I may not have searched in the\nright district.\nI am rather a believer in the gloomy theory that in\ncertain periods of history the world never gets the fine\ncomedy until the author is dead and gone with the period in\nwhich he lived ; and I am inclined to think that we are\nliving through just such a period.\nParis."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c070", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c070", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "39", "page_fin": "39", "image_debut": 43, "image_fin": 43, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.27.4.2", "titre_corps": "[Sans titre]", "titre_sommaire": "[Sans titre]", "signature_source": "T. Kempees", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "39", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 3005, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3483, "texte": "Faithfully\nT. Kempees.\nSir:\nI have read no modern play which for brilliance can be\ncompared with \" The School for Scandal \", but for\nsanity of thought surely Mr Bernard Shaw's u Back to\nMethuselah \" is far ahead of that rather too riotous comedy.\nMr Shaw in all he does teaches; and to instruct seems\nto some of us to be the highest peak of sanity. If we\ncould only learn from the works of Mr Shaw the lessons\nthey have to teach us we should be all of us better men.\nEasthourne."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c071", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c071", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "39", "page_fin": "40", "image_debut": 43, "image_fin": 44, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.27.5", "titre_corps": "THE ROMAN MARIONNETTES", "titre_sommaire": "THE ROMAN MARIONNETTES", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "39", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 3485, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3508, "texte": "THE ROMAN MARIONNETTES."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c072", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c072", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "39", "page_fin": "39", "image_debut": 43, "image_fin": 43, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.27.5.1", "titre_corps": "[Sans titre]", "titre_sommaire": "[Sans titre]", "signature_source": "John H. Benton", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "39", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 3510, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4870, "texte": "Yours,\nJohn H. Benton.\nSir:\nMR Manning may be right when he says that money is\nat the roots of what is so vapid in that London mood\nwhich gushes over Marionnettes for their worst and turns\nfrom their best manifestations. And of course there is\nplenty of money in London.\nBut I cannot help thinking that a public gets for and\nfrom itself what it wants. If it wants the silly for the\nsake of gratifying its sillyness, well, it asks for it and\ngets it.\nI was recently at a performance of Marionnettes at\nMantova. Nothing Shakespearean there.... and nothing\nsilly either, It is an everyday thing, (as you know) over\nhere to see a bright little show by marionnettes. But should\nsome Polish Company of Marionnettes come all the way\nto Rome from Warsaw or Podloz, would it be able to\nsurvive without a like excitement such as that worked up\nby Mr. Cochran in London over the Roman puppets ?\nFor my part I see very little reason for any actors or\npuppets travelling a thousand or so miles when they are\nbest at home.... wherever that may be.\nI have never yet seen any actors or marionnettes do at\nall well away from their own house and land. Something\npriceless still remains in environment, and, being a bit of a\ntraveller in my way, I for one shall never go to a company\nwhich has apparently come a thousand miles out of its way\nso as to be not quite itself.\nMilano."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c073", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c073", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "40", "page_fin": "40", "image_debut": 44, "image_fin": 44, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.27.5.2", "titre_corps": "[Sans titre]", "titre_sommaire": "[Sans titre]", "signature_source": "Mabel Dobson", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "40", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 374, "texte": "Faithfully,\nMabel Dobson.\nSir:\nI agree entirely with what Mr Manning says. Money\ndoes spoil things for us in London. But I don't like\nMarionnettes and I am glad when money spoils them.\nPunch and Judy I do like,... but they aren't Marion-\nnettes, are they ?\nI have read your journal since it first appeared, and\nhope you will go on and on and on and never stop.\nNotting Hill."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c074", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c074", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "40", "page_fin": "41", "image_debut": 44, "image_fin": 45, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.28", "titre_corps": "INCORRECT", "titre_sommaire": "INCORRECT", "signature_source": "EDITOR", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "40", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 376, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2155, "texte": "INCORRECT.\nBY THE EDITOR.\n\nBOOKS\nWHERE we correct statements made in hooks we do\nso in the hope that readers who possess the books in\nquestion will enter our correction in their margins. J. S.\nIN \" The Plays and Books of the Little Theatre \" by\nFrank Shay published by the Theatre Crafts Exchange,\nNew York, in 1919, and a quite well done booklet, useful\nand compact, costing only $ I. mention is made on Page 7,\nline 2 of Mr Craig's \" memorable production of 4 Hamlet '\nwith black curtains \" in Moscow. Not one black curtain\nwas used.\nSCAMOZZI, Palladio's pupil who completed the Teatro\nOlimpico (Vicenza) \" built another classical Theatre in\n1588 in Sabbioneta for the duke Vespasiano Gonzago\nbut this does not now exist \".\nJohn Henry Middleton. M. A. Litt. D. ; F. S. A. ;\nD. C. etc. in \" The Encyclopaedia Brittanica.\nVol. XXVI. latest edition).\nThe Theatre fortunately does exist:—an illustrated ar-\nticle appeared in the Architectural Review, December 1923\ndescribing it.\nTHE picture Figure 42 facing page 342. Vol. 2, Mantzius\n\" History of Theatrical Art\" is supposed to represent\nthe Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza.\nIt is altogether an invention. Taken from Riccoboni's\n\" Histoire du Theatre Italien \", face page 116, it is all\nthe more surprising. Riccoboni and Mantzius could both\nof them have given us exact plan and elevation drawings.\nAla National Gallery, a Londres, on voit un tableau\n\" de Ferdinand Bibbiena la sc£ne et un\n\" decor de ballet du theatre de Parme vers 1725 *\\\nBapst. il Essai sur VHistoire \" etc. 1893. *\nBibiena not Bibbiena is the correct spelling of the\nname. Bibbiena is the Cardinal, Bibiena the Architect.\nOn page 190 Bapst spells it Bibienna which is again\nincorrect. The stage represented, to which Bapst refers,\nis not that of Parma.\n\nJOURNALS."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c076", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c076", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "40", "page_fin": "40", "image_debut": 44, "image_fin": 44, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.28.2", "titre_corps": "BOOKS", "titre_sommaire": "BOOKS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "40", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 403, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2144, "texte": "BOOKS\nWHERE we correct statements made in hooks we do\nso in the hope that readers who possess the books in\nquestion will enter our correction in their margins. J. S.\nIN \" The Plays and Books of the Little Theatre \" by\nFrank Shay published by the Theatre Crafts Exchange,\nNew York, in 1919, and a quite well done booklet, useful\nand compact, costing only $ I. mention is made on Page 7,\nline 2 of Mr Craig's \" memorable production of 4 Hamlet '\nwith black curtains \" in Moscow. Not one black curtain\nwas used.\nSCAMOZZI, Palladio's pupil who completed the Teatro\nOlimpico (Vicenza) \" built another classical Theatre in\n1588 in Sabbioneta for the duke Vespasiano Gonzago\nbut this does not now exist \".\nJohn Henry Middleton. M. A. Litt. D. ; F. S. A. ;\nD. C. etc. in \" The Encyclopaedia Brittanica.\nVol. XXVI. latest edition).\nThe Theatre fortunately does exist:—an illustrated ar-\nticle appeared in the Architectural Review, December 1923\ndescribing it.\nTHE picture Figure 42 facing page 342. Vol. 2, Mantzius\n\" History of Theatrical Art\" is supposed to represent\nthe Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza.\nIt is altogether an invention. Taken from Riccoboni's\n\" Histoire du Theatre Italien \", face page 116, it is all\nthe more surprising. Riccoboni and Mantzius could both\nof them have given us exact plan and elevation drawings.\nAla National Gallery, a Londres, on voit un tableau\n\" de Ferdinand Bibbiena la sc£ne et un\n\" decor de ballet du theatre de Parme vers 1725 *\\\nBapst. il Essai sur VHistoire \" etc. 1893. *\nBibiena not Bibbiena is the correct spelling of the\nname. Bibbiena is the Cardinal, Bibiena the Architect.\nOn page 190 Bapst spells it Bibienna which is again\nincorrect. The stage represented, to which Bapst refers,\nis not that of Parma."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c077", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c077", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "40", "page_fin": "41", "image_debut": 44, "image_fin": 45, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.28.3", "titre_corps": "JOURNALS", "titre_sommaire": "JOURNALS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "40", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 2146, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2155, "texte": "JOURNALS."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c078", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c078", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "40", "page_fin": "40", "image_debut": 44, "image_fin": 44, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.28.3.1", "titre_corps": "A QUESTION OF AGE", "titre_sommaire": "A QUESTION OF AGE", "signature_source": "E. G. C", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "40", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 2157, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4878, "texte": "A QUESTION OF AGE.\nE. G. C.\nIN \"II Convegno, \" Anno IV, Nos. 4-5-6, issued as\none book, on page 568 Signor Carlo Linati has made\nthe error of stating that Gordon Craig was somewhere\nabout seventy years of age in 1920. Upon our writing\nhim to ask his precise age in 1920 he sends us this\ncharacteristic reply:\nMy dear Semar.\nIn 1920 1 was if I remember aright about forty-eight\nyears old. When I reached Milano and discovered that\nCarlo Linati, a resident in Milano, had never been to the\nTeatro Gerolamo—although he had heard of the place,\nand had M. Anatole France's guarantee that Marionneltes\nwere the real thing for a literary man —and Signor Linati\nis a literary man;—when I became aware that I was in\nthe presence of a literary chiel tacking notes, I admit I put\non some forty two more years, bringing my age up to ninety.\nOn getting once more into the train and going on to Pa-\nris I found I could throw off the age which Signor Linati\nhad thrust upon me.\nI did this by recalling that the delightful Signor wore\nboots, seemed to possess a more or less hearty appetite,\nhad carried himself easily as my guest at the Restaurant\nSavini and in the Teatro afterwards, and had failed to\nsee why I had asked a prohibitive sum to do a work I\nwished not to do. Yet Signor Linati is also an Avocat.\nWhat lent me some extra power to cast off this gift\nof years was that Signor Linati had at parting asked me\nto send him a few pages that he might translate them into\nItalian and publish them.\nSo I sped towards Paris aged forty-eight, Within the\nyear I had again put on eight more years, ....I became\nfifty-six, (you'll note never seventy), for, though I sent\nSignor Linati an ounce of work, some three or four pages\nto translate, as he so kindly requested me to do, I have\nnever seen the translation, not even heard if the pages\nwere used, nay, less, received.\nYes, I was as you surmise born in 1872,—the same\nyear as Beardsley, Beerbohm and Rothenstein: therefore in\nthe year 1920 I was forty-eight.\nBut perhaps I am not quite fair on my advocate friend.\nPossibly working ten to twelve hours a day and some-\ntimes fifteen, and mostly for other people, is not away to\nkeep young. Who knows ?\nI am now as you know working for myself. You\nknow it because I send you about an eighth part of the\nmanuscript I used to send, and about one fiftieth of the\nwoodcuts too. In 1908 I was sending you a great dea 1,\nand gladly, for \" The Mask.\nI will not weary you with more. I am putting it all\ninto a b00k.... or rather into five or six books—for myself\nthis time.\nKindest regards to M. Florian and friend Ambrose.\nI thought both their articles in the last volume of \" The\nMask \" very good, and wished I had written them myself.\nYours,"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c079", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c079", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "41", "page_fin": "41", "image_debut": 45, "image_fin": 45, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.28.3.2", "titre_corps": "MR HUNTLY CARTER & M. TAIROFF", "titre_sommaire": "MR HUNTLY CARTER & M. TAIROFF", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 45, "page_imprimee": "41", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.45", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6004, "texte": "MR HUNTLY CARTER & M. TAIROFF.\nON April 7th 1923 appeared in 44 The Outlook \",\nLondon, the following incorrect statement about\nM. Tairoff and his Kamerny Theatre. It was in an article\nsigned by Mr Huntly Carter :\n44 Soviet Russia is wisely sending samples of its best\n44 spiritual goods the rounds of Europe and America....\n44 the latest of these travelling exhibits is the Moscow\n44 Kamerny Theatre Company,... the conception and organi-\n-44 zation of the Theatre belong to M. Alexander Tairov \".\n44 (M. Tairov signs his name Tairoff., by the way).\nSo far, except for the suggestion that the Kamerny Theatre\nfollowed instead of preceding the Soviet Government, all is\ncorrect,— after deducting the suggestion that the Kamerny\nis a revolutionary affair on the war-path.\nIt was conceived before the war. As Mr Sayler has\nsaid very clearly in his book on the Russian Theatre :\n44 Contrary to the vast majority of Russians, its members\nwould rather discuss light and colour and posture than the\nfuture of the State \".\nMr Carter, in suggesting a connection between this\nTheatre and M. Lenin's policy, is probably as incorrect as it\nwould be to suggest that the late Mr Lovat Fraser had been\nsomehow the tool of Mr Lloyd George.\nSuch slips, however, do not much concern us.\nWhere Mr Carter is positively incorrect is in the\nfollowing passage :\n44 To M. Tairoff the actor comes first \". (correct)\n44 He refuses to have any truck with the opinion expres-\n-44 sed by Madame Duse that the Theatre must be\n44 destroyed and the actors thrown on the scrap-heap, or of\n44 her disciple Mr Gordon Craig who has seen in this\n44 outburst a demand for a super marionette \". (Incorrect).\nM. Tairoff considers every opinion held by Madame\nDuse worthy of the utmost respect and consideration :\nthis one about the actors he understands—and does not\ntake it literally as do those who want to, and who do\nnot take the trouble to understand it,\nAs for his 44 refusing to have any truck with \" the opi-\nnions of Mr Gordon Craig, we happen to know that he\nis devoted to them and to the man himself, and does not\nfear to express it.\nOf course we all know that Mr Carter cannot just yet\nget away from his particular sympathies and the ac-\ncompanying outbursts. Well and good :—to each his own\nopinion. But it has always been, and will always be an\nerror, and a very great error too, to mix up Politics and\nArt, and to assert that because a Theatre happens to be\nRussian it is making 44 Bolchevist Propaganda in Paris \",\nor, when English, English propaganda in Timbuctoo\nThat all the Theatres in Russia as well as the books,\npapers, picture-galleries, concert halls and the rest are under\na Soviet rule is understood. With the success of that rule\nthey may prosper ; at its destruction they will not be des-\ntroyed. For it is a spiritual thing, is it not, this thing we\ncall Art, and not really concerned with likes and dislikes of\nsystems of local government.\nThis Theatre performs Racine's 44 Phaedre \"—in which\nwe are told by everyone Madame Koonen gives an unfor-\ngettable performance. We can well understand that. But\nwhere do politics come in?,., what is Russian in Racine's\n44 Phaedre \" ? —Did not London and Paris adore the inter-\npretation by Madame Sarah Bernhardt night after night?...\ndid not every Conservative, Liberal and Radical in Queen\nVictoria's two Houses say that it and she were perfect ?\nWhat the English Parliament approves with a rare burst\nof enthusiasm can hardly be in the least politically disturbing.\n44 La Fille de Madame Angot \" is another piece of\ntheirs : 44 Romeo and Juliet \" another. Do these two pieces\nhail from Moscow ? We always thought one was by merry\nlittle Lecoq of Paris and the other by young Shakespeare\nof Stratford-on-Avon. Bolchevic !!! ! ?\nThen comes 44 The Man who was Thursday \", a piece,\nwe imagined, that did sound a bit shattering: —we even gues-\nsed that Trotsky might be the author, until we were told that\nChesterton, our own Chesterton, had written it. Really\nfolk are comic who find in these four pieces signs of\nterror and trouble.\nTo continue the list:—44 Sakuntala \" (the first piece\nthey produced) is not by Lenin,—it is by an Indian. Not\nMr. Ghandi but one Kalidasa and translated into English\nin 1789 by our own Sir William Jones. It is not a\nTragedy ; 44 the Hindus in fact have no Tragedy \" writes\nHorace Hayman Wilson in his 44 Select Specimens of the\nTheatre of the Hindus 1827.\nThen came 44The Playboy of the Western World\" which\nis not by Chicherin ; 'tis a little trifle by the late poet Synge ;\n—Synge of Ireland, not a mythical being from Caucasus.\nNext 44 Life is a Dream \" by Calderon of Spain,\n(1600-1681): next 44 The Fan\", not by Tchekov—but\nby the mild and happy Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni\n(1707-1793). Next 44 Le Mariage de Figaro \" by Beau-\nmarchais (1732-1799). This we admit is rather a blood-\ncurding piece.... and we have never known how it can be\ntolerated by any but Latins in the south—where the blood\ndon't curdle. Rostand's 44 Cyrano de Bergerac \", Shake-\nspeare's 44 Merry Wives \",... and a few Russian and\nGerman pieces complete the programme of M. Tairoff.\nBut enough. Artists, especial.y those who abhor gloomy\nrealism—that is to say very quiet and very sad and very\ndeadly representations of sordid or middle-class life—are\nnot and never can be 44 political \"... nor tend to unrest.\nIt's Realism which makes for trouble.\nCallot, Rubens, Fragonard, Giovanni Bellini, Blake,\nbecause these painted must they be painting for some po-\nlitical purpose ?\nSlightly different is it when we come to men like\nGilray, and Leandre, for example. There we have the\nobviously paid propagandist of yesterday. Do any English-\nmen recall the Leandre touch? Ah—but modern pro-\npaganda is a thousand times more subtle— subtle nonsense—\nso subtle that it's not seen. No, Propaganda has to be\ndirect to be of value :—direct—vividly what it is. In short,\nPropaganda must be seen and heard or the fools for whom\nit's intended won't get it.—Again, enough."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c080", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c080", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "41", "page_fin": "41", "image_debut": 45, "image_fin": 45, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.28.3.3", "titre_corps": "TWO MORE ERRORS", "titre_sommaire": "TWO MORE ERRORS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 45, "page_imprimee": "41", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.45", "debut_caractere": 6006, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6775, "texte": "TWO MORE ERRORS.\n44 \\Y/E are getting very tired of Mr Gordon Craig's\nVV notion that scene designing comes before the work\nof the dramatist, just because scene designing is Mr Craig s\njob. How far, far wiser is Mr Frank Vernon etc.\nL. Godfrey Turner in 44 The Gentlewoman \".\nII August 1923.\nThe incorrect thing about this is that it is not Mr Gordon\nCraig's notion. Is it Mr Turner's perhaps ?\nAgain, in the same paper, on September Bth 1923,\nMr. Turner comes out with this:\n44 The rumour of a visit from Mr Gordon Craig to sprinkle\nour stage with angular shadows has happily proved but a\nfalse alarm;\" ....which looks like currying favour with\nMr Craig. The copy of the press cutting sent to The\nMask was signed L. God. We take it to be only Mr\nTurner's name in little."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c081", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c081", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "42", "page_fin": "42", "image_debut": 46, "image_fin": 46, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.29", "titre_corps": "FOREIGN NOTES", "titre_sommaire": "FOREIGN NOTES", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "42", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.46", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5742, "texte": "FOREIGN NOTES.\n\nPARIS.\nA. C.\nLAST autumn a strike of scene-shifters occurred at the\nGaiete Lyrique theatre in Paris during a performance,\nas a result, according to the 44 Matin \"of the management's\nrefusal to receive two members of the Union who wished\nto know what steps were being taken regarding a recent\ndemand for higher wages.\nThe management summarily dismissed 13 of the strikers\nwhile actors and members of the chorus changed the scenes\nand saw to everything so that the performance could go on.\nWhich is of course the sensible thing to do.\nAnd suppose the management had refused to receive\ntwo members of the Actors' Union? Suppose tomorrow\ntwo actors should knock at the door of some Manager's\nsanctum and begin to tell him that the actors wanted to\nknow what steps were being taken regarding recent demands\nof theirs ;... would the manager summarily dismiss 13 actors\n(13 for luck), and would the scene-shifters and other\nhands take up their parts ?\nJustice and common-sense says they should. The tune\nthe Gander may be eaten to can be played while the\nGoose goes down,—what ?\n\nWIEN.\nR. S.\no SPELLBOUND. o\nTHE following is from a seriously managed London'journal\ndated October, 1923. (The italics are mine R. T.).\no SHAKESPEARE IN VIENNA, o\nAUDIENCE OF 4,000 SPELLBOUND.\n{From our own Correspondent).\nVIENNA.\n44 HPHE extraordinary success of Shakespere's \" Richard II\"\n1 at the Burgtheater is the outstanding feature of the\n44 theatrical season in Vienna. Every seat in the State\n44 theatre, one of the largest and handsomest in the world,\n44 has been sold for the first three performances.\n44 During the struggle of the last five years to keep\n44 alive the Burgtheater, which was never meant to pay\n44 its way, for the building alone cost nearly £, 2,000,000,\n44 new settings of Shakespeare have been the most suc-\n-44 cessful expedients. But 44 Richard II \" is the best Shake-\n-44 spearean production here under the Republic, and will\n44 be played several nights weekly till the spring.\n44 There is no orchestra, The scenery is of great\n44 beauty, but the stage pictures are mainly ingenious com-\n-44 binations of lighting, draping of the wings, and ingenious\n44 and tasteful grouping of colours in costumes and backcloths.\n44 The note of the production is refined realism, not\n44 that of furnishings and trappings, but dramatic realism.\n44 The audience sits spellbound. Such silence maintained\n44 by 4,000 people I have never known in a London\n44 theatre. If people want to cough they go out into the\n44 corridor. \"\nWe don't think we can better this, so leaving it as\nit stands we beg leave to go out into the corridor. Eld.\n\nMILANO.\nD. N. L.\nEAGER anticipation was aroused by the news that the\nDirectors of the Scala were going to produce an opera\nwith the scenes designed by M. Adolph Appia, and that the\ngreat Swiss artist was coming in person to oversee the work.\nThe result has been a keen disappointment: adequate\njudges do not hesitate to say an utter failure.\nI was told by one whose opinion was of especial weight\nin the matter that the Theatre is incapable : but it hardly\nappears to me that the fault lies there.\nThe Scala is not incapable: it is a finely organized\nand newly equipped theatre of immense capacity along\ncertain lines. The mistake would seem rather to lie in the\nfutility of trying to put new wine into old bottles.\nThe Dramatic Critic of the 44 Corriere della Sera \"\ndescribing this [production writes (December 21st), after\ntreating at some length of the mise en sc£ne and the me-\ntaphysical intention and concept of the artist: —44 Now in\n44 practise, what happens? The public is not aware of the\n44 symbolic meaning sought in the contrasts of light and\n44 darkness, in the persistence of the gloom and of other\n44 scenic particulars. It perceives before it the real fact :\n44 and since it of this and of this only that it receives the\n44 impression \", he declares that, instead of the sense of place,\nand an intimate consciousness of the poet's concept, being\nproduced, 44 it ends by finding itself bewildered and astray \".\nBut surely this is no evidence of failure the artist's concep-\ntion, but merely testifies to the confused stage conditions\nwith their contradictory elements, their mixture of realism\nand symbolism, of the natural and the unnatural, of the\nreal and unreal.\nThe beauty and nobility of M. Appia's conceptions is\npatent to all, but they need entirely different conditions,\n.... a new theatre .... for their realization.\nThis unfortunate experience of M. Appia's only goes\nto confirm the already strong conviction of Mr Gordon\nCraig's wisdom in refusing to exhibit his advanced work\nin any existing theatre, or to enter one to work, until it be\na Theatre of his own.\nHis friends are very frequently asked how it is he\ndoes not bring his work before the public on the stage of\nthis theatre or that, and why, when invited, he asks what\nare called 44 prohibitive prices \".\nHe does this for the protection of his work: and\nit is to be hoped that this failure at the Scala will teach\npeople a few things they need to be aware of.\n\nNEW YORK.\nC. T.\nMONSIEUR REINHARDT and Mr Morris Gest appear\nto have invited trouble by engaging two ladies to\nshare the role of the Madonna in 44 The Miracle Re-\nports have already appeared in the papers that the Prin-\ncess, who was formerly Madame Carmi and the original\nperformer oft his part, has objected to having the role shared\nby Lady Diana Cooper, whom these gentlemen, in the\ninnocence of their hearts, (or the cunning of their notions)\nhad engaged to play it on alternate nights.\nWe have heard before of the courage of the Impresario.\nMessrs Reinhardt and Gest must indeed possess it if they\ncould so blithely go out to meet trouble halfway."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c083", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c083", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "42", "page_fin": "42", "image_debut": 46, "image_fin": 46, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.29.2", "titre_corps": "PARIS", "titre_sommaire": "PARIS", "signature_source": "A. C", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "42", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.46", "debut_caractere": 16, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1087, "texte": "PARIS.\nA. C.\nLAST autumn a strike of scene-shifters occurred at the\nGaiete Lyrique theatre in Paris during a performance,\nas a result, according to the 44 Matin \"of the management's\nrefusal to receive two members of the Union who wished\nto know what steps were being taken regarding a recent\ndemand for higher wages.\nThe management summarily dismissed 13 of the strikers\nwhile actors and members of the chorus changed the scenes\nand saw to everything so that the performance could go on.\nWhich is of course the sensible thing to do.\nAnd suppose the management had refused to receive\ntwo members of the Actors' Union? Suppose tomorrow\ntwo actors should knock at the door of some Manager's\nsanctum and begin to tell him that the actors wanted to\nknow what steps were being taken regarding recent demands\nof theirs ;... would the manager summarily dismiss 13 actors\n(13 for luck), and would the scene-shifters and other\nhands take up their parts ?\nJustice and common-sense says they should. The tune\nthe Gander may be eaten to can be played while the\nGoose goes down,—what ?"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c084", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c084", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "42", "page_fin": "42", "image_debut": 46, "image_fin": 46, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.29.3", "titre_corps": "WIEN", "titre_sommaire": "WIEN", "signature_source": "R. S", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "42", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.46", "debut_caractere": 1089, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2638, "texte": "WIEN.\nR. S.\no SPELLBOUND. o\nTHE following is from a seriously managed London'journal\ndated October, 1923. (The italics are mine R. T.).\no SHAKESPEARE IN VIENNA, o\nAUDIENCE OF 4,000 SPELLBOUND.\n{From our own Correspondent).\nVIENNA.\n44 HPHE extraordinary success of Shakespere's \" Richard II\"\n1 at the Burgtheater is the outstanding feature of the\n44 theatrical season in Vienna. Every seat in the State\n44 theatre, one of the largest and handsomest in the world,\n44 has been sold for the first three performances.\n44 During the struggle of the last five years to keep\n44 alive the Burgtheater, which was never meant to pay\n44 its way, for the building alone cost nearly £, 2,000,000,\n44 new settings of Shakespeare have been the most suc-\n-44 cessful expedients. But 44 Richard II \" is the best Shake-\n-44 spearean production here under the Republic, and will\n44 be played several nights weekly till the spring.\n44 There is no orchestra, The scenery is of great\n44 beauty, but the stage pictures are mainly ingenious com-\n-44 binations of lighting, draping of the wings, and ingenious\n44 and tasteful grouping of colours in costumes and backcloths.\n44 The note of the production is refined realism, not\n44 that of furnishings and trappings, but dramatic realism.\n44 The audience sits spellbound. Such silence maintained\n44 by 4,000 people I have never known in a London\n44 theatre. If people want to cough they go out into the\n44 corridor. \"\nWe don't think we can better this, so leaving it as\nit stands we beg leave to go out into the corridor. Eld."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c085", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c085", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "42", "page_fin": "42", "image_debut": 46, "image_fin": 46, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.29.4", "titre_corps": "MILANO : SPELLBOUND", "titre_sommaire": "MILANO : SPELLBOUND", "signature_source": "D. N. L", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "42", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.46", "debut_caractere": 2640, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5087, "texte": "MILANO.\nD. N. L.\nEAGER anticipation was aroused by the news that the\nDirectors of the Scala were going to produce an opera\nwith the scenes designed by M. Adolph Appia, and that the\ngreat Swiss artist was coming in person to oversee the work.\nThe result has been a keen disappointment: adequate\njudges do not hesitate to say an utter failure.\nI was told by one whose opinion was of especial weight\nin the matter that the Theatre is incapable : but it hardly\nappears to me that the fault lies there.\nThe Scala is not incapable: it is a finely organized\nand newly equipped theatre of immense capacity along\ncertain lines. The mistake would seem rather to lie in the\nfutility of trying to put new wine into old bottles.\nThe Dramatic Critic of the 44 Corriere della Sera \"\ndescribing this [production writes (December 21st), after\ntreating at some length of the mise en sc£ne and the me-\ntaphysical intention and concept of the artist: —44 Now in\n44 practise, what happens? The public is not aware of the\n44 symbolic meaning sought in the contrasts of light and\n44 darkness, in the persistence of the gloom and of other\n44 scenic particulars. It perceives before it the real fact :\n44 and since it of this and of this only that it receives the\n44 impression \", he declares that, instead of the sense of place,\nand an intimate consciousness of the poet's concept, being\nproduced, 44 it ends by finding itself bewildered and astray \".\nBut surely this is no evidence of failure the artist's concep-\ntion, but merely testifies to the confused stage conditions\nwith their contradictory elements, their mixture of realism\nand symbolism, of the natural and the unnatural, of the\nreal and unreal.\nThe beauty and nobility of M. Appia's conceptions is\npatent to all, but they need entirely different conditions,\n.... a new theatre .... for their realization.\nThis unfortunate experience of M. Appia's only goes\nto confirm the already strong conviction of Mr Gordon\nCraig's wisdom in refusing to exhibit his advanced work\nin any existing theatre, or to enter one to work, until it be\na Theatre of his own.\nHis friends are very frequently asked how it is he\ndoes not bring his work before the public on the stage of\nthis theatre or that, and why, when invited, he asks what\nare called 44 prohibitive prices \".\nHe does this for the protection of his work: and\nit is to be hoped that this failure at the Scala will teach\npeople a few things they need to be aware of."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c086", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c086", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "42", "page_fin": "42", "image_debut": 46, "image_fin": 46, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.29.5", "titre_corps": "NEW YORK", "titre_sommaire": "NEW YORK", "signature_source": "C. T", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "42", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.46", "debut_caractere": 5089, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5742, "texte": "NEW YORK.\nC. T.\nMONSIEUR REINHARDT and Mr Morris Gest appear\nto have invited trouble by engaging two ladies to\nshare the role of the Madonna in 44 The Miracle Re-\nports have already appeared in the papers that the Prin-\ncess, who was formerly Madame Carmi and the original\nperformer oft his part, has objected to having the role shared\nby Lady Diana Cooper, whom these gentlemen, in the\ninnocence of their hearts, (or the cunning of their notions)\nhad engaged to play it on alternate nights.\nWe have heard before of the courage of the Impresario.\nMessrs Reinhardt and Gest must indeed possess it if they\ncould so blithely go out to meet trouble halfway."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c087", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c087", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "43", "page_fin": "46", "image_debut": 47, "image_fin": 50, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30", "titre_corps": "EDITORIAL NOTES", "titre_sommaire": "EDITORIAL NOTES", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "43", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6047, "texte": "EDITORIAL NOTES.\n\nLANGUAGE AND OPERA.\nTHERE has been quite a little\nto-do in Manchester about the\nmixing of Languages in Opera. But\nit led nowhere :—that's the pity.\nOne half of the city agreed that it\nenjoyed Opera without knowing a word\nof Italian or French; the other half\nthat they have enjoyed an opera with-\nout knowing a word of English ; but\nthat is a little exaggeration, for, after\nstaying a year or two in Manchester\nevery foreigner can pick up enough\noperatic English.\nIs anyone nowadays really expected\n'to take the words of Opera very serious-\nly ? In Metastasio's day perhaps it\nwas as well to listen to each word.\nBut of course to ask us today to take\nseriously, to reason calmly and with\nquietism on a chorus as it sings: —\nWe go, we go, we go—we go—we go :\nwe go to the hills—we fly—we fly—\nwe go, we go, we go, (repeat four times),\nto be aware of the sense of this and\nto note that no one stirs, that no one\ndreams of going—would be to make\nan ordinary Manchester manufacturer\n©f bicycles, for example, or of motor\ncars, let us say, feel a little uncomfor-\ntable. He would certainly have some\nreason for believing that if the forty-\ntwo people lined up behind the foot-\nlights and yelling at him are in earnest,\nit is a slight on his whole existence\nand his manufactury, which, till he\nheard what he now hears, he always\nconsidered a going concern. To him all\nthis would be as prelude to a strike.\nBut all this will be put right if\nlibrettisti will only turn to ACCA (a) ;\nor managers and musicians turn to the\npoets, and a new leaf be turned over\nfor the public.\nOur readers still like us, we sup-\npose, to take it as granted that the\nPublic is not responsible for the state\nof its Theatres whether good or bad.\nWe most assuredly would like to believe\nthis now as we did formerly.\n(a) See page 19.\n\nMADAME DUSE IN AMERICA.\nTHE Papers announced in October\nthat Madame Duse had arrived in\nNew York after an absense of more\nthan twenty years and had been en-\nthusiastically received. After this the\nPapers began a little exaggeration—we\nsuppose at the order of some distin-\nguished Impresario.\nShe was to be considered as the\nguest of the American Government.\nHer Baggage passed without inspec-\ntion.... 44 like an ambassador's. \" The\npolice were given orders to stop the\nNew York traffic wherever her auto\nmobile passed.\nIt is this sort of nonsense, this likening\nof actors and actresses to Ambassadors,\neven Kings, (only for Kings, and very\nrarely, is the traffic of a great city\nstopped), which renders the Theatre\nridiculous.... and it is we of the Theatre\nwho beg leave to say so. It renders it\nalso more and more of a failure—it\nundermines its strength.\nThere is of course not more than an\nounce of truth in those reports. Ma-\ndame Duse is above all performers the\nmost modest disliking that froth of deep\nfeeling, which short-sighted Impresarios,\nhowever distinguished,always employ with\nthe people of a nation whom they despise.\nWhen will all this tomfoolery stop\nthese unnecessarily distinguished impres-\nsario-isms be rendered valueless by the\nappearance of a real impresario who\nplays up to not down to the Publics\nof the world ? who really respects the\nintelligence of the American People.\nWhen Papyrus arrived in New\nYork he too was escorted by police\nthrough the traffic which was stopped.\n\nSUBSTITUTES FOR WORDS.\n44 T ET us have no deliberate substi-\nJL-i tutes for words in the Theatre. \"\nHarold Brighouse. (4t Writer of plays\nand fiction. \" ' Who's Who. ')\nWhy should this be ?—unless it be\nthe Theatre of Cochran's 44 Deauville\nBeach Nymphs. \"\n4 4 London said an important Daily\npaper in a paragraph written about\nthe time Mr Brighouse wrote, 44 has\n46 answered the challenge of Paris and\n44 New York in entering the bathing\n44 suit and swimming contest that will\n44 take place on the beach at Deau-\n-44 ville on July 21. Mr Charles Coch-\n-44 ran and Mr Albert de Courville\n44 announce that several girls from the\n44 London stage will be sent to com-\n-44 pete. \"\nInstead of attacking us, Mr Brig-\nhouse, Mr Ervine, Mr Turner and\nthe rest, why not attack Mr Cochran\nand Mr de Courville? Or is this the\nsort of thing you find reassuring ?\n\nA CRITICISM CRITICISED.\nA London journal says that when\nPavlova danced last season at\nCo vent Garden she was 44 the wonder\nshe ever was, \" and that when 44 she\nrepeated her two most famous poems in\nmovement of the old days—the Saint\nSaens 44 Swan \" and the 44 Autumn\nBacchanal \" of Glezunov—the most\njealous eye could not see any falling\naway. \"\nThat is all as it should be. But\nwhy no word about any advance ?\nHave any of our readers ever asked\na dancer whether she feels she has\nmade any progress in her art or not ?\nWe recall hearing the Great Dancer\nspeak of the progress she was making\nin 1920, and already she had outstripped\neveryone by immeasurable distances.\n(Is it necessary to say we refer to\nIsadora Duncan....).\nJust to start a ball rolling may we sug-\ngest that 44 wonder \" is a rare word and\none that we should not use too often.\nAs when folk cry 4 Oh * at a piece\nof silk, and 4 isn't it wonderful! ;'—\nor at a lady one admires and she\nwith but little that is at all to wonder\nat ;... or exclaim at any verse of poetry\nand at every drawing 44 oh wonder-\nful \\\" the most wonderful man, \"\nusing this word fifty times a week of\nfifty men, women or things.\nThere be a few wonderful men\nand women assuredly, but everyone\nwill not every day see a wonder\nthough it pass under the nose and all\ncomprehension.\n\nCURSED H E B O N A\nExpressionism in the Theatre is being\nexplained to the English cliques, and\nthe English cliques are as usual eagerly\nsipping at the explanation, if not drink-\ning it in.\nMr Harold Brighouse, writer of\nplays and fiction, is lending a hand.\nSome one has told him that this same\nExpressionism comes... (hush, not a\nword)... from Eastern Europe—so n Ba-\nsingstoke it is 11 for Mr Brighouse. The\nsame Promptor has told him (taking\nhim aside)) that in Eastern Europe\n44 Men felt the Peace atrociously, and\nthere they saw dramatic means for the"}, {"page_pdf": 48, "page_imprimee": "44", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6865, "texte": "expression of their feelings. \" Oh, Mr\nSpence, come quickly comere and\ngasp with us,\nWhen in 1912 we were in Manches-\nter, Mr Brighouse's town, we were\nstruck with a thing which no one else\nfound at all unusual : we mean the\npresence of the foreigner. Chip chip\nchip chip....\nActively, pleasantly busy informing\neveryone who wrote, lectured, or could\nin any way spread the good word,\nexactly what was whaf... aathoritively...\nManchester listened like a lamb.\nAnd we suppose Mr Brighouse has his\npresent day information from the local\nforeigner in that big lounge in the big\nHotel: we forget its name.\nBefore the war it was one German\nin particular who would help :—now\nit is we suppose some gentleman from\nPrague on Russia or Scandinavia.\nMr Brighouse writes quite a long co-\nlumn of good stuff ahout Expressio-\nnism and goes wrong from first to last,\nWhen Mr Brighouse writes fiction he\ngoes right from start to finish.... for\nhe uses his own brains, „.his own eyes\nand ears, his own convictions. But in\nthis unfortunate article on n Expressio-\nnism n he is talking in his sleep. Upon\nhis secure hour, sleeping in his lounge,\nhis custom always of an afternoon R,\ndear Uncle has stolen with juice of\ncursed Hebona and into the porches of\npoor Harold's ear has poured the le-\nperous dope;... and as you see, instantly\nHarold has begun to babble of things;\nof the 44 older theatre \" of 1875-85,\nwhere 44 the thing heard was of more\nsignificance \" (signifying nothing,... tale\ntold by....) than the thing seen.\nMr Brighouse still keeps up the 1875\ntradition; when he hears something\ntold he still likes to doubt his own eyes.\nIn 1875 Sir Arthur Pinero was twenty\nyears old; Mr H. A, Jones was twenty-\nfour ; Mr Shaw nineteen ; Sir James\nBarrie fifteen. Mr Thomas Hardy, on\nthe other hand, had the remarkable good\nluck of being no age at all even as he\nis today, Mr W. B. Yeats, Mr Mase-\nfield and Mr Bottomley and a number\nmore seem to have had the same luck.\nThe result is that while Pinero,\nBarrie, Shaw and Jones and some\nhundred more give us acres of mangled\nwords, Hardy, Yeats, Masefield, Bot-\ntomley and some dozen more have\npreserved the magic of words. The\nrest of us should be content to label\ntheir books and plays 4 some words. *\nLet us for heaven's sake discriminate\nas Brighouse asks.\nExpressionism is just a label calling\nattention to a certain quality always\nvalued in art since the year 0ne,... le,\nexpression.\nEngland had it. Remember Ro-\nlandson, Defoe, Gainsborough, Byron,\nHogarth, Goldsmith, Turner, Blake,\nCharles Keane, Edmund Kean, Phil\nMay, Du Maurier, Beardsley, Tenniel.\nEngland still has its Nicholson, Pryde,\nBeerbohm, Symons, John, Huxley, Lewis,\nSavage, Strachey, dozens of them. Eu-\nrope has always had expressionists;\nDaumier, Callot, Macchiavelli, Piranesi,\nto pick out four from four hundred.\nAnd now England poses as wanting\nto lose this expression it being easier for\nnobodies to express less than more—and\nso a band of nobodies have been\nadvanced to seats and sit on the mat\nand stay there. Rolandson and the whole\nof the old English School preferred to\nrange free and expressed something.\nThat is all that expressionism is.\nMr St John Ervine tells us that\nnowadays it is the English Ladies who\n44 wont have it, \" and so expression must\ncease in our land because a few ladies\n44 wont have it. \"\nWho knows ? Mr St John Ervine\npossibly exaggerates.... but who knows ?\npossibly not Mr. Ervine. These mat-\nters must really be left to other ladies.\nOnly one prayer :—that the matter\nbe hurried np and settled one way or\nanother. Let us have either expressive\nor noncommittal art, but let us get on\nand over this prim talk, this pretentious\nreporting of mere hearsay; and stop en-\ncouraging folk to tinker at the expense of\nEngland with this cursed Hebona in a vial.\n\na OLD PLAY BILLS. o\nOF the many London Monthly Ma-\ngazines, few of which are dull*\nthe most interesting perhaps to us is\nthe Cornhill of October, on account\nof the valuable article upon <4 Old Pro-\nvincial Play Bills*' by Mr. M. J. Landa-\nAs a rule old Play Bills are a bore,\nbut why it is difficult to say. Every-\nthing about them bores, and yet they\npossess every attribute. The paper used\nin the olden times was so excellent,\nthe type very often admirable in form,\nthe setting up of the bill executed with\nconsiderable judgement and often with\na charming effect: the long shapes of\nthe English bills are fascinating; one\nfancies one sees them hanging over the\nbox edge, or one floating down from\nthe gallery; one hears the crinkling;\nnoise of them as the old play-goer\ncrunches one up to lock for Mrs Sid-\ndons's name.\nBut besides their typographical value\nand their sentimental charm (and let\nwho will lose this, we'll not), there is\ntheir undoubted historical value. And\nthis is not little.\nMr Landa proves it, and his article\nshould be secured by every serious stu-\ndent of the English Drama. Gadzooks,\nWe don't mean that we mean every stu-\ndent seriously studying the Dramatic\nworld of England. Mr Landa tells us\nthat there are 44 hundreds of thousands\nof old playbills bound in many huge\ntomes \" stored away in the cellars of\nthe British Museum. For the rest you\nmust get the Cornhill and see what\ntheir value is.\nAnd besides play bills this October\nnumber of the magazine has an excel-\nlent good thing called 44 Krishna Gowda\"\nby Mr Denny C. Stokes, quite worth\nslowly reading, ... if 1924 permits you\nto read slowly.\nWe like to take up such magazines\nmany months after they appear and\ndiscover if the contents have a lasting\nvalue or not. The Cornhill has. It's\nnot appallingly full of what the then\nMinister of This or That Office is\ngoing to do and thinks—which is a\nblessing, since no sooner is he a Mi-\nnister than he becomes something else\n—things travelling quite unnecessarily\nquickly these days.\nIn the same number is a good Note\non Cardinal de Retz by Maurice Hew-\nlett. But there are other good things\ntoo in that number.\nIf The Cornhill is always as good\nits a wonderful 1/6 worth.\n\nTHERE WERE GIANTS\no IN THOSE DAYS, o\n\" T TN gigante dell*Arte, Lorenzo\nv-/ Bernini (1508-1680) colla ma-\nravigliosa sua potenza si applico pure\nal teatro *'.\n44 A gigantic artist, Lorenzo Bernini\n(1508-1680), applied his marvellous\npower also to the theatre\n\" La Scenografia \". Ferrari.\n(Hoepli: Milano). page 119.\nWHAT a man! a marvel indeed.\nTo think that during his short\nspan of 172 years he had the time to\napply a moment to the teatro!\nOf Bernini John Evelyn writes: ™\n19th November.\n44 ....Bernini, a Florentine sculptor,\narchitect, painter, and poet, who, a\nlittle before my coming to the city\n(Rome), gave a public opera (for so\nthey call shows of that kind), wherein\nhe painted the scenes, cut the statues,\ninvented the engines, composed the\nmusic, writ the comedy, and built the\ntheatre ! !\n44 Diary of John Evelyn\nedited by W. Bray. Vol. //,\npage 118."}, {"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "45", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.49", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6811, "texte": "ON A LONDON CRITIC.\nMR St John Ervine, one of the\nmost lively of the English dra-\nmatic critics of the last three years,\nwhose weekly column or two in 44 The\nObserver \" was always vivid, has gone\nfrom 44 The Observer \" and from Drama-\ntic Criticism.\nOnly for a time, we hope, for the\nrare gift of allowing some genuine life\nto get into a weekly article on a dreary\ntheme (and the London Theatre ques-\ntions have become dreary, not to use\na harder word) is a very precious\nthing.\nNot that Mr Ervine is ever at all\nprecious in the weak sense of the\nword; he is sturdy, attacks well, praises\noften as well, and is altogether a va-\nluable asset. No one less than Ervine\nneeds that said of him: it is quite\napparent.\nBut Ervine's fault was a particu-\nlarly useless fault. It served no one,\nand was one his Editor might .have\ncured him of.\nWe do not allude to his harsh su-\nperior manner,—a harsh superior man-\nner is often what is wanted in a cri-\ntic. Nor does his seeming lack of\ndepth of feeling count, (the feeling\nwas very shallow in his last 44 Ob-\nserver \" article where he bids adieu).\nThe fault was more obvious, and\nis this :\nDissatisfied with the stage in Eng-\nland, he failed to call for the men\nobviously needed by the English stage.\nSuch an attitude would have been all\nvery proper in a man like Clement\nScott who saw the English Theatre of\nhis day as all that was to be desired.\nAll right it is in vany man satisfied\nwith existing things. But when tho-\nroughly dissatisfied with the stage as\nwas Ervine, it was a grave fault not\nto have seen more clearly that the\nsole way to strengthen the stage is to\ninsist on every one of the best men\nbeing put into power.\nThis he failed to do. He would\npraise third-rate men at the expense\n(to the public) of the first-rate men.\nHe would praise a third-rate book on\nthe Theatre and dispraise a first-rate\none. His plea might be that, Honest\nInjun, he wrote what he thought;—if\nso it becomes clear that he thought\nvery little and not very long.\nWe say this remembering that the\nEnglish Theatre was and is still not\nmaking use of her best men.\n\" Since Ervine was for ever lamen-\nting how hard it was to get London\nmanagers to accept good work \" wrote\nPeter Mc Brien in the 44 Irish Inde-\npendent 44 it was not his place to\ndecry good things \".\nWe also want to know from Er-\nvine himself some day what it was he\ndid with his energy on the Publicity\nsub-committee at the Victoria & Al-\nbert Museum in 1922. We saw very\nfew signs of that energy : practically not\none rousing article appeared from his\npen, and such an Exhibition will not\nbe seen again for many a long year.\nOn his sub-committee were six\nothers: Mr Whitworth, very energe-\ntic ; Mr Hardie; Mr Shipp; Mr Payne;\nMr Ivor Fraser and Mr E. O. Hoppe.\nMr Hardie had a thousand other\nduties and attended to them: Mr Whit-\nworth plenty ; but Ervine, clearly the\nman for the job, seemed somehow to\nlack the gift for working with other\npeople.... He failed to ppol his in-\ntelligence with that of the other six\nwith minds of their own. He neglec-\nted his duties, for it was obviously his\nduty to make London ring with news\nof this Exhibition. 44 The Observer \"\nmight have given a whole page to the\nassembled talents of these European\nworkers for a New Theatre, for it\nlater on gave its principal page, (and\nMr Garvin touched it with his own\nparticular wand) to a Theatrical matter\nand at a moment which were not psy-\nchologically the matter or the moment.\nIf 44 The Observer \" missed fire for\nonce, it was because Ervine had spiked\na gun. We hope some day to hear\nthe reason for this sudden panic.\nBefore he shook the dust off his\nfeet Mr St John Ervine was speaking\nat the dinner of the Authors* Club,\nin October last, on the subject of\n44 Novels and Plays \", and said we\nwere passing through a period of tran-\nsition from masculine to feminine. Eve-\nrything was at the same time deterio-\nrating. Owing to feminine predomi-\nnance tragedy vanished, and its place\nwas taken by comedy. Every healthy\nand strong nation delighted in tragedy,\nand every weak and flabby nation\ncould not bear it.\nWhen writers got back to tragedy,\ngloom, and misery they would help to\nget a healthy race again. If they wan-\nted to get the world back on to\ndecent lines they had to start off with\nthe gloomiest possible view of it.\nIt is not often that we find ourselves\nin sympathy with Mr. St. John Ervine :\nbut here, in away, we do.\nBut we object that Mr Ervine\ndoesn't jguite understand the problem\neven now: he understands so much\nand yet not enough.\nWhat is all this about Tragedy....\nas though it were the cause of 44 a heal-\nthy race \" ? It is one of the effects of\na healthy race* As for 44 the gloomiest\npossible view of the world getting the\nworld back on to decent lines \", we\nfeel quite sure, with Mr Ervine, that\ngloom can help, but it can't do what\nhe thinks.\nThe gloom of Tchekov and Do-\nstojevsky, or Tolstoi and Turgueneff\ndid something, we suppose, to help\nRussia; ancL yet we would as soon\nhave things different up there as we\nwould have them different in London.\nA Tzar may not be all they wan-\nted : another Tzar might have been :\nbut to croak out, 44 We want a stork,\nwe are dying for a tragic stork, a\nterrible stork is essential to us \", seems\nto be overdoing it. Those people who,\nby the aid of the fine-mannered if\ndismal Cinema and the confidential if\nhusky 44 Whispering in \" of the wire-\nless always learn so much, are apt to\nmiss very much too.\n44 Gloomy tragedy, not afraid to\nlook death in the face \" (vide Tche-\nkov) did a little harm to Russia if\nwe mistake not.\nNo : emphatically and regretfully no,\nthat mixture is not to be taken either\nafter or before meals.\nFine Tragedy, Comedy, Farce,\nDance, Song, Verse, Prose all come\nalong grandly after a Nation has been\nto the trouble to shake itself.\nIf ours really shook itself now,\nMr Ervine for one would certainly\nfall off its back.\nA STORK IS ESSENTIAL.\nGo : you may call it madness, folly ;\nYou shall not chase my gloom away\nsuch a charm in melancholy\nI would not if I could be gay.\nSamuel Rogers. (1763-1855).\n\nTHE R. A. D. A., LONDON.\nLAST year the Royal Academy of\nDramatic Art gave an exhibition of\nwhat its pupils could do at the Globe\nTheatre.\nAs this Academy has a full-sized lit-\ntle Theatre of its own, we are curious\nto know why this Theatre was not used\nfor the exhibition. Can any reader\ninform us ?\nMr Mervyn Johns won the gold\nmedal: Miss Rita Page won the sil-\nver one: and Miss Madge Bellairs the\nbronze medal. Miss Juliet Manse won\nthe 44 Grein French prize \",—but what\nthis is, whether composed of a mixture\nof gold, bronze, silver or of good\nfresh lead, we have not yet been in-\nformed.\nThe 44 Manchester Guardian ** as-\nserts that the idea behind the Royal\nAcademy of Dramatic Art 44 is still\nwhat it was ten years ago—that is, to"}, {"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "46", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5487, "texte": "make good plastic tfiaterial for the\nproducer rather than stimulate the ih-\ndividual's creative instinct and adds\nthat 44 the present educational methods\nwill help the poor in spirit at the\nexpense of thdse who have a real\nspark within them\nWe hardly think that Mr. Johns,\nMiss Page, Miss Bellairs and Miss\nManse will agree with the 44 Man-\nchester Guardian and for our part\nwe can only hope that the 44 Guar-\ndian \" is for once incorrect.\nThe reporter in 44 The Observer \"\nsaid that 44 students are less certain\nabout their enunciation than they might\nbe..., ,f and that 44 many of them suffer\nfrom unmusical voices H. We hope\nthat too is all a gross libel. And we\ncan but believe that there is still plenty\nof room for this Royal Academy and\nplenty of work for it to do.\nAnd how strange it seems that this,\nthe second Royal Academy of Dramatic\nArt, should have taken so long to\ncome into existence. The first was\nfounded in opened by the\nPrince of Wales in 1865, and disap-\npeared suddenly in 1877. Thackeray\nand Dickens were two of the promo-\ntors who urged it into existence and\nthen let it die.\n1877 seems a long time ago,\n\nON AN ITALIAN THEATRE\nLAST year, at the period of the\nmost acute crisis of the 44 Teatro\ndegli Italiani M founded in Rome* the\nPresident of the Council, Signor Mus-\nsolini, commissioned Senator Enrico\nCorradini to carry out an enquiry to\nestablish the vitality or not of the at-\ntempt. Senator Corradini in August\n1923 forwarded to the President oj\nthe Council a letter in which he said .\n44 Your Excellency,\n44 In execution of the esteemed com-\n-44 mission entrusted to me by you I\n44 have examined the situation of the\n44 Teatro degli Italiani \". Unfortunately\n44 the situation, both as regards the\n44 criteria of the foundation and struc-\n-44 ture proved such as to be una-\n-44 ble to be taken as basis for any\n44 reform and any improvement. This\n44 being so, I do not hold it oppor-\n-44 tune to involve the State in any\n44 expenditure. I beg your Excellency\n44 to receive the expressions of my\n\" profound devotion.\n44 Enrico Corradini\nAfter that the President of the\nCouncil decided to take no further in-\nterest in the fate of the enterprise.\nNo\\V what on earth is the meaning\nbi this lack of ability on the part of\nan Italian Theatre to avail itself of an\nattempt to re-establish it—or a part of\nit ? 44 Mysterious \" as seem all the ways\nof the Theatre, this seems curiously\nincompetent.\nThe Italian actors are brilliant... are\nborn 50.... are the genuine actors. Can\nit be that they instinctively mistrust\n44 organization \" ? Some sense in that.\nAnd yet while most northern Thea-\ntres have organization, and nothing\nelse, the Italian Theatre has all else\nand only lacks a measure of organi-\nzation.\nOr are we wrong here ? Does the\nItalian Theatre know itself—does it\nfear lest it might lose its dash, its po-\nwers to do so well if it took even the\nlightest yoke on its shoulders ?\nWell, we are always prepared to\ndiscover that everything the Italian\ntheatre does from instinct is as right\nas rain.\n\nNO T I C E\nTHERE have appeared lately more\nthan once in the Press two erroneous\nstatements in regard to The Mask :\nfirst, that it is edited by Mr Gordon\nCraig at Rapallo ; second, that its first\neight volumes were written by him.\nSuch reports are incorrect.\nThe Mask remains in the same\nhands as heretofore. Its home is still\nin Florence, and it is edited, as it\nhas been from the first, by Mr John\nSemar.\nMr Craig continues to send, as\nhitherto, his contributions.\nIn regard to the second error, the\nIndexes of the first eight volumes have\nonly to be consulted for it to be seen\nthat, while Mr Craig has contributed\nlargely to them, and certainly has a\ncapacity for work, they were not all\nwritten by him. Such a feat were\nsurely an impossible one.\n\no ANNOUNCEMENT, o\nTHE pages of the next number of\n44 The Mask \\ to appear in April,\nwill be mainly devoted to Poets, Plays,\nPlaywrights and Play-Writers, with\nsome special consideration of the Dra-\nmatic work of Mr Thomas Hardy,\nMr W. B. Yeats, Mr John Masefield\nand other modern poets, and of the\nplays of Signor Pirandello, Mr Milne,\nMr Granville Barker and M. Moli£re :\nalso with some observations on the\nplays of Blake, Keats, Coleridge and\nthe unknown author of Maistre Pierre\nPathelin: together with some notes\non Melodrama, on Opera and its\nlibretto and on Incidental Music,\n\nAN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.\nWE have pleasure in acknowledging\nthe courtesy of Grand Ufficiale\nBemporad, of Florence, who kindly\naided us towards securing the reproduc-\ntion of 44 Li Buffoni (Plate I);\nand of the Victoria and Albert Mu-\nseum, South Kensington, for having\nenabled us to reproduce the Stage\nScene shown in Plate 2.\n\nTO ALL OUR READERS.\nJ. S.\nWITH the aim of keeping in touch\nwith every endeavour towards\nfine achievement in theatre work, as well\nin remote parts as in large centres,\nwe invite our readers all over the\nworld to cooperate with us by sending\nus news of effort and advance in any\nand every line of such work, giving\nus dates and details. We shall wel-\ncome reports of fresh endeavours in\nbuilding, scenic work and organization,\nwith pictures, photos and plans ; news •\nof plays which are really original, and\nreports of acting, too, and new ac-\ntors ; in short, of all that tends towards\na higher standard in whatever line.\nEven if the actor be only a begin-\nner, the endeavour only in its infancy,\nlet us hear of them, if the right spirit\nbe manifest in them, the right signs\nevident in their work."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c089", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c089", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "43", "page_fin": "43", "image_debut": 47, "image_fin": 47, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.2", "titre_corps": "LANGUAGE AND OPERA", "titre_sommaire": "LANGUAGE AND OPERA", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "43", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 18, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1817, "texte": "LANGUAGE AND OPERA.\nTHERE has been quite a little\nto-do in Manchester about the\nmixing of Languages in Opera. But\nit led nowhere :—that's the pity.\nOne half of the city agreed that it\nenjoyed Opera without knowing a word\nof Italian or French; the other half\nthat they have enjoyed an opera with-\nout knowing a word of English ; but\nthat is a little exaggeration, for, after\nstaying a year or two in Manchester\nevery foreigner can pick up enough\noperatic English.\nIs anyone nowadays really expected\n'to take the words of Opera very serious-\nly ? In Metastasio's day perhaps it\nwas as well to listen to each word.\nBut of course to ask us today to take\nseriously, to reason calmly and with\nquietism on a chorus as it sings: —\nWe go, we go, we go—we go—we go :\nwe go to the hills—we fly—we fly—\nwe go, we go, we go, (repeat four times),\nto be aware of the sense of this and\nto note that no one stirs, that no one\ndreams of going—would be to make\nan ordinary Manchester manufacturer\n©f bicycles, for example, or of motor\ncars, let us say, feel a little uncomfor-\ntable. He would certainly have some\nreason for believing that if the forty-\ntwo people lined up behind the foot-\nlights and yelling at him are in earnest,\nit is a slight on his whole existence\nand his manufactury, which, till he\nheard what he now hears, he always\nconsidered a going concern. To him all\nthis would be as prelude to a strike.\nBut all this will be put right if\nlibrettisti will only turn to ACCA (a) ;\nor managers and musicians turn to the\npoets, and a new leaf be turned over\nfor the public.\nOur readers still like us, we sup-\npose, to take it as granted that the\nPublic is not responsible for the state\nof its Theatres whether good or bad.\nWe most assuredly would like to believe\nthis now as we did formerly.\n(a) See page 19."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c090", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c090", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "43", "page_fin": "43", "image_debut": 47, "image_fin": 47, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.3", "titre_corps": "MADAME DUSE IN AMERICA", "titre_sommaire": "MADAME DUSE IN AMERICA", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "43", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 1819, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3320, "texte": "MADAME DUSE IN AMERICA.\nTHE Papers announced in October\nthat Madame Duse had arrived in\nNew York after an absense of more\nthan twenty years and had been en-\nthusiastically received. After this the\nPapers began a little exaggeration—we\nsuppose at the order of some distin-\nguished Impresario.\nShe was to be considered as the\nguest of the American Government.\nHer Baggage passed without inspec-\ntion.... 44 like an ambassador's. \" The\npolice were given orders to stop the\nNew York traffic wherever her auto\nmobile passed.\nIt is this sort of nonsense, this likening\nof actors and actresses to Ambassadors,\neven Kings, (only for Kings, and very\nrarely, is the traffic of a great city\nstopped), which renders the Theatre\nridiculous.... and it is we of the Theatre\nwho beg leave to say so. It renders it\nalso more and more of a failure—it\nundermines its strength.\nThere is of course not more than an\nounce of truth in those reports. Ma-\ndame Duse is above all performers the\nmost modest disliking that froth of deep\nfeeling, which short-sighted Impresarios,\nhowever distinguished,always employ with\nthe people of a nation whom they despise.\nWhen will all this tomfoolery stop\nthese unnecessarily distinguished impres-\nsario-isms be rendered valueless by the\nappearance of a real impresario who\nplays up to not down to the Publics\nof the world ? who really respects the\nintelligence of the American People.\nWhen Papyrus arrived in New\nYork he too was escorted by police\nthrough the traffic which was stopped."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c091", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c091", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "43", "page_fin": "43", "image_debut": 47, "image_fin": 47, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.4", "titre_corps": "SUBSTITUTES FOR WORDS", "titre_sommaire": "SUBSTITUTES FOR WORDS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "43", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 3322, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4171, "texte": "SUBSTITUTES FOR WORDS.\n44 T ET us have no deliberate substi-\nJL-i tutes for words in the Theatre. \"\nHarold Brighouse. (4t Writer of plays\nand fiction. \" ' Who's Who. ')\nWhy should this be ?—unless it be\nthe Theatre of Cochran's 44 Deauville\nBeach Nymphs. \"\n4 4 London said an important Daily\npaper in a paragraph written about\nthe time Mr Brighouse wrote, 44 has\n46 answered the challenge of Paris and\n44 New York in entering the bathing\n44 suit and swimming contest that will\n44 take place on the beach at Deau-\n-44 ville on July 21. Mr Charles Coch-\n-44 ran and Mr Albert de Courville\n44 announce that several girls from the\n44 London stage will be sent to com-\n-44 pete. \"\nInstead of attacking us, Mr Brig-\nhouse, Mr Ervine, Mr Turner and\nthe rest, why not attack Mr Cochran\nand Mr de Courville? Or is this the\nsort of thing you find reassuring ?"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c092", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c092", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "43", "page_fin": "43", "image_debut": 47, "image_fin": 47, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.5", "titre_corps": "A CRITICISM CRITICISED", "titre_sommaire": "A CRITICISM CRITICISED", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "43", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 4173, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5489, "texte": "A CRITICISM CRITICISED.\nA London journal says that when\nPavlova danced last season at\nCo vent Garden she was 44 the wonder\nshe ever was, \" and that when 44 she\nrepeated her two most famous poems in\nmovement of the old days—the Saint\nSaens 44 Swan \" and the 44 Autumn\nBacchanal \" of Glezunov—the most\njealous eye could not see any falling\naway. \"\nThat is all as it should be. But\nwhy no word about any advance ?\nHave any of our readers ever asked\na dancer whether she feels she has\nmade any progress in her art or not ?\nWe recall hearing the Great Dancer\nspeak of the progress she was making\nin 1920, and already she had outstripped\neveryone by immeasurable distances.\n(Is it necessary to say we refer to\nIsadora Duncan....).\nJust to start a ball rolling may we sug-\ngest that 44 wonder \" is a rare word and\none that we should not use too often.\nAs when folk cry 4 Oh * at a piece\nof silk, and 4 isn't it wonderful! ;'—\nor at a lady one admires and she\nwith but little that is at all to wonder\nat ;... or exclaim at any verse of poetry\nand at every drawing 44 oh wonder-\nful \\\" the most wonderful man, \"\nusing this word fifty times a week of\nfifty men, women or things.\nThere be a few wonderful men\nand women assuredly, but everyone\nwill not every day see a wonder\nthough it pass under the nose and all\ncomprehension."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c093", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c093", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "43", "page_fin": "44", "image_debut": 47, "image_fin": 48, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.6", "titre_corps": "CURSED HEBONA", "titre_sommaire": "CURSED HEBONA", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "43", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 5491, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6047, "texte": "CURSED H E B O N A\nExpressionism in the Theatre is being\nexplained to the English cliques, and\nthe English cliques are as usual eagerly\nsipping at the explanation, if not drink-\ning it in.\nMr Harold Brighouse, writer of\nplays and fiction, is lending a hand.\nSome one has told him that this same\nExpressionism comes... (hush, not a\nword)... from Eastern Europe—so n Ba-\nsingstoke it is 11 for Mr Brighouse. The\nsame Promptor has told him (taking\nhim aside)) that in Eastern Europe\n44 Men felt the Peace atrociously, and\nthere they saw dramatic means for the"}, {"page_pdf": 48, "page_imprimee": "44", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3796, "texte": "expression of their feelings. \" Oh, Mr\nSpence, come quickly comere and\ngasp with us,\nWhen in 1912 we were in Manches-\nter, Mr Brighouse's town, we were\nstruck with a thing which no one else\nfound at all unusual : we mean the\npresence of the foreigner. Chip chip\nchip chip....\nActively, pleasantly busy informing\neveryone who wrote, lectured, or could\nin any way spread the good word,\nexactly what was whaf... aathoritively...\nManchester listened like a lamb.\nAnd we suppose Mr Brighouse has his\npresent day information from the local\nforeigner in that big lounge in the big\nHotel: we forget its name.\nBefore the war it was one German\nin particular who would help :—now\nit is we suppose some gentleman from\nPrague on Russia or Scandinavia.\nMr Brighouse writes quite a long co-\nlumn of good stuff ahout Expressio-\nnism and goes wrong from first to last,\nWhen Mr Brighouse writes fiction he\ngoes right from start to finish.... for\nhe uses his own brains, „.his own eyes\nand ears, his own convictions. But in\nthis unfortunate article on n Expressio-\nnism n he is talking in his sleep. Upon\nhis secure hour, sleeping in his lounge,\nhis custom always of an afternoon R,\ndear Uncle has stolen with juice of\ncursed Hebona and into the porches of\npoor Harold's ear has poured the le-\nperous dope;... and as you see, instantly\nHarold has begun to babble of things;\nof the 44 older theatre \" of 1875-85,\nwhere 44 the thing heard was of more\nsignificance \" (signifying nothing,... tale\ntold by....) than the thing seen.\nMr Brighouse still keeps up the 1875\ntradition; when he hears something\ntold he still likes to doubt his own eyes.\nIn 1875 Sir Arthur Pinero was twenty\nyears old; Mr H. A, Jones was twenty-\nfour ; Mr Shaw nineteen ; Sir James\nBarrie fifteen. Mr Thomas Hardy, on\nthe other hand, had the remarkable good\nluck of being no age at all even as he\nis today, Mr W. B. Yeats, Mr Mase-\nfield and Mr Bottomley and a number\nmore seem to have had the same luck.\nThe result is that while Pinero,\nBarrie, Shaw and Jones and some\nhundred more give us acres of mangled\nwords, Hardy, Yeats, Masefield, Bot-\ntomley and some dozen more have\npreserved the magic of words. The\nrest of us should be content to label\ntheir books and plays 4 some words. *\nLet us for heaven's sake discriminate\nas Brighouse asks.\nExpressionism is just a label calling\nattention to a certain quality always\nvalued in art since the year 0ne,... le,\nexpression.\nEngland had it. Remember Ro-\nlandson, Defoe, Gainsborough, Byron,\nHogarth, Goldsmith, Turner, Blake,\nCharles Keane, Edmund Kean, Phil\nMay, Du Maurier, Beardsley, Tenniel.\nEngland still has its Nicholson, Pryde,\nBeerbohm, Symons, John, Huxley, Lewis,\nSavage, Strachey, dozens of them. Eu-\nrope has always had expressionists;\nDaumier, Callot, Macchiavelli, Piranesi,\nto pick out four from four hundred.\nAnd now England poses as wanting\nto lose this expression it being easier for\nnobodies to express less than more—and\nso a band of nobodies have been\nadvanced to seats and sit on the mat\nand stay there. Rolandson and the whole\nof the old English School preferred to\nrange free and expressed something.\nThat is all that expressionism is.\nMr St John Ervine tells us that\nnowadays it is the English Ladies who\n44 wont have it, \" and so expression must\ncease in our land because a few ladies\n44 wont have it. \"\nWho knows ? Mr St John Ervine\npossibly exaggerates.... but who knows ?\npossibly not Mr. Ervine. These mat-\nters must really be left to other ladies.\nOnly one prayer :—that the matter\nbe hurried np and settled one way or\nanother. Let us have either expressive\nor noncommittal art, but let us get on\nand over this prim talk, this pretentious\nreporting of mere hearsay; and stop en-\ncouraging folk to tinker at the expense of\nEngland with this cursed Hebona in a vial."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c094", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c094", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "44", "page_fin": "44", "image_debut": 48, "image_fin": 48, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.7", "titre_corps": "OLD PLAY BILLS", "titre_sommaire": "OLD PLAY BILLS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 48, "page_imprimee": "44", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 3798, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6000, "texte": "a OLD PLAY BILLS. o\nOF the many London Monthly Ma-\ngazines, few of which are dull*\nthe most interesting perhaps to us is\nthe Cornhill of October, on account\nof the valuable article upon <4 Old Pro-\nvincial Play Bills*' by Mr. M. J. Landa-\nAs a rule old Play Bills are a bore,\nbut why it is difficult to say. Every-\nthing about them bores, and yet they\npossess every attribute. The paper used\nin the olden times was so excellent,\nthe type very often admirable in form,\nthe setting up of the bill executed with\nconsiderable judgement and often with\na charming effect: the long shapes of\nthe English bills are fascinating; one\nfancies one sees them hanging over the\nbox edge, or one floating down from\nthe gallery; one hears the crinkling;\nnoise of them as the old play-goer\ncrunches one up to lock for Mrs Sid-\ndons's name.\nBut besides their typographical value\nand their sentimental charm (and let\nwho will lose this, we'll not), there is\ntheir undoubted historical value. And\nthis is not little.\nMr Landa proves it, and his article\nshould be secured by every serious stu-\ndent of the English Drama. Gadzooks,\nWe don't mean that we mean every stu-\ndent seriously studying the Dramatic\nworld of England. Mr Landa tells us\nthat there are 44 hundreds of thousands\nof old playbills bound in many huge\ntomes \" stored away in the cellars of\nthe British Museum. For the rest you\nmust get the Cornhill and see what\ntheir value is.\nAnd besides play bills this October\nnumber of the magazine has an excel-\nlent good thing called 44 Krishna Gowda\"\nby Mr Denny C. Stokes, quite worth\nslowly reading, ... if 1924 permits you\nto read slowly.\nWe like to take up such magazines\nmany months after they appear and\ndiscover if the contents have a lasting\nvalue or not. The Cornhill has. It's\nnot appallingly full of what the then\nMinister of This or That Office is\ngoing to do and thinks—which is a\nblessing, since no sooner is he a Mi-\nnister than he becomes something else\n—things travelling quite unnecessarily\nquickly these days.\nIn the same number is a good Note\non Cardinal de Retz by Maurice Hew-\nlett. But there are other good things\ntoo in that number.\nIf The Cornhill is always as good\nits a wonderful 1/6 worth."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c095", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c095", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "44", "page_fin": "44", "image_debut": 48, "image_fin": 48, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.8", "titre_corps": "THERE WERE GIANTS IN THOSE DAYS", "titre_sommaire": "THERE WERE GIANTS IN THOSE DAYS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 48, "page_imprimee": "44", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 6002, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6865, "texte": "THERE WERE GIANTS\no IN THOSE DAYS, o\n\" T TN gigante dell*Arte, Lorenzo\nv-/ Bernini (1508-1680) colla ma-\nravigliosa sua potenza si applico pure\nal teatro *'.\n44 A gigantic artist, Lorenzo Bernini\n(1508-1680), applied his marvellous\npower also to the theatre\n\" La Scenografia \". Ferrari.\n(Hoepli: Milano). page 119.\nWHAT a man! a marvel indeed.\nTo think that during his short\nspan of 172 years he had the time to\napply a moment to the teatro!\nOf Bernini John Evelyn writes: ™\n19th November.\n44 ....Bernini, a Florentine sculptor,\narchitect, painter, and poet, who, a\nlittle before my coming to the city\n(Rome), gave a public opera (for so\nthey call shows of that kind), wherein\nhe painted the scenes, cut the statues,\ninvented the engines, composed the\nmusic, writ the comedy, and built the\ntheatre ! !\n44 Diary of John Evelyn\nedited by W. Bray. Vol. //,\npage 118."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c096", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c096", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "45", "page_fin": "45", "image_debut": 49, "image_fin": 49, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.9", "titre_corps": "ON A LONDON CRITIC", "titre_sommaire": "ON A LONDON CRITIC", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "45", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.49", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6071, "texte": "ON A LONDON CRITIC.\nMR St John Ervine, one of the\nmost lively of the English dra-\nmatic critics of the last three years,\nwhose weekly column or two in 44 The\nObserver \" was always vivid, has gone\nfrom 44 The Observer \" and from Drama-\ntic Criticism.\nOnly for a time, we hope, for the\nrare gift of allowing some genuine life\nto get into a weekly article on a dreary\ntheme (and the London Theatre ques-\ntions have become dreary, not to use\na harder word) is a very precious\nthing.\nNot that Mr Ervine is ever at all\nprecious in the weak sense of the\nword; he is sturdy, attacks well, praises\noften as well, and is altogether a va-\nluable asset. No one less than Ervine\nneeds that said of him: it is quite\napparent.\nBut Ervine's fault was a particu-\nlarly useless fault. It served no one,\nand was one his Editor might .have\ncured him of.\nWe do not allude to his harsh su-\nperior manner,—a harsh superior man-\nner is often what is wanted in a cri-\ntic. Nor does his seeming lack of\ndepth of feeling count, (the feeling\nwas very shallow in his last 44 Ob-\nserver \" article where he bids adieu).\nThe fault was more obvious, and\nis this :\nDissatisfied with the stage in Eng-\nland, he failed to call for the men\nobviously needed by the English stage.\nSuch an attitude would have been all\nvery proper in a man like Clement\nScott who saw the English Theatre of\nhis day as all that was to be desired.\nAll right it is in vany man satisfied\nwith existing things. But when tho-\nroughly dissatisfied with the stage as\nwas Ervine, it was a grave fault not\nto have seen more clearly that the\nsole way to strengthen the stage is to\ninsist on every one of the best men\nbeing put into power.\nThis he failed to do. He would\npraise third-rate men at the expense\n(to the public) of the first-rate men.\nHe would praise a third-rate book on\nthe Theatre and dispraise a first-rate\none. His plea might be that, Honest\nInjun, he wrote what he thought;—if\nso it becomes clear that he thought\nvery little and not very long.\nWe say this remembering that the\nEnglish Theatre was and is still not\nmaking use of her best men.\n\" Since Ervine was for ever lamen-\nting how hard it was to get London\nmanagers to accept good work \" wrote\nPeter Mc Brien in the 44 Irish Inde-\npendent 44 it was not his place to\ndecry good things \".\nWe also want to know from Er-\nvine himself some day what it was he\ndid with his energy on the Publicity\nsub-committee at the Victoria & Al-\nbert Museum in 1922. We saw very\nfew signs of that energy : practically not\none rousing article appeared from his\npen, and such an Exhibition will not\nbe seen again for many a long year.\nOn his sub-committee were six\nothers: Mr Whitworth, very energe-\ntic ; Mr Hardie; Mr Shipp; Mr Payne;\nMr Ivor Fraser and Mr E. O. Hoppe.\nMr Hardie had a thousand other\nduties and attended to them: Mr Whit-\nworth plenty ; but Ervine, clearly the\nman for the job, seemed somehow to\nlack the gift for working with other\npeople.... He failed to ppol his in-\ntelligence with that of the other six\nwith minds of their own. He neglec-\nted his duties, for it was obviously his\nduty to make London ring with news\nof this Exhibition. 44 The Observer \"\nmight have given a whole page to the\nassembled talents of these European\nworkers for a New Theatre, for it\nlater on gave its principal page, (and\nMr Garvin touched it with his own\nparticular wand) to a Theatrical matter\nand at a moment which were not psy-\nchologically the matter or the moment.\nIf 44 The Observer \" missed fire for\nonce, it was because Ervine had spiked\na gun. We hope some day to hear\nthe reason for this sudden panic.\nBefore he shook the dust off his\nfeet Mr St John Ervine was speaking\nat the dinner of the Authors* Club,\nin October last, on the subject of\n44 Novels and Plays \", and said we\nwere passing through a period of tran-\nsition from masculine to feminine. Eve-\nrything was at the same time deterio-\nrating. Owing to feminine predomi-\nnance tragedy vanished, and its place\nwas taken by comedy. Every healthy\nand strong nation delighted in tragedy,\nand every weak and flabby nation\ncould not bear it.\nWhen writers got back to tragedy,\ngloom, and misery they would help to\nget a healthy race again. If they wan-\nted to get the world back on to\ndecent lines they had to start off with\nthe gloomiest possible view of it.\nIt is not often that we find ourselves\nin sympathy with Mr. St. John Ervine :\nbut here, in away, we do.\nBut we object that Mr Ervine\ndoesn't jguite understand the problem\neven now: he understands so much\nand yet not enough.\nWhat is all this about Tragedy....\nas though it were the cause of 44 a heal-\nthy race \" ? It is one of the effects of\na healthy race* As for 44 the gloomiest\npossible view of the world getting the\nworld back on to decent lines \", we\nfeel quite sure, with Mr Ervine, that\ngloom can help, but it can't do what\nhe thinks.\nThe gloom of Tchekov and Do-\nstojevsky, or Tolstoi and Turgueneff\ndid something, we suppose, to help\nRussia; ancL yet we would as soon\nhave things different up there as we\nwould have them different in London.\nA Tzar may not be all they wan-\nted : another Tzar might have been :\nbut to croak out, 44 We want a stork,\nwe are dying for a tragic stork, a\nterrible stork is essential to us \", seems\nto be overdoing it. Those people who,\nby the aid of the fine-mannered if\ndismal Cinema and the confidential if\nhusky 44 Whispering in \" of the wire-\nless always learn so much, are apt to\nmiss very much too.\n44 Gloomy tragedy, not afraid to\nlook death in the face \" (vide Tche-\nkov) did a little harm to Russia if\nwe mistake not.\nNo : emphatically and regretfully no,\nthat mixture is not to be taken either\nafter or before meals.\nFine Tragedy, Comedy, Farce,\nDance, Song, Verse, Prose all come\nalong grandly after a Nation has been\nto the trouble to shake itself.\nIf ours really shook itself now,\nMr Ervine for one would certainly\nfall off its back.\nA STORK IS ESSENTIAL.\nGo : you may call it madness, folly ;\nYou shall not chase my gloom away\nsuch a charm in melancholy\nI would not if I could be gay.\nSamuel Rogers. (1763-1855)."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c097", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c097", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "45", "page_fin": "46", "image_debut": 49, "image_fin": 50, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.10", "titre_corps": "THE R. A. D. A., LONDON", "titre_sommaire": "THE R. A. D. A., LONDON", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "45", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.49", "debut_caractere": 6073, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6811, "texte": "THE R. A. D. A., LONDON.\nLAST year the Royal Academy of\nDramatic Art gave an exhibition of\nwhat its pupils could do at the Globe\nTheatre.\nAs this Academy has a full-sized lit-\ntle Theatre of its own, we are curious\nto know why this Theatre was not used\nfor the exhibition. Can any reader\ninform us ?\nMr Mervyn Johns won the gold\nmedal: Miss Rita Page won the sil-\nver one: and Miss Madge Bellairs the\nbronze medal. Miss Juliet Manse won\nthe 44 Grein French prize \",—but what\nthis is, whether composed of a mixture\nof gold, bronze, silver or of good\nfresh lead, we have not yet been in-\nformed.\nThe 44 Manchester Guardian ** as-\nserts that the idea behind the Royal\nAcademy of Dramatic Art 44 is still\nwhat it was ten years ago—that is, to"}, {"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "46", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1127, "texte": "make good plastic tfiaterial for the\nproducer rather than stimulate the ih-\ndividual's creative instinct and adds\nthat 44 the present educational methods\nwill help the poor in spirit at the\nexpense of thdse who have a real\nspark within them\nWe hardly think that Mr. Johns,\nMiss Page, Miss Bellairs and Miss\nManse will agree with the 44 Man-\nchester Guardian and for our part\nwe can only hope that the 44 Guar-\ndian \" is for once incorrect.\nThe reporter in 44 The Observer \"\nsaid that 44 students are less certain\nabout their enunciation than they might\nbe..., ,f and that 44 many of them suffer\nfrom unmusical voices H. We hope\nthat too is all a gross libel. And we\ncan but believe that there is still plenty\nof room for this Royal Academy and\nplenty of work for it to do.\nAnd how strange it seems that this,\nthe second Royal Academy of Dramatic\nArt, should have taken so long to\ncome into existence. The first was\nfounded in opened by the\nPrince of Wales in 1865, and disap-\npeared suddenly in 1877. Thackeray\nand Dickens were two of the promo-\ntors who urged it into existence and\nthen let it die.\n1877 seems a long time ago,"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c098", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c098", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "46", "page_fin": "46", "image_debut": 50, "image_fin": 50, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.11", "titre_corps": "ON AN ITALIAN THEATRE", "titre_sommaire": "ON AN ITALIAN THEATRE", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "46", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 1129, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3033, "texte": "ON AN ITALIAN THEATRE\nLAST year, at the period of the\nmost acute crisis of the 44 Teatro\ndegli Italiani M founded in Rome* the\nPresident of the Council, Signor Mus-\nsolini, commissioned Senator Enrico\nCorradini to carry out an enquiry to\nestablish the vitality or not of the at-\ntempt. Senator Corradini in August\n1923 forwarded to the President oj\nthe Council a letter in which he said .\n44 Your Excellency,\n44 In execution of the esteemed com-\n-44 mission entrusted to me by you I\n44 have examined the situation of the\n44 Teatro degli Italiani \". Unfortunately\n44 the situation, both as regards the\n44 criteria of the foundation and struc-\n-44 ture proved such as to be una-\n-44 ble to be taken as basis for any\n44 reform and any improvement. This\n44 being so, I do not hold it oppor-\n-44 tune to involve the State in any\n44 expenditure. I beg your Excellency\n44 to receive the expressions of my\n\" profound devotion.\n44 Enrico Corradini\nAfter that the President of the\nCouncil decided to take no further in-\nterest in the fate of the enterprise.\nNo\\V what on earth is the meaning\nbi this lack of ability on the part of\nan Italian Theatre to avail itself of an\nattempt to re-establish it—or a part of\nit ? 44 Mysterious \" as seem all the ways\nof the Theatre, this seems curiously\nincompetent.\nThe Italian actors are brilliant... are\nborn 50.... are the genuine actors. Can\nit be that they instinctively mistrust\n44 organization \" ? Some sense in that.\nAnd yet while most northern Thea-\ntres have organization, and nothing\nelse, the Italian Theatre has all else\nand only lacks a measure of organi-\nzation.\nOr are we wrong here ? Does the\nItalian Theatre know itself—does it\nfear lest it might lose its dash, its po-\nwers to do so well if it took even the\nlightest yoke on its shoulders ?\nWell, we are always prepared to\ndiscover that everything the Italian\ntheatre does from instinct is as right\nas rain."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c099", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c099", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "46", "page_fin": "46", "image_debut": 50, "image_fin": 50, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.12", "titre_corps": "NOTICE", "titre_sommaire": "NOTICE", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "46", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 3035, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3784, "texte": "NO T I C E\nTHERE have appeared lately more\nthan once in the Press two erroneous\nstatements in regard to The Mask :\nfirst, that it is edited by Mr Gordon\nCraig at Rapallo ; second, that its first\neight volumes were written by him.\nSuch reports are incorrect.\nThe Mask remains in the same\nhands as heretofore. Its home is still\nin Florence, and it is edited, as it\nhas been from the first, by Mr John\nSemar.\nMr Craig continues to send, as\nhitherto, his contributions.\nIn regard to the second error, the\nIndexes of the first eight volumes have\nonly to be consulted for it to be seen\nthat, while Mr Craig has contributed\nlargely to them, and certainly has a\ncapacity for work, they were not all\nwritten by him. Such a feat were\nsurely an impossible one."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c100", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c100", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "46", "page_fin": "46", "image_debut": 50, "image_fin": 50, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.13", "titre_corps": "ANNOUNCEMENT", "titre_sommaire": "ANNOUNCEMENT", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "46", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 3786, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4367, "texte": "o ANNOUNCEMENT, o\nTHE pages of the next number of\n44 The Mask \\ to appear in April,\nwill be mainly devoted to Poets, Plays,\nPlaywrights and Play-Writers, with\nsome special consideration of the Dra-\nmatic work of Mr Thomas Hardy,\nMr W. B. Yeats, Mr John Masefield\nand other modern poets, and of the\nplays of Signor Pirandello, Mr Milne,\nMr Granville Barker and M. Moli£re :\nalso with some observations on the\nplays of Blake, Keats, Coleridge and\nthe unknown author of Maistre Pierre\nPathelin: together with some notes\non Melodrama, on Opera and its\nlibretto and on Incidental Music,"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c101", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c101", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "46", "page_fin": "46", "image_debut": 50, "image_fin": 50, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.14", "titre_corps": "AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT", "titre_sommaire": "AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "46", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 4369, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4689, "texte": "AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.\nWE have pleasure in acknowledging\nthe courtesy of Grand Ufficiale\nBemporad, of Florence, who kindly\naided us towards securing the reproduc-\ntion of 44 Li Buffoni (Plate I);\nand of the Victoria and Albert Mu-\nseum, South Kensington, for having\nenabled us to reproduce the Stage\nScene shown in Plate 2."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1924-01-01-c102", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01#c102", "volume": "bmtnaau_1924-01_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "46", "page_fin": "46", "image_debut": 50, "image_fin": 50, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.2.30.15", "titre_corps": "TO ALL OUR READERS", "titre_sommaire": "TO ALL OUR READERS", "signature_source": "J. S", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "46", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 4691, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5487, "texte": "TO ALL OUR READERS.\nJ. S.\nWITH the aim of keeping in touch\nwith every endeavour towards\nfine achievement in theatre work, as well\nin remote parts as in large centres,\nwe invite our readers all over the\nworld to cooperate with us by sending\nus news of effort and advance in any\nand every line of such work, giving\nus dates and details. We shall wel-\ncome reports of fresh endeavours in\nbuilding, scenic work and organization,\nwith pictures, photos and plans ; news •\nof plays which are really original, and\nreports of acting, too, and new ac-\ntors ; in short, of all that tends towards\na higher standard in whatever line.\nEven if the actor be only a begin-\nner, the endeavour only in its infancy,\nlet us hear of them, if the right spirit\nbe manifest in them, the right signs\nevident in their work."}]}], "pages_ocr_originales": [{"page_pdf": 1, "page_imprimee": "1", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.1", "texte": "The Mask\n1908 1924\n\nFOREWORD\nAFTER THE PRACTICE THE THEORY.\n\nIN many a volume these past years \" The Mask \" has\nr attacked those people and tendencies which were\nbaulking the advance of the English Stage.\nIt did not set out to do so before it had first made\nvery sure as to what these people and tendencies were,\nand how they went against the best traditions of the\nTheatre.\nBut it was not only to the English Stage that we\naddressed ourselves; it was also to other Theatres in other\nlands. And since 1908, when our first volume appeared,\nthere is scarcely a Theatre which has not written to us\nthanking us for our work, scarcely a dramatist or performer\nbut has shown us how well it is acknowledged that our\nwork has not been thrown away. Nearly all have realized\nour direction to be the right one, and for this we are\nvery grateful to them, and proud to continue to be of\nservice so long as they continue to encourage us.\nThe English Theatre has been considerably less cordial"}, {"page_pdf": 2, "page_imprimee": "2", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.2", "texte": "than it might have been, and for this reason: a\nreason best illustrated by the following example.\nSuppose, only suppose, us to have asserted that actors\nshould always use Masks and never show their real faces.\nNo foreign actor has ever considered such an assertion\nto imply a personal insult, an impossibility, or a preposterous\nnotion. To the foreign actor the question of \"to mask\nor not to mask \" has been a topic of eager or indifferent\nconversation for a century or longer. But mention a mask\nin England, and stage and critical agitation sets in.\nAgain, mention \" Improwisation \" and Britain once\nmore becomes troubled.\n... mention anything with which we are not very\nfamiliar familiar to boredom and up bristles an\nutterly needless animosity to what other lands consider quite\npossible and possibly well worth while.\nAnd so it comes to pass that the other lands have\nbenefitted by those little suggestions, mostly derived from\nancient sources, we have from time to time put forward,\nwhereas England has not benefitted.\nWe printed our journal in English and others than\nthose of the English tongue took the trouble to read us.\nThe foreigner has not that chronic antipathy to a new\nsuggestion which seems to possess theatrical groups of\npeople in England, who, having protested, more than often\ngo quickly round the corner and sell the new suggestion\nfor money.\nYour foreigner has liked or disliked our suggestions:\nhas used or rejected them : has sold them or has exchanged\nthem with us for some kind word: but he has never\n\" deplored \" with comic indignation our daring to occupy\nourselves with a matter that concerned us, and our venturing\nto suggest improvements."}, {"page_pdf": 3, "page_imprimee": "3", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.3", "texte": "From the North, from Holland, Germany and Russia,\nall sorts of vibrating messages of good-will have come.\nBut, even more and better, good understanding.\nFrom the centre, Switzerland, all kinds of friendliness\nand often assistence.\nFrom France precious words of help.\nFrom Italy, unceasing encouragement and appreciation.\nFrom Japan interest and good will.\nAnd of course from America.\nFrom all those Theatres which one calls the most\nadvanced (a) has come a friendliness such as the English\nTheatre seems unable either to formulate or pronounce\npossibly not feeling at all friendlily.\nIn England there are half a dozen theatres of this\nkind, only considerably less active than those on the Con-\ntinent. One of the things they have shelved as unneces-\nsary has been to send to us the good word to which\nwe refer. Not one English Company has sent us its good\nwishes through its Director: many Foreign Theatres have\ndone so.\nAnd if anyone takes the trouble to look through\n\" The Mask \" he will see that our whole attitude has been\none of outstretched hands to the more advanced and more\nwide-awake Theatres of our own Land.\nIt can be seen that we were turned towards these\ntheatres looking for some sign of friendly cooperation.\n_ ▼ /> ' _ 1 i\nNot one sign of any such good will from them has\nreached us.\nLet them accordingly blame themselves but not us\n■— if we begin to wonder if we have not made a mistake\nin imagining they are advancing at all.\n\n(a) Even the word advanced is jeered at in England, as though to advance were not the aim of everyone\nand everything."}, {"page_pdf": 4, "page_imprimee": "4", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.4", "texte": "Well, you, our friends in France, in Holland, in\nSwitzerland, in Italy, in Russia, Germany and America,\nyou at any rate are not tongue-tied: possess large-hearted\nunderstanding of what constitutes human endeavour.... and;\nwe welcome this opportunity to salute you from afar and\nto say that even when seeming most critical we are ever\nconscious of your friendliness to us, and are ever friendly to you.\ni m\nAnd greetings, too, to our friends in England, ...to the\npoets, poet-dramatists, painters, writers, architects, musicians\nand our other readers.\nAs you know well, we have not stood for your an-\nnexation of the Theatre; indeed, we have been at times\npossibly a little too blunt in saying that only Theatre men\ncould legitimately claim to guide the development of the\nTheatre.\nThis has not offended you, ...you are who you are. I\nAnd we are not at all sure that we may not before\nvery long be looking to you to do the work which all the\nworld has looked to our English theatre men to do, and,\ntill now, has looked in vain.\n\nJ. S."}, {"page_pdf": 5, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.5", "texte": "A STAGE SCENE: AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY DESIGN OF THE ITALIAN SCHOOL.\nThe original drawing in pen and ink was and is preserved at the\nVictoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. Numbered 2266,\nIt is attributed to the Galli Family (ie: Bibiena).\nIt is from the Collection of Sir Thomas Lawrence R. A,\nWe should not say it was by any of the Family Galli, but rather by some\none later: possibly Gonzaga (1750 ? - 1831). Compare with Tav. LVII\n”La Scenografia“ (Ferrari).\nPlate 2.\n\n.4E MASK\n924"}, {"page_pdf": 7, "page_imprimee": "5", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.7", "texte": "TOWARDS UNITY.\nAFTER THE PRACTICE THE THEORY.\n\nThe following article by Mr Monkhouse (b. 1858) is\nreprinted by his hind permission from The Man-\nchester Guardian \" of April 6th 1923.\nNo one needs to be reminded that Mr is\none of the foremost Dramatic Critics of Great\na novelist and play-Writer of no mean order. His Club\nbeing the Dramatists of which Sir Arthur Pinero 1855)\nis the President, and doubtless Mr Jones {b. 1851) and\nSir James Barrie (b. 1860) members, it is all the more\ndelightful that this, as so many of his articles on things\nDramatic, shines with the good sun of toleration: (\nmalicious will mutter \"condescension and it is healthy\nin the malicious to mutter). Mr . we must\nremember, belongs to no \"Old School \", but he is,\nwith Pinero, Jones and most of the riper play-writers, a\nfew years older than the members of the New Movement.\nIn every age youth, when it feels like it, should dash\nahead and the youth in the New Movement felt like\nit: no harm in that. In dashing ahead youth is apt\nto be a little rough how else would it clear the ditches\nand hedges which the age goes on digging and plan-\nting. It is apt to forget the very little ordinary fact\nthat after all your elders, if not your betters, are your\nelders. And when your elders have the advantage of\n\nContinued on Page 6.\n\nTHE MASK'S CREED.\nREPRINTED ONCE MORE\nTO MAKE QUITE SURE.\n\nNEED THE MASK make any\nprotestations of faith this year ?M.\nYou know its beliefs. Do you think\nthey will change today ?... Why should\nthey ?\nNothing is more easy than that it\nshould remain staunch to its Cause.\nIt is a Cause which, when it bears\nfruit, will bring a little benefit to\neverybody.\nBut as that Cause is always being\nmisrepresented and belittled by those\ncurious folk who seem to want the\nworld to stand still so that they may\nmake a remark and ten per cent, let\nus once more rehearse the Creed.\nq THE MASK BELIEVES in The\nTheatre and in!; The Drama whether\nwritten, acted, sung or spoken.\nq THE MASK BELIEVES m it all.\nq THE MASK BELIEVES in the\nActor and in the Actress.\nqIT BELIEVES in the Marion-\nnettes and in Masks,\nq IT BELIEVES in Sceneries and\nMusics and in Dancing, in Dancers,\nMusicians, Scenographers and Dra-\nmatists,\nq BELIEVES in every blessed or\ncursed ever was, is or shall\nbe in The Theatre.... if Theatrical.\nq BELIEVES in The Theatre of\nEurope and; in the Theatre of Ame-\nrica. Not alone in one local Thea-\ntrical group.\n$1 BELIEVES in, and venerates, the\ngreat Asiatic Theatre.\nq IT BELIEVES in the FUTURE\nOF THE THEATRE.... not alone\nin the future of a phase of the Lon-\ndon, Paris, or Honolulo Theatre, but\nin]; the whole.\nq IT LOVES AND ADORES all\nthat can be called The Theatre.\nq IT IS ENTRANCED by the -Thea-\ntrical. \" Which some day is to be-\ncome the Theatrical without inverted\ncommas.\nIT LOVES the dust and the rags\nand the paint and the daub and dirt\nof the Old Theatre its ancient\n5me11.,., its strange air.... its queer\nways.... ALL.\nHOW SHOULD - THE MASK \"\nNOT LOVE IT ALL ?\nq As for those who misrepresent THE\nMASK, tell them from me that W9\nknow our own Mother, and what she\nexpects of us, and that no one but\nshe shall dictate to us our duty.\nq THE THEATRE is our Mother.\nIts arms encircle the Globe. It is not"}, {"page_pdf": 8, "page_imprimee": "6", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.8", "texte": "Parochial,... not hypocritical.... not pa-\nthetic.... not pious.... not puffed up....\nstarched or spotless. Not a piece of\nVirtue without any goodness, but\nHuman.\nIts faults become ours.\nDo you suppose we shall not love\nthese faults.... What?\nOr do you suppose either that we\nshall tolerate them in ourselves for\nlong*... What ?\nIf our Home is not quite as perfect\nas that of the other Muses it can be....\nand so it shall be.\nGive us time to put it in better\norder....\nGive us bricks to build the founda-\ntions of a new one.\nSend no more incompetents to our\naid. .. send no more advice, no more\nweak-kneed patrons.... send us more\nsolid assistance if you wi11.... reliable\nmen and enough money...4, we need\nboth.\nAnd help us by routing misrepre-\nsentation.\nq YOU, OUR READERS AND\nENCOURAGERS, nail the lies to the\ndoors of the liars...,\nThe Tarradiddle that we want no\nDrama.\nThe Yarn that we want nothing but\nScenery.\nThe Whopper that we despise the\nActor.... that we wish to glorify the\nProducer 0n1y.... that our theories are\nrash innovations, are not based upon\nthe oldest and best traditions.... And\nthat special fib of the fib-mongers, that\nwe are exclusive, that we want a pre-\ncious Theatre de Luxe.... nail it up ! !\nWe exclude nothing except the non-\nDramatic.... the non-Theatrical; and\nthe great traditions we reverence.\nWe include all and every good\nform of Theatre in our Programme,\nwe do not exclude the worst : already\nwe have changed some of the worst\ntheatres into good ones.\nSo Trace the lies up and down the\ncities to the housedoors of the liars\nand nail them there. Do that part of\nthe work for us and we will do\nthe rest.\nq. And say besides that it was I who\nasked you to do so on behalf of THE\nMASK and the Dramatic Genius of\nthe World.\n\nGORDON CRAIG.\n\nsome fifteen to twenty-two years of you and yet remain as\nyoung as you are, your young men are apt to decide on\nan immediate spurt. Over they go. Some tumble and\npick up again.... some speed far ahead ....anyhow on\ngoes the race. And it is exceptionally delightful to\nfind Mr Monkhouse with us all, though of course he\ncannot subscribe to every one of our dash-ahead\nsuggestions.\nWe would like to see many more with us in the\nsame sense; and we hope it is not all our fault that\nour big group has lacked their pleasant and honourable\npresence so long.\n\nJ. S.\n\nPERPETUAL MOTION.\nBY ALAN NOBLE MONKHOUSE.\nm\nSOME plain people who like good plays must\nbe getting a little puzzled over this talk\nabout presentation and representation, symbolism\nand expression, and would like to understand\nmore about the New Movement. It seems that\nat various stages of the drama's history its ele-\nments get out of proportion to one another;\nthe author may be the person of chief importance,\nor the actor, or even the producer. The pro-\nducer is getting something of an innings now,\nand the literary man is invited to take a wide\nview, to recognize production as a great art,,\nscenery as at least as important as the \" literary\nfragment \", and \" realism \"as obsolete. Poor\nliterature ! Poor literary dramatists! They had\nthought that with the growth of interest in\ndrama they were going to have a chance at\nlast. The repertory theatre brought a little mild\nenthusiasm for them, but repertory proved to be\nan uphill job, and was almost effaced by the\nwar. Certainly it gave to Manchester the most\n\n(1) It Was Mr Craig who drew our attention to this article and wrote\nMr Monkhouse that he would like to make some comments on it. These\ncomments, \" For Plain People \" follow this article."}, {"page_pdf": 9, "page_imprimee": "7", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.9", "texte": "interesting phase of the theatre it has ever had,\nand in Birmingham and elsewhere it is still\nalive. But I fancy that, moving with the times, the\npresent repertory theatres are a little shy of the\nmodern prose play.\n* It is no new experience for the author to\nbe slighted. I read the other day a story by\nMr. Booth Tarkington about a play which was\nconceived and written as a study in egoism.\nThe great actor who was to play the chief\npart, however, preferred nobility, and so the part\nbecame nobler and nobler till it was completely\nturned round. The author was told that he was\nquite mistaken in imagining that what he had\nwritten was a play. \" A play isn't something\nyou read; it's something actors do on a stage;\nand they can't afford to do it unless the public\npays to watch 'em. If it won't buy tickets\nyou haven't got a play; you've only got some\ntypewriting \". There we are! Our efforts are\nreduced to some typewriting. Mr Tarkington's\nactor thought, too, that he would like to play\nSt. Paul in silver armour: \" Play it as a spi-\nritual character, but not solemn.... Have the\nwhole play spiritual but light \". Evidently he\nhad the notion. St. Paul in silver armour,\nclearly, is not representational, not realistic. Yet\nMr. Tarkington, whose tale was written a de-\ncade ago, appears to think that the phase he\ndescribes is obsolete. The difference is that\nthe actor-manager he describes was a blatant\ncreature whom we may scorn; the later enemy\nto the literary dramatist's peace is a cultivated\nman with all the arts at his finger-ends and the\nproportions all right. Perhaps the \" literary-\nminded critics \" have thought too much of lite-\nrature, and now they are nervous and puzzled\nas to what the New Movement is up to. Is\nthe art of the dramatist to be lonely work no\n\nSOTTOVOCE.\nSOME SIDE NOTES ON\nA LEADING ARTICLE .\nn The awful mistake would be to\npermit it to get about that some of us\nthink New Movements must be simply\nrubbish and that Mr. Gordon Craig, for\ninstance, is negligible n. (Monkhouse).\nIT would be a still graver mistake if\nit were allowed to get about that\nwe cannot reverence the true dramatic\nwriter and value his presence in our\ntheatres.\nAs grave an error as it would be\nto dream that we can confound the\ntrue dramatic writers with the false\nones.\nOur first test of a play is, can it\nact ? But our second test (and it is\nno slight one either) is the quality of\nthe material,—the way it is made—\nthe style. If it show the signs of\nhaving been made to suit a cheap\ntaste, pandering to a narrow-minded,\nnarrow-hearted section of the public,\nwe find it bad. If its subject is petty\nand its treatment as petty when judged\nby the highest English standards we\nfind it bad.\nThe truth which cannot be avoided\nis that we have a very great English\nstandard.\nSHAKESPEARE and the Eliza-\nbethans.\nSHERIDAN and the Georgians.\nOur moderns are not so behindhand\nwhen we consider that the whole race\nof Dramatic authors has been tied\ndown for some hundred years—tied\nup—-gagged, and then told, You are\nfree, gentlemen ; express —yourselves....\nThe poets have expressed them-\nselves. Perhaps their noble muse found\na way to penetrate the place into\nwhich the more pedestrian muse was\nunable to pass.\nBut the prose dramatic writers have\nnot quite found their old voice.\nIt was a hard thing to laugh gaily\nand cry 41 all's well in a world ren-\ndered obscure as a dungeon—cold as\nstone;—in a world where the ma-\nchine up to now has not either justi-\nfied its existence or rendered us a jot\nmore human.\nSo the prose dramatists chatted over\nit with us in our drawing-room plushy\ntheatres and did what they thought\nwas best.\nPerhaps it was not possible for them\nto lead their audiences—so may-be it\nwas just as well to talk it over —\nagreeing — arguing — putting problems"}, {"page_pdf": 10, "page_imprimee": "8", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.10", "texte": "new to the new race but old and\ndone with by the race gone by.\nAll this may be so :\nBut we must go on. The Theatre\nmust advance or slip back down the\nslope. It must even offend the new\nrace by its attitude, laugh the stalls\nand dress-circle out of themselves—or\nrather out of the mood which the\nage has forced these two groups to\nput\" on.\nIndeed we can reverence the true\ndramatic prose writer—and we await\nhis coming among the poets.\n\" The man of genius.'* (Monkhouse).\n*\nPERHAPS the fact that discrimi-\nnation in regard to genius, and\nrespect for it, is less usual in England\nthan in other lands, helps to explain\nsome of our Theatre as well as our\nother deficiencies.\nMR Thomas Kelly, wandering this\nsummer in England, came to the\nvillage of Somersby where Tennyson\nlived and wrote.\nThere he met with a man on the\nroad \" who leaned against a white gate\nacross which was hung a bundle of\nrabbits He talked awhile of Ten-\nnyson, ending up with \" what good is\npoetry, Mister? You'd may-be write\nit yourself, but what I want to know\nis this. Can any poet tell me why I\ncan get but ten-pence a pair for\nthem rabbits as'll be sold in Grimsby\ntomorrow for one-and-six each ? Can\nany poet explain that for me? \"\nNow in Italy (may-be in other\nlands) if you speak of a poet and his\nverse to a peasant, or to a commercial\ntraveller, to the average man, he will\nrise to the theme, not drag it down to\nthe meaner level of one-and-six.\nDante, or Carducci, or D'Annunzio,\nis \"un uomo di genio \" \" a man of\ngenius \".\nI asked a quite ordinary traveller in\na train who was reading in the paper\nof a speech D'Annunzio had just made\nin Roma, whether the poet had said\nanything sensible. In a grave plain\nface his eye moved with fire as he\nanswered me without any other gesture\nat all, \" Of course; he is a man of ge-\nnius \"; and he said this as who should\nsay \" How could he not speak with\nthe truest sense, for a man who has\ngenius can but utter the nearest thing to\ntruth \". In Italy your ordinary man\nutters the word genius now and again\nwithout feeling he has to apologize,\nahd without the awkward habitual\ncough.\nIt may be that one reason why we\nhave no National Theatre in England\n\nlonger? Will first-rate dramatists submit to col-\nlaboration? Is a play to be the production of\nvarious artists working together in harmony (like\nthe contributors to a musical comedy) or of one\nmasterful person with a smattering of all the\narts? Must the dramatist of the future be adept\nat music, painting, lighting, architecture, furniture,\ndancing ? It would narrow the field considerably.\nAnd already a good-deal has been done in collabo-\nration. Big actor-managers have often insisted\non it, and their simple method was to bully\nauthors into accepting their cuts or their addi-\ntions. Those who would , have their work on\nthe stage can hardly be adamantine in their\negoism. For instance, Gilbert and Sullivan made\na success of their work, and though, I suppose,\nSullivan was the man of genius and Gilbert\nonly a man of talent, the latter must have directed\nthe course of the enterprise. An* two men ride\nof a horse, one must ride behind, and the dra-\nmatist wants to know which it will be. Some\nof the repertory producers were almost touchingly\nreverential towards the dramatist's scrip; but\nhow is it to be with the super-producer? I don't\nknow. We must wait and see. The awful\nmistake would be to permit it to get about that\nsome of us think New Movements must be\nsimply rubbish, and that Mr Gordon Craig, for\ninstance, is negligible. Every sensible person\nagrees that he is not, and it is notable that\nhe has often had a good word for theatrical\nenterprise that is hardly within his own scope.\nDoubtless there is a New Movement, but\nit isn't always easy to distinguish its manifesta-\ntions from those of the old. That the theatre\nis not simply a matter of words is clear to\nanybody who has been even to a modern panto-\nmime. The transformation scene may sometimes\nbe garish, but put it into the hands of a man"}, {"page_pdf": 11, "page_imprimee": "9", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.11", "texte": "of genius! I confess that, though I used to find\nit splendid, I preferred the words 44 Here we\nare again \". And, indeed, the New Movement\npeople will make a great mistake if they under-\nvalue words. It is words that last when\nactors are in their graves and pageants leave\nnot a wrack behind. And it would be a mis-\ntake, too, to think that there is no vitality left\nin the modern prose play. The majority of\nintelligent people who go to the theatre prefer\nit to any other, though they may constantly be trying\nto like sorts which they think will do them good.\nWhat we want is good plays ; it hardly matters\nwhat sort. Let us take innovation in a friendly\nspirit, the spirit of pragmatism. Let us have poe-\ntical plays, fantastic plays, plays in which the set-\nting is something more than a stale convention.\nLet us have symbolic plays, always remembering\nthat few people are ready to follow far along\nthe route of symbolism. Perhaps the symbolists\nwill slip in their essentials while they capture\ntheir public by pageantry, and we may remember\nthat Shakespeare foisted his poetry upon the world\nby means of old melo dramas and hackneyed stories.\nWe are told that words have been of less\naccount in the theatre than many of us suppose,\nbut one has a good deal of confidence in words.\nIt is for us to 44 keep the young generation in\nhail but the writer of plays certainly would\nnot be content to provide the libretto for a\nbackground. Perhaps this isn't putting it quite\nfairly. Those of us who are provided only with\n44 some typewriting \" would be sorry to be ruled out,\nbut if a great change is coming I don't think it will\ncome quickly. In the meantime we must try to be\nsympathetic and understanding to anything new\nand strange. And it might be amusing to see\nhow a producer got on with a team of rampant\negoists who all insisted on presenting themselves.\n\nis because one-and-sixpence haunts us\nas it haunted the rabbit man. Nor\nShakespeare for us nor Tennyson\nfor him till they can answer the\nriddle of how to sell rabbits at a big\nprofit and make a National Theatre\npay\nNational Folly !\n44 When pageants leave not a wrack\nbehind. \" (MonkJhouse).\nTHIS line in Mr tMonkhouse*s able\narticle on the New Movement\nhelps as a reminder that there is hardly\nanything which abides. If Pageants\npass the swiftest may-be some men\nand women will say 44 He made his\nthings not to last—not for people of\ntomorrow—only for us, \" and learn to\nappreciate this.—who knows.\nBut there is another possibility.\nInigo Jones's pageant-like works are\nshortly to be published by the Wal-\npole Society in London, Made from\n1604 to 1640, they seem to have\nsurvived fairly well for close upon three\nhundred years.\nMay be it is because of some more\nor less permanent excellence in the\ndesigns that these survive. And may\nnot some young fellow of tomorrow\ndo his work so well—writing it down\nand drawing it in—that in three hun-\ndred years from now there will be\nmen and women who care to say\n44 He made these things well—let us\ntake care of them \".\n44 The Spirit of Pragmatism.\n(Monkhouse).\nWORDS are very often difficult,\nit has to be admitted. This\nword Pragmatism, for example. Not\nusing it in my speech or writings I\nlooked it up in the Oxford Dictionary\n—the concise one of 1911. There I\nfind this tale : ;\nPragmatism, n. Officiousness\npedantry ; matter-of-fact treatment of\nthings; (Philos,) doctrine that esti-\nmates any assertion solely by its practical\nbearing upon human interests.\nSince reading this I have not dared\nto look up the word 44 yes \" lest I\nmight find that it also means 44 no. \""}, {"page_pdf": 12, "page_imprimee": "10", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.12", "texte": "FOR PLAIN\nPEOPLE.\nSOME COMMENTS\nON MR. MONKHOUSE'S\nARTICLE,\nBY GORDON CRAIG.\nAS The Mask goes to Roma, Moscow,\nNew York, California and Japan,\nlet me state before I write these Notes\nthat it is felt that they can only interest\nreaders in England. Our friends abroad\nwill remember that England is entirely\nsurrounded by water, and things such as\nideas take a long time reaching us in En-\ngland : for we were born obstinate—and\nit can't be helped. I am as obstinate as\nmy fellow Englishmen—perhaps a little\nmore so—and to an Italian or a Musco-\nvite this must seem strange and a little\npreposterous. Well, everyone has his own\ntroubles ; so, if you be good Europeans,\nbear with ours. It will all come right\nbefore long.\n\" Some plain people who like good\n\" plays must be getting a little puzzled\n*' over this talk about presentation and re-\npresentation, symbolism and expression\n\" and would like to understand more\n\" about the New Movement\n(A. N. MONKHOUSE).\nIt is significant that the author of\n\" Perpetual Motion \" should proclaim that\nit is words which are at the root of\nthis bad business of having puzzled plain\npeople.\nIf words are quite all that the world has\nclaimed for them these many centuries they\nshould puzzle no one. The four words\nwhich are puzzling the plain people (and\nI may admit I claim to be one of these\nin that they puzzle me too) are \" pre-\nsentation \", \" representation \", \" symbo-\nlism and \" expression There is\nno harm in the things themselves; it's\nonly the words which are puzzling, and\nthe talk which gathers around these things.\nBut what is perfectly clear to understand\nis Mr. Monkhouse and this first sentence\nof his, \" Some plain people would like to\nunderstand more about the New Move-\nment \". Good for words this time.\nI don't know whether I am sufficient\nauthority to speak about this. Iso like\nto feel that I am sufficient to practise it.\nI find that comes easily.... like walking\nor eating. But unfortunately, in a book,\none cannot show the New Movement.\nOne is limited to speaking about it, and\nas many have quite rightly said, speech\nis not my forte. I have tried to express\nby means of words in a few books, what\nI have felt about the Theatre, seen in the\nTheatre, and, sometimes, done in the\nTheatre ; but I have never felt that my\nwords succeeded because I have had a too\nhigh standard before me. I have had an\nactual model always before me, which I\nhave been unable to follow.\nThat model is simply another book:\n\" Scientific Ideas of To-day \", by Charles\nR. Gibson. It seems to have been writ-\nten some time before 1909, and was\npublished in that year. It purposes to\nbe a popular account of the nature of\nMathematics, Electricity, Light, Heat, etc\nin non-technical terms. Three editions of\nit came out in one year alone ; and I\nhear that six editions have now been\npublished. \\ln his preface the author states\nthat he \" endeavours to explain the scien-\ntific facts of to-day without using language\nbeyond the reach of any reader ; and that"}, {"page_pdf": 13, "page_imprimee": "11", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.13", "texte": "his explanation demands no previous know-\nledge of science whatever and no acquain-\ntance with mathematics He then gives\n\" A. WARNING \" which is short and\nprinted on a page by itself 4 4 Do not read\nChapter Two before you have understood\nthe whole of Chapter One He adds\nthat it becomes very simple as you go\non, each chapter leading to the succee-\nding one like easy stepping stones across\na wide river.\nThis book by Mr Gibson may be\nvery simple. I was never able to proceed\nbeyond Chapter Two. Please do not\nsuspect me of irony. This is a direct\nstatement of fact made in all respect for\nthe wonders of Science, and this won-\nderful little book. Two chapters sufficed\nme. I understood them .... liked them ....\nbut could not go on.\nYou may say I am not very well\nequipped in brains if 1 cannot get be-\nyond Chapter Two, but I must remind\nyou quite candidly that 1 am one of the\nplain people puzzled over this talk about\nmolecules, diffusion, cohesion, and chemical\naffinity. And not only puzzled;—ama-\nzed—alarmed, but anyhow held spell-\nbound.\n> And, 1 flatter myself, I am in one\nother way like Mr. Monkhouse ; I prefer\nto feel content not to quite comprehend\nthis new thing, this science, .... not to\nknow more, as he is happier to feel con-\ntent without entirely understanding the\n44 New Movement \" in Art. Because I\nbelieve we would both rather do that\nthan risk losing something that is before\nus, and risk losing our peace of mind\nwhich is with us now. Mr. Monkhouse's\nquestion is 44 Why shouldn't we have a\nNew Movement? \" Just as I, looking at\nmy scientific book and seeing Chapter 24\non 44 What is Gravitation?reply to\nmyself (though I have not passed Chapter 2)\n44 Whv not Gravitation ?\" I know no\nmore about it than Mr Monkhouse knows\nabout the New Movement and Presen-\ntation and Symbolism. 1 do not mean\nthis rudely. I mean that he feels well\ntowards it without knowing it. And the\ngist of what I want to say is that none\nof us can know it so well as the superior\npeople (ie: the Idle) suppose. Let the su-\nperior people know and other superior\npeople disbelieve and let us remain in our\nignorance without doubting that it exists.\nWe believe right enough. It is only scep-\nticism, a disbelief of all things beyond\nour power to understand immediately,\nwhich robs us of too many a good thing.\nAnd it is because Mr. Monkhouse\nshows no scepticism whatever that 1 can\nlisten as he speaks to us about these\nthings.\nMr. Monkhouse opens the ball by\nsaying that it seems 44 the producer is\ngetting something of an innings now, and\nthe literary man is invited to a wide\nview, to recognize production as a great\nart, scenery as at least as important as the\n44 literary fragment and 44 realism \"as\nobsolete. Poor literature Poor literary\ndramatists !They had thought that with\nthe growth of interest in drama they were\ngoing to have a chance at last \".\nAs you know, (or may not know) it\nhas been the custom in our land (and in\nmost other lands) for our evening's enter-\ntainment, be it what it may, to be pre-\npared for us in the following manner. The\nman who is going to give the entertain-\nment, to do most of the work, to have\nall the responsibility, and to get the most\nmoney for it, is usually called the manager\nof the theatre. Very often that manager\nis a gentleman with his thoughts entirely\ngiven to making as much money as he\nreasonably can and a certain ambition to\ndo well."}, {"page_pdf": 14, "page_imprimee": "12", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.14", "texte": "If he be an actor, he has a double\nwish. It is to enjoy himself while ma-\nking as much money as he can. To\nenjoy a first sensation of appearing, a se-\ncond sensation of holding a mass of people\nunder his. sway, a third sensation of exhi-\nbiting his faculties, a fourth sensation, that\nof realized ambition, and a number of\nminor sensations such as that of doing as\nwell as possible and of doing so at the\nleast possible expense, of winning the best\nopinions and of being a first-class actor.\nMr. Monkhouse says, \"\nmay be the person of chief importance;\nor' the actor, or even producer\nNow, the man who seems to me of\nchief importance is none of these, but is\nthe Manager. Seldom is it that you see\nan author doing the work of managing a\ntheatre of his own. I say this in no dis-\nparagement whatever of the author, I mere-\nly state it as a fact. Therefore while\nwe may say with perfect justice that Sir\nArthur Pinero, because of his intellect,\ntaste, and gifts, is a very much more impor-\ntant author than, was Sir Augustus Harris,\nwho, as some of you will remember, was\nthe manager of Drury Lane Theatre, and\na very much more important author than\nwas Mr Charles Frohman, whom I think all\nof you will remember, we have to admit,\nstrange as it may sound, that Harris and\nFrohman were both more important to\nthe Theatre and to the audience than\nthe greatest of dramatists; for plain people\ncannot wait for the future spite the fact\nthat the words can. (\"It is the words\nthat last A. N. MONKHOUSE).\nFor we \" plain people \" cannot see\nor hear the play until Harris and Frohman\nmove, unless some actor, as I have said\nabove, will undertake the matter of ope-\nning a theatre, thus adding an immense\nburden to his shoulders.... a burden which\na number of actors carry grandly and gaily.\nBut inasmuch as they accept this heavy,\nand I think unnecessary, burden, in sc\nmuch must they pay for it with a loss\nto their power as actors : and their loss\nis ours.\nSo we see that it is not author, actor\nor producer, (the three named by Mr.\nMonkhouse) who is really of prime im-\nportance. It really is the manager; and after\nhim comes the actor, but only when he\nis manager.\nNow for the Producer. This is a new\nname for the office of stage manager.\nWhen we plain people go to a theatre\nall that happens in the front of the house\nas it is called where we sit or walk about\nis (good and bad) the work of the ma-\nnager of the Theatre; the business manager.\nAll that happens on the stage after\nthe curtain rises is the work of the pro-\nducer, ie: stage manager, or, if he be two\npersons, the two are responsible. So we\nsee the producer or stage manager is se-\ncond in value. Theatre Manager first,\nStage Manager or Producer second. We\narrive at the Theatre and cannot find the\nbox office easily.... a fault of the manager.\nWe get two stalls ; they creak and are\nnot comfortable ; second fault of the ma\nnager. The auditorium is badly lighted,\ndraughty, and programmes have to be\ncalled for; ....faults of the manager. Afte?\nthe curtain rises three people come in latt\nand push by us to their seats, ....fault c\nthe manager. In short, his task is t\nmake us all comfortable and to provid\nus with all we want when in our seats\nwhen going to them and leaving them.\nBut it is the producer whom we mus\nthank or blame for the performance. Hi\nis the responsibility, his must be the au\nthority. If we are interested two or three\nminutes after the curtain has risen we must\nthank the Producer, not the play-writer.\nBecause the best of plays can bore us"}, {"page_pdf": 15, "page_imprimee": "13", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.15", "texte": "straightway unless produced well. It is\nrather like our bread. The wheat, the\nthreshing, the yeast, the flour, the ovens,\nthe shopman and the delivery may be of\nthe very best; all will be rendered useless\nand flat if the master-baker is incompe-\ntent. It is him we have to thank for a\ngood loaf.\nIt stands to reason that the man who\ncommands the very stage itself, arranges\nwhat the actors shall do through the\ncourse of four or five acts, or what the\ndancers shall do in the course of a ballet,\nor the singers and chorus in the course\nof an opera, must be a man in a unique\nposition the position in fact. And for\nsuch a position a capable man is needed.\nYet capable as he is, there can be no\ncomparison whatever between the capable\nproducer stage manager and the most\ncapable play-writer.\nTo illustrate it in a plain and homely\nway ; We all have houses, and in our\nhouses somebody cooks and somebody lays\nthe table ; and I think we will be agreed\nthat, while both are important, it is the\ncook who does the trick. And so with\nthe playwriter and the producer. It is,\nwhen all is said and done, the play-writer\nwho does the trick (a).\nThe best of cooks will always be wan-\nting to manage you and me, and I don't\nknow whether you will agree with me, but\nI feel that this is out of the question; the\nhouseholder is sole manager, and so with\na theatre; therefore, whoever is theatre holder\nis the master of the house be he the\nauthor, producer, actor or anyone.\nThe manager of the Theatre is there-\nfore the master of it; and at the same\ntime servant of the public with sufficiently\ngrave responsibilities towards that public.\nAll others in the theatre, all whose work\nis brought on to the stage, are the servants\nof the public.\nIt should be repeated over and over\nagain until it is realized, that unless these\nservants are obedient to the manager under\nsuch discipline as the best ships steam\nunder, and such discipline as every sound\nbusiness is founded on, a great deal less\nthan the best work will be the result.\nSome of us when we hear the words,\n\" discipline \" service \", \" obedience \",\nare apt to wince a little.\nAnd I can imagine that Sir Arthur\nPinero, Mr Bourchier, and I myself would\nall three of us wince pretty considerably\nif it were proposed to us that we should\ncome to Drury Garden Theatre to be the\nservants of Sir Thomas Rashy. Goodness\nknows why we should feel like that, but\nwe should. We might not show it. We\nmight smile, meet and shake hands, and\nlisten to Sir T. Rashy's directions and\nthose of his able lieutenant Mr Codlin,\nand we might set to work cooking and\nserving up the banquet that Sir Thomas\n(with Mr Codlins's assistence) was pre-\nparing for his clients. And the first-night\nof \" Heptameron Afternoons \" at Drury\nGarden might go off without a hitch ; and\nyet I do not think that there would be great\nvalue in the work; and thus he, the person\nwanting the very best that the Theatre\nhas to offer, would not get the very best.\nThis poor result would be the fruit of\nour never having really become the ser-\nvants of Sir Thomas Rashy. For I\nbelieve that the spirit of good service in\nany united group of closely associated men\nand women must produce very excellent\nthings. This is a platitude, is it not ?\nWhy do I speak in terms of wonderment\n\n(a) It is, I am told, really very difficult to get a good\ncook nowadays.\n(b) I do not, of course, mean that if a man buys up\nten theatres and rents them out that he is master of the\nTheatre. That is merely like a man who owns large\nproperties and from whom we rent a house, becoming,\nfor our part, the master of the house we rent from him."}, {"page_pdf": 16, "page_imprimee": "14", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.16", "texte": "of something which has been proved since\nthe world began. Why do I lay such\nstress on it? Were it rather more in evi-\ndence in the theatre I suppose I should\nnot. The lack of it is very plain, and\nas the plain reason is what we plain people\nwant to get at, it is well to repeat it (c).\nSo now that we are agreed that it is\nthe manager who is the master and the\nrest of us servants, we can continue to\nconsider the rest of Mr. Monkhouse's\nquestions. For one of the charms of his\nessay is that it is written almost as a series\nof questions.\nThe chief question that he seems to\nask is this. Is the literary dramatist, (and\nhe uses this term) not of greater value\nthan the super-producer (he uses this term\nalso). I must admit that lam not par-\nticulary interested in the literary dramatist,\nbut I am far more interested in him than\nin the super-producer. Mr. Monkhouse,\nin the course of his essay, mentions five\nnames only, Shakespeare, Booth Tarking-\nton, Gilbert, Sullivan, and my own. I\ncannot see that in giving those five names\nhe has cited a single example of a literary\ndramatist or a super-producer. Still I\nalmost fancy I am by implication meant\nto stand for the super-producer.\nIf I may be allowed to speak of myself for just one\nmoment and forget myself again immediately, I would ask\nyou to put out of your head that I am anything other\nthan an ordinary stage-manager devoted to the whole\npurpose of the Theatre and the Drama, an immense admirer\nof every line of great dramatic writing with a reverence\nfor that which is behind it, and with but one desire, to\nsee all actors, play-makers, scenic men and the rest, if they\nreverence the Drama and its House, united, without per-\nsonal interests, to re-establish our English Theatre, putting\nthe best brains and spirit to the service of the best director\nso that he may serve you, the plain people.\nI hope that is plain enough.\nC| As Shakespeare is the only real dra-\nmatist mentioned I find it difficult to\nunderstand what Mr. Monkhouse means\nin that passage quoted above where he\nsays that the producer is coming along\nand that the literary man is invited to\ntake a wider view and to recognize that\n\" scenery is as important as the literary\nfragment \" ; and he grieves with the\n\" poor literary dramatists \" who thought\nthey were \" going to have a chance\nat last \". Ido not know what you think,\nbut it seems to me that here our friend\nMr. Monkhouse is a little offended on\nbehalf of very successful men play-\nwriters who have had nothing to com-\nplain of. If he had mentioned some one\nmodern writer it would have been easier\nfor plain people to understand exactly the\nkind of literary dramatist that he meant\nShakespeare is the only one he mentioned,\nand Shakespeare admittedly has always\nhad a chance. His name is probably one\nof the four best known names in the world,\nso he has to be ruled out of our talk if\nwe are to arrive at some understanding (eb\nI don't know whether to look on\nShakespeare as an extraordinary or as a plain\nman. Was he like us ? I don't feel that\nI am at all like him, and I don't suppose\nthat you feel so either. Therefore he\ncouldn't have been quite a plain man, yet\nhis service was what we call plain as\na pike staff. I take it he was a poet,\nfirst and last ; and I would suggest that\nthere are more poetic than dramatic\nlines in his plays if they be counted ; his\ndramatic figures seem often to wade with\ndifficulty through that which we call the\n\n(c) Perhaps even Mr Monkhouse does not quite know\nhow undisciplined is our Theatre ....or guess why. Wrong\nmen in wrong place, Mr. Monkhouse.\n(d) (unless you allow Gilbert in the same field)\n(€* Gilbert was only a man of talent \"; Monkhouse).\n(e) It might be easily pointed out that Shakespeare\nwas a perfect servant (ie. perfect friend) to the manager\nof the theatre, who, I understand, was Burhage the actor.\nBut such a theme would I believe run into many pages,\nfor I believe it could be proved that Shakespeare was\nalways ready to patch up and to better rather inferior plays\nby other inferior men which Burbage thought could be\nturned into successes.... always ready, not condescending.\n(f) Not Thomas Moore's \" poetics \" ; \"Now Tom\ndon't be poetic ; (Byron)."}, {"page_pdf": 17, "page_imprimee": "15", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.17", "texte": "\"poetry**. They can be theatrical enough at\ntimes too— even stagey— and Shakespeare\nis not above blundering. He is anything\nbut the perfect workman and we must\nnot forget that his plays are not very\noften seen on the English stage.\nTherefore as Mr. Monkhouse names\nnone of his literary dramatists, and as we\nwant to work along plain lines and have\nname:, dates, and facts, he forces us to\nsuppose people. This makes things rather\ndifficult for us. We have to imagine\nwho those poor literary dramatists of his\nare. As there is no help for it, ~ let us\nin a friendly spirit make some guesses.\nI am going to guess the name Monkhouse\nfirst. I am going to add the name of\nMasefield next; —and wind up with the\nname Barrie. Here are three writers of\nplays: little known, better known, best\nknown : little chance, more chance, most\nchance. Of these literary dramatists, Mr.\nMonkhouse has this to say : \"\nfirst-rate dramatists submit to\nIs a play to be the production of various\nartists wording together in harmony (like\ncontributors to a musical comedy) or of\none masterful person with a smattering of\nall the arts ? Must the dramatist of the\nfuture be adept at music, lighting,\narchitecture, furniture, dancing ? He then\nadds later on : \"But the writer of plays\ncertainly would not be content to provide\nthe libretto for a background \". And he\nthen adds quickly and very delightfully\n\" Perhaps this isn't putting it quite fairly \".\nWell—it is not putting it quite fairly. It\nis not putting it fairly to himself, to\nMasefield or to any man of spirit who has\nnot become \" important '*.\nCan any reason be found for men\nnot working famously together, or being\nunready to help each other ?\nThat is the plain truth is it not ?\nIs the question of our doing our work\nso lacking in all reality and seriousness\nthat we can feel at all like that? That we\ncan feel that anything is beneath us ?\nJohn Masefield is a poet, but is none\nthe less a man living upon this brown\nearth ; and not suspended by wires in the\nsky, nor even, by the powers of his noble\nimagination, raised too far above the good\nground. But if such a man were our\nonly writer in my theatre, our main stay\nfor all our dramas, and if he were to tell\nme he could not possibly write for me\nten lines here and five lines there for\nsome ballet or some opera—provided it\nwas a noble ballet, a delightful opera—\nwhich we were at work on in my Theatre,\nand he with us as Shakespeare was with\nBurbage, ....if he could excuse himself, and\nthese lines positively called for by the na-\nture of the whole performance, it would\nbe a very sad affair. But since he could\nwrite them, I for one believe he would.\nLiving in Twentieth Century England\nhe might perhaps refuse to give up his\nmany hours of writing, reduce them, and\nconfine himself with the rest of us to this\none matter of Drama and Theatre ....he\nin the Theatre all the time (Shakespearean).\nI do not know ;—but I hardly think he\nwould refuse to write what we so sorely\nneeded.\nIf I couldn't get this, from my friend,\nthe poet, could some one else? Could the\nFrohman of the day ? the man who is\nthe real master of the House.... today\na house in ruins ?\nNo, for though the Frohmans have the\nmoney,—which is the first essential, the\nproducer has the rest minus the money.\nNow we are coming to Hecuba.\nAs it is plain that to get the poets,\nplaywright, carpenters, geniuses and all into\none theatre there are two things essential,\nThe first, Money,\nThe second, Wits to produce,"}, {"page_pdf": 18, "page_imprimee": "16", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.18", "texte": "and that these two must be united in the\nsame person, which would you say it were\neasier to bring about ?\n(1) That the rich man, that is, our\nbusiness manager, should enter the King-\ndom of Heaven, and, by a miracle never\nyet known, become an artist - producer\nteeming with ideas, or\n•*» (2) that the artist-producer should\nbe visited by some member of those lower\ninfernal regions where the Rhinegold is\nguarded by the three Rhine-maidens and\nthat he, becoming rich in what every worker\nneeds, should be able to pay every worker\nwhat he needs and make the House fit\nfor a poet to be able to enter it ?\nWhich of these two proposals would\nwin your vote as being the most possible\nof the two? I cannot tell. But this much\nis certain, the first is a failure.\nIt is of course because the artist-pro-\nducers, of England, America and France,\nthe men of the theatre, the men teeming with\nideas, with all but money, have been re-\nfused the means to control the Theatre,\nto make it fit for the Poet to work in,\nthat you have no real theatre today.\n—What gives \" a chance \" to the\nplaywrights,—what helps men to be \"wor-\nking together in harmony \",—what makes a\nman more \"content to provide librettos \" or\nbread or music or any or everything,—what\nhelps poetry, painting, criticism, life itself?....\nthe Frohmans of the hour, the means to\nwork and to live,—money. For money\nin the hands of men of talent makes them\nin these days men of authority. With au-\nthority of this kind alone can they do what\nhas to be done: fortify their playhouse.\nAnd if money is given to the Froh-\nmans, Harrisses and the rest, what happens?\n—Rubbish is raised to the theatrical throne\nand the good things are beaten down.\nBeating them down creates a revolution.\nThe New Movement was a Revolution.\nWe were called Reformers. I said at\nthe time we were no such thing. The\naffable know-betters smiled at our pro-\ntests. The wits began to stir and intel-\nligence overturned that folly which dreamed\nto rule. Intelligence then began to recon-\nstruct. Intelligence is constructing today.\nWe are building a new house.\n\nTHE ART OF THE THEATRE.\nTHIS term \" Art of the Theatre \" is taken to\nmean the pictorial part of a stage picture,\nThat is the incorrect way to take it. The term\nmeans the whole result as heard and seen on\nthe stages Play - music - scene - acting -\ndancing - lighting - singing - all.\nThe play-making taken alone is a craft: Acting\nis a craft: The Scenic work a craft: Dancing a\ncraft: each part is a craft. Taken together\nthey form a whole, and that whole today goes\nby the name of the Theatrical Art.\n\nA DEFINITION.\nPLAYWRIGHT: SHIPWRIGHT: WHEELWRIGHT.\nA Wright is plain English, and means a\nworkman : A workman who is craftsman."}, {"page_pdf": 19, "page_imprimee": "17", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.19", "texte": "VUE DES RESTES DU THEATRE DE MARCELLUS SUR LA PEACE MONTANARA A ROME.\nFrom \"Description du Thèâtre de Marcellus à Rome \"by A. L. T. Vandeyer (Paris) 1812. Born in 1756, at twenty-seven\nyears old in 1783 he wins the Grand Prix de Rome and in 1786 he is in Rome and designs and engraves eight plates showing\nthis Theatre and his own idea of its original state.\n\nTHE MASK\n1924"}, {"page_pdf": 21, "page_imprimee": "19", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.21", "texte": "ACCA: A NEW\nSTAGE LANGUAGE.\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \"FILMS”\n\nOTHERS have travelled more than I\nhave .... others have even settled\ndown in the land I write from ; and yet,\nso far as I know, not another but I has\ncome to realize that it doesn't matter a\nscrap what is said what actual words\nare said since words are all nonsense,\nand speech quite without value any more.\nI mean in theatricals.\nI would not go so far as does Mr Gordon\nCraig, who, (if tattle is to be relied on),\nis reported to advocate the banishment\nof all speech from the boards; but I would\nexperiment with a new kind of speech, a\nspeech I should call ACCA. This new\nkind of speech should be made up of soft\nand harsh, sharp and sweet, deep and\nshrill sounds ; but I would allow no teethy\nH' s in the language.\nThat is why I should call the new speech\nACCA, .... ACCA being the Italian\nequivalent for H. (a)\nI should exclude every H for this\nreason : because it has got itself entangled\nwith the T's and the W's and other\nletters, and too many windy words are\nthe result. I here give you some. Thy,\nThe, Then, Thatch, Think, Thou, Through,\nThorn, Theatre, Thorough, Thoroughly,\nThermometer, Theology, Thumb, Other,\nBoth, Whether, Without, Worth, Writhe,\nWreath, Wroth and so on, mere wind\nand froth.\nWith German examples I will not\nweary you ; but consider the Dutch and\nRussian words, ' Kaiser Gracht ' and\nOcean Horoscio '.\nTo listen to the northern actors uttering\nthese wild and whirling words, so like\nthe sound of gas when it is escaping, is\nto be made aware that something has\nhappened which should have been pre-\nvented. If, later, one knows that only an\noperation on the language will avail, at\nfirst one imagines that an operation should\nbe performed on the performers nHe\nmust have his H cut out \".\nThis being at such a moment a difficult\nmatter, more especially since, while it might\nbe successful in the case of the first eighty\npatients, it would be a waste of time in\neighty-one, since, with him, ' tis uncertain\nwhere one may find it. On the floor this\nmoment the next it is right in front\nof my eye. A knife would possibly be\ntoo slow for number eighty-one.\nIt being therefore out of the question\nto curb the language, to rid it of its\nwhistling, its wet and draughty way, the\nonly thing I can do is to try to invent a\nnew language for the stage.\nThere is no H in the Italian language\nWhat an Italian actor wants to say can\nbe said without smothering the words so\nthat they tumble out splashed and breathless\nor withered up. The English, Dutch, Ger-\nman or Russian actor must labour with\nhis language to the end of his days, uncon-\nscious that he is uttering hideous sounds,\ndying and being buried, buried quite unaware\nthat he displeased thousands of Europeans\nand caused them to ask themselves, \" Is\nthat a language for poets, dramatists and\ngentlemen?\nWell, for poets, dramatists, and gen-\ntlemen it may be. To read Shakespeare\nsilently may be delicious; to read him aloud\n\n(a) Vide \" A Short Italian Dictionary\" by Alfred\nHoare MA. Cambridge. At the University Press. 1918.\nPage 179.\n(b) Here our author only exaggerates a hairsbreadth ;\nfor, though the letter exists in Italian, it occurs so rarely\nthat the great Vocabulary of the ic Crusca \" (edition*of\n1612) devotes to it barely one column of its 960 double\ncolumn pages. This absense of the His one of the best\nreasons for Opera being sung to Italian words. Ed."}, {"page_pdf": 22, "page_imprimee": "20", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.22", "texte": "even by flashes of spluttering H-befogged\nlightning, can never be too pleasant. I have\njust been to Vienna and heard the actors\nstill doing it there in German; have been\nto Munich,... the same tale to tell; have\nbeen to the Hague and to Kiev, and\nthere the same thick padded noises as\nof many ghosts brushing the palates of\nThuringen priests.\nI returned home to Bergamo and there\nonce more I heard a real language for\nhuman beings, real speech, and crisp and\nreasonable actor noises. For I must add\nhere that I understand little or no Italian;\nand, while this is a disadvantage to me\nwhen eating, driving or leaving a hotel,\nit is an absolute advantage when in an\nItalian theatre.\nWhen I go there it is to see actors\nand note acting. It is rather an original\nnotion, this of mine, so I am told, but I\ngo there for this specific reason, and have\ngone there for this reason for over fourteen\nyear.\nAnd in those 168 months I have\nfound this one quite certain thing: and\nthat is, that acting is much to do with\nsound and with movement, with meaning\ngestures, but meaningless words. The\nsounds, those I must have, many sounds;\nthat is why to me the bioscope is not,\nand can never be, quite satisfactory.\nSo I propose a new language, to be\ncalled ACCA, .... the actors' tongue.\nI have already made a list of about\ntwelve thousand words for this new lan-\nguage, or, more properly speaking, of\nabout twelve thousand sounds; but, until\nwe have about thirty-three thousand, I\ncannot put the book on the Rialto. As\nit is, with the few words of ACCA at\nmy command, I am able to get through\na small comedy, (improvised, of course),\nwith a few fellow students interested in\nthis undertaking. And I may as well\npresently give you a few speeches to show\nyou how it sounds, and I will tell you\nwhat the speeches mean.\nAlthough at first we improvised the\nwhole comedy, by the time we had played\nit some thirty to forty times we grew so\nfamiliar with the situations that the speeches\nused to settle down, as it were, and\nbecoming fixed, remained unaltered because\nwe found we could not better them.\nThen one of our assistants took down our\nthirty-eighth performance by shorthand,\n.... yes, it was the thirty-eighth. .... in\nour new language \" zax 000 n.\nNow for a moment compare the two\nsounds \" Thirty eighth \" with n zax 000 \".\nThirty eighth contains three Hs and two\nths and an eigh. 000 stands for 30,\nzax for 8 zit being 7, zot being 6,\nzox 5, zon 4, zi 3, zo 2, and zu being\none.\nAll which to you means nothing\nat all.\nAll the better. The test of your power\nto enjoy and follow a drama is to be\nable to follow sound and gesture:\nany empty fellow can swallow sense and\nnot be a jot the wiser afterwards. If\nthis needs proof it is in the pudding for\nthose with good digestion and taste-proof\npalates. For great sense has been pouring\nout of the brains of dramatists for some\nthousands of years but no one is the wiser\nfor it.\nSo the test of your power to enjoy a\ndrama is to be whether you can follow\nits sound and gesture and get the hang\nof it from that alone.\nFor example, if I am acting the part\nof a priest or a prophet, (not a false\nprophet, a real one), and have to bring\ngood tidings to men who are in darkness,\nand if I say quite distinctly \" Hail!\n\n(c) In Germany acht und dreizich."}, {"page_pdf": 23, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.23", "texte": "Heads exquisitely made. Not so comic as our Westerners too often seem to think necessary.\n\nAn interesting framework for a Puppet, Japan. Modern.\nJAPANESE PUPPETS.\nPlate 3.\n\nTHE MASK\n1924"}, {"page_pdf": 25, "page_imprimee": "21", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.25", "texte": "Behold I bring you good tidings of great\njoy ! 11 I say something which does not\neven convince and illumine the darkness\nand obscurity which is in the minds of the\nsimplest of shepherds, let alone the silliest\nof sheep, and which we too have heard\nso often that I suppose we are grown\ntired of hearing it. (In these days of\nscepticism we must always take care to\nsay nothing which offend unbelievers).\nBut when the priest or angel points\nto the big new star in the night sky, the\nactor thrills.... \" even shepherds weep \" ;\nand all, if not quite clear, is to be well\nguessed at. The next words \" Follow\nthe star \" bring them to earth again.\n\" How follow a star ? What does he\nmean ? \" But as the star moves over the\nsky, night by night, dipping behind Beth-\nlehem, somehow or other, the densest\nshepherd suddenly becomes one of the\n4 illuminati \\ He leaps to his feet and\ncries out \" Ho cazza man nox alia\nmazza \", and rushes off like the wind\nin its direction, and the others follow like\nthe leaves, and the shepherd dog goes to\nsleep again.\nAnd audiences are not more clever\nthan such shepherds and not more stupid.\nBut they are kind as are the shepherds,\nvery kind and patient, and endure. For\nmany years they have borne more than\nwe should have asked them to bear.\nA hash of incomprehensible matter has\nbeen prepared for them by immensely\nprofound but quite inarticulate play-writers,\nand uttered for them by, unfortunately,\nword-perfect actors.\nOnce every twenty-five years acting\nhas dared to usurp its own throne, but\nhas remembered its place just in time and\ngone back to the mat.\nThat, I hazard a hope, is now to be\nchanged. The tongue of the actor shall\nfor the first time be freed : that is to\nsay, if my dictionary of A CCA, the\nactor's language, reaches its thirty third\nthousandth word.\n\n(d) 44 II Teatro dialettale Bolognese Page 33.\n\nTHREE REFLECTIONS.\nWE are growing too loquacious, both on the\nstage and off. We make disquisitions\nwhich render us only more and more dim-sighted,\nand excursions that only consume our stores.\nW. S. Landor. (Pericles).\nI for my part should be glad to break myself\nof talking altogether, and speak like creative\nnature only in pictures. Goethe.\nIT may be truthfully said of man too that when\nhe is most impressed he is silent and that when\nhe is silent he impresses us most.\nWe will surround the people with symbols\nin silence ; in silence we will reveal the Movement\nof Things.... this is the nature of our Art.\nThe Mask, Vol I, page 2, 1908.\nENGLAND discovering Stanislawsky promises\nto be a joke. Are they not funny when\nthese foreigners show them that \" the spoken\nword \" is not so essential as they thought it was;\nin fact the words don't matter, the gestures\nare so eloquent!\nExtract from a Letter from London."}, {"page_pdf": 26, "page_imprimee": "22", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.26", "texte": "MORE NOTES ON A JOURNEY.\nBY FRANÇOIS M. FLORIAN.\nWOMEN kill the Drama! \" in this \" age\nof hysterical refinement \".... \" the tune\nin the Theatre is being called by women (a)\nwhose taste is for light stuff rather than for\nsolid material. \" So run the phrases in to-\nday's \" Daily News \" 00—some of them your\nMr. St John Ervine's phrases, —and \" Quite\ntrue \" replies your Miss Sybil Thorndike\n\" the men choose the music-hall and revues\nthe women love the sentimental play. \"\nIt remains, alas, for me to utter the word\n\" meat. \"\nIf it offend, that is what was to be expected.\nMeat is bought with money. All other\nsolid things are to be bought with the same\nsolid stuff. Froth for froth—eye for eye—\n\" hear with ears and understand \"—but the\nEditor will use his blue pencil if I begin to\nget at all vague.\n€[[ The Editor of The Masfe wants nothing\nvague —he only wants the impossible. For is\nit not impossible to \" write aa article of some\nthree thousand words in which you explain\nclearly the situation in the London Theatre\nfrom a French point of view —fairly, without\nover or under statement \" ? I have therefore\nbegun my article by stating fairly what another\noutsider in the stalls considers is the trouble and\nwhat an insider in the dressing-rooms thinks\nis wrong.\n€| And a really rather queer thing has\nnappened since 1 wrote the above line.\nI had better tell you, and, in telling, my\narticle will finish itselfwithout more puzzle-\nment for meall I shall have to do will be\nto copy out a conversation.\nI was reading my \" Daily News \" and\nother papers in a second-class compartment\nbetween Chambery and Aix-les-Bains. I be-\ngan to scribble :—I had to stop :—I finished\nthe rest of the article in a compartment of the\ntrain de Luxe between Aix and Paris.\nThis is what happened.\nOn getting to the word \" wrong \" at the\nend of my second paragraph I felt utterly\nunable to go on. Why should I have to quote\nwhat Miss Thorndike says —what Mr Ervine\nsays—what the \" Daily News \" said ?... Why\nall this ? 1 questioned.\nAnd then I admit I brightened up a bit\non recalling the right answer, which was,\nand which is, quite right—that other people's\nopinions are very often valuable especially if\nthe people who hold them speak from long\nexperience.\nWell, I understand that long experience\nhas neither beenMrErvine's lot nor Miss Thorn-\ndike's ; but they are both sufficiently experien-\nced to know a good deal more of the truth\nabout these things than I, more especially since\none has been in London for three years and\nthe other for a life-time. \" I would I knew\nmore! \" I sighed, \" or I would Iknew someone\nwh0.... \" but it was 12 o'clock, mid-day,\na fine view sliding by, I stopped writing,\nspeaking, thinking and gave myself up to\ndreaming, and before long the train was at\nrest—here was Aix at last; to the deuce\nwith London and all its Saints, its size, its.\nwealth—all too like my Paris let me, if I must\nwrite of London, write of its spirit of aspira-\ntion and its earnest attempts for better and\never better things so that.—\n\" Premiere serveeece! \"—cries an elec-\ntric voice, ....and saves the situation.\nAll was gaiety and grand again. To the\nmere Frenchman in the corridor, food solves\nmost problems.... and to feed in motion in a\ncontinental wagon restaurant is to me parti-\ncularly exhilerating... to pass between two\ncottages where they are eating a homely\npotage while being served with Boeuf a la\nmode!!! that's the ticket! Beef—meat—meat\nthe final word on earth.\nI little thought, as I thought this, that in\nan hour's time I should be doubting this\nimmense truth.\n\n(a) He means the English Theatre. In Italy I sau)\n}hat the theatre was for both sexes as in France.\n(b) October / 923, in a report of a speech made\nat the dinner of the Authors9 Club."}, {"page_pdf": 27, "page_imprimee": "23", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.27", "texte": "I was lucky; the seat reserved for me\nwas at a table for two ; in front of me sat a\ngentleman for whom Boeuf a la Mode seemed\nto have been invented. A man of the world,\nyet, some would say, without any of the nicer\ncourtesies of the world, he grunted and blin-\nked at me when I made the customary \" with\nyour permission \" inclining slightly towards him.\nIt was wasted on him; plain words and plain\nactions, that was his motto. Beef was beef\nfor him \" la mode \" quite thrown away.\nI took my seat and troubled little more\nabout him. I enjoyed my lunch in silence:\nhe went through his rather less silently: we\ncame to the end of it and he began to settle\ndown and sigh rather gloriously; immense\nEnglish contentment anyhow swelled itself out\nwith a last long rumbling organ note as in\nsome of Handel's big pieces.\nJust as these contented sighs were ending,\nI discovered that everyone else in the wagon\nrestaurant was gone, and now the head waiter\nwas speaking to us saying \" you must go for\nthe second service is to be prepared. \" My\nneighbour laughed. \" I want another liqueur \"\nhe said to the waiter, \" and I want to sit\nhere and enjoy it slowly. \" \" Very sorry \"\nsaid the man, \" you can't; we have the\nsecond service to prepare. \" \" But if I pay for\nthe table ? \" The waiter grew impatient:\n\" Now, Sir, I must ask you to go immediate-\nly, \" and napkins began to flick and bottles\nto fall and crumbs to fly all around my great\nneighbour so that he too rose as I had done,\nand, ordering liqueurs to be sent to his com-\npartment, invited me to sit with him and\ntry one.\n\" They turn you out \" he grumbled \" as\nthough you were so much cattle, ....what ? \"\nRather on the side of being ferocious, that\n\" what: \" a grunt, a flare, a \" Damme if\nI don't....\" ....but I hurried on in front of him,\npressing past the distinguished folk who were\nblocking the corridors.\nWhen we reached the middle of the car-\npeted train-de-luxe compartment, my boeuf-\neater touched me on the shoulder; \" Here \"\nsaid he, and went into a fairy palace of a\nplace. \" I can see you're an artist, or a writer,\nor something of the kind \" he said, \" I supposS\nyou can enjoy a good cigar.... what? \"\n1 said ' thank you ' in a finikin kind of\nvoice and sat down. It was a wonderfully\ngood Havanah, but after the half Toscana I\nhad just finished it seemed like humbug.\nI told him that I smoked Toscana cigars as\na rule, when I could get them. \" When you\ncan get 'em \" he repeated, \" but you don't\nlikfi 'em, what ? \" 1 began explaining the\nsuperiority of the ancient Toscana over all\nother smokes when he burst in impatiently\nwith \" You're one of those new-fangled aes-\nthetes; what is it you d 0?... write?... paint?\nI took yop for a piano-player at first, what ? \"\n\" I'm a journalist \" I said, \" and I do\nwrite a book when I can, but it's bad pay—\nand.... \" I paused.\n\" I know \" he said, \" that's right, you\nstick to your business. Business first—plea-\nsure afterwards. It's an old motto and a\nsound one. \"\nYet, though his theory was all for business,\nit's odd, but the next moment he was asking\nme about my books. \" What sort of books?\n. ..novels? \" \" No, plays \". \" Plays! \" he\ncrowed, \" does anyone ever act 'em ?\n\" I have not yet been fortunate enough to\nhave one acted \" I said. \" And not likely\nto. \" he chuckled ; \" Plays are no good\nnowadays, no meat in 'em. \" \" (The word\nmeat made me jump) \" \" Look at Barrie\"\nhe went on, \" sloppy stuff, I call it\n....makes you want to leave the play 'ouse \".\nIt was the first slip he had made; but\nhere the liqueurs came in and his eye became\nfirm again, for it had winced for an instant.\nHe went straight for a bottle of Curasao,\nS. T. Millet et Cie. \" Leave this; two\nglasses. 150 francs.... that's all right.... off you\ngo \". We were alone again.\n\" Now taste that and tell me if it's good? \"\nI tasted and I said it was very good.\n\" That's mine \" he said. \" 'Tis good \"\nhe said, still sipping. \" I make it at .... a\nbottle and sell it at .... \" : I forget his exact\nfigures. \" For thirty years that bottle has never\nfailed \". \"Yes, it's good \", he said once\nmore, and put down his glass.\n\" So you write plays, do you. what\nsort ? funny ones ? \"\n1 saw it was impossible to tell him of my\ntragedy \" La Fille Verte \" that I had been\nat work on for the last four years ; so I said\nwithout thinking, \" Rather funny 1 write\nRevues \".\n\"Do you, by Jove! \" he cried out, waking\nup for the first time, and he poured two\nmore glasses and took another sip."}, {"page_pdf": 28, "page_imprimee": "24", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.28", "texte": "\" I like a good revue \" he said with\ndeliberation. \" I like a revue for a lot of\nreasons. First there's meat in a revue.\n(\" Se-cond serveeece \" rang out in the corri-\ndor). \"To look at you Fd not have thought\nyou were much hand at that game. What's\nyour theatre? \"\n\" The Odeon \" I said, bold as brass.\n\"Ah good place; it's not mine\nthough never went there. Mine's the\nNew Apollo ever been there ? \"\n\" Yes I said.\n\" Well then, what do you think of the\ngirls ? Eh ? pretty fine troupe of girls, what ? \"\nI nodded with my eyebrows up. \" Now\nwho finds 'em? \" he went on; \" who pro-\nvides for 'em, 1 want to know ? I'll tell you,\nmister \", he went on, \" Money finds 'em\nand we provide the money for 'em \".\n\" Money \" he said with power, \" money is\nwhat buys the meat \".\nAll this awful truth was just what I had\nbeen writing in my second-class compartment\nonly an hour back when I was forced to give\nin, not knowing what more to write not\nhaving another argument left in favour of\nmoney, meat, and the two in partnership. I\nrealized in a flash that it was no longer left to\nme to have to invent an article. I was intensely\nrelieved, all the more so since I was not\nat all sure I believed in what I had been\nwriting.\nAll I had to do was to interview my\ncompanion.\nI ventured to begin. \" But you do not\nmanage the ' New Apollo ' ?\" \" No \", he said\n\" we put a man in, clever sort of young\nbantam; he gets us lots of stuff over from\nFrance and America. Nice young ladies,\nvery nice young ladies ....not too much intel-\nligence ; and nice manners, very nice man-\nners \". He leaned forward rather eagerly.\n\" Do you know, I've had one of these girls\nto supper with me at the Carlton Hotel, and\na couple of Duchesses and a Peer of the\nrealm feeding at the next table, and my young\nwoman's manners were as dandy as theirs ;\nin fact she looked the better lady \". After\nthis he leaned back and seemed to ask appre-\nciation.\nI could willingly give it for I have seen\nfine manners in every kind of woman, and\nalways thrilled at the sight.\n\" Good hearted girls too \" ; I nodded ;\n\" very very good hearted and no malice \".\n\" Ah, that's what I say \" he ground out as\nthough addressing the tribunal of the Last\nJudgement, \" and that's why (he thumped the\nseat once) I put my money on these girls and\nwhy I will not put my money on those\nintellectual actresses as they're called \".\nI asked him who he was thinking of in\nparticular. \" Humm, no one ....no one in\nparticular. I've had dozens of 'em round\nabout, trying to get my money to run their\nintellectual theatres. 1 don't like them or\ntheir Theatres, or their agents. Do you? \"\n\" Well, I must admit that one or two \".\nOne or two is one or two too many \"\n- _ _ «/\nhe said gravely. \" What do I want, young\nman, with crying and silliness when I go to\na playhouse? ....I want the girls to look fresh\nand happy and to move about sprightly and\nneat. I don't want , or Art or\nwhatever it's called. I want a girl to be a\ngirl to sing a good song and dance a\nbit; but above all to look well fed, well\ncared for, tidy and neat. That's the beginning\nand the end of the whole business; and\nthat's why I put my money into the \" New\nApollo \" and why my friends do the same \".\nI could get nothing further from him.\nI saw that. His idea of Theatre began and\nended in fresh girls, girls who were la-\ndylike and good-hearted and lively. There\nwas nothing for me to protest against in that.\nI knew many of these young women and I\nhad always found them all he said. As for\nsuggesting to him that perhaps the Theatre\nwas not the place for merely a display of\ngirl, however nice, I saw it would be useless,\nhe would come back straight to his Who\npays for 'em \" and the wheel would revolve\nand revolve.\nIt was futile to go for him as having no\ndecency, for he had: it was preposterous\nto lecture him, for he would have lectured\nme. Who was I, that I, a Frenchman, should\nset myself up to reprimand six hundred of\nthe richest men in England because they\nhad the remarkable sound common sense of\nliking to see pretty girls and taking them\nout to supper and back home to play\ncards ? Heavens : are journalists to turn pious\nhumbugs ? and in a train de luxe too ?\nBesides, in France we have six thousand of\nthem, all capital men. If money be what we\nare all longing to get, what it can buy should"}, {"page_pdf": 29, "page_imprimee": "25", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.29", "texte": "be surely good enough for us to accept along\nwith it. And to begin to hum and haw about\nthe evils of money to a man who has it, seems\na little lacking in wit. And the train stopped\nat Dijon.\nMy companion got out. \" There! \" said\nhe, flinging me the rest of his ticket on to\nParis, \"You can use that. You're an odd\nsort of chap. I don't like you writers as a\nrule : I don't trust you, but let's hope you're\nhuman \" ....and with that he was gone.\n\" Let's hope I'm human \" I repeated as\nI picked it up. I recalled a strange book I\nhad once read \" Human, all too human \",\nand turned from the gloomy recollection of it\nwith even more boredom than my late compa-\nnion had turned once or twice from me. \" Too\nfull of the milk of human kindness to \":\nthat's Lady Macbeth. I don't see her here;\nnor Nietzsche; the compartment is still vi-\nbrating with that other humanism which has but\nnow gone out.\n\" To err is human, to forgive,...\nWhat nonsense these thin phrases of the\npen are here in this train de luxe with the\nglamour of that huge reality still present.\nHuman ?—meat ?—the money too ?\n—\" we've got the money too!\nYou have a song with some such refrain,\n1 think.\nPerhaps if the the three were put in\nseparate compartments\nI rose up and went back to my second-\nclass compartment,\nBack there once more I end my article-\nI sum up the whole matter.\nThe English Theatre is perfectly right as\nit is, only it is no longer quite a Theatre\nwhile it remains as it i 5....\nVery admirable common-sense men run the\nEnglish playhouses for sound and quite human\npurposes of their own. These purposes are\nnot those either of the Dramatist, the Artist,\nor the intelligent men and women of London.\nNeither are they purposes that I believe The\nMask has at heart.\nI should say that women do not kill the\nDrama ;\nthat this is not an age of hysterical experiment;\nthat the tune in the Theatre is unfortu-\nnately not being called by ladies ;\nand that the English Theatre is a kind\nof tidy and well organized Smithfield market.\nWith these well-meant but possibly utterly\nincorrect conclusions I end.\n\nON GETTING TO PARIS.\n\nI have to thank the Editor of The Mask that\nhe is so agreable to the whims of the\nplay writer-critic.... often, doubtless, a very pre-\ncise and practical being, but in my case lia-\nble to be at any moment unable to write on\nthis or that topic, even those he himself fan-\ncied yesterday.\nFor example, I had the very best of in-\ntentions of writing an article about M. Co-\npeau and his theatre which is no theatre:\nI said I would in my Notes in the last num-\nber of The Mask. But after visiting the little\nplayhouse in Rue du Vieux Colombier I saw\nsome obvious signs which indicated that after\nall it was a theatre.\nM. Copeau is a most energetic man, and,\nwhat is more, he seems to be a very econo-\nmic one. He is always at work, at new\nwork, and never wastes either a minute, a\nfranc, or a notion. I imagine him to be all\nthis,— and I imagine him to be a man who\nwould take infinite pains trying to put into\npractise a number of the multitudinous ideas\nwhich, say, The Mask or some such storehouse\nhad to offer him.\n1 saw some signs of this too at the Vieux\nColombier.\nBut I was at heart a little grieved. One\nmore man wasted, is what I felt; for I felt\nthat somehow or other the whole affair was\nnot enough. How I regret to have to say\n\" it lacked meat. \" I prefer on second thoughts\nto say it lacked body. Brains it had, some taste,\nexperiment, big endeavour. It had hands, feet,\nhead, tail, trunk, but somehow none were in\ntheir right place.\nHere is a first-rate second-class man, I\nthought. We could have agreed well in the\ntrain from Aix to Paris. No plush nor li-\nqueurs for him, ho vulgarities. He is no\nParsival either, no head-in-the clouds, he's\nhuman, a first-rate man.\nAnd my thoughts flew across the Seine to the\nold house of Moliere. \" What possessed such\na first-class place to become so second rate ?\nI thought; and why does not the Comedie,\nsince it is what it is and can only be less in"}, {"page_pdf": 30, "page_imprimee": "26", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.30", "texte": "being little, why does she not reach out her\narms and take to her heart the few men who,\nif second-ciass are first-rate, first-rate at ser-\nvice, ready to serve her, who always have been\nready.\nAnd Copeau is one such.\nWhy did not the Comedie in 1913 invite\nyoung M. Copeau to bring his quick intelli-\ngence and his comrades to the service of the\nold house ?\nNo Frenchman in the Theatre but has\neverything to learn when he enters the Co-\nmedie, but some Frenchmen besides that have\nmuch to bring.\nM. Copeau had and still has to learn that\nwhich shall give his work an ease it lacks;\nhe could have acquired it at the Frangaise.\nThe Fransaise had and still has to learn that\nthis is not 1880 and M. Copeau could have\ntaught it that.\nThese two being divided, it comes about\nthat my fine city of Paris is the loser; all\nbecause humanity is (even in a city, in a\nvillage even) divided by its little egoism.\nNot that the theatres of my city alone suffer\nin this matter: ' tis the same in England ;\nand, I am told, no different in some of the\nAmerican States.\nWhat a grievous pity !\nAnd what is the result?\nA new Movement in the Theatre has been\nforced upon the more active intelligences in\nevery land.\nFor my part, being so many years a de-\nvotee of the old-fashioned playhouse —ever\nmore devoted to Rossini and Scribe than I\ncould become to Debussy and Ibsen ; more\nat home before a sumptuous setting by M. Cam-\nbon than I can bring myself to be when I see\nthose admirable experiments of your own M.\nCraig, those of M. Appia, or the very pretty\nfantastics of the so-different M. Bakst,... I can-\nnot truthfully say (or at any rate write) that I\nam one at all points with this New Move-\nment. This is mainly due to my training and\nenvironment.\nBut I am quite aware that the New Move-\nment has arrived. And that the old order is\npassing.—l regret it;—and I only hope that\nat any rate in this New Movement your first-\nrate English men of the second order, will\nnot fail as M. Copeau did in our city, to come\ninto touch with the first-rate men of the first\norder and serve them.\nWhat I say of M. Copeau I would say\nof others. In London a Mr Randean is just\nso as is M. Copeau.... a good second class\nman. Mr. Fagan, Mr. Playfair, Mr. Mc Dermott\nare others. Their work lacks certain qualities\nwhich are never to be acquired. All these able\nmen need is to ally themselves with some man\nofgenius or some House, (if such exist in\nEngland) like our Comedie.\nFor it is by the unity of the lesser talents\nadhering with tenacity and may I say fidelity\n(or is the century too old ?) to the larger talents\nthat all our European theatres will come (may\nbe, and I hope so) to the stature which our an-\ncient Comedie Frangaise once could boast.\nI would recall the name La Grange to\nillustrate my exact meaning.\nShould this become a reality, then indeed\nthe New Movement may win the Public trust\n—even as now it seems to have won its svm-\npathy.\n\nF. M. F.\n\nCHARLES VARLET DE LA GRANGE.\n1640-1692.\nLA Grange was a very remarkable man. Possessed of\nmany talents, he preferred to be the right-hand man\nof Moli&re, and to remain so, rather than push into a place\nat all above his station.\nCharles Varlet, sieur de la Grange, was born at Amiens\nabout 1639 or 1640, and died in Paris in 1692. We\ntranslate the following biographical note from the French\nEncyclopaedia, \" Le Nouveau Larousse\nAfter having acted for some time in the provinces, La\nGrange entered the troupe of Moli&re, with whom he went\nto make his d6but in Paris. It was in his favour that Mo-\nli£re, six years before his death, resigned his position as\norateur of the troupe of the Palais Royal : it was he who\nin 1667 was commissioned by Moli£re to go with La Tho-\nrilli&re to present a petition to the king, at Lille, protesting\nagainst the interdiction of Tartufe.\nAt the death of Moli&re he passed to the theatre\nGu6negaud ; then, after the fusion with the hotel de Bour-\ngogne, replaced Hauteroche as orateur of the troupe. He\ndistinguished himself in roles of high comedy. He published,\nin 1682, with Vinot, a memorable edition of Moli&re. But\nhe is above all known for his *' Extrait des recettes et des\naffaires de la Comedie depuis Paques de 1659\njusqiTau ler Septembre 1685, appartenant au sieur de La-\ngrange, comedien du roi.\nThis register, wherein he entered the pieces, the receipts,\nthe expenses of each day, the births, marriages and deaths\nwhich took place in the troupe, is of value to the history\nof Moliere and his comedians, and makes one love the\nexactitude and good humour of the author."}, {"page_pdf": 31, "page_imprimee": "29", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.31", "texte": "LONDON AND\nCOTTON WOOL.\nWITH A PROTEST AGAINST\nIMPROVISATION IN THE THEATRE\nBY HENRY PHIPS.\n1 should hate to be at all critical about any\nof the strong points of London : I can only\nadmire them. Some find London too com-\nfortable and want things shaken up. To me\none of its strong points is its extravagant use\nof cotton wool, and I have just returned from\nLondon, having rolled from one bale on to\nanother all the time 1 was there.\n1 stayed sixteen days and can assure\nthose who have heard folk grumble about the\ndiscomforts, the inconveniences, the accursed\nmanagement of London, that there is not an\nounce of truth in one of these grumblings.\nFor London is paved with cotton wool,\nlest the feet be bruised: its walls are padded\nwith cotton wool to protect us from the\nslightest bump; its kind servants of the public\nraise us up, and lower us, glide us here,\nlunch us, tea us, cake us, and glide us back;\nfill our mouths with about sixty-five different\nbrands of cigarettes, about forty-three different\nkinds of cigars, some eighty different mixtures\nof delicious tobaccos ; play on musical instru-\nments for us, steer us across dangerous streets\nso that no more danger dare exist for us, and,\nwhile comforting our physical existence for us\nbeyond our deserts, steal from us ever so\ngently but ever so finally every desire to do\nanything. For while we are kept happy and\nsmiling money walks into our pockets.\nTo find a single fault with this cotton\nwool comfort is, for me, out of the question....\nI came from the East .... from Ceylon. I\nstopped at Taranto, passed through Italy, on\nto France, and so to London. Out East\nwool is scarce, at Taranto unknown, in Italy\nseldom used.\nAt Calais all is still a bit rough and\ntumble, but at Dover as I land, my luggage\nis taken gently from me by honest men,\nquietly taken to a train de luxe, second class.\nNo hustle no bustle —. Tea floats\ntowards me ; all is warm and cosy. Some\neighty or ninety papers spread out on a highly\npolished stall, lie awaiting me. They cost\nmuch, more than any in Ceylon, in Taranto,\nand in France, but they are perfect. The\npaper is perfect and the workmanship fault-\nless and half the letter-press excellent....\nAnd what I need in life, after a perfect\nseat and a perfect tea, is a perfect journal.\nSome fools would say that all these things\nare superfluous, and deadening to the senses,\nand that to find eight or nine different tobaccos\non landing, after having had but two in all\nItaly, is bad for one ....what utter rubbish!\nAs well say that to offer me a choice of\ntwenty-three different cigarettes for the ordinary\nand sole Macedonia cigarettes of Italy and the\nZomba of Ceylon is bad for me : that to\nfind twelve or thirteen tobacconists, nine or ten\nhosiers, twelve to sixteen cinemas, and eighteen\nto twenty restaurants in the first street into\nwhich I am led on arriving at London is as\nbad for me, as it is bad for him or her, my\nfellow-passenger, to be met by the adverti-\nsements of some hundred or so shops offering\nother unnecessary luxuries.\nMy only reply to that is, give me Luxuries,\nand the necessities will take care of themselves\n....pamper me well and good, and I'll disci-\npline myself. So long as I have a stall made\nof perfect springs, leather, velvet, plush, ample\nand soft, the play will be perfect, whatever\nit may be.\nI know that this is to be held by the\nEditor of \" The Mask \" to be a form of\nheresy, since the Editor is rather severe about\nhow I am to enjoy my theatres. He is all\nfor Mussolini and a discipline which takes no\nexcuse. He wants the Theatres to exert\nthemselves and the slack and supercilious\ndramatic critics to be sacked. So I won't\nattempt to excuse myself: all I would say is\nthis: That if, after the cosiest tea in the\nworld, and a little exercise on the soft\nAxminster carpets in my hotel, I am plunged\ninto discomfort in a Theatre, I shall (do you\nthink I shall ?) be more critical of the piece\nthan if the lull goes on. Give me the lull\nof the dope and the Drama can be what it\nlikes.\nI count it as a good thing that we all be\nsaved as much exertion as possible in London.\nYour journal, I know, once advocated the\nItalian thing called Improvisation. Well, I\nhave been purchasing some very rare books\non that art, and I find that Improvisation is\na most undesirable business. That it demands"}, {"page_pdf": 32, "page_imprimee": "30", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.32", "texte": "a great deal of the actors is not my point.\nMy point is that it demands far too much of\nthe spectators.\nTo pay 10/6 for a stall is enough; to\nhave to exert oneself further is preposterous.\nAnd Improvisation seems to call for a horrid\nattention from everyone in the house ; it even\npresupposes a state of intelligence and wide-\nawakeness. Lull and 101 l which are, after all,\nthe twin spirits of every sort of fine entertain-\nment, would be positively driven out of the\ntheatre which introduced Improvisation. That's\nwhy I am against it.\nA glance at the reproduction on page 13\nof volume nine of \" The Mask \", issued last\nOctober, shows the first part of the first act of\nthe book of the play called \" La Schiava \",\nwritten down by some actor in 1600 or\nearlier, and acted many a time and oft in\nItaly. Heaven forbid that our admirable actors\nshould ever be forced to attempt such a dog's\ntask as the one. implied by this book.\nFor it shows that what Mr Gordon Craig\nhas told us for years is only too true. It\nproves conclusively that actors were once upon\na time actually expected to invent their own\ndialogue!! I couldn't do it myself, so 1 take\nit no ordinary actor could do it, and I believe\nit would take a very athletic intuition to com-\npass such a job.\nMr G. B. Ambrose translated it into\nEnglish so that we could see for ourselves,\nword for word, step for step, the cruel task\nthe actors were put to thank God, only\nonce-upon-a-time.\nTo expect this of actors of today is going\ntoo far. Their work is arduous enough as\nit is. Seldom sure of what they are going\nto do for a living tomorrow, half their time is\nperforce given up to getting an engagement,\ntheir work at the Club, fixing up a tour, and\nfinding a stop-gap somehow when a play has\nbeen a failure. The actors' work is, further-\nmore, a profession. They have no wish, so far\nas I can ascertain, that their work be held to\nbe an art, and certainly not a laborious kind\nof art such as improvisation would make it.\nWell, some of the most reliable dramatic\ncritics can be trusted to see that no London\nactors shall ever be imposed on and asked\nto make any such effort: yes, our really great\ndramatic critic, Mr Agate, and Mr Godfrey\n1 urner and a few more can be trusted to\ndo this. Their pooled intelligence will see\nto it that nothing is done in a hurry and\nI hope they will above all things always take\na nice long time about seeing that nothing\nbe done.\n\nTHE LAST FOG\nOF REALISM\nBY JAN KLAASSEN.\nREALISM is one of the Patent Medicines\nof Art.\nRealism, for which no sound artists have\never had any use until these later morbid\ndays, and which these artists rejected almost\nas soon as they had touched it, ....Realism\nstill creeps up and down the boards of the\nTheatre.\nThe best of Realism is that anyone can\npractise it. Being easiest it appeals to the\nlaziest of thinkers and workers in the arts.\nThe worst of Realism is in its appearance..\nIt looks and sounds badly. It has always the\"\nlook of having been very difficult. While a play\nby Tolstoi seems an appalling series of dif-\nficulties overcome, a play by Moliere looks;\nand sounds as easy as a romp.\nThe evidence of difficulty and effort is.\never present in a novel by Zola or Tolstoi,,\na play by Ibsen or Strindberg, an opera by\nDebussy. \" They grunt and sweat under a\nweary life they surmount obstacles before\nour very eyes, whereas the first rule of art is\nanyhow to avoid thai. You will not find.\nMoliere, Sheridan, Rossini, Bizet, pretending\nto have just overcome stupendous difficulties\ntaking their own style and method with\nthat awful solemnity which belongs by sole\nright to the quiet prig.\nRealism is mean it is the short measure\nof those who were born to serve behind\ncounters, who study the \" Kodak \", and who\nrarely go in for charades on winter evenings.\nRealism is a setting sun and as is sad.\nRealism is the happy thought of the nou-\nveau riche. It aims to seem like its betters,\nto assume a profound air it might have been,\nborn with with other parents."}, {"page_pdf": 33, "page_imprimee": "31", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.33", "texte": "And you either like it or you don't.\nStage Realism is a strange form of exag-\ngeration, carefully avoided by the ' ancients,\nwho employed other means for holding the\nattention of the spectators.\nOne of the perfections lacking to Realism\nis ease. There is ever something jerky,\nhusky and agitated in its hushed nonsense.\nRussia without Realism would have been\nan impossible place. Any other land with it\nbecomes intolerable. I think that Russia be-\ngins to realize this now.\nREALISM IS A TAKE-IN.\nTHERE are some ridiculous points about\nRealism. Compared by us all with Art\nit is really its antithesis.\nWhereas Art is a genuine thing,\nRealism is a take-in. That which we find is\nmarvellous real one day, looked at or listened\nto a hundred years later becomes extravagantly,\nridiculously unreal (a).\n€J The Stage should never have | used\nRealism, for it is the very first resort of the\ndesperately serious amateur.\nIf in painting and engraving and in the\nnovel there be some reason for a canter now\nand then on the poor nag, the stage and the\nactor should have answered nay.\nFor whereas author and designer can\nget off the animal, the actor, once on, seems\nto be obliged to stick. It seems made for\nhim; actor and realism become a new centaur.\nOnly this time tis the actor who is the back\npart of the animal, and Realism raises a proud\nwax head and arms in front.\nTHE EASIEST WAY.\nFOR an actor it is without exception the\neasiest v/ay of performing. For the stage\nmanager and scenic man there are no diffi-\nculties.\n€J Provided the play is written on real\nenough lines the emotions not too deep or\nfierce, the actor should find the realistic mount\nthe easiest nag to learn to ride on. Don\nQuixote on a wooden horse goes too far. No\none will ever go too far on the nag Realism.\n€J Realism fools you.\nIt fools you into believing many things,\nand it is all the more curious that Realism\nshould be considered somehow related to Art,\nsince Art never even attempts to fool you.\n€J Whereas artists since the year two\n(after the cave-men who drew realistic bi-\nsons and deer), have, it seems to me, always\nrather pointed off the earth, and raved over-\nmuch about the stars, the realists, being the\nrevolutionary bad boys of the family, have\ndenied the existence of stars. \" Pin pricks\nin a black cloth ; frauds \", they have replied\n....and the incredible thing is that they have\nbelieved what they were saying.\nOh, and they believe well in what they are\ndoing, these realists.... their own sayings and\ndoings are more to them than the stars.\nFor it is not as though these realists\nmerely swept up the litter of sentimentalism\nand what they are pleased to call \" Theatrica-\nlism \" and made all neat and tidy again.\nTheir sweeping lasts on for hours and at the\nend all the stars are in the dustpan. The\nsky is clear at last one limpid stretch\nof grey fog. All our old beliefs are forced\nto yield to the brusque monotonous swish of\ntheir brooms. They sweep and char sing-\ning Ca ca ira, and many an artist emigrates\nto lands where people are to be found strongly\nat peace with the old belief in the impossible.\nSuch artists walk in the sun, watch its\ncourse, marvel at it and measure its shadows :\nthey stand by the sea and again marvel at\nits ways; and from these two immensities\ndown to a leaf, a grain of sand, they con-\ntinue to marvel seek to know no more\nand are at peace with it and create mas-\nterpieces.\nNot so the realist. He is often a gentle-\nhearted being most loveable ; but if he\nraises his eyes to the sun he must pucker his\nbrows and purse his lips and begin to puzzle\nand to worry : then an argument lasting eight\nhours begins if two of 'em are together. If by\nthe sea, he must be frowning because it is so\nlarge, whistles a slow and gloomy jig because\nit is so deep, shuffles up and down on the\nsands before it because he'll be damned if\nhe'll bathe. He does not assert that sea and\nsun are impossible because he sees them there.\nBut he denies the spirit which has made them.\nThe proper study of mankind is man. \"If\nthe sun can be of use to man \" and here\n\n(a) Callot's Last Supper and his other Biblical\nthings for example."}, {"page_pdf": 34, "page_imprimee": "32", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.34", "texte": "he corrects himself \"if the sun can be of\nuse to me, then I will give some time to its\nstudy; but if it cannot it can stay where it is\nAnd, priding himself upon the precision of his\neyes, he quizzes at nature and perceives in\nall its old glory about as much as a poor bat.\nWell, the sun will rise, spite of the bats,\nand realism will then go with them into the\nbarns once more.\n\nTO THE REALISTS\nOF 1810.\nTO THE ACCUSER WHO IS\nTHE GOD OF THE WORLD.\nVictor Hugo, (William Shakespeare).\nTruly, my Satan, thou art but a dunce.\nAnd dost not know the garment from the man;\nEvery harlot was a virgin once,\nNor canst thou ever change Kate into Nan.\nTho' thou art worship'd by the names divine\nOf Jesus and Jehovah, thou art still\nThe Son of Morn in weary Night's decline,\nThe lost traveller's dream under the hill.\nAND as they made nothing of it in 1810 they still make\nnothing of it today. Bats and moles, blind and\ndeaf. . . . goori . . good.\nBut the sun is rising you know, dear little bats, good\nlittle moles, We cannot possibly delay its warmth, its\nrays an hour longer : ....get quick into the barns, burrow\nquickly into the old earth. — Buona nolle.\nTOO much matter is the evil of our day. Hence a cer-\ntain dnlness.\nIN the poet and in the artist there is the infinite. It is\nthis ingredient, the infinite, which gives to this kind of\ngenius the irreducible grandeur.\n\nA NOTE ON THE POSTER. Page 33.\nM. B.\nTHE Teatro Malvezzi was built in 1655. In 1680 it\nwas rebuilt ; in 1697 it was enlarged and decorated\nby Ferdinando Bibiena and Francesco his brother. In 1 745\nit was burnt down. (Ricci). While it existed it was, with the\nTeairo Formagliari, built in 1646, the chief theatre of Bologna.\nThe performances given were what v/e should today\ngroan about but which in those days they enjoyed : that\nis to say, they were made frankly without hope of even\npaying expenses.\nThis \" L' Eumene \" with music by jommelli, with\nscenes by Bibiena, costumes by Landi, dances by Sovve-\nlerre, was performed 27 times only, 39,176 lire-were\nspent; 24,515 lire were taken. There was therefore a\nloss of 14,660 lire on the 27 performances. But the\ngame was good sport,—not called sport but fine art. Jom-\nmelli received 900 : lire five singers between them received\n9,730 lire. For lighting'the stage and the front of the house\n2106 lire were spent on wax and oil. The orchestra re-\nceived 93 lire 13 for each performance.\n\nTHEN AND NOW.\n1723-1923.\nBY GEORGES DEVOTO.\n\nTHE Theatre is no longer of the same im-\nportance to Europeans as once it was.\nEven in Italy where, in essentials, it is as\ngood as it always was, it does not hold the place\nit did. Which is a very good thing.\n€J And what is there which holds exactly\nthe same place as of old ?\nSome things have spread themselves and,\ninstead of one seat occupy fifty seats- Some\nother things have been obliged to give up\ntheir seats so that \" neighbour\" may have more\nthan he needs.\nIt's a wonderful new arrangement.\nThe Theatre has had to give up it's seat....\nand is now standing. Perhaps it once oc-\ncupied too many places. Be that as it may,\nit now has to stand.\nAnd, as I said above, this is a very\ngood thing. It may teach it something it had\nto learn.\n€J In the eighteenth century the Theatre\nwas the only place to go to after dinner to\nmeet your friends ....to discuss politics ....to\nmake love ....to make mischief ....or to show\nindifference to love, politics or friendship while\npretending to be entirely concerned with the\nfoolish spectacle on the stage.\nIn the eighteenth century \" The women\nentered their palchi well cured of any wish\nto attend, to see or to hear \" (a).\n.... \" through the whole of Italy they con-\nsidered the theatre as a place for rendezvous \"\n(Sharp, 1765), \"to exchange visits \". Like bees\nthey buzzed all the time—popped in like bees\ndo first into one cell then into the next. D' Es-\npinchal, for example, in 1 780-1790 in Roma,\nTorino and Paris was no sooner in one loge\nthan he left to visit another; if he has to\nvisit twenty out of the sixty loges and stays\nfive minutes in each he will have to give one\nhour and forty minutes to this pretty pas-\ntime.\nAnd he would visit at least twenty, for\nwherever he went he knew everyon. In his vo-\n\n(a) Bellorini."}, {"page_pdf": 35, "page_imprimee": "33", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.35", "texte": "ANNOUNCEMENT OF A PERFORMANCE AT THE\nTEATRO MALVEZZI, BOLOGNA IN 1742,\nWith Scenery designed by Giuseppe Galli Bibiena .\nA rare Poster on white handmade paper measuring about 52 inches by 40 inches, for a performance remarkable for several reasons.\n(see Note page 32)\n\nTHE MASK\n1924"}, {"page_pdf": 36, "page_imprimee": "34", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.36", "texte": "luminous record of theatricals he never forgets\nhimself so far as to make any mention of the\nplays, operas and performers beyond recording\nwhat were the names, ....what the hours, ....who\nwas in the house.\nThe spectators talked very loudly ....the\nplace was very dark ....it was very much like\na modern restaurant where excellent musicians\noften play to dumb ears and through talk which\nhums or rattles on like the town or country\ntraffic.\n€J A great singer, dancer or actor might\noccasionally silence the spectators to attention.\nTo do so something resembling the superhuman\nhad to be exerted. The Theatrical had to\nbecome doubly, trebly Theatrical to tell, to\ndominate the chattering, to pierce the obscu-\nrity of the Theatres, to cut through the dense\nand often choking atmosphere.\n€J We may believe that sie old manner\nof acting came in here very usefully.\nAs no one was attending there would\nbe no applause ; and indeed until the early\n19th century there was not applause (b).\n€$ But 1 ask myself, was the Theatre ever\nof any importance except as providing a meet-\ning place for busybodies and folk a bit frigh-\ntened in the dimly-lighted salons of their\nhouses.... \" candlelight \" (c).\nYes, today it has another importance.\nIt is the place people go to find quiet and\nrecollect there why they did as they did yes-\nterday in Parliament, at the office, at Mrs\nJones's, and to puzzle out what they shall do\ntomorrow.\nAgain as in the 18th century they look\nblankly at the stage and understand nothing\nthat is going on there, or, understanding that\nlittle, sigh and are really grateful that it is\nnot more.\nOh ....There is Madam Z How\nshall I explain what it really was I said to\nher friend Madam Y this morning \".\nThat man in the fifth row sitting so silently\nalways intent on the stage and now reading\nhis programme, he is interested in the Theatre,\nwhat ?\n44 Not on your life \" as the Americans\nsay. He is tired after the day's work in his\noffice—and the play distracts him a little ; he\ndoes all he can to be distracted more; ....but\nonly distracted. Real interest ....real joy ....real\nunderstanding of what is going on upon the stage\nhe has none.\nWhat? ....would you ask a hard-working\nman of sound commonsense and a good deal\nof natural distinction to be interested, to be\njoyful, to understand THAT?\nq The Theatre is no longer of the same\nimportance to Europeans as it was.\nFor obvious reasons.\n\n(b) Fischel.\n(c) Craig. \"On Stage Lighting \" The Chap-\nbook \"• Nov. 1922.\n\nPISPISPIGLORIO.\nTEATRO. Noi non siamo gli antichi, e percio non ab-\nbiamo nb circhi, ne stadj, nb termi, n& anfiteatri, ne\nteatri. I nostri Teatri scno una specia alveari, dove si va\nnon per vedere, n& per udire drammi, ma per farvi un\npispispiglorio di cellula in cellula. Se vogliamo Teairo,\nfacciamocelo Ncome insegna Vitruvio, e Palladio, e tanti ahri,\nche han dimostrato che nel interno deve il teatro essere per\ngli spettatori gradinato semicircolarmente; e all'esterno deco-\nrato in modo che si riconosca subito per Teatro.\nFrom Francesco Milizia: Di-\nzionario delle belle Arti, etc.\nBassano 1797. Vol. 2: p. 268.\nWhich, being translated, reads as follows: -\n44 THEATRE. We are not the ancients, and so we\nhave neither circuses, nor stadiums, nor baths, nor amphi-\ntheatres, nor theatres. Our Theatres are a species of bee-\nhives, where one goes not to see, nor to hear, dramas, but\nto make a buzz buzz buzz (pispispiglorio) from cell to cell.\nIf we want a Theatre, let us make it as shown by Vi-\ntruvius and Palladio and so many others, who have demon-\nstrated that in the interior the Theatre ought to be in se-\nmicircular grades for the spectators; and on the exterior de-\ncorated in such a manner that it may be at once recognized\nas Theatre \".\nMilizia (1725-1793) was architect and writer, and\nnot like that typical eighteenth century gossip cTEspinchal,\nwhose sole object in going to a Theatre seems to have\nbeen to visit acquaintances, box after box, until he dropped\ninto a seat in the last box from sheer fatigue.\nOne almost fancies Milizia must have seen d* Espinchal\nin the Teatro Aliberti in Roma playing the bee from cell\nto cell when inspired to describe the Theatre as he does.\nWHAT a good word ! ....this Italian noise to describe\nchattering in whispers, ....Pispispiglorio. Dante\nuses it in a contracted form twice in the Purgatorio.\nI suppose that in the eighteenth century, when Milizia\nwrote, it had grown more elaborate as suitable to Baroque\n—may-be it was seldom so printed. Yet there was a word\nlike it, Pissipissi which signified to whisper the Paternoster\nunder the breath."}, {"page_pdf": 37, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.37", "texte": "SICILIAN PUPPETS.\nThe eye of the spectator is not fastidious, so no very great thought is given to appearances.\nPlate 4.\n\nTHE MASK\n1924"}, {"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "35", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.39", "texte": "BOOK REVIEWS\n\nSHAKESPEARE'S FELLOWS by\nG. B. Harrison M. A. John Lane,\n6/- net.\nTHE purpose of the book is to pro-\nvide a background for the study\nof the early dramatists, and this the\nauthor does with care and' without\nbeing long over it. In 202 pages and\nwith an Index he guides us pleasantly\nthrough difficult paths in a tanglewood\nplace.\nWe like the plain English under-\nstanding of Burbage, for example....\navoiding all surmise as to this man's\ntalents and regrets at what he could\nnot do, and what he failed to do, he\ntells us what he did, which was to make\n4< one of the greatest contributions to Eli-\nzabethan Drama : he gave it a stage. \"\nNowadays the critics would blame\nhim for being so material.... would ask\n44 what have bricks and mortar to do\nwith Drama?—no, Mr Burbage, it is\nthe word which abides.... the word is\nthe spirit of Drama—the word....\nWords, words, words.\n\nDRAMA, MUSIC-DRAMA, AND\nRELIGION, by Ramsden B aim-\nforth. The Year Book Press, London.\nTHE author brings to this study all\nthat knowledge of Ethical and\nReligious values which he revealed in\nhis 44 The Bible from the Standpoint\nof the Higher Criticism. \" He holds\nwith Hamlet that 44 the play's the thing,\nwherein I'll catch the conscience of the\nKing, \" and King Demos, ie : official-\ndom, is the King he would see worsted\nby the best propaganda plays.\nHe finds the plays of Mr Galswor-\nthy, Mr G. B. Shaw, Ibsen and others\n44 are so effective in their moral and\nspiritual appeal: \" praises the Passion\nPlays for this reason, and the music-\ndramas of Wagner.\nTo these last he devotes nearly the\nwhole of his little 93 page book, and\none feels that he is probably exact in\nhis estimate of Wagner as aiming al-\nways toward righteousness.\n\nTHE LIFE AND DEA TH OF SIR\nJOHN FALSTAFF with an Intro-\nduction by George Radford. /. M.\nDent & Sons. Ltd. 12/6,\nHORACE Walpole, who once\nwrote, relative to Shakespeare's\n41 Henry IV, \" 44 Now I hold a per-\nfect comedy to be the perfection of\nhuman composition, and I firmly be-\nlieve that fifty Iliads could be created\nsooner than another such character as\nFalstaff \", would surely have welcomed\na volume in which the entire Life of\nFalstaff in all 44 the joyous, humou-\nrous and outrageous pitch of his gam*\nbol faculties \" is gathered together and\ncoordinated from the various plays, as\nin this attractive volume issued, with\n14 coloured Illustrations by Signor\nG. B. Galizzi, from Aldine House\nthe House of Dent.\n\nTHE DRAMA AND THE STAGE\nby Ludwig Lewisohn. Harcourt, Brace\n& Co. New York• $ 2 net.\nMR Lewisohn is a lucid and pains-\ntaking writer, who likes obser-\nving his theatre and setting down what\nhe observes in little essays. It is a\ncollection of such, originally published\nin The Nation, which he has now\nissued in book-form.\n\nGREEN ROOM GOSSIP by Ar-\nchibald Haddon. Stanley Paul & Co.\nA little volume full of good-na-\ntured and often amusing gossip\nabout stage life and stage people by\nthe dramatic critic of the Daily Express.\nMr Haddon has fulfilled his office for\nthat paper for twenty years without a\nbreak, and has therefore had conside-\nrable opportunity of familiarizing him-\nself with theatre conditions behind as\nwell as before the curtain. He has\nalso had the chance of watching and\ncomparing times past and present, seen\nmost of the great actors and actresses\ndisappear, and not seen the arrival of\nthose of equal stature, qualified to take\ntheir places: for, as he asks, 44 If Irving\nwere alive, is there an actor in har-\nness to-day who would be worthy to\ntie the laces in his shoes? \" Those\ngrand old actors \", he continues, 44 had\nbrains as well as mere deportment\nand, though their names 44 may be only\nhearsay to the careless modern playgoer,\nignorant of the wonderful traditions of\nthe British theatre \", 44 their genius has\nbeen made immortal by such pens as\nthat of Lamb, Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt,\nForster, Lewes, and by many a great\npoet of their time \". 4 By jove! he is\na soul! ' exclaimed Byron after seeing\nEdmund Kean; 4 life, nature, truth,\nwithout exaggeration or diminution'.\n4 Garrick's face ', said Dibdin, 4 was\nwhat he obliged you to fancy it age,\nyouth, plenty, poverty, everything it\nassumed '.\nBut for all this there are some\nactors today, and we think Mr. Had-\ndon just the man to discover them.\n\nOPERA SYNOPSES, by J. Walker\n'Mc. Spadden. G. G. Harrop & Co.\nTHIS little volume sets out to be a\n44 guide to the plots and charac-\nters of the standard operas and gives,\nin fact, the scenarios of nearly seventy\nof them, including 4 grand 4 romantic '\nand 4 light ', and the selection has been\nmade with the intention of including\nall the operas produced in recent years\nwhich are likely to remain permanently\nin favour. These brief, clear outlines\nof the various stories together with lists\nof the characters, the manner in which\nthe parts are distributed among the dif-\nferent voices, the dates of first produc-\ntions, and other like details, will be\nof service to many who would be glad\nto be more familiar with these things.\n\nCONFESSIONS OF AN OPERA\nSINGER by Kathleen Howard....\nA. A. Knopf. 1918. New York. $2.\nIF anyone wishes to learn what woman\nfeels like when struggling to succeed, to\nbe an operatic singer, determined to\ndo this in Germany and America,—\nthis book will explain. Miss Howard\nmet with several adventures and some\nof these she tells us about. I have\nplaced it on my shelf side with Queen\nVictoria's 44 Life in the Highlands \"\nnot because it is at all like that work but\nbecause it is so unlike ; indeed Queen\nVictoria could not have written the\npassages on 44 Travels \" pages 14 and\n245 of the 46 Confessions. \"\n\nby John Cournos. Wm Hei-\nnemann. 7/6 net.\nMr Cournos needs no introduction,\nand this book 44 Babel \" has already\nbeen introduced to our readers by his\ntwo former books, 44 The Mask \" and\n44 The Wall M.\n44 Babel \" is a readable book. It\nhas all the qualities of a popular book\nand a dozen qualities of a book which\ncannot be popular.\nThese are not thrust forward—one\nis less aware of the author than one\nis of his characters."}, {"page_pdf": 40, "page_imprimee": "36", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.40", "texte": "The place wherein they move is\nLondon—sometimes Paris and New\nYork—but London is the Babel.\nThese is a scene of the death of a\nwoman which is one of the very best\nthings Mr Cournos has done, and a\nfigure 44 Judith, \" who seems destined\nto pass into another book and become\na very famous creation.\nIt is a human book and full of no-\nble things. Above all things very rea-\ndable.... and since books are written\nto be read it is fortunate for Mr Hei-\nnemann to have found what must\nprove to be one of the best selling\nnovels he has ever handled, and be-\nfore long to enter its 15th thousand.\n\nA VALUABLE CATALOGUE, (a)\nTHERE are some things which take\nrather longer than others before\none can learn how good they are.\nAnd a good Catalogue of Books is\nlike that.\nThe value of the Catalogue of Thea-\ntre Books which was prepared in 1922\nby Mr G. H. Palmer assisted by\nMr A. van de Put grows on me every\nlime I use it.... and anyone who is\nstudying the Theatre will find it of\nthe utmost service to him.\nNot only books dealing with the\nNew Movement are catalogued, but\nthose dealing with the Theatre of\npast ages.\nI do not know if the Catalogue is\nstill procurable, but if it be so I advise\neveryone who reads The Mask for\npurposes of study to make sure of se-\ncuring a copy.\n(a) '• List of IVorfcs on the Art of the\nTheatre in the Victoria and Albert Mu-\nseum Library. \" (no date) issued in 1922.\n\nDAS INDISCHE DRAMA by Slen\nKonow. Leipzig. Vereinigung Wis-\nsenschaftlicher Veileger. 1920. 5-j\nIn one of those able Brochures which\nthe Continent is always yielding us for\nthe price of a few pence Professor\nKonow condenses in 138 pages an\nenormous amount of learning, the re-\nsult of (one imagines) years of re-\nsearch.\nIt is a book to be read with Dr Coo-\nmaraswamy's 44 Mirror of Gesture, \"\nand like that book it emphasizes the\npoint that, except these plays be per-\nformed in India and before a special\naudience of those initiated in the pre-\ncise meaning of gestures, the sense of\nthe play will escape us.\nProfessor Konow points out that the\naudience should consist of none but the\nmost intelligent; an awful blow for the\nlow brows.... but at any rate no com-\nfort for those on high, for it is a pe-\nculiar intelligence, ie. a Hindu intelli-\ngence, which is required.\nWith our European Stage as it is,\nand our English Stage where it is, it\nnot a book which can help us very\nmuch.\nMr Horace Hayman Wilson's 44 Se-\nlect Specimens of the Theatre of the\nHindus \" 1827 is, one would imagine,\nmore to our purpose, till one rea-\nlizes that one has had it to no pur-\npose for close upon a hundred years.\n\nA HISTORY OF ART by Dr. G.\nCarotti. Vol. 111. Translated by Janet\nRoss ; with 357 Illustrations. Duck-\nworth & Co. London. Price 8/—.\nHISTORIES of Art are as a rule\nlifeless things, and are generally\nbulky affairs: and I like this History\nof Art because it is one of the smal-\nlest of books (barely larger than a\nTauchnitz volume) and not lifeless.\nFor me the life of History is in the\namount of dates, references and bare\nreports of what remains. n Perhaps 11\nand n it seems n are words a Historian\nshould avoid, and Dr. Carotti and his\nTranslator avoid them.\nTo judge from this volume dealing\nwith the art of Upper and Southern\nItaly in the middle ages, Art would seem\nto be all contained in churches and\npalaces.\nWas mankind of that age always in\na church and for ever holding com-\nmittee meetings in some Palazzo della\nRagione? Was it all the time on pa-\nrade ? one asks oneself. If not, where\nare the signs of Art in the everyday\nhouses, ...in the off hours especially.\nOr were there none ?\nIf there was Art at such times and\nin such places why does not Dr. Ca-\nrotti show us some examples? His 357\ntiny illustrations give us superb chur-\nches, crosses, thrones, pulpets, doors of\nchurches, candelabre, cloisters and tombs:\nbut of art in the every-day life there\nare no visible signs.\nAnd so, if not lifeless, this History\nis not quite real anough.\nI suppose a plough or an oven cannot\nbe called a work of art, and to men-\ntion one and show us one (if one exist)\nwould be playing at History when there\nare fifty cathedrals, sixty bishop's thrones\nand seventy tombs pushing to the fore.\nYet to introduce a few lowly items\nlike ploughs, ovens, barrels and other\nsuch humble things might perhaps stir\nsomething of us which does not stir at\nthe overwhelming sight and story of the\necclesiastical and civic life with the life\nplucked out of it.\nDr. Carotti is a ucky man to have\nenlisted Mrs Strong and Madame Beryl\nde Zoete as translators of his first two\nvolumes and now to have Mrs Janet\nRoss's erudite and sympathetic assistence.\n\nPOUR MESURE par\nWilliam Shakespeare: traduction et\npreface de Guy de Pontales, ornernenis\ngraves sur hois par Jean-Louis Gam-\npert. Paris. Societe Litteraire de France.\n1921. Frs. 30. net,\nOne thousand copies have been is-\nsued of this finely printed book, (prin-\nted by M. Paul Herissey at Evreux).\nThe preface is charming and char-\nming too are the wood engravings by\nM. Garnpert, designs not in the least\nstagey, but most dramatic.\nThe cuts seem to have been printed\nfrom the wood blocks, so that collec-\ntors have more than half a dozen pieces\nof original work, and for the small sum\nof thirty francs.\n\nCATALOGO DEL MUSEO TEA-\nTRALE ALLA SCALA. II Piccolo\nCicerone Moderno. No, 12. Alfieri &\nLacroix. Milano.\nIT is the rule aud not the exception\nthat all the historical work dealing\nwith the Italian Theatre is good. But\nthe catalogue of the Museo Teatrale of\nthe Teatro Scala in Milano is very bad.\nLet me say at once that it was printed\nbefore Signor Scandiani came into power\nthere.\nThe collection itself is a very pretty\none, only I have always found diffi-\nculty in getting to see it when I wanted\nto. So far as I can gather it is open\nto those who are spectators at the af-\nternoon and evening performances, and\nto no one else; and as the waits be-\ntween the acts are never more than ten\nor fifteen minutes, I was never able to\ngive proper time and thought to the\ncollection as I should like to have done.\nI should also like to find in the Museo\ntables at which I could write as I study.\nBut there are no tables, and many of\nthe prints are hung too high for me to\nsee in detail. Yet a design for the\ntheatre must be studied close at hand\nand not far off.\nSo when I visited the collection I\nwas disappointed. But I said, 44 I shall\ntake the 1 16 page catalogue away with'\nme and it shall tell me all that I need\nto know \".\nI got it home, but found, as I have\nsaid, that it was very bad.\nI like to see the name of Adrienne\nLecouvreur as it is written. 1 do not"}, {"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "37", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.41", "texte": "want her translated into Italian \"Adria-\nna Nor do I like to hear of Gio-\nvanni Filippo Kemble or Signora Do-\nbelin. I wish to hear of John Phillip\nKemble and Fraulein Dobelin. As for\nDavide Garrick as Amletto who died\nin Londra, ...it sounds and looks droll\nto me. He is David Garrick, he acts\nHamlet and he died in London. I\nknow some of us write of Julius Caesar\nwho died in Rome, but when we\ndo so we are at fault. We should\nwrite of Giulio Cesare who died in\nRoma.\nThere are too many entries of athletes\nand gladiators in this volume. There\nis even \" una tigre ed un lione \"\n....not marionettes as one might expect,\n....but Roman plaques.\nThen we have an odd entry under\nscenografia: it runs: \" I. Gioachino Ros-\nsini Maestro compositore. \"\nIt is a bust in bronze by Maricchotti,\nand it has nothing whatever to do with\nscenografia.\nAs many of the exhibits in the mu-\nseum are very interesting, they deserve\na better catalogue, and I hope that\nSignor Scandiani will see that one is\npublished.\n\nFASCISM by Odon Por, Translated\nby E. Townshen d. The Labour Pub-\nlishing Co. Ltd. 7/6.\nA small book of over 300 pages on\nthis practical Movement scouted by\neveryone two to three years ago as\n\" impossible \" dangerous \"or \" non-\nexistent \".\nIt is a clear and practical book,\nshowing in what way Labour is closely\nconnected with Fascism : showing also\nhow Fascism possesses Labour \"\nhas not, ....the power of appealing to\nthe imagination of a people, pro-\nvided imagination has not been utterly\ncondemned as a worthless quality by\nthe people's rulers.\nThere is something about /E in the\nvolume.\n\n\\\nCONTEMPORARY DRAMA IN\nIRELAND by E. A. Boyd. The\nTalbot Press, Dublin, Price 61- net.\n/CONTEMPORARY Drama.... and\nin Ireland.\nI grow depressed holding this book\nin my hands, .... turning its leaves. It's\ntoo tragic.... this \"Tenebrae\". It\nsaddens me too much: ....the lights\ncannot be lighted again. Whether it\nmatters or no I can't say, it saddens\nme too much.\nAs I turn the book I see the name\nEdward Martyn, -and there too are\nWilliam Butler Yeats, Synge, Colum,\nGregory, Boyle and /E....\nWhat is it all about ? I thought I\nwas sure what it was all about: but\nthe wind is howling outside as I write\nthis, and were I to open a window\nto see the last lights in the room would\nall go out.\n\" Lennox Robinson is one of the\nmost important of these writers for he\nhas shown\nI have heard the Irish actors and\nseen them on the stage. I like them\nso much. They came to London, went\nto America, and it all seemed some-\nthing like a foreign company going the\nrounds; there was something they seem-\ned to be wanting to say: it was as\nthough they wished to do something.\nBut I cannot tell what it was they\nwanted to say or do. I am only for\nthe moment conscious of \" Tenebrae\n\nMUSIC IN SPAIN by Carl Van\nVechten. A. A. Knopf. New York•\n1918. $ 1.50.\nMR Van Vechten may be trust-\nworthy in his facts about the\nmusic in Spain: from a former work\nof his we should have judged him fitted\nto write better about the castles there.\n\nHET TONEEL DECOR by J. W.\nF. Buning; A Reeks Monograph of\nthe Toegepaste Kunsten, W. L. &\nJ. Brusse. Rotterdam. Holland.\nIN a small brochure of 47 pages il-\nlustrated by 44 interesting designs,\nplans, and projects, Mr Werumens Bu-\nning of Amsterdam gives us a great\ndeal of information about the Dutch\nhistory and methods of decorating their\nstages since 1908, all valuable to the\nhistorian. He takes M. Appia's \" Die\nscenische illusion liegt in der Lebendi-\ngen gegenwart des darstellers \" as his\nmotto, and, in the designs he shows\nus, proves that if theoretically this be\nthe truth, the practice of performers is\nto depend on a good deal beside their\nown gegenwart,.... in fact they are to\nleave the task of creating the illusion\nto an enormous extent to the scene,\nand the more expressive the scene the\nbetter ; the more that expression leave\nnothing to the imagination the easier.\nPractically all the 44 designs are\nnew to us, unless by chance we have\nbeen in Holland lately, and even then\nsome are still quite new.\nI cannot make out exactly what is\nthe price of this brochure, (which has\na charmingly designed wrapper in co-\nlours), but it seems to be at most a\nvery few shillings.\n\nWHAT THE BUTLER SAW, by\nEric Horne (Butler) ; T. Werner\nLaurie Ltd. Price. 12/6 net.\nTHIS is a book rather like that volume\nof \" Reminiscences \" by Michael\nKe11y,... the one Theodore Hook wrote\nfor him in 1826.\nIt's good reading, easy reading,...\nwas it easy writing ?.... and who\nwrote it ?\nThese kind of books are in some\nways so rich that, if they never be-\ncome celebrated or the writers of them\nvalued, the stuff in them serves many\nanother author in the centuries to\ncome,\nFor there is live stuff in such books.\nIt lives on, but is always kept down\nuntil it has been squeezed of all its\njuice by authors; some hundred years\nlater it is reprinted, few copies sold,\nstill talked of by authors and others,\nand yet never held to be worth much.\nLike the butlers and actors them-\nselves, these books often have more in\nthem than their betters, and yet 'tis\nstyle which we value in man and in\nbooks, and I suppose we.are right in\nour valuation.\nAnd since we have here our butler's\nword for it that style is what counts\nwith him, the vote goes to style.... the\nold style.\n\nMAH JONG by Etienne. Methuen :\nPrice 3/6 net.\nTHIS is a useful little book, and\nenables everyone easily to learn\nhow to play the fascinating game of\nMah Jong. It is besides prettity bound\nand clearly printed.\n\nBOOK NOTES.\n\n\"PLAYWRIGHTS ON PLAY-\nMAKING\" by Professor Brander Mat-\nthews has come out. A Manchester\npaper said that \" The strength of his\n(Prof. Brander Matthews's) book is in\nthe advocacy of the theatrical for the\ntheatre. \"\nThat's right! We too feel that the\nTheatrical is, in away, made for the\nTheatre. At Columbia University it\nhas never led to much.\n\no \" WHO'S WHO AT SEA o\n\" Who's Who at Sea \" seems to be\na new book just issued. This is good\nnews, for we have always wanted to\nknow more about five or six of the\nEnglish Dramatic Critics."}, {"page_pdf": 42, "page_imprimee": "38", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.42", "texte": "THE PENNY GAFF.\nHOW pleasant it is to hear Mr\nWalkley in his new book lecturing\nthe crowd and its popular-minded critics\nScott and Sarcey on the weakness of\nits common-sense 44 in confrontation with\nany new movement \".\n44 Their criticism *\\ writes A. B. W.\n14 though influential, can hardly be said\nto have been an influence for good \".\nAnd then it is that he tells us where\nit 44 broke down \" : 44 both men....\nwere absolutely 4 floored ' by Ibsen \".\nNew movements should not, of course,\n44f100r\" popular-minded critics. But what\nif they 44 floor \" superior minded ones ?\nVide A.B.W on the Theatre Exhibition.\nIt cannot be possible that Mr. Walk-\nley, Mr. Clement Scott and L'Oncle\nSarcey are all popular-minded critics....\nor is it possible ?\nStill, one thing is as good as ano-\nther to write about if one writes as\nwell as A. B. W„ But to become a\ndramatic critic and remain one for fifty-\nthree years on this plea may not\nbe exactly 44 an influence for good \".\nonly that.\nThat is being popular minded with\nthe cynics.... no proper minded cynic\ncares twopence for the Theatre as an\nart or an institution. He will, if he\nhave some sense, use the Theatre :\nlive by it even,... live on it,... but\ncare for it ?... 44 Lawks\nWell, who knows : may be in time\nhe comes to learn to care for it more\nthan all else; for nature is even more\ncynical than he, poor boy, and will\nbring his head to the dust, his lips even\nto the tattered edge of the muddy skirt\nhe once so slightingly sneered at.\nMR St John Ervine, but late the\nDramatic Critic of 44 The Obser-\nver \", once told Mr Craig, that he\nshould be less self-reliant and should\nlearn to depend on the 44 pooled in-\ntelligence \" of people.\nIf Mr Craig should ever come to a\ntheatre of his own is it not more than\nlikely he would prefer to depend upon\ntheTunique intelligence of some one like\nMr St John Ervine ? We put it to you.\nBut Mr Ervine has lately gone one\nbetter than that, and has referred to\nMr Craig's 44 damned personality \".\nThis in 44 Drama \", the organ of the\nBritish Drama League t00,... rather\nodd !... and in comment upon a letter\nof Mr John Semar's, which, by the\nway, bore no allusion to Mr Craig at all.\nThus is the sweet and gentle perso-\nnality of Mr Ervine most adequately\nrevealed to all.\nWE asked in our last where was\nSir Gerald Du Maurier, where\nMiss Viola Tree, where Miss Nielson\nTerry at the opening of the Interna-\ntional Theatre Exhibition in London.\nNow we know where Sir Gerald was....\nin Fleet Street preparing 44 Stage Props \".\n44 Stage Props \" is a monumental li-\nterary achievement of the present lea-\nding lights in the London theatre. If\nyou have not seen it, secure it, and it\nwill illuminate for you the present con-\ntentment of the theatrical profession in\nLondon.\n44 Stage Props is to be purchased\nat all book sellers.\n\nLONDON PARTICULAR\nG. C.\n\" London Particular (or London ivy),\n\" a thick yellow or black fog, the product\n\"of certain atmospheric conditions and\n11 carbon : formerly peculiar to London ;\n41 Now common in ?nost large manufactu-\n\" ring cities situated near water and lying\n\" low. (1832)\nJ. S. Farmer & IV. E. Henley.\n. 44 A Dictionary of Slang 1912.\nT TNDER this Heading we intend to\nreprint a few of the brightest\nparagraphs on the Theatre, etc. from the\nLondon Press or Books. Not exactly\nIncorrect—not quite correct—just bright.\nWe reprint them so that our friends\nin America, France and Russia can\nsee from far off just how it is that En-\ngland has secured the £fW of theatre\nshe has at present, and in the hope\nthat the younger members of the Theatre\nwill do something with us to get a\nbetter 1 heatre.\nI mused: 44 The critics and the ama-\nteur critics said they couldn't under-\nstand my book: words perhaps are dif-\nficult to manage: let us read the news-\npaper \".\nI take up a London Daily. I see\nthat sun spots are giving our worthy\ntown cause for much uneasiness.\nWhat are sun spots ? I wondered.\n44 Where's the Encyclopaedia \", I call\nout: it comes; I turn to 44Sun\", and\nthis is what I find.\n44 Sun.\n44 .... Observations of the sun-spots\n44 show that the sun rotates in about 25\n44 days, but the lower latitudes rotate\n44 faster than the higher. The con-\n-44 tinuous spectrum yielded by the pho-\n-44 tosphere is crossed by thousands of\n44 dark lines (Fraunhofer lines) due to\n44 absorption by the gases of the chro-\n-44 mosphere. Comparison of these with\n44 the spectra of terrestrial substances\n44 has led to the identification of many\n44 elements in the sun. The lower layer\n44 of the chromosphere consists chiefly of\n44 metallic vapours, which give the so-\n-44 called 4 Flash' spectrum of bright\n44 lines at total solar eclipses. Promi-\n-44 nences are now observed by means\n44 of the K line of calcium, which ele-\n-44 ment is present to a notable extent\n44 in the chromosphere. Quiescent pro-\n-44 minences, consisting chiefly of hydro-\n-44 gen and helium, are of various forms\n44 and may reach an altitude of 70,000\n44 miles \".\nAnd this is a passage from the\nEditor's Preface : 44 .... Such a work\n44 as this would be of little value in-\n-44 deed if it did not deal with the terms\n44 which daily emerge in speech and wri-\n-44 ting—the words in this work have ge-\n-44 nerally been hoarded with miserly\n44 care, the only provision being that at\n44 no time should clearness be sacrificed.\n44.... Science and philosophy, in which.\n44 the 44 average man \"is legitimately so\n44 interested, are both expounded so far\n44 as possible in the language of ordi-\n-44 nary speech....\".\nNothing could persuade me to give\naway the name of this popular, and ge-\nnerally first-class little Encyclopaedia.\nI have enjoyed it so often : often it is\nvery informing. But what is one to\nthink of words when an average man\ngets an utterly unilluminating passage\nlike this, purposing to be a clear re-\nport as to sun-spots 44 in the language\nof ordinary speech n ?\n\nATTENTION!\nFrom THE WEEKLY DESPATCH.\nOct. 21.1923. Carmelite House. E. C. 4.\nThe new theatrical partnership of\nSir Alfred Butt and Mr Basil Dean at\nthe Queen's Theatre is one of the very\nbest things which could have happened.*\nTo see vast interests like those of Sir\nAlfred working in harmony with ge-\nnius such as that of Mr Dean, should\nmake an appeal even to the gloomy\nheart of Mr. Gordon Craig."}, {"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "39", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.43", "texte": "LETTERS\nTO THE\nEDITOR\nJANUARY\n1924\n\nMR GORDON CRAIG & AMERICA.\nYours sincerely,\nGordon Craig.\nDear Semar :\nMAY I draw your attention to a statement made in an\nEnglish paper and attributed to Mr Nathan to the effect\nthat Mr Arthur Hopkins made me an offer of $ 100,000\nto go to America which I refused.\nAs many may imagine from this that someone or other\nhas made me such a definite offer on Mr Hopkins s behalf, I\nwish to let you know that I have never received any such\noffer, therefore I can have refused none.\nI feel sure that Mr Nathan made a rather different\nstatement to the reporters, and that they would have reported\ncorrectly had they understood it.\nRapallo, Italy.\nP. S, - By the way, should I ever go to America it\nwould not be to produce a play or two. 1 should go\nthere as anywhere else to be of use in helping to develope\nthe powers of any new American Theatre, that felt I could\nbe of some permanent use, not to show off my own powers.\n\nPRE-RAPHAELITE OPERA.\nFaithfully\nR. T. Vade.\nSir:\nI cannot quite understand how it is that the Musical Critic\non the \" Manchester Guardian\" comes to speak of\n\" Louise ** by Charpentier as \" a Pre-Raphaelite Opera .\nThe 1912 edition of the u Dictionary of Music and\nMusicians\" (Grove) has no word about Pre-Raphaelite\nOpera. It is, then, a 1913-1923 label, and describes\na music, I suppose, rather like Pre-Handelian architecture.\nBut there again, what is Pre-Handelian architecture ?\nAs well call a certain breed of calf Pre-Turtle.\nThe music previous to the time of Raffaele Santi, ie:\nRaffaello,—and never Raphael—was the same music as\nthat which came after him. He lived between 1483 and\n1520 and the first opera came along in 1600.\nHow Charpentier's opera \" Louise \" can resemble\nopera which never existed is a little puzzling.\nAfter stating that this is a \" Pre-Raphaelite opera\nthe Critic later on says; li Pre-Raphaelitism in detail\ntends if over done to endanger rather than strengthen the\nwhole \". Again, \" He has put everything on the boards\nwith a Galsworthyan impartiality and fairness 9 .\nSo Galsworthy is a Pre-Raphaelite too,—and Raphael\nis partial and unfair, as is every other artist since 1520\nand the age of Ruskin. — Wonderful.\nHeath Street, Hampstead.\n\nMODERN ENGLISH SOCIETY COMEDY.\n\nFaithfully,\nBenjamin Rossen.\nSir:\nI have been reading many plays since Mr Rankin put his\nquestion in Volume 9 asking if someone could name a\nmodern English society comedy or comic opera equal for\nbrilliance of treatment and sanity of thought to \" The\nSchool for Scandal\" and \"The Beggar's Opera\".\nThe result of my search is that no such comedy has\nturned up.\nI cannot answer the second question, why none has\nbeen found by me, for I may not have searched in the\nright district.\nI am rather a believer in the gloomy theory that in\ncertain periods of history the world never gets the fine\ncomedy until the author is dead and gone with the period in\nwhich he lived ; and I am inclined to think that we are\nliving through just such a period.\nParis.\n\nFaithfully\nT. Kempees.\nSir:\nI have read no modern play which for brilliance can be\ncompared with \" The School for Scandal \", but for\nsanity of thought surely Mr Bernard Shaw's u Back to\nMethuselah \" is far ahead of that rather too riotous comedy.\nMr Shaw in all he does teaches; and to instruct seems\nto some of us to be the highest peak of sanity. If we\ncould only learn from the works of Mr Shaw the lessons\nthey have to teach us we should be all of us better men.\nEasthourne.\n\nTHE ROMAN MARIONNETTES.\n\nYours,\nJohn H. Benton.\nSir:\nMR Manning may be right when he says that money is\nat the roots of what is so vapid in that London mood\nwhich gushes over Marionnettes for their worst and turns\nfrom their best manifestations. And of course there is\nplenty of money in London.\nBut I cannot help thinking that a public gets for and\nfrom itself what it wants. If it wants the silly for the\nsake of gratifying its sillyness, well, it asks for it and\ngets it.\nI was recently at a performance of Marionnettes at\nMantova. Nothing Shakespearean there.... and nothing\nsilly either, It is an everyday thing, (as you know) over\nhere to see a bright little show by marionnettes. But should\nsome Polish Company of Marionnettes come all the way\nto Rome from Warsaw or Podloz, would it be able to\nsurvive without a like excitement such as that worked up\nby Mr. Cochran in London over the Roman puppets ?\nFor my part I see very little reason for any actors or\npuppets travelling a thousand or so miles when they are\nbest at home.... wherever that may be.\nI have never yet seen any actors or marionnettes do at\nall well away from their own house and land. Something\npriceless still remains in environment, and, being a bit of a\ntraveller in my way, I for one shall never go to a company\nwhich has apparently come a thousand miles out of its way\nso as to be not quite itself.\nMilano."}, {"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "40", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.44", "texte": "Faithfully,\nMabel Dobson.\nSir:\nI agree entirely with what Mr Manning says. Money\ndoes spoil things for us in London. But I don't like\nMarionnettes and I am glad when money spoils them.\nPunch and Judy I do like,... but they aren't Marion-\nnettes, are they ?\nI have read your journal since it first appeared, and\nhope you will go on and on and on and never stop.\nNotting Hill.\n\nINCORRECT.\nBY THE EDITOR.\n\nBOOKS\nWHERE we correct statements made in hooks we do\nso in the hope that readers who possess the books in\nquestion will enter our correction in their margins. J. S.\nIN \" The Plays and Books of the Little Theatre \" by\nFrank Shay published by the Theatre Crafts Exchange,\nNew York, in 1919, and a quite well done booklet, useful\nand compact, costing only $ I. mention is made on Page 7,\nline 2 of Mr Craig's \" memorable production of 4 Hamlet '\nwith black curtains \" in Moscow. Not one black curtain\nwas used.\nSCAMOZZI, Palladio's pupil who completed the Teatro\nOlimpico (Vicenza) \" built another classical Theatre in\n1588 in Sabbioneta for the duke Vespasiano Gonzago\nbut this does not now exist \".\nJohn Henry Middleton. M. A. Litt. D. ; F. S. A. ;\nD. C. etc. in \" The Encyclopaedia Brittanica.\nVol. XXVI. latest edition).\nThe Theatre fortunately does exist:—an illustrated ar-\nticle appeared in the Architectural Review, December 1923\ndescribing it.\nTHE picture Figure 42 facing page 342. Vol. 2, Mantzius\n\" History of Theatrical Art\" is supposed to represent\nthe Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza.\nIt is altogether an invention. Taken from Riccoboni's\n\" Histoire du Theatre Italien \", face page 116, it is all\nthe more surprising. Riccoboni and Mantzius could both\nof them have given us exact plan and elevation drawings.\nAla National Gallery, a Londres, on voit un tableau\n\" de Ferdinand Bibbiena la sc£ne et un\n\" decor de ballet du theatre de Parme vers 1725 *\\\nBapst. il Essai sur VHistoire \" etc. 1893. *\nBibiena not Bibbiena is the correct spelling of the\nname. Bibbiena is the Cardinal, Bibiena the Architect.\nOn page 190 Bapst spells it Bibienna which is again\nincorrect. The stage represented, to which Bapst refers,\nis not that of Parma.\n\nJOURNALS.\n\nA QUESTION OF AGE.\nE. G. C.\nIN \"II Convegno, \" Anno IV, Nos. 4-5-6, issued as\none book, on page 568 Signor Carlo Linati has made\nthe error of stating that Gordon Craig was somewhere\nabout seventy years of age in 1920. Upon our writing\nhim to ask his precise age in 1920 he sends us this\ncharacteristic reply:\nMy dear Semar.\nIn 1920 1 was if I remember aright about forty-eight\nyears old. When I reached Milano and discovered that\nCarlo Linati, a resident in Milano, had never been to the\nTeatro Gerolamo—although he had heard of the place,\nand had M. Anatole France's guarantee that Marionneltes\nwere the real thing for a literary man —and Signor Linati\nis a literary man;—when I became aware that I was in\nthe presence of a literary chiel tacking notes, I admit I put\non some forty two more years, bringing my age up to ninety.\nOn getting once more into the train and going on to Pa-\nris I found I could throw off the age which Signor Linati\nhad thrust upon me.\nI did this by recalling that the delightful Signor wore\nboots, seemed to possess a more or less hearty appetite,\nhad carried himself easily as my guest at the Restaurant\nSavini and in the Teatro afterwards, and had failed to\nsee why I had asked a prohibitive sum to do a work I\nwished not to do. Yet Signor Linati is also an Avocat.\nWhat lent me some extra power to cast off this gift\nof years was that Signor Linati had at parting asked me\nto send him a few pages that he might translate them into\nItalian and publish them.\nSo I sped towards Paris aged forty-eight, Within the\nyear I had again put on eight more years, ....I became\nfifty-six, (you'll note never seventy), for, though I sent\nSignor Linati an ounce of work, some three or four pages\nto translate, as he so kindly requested me to do, I have\nnever seen the translation, not even heard if the pages\nwere used, nay, less, received.\nYes, I was as you surmise born in 1872,—the same\nyear as Beardsley, Beerbohm and Rothenstein: therefore in\nthe year 1920 I was forty-eight.\nBut perhaps I am not quite fair on my advocate friend.\nPossibly working ten to twelve hours a day and some-\ntimes fifteen, and mostly for other people, is not away to\nkeep young. Who knows ?\nI am now as you know working for myself. You\nknow it because I send you about an eighth part of the\nmanuscript I used to send, and about one fiftieth of the\nwoodcuts too. In 1908 I was sending you a great dea 1,\nand gladly, for \" The Mask.\nI will not weary you with more. I am putting it all\ninto a b00k.... or rather into five or six books—for myself\nthis time.\nKindest regards to M. Florian and friend Ambrose.\nI thought both their articles in the last volume of \" The\nMask \" very good, and wished I had written them myself.\nYours,"}, {"page_pdf": 45, "page_imprimee": "41", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.45", "texte": "MR HUNTLY CARTER & M. TAIROFF.\nON April 7th 1923 appeared in 44 The Outlook \",\nLondon, the following incorrect statement about\nM. Tairoff and his Kamerny Theatre. It was in an article\nsigned by Mr Huntly Carter :\n44 Soviet Russia is wisely sending samples of its best\n44 spiritual goods the rounds of Europe and America....\n44 the latest of these travelling exhibits is the Moscow\n44 Kamerny Theatre Company,... the conception and organi-\n-44 zation of the Theatre belong to M. Alexander Tairov \".\n44 (M. Tairov signs his name Tairoff., by the way).\nSo far, except for the suggestion that the Kamerny Theatre\nfollowed instead of preceding the Soviet Government, all is\ncorrect,— after deducting the suggestion that the Kamerny\nis a revolutionary affair on the war-path.\nIt was conceived before the war. As Mr Sayler has\nsaid very clearly in his book on the Russian Theatre :\n44 Contrary to the vast majority of Russians, its members\nwould rather discuss light and colour and posture than the\nfuture of the State \".\nMr Carter, in suggesting a connection between this\nTheatre and M. Lenin's policy, is probably as incorrect as it\nwould be to suggest that the late Mr Lovat Fraser had been\nsomehow the tool of Mr Lloyd George.\nSuch slips, however, do not much concern us.\nWhere Mr Carter is positively incorrect is in the\nfollowing passage :\n44 To M. Tairoff the actor comes first \". (correct)\n44 He refuses to have any truck with the opinion expres-\n-44 sed by Madame Duse that the Theatre must be\n44 destroyed and the actors thrown on the scrap-heap, or of\n44 her disciple Mr Gordon Craig who has seen in this\n44 outburst a demand for a super marionette \". (Incorrect).\nM. Tairoff considers every opinion held by Madame\nDuse worthy of the utmost respect and consideration :\nthis one about the actors he understands—and does not\ntake it literally as do those who want to, and who do\nnot take the trouble to understand it,\nAs for his 44 refusing to have any truck with \" the opi-\nnions of Mr Gordon Craig, we happen to know that he\nis devoted to them and to the man himself, and does not\nfear to express it.\nOf course we all know that Mr Carter cannot just yet\nget away from his particular sympathies and the ac-\ncompanying outbursts. Well and good :—to each his own\nopinion. But it has always been, and will always be an\nerror, and a very great error too, to mix up Politics and\nArt, and to assert that because a Theatre happens to be\nRussian it is making 44 Bolchevist Propaganda in Paris \",\nor, when English, English propaganda in Timbuctoo\nThat all the Theatres in Russia as well as the books,\npapers, picture-galleries, concert halls and the rest are under\na Soviet rule is understood. With the success of that rule\nthey may prosper ; at its destruction they will not be des-\ntroyed. For it is a spiritual thing, is it not, this thing we\ncall Art, and not really concerned with likes and dislikes of\nsystems of local government.\nThis Theatre performs Racine's 44 Phaedre \"—in which\nwe are told by everyone Madame Koonen gives an unfor-\ngettable performance. We can well understand that. But\nwhere do politics come in?,., what is Russian in Racine's\n44 Phaedre \" ? —Did not London and Paris adore the inter-\npretation by Madame Sarah Bernhardt night after night?...\ndid not every Conservative, Liberal and Radical in Queen\nVictoria's two Houses say that it and she were perfect ?\nWhat the English Parliament approves with a rare burst\nof enthusiasm can hardly be in the least politically disturbing.\n44 La Fille de Madame Angot \" is another piece of\ntheirs : 44 Romeo and Juliet \" another. Do these two pieces\nhail from Moscow ? We always thought one was by merry\nlittle Lecoq of Paris and the other by young Shakespeare\nof Stratford-on-Avon. Bolchevic !!! ! ?\nThen comes 44 The Man who was Thursday \", a piece,\nwe imagined, that did sound a bit shattering: —we even gues-\nsed that Trotsky might be the author, until we were told that\nChesterton, our own Chesterton, had written it. Really\nfolk are comic who find in these four pieces signs of\nterror and trouble.\nTo continue the list:—44 Sakuntala \" (the first piece\nthey produced) is not by Lenin,—it is by an Indian. Not\nMr. Ghandi but one Kalidasa and translated into English\nin 1789 by our own Sir William Jones. It is not a\nTragedy ; 44 the Hindus in fact have no Tragedy \" writes\nHorace Hayman Wilson in his 44 Select Specimens of the\nTheatre of the Hindus 1827.\nThen came 44The Playboy of the Western World\" which\nis not by Chicherin ; 'tis a little trifle by the late poet Synge ;\n—Synge of Ireland, not a mythical being from Caucasus.\nNext 44 Life is a Dream \" by Calderon of Spain,\n(1600-1681): next 44 The Fan\", not by Tchekov—but\nby the mild and happy Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni\n(1707-1793). Next 44 Le Mariage de Figaro \" by Beau-\nmarchais (1732-1799). This we admit is rather a blood-\ncurding piece.... and we have never known how it can be\ntolerated by any but Latins in the south—where the blood\ndon't curdle. Rostand's 44 Cyrano de Bergerac \", Shake-\nspeare's 44 Merry Wives \",... and a few Russian and\nGerman pieces complete the programme of M. Tairoff.\nBut enough. Artists, especial.y those who abhor gloomy\nrealism—that is to say very quiet and very sad and very\ndeadly representations of sordid or middle-class life—are\nnot and never can be 44 political \"... nor tend to unrest.\nIt's Realism which makes for trouble.\nCallot, Rubens, Fragonard, Giovanni Bellini, Blake,\nbecause these painted must they be painting for some po-\nlitical purpose ?\nSlightly different is it when we come to men like\nGilray, and Leandre, for example. There we have the\nobviously paid propagandist of yesterday. Do any English-\nmen recall the Leandre touch? Ah—but modern pro-\npaganda is a thousand times more subtle— subtle nonsense—\nso subtle that it's not seen. No, Propaganda has to be\ndirect to be of value :—direct—vividly what it is. In short,\nPropaganda must be seen and heard or the fools for whom\nit's intended won't get it.—Again, enough.\n\nTWO MORE ERRORS.\n44 \\Y/E are getting very tired of Mr Gordon Craig's\nVV notion that scene designing comes before the work\nof the dramatist, just because scene designing is Mr Craig s\njob. How far, far wiser is Mr Frank Vernon etc.\nL. Godfrey Turner in 44 The Gentlewoman \".\nII August 1923.\nThe incorrect thing about this is that it is not Mr Gordon\nCraig's notion. Is it Mr Turner's perhaps ?\nAgain, in the same paper, on September Bth 1923,\nMr. Turner comes out with this:\n44 The rumour of a visit from Mr Gordon Craig to sprinkle\nour stage with angular shadows has happily proved but a\nfalse alarm;\" ....which looks like currying favour with\nMr Craig. The copy of the press cutting sent to The\nMask was signed L. God. We take it to be only Mr\nTurner's name in little."}, {"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "42", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.46", "texte": "FOREIGN NOTES.\n\nPARIS.\nA. C.\nLAST autumn a strike of scene-shifters occurred at the\nGaiete Lyrique theatre in Paris during a performance,\nas a result, according to the 44 Matin \"of the management's\nrefusal to receive two members of the Union who wished\nto know what steps were being taken regarding a recent\ndemand for higher wages.\nThe management summarily dismissed 13 of the strikers\nwhile actors and members of the chorus changed the scenes\nand saw to everything so that the performance could go on.\nWhich is of course the sensible thing to do.\nAnd suppose the management had refused to receive\ntwo members of the Actors' Union? Suppose tomorrow\ntwo actors should knock at the door of some Manager's\nsanctum and begin to tell him that the actors wanted to\nknow what steps were being taken regarding recent demands\nof theirs ;... would the manager summarily dismiss 13 actors\n(13 for luck), and would the scene-shifters and other\nhands take up their parts ?\nJustice and common-sense says they should. The tune\nthe Gander may be eaten to can be played while the\nGoose goes down,—what ?\n\nWIEN.\nR. S.\no SPELLBOUND. o\nTHE following is from a seriously managed London'journal\ndated October, 1923. (The italics are mine R. T.).\no SHAKESPEARE IN VIENNA, o\nAUDIENCE OF 4,000 SPELLBOUND.\n{From our own Correspondent).\nVIENNA.\n44 HPHE extraordinary success of Shakespere's \" Richard II\"\n1 at the Burgtheater is the outstanding feature of the\n44 theatrical season in Vienna. Every seat in the State\n44 theatre, one of the largest and handsomest in the world,\n44 has been sold for the first three performances.\n44 During the struggle of the last five years to keep\n44 alive the Burgtheater, which was never meant to pay\n44 its way, for the building alone cost nearly £, 2,000,000,\n44 new settings of Shakespeare have been the most suc-\n-44 cessful expedients. But 44 Richard II \" is the best Shake-\n-44 spearean production here under the Republic, and will\n44 be played several nights weekly till the spring.\n44 There is no orchestra, The scenery is of great\n44 beauty, but the stage pictures are mainly ingenious com-\n-44 binations of lighting, draping of the wings, and ingenious\n44 and tasteful grouping of colours in costumes and backcloths.\n44 The note of the production is refined realism, not\n44 that of furnishings and trappings, but dramatic realism.\n44 The audience sits spellbound. Such silence maintained\n44 by 4,000 people I have never known in a London\n44 theatre. If people want to cough they go out into the\n44 corridor. \"\nWe don't think we can better this, so leaving it as\nit stands we beg leave to go out into the corridor. Eld.\n\nMILANO.\nD. N. L.\nEAGER anticipation was aroused by the news that the\nDirectors of the Scala were going to produce an opera\nwith the scenes designed by M. Adolph Appia, and that the\ngreat Swiss artist was coming in person to oversee the work.\nThe result has been a keen disappointment: adequate\njudges do not hesitate to say an utter failure.\nI was told by one whose opinion was of especial weight\nin the matter that the Theatre is incapable : but it hardly\nappears to me that the fault lies there.\nThe Scala is not incapable: it is a finely organized\nand newly equipped theatre of immense capacity along\ncertain lines. The mistake would seem rather to lie in the\nfutility of trying to put new wine into old bottles.\nThe Dramatic Critic of the 44 Corriere della Sera \"\ndescribing this [production writes (December 21st), after\ntreating at some length of the mise en sc£ne and the me-\ntaphysical intention and concept of the artist: —44 Now in\n44 practise, what happens? The public is not aware of the\n44 symbolic meaning sought in the contrasts of light and\n44 darkness, in the persistence of the gloom and of other\n44 scenic particulars. It perceives before it the real fact :\n44 and since it of this and of this only that it receives the\n44 impression \", he declares that, instead of the sense of place,\nand an intimate consciousness of the poet's concept, being\nproduced, 44 it ends by finding itself bewildered and astray \".\nBut surely this is no evidence of failure the artist's concep-\ntion, but merely testifies to the confused stage conditions\nwith their contradictory elements, their mixture of realism\nand symbolism, of the natural and the unnatural, of the\nreal and unreal.\nThe beauty and nobility of M. Appia's conceptions is\npatent to all, but they need entirely different conditions,\n.... a new theatre .... for their realization.\nThis unfortunate experience of M. Appia's only goes\nto confirm the already strong conviction of Mr Gordon\nCraig's wisdom in refusing to exhibit his advanced work\nin any existing theatre, or to enter one to work, until it be\na Theatre of his own.\nHis friends are very frequently asked how it is he\ndoes not bring his work before the public on the stage of\nthis theatre or that, and why, when invited, he asks what\nare called 44 prohibitive prices \".\nHe does this for the protection of his work: and\nit is to be hoped that this failure at the Scala will teach\npeople a few things they need to be aware of.\n\nNEW YORK.\nC. T.\nMONSIEUR REINHARDT and Mr Morris Gest appear\nto have invited trouble by engaging two ladies to\nshare the role of the Madonna in 44 The Miracle Re-\nports have already appeared in the papers that the Prin-\ncess, who was formerly Madame Carmi and the original\nperformer oft his part, has objected to having the role shared\nby Lady Diana Cooper, whom these gentlemen, in the\ninnocence of their hearts, (or the cunning of their notions)\nhad engaged to play it on alternate nights.\nWe have heard before of the courage of the Impresario.\nMessrs Reinhardt and Gest must indeed possess it if they\ncould so blithely go out to meet trouble halfway."}, {"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "43", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.47", "texte": "EDITORIAL NOTES.\n\nLANGUAGE AND OPERA.\nTHERE has been quite a little\nto-do in Manchester about the\nmixing of Languages in Opera. But\nit led nowhere :—that's the pity.\nOne half of the city agreed that it\nenjoyed Opera without knowing a word\nof Italian or French; the other half\nthat they have enjoyed an opera with-\nout knowing a word of English ; but\nthat is a little exaggeration, for, after\nstaying a year or two in Manchester\nevery foreigner can pick up enough\noperatic English.\nIs anyone nowadays really expected\n'to take the words of Opera very serious-\nly ? In Metastasio's day perhaps it\nwas as well to listen to each word.\nBut of course to ask us today to take\nseriously, to reason calmly and with\nquietism on a chorus as it sings: —\nWe go, we go, we go—we go—we go :\nwe go to the hills—we fly—we fly—\nwe go, we go, we go, (repeat four times),\nto be aware of the sense of this and\nto note that no one stirs, that no one\ndreams of going—would be to make\nan ordinary Manchester manufacturer\n©f bicycles, for example, or of motor\ncars, let us say, feel a little uncomfor-\ntable. He would certainly have some\nreason for believing that if the forty-\ntwo people lined up behind the foot-\nlights and yelling at him are in earnest,\nit is a slight on his whole existence\nand his manufactury, which, till he\nheard what he now hears, he always\nconsidered a going concern. To him all\nthis would be as prelude to a strike.\nBut all this will be put right if\nlibrettisti will only turn to ACCA (a) ;\nor managers and musicians turn to the\npoets, and a new leaf be turned over\nfor the public.\nOur readers still like us, we sup-\npose, to take it as granted that the\nPublic is not responsible for the state\nof its Theatres whether good or bad.\nWe most assuredly would like to believe\nthis now as we did formerly.\n(a) See page 19.\n\nMADAME DUSE IN AMERICA.\nTHE Papers announced in October\nthat Madame Duse had arrived in\nNew York after an absense of more\nthan twenty years and had been en-\nthusiastically received. After this the\nPapers began a little exaggeration—we\nsuppose at the order of some distin-\nguished Impresario.\nShe was to be considered as the\nguest of the American Government.\nHer Baggage passed without inspec-\ntion.... 44 like an ambassador's. \" The\npolice were given orders to stop the\nNew York traffic wherever her auto\nmobile passed.\nIt is this sort of nonsense, this likening\nof actors and actresses to Ambassadors,\neven Kings, (only for Kings, and very\nrarely, is the traffic of a great city\nstopped), which renders the Theatre\nridiculous.... and it is we of the Theatre\nwho beg leave to say so. It renders it\nalso more and more of a failure—it\nundermines its strength.\nThere is of course not more than an\nounce of truth in those reports. Ma-\ndame Duse is above all performers the\nmost modest disliking that froth of deep\nfeeling, which short-sighted Impresarios,\nhowever distinguished,always employ with\nthe people of a nation whom they despise.\nWhen will all this tomfoolery stop\nthese unnecessarily distinguished impres-\nsario-isms be rendered valueless by the\nappearance of a real impresario who\nplays up to not down to the Publics\nof the world ? who really respects the\nintelligence of the American People.\nWhen Papyrus arrived in New\nYork he too was escorted by police\nthrough the traffic which was stopped.\n\nSUBSTITUTES FOR WORDS.\n44 T ET us have no deliberate substi-\nJL-i tutes for words in the Theatre. \"\nHarold Brighouse. (4t Writer of plays\nand fiction. \" ' Who's Who. ')\nWhy should this be ?—unless it be\nthe Theatre of Cochran's 44 Deauville\nBeach Nymphs. \"\n4 4 London said an important Daily\npaper in a paragraph written about\nthe time Mr Brighouse wrote, 44 has\n46 answered the challenge of Paris and\n44 New York in entering the bathing\n44 suit and swimming contest that will\n44 take place on the beach at Deau-\n-44 ville on July 21. Mr Charles Coch-\n-44 ran and Mr Albert de Courville\n44 announce that several girls from the\n44 London stage will be sent to com-\n-44 pete. \"\nInstead of attacking us, Mr Brig-\nhouse, Mr Ervine, Mr Turner and\nthe rest, why not attack Mr Cochran\nand Mr de Courville? Or is this the\nsort of thing you find reassuring ?\n\nA CRITICISM CRITICISED.\nA London journal says that when\nPavlova danced last season at\nCo vent Garden she was 44 the wonder\nshe ever was, \" and that when 44 she\nrepeated her two most famous poems in\nmovement of the old days—the Saint\nSaens 44 Swan \" and the 44 Autumn\nBacchanal \" of Glezunov—the most\njealous eye could not see any falling\naway. \"\nThat is all as it should be. But\nwhy no word about any advance ?\nHave any of our readers ever asked\na dancer whether she feels she has\nmade any progress in her art or not ?\nWe recall hearing the Great Dancer\nspeak of the progress she was making\nin 1920, and already she had outstripped\neveryone by immeasurable distances.\n(Is it necessary to say we refer to\nIsadora Duncan....).\nJust to start a ball rolling may we sug-\ngest that 44 wonder \" is a rare word and\none that we should not use too often.\nAs when folk cry 4 Oh * at a piece\nof silk, and 4 isn't it wonderful! ;'—\nor at a lady one admires and she\nwith but little that is at all to wonder\nat ;... or exclaim at any verse of poetry\nand at every drawing 44 oh wonder-\nful \\\" the most wonderful man, \"\nusing this word fifty times a week of\nfifty men, women or things.\nThere be a few wonderful men\nand women assuredly, but everyone\nwill not every day see a wonder\nthough it pass under the nose and all\ncomprehension.\n\nCURSED H E B O N A\nExpressionism in the Theatre is being\nexplained to the English cliques, and\nthe English cliques are as usual eagerly\nsipping at the explanation, if not drink-\ning it in.\nMr Harold Brighouse, writer of\nplays and fiction, is lending a hand.\nSome one has told him that this same\nExpressionism comes... (hush, not a\nword)... from Eastern Europe—so n Ba-\nsingstoke it is 11 for Mr Brighouse. The\nsame Promptor has told him (taking\nhim aside)) that in Eastern Europe\n44 Men felt the Peace atrociously, and\nthere they saw dramatic means for the"}, {"page_pdf": 48, "page_imprimee": "44", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.48", "texte": "expression of their feelings. \" Oh, Mr\nSpence, come quickly comere and\ngasp with us,\nWhen in 1912 we were in Manches-\nter, Mr Brighouse's town, we were\nstruck with a thing which no one else\nfound at all unusual : we mean the\npresence of the foreigner. Chip chip\nchip chip....\nActively, pleasantly busy informing\neveryone who wrote, lectured, or could\nin any way spread the good word,\nexactly what was whaf... aathoritively...\nManchester listened like a lamb.\nAnd we suppose Mr Brighouse has his\npresent day information from the local\nforeigner in that big lounge in the big\nHotel: we forget its name.\nBefore the war it was one German\nin particular who would help :—now\nit is we suppose some gentleman from\nPrague on Russia or Scandinavia.\nMr Brighouse writes quite a long co-\nlumn of good stuff ahout Expressio-\nnism and goes wrong from first to last,\nWhen Mr Brighouse writes fiction he\ngoes right from start to finish.... for\nhe uses his own brains, „.his own eyes\nand ears, his own convictions. But in\nthis unfortunate article on n Expressio-\nnism n he is talking in his sleep. Upon\nhis secure hour, sleeping in his lounge,\nhis custom always of an afternoon R,\ndear Uncle has stolen with juice of\ncursed Hebona and into the porches of\npoor Harold's ear has poured the le-\nperous dope;... and as you see, instantly\nHarold has begun to babble of things;\nof the 44 older theatre \" of 1875-85,\nwhere 44 the thing heard was of more\nsignificance \" (signifying nothing,... tale\ntold by....) than the thing seen.\nMr Brighouse still keeps up the 1875\ntradition; when he hears something\ntold he still likes to doubt his own eyes.\nIn 1875 Sir Arthur Pinero was twenty\nyears old; Mr H. A, Jones was twenty-\nfour ; Mr Shaw nineteen ; Sir James\nBarrie fifteen. Mr Thomas Hardy, on\nthe other hand, had the remarkable good\nluck of being no age at all even as he\nis today, Mr W. B. Yeats, Mr Mase-\nfield and Mr Bottomley and a number\nmore seem to have had the same luck.\nThe result is that while Pinero,\nBarrie, Shaw and Jones and some\nhundred more give us acres of mangled\nwords, Hardy, Yeats, Masefield, Bot-\ntomley and some dozen more have\npreserved the magic of words. The\nrest of us should be content to label\ntheir books and plays 4 some words. *\nLet us for heaven's sake discriminate\nas Brighouse asks.\nExpressionism is just a label calling\nattention to a certain quality always\nvalued in art since the year 0ne,... le,\nexpression.\nEngland had it. Remember Ro-\nlandson, Defoe, Gainsborough, Byron,\nHogarth, Goldsmith, Turner, Blake,\nCharles Keane, Edmund Kean, Phil\nMay, Du Maurier, Beardsley, Tenniel.\nEngland still has its Nicholson, Pryde,\nBeerbohm, Symons, John, Huxley, Lewis,\nSavage, Strachey, dozens of them. Eu-\nrope has always had expressionists;\nDaumier, Callot, Macchiavelli, Piranesi,\nto pick out four from four hundred.\nAnd now England poses as wanting\nto lose this expression it being easier for\nnobodies to express less than more—and\nso a band of nobodies have been\nadvanced to seats and sit on the mat\nand stay there. Rolandson and the whole\nof the old English School preferred to\nrange free and expressed something.\nThat is all that expressionism is.\nMr St John Ervine tells us that\nnowadays it is the English Ladies who\n44 wont have it, \" and so expression must\ncease in our land because a few ladies\n44 wont have it. \"\nWho knows ? Mr St John Ervine\npossibly exaggerates.... but who knows ?\npossibly not Mr. Ervine. These mat-\nters must really be left to other ladies.\nOnly one prayer :—that the matter\nbe hurried np and settled one way or\nanother. Let us have either expressive\nor noncommittal art, but let us get on\nand over this prim talk, this pretentious\nreporting of mere hearsay; and stop en-\ncouraging folk to tinker at the expense of\nEngland with this cursed Hebona in a vial.\n\na OLD PLAY BILLS. o\nOF the many London Monthly Ma-\ngazines, few of which are dull*\nthe most interesting perhaps to us is\nthe Cornhill of October, on account\nof the valuable article upon <4 Old Pro-\nvincial Play Bills*' by Mr. M. J. Landa-\nAs a rule old Play Bills are a bore,\nbut why it is difficult to say. Every-\nthing about them bores, and yet they\npossess every attribute. The paper used\nin the olden times was so excellent,\nthe type very often admirable in form,\nthe setting up of the bill executed with\nconsiderable judgement and often with\na charming effect: the long shapes of\nthe English bills are fascinating; one\nfancies one sees them hanging over the\nbox edge, or one floating down from\nthe gallery; one hears the crinkling;\nnoise of them as the old play-goer\ncrunches one up to lock for Mrs Sid-\ndons's name.\nBut besides their typographical value\nand their sentimental charm (and let\nwho will lose this, we'll not), there is\ntheir undoubted historical value. And\nthis is not little.\nMr Landa proves it, and his article\nshould be secured by every serious stu-\ndent of the English Drama. Gadzooks,\nWe don't mean that we mean every stu-\ndent seriously studying the Dramatic\nworld of England. Mr Landa tells us\nthat there are 44 hundreds of thousands\nof old playbills bound in many huge\ntomes \" stored away in the cellars of\nthe British Museum. For the rest you\nmust get the Cornhill and see what\ntheir value is.\nAnd besides play bills this October\nnumber of the magazine has an excel-\nlent good thing called 44 Krishna Gowda\"\nby Mr Denny C. Stokes, quite worth\nslowly reading, ... if 1924 permits you\nto read slowly.\nWe like to take up such magazines\nmany months after they appear and\ndiscover if the contents have a lasting\nvalue or not. The Cornhill has. It's\nnot appallingly full of what the then\nMinister of This or That Office is\ngoing to do and thinks—which is a\nblessing, since no sooner is he a Mi-\nnister than he becomes something else\n—things travelling quite unnecessarily\nquickly these days.\nIn the same number is a good Note\non Cardinal de Retz by Maurice Hew-\nlett. But there are other good things\ntoo in that number.\nIf The Cornhill is always as good\nits a wonderful 1/6 worth.\n\nTHERE WERE GIANTS\no IN THOSE DAYS, o\n\" T TN gigante dell*Arte, Lorenzo\nv-/ Bernini (1508-1680) colla ma-\nravigliosa sua potenza si applico pure\nal teatro *'.\n44 A gigantic artist, Lorenzo Bernini\n(1508-1680), applied his marvellous\npower also to the theatre\n\" La Scenografia \". Ferrari.\n(Hoepli: Milano). page 119.\nWHAT a man! a marvel indeed.\nTo think that during his short\nspan of 172 years he had the time to\napply a moment to the teatro!\nOf Bernini John Evelyn writes: ™\n19th November.\n44 ....Bernini, a Florentine sculptor,\narchitect, painter, and poet, who, a\nlittle before my coming to the city\n(Rome), gave a public opera (for so\nthey call shows of that kind), wherein\nhe painted the scenes, cut the statues,\ninvented the engines, composed the\nmusic, writ the comedy, and built the\ntheatre ! !\n44 Diary of John Evelyn\nedited by W. Bray. Vol. //,\npage 118."}, {"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "45", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.49", "texte": "ON A LONDON CRITIC.\nMR St John Ervine, one of the\nmost lively of the English dra-\nmatic critics of the last three years,\nwhose weekly column or two in 44 The\nObserver \" was always vivid, has gone\nfrom 44 The Observer \" and from Drama-\ntic Criticism.\nOnly for a time, we hope, for the\nrare gift of allowing some genuine life\nto get into a weekly article on a dreary\ntheme (and the London Theatre ques-\ntions have become dreary, not to use\na harder word) is a very precious\nthing.\nNot that Mr Ervine is ever at all\nprecious in the weak sense of the\nword; he is sturdy, attacks well, praises\noften as well, and is altogether a va-\nluable asset. No one less than Ervine\nneeds that said of him: it is quite\napparent.\nBut Ervine's fault was a particu-\nlarly useless fault. It served no one,\nand was one his Editor might .have\ncured him of.\nWe do not allude to his harsh su-\nperior manner,—a harsh superior man-\nner is often what is wanted in a cri-\ntic. Nor does his seeming lack of\ndepth of feeling count, (the feeling\nwas very shallow in his last 44 Ob-\nserver \" article where he bids adieu).\nThe fault was more obvious, and\nis this :\nDissatisfied with the stage in Eng-\nland, he failed to call for the men\nobviously needed by the English stage.\nSuch an attitude would have been all\nvery proper in a man like Clement\nScott who saw the English Theatre of\nhis day as all that was to be desired.\nAll right it is in vany man satisfied\nwith existing things. But when tho-\nroughly dissatisfied with the stage as\nwas Ervine, it was a grave fault not\nto have seen more clearly that the\nsole way to strengthen the stage is to\ninsist on every one of the best men\nbeing put into power.\nThis he failed to do. He would\npraise third-rate men at the expense\n(to the public) of the first-rate men.\nHe would praise a third-rate book on\nthe Theatre and dispraise a first-rate\none. His plea might be that, Honest\nInjun, he wrote what he thought;—if\nso it becomes clear that he thought\nvery little and not very long.\nWe say this remembering that the\nEnglish Theatre was and is still not\nmaking use of her best men.\n\" Since Ervine was for ever lamen-\nting how hard it was to get London\nmanagers to accept good work \" wrote\nPeter Mc Brien in the 44 Irish Inde-\npendent 44 it was not his place to\ndecry good things \".\nWe also want to know from Er-\nvine himself some day what it was he\ndid with his energy on the Publicity\nsub-committee at the Victoria & Al-\nbert Museum in 1922. We saw very\nfew signs of that energy : practically not\none rousing article appeared from his\npen, and such an Exhibition will not\nbe seen again for many a long year.\nOn his sub-committee were six\nothers: Mr Whitworth, very energe-\ntic ; Mr Hardie; Mr Shipp; Mr Payne;\nMr Ivor Fraser and Mr E. O. Hoppe.\nMr Hardie had a thousand other\nduties and attended to them: Mr Whit-\nworth plenty ; but Ervine, clearly the\nman for the job, seemed somehow to\nlack the gift for working with other\npeople.... He failed to ppol his in-\ntelligence with that of the other six\nwith minds of their own. He neglec-\nted his duties, for it was obviously his\nduty to make London ring with news\nof this Exhibition. 44 The Observer \"\nmight have given a whole page to the\nassembled talents of these European\nworkers for a New Theatre, for it\nlater on gave its principal page, (and\nMr Garvin touched it with his own\nparticular wand) to a Theatrical matter\nand at a moment which were not psy-\nchologically the matter or the moment.\nIf 44 The Observer \" missed fire for\nonce, it was because Ervine had spiked\na gun. We hope some day to hear\nthe reason for this sudden panic.\nBefore he shook the dust off his\nfeet Mr St John Ervine was speaking\nat the dinner of the Authors* Club,\nin October last, on the subject of\n44 Novels and Plays \", and said we\nwere passing through a period of tran-\nsition from masculine to feminine. Eve-\nrything was at the same time deterio-\nrating. Owing to feminine predomi-\nnance tragedy vanished, and its place\nwas taken by comedy. Every healthy\nand strong nation delighted in tragedy,\nand every weak and flabby nation\ncould not bear it.\nWhen writers got back to tragedy,\ngloom, and misery they would help to\nget a healthy race again. If they wan-\nted to get the world back on to\ndecent lines they had to start off with\nthe gloomiest possible view of it.\nIt is not often that we find ourselves\nin sympathy with Mr. St. John Ervine :\nbut here, in away, we do.\nBut we object that Mr Ervine\ndoesn't jguite understand the problem\neven now: he understands so much\nand yet not enough.\nWhat is all this about Tragedy....\nas though it were the cause of 44 a heal-\nthy race \" ? It is one of the effects of\na healthy race* As for 44 the gloomiest\npossible view of the world getting the\nworld back on to decent lines \", we\nfeel quite sure, with Mr Ervine, that\ngloom can help, but it can't do what\nhe thinks.\nThe gloom of Tchekov and Do-\nstojevsky, or Tolstoi and Turgueneff\ndid something, we suppose, to help\nRussia; ancL yet we would as soon\nhave things different up there as we\nwould have them different in London.\nA Tzar may not be all they wan-\nted : another Tzar might have been :\nbut to croak out, 44 We want a stork,\nwe are dying for a tragic stork, a\nterrible stork is essential to us \", seems\nto be overdoing it. Those people who,\nby the aid of the fine-mannered if\ndismal Cinema and the confidential if\nhusky 44 Whispering in \" of the wire-\nless always learn so much, are apt to\nmiss very much too.\n44 Gloomy tragedy, not afraid to\nlook death in the face \" (vide Tche-\nkov) did a little harm to Russia if\nwe mistake not.\nNo : emphatically and regretfully no,\nthat mixture is not to be taken either\nafter or before meals.\nFine Tragedy, Comedy, Farce,\nDance, Song, Verse, Prose all come\nalong grandly after a Nation has been\nto the trouble to shake itself.\nIf ours really shook itself now,\nMr Ervine for one would certainly\nfall off its back.\nA STORK IS ESSENTIAL.\nGo : you may call it madness, folly ;\nYou shall not chase my gloom away\nsuch a charm in melancholy\nI would not if I could be gay.\nSamuel Rogers. (1763-1855).\n\nTHE R. A. D. A., LONDON.\nLAST year the Royal Academy of\nDramatic Art gave an exhibition of\nwhat its pupils could do at the Globe\nTheatre.\nAs this Academy has a full-sized lit-\ntle Theatre of its own, we are curious\nto know why this Theatre was not used\nfor the exhibition. Can any reader\ninform us ?\nMr Mervyn Johns won the gold\nmedal: Miss Rita Page won the sil-\nver one: and Miss Madge Bellairs the\nbronze medal. Miss Juliet Manse won\nthe 44 Grein French prize \",—but what\nthis is, whether composed of a mixture\nof gold, bronze, silver or of good\nfresh lead, we have not yet been in-\nformed.\nThe 44 Manchester Guardian ** as-\nserts that the idea behind the Royal\nAcademy of Dramatic Art 44 is still\nwhat it was ten years ago—that is, to"}, {"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "46", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192401-01.1.50", "texte": "make good plastic tfiaterial for the\nproducer rather than stimulate the ih-\ndividual's creative instinct and adds\nthat 44 the present educational methods\nwill help the poor in spirit at the\nexpense of thdse who have a real\nspark within them\nWe hardly think that Mr. Johns,\nMiss Page, Miss Bellairs and Miss\nManse will agree with the 44 Man-\nchester Guardian and for our part\nwe can only hope that the 44 Guar-\ndian \" is for once incorrect.\nThe reporter in 44 The Observer \"\nsaid that 44 students are less certain\nabout their enunciation than they might\nbe..., ,f and that 44 many of them suffer\nfrom unmusical voices H. We hope\nthat too is all a gross libel. And we\ncan but believe that there is still plenty\nof room for this Royal Academy and\nplenty of work for it to do.\nAnd how strange it seems that this,\nthe second Royal Academy of Dramatic\nArt, should have taken so long to\ncome into existence. The first was\nfounded in opened by the\nPrince of Wales in 1865, and disap-\npeared suddenly in 1877. Thackeray\nand Dickens were two of the promo-\ntors who urged it into existence and\nthen let it die.\n1877 seems a long time ago,\n\nON AN ITALIAN THEATRE\nLAST year, at the period of the\nmost acute crisis of the 44 Teatro\ndegli Italiani M founded in Rome* the\nPresident of the Council, Signor Mus-\nsolini, commissioned Senator Enrico\nCorradini to carry out an enquiry to\nestablish the vitality or not of the at-\ntempt. Senator Corradini in August\n1923 forwarded to the President oj\nthe Council a letter in which he said .\n44 Your Excellency,\n44 In execution of the esteemed com-\n-44 mission entrusted to me by you I\n44 have examined the situation of the\n44 Teatro degli Italiani \". Unfortunately\n44 the situation, both as regards the\n44 criteria of the foundation and struc-\n-44 ture proved such as to be una-\n-44 ble to be taken as basis for any\n44 reform and any improvement. This\n44 being so, I do not hold it oppor-\n-44 tune to involve the State in any\n44 expenditure. I beg your Excellency\n44 to receive the expressions of my\n\" profound devotion.\n44 Enrico Corradini\nAfter that the President of the\nCouncil decided to take no further in-\nterest in the fate of the enterprise.\nNo\\V what on earth is the meaning\nbi this lack of ability on the part of\nan Italian Theatre to avail itself of an\nattempt to re-establish it—or a part of\nit ? 44 Mysterious \" as seem all the ways\nof the Theatre, this seems curiously\nincompetent.\nThe Italian actors are brilliant... are\nborn 50.... are the genuine actors. Can\nit be that they instinctively mistrust\n44 organization \" ? Some sense in that.\nAnd yet while most northern Thea-\ntres have organization, and nothing\nelse, the Italian Theatre has all else\nand only lacks a measure of organi-\nzation.\nOr are we wrong here ? Does the\nItalian Theatre know itself—does it\nfear lest it might lose its dash, its po-\nwers to do so well if it took even the\nlightest yoke on its shoulders ?\nWell, we are always prepared to\ndiscover that everything the Italian\ntheatre does from instinct is as right\nas rain.\n\nNO T I C E\nTHERE have appeared lately more\nthan once in the Press two erroneous\nstatements in regard to The Mask :\nfirst, that it is edited by Mr Gordon\nCraig at Rapallo ; second, that its first\neight volumes were written by him.\nSuch reports are incorrect.\nThe Mask remains in the same\nhands as heretofore. Its home is still\nin Florence, and it is edited, as it\nhas been from the first, by Mr John\nSemar.\nMr Craig continues to send, as\nhitherto, his contributions.\nIn regard to the second error, the\nIndexes of the first eight volumes have\nonly to be consulted for it to be seen\nthat, while Mr Craig has contributed\nlargely to them, and certainly has a\ncapacity for work, they were not all\nwritten by him. Such a feat were\nsurely an impossible one.\n\no ANNOUNCEMENT, o\nTHE pages of the next number of\n44 The Mask \\ to appear in April,\nwill be mainly devoted to Poets, Plays,\nPlaywrights and Play-Writers, with\nsome special consideration of the Dra-\nmatic work of Mr Thomas Hardy,\nMr W. B. Yeats, Mr John Masefield\nand other modern poets, and of the\nplays of Signor Pirandello, Mr Milne,\nMr Granville Barker and M. Moli£re :\nalso with some observations on the\nplays of Blake, Keats, Coleridge and\nthe unknown author of Maistre Pierre\nPathelin: together with some notes\non Melodrama, on Opera and its\nlibretto and on Incidental Music,\n\nAN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.\nWE have pleasure in acknowledging\nthe courtesy of Grand Ufficiale\nBemporad, of Florence, who kindly\naided us towards securing the reproduc-\ntion of 44 Li Buffoni (Plate I);\nand of the Victoria and Albert Mu-\nseum, South Kensington, for having\nenabled us to reproduce the Stage\nScene shown in Plate 2.\n\nTO ALL OUR READERS.\nJ. S.\nWITH the aim of keeping in touch\nwith every endeavour towards\nfine achievement in theatre work, as well\nin remote parts as in large centres,\nwe invite our readers all over the\nworld to cooperate with us by sending\nus news of effort and advance in any\nand every line of such work, giving\nus dates and details. We shall wel-\ncome reports of fresh endeavours in\nbuilding, scenic work and organization,\nwith pictures, photos and plans ; news •\nof plays which are really original, and\nreports of acting, too, and new ac-\ntors ; in short, of all that tends towards\na higher standard in whatever line.\nEven if the actor be only a begin-\nner, the endeavour only in its infancy,\nlet us hear of them, if the right spirit\nbe manifest in them, the right signs\nevident in their work.\n\nAll Rights reserved. January 1924.\nGerente responsabile Ferdinando Baggiani\nTipografia Giuntina, Firenze."}]}