{"numero_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_sha256": "f614a5ca72723af9f3f622fe78e9e8c501aeed4d108d69416499299f33b456a0", "source_tei": "https://github.com/Princeton-CDH/bluemountain-transcriptions/blob/main/periodicals/bmtnaau/issues/1926/10_01/bmtnaau_1926-10_01.tei.xml", "source_mets": "https://github.com/pulibrary/BlueMountain/blob/main/metadata/periodicals/bmtnaau/issues/1926/10_01/bmtnaau_1926-10_01.mets.xml", "url_numero": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01", "articles": [{"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c002", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c002", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "couv. 1", "page_fin": "couv. 1", "image_debut": 1, "image_fin": 1, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.2", "titre_corps": "[Sans titre]", "titre_sommaire": "[Sans titre]", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 1, "page_imprimee": "couv. 1", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.1", "debut_caractere": 244, "fin_caractere_exclue": 974, "texte": "ALEXANDRE DUMAS AND HIS\nADVENTURES AT THE THEATRE\nFRANQAIS by E. Gordon Craig.\nABOUT ONE OF OUR ENGLISH AR-\nTISTS : MARGARET MORRIS.\nON SOME BOOKS, ITALIAN, EN-\nGLISH & FRENCH, ON THE THEA-\nTRE OF EUROPE.\nTHE PRETTY THEATRE : PART 4.\nRELATING TO SOME OF THE PRI-\nVATE THEATRES OF FRANCE.\nON PROVINCIAL THEATRES in general.\nand, particularly, The Maddermarket of\nNorwich: with two wood-cuts.\nA NOTE ON THE OLD OPERA HOUSE\nIN THE HAYMARKET by Erroll\nSherson.\nBOOK REVIEWS & NOTES about Racine;\n\" A Banned Play * ; The Stratford Memorial\nTheatre, and \" American Generosity \" ; Amateurs\nand Stage Miracles; Masks and No Plays, \" Ben-\nsonian Memories , and many other entertaining\ndetails respecting, Theatre Figures and Theatre Books."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c003", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c003", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "couv. 2", "page_fin": "couv. 2", "image_debut": 2, "image_fin": 2, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.3", "titre_corps": "LITERARY CONTENTS", "titre_sommaire": "LITERARY CONTENTS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 2, "page_imprimee": "couv. 2", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.2", "debut_caractere": 450, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1211, "texte": "LITERARY CONTENTS.\nHOW THE PRESS COULD SERVE ART . ; . J. S. . . . . | .Page 127\nALEXANDRE DUMAS pkRE AND HIS ADVEN-\nTURES AT THE TH&ATRE FRANCAIS . . E. Gordon Craig . . . .129\nTHE SUMMER THEATRE AT LUBECK . . . A. C. . . . . 139\nON A BOOK ABOUT ONE OF OUR ENGLISH AR-\nTISTS : MARGARET MORRIS . . . G. C .140\nTHE CHANCES FOR AND AGAINST GOOD THEA- J\n' TRES in Provincial centres & The Maddermarket, Nor-\nwich. Part 2 | . E. G. C. . . . . .142\nTHREE BOOKS ON THE THEATRE OF EUROPE . John Balance 146\nTHE PRETTY THEATRE. Part 4 . . . . . X. Y. Z 155\nAN OLD PLACARD OF MADAME TUSSAUD'S\nWAXWORKS Anon 156\nA NOTE ON THE OLD OPERA HOUSE, LONDON . Erroll Sherson . . . . . 157\nPLAYING WITH GREEK FIRE . . . . R. S. • 157\nCORRESPONDENCE. BOOK REVIEWS. EDITORIAL NOTES."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c004", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c004", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "couv. 2", "page_fin": "couv. 2", "image_debut": 2, "image_fin": 2, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.4", "titre_corps": "ILLUSTRATIONS", "titre_sommaire": "ILLUSTRATIONS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 2, "page_imprimee": "couv. 2", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.2", "debut_caractere": 1213, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1952, "texte": "ILLUSTRATIONS.\nA NINETEENTH CENTURY SUMMER THEATRE IN\nOLD LUBECK .f Anon . .j . Plate 13, Face 127\nVENICE PRESERVED, A Scene for the Lessing Theater,\nBerlin, 1904 ........ E. Gordon Craig . \" 14, \" 138\nPICTURE OF A THEATRE FROM THE NATIONAL\nGALLERY, LONDON, attributed to . . . . Bibiena . . . \" 15, \" 146\nPLAN FOR A LITTLE THEATRE, Designed for Mme\ndu Barry by the Architect ...... Le Doux. . . \" 16, \" 154\nA JAPANESE NO MASK Anon . . . » 17, \" 162\nA VIEW OF FIRENZE IN THE 17th CENTURY. . Valeric Spada. . • 18, ■ 170\nTHE MADDERMARKET THEATRE, Two woodcuts . O. P. Smythe. . . . 142, 145\nPLAN SHOWING THE THEATRE DU MARAIS PARIS,\n1676. (Headpiece) ....... Anon . . . . . 146\n- • ' V- ■ ■\nHead and Tail Pieces from old and modern Designs."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c005", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c005", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "[126]", "page_fin": "[126]", "image_debut": 4, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.5", "titre_corps": "A NINETEENTH CENTURY SUMMER THEATRE IN OLD LUBECK", "titre_sommaire": "A NINETEENTH CENTURY SUMMER THEATRE IN OLD LUBECK", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 4, "page_imprimee": "[126]", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.4", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 50, "texte": "A NINETEENTH CENTURY SUMMER THEATRE IN OLD LUBECK."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c006", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c006", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "127", "page_fin": "128", "image_debut": 5, "image_fin": 6, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.6", "titre_corps": "EPILOGUE TO VOLUME XII : HOW THE PRESS COULD SERVE ART", "titre_sommaire": "EPILOGUE TO VOLUME XII : HOW THE PRESS COULD SERVE ART", "signature_source": "J. S", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 5, "page_imprimee": "127", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.5", "debut_caractere": 3, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1522, "texte": "EPILOGUE TO VOLUME XII.\nHOW THE PRESS COULD SERVE ART.\n\nVEN IN MOMENTS OF THE HIGHEST HAPPINESS AND THE DEEPEST MISERY WE STAND IN NEED\nF THE ARTIST. Goethe 1819.\nRTISTS ARE THE ONLY CLASS WHO HAVE NEVER OPPRESSED THE PEOPLE AND AGAINST WHOM\nHE PEOPLE HAVE NEVER RISEN. John Quinn, 1919.\nWHO are the best musicians in Europe ? Who the best writers\nof verse and of prose ? Who can erect the best buildings, and\nwho can stage plays best ? ln short, who are the best Eu-\nopean artists, never mind whether they have a European reputation\n>r no, never mind for the moment whether their work is in demand,\n3r, if in demand, whether it is ungettable. Who are the best ?\nThen who are the next best, and who come third ?\nWe want a proper enquiry to be made, and a fair statement not\na false one.\nThe '* Daily Mail \" published an article recently signed \"A No-\nvelist \", asking \" Who are our greatest writers ?\" The name of our\nbest prose writer was omitted from the list.\nHere we ask, not, who are the greatest, but who are the best\nartists ; for, thanks to a too casual journalism, the word great has\ncome today to mean \" popular\".\nEnquiring therefore who writes music well, verse and prose well,\nwho builds well, who paints, carves, and dances well, who best pro-\nduces plays which are well written and well acted, ....this we find\nthat no one is talking about. Cannot you now forgive the poor Edi-\ntors that they too do not know what the deuce all this talk about\nart means ? But doubtless in time re, when it's too late they"}, {"page_pdf": 6, "page_imprimee": "128", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.6", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2355, "texte": "will employ experts who know who is who in the world of art,\nnot merely who is somebody. And then, on discovering who can paint,\nwho can compose, write, produce and act, the great Dailies being\nactually great might treat the information in a rather different way\nfrom that in which they treat the information received about cricketers,\nsociety failings, and affairs of the law courts.\nWe suggest this pertinently. In the great cities, London, Paris\nand New York, the arts are suffering a set-back, and it is not a\nlittle the fault of the great Dailies. They are, one supposes, always\nhappy when they can draw attention to good work; where they\nfail is in being unable to recognize anything but \" great \" work, which\nnine times out of ten is great rubbish.\nThe last thing the editors of the great Dailies suspect is that\nthey are blind. They believe that they are remarkably clear sighted,\nand in so many matters this is true; in the matter of the arts they\nare nearly all of them as blind as bats.\nFor art matters they should allow the great city feeling to dominate\ntheir minds.\nTheir great city has great theatres, great concert halls, galleries,\npublishing establishments, .... le, all are great concerns like great bake-\nries or restaurants, closely related to the public health.\nNow good bread, good tea, cakes, milk, beef, mutton, veal, vege-\ntables and fruit are insisted on by the public for it knows. If it did\nnot know it would soon have an ache in its stomach; before long\nthe Public body would be rendered unfit. The Public body is kept\nhale and hearty because a great city must not be fooled about its food,\nand the Press helps to see that it is not fooled.\nBut the great cities are fooled about their arts, and so the Public\nmind is becoming unfit.\nOne of the first steps towards a little improvement of this rather\nsorry state of things is for the Press to review the situation and look\nat the whole question from a new angle from the only right one.\nThe Press does not yet know who is who in the arts.\nWhen its representatives can afford time and money for discovering\nwhat has been done and is being done by the artists, writers and\nmusicians of worth, and when they know, and when they tell Europe,\nand avoid telling the public tarradiddles about this important thing, they\nwill be conferring a lasting benefit on all the nations.\n\nJ. S."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c007", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c007", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "129", "page_fin": "139", "image_debut": 7, "image_fin": 17, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.7", "titre_corps": "ALEXANDRE DUMAS AND HIS ADVENTURES AT THE THEATRE FRANÇAIS : 1825-1851", "titre_sommaire": "ALEXANDRE DUMAS AND HIS ADVENTURES AT THE THEATRE FRANÇAIS : 1825-1851", "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": "129", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.7", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2876, "texte": "ALEXANDRE DUMAS AND HIS\nADVENTURES AT THE THEATRE\nFRANÇAIS. 1825-1851.\nBy GORDON CRAIG.\n(1)\n*\nI cannot recall any review appearing\nin recent years which did justice to\nthis book.\nIt is perhaps not the kind of book that\nlovers of the Dumas romances would\nespecially take to, for it is all real and all\nabout actors and actresses. It is very\nprecise history and at the same time is\nwritten as a perfect journalist would write\nit, except that nowadays I suppose he\nmight be told to cut out about fifty\nwords in every hundred. Ido not know\nabout this but I suppose so; and I sup-\npose that Alexandre Dumas would not\nbe let off any more than anyone else.\nI will not presume to say that it would\nbe a wrong thing to cut it, to compress\nit, but I like it so much as it is, that I\nfor one would not have it different or\na word shorter.\nThere is a good deal of this sort of\nthing.\n\" You will? \"\n\" I will. \"\n\" When? \"\n\" Tomorrow.\n\" Tomorrow? \"\n\" Yes. \"\n\" You promise ? *'\n\" I promise. \"\nThat is all froth, of course, but, by\nJove, under all that froth is solid rock.\n\"My Odyssey first published in\n1868, is now in its English translation\npublished by Stanley Paul and Co. This\nbook of eighteen chapters is not a hun-\ndred pages in length, yet the author ma-\nnages to tell you how he entered the\nTheatre and how he worked in\nit for a period covering twenty-five years.\nThe Theatre Frangais has been and\nstill is for me one of those theatres out-\nside and beyond criticism, and I do not\nknow exactly why. Perhaps, if I went\nthere every night for a year, I should\ndiscover why it was well within the pale\nof criticism, but 1 prefer to look at it\nfrom where I am at a distance and\nto love on.\nDumas entered this theatre at the age\nof twenty-two, attempted to cope with its\nimpossibilities, failed and triumphed, and fi-\nnally passed us this valuable book a\nguide for the formation of a National Theatre\nshould we ever want one.\nThe Theatre Frangais is in some\nways exactly like every other theatre.\nIt is for example a lions' den. Let others\nrefer to it as a wasps' nest, I prefer lions.\nInto this den walks the most daring man\nthat ever entered it. Physically a giant,\nwith a terrific youth on his side, with a\nknowledge of half of the silliness of the\nworld and a suspicion of the other half,\nwith the very deuce in him, and with an\nimmense common sense, he comes into this\ntheatre; is for twenty-five years insulted right\nand left; is cut through thick and thin; and\ncomes out at the end blazing with pleasure,\ndelighted with the old beast with whom\n\n(') MY ODYSSEY by Alexandre Dumas Stanley\nPaul & Co Ltd. London. 7/6 net.\nThe trifle is the second part of a volume entitled ' * My\nLife's Ambition We beg of Messrs Stanley Paul &Co to\nissue a Popular Edition of the 44 Odyssey \" in paper\ncovers at a shilling with the title 44 Dumas pere and his\nAdventures at the Theatre Frangais\". Ed."}, {"page_pdf": 8, "page_imprimee": "130", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.8", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3517, "texte": "he has had the tussle, and positively pat-\nting it on the head.\nThe Spectre of the Place appears on\nhis first page Mile. Mars 44 A dete-\nstable creature \", I thought after reading\na few pages; but, before I had come to\nthe end of the book, 1 returned to my old\nopinion of years ago, and liked her better\nthan ever.\nDo you see how delightful this book\nis! he makes the theatre 44 detestable \"\nand 44 delightful \".\nHe is none of your lickspittlers; he\nis not like so many authors of today, so\nartful with his flattery for the foolish part\nof a noble old profession; neither is he\nin a rage with its folly ; and he will not\nhold these people in contempt.\nWell -it is understood of Dumas that\nhe cannot sleep with contempt in his\nheart—and yet the action of these people\nthrough the story of the Odyssey is con-\ntemptible and nothing else.\nYou would have said that they had\nthe wit to know the difference between\nthose two opposite types, Victor Hugo\nand Alexandre Dumas, and would have\nrejected the former and hailed the latter ;\nyet, if anything, they were more respectful\nto Victor Hugo. You would have said\nthat on catching sight of this brilliant\ncreature, this combination of Porthos,\nAramis, and d'Artagnan, with his fuzzed-\nup hair, his terrific person, breathing kind-\nness, yielding adaptability in every look,\nin every act, ready to understand all those\nthings which only a sense of humour can\nunderstand, in short a perfect man for the\ntheatre.... you would think, on catching sight\nof him, the entire company would cry\n4 4 The game is up! Let us for once\nplay the game \"; but they did nothing of\nthe kind. There is a special reason why\nthey should have played the game better\nwith him than anyone else. It was that\nhe positively had their own faults. His\nnotions included the introduction of prancing\nhorses on the stage... he liked the highly\ndecorated... the spangles; he was all for\nsurprises sudden contrasts he could\ndescend as well as ascend.\nCompare him for a moment with the\nlofty director Goethe. When an actress\nwho was the Duke's mistress came into\nthe Weimar theatre and gave the order\nthat a poodle was to be introduced into\none of the forthcoming productions, Goethe\nwas so offended that he left the theatre of\nwhich for some twenty or thirty years he\nhad been the head; and naturally the entire\nprofession in Germany, in France, in England,\nand in Italy said ; 44 A fine sort of a philo-\nsopher to be the head of the theatre. Pouff 1\nWho wants a philosopher there. Paff!\nWhat we want is a man who understands\nthese things, in short, somebody like us.\nWe can follow a man like that\". In\n1825 they got their somebody like them-\nselves Alexandre Dumas. Did they\nfollow him 7 Not a bit of it. He might\nhave been an old philosopher like Goethe.\nHe might have been a litterateur like\nBrowning. He might have been con-\ntemptuous like Byron, or 4 profound * like\nVictor Hugo: or he might have been Baco-\nnian like Shakespeare. He might have been\nanything you can conceive with which\nthey might reasonably have found fault,\nand he was none of these. He was\nperfection: the very man for the theatre.\nHis first tragedy was Christine a Fon-\ntainebleau. It was not, as he tells us, a\nclassical piece in the manner of Sophocles,\nbut was on the lines of the new classical\ntragedy as expounded by two Frenchmen,\nLegouve and Chenier. Now that is very\nimportant. It means that he was giving\nthe French theatre something the French\ntheatre was positively asking for 44 on the\nlines of the new classical tragedy ."}, {"page_pdf": 9, "page_imprimee": "131", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.9", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3398, "texte": "He adds that it is true that he had\ntaken liberties in some of the scenes, ' li-\nberties at which Melpomene's hair would\nhave bristled, and that here and there he\nhad introduced a touch of humour. You\nsee it, of course, at once, this touch of\nhumour.... and its value to the Lions of\nthe Comedie. It was the looked-for\nreason for a growl—anything serves with\nLions, growl, spring, rend and go to\nsleep.\nHow is it possible to have a touch\nof humour in a tragedy ? Even in London\nit would have been a dreadful thing to\nhave dreamt of introducing a touch of\nhumour, in spite of the fact that Shake-\nspeare bristles with humour in his tra-\ngedies.\nAh! That's different... Shakespeare\nwas a gentleman—this is a negro.\nThat it struck London in this way\nis a fact, for in her \" Records of a Girl-\nhood \" by young Miss Frances Kemble,\n....Fanny Kemble, as she was known.... the\nyoung actress refers to a translation of\nthis play by Dumas. Doubtless it has\nbeen whispered to her that he was a\nnigger, and in the houses she visited,\nespecially in the house where she per-\nformed in private theatricals, performed\nthis second play of Dumas* \" Henry 111\nand his Court\", the notion of anybody\nfaintly brown would have been an offence.\nIt was in 1831 that Miss Fanny\nKemble glanced over Lord Francis Eger-\nton's translation of \" Henry 111 and his\nCourt \", and, alluding to one of the\nscenes between the Duchess of Guise and\nMegrine, remarks that she would think\n14 it ought to be very effective on the\nstage \". She even adds that \" the situa-\ntion which is highly dramatic is, I think,\nquite new. I cannot recollect any similar\none in any other play \". This is the\nextent of her enthusiasm and delight.\nThen she begins the rehearsals of it\nwith the amateurs. They produce it,\ncalling it \" Katherine de Cleves At\nfirst she has nothing disagreable to say\nabout it, and, as one reads these charm-\ning 4 5 Records \", one likes to see this\nyoung woman on the side of young things\nthat are \" quite new \". But later on,\nhaving heard somebody sniff, and some-\nbody else purr, she begins to pull Alexandre\nDumas to pieces, without mentioning his\nname, of course.\nFor example, she writes: \"I acted\npretty well, though my dresses are getting\nshockingly dirty, and in one of the scenes\nmy wreath fell backwards and was obliged\nto take it off in the middle of all my\nepistolary agony; and, what was still\nworse, after my husband had locked me\nup in one room and my wreath in ano-\nther it somehow found its way back on\nmy head for the last scene. At the end\nof the play, which has now been acted\nten nights, some people began hissing the\npinching incident. It was always consi-\ndered the dangerous passage of the piece,\nbut a reasonable public should know that\na play should be damned on its first night,\nor not at all \".\nDresses wreath and a \" pinching\nincident \" is all she finds to say of some-\nthing exceptional in Drama, This is pro-\nbably how Mile. Mars would also have\nspoken: it expresses a giggling lack of\ncomprehension. It is as though someone\nwho had not quite fathomed \" Macbeth \"\nalluded to the apparition of Duncan as\n\" that bogey bit\nAnd it illustrates very well the mind\nand spirit of the actors of the Comedie\nFrangaise as the plays of Dumas began to\nforce their way into that dear old building.\nTalma was dead and Talma was a\ngood deal head and shoulders above petty\nintrigue. He was somebody in the theatre"}, {"page_pdf": 10, "page_imprimee": "132", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.10", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3283, "texte": "and even Mile. Mars kept to the formal\nand respectful 44 you \" when speaking to\nhim, though he used the familar 44 thou \"\nto her.\nThere is no calling a Talma 44 Frank,\nold chap \" and that makes for good.\nBut Talma was dead and the great\nfigure from 1 826 to 1 839 in the 7 heatre\nwas certainly Mile. Mars. The men were\nof small stature—there was little Firmin,\nreliable and excellent and little, and, true,\nthere was a sort of ghost of Talma loafing\nround, a certain M. Lafon. Talma will\nbe glad that I refer to Lafon as a ghost,\nfor he was an imitator of Talma, 1 think,\neven to the extent of falling in love with\nPauline Buonaparte after Talma had fal-\nlen out.\nThis M. Lafon must have been a very\ngreat nuisance, but he was not dangerous\nlike Mile. Mars.\nHow sorry I am to speak of anyone\nso delightful and such a perfect actress in\nthis disrespectful manner.\nBut it is not so much I who speak\nas les coulisses which seem to echo with\na certain enraged hissing, animated as they\nare at night when the theatre is closed\nand all is dark, and visions of great things\ntake form, and, among these great things,\nthe thoughts, the endeavours and disap-\npointments of this great man, Durnas.\nIt is not right, Mile Mars, that you,\nand those who are like you, should do as\nyou do : should be unable to sit on yourself.\nOh! I have written about this be-\nfore. Have 1 not got over it ? Have I\nnot got through and over to that thing\nwhich we call the ÜbermariNo!\nI have not!\nCan one not dream and long for\nsplendid things for splendid ACTORS\nlong after one has seen proof that these\nsplendid things are. to be broken and flung\nabout by the whim of ignorant actors ?\nWhat was this Übermarionette? Was\nit something better than Mile. Mars... the\ngreat Mars? Decidedly 44 No \" and de-\ncidedly 44 Yes! '* It is more than she is,\nif she is less than herself, and if she is\nherself, it is nothing at all.\nDumas tells us that Mile. Mars was\nthe greatest person in this Theatre Fran-\nsais and that she was doing all she could\nto prevent the Theatre from being itself\n—a superb and a sensible place.\n1 have spoken of Mile. Mars as dange-\nrous; yet she was no more dangerous in the\nstrict sense of the word than is an actor\nwho has just gone off the stage with\na dagger saying the words\n\" Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell\nThat summons thee to Heaven or to Hell\nWhat then renders her dangerous,\nthis most delightful of women ? Simply\nthis fact ; that you may not punish Mile.\nMars fairly (only unfairly) for insubor-\ndination.\nThe Rules of this Theatre Frangais\nare admirable.\nIn 1812, when Napoleon was in\nMoscow Vv'ith nothing to do, he drew up\nthese rules. So far as I know it is the\nonly theatre which has had rules drawn\nup for it by an Emperor who was at\nthe same time a man of sense.\nIt is a formidable book of rules, this\n44 Decret de Moscou \" (■), and you would\nthink that it would entirely suffice to\nkeep our delightful Mile. Mars in order.\nBy this, please understand me to mean,\nsufficiently helpful to her, for her to keep\nherself in order.\nBear in mind that this is so\nexceptionally well planned that, even after\nmore than a hundred years, the theatre\nhas found practically nothing in it to alter.\nThere have been revolutions since then,\n\n(i) See \" The Mask Vol. X. No. 2. April 1924.."}, {"page_pdf": 11, "page_imprimee": "133", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.11", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3400, "texte": "and there was plenty of opportunity to\nsmash up the Decree if it were one of\nthose things that had been imposed on a\ngroup of people against their will. The\nreason why it has worked so well is be-\ncause it is a broad-minded piece of work\nand its 101 Articles make the actors\nthink something of themselves.\nEach Article is sound and practical,\nand, as it were, addressed to reasonable\npeople. It is the sort of thing which a\ngreat ruler would draw up for an Aca-\ndemy of savants or a modern organizer\nfor a big manufacturing firm. The two\nthings do not seem very much alike but\nthe Decree seems addressed to just two\nsuch bodies of people. It treats them like\nreasonable savants and like money-loving\nemployees.\nThe mixed solemnity... the theatrica-\nlity of this Decree, has, 1 won't say, en-\ntirely taken in all the actors, for any\nactor if he wishes can note the stress\nNapoleon is always laying on the francs;\nbut it has taken in most of them.\nOnly a supreme actor could have\ndrawn this up, and let us add, only a\nman in sympathy with actors would have\ndrawn it up. It fools and flatters and\nit pays.\nThen why is it of no use to Mile.\nMars ? The reason is that Napoleon\nhad lost sight of one fact. When he\nplanned for the theatre he was more or\nless planning as he would plan for the\narmy. When he planned for an army he\nknew that he was dealing with men, none\nbut men, and men who managed each\nother. There could be no possible non-\nsense among them. Anything going\nwrong, any trick, any bit of intrigue, one\nagainst the other, was a thing that the\nwhole army would deal with, and it was\na very dangerous thing for any one to\ndream of playing any such trick.\nEsprit de corps, do you call it, I do\nnot know! I thought there was esprit\nde corps in the theatre, but it seems that\nit is not so, and maybe it is because in\nthe theatre a trick played by some unman-\nnerly actor not only goes unpunished but\nrather tickles the others and even finds\nfavour with some great ladies, Mile. Mars,\nfor example, and wastes everyone's time\ninto the bargain.\nNow Napoleon cannot have realised\nthat his Decree had omitted Clauses\nwhich should deal with such people.\nIt is beyond human nature to expect\npeople to discipline themselves. I believe\nin the Church the discipline is very stern\nindeed, although I am inclined to think it is\nnot half so effective as it is in the army\n—not so simple, not so quick, not so fair.\nAnd in the theatre it is necessary that the\ndiscipline shall be very fair and very\nsimple and immediate. Where intense\nexcitement waits upon the inspiration of\nthese men and women to do their work\nwell, it is touch and go if the trick is\nbrought off, or if the trick fails.\nHeaven forbid that there should be a\nman introduced into the theatre, a pu-\nnisher, as it were, who walks about cor-\nrecting us, and who says \" I see you\nthere, intriguing—Out you go! \" \" Now\nthen you,what do you mean by pretend-\ning not to know your words, when you\nknow them quite well Off with you \".\nOne does not want that.\nBut what are you to have in place of\nit? If, in Napoleon's army, somebody\nskulked behind, he found himself suddenly\nswinging to a tree. Why? You may\nsay the poor man had been feeling tired,\nor had a moment's terror, and are you\ngoing to punish him for that, you ask ?\n1 do not know what the answer is, but\nunless that man is punished, the whole army\nmay start skulking behind ; and it is pre-"}, {"page_pdf": 12, "page_imprimee": "134", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.12", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3367, "texte": "cisely the same answer that we give\nabout the theatre. Do you want to see\nthe whole theatre of a nation driven off\nthe field, or a great institution like the\nTheatre Frangais crumble inside like a\ncheese that has been eaten from inside out\nby the rats, which have left nothing but\nthe rind to stand up and look monumen-\ntal; is that what you want? It is not\nwhat I want, and I have no self-interest\nwhatever in the theatre, as I hope I have\nby this time proved.\nI want to see certain Clauses added\nto the Decree of Moscow, or in other\nlike Decrees, or ordinary Book of Rules,\nwhich make it impossible for any actor or\nactress to put on airs, however great they\nmay be as an actor or actress.... impossi-\nble for intrigue to grow in a theatre....\nimpossible for wilfulness to take root.\nIt was because Mile. Mars put on airs\nthat she was dangerous to the Theatre\nFrangais, and gave Alexandre Dumas so\nmany years of unnecessary trouble.\nActors seem to forget that they are,\nas it were, on a dangerous adventure,\nwhich is to capture the public. There-\nfore the public is in this sense their\n44 enemy \". It is against the public their\nforce is to be arrayed, and it is not to\nbe wasted against each other.\nBut how get that into their bones,\ninto the bones of a M. Lafon and Mile.\nMars ? If you cannot cut down the ra-\ntions of Mile. Mars, and you cannot, you\ncertainly cannot clout M. Lafon's head.\nIt would be an outrage. There would be\na scandal. It has never been heard of.\nBut is it not quite as great an outrage,\nis it not quite as great a scandal for\nM. Lafon to act like an ignoramus, and\nfor Mile. Mars, to act, shall we say, like\na cat, when M. Dumas has arranged the\ncaste a little differently from the way they\nwould like it?\nThe first two or three years of Dumas's\nexperiences in the theatre were probably\nmore than half wasted by these two people,\nand a few others of lesser significance,\ncarrying on like boys and girls in a pre-\nparatory school •\n44 You won't\n441 shall *\\\n44 You shan't \".\n44 Then I'll tell teacher\nReally this is more nonsense than\ndangerous, but when it becomes quite so\nnonsensical it becomes fatal. And how\ncorrect it ?\n44 If there was away, do you not\nthink that somebody would have found it\nlong ago ? \" is what the actors ask.\nThere is a wav to be found—there is a\n•/\nsolution to all problems. If you do not\nfind away in ten years, give another ten\nyears to finding it; if not, give a hundred,\ngive two hundred, but do not say there is\nno way. And I commend this as the\none worth - while theatrical riddle still un-\nsolved and which is well worth solving,\nand I commend the Columbus method be-\nfore any other. A great deal of thinking\nis not going to solve it. And, as you\nsee, a great deal of rare, good-hearted\nnature is not going to get to it, or Dumas\nwould have solved it. If it could be\nsolved by the entry of the god Apollo,\nsmiling, and refusing to admit the presence\nof clouds anywhere in his neighbourhood,\nApollo would have solved it long ago.\nApollo failed. Dionysius has failed too\nand miserably. The theatre lays great\nstore on the powers of Dionysius. Dio-\nnysius is somebody in their eyes. They\nthink that a good bottle of champagne\nexpresses Dionysius to a tick. I should\nhave said that something nearer ecstasy did\nit, but they will have none of that high-\nbrow stuff, so let us keep away from any\nsuch suggestion."}, {"page_pdf": 13, "page_imprimee": "135", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.13", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3292, "texte": "Apollo, therefore, and Dionysius are\nout of it. How about a more modern\nholiness for example! One hears a good\ndeal nowadays about church and stage\ncoming nearer to each other. Did not\nthe Archbishop of Canterbury only last\nmonth utter these memorable words: '4 The\nChurch stands today for something which,\non the whole, is for untold good \".\nThere seems to be nothing wrong\nwith that remark, only unfortunately, if\nthere is worldly attention paid to our\nstage by the clergy, there is very little\nChristian kindness shown by them to\nactors. I hardly suppose that an actor\nwould be left by them to starve; no\nactor found wounded on the highroad but\nwould be carried by the reverend gentle-\nmen many a mile to a safe refuge. Of\nthat I have no doubt. But the clergy\nare not today offered such theatrical epi-\nsodes : nor is Christian burial any longer\ndenied. But how about speaking well of\nthe work ? How about telling all the\npeople in the neighbourhood to go to the\nplayhouse, to go and see the players ?\nWill the clergy be found asking parishioners\nthe question \" How is it 1 did not see you\nlast week in the theatre ? \"\nDo they say that ? Are they going\nto say that? With all due respect to\nthem, 1 believe not.\nI have pretty positive proof that they\nfeel obliged for some reason or other to\ntreat the theatre with indifference, and I\nam not at all out of sympathy with this,\nfor nowadays it very often . deserves in-\ndifference. And, while it is not christian\nto show indifference, a show of solid, hard\nindifference may be intended to act as a\ncorrective.\nSo you see that besides Apollo and\nBacchus, who are out of it, the religion\nof our fathers is not coming to help the\ntheatre over its problems.\nNow then, Mile. Mars, is all this\nnothing to you ? You turn in your grave\nhearing me put such a question. You\nknow all about it now.\nYou know either that the questions\nare not worth a fig. .... the theatre not\nworth a fig life itself not worth a\nfig or you know that it was you\nwho were so often not worth a fig\nNow which is it?\nIn a new Clause to be added to the\nDecret de Moscou, I would add one or\ntwo brief articles and one of them would\nbe this—\" No actor or actress is to speak\n{other than those words written for him\nor her in their part) on the stage during\nrehearsals \".\nA shriek rends the air—a shriek of\nlaughter and horror mixed.\nWhat a dastardly notion, what a\ntyrannical suggestion, and how comic.\nPutting aside the question that in war\nthere is a smashing of heads and a slit-\nting of throats, there is also that disci-\npline which forbids a soldier to speak\nwhile he is at his work .... Silence and\nimmediate obedience .... Why? . . . Is it\nbecause some General or Captain is a\ngreat, wicked, tyrant ? Not so, but so\nas to save the lives of everybody and to\nwin the game.\nMile. Mars answers me: \" But sup-\nposing I want M. Lafon to go a little\nmore to the right when I say: \" Caesar,\nhear me \".\nTo which as director I reply that if\nI want M. Lafon to go a little more to\nthe right I shall say so, and you may\ntake him and place him where you want\nhim, but do not speak.\nIf, when he is placed, I find that\nthat position will not do, I can tell him\nto go back; and besides it is not so es-\nsentially important that your fellow actors\nshall be here or there, shall do this or"}, {"page_pdf": 14, "page_imprimee": "136", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.14", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3160, "texte": "that or the other, it is so essential\nas you would make out. It is one of\nthe delusions you have got in your head,\nafter years of bad acting, this delusion\nabout getting other people to do what\nyou want.\nYou see how it was with Alexandre\nDumas. At the end of the writing of\nHenri 111 and his Court\" you called\nM. Dumas up to the Directors' room.\nWe notice that you did not speak to\nhim about the matter on the stage in\nfront of all the other actors. This be-\ncause you know you are going to tell a\nlie, but you have spoken of other things\nbefore the rest of the company. Then\nyou call him up to the Directors' room,\nand, as he tells us, you come to the point\nwith your habitual abruptness. You com-\nmence by saying: \"Ah! It is you! ''\nThat is one of your habits too, to\npretend that you have just caught sight of\nthe good Dumas or the good Shakespeare,\nor the good Euripides, which ever it may\nhappen to be.\nI remember a doctor who used to do\nthat; he, too, used to say: \" Ah ! It is\nyou! \" And I used to say to him in re-\nturn ; \" And how are you today? Are\nyou well ? \" This always had the de-\nsired effect. A doctor hates to be asked\nif he is well. But he was a good, kind,\nman, so let it pass.\nBut you, Mile. Mars, you cannot pass\nquite so easily. You say to M. Dumas :\n\" It is you! \" and you continue \" Well,\nthe thing to avoid is a repetition of the\nbungling you made over your last play\n\" Christine \",\n\" What bungling? \" he asks.\n\" In the caste \" you say.\n\" That is true \" says Dumas, \" I had\nthe honour to allot you the part of Chris-\ntine, but you did not play it \".\nThen a long conversation between you,\naged fifty (by the bye you cannot mind\nmy mentioning this now) and he aged\ntwenty-six. This conversation is carried\non for about three quarters of an hour,\nby working up perfectly beautifully, as\nfew others could have worked up, a\nsituation, to the climax where you are\ngoing to drop the little lie.\nYour interest in the way the play is\ncast is not only because of your own\npart, and certainly not so as to get a\nperfect whole. You are not thinking at\nall about that. Your entire object is to\nget a certain lady out of it.\nOn goes the talk. You discuss the\nfilling of each role and you say yes or\nno, to everything he says yes or no to:\n.... M. Blank .... good .... Mme. Blankette\n.... very well—until you come to the part\nof the Page.\n\" And who have you chosen for that? \"\nyou ask.\n(You know quite well that the choice\nlies with the dramatic author, who should\nbe the best one to know who satisfies\nhis requirements. Or it might rest with\nthe Manager but never should it rest\nwith you, such a decision).\nM. Dumas replies:\n\" I have chosen Mile. Louise De-\nspreaux for the Page \", and - asks if\nMile. Mars has any objection. \"Is she\nnot pretty ? \" he asks,\n\" Oh, very! \" she replies \" But it\nis not enough to look pretty \".\n\" Has she not talent ? \"\n\" They say she is promising \".\n\" Ah, Madame! \" says the author\n\" A good part may help one's talent to\ndevelop \".\n\" You ought first to see that little\ngirl playing the part \" says Mars.\n\" I am still waiting for a good reason\nto convince me that she is not fitted for\nthat part, \" returns the author."}, {"page_pdf": 15, "page_imprimee": "137", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.15", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3270, "texte": "\" Well \" says Mile. Mars—her voice\nis getting quieter and her words are get-\nting slower—\" You shall see her dressed\nin tights \".\n\" Very well .... What shall 1 see? \"\n\"You shall see that she is\nshamefully .... knock-kneed! \"\nNov/ a soldier for such treachery would\nbe shot! Am I speaking true or not?\nI do not mind what Mile. Mars says\nin her private life: she may have her likes\nand she may have her dislikes. We all\nhave them.\nBut, when she brings them into the\ntheatre, she acts treacherously, and there\nis nothing to exonerate her.\n\" What an awful thing it would be \"\nwhispers some actor or actress to them-\nselves \" if this man was the Manager of\nthe theatre .... popping us all off. He\nwould be having us marched out of the\ntheatre between a couple of Life Guards! \"\nAs a matter of fact I am afraid I\nam far too tender hearted, but I have\nmy moments!\nI admit that when it comes to think-\ning of this old cause of ours, this theatre,\nI would have Rachel herself marched out\nof the theatre, and let the result be what\nit might, if Rachel would stoop to such\nlittleness.\nBut so far as 1 know, and I have\nlooked into the history of the theatre ra-\nther carefully, Rachel did not play the\npuss and there are many equally good\nexamples for the actresses to follow. But as\nthe Rachels may any day begin to fool,\nit is better that you have discipline in the\ntheatre, for then it is a thousand to one\nthey will not.\nIt was the prompter of the Theatre\nFrangais who said to Alexandre Dumas\n\" My dear M. Dumas, listen to me.\nThirty years of observation, study, and\nreflection, have taught me that here in\nthe Theatre Frangais, everyone has rights,\nand no one has duties\".\nDumas himself says:\n\" Oh, the Theatre Frangais I It is\na circle of the Inferno omitted by Dante,\nwhere God keeps those unfortunate au-\nthors, who are haunted by the singular\nidea of earning there one half of the\nmoney they would get elsewhere, of being\nallowed twenty-five performances instead\nof a hundred, and in their declining years\nreceiving the Cross of the Legion of Ho-\nnour in recognition, not of their success,\nbut of their sufferings\nNot only does he say that, but\nhis third play, \" Antony \", which had\nbeen accepted by the Frangais and which\nwas subjected to every conceivable trick\nwhich Mile. Mars could invent.... this play,\none of the great plays of that time, was\nobliged to be taken by its author out of\nthe theatre in the midst of a rehearsal,\nso as to save its life. Six weeks later\nhe produced it in another theatre with\noverwhelming success.\nWhat led him to do this is set down\nin his brilliant \" Odyssey *\\\nOne of the actors had been kind\nenough to say that he should take his\nplay and have M. Scribe rewrite it.\nDo not imagine that this was meant\nin any sarcastic manner. Actors are not\nexactly like that. It was sheer, innocent\nadvice. This was the actor Firmin, a\nvery \" good friend \" of Dumas, and a\nman of considerable weight in his profes-\nsion, not a man to storm up and down\nin a fit of nervous excitement, nor to\nworry. He comes up kindly to Dumas\nand says to him: \"My boy, take my\nadvice as an old player and get M. Scribe\nto re-write this play of yours \".\nIs it consideration such people need? \"\nWould consideration help such people?\nWill listening, to them do them, us*"}, {"page_pdf": 16, "page_imprimee": "138", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.16", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3373, "texte": "the play, the theatre, or the dramatic art\nany good?\nIt is as though someone had said to\nWagner of his \" Meistersingers' \" My\ndear Richard, take your opera to M. Balfe\nand let him work on it.... that is all it\nneeds \".\n\" The Meistersingers\" was at that\ntime, or appeared to be, perhaps less\nWagnerian than his other operas. Stupid\npeople might have imagined that, in writ-\ning it, he was trying to be a little more\nusual, more ordinary, that he had flung\naway a number of his Wagnerisms and\nwas coming down to them; and therefore\nit would not have been even strange had\nsome very foolish operatic singer given\nhim that counsel to go to Balfe, because\nthe fool would have said to himself: \" He\nis struggling to do it . ... he is struggling\nto come down to us. Now I know the\nvery man who will help him down \".\nAnd so, of poor M. Firmin, one can\nonly say that it is nothing very strange of\nhim that he made such a fat-headed re-\nmark : one can only imagine that most of\nhis remarks were equally fat-headed.\nHaving taken his play away from the\nFransais, Dumas, later on, takes another play\nback there. For, though sensitive, he is a\nsolid man. The bygones of last week are\nentirely bygones with him. On returning\nto the theatre again about six years later, one\nof the first people whom he encounters is\nMile. Mars.\n\" Ah, so it is you 1 \" she says.\nThis must have encouraged him: he\nmust have remembered where he was\nagain . . . even if he wondered who he was.\nIt is perhaps only Mile. Mars who is\nlosing sight, of where she is and who she\nis, for a rather tragic thing is happening.\nThey are pulling Mile. Mars down....\nher own comrades are doing it. They\nare saying among themselves that she is\njust. a little bit old, and they are whisper-\ning in the ear of Dumas, pulling him by\nthe tail of his coat, drawing him gently\naside; they are saying \" Tell her to play\nsuch and such a role \" knowing that, if\nthey can only get her to play the wrong\nrole, their little plan will bear fruit. Du-\nmas, smiling to the right, and smiling to\nthe left, keeps on his path.\nEverybody is certain that the young\nman is going to let her down this time.\nEverybody is wrong.\nThis is what he writes.\n\" Mile. Mars played the title role,\nand you all know with what success.\nBut if 1 had accepted the opinion of those\nwho call themselves friends of Mile. Mars,\nand had given the part of Mile, de Belle\nIsle (and that was the name of the play)\nto Mile. Plessis, and that of Mme. de Prie\nto Mile- Mars, my play would have been\nperformed at the Odeon like Christine \"\nor at the \" Porte St. Martin \" like \" An-\ntony \". But my insistence set me at\nvariance, or nearly so, with the most in-\nfluential members of the Committee of\nthe Comedie Frangaise, who wanted to\nget rid of Mile. Mars and who had even\nhad funeral wreaths cast at her feet on\nthe stage \".\n1 should say that there would be no-\nbody in the theatrical profession of Eng-\nland who would not enjoy this book, if\nonly to see how gallantly young Dumas\nstood by this old actress, who had treated\nhim like a dog, saying to those who\ntraduced her \" Who has genius like that\nof Mile. Mars never grows old \".\nYet the example was lost on this\ncompany of actors—it was a sterner les-\nson it needed.\nOne supposes that the men would be\nall right in a theatre—they would ap-\npreciate discipline—the trouble lies with\nthe women who, if we are to believe"}, {"page_pdf": 17, "page_imprimee": "139", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.17", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2001, "texte": "the histories of the stage, wreck nearly\nall theatres.\nHow is it proposed to discern be-\ntween those women who can and do play\nthe game and those who do not? How\nis it proposed to correct those who will\nnot play fairly ? Merely refusing them\nengagements is stupid, for that only loses\nyou and the British stage a fine per-\nformer. For very often the finer the per-\nformer the more unruly the woman. There\nmust be some better way of dealing with\nthe question. There should be some way\nfound of setting about discovering it at once.\nMeantime, nothing shows how neces-\nsary this is better than does Dumas's book,\nwhich I suggest you should read at once.\nBut people may say that all this talk\nof the need of discipline, and of the trou-\nblesomeness of actresses, is exaggerated:\ntherefore before accepting what I say I\nbeg of them first to read this book by\nDumas. Then Arsene Houssaye's 44 Be-\nhind the Scenes of the Comedie Fran-\nchise \". Houssaye was for five years\ndirector of that theatre—from 1852\nto 1856. Thierry, another director of the\nFrangaise, should be consulted too, lest\nDumas, Houssaye and I have made some\nmistake. The evidence of these three autho-\nrities having been taken, appoint a further\ncommission to enquire into the further\nquestion—the troublesomeness of dramatic\nauthors. The stage, like most else, is like\na garden ; —it needs the gardeners and\nit needs weeding, and continual attention.\nSuch gardeners, men who understand\nand value the stage, will not treat actors,\nactresses, plays, sceneries, architects, any\nworse than they treat roses, lilies, pansies,\nchrysanthemums and dahlias ;—but they\nwill cut and control their growth; for, if\nleft to grow as their own instinct would\ndirect them, they would straggle and\nspread, and, what is far worse, admit\nweeds, which would grow twice as quickly\nand twice as strong, and these would in\ntime kill all our lovely roses, lilies and\npansies.\nSo, discipline the stage. It is orga-\nnized sufficiently but it still lacks discipline."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c009", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c009", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "139", "page_fin": "139", "image_debut": 17, "image_fin": 17, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.8", "titre_corps": "THE SUMMER THEATRE IN OLD LUBECK", "titre_sommaire": "THE SUMMER THEATRE IN OLD LUBECK", "signature_source": "A. C", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 17, "page_imprimee": "139", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.17", "debut_caractere": 2003, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4355, "texte": "THE SUMMER THEATRE\nIN OLD LUBECK.\nA. C.\n<l)\nTHIS (2) is that Germany which remembered Goethe and\nlistened to Schubert. A sensible, active and pros-\nperous people is here seen at its sentimental best.\nThe Germans should not have listened to the rude\nremarks from Paris ....that vain Paris which considered\nitself the only place on earth where culture and good\nsense prevailed.\nThese old Lubeck folk did their best to listen only to\nSchubert and Goethe, and to go on working sensibly and\nactively. But the wasps of Paris managed to sting all\nGermans,—even the rulers and thinkers felt the sting,. , and\nforthwith called on their people to be rid of their senti'\nmentality and become hard.\nThe thing will all come right in the end ; these peo-\nple are sincere; and they had so little need to listen to\nany call to become hard ; they were if anything quite hard\nenough—and they knew it.\nOnly a solid race could create so pleasant a theatre\nin the open like this, and then engrave it so carefully.\nThey knew quite well that it wasn't hardness they needed,\nit was grace, polish. Their speech, their movements, their\nrough good-hearted salutation of each other, their excessive\nawkwardness, their heavy jokes—and good bier— ail these\nthings were a bit solid but they were all quite real.\nThis is more than the destitute Parisians could say,...\nthey who had worn out life and created a pretense in place\nof it. Germany was alive ; Gluck, Goethe, Schiller, Haydn,\nhad passed ; Beethoven was passing and Schubert: Heine\nand Mendelssohn still singing on. Wagner was coming.\nExactly : Wagner was coming; and where would this\nsensible perfection of old Liibeck vanish to then ? Dear old\nLiibeckites, you in your good sense have settled that it will\ntake you two hundred years longer to ripen slowly, to ri-\npen so as to remain entirely German and yet be more than\n\" Germans \" ; and here comes Wagner, and with and\nafter him a number more who want to force things\n\"vorwarts\", to ripen up Germany artificially.\nWell, I am in sympathy with your old power to wait;\nto work, to deal honestly and to amuse yourselves a little ;\nto be very sentimental, and above all too serious, too\ngood-natured ever to quarrel. And I like to fancy that 1\nfind all these qualities in this little print.\n(1) One of the four republics of the German Confederation\nof 1866.\n(2) See Plate 13."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c010", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c010", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "140", "page_fin": "142", "image_debut": 18, "image_fin": 20, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.9", "titre_corps": "ON A BOOK ABOUT ONE OF OUR ENGLISH ARTISTS: MARGARET MORRIS", "titre_sommaire": "ON A BOOK ABOUT ONE OF OUR ENGLISH ARTISTS: MARGARET MORRIS", "signature_source": "G. C", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 18, "page_imprimee": "140", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.18", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3290, "texte": "ON A BOOK ABOUT ONE\nOF OUR ENGLISH ARTISTS:\nMARGARET MORRIS.\n\nMISS Morris's book f1) I have not read,\nbut I have read Mr. L. St. Se-\nnan's review of her book which appeared\nin the \" New Criterion \".\nMr. St. Senan compares pretty Miss\nMorris with M. Diaghileff. Was it to\ndamn the Russian impresario that he did\nthat ? 1 can conceive no other intention.\nIf you compare a rose with a plate you\nare obviously having a sly, if absurd, dig\nat the plate. If you compare even a ra-\ndish with a fine antimacassar you are not\nlaughing at the radish, and Miss Morris\nis after all a pretty English rose.\nHad Mr. St. Senan compared Miss\nMorris with any other danseuse—with\nMiss Allen, or Miss Ruth St. Denis, for\nexample— he would have done a little\nbetter. Self-trained dancers must be com-\npared with other self-trained dancers ....not\nwith machinery.\nMr. St. Senan tells us that M. Diaghileff\nhas \" made history in the art of the theatre\nnot once but over and over again \". He\nhas done no such thing. He has caused\nseveral groups of dancers to make a suc-\ncess over and over again.v He has that\nknack —he is really a good impresario.\nBut he is not the Chevalier Noverre. Only\nIsadora Duncan has \" made history \" in\nthe Dance of this century.\nCritics grow a little confusing who,\nfor no particular reason, compare plates\nand flowers. M. Diaghileff does not dance,\ndoes not sing, does not act, does not, I am\ntold, even whistle. He manipulates those\nwho dance, those who train dancers, those\n*\nwho design scenes, and those who direct\norchestras.\nHe has been probably the first to\nlend the Impresario something which in\nappearance looks very like the true artist.\nIn any other age M. Diaghileff would\nperhaps have attempted diplomacy and\nbecome Valet de chambre to a prince,—\na great personage like M. Bachelier, va-\nlet de chambre to young Louis XV. His\npersonality lends a grace to the Euro-\npean stage which was not possessed by\nM. Astruc or Phineas Barnum. I know\nof another theatre man who seems pos-\nsessed of even more indifference, even\nmore certainty about what he is doing;\nhe is an Italian impresario, but he works\nless in the limelight than M. Diaghileff\nand seems in no way to be the great man\nnor to desire such a celebrity.\nSuch men can be compared for one\ncompares them with Mr. Cochran and with\nM. Herbelot; but none of these can pos-\nsibly be compared with Miss Morris.\nMiss Morris is a very excellent dancer,\nsuffering because Mr. St. Senan and his\nkind will not make a little effort to stand\nby her and her English faults and qua-\nlities. Is she too technical?—is she too\nprecise?—is she too light?—is she too\nheavy ? I'm sure I do not know. But\nwhatever she is, we could have had a\nBallet of our own long ago if, instead of\nbeing ashamed of our own dancers, we\nhad stood up for them all a good deal\nbetter. Miss Morris might long ago have\ndeveloped if we had encouraged her. We\ndid not ; we never do encourage our ar-\ntists, not even when critics are throwing\nbricks at them.\nI suppose it is bad form to encou-\nrage since it is considered good form to\nbe ashamed of them. Good form or no,\nit is anyhow damn bad behaviour and\nshows a wretched spirit to drive our stage\n\n(1) Margaret Morris Dancing : by Margaret Morris and\nFred Daniels. (Kegan Paul, Traubner, Trench & Co.\n10/6 net."}, {"page_pdf": 19, "page_imprimee": "141", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.19", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3271, "texte": "artists, who would experiment, into finding\ntheir own little theatres and paying for\nthem, or more or less paying, out of their\nown meagre purses.\nFor there are patrons of the Arts in\nLondon ; oh, yes. They will give an ar-\ntist £ 100, even £ 200 (if the artist\nworries sufficiently) ; and for that they feel\nthemselves privileged to say to London\n44 Yes, I am supporting her art \" or, 44 That\nis my special charity\nSpecial fiddlesticks.\nIf Miss Morris is not better develop-\ned as a dancer (and Mr. St. Senan\nseems to feel she is not) it is his fault\nand the fault of those he listens to and\nechoes, and the fault of all those won-\nderful 44 Patrons \" of the Arts in London.\nHow the sensible folk in London al-\nlow them to block up the road when\npeople are trying to get on, I find hard\nto understand. There they are, smiling\ntheir eternal smile of self-satisfaction while\nthey down all that is English—if it have\nsome talent and independence by sup-\nporting it too feebly. Miss Morris, if she\nis independent, is so in spite of them.\nI need not expect her to do what\nTaglioni did in order to appreciate what\nshe does.... in order to see what she\ncould do if properly supported.\nIf she was first of all driven into a\npseudo-artistic set it is the fault of our\nEnglish critics, who fail year after year to\ncombine and demand in a group what\nthey are too timid to demand indivi-\ndually,... fair play, fair training, fair pay\nand fair opportunity for all English artists\nwho are beginning.\nWho wants merely praise or blame\nfrom critics ? What critics are made for\nis to see first of all that the conditions\nunder which artists are working in London\nare at least as good as the conditions of\nthe East end slums.\nThe conditions are worse.\nWho comes to enquire—to help ?\nThe Prince of Wales?... the Duke oi\nYork? No, the Bishop of Rumtifoo.\nScepticism enquires, reports, grins, turns\nits back, and art is prevented.\nBut M. Diaghileff, you say ? Ah,\nM. Diaghileff ! ! ! M. Diaghileff is from\nRussia ; he has talents all of which 1 have\nacknowledged, all but 0ne.... the art of\nraising the wind. He has that art assu-\nredly. If Miss Morris had it you'd all\nbe at her feet „ tomorrow.\nAre we to suppose that Miss Morris\ncan raise even £ 50 easily, we who can\ndraw our cheques for £ 1000 as easily as\nwe can call a taxi and say 4 4 to the Russian\nBallet\"? No one has a notion how much\ngood material is lost to the arts in Eng-\nland because of the sheer poverty of the\nartists—and their inability to pay their way.\nYou cannot quite wear down a\nWiiliam Blake—he has a pencil and can\nafford three new brushes when he sends\nout for his porter—and he has a friend\n—one. And two rooms. But you can\neven make a William Blake tedious by\nthrowing him back year after year on his\nlast resources :\nOn his one friend\ntwo Rooms\nand three new brushes.\nIn England we make mistakes often\nbecause we don't know. We have kil-\nled and continue to kill our artists be-\ncause we didn't know, if we go on\ndoing this we shall wake updone morning\nand know right enough and know exactly\ntwenty-four hours too late. We shall\nhave tried to kill the wrong artist and he\nwill object.\nI repeat that the conditions under\nwhich our artists work in England are\nworse than the conditions of the worst\nEnglish slums."}, {"page_pdf": 20, "page_imprimee": "142", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.20", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1460, "texte": "Daily we hear of young artists who\nwant to put an end to their existence:\n—they see that no one wants their work\nas it is—when it is good. Sometimes by\nGod's luck some good being happens to\npass along—buys a picture—or an engra-\nving—and the lad is saved. But it's touch\nand go. I know several cases of this wea-\nring down of the artists.\nWhen they are more solid and can\nstand more, (Miss Morris for example)\nthe folk think it a cue to put a greater\nstrain on them. So they„ pelt them with\nplates, Diaghileffs and other bric-a-brac.\nYou go to the wrong people to en-\nquire as to the condition of the English\nArtists. They tell you that all is quite\nwell and the artists rather spoiled than\notherwise. That is an untruth.\nI ask for the sixtieth time in this\njournal for fair play for the artists and\ndecent pay. I ask for something to be\ndone to dam the rush of amateurs—mostly\nsociety ladies and gentlemen—who imagine\nthat a Miracle has happened and endowed\nthem suddenly with powers of expression\nequal to that of Rachel, Fanny Elssler,\nJenny Lind or Miss Elinor Wylie.\nThey push forward and shove rudely\ninto places which are not theirs and are\nnot free. American impresarios assist\nthem : it is such a draw to' have a\nreal Society bird, as Mr. James Glover\ncalls them, in place of the genuine nigh-\ntingale.\nI ask that these people be very dis-\ntinctly given the cold shoulder—and your\nartists a warmer welcome. It is the only\nfair-play thing to do.\n\nG. C."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c012", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c012", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "142", "page_fin": "145", "image_debut": 20, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.10", "titre_corps": "THE CHANCES FOR AND AGAINST : GOOD THEATRES IN PROVINCIAL CENTRES IN ENGLAND, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE MADDERMARKET THEATRE OF NORWICH", "titre_sommaire": "THE CHANCES FOR AND AGAINST : GOOD THEATRES IN PROVINCIAL CENTRES IN ENGLAND, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE MADDERMARKET THEATRE OF NORWICH", "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": 20, "page_imprimee": "142", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.20", "debut_caractere": 1462, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2392, "texte": "THE CHANCES\nFOR AND AGAINST\nGOOD THEATRES IN PROVINCIAL CENTRES\nIN ENGLAND, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE\nMADDERMARKET THEATRE OF NORWICH.\n\nPART TWO\nI. THE PLACE & THE FINANCIAL ASPECT.\n•\"\"\"IpHE Theatre has only one endowment:\n1 Mr. Monck. I call him an endowment\nbecause any theatre owned and directed by\na stage manager of energy who has sole\ncontrol, is endowed. Energy and undivided\ncontrol is an immense asset.\nIt cost him £3,300 to buy the place and\nadapt the building to his requirements, Mr.\nNoel Paul being called in to devise the re-\nconstruction. When it was opened in Sep-\ntember 1921 it was seen to somewhat re-\nsemble an old Elizabethan stage, though it\nis by no means a slavish imitation of one (2).\nA pi ace to play-act in is what was aimed\nfor and a place in which to play-act was\nachieved.\nIt holds 250 persons and about £25 can\nbe taken at an evening's performance, more\nat a matinee when the prices are raised."}, {"page_pdf": 20, "page_imprimee": "142", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.20", "debut_caractere": 2434, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2852, "texte": "(1) Mr. Monck is the son of the Rev. G. G. Monck ;\nhe studied at the Royal Academy of Music under the admi-\nrable William Farren: made his first appearance on the\nstage in 1901 at the Royalty Theatre in a play by\nBjornson-, Served until 1904 with the Irish Players and\nother Companies; served in the txmy 1914 to 1919.\nHas produced at Norwich over euhty different plays.\n(2) Mr. Monck has worked with Mr. William Poel,"}, {"page_pdf": 21, "page_imprimee": "143", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.21", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4238, "texte": "As a rule prices are 5/—, 3/—, 2/4 and 1/6;\nand £l3O is the average takings per week.\n£l9O has been reached on the week, and\nsometimes the takings only amount to £lOO.\nA member of the Company of Players\nattends to the box office, and this Company\nof players pays £2OO a year for the right to\nact in the Theatre.\nThus the Company is, after Mr. Monck,\nthe next important item or asset and endows\nthe theatre with whatever talents it may\nposses;—at one year it will be stronger than\nanother year.\nTHE COMPANY OF SEVENTY PLAYERS.\nTHIS is a serious group of people, and, in\nthe sense that all of them play for the\nlove of acting, they are amateurs.\nIt rests entirely with them whether as a\ngroup they develop, how they develop and\nhow long they give themselves to do so.\nThere are one or two roads open to such\na group. They may strengthen one another,\nor the majority may be willing to strengthen\nand support the four or five best players;—\nor they may all sacrifice their own talents in\norder to develop two or perhaps three of\ntheir members who possess marked talent.\nThis company has doubtless come to a deci-\nsion which of these roads to take, for any\nindecision in such a vital matter would be\nfatal.\nEither road is a good one: the second is\nto my mind the soundest.\nThe players number about fifty men and\ntwenty women: a respectable number for a\nsmall playhouse, but not a member too few.\nAs I have said, all of these are amateurs—\namalori d'arte, lovers of art as Italians would\ncall them; and no professional actors are em-\nployed. This is a strong point, and shows\nthat the head and the body of the underta-\nking both understand well what it is they\nare out to do. They are out to go two\nways at once.\nHad the information I have received told\nme that now and again professionals are in-\nvited to cooperate 1 should have turned away\nand taken no further interest in what would\nhave been to my mind a doomed undertaking.\nI am not a particular lover of \" lovers of\nart\", ie, amatori d* arte, and the northern\nkind I like less than any others;—but when\nany body of men and women can firmly and\nsensibly come to a decision to do some-\nthing and deliberately refuse outside assistance,\nit looks as though they were out to win\nthrough. If they fail it is to be their own\nfault.\nEach member of the company has his or\nher own work to do during the day time.\nWhether dress-making, office work, shop work\nor seeing to their own houses I have not\nenquired.\nIt is sufficient for us that we know that\nthe play-acting is night-work after the work-\nhours of the day.\nThus they come to this play-acting as a\nrefreshment, and strengthened by the labours of\ntheir day's work. They rehearse in the eve-\nnings between six and ten o'clock.\nIt is said that there are no \" stars \" in the\ntheatre, and that the leading lady and leading\nman of one play take walking-on parts in\nanother. This was (and may be still is) the\ncustom of the now famous company of players\nunder Lady Gregory and W. B. Yeats in\nDublin. (l) ~\nBut a \" star\" is a \" star\" walking or\nspeaking, acting or \" doing nothing \".\nThere is a danger (though not a very\ngrave one) in this assertion \" none of them are\n' stars '\". It smacks (ever so faintly) of snob-\nbery. It is a phrase to be avoided...a boast\nthat is worthless and therefore, when used,\napt at times to be mistaken for affectation.\nOne knows what is implied,—but as a\nmatter of hard fact it means very very little.\nWhen Le Kain and Talma were ama-\nteurs the companies surrounding them may\nhave said the same thing—\" we are all alike,\nnone of us are stars \". But nothing on earth\n(except heavy and unjust stupidity, and I\ngrant that this can work miracles backwards)\ncan ever prevent Le Kain and Talma being\n' stars' and twinkling a bit more than any\nothers even from their first entrance as supers.\nThat such ' stars' can discipline themselves\nnever to outshine their less gifted fellows\nis obvious: or they can be brought to see\nthe value of holding in some of the rays of\ntheir genius by an able director. They can\nhelp the lesser stars to shine a bit brighter...\nbut....\n\n(J) It was the custom of the famous Meiningen Com-\npany—of the Moscow Art Theatre, ...a custom somatomes\nmore honoured in the breach than the observance,"}, {"page_pdf": 22, "page_imprimee": "144", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.22", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3894, "texte": "Any group of players which can come to\na sound agreement to play \" one for all, all\nfor one \" is wise; ...it has chosen the safest\nof all paths.\nI rather hope the Maddermarket group\nhas done this.\nIn the Moscow Art Theatre,—a company\nwhich began with Amateurs and developed\ninto professionals this charity, friendship,\ntowards each other, call it what you will,\nseems to have guided them; and the Direc-\ntors brought a good deal of sound strength\nof a commonsense order to see that there was\nno wandering from this sensible path.\nTHE REPERTORY.\nTHEY play all sorts of pieces, and in my\nopinion that is the right thing to do as a\nstart:—French plays, Russian and Norwegian\nplays, plays from Greece, India and Japan are\nall tested, besides those of England. Opera too\nis tried. But the most popular with the au-\ndience are the plays of Shakespeare, Sheridan\nand Shaw, and the company is most at home\nin Shakespeare and the eighteenth century\nEnglish Drama.\nEach play is given for a week of six\nnights and one matinee, about nine plays\nbeing given in a year, three weeks being\ngiven to prepare a play, although of course\nany difficult work can be cogitated for a year\nor longer.\nThe season as a rule extends from Sep-\ntember to May.\nTHS DIRECTOR AND HIS ASSISTANTS.\nHEAD of the Theatre and the Players\nstands Mr. Nugent Monck, and at his\nside a small but able staff of three consisting\nof Mr. Owen P. Smythe—one man in charge\nof the lighting,—and a charwoman.\nNow with all due respect for the yokels\nwho like a bit of fun, I will trouble you to\nfollow me seriously and carefully, and post-\npone your merriment until you too have done\na. bit of char work, lighted a stage, painted\nscenes, and generally make a good show pos-\nsible.\nThe charwoman, had it been Shakespeare's\nplay-house, might not have been Ann Hatha-\nway; more's the pity that there is room for\nthe doubt. To keep a little theatre clean\nand bright as a new pin, is so much towards\nthe foundation of a National Theatre. You\nwill not, 1 am sure, deny it.\nTo avoid going round begging for £60,000\nso as to enlarge the staff, to have three char-\nwomen, six lime-lighters, so as to provide\n\" sufficient room to the director to rehearse\nin \" (vide Mask. Page 76,77) is another step\ntowards a National Theatre. To avoid asking\nfor £ 100,000 to rebuild a Memorial Theatre\nto Shakespeare, asking Americans and Japa-\nnese to help, is a third step towards a Na-\ntional Theatre.\nIt is these things, when refrained from being\ndone, which do actually help to achieve a\nNational Theatre far more than do pretentious\nappeals of the kind I have referred to.\nMr. Monck's staff of three are the only\nprofessionals who are in the Maddermarket.\nMr. O. P. Smythe's work 1 have not\nseen—his wood cuts reproduced here, showing\nthe outside and inside of the playhouse, seem\nto me the work of a man who would have\na great number of good notions for his chief\nto carry out; and who could also carry out\nwhatever his chief wanted done.\nMr. Smythe not only designs the scenes;\nhe attends to their making and, assisted by\nmembers of the Company, puts them up and\nshifts them.\nNo other scene-shifters proper are em-\nployed.\nThe wardrobe is also managed by the\nplayers.\nMr. Monck has a particular talent for\nlighting and. colour effects as they are called\nnowadays;—and here he finds an able colla-\nborator in Mr. Smythe.\nTHE AUDIENCE, CRITICS AND ALL.\nARE the townsfolk sympathetic to this stead-\nfast and honest purpose of Mr. Monck\nand his players?\n1 am told they are, and that there is an\never increasing interest in this attempt to sup-\nply what is wanted, for, at what 1 consider,\nan exaggeratedly low price.\nWhy, it costs more than 5/— as a rule\nto go to a draughty drill hall and listen to a\ndull lecture on the theatre ; whereas here one\ngets one's theatre without the lecture.\nAnd an essentially English theatre too—\nby no means riotous. Compared with the"}, {"page_pdf": 23, "page_imprimee": "145", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.23", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3577, "texte": "Opera House in Paris in the eighteenth cen-\ntury it might even be considered bleakly Pu-\nritanical ; so I am more surprised than ever\nto hear that the great Church is indifferent\ntowards the little Maddermarket, and I really\nbegin to think no one can have mentioned\nits existence to the pastor fido.\nThe audience is enthusiastic but applause\nis discouraged during a scene, the plays run-\nning rapidly along with but one interval\nwhen possible, and this is invariably so with\nthe Shakespeare plays.\nThis is an admirable rule.\nLOCAL INDIFFERENCE.\nTHERE is one thing I have to regret, and\nI keep it till the last.\nIt seems that, while a number of men of\nculture and commonsense live in the neigh-\nbourhood, and many are writers, none have\ntaken sufficient interest in the little Madder-\nmarket to write about it, let alone write plays\nfor it. There is an opportunity for men of\nsense who are living round about Norwich to\ndo something not only to help popularize this\nplayhouse, but to help its director to deve-\nlop the work done during the season.\nTheatre men won't take every stray bit\nof advice—but no sound advice is lost on a\nsensible manager of a Theatre if offered in\nthe right way by any wise man who is on\nthe spot and who can write with authority,\nbe it to praise or to blame. (I)\nEvery day I read eulogies of \" The Old\nVic \" in the London Press. All the wise\nmen, as well as the less wise ones, seem\nhelplessly unable to refrain from gushing over\nthe excellent little effort made by these\nSurrey-side players.\nThat sort of thing the Maddermarket can\ndo without, and be grateful it has not re-\nceived it. But wise counsel or a sympathetic\nand sensible warning now and again given\nin private is due to this group, and encou-\nraging financial support t00.... and this latter\nwould come if some of the writers around\nNorwich would go and see what actually\nbeing done by Mr. Monck and his players and\nwould confer with them as to what it is they\nwant to do further.\nMY reason for writing at this length about\nthis playhouse is that there are certain\nelements in the management which strike me\nas very sound. If people in the neighbour-\nhood would help to strengthen some of the\nweaker elements—one of which seems to be\nthat people are allowed to visit the actors\nand actresses in their Greenroom where tea\nis brewed, Norwich would not suffer: on\nthe contrary, Norwich would gain enormously.\nI have refrained from all advice.., I may\nbe allowed to offer a scrap now. Exclude\neveryone except the workers from the stage,\nGreenroom and all.\nAnd wishing Mr. Monck well, I remain,\nsincerely,\n\n(1) Not only to write, ....to talk, things over, to come\ntogether, at some old home in the neighbourhood where\nthe master of the house is a man of breeding and liberality.\n\nE. G. C.\n\nTHE chances against good theatres in the\nprovinces are legion : the chances for good\ntheatres are few.\nLet a theatre but have these chances,\nallow groups to work together and stick to-\ngether allow a manager the rights of\nmanaging give them support encourage\nthe people of the town to show enthusiasm\ninsist on the influential members of the town\nshowing some sense of appreciation expect\nat least the church, the trades, the aristocracy\nto set an example in this matter, and England\ncan have a hundred good little theatres to-\nmorrow.\nWould it be a blessing to a hundred\ntowns to be able to hear and see all the\nbest plays in the English language or would\nit be a bore ? ... It all depends on the\nPublic.\nOne last word to the Public:\nwake up : for the actors are doing their level\nbest and you are not."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c013", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c013", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "142", "page_fin": "142", "image_debut": 20, "image_fin": 20, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.10.1", "titre_corps": "INTERIOR OF THE MADDERMARKET THEATRE", "titre_sommaire": "INTERIOR OF THE MADDERMARKET THEATRE", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 20, "page_imprimee": "142", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.20", "debut_caractere": 2394, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2432, "texte": "INTERIOR OF THE MADDERMARKET THE ATRE."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c014", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c014", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "145", "page_fin": "145", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.10.2", "titre_corps": "[Sans titre]", "titre_sommaire": "[Sans titre]", "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": "145", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.23", "debut_caractere": 2774, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3577, "texte": "THE chances against good theatres in the\nprovinces are legion : the chances for good\ntheatres are few.\nLet a theatre but have these chances,\nallow groups to work together and stick to-\ngether allow a manager the rights of\nmanaging give them support encourage\nthe people of the town to show enthusiasm\ninsist on the influential members of the town\nshowing some sense of appreciation expect\nat least the church, the trades, the aristocracy\nto set an example in this matter, and England\ncan have a hundred good little theatres to-\nmorrow.\nWould it be a blessing to a hundred\ntowns to be able to hear and see all the\nbest plays in the English language or would\nit be a bore ? ... It all depends on the\nPublic.\nOne last word to the Public:\nwake up : for the actors are doing their level\nbest and you are not."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c015", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c015", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "145", "page_fin": "145", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.10.3", "titre_corps": "VIEW OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE MADDERMARKET THEATRE", "titre_sommaire": "VIEW OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE MADDERMARKET THEATRE", "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": "145", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.23", "debut_caractere": 3579, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3628, "texte": "VIEW OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE\nMADDERMARKET THEATRE."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c016", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c016", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "146", "page_fin": "154", "image_debut": 24, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.11", "titre_corps": "THREE BOOKS ON THE THEATRE OF EUROPE : FRENCH, ITALIAN AND ENGLISH", "titre_sommaire": "THREE BOOKS ON THE THEATRE OF EUROPE : FRENCH, ITALIAN AND ENGLISH", "signature_source": "J. B", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 24, "page_imprimee": "146", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.24", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 66, "texte": "THREE BOOKS ON\nTHE THEATRE OF\nEUROPE.\nFRENCH, ITALIAN AND ENGLISH."}, {"page_pdf": 24, "page_imprimee": "146", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.24", "debut_caractere": 127, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3606, "texte": "I.\nTHE FRENCH THEATRE.\n■ HH'MuMMJilMiniUMlMWcM MliiMMMmimri in II II minim in ■■ n.i an ■»»1I«IH'»I| I I H ■ IH« I HI ■ m»» ■\n|T is very ambitious in a historian of the\nI theatre to attempt to give the public, in\none volume of four to five hundred pages,\nthe story of the theatre of Paris in the eigh-\nteenth century, when it requires, i suppose,\nat the very least eight to ten volumes.\nAnd therefore anyone who succeeds must\nhave the art of elimination to his finger ends.\nThat Monsieur Max Aghion has succeeded\nin producing a very charming book, to look\nat, and to dip into, is obvious; but when\nyou search for certain facts, then it is that you\ndiscover the elimination.\nWhen bent on this quest, one turns in-\nstinctively to the end of a book for the index.\nThis book does not possess one.\nSEARCHING FOR FACTS.\n| wanted to find out something about the\n1 architect, Moreau, he who built the second\nOpera House in the Palais Royal in 1770,\nand who, to the history of the eighteenth\ncentury Paris theatre, is as important to his\nday as Sir Christopher Wren is to the En-\nglish theatre of the seventeenth century. At\nlast I located M. Moreau. 1 found him at\nlast on Page 205. I began to make an index\nfor M. Aghion; a very bad thing to do, when\none has only a few years in which to do\none's own work; and all I found about\nM. Moreau was that he had built this Opera\nHouse in 1770, and I knew that already.\nWhat I did not know and looked for was\nhis christian name. 1 do not know it now.\nPresumably M. Max Aghion lives in Paris\nand this christian name of M. Moreau is to\nbe had by looking it up in the Bibliotheque\nNational, at least so I imagine. I also\nwanted the day and year of his birth, and\nthe day and year of his death. But these\ntoo are denied me. It is enough to put one\nin a rage to think that elimination should be\ncarried to such excess as this. That of course\nwas only my first thought. I was not going\nto be cross for lack of a couple of dates and\na couple of names.\nSOPHIE ARNOULD.\nI decided I would shift this responsibility\n1 of being cross on to some other reader,\nand on his behalf I turned to look up all\nabout Sophie Arnould. I found eight lines,\nand then the author is done with Sophie, and\nshe possibly one of the three most important\nfigures in the French theatre of the eighteenth\ncentury. In these eight lines i learn that\nshe appeared at the age of seventeen for the\nfirst time at the Opera. That later she was\nthe Iphigenia and Eurydice of Gluck, and that\nshe had little success at first because her\nvoice lacked fullness; but that she had a\nnumber of admirers in that she was an excel-\nlent tragedienne and said many a witty and\nmalicious thing.\nOf course when you are the Historian\nand have to touch on another three or four\nhundred performers, you have to eliminate\nmuch information about Mademoiselle Sophie.\n1 was not in search for this information\nbecause I already had it, but the other rea-\nder, to whom I referred just now, will be all\nat sea that he cannot discover when shs was\nborn, when she died, and when she retired\nfrom the stage; how much she was paid,\nwhy she retired, and what kind of woman\nshe was. I have full sympathy for this rea-\nder, because knowing what this so-called\n\n(1) Le Theatre a Paris au XVIII6 si&cle. Max Aghion\n(Librairie de France, Paris). Frs. 90.\n(2) Designs by Inigo Jones, etc. by P. Simpson & C. F.\nBell. (Walpole Society. London). 21/- net.\n(3) II Teatro Nazionale di Firenze. A. de Ruberfcis.\n(Firenze). 6d."}, {"page_pdf": 27, "page_imprimee": "147", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.27", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3927, "texte": "impure was, 1 am sorry that he has missed\nany of her perfections.\nPassing from the operatic tragedienne to\nthe dancers, we come almost immediately on\nthat remarkable lady, Mile. Salle, whom the\nauthor says was a ballerina who also had a\ngreat number of admirers \" supremement ele-\ngante, volupteuse, infiniment droite, cette mime\nsavante inventa pour ainsi dire le \" ballet\nd'action \" and that is all.\nIt does not seem to me to cover this\ndancer.\nAnd so with most of the other figures in\nthe theatre of Paris—the information is brief\nand rather less to the point.\nTHE ILLUSTRATIONS\nTHE book is full of a number of interesting\nillustrations rather badly reproduced. Whe-\nther the art of making a half tone plate is\ndying out or not, I cannot say, but these\nhalf tone plates are not very good. The\nauthor has given us six or seven which are\nnot often found in other books, and one very\ndelightful frontispiece in colour, which has, I\nthink, never been reproduced before, cer-\ntainly never reproduced so charmingly. But\nthe worst of it is these pictures are for the\nmost part on the wrong pages.\nFor instance, Mile. Larrivee and Mons.\nWolter are both shown upon Page 76, but\ndevil a word about them on that page; and\nI should have to give a good half-an-hour\nhunting to find a word about her or perhaps\nnot a word about him, on another page.\nUnder the picture is written :\n\" Mile. Larrivee dans *' Thetis et Pelee \",\nand of course everybody knows that \" Thetis\net Pelee\" was written by Colasse and Fon-\ntenelle and that it was performed in 1689\nand repeated in 1697, in 1699, in 1708, in\n1712, in 1723, in 1736 and in 1750; but\nMonsieur Aghion does not say in which of\nthese productions the charming Mile. Larri-\nvee appeared. Perhaps she appeared in all!!\nI am left in doubt.\nHe does not say who drew this charm-\ning sketch of her although, to judge from the\nreproduction, you will suppose it to be by\nBoquet. I myself would like to have been\ninformed with certainty of this and also told\nwhen it was drawn and when M. Boquet\nwas born and when he died,\no THE \"COLLABORATEURS\". o\nI shall have to travel all the way to France\nto find out, unless one of M. Aghion's ' col-\nlaborateurs ', as he calls them, will tell me.\nThese his assistants are some of mine\ntoo:—their names he gives us:—\nMM. Brazier, J. Bonnasies, H. Beaulieu,\nE. Boysse, A. Cahuet, E. Campardon, C. G.\nEtienne and A. Martinville, F. Gaiffe, A. Ju-\nlien, S. Lenel, E. de Manne, C. Menetrier.\nTh. Muret, A. Pougin, Porel and G. Monval,\nA. Royer, P. and L. Duchartre.\nThese nineteen collaborateurs are authors\nof the 19th and 20th centuries, and M.\nAghion has dipped into their books and\nhas extracted what he needed—it is a nice\nfresh way of speaking about predecessors\nwho have laboured in the same field. I feel\nthat next time I take a dip in the ocean I\ntoo shall feel like a collaborateur in it, but I\ndo not know if I shall be as justified as is\nM. Aghion. But when Ido come to collabo-\nrate with the sea, I shall not be at liberty to\ncome out and spell \" fish \" \" fesh \". I must\nspell it \" fish and really M. Aghion, hav-\ning collaborated with Camp ardon, should spell\nthe great Italian actor \" Fiorilli\" with an i\nand not \" Fiorelli\" with an e.\nIn short it is a book for people to pick\nup who know nothing about the subject and to\ngather some of the information they could\nonly acquire by buying twenty or thirty books.\nUnfortunately it is rather too large and expen-\nsive for all of us to pick it up in that light-\nhanded manner.\nAlthough it toys too often with you, you\ncannot toy with it.\nIt is not an important book but is bound\nto possess a charm for those who like things\nwhich come and go lightly.\nII.\nTHE ENGLISH THEATRE.\nAND now to the consideration of a few\nbooks which have appeared during the\nlast four years all of which deal with the\ntheatre.\nI have made out a list of thirty, fifteen\ncheap and fifteen expensive ones (l).\n\n(i) See pp. 150-151."}, {"page_pdf": 28, "page_imprimee": "148", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.28", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4313, "texte": "I think I will give you the full list of the\nthirty books, so that you can see my reasons\nfor selecting these two headings,... cheap and\nexpensive.\nAnd after considering this list for a week\nor two, I have come to the conclusion that\nthe finest book that has been published on\nthe theatre in these three years is the volume\nproduced by the Walpole Society (collabo-\nrating with the Malone Society) \" Designs\nby Inigo Jones for Masks and Plays at Court \"\nprice 21 I—; and the second best is \"11 Tea-\ntro Nazionale \" by Achille de Rubertis, price\nsix-pence.\nA simpler, more unpretentious book than\n\"11 Teatro Nazionale\" at six-pence cannot\nbe produced, and a finer and more unpreten-\ntious book than Inigo Jones' Designs at a\nguinea cannot be produced.\nIn neither case do the authors nor publi-\nshers seem to wish to make money. You\ncan make it by trickery. Youcan make it by\nsticking on a thick cover, covered with some\ngaudy cloth and some flashy gold, by printing\nthe plates on unnecessarily weighty paper;\nor you can make it because you feel that your\nname \" Bobbie & Sons \", let us say, needs a\ngood, fat profit, and that is all very proper in\nits own way, but it does not win the laurels.\no THE WALPOLE SOCIETY. o\nTHE laurels go to the Walpole Society, and\nmay they print many a book and win many\nmore laurels, but a spray of the wreath goes to\nthe little insignificant bit of a book \" II Teatro\nNazionale \" and its author-publisher de Rubertis.\nOf this little sixpenny book I will come\nto write later on. It is the Inigo Jones book\nwe will stop and consider now. I have\nwritten about it before—a year or so ago.\nWhat of that! Is it so great a marvel, this\nbook, that we must think of it as of a comet:\ngaze, and gape, and forget it after nine days?\nI think it is rather more extraordinary than a\ncomet. I would like to fix it as a star.\nThose who have reviewed this book far\nbetter than I could (since they were trained\nto do it) have been at a disadvantage.\nThey too were forced to gaze and gape\nbecause to them what, after all, is a book\non the 17th century theatre. It is one of the\nfifty to sixty books they are obliged to review\nin the course of a year, and as it is one of\nthe most illusive of books, it must have irri-\ntated them past bearing, and they must be\nglad to forget it. I, on the other hand, am\nglad to remember it; it grows upon me since\nI work with it, and every six months I see\nhow much better it is than I did when I\nfirst glanced through it.\nIn every sense it is a book made to last,\nand costs less than a new hat.\nIt has 56 full page plates, one colour-\nplate, and a number of designs in the text,\nand the full page plates are in collotype.\nThe first virtue of the book is that it\ndeals with the work of man and only\none part of his work.\nThose other books of three and four hun-\ndred pages which presume to cover a cen-\ntury of designs for masques, plays, operas,\neverything, set a bad example; and will it\nbe surprising if, in twenty or thirty years from\nnow, young men and women of today are\nproducing even more flimsy works, since\nthere are so many flimsy works guiding them\nin the wrong direction today.\nA SUGGESTION.\nI rather wish that someone reading this\nwould be sufficiently interested to go down\nto the Walpole Society, whose Hon. Secretary\nis Mr. Henry M. Hake, of the British Mu-\nseum, and would have a look at all its pub-\nlications, and would think well of the whole\nthing, and see what a blessing it would be,\nif these same publications could be brought\nout at even half the price so as to reach\ndouble the number of people, especially the\nyounger men and women, who, unless they\nget such books, will imagine that superficial\nwork is the top notch of endeavour.\nA standard was needed by those of us\nwho are grown older, and it is needed by\nthe coming generation; and I wonder as I\nlook at this beautiful volume how much\nmargin the Walpole Society has in the finan-\ncial way. My experience tells me such So-\ncieties never have enough. It cannot do more\nand it cannot do better, but if it had more\nmoney, it could produce cheaper. It may not\nbe a logical way of reasoning, but if I may\ncontinue to be illogical, I myself would like\nto purchase five or six copies of the Inigo Jones\nbook so as to give them to certain men who\nwill never hear of it and can certainly never"}, {"page_pdf": 29, "page_imprimee": "149", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.29", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3990, "texte": "afford it, and I could do it if the price were\nlower.\nTheir getting it would be bound to lead\nto better work. The better work would\nget on to the stage and the public would see it.\nTherefore through the one man or woman,\nsay from Lancashire or Yorkshire, or in\nLondon, giving a few thousand pounds to\nforward the work of the Walpole Society,\nthe entire public would benefit in a rounda-\nbout way through the theatres.\nFor I am illogical enough to suppose\nthat the Walpole Society would then give\nus twenty more books, three or four of which\nmight, I hope, deal with the best theatrical\nwork (I).\nAnd after all, Horace Walpole deserves\nthat his work, begun in 1762, should be hand-\nsomely carried on, for the blessing it has\nbeen to most people is never going to be\ntraced and estimated.\nIII.\nTHE ITALIAN THEATRE.\nLITTLE THEATRES,\nLIKE little ships, little Theatres were always\na sound investment. When big thea-\ntres were tumbling about in the waves of\nspeculation, the little theatres would nimbly\ncut a caper or two and delight the town.\nThat was in 1600, in 1700, in 1800—for\nwe need never suppose the Little Theatre\nto be a modern notion created by Antoine\nas some folk claim. Not that he claims any\nsuch fantastic trifle, for he is one of the most\nmodest of men as well as one of the most\ngifted. He might, if pressed to it, admit that\nhe revived the fashion in little Theatres. I\nthink he did that amongst many other good\nthings.\nBesides being better fitted to experiment,\nto eliminate and, one supposes, to live longer,\na Little Theatre is also cosier. Even if it\nposses a fair-sized stage its auditorium is more\nhome-like for being small.\nWe are glad to go td our little playhouse\nsupposing, hoping, that pretention is not to\nannoy us there.\nA little Theatre of today, more often than\nnot, reeks of pretention which is nourished by\nPoverty.\nBut one here or another there is, as\nit should be, pleasantly ordinary, and is as\nsmall as it seems, seems as small as it is.\nAnd just as Little Theatres are all the better\nfor not aiming at large things, so are little\nbooks on the Theatre sometimes a blessing\nfor keeping small.\nTHE BIG PUFFED-OUT BOOKS.\nTHE tendency today is perhaps towards\nmaking too big a book on a very small\nsubject,—puffed out, weighty, and not very\ngenial. But there have been some excellent\nsmall books in the last fifty years; and now\nlet me say why it seems to me that the\nsmaller books prove the best.\nExclude from your mind the masterpieces;\nE. K. Chambers's two big works; D'An-\ncona's \" Origini del Teatro Italian© \"; Ricci's\n\" Teatri di Bologna\"; Wiel's \" Teatri di\nVenezia \" and some two dozen more. These\nscholarly works being immense undertakings\nsurely may be what size they like.\nBy the way, Broadbent's \" of the\nLiverpool Theatre\" runs these great works\nvery close indeed; there would be no fault\nto find with its size if only Liverpool had\ndone more and been creative as was Dublin.\nBut there are some large books which\nare not so triumphant as trumpery, not so\nscholarly as slovenly, and not so slovenly as\ndull.\nThese pompous books bear some such\ntitle as <s The History of the World's Thea-\ntre \"; or \" The Dictionary of Dramatic Art \" ;\nor \" Three Centuries of Actors \".\nNow the History of the World's Theatre\ncannot be put in a volume, nor in five. A\nDictionary of Dramatic Art would need six\nor seven volumes at the very least, and would\ntake thirty to forty scholars (not under-aged\nstudents, but men of from thirty-five to fifty)\nto make it, and to make it sparkle.\nBut this fact does not deter the energetic if\npretentious ones, who, if they do not compass\nthe world, try and cope with far too many\nlarge slices of it.\nRecently five or six such works have ap-\npeared,—full of errors—a mass of pretension,\n...and far too expensive.\n\n(i) I should not forget to state that in the production of\nthis volume on Inigo Jones the Malone Society collaborated\nwith the Walpole Society and we must all hope that before\nlong they will collaborate again,"}, {"page_pdf": 30, "page_imprimee": "150", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.30", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 256, "texte": "Abbreviations used in above list: G: good. Sup: superior\\ Ind: indifferent, Th: Theatre, Faes: Facsimiles, 111 i tllustratio\n(1) Titles reduced to get into line.\n(2) In too many instances the paper is too heary and unpleasant to touch.\n(3) Its sole defect."}, {"page_pdf": 31, "page_imprimee": "151", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.31", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 38, "texte": "/ration§ pi. plate. Incom : Incomplete"}, {"page_pdf": 32, "page_imprimee": "152", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.32", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4382, "texte": "A LITTLE SIXPENNY BOOK.\nAS the best protest against the sort of\nthing allow me to introduce to your no-\ntice Signor Achille de Rubertis' \" II Teatro\nNazionale\" 1926: 61 pages, eight illustra-\ntions and a paper cover, price about 6d.\nOn the cover are these words: Per la sto-\nria dei teatri fiorentini\"; in other words,\n\" To serve as a trifle towards the full Hi-\nstory of the Florentine Theatres\nNow that's the style, is it not?\nI will cite two such booklets produced\nin our little Island.\n1. \" The Story of the Drama in Exeter \"\n(1887) by William Cotton F. S. A. 74 pages;\n6 illustrations; cloth boards.\n2. The Theatre Royal, Norwich, by\nBosworth Harcourt (1903) 96 pages; price\n1 /—; not illustrated; cloth boards.\nAnd, while I like these two little volumes\nvery well, they are unable to be as excellent\nas the Florentine booklet: first, because in\nEngland the unfortunate indifference to all\nbut the play has always been exaggeratedly\nmarked, and so rarely has anyone troubled\nto preserve plans and drawings of our Thea-\ntres of 1600, 1700, 1800 if any ever exi-\nsted : documents relating to the sites are\nnot preserved; little or no pride is shown in\npreserving anything which could today tell\nus what we want to learn except bundles\nof programmes. These we do possess in\nquantities, and up to a point they are useful.\nBeyond that point (and it's beyond that we\nwant to go) they tell us nothing.\nSecondly, we built our early theatres like\nbarns: we vamped them up. In Italy, and\nsometimes in Spain, and France, the original\nplans of the old theatres still exist to show\nus what each century built like, and we can\nsee with our own eyes how well they were\nbuilt. In England they could build well, but it\nwas not sufficiently often that an architect was\nemployed; if employed, where are his plans,\nelevations and the rest? I am always being\ntold by local authorities that \" none exist\".\nThey say that Lord Barrymore's theatre in\nSavile Row in 1792 was an elegant little affair,\nbut where are the plans and the records ? No\none seems to have troubled to preserve them;\nno one assuredly has looked them up recently.\nYet here was a chance for any very se-\nrious historian to have unbent a little and told\nus all about the Theatre in Savile Row,\nerected in the Auction Rooms of the famous\nSquib. Such a modest effort would have\nbecome one of our giant Historians: he could\nhave left his Shakespeare or his Congreve\nfor a few years and could have devoted\nhimself modestly to one single playhouse as\na contribution \"to serve as a trifle towards\nthe full History of the London Theatres \".\nI sometimes feel that our love for scho-\nlarship and Theatre is rather too much\nmixed with love of self display; we are just\na little bit too stuck up; and this in any\ndemocrat is puzzling.\nSignor de Rubertis has selected almost\nthe smallest Florentine Theatre that he could\nfind; a playhouse which dates back only to\n1786. In how many lands can we find scholars\nwilling to linger around a playhouse of such\nproportions and with such a brief lease of\nife? Where are the Histories of all the little\nTh eatres of Paris ?—dash it all, I've found\nthem all crammed into two small volumes,\nsome fifty or a hundred or more playhouses\n...and not one history adequate.\nDon't you agree with me—don't you too\nfeel that if we live in a comparatively small\ntown like Florence or Norwich it is all to\nthe glory of our little town if we can tire-\nlessly set about a scholarly little history of its\nTheatres beginning with the smallest, passing\non to the next, and, if we have time, coming\nto the last as we close our life, thus leaving a\nreal if small Monument worthy of our small town.\nTHE TEA T R O NAZIONALE.\nThe Teatro Nazionale was known as\nLa Quarconia from 1786 to 1825; as il Tea-\ntro del Giglio from 1826 to 1840; as Teatro\nLeopoldo from 1841 to 1851; and as Teatro\nNazionale ever since.\nWhen it became Teatro Leopoldo in\n1841 a small booklet was published, written\nby Professor Domenico Valeriani, printed at\nthe Tipografia Granducale. It consisted of\ntwenty-eight pages and describes the place in\ndetail, the author lingering on the construction\nand decoration of the entire building; he tells\nus of the seats, the vestibule, the stairways,\nthe pit, the boxes: describes the stage, the\nscenery, the lamps, curtain; tells us the names\nof the men who prepared the building, de-\ncoration, curtain, scenes."}, {"page_pdf": 33, "page_imprimee": "153", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.33", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4504, "texte": "Of course Frissard did this in the most\nmasterly way possible in his beautiful work\non the Theatre de Dieppe (1827); but then\nFrissard was the architect, and Frissard had a\nfree hand given him by the Duchesse de\nBerry to make a big book of it.\nToscbi did it too with his \" Nuovo Tea-\ntro di Parma (1829), though I think Fris-\nsard far and away the best of the kind.\nBoth works are large folios, thirty to forty\npages each, but packed with details and\nsuperb plates, and both are little works.\nFor these little works to be done in such\na large and sumptuous style is only possible\nwhere there exists a patron as keen to do\nhonour to a city as is the artist, the historian,\nand the keen citizen.\nBut when no such keenness (I) is forth-\ncoming ; when an artist or a historian can\npass years in a city without finding one keen\nglance to encourage him; when men of wealth\nhave lost the power to enjoy sharing such\nan enjoyment with men of brains and gaiety\nof that kind (that vivid kind), then needs must\nthe artist and the historian look around his\nempty room, furnished gaily enough with his\nown fine thoughts about these things, and\nplan how to surmount this obstacle .. . this\nindifference .. . this state of death (2).\nSignor. de Rubertis shows the way.\nHOW TO DO IT PROPERLY,\nGO to all the archives; give a year, two\nyears, to it; search here and there; give\nyour spare hours to this; amass all the infor-\nmation which exists in every city, house, mu-\nseum, until you have in your possession a big\nheap of treasure. Then sort it out, arrange\nit, and condense it all so that you can get\ninto sixty to seventy small pages all the facts\nabout one little Theatre.\nTake this to a publisher; he'll be dead\ntoo but never mind; chance it without hope:\n—there—what did I say?—he dead: but\nyou are not: neither was Signor de Rubertis.\nSo he strolled along the Via San Galio\ntill he stopped at the sign F. Ricci, Arti\nGrafiche, and there, after a half hour's chat\nthe good Ricci agrees to print the work for\na modest sum on very ordinary paper but\nsmooth to the touch; not rough like dry biscuit.\nThis cost is covered because, being of\nordinary intelligence, Signor de Rubertis will\nperhaps have first disposed of the serial\nrights for, say, two' hundred lire, perhaps two\nhundred and fifty, ie, about £1.10.0.\nBut will that sum pay for the booklet?\nAssuredly it will if you add some more\nhundreds to it; and either you or your wife\nor your wife's brother or your brother-in-law's\nuncle is a human being (if not a patron); is\npositively alive and, with a laugh or a sigh,\ndoes give six or seven hundred more lire to\nhelp the thing along.\nGlorious old middle-class or aristocratic\nprivate gentleman; you will be rewarded; you\nshall not lose on this. 1 swear it comes back\nto you, as old Whitman would have said.\nAnd how strange, that this one who helps\nis living in a third floor appartment,—five\nrooms perhaps, in a poor quarter of the town;\nis of some ancient good Florentine family; is\nthrifty but poor. Anyhow, neither he nor\nthe author or printer are swanks. They don't\nabhore fine paper and buckram and heavy\nboards and deckle edges—they have merely\nforgotten them.\nTHE VERY QUIET REAL WA Y .\nYOU thrice excellent old Italians—how 1\nknow you. How I love and venerate\nthat power of yours to achieve things on\nnext to nothing—and to set about all you do\nin that very quiet, real way.\nIt's all \" Opera buffa \" here:—so they\nimagine in my land (an excellent old place,\nby the way, so do not misunderstand me);\nyou are all opera buffisti to those who don't\nknow you. Your great man who cuts down\nall waste and reduces unemployment till it\ndies, is considered by the ignorant a figure in\ncomic opera. You who produce these solid\nlittle books of history are considered \" dilet-\ntanti \", which with us means men who are\nplaying at it all, not men who love so much and\nso sincerely that, even when they achieve a\ntrifle like this booklet, it's perfect...except of\ncourse for the paper, binding and half tones.\nWe, on the other hand, make a very\ngreat to-do about the paper, the binding and\nthe half tones. It's our way;—pardon it if\n\n(1) My copyist had written \" kindness n and I am not so\nsure that it is not the better word.\n(2) There again these patrons, when they do do anything,\nwill be always doing fifty different things pompously in\ntheir smiling modest way ; giving a shilling or a thousand\npounds to fifty (more often a shilling) different schemes, half-\nfeeding or half-ptarving a notion with a lot of show."}, {"page_pdf": 34, "page_imprimee": "154", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.34", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4240, "texte": "you find it trivial. Some day you will re-\nturn to the use of finest paper, binding and\ncliches as you used in the 16th to 18tn cen-\nturies. For the moment you are naturally\ntired of these fal-lals; to us they are unfortu-\nnately nearly all.\nODIOUS COMPARISONS.\nYET when you think of us, try to remember\nthat we are as diverse as you Italians.\nIf some of us waste six hours a day on our\ndress and our drawingrooms and our clubs,\nsome assuredly do not, for which we are sub-\njected to such a fire of looks, jerks, jumps\nand what-nots every day from those who\ndon't approve of us, that we are apt to clear\noff and take a back room somewhere in the\nEast end of Sumatra or Madras. For if we\ndidn't, as we are peppery, it would lead to a\nquarrel, a quarrel to a rising, and a rising to\nregret. No, we let them go on, these time and\nmoney wasters, these art fanciers who today\nhave usurped the place filled yesterday by the\nlovers of puppy dogs and pigeons: but we\nhave to relinquish that pleasant task we too\nthought we would try to get done—that\nwriting of a little book on the Thames Thea-\ntre in Twickenham.\nSignor de Rubertis, I like so much the\ncharming way in which you avoid telling us\nthings which might bore us. You do not\nsay that some actor in Florence was chiefly\nremarkable for the length of time that he re-\nmained before the public. Dear old William\nCotton F. S. A. says that on the first page\nof his book on Exeter. You just avoid any\nsuch triviality...do I take you?\nOLD WILLIAM COTTON, F. S. A.\nAGAIN, you never allude to the Theatre\nas a \" Thespian Temple \". Cotton does\n—on page one too. Having called it that,\nhe comes to earth on page three and des-\ncribes the second theatre of Exeter:—\nThe first who entered were struck with\n\" admiration at the beauty of the house, and\n\" could not restrain their applause \".\nNot one word as to the house—how it\nwas built, what it's colour, form; merely the\nreport of a report that emotion was in the air\nand that this indescribably, undescribed, beau-\ntiful house brought out the gasp right there.\nWhen he comes to the year 1819 he\ndoes begin to describe some of the beauties.\nYou, Signer de Rubertis, give us two pic-\ntures, and 1 recognize the old playhouse I vi-\nsited in 1909 where 1 witnessed the spectacle\nof Stenterello spoiling the spaghetti... \" II\nGenerale morto!—e la spaghetti e rovenato \"\n...curtain. But if I had not visited this old\nhistoric house 1 would not have gained a proper\nidea of it from your photographs. So may I put\nin a plea that one or two pictures taken from\nold plans and spciccati\nnali be reproduced in future booklets which\nyou bring out.\nTHE PLAYHOUSE THE THING.\nMY readers will of course be sending for\ncopies of this booklet, and when it ar-\nrives will perhaps not understand why I\npraise it so whole-heartedly.\n1 praise it because it tells the tale of the\nbuilding, describes it and does not for a mo-\nment forget that it is the Theatre as theatre\nwhich for a book of records is the most im-\nportant thing, and not the performances. The\nbuilding first,... that in a booklet. In a big\n\" opera\", a big work, this booklet slightly\ncut could serve as the first chapter.\nThe life of a building, especially when it\nis a Theatre, is a life well worth a book of\nrecords; and the Italian has this keen sense of\nthe value of a place. Emotional and personal\nreminiscences connected with it may or may\nnot help to build up that record; if it dis-\ntracts from it is cut out. The playhouse is\nthe thing. I hope that before long I shall hear\nof little books on our Theatre springing into\nexistence in one or two towns in England :and\nI hope that they will be steady unadorned re-\ncords, and that they will always contain a\nplan or a picture of the theatre, for by careful\nsearch perhaps these may be found in the\narchives of the town.\nAnd don't trouble over-much about the\npaper or binding of the book, but trouble\nmore about the way it is written: do not\nwrite it imagining you are a second Thomas\nHardy; write it as they write reports in the\nnewspapers about Trials, Fires, or other Di-\nsasters. Bring the keen eye of the Calamity-\nlover to bear on the matter, and say what\nit sees as briefly as possible. Then you will\nprobably produce a good little book.\n\nJ. B."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c017", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c017", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "146", "page_fin": "146", "image_debut": 24, "image_fin": 24, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.11.1", "titre_corps": "SHOWING THE THEATRE DU MARAIS, PARIS, 1676", "titre_sommaire": "SHOWING THE THEATRE DU MARAIS, PARIS, 1676", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 24, "page_imprimee": "146", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.24", "debut_caractere": 68, "fin_caractere_exclue": 125, "texte": "SHOWING THE THEATRE DU MARAIS, PARIS, 1676. (BUILT 1623)."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c018", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c018", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_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": 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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.11.2", "titre_corps": "A PAINTING OF A THEATRE ATTRIBUTED TO BIBIENA", "titre_sommaire": "A PAINTING OF A THEATRE ATTRIBUTED TO BIBIENA", "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": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.25", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 509, "texte": "A PAINTING OF A THEATRE ATTRIBUTED TO BIBIENA.\nAND SINCE 1876 PRESERVED IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON.\nThe painting was once listed in the National Gallery Catalogue as representing \"The\nTeatro Farnese, Parma and as being the work of Ferdinando Bibiena. There is\nlittle evidence as to the artist but it certainly does not represent the Teatro Farnese,\nParma. Is it perhaps a theatre belonging to the Farnese family — perhaps once\nexisting in Parma? — and is the scene on the stage a Bibiena scene?\nPlate 15."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c027", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c027", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "[155]", "page_fin": "[155]", "image_debut": 35, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.16", "titre_corps": "PLAN FOR A THEATRE DESIGNED FOR MADAME DU BARRY", "titre_sommaire": "PLAN FOR A THEATRE DESIGNED FOR MADAME DU BARRY", "signature_source": "X. Y. X", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 35, "page_imprimee": "[155]", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.35", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1747, "texte": "IN the eleventh volume ofu The Mask\" was\ngiven the plan for an immense house pro-f.fi\njected for Mme. La Comtesse du Barry, by \" t\nthe architect Le Doux, about 1768-69.\nThe salle de spectacle shows so very small\nin the reproduction 0/ that plan that I have\nthought to give a small enlargement of it\nhere so that it may be compared better\nwith the ground plan of the Private theatre\nof Mile Guimard. Both are by Le Doux (see\nThe Mask, Vol. XI, No. 4).\nIn the du Barry and Guimard theatresy\nthe stages are both longer than are the audi-\ntoriums, and the architecture of the audito-\nrium continues on to the stage, in that of Mile.\nGuimard carried on by a pillar on each side, in\nthat of Mme. du Barry by two pillars each side.\nBetween these pillars would be a door or\nsome entrance for the performers to reach\nthe centre of the stage•\nThis keeps the amateur: as it were, out\nof the machinery and allows sufficient room\nfor one or two actors to perform while the\nscene is being changed behind them. It is\ncalled the apron stage in England, though why\nit is called the apron stage I have not the least\nidea• Bib and tucker 1 should think would\ndo equally well.\nThe main thought in the head of M. Le\nDoux was not to break the oval of his audi-\ntorium.\nBut in some lands they are keen about\nthis bit of apron be the shape of the theatre\nwhat it may. The architect is not consulted\nat all which seems to be rather a pity.\nWhat is so excellent about these stages of\nthe Pretty Theatre is that the architect was\nconsulted all the time.\nBrongniart, Bellanger, Le Doux, Le Pic,\nChalgrin, Pierre, and many another good\narchitect, were called on to start the procee-\ndings and it can be well understood they had\na very good time, playing at theatres.\n\nX. Y. X."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c028", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c028", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "[155]", "page_fin": "[155]", "image_debut": 35, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.16.1", "titre_corps": "PLAN FOR A THEATRE DESIGNED FOR MADAME DU BARRY", "titre_sommaire": "PLAN FOR A THEATRE DESIGNED FOR MADAME DU BARRY", "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": "[155]", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.35", "debut_caractere": 1749, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1832, "texte": "PLAN FOR A THEATRE DESIGNED FOR MADAME DU BARRY\nBy the Architect Le Doux.\nPlate 16."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c029", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c029", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "157", "page_fin": "158", "image_debut": 37, "image_fin": 38, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.17", "titre_corps": "THE PRETTY THEATRE : PART FOUR THE £1000 GAFF", "titre_sommaire": "THE PRETTY THEATRE : PART FOUR THE £1000 GAFF", "signature_source": "X. Y. Z", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 37, "page_imprimee": "157", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.37", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4257, "texte": "THE PRETTY\nTHEATRE.\nPART FOUR\nTHE £ 1000 GAFF.\n\n(I)\nYOU have heard of the penny gaff but pos-,\nsibly not of the £ 1000 gaff. It is\nanother name for that Pretty Theatre which\nso attracts me.\nIf the Pretty Theatre was expensive,\nthose who supported it were wealthy. Now-\nadays they would keep race horses. One\nmust have something to throw away one's\nmoney on, and also some place where one\ncan meet those people one has just left a\nmoment ago. At least I suppose so. I sup-\npose so, because after thinking about this\nPretty Theatre for a few years, I really am\nat a loss to know the true reason why the\nbuildings were put up, for it was not a mat-\nter of just meeting together and having a lit-\ntle music and some dancing. It was a de-\nvilish serious undertaking compared witn our\nmodern notion of private theatricals.\nLooking in the past three volumes of\n\" The Mask \" at the drawings and plans of\nlittle theatres that have been reproduced there,\nwe see what finished things they were.\nThere was nothing at all amateurish about\nthe buildings ; and since, very often, many of\nthe first performers of the age were called to\ntake part in the representations, there was\nnothing at all amateurish in the acting, singing,\nand dancing. So far as I know nothing was\ncharged by the hostess, and in that sense it was\namateurish, but in no other sense that I can see.\nThe most magnificent of the Pretty Thea-\ntres were in Paris. And the most sumptuous\nof these was built by the Due d'tOrleans.\nPrevious to the private theatres in Paris,\nthere had been many a private theatre in\nItaly, but mere privateness does not make for\nprettiness. For pure privacy almost avoids\ndisplay and most things that are pretty de-\npend upon the tricking out.\nAmongst the private theatres of Italy was\nthe theatre at Vicenza, but this was built for\nan Academy and was a very serious affair.\nThe next in importance was the theatre in\nParma built by and for' the Farnese family.\nOne could only deal with such a building in\na book with the title of \" Gfeorgeous Thea-\ntres \". in Bologna, and in Venice, in Flo-\nrence, and in Rome, private theatres' had\nexisted since the sixteenth century. Far ear-\nlier still, in the fifteenth century, Mantua and\nFerrara had led off with these things, but\nall that is quite another story.\nOne must not confuse the doings of any\nof these princes with the pretty little trottings\nhere and trottings there of the of Paris.\nI do not think the Italians could be very\npretty like that. What they did was too\nclosely woven to be flimsy. There was too\nmuch design in their solid fabric for there to\nbe a suggestion of trifling.\nThe private Italian theatre was a man's\ntheatre, whereas the Paris private theatre was\na theatre of the ladies and the\nAnd does it not reflect immense credit on\nthem that they found it worth while building\nspecial playhouses for this game of theirs.\nIt is not until the eighteenth century that\nthe game began, although the king naturally\nhad his moveable private theatres in his pala-\nces and these were found sufficient for the\nneeds of society.\nI do not know the date of the first French\nprivate theatre, but one of the earliest was\nthat built by Monsieur de la Poupliniere for\nsome lady or other. This was at Passy and\nwas built circa 1732. He was a fabulously\nwealthy man and his chateau was the scene\nof prodigious doings. In his theatre at Passy\nhe had an orchestra which was in use daily,\nand had, as director of this orchestra, Rameau,\nand afterwards, Stamitz, and Gossec.\nM. de la Poupliniere was fond of playing\non the flute and seems to have been a vivid\nlittle amateur, counting among his friends\nVoltaire, Rousseau, Piron, Lamotte, all of\nwhom it appears wrote comedies for him.\nAnd then in 1737 he married Therese Bou-\ntinon who was twenty years his junior.\nAnother Private theatre belonged to la\nMarquise de Morville in Normandy at her\nchateau, circa 1737 to which was attached a\ncompany which, when it performed in Paris per-\nformed at the Chateau at Pantin, which seems\nalso to have had a theatre about this time.\nStill it is not until about 1750 that\nnumbers of theatres begin to be erected in\nthe country houses round Paris and the town\n\n(l) For parts i, 2 and 3 see a The Mask October 1924\nand January and October 19*5,"}, {"page_pdf": 38, "page_imprimee": "158", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.38", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2827, "texte": "houses in Paris; but then, and for fifty years\nafter, they came along in hundreds.\nAt Puteaux in the house of the Due de\nGramont; at Versailles under Mme. de Pom-\npadour in the house of the king; at Bagnolet\nfor the Due d'Orleans petit fils of the Regent;\nat Berney in the house of the Comie de Clare-\nmont; right in Paris in the house of Voltaire,\non the second floor of the rue Traversiere. (l)\nThe Due d'Orleans was the most fantas-\ntic of all of the little amateurs, for he had\nat least six such theatres, perhaps more. In\n1749 his theatre at Bagnolet; in 1754 his\ntheatre in the faubourg St. Martin ; this was\n7\nbuilt by the architect Pierre; in 1755 in rue\nfaubourg de Roule, Pierre builds him one\nmore theatre; in 1761 another at his villa at\nMenil-Montant; in 1767 another at Villers-\nCoterts, and in 1773 he surpasses himself and\norders a magnificent theatre of architect Bron-\nginard for his Follie d'Orleans in the rue\nChaussee d'Antin. Its exact position was\nbetween the Chaussee d'Antin, rue de Pro-\nvence and the rue Taitbout. Monsieur Fou-\nquier said this was built in 1770, but what\ndo three years matter! 1770 or '73, one is\nas apt as the other. It is the very midnight-\nhour of the pretty theatre development.\nBut the Due was only the leader of the\nwhole group of people crazy to have their\nown theatres, and the building went on at\nsuch a pace, that by the time the French\nRevolution was manufactured, that is to say\nby 1789, there must have been some two\nhundred to three hundred private theatres\nfull to overflowing every evening in Paris and\nits environs.\nAfter all it was more amusing, if you had\nnothing to do, to pass the time play-acting\nrather than playing cards and sipping coffee.\nIt seems to me also a rather more varied\namusement than dancing the fox-trot night\nafter night to an indifferent orchestra if any at\nall, or even to the most perfect gramophone.\nYes, there is distinctly more variety about\nit, and on that score is to be recommended\nto people today, who have so much time and\nso much money and do not know what to do\nwith either except to go on to the stage and\nthus throw professionals out of employment.\nBut what a banging of doors there must\nhave been in 1807 when Napoleon closed\nup all these theatres, and only two weeks\ngiven to take farewell of all the little relics\nwhich remained there.\nFor one must not suppose that, when the\nRevolution came, it made very much diffe-\nrence to' these most charming performances\nand the more charming performers. They\nwent on more or less in the same inane way\nas ever a nice hangman or two would\nbe invited in, and what with the gigglings\nand the gurglings, 1 do not know that the show\nwas not improved: One of the most frequented\nof theatres was that belonging to a charming\nbutcher.\nTo be continued*\n\n(1) Here it was Lekain acted.\n\nX. Y. Z."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c030", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c030", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "158", "page_fin": "158", "image_debut": 38, "image_fin": 38, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.18", "titre_corps": "AN OLD ADVERTISEMENT OF MADAME TUSSAUD'S WAX WORKS", "titre_sommaire": "AN OLD ADVERTISEMENT OF MADAME TUSSAUD'S WAX WORKS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 38, "page_imprimee": "158", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.38", "debut_caractere": 2829, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4077, "texte": "AN OLD ADVERTISEMENT\nOF MADAME TUSSAUD'S\nWAX WORKS.\nNAPOLEON'S CELEBRATED MILITARY\no CARRIAGE TAKEN AT WATERLOO, o\nWr-frriWiiirfniMWMiiiaf 111 NIW in 11 NAM i HUM HI *IRWI ■ mumm mm mm ■■ I wnfritfii lIIIWIIB I ■ ■ayeaaMWfingl\nRoom magnificently fitted to show the\ndecorations of his period, engravings of\nhis history, spendid bust by Canova, the\ncloak he wore at Marengo, the sword of\nEgypt, the standard given to his guard,\nhis watch, gold snuff-Box, ring, one of\nhis teeth, the instrument that drew it,\ntooth-brush, Madras worn in exile, dessert\nservice used by him at St Helena, coun-\nterpane stained with his blood; the greater\npart are the property of Prince Lucian.\n—Madam TUSSAUD and SON'S\nEXHIBITION Bazaar Baker St: open\nfrom eleven till dusk, and from seven till\nten. Great room Is; Napoleon relics and\nchamber of horrors, 6d.\n\" Townsend's Parisian Costumes\"\nSep: 1843, N. 225, page 4.\nBUT what could be more horrible than this\nparade of these Napoleon relics?\nThis great wax-work show and the London\nCemetaries once shared the honour of being\nheld by the public to be the representatives\nof all that was best in the world of art—\nthough the Cemetary habitues were looked\nupon as a good deal too Highbrow for the\nlikes of the Tussauders."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c031", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c031", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "159", "page_fin": "159", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.19", "titre_corps": "THE OLD OPERA HOUSE IN THE HAYMARKET : A NOTE", "titre_sommaire": "THE OLD OPERA HOUSE IN THE HAYMARKET : A NOTE", "signature_source": "ERROLL SHERSON", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "159", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3040, "texte": "THE OLD OPERA HOUSE\nIN THE HAYMARKET.\nA NOTE\nBY ERROLL SHERSON.\nTHE view of the opera-house facing page 110 of your\npublication is one of the second opera house. The\nfirst one, built by Vanbrugh in 1705 was, as you note,\nburned down in 1789. The sketch you show was taken\nprior to many alterations of both the interior and the exte-\nrior including the fine colonnade, perhaps the best\nknown feature of the exterior which was added later.\nThere is an old print of the first opera-house taken from\na drawing made by W. Capon and published in Smith's\n44 Historical and Literary Antiquities \". It is described as\n\" showing the front of ihe edifice much as it must have\nbeen when built by Sir John Vanbrugh. It was a dull,\nplain building, not unlike a Quaker's Meeting-House. The\nfront was of red brick rusticated with good gauged work.\nIt had three circular-headed doorways with three windows\nof a similar shape above : in the second floor, instead of\nwindows, were three oblong recesses of a very heavy cha-\nracter and the roof was covered with black glazed tiles.\nThe front was thirty-four feet in width. Over the entrance\nhall was Ridant's Fencing Academy shown in the print\nby a conspicuous notice. On the piers below are seen\nsome handbills of the time including the names of Si giior\nRauzzini and of Signora Carnevalli whose husband is said\nto have set fi;e to the building.\nThe second opera-house, built from the designs of Mi-\ncahe! Novosielski, was entirely reconstructed by Nash and\nRepton in 1818. The interior was the first in England\nto be modelled in the horse-shoe shape, said to be so fa-\nvourable for sight and sound. The dimensions were with-\nin a few feet of La Scaln at Milan., The length from\nthe front of the curtain to the back of the boxes was 102\nfeet: the extreme width 75 feet: the stage measured 60\nfeet in length and 80 feet in width. The building was of\nbrick and Bath stone, with a bas-relief on the Haymarket\nfront representing Apollo and the Muses. I could also give\nyou particulars of the house as rebuilt by Lord Dudley\nafter the fire of 1867 hut will not take up your time now.\nThe extracts from the Opera Register (J) are most inte-\nresting. In my forthcoming book on the house, I have\nhad to omit a great many things that I should have liked\nto have included, but, at any rate, it will be the first at-\ntempt to give some kind of consecutive Chronicle of a\ntheatre wh:ch in its 187 years of existence under various\nforms has made much theatrical and operatic history. For\nMrs Siddons and the Kembles and Mrs Jordan all appea-\nred there when it was under the direction of Brinsley\nSheripan the dramatist and, alas, it has also been dese-\ncrated by performances of a lower kind, including Moody\nand Sankey's theatrical religious services, boxing tourna-\nments and Yankee nigger minstrels. Into all these mat-\nters I have entered, with detail, in my book.\n(i) Col man's MS register, 1712-1734, of which the first\npart appeared in the July number of \" The Mask and of\nwhich the remainder will be shortly given,"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c034", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c034", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "159", "page_fin": "159", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.20", "titre_corps": "PLAYING WITH GREEK FIRE", "titre_sommaire": "PLAYING WITH GREEK FIRE", "signature_source": "R. S", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "159", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 3042, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4930, "texte": "PLAYING WITH GREEK FIRE.\nR. S.\nLONDON\n'TVs here! *Tis here ! (let us hope)Tts gone,\nHamlet. Act. I. Scene I.\nI was present not very long ago at a most extraordinary\nperformance of a Greek play, un-Greeked and in English,\nby masked actors at night time too, in a closed theatre,\nand on a Sunday night, in London of course; the treat\nprepared for us by a certain Greek Play Society.\nAll 1 can remember clearly ot this Sunday evening was\nthat though wasted it did pass ....and I had felt that this\nwas not at all an unlucky thing, for while sitting in the\nThe atre I had expected the world to come to an end any\nmoment. Afterwards 1 went down to the Savoy and\nhad a good supper and forgot it all—all but one thing.\nAs I sat holding myself well in control in my stall I seem\nto remember some one coming up to me after Act I with\na box of chocolates in a sort of fixed hand and saying to\nme in a wooden tone, \" Have one\". I remembered later\nthat it was Miss Marchbanks of Zeus College, Cambridge.\nI believe I said \" Are you\" or something equally to the\npoint—and I seemed to see the figure passing on ....going\naway.\nI suppose 1 felt something was expected from me for\nbelieve I looked after the retreating figure: yes, I recall it\nnow I looked after Miss Marchbanks.\nShe stopped eight paces away and 1 heard the same\ndull voice saving 44 Have one \". the person ad-\ndressee! had one or no, I cannot say; hut feeling dizzy I\nturned my eyes into my lap and looked at my programme,\nwhich a while later I saw was upside down.\n1 his considerably steadied me; and after staying still\nfor a few moments 1 ventured to look in another direction\nto that where last I had seen the dark chocolate lady and\nheard her plaintive voice. Ten seats away she stood, her\nback to me, and again I heard that voice 44 Have one **.\nI never again want to think of Greek plays.\nP. S, Perhaps they were Greek chocolates."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c036", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c036", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "160", "page_fin": "160", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.21", "titre_corps": "CORRESPONDENCE", "titre_sommaire": "CORRESPONDENCE", "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": "160", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 7516, "texte": "CORRESPONDENCE.\n\nABOUT A BOOK . (0\nrIVsHE following letter is published at the request of Mr,\nL Huntly Carter. Evidently he thinks it will do him good.\nWe can only imagine it zvill do him harm, but we will not\nrefuse his request, although the place for letters couched in\nsuch language ts usually, is it not, the waste paper basket\ntinder the Editor's desk f\nIVe offered our Reviewer space in which to reply to Mr.\nCarter, but he declined to notice a letter couched in language\nso abusive, and which applies such epithets as 44 his louts,\nidiots and apes \" to friends or adherents of Mr. Edward\nGordon Craig.\nRegarding Mr. Carter's assertion that 44 a clean writer\nwould consider it more honourable and manly to sign his name\nor a recogniseable pseudonym m> we would point out that a\nwriter usually conforms to precedent in such matters; and\nTHE MASK\\ like many of the most distinguished among its\ncontemporaries, follows, with rare exceptions, the system of pu-\nblishing its Book Reviews anonymously, whether these be suck\nas to win the author's hearty gratitude, or, as in Mr. Carter's\ncase, to call down a torrent of abuse.\nWe take this opportunity of notijying Mr. Carter that\nour forbearance will not extend to the publication of any\nfurther such letters from him• Editor.\n\nThe Editor of The Mask.\nHuntly Carter.\nCir:—My attention has been drawn to a very offensive and\nlibellous notice of my book The New Spirit In The Eu•\nropean Theatre, appearing in the current issue of the Mask.\nThe pages of the Mask are invariably so full of narrow par-\ntisanship (to day it is Mussolinism) and ignorant prejudice,\nthat it would seem a waste of time to protest against these\ntwo columns of vindictive opinion were it not that they are\ndefinitely designed not only to damage the sale of my book\n(44 110 one ....will want to read this book\"), hut to injure my\nreputation as a publicist and humanitarian writer. For these\nreasons I must ask you to publish this reply in your next\nissue, otherwise I shall consider what further steps to take in\nthe matter.\nPossibly it is a sign of cowardice that the writer (who it\nseems has been to Russia and may therefore he identified\neither as Mr Edward Gordon Craig or a Russian refugee) has\nneglected to sign his name. In any case a clean writer would\nconsider it more honourable and manly to sign his name or\na recogniseable pseudonym. Even Mr George Bernard Shaw\n(so despised by the Mask) does so.\nBesides being ashamed to sign his name, the writer evi-\ndently is quite unable to produce evidence in support of his\nattack. With the exception of a mishandled sentence there\nis 110 evidence. There is none even that he has read the\nbook. He hints that he has seen the words, 44 useless from\nthe start\" These words are torn from the sentence, \" The\nfirst, or Stanislavsky group, were useless from the start \".\nBy omitting the preceding and following text he produces\nthe false atmosphere essential to a kind of museum journal\nlike the Mask. He suggests, in fact, that the Stanislavsky\n\\\ngroup have, in my opinion, been useless from the start.\nRelying on this quotation he arrives at a deduction which\nhas no relation to truth. The full sentence refers to the si-\ntuation in the Moscow Art Theatre immediately after the Re-\nvolution when the public demanded that the Revolution should\nbe represented on the stage, as it was represented in the open\nin great mass spectacles played before the Winter Palace,\nThe Bourse, and elsewhere. There was nothing in the\nM. A. T. repertory to meet this demand and there was a se-\nrious talk of closing the theatre. Later however plays in its\nrepertory were freely edited and adapted to suit the require-\nments of the new theatre-going public. To-day Stanislavsky\nis definitely engaged on the production of new revolutionary\nplays, the most notable being a play about the celebrated re-\nvolutionary cossack, Pugatchev.\nThere is absolutely 110 justification for the cunning twist\nwhich the writer gives to the three words quoted by him;\nnor for his excuse for not reading the hook contained in his\nown words, 44 that settles the book for me\", nor for the\nidiotic conclusion 44 it decides it (my book) as utterly bad and\nfalse \".\nThis paroxysm of rage is followed by much foaming at\nthe mouth from which emerges another hymn of hate begin-\nning with the words 44 it (my hook) is crazy about Bolshevism\nand Russia\". If it is crazy about Bolshevism then the Mask\nmust be a bolshevist journal since according to its back num-\nbers from the start it has done little else than what I have\ndone in the major part of my book. The truth about my book\nis that out of nearly 300 pages the bulk of 162 of them is\ntaken up with what a responsible reviewer terms 44the most\npowerful attack 011 the Trustification of the English and\nFrench theatres and the complete transformation of these\ntheatres into an industry for making dividends, in which\nhuman emotions are exploited simply on the basis of what is\nmost cheaply and easily exploitable. All this is exposed with\nvery great wealth of detail, as 44 Wagner exposed in his day \".\n1 he aim of the Mask has been to attack whatever has in-\nterfered with the advance of the theatre according to Mr.\nEdward Gordon Craig's conception, and Big Business has\ncontinually been attacked as a prime evil. In the current\nMask (page 105) are these words by Mr. Edward Gordon\nCraig, 44 and it must come to an end this modern theatrical\nsystem\". This means that Mr. Edward Gordon Craig is in\ncomplete agreement with the principal view expressed in my\nalleged bolshevist book.\nThe book deals with the theatres of II countries. The\nspace devoted to Russia is very limited ; and the space given\nto The Theatre and Labour is less than ten pages. The state-\nment that I 44 keep on speaking of the Labour Party\" is\nsimply a calculated lie. The Labour Party is mentioned\ntwice. The opinion that I have found in Ernest Benn a\n44 publisher willing to spread Bolshevic damnations\" which\n44 are not mere stupidities\" is an example of the extent to\nwhich this scandalous writer is willing to go in an attempt\nnot only to prevent the sale of my book but to prevent pub-\nlishers from marketing my goods.\nIt may be, however, that the use of Bolschevist and\nBolshevism as terms of censure and abuse, is, as some sane\npersons point out, simply a sign of mental degeneracy on the\npart of the users, and they are used in this mariner simply\nto delight mental defectives. Jf people say that they are\nbeing used by Mr. Edward Gordon Craig to attack me for\nthe purpose of pleasing his louts, idiots and apes, he has only\nhimself to blame.\nLondon. August, 15, '26.\n(i) The Mask, July 2tfo. Pg. 119.\n\nA QUERY.\n44 Ts it true that Mr. Gordon Craig was asked to produce an\nopera at Torino last year and refused because the Thea-\ntre could not pay the fee he asked?\" (F, L.: Brighton).\n\nREPLY.\nEd.\n®! Perfect^—though as a rule we shall decline to answer\nsuch very personal queries.\nThere was a Millionaire supporting this theatre—he had\nthe building reconstructed at his expense. The management\nwas prepared, it said, to overcome any difficulty in the way\nof procuring Mr. Craig's services.\nMr. Craig, who is not much of a believer in millionaires\nwho are said to be supporting art and who get the title of a\nmecanus for next to nothing, determined to make this a test\ncase. He learned that the Torino supporter was not supporting\nthe venture as a millionaire shouLd support a theatre if he\nsupports it at all.\nThese, so far as we know, are the exact facts."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c038", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c038", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "160", "page_fin": "160", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.21.2", "titre_corps": "ABOUT A BOOK REVIEW", "titre_sommaire": "ABOUT A BOOK REVIEW", "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": "160", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 17, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1277, "texte": "ABOUT A BOOK . (0\nrIVsHE following letter is published at the request of Mr,\nL Huntly Carter. Evidently he thinks it will do him good.\nWe can only imagine it zvill do him harm, but we will not\nrefuse his request, although the place for letters couched in\nsuch language ts usually, is it not, the waste paper basket\ntinder the Editor's desk f\nIVe offered our Reviewer space in which to reply to Mr.\nCarter, but he declined to notice a letter couched in language\nso abusive, and which applies such epithets as 44 his louts,\nidiots and apes \" to friends or adherents of Mr. Edward\nGordon Craig.\nRegarding Mr. Carter's assertion that 44 a clean writer\nwould consider it more honourable and manly to sign his name\nor a recogniseable pseudonym m> we would point out that a\nwriter usually conforms to precedent in such matters; and\nTHE MASK\\ like many of the most distinguished among its\ncontemporaries, follows, with rare exceptions, the system of pu-\nblishing its Book Reviews anonymously, whether these be suck\nas to win the author's hearty gratitude, or, as in Mr. Carter's\ncase, to call down a torrent of abuse.\nWe take this opportunity of notijying Mr. Carter that\nour forbearance will not extend to the publication of any\nfurther such letters from him• Editor."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c039", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c039", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "160", "page_fin": "160", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.21.3", "titre_corps": "The Editor of The Mask", "titre_sommaire": "The Editor of The Mask", "signature_source": "Huntly Carter", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 40, "page_imprimee": "160", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 1279, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6662, "texte": "The Editor of The Mask.\nHuntly Carter.\nCir:—My attention has been drawn to a very offensive and\nlibellous notice of my book The New Spirit In The Eu•\nropean Theatre, appearing in the current issue of the Mask.\nThe pages of the Mask are invariably so full of narrow par-\ntisanship (to day it is Mussolinism) and ignorant prejudice,\nthat it would seem a waste of time to protest against these\ntwo columns of vindictive opinion were it not that they are\ndefinitely designed not only to damage the sale of my book\n(44 110 one ....will want to read this book\"), hut to injure my\nreputation as a publicist and humanitarian writer. For these\nreasons I must ask you to publish this reply in your next\nissue, otherwise I shall consider what further steps to take in\nthe matter.\nPossibly it is a sign of cowardice that the writer (who it\nseems has been to Russia and may therefore he identified\neither as Mr Edward Gordon Craig or a Russian refugee) has\nneglected to sign his name. In any case a clean writer would\nconsider it more honourable and manly to sign his name or\na recogniseable pseudonym. Even Mr George Bernard Shaw\n(so despised by the Mask) does so.\nBesides being ashamed to sign his name, the writer evi-\ndently is quite unable to produce evidence in support of his\nattack. With the exception of a mishandled sentence there\nis 110 evidence. There is none even that he has read the\nbook. He hints that he has seen the words, 44 useless from\nthe start\" These words are torn from the sentence, \" The\nfirst, or Stanislavsky group, were useless from the start \".\nBy omitting the preceding and following text he produces\nthe false atmosphere essential to a kind of museum journal\nlike the Mask. He suggests, in fact, that the Stanislavsky\n\\\ngroup have, in my opinion, been useless from the start.\nRelying on this quotation he arrives at a deduction which\nhas no relation to truth. The full sentence refers to the si-\ntuation in the Moscow Art Theatre immediately after the Re-\nvolution when the public demanded that the Revolution should\nbe represented on the stage, as it was represented in the open\nin great mass spectacles played before the Winter Palace,\nThe Bourse, and elsewhere. There was nothing in the\nM. A. T. repertory to meet this demand and there was a se-\nrious talk of closing the theatre. Later however plays in its\nrepertory were freely edited and adapted to suit the require-\nments of the new theatre-going public. To-day Stanislavsky\nis definitely engaged on the production of new revolutionary\nplays, the most notable being a play about the celebrated re-\nvolutionary cossack, Pugatchev.\nThere is absolutely 110 justification for the cunning twist\nwhich the writer gives to the three words quoted by him;\nnor for his excuse for not reading the hook contained in his\nown words, 44 that settles the book for me\", nor for the\nidiotic conclusion 44 it decides it (my book) as utterly bad and\nfalse \".\nThis paroxysm of rage is followed by much foaming at\nthe mouth from which emerges another hymn of hate begin-\nning with the words 44 it (my hook) is crazy about Bolshevism\nand Russia\". If it is crazy about Bolshevism then the Mask\nmust be a bolshevist journal since according to its back num-\nbers from the start it has done little else than what I have\ndone in the major part of my book. The truth about my book\nis that out of nearly 300 pages the bulk of 162 of them is\ntaken up with what a responsible reviewer terms 44the most\npowerful attack 011 the Trustification of the English and\nFrench theatres and the complete transformation of these\ntheatres into an industry for making dividends, in which\nhuman emotions are exploited simply on the basis of what is\nmost cheaply and easily exploitable. All this is exposed with\nvery great wealth of detail, as 44 Wagner exposed in his day \".\n1 he aim of the Mask has been to attack whatever has in-\nterfered with the advance of the theatre according to Mr.\nEdward Gordon Craig's conception, and Big Business has\ncontinually been attacked as a prime evil. In the current\nMask (page 105) are these words by Mr. Edward Gordon\nCraig, 44 and it must come to an end this modern theatrical\nsystem\". This means that Mr. Edward Gordon Craig is in\ncomplete agreement with the principal view expressed in my\nalleged bolshevist book.\nThe book deals with the theatres of II countries. The\nspace devoted to Russia is very limited ; and the space given\nto The Theatre and Labour is less than ten pages. The state-\nment that I 44 keep on speaking of the Labour Party\" is\nsimply a calculated lie. The Labour Party is mentioned\ntwice. The opinion that I have found in Ernest Benn a\n44 publisher willing to spread Bolshevic damnations\" which\n44 are not mere stupidities\" is an example of the extent to\nwhich this scandalous writer is willing to go in an attempt\nnot only to prevent the sale of my book but to prevent pub-\nlishers from marketing my goods.\nIt may be, however, that the use of Bolschevist and\nBolshevism as terms of censure and abuse, is, as some sane\npersons point out, simply a sign of mental degeneracy on the\npart of the users, and they are used in this mariner simply\nto delight mental defectives. Jf people say that they are\nbeing used by Mr. Edward Gordon Craig to attack me for\nthe purpose of pleasing his louts, idiots and apes, he has only\nhimself to blame.\nLondon. August, 15, '26.\n(i) The Mask, July 2tfo. Pg. 119."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c040", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c040", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "160", "page_fin": "160", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.21.4", "titre_corps": "A QUERY", "titre_sommaire": "A QUERY", "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": "160", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 6664, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6844, "texte": "A QUERY.\n44 Ts it true that Mr. Gordon Craig was asked to produce an\nopera at Torino last year and refused because the Thea-\ntre could not pay the fee he asked?\" (F, L.: Brighton)."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c041", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c041", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "160", "page_fin": "160", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.21.5", "titre_corps": "REPLY", "titre_sommaire": "REPLY", "signature_source": "Ed", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 40, "page_imprimee": "160", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.40", "debut_caractere": 6846, "fin_caractere_exclue": 7516, "texte": "REPLY.\nEd.\n®! Perfect^—though as a rule we shall decline to answer\nsuch very personal queries.\nThere was a Millionaire supporting this theatre—he had\nthe building reconstructed at his expense. The management\nwas prepared, it said, to overcome any difficulty in the way\nof procuring Mr. Craig's services.\nMr. Craig, who is not much of a believer in millionaires\nwho are said to be supporting art and who get the title of a\nmecanus for next to nothing, determined to make this a test\ncase. He learned that the Torino supporter was not supporting\nthe venture as a millionaire shouLd support a theatre if he\nsupports it at all.\nThese, so far as we know, are the exact facts."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c042", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c042", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "161", "page_fin": "164", "image_debut": 41, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.22", "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": 41, "page_imprimee": "161", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5877, "texte": "BOOK REVIEWS.\n\nHIMS ANCIENT & MODERN\nby Jimmy Glover. T. Fisher Unwin\nLtd. 10/—net.\nSELECTED LETTERS OF HO-\nRACE WALPOLt. Everyman Se-\nries. Dent CT Sans. No. 175. 2/6.\nI had no idea until now that Jimmy\nGlover was a journalist; but then\nJimmy Glover could b? a Parson and\ndo it well. He hasn't the calling\nso far as I can see he has no calling\n•—but he has personality. Not a big\npersonality, ...and by that I mean no-\nthing at all terrifying.., he is one of\nLondon's kindliest of men of the world,\nor rather of the town; for, everyone\nwho has seen the world knows that the\nlarge cities with their little mechanical\nround are often but very narrow little\nplaces.\nTo leave Little Hookham and go to\nsee the great city of Babylon—Lon-\ndon—is to pass from a small to a ra-\nther larger village. Steam and elec-\ntricity have upset the old calculations.\nWe once made a city representative\nof the world; we have, today, no further\nneed to do so for we can go out and\nsee the real world when we like, for\ntravelling has been made easy to nearly\nall of us. London, Paris, New York,\nBerlin no longer represent anything\nlike the world. They are large va-\nriety shows: the numbers on their\nprogrammes are the same old turns\nand these tell us the same old story.\nJimmy Glover tells us the London\nstory better than most can, though na-\nturally he hardly sees the wood for\nthe trees.\nBut what an Index... what a sloppy\nIndex! It is incomplete and it is not\nin its right order. Under letter The\narranges his names in this order : Ta-\nvistock, 29 ; Tree, Lady, 30 ; Terry,\nEilen, 56; Thorndike, 56; Tweed-\nmouth, 65 ; Trent 95.\nThat is an order for he follows the\norder of the pages ; but it's not the usual\nway a good index is ordered. It should\n[ be Ta, Te, Th? Ji? To, and T Pof course\ncomes in here—or rather should come,\nbut I don't see T. P. in the book or\nthe Index even under O'C : and what\nis London, lacking T.P.O'C. : but here\nI am getting too local for my voice\nto carry further than Adavoyle and\nyou all know where that is.\nBesides being out of order, the\nIndex does not include Shaw, G. B,\nyet he figures on pages 5 and 197,\n116; and Tree, Sir H. 8,, who ap-\npears for a moment on pages 113,\n234 : and others in the book omitted\nfrom the Index are George IV,\nPage 1 !6, and Kipling page 120.\nIt refers to Bancroft, whereas there\nwere two Bancrofts not one alone,\n\" I am not blas6, \" He says so and\nhe certainly is not blas£ ;—he is the\nsame dear old Jimmy Glover that ever\nwas—he who seems to conduct an\norchestra better than most musicians do\nconduct one, and who nearly killed\nme once composing a piece which !\nam humming over as I write this. I\nheard him at it next d00r.... turn turn\nturn turn tiddle tiddle turn turn ; and if\nhe doubts that I have it in head I will\nget a musician to dot it down from\nmy humming. It was the first two bars\nwhich worried him ; he would go at\nthem over and over again; it was a\ntwiddly bit ...and it had a marriage\nbells effect.\nI begin to think I must have a\nfairly good memory, for I forget the\nawful noise Curtis Pound made when\nJimmy and he met on these Sundays\nat—wasn't it Maidenhead or Twicken-\nham ? I forget; but I lived next door\nand remember that dear old tune quite\nwell.\nAnd yet what am I doing boasting\nthat / have a good memory: this do-\ncumental book by Glover reveals an\nextraordinary memory, ...of clubs, of\ntheatres, of demi-mondaines, of Sarn\nLewis. Hector Tennant, Nellie Cau-\nston, Mabel Gray, Mr. Bouverie,\nAbingdon Baird, and a hundred ethers.\nHe has kind words to say for the\nlobby members of the Alhambra and\nEmpire. That they were frankly ho-\nnest enchantresses the whole world (but\nfor a few prigs) has borne testimony.\nMr. Glover sems to prefer that\nnaughtiness to the new kind practised\nby the Society lady who, he asserts\n•• has taken the. bread out of Lais'\nmouth\". What a dirty trick if it\nbe true.\nIt must be true for it is not a chat-\nterbox who speaks ; tis an Eagle (see\npage 122), and an Eagle that is also\na Hawk. He writes as \" Affable\nHawk\".\nNow I thought that only Mr. Des-\nmond McCarthy had the right to the\ntitle; but it appears that over thirty\nyears ago Mr Glover and his confreres\nused it in \" The Hawk\", ...a paper\non which Shaw, Walkley, Greenwood,\nChambers and the Moo es wrote.\nI was some sixteen years of age\nthen, and I now recall I saw some\nfrowns and heard disapproval of this\nsame \" Hawk History also records\nthat Whistler was not a little annoyed\nby the bird. It seems to have been\nout to reform the world. Well, so is\nGlover. Reformers are dear fellows\nvery often, and all they seem to want\nis to re-form the world nearer to the\ndesire of their own particular heart's\nconception as to what a nice Hawkish\nor Gloverish world ought to be. Is it\nth y think they could then fit into the\nscheme better ? I too have felt like\nthis: I suppose you have. —Puff ball\nis what it amounts to. The world\nis not all right until you notice\nhow very right it is. But then you\nand I know the world. Glover doesn't\nquite know the world but he gets near\nto it, for Glover knows the town and\nthat is much. He is a man of the\ntown, whereas Horace Walpoie can\nbe said to be rather more like a man\nof the world. Without a very wide\nknowledge of it he is a man of the\nworld—he almost knew it. It is only\na Rossini, a Benvenuto Cellini or a\nRacine who knows it belter. A few\nwriters today know it; one lives not,\nfar from a village known as Sant*\nAmbrogio.\nD'Annunzio knows the -world but\nknows it less well than the Spaniard\nat St. Ambrogio. For D'Annunzio is\nstill eager and alive to new sensation ;\nthe Spaniard seems to have seen, felt\nand known it all.\nHow ? you ask. Possibly as St.\nFrancis knew it or as any other thinker.\nWhat but experience renders you of\nthe world ? and how experience in a\nvillage ? Something in this—something.\nLondon's a village even as Denmark\nwas a prison ; but even in London, if"}, {"page_pdf": 42, "page_imprimee": "162", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.42", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6852, "texte": "you are William Blake, you may be-\ncome of the world. Blake anywhere,\nSt. Francis anywhere, would have\nseen ana understood all the little details\nwhich the less experienced Piccadilly-\nloungers fail to catch at: and if Ho-\nrace Walpole failed to understand\nthree quarters of the world let it not\nbe laid up against him: he did his\nbest. He lived for a time on the\nfringe of Piccadilly, Arlington Street:\nhe was born there at No. 5, dying\neighty years later close by in Berkeley\nSquare. It was always a narrow\nthoroughfare,\nLike Mr. Glover he lived to become\nan old man, and before he died... even\nthirty years before... he took to grum-\nbling at the way things were falling off.\nFrench music was as shocking as he\nknew it was he wrote in 1765;—-\nyet the Couperins were that 44 French\nmusic 99: He judged of French music\nfrom the Opera House stuff. 44 The\nnymphs of the theatre are laides a\nfaire pear which he adds is a piece\nof luck for him at his age ; but after\nall he was but forty-eight, and there\nat the Opera sits David Hume eight\nyears older than Horace, 44 his broad\nunmeaning face was usually seen en Ire\ndeux job's minois \" writes Lord Char-\nlemont: for it appears that 44 no] French\nlady's toilette was complete without\nHume's attendance\nThat it is to be a man of a woild:\nto sit in a box : what ? to be looked\ndown on by Hawks tethered in the\nPigeonere and looked up at by Horaces\nfrom the parterre.\nTo be either Hume, the Affable\nHawk or, Horace would be, we think,\nto be a real man of the world :\nthey really seem like the genuine ar-\nticle, do they not ? Let us proceed\nalong our route nor stop too long\nwasting time in some fond dream that\nby imitating Horace, Hume or Hawk\nwe shall ever see that remarkably\ninexhaustible, beautiful, but entertaining\nthing, the world.\nThese men were men of the ciSy.\nThey were les Hommes de DeauviSle,\nUomini del Lido, men about town,\nwhat you will ; but not of the world,\nnot quite that.\n\nA BANNED PLAY and A Preface\non the Censorship. Marie C, Stopes.\nJohn Ball Sons. London. 5/ - nit.\nTHE worst of things not going off\nproperly is that they go on. If\nthey went off properly no one would\nnotice them; Marriage, Birth, Death,\nCcal Supply, Lunch Theatres: these\nthings are all inevitable and quite to-\nlerable, provided they go off smoothly.\nAny bungling, any fuss, and all is\nturned to misery.\nFear is the bungler, and fear is the\ntrump tare of the devil. Once sow\nthat tare, and he can sit down and\ntwiddle His thumbs on London Bridge\nfor the whole of Saturday afternoon.\nThe Censor would seem to be\nthe very flower of Fear. I rather like\na theatrical censorship for London—\nbecause it goes with the wail-paper\nthere. But on any but aesthetic\ngrounds 1 object to him, because, born\nof fear, he arouses fear; and then the\nactors begin to hum and haw, and\nthe vox humana trembles in the organ\nloft and all is in vain,\nBut the censor sprang from fear be-\ncause marriage was allied to a number\nof fears, and birth a fearful thing, and\nDeath become a terror.\nThe antidote for fear is not always\nto make us laugh or the Theatre could\nbe used to balance the trouble, and\nthe fears clustering around the Censor,\nand Birth and Death and Marriage\nwould be all laughed away. But the\nTheatre in England trembles at the\nfirst glance of the Lord Chamberlain.\nWe go out to have a good lunch\nto forget it: we open our 44 Post \"\nwhile waiting for our chop, and our\nterrors return as we read the head\nlines:\n'4 Strike continued : entire country\nheld up \".\n44 Divorce in Aristocratic Circles \".\n44 Mangled remains found in Ditch :\nSeven men suspected.\n45 Scientist's Discovery to prolong Life\nindefinitely \".\nWithout further pleasure is our\nchop—our little lunch is spoiled—it\nhas not gone off properly.\nAnd Mrs Marie C. Stopes, her play\nhas been banned: it failed to go off\nproperly, and she thinks it's the fault\nof the Censor, and she thinks he can\nbe improved, brought up, and put in\norder as she would put the matters of\nBirth and Marriage in order -and as I\nwould put the matter of Lunch in\norder. 44 Lunches without tares\"\nwould be the slogan. And indeed if\nonly we could get this accursed fear\nweeded out of everything from birth\nto death, we should, I'm thinking, have\na remarkably happy life of it.\nWhat is the Lord Chamberlain\nfrightened of? for he too is in ter-\nror about some thing—at least so it\nseems. Do you know—or does any-\nbody know ? He doesn't I'm quite\nsure. And what is Mrs. Stopes frigh-\ntened about? She wrote gi Plays of\nOld Japan\" in 19!3 ; lived in Ja-\npan in 1907; presumably bad enough\nto eat (I mention this, for to be at\nall in doubt about dinner is the sole\nexcuse for the birth of fear....the ani-\nmals explain all that) Her mother\nis the Shakespearean scholar Mrs. C. C.\nStopes, whose book on Burbag? is my\ndelight. While busy with Burbage\nshe assuredly found food for her little\ndaughter Marie and thus alayed her\nearly troubles in the cot, Perhaps\nwhen cross the elder Mis. Stopes said\n44 Now, Marie, if you're not good the\nCensor will come and eat you \", and\nperhaps that is why the younger Mrs.\nStopes seems so frightened and wants\nto pull his hair if she can get at him.\nAnd the whole trouble could be\nsettled in five or six months by Mr.\nBaldwin who can settle anything—in\nfive or six months ; but then there is\nthe fear that if he were called away\nfrom the annual strike there would\nbe worse trouble. That affair of the\nCoal is a little knubbly bit in the\nDevil's scuttle. The mere thought or\ncoal is a sure card which he can play\nover and over again. Coal guarantees\nunrest, for is it not composed of\n32. a. g: CARBON -f P. Z.+FEAR,\nso that's all right. Take away the\nfear and it won't burn in some of the\ngrates as well as it did before. Leave\nthe fear in and the chances are it will\nblaze something lovely in time. When\nit does there will not be much hope\nfor this Banned Play being performed\nto a crowded house : and if it doesn't\nthere will be scarcely more hope. So\nthe notion that Mr. Baldwin could\nsettle the Censor business can be put\naside ;—he is too busy.\nAnd what about the theme of the\nbanned play, over-sexuality and under-\nsexuality of husbands ?—let us leave\nwives out of it since nature has ar-\nranged that they can if they wish\nhave nothing proved about them. If\na lady is hungry no one can prove it\nI defy them to. If she is thirsty,\nif she looks at you or away from you,\nround you or into you, it is not to be\nproved. Who has known any-\nthing at all about a woman? Hence\nmore trouble. Here fear dictates a\npolicy of disguise which is masterly\nand effectively thwarts even the devil.\nSo that what with his tares and his\ngoing up and down and her disgui-\nsings—well, only Mr. Baldwin could\nput the things to rights and he's too\nbusy over the coal.\nThe Play was banned, says the\nauthoress, because it touches the deep\nrealities of life ; shows a woman sin*-"}, {"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "163", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 7013, "texte": "pie, pure, normally sexed, ...a man fu-\ntile and weak. But what, you will\nask, is that for a drama ? As a matter\nof fact it isn't a drama at all; perhaps\nit's a play: I don't know. 1 ra-\nther liked what 1 wa3 able to read of\nit, but it all seemed to me a discus-\nsion about whether a man should or\nshouldn't do this or that and whether\na woman ought or ought not to pre-\ntend to be pretending to not pretend,\nand so on.\nAfter all, whether a discussion can\nbe a play, is a point I feel uncertain\nabout; a discussion may be dramatic\nbut it can't be a drama or it's not\na good serious discussion. Good drama\ndoesn't consider who's hurt.\nThis discussion by Mrs. Stopes\nwould be useful to any helplessly\ncomposed lady as a guide to her.\nBut have }rou ever yet known any\nwoman who was helpless ?.., so the\nbook will be of no use to women\nanyhow. If by chance one exists on\nearth, and I don't believe it, then this\nbook is for her: it will offer her all\nthe neatest arguments guaranteed to get\nher out of a connection with the man\nto whom she is married,—a husband\nwho doesn't give her a child; and it\nwiil at the same time release him from\nher for the lady who obviously doesn't\nwant a child. Some do, some don't.\nThe false supposition of Mrs. Stopes is\nthat all do. And some people like\ndiscussions; but Mrs. Stopes is wrong\nin supposing that a sensible public\nwould stand such a discussion as this\none put by her into three acts. Three\nacts of discussion, it's terrible;\nand to have thrown av/ay the exceptio-\nnal experience Japan must have given\nher, ...to have descended from transla-\nting the art of the No plays of Japan\ninto English, which Professor Sakurai\nso kindly helped her over and so well,\nto descend to the feeblest discussion I\nhave ever heard carried on, is to throw\naway too much.\nWhy d oes she act so? What makes\nthis charming visitor to Japan leave that\nland of order and return with her hair\ntowzled, her face distorted, her hands\nagitated, ~.a dishevelled person where\nonce was such a charming person ? The\nanswer is 44 she is acting \".\nThis deliberate consecration of her-\nself to Japan was so well begun; I\ndo sincerely hope she wiil slop the\nwork she is now doing and turn once\nmore to her own translation of the No\niplays and read one of them ...slowly.\nHow possible, after that, to fuss\nabout these trivial matters—trivial be-\ncause fussy. If a modern day Mrs. Car-\nlyle or Mrs. Raskin wants to leave\na husband, let her: no one is ever\nobliged to stay, except by law, with\nanyone else. And the laws are really\nnot made for Mrs. Carlyle or Mrs,\nRuskin, for Phedre or for Sappho.\nI rather wish they were. But who is\nthere that is able to make 'em? Let\nthem try.\n\nTHE LIFE OF RACINE by Mary\nDuclax. Fisher Unwin. 10/6.\nIS there any fr'end quite so reliable\nas a foe ? the foe never lets you\nrest until you get to heaven, whereas\nthe friend, on glimpsing the gates, is\njust a little apt to push ahead of us\nand slip in whether we can get there\nor no. The foe dogs you and seems\nto be only entirely happy when, as the\ngates slam in his face, he hears the\nmuffled cries of joy on the ether side\nwelcoming the sinner. Turning away\nwith a happy sigh he goes down again\nto the poor old world murmuring 44 Oh,\nfor some one to hate me \".\nAnd to do him justice we all hate\nhim—but not sufficiently. Our hatred\nis not as virtuous as hi 3, for it is not\nso intense. We wish him a good rid-\ndance,—we bolt up any old alley to\navoid him,— we shall never save his\nsoul: we feel that it would freeze\nHeaven if we sent it there ; so we\ncut and forget him, and he, so kind\nto us, is thus repaid unfairly.\nWhat is to be done with such\ngood men ? Above Heaven and be-\nneath Hell there must be some spe-\ncial place reserved for the inhumanly\nvirtuous—a large tract of space where\nthe only thing which can grow is\ndecent pettiness, across which no sound\ncan blow nor no colour wash; into\nwhich comes that guardian angel now\nand again to peer around—that fallen\nangel whose history we have yet to\nlearn ; who fell not as fell Lucifer son\nof the Morning, but ineffectively at\neventide in the very hush and horror\nof quietism.\nLet us not linger too long near the\nedge of that district over which it\nbroods, this pinched watcher. To do\nso is to come perilously near terror,\nand the crying of cats at night.\nIt was not Racine but his foes, who\nled me to take a peep into that district.\nHis foes of 1670 90 seem to have\ndescendants; they slill worry them-\nselves about Racine and they feel that\n44 the more one begins to inquire exactly\ninto the life of Racine the more dif-\nficult it becomes to put one's hand on\none's heart and swear that not one\nof those words\" (of Diderot) 4< fourbe,\ntraiire, ambiiieux, envieux, michant\nare entirely unjust when applied to\nhim \". Well, certainly, one must have\na heart before one can place one's\nhand on it, but I hope one is not\nobliged to swear even then.\nThis quotation is from a review is\nan English weekly that I came across\nof this very book on the poet, and it\nwas this very review which led me to\nask the publishers for a copy of the\n44 Life \" that I too might see what a\ntraltre, what a mechant fellow this\nsame rascally Racine, was like. (See\nhow well the enemy serves God.).\nAnd now I know. Until I had read\nthe review of it I had never had the\nfaintest notion what Racine was. He\nhad seemed to me like some old win-\ndow of an empty cottage, so thickly\ncoated with dust that it had ceased to\nbe a window ; a deader man for me\ncould not have existed. Lytton Slra-\nchey struck a match in his essay 44 Ra-\ncine \", held it up, and I believed him ;\nhe moved the match here and there\nand asked 44 Isn't it?\" and I agreed\nit was, trusting Strachey at any time ;\nbut he didn't give me a picture of\nthe poet—and out went the match.\nBut now Madame Mary Duclaux has\nacted the hostess—invited the great\nman to supper, invited us to meet\nhim, and has brought in two silver-\nplated cnadelabra each with twenty\nlights burning, and made day in her\nroom in her 17th century chateau.\nThere he sits—undoubtedly RACINE :\nwe sup.\nOutside prowl the cats and the\npoke-noses, still bent on discovering\n44 The Mystery of Racine \" —since\nnone exists. But it takes a woman,\nand she a great lady and a perfect\nhostess, to make that plain. It often\ndoes. Men are so stupid.\nLucky Racine, ... and I too am most\ngrateful to Madame Duclaux. To have\nbeen invited to meet Racine —really :\nand poke-noses believe that that is the\nmoment to sit glum in a corner, nod\nthe head, and, when the fun is at\nthe height, to ask with a face like a\nmouse-trap, 4i But what about the Mou-\nlon Blanc that being a hostelry of\nthe 17th century and apparently not\nunlike 44 The Mermaid \" of Shake-\nspeare's day and place.\nHaving delivered himself of this\nquery the poke-nose follows it up with,\n\" Monsieur Racine, I want to ask you\na question ; did you—or did you not\nmurder Mile du Pare ? \"\nBut thanks to grace and beauty,\nMadame Duclaux has wit and doesn't\ninvite such people to her table.\nShe knows Racine well; the cri-"}, {"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5269, "texte": "tic finds her picture too rosy, which\nof course is impossible. Racine posi-\ntively was and is Racine—or is he\nPaul Pry ? Which ? If Paul Pry, then\nof course he can't be Racine and the\ncurtain comes down and we must admit\nto having made a mistake and come\nto the wrong Theatre: but if he be\nRacine and if we be ordinary men, do\nlet us at least mind our Ps and Qs.\nIf we are not clever let us at least be\nimitative and attempt to look and\nbehave as our hostess does in his pre-\nsence.\nSuppose him Thomas Hardy or\nVerlaine or Moliere, suppose him\nHamlet. Must we ape the Guildern-\nsterns and attempt to pluck out the\nheart of his mystery ? What mystery\nis it but the ancient one. that of the\neternal passion of Life—the agony and\nfarcical crowning and it is finished.\nPoor fool, he who sits giggling and\nnose-poking like an imbecile at the\nfoot of a cross ; wanting to know if\nMile du Pare was poisoned so as to\ncomplete his 11 Short Chats with Cri-\nminals \". Let him go out into the\nlavatory and there wash off (if it will\ncome off) some of his beastly virtue.\nIt was the review in \" The New\nStatesman \" which has made me so\ncross : it's awful lack of understanding,\nof reverence or charity for mankind\nappalled me. I had not meant to\nname the paper but I do so in the\nhope that whoever wrote that article\nmay realize the good that kind cf\nthing does.\n\nFIRST STUDIES IN DRAMA-\nTIC ART hy Enid Rose. Clive ;\nUniversity Tutorial Press 5/6 net.\nTHE Times\" (Literary Supple-\nment) in a longish review of this\nexcellent little book—damns it. Damns\nwith faint praise. It is the fate of all who,\nthough merely reviewers, feel they\nmust act the just judge, to make a\nmess of it.\nReviewers should try hard not to\nfeel important. Feeling important I too\ndamn this excellent book, for it has\nand I shall surprise you now—faults.\nBut it has great qualities.\nTo begin with it is written by a\nwoman. What a virtue. You and I\nwho are mere men can know nothing\nof the seriousness which a woman\ngives to the task. And seriousness\ncounts.\n\" The Times \" reviewer (Literary\nSupplement) wrote cleverly; but he\nwanted to be the only one to scoff.\nThe moment Miss Rose scoffs he\ngrows cross, and talks of \" great ble-\nmishes \".\nScoff or no scoff, this is a first-rate\nlittle book and we advise every wo-\nman at all interested in the advance\nof the Theatre to read it.\nSome of it is just what a \" first\nstudy \" should be; the rest is far in\nadvance of that. And every school\nand college wThich is going in for\ntheatricals must get the book.\n€jf There are four chapters. Chap-\nters II and 111 are difficult, but are for\nthe tutor, not the student. Chapter IV\nis for the student and it is an admi-\nrable one. It deals with the Development\nof the Theatre and the Drama and reas-\nserts the importance of the actor as\nchief instrument of Drama.\n- The Times\" supposes this to be\nnot exactly all Mr. Gordon Craig\nwould approve, Why, he supposes\nanything so utterly silly the just judge\nof \" The Times \" best knows. For\nin Mr. Craig the actor has probably\nthe very best friend he ever had or\never will have; but this the \"Times\"\nreviewer is not a careful enough reader\nto know.\nHad he read carefully what Mr,\nCraig has written, had he read with\neyes which could read through jnstead\nof eyes which were happy to trifle\nwith the surface and listened with ears\nless honoured by the tittle tattle of\nprofessional nobodies he would know.\nIt would not be a bad thing if be-\nfore long \" The Times \" (Literary\nSupplement) had one reviewer who\nwas possessed of discernment in Thea-\ntrical things, for such books as Miss\nRose's should not be damned, since it\nis readable and as right as rain.\n\nTHE MAYFAIR CALENDAR by\nHorace Wyndham. Hutchinson. 18/—\nnet.\nLONDON'S LATIN QUARTER\nby Kenneth Hare and Dorothea St. /.\nGeorge, The Bodley Head. / 5/— net.\nTHE Mayfair Calendar \" is reada-\nble f rom beginning to end. \" Lon-\ndon's Latin Quarter\" is not.\n\" Fbe Mayfair Calendar \" is s'* a\ncompendium dealing with the delin-\nquencies of members of 'high society* \".\nIt is a companion volume to \" The\nNewgate Calendar \".\nThe chapter on Edmund Kean has\nlittle reason for being here because,\nthough he did live in the alleys of\nMayfair for a time, he was not a member\nof high society. Still, it will interest\nthose of us who like to see Mr. Kean\noff the stage.\n64 London's Latin Quarter \" should\nhave been called \" London's Green-\nwich Village \" for it appears to be a\nrather weak imitation of the Bohemian\nQuarter of New York. There is no-\nthing at all resembling the Paris Latin\nQuarter as I remember that sober\nneighbourhood. In London the Bohe-\nmian element is manufactured, for\nthe fashionable people who put on\ntheir very best clothes and go down\nat 2 o'clock in the morning to the\nGargoyle Club, or the Ham Bone\nClub, or the Bull Frogs' Club, (at\nleast so one is led to suppose from\nthis book), and there hunt around, not\ntor a Bone or a Goyle, but for any\nother self-conscious people they can\nfind. These are often horribly badly\noff, sometimes even reduced to three\nor four pounds apiece for a few days,\nM eantime, lest London be shamed,\nlet us own up to the fact that London\nhas a genuine old Bohee quarter some-\nwhere between the East and West\nend.—But where it is only you and I\nknow;—obviously Mr. Hare doesn't."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c044", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c044", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "161", "page_fin": "162", "image_debut": 41, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.22.2", "titre_corps": "HIMS ANCIENT & MODERN by Jimmy GloverSELECTED LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE", "titre_sommaire": "HIMS ANCIENT & MODERN by Jimmy GloverSELECTED LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE", "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": "161", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 15, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5877, "texte": "HIMS ANCIENT & MODERN\nby Jimmy Glover. T. Fisher Unwin\nLtd. 10/—net.\nSELECTED LETTERS OF HO-\nRACE WALPOLt. Everyman Se-\nries. Dent CT Sans. No. 175. 2/6.\nI had no idea until now that Jimmy\nGlover was a journalist; but then\nJimmy Glover could b? a Parson and\ndo it well. He hasn't the calling\nso far as I can see he has no calling\n•—but he has personality. Not a big\npersonality, ...and by that I mean no-\nthing at all terrifying.., he is one of\nLondon's kindliest of men of the world,\nor rather of the town; for, everyone\nwho has seen the world knows that the\nlarge cities with their little mechanical\nround are often but very narrow little\nplaces.\nTo leave Little Hookham and go to\nsee the great city of Babylon—Lon-\ndon—is to pass from a small to a ra-\nther larger village. Steam and elec-\ntricity have upset the old calculations.\nWe once made a city representative\nof the world; we have, today, no further\nneed to do so for we can go out and\nsee the real world when we like, for\ntravelling has been made easy to nearly\nall of us. London, Paris, New York,\nBerlin no longer represent anything\nlike the world. They are large va-\nriety shows: the numbers on their\nprogrammes are the same old turns\nand these tell us the same old story.\nJimmy Glover tells us the London\nstory better than most can, though na-\nturally he hardly sees the wood for\nthe trees.\nBut what an Index... what a sloppy\nIndex! It is incomplete and it is not\nin its right order. Under letter The\narranges his names in this order : Ta-\nvistock, 29 ; Tree, Lady, 30 ; Terry,\nEilen, 56; Thorndike, 56; Tweed-\nmouth, 65 ; Trent 95.\nThat is an order for he follows the\norder of the pages ; but it's not the usual\nway a good index is ordered. It should\n[ be Ta, Te, Th? Ji? To, and T Pof course\ncomes in here—or rather should come,\nbut I don't see T. P. in the book or\nthe Index even under O'C : and what\nis London, lacking T.P.O'C. : but here\nI am getting too local for my voice\nto carry further than Adavoyle and\nyou all know where that is.\nBesides being out of order, the\nIndex does not include Shaw, G. B,\nyet he figures on pages 5 and 197,\n116; and Tree, Sir H. 8,, who ap-\npears for a moment on pages 113,\n234 : and others in the book omitted\nfrom the Index are George IV,\nPage 1 !6, and Kipling page 120.\nIt refers to Bancroft, whereas there\nwere two Bancrofts not one alone,\n\" I am not blas6, \" He says so and\nhe certainly is not blas£ ;—he is the\nsame dear old Jimmy Glover that ever\nwas—he who seems to conduct an\norchestra better than most musicians do\nconduct one, and who nearly killed\nme once composing a piece which !\nam humming over as I write this. I\nheard him at it next d00r.... turn turn\nturn turn tiddle tiddle turn turn ; and if\nhe doubts that I have it in head I will\nget a musician to dot it down from\nmy humming. It was the first two bars\nwhich worried him ; he would go at\nthem over and over again; it was a\ntwiddly bit ...and it had a marriage\nbells effect.\nI begin to think I must have a\nfairly good memory, for I forget the\nawful noise Curtis Pound made when\nJimmy and he met on these Sundays\nat—wasn't it Maidenhead or Twicken-\nham ? I forget; but I lived next door\nand remember that dear old tune quite\nwell.\nAnd yet what am I doing boasting\nthat / have a good memory: this do-\ncumental book by Glover reveals an\nextraordinary memory, ...of clubs, of\ntheatres, of demi-mondaines, of Sarn\nLewis. Hector Tennant, Nellie Cau-\nston, Mabel Gray, Mr. Bouverie,\nAbingdon Baird, and a hundred ethers.\nHe has kind words to say for the\nlobby members of the Alhambra and\nEmpire. That they were frankly ho-\nnest enchantresses the whole world (but\nfor a few prigs) has borne testimony.\nMr. Glover sems to prefer that\nnaughtiness to the new kind practised\nby the Society lady who, he asserts\n•• has taken the. bread out of Lais'\nmouth\". What a dirty trick if it\nbe true.\nIt must be true for it is not a chat-\nterbox who speaks ; tis an Eagle (see\npage 122), and an Eagle that is also\na Hawk. He writes as \" Affable\nHawk\".\nNow I thought that only Mr. Des-\nmond McCarthy had the right to the\ntitle; but it appears that over thirty\nyears ago Mr Glover and his confreres\nused it in \" The Hawk\", ...a paper\non which Shaw, Walkley, Greenwood,\nChambers and the Moo es wrote.\nI was some sixteen years of age\nthen, and I now recall I saw some\nfrowns and heard disapproval of this\nsame \" Hawk History also records\nthat Whistler was not a little annoyed\nby the bird. It seems to have been\nout to reform the world. Well, so is\nGlover. Reformers are dear fellows\nvery often, and all they seem to want\nis to re-form the world nearer to the\ndesire of their own particular heart's\nconception as to what a nice Hawkish\nor Gloverish world ought to be. Is it\nth y think they could then fit into the\nscheme better ? I too have felt like\nthis: I suppose you have. —Puff ball\nis what it amounts to. The world\nis not all right until you notice\nhow very right it is. But then you\nand I know the world. Glover doesn't\nquite know the world but he gets near\nto it, for Glover knows the town and\nthat is much. He is a man of the\ntown, whereas Horace Walpoie can\nbe said to be rather more like a man\nof the world. Without a very wide\nknowledge of it he is a man of the\nworld—he almost knew it. It is only\na Rossini, a Benvenuto Cellini or a\nRacine who knows it belter. A few\nwriters today know it; one lives not,\nfar from a village known as Sant*\nAmbrogio.\nD'Annunzio knows the -world but\nknows it less well than the Spaniard\nat St. Ambrogio. For D'Annunzio is\nstill eager and alive to new sensation ;\nthe Spaniard seems to have seen, felt\nand known it all.\nHow ? you ask. Possibly as St.\nFrancis knew it or as any other thinker.\nWhat but experience renders you of\nthe world ? and how experience in a\nvillage ? Something in this—something.\nLondon's a village even as Denmark\nwas a prison ; but even in London, if"}, {"page_pdf": 42, "page_imprimee": "162", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.42", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1939, "texte": "you are William Blake, you may be-\ncome of the world. Blake anywhere,\nSt. Francis anywhere, would have\nseen ana understood all the little details\nwhich the less experienced Piccadilly-\nloungers fail to catch at: and if Ho-\nrace Walpole failed to understand\nthree quarters of the world let it not\nbe laid up against him: he did his\nbest. He lived for a time on the\nfringe of Piccadilly, Arlington Street:\nhe was born there at No. 5, dying\neighty years later close by in Berkeley\nSquare. It was always a narrow\nthoroughfare,\nLike Mr. Glover he lived to become\nan old man, and before he died... even\nthirty years before... he took to grum-\nbling at the way things were falling off.\nFrench music was as shocking as he\nknew it was he wrote in 1765;—-\nyet the Couperins were that 44 French\nmusic 99: He judged of French music\nfrom the Opera House stuff. 44 The\nnymphs of the theatre are laides a\nfaire pear which he adds is a piece\nof luck for him at his age ; but after\nall he was but forty-eight, and there\nat the Opera sits David Hume eight\nyears older than Horace, 44 his broad\nunmeaning face was usually seen en Ire\ndeux job's minois \" writes Lord Char-\nlemont: for it appears that 44 no] French\nlady's toilette was complete without\nHume's attendance\nThat it is to be a man of a woild:\nto sit in a box : what ? to be looked\ndown on by Hawks tethered in the\nPigeonere and looked up at by Horaces\nfrom the parterre.\nTo be either Hume, the Affable\nHawk or, Horace would be, we think,\nto be a real man of the world :\nthey really seem like the genuine ar-\nticle, do they not ? Let us proceed\nalong our route nor stop too long\nwasting time in some fond dream that\nby imitating Horace, Hume or Hawk\nwe shall ever see that remarkably\ninexhaustible, beautiful, but entertaining\nthing, the world.\nThese men were men of the ciSy.\nThey were les Hommes de DeauviSle,\nUomini del Lido, men about town,\nwhat you will ; but not of the world,\nnot quite that."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c045", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c045", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "162", "page_fin": "163", "image_debut": 42, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.22.3", "titre_corps": "A BANNED PLAY and A Preface on the Censorship by Marie C. Stopes", "titre_sommaire": "A BANNED PLAY and A Preface on the Censorship by Marie C. Stopes", "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": "162", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.42", "debut_caractere": 1941, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6852, "texte": "A BANNED PLAY and A Preface\non the Censorship. Marie C, Stopes.\nJohn Ball Sons. London. 5/ - nit.\nTHE worst of things not going off\nproperly is that they go on. If\nthey went off properly no one would\nnotice them; Marriage, Birth, Death,\nCcal Supply, Lunch Theatres: these\nthings are all inevitable and quite to-\nlerable, provided they go off smoothly.\nAny bungling, any fuss, and all is\nturned to misery.\nFear is the bungler, and fear is the\ntrump tare of the devil. Once sow\nthat tare, and he can sit down and\ntwiddle His thumbs on London Bridge\nfor the whole of Saturday afternoon.\nThe Censor would seem to be\nthe very flower of Fear. I rather like\na theatrical censorship for London—\nbecause it goes with the wail-paper\nthere. But on any but aesthetic\ngrounds 1 object to him, because, born\nof fear, he arouses fear; and then the\nactors begin to hum and haw, and\nthe vox humana trembles in the organ\nloft and all is in vain,\nBut the censor sprang from fear be-\ncause marriage was allied to a number\nof fears, and birth a fearful thing, and\nDeath become a terror.\nThe antidote for fear is not always\nto make us laugh or the Theatre could\nbe used to balance the trouble, and\nthe fears clustering around the Censor,\nand Birth and Death and Marriage\nwould be all laughed away. But the\nTheatre in England trembles at the\nfirst glance of the Lord Chamberlain.\nWe go out to have a good lunch\nto forget it: we open our 44 Post \"\nwhile waiting for our chop, and our\nterrors return as we read the head\nlines:\n'4 Strike continued : entire country\nheld up \".\n44 Divorce in Aristocratic Circles \".\n44 Mangled remains found in Ditch :\nSeven men suspected.\n45 Scientist's Discovery to prolong Life\nindefinitely \".\nWithout further pleasure is our\nchop—our little lunch is spoiled—it\nhas not gone off properly.\nAnd Mrs Marie C. Stopes, her play\nhas been banned: it failed to go off\nproperly, and she thinks it's the fault\nof the Censor, and she thinks he can\nbe improved, brought up, and put in\norder as she would put the matters of\nBirth and Marriage in order -and as I\nwould put the matter of Lunch in\norder. 44 Lunches without tares\"\nwould be the slogan. And indeed if\nonly we could get this accursed fear\nweeded out of everything from birth\nto death, we should, I'm thinking, have\na remarkably happy life of it.\nWhat is the Lord Chamberlain\nfrightened of? for he too is in ter-\nror about some thing—at least so it\nseems. Do you know—or does any-\nbody know ? He doesn't I'm quite\nsure. And what is Mrs. Stopes frigh-\ntened about? She wrote gi Plays of\nOld Japan\" in 19!3 ; lived in Ja-\npan in 1907; presumably bad enough\nto eat (I mention this, for to be at\nall in doubt about dinner is the sole\nexcuse for the birth of fear....the ani-\nmals explain all that) Her mother\nis the Shakespearean scholar Mrs. C. C.\nStopes, whose book on Burbag? is my\ndelight. While busy with Burbage\nshe assuredly found food for her little\ndaughter Marie and thus alayed her\nearly troubles in the cot, Perhaps\nwhen cross the elder Mis. Stopes said\n44 Now, Marie, if you're not good the\nCensor will come and eat you \", and\nperhaps that is why the younger Mrs.\nStopes seems so frightened and wants\nto pull his hair if she can get at him.\nAnd the whole trouble could be\nsettled in five or six months by Mr.\nBaldwin who can settle anything—in\nfive or six months ; but then there is\nthe fear that if he were called away\nfrom the annual strike there would\nbe worse trouble. That affair of the\nCoal is a little knubbly bit in the\nDevil's scuttle. The mere thought or\ncoal is a sure card which he can play\nover and over again. Coal guarantees\nunrest, for is it not composed of\n32. a. g: CARBON -f P. Z.+FEAR,\nso that's all right. Take away the\nfear and it won't burn in some of the\ngrates as well as it did before. Leave\nthe fear in and the chances are it will\nblaze something lovely in time. When\nit does there will not be much hope\nfor this Banned Play being performed\nto a crowded house : and if it doesn't\nthere will be scarcely more hope. So\nthe notion that Mr. Baldwin could\nsettle the Censor business can be put\naside ;—he is too busy.\nAnd what about the theme of the\nbanned play, over-sexuality and under-\nsexuality of husbands ?—let us leave\nwives out of it since nature has ar-\nranged that they can if they wish\nhave nothing proved about them. If\na lady is hungry no one can prove it\nI defy them to. If she is thirsty,\nif she looks at you or away from you,\nround you or into you, it is not to be\nproved. Who has known any-\nthing at all about a woman? Hence\nmore trouble. Here fear dictates a\npolicy of disguise which is masterly\nand effectively thwarts even the devil.\nSo that what with his tares and his\ngoing up and down and her disgui-\nsings—well, only Mr. Baldwin could\nput the things to rights and he's too\nbusy over the coal.\nThe Play was banned, says the\nauthoress, because it touches the deep\nrealities of life ; shows a woman sin*-"}, {"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "163", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2680, "texte": "pie, pure, normally sexed, ...a man fu-\ntile and weak. But what, you will\nask, is that for a drama ? As a matter\nof fact it isn't a drama at all; perhaps\nit's a play: I don't know. 1 ra-\nther liked what 1 wa3 able to read of\nit, but it all seemed to me a discus-\nsion about whether a man should or\nshouldn't do this or that and whether\na woman ought or ought not to pre-\ntend to be pretending to not pretend,\nand so on.\nAfter all, whether a discussion can\nbe a play, is a point I feel uncertain\nabout; a discussion may be dramatic\nbut it can't be a drama or it's not\na good serious discussion. Good drama\ndoesn't consider who's hurt.\nThis discussion by Mrs. Stopes\nwould be useful to any helplessly\ncomposed lady as a guide to her.\nBut have }rou ever yet known any\nwoman who was helpless ?.., so the\nbook will be of no use to women\nanyhow. If by chance one exists on\nearth, and I don't believe it, then this\nbook is for her: it will offer her all\nthe neatest arguments guaranteed to get\nher out of a connection with the man\nto whom she is married,—a husband\nwho doesn't give her a child; and it\nwiil at the same time release him from\nher for the lady who obviously doesn't\nwant a child. Some do, some don't.\nThe false supposition of Mrs. Stopes is\nthat all do. And some people like\ndiscussions; but Mrs. Stopes is wrong\nin supposing that a sensible public\nwould stand such a discussion as this\none put by her into three acts. Three\nacts of discussion, it's terrible;\nand to have thrown av/ay the exceptio-\nnal experience Japan must have given\nher, ...to have descended from transla-\nting the art of the No plays of Japan\ninto English, which Professor Sakurai\nso kindly helped her over and so well,\nto descend to the feeblest discussion I\nhave ever heard carried on, is to throw\naway too much.\nWhy d oes she act so? What makes\nthis charming visitor to Japan leave that\nland of order and return with her hair\ntowzled, her face distorted, her hands\nagitated, ~.a dishevelled person where\nonce was such a charming person ? The\nanswer is 44 she is acting \".\nThis deliberate consecration of her-\nself to Japan was so well begun; I\ndo sincerely hope she wiil slop the\nwork she is now doing and turn once\nmore to her own translation of the No\niplays and read one of them ...slowly.\nHow possible, after that, to fuss\nabout these trivial matters—trivial be-\ncause fussy. If a modern day Mrs. Car-\nlyle or Mrs. Raskin wants to leave\na husband, let her: no one is ever\nobliged to stay, except by law, with\nanyone else. And the laws are really\nnot made for Mrs. Carlyle or Mrs,\nRuskin, for Phedre or for Sappho.\nI rather wish they were. But who is\nthere that is able to make 'em? Let\nthem try."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c046", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c046", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "163", "page_fin": "164", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.22.4", "titre_corps": "THE LIFE OF RACINE by Mary Duclax", "titre_sommaire": "THE LIFE OF RACINE by Mary Duclax", "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": "163", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 2682, "fin_caractere_exclue": 7013, "texte": "THE LIFE OF RACINE by Mary\nDuclax. Fisher Unwin. 10/6.\nIS there any fr'end quite so reliable\nas a foe ? the foe never lets you\nrest until you get to heaven, whereas\nthe friend, on glimpsing the gates, is\njust a little apt to push ahead of us\nand slip in whether we can get there\nor no. The foe dogs you and seems\nto be only entirely happy when, as the\ngates slam in his face, he hears the\nmuffled cries of joy on the ether side\nwelcoming the sinner. Turning away\nwith a happy sigh he goes down again\nto the poor old world murmuring 44 Oh,\nfor some one to hate me \".\nAnd to do him justice we all hate\nhim—but not sufficiently. Our hatred\nis not as virtuous as hi 3, for it is not\nso intense. We wish him a good rid-\ndance,—we bolt up any old alley to\navoid him,— we shall never save his\nsoul: we feel that it would freeze\nHeaven if we sent it there ; so we\ncut and forget him, and he, so kind\nto us, is thus repaid unfairly.\nWhat is to be done with such\ngood men ? Above Heaven and be-\nneath Hell there must be some spe-\ncial place reserved for the inhumanly\nvirtuous—a large tract of space where\nthe only thing which can grow is\ndecent pettiness, across which no sound\ncan blow nor no colour wash; into\nwhich comes that guardian angel now\nand again to peer around—that fallen\nangel whose history we have yet to\nlearn ; who fell not as fell Lucifer son\nof the Morning, but ineffectively at\neventide in the very hush and horror\nof quietism.\nLet us not linger too long near the\nedge of that district over which it\nbroods, this pinched watcher. To do\nso is to come perilously near terror,\nand the crying of cats at night.\nIt was not Racine but his foes, who\nled me to take a peep into that district.\nHis foes of 1670 90 seem to have\ndescendants; they slill worry them-\nselves about Racine and they feel that\n44 the more one begins to inquire exactly\ninto the life of Racine the more dif-\nficult it becomes to put one's hand on\none's heart and swear that not one\nof those words\" (of Diderot) 4< fourbe,\ntraiire, ambiiieux, envieux, michant\nare entirely unjust when applied to\nhim \". Well, certainly, one must have\na heart before one can place one's\nhand on it, but I hope one is not\nobliged to swear even then.\nThis quotation is from a review is\nan English weekly that I came across\nof this very book on the poet, and it\nwas this very review which led me to\nask the publishers for a copy of the\n44 Life \" that I too might see what a\ntraltre, what a mechant fellow this\nsame rascally Racine, was like. (See\nhow well the enemy serves God.).\nAnd now I know. Until I had read\nthe review of it I had never had the\nfaintest notion what Racine was. He\nhad seemed to me like some old win-\ndow of an empty cottage, so thickly\ncoated with dust that it had ceased to\nbe a window ; a deader man for me\ncould not have existed. Lytton Slra-\nchey struck a match in his essay 44 Ra-\ncine \", held it up, and I believed him ;\nhe moved the match here and there\nand asked 44 Isn't it?\" and I agreed\nit was, trusting Strachey at any time ;\nbut he didn't give me a picture of\nthe poet—and out went the match.\nBut now Madame Mary Duclaux has\nacted the hostess—invited the great\nman to supper, invited us to meet\nhim, and has brought in two silver-\nplated cnadelabra each with twenty\nlights burning, and made day in her\nroom in her 17th century chateau.\nThere he sits—undoubtedly RACINE :\nwe sup.\nOutside prowl the cats and the\npoke-noses, still bent on discovering\n44 The Mystery of Racine \" —since\nnone exists. But it takes a woman,\nand she a great lady and a perfect\nhostess, to make that plain. It often\ndoes. Men are so stupid.\nLucky Racine, ... and I too am most\ngrateful to Madame Duclaux. To have\nbeen invited to meet Racine —really :\nand poke-noses believe that that is the\nmoment to sit glum in a corner, nod\nthe head, and, when the fun is at\nthe height, to ask with a face like a\nmouse-trap, 4i But what about the Mou-\nlon Blanc that being a hostelry of\nthe 17th century and apparently not\nunlike 44 The Mermaid \" of Shake-\nspeare's day and place.\nHaving delivered himself of this\nquery the poke-nose follows it up with,\n\" Monsieur Racine, I want to ask you\na question ; did you—or did you not\nmurder Mile du Pare ? \"\nBut thanks to grace and beauty,\nMadame Duclaux has wit and doesn't\ninvite such people to her table.\nShe knows Racine well; the cri-"}, {"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1349, "texte": "tic finds her picture too rosy, which\nof course is impossible. Racine posi-\ntively was and is Racine—or is he\nPaul Pry ? Which ? If Paul Pry, then\nof course he can't be Racine and the\ncurtain comes down and we must admit\nto having made a mistake and come\nto the wrong Theatre: but if he be\nRacine and if we be ordinary men, do\nlet us at least mind our Ps and Qs.\nIf we are not clever let us at least be\nimitative and attempt to look and\nbehave as our hostess does in his pre-\nsence.\nSuppose him Thomas Hardy or\nVerlaine or Moliere, suppose him\nHamlet. Must we ape the Guildern-\nsterns and attempt to pluck out the\nheart of his mystery ? What mystery\nis it but the ancient one. that of the\neternal passion of Life—the agony and\nfarcical crowning and it is finished.\nPoor fool, he who sits giggling and\nnose-poking like an imbecile at the\nfoot of a cross ; wanting to know if\nMile du Pare was poisoned so as to\ncomplete his 11 Short Chats with Cri-\nminals \". Let him go out into the\nlavatory and there wash off (if it will\ncome off) some of his beastly virtue.\nIt was the review in \" The New\nStatesman \" which has made me so\ncross : it's awful lack of understanding,\nof reverence or charity for mankind\nappalled me. I had not meant to\nname the paper but I do so in the\nhope that whoever wrote that article\nmay realize the good that kind cf\nthing does."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c047", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c047", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "164", "page_fin": "164", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.22.5", "titre_corps": "FIRST STUDIES IN DRAMATIC ART by Enid Rose", "titre_sommaire": "FIRST STUDIES IN DRAMATIC ART by Enid Rose", "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": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 1351, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3648, "texte": "FIRST STUDIES IN DRAMA-\nTIC ART hy Enid Rose. Clive ;\nUniversity Tutorial Press 5/6 net.\nTHE Times\" (Literary Supple-\nment) in a longish review of this\nexcellent little book—damns it. Damns\nwith faint praise. It is the fate of all who,\nthough merely reviewers, feel they\nmust act the just judge, to make a\nmess of it.\nReviewers should try hard not to\nfeel important. Feeling important I too\ndamn this excellent book, for it has\nand I shall surprise you now—faults.\nBut it has great qualities.\nTo begin with it is written by a\nwoman. What a virtue. You and I\nwho are mere men can know nothing\nof the seriousness which a woman\ngives to the task. And seriousness\ncounts.\n\" The Times \" reviewer (Literary\nSupplement) wrote cleverly; but he\nwanted to be the only one to scoff.\nThe moment Miss Rose scoffs he\ngrows cross, and talks of \" great ble-\nmishes \".\nScoff or no scoff, this is a first-rate\nlittle book and we advise every wo-\nman at all interested in the advance\nof the Theatre to read it.\nSome of it is just what a \" first\nstudy \" should be; the rest is far in\nadvance of that. And every school\nand college wThich is going in for\ntheatricals must get the book.\n€jf There are four chapters. Chap-\nters II and 111 are difficult, but are for\nthe tutor, not the student. Chapter IV\nis for the student and it is an admi-\nrable one. It deals with the Development\nof the Theatre and the Drama and reas-\nserts the importance of the actor as\nchief instrument of Drama.\n- The Times\" supposes this to be\nnot exactly all Mr. Gordon Craig\nwould approve, Why, he supposes\nanything so utterly silly the just judge\nof \" The Times \" best knows. For\nin Mr. Craig the actor has probably\nthe very best friend he ever had or\never will have; but this the \"Times\"\nreviewer is not a careful enough reader\nto know.\nHad he read carefully what Mr,\nCraig has written, had he read with\neyes which could read through jnstead\nof eyes which were happy to trifle\nwith the surface and listened with ears\nless honoured by the tittle tattle of\nprofessional nobodies he would know.\nIt would not be a bad thing if be-\nfore long \" The Times \" (Literary\nSupplement) had one reviewer who\nwas possessed of discernment in Thea-\ntrical things, for such books as Miss\nRose's should not be damned, since it\nis readable and as right as rain."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c048", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c048", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "164", "page_fin": "164", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.22.6", "titre_corps": "THE MAYFAIR CALENDAR by Horace WyndhamLONDON'S LATIN QUARTER by Kenneth Hare and Dorothea St. J. George", "titre_sommaire": "THE MAYFAIR CALENDAR by Horace WyndhamLONDON'S LATIN QUARTER by Kenneth Hare and Dorothea St. J. George", "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": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 3650, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5269, "texte": "THE MAYFAIR CALENDAR by\nHorace Wyndham. Hutchinson. 18/—\nnet.\nLONDON'S LATIN QUARTER\nby Kenneth Hare and Dorothea St. /.\nGeorge, The Bodley Head. / 5/— net.\nTHE Mayfair Calendar \" is reada-\nble f rom beginning to end. \" Lon-\ndon's Latin Quarter\" is not.\n\" Fbe Mayfair Calendar \" is s'* a\ncompendium dealing with the delin-\nquencies of members of 'high society* \".\nIt is a companion volume to \" The\nNewgate Calendar \".\nThe chapter on Edmund Kean has\nlittle reason for being here because,\nthough he did live in the alleys of\nMayfair for a time, he was not a member\nof high society. Still, it will interest\nthose of us who like to see Mr. Kean\noff the stage.\n64 London's Latin Quarter \" should\nhave been called \" London's Green-\nwich Village \" for it appears to be a\nrather weak imitation of the Bohemian\nQuarter of New York. There is no-\nthing at all resembling the Paris Latin\nQuarter as I remember that sober\nneighbourhood. In London the Bohe-\nmian element is manufactured, for\nthe fashionable people who put on\ntheir very best clothes and go down\nat 2 o'clock in the morning to the\nGargoyle Club, or the Ham Bone\nClub, or the Bull Frogs' Club, (at\nleast so one is led to suppose from\nthis book), and there hunt around, not\ntor a Bone or a Goyle, but for any\nother self-conscious people they can\nfind. These are often horribly badly\noff, sometimes even reduced to three\nor four pounds apiece for a few days,\nM eantime, lest London be shamed,\nlet us own up to the fact that London\nhas a genuine old Bohee quarter some-\nwhere between the East and West\nend.—But where it is only you and I\nknow;—obviously Mr. Hare doesn't."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c049", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c049", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "164", "page_fin": "163", "image_debut": 44, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.23", "titre_corps": "SEVEN VOLUMES. ALL OF THEM PLAYS", "titre_sommaire": "SEVEN VOLUMES. ALL OF THEM PLAYS", "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": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 5271, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6342, "texte": "SEVEN VOLUMES.\nALL OF THEM PLAYS.\n\nTHE DRAMATIST; Frederick Rey-\nnolds. Humphrey Mil ford, Oxford\nUniversity Press, //—.\nTHE TRIAL OF JESUS. John\nMasefield. Heinemann. 6j—.\nWE MODERNS; Israel ZangwllL\nHeinemann. 6/—.\nNABOTH'S VINEYARD. CU~\nmence Dane. Heinemann. 6/—.\nTHREE FARCES by David Garrick,\nYale University Press - Humphrey\nMilford. Oxford University Press).\n7/6.\nTHE WALTZ OF THE DOGS,\nL. Andreyev. Brentano9s. London.\nTHREE TIBETAN MYSTERIES\nRoutledge. 7/6.\nSEVEN authors, all of them well\nknown, and the first, Frederick\nReynolds, dead and gone some centu-\nries ago, is the only one to have jus-\ntice done him by his publisher. The\npublisher puts him in a tiny little book,\nwith paper cover?, and sends him out\nat a shilling. All the other books are\nfive shillings, six shillings, or seven and\nsix, and that is much too much.\nIt used to be \" Book of the words,,\nprice three pence the idea being\nthat all you needed was a little bro-\nchure which you could put in your\npocket, and look at it if you wanted\nto recall what it was that you had\nheard upon the stage."}, {"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "163", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5885, "texte": "But nowadays we are perfecting all\nose things which should be left im-\n*fect, and leaving imperfect all those\ndngs which we should perfect. And\nthe publishers bring out handsome\noking books of acted and unacted\n*ays, and, while it pleases us to be\nle to read them when we want to, I\n' one have a feeling that the way\n5 books are presented to us is a\nle pretentious.\nThat is why I so much like \" The\namatist \" by Frederick Reynolds,\ntich the Oxford University Press\nles for 1 /—. The public really\ninot possibly want anything better\nanything more. The paper is good,\nj type is good, and the size of the\noklet perfect. The old custom of\nbreviating the long names like Mac-\nh to Mac: is followed, so we have\nn: for Floriville and Nev: for Ne-\ne in small italic.\nBut in Mr. Zangwiil's play \" We\n>derns Messrs Heinemann and Co\n7e used a large capital letter for the\nnes of the Dramatis Person&> and\nsomehow gives one a feeling of\nxness as one looks at it.... \" DICK\nDOLLY.... DICK .... DOLLY ....\nCK....D1CK....MARY....D1CK....\nCK\". Common sense has not gone to\nsetting up of this play. The use of a\ny small capital letter would not\ne mattered very much, though no\nitai is so good as the lower case\nc for this purpose.\n)ne does not want to see so much\nte followed by such trivial lines.\nexample:\n)ICK. \" Yes. dear, I'll go at once\",\nthat a lot of stage direction.\nOh! Joanna\".\nKher that \"JOANNA\" in big\n5, and all she say? is \"Clumsy\",...\nall we can add is \" Very \"!\nVith these huge names crying out\nnotice the best we can do is to read\nn and ponder: \"DICK, DICK...\npoor old Dick..., Yes, MARY,\n\\JRY, MARY. .. there, there, dear\n\\RY. These big names are like an\nggerated amount or scenery and\n/ays attract us away from a poor\n; y-\nIn the \" Trial of Jesus \" by John\nasefield, a small letter has been em-\nyed for the Dramatis Persons.\nThe author of Odtaa \" has caus-\nthe sacred figure of Jesus to speak,\nmy opinion such a figure should\ni speak on a stage, and it is even\nübtful whether he should be seen,\nhave never thought it sensible in\nan author to make very great men,\ngreat historical figures of the past, come\nto life on a stage and speak,... Shake-\nspeare for example. I recall having read\ntwo or three plays in which Shakes-\npeare was made to enter in the flesh,\nand became immediately embarrassed.\nHe seemed to be fishing about for\nhis words; seemed uncertain as to\nwhether he should utter little nothings\nin the du Maurier manner such as\n\"Hullo, Ben! Have you seen Chap-\nman today?\" or whether he should\nroll out lines lifted prematurely from\nhis own plays.\nHow should Shakespeare be made to\nspeak? What author is ever going to\nbe so dull as to dare ?\nThen what can one feel and say\nabout the appearance of a divine\nfigure like Jesus....and speaking? If\nanyone could achieve success in En-\nglish it would be Mr. Masefieid. That\nhe fails is nothing astonishing —it is\neven wonderful that he fails so well.\nMiss Clemence Dane fails over Na-\nboth, and Jezebel, Ahab and Elijah.\nConceive an Arabian writer attempting\nto succeed with the character of St,\nFrancis of Assisi or Catherine of Siena.\nI do not want to see Elijah on the\nstage. Why should we push towards\nthat day when we shall see \" Tonight\nMr. Henry Ainley as Jesus \" printed\non a Poster and pasted up near the\nCriterion Bar, next door to \" The\nWaltz of the Dogs next week....Mr,\nHenry Ainley as Henry Tilley \".\n\" The Waltz of the Dogs\" is a\nhorrible sort of a play by Andreyev.\nThere is, thank the Tzar, a certain\namount of go in it, but it is not a\nplay that would be worth going to see.\nWhereas the three farces of Garrick\nare the genuine article: only little\nthings, of course .... trifles,—unpreten-\ntious— wasting only an hour and a half\nof our time, and \" The Dramatist \" by\nReynolds is another of the same kind:\n...an hour and a half, one shilling.\nAs for the \" Tibetan Mystery\nPlays they seem curiously interesting,\nbut I have been unable.... I had not\nsix hours to spare to each page.\n\nJAP A NISCHE MASKEN. NO\nUND KYOGEN, by Frederick Per-\nzynsl?L De Gruyter & Co. Berlin.\n2 Volumes. Price 80 Marks.\nIN this superb book are to be found\n110 full page plates of masks.\nThe European stage is presented\nwith something it can study (if it's\nnot asleep) without knowing Japanese\nor German.\nEven the casual observer will note\nthat there are very few masks which\ncan be labeled Heroic, but quite a\nfew which are demonic. But most of\nthem are curiously ordinary faces,\nthough to see how they fit the face\nof the character one would have to\nread each play, There are many\nwhich resemble death masks—there is\nhardly one which has not a whisper\nof death on it.\nThis would settle it for Messrs Butt\nand If; not in their theatre if you\nplease—. And although the realm of\ndeath is not what the Dramatist sets\nout to show us, in Japan and in\nGreece ids playwright seldom failed to\nhint at it. Stomachs and hearts were\nstronger in those days, it seems.\nMasks then serve, ...but there must\nbe the dramatist to tie them on, No\none else may perform this office.\nAltogether a wonderful book, this\nbook of Masks.\nLook for example, at Plate No 17 ;\nreproducing an illustration from this\nbook.\nIt is a mask for a No. play.\nRecently in London a Greek play\nwas performed by a group of enthu-\nsiasts who used masks.\nThat and the Japanese use of\nmasks are two different things, Euro-\npeans have lost the wisdom which be-\nlonged to the spectators and the ar-\ntists of the No. They have also lost\nthe tradition which tells what masks\nare for and how to use them. They\nseem also to have lost the audacity\nsufficient to invent and use new masks\nfor a new type of Drama.\nTo put on a thing called a mask\nand to babble /Eschylus or Sophocles\nthrough the mouthpiece is, and always\nwill be, unfortunate. We must return\nto the use of Masks only by advan-\ncing to another condition of mind than\nthat possessed by enthusiasts for playing\nthe fool gravely."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c050", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c050", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "164", "page_fin": "163", "image_debut": 44, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.23.1", "titre_corps": "THE DRAMATIST; Frederick ReynoldsTHE TRIAL OF JESUS. John MasefieldWE MODERNS; Israel ZangwillNABOTH'S VINEYARD. Clemence DaneTHREE FARCES by David GarrickTHE WALTZ OF THE DOGS. L. AndreyevTHREE TIBETAN MYSTERIES", "titre_sommaire": "THE DRAMATIST; Frederick ReynoldsTHE TRIAL OF JESUS. John MasefieldWE MODERNS; Israel ZangwillNABOTH'S VINEYARD. Clemence DaneTHREE FARCES by David GarrickTHE WALTZ OF THE DOGS. L. AndreyevTHREE TIBETAN MYSTERIES", "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": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 5306, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6342, "texte": "THE DRAMATIST; Frederick Rey-\nnolds. Humphrey Mil ford, Oxford\nUniversity Press, //—.\nTHE TRIAL OF JESUS. John\nMasefield. Heinemann. 6j—.\nWE MODERNS; Israel ZangwllL\nHeinemann. 6/—.\nNABOTH'S VINEYARD. CU~\nmence Dane. Heinemann. 6/—.\nTHREE FARCES by David Garrick,\nYale University Press - Humphrey\nMilford. Oxford University Press).\n7/6.\nTHE WALTZ OF THE DOGS,\nL. Andreyev. Brentano9s. London.\nTHREE TIBETAN MYSTERIES\nRoutledge. 7/6.\nSEVEN authors, all of them well\nknown, and the first, Frederick\nReynolds, dead and gone some centu-\nries ago, is the only one to have jus-\ntice done him by his publisher. The\npublisher puts him in a tiny little book,\nwith paper cover?, and sends him out\nat a shilling. All the other books are\nfive shillings, six shillings, or seven and\nsix, and that is much too much.\nIt used to be \" Book of the words,,\nprice three pence the idea being\nthat all you needed was a little bro-\nchure which you could put in your\npocket, and look at it if you wanted\nto recall what it was that you had\nheard upon the stage."}, {"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "163", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3954, "texte": "But nowadays we are perfecting all\nose things which should be left im-\n*fect, and leaving imperfect all those\ndngs which we should perfect. And\nthe publishers bring out handsome\noking books of acted and unacted\n*ays, and, while it pleases us to be\nle to read them when we want to, I\n' one have a feeling that the way\n5 books are presented to us is a\nle pretentious.\nThat is why I so much like \" The\namatist \" by Frederick Reynolds,\ntich the Oxford University Press\nles for 1 /—. The public really\ninot possibly want anything better\nanything more. The paper is good,\nj type is good, and the size of the\noklet perfect. The old custom of\nbreviating the long names like Mac-\nh to Mac: is followed, so we have\nn: for Floriville and Nev: for Ne-\ne in small italic.\nBut in Mr. Zangwiil's play \" We\n>derns Messrs Heinemann and Co\n7e used a large capital letter for the\nnes of the Dramatis Person&> and\nsomehow gives one a feeling of\nxness as one looks at it.... \" DICK\nDOLLY.... DICK .... DOLLY ....\nCK....D1CK....MARY....D1CK....\nCK\". Common sense has not gone to\nsetting up of this play. The use of a\ny small capital letter would not\ne mattered very much, though no\nitai is so good as the lower case\nc for this purpose.\n)ne does not want to see so much\nte followed by such trivial lines.\nexample:\n)ICK. \" Yes. dear, I'll go at once\",\nthat a lot of stage direction.\nOh! Joanna\".\nKher that \"JOANNA\" in big\n5, and all she say? is \"Clumsy\",...\nall we can add is \" Very \"!\nVith these huge names crying out\nnotice the best we can do is to read\nn and ponder: \"DICK, DICK...\npoor old Dick..., Yes, MARY,\n\\JRY, MARY. .. there, there, dear\n\\RY. These big names are like an\nggerated amount or scenery and\n/ays attract us away from a poor\n; y-\nIn the \" Trial of Jesus \" by John\nasefield, a small letter has been em-\nyed for the Dramatis Persons.\nThe author of Odtaa \" has caus-\nthe sacred figure of Jesus to speak,\nmy opinion such a figure should\ni speak on a stage, and it is even\nübtful whether he should be seen,\nhave never thought it sensible in\nan author to make very great men,\ngreat historical figures of the past, come\nto life on a stage and speak,... Shake-\nspeare for example. I recall having read\ntwo or three plays in which Shakes-\npeare was made to enter in the flesh,\nand became immediately embarrassed.\nHe seemed to be fishing about for\nhis words; seemed uncertain as to\nwhether he should utter little nothings\nin the du Maurier manner such as\n\"Hullo, Ben! Have you seen Chap-\nman today?\" or whether he should\nroll out lines lifted prematurely from\nhis own plays.\nHow should Shakespeare be made to\nspeak? What author is ever going to\nbe so dull as to dare ?\nThen what can one feel and say\nabout the appearance of a divine\nfigure like Jesus....and speaking? If\nanyone could achieve success in En-\nglish it would be Mr. Masefieid. That\nhe fails is nothing astonishing —it is\neven wonderful that he fails so well.\nMiss Clemence Dane fails over Na-\nboth, and Jezebel, Ahab and Elijah.\nConceive an Arabian writer attempting\nto succeed with the character of St,\nFrancis of Assisi or Catherine of Siena.\nI do not want to see Elijah on the\nstage. Why should we push towards\nthat day when we shall see \" Tonight\nMr. Henry Ainley as Jesus \" printed\non a Poster and pasted up near the\nCriterion Bar, next door to \" The\nWaltz of the Dogs next week....Mr,\nHenry Ainley as Henry Tilley \".\n\" The Waltz of the Dogs\" is a\nhorrible sort of a play by Andreyev.\nThere is, thank the Tzar, a certain\namount of go in it, but it is not a\nplay that would be worth going to see.\nWhereas the three farces of Garrick\nare the genuine article: only little\nthings, of course .... trifles,—unpreten-\ntious— wasting only an hour and a half\nof our time, and \" The Dramatist \" by\nReynolds is another of the same kind:\n...an hour and a half, one shilling.\nAs for the \" Tibetan Mystery\nPlays they seem curiously interesting,\nbut I have been unable.... I had not\nsix hours to spare to each page."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c051", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c051", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_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": 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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.23.1.1", "titre_corps": "A Mask FOR A NÕ PLAY", "titre_sommaire": "A Mask FOR A NÕ PLAY", "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": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.45", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 55, "texte": "A MASK FOR A NÕ PLAY.\nFrom the Berlin Museum.\nPlate 17."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c052", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c052", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "163", "page_fin": "163", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.23.2", "titre_corps": "JAPANISCHE MASKEN. NO UND KYOGEN by Frederich Perzynski", "titre_sommaire": "JAPANISCHE MASKEN. NO UND KYOGEN by Frederich Perzynski", "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": "163", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 3956, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5885, "texte": "JAP A NISCHE MASKEN. NO\nUND KYOGEN, by Frederick Per-\nzynsl?L De Gruyter & Co. Berlin.\n2 Volumes. Price 80 Marks.\nIN this superb book are to be found\n110 full page plates of masks.\nThe European stage is presented\nwith something it can study (if it's\nnot asleep) without knowing Japanese\nor German.\nEven the casual observer will note\nthat there are very few masks which\ncan be labeled Heroic, but quite a\nfew which are demonic. But most of\nthem are curiously ordinary faces,\nthough to see how they fit the face\nof the character one would have to\nread each play, There are many\nwhich resemble death masks—there is\nhardly one which has not a whisper\nof death on it.\nThis would settle it for Messrs Butt\nand If; not in their theatre if you\nplease—. And although the realm of\ndeath is not what the Dramatist sets\nout to show us, in Japan and in\nGreece ids playwright seldom failed to\nhint at it. Stomachs and hearts were\nstronger in those days, it seems.\nMasks then serve, ...but there must\nbe the dramatist to tie them on, No\none else may perform this office.\nAltogether a wonderful book, this\nbook of Masks.\nLook for example, at Plate No 17 ;\nreproducing an illustration from this\nbook.\nIt is a mask for a No. play.\nRecently in London a Greek play\nwas performed by a group of enthu-\nsiasts who used masks.\nThat and the Japanese use of\nmasks are two different things, Euro-\npeans have lost the wisdom which be-\nlonged to the spectators and the ar-\ntists of the No. They have also lost\nthe tradition which tells what masks\nare for and how to use them. They\nseem also to have lost the audacity\nsufficient to invent and use new masks\nfor a new type of Drama.\nTo put on a thing called a mask\nand to babble /Eschylus or Sophocles\nthrough the mouthpiece is, and always\nwill be, unfortunate. We must return\nto the use of Masks only by advan-\ncing to another condition of mind than\nthat possessed by enthusiasts for playing\nthe fool gravely."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c053", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c053", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "163", "page_fin": "164", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.24", "titre_corps": "FIVE BOOKS : FOUR MEN AND A HALF. BEETHOVEN : STRINDBERG : TCHEHOV : SHAW : – AND SAMUEL PEPYS. (I)", "titre_sommaire": "FIVE BOOKS : FOUR MEN AND A HALF. BEETHOVEN : STRINDBERG : TCHEHOV : SHAW : – AND SAMUEL PEPYS. (I)", "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": "163", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 5887, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6511, "texte": "FIVE BOOKS.\nFOUR MEN AND A HALF.\nBEETHOVEN : STRINDBERG : TCHEHOV :\nSHAW : - AND SAMUEL PEPYS. (I)\n\n| would recommed these five books\n1 to anybody who today cares to get\na glimpse of two human men, two\nclever men, and a nobody, because on\n(i) Beethoven's Letters, edited by\nDr. A. C. Kalischer. Dent & Sons.\nThe Confessions of a Fool by Au-\ngust Strindberg. Viking Press, New\nYork. Dollars 2.50.\nThe Letters of Anton Pavlovitch\nTchehov to Olga Leonardovna Knipper,\nChatto Sc Windus. 15/- net.\nThe Genius of Bernard Shaw by\nPatrick Braybrooks. Dane's Ltd. 7/6 net.\nSamuel Pepys, by Lucas Dubreton.\nA. L. Philpot Ltd. 7/6 net."}, {"page_pdf": 48, "page_imprimee": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5850, "texte": "looking at the five of them together one\ncan more easily measure them.\nTwo there are who stand out head\nand shoulders above the rest and may\nbe really called great men; and by\nthat I do not mean pieces of perfec-\ntion, but human beings made of more\nthan one element, one stuff ; made of\nall that goes to make a man, and\ntrying to understand what this human\nstuff in them can be. They leave it\nunstated—they are not cock-sure, they\nare not taken up with gazing in a\nglass all day, they are not egoists for\ntheir whole lives are devoted to the\ncreating of great things for us, not to\nmaking money or a sensation; and yet\nthey have appeared to those of a scepti-\ncal turn of mind to be making a great\nfuss about themselves.\nBut they are not. They are not\nmaking a fuss about themselves. They\nare assuredly busy about this queer\nthing which possesses them and they re-\nport truly of it, and for that alone\nthey may be considered as great men.\nBeethoven wrote no \" Confessions\nof a Fool\" as did Strindberg, and,\nin refraining from that, he shows he\nwas wiser; but Strindberg, when he\nconfesses his folly, confesses it in a\nstrange way. He does it like a dra-\nmatist who is confessing the folly of\nothers; ~.he shows himself on a stage\nas two of the dramatis persons. His\none self with its weaknesses, brutalities,\nfears, he sends on to the stage and\ncauses it to speak, uttering the most\nextraordinary things so that your sym-\npathies are entirely turned against this\nfigure. He is not out to make it a\nhero; but, just as he is finishing with\nthe figure, he brings his second self on,\nand this second self he flings against the\nother. It swamps the other, but not\nfor long; for as soon as the first figure\nbegins to speak again and to take the\nstage, the second dwindles we dis-\nlike him.\nWe are now entirely in favour of\nthis first one ; but before long we are\nagain drawn round to the other ; and\nthen in a flash, as they come closer\ntogether, they seem to merge into one\nand to grow in stature. Two men\ncannot be one man. We draw back\nfrom this huge figure. There is some-\nthing that does not satisfy us. Quickly\na third appears, makes us forget\nthe two of them. And again this\nthird figure becomes merged in the\nother two and becomes immense.\nRound this terrific figure move other\nfigures, the figure of a wife, her\nformer husband, and many other people.\nHe is fair to all as only a great dra-\nmatist can be.\nThe difference we find, as we look\nat the whole company acting, is, that,\nwhereas the wife, the former husband\nand the others each possesses one being,\nhe, the hero-villain-fool of the piece,\npossesses three.\nPart of the story of Strindberg is\nthe story of a dramatist with a wife\nwho wants to act and who is a nui-\nsance.\nThere is something of the same\nstory about Tchehov, though no one\ncould call Madame Knipper a nui-\nsance. His wife was already an\nactress when he married her, and, in\nall the letters which they write to and\nfro, you can feel the unspoken prayer\nof Tchehov that she would cease to\nact. Why should she cease? I do\nnot know. Tchehov is dead, and his\nwife is the greatest actress in Russia.\nQuite unlike Strindberg, Tchehov\nwas what you would call a clever\nman , and, besides being that, was, it\nwould seem, a very sweet-natured\nman ; not handsome, not immense, not\na genius like Strindberg, but amusing,.,\nhow amusing; so amusing and so\nsweet (if we may use the adjective\nagain) that the irony of his thought\nuntil he dies is so sugared over that\neven some of his closest friends could\nnot perceive it.\nNobody can be more drawn towards\nTchehov than I am, but somehow 1\nregret his whole existence. His life\ndoes not seem to me to be the life of\na man, nor the life of a great\ndramatist. It seems to be all too\nsafe and small for that ...a smali-\nness which matches with the age just\nas Strindberg's grandeur, defects and\nall, stood above the age; and so it\nccmes about that we see him with\nBeethoven, whereas we see Tchehov\ndown here with Shaw, the second\nclever dramatist.\nTo call the book \"The Genius of\nBernard Shaw \" is to make a journa-\nlistic claim for something which is not,\neven as dubbing himself 'dramatic-\npoet* when he wrote to the German\nAmbassador was but a journalistic claim\nand was not very clever. No one will\never need to waste time claiming genius\nfor Strindberg so obviously does he\npossess it.\nAnd Pepys ?... Really.\n\nMADEMOISELLE MOLIERE, by\nHenry Lyonnet. Felix Alcan, Paris.\n1925. Francs 12.\nTHE French, like the Italians, have\nalways practised the sensible habit\nof clothing their books in paper covers,\nleaving scope for individual taste in\nbinding ; and this enables them to give\nus books of worth at a more reason-\nable cost than those produced in\nLondon and New York, a fact for\nwhich all book-buyers must be grateful.\nThis little volume on \" Mademoi-\nselle Moliere '*, the title by which the\nwife of Moliere was known, is by an\nauthor who has produced many books\non the theatre, including \" Le Theatre\nen Espagne '*, \" Le Theatre au Por-\ntugal \" Pulcinella et Cie \", and\nothers; and this present work forms\npart of the series of \" Acteurs et Ac-\ntrices d'Autrefois **, a series of M do-\ncuments and anecdotes \" published un-\nder the direction of M. Louis Schneider.\nAmong the many volumes which\nhave already appeared is one on \" Bo-\ncage '* by Paul Ginisty, ex-director of\nTOdeon. Others announced include\n\" Marie Dorval ** by Antoine of the\nTheatre-Libre ; \" Rachel \" by Louis\nBathou, and \" Mademoiselle Mars\nby Lucien Desclaves.\nIf \" Mademoiselle Moliere ** is a\nspecimen of the rest, the series is worth\nadding to the theatre student's library,\nsince much interesting information is\ncontained in a convenient form, and\nwell illustrated, among the eighteen\nplates in this little volume being two\ninteresting views of the Villa Moliere\nat Meudon.\nAltogether, good measure for twelve\nfrancs."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c054", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c054", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "163", "page_fin": "164", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.24.1", "titre_corps": "[Sans titre]", "titre_sommaire": "[Sans titre]", "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": "163", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 5987, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6511, "texte": "| would recommed these five books\n1 to anybody who today cares to get\na glimpse of two human men, two\nclever men, and a nobody, because on\n(i) Beethoven's Letters, edited by\nDr. A. C. Kalischer. Dent & Sons.\nThe Confessions of a Fool by Au-\ngust Strindberg. Viking Press, New\nYork. Dollars 2.50.\nThe Letters of Anton Pavlovitch\nTchehov to Olga Leonardovna Knipper,\nChatto Sc Windus. 15/- net.\nThe Genius of Bernard Shaw by\nPatrick Braybrooks. Dane's Ltd. 7/6 net.\nSamuel Pepys, by Lucas Dubreton.\nA. L. Philpot Ltd. 7/6 net."}, {"page_pdf": 48, "page_imprimee": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4366, "texte": "looking at the five of them together one\ncan more easily measure them.\nTwo there are who stand out head\nand shoulders above the rest and may\nbe really called great men; and by\nthat I do not mean pieces of perfec-\ntion, but human beings made of more\nthan one element, one stuff ; made of\nall that goes to make a man, and\ntrying to understand what this human\nstuff in them can be. They leave it\nunstated—they are not cock-sure, they\nare not taken up with gazing in a\nglass all day, they are not egoists for\ntheir whole lives are devoted to the\ncreating of great things for us, not to\nmaking money or a sensation; and yet\nthey have appeared to those of a scepti-\ncal turn of mind to be making a great\nfuss about themselves.\nBut they are not. They are not\nmaking a fuss about themselves. They\nare assuredly busy about this queer\nthing which possesses them and they re-\nport truly of it, and for that alone\nthey may be considered as great men.\nBeethoven wrote no \" Confessions\nof a Fool\" as did Strindberg, and,\nin refraining from that, he shows he\nwas wiser; but Strindberg, when he\nconfesses his folly, confesses it in a\nstrange way. He does it like a dra-\nmatist who is confessing the folly of\nothers; ~.he shows himself on a stage\nas two of the dramatis persons. His\none self with its weaknesses, brutalities,\nfears, he sends on to the stage and\ncauses it to speak, uttering the most\nextraordinary things so that your sym-\npathies are entirely turned against this\nfigure. He is not out to make it a\nhero; but, just as he is finishing with\nthe figure, he brings his second self on,\nand this second self he flings against the\nother. It swamps the other, but not\nfor long; for as soon as the first figure\nbegins to speak again and to take the\nstage, the second dwindles we dis-\nlike him.\nWe are now entirely in favour of\nthis first one ; but before long we are\nagain drawn round to the other ; and\nthen in a flash, as they come closer\ntogether, they seem to merge into one\nand to grow in stature. Two men\ncannot be one man. We draw back\nfrom this huge figure. There is some-\nthing that does not satisfy us. Quickly\na third appears, makes us forget\nthe two of them. And again this\nthird figure becomes merged in the\nother two and becomes immense.\nRound this terrific figure move other\nfigures, the figure of a wife, her\nformer husband, and many other people.\nHe is fair to all as only a great dra-\nmatist can be.\nThe difference we find, as we look\nat the whole company acting, is, that,\nwhereas the wife, the former husband\nand the others each possesses one being,\nhe, the hero-villain-fool of the piece,\npossesses three.\nPart of the story of Strindberg is\nthe story of a dramatist with a wife\nwho wants to act and who is a nui-\nsance.\nThere is something of the same\nstory about Tchehov, though no one\ncould call Madame Knipper a nui-\nsance. His wife was already an\nactress when he married her, and, in\nall the letters which they write to and\nfro, you can feel the unspoken prayer\nof Tchehov that she would cease to\nact. Why should she cease? I do\nnot know. Tchehov is dead, and his\nwife is the greatest actress in Russia.\nQuite unlike Strindberg, Tchehov\nwas what you would call a clever\nman , and, besides being that, was, it\nwould seem, a very sweet-natured\nman ; not handsome, not immense, not\na genius like Strindberg, but amusing,.,\nhow amusing; so amusing and so\nsweet (if we may use the adjective\nagain) that the irony of his thought\nuntil he dies is so sugared over that\neven some of his closest friends could\nnot perceive it.\nNobody can be more drawn towards\nTchehov than I am, but somehow 1\nregret his whole existence. His life\ndoes not seem to me to be the life of\na man, nor the life of a great\ndramatist. It seems to be all too\nsafe and small for that ...a smali-\nness which matches with the age just\nas Strindberg's grandeur, defects and\nall, stood above the age; and so it\nccmes about that we see him with\nBeethoven, whereas we see Tchehov\ndown here with Shaw, the second\nclever dramatist.\nTo call the book \"The Genius of\nBernard Shaw \" is to make a journa-\nlistic claim for something which is not,\neven as dubbing himself 'dramatic-\npoet* when he wrote to the German\nAmbassador was but a journalistic claim\nand was not very clever. No one will\never need to waste time claiming genius\nfor Strindberg so obviously does he\npossess it.\nAnd Pepys ?... Really."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c055", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c055", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "164", "page_fin": "164", "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.24.2", "titre_corps": "MADEMOISELLE MOLIERE, by Henry Lyonnet", "titre_sommaire": "MADEMOISELLE MOLIERE, by Henry Lyonnet", "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": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 4368, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5850, "texte": "MADEMOISELLE MOLIERE, by\nHenry Lyonnet. Felix Alcan, Paris.\n1925. Francs 12.\nTHE French, like the Italians, have\nalways practised the sensible habit\nof clothing their books in paper covers,\nleaving scope for individual taste in\nbinding ; and this enables them to give\nus books of worth at a more reason-\nable cost than those produced in\nLondon and New York, a fact for\nwhich all book-buyers must be grateful.\nThis little volume on \" Mademoi-\nselle Moliere '*, the title by which the\nwife of Moliere was known, is by an\nauthor who has produced many books\non the theatre, including \" Le Theatre\nen Espagne '*, \" Le Theatre au Por-\ntugal \" Pulcinella et Cie \", and\nothers; and this present work forms\npart of the series of \" Acteurs et Ac-\ntrices d'Autrefois **, a series of M do-\ncuments and anecdotes \" published un-\nder the direction of M. Louis Schneider.\nAmong the many volumes which\nhave already appeared is one on \" Bo-\ncage '* by Paul Ginisty, ex-director of\nTOdeon. Others announced include\n\" Marie Dorval ** by Antoine of the\nTheatre-Libre ; \" Rachel \" by Louis\nBathou, and \" Mademoiselle Mars\nby Lucien Desclaves.\nIf \" Mademoiselle Moliere ** is a\nspecimen of the rest, the series is worth\nadding to the theatre student's library,\nsince much interesting information is\ncontained in a convenient form, and\nwell illustrated, among the eighteen\nplates in this little volume being two\ninteresting views of the Villa Moliere\nat Meudon.\nAltogether, good measure for twelve\nfrancs."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c056", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c056", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "164", "page_fin": "169", "image_debut": 48, "image_fin": 53, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.25", "titre_corps": "FOUR BOOKS", "titre_sommaire": "FOUR BOOKS", "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": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 5852, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6740, "texte": "FOUR BOOKS.\n\nA STUDY OF THE MODERN\nDRAMA by Barrett H. Clarke. D.\nApplefon & Company $ 3.50.\nGLAMOUR ; Essays on the Art of\nthe Theatre by Stark Young. Charles\nScribner's Sons, New York $ 2.\nMODERN THEATRES by Irving\nFichel. Harcourt Brace & Company\n$ 2.25.\nPL A YS OF THE MOSCO W ART\nTHEATRE MUSICAL STUDIO.\nEnglish Translation from the Russian\nby George S. & Gilbert Selden with\nintroduction by Oliver M. Sayler. Bren~\ntano's $ 3.\n>UMMUMIWimiUUM—J——JUMUIJ——j— H«II»«IIH !■■!■■ ■ 11l I —!■ IHMUmUB TT—M— llf\nWHEN Major General John F.\nO'Ryan, Commander of the\n27th Division of the United States\nArmy in the War, called for a more\nsportsman American attitude towards\nWar debts he caused no audible echo\nin the United States \", says a Lon-\ndon journal. But that was because the\nstupid people, (and by that, one means\nthe majority of people), cannot see\nexactly what a clever man like Gene-"}, {"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "165", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.49", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 7124, "texte": "rat G* Ryan means when he asks them\nto be more sportsman-like about some-\nthing that does not concern them in\nthe least. What he meant but did\nnot (for International reasons) explain\nwas, would they assume, would they\nput on, a sportsmanlike American\nexpression, and hold it long enough\nfor the Cinema to register, for that\nwould be just bully for reclame.\nSo when an American writes to\n€< The Mask \" (T) and says that Ameri-\ncans have the habit of giving, and\nthat they intend to give big sums to\nthe Shakespeare Memorial whether we\nlike it or no, we ought to be cleverer\nthan we are, and we ought to under-\nstand what he means. We ought to\nknow that he means mischief; but\ngood, nice, sportsman-like mischief. In\nour lack of comprehension we are like\nthe majority of the people of the Uni-\nted States who do not tumble right\naway to what it was precisely that Ge-\nneral O'Ryan was trying to say. We\ndo not undeistand what our American\ncorrespondent, Mr. Campbell, means. At\nleast we did not. Now we begin to.\nAnd we like it even less,\nBecause of this : ....and I am going\nto differ with Mr. Campbell first and\napologize afterwards.\nAll this pitiful love of a sure, cheap\nreclame is a nuisance which the Ame-\nricans should keep to themselves.\nTheir use of our Shakespeare is an\nexample of what 1 mean. Shakes-\npeare is not for their purposes of re-\nclame. if the name 44 Shakespeare **\ncan serve as reclame to his own peo-\nple, ali very well and good. It seems\nextremely doubtful. What must re-\nmain in no possible doubt, is that\nunder no circumstances whatever must\nwe allow ourselves to be hood-\nwinked by a showy offer of funds\nfrom America into allowing Americans\nonce more to tell the world that they\nare very very generous and are unable\nto refuse our tearful appeal to save\nthe situation in which we have placed\nour Shakespeare.\nWho for a moment doubts the fact\nthat there must he, that there are,\nthousands of very generous Americans ;\nbut who is there who does not know\nthat generosity is4 after all, a very\nquiet things all said and done, and\ndoes not make much of itself; so that\nMr. Campbell, though he writes a\nreally excellent letter, and is the last\nperson that anyone could wish to dif-\nfer from, is for all that just the very\nman who ought to know better.\n1 wonder whether he would be so\nmoved, look so hne, strike such an at-\ntitude if it were a question of a Wait\nWhitman or Poe that was before the\nworld !\nWe know quite well of course that\nthe Shakespeare Drama is one of the\nbest things in the world and that this\nshould be sufficient reason for killing\nit. To America the best is only some-\nthing to tire of quickly and to kill.\nDo not imagine that this is my\nopinion.... it is the opinion of the Ame-\nrican Mr. Stark Young, whose essays\non the art of the theatre are not the\nsort of th:ng the Americans will kill\nimmediately, but there are one or two\npassages in these essays that should be\nchewed up straight away.\n44 In America, every year it is true9\nWe hail the best thing in the World,\nsuch is our craving for the superla-\ntive and our trust in print. The best\nthing in the world comes to us and\ndeparts, and We are ready for ano-\nther best thing in the World. But for\nthe moment the Moscow Art Theatre\nWas that. The fact that the organi-\nsation was old and somewhat tired,\nand some of the actors but shadows\nof what they once had been, Was not\nmentioned. The superlative reigned,\nthe house was crowded in spite of a\nforeign language and high prices. In\nthe spring the company on tour retur-\nned, to less majorities, and their visit\ntn the following season Was by no\nmeans a triumph. I have often won-\ndered what these Russians thought\nof that falling away after such ra-\nving heal, but if they had known us\nbetter they would have expected as\nmueh\nMr. Stark Young, it is, who needs\nto know the Russians better, to know\nall of us poor Europeans better. We\nare a conglomeration of the stupidest\nraces, as we have long suspected. But\nit is extraordinary how we are all\nagreed as to the importance of going\nto America to get some money. We\nall go, do we not; we all stay a short\ntime, and come away ; but 1 fear that\nmany of us say rude things about\nAmerica on coming back. Some even\nwrite books saying it. Some make a\nrude gesture—they do not go again.\nWhy should they.... how can they....\nthey are dead. Ameripa, loving them\nso much for six months, says, 4 4 Good-\nbye ! Tell us who is better than you\nover there \". Well, it would kill you,\nwould it not, and you are a hardened\nAmerican, are you not, if we asked\nyou a thing like that on your visit to\nEurope. And it is always artists to\nwhom they put this delicate question.\nIf it should happen to be one of their\nown superlatively great artists, they do\nnot even put the question to them.\nThey club them on the head at the\nlanding stage. This statement of mine\nexasperates you to the extent of laugh-\ning at me if you are American. But\nI assure you it is the solemn and ab-\nsolute truth, and you can take it, and\nput it into your pipe, and smoke it\nas slowly as possible. 44 Oh! Our\nartists are such bad, weak people, such\nundesirable people, etc. **. Talk on\nand talk in, fade in and fade out, for\nall we can listen to you, with your\nnonsense about the undesirability of\nyour great artists.\nA great and clever nation, a beau-\ntiful nation, and a brilliant nation, you\nplay the fool in regard to your artists.\nBut you may take comfort in this fact,\nthat here you imitate Europe perfectly.\nWhy grow so heated, you ask me!\nOnly that I have sympathy for great\nartists, and Mr. Morris Gest has sym-\npathy too. He is sympathetic enough\nto speculate in them.\nRecently his thought have turned\ntowards the Russian theatre, although\nthe German theatre, titivated up by\nGeddes and Lady Diana Cooper, once\nclaimed his attention.\nHaving run the Moscow Art Thea-\ntre, Mr. Gest, approaching one of the\nDirectors with bated breath and whis-\npered humbleness, asks whether the\ngoods could be a little different next\ntime. Nemerovitch Dantchenko (one of\nthe directors) whose files are packed full\nwith every kind of theatrical goods,\nasks Mr. Gest to give it a name.\n44 Opera, Mr. Nemeovitch, is what I\nthought of \" Certainly, Mr, Gest,\na new kind of opera shall be with\nyou in a couple of months And a\nnew kind of opera, new to Mr. Gest,\nis forthcoming. It is new in the sense\nthat it seems new. Like the nuts to\nthe monkeys, When the monkeys\nsquabbled and there was a revolution in\nthat house, because there were twelve\nnuts in the morning and six in the\nafternoon, it was a Nemerovitch Dant-\nchenko who solved the difficulty by\ngiving them six nuts in the morning\nand twelve in the afternoon.\nHaving got hold of the new kind\nof opera, Mr. Gest calls on several\npeople to turn out a book of the\nwords, which does not appear in ordi-\nnary loose paper cover as the old li-\nbrettos have always appeared, but in a\nhandsome cloth bound book, price $ 3,\nprinted on fine paper, and containing\nthe words of five operas and operettas\ntranslated into English.\nI must say 1 rather like having a\ncopy, but Mr. Sayler's introductions I\n\n(i) See The Mask. July No. page 126."}, {"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "166", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6666, "texte": "do not like, because Mr. Sayler was\nborn to do much better and it grieves\nme to see a man paid to do his\nworst. What nonsense he writes I\nleave you to judge from these samples,\n1) 44 With 44 The Lyons Mai!\nHenry Irving curdled countless hearts\n2) 44 Ihe Russians summoned to\nAmerica by Maurice Gest 44 Curd-\nled \" and 44 Summoned \" are cheap\nand gaudy. But Madame Angot is\nof course glorious into whatever lan-\nguage she is translated :\nACT ONE\n(A Market Place, Buteux, Cadet,\nGuiilaume, Javotte, Th&ese; market\nwomen and men in holiday dress. Later,\nPomponnet and Babet).\nChorus. Where is he,\nThe happy one,\nThe favored one ?\nLet him now\nQuickly come\nFor his lovely bride...\nSee the birds\nHop about—\nOff the twig\nOn again.\nHere he waits eagerly\nFor his lovely bride.\n(Pomponnet appears at a window).\nMen. There he is! Pomponnet,\nare you ready ?\nPomponnet Yes, I am quite ready,—\nand so it goes on page after page.\nWould you like to hear the first\npage of 44 Lysistrata \" or Carmencita \"?\nRather let me offer you half a page\nof 44 Perichole\nThe Viceroy. The banns, the banns....\nCount Panatellas. The banns the\n<\nbanns,...\nDon Pedro. The banns, the hanns.,..\nPiquillo. Yes, yes, yes.\nChorus of Men. Yes, yes, yefr,\nFor certain Mr. Horace Wyndham\nwill run to the Rue de Rivoli imme-\ndiately, and buy a copy. And this\nMr. Gest, who has books like this\nbrought out, who summons the Rus-\nsians to America, from sheer love of\nthe art, of course; who comes to Eng-\nland, and announces in the 44 Eve-\nning Standard \" or some other paper,\nthat he is right out for religion, and\nthat he feels that, to make religion go\nwith a pop, he will take back the\nmost beaut'ful girl from England if he\nhas to walk across the street to get\nher, and finally secures Lady Diana\nCooper, this Mr. Gest is a man I par-\nticularly dislike; not in that he ad-\nmires Lady Diana Cooper as the most\nbeautiful lady in the world, or that\nhe loves art ; that would be all right\ntoo, if it were true; or that Lady\nDiana Cooper ushers him into the pre-\nsence of the baronesses and countes-\nses of London;—that is odd but never\nmind; what I dislike in him is that he\nis everlastingly pretending that he is\nmaking a great sacrifice, pretending that\nhe is doing it for the love of the\nthing. That is a definitely nasty trick\non America.\nIt does not matter to Europe be-\ncause Europe sees through such bad\npretending. Our own Mr. Cochran\nwould never stoop to bungle in that\nway: when he fools the public he\ndoes it so that none of us can see\nthrough it; and if Mr. Gest would\nonly learn his business and do that\ntoo, we would be readier to applaud.\nTo be thoroughly taken in, what mat-\nter ; but for a raw amateur to come\nup, winking with both eyes at once—\nwinking eight obvious winks—under\nour very noses, and then *' Watch me\ntake you in that is what is so\nappalling in the amateur Mr. Gest.\nYou will begin to suppose that I\ndislike everything that is American. I\ndo not; but most of what I see I\ndo dislike,\nAnd indeed I always very much\nlike the books of Barrett H. Clark,\nwho still concerns himself with the study\nof the drama. I have had his 44 Euro-\npean Theories of the Drama \" by me\nfor a number of years, and it wears\nwell. He must have given it away.\nI keep it somewhere near my table if\nthat explains what I mean ; and this\nnew book 44 The Study of the Mo-\ndern Drama \" looks to me as though\nit would also prove of use. The wri-\nter, now and again, tries to explain\nthe meaning of the dramas. He even\ntries to explain the dramatist, and I\nthink that he . will some day come to\nsee that that is a mistake. For instance,\nspeaking of Sirindberg, he refers to his\ndistorted view of life. What about\nthe distorted view of life of Tolstoi,\nGorki, Tchehov, Ibsen, Hoffmansthal,\nBecque, Brieux, Pirandello, cTAnnun-\nzio and Bernard Shaw ? The author\nseems to have a dislike for Strindberg,\nbut when writing about drama, you\nfirst read the play, or put it down.\nOr you listen to the play, or go out.\nBut you cannot get up and say, 44 I\ndo not approve of what this dramatist\nis saying \" because the dramatist is\nsaying nothing. He has created cha-\nracters in a certain situation, and he\nis a good dramatist in so far as he\nleaves ail his characters free, a bad\ndramatist in so far as he pulls their\nstrings.\nStrindberg, in \" The Father the\nplay Mr. Barrett falls foul of \" in\nthe pseudo-Socratic method \", has gi-\nven us that rare big thing a great play,\nand there can be no questions put about\nits author. One must accept such an\ninspiration and sit quiet, except for\nI he critical part of Mr. Clark's book,\nit is closely packed with good things,\nand I mean it very seriously when I\nsay, that no one studying drama can\npossibly do without it, because it is\nbound to prove so useful.\nI wish 1 could say as much for\nMr. Irving Pichel's \" Modern Thea-\ntres **, which concerns itself with the\nbuilding of theatres. The announce-\nment says that he sketches briefly the\nhistorical tradition of theatre building,\nand that is more or less correct, but\nhe sketches far too briefly.\nThe same announcement says that\nthere are over forty illustrations 44 ran-\nging from the Theatro Farnese of\nParma ** etc. (he spells the name of\nthis city 44 Palma \") but the book\ndoes not actually contain one illustra-\ntion of the Theatro Farnese. Two\nof the other designs are placed upside\ndown.\nHis statement that the turn-table\nstage was invented by Herr Lauten-\nschalger is careless in a writer who\nmust by this time be aware that it\nwas invented by the Japanese, since\nmany authoritative books tell us so.\nNow here are four books com'ng\nfrom America, all of them dealing with\nAmerica, and one of them very good.\nOne out of four is no mean average,\nbut I feel about Pichel and Stark\nYoung that they could do so very\nmuch better, and I hope they will not\nimagine because I have a pen in hand\nthat I am feeling at all superior to-\nwards them.\nI know how difficult it must be,\nespecially in America, to get a book\nup and to get a book out ; but I do\nreally believe that there is only one\nthing that Mr. Pichel and Mr. Young\nneed to do to make their books very\nmuch better indeed, and that is to\nwork four or five times as hard. I do\nnot know if it is worth it. It will\nnot bring them more money if they\ngive years of their lives to the prepa-\nration of a book : they will have to\nbe prepared to do without money.\nMr. Campbell's statement that tL\nAmericans have the habit of giving \\\npretty in sentiment: I do not ask cha-\nrity for such men as Stark Young and\nIrving Pichel . all I ask for them is\nfair pay from their generous money-\ngiving countrymen.\nIt would seem that the men in Ame-\nrica who are in absolute need of support"}, {"page_pdf": 51, "page_imprimee": "167", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.51", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6560, "texte": "are not the artists but the publishers.\nIt is not generally known that they are\npositively hard up, but I know it: I\nhold the proofs.\nInstead of sending over money to\nEngland for the bricks and mortar\nat Stratford-on-Avon, could not that\nhabit of giving be exercised somewhere\nin the neighbourhood of the hard-up\npublishers, so that they may be like\nour English publishers, solid once more,\nand in a position to pay the writers\nand artists a proper fee for sound\nwork ?\n\nLIFE OF WILLIAM GODWIN\nby Ford K. Brown. /. M. Dent &\nSons. /6/- net.\nI have always associated William God-\nwin with that play wherein Byron is\nthe chief character, Shelley and his\nwife acting as \"feeders\" of Byron,\nold Rogers as the sort of heavy father,\nSir Thomas Lawrence as a guest, and\nGodwin waving his banner at the end\nof Act I and Act V, and joining in\nwith everybody else as they shout\n44 Excelsior \".\nAs a walk on he is all right; playing\nthe principal role, he strikes me as\nawful.\nAnd here in this book he figures as\nthe hero.\nHe wrote a book on \" Political\nJustice \"—and another called 44 Caleb\nWilliams \", and there is a great deal\nin these books, so they say ; but there\nis ev'dently not sufficient to make one\nleap eagerly to the story of the life\nof William Godwin, and devour every\npage, as one does, for example, with\nthe life of Byron, or of Lamb.\nWilliam Godwin was always in\nfinancial difficulties, and had he been\nan extraordinary creature like Blake,\nfor example, the trouble would suit him\nto the ground. If you are in financial\ndifficulty, at least be a genius; but do\nnot be a very able man and then be\nin financial difficulties.\nBut when all this is said and done,\nthis book on Godwin contains a cer-\ntain amount of interesting information,\nabout Byron, Burke, Blake, Lamb,\nColeridge, Shelley, and that young lady\nwho ought to have a statue put up to\nher in Westminster Abbey I allude\nto Claire Claremont. There is some-\nthing so touching about this figure, that,\neven should it not be possible to find room\nfor her in Westminster Abbey, there\nought to be money enough to put an effigy\n**p in Tottenham Court Road. It would\nnot be too much to make a monument\nlarge enough to contain other figures—\nother women of that period. 1 never\nknow why it is that only our dear\nsingers and dancers are fortunate enough\nto be immortalized in a group! For\ninstance you remember that charming\ngroup Taglioni, Cerito, Grisi and Grahn\nby Chaion.\nWhy should not the Claremonts,\nwith Lady Byron, and Lady Caroline\nLamb, form just such another group.\n44 What did they do? \" people would\nask, looking at the group.\nOne would hesitate to reply, but\none would say they had such charming\nvoices.\n\"Did they sing?\"\n\" No, they did not sing\n\" Did they recite? \"\n\" No, they never recited \".\n\"What then did they do?\"\n\" Well, they just spoke.... said things,\nyou know \". One's reply would be as\nindefinite as the outlines of such a\nmonument and I almost think that\non the pedestal in low relief should be\nseen the figure of Godwin, with his\nbanner waving and its strange device.\n\nHENRY JACKSON O. M. : R. St.\nJ. Parry. Cambridge University Press\n/ 5 j-net.\nMAINLY PLAYERS: Bensonian\nMemories. Constance Benson.. Thornton\nButterworth Ltd. 21 /-\nAT a first glance it is not clear\nhow these two books are in any\nway related to one another; but a\nmore curious enquiry shows us some\nof the same personalities figuring on\nboth stages, while some that you are\nlooking for, expecting to see come on\nat any moment, do not come at all.\nIn certain books that you open you\nare right if you expect to find something\nabout Henry Irving, for example, or\nWilliam Poel or Mr. Bernard Shaw.\nNow Mr. Bernard Shaw does not enter\non to either of these two stages presi-\nded over by Lady Benson and Henry\nJackson, O. M. ; and Henry Irving,\nand Poel, do not appear at all on the\nstage of the latter.\nBut to my surprise I see Mr. A.\nE. W. Mason marching across both ;\nalso Mr. John Masefield. These are\nand are not theatrical figures. They\nboth are writers and certainly great\nfavourites, but not specially of the\ntheatre; yet they are sufficiently of it to\nencourage us to look for more theatiicals\nin the book of Henry Jackson, and\nfor more literature in Lady Benson's.\nIn her entertaining chit-chat one\nmisses certain names high in the lite-\nrary world ; but this is made up for\nby meeting one of the greatest names\nof all on the second page. We are\nin the presence of Algernon Charles\nSwinburne, it appears that Lady Ben-\nson's mother received a copy of his\npoems, evidently when they were both\nfairly young, and, after he gave them\nto her, he asked her if she liked them,\nand she wrote her opinion on a piece\nof paper and placed it in the book\nand gave it to him and this is what\nhe read :\n\" Your poems I've read, Mr. Swin-\nburne,\nBut I dont mean to read them again ;\nThey re a mixture of 4 roses, blood-\nsprinkled *,\nOf 4 blasphemy ', 4 riot and pain ' ;\nYour women are all 4 fallen angels ',\nWith 4mouths open ' 4 bloody and red '*\nThey are Gorgons, Medusas, and\nCirces,\nWhence ell Womanly virtues are fled\".\nSwinburne was delighted, says Lady\nBenson, and declared he would have\nthe lines printed in every copy of his\nworks.\nBut alas, after this apparition on\nPage 2 of the Memories, we come\nacross no first class literary figure.\nNow this is one of the funny things\nabout the book of Henry Jackson.\nAfter a tremendous talk about |Shake-\nspeare, we expected to find some men-\ntion of, let us say, Irving, or Wil-\nliam Poel, but not a word. How\ncan you go on talking about Shake-\nspeare and omit to recall the actor of\nthe age ? But this evidently is quite\nO. K., for here is Lady Benson men-\ntioning almost every actor of the age,\nand forgetting to drag in Mr. Barrie\nand Mr. Shaw.\nBut there are so many entertaining\nanecdotes in Lady Benson's book; for\ninstance, the delightful little story about\nJohn Masefield and the silver plate....\nthat of Marie Lloyd and the 44 kid\",\nand Tagore's impertinence about the\nEnglish acior.... the sayings of Her-\nbert Hoover, Gordon Selfridge and\nOscar Asche.... all make delectable\nreading,.... and through it all runs a\npathetic thread, the story of the lo-\nveable F. R. B.\nThere is a chapter about Mr. W.\nT. Stead, the great journalist, who\nwas a little down on the theatre. Peo-\nple should avoid being down on the\ntheatre for what happened to Mr.\nStead might happen to them. He once\nhad a visit from Mrs. Siddons who\nappeared to him at a Stance and ad-\nvised him to tell his daughter to con-\ntinue in her stage life. Whether Mrs.\nSiddons was having her revenge on a"}, {"page_pdf": 52, "page_imprimee": "168", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.52", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6813, "texte": "debased stage is not certain, but it\nlooks rather suspicious. 44 For later on \"\nsays Lady Benson, 44 Miss Stead did\nsome good work at the Old Vic,\nCannot you hear Mrs. Siadons laugh-\ning behind the arras ? 44 But, goes\non Lady Benson \", she eventually re-\nturned to her original work on her\nfather's magazine \". I like ghosts in\nplays and in real life, but in the cou-\nlisses, pas du tout.\nIt seems that spirits play all sorts of\npranks on the Old Vic.: single out\nthat theatre for their grim jests. It ap-\npears that Henry Irving is favourable\nto the Old Vic.... in spirit. For it\nseems that his ghost walks there in\nthe wings every now and then, and\nhas given tips and the like to the\nyoung enthusiasts there. It was announ-\nced somewhat solemnly a while ago.\nIt \"s a grim joke for these ghosts to\nbe playing, and on a nice harmless\ninstitution like the Old Vic. too.\nMrs. Siddons and Henry Irving of\nall people !\nTo turn again to the book on Henry\nJackson and to find hirn speaking of\nMr. A. E. W. Mason and of Mr.\nMasefield, and not a word of Stead\nor of Irving, nor of Swinburne either,\nis queer. R. L. Stevenson does figure\nthere. Jackson is not a great admirer\nof Stendhal, (none of them on that\nfloor are), but he says that Dickens\nmissed his vocation, which was to\nbe an actor, and I can imagine this\nmay be correct; but when he says\nRousseau, Shelley, and Byron were a\nbad lot, but that it is amusing to read\nabout them if one recognises they were\npoets, one feels that he is exaggerating\nif only because he sees the three in one\ngroup : —and then he supposes that Tre-\nlawney was a better sort, and he is\nglad that he has received a book\nwhich explains Shelley a little better\nto him, in that it 44 insists that Shelley\nwas never anything be'ter than a\nchild Yes, that is the floor right\nenough.... last r00m.... end of the pas-\nsage. He does not like John Mase-\nfield. He tried a collection of short\npieces by him, but he 44 did not catch\non These are the very words. He\nsays he is a foolish product of the\n19th century, alluding to himself, and\nthat he does not appreciate the great-\nness of Rupert Brooke. Back he comes\nto Byron ; 44 he must have been really\na very hateful person, treacherous, in-\nsincere, inordinately vain, a poseur—\nbut a very entertaining companion\nThese very great people, how mi-\nserably we treat them. Just because\nNursie forgot to cure the little beasts\nof some objectionable habits, instead\nof being humbly grateful that Nursie\ncured us of the very same habits, we\ncultivate that worse habit,., we stick\nout our tongues at them, we spit at\nthem, and we go on doing it until....\nwell, 1 forget how old Henry Jackson\nwas, but you can add to taste..,. Henry\nJackson O. M..,. leave it at that ...\nOld Maid. I should not put out my\ntongue now if he had not put his out\nat Byron. It's a beastly habit anyhow.\nLady Benson makes all good in\nsaying such charming things, and some-\ntimes deeply feels things about certain\nfriends of hers.\nThere are not very many people\nwho have written more understandingly\nabout Ellen Terry, although what she\nwrites are only scraps ; still, the scraps\nare good.\nAnd if she spells Isadora 44 Isidora \"\ntwice over, and calls W. B. Yeats\n44 Edmund \" Yeats, and refers to the\nfuturistic scenery introduced by Mr.\nPlayfair when he never had any such\nscenery on any stage of his, these are\nonly trifling faults after all.\n\nTHE JUDGE : a Play in four Acts\nby Maxim Gorky. P- Mcßride\n& Co. Neil) York. $ 1.50.\nOn the rare occasions when I enter\na theatre, I make sure that 44 the\n44 play will offer me a relief from the\n44 tragic realities with which our daily\n44 existence is filled \".\nThis extract is from Gorki's preface\nto his play, a play which is one of\nthe most tragic things unrelieved by\nany fancy that I have ever read.\nGorki adds that he 44 should wish\n44 our Theatre to be like the Pool of\n44 Siloam, from which one emerges re-\n-44 freshed and restored He does not\nlike theatre directors and their clever-\nness. Yet only a miraculously clever\ndirector could produce 44 The Judge \"\nso as to render it at all refresahing.\nThis book, like many another Knopf\nbook, is decked out with one of our\nEuropean borders.\nWhat a sad state of mind is that\nof certain American publishers who\nhave lately adopted the borders and\nother typographical touches used by\nthe Oxford University Press and the\nClarendon Press, and for the most part\nderived from European models.\nThese trifles have become so much\npart and parcel of the Oxford Books\nthat they suit those books: but for\nany American press to confess that its\nown type-founders cannot produce one\nman sufficiently cunning to contrive ori-\nginal borders and other typographical\ndecors seems a little ridiculous. Were\nI an American, I'd deride America for\ndenying its own men ordinary intelli-\ngence. I am perfectly certain that five\nor six American men could be found\nwho, under a master-printer like Mr.\nRogers for example, could invent a\nseries of borders and decors unmista-\nkeably American and good American.\nI am altogether in agreement with\nour cousins who believe that there are\nmany examples of Art and Craft which\ncan be exchanged by one country with\nanother—but when is America going\nto hand us back something genuinely\nof its own creation ?\nI am not a little tired of their pre-\ntended inability to do this.\n\nPUNCH AND JUDY by Dion\nClayton Calthrop. Dulau & Com-\npany Lid. 6/- net.\nI do not think that Mr. Calthrop\nhas improved on a book of the\nsame title which appeared in 1828\nwritten by Collier and illustrated by\nGeorge Cruickshank.\nPerhaps the author has been hur-\nried a little, for I notice he mentions\nseven or eight times the book of a\ncertain Monsieur Maguin, whereas the\nauthor he refers to is possibly Mon-\nsieur Magnin. If the slip had occur-\nred once, it would have been a prin-\nter s error ; occuring seven or eight\ntimes, it makes me wonder whether the\nbook by Magnin is in Mr. Calthrop's\npossession, or whether he has sent some-\none to the British Museum to look\nthings up. Most of the material seems\nto be taken from other books, which\nis, perhaps, the very best way, in some\npeople's opinion, to awaken an interest\nin one's self for 44 Punch and Judy\nbut not in ours.\nThe next book Mr. Calthrop writes\non this subject should I think contain\nmaterial which he himself has dis-\ncovered and of which everyone else is\nin ignorance.\n\nTHE VICTORIA AND ALBERT\nMUSEUM LIST OF ACCES-\nSIONS FOR 1924.\nTHIS year the Museum issues its\nCatalogue or List of Accessions\nfor 1924 containing some 21 ! theatrical\nentries or more, if you count as one\nitem the gift of many hundreds of play-\nbills, once the possession of Mrs. En-\nthoven.\nThere are a number of very inte-\nresting items in this List, amongst the\nmost interesting to us being the draw-\nings by Alfred Edward Chalon (1780-\n1860)."}, {"page_pdf": 53, "page_imprimee": "169", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.53", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2334, "texte": "This painter seems to have been\ncuriously drawn to the theatre, and\nmust have been always popping in to\ndraw the things that he saw on the\nstage. So that we have sketches of\nPotier, Frederick Lemaitre, Mile. Mars,\nMile. George, Pauline Viardot-Garciar,\nand twenty or thirty others. The Le-\nmaitre drawings should be particu-\nlarly interesting—especially the one of\nthe great actor as Othello, a part one does\nnot usually associate with Lemaitre.\nThere are a number of items under\nthe name Claude Lovat Fraser, and\nmany of these are called woodcuts\nwhich are not woodcuts at all, and I\nam sorry that they should have got\nthrough into this Catalogue as such.\nThey are pen drawings reproduced by\na mechanical process, and students\nmust be very careful not to be misled\nabout this. A woodcut to be a wood-\ncut, must be cut on wood. I have\nsometimes seen a linoleum cut called a\nwoodcut and I have even heard of\nthese things being passed on to the\npublic as woodcuts. It will not do.\nThis is the only slip I can find in\nan otherwise admirable list.\n\nSHORT HISTORY OF BRIS-\nTOL'S LITTLE THEATRE.\nMessrs Partridge & Love. Bristol.\nMESSERS Partridge & Love, ihe\nBristol Publishers, have kindly\nsent us a copy of their \" Short History\nof Bristol's Little Theatre \", a rather\npompous title to a practical booklet of\n43 pages. The time covered by this\nHistory is from 1923 to 1925, /e,\ntwo seasons at a small theatre in Bris-\ntol city, so that History is far too\nbig a word to use. It is the first we\nhave heard of this playhouse, but we\nhope to hear more of it by and bye.\nBristol, they say, is full of dull\npeople; but so they say of nearly all\nthe cities in England when you ask\nnews about the inhabitants and the\narts. Newcastle, Norwich, Bristol, Bir-\nmingham, etc, have they sympathy and\nunderstanding for the theatre and the\narts? 'They are fast asleep, dull\nprejudiced * is the report. When it's\npainting poesy, sculpture, what does\nit matter, for ...a few are enough to\nsupport these arts; but when it comes\nto music and to Theatre you must have\nthe crowd. And no crowds exist in\nBristol, Norwich, Newcastle and Bir-\nmingham etc;—no crowds hustling to\nsee the new play • ••• So we are told.\nShall we go round and enquire\nand see for ourselves at twelve of the\nprovincial centres if this be true ? It\nis an idea worth considering anyhow."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c057", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c057", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "164", "page_fin": "167", "image_debut": 48, "image_fin": 51, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.25.1", "titre_corps": "A STUDY OF THE MODERN DRAMA by Barret H. ClarkeGLAMOUR; Essays on the Art of the Theatre by Stark YoungMODERN THEATRES by Irving PichelPLAYS OF THE MOSCOW ART THEATRE MUSICAL STUDIO English Translation from the Russian by George S. and Gilber Selden", "titre_sommaire": "A STUDY OF THE MODERN DRAMA by Barret H. ClarkeGLAMOUR; Essays on the Art of the Theatre by Stark YoungMODERN THEATRES by Irving PichelPLAYS OF THE MOSCOW ART THEATRE MUSICAL STUDIO English Translation from the Russian by George S. and Gilber Selden", "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": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 5865, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6740, "texte": "A STUDY OF THE MODERN\nDRAMA by Barrett H. Clarke. D.\nApplefon & Company $ 3.50.\nGLAMOUR ; Essays on the Art of\nthe Theatre by Stark Young. Charles\nScribner's Sons, New York $ 2.\nMODERN THEATRES by Irving\nFichel. Harcourt Brace & Company\n$ 2.25.\nPL A YS OF THE MOSCO W ART\nTHEATRE MUSICAL STUDIO.\nEnglish Translation from the Russian\nby George S. & Gilbert Selden with\nintroduction by Oliver M. Sayler. Bren~\ntano's $ 3.\n>UMMUMIWimiUUM—J——JUMUIJ——j— H«II»«IIH !■■!■■ ■ 11l I —!■ IHMUmUB TT—M— llf\nWHEN Major General John F.\nO'Ryan, Commander of the\n27th Division of the United States\nArmy in the War, called for a more\nsportsman American attitude towards\nWar debts he caused no audible echo\nin the United States \", says a Lon-\ndon journal. But that was because the\nstupid people, (and by that, one means\nthe majority of people), cannot see\nexactly what a clever man like Gene-"}, {"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "165", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.49", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 7124, "texte": "rat G* Ryan means when he asks them\nto be more sportsman-like about some-\nthing that does not concern them in\nthe least. What he meant but did\nnot (for International reasons) explain\nwas, would they assume, would they\nput on, a sportsmanlike American\nexpression, and hold it long enough\nfor the Cinema to register, for that\nwould be just bully for reclame.\nSo when an American writes to\n€< The Mask \" (T) and says that Ameri-\ncans have the habit of giving, and\nthat they intend to give big sums to\nthe Shakespeare Memorial whether we\nlike it or no, we ought to be cleverer\nthan we are, and we ought to under-\nstand what he means. We ought to\nknow that he means mischief; but\ngood, nice, sportsman-like mischief. In\nour lack of comprehension we are like\nthe majority of the people of the Uni-\nted States who do not tumble right\naway to what it was precisely that Ge-\nneral O'Ryan was trying to say. We\ndo not undeistand what our American\ncorrespondent, Mr. Campbell, means. At\nleast we did not. Now we begin to.\nAnd we like it even less,\nBecause of this : ....and I am going\nto differ with Mr. Campbell first and\napologize afterwards.\nAll this pitiful love of a sure, cheap\nreclame is a nuisance which the Ame-\nricans should keep to themselves.\nTheir use of our Shakespeare is an\nexample of what 1 mean. Shakes-\npeare is not for their purposes of re-\nclame. if the name 44 Shakespeare **\ncan serve as reclame to his own peo-\nple, ali very well and good. It seems\nextremely doubtful. What must re-\nmain in no possible doubt, is that\nunder no circumstances whatever must\nwe allow ourselves to be hood-\nwinked by a showy offer of funds\nfrom America into allowing Americans\nonce more to tell the world that they\nare very very generous and are unable\nto refuse our tearful appeal to save\nthe situation in which we have placed\nour Shakespeare.\nWho for a moment doubts the fact\nthat there must he, that there are,\nthousands of very generous Americans ;\nbut who is there who does not know\nthat generosity is4 after all, a very\nquiet things all said and done, and\ndoes not make much of itself; so that\nMr. Campbell, though he writes a\nreally excellent letter, and is the last\nperson that anyone could wish to dif-\nfer from, is for all that just the very\nman who ought to know better.\n1 wonder whether he would be so\nmoved, look so hne, strike such an at-\ntitude if it were a question of a Wait\nWhitman or Poe that was before the\nworld !\nWe know quite well of course that\nthe Shakespeare Drama is one of the\nbest things in the world and that this\nshould be sufficient reason for killing\nit. To America the best is only some-\nthing to tire of quickly and to kill.\nDo not imagine that this is my\nopinion.... it is the opinion of the Ame-\nrican Mr. Stark Young, whose essays\non the art of the theatre are not the\nsort of th:ng the Americans will kill\nimmediately, but there are one or two\npassages in these essays that should be\nchewed up straight away.\n44 In America, every year it is true9\nWe hail the best thing in the World,\nsuch is our craving for the superla-\ntive and our trust in print. The best\nthing in the world comes to us and\ndeparts, and We are ready for ano-\nther best thing in the World. But for\nthe moment the Moscow Art Theatre\nWas that. The fact that the organi-\nsation was old and somewhat tired,\nand some of the actors but shadows\nof what they once had been, Was not\nmentioned. The superlative reigned,\nthe house was crowded in spite of a\nforeign language and high prices. In\nthe spring the company on tour retur-\nned, to less majorities, and their visit\ntn the following season Was by no\nmeans a triumph. I have often won-\ndered what these Russians thought\nof that falling away after such ra-\nving heal, but if they had known us\nbetter they would have expected as\nmueh\nMr. Stark Young, it is, who needs\nto know the Russians better, to know\nall of us poor Europeans better. We\nare a conglomeration of the stupidest\nraces, as we have long suspected. But\nit is extraordinary how we are all\nagreed as to the importance of going\nto America to get some money. We\nall go, do we not; we all stay a short\ntime, and come away ; but 1 fear that\nmany of us say rude things about\nAmerica on coming back. Some even\nwrite books saying it. Some make a\nrude gesture—they do not go again.\nWhy should they.... how can they....\nthey are dead. Ameripa, loving them\nso much for six months, says, 4 4 Good-\nbye ! Tell us who is better than you\nover there \". Well, it would kill you,\nwould it not, and you are a hardened\nAmerican, are you not, if we asked\nyou a thing like that on your visit to\nEurope. And it is always artists to\nwhom they put this delicate question.\nIf it should happen to be one of their\nown superlatively great artists, they do\nnot even put the question to them.\nThey club them on the head at the\nlanding stage. This statement of mine\nexasperates you to the extent of laugh-\ning at me if you are American. But\nI assure you it is the solemn and ab-\nsolute truth, and you can take it, and\nput it into your pipe, and smoke it\nas slowly as possible. 44 Oh! Our\nartists are such bad, weak people, such\nundesirable people, etc. **. Talk on\nand talk in, fade in and fade out, for\nall we can listen to you, with your\nnonsense about the undesirability of\nyour great artists.\nA great and clever nation, a beau-\ntiful nation, and a brilliant nation, you\nplay the fool in regard to your artists.\nBut you may take comfort in this fact,\nthat here you imitate Europe perfectly.\nWhy grow so heated, you ask me!\nOnly that I have sympathy for great\nartists, and Mr. Morris Gest has sym-\npathy too. He is sympathetic enough\nto speculate in them.\nRecently his thought have turned\ntowards the Russian theatre, although\nthe German theatre, titivated up by\nGeddes and Lady Diana Cooper, once\nclaimed his attention.\nHaving run the Moscow Art Thea-\ntre, Mr. Gest, approaching one of the\nDirectors with bated breath and whis-\npered humbleness, asks whether the\ngoods could be a little different next\ntime. Nemerovitch Dantchenko (one of\nthe directors) whose files are packed full\nwith every kind of theatrical goods,\nasks Mr. Gest to give it a name.\n44 Opera, Mr. Nemeovitch, is what I\nthought of \" Certainly, Mr, Gest,\na new kind of opera shall be with\nyou in a couple of months And a\nnew kind of opera, new to Mr. Gest,\nis forthcoming. It is new in the sense\nthat it seems new. Like the nuts to\nthe monkeys, When the monkeys\nsquabbled and there was a revolution in\nthat house, because there were twelve\nnuts in the morning and six in the\nafternoon, it was a Nemerovitch Dant-\nchenko who solved the difficulty by\ngiving them six nuts in the morning\nand twelve in the afternoon.\nHaving got hold of the new kind\nof opera, Mr. Gest calls on several\npeople to turn out a book of the\nwords, which does not appear in ordi-\nnary loose paper cover as the old li-\nbrettos have always appeared, but in a\nhandsome cloth bound book, price $ 3,\nprinted on fine paper, and containing\nthe words of five operas and operettas\ntranslated into English.\nI must say 1 rather like having a\ncopy, but Mr. Sayler's introductions I\n\n(i) See The Mask. July No. page 126."}, {"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "166", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6666, "texte": "do not like, because Mr. Sayler was\nborn to do much better and it grieves\nme to see a man paid to do his\nworst. What nonsense he writes I\nleave you to judge from these samples,\n1) 44 With 44 The Lyons Mai!\nHenry Irving curdled countless hearts\n2) 44 Ihe Russians summoned to\nAmerica by Maurice Gest 44 Curd-\nled \" and 44 Summoned \" are cheap\nand gaudy. But Madame Angot is\nof course glorious into whatever lan-\nguage she is translated :\nACT ONE\n(A Market Place, Buteux, Cadet,\nGuiilaume, Javotte, Th&ese; market\nwomen and men in holiday dress. Later,\nPomponnet and Babet).\nChorus. Where is he,\nThe happy one,\nThe favored one ?\nLet him now\nQuickly come\nFor his lovely bride...\nSee the birds\nHop about—\nOff the twig\nOn again.\nHere he waits eagerly\nFor his lovely bride.\n(Pomponnet appears at a window).\nMen. There he is! Pomponnet,\nare you ready ?\nPomponnet Yes, I am quite ready,—\nand so it goes on page after page.\nWould you like to hear the first\npage of 44 Lysistrata \" or Carmencita \"?\nRather let me offer you half a page\nof 44 Perichole\nThe Viceroy. The banns, the banns....\nCount Panatellas. The banns the\n<\nbanns,...\nDon Pedro. The banns, the hanns.,..\nPiquillo. Yes, yes, yes.\nChorus of Men. Yes, yes, yefr,\nFor certain Mr. Horace Wyndham\nwill run to the Rue de Rivoli imme-\ndiately, and buy a copy. And this\nMr. Gest, who has books like this\nbrought out, who summons the Rus-\nsians to America, from sheer love of\nthe art, of course; who comes to Eng-\nland, and announces in the 44 Eve-\nning Standard \" or some other paper,\nthat he is right out for religion, and\nthat he feels that, to make religion go\nwith a pop, he will take back the\nmost beaut'ful girl from England if he\nhas to walk across the street to get\nher, and finally secures Lady Diana\nCooper, this Mr. Gest is a man I par-\nticularly dislike; not in that he ad-\nmires Lady Diana Cooper as the most\nbeautiful lady in the world, or that\nhe loves art ; that would be all right\ntoo, if it were true; or that Lady\nDiana Cooper ushers him into the pre-\nsence of the baronesses and countes-\nses of London;—that is odd but never\nmind; what I dislike in him is that he\nis everlastingly pretending that he is\nmaking a great sacrifice, pretending that\nhe is doing it for the love of the\nthing. That is a definitely nasty trick\non America.\nIt does not matter to Europe be-\ncause Europe sees through such bad\npretending. Our own Mr. Cochran\nwould never stoop to bungle in that\nway: when he fools the public he\ndoes it so that none of us can see\nthrough it; and if Mr. Gest would\nonly learn his business and do that\ntoo, we would be readier to applaud.\nTo be thoroughly taken in, what mat-\nter ; but for a raw amateur to come\nup, winking with both eyes at once—\nwinking eight obvious winks—under\nour very noses, and then *' Watch me\ntake you in that is what is so\nappalling in the amateur Mr. Gest.\nYou will begin to suppose that I\ndislike everything that is American. I\ndo not; but most of what I see I\ndo dislike,\nAnd indeed I always very much\nlike the books of Barrett H. Clark,\nwho still concerns himself with the study\nof the drama. I have had his 44 Euro-\npean Theories of the Drama \" by me\nfor a number of years, and it wears\nwell. He must have given it away.\nI keep it somewhere near my table if\nthat explains what I mean ; and this\nnew book 44 The Study of the Mo-\ndern Drama \" looks to me as though\nit would also prove of use. The wri-\nter, now and again, tries to explain\nthe meaning of the dramas. He even\ntries to explain the dramatist, and I\nthink that he . will some day come to\nsee that that is a mistake. For instance,\nspeaking of Sirindberg, he refers to his\ndistorted view of life. What about\nthe distorted view of life of Tolstoi,\nGorki, Tchehov, Ibsen, Hoffmansthal,\nBecque, Brieux, Pirandello, cTAnnun-\nzio and Bernard Shaw ? The author\nseems to have a dislike for Strindberg,\nbut when writing about drama, you\nfirst read the play, or put it down.\nOr you listen to the play, or go out.\nBut you cannot get up and say, 44 I\ndo not approve of what this dramatist\nis saying \" because the dramatist is\nsaying nothing. He has created cha-\nracters in a certain situation, and he\nis a good dramatist in so far as he\nleaves ail his characters free, a bad\ndramatist in so far as he pulls their\nstrings.\nStrindberg, in \" The Father the\nplay Mr. Barrett falls foul of \" in\nthe pseudo-Socratic method \", has gi-\nven us that rare big thing a great play,\nand there can be no questions put about\nits author. One must accept such an\ninspiration and sit quiet, except for\nI he critical part of Mr. Clark's book,\nit is closely packed with good things,\nand I mean it very seriously when I\nsay, that no one studying drama can\npossibly do without it, because it is\nbound to prove so useful.\nI wish 1 could say as much for\nMr. Irving Pichel's \" Modern Thea-\ntres **, which concerns itself with the\nbuilding of theatres. The announce-\nment says that he sketches briefly the\nhistorical tradition of theatre building,\nand that is more or less correct, but\nhe sketches far too briefly.\nThe same announcement says that\nthere are over forty illustrations 44 ran-\nging from the Theatro Farnese of\nParma ** etc. (he spells the name of\nthis city 44 Palma \") but the book\ndoes not actually contain one illustra-\ntion of the Theatro Farnese. Two\nof the other designs are placed upside\ndown.\nHis statement that the turn-table\nstage was invented by Herr Lauten-\nschalger is careless in a writer who\nmust by this time be aware that it\nwas invented by the Japanese, since\nmany authoritative books tell us so.\nNow here are four books com'ng\nfrom America, all of them dealing with\nAmerica, and one of them very good.\nOne out of four is no mean average,\nbut I feel about Pichel and Stark\nYoung that they could do so very\nmuch better, and I hope they will not\nimagine because I have a pen in hand\nthat I am feeling at all superior to-\nwards them.\nI know how difficult it must be,\nespecially in America, to get a book\nup and to get a book out ; but I do\nreally believe that there is only one\nthing that Mr. Pichel and Mr. Young\nneed to do to make their books very\nmuch better indeed, and that is to\nwork four or five times as hard. I do\nnot know if it is worth it. It will\nnot bring them more money if they\ngive years of their lives to the prepa-\nration of a book : they will have to\nbe prepared to do without money.\nMr. Campbell's statement that tL\nAmericans have the habit of giving \\\npretty in sentiment: I do not ask cha-\nrity for such men as Stark Young and\nIrving Pichel . all I ask for them is\nfair pay from their generous money-\ngiving countrymen.\nIt would seem that the men in Ame-\nrica who are in absolute need of support"}, {"page_pdf": 51, "page_imprimee": "167", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.51", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 469, "texte": "are not the artists but the publishers.\nIt is not generally known that they are\npositively hard up, but I know it: I\nhold the proofs.\nInstead of sending over money to\nEngland for the bricks and mortar\nat Stratford-on-Avon, could not that\nhabit of giving be exercised somewhere\nin the neighbourhood of the hard-up\npublishers, so that they may be like\nour English publishers, solid once more,\nand in a position to pay the writers\nand artists a proper fee for sound\nwork ?"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c058", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c058", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "167", "page_fin": "167", "image_debut": 51, "image_fin": 51, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.25.2", "titre_corps": "LIFE OF WILLIAM GODWIN by Ford K. Brown", "titre_sommaire": "LIFE OF WILLIAM GODWIN by Ford K. Brown", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 51, "page_imprimee": "167", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.51", "debut_caractere": 471, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3050, "texte": "LIFE OF WILLIAM GODWIN\nby Ford K. Brown. /. M. Dent &\nSons. /6/- net.\nI have always associated William God-\nwin with that play wherein Byron is\nthe chief character, Shelley and his\nwife acting as \"feeders\" of Byron,\nold Rogers as the sort of heavy father,\nSir Thomas Lawrence as a guest, and\nGodwin waving his banner at the end\nof Act I and Act V, and joining in\nwith everybody else as they shout\n44 Excelsior \".\nAs a walk on he is all right; playing\nthe principal role, he strikes me as\nawful.\nAnd here in this book he figures as\nthe hero.\nHe wrote a book on \" Political\nJustice \"—and another called 44 Caleb\nWilliams \", and there is a great deal\nin these books, so they say ; but there\nis ev'dently not sufficient to make one\nleap eagerly to the story of the life\nof William Godwin, and devour every\npage, as one does, for example, with\nthe life of Byron, or of Lamb.\nWilliam Godwin was always in\nfinancial difficulties, and had he been\nan extraordinary creature like Blake,\nfor example, the trouble would suit him\nto the ground. If you are in financial\ndifficulty, at least be a genius; but do\nnot be a very able man and then be\nin financial difficulties.\nBut when all this is said and done,\nthis book on Godwin contains a cer-\ntain amount of interesting information,\nabout Byron, Burke, Blake, Lamb,\nColeridge, Shelley, and that young lady\nwho ought to have a statue put up to\nher in Westminster Abbey I allude\nto Claire Claremont. There is some-\nthing so touching about this figure, that,\neven should it not be possible to find room\nfor her in Westminster Abbey, there\nought to be money enough to put an effigy\n**p in Tottenham Court Road. It would\nnot be too much to make a monument\nlarge enough to contain other figures—\nother women of that period. 1 never\nknow why it is that only our dear\nsingers and dancers are fortunate enough\nto be immortalized in a group! For\ninstance you remember that charming\ngroup Taglioni, Cerito, Grisi and Grahn\nby Chaion.\nWhy should not the Claremonts,\nwith Lady Byron, and Lady Caroline\nLamb, form just such another group.\n44 What did they do? \" people would\nask, looking at the group.\nOne would hesitate to reply, but\none would say they had such charming\nvoices.\n\"Did they sing?\"\n\" No, they did not sing\n\" Did they recite? \"\n\" No, they never recited \".\n\"What then did they do?\"\n\" Well, they just spoke.... said things,\nyou know \". One's reply would be as\nindefinite as the outlines of such a\nmonument and I almost think that\non the pedestal in low relief should be\nseen the figure of Godwin, with his\nbanner waving and its strange device."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c059", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c059", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "167", "page_fin": "168", "image_debut": 51, "image_fin": 52, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.25.3", "titre_corps": "HENRY JACKSON O. M. : R. St. J. PerryMAINLY PLAYERS: Constance Benson.", "titre_sommaire": "HENRY JACKSON O. M. : R. St. J. PerryMAINLY PLAYERS: Constance Benson.", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 51, "page_imprimee": "167", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.51", "debut_caractere": 3052, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6560, "texte": "HENRY JACKSON O. M. : R. St.\nJ. Parry. Cambridge University Press\n/ 5 j-net.\nMAINLY PLAYERS: Bensonian\nMemories. Constance Benson.. Thornton\nButterworth Ltd. 21 /-\nAT a first glance it is not clear\nhow these two books are in any\nway related to one another; but a\nmore curious enquiry shows us some\nof the same personalities figuring on\nboth stages, while some that you are\nlooking for, expecting to see come on\nat any moment, do not come at all.\nIn certain books that you open you\nare right if you expect to find something\nabout Henry Irving, for example, or\nWilliam Poel or Mr. Bernard Shaw.\nNow Mr. Bernard Shaw does not enter\non to either of these two stages presi-\nded over by Lady Benson and Henry\nJackson, O. M. ; and Henry Irving,\nand Poel, do not appear at all on the\nstage of the latter.\nBut to my surprise I see Mr. A.\nE. W. Mason marching across both ;\nalso Mr. John Masefield. These are\nand are not theatrical figures. They\nboth are writers and certainly great\nfavourites, but not specially of the\ntheatre; yet they are sufficiently of it to\nencourage us to look for more theatiicals\nin the book of Henry Jackson, and\nfor more literature in Lady Benson's.\nIn her entertaining chit-chat one\nmisses certain names high in the lite-\nrary world ; but this is made up for\nby meeting one of the greatest names\nof all on the second page. We are\nin the presence of Algernon Charles\nSwinburne, it appears that Lady Ben-\nson's mother received a copy of his\npoems, evidently when they were both\nfairly young, and, after he gave them\nto her, he asked her if she liked them,\nand she wrote her opinion on a piece\nof paper and placed it in the book\nand gave it to him and this is what\nhe read :\n\" Your poems I've read, Mr. Swin-\nburne,\nBut I dont mean to read them again ;\nThey re a mixture of 4 roses, blood-\nsprinkled *,\nOf 4 blasphemy ', 4 riot and pain ' ;\nYour women are all 4 fallen angels ',\nWith 4mouths open ' 4 bloody and red '*\nThey are Gorgons, Medusas, and\nCirces,\nWhence ell Womanly virtues are fled\".\nSwinburne was delighted, says Lady\nBenson, and declared he would have\nthe lines printed in every copy of his\nworks.\nBut alas, after this apparition on\nPage 2 of the Memories, we come\nacross no first class literary figure.\nNow this is one of the funny things\nabout the book of Henry Jackson.\nAfter a tremendous talk about |Shake-\nspeare, we expected to find some men-\ntion of, let us say, Irving, or Wil-\nliam Poel, but not a word. How\ncan you go on talking about Shake-\nspeare and omit to recall the actor of\nthe age ? But this evidently is quite\nO. K., for here is Lady Benson men-\ntioning almost every actor of the age,\nand forgetting to drag in Mr. Barrie\nand Mr. Shaw.\nBut there are so many entertaining\nanecdotes in Lady Benson's book; for\ninstance, the delightful little story about\nJohn Masefield and the silver plate....\nthat of Marie Lloyd and the 44 kid\",\nand Tagore's impertinence about the\nEnglish acior.... the sayings of Her-\nbert Hoover, Gordon Selfridge and\nOscar Asche.... all make delectable\nreading,.... and through it all runs a\npathetic thread, the story of the lo-\nveable F. R. B.\nThere is a chapter about Mr. W.\nT. Stead, the great journalist, who\nwas a little down on the theatre. Peo-\nple should avoid being down on the\ntheatre for what happened to Mr.\nStead might happen to them. He once\nhad a visit from Mrs. Siddons who\nappeared to him at a Stance and ad-\nvised him to tell his daughter to con-\ntinue in her stage life. Whether Mrs.\nSiddons was having her revenge on a"}, {"page_pdf": 52, "page_imprimee": "168", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.52", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3382, "texte": "debased stage is not certain, but it\nlooks rather suspicious. 44 For later on \"\nsays Lady Benson, 44 Miss Stead did\nsome good work at the Old Vic,\nCannot you hear Mrs. Siadons laugh-\ning behind the arras ? 44 But, goes\non Lady Benson \", she eventually re-\nturned to her original work on her\nfather's magazine \". I like ghosts in\nplays and in real life, but in the cou-\nlisses, pas du tout.\nIt seems that spirits play all sorts of\npranks on the Old Vic.: single out\nthat theatre for their grim jests. It ap-\npears that Henry Irving is favourable\nto the Old Vic.... in spirit. For it\nseems that his ghost walks there in\nthe wings every now and then, and\nhas given tips and the like to the\nyoung enthusiasts there. It was announ-\nced somewhat solemnly a while ago.\nIt \"s a grim joke for these ghosts to\nbe playing, and on a nice harmless\ninstitution like the Old Vic. too.\nMrs. Siddons and Henry Irving of\nall people !\nTo turn again to the book on Henry\nJackson and to find hirn speaking of\nMr. A. E. W. Mason and of Mr.\nMasefield, and not a word of Stead\nor of Irving, nor of Swinburne either,\nis queer. R. L. Stevenson does figure\nthere. Jackson is not a great admirer\nof Stendhal, (none of them on that\nfloor are), but he says that Dickens\nmissed his vocation, which was to\nbe an actor, and I can imagine this\nmay be correct; but when he says\nRousseau, Shelley, and Byron were a\nbad lot, but that it is amusing to read\nabout them if one recognises they were\npoets, one feels that he is exaggerating\nif only because he sees the three in one\ngroup : —and then he supposes that Tre-\nlawney was a better sort, and he is\nglad that he has received a book\nwhich explains Shelley a little better\nto him, in that it 44 insists that Shelley\nwas never anything be'ter than a\nchild Yes, that is the floor right\nenough.... last r00m.... end of the pas-\nsage. He does not like John Mase-\nfield. He tried a collection of short\npieces by him, but he 44 did not catch\non These are the very words. He\nsays he is a foolish product of the\n19th century, alluding to himself, and\nthat he does not appreciate the great-\nness of Rupert Brooke. Back he comes\nto Byron ; 44 he must have been really\na very hateful person, treacherous, in-\nsincere, inordinately vain, a poseur—\nbut a very entertaining companion\nThese very great people, how mi-\nserably we treat them. Just because\nNursie forgot to cure the little beasts\nof some objectionable habits, instead\nof being humbly grateful that Nursie\ncured us of the very same habits, we\ncultivate that worse habit,., we stick\nout our tongues at them, we spit at\nthem, and we go on doing it until....\nwell, 1 forget how old Henry Jackson\nwas, but you can add to taste..,. Henry\nJackson O. M..,. leave it at that ...\nOld Maid. I should not put out my\ntongue now if he had not put his out\nat Byron. It's a beastly habit anyhow.\nLady Benson makes all good in\nsaying such charming things, and some-\ntimes deeply feels things about certain\nfriends of hers.\nThere are not very many people\nwho have written more understandingly\nabout Ellen Terry, although what she\nwrites are only scraps ; still, the scraps\nare good.\nAnd if she spells Isadora 44 Isidora \"\ntwice over, and calls W. B. Yeats\n44 Edmund \" Yeats, and refers to the\nfuturistic scenery introduced by Mr.\nPlayfair when he never had any such\nscenery on any stage of his, these are\nonly trifling faults after all."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c060", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c060", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "168", "page_fin": "168", "image_debut": 52, "image_fin": 52, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.25.4", "titre_corps": "THE JUDGE by Maxim Gorky", "titre_sommaire": "THE JUDGE by Maxim Gorky", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 52, "page_imprimee": "168", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.52", "debut_caractere": 3384, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5327, "texte": "THE JUDGE : a Play in four Acts\nby Maxim Gorky. P- Mcßride\n& Co. Neil) York. $ 1.50.\nOn the rare occasions when I enter\na theatre, I make sure that 44 the\n44 play will offer me a relief from the\n44 tragic realities with which our daily\n44 existence is filled \".\nThis extract is from Gorki's preface\nto his play, a play which is one of\nthe most tragic things unrelieved by\nany fancy that I have ever read.\nGorki adds that he 44 should wish\n44 our Theatre to be like the Pool of\n44 Siloam, from which one emerges re-\n-44 freshed and restored He does not\nlike theatre directors and their clever-\nness. Yet only a miraculously clever\ndirector could produce 44 The Judge \"\nso as to render it at all refresahing.\nThis book, like many another Knopf\nbook, is decked out with one of our\nEuropean borders.\nWhat a sad state of mind is that\nof certain American publishers who\nhave lately adopted the borders and\nother typographical touches used by\nthe Oxford University Press and the\nClarendon Press, and for the most part\nderived from European models.\nThese trifles have become so much\npart and parcel of the Oxford Books\nthat they suit those books: but for\nany American press to confess that its\nown type-founders cannot produce one\nman sufficiently cunning to contrive ori-\nginal borders and other typographical\ndecors seems a little ridiculous. Were\nI an American, I'd deride America for\ndenying its own men ordinary intelli-\ngence. I am perfectly certain that five\nor six American men could be found\nwho, under a master-printer like Mr.\nRogers for example, could invent a\nseries of borders and decors unmista-\nkeably American and good American.\nI am altogether in agreement with\nour cousins who believe that there are\nmany examples of Art and Craft which\ncan be exchanged by one country with\nanother—but when is America going\nto hand us back something genuinely\nof its own creation ?\nI am not a little tired of their pre-\ntended inability to do this."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c061", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c061", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "168", "page_fin": "168", "image_debut": 52, "image_fin": 52, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.25.5", "titre_corps": "PUNCH AND JUDY by Dion Clayton", "titre_sommaire": "PUNCH AND JUDY by Dion Clayton", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 52, "page_imprimee": "168", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.52", "debut_caractere": 5329, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6366, "texte": "PUNCH AND JUDY by Dion\nClayton Calthrop. Dulau & Com-\npany Lid. 6/- net.\nI do not think that Mr. Calthrop\nhas improved on a book of the\nsame title which appeared in 1828\nwritten by Collier and illustrated by\nGeorge Cruickshank.\nPerhaps the author has been hur-\nried a little, for I notice he mentions\nseven or eight times the book of a\ncertain Monsieur Maguin, whereas the\nauthor he refers to is possibly Mon-\nsieur Magnin. If the slip had occur-\nred once, it would have been a prin-\nter s error ; occuring seven or eight\ntimes, it makes me wonder whether the\nbook by Magnin is in Mr. Calthrop's\npossession, or whether he has sent some-\none to the British Museum to look\nthings up. Most of the material seems\nto be taken from other books, which\nis, perhaps, the very best way, in some\npeople's opinion, to awaken an interest\nin one's self for 44 Punch and Judy\nbut not in ours.\nThe next book Mr. Calthrop writes\non this subject should I think contain\nmaterial which he himself has dis-\ncovered and of which everyone else is\nin ignorance."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c062", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c062", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "168", "page_fin": "169", "image_debut": 52, "image_fin": 53, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.25.6", "titre_corps": "THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM LIST OF ACCESSIONS FOR 1924", "titre_sommaire": "THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM LIST OF ACCESSIONS FOR 1924", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 52, "page_imprimee": "168", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.52", "debut_caractere": 6368, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6813, "texte": "THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT\nMUSEUM LIST OF ACCES-\nSIONS FOR 1924.\nTHIS year the Museum issues its\nCatalogue or List of Accessions\nfor 1924 containing some 21 ! theatrical\nentries or more, if you count as one\nitem the gift of many hundreds of play-\nbills, once the possession of Mrs. En-\nthoven.\nThere are a number of very inte-\nresting items in this List, amongst the\nmost interesting to us being the draw-\nings by Alfred Edward Chalon (1780-\n1860)."}, {"page_pdf": 53, "page_imprimee": "169", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.53", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1043, "texte": "This painter seems to have been\ncuriously drawn to the theatre, and\nmust have been always popping in to\ndraw the things that he saw on the\nstage. So that we have sketches of\nPotier, Frederick Lemaitre, Mile. Mars,\nMile. George, Pauline Viardot-Garciar,\nand twenty or thirty others. The Le-\nmaitre drawings should be particu-\nlarly interesting—especially the one of\nthe great actor as Othello, a part one does\nnot usually associate with Lemaitre.\nThere are a number of items under\nthe name Claude Lovat Fraser, and\nmany of these are called woodcuts\nwhich are not woodcuts at all, and I\nam sorry that they should have got\nthrough into this Catalogue as such.\nThey are pen drawings reproduced by\na mechanical process, and students\nmust be very careful not to be misled\nabout this. A woodcut to be a wood-\ncut, must be cut on wood. I have\nsometimes seen a linoleum cut called a\nwoodcut and I have even heard of\nthese things being passed on to the\npublic as woodcuts. It will not do.\nThis is the only slip I can find in\nan otherwise admirable list."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c063", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c063", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "169", "page_fin": "169", "image_debut": 53, "image_fin": 53, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.25.7", "titre_corps": "SHORT HISTORY OF BRISTOL'S LITTLE THEATRE. Messrs Partidge & Love", "titre_sommaire": "SHORT HISTORY OF BRISTOL'S LITTLE THEATRE. Messrs Partidge & Love", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 53, "page_imprimee": "169", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.53", "debut_caractere": 1045, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2334, "texte": "SHORT HISTORY OF BRIS-\nTOL'S LITTLE THEATRE.\nMessrs Partridge & Love. Bristol.\nMESSERS Partridge & Love, ihe\nBristol Publishers, have kindly\nsent us a copy of their \" Short History\nof Bristol's Little Theatre \", a rather\npompous title to a practical booklet of\n43 pages. The time covered by this\nHistory is from 1923 to 1925, /e,\ntwo seasons at a small theatre in Bris-\ntol city, so that History is far too\nbig a word to use. It is the first we\nhave heard of this playhouse, but we\nhope to hear more of it by and bye.\nBristol, they say, is full of dull\npeople; but so they say of nearly all\nthe cities in England when you ask\nnews about the inhabitants and the\narts. Newcastle, Norwich, Bristol, Bir-\nmingham, etc, have they sympathy and\nunderstanding for the theatre and the\narts? 'They are fast asleep, dull\nprejudiced * is the report. When it's\npainting poesy, sculpture, what does\nit matter, for ...a few are enough to\nsupport these arts; but when it comes\nto music and to Theatre you must have\nthe crowd. And no crowds exist in\nBristol, Norwich, Newcastle and Bir-\nmingham etc;—no crowds hustling to\nsee the new play • ••• So we are told.\nShall we go round and enquire\nand see for ourselves at twelve of the\nprovincial centres if this be true ? It\nis an idea worth considering anyhow."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c064", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c064", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "169", "page_fin": "169", "image_debut": 53, "image_fin": 53, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.26", "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": 53, "page_imprimee": "169", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.53", "debut_caractere": 2336, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6270, "texte": "EDITORIAL NOTES.\n\nTHE PARIS OPERA HOUSE.\nIN the January number of the \" Mu-\nsical Quarterly \", a publication which\noften contains a valuable historical ar-\nticle or two, was the entertaining story\nof the opening of Garnier's famous\nbuilding, the Paris Op era House, written\nby M. J-G Prod'homme.\nWe had supposed that Monsieur Rou-\nch£ was still director of this sad\nplace, but this can hardly be since\nhe is not mentioned. No one could\npossibly omit to make a reference to\nthis enthusiastic proprietor of one of the\nmost famous Perfumeries, Piver, for\nhe has used his profits on the scent to\ndo some good to Parisian Theatres\nDrama and Music. He has always\ntried to do his best, and has succeeded\nextraordinarily well where no success\nis as a rule possible.\nThe Opera House is a mistake, It\nis a middle class error of stupendous\nproportions: the triumphant dullness is\nnow and again broken in upon by a\nvulgarity which only corroborates our\nsuspicion that such dullness is sometimes\nnot even inoffensive.\nWho can assert that this Opera\nHouse is the tomb of the theatrical\nart when they know well that warnings\nare given to all artists not to come\nanywhere near such a trap?\nThose few composers, singers, design-\ners of imagination who have rashly\nentered this place have come away\nalive; some miracle preserved their life\nand prevented us from suspecting that\nthey had in any way conspired towards\nany condition of art.\nBut there are, (let us thank the comic\nmuse for this), other consolations to be\nfound in this tomb; there we may on\nany evening partake of as superb a\nfeast of snobbery and pretension as\never democracy has dished up. From\nthe outer doors to the back of the\nstage these two seraphim, the appointed\ndeputies of a Divine dullness too tired\nto call on the muses now become as\ntedious to the Parisian as they are to\nthe Londoner.\nIt is suggested that Dullness has bo-\ncome flat—this is but a canard; ne-\nver was she so rotund and never more\nfirmly seated on what she takes to be\na ho!y place—but which is something\ndifferent.\nThere she squats, this strange she-\nass. To all who enter passing to their\nloges and their circles, she gives the\ncue. One bray, and it is caught up\ncheerfully hy all those who entering\nhad till then even abandoned hope.\nThe most charming, the prettiest\nand the cleverest raise their voices,\nand in unison flatly damn the arts and\ncommon sense.\nThe Paris Opera House may in\ntime become antiquated: at present it\nis still one of the juvenile attractions.\nIt should not pass until the age itself\ngrows up: and when it passes, let no\nother Opera House be built until Opera\nand a reverence for it returns to\nEurope.\n\nA WORD OF THANKS.\nWE take this occasion of expressing\nour gratitude to those Directors\nof Archives, Museums and Libraries,\nmembers of Publishing Houses, Private\nCollectors and others who by their\ncourteous and generous assistance have\nfacilitated us in various ways in regard\nto some of the illustrations and other\nfeatures of this twelfth volume*\nIn the present number we are in-\ndebted to the courtesy of the Verlag\nUllstein, Berlin, for permission to re-\nproduce plate 13, to the Curator of\nthe National Gallery, London for Plate\n15, the De Gruyter Co. Berlin for\nPlate 17, the R. Istituto Geografico of\nItaly for Plate 18, and Comm. Leo\nS. Olschki for ihe old design on page\n158.\n\nFREDERICK HARRISON.\nTHE passing of Frederick Harrison is\nindeed sad ;—he was not only able*\nbut possessed and cultivated a natural\ncourtesy which was ever fresh.\nI remember he never shoved forward,\nwas always in his place ; not much of\nthe show man about him, and nothing\nof that appalling distorted figure, the\nimpresario.\nWhoever he worked under or in\npartnership with, it was their wish which\nseemed to count most for him.\nMay some young business managers\nof today and tomorrow understand the\nimmense value of such an example and\nfollow it. It would forward our stage\nmore than anything else."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c066", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c066", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "169", "page_fin": "169", "image_debut": 53, "image_fin": 53, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.26.2", "titre_corps": "THE PARIS OPERA HOUSE", "titre_sommaire": "THE PARIS OPERA HOUSE", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 53, "page_imprimee": "169", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.53", "debut_caractere": 2354, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4988, "texte": "THE PARIS OPERA HOUSE.\nIN the January number of the \" Mu-\nsical Quarterly \", a publication which\noften contains a valuable historical ar-\nticle or two, was the entertaining story\nof the opening of Garnier's famous\nbuilding, the Paris Op era House, written\nby M. J-G Prod'homme.\nWe had supposed that Monsieur Rou-\nch£ was still director of this sad\nplace, but this can hardly be since\nhe is not mentioned. No one could\npossibly omit to make a reference to\nthis enthusiastic proprietor of one of the\nmost famous Perfumeries, Piver, for\nhe has used his profits on the scent to\ndo some good to Parisian Theatres\nDrama and Music. He has always\ntried to do his best, and has succeeded\nextraordinarily well where no success\nis as a rule possible.\nThe Opera House is a mistake, It\nis a middle class error of stupendous\nproportions: the triumphant dullness is\nnow and again broken in upon by a\nvulgarity which only corroborates our\nsuspicion that such dullness is sometimes\nnot even inoffensive.\nWho can assert that this Opera\nHouse is the tomb of the theatrical\nart when they know well that warnings\nare given to all artists not to come\nanywhere near such a trap?\nThose few composers, singers, design-\ners of imagination who have rashly\nentered this place have come away\nalive; some miracle preserved their life\nand prevented us from suspecting that\nthey had in any way conspired towards\nany condition of art.\nBut there are, (let us thank the comic\nmuse for this), other consolations to be\nfound in this tomb; there we may on\nany evening partake of as superb a\nfeast of snobbery and pretension as\never democracy has dished up. From\nthe outer doors to the back of the\nstage these two seraphim, the appointed\ndeputies of a Divine dullness too tired\nto call on the muses now become as\ntedious to the Parisian as they are to\nthe Londoner.\nIt is suggested that Dullness has bo-\ncome flat—this is but a canard; ne-\nver was she so rotund and never more\nfirmly seated on what she takes to be\na ho!y place—but which is something\ndifferent.\nThere she squats, this strange she-\nass. To all who enter passing to their\nloges and their circles, she gives the\ncue. One bray, and it is caught up\ncheerfully hy all those who entering\nhad till then even abandoned hope.\nThe most charming, the prettiest\nand the cleverest raise their voices,\nand in unison flatly damn the arts and\ncommon sense.\nThe Paris Opera House may in\ntime become antiquated: at present it\nis still one of the juvenile attractions.\nIt should not pass until the age itself\ngrows up: and when it passes, let no\nother Opera House be built until Opera\nand a reverence for it returns to\nEurope."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c067", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c067", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "169", "page_fin": "169", "image_debut": 53, "image_fin": 53, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.26.3", "titre_corps": "A WORD OF THANKS", "titre_sommaire": "A WORD OF THANKS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 53, "page_imprimee": "169", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.53", "debut_caractere": 4990, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5673, "texte": "A WORD OF THANKS.\nWE take this occasion of expressing\nour gratitude to those Directors\nof Archives, Museums and Libraries,\nmembers of Publishing Houses, Private\nCollectors and others who by their\ncourteous and generous assistance have\nfacilitated us in various ways in regard\nto some of the illustrations and other\nfeatures of this twelfth volume*\nIn the present number we are in-\ndebted to the courtesy of the Verlag\nUllstein, Berlin, for permission to re-\nproduce plate 13, to the Curator of\nthe National Gallery, London for Plate\n15, the De Gruyter Co. Berlin for\nPlate 17, the R. Istituto Geografico of\nItaly for Plate 18, and Comm. Leo\nS. Olschki for ihe old design on page\n158."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c068", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c068", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "169", "page_fin": "169", "image_debut": 53, "image_fin": 53, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.26.4", "titre_corps": "FREDERICK HARRISON", "titre_sommaire": "FREDERICK HARRISON", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 53, "page_imprimee": "169", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.53", "debut_caractere": 5675, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6270, "texte": "FREDERICK HARRISON.\nTHE passing of Frederick Harrison is\nindeed sad ;—he was not only able*\nbut possessed and cultivated a natural\ncourtesy which was ever fresh.\nI remember he never shoved forward,\nwas always in his place ; not much of\nthe show man about him, and nothing\nof that appalling distorted figure, the\nimpresario.\nWhoever he worked under or in\npartnership with, it was their wish which\nseemed to count most for him.\nMay some young business managers\nof today and tomorrow understand the\nimmense value of such an example and\nfollow it. It would forward our stage\nmore than anything else."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c069", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c069", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "170", "page_fin": "170", "image_debut": 54, "image_fin": 54, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.27", "titre_corps": "LAST WORDS", "titre_sommaire": "LAST WORDS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "170", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 7719, "texte": "LAST WORDS.\n\nSTANDARDIZED SPEECH.\nTN demanding a standardized speech\n* for the English Mr. St. John Ervine\nhas taken up an important cause to\nfight for—and may he win his fight is\nour sincere wish. Sloppy English speech\ndoes England great harm. 4< I can un-\nderstand English when Americans speak\nit but not when Britishers do \" is a phrase\noften heard in Ifaly.\n\nFESTIVAL'S £4,000 LOSS.\nVienna, Saturday (Sept. 4, 1926.\n44 The balance sheet of the Salzburg\n44 musical festival shows a loss of more\n44 that £4,000 because visitors would not\n44 attend the concerts and the fantastic\n44 theatrical Reinhardt productions. The\n44 operas, however, showed a profit \".\nThis report in the 44 Daily Mail \" is\ncuriously Anti-Reinhardt. Yet the same\njournal was very pro-Reinhardt when he\ninvaded London with imitation English\ngoods.\n\nSIR ORACLE SEES RED.\nTI ETURNING from Russia via America\nMr. Basil Dean the celebrated pro-\nducer writes articles in the London\nPress simply bursting with enthusiasm\nabout Moscow, He has a kind word to\nsay of Americans by whom we English\n44 are rapidly being outstripped and\nhe adds that 44 it seems a mistaken sort\nof kindness to conceal the fact when one\nsees the red light—surely then is the\ntime to shout \".\nThe time for shouting would seem\nto us long past. Not so to Mr. Dean,\nwho seems to be seeing red lights all\nthe time and who found his way into\nDrury Lane by the aid of that lamp,,.,\nand out of it within the year.\nMr. Dean opes his lips far too often\nto be effective in the role of Sir Oracle\n—and the result is that the dogs are in-\ncessantly barking at him.\nHe counts in our opinion for very\nlittle. He has brought little of value\nto our stage. He is an earnest man at\nbest, but what is that pray? There are\nat least three hundred and sixty five\nearnest men in the English Theatrical\nprofession,—but it must be admitted few\nof them stagger us by getting so rapidly\nin and out of Drury Lane Theatre, and\nnone ever get paid as he was £5OOO for\nthe double somersault.\n\nA GOOD STORY.\nTUTR, Norman Forbes tells an amusing\nIVI §tory about Sir Herbert Tree and\nMr, Claude Lowther, when the two actors\nwere staying with Lowther at his four-\nteenth century castle at Hurstmonceaux\nwith its famous peach garden. This is\nhow it goes:\n\" While we were enjoying ourselves\nin the gardens a large party of trippers\narrived on the scene. This was not a\nvisitors' day, but one of the party ap-\nproached our host and, raising his hat,\nsaid, 44 Excuse me, but are you Colonel\nLowther? \" To which Claude, with his\nlove of joking, immediately replied poin-\nting to Tree, 44 No; there is the colonel \".\nThe visitor then addressed Tree in\nthese words, 44 I am sorry, Colonel Low-\nther, to have brought my party here on\na non-visitors' day, but since we have\ncome from afar would you allow us to\nlook round your beautiful gardens be-\nfore we return? \".\n44 Certainly, \" said Tree, t4 arid pick\nas many peaches as you like and take\nthem away with you \".\nThis was too much far Claude, who\nadvanced and said, 44 Ladies and Gen-\ntlemen, Colonel Lowther deserves his\nreputation for being a princely host. He\nteaches me a real lesson in generosity.\nLet me introduce myself. lam Herbert\nBeerbohm Tree, of Her Majesty's Thea-\ntre. and I shall be delighted to place as\nmany boxes and stalls at your disposal\nas your party may require, now or at\nany time—you have only to write\".\nThis is quite in the London Tradi-\ntion. Actors since the time of Garrick,\nif not Burbage, have year in and year\nout played just such games when away\nin the country, ...Sothern, Irving and\nToole, Grossmith. And if on getting\nback they retell the story elaborating it,\ntelling what they would like to have\ndone and said in terms of gospel truth,\nwho is there would have it otherwise ?\nIsn't that the way Homer wrote the\nOdyssey? a little experience enlarged,\nhalf a fact and a lot of fancy.\nFor it is absurd to suppose that\nactors are quite as these stories would\nmake them out to be, evetf as the devil\nis never half as black as he is painted,\nnor Ulysses quite such a cad, or even\nPenelope quite so perfect.\n\nQUERIES & A N SW E R S .\n'THE population of an English town is\noften quoted to show us how little a\nvast number of people are able to do to\ngive themselves a firstclass playhouse.\nBut some way of discovering a town's\n44 artistic and theatrical public \" before\nusing numbers is our argument. We\ngive very rough estimates of the popu-\nlations of nine of our towns.\nLiverpool (about) 770,000\nManchester » 730,000\nNewcastle » 290,000\nSheffield » 480,000\nExeter » 63.000\nNorwich » 130,000\nLeeds » 460,000\nYork » 90,000\nCanterbury » 25,000\nA like rough estimate of some Ita-\nlian towns yields us these figures.\nRoma about 599,000\nMilano » 670,000\nNapoli » 700,000\nBologna » 110,000\nGenova » 270,000\nModena » 40,000\nThe question I want to ask is whe-\nther any steps are taken by the authori-\nties or citizens of the chief towns to\nascertain what percentage of people are\ntheatre-goers and lovers of art. Will some\nreader in any of these centres reply.\nI ask because in Milano they have\nmade such a calculation. They disco-\nvered in about 1906 when the population\nwas about 498,000 that they could count\n3000 people as lovers of art and theatre.\nOf these they calculated that;—\n1000 would spend £l6O a yean=£i6o 000\n1000 » » £4B » » £ 48',000\n1000 » » £36 » » ~£ 36,000\nSo that they discovered that they\ncould count on about £244*000 a ye.'\nfrom their art and theatre going pop\nlatton to support the Teatro alia Scale\nIt comes as no surprise then that a\nfew years ago this theatre could afford\nto spend £75,000 on reconstruction.\n\nMANN ERS & THE STAGE.\nTWTR. Osbert Sitwell has been rude to\nthe English Stage. I happen to be-\nlong to the English stage and\" yet I do\nnot feel offended. Mr. Sitwell said this:\nThe stage is in so deplorable a con-\ndition that, so far as I can see, the im-\nportance of broadcasting cannot be too\nstrongly emphasized. Actors and actres-\nses are so busy trying to be ladies and\ngentlemen and golfers that they have no\ntime left to pay attention to their jobs\nWell, what's the matter with that.\nIt can't be true, can it?\nSir Gerald du Maurier goes in a\ngood deal for golf and is a perfect gen-\ntleman and not a very bright actor. But\nhe does not try to be a gentleman, he\nis one: he does try to be an actor and\nis not as successful.\nBut there is Mr. Ainley: does he\ngolf, does he drop his H's, doesn't he\nknow how to say 44 Good morning\" or\neven ••goodbye\"? I should suppose he\ndid—and he is a very good actor.\nMr. Fred Terry is not a bad actor\nin his and is as gentlemanly as any\nsquire of 1830.\nWhat more does Mr. Sitwell want?\nAs a matter of fact your real gen-\ntleman is not quite as polished as he\nmight be. That is to be admitted. I\nam glad to find that Mr. Osbert Sitwell\nerrs in the right direction and has been\nnot a little rude. Such a blessing these\ndays with so much unnecessary distinc-\ntion, refainment and dignity strutting\nabout London; especially in the Strand.\nI am always bumping into perfection\nthese days and the consequent volley of\noaths reminds me strongly of my great\ngrandfather.\nOnce upon a time the Duke of Ar\ngyle..., but there is no space for more.\nThis last page is going to cause me trou-\nble some day. I am so often cut off at the\nvery moment when I am thinking of the\nwords I should use to frame my apology.\n\nJ. B.\nBy the bye who is Mr. Robert Hale?\nand Archie de Bear, who he? ...and what\ndoes Mr. Sitwell mean by inviting actors\nto lunch?—a bit o' grub is all we Rett's\nwant—lunch is the highest browed staff\nI ever heard of. A snack if you don't\nwant to be associated with the Sitwells\nis quite enough. But if one goes to\nlunch— to lunch, mark you, what does\nthat portend?"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c070", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c070", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "170", "page_fin": "170", "image_debut": 54, "image_fin": 54, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.27.1", "titre_corps": "STANDARDIZED SPEECH", "titre_sommaire": "STANDARDIZED SPEECH", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "170", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 13, "fin_caractere_exclue": 361, "texte": "STANDARDIZED SPEECH.\nTN demanding a standardized speech\n* for the English Mr. St. John Ervine\nhas taken up an important cause to\nfight for—and may he win his fight is\nour sincere wish. Sloppy English speech\ndoes England great harm. 4< I can un-\nderstand English when Americans speak\nit but not when Britishers do \" is a phrase\noften heard in Ifaly."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c072", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c072", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "170", "page_fin": "170", "image_debut": 54, "image_fin": 54, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.27.2", "titre_corps": "FESTIVAL'S £4,000 LOSS", "titre_sommaire": "FESTIVAL'S £4,000 LOSS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "170", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 363, "fin_caractere_exclue": 821, "texte": "FESTIVAL'S £4,000 LOSS.\nVienna, Saturday (Sept. 4, 1926.\n44 The balance sheet of the Salzburg\n44 musical festival shows a loss of more\n44 that £4,000 because visitors would not\n44 attend the concerts and the fantastic\n44 theatrical Reinhardt productions. The\n44 operas, however, showed a profit \".\nThis report in the 44 Daily Mail \" is\ncuriously Anti-Reinhardt. Yet the same\njournal was very pro-Reinhardt when he\ninvaded London with imitation English\ngoods."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c074", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c074", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "170", "page_fin": "170", "image_debut": 54, "image_fin": 54, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.27.3", "titre_corps": "SIR ORACLE SEES RED", "titre_sommaire": "SIR ORACLE SEES RED", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "170", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 823, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2001, "texte": "SIR ORACLE SEES RED.\nTI ETURNING from Russia via America\nMr. Basil Dean the celebrated pro-\nducer writes articles in the London\nPress simply bursting with enthusiasm\nabout Moscow, He has a kind word to\nsay of Americans by whom we English\n44 are rapidly being outstripped and\nhe adds that 44 it seems a mistaken sort\nof kindness to conceal the fact when one\nsees the red light—surely then is the\ntime to shout \".\nThe time for shouting would seem\nto us long past. Not so to Mr. Dean,\nwho seems to be seeing red lights all\nthe time and who found his way into\nDrury Lane by the aid of that lamp,,.,\nand out of it within the year.\nMr. Dean opes his lips far too often\nto be effective in the role of Sir Oracle\n—and the result is that the dogs are in-\ncessantly barking at him.\nHe counts in our opinion for very\nlittle. He has brought little of value\nto our stage. He is an earnest man at\nbest, but what is that pray? There are\nat least three hundred and sixty five\nearnest men in the English Theatrical\nprofession,—but it must be admitted few\nof them stagger us by getting so rapidly\nin and out of Drury Lane Theatre, and\nnone ever get paid as he was £5OOO for\nthe double somersault."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c076", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c076", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "170", "page_fin": "170", "image_debut": 54, "image_fin": 54, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.27.4", "titre_corps": "A GOOD STORY", "titre_sommaire": "A GOOD STORY", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "170", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 2003, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4089, "texte": "A GOOD STORY.\nTUTR, Norman Forbes tells an amusing\nIVI §tory about Sir Herbert Tree and\nMr, Claude Lowther, when the two actors\nwere staying with Lowther at his four-\nteenth century castle at Hurstmonceaux\nwith its famous peach garden. This is\nhow it goes:\n\" While we were enjoying ourselves\nin the gardens a large party of trippers\narrived on the scene. This was not a\nvisitors' day, but one of the party ap-\nproached our host and, raising his hat,\nsaid, 44 Excuse me, but are you Colonel\nLowther? \" To which Claude, with his\nlove of joking, immediately replied poin-\nting to Tree, 44 No; there is the colonel \".\nThe visitor then addressed Tree in\nthese words, 44 I am sorry, Colonel Low-\nther, to have brought my party here on\na non-visitors' day, but since we have\ncome from afar would you allow us to\nlook round your beautiful gardens be-\nfore we return? \".\n44 Certainly, \" said Tree, t4 arid pick\nas many peaches as you like and take\nthem away with you \".\nThis was too much far Claude, who\nadvanced and said, 44 Ladies and Gen-\ntlemen, Colonel Lowther deserves his\nreputation for being a princely host. He\nteaches me a real lesson in generosity.\nLet me introduce myself. lam Herbert\nBeerbohm Tree, of Her Majesty's Thea-\ntre. and I shall be delighted to place as\nmany boxes and stalls at your disposal\nas your party may require, now or at\nany time—you have only to write\".\nThis is quite in the London Tradi-\ntion. Actors since the time of Garrick,\nif not Burbage, have year in and year\nout played just such games when away\nin the country, ...Sothern, Irving and\nToole, Grossmith. And if on getting\nback they retell the story elaborating it,\ntelling what they would like to have\ndone and said in terms of gospel truth,\nwho is there would have it otherwise ?\nIsn't that the way Homer wrote the\nOdyssey? a little experience enlarged,\nhalf a fact and a lot of fancy.\nFor it is absurd to suppose that\nactors are quite as these stories would\nmake them out to be, evetf as the devil\nis never half as black as he is painted,\nnor Ulysses quite such a cad, or even\nPenelope quite so perfect."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c078", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c078", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "170", "page_fin": "170", "image_debut": 54, "image_fin": 54, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.27.5", "titre_corps": "QUERIES & ANSWERS", "titre_sommaire": "QUERIES & ANSWERS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "170", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 4091, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5612, "texte": "QUERIES & A N SW E R S .\n'THE population of an English town is\noften quoted to show us how little a\nvast number of people are able to do to\ngive themselves a firstclass playhouse.\nBut some way of discovering a town's\n44 artistic and theatrical public \" before\nusing numbers is our argument. We\ngive very rough estimates of the popu-\nlations of nine of our towns.\nLiverpool (about) 770,000\nManchester » 730,000\nNewcastle » 290,000\nSheffield » 480,000\nExeter » 63.000\nNorwich » 130,000\nLeeds » 460,000\nYork » 90,000\nCanterbury » 25,000\nA like rough estimate of some Ita-\nlian towns yields us these figures.\nRoma about 599,000\nMilano » 670,000\nNapoli » 700,000\nBologna » 110,000\nGenova » 270,000\nModena » 40,000\nThe question I want to ask is whe-\nther any steps are taken by the authori-\nties or citizens of the chief towns to\nascertain what percentage of people are\ntheatre-goers and lovers of art. Will some\nreader in any of these centres reply.\nI ask because in Milano they have\nmade such a calculation. They disco-\nvered in about 1906 when the population\nwas about 498,000 that they could count\n3000 people as lovers of art and theatre.\nOf these they calculated that;—\n1000 would spend £l6O a yean=£i6o 000\n1000 » » £4B » » £ 48',000\n1000 » » £36 » » ~£ 36,000\nSo that they discovered that they\ncould count on about £244*000 a ye.'\nfrom their art and theatre going pop\nlatton to support the Teatro alia Scale\nIt comes as no surprise then that a\nfew years ago this theatre could afford\nto spend £75,000 on reconstruction."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c079", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c079", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "170", "page_fin": "170", "image_debut": 54, "image_fin": 54, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.27.6", "titre_corps": "MANNERS & THE STAGE", "titre_sommaire": "MANNERS & THE STAGE", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "170", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 5614, "fin_caractere_exclue": 7351, "texte": "MANN ERS & THE STAGE.\nTWTR. Osbert Sitwell has been rude to\nthe English Stage. I happen to be-\nlong to the English stage and\" yet I do\nnot feel offended. Mr. Sitwell said this:\nThe stage is in so deplorable a con-\ndition that, so far as I can see, the im-\nportance of broadcasting cannot be too\nstrongly emphasized. Actors and actres-\nses are so busy trying to be ladies and\ngentlemen and golfers that they have no\ntime left to pay attention to their jobs\nWell, what's the matter with that.\nIt can't be true, can it?\nSir Gerald du Maurier goes in a\ngood deal for golf and is a perfect gen-\ntleman and not a very bright actor. But\nhe does not try to be a gentleman, he\nis one: he does try to be an actor and\nis not as successful.\nBut there is Mr. Ainley: does he\ngolf, does he drop his H's, doesn't he\nknow how to say 44 Good morning\" or\neven ••goodbye\"? I should suppose he\ndid—and he is a very good actor.\nMr. Fred Terry is not a bad actor\nin his and is as gentlemanly as any\nsquire of 1830.\nWhat more does Mr. Sitwell want?\nAs a matter of fact your real gen-\ntleman is not quite as polished as he\nmight be. That is to be admitted. I\nam glad to find that Mr. Osbert Sitwell\nerrs in the right direction and has been\nnot a little rude. Such a blessing these\ndays with so much unnecessary distinc-\ntion, refainment and dignity strutting\nabout London; especially in the Strand.\nI am always bumping into perfection\nthese days and the consequent volley of\noaths reminds me strongly of my great\ngrandfather.\nOnce upon a time the Duke of Ar\ngyle..., but there is no space for more.\nThis last page is going to cause me trou-\nble some day. I am so often cut off at the\nvery moment when I am thinking of the\nwords I should use to frame my apology."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1926-10-01-c081", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01#c081", "volume": "bmtnaau_1926-10_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "170", "page_fin": "170", "image_debut": 54, "image_fin": 54, "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=bmtnaau192610-01.2.27.7", "titre_corps": "[Sans titre]", "titre_sommaire": "[Sans titre]", "signature_source": "J. B", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "170", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 7353, "fin_caractere_exclue": 7719, "texte": "J. B.\nBy the bye who is Mr. Robert Hale?\nand Archie de Bear, who he? ...and what\ndoes Mr. Sitwell mean by inviting actors\nto lunch?—a bit o' grub is all we Rett's\nwant—lunch is the highest browed staff\nI ever heard of. A snack if you don't\nwant to be associated with the Sitwells\nis quite enough. But if one goes to\nlunch— to lunch, mark you, what does\nthat portend?"}]}], "pages_ocr_originales": [{"page_pdf": 1, "page_imprimee": "couv. 1", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.1", "texte": "THE MASK\nVOLUME TWELVE\nNUMBER FOUR\nOCTOBER\nANNUAL SUBSCRIPT lON EDITION DE LUXE\nTEN SHILLINGS TWENTY SHILLINGS'\n(POST FREE) A (POST FREE)\n0\nTWO & A HALF DOLLARS LA^COPYJFFIVE DOLLAFRS\nFOR AMERICA FOR AMERICA\nADDRESS: BOX 444. FLORENCE. ITALY.\n\nALEXANDRE DUMAS AND HIS\nADVENTURES AT THE THEATRE\nFRANQAIS by E. Gordon Craig.\nABOUT ONE OF OUR ENGLISH AR-\nTISTS : MARGARET MORRIS.\nON SOME BOOKS, ITALIAN, EN-\nGLISH & FRENCH, ON THE THEA-\nTRE OF EUROPE.\nTHE PRETTY THEATRE : PART 4.\nRELATING TO SOME OF THE PRI-\nVATE THEATRES OF FRANCE.\nON PROVINCIAL THEATRES in general.\nand, particularly, The Maddermarket of\nNorwich: with two wood-cuts.\nA NOTE ON THE OLD OPERA HOUSE\nIN THE HAYMARKET by Erroll\nSherson.\nBOOK REVIEWS & NOTES about Racine;\n\" A Banned Play * ; The Stratford Memorial\nTheatre, and \" American Generosity \" ; Amateurs\nand Stage Miracles; Masks and No Plays, \" Ben-\nsonian Memories , and many other entertaining\ndetails respecting, Theatre Figures and Theatre Books."}, {"page_pdf": 2, "page_imprimee": "couv. 2", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.2", "texte": "THE MASK. OCTOBER 1926\nNOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS. The Editor consider\nexperts in theatre history and art, which result from special research or personal experience. Where stamped\nand addressed envelopes are included, every effort will be made to return in due course rejected contributions :\nbut in no circumstances can he hold himself responsible for safe custody or return. All articles should be\ntypewritten.\nAddress: The Editor :\" The Maskßox 444,\n\nLITERARY CONTENTS.\nHOW THE PRESS COULD SERVE ART . ; . J. S. . . . . | .Page 127\nALEXANDRE DUMAS pkRE AND HIS ADVEN-\nTURES AT THE TH&ATRE FRANCAIS . . E. Gordon Craig . . . .129\nTHE SUMMER THEATRE AT LUBECK . . . A. C. . . . . 139\nON A BOOK ABOUT ONE OF OUR ENGLISH AR-\nTISTS : MARGARET MORRIS . . . G. C .140\nTHE CHANCES FOR AND AGAINST GOOD THEA- J\n' TRES in Provincial centres & The Maddermarket, Nor-\nwich. Part 2 | . E. G. C. . . . . .142\nTHREE BOOKS ON THE THEATRE OF EUROPE . John Balance 146\nTHE PRETTY THEATRE. Part 4 . . . . . X. Y. Z 155\nAN OLD PLACARD OF MADAME TUSSAUD'S\nWAXWORKS Anon 156\nA NOTE ON THE OLD OPERA HOUSE, LONDON . Erroll Sherson . . . . . 157\nPLAYING WITH GREEK FIRE . . . . R. S. • 157\nCORRESPONDENCE. BOOK REVIEWS. EDITORIAL NOTES.\n\nILLUSTRATIONS.\nA NINETEENTH CENTURY SUMMER THEATRE IN\nOLD LUBECK .f Anon . .j . Plate 13, Face 127\nVENICE PRESERVED, A Scene for the Lessing Theater,\nBerlin, 1904 ........ E. Gordon Craig . \" 14, \" 138\nPICTURE OF A THEATRE FROM THE NATIONAL\nGALLERY, LONDON, attributed to . . . . Bibiena . . . \" 15, \" 146\nPLAN FOR A LITTLE THEATRE, Designed for Mme\ndu Barry by the Architect ...... Le Doux. . . \" 16, \" 154\nA JAPANESE NO MASK Anon . . . » 17, \" 162\nA VIEW OF FIRENZE IN THE 17th CENTURY. . Valeric Spada. . • 18, ■ 170\nTHE MADDERMARKET THEATRE, Two woodcuts . O. P. Smythe. . . . 142, 145\nPLAN SHOWING THE THEATRE DU MARAIS PARIS,\n1676. (Headpiece) ....... Anon . . . . . 146\n- • ' V- ■ ■\nHead and Tail Pieces from old and modern Designs."}, {"page_pdf": 4, "page_imprimee": "[126]", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.4", "texte": "A NINETEENTH CENTURY SUMMER THEATRE IN OLD LUBECK.\n\nTHE MASK"}, {"page_pdf": 5, "page_imprimee": "127", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.5", "texte": "I\n\nEPILOGUE TO VOLUME XII.\nHOW THE PRESS COULD SERVE ART.\n\nVEN IN MOMENTS OF THE HIGHEST HAPPINESS AND THE DEEPEST MISERY WE STAND IN NEED\nF THE ARTIST. Goethe 1819.\nRTISTS ARE THE ONLY CLASS WHO HAVE NEVER OPPRESSED THE PEOPLE AND AGAINST WHOM\nHE PEOPLE HAVE NEVER RISEN. John Quinn, 1919.\nWHO are the best musicians in Europe ? Who the best writers\nof verse and of prose ? Who can erect the best buildings, and\nwho can stage plays best ? ln short, who are the best Eu-\nopean artists, never mind whether they have a European reputation\n>r no, never mind for the moment whether their work is in demand,\n3r, if in demand, whether it is ungettable. Who are the best ?\nThen who are the next best, and who come third ?\nWe want a proper enquiry to be made, and a fair statement not\na false one.\nThe '* Daily Mail \" published an article recently signed \"A No-\nvelist \", asking \" Who are our greatest writers ?\" The name of our\nbest prose writer was omitted from the list.\nHere we ask, not, who are the greatest, but who are the best\nartists ; for, thanks to a too casual journalism, the word great has\ncome today to mean \" popular\".\nEnquiring therefore who writes music well, verse and prose well,\nwho builds well, who paints, carves, and dances well, who best pro-\nduces plays which are well written and well acted, ....this we find\nthat no one is talking about. Cannot you now forgive the poor Edi-\ntors that they too do not know what the deuce all this talk about\nart means ? But doubtless in time re, when it's too late they"}, {"page_pdf": 6, "page_imprimee": "128", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.6", "texte": "will employ experts who know who is who in the world of art,\nnot merely who is somebody. And then, on discovering who can paint,\nwho can compose, write, produce and act, the great Dailies being\nactually great might treat the information in a rather different way\nfrom that in which they treat the information received about cricketers,\nsociety failings, and affairs of the law courts.\nWe suggest this pertinently. In the great cities, London, Paris\nand New York, the arts are suffering a set-back, and it is not a\nlittle the fault of the great Dailies. They are, one supposes, always\nhappy when they can draw attention to good work; where they\nfail is in being unable to recognize anything but \" great \" work, which\nnine times out of ten is great rubbish.\nThe last thing the editors of the great Dailies suspect is that\nthey are blind. They believe that they are remarkably clear sighted,\nand in so many matters this is true; in the matter of the arts they\nare nearly all of them as blind as bats.\nFor art matters they should allow the great city feeling to dominate\ntheir minds.\nTheir great city has great theatres, great concert halls, galleries,\npublishing establishments, .... le, all are great concerns like great bake-\nries or restaurants, closely related to the public health.\nNow good bread, good tea, cakes, milk, beef, mutton, veal, vege-\ntables and fruit are insisted on by the public for it knows. If it did\nnot know it would soon have an ache in its stomach; before long\nthe Public body would be rendered unfit. The Public body is kept\nhale and hearty because a great city must not be fooled about its food,\nand the Press helps to see that it is not fooled.\nBut the great cities are fooled about their arts, and so the Public\nmind is becoming unfit.\nOne of the first steps towards a little improvement of this rather\nsorry state of things is for the Press to review the situation and look\nat the whole question from a new angle from the only right one.\nThe Press does not yet know who is who in the arts.\nWhen its representatives can afford time and money for discovering\nwhat has been done and is being done by the artists, writers and\nmusicians of worth, and when they know, and when they tell Europe,\nand avoid telling the public tarradiddles about this important thing, they\nwill be conferring a lasting benefit on all the nations.\n\nJ. S."}, {"page_pdf": 7, "page_imprimee": "129", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.7", "texte": "ALEXANDRE DUMAS AND HIS\nADVENTURES AT THE THEATRE\nFRANÇAIS. 1825-1851.\nBy GORDON CRAIG.\n(1)\n*\nI cannot recall any review appearing\nin recent years which did justice to\nthis book.\nIt is perhaps not the kind of book that\nlovers of the Dumas romances would\nespecially take to, for it is all real and all\nabout actors and actresses. It is very\nprecise history and at the same time is\nwritten as a perfect journalist would write\nit, except that nowadays I suppose he\nmight be told to cut out about fifty\nwords in every hundred. Ido not know\nabout this but I suppose so; and I sup-\npose that Alexandre Dumas would not\nbe let off any more than anyone else.\nI will not presume to say that it would\nbe a wrong thing to cut it, to compress\nit, but I like it so much as it is, that I\nfor one would not have it different or\na word shorter.\nThere is a good deal of this sort of\nthing.\n\" You will? \"\n\" I will. \"\n\" When? \"\n\" Tomorrow.\n\" Tomorrow? \"\n\" Yes. \"\n\" You promise ? *'\n\" I promise. \"\nThat is all froth, of course, but, by\nJove, under all that froth is solid rock.\n\"My Odyssey first published in\n1868, is now in its English translation\npublished by Stanley Paul and Co. This\nbook of eighteen chapters is not a hun-\ndred pages in length, yet the author ma-\nnages to tell you how he entered the\nTheatre and how he worked in\nit for a period covering twenty-five years.\nThe Theatre Frangais has been and\nstill is for me one of those theatres out-\nside and beyond criticism, and I do not\nknow exactly why. Perhaps, if I went\nthere every night for a year, I should\ndiscover why it was well within the pale\nof criticism, but 1 prefer to look at it\nfrom where I am at a distance and\nto love on.\nDumas entered this theatre at the age\nof twenty-two, attempted to cope with its\nimpossibilities, failed and triumphed, and fi-\nnally passed us this valuable book a\nguide for the formation of a National Theatre\nshould we ever want one.\nThe Theatre Frangais is in some\nways exactly like every other theatre.\nIt is for example a lions' den. Let others\nrefer to it as a wasps' nest, I prefer lions.\nInto this den walks the most daring man\nthat ever entered it. Physically a giant,\nwith a terrific youth on his side, with a\nknowledge of half of the silliness of the\nworld and a suspicion of the other half,\nwith the very deuce in him, and with an\nimmense common sense, he comes into this\ntheatre; is for twenty-five years insulted right\nand left; is cut through thick and thin; and\ncomes out at the end blazing with pleasure,\ndelighted with the old beast with whom\n\n(') MY ODYSSEY by Alexandre Dumas Stanley\nPaul & Co Ltd. London. 7/6 net.\nThe trifle is the second part of a volume entitled ' * My\nLife's Ambition We beg of Messrs Stanley Paul &Co to\nissue a Popular Edition of the 44 Odyssey \" in paper\ncovers at a shilling with the title 44 Dumas pere and his\nAdventures at the Theatre Frangais\". Ed."}, {"page_pdf": 8, "page_imprimee": "130", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.8", "texte": "he has had the tussle, and positively pat-\nting it on the head.\nThe Spectre of the Place appears on\nhis first page Mile. Mars 44 A dete-\nstable creature \", I thought after reading\na few pages; but, before I had come to\nthe end of the book, 1 returned to my old\nopinion of years ago, and liked her better\nthan ever.\nDo you see how delightful this book\nis! he makes the theatre 44 detestable \"\nand 44 delightful \".\nHe is none of your lickspittlers; he\nis not like so many authors of today, so\nartful with his flattery for the foolish part\nof a noble old profession; neither is he\nin a rage with its folly ; and he will not\nhold these people in contempt.\nWell -it is understood of Dumas that\nhe cannot sleep with contempt in his\nheart—and yet the action of these people\nthrough the story of the Odyssey is con-\ntemptible and nothing else.\nYou would have said that they had\nthe wit to know the difference between\nthose two opposite types, Victor Hugo\nand Alexandre Dumas, and would have\nrejected the former and hailed the latter ;\nyet, if anything, they were more respectful\nto Victor Hugo. You would have said\nthat on catching sight of this brilliant\ncreature, this combination of Porthos,\nAramis, and d'Artagnan, with his fuzzed-\nup hair, his terrific person, breathing kind-\nness, yielding adaptability in every look,\nin every act, ready to understand all those\nthings which only a sense of humour can\nunderstand, in short a perfect man for the\ntheatre.... you would think, on catching sight\nof him, the entire company would cry\n4 4 The game is up! Let us for once\nplay the game \"; but they did nothing of\nthe kind. There is a special reason why\nthey should have played the game better\nwith him than anyone else. It was that\nhe positively had their own faults. His\nnotions included the introduction of prancing\nhorses on the stage... he liked the highly\ndecorated... the spangles; he was all for\nsurprises sudden contrasts he could\ndescend as well as ascend.\nCompare him for a moment with the\nlofty director Goethe. When an actress\nwho was the Duke's mistress came into\nthe Weimar theatre and gave the order\nthat a poodle was to be introduced into\none of the forthcoming productions, Goethe\nwas so offended that he left the theatre of\nwhich for some twenty or thirty years he\nhad been the head; and naturally the entire\nprofession in Germany, in France, in England,\nand in Italy said ; 44 A fine sort of a philo-\nsopher to be the head of the theatre. Pouff 1\nWho wants a philosopher there. Paff!\nWhat we want is a man who understands\nthese things, in short, somebody like us.\nWe can follow a man like that\". In\n1825 they got their somebody like them-\nselves Alexandre Dumas. Did they\nfollow him 7 Not a bit of it. He might\nhave been an old philosopher like Goethe.\nHe might have been a litterateur like\nBrowning. He might have been con-\ntemptuous like Byron, or 4 profound * like\nVictor Hugo: or he might have been Baco-\nnian like Shakespeare. He might have been\nanything you can conceive with which\nthey might reasonably have found fault,\nand he was none of these. He was\nperfection: the very man for the theatre.\nHis first tragedy was Christine a Fon-\ntainebleau. It was not, as he tells us, a\nclassical piece in the manner of Sophocles,\nbut was on the lines of the new classical\ntragedy as expounded by two Frenchmen,\nLegouve and Chenier. Now that is very\nimportant. It means that he was giving\nthe French theatre something the French\ntheatre was positively asking for 44 on the\nlines of the new classical tragedy ."}, {"page_pdf": 9, "page_imprimee": "131", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.9", "texte": "He adds that it is true that he had\ntaken liberties in some of the scenes, ' li-\nberties at which Melpomene's hair would\nhave bristled, and that here and there he\nhad introduced a touch of humour. You\nsee it, of course, at once, this touch of\nhumour.... and its value to the Lions of\nthe Comedie. It was the looked-for\nreason for a growl—anything serves with\nLions, growl, spring, rend and go to\nsleep.\nHow is it possible to have a touch\nof humour in a tragedy ? Even in London\nit would have been a dreadful thing to\nhave dreamt of introducing a touch of\nhumour, in spite of the fact that Shake-\nspeare bristles with humour in his tra-\ngedies.\nAh! That's different... Shakespeare\nwas a gentleman—this is a negro.\nThat it struck London in this way\nis a fact, for in her \" Records of a Girl-\nhood \" by young Miss Frances Kemble,\n....Fanny Kemble, as she was known.... the\nyoung actress refers to a translation of\nthis play by Dumas. Doubtless it has\nbeen whispered to her that he was a\nnigger, and in the houses she visited,\nespecially in the house where she per-\nformed in private theatricals, performed\nthis second play of Dumas* \" Henry 111\nand his Court\", the notion of anybody\nfaintly brown would have been an offence.\nIt was in 1831 that Miss Fanny\nKemble glanced over Lord Francis Eger-\nton's translation of \" Henry 111 and his\nCourt \", and, alluding to one of the\nscenes between the Duchess of Guise and\nMegrine, remarks that she would think\n14 it ought to be very effective on the\nstage \". She even adds that \" the situa-\ntion which is highly dramatic is, I think,\nquite new. I cannot recollect any similar\none in any other play \". This is the\nextent of her enthusiasm and delight.\nThen she begins the rehearsals of it\nwith the amateurs. They produce it,\ncalling it \" Katherine de Cleves At\nfirst she has nothing disagreable to say\nabout it, and, as one reads these charm-\ning 4 5 Records \", one likes to see this\nyoung woman on the side of young things\nthat are \" quite new \". But later on,\nhaving heard somebody sniff, and some-\nbody else purr, she begins to pull Alexandre\nDumas to pieces, without mentioning his\nname, of course.\nFor example, she writes: \"I acted\npretty well, though my dresses are getting\nshockingly dirty, and in one of the scenes\nmy wreath fell backwards and was obliged\nto take it off in the middle of all my\nepistolary agony; and, what was still\nworse, after my husband had locked me\nup in one room and my wreath in ano-\nther it somehow found its way back on\nmy head for the last scene. At the end\nof the play, which has now been acted\nten nights, some people began hissing the\npinching incident. It was always consi-\ndered the dangerous passage of the piece,\nbut a reasonable public should know that\na play should be damned on its first night,\nor not at all \".\nDresses wreath and a \" pinching\nincident \" is all she finds to say of some-\nthing exceptional in Drama, This is pro-\nbably how Mile. Mars would also have\nspoken: it expresses a giggling lack of\ncomprehension. It is as though someone\nwho had not quite fathomed \" Macbeth \"\nalluded to the apparition of Duncan as\n\" that bogey bit\nAnd it illustrates very well the mind\nand spirit of the actors of the Comedie\nFrangaise as the plays of Dumas began to\nforce their way into that dear old building.\nTalma was dead and Talma was a\ngood deal head and shoulders above petty\nintrigue. He was somebody in the theatre"}, {"page_pdf": 10, "page_imprimee": "132", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.10", "texte": "and even Mile. Mars kept to the formal\nand respectful 44 you \" when speaking to\nhim, though he used the familar 44 thou \"\nto her.\nThere is no calling a Talma 44 Frank,\nold chap \" and that makes for good.\nBut Talma was dead and the great\nfigure from 1 826 to 1 839 in the 7 heatre\nwas certainly Mile. Mars. The men were\nof small stature—there was little Firmin,\nreliable and excellent and little, and, true,\nthere was a sort of ghost of Talma loafing\nround, a certain M. Lafon. Talma will\nbe glad that I refer to Lafon as a ghost,\nfor he was an imitator of Talma, 1 think,\neven to the extent of falling in love with\nPauline Buonaparte after Talma had fal-\nlen out.\nThis M. Lafon must have been a very\ngreat nuisance, but he was not dangerous\nlike Mile. Mars.\nHow sorry I am to speak of anyone\nso delightful and such a perfect actress in\nthis disrespectful manner.\nBut it is not so much I who speak\nas les coulisses which seem to echo with\na certain enraged hissing, animated as they\nare at night when the theatre is closed\nand all is dark, and visions of great things\ntake form, and, among these great things,\nthe thoughts, the endeavours and disap-\npointments of this great man, Durnas.\nIt is not right, Mile Mars, that you,\nand those who are like you, should do as\nyou do : should be unable to sit on yourself.\nOh! I have written about this be-\nfore. Have 1 not got over it ? Have I\nnot got through and over to that thing\nwhich we call the ÜbermariNo!\nI have not!\nCan one not dream and long for\nsplendid things for splendid ACTORS\nlong after one has seen proof that these\nsplendid things are. to be broken and flung\nabout by the whim of ignorant actors ?\nWhat was this Übermarionette? Was\nit something better than Mile. Mars... the\ngreat Mars? Decidedly 44 No \" and de-\ncidedly 44 Yes! '* It is more than she is,\nif she is less than herself, and if she is\nherself, it is nothing at all.\nDumas tells us that Mile. Mars was\nthe greatest person in this Theatre Fran-\nsais and that she was doing all she could\nto prevent the Theatre from being itself\n—a superb and a sensible place.\n1 have spoken of Mile. Mars as dange-\nrous; yet she was no more dangerous in the\nstrict sense of the word than is an actor\nwho has just gone off the stage with\na dagger saying the words\n\" Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell\nThat summons thee to Heaven or to Hell\nWhat then renders her dangerous,\nthis most delightful of women ? Simply\nthis fact ; that you may not punish Mile.\nMars fairly (only unfairly) for insubor-\ndination.\nThe Rules of this Theatre Frangais\nare admirable.\nIn 1812, when Napoleon was in\nMoscow Vv'ith nothing to do, he drew up\nthese rules. So far as I know it is the\nonly theatre which has had rules drawn\nup for it by an Emperor who was at\nthe same time a man of sense.\nIt is a formidable book of rules, this\n44 Decret de Moscou \" (■), and you would\nthink that it would entirely suffice to\nkeep our delightful Mile. Mars in order.\nBy this, please understand me to mean,\nsufficiently helpful to her, for her to keep\nherself in order.\nBear in mind that this is so\nexceptionally well planned that, even after\nmore than a hundred years, the theatre\nhas found practically nothing in it to alter.\nThere have been revolutions since then,\n\n(i) See \" The Mask Vol. X. No. 2. April 1924.."}, {"page_pdf": 11, "page_imprimee": "133", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.11", "texte": "and there was plenty of opportunity to\nsmash up the Decree if it were one of\nthose things that had been imposed on a\ngroup of people against their will. The\nreason why it has worked so well is be-\ncause it is a broad-minded piece of work\nand its 101 Articles make the actors\nthink something of themselves.\nEach Article is sound and practical,\nand, as it were, addressed to reasonable\npeople. It is the sort of thing which a\ngreat ruler would draw up for an Aca-\ndemy of savants or a modern organizer\nfor a big manufacturing firm. The two\nthings do not seem very much alike but\nthe Decree seems addressed to just two\nsuch bodies of people. It treats them like\nreasonable savants and like money-loving\nemployees.\nThe mixed solemnity... the theatrica-\nlity of this Decree, has, 1 won't say, en-\ntirely taken in all the actors, for any\nactor if he wishes can note the stress\nNapoleon is always laying on the francs;\nbut it has taken in most of them.\nOnly a supreme actor could have\ndrawn this up, and let us add, only a\nman in sympathy with actors would have\ndrawn it up. It fools and flatters and\nit pays.\nThen why is it of no use to Mile.\nMars ? The reason is that Napoleon\nhad lost sight of one fact. When he\nplanned for the theatre he was more or\nless planning as he would plan for the\narmy. When he planned for an army he\nknew that he was dealing with men, none\nbut men, and men who managed each\nother. There could be no possible non-\nsense among them. Anything going\nwrong, any trick, any bit of intrigue, one\nagainst the other, was a thing that the\nwhole army would deal with, and it was\na very dangerous thing for any one to\ndream of playing any such trick.\nEsprit de corps, do you call it, I do\nnot know! I thought there was esprit\nde corps in the theatre, but it seems that\nit is not so, and maybe it is because in\nthe theatre a trick played by some unman-\nnerly actor not only goes unpunished but\nrather tickles the others and even finds\nfavour with some great ladies, Mile. Mars,\nfor example, and wastes everyone's time\ninto the bargain.\nNow Napoleon cannot have realised\nthat his Decree had omitted Clauses\nwhich should deal with such people.\nIt is beyond human nature to expect\npeople to discipline themselves. I believe\nin the Church the discipline is very stern\nindeed, although I am inclined to think it is\nnot half so effective as it is in the army\n—not so simple, not so quick, not so fair.\nAnd in the theatre it is necessary that the\ndiscipline shall be very fair and very\nsimple and immediate. Where intense\nexcitement waits upon the inspiration of\nthese men and women to do their work\nwell, it is touch and go if the trick is\nbrought off, or if the trick fails.\nHeaven forbid that there should be a\nman introduced into the theatre, a pu-\nnisher, as it were, who walks about cor-\nrecting us, and who says \" I see you\nthere, intriguing—Out you go! \" \" Now\nthen you,what do you mean by pretend-\ning not to know your words, when you\nknow them quite well Off with you \".\nOne does not want that.\nBut what are you to have in place of\nit? If, in Napoleon's army, somebody\nskulked behind, he found himself suddenly\nswinging to a tree. Why? You may\nsay the poor man had been feeling tired,\nor had a moment's terror, and are you\ngoing to punish him for that, you ask ?\n1 do not know what the answer is, but\nunless that man is punished, the whole army\nmay start skulking behind ; and it is pre-"}, {"page_pdf": 12, "page_imprimee": "134", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.12", "texte": "cisely the same answer that we give\nabout the theatre. Do you want to see\nthe whole theatre of a nation driven off\nthe field, or a great institution like the\nTheatre Frangais crumble inside like a\ncheese that has been eaten from inside out\nby the rats, which have left nothing but\nthe rind to stand up and look monumen-\ntal; is that what you want? It is not\nwhat I want, and I have no self-interest\nwhatever in the theatre, as I hope I have\nby this time proved.\nI want to see certain Clauses added\nto the Decree of Moscow, or in other\nlike Decrees, or ordinary Book of Rules,\nwhich make it impossible for any actor or\nactress to put on airs, however great they\nmay be as an actor or actress.... impossi-\nble for intrigue to grow in a theatre....\nimpossible for wilfulness to take root.\nIt was because Mile. Mars put on airs\nthat she was dangerous to the Theatre\nFrangais, and gave Alexandre Dumas so\nmany years of unnecessary trouble.\nActors seem to forget that they are,\nas it were, on a dangerous adventure,\nwhich is to capture the public. There-\nfore the public is in this sense their\n44 enemy \". It is against the public their\nforce is to be arrayed, and it is not to\nbe wasted against each other.\nBut how get that into their bones,\ninto the bones of a M. Lafon and Mile.\nMars ? If you cannot cut down the ra-\ntions of Mile. Mars, and you cannot, you\ncertainly cannot clout M. Lafon's head.\nIt would be an outrage. There would be\na scandal. It has never been heard of.\nBut is it not quite as great an outrage,\nis it not quite as great a scandal for\nM. Lafon to act like an ignoramus, and\nfor Mile. Mars, to act, shall we say, like\na cat, when M. Dumas has arranged the\ncaste a little differently from the way they\nwould like it?\nThe first two or three years of Dumas's\nexperiences in the theatre were probably\nmore than half wasted by these two people,\nand a few others of lesser significance,\ncarrying on like boys and girls in a pre-\nparatory school •\n44 You won't\n441 shall *\\\n44 You shan't \".\n44 Then I'll tell teacher\nReally this is more nonsense than\ndangerous, but when it becomes quite so\nnonsensical it becomes fatal. And how\ncorrect it ?\n44 If there was away, do you not\nthink that somebody would have found it\nlong ago ? \" is what the actors ask.\nThere is a wav to be found—there is a\n•/\nsolution to all problems. If you do not\nfind away in ten years, give another ten\nyears to finding it; if not, give a hundred,\ngive two hundred, but do not say there is\nno way. And I commend this as the\none worth - while theatrical riddle still un-\nsolved and which is well worth solving,\nand I commend the Columbus method be-\nfore any other. A great deal of thinking\nis not going to solve it. And, as you\nsee, a great deal of rare, good-hearted\nnature is not going to get to it, or Dumas\nwould have solved it. If it could be\nsolved by the entry of the god Apollo,\nsmiling, and refusing to admit the presence\nof clouds anywhere in his neighbourhood,\nApollo would have solved it long ago.\nApollo failed. Dionysius has failed too\nand miserably. The theatre lays great\nstore on the powers of Dionysius. Dio-\nnysius is somebody in their eyes. They\nthink that a good bottle of champagne\nexpresses Dionysius to a tick. I should\nhave said that something nearer ecstasy did\nit, but they will have none of that high-\nbrow stuff, so let us keep away from any\nsuch suggestion."}, {"page_pdf": 13, "page_imprimee": "135", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.13", "texte": "Apollo, therefore, and Dionysius are\nout of it. How about a more modern\nholiness for example! One hears a good\ndeal nowadays about church and stage\ncoming nearer to each other. Did not\nthe Archbishop of Canterbury only last\nmonth utter these memorable words: '4 The\nChurch stands today for something which,\non the whole, is for untold good \".\nThere seems to be nothing wrong\nwith that remark, only unfortunately, if\nthere is worldly attention paid to our\nstage by the clergy, there is very little\nChristian kindness shown by them to\nactors. I hardly suppose that an actor\nwould be left by them to starve; no\nactor found wounded on the highroad but\nwould be carried by the reverend gentle-\nmen many a mile to a safe refuge. Of\nthat I have no doubt. But the clergy\nare not today offered such theatrical epi-\nsodes : nor is Christian burial any longer\ndenied. But how about speaking well of\nthe work ? How about telling all the\npeople in the neighbourhood to go to the\nplayhouse, to go and see the players ?\nWill the clergy be found asking parishioners\nthe question \" How is it 1 did not see you\nlast week in the theatre ? \"\nDo they say that ? Are they going\nto say that? With all due respect to\nthem, 1 believe not.\nI have pretty positive proof that they\nfeel obliged for some reason or other to\ntreat the theatre with indifference, and I\nam not at all out of sympathy with this,\nfor nowadays it very often . deserves in-\ndifference. And, while it is not christian\nto show indifference, a show of solid, hard\nindifference may be intended to act as a\ncorrective.\nSo you see that besides Apollo and\nBacchus, who are out of it, the religion\nof our fathers is not coming to help the\ntheatre over its problems.\nNow then, Mile. Mars, is all this\nnothing to you ? You turn in your grave\nhearing me put such a question. You\nknow all about it now.\nYou know either that the questions\nare not worth a fig. .... the theatre not\nworth a fig life itself not worth a\nfig or you know that it was you\nwho were so often not worth a fig\nNow which is it?\nIn a new Clause to be added to the\nDecret de Moscou, I would add one or\ntwo brief articles and one of them would\nbe this—\" No actor or actress is to speak\n{other than those words written for him\nor her in their part) on the stage during\nrehearsals \".\nA shriek rends the air—a shriek of\nlaughter and horror mixed.\nWhat a dastardly notion, what a\ntyrannical suggestion, and how comic.\nPutting aside the question that in war\nthere is a smashing of heads and a slit-\nting of throats, there is also that disci-\npline which forbids a soldier to speak\nwhile he is at his work .... Silence and\nimmediate obedience .... Why? . . . Is it\nbecause some General or Captain is a\ngreat, wicked, tyrant ? Not so, but so\nas to save the lives of everybody and to\nwin the game.\nMile. Mars answers me: \" But sup-\nposing I want M. Lafon to go a little\nmore to the right when I say: \" Caesar,\nhear me \".\nTo which as director I reply that if\nI want M. Lafon to go a little more to\nthe right I shall say so, and you may\ntake him and place him where you want\nhim, but do not speak.\nIf, when he is placed, I find that\nthat position will not do, I can tell him\nto go back; and besides it is not so es-\nsentially important that your fellow actors\nshall be here or there, shall do this or"}, {"page_pdf": 14, "page_imprimee": "136", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.14", "texte": "that or the other, it is so essential\nas you would make out. It is one of\nthe delusions you have got in your head,\nafter years of bad acting, this delusion\nabout getting other people to do what\nyou want.\nYou see how it was with Alexandre\nDumas. At the end of the writing of\nHenri 111 and his Court\" you called\nM. Dumas up to the Directors' room.\nWe notice that you did not speak to\nhim about the matter on the stage in\nfront of all the other actors. This be-\ncause you know you are going to tell a\nlie, but you have spoken of other things\nbefore the rest of the company. Then\nyou call him up to the Directors' room,\nand, as he tells us, you come to the point\nwith your habitual abruptness. You com-\nmence by saying: \"Ah! It is you! ''\nThat is one of your habits too, to\npretend that you have just caught sight of\nthe good Dumas or the good Shakespeare,\nor the good Euripides, which ever it may\nhappen to be.\nI remember a doctor who used to do\nthat; he, too, used to say: \" Ah ! It is\nyou! \" And I used to say to him in re-\nturn ; \" And how are you today? Are\nyou well ? \" This always had the de-\nsired effect. A doctor hates to be asked\nif he is well. But he was a good, kind,\nman, so let it pass.\nBut you, Mile. Mars, you cannot pass\nquite so easily. You say to M. Dumas :\n\" It is you! \" and you continue \" Well,\nthe thing to avoid is a repetition of the\nbungling you made over your last play\n\" Christine \",\n\" What bungling? \" he asks.\n\" In the caste \" you say.\n\" That is true \" says Dumas, \" I had\nthe honour to allot you the part of Chris-\ntine, but you did not play it \".\nThen a long conversation between you,\naged fifty (by the bye you cannot mind\nmy mentioning this now) and he aged\ntwenty-six. This conversation is carried\non for about three quarters of an hour,\nby working up perfectly beautifully, as\nfew others could have worked up, a\nsituation, to the climax where you are\ngoing to drop the little lie.\nYour interest in the way the play is\ncast is not only because of your own\npart, and certainly not so as to get a\nperfect whole. You are not thinking at\nall about that. Your entire object is to\nget a certain lady out of it.\nOn goes the talk. You discuss the\nfilling of each role and you say yes or\nno, to everything he says yes or no to:\n.... M. Blank .... good .... Mme. Blankette\n.... very well—until you come to the part\nof the Page.\n\" And who have you chosen for that? \"\nyou ask.\n(You know quite well that the choice\nlies with the dramatic author, who should\nbe the best one to know who satisfies\nhis requirements. Or it might rest with\nthe Manager but never should it rest\nwith you, such a decision).\nM. Dumas replies:\n\" I have chosen Mile. Louise De-\nspreaux for the Page \", and - asks if\nMile. Mars has any objection. \"Is she\nnot pretty ? \" he asks,\n\" Oh, very! \" she replies \" But it\nis not enough to look pretty \".\n\" Has she not talent ? \"\n\" They say she is promising \".\n\" Ah, Madame! \" says the author\n\" A good part may help one's talent to\ndevelop \".\n\" You ought first to see that little\ngirl playing the part \" says Mars.\n\" I am still waiting for a good reason\nto convince me that she is not fitted for\nthat part, \" returns the author."}, {"page_pdf": 15, "page_imprimee": "137", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.15", "texte": "\" Well \" says Mile. Mars—her voice\nis getting quieter and her words are get-\nting slower—\" You shall see her dressed\nin tights \".\n\" Very well .... What shall 1 see? \"\n\"You shall see that she is\nshamefully .... knock-kneed! \"\nNov/ a soldier for such treachery would\nbe shot! Am I speaking true or not?\nI do not mind what Mile. Mars says\nin her private life: she may have her likes\nand she may have her dislikes. We all\nhave them.\nBut, when she brings them into the\ntheatre, she acts treacherously, and there\nis nothing to exonerate her.\n\" What an awful thing it would be \"\nwhispers some actor or actress to them-\nselves \" if this man was the Manager of\nthe theatre .... popping us all off. He\nwould be having us marched out of the\ntheatre between a couple of Life Guards! \"\nAs a matter of fact I am afraid I\nam far too tender hearted, but I have\nmy moments!\nI admit that when it comes to think-\ning of this old cause of ours, this theatre,\nI would have Rachel herself marched out\nof the theatre, and let the result be what\nit might, if Rachel would stoop to such\nlittleness.\nBut so far as 1 know, and I have\nlooked into the history of the theatre ra-\nther carefully, Rachel did not play the\npuss and there are many equally good\nexamples for the actresses to follow. But as\nthe Rachels may any day begin to fool,\nit is better that you have discipline in the\ntheatre, for then it is a thousand to one\nthey will not.\nIt was the prompter of the Theatre\nFrangais who said to Alexandre Dumas\n\" My dear M. Dumas, listen to me.\nThirty years of observation, study, and\nreflection, have taught me that here in\nthe Theatre Frangais, everyone has rights,\nand no one has duties\".\nDumas himself says:\n\" Oh, the Theatre Frangais I It is\na circle of the Inferno omitted by Dante,\nwhere God keeps those unfortunate au-\nthors, who are haunted by the singular\nidea of earning there one half of the\nmoney they would get elsewhere, of being\nallowed twenty-five performances instead\nof a hundred, and in their declining years\nreceiving the Cross of the Legion of Ho-\nnour in recognition, not of their success,\nbut of their sufferings\nNot only does he say that, but\nhis third play, \" Antony \", which had\nbeen accepted by the Frangais and which\nwas subjected to every conceivable trick\nwhich Mile. Mars could invent.... this play,\none of the great plays of that time, was\nobliged to be taken by its author out of\nthe theatre in the midst of a rehearsal,\nso as to save its life. Six weeks later\nhe produced it in another theatre with\noverwhelming success.\nWhat led him to do this is set down\nin his brilliant \" Odyssey *\\\nOne of the actors had been kind\nenough to say that he should take his\nplay and have M. Scribe rewrite it.\nDo not imagine that this was meant\nin any sarcastic manner. Actors are not\nexactly like that. It was sheer, innocent\nadvice. This was the actor Firmin, a\nvery \" good friend \" of Dumas, and a\nman of considerable weight in his profes-\nsion, not a man to storm up and down\nin a fit of nervous excitement, nor to\nworry. He comes up kindly to Dumas\nand says to him: \"My boy, take my\nadvice as an old player and get M. Scribe\nto re-write this play of yours \".\nIs it consideration such people need? \"\nWould consideration help such people?\nWill listening, to them do them, us*"}, {"page_pdf": 16, "page_imprimee": "138", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.16", "texte": "the play, the theatre, or the dramatic art\nany good?\nIt is as though someone had said to\nWagner of his \" Meistersingers' \" My\ndear Richard, take your opera to M. Balfe\nand let him work on it.... that is all it\nneeds \".\n\" The Meistersingers\" was at that\ntime, or appeared to be, perhaps less\nWagnerian than his other operas. Stupid\npeople might have imagined that, in writ-\ning it, he was trying to be a little more\nusual, more ordinary, that he had flung\naway a number of his Wagnerisms and\nwas coming down to them; and therefore\nit would not have been even strange had\nsome very foolish operatic singer given\nhim that counsel to go to Balfe, because\nthe fool would have said to himself: \" He\nis struggling to do it . ... he is struggling\nto come down to us. Now I know the\nvery man who will help him down \".\nAnd so, of poor M. Firmin, one can\nonly say that it is nothing very strange of\nhim that he made such a fat-headed re-\nmark : one can only imagine that most of\nhis remarks were equally fat-headed.\nHaving taken his play away from the\nFransais, Dumas, later on, takes another play\nback there. For, though sensitive, he is a\nsolid man. The bygones of last week are\nentirely bygones with him. On returning\nto the theatre again about six years later, one\nof the first people whom he encounters is\nMile. Mars.\n\" Ah, so it is you 1 \" she says.\nThis must have encouraged him: he\nmust have remembered where he was\nagain . . . even if he wondered who he was.\nIt is perhaps only Mile. Mars who is\nlosing sight, of where she is and who she\nis, for a rather tragic thing is happening.\nThey are pulling Mile. Mars down....\nher own comrades are doing it. They\nare saying among themselves that she is\njust. a little bit old, and they are whisper-\ning in the ear of Dumas, pulling him by\nthe tail of his coat, drawing him gently\naside; they are saying \" Tell her to play\nsuch and such a role \" knowing that, if\nthey can only get her to play the wrong\nrole, their little plan will bear fruit. Du-\nmas, smiling to the right, and smiling to\nthe left, keeps on his path.\nEverybody is certain that the young\nman is going to let her down this time.\nEverybody is wrong.\nThis is what he writes.\n\" Mile. Mars played the title role,\nand you all know with what success.\nBut if 1 had accepted the opinion of those\nwho call themselves friends of Mile. Mars,\nand had given the part of Mile, de Belle\nIsle (and that was the name of the play)\nto Mile. Plessis, and that of Mme. de Prie\nto Mile- Mars, my play would have been\nperformed at the Odeon like Christine \"\nor at the \" Porte St. Martin \" like \" An-\ntony \". But my insistence set me at\nvariance, or nearly so, with the most in-\nfluential members of the Committee of\nthe Comedie Frangaise, who wanted to\nget rid of Mile. Mars and who had even\nhad funeral wreaths cast at her feet on\nthe stage \".\n1 should say that there would be no-\nbody in the theatrical profession of Eng-\nland who would not enjoy this book, if\nonly to see how gallantly young Dumas\nstood by this old actress, who had treated\nhim like a dog, saying to those who\ntraduced her \" Who has genius like that\nof Mile. Mars never grows old \".\nYet the example was lost on this\ncompany of actors—it was a sterner les-\nson it needed.\nOne supposes that the men would be\nall right in a theatre—they would ap-\npreciate discipline—the trouble lies with\nthe women who, if we are to believe"}, {"page_pdf": 17, "page_imprimee": "139", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.17", "texte": "the histories of the stage, wreck nearly\nall theatres.\nHow is it proposed to discern be-\ntween those women who can and do play\nthe game and those who do not? How\nis it proposed to correct those who will\nnot play fairly ? Merely refusing them\nengagements is stupid, for that only loses\nyou and the British stage a fine per-\nformer. For very often the finer the per-\nformer the more unruly the woman. There\nmust be some better way of dealing with\nthe question. There should be some way\nfound of setting about discovering it at once.\nMeantime, nothing shows how neces-\nsary this is better than does Dumas's book,\nwhich I suggest you should read at once.\nBut people may say that all this talk\nof the need of discipline, and of the trou-\nblesomeness of actresses, is exaggerated:\ntherefore before accepting what I say I\nbeg of them first to read this book by\nDumas. Then Arsene Houssaye's 44 Be-\nhind the Scenes of the Comedie Fran-\nchise \". Houssaye was for five years\ndirector of that theatre—from 1852\nto 1856. Thierry, another director of the\nFrangaise, should be consulted too, lest\nDumas, Houssaye and I have made some\nmistake. The evidence of these three autho-\nrities having been taken, appoint a further\ncommission to enquire into the further\nquestion—the troublesomeness of dramatic\nauthors. The stage, like most else, is like\na garden ; —it needs the gardeners and\nit needs weeding, and continual attention.\nSuch gardeners, men who understand\nand value the stage, will not treat actors,\nactresses, plays, sceneries, architects, any\nworse than they treat roses, lilies, pansies,\nchrysanthemums and dahlias ;—but they\nwill cut and control their growth; for, if\nleft to grow as their own instinct would\ndirect them, they would straggle and\nspread, and, what is far worse, admit\nweeds, which would grow twice as quickly\nand twice as strong, and these would in\ntime kill all our lovely roses, lilies and\npansies.\nSo, discipline the stage. It is orga-\nnized sufficiently but it still lacks discipline.\n\nTHE SUMMER THEATRE\nIN OLD LUBECK.\nA. C.\n<l)\nTHIS (2) is that Germany which remembered Goethe and\nlistened to Schubert. A sensible, active and pros-\nperous people is here seen at its sentimental best.\nThe Germans should not have listened to the rude\nremarks from Paris ....that vain Paris which considered\nitself the only place on earth where culture and good\nsense prevailed.\nThese old Lubeck folk did their best to listen only to\nSchubert and Goethe, and to go on working sensibly and\nactively. But the wasps of Paris managed to sting all\nGermans,—even the rulers and thinkers felt the sting,. , and\nforthwith called on their people to be rid of their senti'\nmentality and become hard.\nThe thing will all come right in the end ; these peo-\nple are sincere; and they had so little need to listen to\nany call to become hard ; they were if anything quite hard\nenough—and they knew it.\nOnly a solid race could create so pleasant a theatre\nin the open like this, and then engrave it so carefully.\nThey knew quite well that it wasn't hardness they needed,\nit was grace, polish. Their speech, their movements, their\nrough good-hearted salutation of each other, their excessive\nawkwardness, their heavy jokes—and good bier— ail these\nthings were a bit solid but they were all quite real.\nThis is more than the destitute Parisians could say,...\nthey who had worn out life and created a pretense in place\nof it. Germany was alive ; Gluck, Goethe, Schiller, Haydn,\nhad passed ; Beethoven was passing and Schubert: Heine\nand Mendelssohn still singing on. Wagner was coming.\nExactly : Wagner was coming; and where would this\nsensible perfection of old Liibeck vanish to then ? Dear old\nLiibeckites, you in your good sense have settled that it will\ntake you two hundred years longer to ripen slowly, to ri-\npen so as to remain entirely German and yet be more than\n\" Germans \" ; and here comes Wagner, and with and\nafter him a number more who want to force things\n\"vorwarts\", to ripen up Germany artificially.\nWell, I am in sympathy with your old power to wait;\nto work, to deal honestly and to amuse yourselves a little ;\nto be very sentimental, and above all too serious, too\ngood-natured ever to quarrel. And I like to fancy that 1\nfind all these qualities in this little print.\n(1) One of the four republics of the German Confederation\nof 1866.\n(2) See Plate 13."}, {"page_pdf": 18, "page_imprimee": "140", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.18", "texte": "ON A BOOK ABOUT ONE\nOF OUR ENGLISH ARTISTS:\nMARGARET MORRIS.\n\nMISS Morris's book f1) I have not read,\nbut I have read Mr. L. St. Se-\nnan's review of her book which appeared\nin the \" New Criterion \".\nMr. St. Senan compares pretty Miss\nMorris with M. Diaghileff. Was it to\ndamn the Russian impresario that he did\nthat ? 1 can conceive no other intention.\nIf you compare a rose with a plate you\nare obviously having a sly, if absurd, dig\nat the plate. If you compare even a ra-\ndish with a fine antimacassar you are not\nlaughing at the radish, and Miss Morris\nis after all a pretty English rose.\nHad Mr. St. Senan compared Miss\nMorris with any other danseuse—with\nMiss Allen, or Miss Ruth St. Denis, for\nexample— he would have done a little\nbetter. Self-trained dancers must be com-\npared with other self-trained dancers ....not\nwith machinery.\nMr. St. Senan tells us that M. Diaghileff\nhas \" made history in the art of the theatre\nnot once but over and over again \". He\nhas done no such thing. He has caused\nseveral groups of dancers to make a suc-\ncess over and over again.v He has that\nknack —he is really a good impresario.\nBut he is not the Chevalier Noverre. Only\nIsadora Duncan has \" made history \" in\nthe Dance of this century.\nCritics grow a little confusing who,\nfor no particular reason, compare plates\nand flowers. M. Diaghileff does not dance,\ndoes not sing, does not act, does not, I am\ntold, even whistle. He manipulates those\nwho dance, those who train dancers, those\n*\nwho design scenes, and those who direct\norchestras.\nHe has been probably the first to\nlend the Impresario something which in\nappearance looks very like the true artist.\nIn any other age M. Diaghileff would\nperhaps have attempted diplomacy and\nbecome Valet de chambre to a prince,—\na great personage like M. Bachelier, va-\nlet de chambre to young Louis XV. His\npersonality lends a grace to the Euro-\npean stage which was not possessed by\nM. Astruc or Phineas Barnum. I know\nof another theatre man who seems pos-\nsessed of even more indifference, even\nmore certainty about what he is doing;\nhe is an Italian impresario, but he works\nless in the limelight than M. Diaghileff\nand seems in no way to be the great man\nnor to desire such a celebrity.\nSuch men can be compared for one\ncompares them with Mr. Cochran and with\nM. Herbelot; but none of these can pos-\nsibly be compared with Miss Morris.\nMiss Morris is a very excellent dancer,\nsuffering because Mr. St. Senan and his\nkind will not make a little effort to stand\nby her and her English faults and qua-\nlities. Is she too technical?—is she too\nprecise?—is she too light?—is she too\nheavy ? I'm sure I do not know. But\nwhatever she is, we could have had a\nBallet of our own long ago if, instead of\nbeing ashamed of our own dancers, we\nhad stood up for them all a good deal\nbetter. Miss Morris might long ago have\ndeveloped if we had encouraged her. We\ndid not ; we never do encourage our ar-\ntists, not even when critics are throwing\nbricks at them.\nI suppose it is bad form to encou-\nrage since it is considered good form to\nbe ashamed of them. Good form or no,\nit is anyhow damn bad behaviour and\nshows a wretched spirit to drive our stage\n\n(1) Margaret Morris Dancing : by Margaret Morris and\nFred Daniels. (Kegan Paul, Traubner, Trench & Co.\n10/6 net."}, {"page_pdf": 19, "page_imprimee": "141", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.19", "texte": "artists, who would experiment, into finding\ntheir own little theatres and paying for\nthem, or more or less paying, out of their\nown meagre purses.\nFor there are patrons of the Arts in\nLondon ; oh, yes. They will give an ar-\ntist £ 100, even £ 200 (if the artist\nworries sufficiently) ; and for that they feel\nthemselves privileged to say to London\n44 Yes, I am supporting her art \" or, 44 That\nis my special charity\nSpecial fiddlesticks.\nIf Miss Morris is not better develop-\ned as a dancer (and Mr. St. Senan\nseems to feel she is not) it is his fault\nand the fault of those he listens to and\nechoes, and the fault of all those won-\nderful 44 Patrons \" of the Arts in London.\nHow the sensible folk in London al-\nlow them to block up the road when\npeople are trying to get on, I find hard\nto understand. There they are, smiling\ntheir eternal smile of self-satisfaction while\nthey down all that is English—if it have\nsome talent and independence by sup-\nporting it too feebly. Miss Morris, if she\nis independent, is so in spite of them.\nI need not expect her to do what\nTaglioni did in order to appreciate what\nshe does.... in order to see what she\ncould do if properly supported.\nIf she was first of all driven into a\npseudo-artistic set it is the fault of our\nEnglish critics, who fail year after year to\ncombine and demand in a group what\nthey are too timid to demand indivi-\ndually,... fair play, fair training, fair pay\nand fair opportunity for all English artists\nwho are beginning.\nWho wants merely praise or blame\nfrom critics ? What critics are made for\nis to see first of all that the conditions\nunder which artists are working in London\nare at least as good as the conditions of\nthe East end slums.\nThe conditions are worse.\nWho comes to enquire—to help ?\nThe Prince of Wales?... the Duke oi\nYork? No, the Bishop of Rumtifoo.\nScepticism enquires, reports, grins, turns\nits back, and art is prevented.\nBut M. Diaghileff, you say ? Ah,\nM. Diaghileff ! ! ! M. Diaghileff is from\nRussia ; he has talents all of which 1 have\nacknowledged, all but 0ne.... the art of\nraising the wind. He has that art assu-\nredly. If Miss Morris had it you'd all\nbe at her feet „ tomorrow.\nAre we to suppose that Miss Morris\ncan raise even £ 50 easily, we who can\ndraw our cheques for £ 1000 as easily as\nwe can call a taxi and say 4 4 to the Russian\nBallet\"? No one has a notion how much\ngood material is lost to the arts in Eng-\nland because of the sheer poverty of the\nartists—and their inability to pay their way.\nYou cannot quite wear down a\nWiiliam Blake—he has a pencil and can\nafford three new brushes when he sends\nout for his porter—and he has a friend\n—one. And two rooms. But you can\neven make a William Blake tedious by\nthrowing him back year after year on his\nlast resources :\nOn his one friend\ntwo Rooms\nand three new brushes.\nIn England we make mistakes often\nbecause we don't know. We have kil-\nled and continue to kill our artists be-\ncause we didn't know, if we go on\ndoing this we shall wake updone morning\nand know right enough and know exactly\ntwenty-four hours too late. We shall\nhave tried to kill the wrong artist and he\nwill object.\nI repeat that the conditions under\nwhich our artists work in England are\nworse than the conditions of the worst\nEnglish slums."}, {"page_pdf": 20, "page_imprimee": "142", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.20", "texte": "Daily we hear of young artists who\nwant to put an end to their existence:\n—they see that no one wants their work\nas it is—when it is good. Sometimes by\nGod's luck some good being happens to\npass along—buys a picture—or an engra-\nving—and the lad is saved. But it's touch\nand go. I know several cases of this wea-\nring down of the artists.\nWhen they are more solid and can\nstand more, (Miss Morris for example)\nthe folk think it a cue to put a greater\nstrain on them. So they„ pelt them with\nplates, Diaghileffs and other bric-a-brac.\nYou go to the wrong people to en-\nquire as to the condition of the English\nArtists. They tell you that all is quite\nwell and the artists rather spoiled than\notherwise. That is an untruth.\nI ask for the sixtieth time in this\njournal for fair play for the artists and\ndecent pay. I ask for something to be\ndone to dam the rush of amateurs—mostly\nsociety ladies and gentlemen—who imagine\nthat a Miracle has happened and endowed\nthem suddenly with powers of expression\nequal to that of Rachel, Fanny Elssler,\nJenny Lind or Miss Elinor Wylie.\nThey push forward and shove rudely\ninto places which are not theirs and are\nnot free. American impresarios assist\nthem : it is such a draw to' have a\nreal Society bird, as Mr. James Glover\ncalls them, in place of the genuine nigh-\ntingale.\nI ask that these people be very dis-\ntinctly given the cold shoulder—and your\nartists a warmer welcome. It is the only\nfair-play thing to do.\n\nG. C.\n\nTHE CHANCES\nFOR AND AGAINST\nGOOD THEATRES IN PROVINCIAL CENTRES\nIN ENGLAND, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE\nMADDERMARKET THEATRE OF NORWICH.\n\nPART TWO\nI. THE PLACE & THE FINANCIAL ASPECT.\n•\"\"\"IpHE Theatre has only one endowment:\n1 Mr. Monck. I call him an endowment\nbecause any theatre owned and directed by\na stage manager of energy who has sole\ncontrol, is endowed. Energy and undivided\ncontrol is an immense asset.\nIt cost him £3,300 to buy the place and\nadapt the building to his requirements, Mr.\nNoel Paul being called in to devise the re-\nconstruction. When it was opened in Sep-\ntember 1921 it was seen to somewhat re-\nsemble an old Elizabethan stage, though it\nis by no means a slavish imitation of one (2).\nA pi ace to play-act in is what was aimed\nfor and a place in which to play-act was\nachieved.\nIt holds 250 persons and about £25 can\nbe taken at an evening's performance, more\nat a matinee when the prices are raised.\n\nINTERIOR OF THE MADDERMARKET THE ATRE.\n\n(1) Mr. Monck is the son of the Rev. G. G. Monck ;\nhe studied at the Royal Academy of Music under the admi-\nrable William Farren: made his first appearance on the\nstage in 1901 at the Royalty Theatre in a play by\nBjornson-, Served until 1904 with the Irish Players and\nother Companies; served in the txmy 1914 to 1919.\nHas produced at Norwich over euhty different plays.\n(2) Mr. Monck has worked with Mr. William Poel,"}, {"page_pdf": 21, "page_imprimee": "143", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.21", "texte": "As a rule prices are 5/—, 3/—, 2/4 and 1/6;\nand £l3O is the average takings per week.\n£l9O has been reached on the week, and\nsometimes the takings only amount to £lOO.\nA member of the Company of Players\nattends to the box office, and this Company\nof players pays £2OO a year for the right to\nact in the Theatre.\nThus the Company is, after Mr. Monck,\nthe next important item or asset and endows\nthe theatre with whatever talents it may\nposses;—at one year it will be stronger than\nanother year.\nTHE COMPANY OF SEVENTY PLAYERS.\nTHIS is a serious group of people, and, in\nthe sense that all of them play for the\nlove of acting, they are amateurs.\nIt rests entirely with them whether as a\ngroup they develop, how they develop and\nhow long they give themselves to do so.\nThere are one or two roads open to such\na group. They may strengthen one another,\nor the majority may be willing to strengthen\nand support the four or five best players;—\nor they may all sacrifice their own talents in\norder to develop two or perhaps three of\ntheir members who possess marked talent.\nThis company has doubtless come to a deci-\nsion which of these roads to take, for any\nindecision in such a vital matter would be\nfatal.\nEither road is a good one: the second is\nto my mind the soundest.\nThe players number about fifty men and\ntwenty women: a respectable number for a\nsmall playhouse, but not a member too few.\nAs I have said, all of these are amateurs—\namalori d'arte, lovers of art as Italians would\ncall them; and no professional actors are em-\nployed. This is a strong point, and shows\nthat the head and the body of the underta-\nking both understand well what it is they\nare out to do. They are out to go two\nways at once.\nHad the information I have received told\nme that now and again professionals are in-\nvited to cooperate 1 should have turned away\nand taken no further interest in what would\nhave been to my mind a doomed undertaking.\nI am not a particular lover of \" lovers of\nart\", ie, amatori d* arte, and the northern\nkind I like less than any others;—but when\nany body of men and women can firmly and\nsensibly come to a decision to do some-\nthing and deliberately refuse outside assistance,\nit looks as though they were out to win\nthrough. If they fail it is to be their own\nfault.\nEach member of the company has his or\nher own work to do during the day time.\nWhether dress-making, office work, shop work\nor seeing to their own houses I have not\nenquired.\nIt is sufficient for us that we know that\nthe play-acting is night-work after the work-\nhours of the day.\nThus they come to this play-acting as a\nrefreshment, and strengthened by the labours of\ntheir day's work. They rehearse in the eve-\nnings between six and ten o'clock.\nIt is said that there are no \" stars \" in the\ntheatre, and that the leading lady and leading\nman of one play take walking-on parts in\nanother. This was (and may be still is) the\ncustom of the now famous company of players\nunder Lady Gregory and W. B. Yeats in\nDublin. (l) ~\nBut a \" star\" is a \" star\" walking or\nspeaking, acting or \" doing nothing \".\nThere is a danger (though not a very\ngrave one) in this assertion \" none of them are\n' stars '\". It smacks (ever so faintly) of snob-\nbery. It is a phrase to be avoided...a boast\nthat is worthless and therefore, when used,\napt at times to be mistaken for affectation.\nOne knows what is implied,—but as a\nmatter of hard fact it means very very little.\nWhen Le Kain and Talma were ama-\nteurs the companies surrounding them may\nhave said the same thing—\" we are all alike,\nnone of us are stars \". But nothing on earth\n(except heavy and unjust stupidity, and I\ngrant that this can work miracles backwards)\ncan ever prevent Le Kain and Talma being\n' stars' and twinkling a bit more than any\nothers even from their first entrance as supers.\nThat such ' stars' can discipline themselves\nnever to outshine their less gifted fellows\nis obvious: or they can be brought to see\nthe value of holding in some of the rays of\ntheir genius by an able director. They can\nhelp the lesser stars to shine a bit brighter...\nbut....\n\n(J) It was the custom of the famous Meiningen Com-\npany—of the Moscow Art Theatre, ...a custom somatomes\nmore honoured in the breach than the observance,"}, {"page_pdf": 22, "page_imprimee": "144", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.22", "texte": "Any group of players which can come to\na sound agreement to play \" one for all, all\nfor one \" is wise; ...it has chosen the safest\nof all paths.\nI rather hope the Maddermarket group\nhas done this.\nIn the Moscow Art Theatre,—a company\nwhich began with Amateurs and developed\ninto professionals this charity, friendship,\ntowards each other, call it what you will,\nseems to have guided them; and the Direc-\ntors brought a good deal of sound strength\nof a commonsense order to see that there was\nno wandering from this sensible path.\nTHE REPERTORY.\nTHEY play all sorts of pieces, and in my\nopinion that is the right thing to do as a\nstart:—French plays, Russian and Norwegian\nplays, plays from Greece, India and Japan are\nall tested, besides those of England. Opera too\nis tried. But the most popular with the au-\ndience are the plays of Shakespeare, Sheridan\nand Shaw, and the company is most at home\nin Shakespeare and the eighteenth century\nEnglish Drama.\nEach play is given for a week of six\nnights and one matinee, about nine plays\nbeing given in a year, three weeks being\ngiven to prepare a play, although of course\nany difficult work can be cogitated for a year\nor longer.\nThe season as a rule extends from Sep-\ntember to May.\nTHS DIRECTOR AND HIS ASSISTANTS.\nHEAD of the Theatre and the Players\nstands Mr. Nugent Monck, and at his\nside a small but able staff of three consisting\nof Mr. Owen P. Smythe—one man in charge\nof the lighting,—and a charwoman.\nNow with all due respect for the yokels\nwho like a bit of fun, I will trouble you to\nfollow me seriously and carefully, and post-\npone your merriment until you too have done\na. bit of char work, lighted a stage, painted\nscenes, and generally make a good show pos-\nsible.\nThe charwoman, had it been Shakespeare's\nplay-house, might not have been Ann Hatha-\nway; more's the pity that there is room for\nthe doubt. To keep a little theatre clean\nand bright as a new pin, is so much towards\nthe foundation of a National Theatre. You\nwill not, 1 am sure, deny it.\nTo avoid going round begging for £60,000\nso as to enlarge the staff, to have three char-\nwomen, six lime-lighters, so as to provide\n\" sufficient room to the director to rehearse\nin \" (vide Mask. Page 76,77) is another step\ntowards a National Theatre. To avoid asking\nfor £ 100,000 to rebuild a Memorial Theatre\nto Shakespeare, asking Americans and Japa-\nnese to help, is a third step towards a Na-\ntional Theatre.\nIt is these things, when refrained from being\ndone, which do actually help to achieve a\nNational Theatre far more than do pretentious\nappeals of the kind I have referred to.\nMr. Monck's staff of three are the only\nprofessionals who are in the Maddermarket.\nMr. O. P. Smythe's work 1 have not\nseen—his wood cuts reproduced here, showing\nthe outside and inside of the playhouse, seem\nto me the work of a man who would have\na great number of good notions for his chief\nto carry out; and who could also carry out\nwhatever his chief wanted done.\nMr. Smythe not only designs the scenes;\nhe attends to their making and, assisted by\nmembers of the Company, puts them up and\nshifts them.\nNo other scene-shifters proper are em-\nployed.\nThe wardrobe is also managed by the\nplayers.\nMr. Monck has a particular talent for\nlighting and. colour effects as they are called\nnowadays;—and here he finds an able colla-\nborator in Mr. Smythe.\nTHE AUDIENCE, CRITICS AND ALL.\nARE the townsfolk sympathetic to this stead-\nfast and honest purpose of Mr. Monck\nand his players?\n1 am told they are, and that there is an\never increasing interest in this attempt to sup-\nply what is wanted, for, at what 1 consider,\nan exaggeratedly low price.\nWhy, it costs more than 5/— as a rule\nto go to a draughty drill hall and listen to a\ndull lecture on the theatre ; whereas here one\ngets one's theatre without the lecture.\nAnd an essentially English theatre too—\nby no means riotous. Compared with the"}, {"page_pdf": 23, "page_imprimee": "145", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.23", "texte": "Opera House in Paris in the eighteenth cen-\ntury it might even be considered bleakly Pu-\nritanical ; so I am more surprised than ever\nto hear that the great Church is indifferent\ntowards the little Maddermarket, and I really\nbegin to think no one can have mentioned\nits existence to the pastor fido.\nThe audience is enthusiastic but applause\nis discouraged during a scene, the plays run-\nning rapidly along with but one interval\nwhen possible, and this is invariably so with\nthe Shakespeare plays.\nThis is an admirable rule.\nLOCAL INDIFFERENCE.\nTHERE is one thing I have to regret, and\nI keep it till the last.\nIt seems that, while a number of men of\nculture and commonsense live in the neigh-\nbourhood, and many are writers, none have\ntaken sufficient interest in the little Madder-\nmarket to write about it, let alone write plays\nfor it. There is an opportunity for men of\nsense who are living round about Norwich to\ndo something not only to help popularize this\nplayhouse, but to help its director to deve-\nlop the work done during the season.\nTheatre men won't take every stray bit\nof advice—but no sound advice is lost on a\nsensible manager of a Theatre if offered in\nthe right way by any wise man who is on\nthe spot and who can write with authority,\nbe it to praise or to blame. (I)\nEvery day I read eulogies of \" The Old\nVic \" in the London Press. All the wise\nmen, as well as the less wise ones, seem\nhelplessly unable to refrain from gushing over\nthe excellent little effort made by these\nSurrey-side players.\nThat sort of thing the Maddermarket can\ndo without, and be grateful it has not re-\nceived it. But wise counsel or a sympathetic\nand sensible warning now and again given\nin private is due to this group, and encou-\nraging financial support t00.... and this latter\nwould come if some of the writers around\nNorwich would go and see what actually\nbeing done by Mr. Monck and his players and\nwould confer with them as to what it is they\nwant to do further.\nMY reason for writing at this length about\nthis playhouse is that there are certain\nelements in the management which strike me\nas very sound. If people in the neighbour-\nhood would help to strengthen some of the\nweaker elements—one of which seems to be\nthat people are allowed to visit the actors\nand actresses in their Greenroom where tea\nis brewed, Norwich would not suffer: on\nthe contrary, Norwich would gain enormously.\nI have refrained from all advice.., I may\nbe allowed to offer a scrap now. Exclude\neveryone except the workers from the stage,\nGreenroom and all.\nAnd wishing Mr. Monck well, I remain,\nsincerely,\n\n(1) Not only to write, ....to talk, things over, to come\ntogether, at some old home in the neighbourhood where\nthe master of the house is a man of breeding and liberality.\n\nE. G. C.\n\nTHE chances against good theatres in the\nprovinces are legion : the chances for good\ntheatres are few.\nLet a theatre but have these chances,\nallow groups to work together and stick to-\ngether allow a manager the rights of\nmanaging give them support encourage\nthe people of the town to show enthusiasm\ninsist on the influential members of the town\nshowing some sense of appreciation expect\nat least the church, the trades, the aristocracy\nto set an example in this matter, and England\ncan have a hundred good little theatres to-\nmorrow.\nWould it be a blessing to a hundred\ntowns to be able to hear and see all the\nbest plays in the English language or would\nit be a bore ? ... It all depends on the\nPublic.\nOne last word to the Public:\nwake up : for the actors are doing their level\nbest and you are not.\n\nVIEW OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE\nMADDERMARKET THEATRE."}, {"page_pdf": 24, "page_imprimee": "146", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.24", "texte": "THREE BOOKS ON\nTHE THEATRE OF\nEUROPE.\nFRENCH, ITALIAN AND ENGLISH.\n\nSHOWING THE THEATRE DU MARAIS, PARIS, 1676. (BUILT 1623).\n\nI.\nTHE FRENCH THEATRE.\n■ HH'MuMMJilMiniUMlMWcM MliiMMMmimri in II II minim in ■■ n.i an ■»»1I«IH'»I| I I H ■ IH« I HI ■ m»» ■\n|T is very ambitious in a historian of the\nI theatre to attempt to give the public, in\none volume of four to five hundred pages,\nthe story of the theatre of Paris in the eigh-\nteenth century, when it requires, i suppose,\nat the very least eight to ten volumes.\nAnd therefore anyone who succeeds must\nhave the art of elimination to his finger ends.\nThat Monsieur Max Aghion has succeeded\nin producing a very charming book, to look\nat, and to dip into, is obvious; but when\nyou search for certain facts, then it is that you\ndiscover the elimination.\nWhen bent on this quest, one turns in-\nstinctively to the end of a book for the index.\nThis book does not possess one.\nSEARCHING FOR FACTS.\n| wanted to find out something about the\n1 architect, Moreau, he who built the second\nOpera House in the Palais Royal in 1770,\nand who, to the history of the eighteenth\ncentury Paris theatre, is as important to his\nday as Sir Christopher Wren is to the En-\nglish theatre of the seventeenth century. At\nlast I located M. Moreau. 1 found him at\nlast on Page 205. I began to make an index\nfor M. Aghion; a very bad thing to do, when\none has only a few years in which to do\none's own work; and all I found about\nM. Moreau was that he had built this Opera\nHouse in 1770, and I knew that already.\nWhat I did not know and looked for was\nhis christian name. 1 do not know it now.\nPresumably M. Max Aghion lives in Paris\nand this christian name of M. Moreau is to\nbe had by looking it up in the Bibliotheque\nNational, at least so I imagine. I also\nwanted the day and year of his birth, and\nthe day and year of his death. But these\ntoo are denied me. It is enough to put one\nin a rage to think that elimination should be\ncarried to such excess as this. That of course\nwas only my first thought. I was not going\nto be cross for lack of a couple of dates and\na couple of names.\nSOPHIE ARNOULD.\nI decided I would shift this responsibility\n1 of being cross on to some other reader,\nand on his behalf I turned to look up all\nabout Sophie Arnould. I found eight lines,\nand then the author is done with Sophie, and\nshe possibly one of the three most important\nfigures in the French theatre of the eighteenth\ncentury. In these eight lines i learn that\nshe appeared at the age of seventeen for the\nfirst time at the Opera. That later she was\nthe Iphigenia and Eurydice of Gluck, and that\nshe had little success at first because her\nvoice lacked fullness; but that she had a\nnumber of admirers in that she was an excel-\nlent tragedienne and said many a witty and\nmalicious thing.\nOf course when you are the Historian\nand have to touch on another three or four\nhundred performers, you have to eliminate\nmuch information about Mademoiselle Sophie.\n1 was not in search for this information\nbecause I already had it, but the other rea-\nder, to whom I referred just now, will be all\nat sea that he cannot discover when shs was\nborn, when she died, and when she retired\nfrom the stage; how much she was paid,\nwhy she retired, and what kind of woman\nshe was. I have full sympathy for this rea-\nder, because knowing what this so-called\n\n(1) Le Theatre a Paris au XVIII6 si&cle. Max Aghion\n(Librairie de France, Paris). Frs. 90.\n(2) Designs by Inigo Jones, etc. by P. Simpson & C. F.\nBell. (Walpole Society. London). 21/- net.\n(3) II Teatro Nazionale di Firenze. A. de Ruberfcis.\n(Firenze). 6d."}, {"page_pdf": 25, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.25", "texte": "A PAINTING OF A THEATRE ATTRIBUTED TO BIBIENA.\nAND SINCE 1876 PRESERVED IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON.\nThe painting was once listed in the National Gallery Catalogue as representing \"The\nTeatro Farnese, Parma and as being the work of Ferdinando Bibiena. There is\nlittle evidence as to the artist but it certainly does not represent the Teatro Farnese,\nParma. Is it perhaps a theatre belonging to the Farnese family — perhaps once\nexisting in Parma? — and is the scene on the stage a Bibiena scene?\nPlate 15.\n\nTHE MASK\n1926"}, {"page_pdf": 27, "page_imprimee": "147", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.27", "texte": "impure was, 1 am sorry that he has missed\nany of her perfections.\nPassing from the operatic tragedienne to\nthe dancers, we come almost immediately on\nthat remarkable lady, Mile. Salle, whom the\nauthor says was a ballerina who also had a\ngreat number of admirers \" supremement ele-\ngante, volupteuse, infiniment droite, cette mime\nsavante inventa pour ainsi dire le \" ballet\nd'action \" and that is all.\nIt does not seem to me to cover this\ndancer.\nAnd so with most of the other figures in\nthe theatre of Paris—the information is brief\nand rather less to the point.\nTHE ILLUSTRATIONS\nTHE book is full of a number of interesting\nillustrations rather badly reproduced. Whe-\nther the art of making a half tone plate is\ndying out or not, I cannot say, but these\nhalf tone plates are not very good. The\nauthor has given us six or seven which are\nnot often found in other books, and one very\ndelightful frontispiece in colour, which has, I\nthink, never been reproduced before, cer-\ntainly never reproduced so charmingly. But\nthe worst of it is these pictures are for the\nmost part on the wrong pages.\nFor instance, Mile. Larrivee and Mons.\nWolter are both shown upon Page 76, but\ndevil a word about them on that page; and\nI should have to give a good half-an-hour\nhunting to find a word about her or perhaps\nnot a word about him, on another page.\nUnder the picture is written :\n\" Mile. Larrivee dans *' Thetis et Pelee \",\nand of course everybody knows that \" Thetis\net Pelee\" was written by Colasse and Fon-\ntenelle and that it was performed in 1689\nand repeated in 1697, in 1699, in 1708, in\n1712, in 1723, in 1736 and in 1750; but\nMonsieur Aghion does not say in which of\nthese productions the charming Mile. Larri-\nvee appeared. Perhaps she appeared in all!!\nI am left in doubt.\nHe does not say who drew this charm-\ning sketch of her although, to judge from the\nreproduction, you will suppose it to be by\nBoquet. I myself would like to have been\ninformed with certainty of this and also told\nwhen it was drawn and when M. Boquet\nwas born and when he died,\no THE \"COLLABORATEURS\". o\nI shall have to travel all the way to France\nto find out, unless one of M. Aghion's ' col-\nlaborateurs ', as he calls them, will tell me.\nThese his assistants are some of mine\ntoo:—their names he gives us:—\nMM. Brazier, J. Bonnasies, H. Beaulieu,\nE. Boysse, A. Cahuet, E. Campardon, C. G.\nEtienne and A. Martinville, F. Gaiffe, A. Ju-\nlien, S. Lenel, E. de Manne, C. Menetrier.\nTh. Muret, A. Pougin, Porel and G. Monval,\nA. Royer, P. and L. Duchartre.\nThese nineteen collaborateurs are authors\nof the 19th and 20th centuries, and M.\nAghion has dipped into their books and\nhas extracted what he needed—it is a nice\nfresh way of speaking about predecessors\nwho have laboured in the same field. I feel\nthat next time I take a dip in the ocean I\ntoo shall feel like a collaborateur in it, but I\ndo not know if I shall be as justified as is\nM. Aghion. But when Ido come to collabo-\nrate with the sea, I shall not be at liberty to\ncome out and spell \" fish \" \" fesh \". I must\nspell it \" fish and really M. Aghion, hav-\ning collaborated with Camp ardon, should spell\nthe great Italian actor \" Fiorilli\" with an i\nand not \" Fiorelli\" with an e.\nIn short it is a book for people to pick\nup who know nothing about the subject and to\ngather some of the information they could\nonly acquire by buying twenty or thirty books.\nUnfortunately it is rather too large and expen-\nsive for all of us to pick it up in that light-\nhanded manner.\nAlthough it toys too often with you, you\ncannot toy with it.\nIt is not an important book but is bound\nto possess a charm for those who like things\nwhich come and go lightly.\nII.\nTHE ENGLISH THEATRE.\nAND now to the consideration of a few\nbooks which have appeared during the\nlast four years all of which deal with the\ntheatre.\nI have made out a list of thirty, fifteen\ncheap and fifteen expensive ones (l).\n\n(i) See pp. 150-151."}, {"page_pdf": 28, "page_imprimee": "148", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.28", "texte": "I think I will give you the full list of the\nthirty books, so that you can see my reasons\nfor selecting these two headings,... cheap and\nexpensive.\nAnd after considering this list for a week\nor two, I have come to the conclusion that\nthe finest book that has been published on\nthe theatre in these three years is the volume\nproduced by the Walpole Society (collabo-\nrating with the Malone Society) \" Designs\nby Inigo Jones for Masks and Plays at Court \"\nprice 21 I—; and the second best is \"11 Tea-\ntro Nazionale \" by Achille de Rubertis, price\nsix-pence.\nA simpler, more unpretentious book than\n\"11 Teatro Nazionale\" at six-pence cannot\nbe produced, and a finer and more unpreten-\ntious book than Inigo Jones' Designs at a\nguinea cannot be produced.\nIn neither case do the authors nor publi-\nshers seem to wish to make money. You\ncan make it by trickery. Youcan make it by\nsticking on a thick cover, covered with some\ngaudy cloth and some flashy gold, by printing\nthe plates on unnecessarily weighty paper;\nor you can make it because you feel that your\nname \" Bobbie & Sons \", let us say, needs a\ngood, fat profit, and that is all very proper in\nits own way, but it does not win the laurels.\no THE WALPOLE SOCIETY. o\nTHE laurels go to the Walpole Society, and\nmay they print many a book and win many\nmore laurels, but a spray of the wreath goes to\nthe little insignificant bit of a book \" II Teatro\nNazionale \" and its author-publisher de Rubertis.\nOf this little sixpenny book I will come\nto write later on. It is the Inigo Jones book\nwe will stop and consider now. I have\nwritten about it before—a year or so ago.\nWhat of that! Is it so great a marvel, this\nbook, that we must think of it as of a comet:\ngaze, and gape, and forget it after nine days?\nI think it is rather more extraordinary than a\ncomet. I would like to fix it as a star.\nThose who have reviewed this book far\nbetter than I could (since they were trained\nto do it) have been at a disadvantage.\nThey too were forced to gaze and gape\nbecause to them what, after all, is a book\non the 17th century theatre. It is one of the\nfifty to sixty books they are obliged to review\nin the course of a year, and as it is one of\nthe most illusive of books, it must have irri-\ntated them past bearing, and they must be\nglad to forget it. I, on the other hand, am\nglad to remember it; it grows upon me since\nI work with it, and every six months I see\nhow much better it is than I did when I\nfirst glanced through it.\nIn every sense it is a book made to last,\nand costs less than a new hat.\nIt has 56 full page plates, one colour-\nplate, and a number of designs in the text,\nand the full page plates are in collotype.\nThe first virtue of the book is that it\ndeals with the work of man and only\none part of his work.\nThose other books of three and four hun-\ndred pages which presume to cover a cen-\ntury of designs for masques, plays, operas,\neverything, set a bad example; and will it\nbe surprising if, in twenty or thirty years from\nnow, young men and women of today are\nproducing even more flimsy works, since\nthere are so many flimsy works guiding them\nin the wrong direction today.\nA SUGGESTION.\nI rather wish that someone reading this\nwould be sufficiently interested to go down\nto the Walpole Society, whose Hon. Secretary\nis Mr. Henry M. Hake, of the British Mu-\nseum, and would have a look at all its pub-\nlications, and would think well of the whole\nthing, and see what a blessing it would be,\nif these same publications could be brought\nout at even half the price so as to reach\ndouble the number of people, especially the\nyounger men and women, who, unless they\nget such books, will imagine that superficial\nwork is the top notch of endeavour.\nA standard was needed by those of us\nwho are grown older, and it is needed by\nthe coming generation; and I wonder as I\nlook at this beautiful volume how much\nmargin the Walpole Society has in the finan-\ncial way. My experience tells me such So-\ncieties never have enough. It cannot do more\nand it cannot do better, but if it had more\nmoney, it could produce cheaper. It may not\nbe a logical way of reasoning, but if I may\ncontinue to be illogical, I myself would like\nto purchase five or six copies of the Inigo Jones\nbook so as to give them to certain men who\nwill never hear of it and can certainly never"}, {"page_pdf": 29, "page_imprimee": "149", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.29", "texte": "afford it, and I could do it if the price were\nlower.\nTheir getting it would be bound to lead\nto better work. The better work would\nget on to the stage and the public would see it.\nTherefore through the one man or woman,\nsay from Lancashire or Yorkshire, or in\nLondon, giving a few thousand pounds to\nforward the work of the Walpole Society,\nthe entire public would benefit in a rounda-\nbout way through the theatres.\nFor I am illogical enough to suppose\nthat the Walpole Society would then give\nus twenty more books, three or four of which\nmight, I hope, deal with the best theatrical\nwork (I).\nAnd after all, Horace Walpole deserves\nthat his work, begun in 1762, should be hand-\nsomely carried on, for the blessing it has\nbeen to most people is never going to be\ntraced and estimated.\nIII.\nTHE ITALIAN THEATRE.\nLITTLE THEATRES,\nLIKE little ships, little Theatres were always\na sound investment. When big thea-\ntres were tumbling about in the waves of\nspeculation, the little theatres would nimbly\ncut a caper or two and delight the town.\nThat was in 1600, in 1700, in 1800—for\nwe need never suppose the Little Theatre\nto be a modern notion created by Antoine\nas some folk claim. Not that he claims any\nsuch fantastic trifle, for he is one of the most\nmodest of men as well as one of the most\ngifted. He might, if pressed to it, admit that\nhe revived the fashion in little Theatres. I\nthink he did that amongst many other good\nthings.\nBesides being better fitted to experiment,\nto eliminate and, one supposes, to live longer,\na Little Theatre is also cosier. Even if it\nposses a fair-sized stage its auditorium is more\nhome-like for being small.\nWe are glad to go td our little playhouse\nsupposing, hoping, that pretention is not to\nannoy us there.\nA little Theatre of today, more often than\nnot, reeks of pretention which is nourished by\nPoverty.\nBut one here or another there is, as\nit should be, pleasantly ordinary, and is as\nsmall as it seems, seems as small as it is.\nAnd just as Little Theatres are all the better\nfor not aiming at large things, so are little\nbooks on the Theatre sometimes a blessing\nfor keeping small.\nTHE BIG PUFFED-OUT BOOKS.\nTHE tendency today is perhaps towards\nmaking too big a book on a very small\nsubject,—puffed out, weighty, and not very\ngenial. But there have been some excellent\nsmall books in the last fifty years; and now\nlet me say why it seems to me that the\nsmaller books prove the best.\nExclude from your mind the masterpieces;\nE. K. Chambers's two big works; D'An-\ncona's \" Origini del Teatro Italian© \"; Ricci's\n\" Teatri di Bologna\"; Wiel's \" Teatri di\nVenezia \" and some two dozen more. These\nscholarly works being immense undertakings\nsurely may be what size they like.\nBy the way, Broadbent's \" of the\nLiverpool Theatre\" runs these great works\nvery close indeed; there would be no fault\nto find with its size if only Liverpool had\ndone more and been creative as was Dublin.\nBut there are some large books which\nare not so triumphant as trumpery, not so\nscholarly as slovenly, and not so slovenly as\ndull.\nThese pompous books bear some such\ntitle as <s The History of the World's Thea-\ntre \"; or \" The Dictionary of Dramatic Art \" ;\nor \" Three Centuries of Actors \".\nNow the History of the World's Theatre\ncannot be put in a volume, nor in five. A\nDictionary of Dramatic Art would need six\nor seven volumes at the very least, and would\ntake thirty to forty scholars (not under-aged\nstudents, but men of from thirty-five to fifty)\nto make it, and to make it sparkle.\nBut this fact does not deter the energetic if\npretentious ones, who, if they do not compass\nthe world, try and cope with far too many\nlarge slices of it.\nRecently five or six such works have ap-\npeared,—full of errors—a mass of pretension,\n...and far too expensive.\n\n(i) I should not forget to state that in the production of\nthis volume on Inigo Jones the Malone Society collaborated\nwith the Walpole Society and we must all hope that before\nlong they will collaborate again,"}, {"page_pdf": 30, "page_imprimee": "150", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.30", "texte": "Abbreviations used in above list: G: good. Sup: superior\\ Ind: indifferent, Th: Theatre, Faes: Facsimiles, 111 i tllustratio\n(1) Titles reduced to get into line.\n(2) In too many instances the paper is too heary and unpleasant to touch.\n(3) Its sole defect.\n\n*\nE N\nG L\nAND\nTITLE (0.\nAUTHOR.\nPAGES\nILLUSTRATIONS.\nJ\nThe Elizabethan Stage\nE. K. CHAMBERS\n1971\n4 Plates: 9 ill, in text.\n2\nThe Dance\nC. J. SHARP & A. P. OPPE\n60\n7 Plates, 4 colour\n3\nThe Birth, Life, etc. of Scaramouch\nC. W. BEAUMONT\n147\n4 Plates\n4\nDesigns by Inigo Jones for Masques etc.\nP. SIMPSON & C. F.\nBELL\n175\n51 Colotype, 1 colour pi.\n5\nNew Th. & Cinema of Soviet Russia\nH. CARTER\n299\n1 7 Figures\n6\nClowns and Pantomimes\nM. WILSON DISHER\n364\n72 Plates, 1 colour\n7\nStory of Lyric Th. Hammersmith\nN. PLAYFAIR\n268\n16 colour plates • »-\n8\nNew Spirit in the European Theatre\nH. CARTER\n292\n24 Plates\n9\nKabuki The Popular Stage of Japan\nZOE KLNCAID\n401\n49 Plates, 1 colour\nso\nMy Life in Art\nSTANISLAVSKY\n598\n34 Plates\n\nE N\nGLAND\ni i\nAn Introduction to Dramatic Theory\nALLARDYCE NICOLL\n218\nNone\n12\nHistory Birmingham Repertory Theatre\nBACHE MATTHEWS\n260\n16 Plates\n13\nStory of the Savoy Opera\nS. J. A. FITZ-GERALD\n260\n17 Plates, 9 figures\n14\nThe Story of Elizabethan Drama\nG. B. HARRISON\n134\n5 Plates\n15\nLife of William Congreve\nEDMUND GCSSE\n194\nNone\n16\nSome Contemporary Dramatists\nGRAHAM SUTTON\n213\nNone\n17\nStage Lighting for Little Theatres\nc. HAROLD RIDGE\n99\n1 Plate, 22 figures\n18\nMusic Hall Nights\nCLAYTON CALTHROP\n156\n2 Plates\n19\nComedies hy William Congreve\nBONOMY DOBREE\n472\nNone\n\nITALY\n20\nAnnali del Tealro Italiano (Vol. 11)\nM. F. editor\n509\nVery many in text\n21\nCento Anni del Teatro Sociale, Mantova\nERNESTO LUI\n184\n3 Plates\n22\n1 Profeti di Babilonia\nG. F. MALIPIERO\n438\n1 Plate\n23\nII Teatro Italiano\nLUIGI TONELLI\n427\nNone\n24\nL' Influencecu Th. Francats a Bologne\nA. DE CARLI\n215\nNone\n25\nII Teatro Nazionale ( )\nACHILLE DE RUBERTiS\n62\n8 illustrations\n\nFRANCE\n26\nLes Fraiellini •\nP. MARIEL\n268\n8 Plates & 100 woodcut?^\n27\nLa Comedie Italienne\nP. L. DUCHARTRE\n332\n290, Some in colour\n28\nAnihologie : Th. Francois, Moyen^Age\nG. GASSIES\n472\nNone\n29\nMademoiselle Moliere\nH. LYONNET\n133\n8 Plates\n30\nRuzzanie (1502-1542)\nA. MORTIER\n286\n18 111."}, {"page_pdf": 31, "page_imprimee": "151", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.31", "texte": "/ration§ pi. plate. Incom : Incomplete\n\nCOSTLY.\nPAPER (2)\nBINDING\nPRICE\nPUBLISHER\nDATE\nINDEX\n** Fair\nMaroon Cloth\n70/-\nOxford University Press\n1923\n4 good\n1\nSup., Blotting paper\nBlue Cloth thick boards\n30/-\nHalton & Smith\n1924\nGood\n2\nHandmade\nl/iJaP* Vellum & paper\n21/-\nC. W. Beaumont\n1924\nNone\n3\nGoodish\n1/4 Cloth & Paper\n21/-\nOxford University Press\n1924\nNone (3)\n4\nBlotting\n1/4 Cloth & paper\n25/-\nChapman & Dodd\n1924\nNone\n5\nFine\nOrange Cloth (rough)\n42/-\nConstable\n1925\nGood\n6\n, Fair\nRed cloth, (good)\n16/-\nChatto & Windus\n1925\nIncomplete\n7\nBlotting\nMaroon cloth (fair)\n25/-\nBenn\n1925\n4 Incom.\n8\nFair\nBlack Buckram (good)\n42/-\nMacmillan\n1925\nPoor\n9\nFair\nRed & white cloth.\n30/-\nBles\n1925\nFair\n10\n\nCHEAP.\nFais\nBlue cloth (inferior)\n5 1\nGeorge Harrap\n1923\nFair\n11\nFair\nRed cloth (good)\n7/6\nChatto & Windus\n1924\nIncomplete\n12\nBlotting\nRed cloth: (fair)\n5/-\nStanley Paul\n1924\nGood\n13\nBlotting\nCloth and boards (nice)\n5/-\nCambridge University\n1924\nNone\n14\nBlotting\nBrown cloth: (fair)\n7/6\nHeinemann\n1924\nGood\n15\nBlotting\nGreen cloth: (poor)\n7/6\nLeonard Parsons\n1924\nNone\n16\n** Good\nGreen cloth: (poor)\n5/-\nW. Heffer & Sons\n1925\nNone\n17\nBlotting\nBlack cloth: (fair)\n61-\nJohn Lane\n1925\nNone\n18\nGood\nGreen cloth: (fair)\nV\nOxford University Press\n1925\nNone\n19\n\nC H\nE A P .\nGood\nPaper boards (bad)\nLire\n40.—\nA. Nicola 8c C. Milano\n1923\nGood\n20\nBlotting superior\nBrochure\nn\n10.—\nG. Mondovi. Mantova\n1923\nInadequate\n21\nBad\nBrochure (decorated)\nn\n15,-\nBottega di Poesia. Milano\n1924\nInadequate\n22\nBad\nBrochure\nn .\n22,—\nModernissima, Torino\n1924\nGood\n23\nVery fair\nBrochure\nn\n24,-\nG. Chiantore. Torino\n1925\nNone\n24\n\"' f, ~ - '— '\nVery fair\nBrochure\nn\n3,50\nArti Grafici. Firenze\n1926\nNone\n25\n\nCOSTLY &\nCHEAP.\nBad\nBrochure\nFr. 10,00\nSoci&£ Anon. Editions\n1923\nNone\n26\nVery good\nBrochure\n■ 90.00\nLibrairie de France\n1924\nNone\n27\nFair\nBrochure\n8 14,00\nDelagrave. Paris\n1925\nNone\n28\nBad\nBrochure\n8 12.00\nAlcan. Paris\n1925\nNone\n29\nGood\nBrochure\n8 35.00\nPeyronnet. Paris\n1925\nGood\n30"}, {"page_pdf": 32, "page_imprimee": "152", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.32", "texte": "A LITTLE SIXPENNY BOOK.\nAS the best protest against the sort of\nthing allow me to introduce to your no-\ntice Signor Achille de Rubertis' \" II Teatro\nNazionale\" 1926: 61 pages, eight illustra-\ntions and a paper cover, price about 6d.\nOn the cover are these words: Per la sto-\nria dei teatri fiorentini\"; in other words,\n\" To serve as a trifle towards the full Hi-\nstory of the Florentine Theatres\nNow that's the style, is it not?\nI will cite two such booklets produced\nin our little Island.\n1. \" The Story of the Drama in Exeter \"\n(1887) by William Cotton F. S. A. 74 pages;\n6 illustrations; cloth boards.\n2. The Theatre Royal, Norwich, by\nBosworth Harcourt (1903) 96 pages; price\n1 /—; not illustrated; cloth boards.\nAnd, while I like these two little volumes\nvery well, they are unable to be as excellent\nas the Florentine booklet: first, because in\nEngland the unfortunate indifference to all\nbut the play has always been exaggeratedly\nmarked, and so rarely has anyone troubled\nto preserve plans and drawings of our Thea-\ntres of 1600, 1700, 1800 if any ever exi-\nsted : documents relating to the sites are\nnot preserved; little or no pride is shown in\npreserving anything which could today tell\nus what we want to learn except bundles\nof programmes. These we do possess in\nquantities, and up to a point they are useful.\nBeyond that point (and it's beyond that we\nwant to go) they tell us nothing.\nSecondly, we built our early theatres like\nbarns: we vamped them up. In Italy, and\nsometimes in Spain, and France, the original\nplans of the old theatres still exist to show\nus what each century built like, and we can\nsee with our own eyes how well they were\nbuilt. In England they could build well, but it\nwas not sufficiently often that an architect was\nemployed; if employed, where are his plans,\nelevations and the rest? I am always being\ntold by local authorities that \" none exist\".\nThey say that Lord Barrymore's theatre in\nSavile Row in 1792 was an elegant little affair,\nbut where are the plans and the records ? No\none seems to have troubled to preserve them;\nno one assuredly has looked them up recently.\nYet here was a chance for any very se-\nrious historian to have unbent a little and told\nus all about the Theatre in Savile Row,\nerected in the Auction Rooms of the famous\nSquib. Such a modest effort would have\nbecome one of our giant Historians: he could\nhave left his Shakespeare or his Congreve\nfor a few years and could have devoted\nhimself modestly to one single playhouse as\na contribution \"to serve as a trifle towards\nthe full History of the London Theatres \".\nI sometimes feel that our love for scho-\nlarship and Theatre is rather too much\nmixed with love of self display; we are just\na little bit too stuck up; and this in any\ndemocrat is puzzling.\nSignor de Rubertis has selected almost\nthe smallest Florentine Theatre that he could\nfind; a playhouse which dates back only to\n1786. In how many lands can we find scholars\nwilling to linger around a playhouse of such\nproportions and with such a brief lease of\nife? Where are the Histories of all the little\nTh eatres of Paris ?—dash it all, I've found\nthem all crammed into two small volumes,\nsome fifty or a hundred or more playhouses\n...and not one history adequate.\nDon't you agree with me—don't you too\nfeel that if we live in a comparatively small\ntown like Florence or Norwich it is all to\nthe glory of our little town if we can tire-\nlessly set about a scholarly little history of its\nTheatres beginning with the smallest, passing\non to the next, and, if we have time, coming\nto the last as we close our life, thus leaving a\nreal if small Monument worthy of our small town.\nTHE TEA T R O NAZIONALE.\nThe Teatro Nazionale was known as\nLa Quarconia from 1786 to 1825; as il Tea-\ntro del Giglio from 1826 to 1840; as Teatro\nLeopoldo from 1841 to 1851; and as Teatro\nNazionale ever since.\nWhen it became Teatro Leopoldo in\n1841 a small booklet was published, written\nby Professor Domenico Valeriani, printed at\nthe Tipografia Granducale. It consisted of\ntwenty-eight pages and describes the place in\ndetail, the author lingering on the construction\nand decoration of the entire building; he tells\nus of the seats, the vestibule, the stairways,\nthe pit, the boxes: describes the stage, the\nscenery, the lamps, curtain; tells us the names\nof the men who prepared the building, de-\ncoration, curtain, scenes."}, {"page_pdf": 33, "page_imprimee": "153", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.33", "texte": "Of course Frissard did this in the most\nmasterly way possible in his beautiful work\non the Theatre de Dieppe (1827); but then\nFrissard was the architect, and Frissard had a\nfree hand given him by the Duchesse de\nBerry to make a big book of it.\nToscbi did it too with his \" Nuovo Tea-\ntro di Parma (1829), though I think Fris-\nsard far and away the best of the kind.\nBoth works are large folios, thirty to forty\npages each, but packed with details and\nsuperb plates, and both are little works.\nFor these little works to be done in such\na large and sumptuous style is only possible\nwhere there exists a patron as keen to do\nhonour to a city as is the artist, the historian,\nand the keen citizen.\nBut when no such keenness (I) is forth-\ncoming ; when an artist or a historian can\npass years in a city without finding one keen\nglance to encourage him; when men of wealth\nhave lost the power to enjoy sharing such\nan enjoyment with men of brains and gaiety\nof that kind (that vivid kind), then needs must\nthe artist and the historian look around his\nempty room, furnished gaily enough with his\nown fine thoughts about these things, and\nplan how to surmount this obstacle .. . this\nindifference .. . this state of death (2).\nSignor. de Rubertis shows the way.\nHOW TO DO IT PROPERLY,\nGO to all the archives; give a year, two\nyears, to it; search here and there; give\nyour spare hours to this; amass all the infor-\nmation which exists in every city, house, mu-\nseum, until you have in your possession a big\nheap of treasure. Then sort it out, arrange\nit, and condense it all so that you can get\ninto sixty to seventy small pages all the facts\nabout one little Theatre.\nTake this to a publisher; he'll be dead\ntoo but never mind; chance it without hope:\n—there—what did I say?—he dead: but\nyou are not: neither was Signor de Rubertis.\nSo he strolled along the Via San Galio\ntill he stopped at the sign F. Ricci, Arti\nGrafiche, and there, after a half hour's chat\nthe good Ricci agrees to print the work for\na modest sum on very ordinary paper but\nsmooth to the touch; not rough like dry biscuit.\nThis cost is covered because, being of\nordinary intelligence, Signor de Rubertis will\nperhaps have first disposed of the serial\nrights for, say, two' hundred lire, perhaps two\nhundred and fifty, ie, about £1.10.0.\nBut will that sum pay for the booklet?\nAssuredly it will if you add some more\nhundreds to it; and either you or your wife\nor your wife's brother or your brother-in-law's\nuncle is a human being (if not a patron); is\npositively alive and, with a laugh or a sigh,\ndoes give six or seven hundred more lire to\nhelp the thing along.\nGlorious old middle-class or aristocratic\nprivate gentleman; you will be rewarded; you\nshall not lose on this. 1 swear it comes back\nto you, as old Whitman would have said.\nAnd how strange, that this one who helps\nis living in a third floor appartment,—five\nrooms perhaps, in a poor quarter of the town;\nis of some ancient good Florentine family; is\nthrifty but poor. Anyhow, neither he nor\nthe author or printer are swanks. They don't\nabhore fine paper and buckram and heavy\nboards and deckle edges—they have merely\nforgotten them.\nTHE VERY QUIET REAL WA Y .\nYOU thrice excellent old Italians—how 1\nknow you. How I love and venerate\nthat power of yours to achieve things on\nnext to nothing—and to set about all you do\nin that very quiet, real way.\nIt's all \" Opera buffa \" here:—so they\nimagine in my land (an excellent old place,\nby the way, so do not misunderstand me);\nyou are all opera buffisti to those who don't\nknow you. Your great man who cuts down\nall waste and reduces unemployment till it\ndies, is considered by the ignorant a figure in\ncomic opera. You who produce these solid\nlittle books of history are considered \" dilet-\ntanti \", which with us means men who are\nplaying at it all, not men who love so much and\nso sincerely that, even when they achieve a\ntrifle like this booklet, it's perfect...except of\ncourse for the paper, binding and half tones.\nWe, on the other hand, make a very\ngreat to-do about the paper, the binding and\nthe half tones. It's our way;—pardon it if\n\n(1) My copyist had written \" kindness n and I am not so\nsure that it is not the better word.\n(2) There again these patrons, when they do do anything,\nwill be always doing fifty different things pompously in\ntheir smiling modest way ; giving a shilling or a thousand\npounds to fifty (more often a shilling) different schemes, half-\nfeeding or half-ptarving a notion with a lot of show."}, {"page_pdf": 34, "page_imprimee": "154", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.34", "texte": "you find it trivial. Some day you will re-\nturn to the use of finest paper, binding and\ncliches as you used in the 16th to 18tn cen-\nturies. For the moment you are naturally\ntired of these fal-lals; to us they are unfortu-\nnately nearly all.\nODIOUS COMPARISONS.\nYET when you think of us, try to remember\nthat we are as diverse as you Italians.\nIf some of us waste six hours a day on our\ndress and our drawingrooms and our clubs,\nsome assuredly do not, for which we are sub-\njected to such a fire of looks, jerks, jumps\nand what-nots every day from those who\ndon't approve of us, that we are apt to clear\noff and take a back room somewhere in the\nEast end of Sumatra or Madras. For if we\ndidn't, as we are peppery, it would lead to a\nquarrel, a quarrel to a rising, and a rising to\nregret. No, we let them go on, these time and\nmoney wasters, these art fanciers who today\nhave usurped the place filled yesterday by the\nlovers of puppy dogs and pigeons: but we\nhave to relinquish that pleasant task we too\nthought we would try to get done—that\nwriting of a little book on the Thames Thea-\ntre in Twickenham.\nSignor de Rubertis, I like so much the\ncharming way in which you avoid telling us\nthings which might bore us. You do not\nsay that some actor in Florence was chiefly\nremarkable for the length of time that he re-\nmained before the public. Dear old William\nCotton F. S. A. says that on the first page\nof his book on Exeter. You just avoid any\nsuch triviality...do I take you?\nOLD WILLIAM COTTON, F. S. A.\nAGAIN, you never allude to the Theatre\nas a \" Thespian Temple \". Cotton does\n—on page one too. Having called it that,\nhe comes to earth on page three and des-\ncribes the second theatre of Exeter:—\nThe first who entered were struck with\n\" admiration at the beauty of the house, and\n\" could not restrain their applause \".\nNot one word as to the house—how it\nwas built, what it's colour, form; merely the\nreport of a report that emotion was in the air\nand that this indescribably, undescribed, beau-\ntiful house brought out the gasp right there.\nWhen he comes to the year 1819 he\ndoes begin to describe some of the beauties.\nYou, Signer de Rubertis, give us two pic-\ntures, and 1 recognize the old playhouse I vi-\nsited in 1909 where 1 witnessed the spectacle\nof Stenterello spoiling the spaghetti... \" II\nGenerale morto!—e la spaghetti e rovenato \"\n...curtain. But if I had not visited this old\nhistoric house 1 would not have gained a proper\nidea of it from your photographs. So may I put\nin a plea that one or two pictures taken from\nold plans and spciccati\nnali be reproduced in future booklets which\nyou bring out.\nTHE PLAYHOUSE THE THING.\nMY readers will of course be sending for\ncopies of this booklet, and when it ar-\nrives will perhaps not understand why I\npraise it so whole-heartedly.\n1 praise it because it tells the tale of the\nbuilding, describes it and does not for a mo-\nment forget that it is the Theatre as theatre\nwhich for a book of records is the most im-\nportant thing, and not the performances. The\nbuilding first,... that in a booklet. In a big\n\" opera\", a big work, this booklet slightly\ncut could serve as the first chapter.\nThe life of a building, especially when it\nis a Theatre, is a life well worth a book of\nrecords; and the Italian has this keen sense of\nthe value of a place. Emotional and personal\nreminiscences connected with it may or may\nnot help to build up that record; if it dis-\ntracts from it is cut out. The playhouse is\nthe thing. I hope that before long I shall hear\nof little books on our Theatre springing into\nexistence in one or two towns in England :and\nI hope that they will be steady unadorned re-\ncords, and that they will always contain a\nplan or a picture of the theatre, for by careful\nsearch perhaps these may be found in the\narchives of the town.\nAnd don't trouble over-much about the\npaper or binding of the book, but trouble\nmore about the way it is written: do not\nwrite it imagining you are a second Thomas\nHardy; write it as they write reports in the\nnewspapers about Trials, Fires, or other Di-\nsasters. Bring the keen eye of the Calamity-\nlover to bear on the matter, and say what\nit sees as briefly as possible. Then you will\nprobably produce a good little book.\n\nJ. B."}, {"page_pdf": 35, "page_imprimee": "[155]", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.35", "texte": "IN the eleventh volume ofu The Mask\" was\ngiven the plan for an immense house pro-f.fi\njected for Mme. La Comtesse du Barry, by \" t\nthe architect Le Doux, about 1768-69.\nThe salle de spectacle shows so very small\nin the reproduction 0/ that plan that I have\nthought to give a small enlargement of it\nhere so that it may be compared better\nwith the ground plan of the Private theatre\nof Mile Guimard. Both are by Le Doux (see\nThe Mask, Vol. XI, No. 4).\nIn the du Barry and Guimard theatresy\nthe stages are both longer than are the audi-\ntoriums, and the architecture of the audito-\nrium continues on to the stage, in that of Mile.\nGuimard carried on by a pillar on each side, in\nthat of Mme. du Barry by two pillars each side.\nBetween these pillars would be a door or\nsome entrance for the performers to reach\nthe centre of the stage•\nThis keeps the amateur: as it were, out\nof the machinery and allows sufficient room\nfor one or two actors to perform while the\nscene is being changed behind them. It is\ncalled the apron stage in England, though why\nit is called the apron stage I have not the least\nidea• Bib and tucker 1 should think would\ndo equally well.\nThe main thought in the head of M. Le\nDoux was not to break the oval of his audi-\ntorium.\nBut in some lands they are keen about\nthis bit of apron be the shape of the theatre\nwhat it may. The architect is not consulted\nat all which seems to be rather a pity.\nWhat is so excellent about these stages of\nthe Pretty Theatre is that the architect was\nconsulted all the time.\nBrongniart, Bellanger, Le Doux, Le Pic,\nChalgrin, Pierre, and many another good\narchitect, were called on to start the procee-\ndings and it can be well understood they had\na very good time, playing at theatres.\n\nX. Y. X.\n\nPLAN FOR A THEATRE DESIGNED FOR MADAME DU BARRY\nBy the Architect Le Doux.\nPlate 16.\n\nTHE MASK\n1926"}, {"page_pdf": 37, "page_imprimee": "157", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.37", "texte": "THE PRETTY\nTHEATRE.\nPART FOUR\nTHE £ 1000 GAFF.\n\n(I)\nYOU have heard of the penny gaff but pos-,\nsibly not of the £ 1000 gaff. It is\nanother name for that Pretty Theatre which\nso attracts me.\nIf the Pretty Theatre was expensive,\nthose who supported it were wealthy. Now-\nadays they would keep race horses. One\nmust have something to throw away one's\nmoney on, and also some place where one\ncan meet those people one has just left a\nmoment ago. At least I suppose so. I sup-\npose so, because after thinking about this\nPretty Theatre for a few years, I really am\nat a loss to know the true reason why the\nbuildings were put up, for it was not a mat-\nter of just meeting together and having a lit-\ntle music and some dancing. It was a de-\nvilish serious undertaking compared witn our\nmodern notion of private theatricals.\nLooking in the past three volumes of\n\" The Mask \" at the drawings and plans of\nlittle theatres that have been reproduced there,\nwe see what finished things they were.\nThere was nothing at all amateurish about\nthe buildings ; and since, very often, many of\nthe first performers of the age were called to\ntake part in the representations, there was\nnothing at all amateurish in the acting, singing,\nand dancing. So far as I know nothing was\ncharged by the hostess, and in that sense it was\namateurish, but in no other sense that I can see.\nThe most magnificent of the Pretty Thea-\ntres were in Paris. And the most sumptuous\nof these was built by the Due d'tOrleans.\nPrevious to the private theatres in Paris,\nthere had been many a private theatre in\nItaly, but mere privateness does not make for\nprettiness. For pure privacy almost avoids\ndisplay and most things that are pretty de-\npend upon the tricking out.\nAmongst the private theatres of Italy was\nthe theatre at Vicenza, but this was built for\nan Academy and was a very serious affair.\nThe next in importance was the theatre in\nParma built by and for' the Farnese family.\nOne could only deal with such a building in\na book with the title of \" Gfeorgeous Thea-\ntres \". in Bologna, and in Venice, in Flo-\nrence, and in Rome, private theatres' had\nexisted since the sixteenth century. Far ear-\nlier still, in the fifteenth century, Mantua and\nFerrara had led off with these things, but\nall that is quite another story.\nOne must not confuse the doings of any\nof these princes with the pretty little trottings\nhere and trottings there of the of Paris.\nI do not think the Italians could be very\npretty like that. What they did was too\nclosely woven to be flimsy. There was too\nmuch design in their solid fabric for there to\nbe a suggestion of trifling.\nThe private Italian theatre was a man's\ntheatre, whereas the Paris private theatre was\na theatre of the ladies and the\nAnd does it not reflect immense credit on\nthem that they found it worth while building\nspecial playhouses for this game of theirs.\nIt is not until the eighteenth century that\nthe game began, although the king naturally\nhad his moveable private theatres in his pala-\nces and these were found sufficient for the\nneeds of society.\nI do not know the date of the first French\nprivate theatre, but one of the earliest was\nthat built by Monsieur de la Poupliniere for\nsome lady or other. This was at Passy and\nwas built circa 1732. He was a fabulously\nwealthy man and his chateau was the scene\nof prodigious doings. In his theatre at Passy\nhe had an orchestra which was in use daily,\nand had, as director of this orchestra, Rameau,\nand afterwards, Stamitz, and Gossec.\nM. de la Poupliniere was fond of playing\non the flute and seems to have been a vivid\nlittle amateur, counting among his friends\nVoltaire, Rousseau, Piron, Lamotte, all of\nwhom it appears wrote comedies for him.\nAnd then in 1737 he married Therese Bou-\ntinon who was twenty years his junior.\nAnother Private theatre belonged to la\nMarquise de Morville in Normandy at her\nchateau, circa 1737 to which was attached a\ncompany which, when it performed in Paris per-\nformed at the Chateau at Pantin, which seems\nalso to have had a theatre about this time.\nStill it is not until about 1750 that\nnumbers of theatres begin to be erected in\nthe country houses round Paris and the town\n\n(l) For parts i, 2 and 3 see a The Mask October 1924\nand January and October 19*5,"}, {"page_pdf": 38, "page_imprimee": "158", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.38", "texte": "houses in Paris; but then, and for fifty years\nafter, they came along in hundreds.\nAt Puteaux in the house of the Due de\nGramont; at Versailles under Mme. de Pom-\npadour in the house of the king; at Bagnolet\nfor the Due d'Orleans petit fils of the Regent;\nat Berney in the house of the Comie de Clare-\nmont; right in Paris in the house of Voltaire,\non the second floor of the rue Traversiere. (l)\nThe Due d'Orleans was the most fantas-\ntic of all of the little amateurs, for he had\nat least six such theatres, perhaps more. In\n1749 his theatre at Bagnolet; in 1754 his\ntheatre in the faubourg St. Martin ; this was\n7\nbuilt by the architect Pierre; in 1755 in rue\nfaubourg de Roule, Pierre builds him one\nmore theatre; in 1761 another at his villa at\nMenil-Montant; in 1767 another at Villers-\nCoterts, and in 1773 he surpasses himself and\norders a magnificent theatre of architect Bron-\nginard for his Follie d'Orleans in the rue\nChaussee d'Antin. Its exact position was\nbetween the Chaussee d'Antin, rue de Pro-\nvence and the rue Taitbout. Monsieur Fou-\nquier said this was built in 1770, but what\ndo three years matter! 1770 or '73, one is\nas apt as the other. It is the very midnight-\nhour of the pretty theatre development.\nBut the Due was only the leader of the\nwhole group of people crazy to have their\nown theatres, and the building went on at\nsuch a pace, that by the time the French\nRevolution was manufactured, that is to say\nby 1789, there must have been some two\nhundred to three hundred private theatres\nfull to overflowing every evening in Paris and\nits environs.\nAfter all it was more amusing, if you had\nnothing to do, to pass the time play-acting\nrather than playing cards and sipping coffee.\nIt seems to me also a rather more varied\namusement than dancing the fox-trot night\nafter night to an indifferent orchestra if any at\nall, or even to the most perfect gramophone.\nYes, there is distinctly more variety about\nit, and on that score is to be recommended\nto people today, who have so much time and\nso much money and do not know what to do\nwith either except to go on to the stage and\nthus throw professionals out of employment.\nBut what a banging of doors there must\nhave been in 1807 when Napoleon closed\nup all these theatres, and only two weeks\ngiven to take farewell of all the little relics\nwhich remained there.\nFor one must not suppose that, when the\nRevolution came, it made very much diffe-\nrence to' these most charming performances\nand the more charming performers. They\nwent on more or less in the same inane way\nas ever a nice hangman or two would\nbe invited in, and what with the gigglings\nand the gurglings, 1 do not know that the show\nwas not improved: One of the most frequented\nof theatres was that belonging to a charming\nbutcher.\nTo be continued*\n\n(1) Here it was Lekain acted.\n\nX. Y. Z.\n\nAN OLD ADVERTISEMENT\nOF MADAME TUSSAUD'S\nWAX WORKS.\nNAPOLEON'S CELEBRATED MILITARY\no CARRIAGE TAKEN AT WATERLOO, o\nWr-frriWiiirfniMWMiiiaf 111 NIW in 11 NAM i HUM HI *IRWI ■ mumm mm mm ■■ I wnfritfii lIIIWIIB I ■ ■ayeaaMWfingl\nRoom magnificently fitted to show the\ndecorations of his period, engravings of\nhis history, spendid bust by Canova, the\ncloak he wore at Marengo, the sword of\nEgypt, the standard given to his guard,\nhis watch, gold snuff-Box, ring, one of\nhis teeth, the instrument that drew it,\ntooth-brush, Madras worn in exile, dessert\nservice used by him at St Helena, coun-\nterpane stained with his blood; the greater\npart are the property of Prince Lucian.\n—Madam TUSSAUD and SON'S\nEXHIBITION Bazaar Baker St: open\nfrom eleven till dusk, and from seven till\nten. Great room Is; Napoleon relics and\nchamber of horrors, 6d.\n\" Townsend's Parisian Costumes\"\nSep: 1843, N. 225, page 4.\nBUT what could be more horrible than this\nparade of these Napoleon relics?\nThis great wax-work show and the London\nCemetaries once shared the honour of being\nheld by the public to be the representatives\nof all that was best in the world of art—\nthough the Cemetary habitues were looked\nupon as a good deal too Highbrow for the\nlikes of the Tussauders."}, {"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "159", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.39", "texte": "THE OLD OPERA HOUSE\nIN THE HAYMARKET.\nA NOTE\nBY ERROLL SHERSON.\nTHE view of the opera-house facing page 110 of your\npublication is one of the second opera house. The\nfirst one, built by Vanbrugh in 1705 was, as you note,\nburned down in 1789. The sketch you show was taken\nprior to many alterations of both the interior and the exte-\nrior including the fine colonnade, perhaps the best\nknown feature of the exterior which was added later.\nThere is an old print of the first opera-house taken from\na drawing made by W. Capon and published in Smith's\n44 Historical and Literary Antiquities \". It is described as\n\" showing the front of ihe edifice much as it must have\nbeen when built by Sir John Vanbrugh. It was a dull,\nplain building, not unlike a Quaker's Meeting-House. The\nfront was of red brick rusticated with good gauged work.\nIt had three circular-headed doorways with three windows\nof a similar shape above : in the second floor, instead of\nwindows, were three oblong recesses of a very heavy cha-\nracter and the roof was covered with black glazed tiles.\nThe front was thirty-four feet in width. Over the entrance\nhall was Ridant's Fencing Academy shown in the print\nby a conspicuous notice. On the piers below are seen\nsome handbills of the time including the names of Si giior\nRauzzini and of Signora Carnevalli whose husband is said\nto have set fi;e to the building.\nThe second opera-house, built from the designs of Mi-\ncahe! Novosielski, was entirely reconstructed by Nash and\nRepton in 1818. The interior was the first in England\nto be modelled in the horse-shoe shape, said to be so fa-\nvourable for sight and sound. The dimensions were with-\nin a few feet of La Scaln at Milan., The length from\nthe front of the curtain to the back of the boxes was 102\nfeet: the extreme width 75 feet: the stage measured 60\nfeet in length and 80 feet in width. The building was of\nbrick and Bath stone, with a bas-relief on the Haymarket\nfront representing Apollo and the Muses. I could also give\nyou particulars of the house as rebuilt by Lord Dudley\nafter the fire of 1867 hut will not take up your time now.\nThe extracts from the Opera Register (J) are most inte-\nresting. In my forthcoming book on the house, I have\nhad to omit a great many things that I should have liked\nto have included, but, at any rate, it will be the first at-\ntempt to give some kind of consecutive Chronicle of a\ntheatre wh:ch in its 187 years of existence under various\nforms has made much theatrical and operatic history. For\nMrs Siddons and the Kembles and Mrs Jordan all appea-\nred there when it was under the direction of Brinsley\nSheripan the dramatist and, alas, it has also been dese-\ncrated by performances of a lower kind, including Moody\nand Sankey's theatrical religious services, boxing tourna-\nments and Yankee nigger minstrels. Into all these mat-\nters I have entered, with detail, in my book.\n(i) Col man's MS register, 1712-1734, of which the first\npart appeared in the July number of \" The Mask and of\nwhich the remainder will be shortly given,\n\nPLAYING WITH GREEK FIRE.\nR. S.\nLONDON\n'TVs here! *Tis here ! (let us hope)Tts gone,\nHamlet. Act. I. Scene I.\nI was present not very long ago at a most extraordinary\nperformance of a Greek play, un-Greeked and in English,\nby masked actors at night time too, in a closed theatre,\nand on a Sunday night, in London of course; the treat\nprepared for us by a certain Greek Play Society.\nAll 1 can remember clearly ot this Sunday evening was\nthat though wasted it did pass ....and I had felt that this\nwas not at all an unlucky thing, for while sitting in the\nThe atre I had expected the world to come to an end any\nmoment. Afterwards 1 went down to the Savoy and\nhad a good supper and forgot it all—all but one thing.\nAs I sat holding myself well in control in my stall I seem\nto remember some one coming up to me after Act I with\na box of chocolates in a sort of fixed hand and saying to\nme in a wooden tone, \" Have one\". I remembered later\nthat it was Miss Marchbanks of Zeus College, Cambridge.\nI believe I said \" Are you\" or something equally to the\npoint—and I seemed to see the figure passing on ....going\naway.\nI suppose 1 felt something was expected from me for\nbelieve I looked after the retreating figure: yes, I recall it\nnow I looked after Miss Marchbanks.\nShe stopped eight paces away and 1 heard the same\ndull voice saving 44 Have one \". the person ad-\ndressee! had one or no, I cannot say; hut feeling dizzy I\nturned my eyes into my lap and looked at my programme,\nwhich a while later I saw was upside down.\n1 his considerably steadied me; and after staying still\nfor a few moments 1 ventured to look in another direction\nto that where last I had seen the dark chocolate lady and\nheard her plaintive voice. Ten seats away she stood, her\nback to me, and again I heard that voice 44 Have one **.\nI never again want to think of Greek plays.\nP. S, Perhaps they were Greek chocolates."}, {"page_pdf": 40, "page_imprimee": "160", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.40", "texte": "CORRESPONDENCE.\n\nABOUT A BOOK . (0\nrIVsHE following letter is published at the request of Mr,\nL Huntly Carter. Evidently he thinks it will do him good.\nWe can only imagine it zvill do him harm, but we will not\nrefuse his request, although the place for letters couched in\nsuch language ts usually, is it not, the waste paper basket\ntinder the Editor's desk f\nIVe offered our Reviewer space in which to reply to Mr.\nCarter, but he declined to notice a letter couched in language\nso abusive, and which applies such epithets as 44 his louts,\nidiots and apes \" to friends or adherents of Mr. Edward\nGordon Craig.\nRegarding Mr. Carter's assertion that 44 a clean writer\nwould consider it more honourable and manly to sign his name\nor a recogniseable pseudonym m> we would point out that a\nwriter usually conforms to precedent in such matters; and\nTHE MASK\\ like many of the most distinguished among its\ncontemporaries, follows, with rare exceptions, the system of pu-\nblishing its Book Reviews anonymously, whether these be suck\nas to win the author's hearty gratitude, or, as in Mr. Carter's\ncase, to call down a torrent of abuse.\nWe take this opportunity of notijying Mr. Carter that\nour forbearance will not extend to the publication of any\nfurther such letters from him• Editor.\n\nThe Editor of The Mask.\nHuntly Carter.\nCir:—My attention has been drawn to a very offensive and\nlibellous notice of my book The New Spirit In The Eu•\nropean Theatre, appearing in the current issue of the Mask.\nThe pages of the Mask are invariably so full of narrow par-\ntisanship (to day it is Mussolinism) and ignorant prejudice,\nthat it would seem a waste of time to protest against these\ntwo columns of vindictive opinion were it not that they are\ndefinitely designed not only to damage the sale of my book\n(44 110 one ....will want to read this book\"), hut to injure my\nreputation as a publicist and humanitarian writer. For these\nreasons I must ask you to publish this reply in your next\nissue, otherwise I shall consider what further steps to take in\nthe matter.\nPossibly it is a sign of cowardice that the writer (who it\nseems has been to Russia and may therefore he identified\neither as Mr Edward Gordon Craig or a Russian refugee) has\nneglected to sign his name. In any case a clean writer would\nconsider it more honourable and manly to sign his name or\na recogniseable pseudonym. Even Mr George Bernard Shaw\n(so despised by the Mask) does so.\nBesides being ashamed to sign his name, the writer evi-\ndently is quite unable to produce evidence in support of his\nattack. With the exception of a mishandled sentence there\nis 110 evidence. There is none even that he has read the\nbook. He hints that he has seen the words, 44 useless from\nthe start\" These words are torn from the sentence, \" The\nfirst, or Stanislavsky group, were useless from the start \".\nBy omitting the preceding and following text he produces\nthe false atmosphere essential to a kind of museum journal\nlike the Mask. He suggests, in fact, that the Stanislavsky\n\\\ngroup have, in my opinion, been useless from the start.\nRelying on this quotation he arrives at a deduction which\nhas no relation to truth. The full sentence refers to the si-\ntuation in the Moscow Art Theatre immediately after the Re-\nvolution when the public demanded that the Revolution should\nbe represented on the stage, as it was represented in the open\nin great mass spectacles played before the Winter Palace,\nThe Bourse, and elsewhere. There was nothing in the\nM. A. T. repertory to meet this demand and there was a se-\nrious talk of closing the theatre. Later however plays in its\nrepertory were freely edited and adapted to suit the require-\nments of the new theatre-going public. To-day Stanislavsky\nis definitely engaged on the production of new revolutionary\nplays, the most notable being a play about the celebrated re-\nvolutionary cossack, Pugatchev.\nThere is absolutely 110 justification for the cunning twist\nwhich the writer gives to the three words quoted by him;\nnor for his excuse for not reading the hook contained in his\nown words, 44 that settles the book for me\", nor for the\nidiotic conclusion 44 it decides it (my book) as utterly bad and\nfalse \".\nThis paroxysm of rage is followed by much foaming at\nthe mouth from which emerges another hymn of hate begin-\nning with the words 44 it (my hook) is crazy about Bolshevism\nand Russia\". If it is crazy about Bolshevism then the Mask\nmust be a bolshevist journal since according to its back num-\nbers from the start it has done little else than what I have\ndone in the major part of my book. The truth about my book\nis that out of nearly 300 pages the bulk of 162 of them is\ntaken up with what a responsible reviewer terms 44the most\npowerful attack 011 the Trustification of the English and\nFrench theatres and the complete transformation of these\ntheatres into an industry for making dividends, in which\nhuman emotions are exploited simply on the basis of what is\nmost cheaply and easily exploitable. All this is exposed with\nvery great wealth of detail, as 44 Wagner exposed in his day \".\n1 he aim of the Mask has been to attack whatever has in-\nterfered with the advance of the theatre according to Mr.\nEdward Gordon Craig's conception, and Big Business has\ncontinually been attacked as a prime evil. In the current\nMask (page 105) are these words by Mr. Edward Gordon\nCraig, 44 and it must come to an end this modern theatrical\nsystem\". This means that Mr. Edward Gordon Craig is in\ncomplete agreement with the principal view expressed in my\nalleged bolshevist book.\nThe book deals with the theatres of II countries. The\nspace devoted to Russia is very limited ; and the space given\nto The Theatre and Labour is less than ten pages. The state-\nment that I 44 keep on speaking of the Labour Party\" is\nsimply a calculated lie. The Labour Party is mentioned\ntwice. The opinion that I have found in Ernest Benn a\n44 publisher willing to spread Bolshevic damnations\" which\n44 are not mere stupidities\" is an example of the extent to\nwhich this scandalous writer is willing to go in an attempt\nnot only to prevent the sale of my book but to prevent pub-\nlishers from marketing my goods.\nIt may be, however, that the use of Bolschevist and\nBolshevism as terms of censure and abuse, is, as some sane\npersons point out, simply a sign of mental degeneracy on the\npart of the users, and they are used in this mariner simply\nto delight mental defectives. Jf people say that they are\nbeing used by Mr. Edward Gordon Craig to attack me for\nthe purpose of pleasing his louts, idiots and apes, he has only\nhimself to blame.\nLondon. August, 15, '26.\n(i) The Mask, July 2tfo. Pg. 119.\n\nA QUERY.\n44 Ts it true that Mr. Gordon Craig was asked to produce an\nopera at Torino last year and refused because the Thea-\ntre could not pay the fee he asked?\" (F, L.: Brighton).\n\nREPLY.\nEd.\n®! Perfect^—though as a rule we shall decline to answer\nsuch very personal queries.\nThere was a Millionaire supporting this theatre—he had\nthe building reconstructed at his expense. The management\nwas prepared, it said, to overcome any difficulty in the way\nof procuring Mr. Craig's services.\nMr. Craig, who is not much of a believer in millionaires\nwho are said to be supporting art and who get the title of a\nmecanus for next to nothing, determined to make this a test\ncase. He learned that the Torino supporter was not supporting\nthe venture as a millionaire shouLd support a theatre if he\nsupports it at all.\nThese, so far as we know, are the exact facts."}, {"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "161", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.41", "texte": "BOOK REVIEWS.\n\nHIMS ANCIENT & MODERN\nby Jimmy Glover. T. Fisher Unwin\nLtd. 10/—net.\nSELECTED LETTERS OF HO-\nRACE WALPOLt. Everyman Se-\nries. Dent CT Sans. No. 175. 2/6.\nI had no idea until now that Jimmy\nGlover was a journalist; but then\nJimmy Glover could b? a Parson and\ndo it well. He hasn't the calling\nso far as I can see he has no calling\n•—but he has personality. Not a big\npersonality, ...and by that I mean no-\nthing at all terrifying.., he is one of\nLondon's kindliest of men of the world,\nor rather of the town; for, everyone\nwho has seen the world knows that the\nlarge cities with their little mechanical\nround are often but very narrow little\nplaces.\nTo leave Little Hookham and go to\nsee the great city of Babylon—Lon-\ndon—is to pass from a small to a ra-\nther larger village. Steam and elec-\ntricity have upset the old calculations.\nWe once made a city representative\nof the world; we have, today, no further\nneed to do so for we can go out and\nsee the real world when we like, for\ntravelling has been made easy to nearly\nall of us. London, Paris, New York,\nBerlin no longer represent anything\nlike the world. They are large va-\nriety shows: the numbers on their\nprogrammes are the same old turns\nand these tell us the same old story.\nJimmy Glover tells us the London\nstory better than most can, though na-\nturally he hardly sees the wood for\nthe trees.\nBut what an Index... what a sloppy\nIndex! It is incomplete and it is not\nin its right order. Under letter The\narranges his names in this order : Ta-\nvistock, 29 ; Tree, Lady, 30 ; Terry,\nEilen, 56; Thorndike, 56; Tweed-\nmouth, 65 ; Trent 95.\nThat is an order for he follows the\norder of the pages ; but it's not the usual\nway a good index is ordered. It should\n[ be Ta, Te, Th? Ji? To, and T Pof course\ncomes in here—or rather should come,\nbut I don't see T. P. in the book or\nthe Index even under O'C : and what\nis London, lacking T.P.O'C. : but here\nI am getting too local for my voice\nto carry further than Adavoyle and\nyou all know where that is.\nBesides being out of order, the\nIndex does not include Shaw, G. B,\nyet he figures on pages 5 and 197,\n116; and Tree, Sir H. 8,, who ap-\npears for a moment on pages 113,\n234 : and others in the book omitted\nfrom the Index are George IV,\nPage 1 !6, and Kipling page 120.\nIt refers to Bancroft, whereas there\nwere two Bancrofts not one alone,\n\" I am not blas6, \" He says so and\nhe certainly is not blas£ ;—he is the\nsame dear old Jimmy Glover that ever\nwas—he who seems to conduct an\norchestra better than most musicians do\nconduct one, and who nearly killed\nme once composing a piece which !\nam humming over as I write this. I\nheard him at it next d00r.... turn turn\nturn turn tiddle tiddle turn turn ; and if\nhe doubts that I have it in head I will\nget a musician to dot it down from\nmy humming. It was the first two bars\nwhich worried him ; he would go at\nthem over and over again; it was a\ntwiddly bit ...and it had a marriage\nbells effect.\nI begin to think I must have a\nfairly good memory, for I forget the\nawful noise Curtis Pound made when\nJimmy and he met on these Sundays\nat—wasn't it Maidenhead or Twicken-\nham ? I forget; but I lived next door\nand remember that dear old tune quite\nwell.\nAnd yet what am I doing boasting\nthat / have a good memory: this do-\ncumental book by Glover reveals an\nextraordinary memory, ...of clubs, of\ntheatres, of demi-mondaines, of Sarn\nLewis. Hector Tennant, Nellie Cau-\nston, Mabel Gray, Mr. Bouverie,\nAbingdon Baird, and a hundred ethers.\nHe has kind words to say for the\nlobby members of the Alhambra and\nEmpire. That they were frankly ho-\nnest enchantresses the whole world (but\nfor a few prigs) has borne testimony.\nMr. Glover sems to prefer that\nnaughtiness to the new kind practised\nby the Society lady who, he asserts\n•• has taken the. bread out of Lais'\nmouth\". What a dirty trick if it\nbe true.\nIt must be true for it is not a chat-\nterbox who speaks ; tis an Eagle (see\npage 122), and an Eagle that is also\na Hawk. He writes as \" Affable\nHawk\".\nNow I thought that only Mr. Des-\nmond McCarthy had the right to the\ntitle; but it appears that over thirty\nyears ago Mr Glover and his confreres\nused it in \" The Hawk\", ...a paper\non which Shaw, Walkley, Greenwood,\nChambers and the Moo es wrote.\nI was some sixteen years of age\nthen, and I now recall I saw some\nfrowns and heard disapproval of this\nsame \" Hawk History also records\nthat Whistler was not a little annoyed\nby the bird. It seems to have been\nout to reform the world. Well, so is\nGlover. Reformers are dear fellows\nvery often, and all they seem to want\nis to re-form the world nearer to the\ndesire of their own particular heart's\nconception as to what a nice Hawkish\nor Gloverish world ought to be. Is it\nth y think they could then fit into the\nscheme better ? I too have felt like\nthis: I suppose you have. —Puff ball\nis what it amounts to. The world\nis not all right until you notice\nhow very right it is. But then you\nand I know the world. Glover doesn't\nquite know the world but he gets near\nto it, for Glover knows the town and\nthat is much. He is a man of the\ntown, whereas Horace Walpoie can\nbe said to be rather more like a man\nof the world. Without a very wide\nknowledge of it he is a man of the\nworld—he almost knew it. It is only\na Rossini, a Benvenuto Cellini or a\nRacine who knows it belter. A few\nwriters today know it; one lives not,\nfar from a village known as Sant*\nAmbrogio.\nD'Annunzio knows the -world but\nknows it less well than the Spaniard\nat St. Ambrogio. For D'Annunzio is\nstill eager and alive to new sensation ;\nthe Spaniard seems to have seen, felt\nand known it all.\nHow ? you ask. Possibly as St.\nFrancis knew it or as any other thinker.\nWhat but experience renders you of\nthe world ? and how experience in a\nvillage ? Something in this—something.\nLondon's a village even as Denmark\nwas a prison ; but even in London, if"}, {"page_pdf": 42, "page_imprimee": "162", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.42", "texte": "you are William Blake, you may be-\ncome of the world. Blake anywhere,\nSt. Francis anywhere, would have\nseen ana understood all the little details\nwhich the less experienced Piccadilly-\nloungers fail to catch at: and if Ho-\nrace Walpole failed to understand\nthree quarters of the world let it not\nbe laid up against him: he did his\nbest. He lived for a time on the\nfringe of Piccadilly, Arlington Street:\nhe was born there at No. 5, dying\neighty years later close by in Berkeley\nSquare. It was always a narrow\nthoroughfare,\nLike Mr. Glover he lived to become\nan old man, and before he died... even\nthirty years before... he took to grum-\nbling at the way things were falling off.\nFrench music was as shocking as he\nknew it was he wrote in 1765;—-\nyet the Couperins were that 44 French\nmusic 99: He judged of French music\nfrom the Opera House stuff. 44 The\nnymphs of the theatre are laides a\nfaire pear which he adds is a piece\nof luck for him at his age ; but after\nall he was but forty-eight, and there\nat the Opera sits David Hume eight\nyears older than Horace, 44 his broad\nunmeaning face was usually seen en Ire\ndeux job's minois \" writes Lord Char-\nlemont: for it appears that 44 no] French\nlady's toilette was complete without\nHume's attendance\nThat it is to be a man of a woild:\nto sit in a box : what ? to be looked\ndown on by Hawks tethered in the\nPigeonere and looked up at by Horaces\nfrom the parterre.\nTo be either Hume, the Affable\nHawk or, Horace would be, we think,\nto be a real man of the world :\nthey really seem like the genuine ar-\nticle, do they not ? Let us proceed\nalong our route nor stop too long\nwasting time in some fond dream that\nby imitating Horace, Hume or Hawk\nwe shall ever see that remarkably\ninexhaustible, beautiful, but entertaining\nthing, the world.\nThese men were men of the ciSy.\nThey were les Hommes de DeauviSle,\nUomini del Lido, men about town,\nwhat you will ; but not of the world,\nnot quite that.\n\nA BANNED PLAY and A Preface\non the Censorship. Marie C, Stopes.\nJohn Ball Sons. London. 5/ - nit.\nTHE worst of things not going off\nproperly is that they go on. If\nthey went off properly no one would\nnotice them; Marriage, Birth, Death,\nCcal Supply, Lunch Theatres: these\nthings are all inevitable and quite to-\nlerable, provided they go off smoothly.\nAny bungling, any fuss, and all is\nturned to misery.\nFear is the bungler, and fear is the\ntrump tare of the devil. Once sow\nthat tare, and he can sit down and\ntwiddle His thumbs on London Bridge\nfor the whole of Saturday afternoon.\nThe Censor would seem to be\nthe very flower of Fear. I rather like\na theatrical censorship for London—\nbecause it goes with the wail-paper\nthere. But on any but aesthetic\ngrounds 1 object to him, because, born\nof fear, he arouses fear; and then the\nactors begin to hum and haw, and\nthe vox humana trembles in the organ\nloft and all is in vain,\nBut the censor sprang from fear be-\ncause marriage was allied to a number\nof fears, and birth a fearful thing, and\nDeath become a terror.\nThe antidote for fear is not always\nto make us laugh or the Theatre could\nbe used to balance the trouble, and\nthe fears clustering around the Censor,\nand Birth and Death and Marriage\nwould be all laughed away. But the\nTheatre in England trembles at the\nfirst glance of the Lord Chamberlain.\nWe go out to have a good lunch\nto forget it: we open our 44 Post \"\nwhile waiting for our chop, and our\nterrors return as we read the head\nlines:\n'4 Strike continued : entire country\nheld up \".\n44 Divorce in Aristocratic Circles \".\n44 Mangled remains found in Ditch :\nSeven men suspected.\n45 Scientist's Discovery to prolong Life\nindefinitely \".\nWithout further pleasure is our\nchop—our little lunch is spoiled—it\nhas not gone off properly.\nAnd Mrs Marie C. Stopes, her play\nhas been banned: it failed to go off\nproperly, and she thinks it's the fault\nof the Censor, and she thinks he can\nbe improved, brought up, and put in\norder as she would put the matters of\nBirth and Marriage in order -and as I\nwould put the matter of Lunch in\norder. 44 Lunches without tares\"\nwould be the slogan. And indeed if\nonly we could get this accursed fear\nweeded out of everything from birth\nto death, we should, I'm thinking, have\na remarkably happy life of it.\nWhat is the Lord Chamberlain\nfrightened of? for he too is in ter-\nror about some thing—at least so it\nseems. Do you know—or does any-\nbody know ? He doesn't I'm quite\nsure. And what is Mrs. Stopes frigh-\ntened about? She wrote gi Plays of\nOld Japan\" in 19!3 ; lived in Ja-\npan in 1907; presumably bad enough\nto eat (I mention this, for to be at\nall in doubt about dinner is the sole\nexcuse for the birth of fear....the ani-\nmals explain all that) Her mother\nis the Shakespearean scholar Mrs. C. C.\nStopes, whose book on Burbag? is my\ndelight. While busy with Burbage\nshe assuredly found food for her little\ndaughter Marie and thus alayed her\nearly troubles in the cot, Perhaps\nwhen cross the elder Mis. Stopes said\n44 Now, Marie, if you're not good the\nCensor will come and eat you \", and\nperhaps that is why the younger Mrs.\nStopes seems so frightened and wants\nto pull his hair if she can get at him.\nAnd the whole trouble could be\nsettled in five or six months by Mr.\nBaldwin who can settle anything—in\nfive or six months ; but then there is\nthe fear that if he were called away\nfrom the annual strike there would\nbe worse trouble. That affair of the\nCoal is a little knubbly bit in the\nDevil's scuttle. The mere thought or\ncoal is a sure card which he can play\nover and over again. Coal guarantees\nunrest, for is it not composed of\n32. a. g: CARBON -f P. Z.+FEAR,\nso that's all right. Take away the\nfear and it won't burn in some of the\ngrates as well as it did before. Leave\nthe fear in and the chances are it will\nblaze something lovely in time. When\nit does there will not be much hope\nfor this Banned Play being performed\nto a crowded house : and if it doesn't\nthere will be scarcely more hope. So\nthe notion that Mr. Baldwin could\nsettle the Censor business can be put\naside ;—he is too busy.\nAnd what about the theme of the\nbanned play, over-sexuality and under-\nsexuality of husbands ?—let us leave\nwives out of it since nature has ar-\nranged that they can if they wish\nhave nothing proved about them. If\na lady is hungry no one can prove it\nI defy them to. If she is thirsty,\nif she looks at you or away from you,\nround you or into you, it is not to be\nproved. Who has known any-\nthing at all about a woman? Hence\nmore trouble. Here fear dictates a\npolicy of disguise which is masterly\nand effectively thwarts even the devil.\nSo that what with his tares and his\ngoing up and down and her disgui-\nsings—well, only Mr. Baldwin could\nput the things to rights and he's too\nbusy over the coal.\nThe Play was banned, says the\nauthoress, because it touches the deep\nrealities of life ; shows a woman sin*-"}, {"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "163", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.43", "texte": "pie, pure, normally sexed, ...a man fu-\ntile and weak. But what, you will\nask, is that for a drama ? As a matter\nof fact it isn't a drama at all; perhaps\nit's a play: I don't know. 1 ra-\nther liked what 1 wa3 able to read of\nit, but it all seemed to me a discus-\nsion about whether a man should or\nshouldn't do this or that and whether\na woman ought or ought not to pre-\ntend to be pretending to not pretend,\nand so on.\nAfter all, whether a discussion can\nbe a play, is a point I feel uncertain\nabout; a discussion may be dramatic\nbut it can't be a drama or it's not\na good serious discussion. Good drama\ndoesn't consider who's hurt.\nThis discussion by Mrs. Stopes\nwould be useful to any helplessly\ncomposed lady as a guide to her.\nBut have }rou ever yet known any\nwoman who was helpless ?.., so the\nbook will be of no use to women\nanyhow. If by chance one exists on\nearth, and I don't believe it, then this\nbook is for her: it will offer her all\nthe neatest arguments guaranteed to get\nher out of a connection with the man\nto whom she is married,—a husband\nwho doesn't give her a child; and it\nwiil at the same time release him from\nher for the lady who obviously doesn't\nwant a child. Some do, some don't.\nThe false supposition of Mrs. Stopes is\nthat all do. And some people like\ndiscussions; but Mrs. Stopes is wrong\nin supposing that a sensible public\nwould stand such a discussion as this\none put by her into three acts. Three\nacts of discussion, it's terrible;\nand to have thrown av/ay the exceptio-\nnal experience Japan must have given\nher, ...to have descended from transla-\nting the art of the No plays of Japan\ninto English, which Professor Sakurai\nso kindly helped her over and so well,\nto descend to the feeblest discussion I\nhave ever heard carried on, is to throw\naway too much.\nWhy d oes she act so? What makes\nthis charming visitor to Japan leave that\nland of order and return with her hair\ntowzled, her face distorted, her hands\nagitated, ~.a dishevelled person where\nonce was such a charming person ? The\nanswer is 44 she is acting \".\nThis deliberate consecration of her-\nself to Japan was so well begun; I\ndo sincerely hope she wiil slop the\nwork she is now doing and turn once\nmore to her own translation of the No\niplays and read one of them ...slowly.\nHow possible, after that, to fuss\nabout these trivial matters—trivial be-\ncause fussy. If a modern day Mrs. Car-\nlyle or Mrs. Raskin wants to leave\na husband, let her: no one is ever\nobliged to stay, except by law, with\nanyone else. And the laws are really\nnot made for Mrs. Carlyle or Mrs,\nRuskin, for Phedre or for Sappho.\nI rather wish they were. But who is\nthere that is able to make 'em? Let\nthem try.\n\nTHE LIFE OF RACINE by Mary\nDuclax. Fisher Unwin. 10/6.\nIS there any fr'end quite so reliable\nas a foe ? the foe never lets you\nrest until you get to heaven, whereas\nthe friend, on glimpsing the gates, is\njust a little apt to push ahead of us\nand slip in whether we can get there\nor no. The foe dogs you and seems\nto be only entirely happy when, as the\ngates slam in his face, he hears the\nmuffled cries of joy on the ether side\nwelcoming the sinner. Turning away\nwith a happy sigh he goes down again\nto the poor old world murmuring 44 Oh,\nfor some one to hate me \".\nAnd to do him justice we all hate\nhim—but not sufficiently. Our hatred\nis not as virtuous as hi 3, for it is not\nso intense. We wish him a good rid-\ndance,—we bolt up any old alley to\navoid him,— we shall never save his\nsoul: we feel that it would freeze\nHeaven if we sent it there ; so we\ncut and forget him, and he, so kind\nto us, is thus repaid unfairly.\nWhat is to be done with such\ngood men ? Above Heaven and be-\nneath Hell there must be some spe-\ncial place reserved for the inhumanly\nvirtuous—a large tract of space where\nthe only thing which can grow is\ndecent pettiness, across which no sound\ncan blow nor no colour wash; into\nwhich comes that guardian angel now\nand again to peer around—that fallen\nangel whose history we have yet to\nlearn ; who fell not as fell Lucifer son\nof the Morning, but ineffectively at\neventide in the very hush and horror\nof quietism.\nLet us not linger too long near the\nedge of that district over which it\nbroods, this pinched watcher. To do\nso is to come perilously near terror,\nand the crying of cats at night.\nIt was not Racine but his foes, who\nled me to take a peep into that district.\nHis foes of 1670 90 seem to have\ndescendants; they slill worry them-\nselves about Racine and they feel that\n44 the more one begins to inquire exactly\ninto the life of Racine the more dif-\nficult it becomes to put one's hand on\none's heart and swear that not one\nof those words\" (of Diderot) 4< fourbe,\ntraiire, ambiiieux, envieux, michant\nare entirely unjust when applied to\nhim \". Well, certainly, one must have\na heart before one can place one's\nhand on it, but I hope one is not\nobliged to swear even then.\nThis quotation is from a review is\nan English weekly that I came across\nof this very book on the poet, and it\nwas this very review which led me to\nask the publishers for a copy of the\n44 Life \" that I too might see what a\ntraltre, what a mechant fellow this\nsame rascally Racine, was like. (See\nhow well the enemy serves God.).\nAnd now I know. Until I had read\nthe review of it I had never had the\nfaintest notion what Racine was. He\nhad seemed to me like some old win-\ndow of an empty cottage, so thickly\ncoated with dust that it had ceased to\nbe a window ; a deader man for me\ncould not have existed. Lytton Slra-\nchey struck a match in his essay 44 Ra-\ncine \", held it up, and I believed him ;\nhe moved the match here and there\nand asked 44 Isn't it?\" and I agreed\nit was, trusting Strachey at any time ;\nbut he didn't give me a picture of\nthe poet—and out went the match.\nBut now Madame Mary Duclaux has\nacted the hostess—invited the great\nman to supper, invited us to meet\nhim, and has brought in two silver-\nplated cnadelabra each with twenty\nlights burning, and made day in her\nroom in her 17th century chateau.\nThere he sits—undoubtedly RACINE :\nwe sup.\nOutside prowl the cats and the\npoke-noses, still bent on discovering\n44 The Mystery of Racine \" —since\nnone exists. But it takes a woman,\nand she a great lady and a perfect\nhostess, to make that plain. It often\ndoes. Men are so stupid.\nLucky Racine, ... and I too am most\ngrateful to Madame Duclaux. To have\nbeen invited to meet Racine —really :\nand poke-noses believe that that is the\nmoment to sit glum in a corner, nod\nthe head, and, when the fun is at\nthe height, to ask with a face like a\nmouse-trap, 4i But what about the Mou-\nlon Blanc that being a hostelry of\nthe 17th century and apparently not\nunlike 44 The Mermaid \" of Shake-\nspeare's day and place.\nHaving delivered himself of this\nquery the poke-nose follows it up with,\n\" Monsieur Racine, I want to ask you\na question ; did you—or did you not\nmurder Mile du Pare ? \"\nBut thanks to grace and beauty,\nMadame Duclaux has wit and doesn't\ninvite such people to her table.\nShe knows Racine well; the cri-"}, {"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.44", "texte": "tic finds her picture too rosy, which\nof course is impossible. Racine posi-\ntively was and is Racine—or is he\nPaul Pry ? Which ? If Paul Pry, then\nof course he can't be Racine and the\ncurtain comes down and we must admit\nto having made a mistake and come\nto the wrong Theatre: but if he be\nRacine and if we be ordinary men, do\nlet us at least mind our Ps and Qs.\nIf we are not clever let us at least be\nimitative and attempt to look and\nbehave as our hostess does in his pre-\nsence.\nSuppose him Thomas Hardy or\nVerlaine or Moliere, suppose him\nHamlet. Must we ape the Guildern-\nsterns and attempt to pluck out the\nheart of his mystery ? What mystery\nis it but the ancient one. that of the\neternal passion of Life—the agony and\nfarcical crowning and it is finished.\nPoor fool, he who sits giggling and\nnose-poking like an imbecile at the\nfoot of a cross ; wanting to know if\nMile du Pare was poisoned so as to\ncomplete his 11 Short Chats with Cri-\nminals \". Let him go out into the\nlavatory and there wash off (if it will\ncome off) some of his beastly virtue.\nIt was the review in \" The New\nStatesman \" which has made me so\ncross : it's awful lack of understanding,\nof reverence or charity for mankind\nappalled me. I had not meant to\nname the paper but I do so in the\nhope that whoever wrote that article\nmay realize the good that kind cf\nthing does.\n\nFIRST STUDIES IN DRAMA-\nTIC ART hy Enid Rose. Clive ;\nUniversity Tutorial Press 5/6 net.\nTHE Times\" (Literary Supple-\nment) in a longish review of this\nexcellent little book—damns it. Damns\nwith faint praise. It is the fate of all who,\nthough merely reviewers, feel they\nmust act the just judge, to make a\nmess of it.\nReviewers should try hard not to\nfeel important. Feeling important I too\ndamn this excellent book, for it has\nand I shall surprise you now—faults.\nBut it has great qualities.\nTo begin with it is written by a\nwoman. What a virtue. You and I\nwho are mere men can know nothing\nof the seriousness which a woman\ngives to the task. And seriousness\ncounts.\n\" The Times \" reviewer (Literary\nSupplement) wrote cleverly; but he\nwanted to be the only one to scoff.\nThe moment Miss Rose scoffs he\ngrows cross, and talks of \" great ble-\nmishes \".\nScoff or no scoff, this is a first-rate\nlittle book and we advise every wo-\nman at all interested in the advance\nof the Theatre to read it.\nSome of it is just what a \" first\nstudy \" should be; the rest is far in\nadvance of that. And every school\nand college wThich is going in for\ntheatricals must get the book.\n€jf There are four chapters. Chap-\nters II and 111 are difficult, but are for\nthe tutor, not the student. Chapter IV\nis for the student and it is an admi-\nrable one. It deals with the Development\nof the Theatre and the Drama and reas-\nserts the importance of the actor as\nchief instrument of Drama.\n- The Times\" supposes this to be\nnot exactly all Mr. Gordon Craig\nwould approve, Why, he supposes\nanything so utterly silly the just judge\nof \" The Times \" best knows. For\nin Mr. Craig the actor has probably\nthe very best friend he ever had or\never will have; but this the \"Times\"\nreviewer is not a careful enough reader\nto know.\nHad he read carefully what Mr,\nCraig has written, had he read with\neyes which could read through jnstead\nof eyes which were happy to trifle\nwith the surface and listened with ears\nless honoured by the tittle tattle of\nprofessional nobodies he would know.\nIt would not be a bad thing if be-\nfore long \" The Times \" (Literary\nSupplement) had one reviewer who\nwas possessed of discernment in Thea-\ntrical things, for such books as Miss\nRose's should not be damned, since it\nis readable and as right as rain.\n\nTHE MAYFAIR CALENDAR by\nHorace Wyndham. Hutchinson. 18/—\nnet.\nLONDON'S LATIN QUARTER\nby Kenneth Hare and Dorothea St. /.\nGeorge, The Bodley Head. / 5/— net.\nTHE Mayfair Calendar \" is reada-\nble f rom beginning to end. \" Lon-\ndon's Latin Quarter\" is not.\n\" Fbe Mayfair Calendar \" is s'* a\ncompendium dealing with the delin-\nquencies of members of 'high society* \".\nIt is a companion volume to \" The\nNewgate Calendar \".\nThe chapter on Edmund Kean has\nlittle reason for being here because,\nthough he did live in the alleys of\nMayfair for a time, he was not a member\nof high society. Still, it will interest\nthose of us who like to see Mr. Kean\noff the stage.\n64 London's Latin Quarter \" should\nhave been called \" London's Green-\nwich Village \" for it appears to be a\nrather weak imitation of the Bohemian\nQuarter of New York. There is no-\nthing at all resembling the Paris Latin\nQuarter as I remember that sober\nneighbourhood. In London the Bohe-\nmian element is manufactured, for\nthe fashionable people who put on\ntheir very best clothes and go down\nat 2 o'clock in the morning to the\nGargoyle Club, or the Ham Bone\nClub, or the Bull Frogs' Club, (at\nleast so one is led to suppose from\nthis book), and there hunt around, not\ntor a Bone or a Goyle, but for any\nother self-conscious people they can\nfind. These are often horribly badly\noff, sometimes even reduced to three\nor four pounds apiece for a few days,\nM eantime, lest London be shamed,\nlet us own up to the fact that London\nhas a genuine old Bohee quarter some-\nwhere between the East and West\nend.—But where it is only you and I\nknow;—obviously Mr. Hare doesn't.\n\nSEVEN VOLUMES.\nALL OF THEM PLAYS.\n\nTHE DRAMATIST; Frederick Rey-\nnolds. Humphrey Mil ford, Oxford\nUniversity Press, //—.\nTHE TRIAL OF JESUS. John\nMasefield. Heinemann. 6j—.\nWE MODERNS; Israel ZangwllL\nHeinemann. 6/—.\nNABOTH'S VINEYARD. CU~\nmence Dane. Heinemann. 6/—.\nTHREE FARCES by David Garrick,\nYale University Press - Humphrey\nMilford. Oxford University Press).\n7/6.\nTHE WALTZ OF THE DOGS,\nL. Andreyev. Brentano9s. London.\nTHREE TIBETAN MYSTERIES\nRoutledge. 7/6.\nSEVEN authors, all of them well\nknown, and the first, Frederick\nReynolds, dead and gone some centu-\nries ago, is the only one to have jus-\ntice done him by his publisher. The\npublisher puts him in a tiny little book,\nwith paper cover?, and sends him out\nat a shilling. All the other books are\nfive shillings, six shillings, or seven and\nsix, and that is much too much.\nIt used to be \" Book of the words,,\nprice three pence the idea being\nthat all you needed was a little bro-\nchure which you could put in your\npocket, and look at it if you wanted\nto recall what it was that you had\nheard upon the stage."}, {"page_pdf": 45, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.45", "texte": "A MASK FOR A NÕ PLAY.\nFrom the Berlin Museum.\nPlate 17.\n\nTHE MASK\n1926"}, {"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "163", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.47", "texte": "But nowadays we are perfecting all\nose things which should be left im-\n*fect, and leaving imperfect all those\ndngs which we should perfect. And\nthe publishers bring out handsome\noking books of acted and unacted\n*ays, and, while it pleases us to be\nle to read them when we want to, I\n' one have a feeling that the way\n5 books are presented to us is a\nle pretentious.\nThat is why I so much like \" The\namatist \" by Frederick Reynolds,\ntich the Oxford University Press\nles for 1 /—. The public really\ninot possibly want anything better\nanything more. The paper is good,\nj type is good, and the size of the\noklet perfect. The old custom of\nbreviating the long names like Mac-\nh to Mac: is followed, so we have\nn: for Floriville and Nev: for Ne-\ne in small italic.\nBut in Mr. Zangwiil's play \" We\n>derns Messrs Heinemann and Co\n7e used a large capital letter for the\nnes of the Dramatis Person&> and\nsomehow gives one a feeling of\nxness as one looks at it.... \" DICK\nDOLLY.... DICK .... DOLLY ....\nCK....D1CK....MARY....D1CK....\nCK\". Common sense has not gone to\nsetting up of this play. The use of a\ny small capital letter would not\ne mattered very much, though no\nitai is so good as the lower case\nc for this purpose.\n)ne does not want to see so much\nte followed by such trivial lines.\nexample:\n)ICK. \" Yes. dear, I'll go at once\",\nthat a lot of stage direction.\nOh! Joanna\".\nKher that \"JOANNA\" in big\n5, and all she say? is \"Clumsy\",...\nall we can add is \" Very \"!\nVith these huge names crying out\nnotice the best we can do is to read\nn and ponder: \"DICK, DICK...\npoor old Dick..., Yes, MARY,\n\\JRY, MARY. .. there, there, dear\n\\RY. These big names are like an\nggerated amount or scenery and\n/ays attract us away from a poor\n; y-\nIn the \" Trial of Jesus \" by John\nasefield, a small letter has been em-\nyed for the Dramatis Persons.\nThe author of Odtaa \" has caus-\nthe sacred figure of Jesus to speak,\nmy opinion such a figure should\ni speak on a stage, and it is even\nübtful whether he should be seen,\nhave never thought it sensible in\nan author to make very great men,\ngreat historical figures of the past, come\nto life on a stage and speak,... Shake-\nspeare for example. I recall having read\ntwo or three plays in which Shakes-\npeare was made to enter in the flesh,\nand became immediately embarrassed.\nHe seemed to be fishing about for\nhis words; seemed uncertain as to\nwhether he should utter little nothings\nin the du Maurier manner such as\n\"Hullo, Ben! Have you seen Chap-\nman today?\" or whether he should\nroll out lines lifted prematurely from\nhis own plays.\nHow should Shakespeare be made to\nspeak? What author is ever going to\nbe so dull as to dare ?\nThen what can one feel and say\nabout the appearance of a divine\nfigure like Jesus....and speaking? If\nanyone could achieve success in En-\nglish it would be Mr. Masefieid. That\nhe fails is nothing astonishing —it is\neven wonderful that he fails so well.\nMiss Clemence Dane fails over Na-\nboth, and Jezebel, Ahab and Elijah.\nConceive an Arabian writer attempting\nto succeed with the character of St,\nFrancis of Assisi or Catherine of Siena.\nI do not want to see Elijah on the\nstage. Why should we push towards\nthat day when we shall see \" Tonight\nMr. Henry Ainley as Jesus \" printed\non a Poster and pasted up near the\nCriterion Bar, next door to \" The\nWaltz of the Dogs next week....Mr,\nHenry Ainley as Henry Tilley \".\n\" The Waltz of the Dogs\" is a\nhorrible sort of a play by Andreyev.\nThere is, thank the Tzar, a certain\namount of go in it, but it is not a\nplay that would be worth going to see.\nWhereas the three farces of Garrick\nare the genuine article: only little\nthings, of course .... trifles,—unpreten-\ntious— wasting only an hour and a half\nof our time, and \" The Dramatist \" by\nReynolds is another of the same kind:\n...an hour and a half, one shilling.\nAs for the \" Tibetan Mystery\nPlays they seem curiously interesting,\nbut I have been unable.... I had not\nsix hours to spare to each page.\n\nJAP A NISCHE MASKEN. NO\nUND KYOGEN, by Frederick Per-\nzynsl?L De Gruyter & Co. Berlin.\n2 Volumes. Price 80 Marks.\nIN this superb book are to be found\n110 full page plates of masks.\nThe European stage is presented\nwith something it can study (if it's\nnot asleep) without knowing Japanese\nor German.\nEven the casual observer will note\nthat there are very few masks which\ncan be labeled Heroic, but quite a\nfew which are demonic. But most of\nthem are curiously ordinary faces,\nthough to see how they fit the face\nof the character one would have to\nread each play, There are many\nwhich resemble death masks—there is\nhardly one which has not a whisper\nof death on it.\nThis would settle it for Messrs Butt\nand If; not in their theatre if you\nplease—. And although the realm of\ndeath is not what the Dramatist sets\nout to show us, in Japan and in\nGreece ids playwright seldom failed to\nhint at it. Stomachs and hearts were\nstronger in those days, it seems.\nMasks then serve, ...but there must\nbe the dramatist to tie them on, No\none else may perform this office.\nAltogether a wonderful book, this\nbook of Masks.\nLook for example, at Plate No 17 ;\nreproducing an illustration from this\nbook.\nIt is a mask for a No. play.\nRecently in London a Greek play\nwas performed by a group of enthu-\nsiasts who used masks.\nThat and the Japanese use of\nmasks are two different things, Euro-\npeans have lost the wisdom which be-\nlonged to the spectators and the ar-\ntists of the No. They have also lost\nthe tradition which tells what masks\nare for and how to use them. They\nseem also to have lost the audacity\nsufficient to invent and use new masks\nfor a new type of Drama.\nTo put on a thing called a mask\nand to babble /Eschylus or Sophocles\nthrough the mouthpiece is, and always\nwill be, unfortunate. We must return\nto the use of Masks only by advan-\ncing to another condition of mind than\nthat possessed by enthusiasts for playing\nthe fool gravely.\n\nFIVE BOOKS.\nFOUR MEN AND A HALF.\nBEETHOVEN : STRINDBERG : TCHEHOV :\nSHAW : - AND SAMUEL PEPYS. (I)\n\n| would recommed these five books\n1 to anybody who today cares to get\na glimpse of two human men, two\nclever men, and a nobody, because on\n(i) Beethoven's Letters, edited by\nDr. A. C. Kalischer. Dent & Sons.\nThe Confessions of a Fool by Au-\ngust Strindberg. Viking Press, New\nYork. Dollars 2.50.\nThe Letters of Anton Pavlovitch\nTchehov to Olga Leonardovna Knipper,\nChatto Sc Windus. 15/- net.\nThe Genius of Bernard Shaw by\nPatrick Braybrooks. Dane's Ltd. 7/6 net.\nSamuel Pepys, by Lucas Dubreton.\nA. L. Philpot Ltd. 7/6 net."}, {"page_pdf": 48, "page_imprimee": "164", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.48", "texte": "looking at the five of them together one\ncan more easily measure them.\nTwo there are who stand out head\nand shoulders above the rest and may\nbe really called great men; and by\nthat I do not mean pieces of perfec-\ntion, but human beings made of more\nthan one element, one stuff ; made of\nall that goes to make a man, and\ntrying to understand what this human\nstuff in them can be. They leave it\nunstated—they are not cock-sure, they\nare not taken up with gazing in a\nglass all day, they are not egoists for\ntheir whole lives are devoted to the\ncreating of great things for us, not to\nmaking money or a sensation; and yet\nthey have appeared to those of a scepti-\ncal turn of mind to be making a great\nfuss about themselves.\nBut they are not. They are not\nmaking a fuss about themselves. They\nare assuredly busy about this queer\nthing which possesses them and they re-\nport truly of it, and for that alone\nthey may be considered as great men.\nBeethoven wrote no \" Confessions\nof a Fool\" as did Strindberg, and,\nin refraining from that, he shows he\nwas wiser; but Strindberg, when he\nconfesses his folly, confesses it in a\nstrange way. He does it like a dra-\nmatist who is confessing the folly of\nothers; ~.he shows himself on a stage\nas two of the dramatis persons. His\none self with its weaknesses, brutalities,\nfears, he sends on to the stage and\ncauses it to speak, uttering the most\nextraordinary things so that your sym-\npathies are entirely turned against this\nfigure. He is not out to make it a\nhero; but, just as he is finishing with\nthe figure, he brings his second self on,\nand this second self he flings against the\nother. It swamps the other, but not\nfor long; for as soon as the first figure\nbegins to speak again and to take the\nstage, the second dwindles we dis-\nlike him.\nWe are now entirely in favour of\nthis first one ; but before long we are\nagain drawn round to the other ; and\nthen in a flash, as they come closer\ntogether, they seem to merge into one\nand to grow in stature. Two men\ncannot be one man. We draw back\nfrom this huge figure. There is some-\nthing that does not satisfy us. Quickly\na third appears, makes us forget\nthe two of them. And again this\nthird figure becomes merged in the\nother two and becomes immense.\nRound this terrific figure move other\nfigures, the figure of a wife, her\nformer husband, and many other people.\nHe is fair to all as only a great dra-\nmatist can be.\nThe difference we find, as we look\nat the whole company acting, is, that,\nwhereas the wife, the former husband\nand the others each possesses one being,\nhe, the hero-villain-fool of the piece,\npossesses three.\nPart of the story of Strindberg is\nthe story of a dramatist with a wife\nwho wants to act and who is a nui-\nsance.\nThere is something of the same\nstory about Tchehov, though no one\ncould call Madame Knipper a nui-\nsance. His wife was already an\nactress when he married her, and, in\nall the letters which they write to and\nfro, you can feel the unspoken prayer\nof Tchehov that she would cease to\nact. Why should she cease? I do\nnot know. Tchehov is dead, and his\nwife is the greatest actress in Russia.\nQuite unlike Strindberg, Tchehov\nwas what you would call a clever\nman , and, besides being that, was, it\nwould seem, a very sweet-natured\nman ; not handsome, not immense, not\na genius like Strindberg, but amusing,.,\nhow amusing; so amusing and so\nsweet (if we may use the adjective\nagain) that the irony of his thought\nuntil he dies is so sugared over that\neven some of his closest friends could\nnot perceive it.\nNobody can be more drawn towards\nTchehov than I am, but somehow 1\nregret his whole existence. His life\ndoes not seem to me to be the life of\na man, nor the life of a great\ndramatist. It seems to be all too\nsafe and small for that ...a smali-\nness which matches with the age just\nas Strindberg's grandeur, defects and\nall, stood above the age; and so it\nccmes about that we see him with\nBeethoven, whereas we see Tchehov\ndown here with Shaw, the second\nclever dramatist.\nTo call the book \"The Genius of\nBernard Shaw \" is to make a journa-\nlistic claim for something which is not,\neven as dubbing himself 'dramatic-\npoet* when he wrote to the German\nAmbassador was but a journalistic claim\nand was not very clever. No one will\never need to waste time claiming genius\nfor Strindberg so obviously does he\npossess it.\nAnd Pepys ?... Really.\n\nMADEMOISELLE MOLIERE, by\nHenry Lyonnet. Felix Alcan, Paris.\n1925. Francs 12.\nTHE French, like the Italians, have\nalways practised the sensible habit\nof clothing their books in paper covers,\nleaving scope for individual taste in\nbinding ; and this enables them to give\nus books of worth at a more reason-\nable cost than those produced in\nLondon and New York, a fact for\nwhich all book-buyers must be grateful.\nThis little volume on \" Mademoi-\nselle Moliere '*, the title by which the\nwife of Moliere was known, is by an\nauthor who has produced many books\non the theatre, including \" Le Theatre\nen Espagne '*, \" Le Theatre au Por-\ntugal \" Pulcinella et Cie \", and\nothers; and this present work forms\npart of the series of \" Acteurs et Ac-\ntrices d'Autrefois **, a series of M do-\ncuments and anecdotes \" published un-\nder the direction of M. Louis Schneider.\nAmong the many volumes which\nhave already appeared is one on \" Bo-\ncage '* by Paul Ginisty, ex-director of\nTOdeon. Others announced include\n\" Marie Dorval ** by Antoine of the\nTheatre-Libre ; \" Rachel \" by Louis\nBathou, and \" Mademoiselle Mars\nby Lucien Desclaves.\nIf \" Mademoiselle Moliere ** is a\nspecimen of the rest, the series is worth\nadding to the theatre student's library,\nsince much interesting information is\ncontained in a convenient form, and\nwell illustrated, among the eighteen\nplates in this little volume being two\ninteresting views of the Villa Moliere\nat Meudon.\nAltogether, good measure for twelve\nfrancs.\n\nFOUR BOOKS.\n\nA STUDY OF THE MODERN\nDRAMA by Barrett H. Clarke. D.\nApplefon & Company $ 3.50.\nGLAMOUR ; Essays on the Art of\nthe Theatre by Stark Young. Charles\nScribner's Sons, New York $ 2.\nMODERN THEATRES by Irving\nFichel. Harcourt Brace & Company\n$ 2.25.\nPL A YS OF THE MOSCO W ART\nTHEATRE MUSICAL STUDIO.\nEnglish Translation from the Russian\nby George S. & Gilbert Selden with\nintroduction by Oliver M. Sayler. Bren~\ntano's $ 3.\n>UMMUMIWimiUUM—J——JUMUIJ——j— H«II»«IIH !■■!■■ ■ 11l I —!■ IHMUmUB TT—M— llf\nWHEN Major General John F.\nO'Ryan, Commander of the\n27th Division of the United States\nArmy in the War, called for a more\nsportsman American attitude towards\nWar debts he caused no audible echo\nin the United States \", says a Lon-\ndon journal. But that was because the\nstupid people, (and by that, one means\nthe majority of people), cannot see\nexactly what a clever man like Gene-"}, {"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "165", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.49", "texte": "rat G* Ryan means when he asks them\nto be more sportsman-like about some-\nthing that does not concern them in\nthe least. What he meant but did\nnot (for International reasons) explain\nwas, would they assume, would they\nput on, a sportsmanlike American\nexpression, and hold it long enough\nfor the Cinema to register, for that\nwould be just bully for reclame.\nSo when an American writes to\n€< The Mask \" (T) and says that Ameri-\ncans have the habit of giving, and\nthat they intend to give big sums to\nthe Shakespeare Memorial whether we\nlike it or no, we ought to be cleverer\nthan we are, and we ought to under-\nstand what he means. We ought to\nknow that he means mischief; but\ngood, nice, sportsman-like mischief. In\nour lack of comprehension we are like\nthe majority of the people of the Uni-\nted States who do not tumble right\naway to what it was precisely that Ge-\nneral O'Ryan was trying to say. We\ndo not undeistand what our American\ncorrespondent, Mr. Campbell, means. At\nleast we did not. Now we begin to.\nAnd we like it even less,\nBecause of this : ....and I am going\nto differ with Mr. Campbell first and\napologize afterwards.\nAll this pitiful love of a sure, cheap\nreclame is a nuisance which the Ame-\nricans should keep to themselves.\nTheir use of our Shakespeare is an\nexample of what 1 mean. Shakes-\npeare is not for their purposes of re-\nclame. if the name 44 Shakespeare **\ncan serve as reclame to his own peo-\nple, ali very well and good. It seems\nextremely doubtful. What must re-\nmain in no possible doubt, is that\nunder no circumstances whatever must\nwe allow ourselves to be hood-\nwinked by a showy offer of funds\nfrom America into allowing Americans\nonce more to tell the world that they\nare very very generous and are unable\nto refuse our tearful appeal to save\nthe situation in which we have placed\nour Shakespeare.\nWho for a moment doubts the fact\nthat there must he, that there are,\nthousands of very generous Americans ;\nbut who is there who does not know\nthat generosity is4 after all, a very\nquiet things all said and done, and\ndoes not make much of itself; so that\nMr. Campbell, though he writes a\nreally excellent letter, and is the last\nperson that anyone could wish to dif-\nfer from, is for all that just the very\nman who ought to know better.\n1 wonder whether he would be so\nmoved, look so hne, strike such an at-\ntitude if it were a question of a Wait\nWhitman or Poe that was before the\nworld !\nWe know quite well of course that\nthe Shakespeare Drama is one of the\nbest things in the world and that this\nshould be sufficient reason for killing\nit. To America the best is only some-\nthing to tire of quickly and to kill.\nDo not imagine that this is my\nopinion.... it is the opinion of the Ame-\nrican Mr. Stark Young, whose essays\non the art of the theatre are not the\nsort of th:ng the Americans will kill\nimmediately, but there are one or two\npassages in these essays that should be\nchewed up straight away.\n44 In America, every year it is true9\nWe hail the best thing in the World,\nsuch is our craving for the superla-\ntive and our trust in print. The best\nthing in the world comes to us and\ndeparts, and We are ready for ano-\nther best thing in the World. But for\nthe moment the Moscow Art Theatre\nWas that. The fact that the organi-\nsation was old and somewhat tired,\nand some of the actors but shadows\nof what they once had been, Was not\nmentioned. The superlative reigned,\nthe house was crowded in spite of a\nforeign language and high prices. In\nthe spring the company on tour retur-\nned, to less majorities, and their visit\ntn the following season Was by no\nmeans a triumph. I have often won-\ndered what these Russians thought\nof that falling away after such ra-\nving heal, but if they had known us\nbetter they would have expected as\nmueh\nMr. Stark Young, it is, who needs\nto know the Russians better, to know\nall of us poor Europeans better. We\nare a conglomeration of the stupidest\nraces, as we have long suspected. But\nit is extraordinary how we are all\nagreed as to the importance of going\nto America to get some money. We\nall go, do we not; we all stay a short\ntime, and come away ; but 1 fear that\nmany of us say rude things about\nAmerica on coming back. Some even\nwrite books saying it. Some make a\nrude gesture—they do not go again.\nWhy should they.... how can they....\nthey are dead. Ameripa, loving them\nso much for six months, says, 4 4 Good-\nbye ! Tell us who is better than you\nover there \". Well, it would kill you,\nwould it not, and you are a hardened\nAmerican, are you not, if we asked\nyou a thing like that on your visit to\nEurope. And it is always artists to\nwhom they put this delicate question.\nIf it should happen to be one of their\nown superlatively great artists, they do\nnot even put the question to them.\nThey club them on the head at the\nlanding stage. This statement of mine\nexasperates you to the extent of laugh-\ning at me if you are American. But\nI assure you it is the solemn and ab-\nsolute truth, and you can take it, and\nput it into your pipe, and smoke it\nas slowly as possible. 44 Oh! Our\nartists are such bad, weak people, such\nundesirable people, etc. **. Talk on\nand talk in, fade in and fade out, for\nall we can listen to you, with your\nnonsense about the undesirability of\nyour great artists.\nA great and clever nation, a beau-\ntiful nation, and a brilliant nation, you\nplay the fool in regard to your artists.\nBut you may take comfort in this fact,\nthat here you imitate Europe perfectly.\nWhy grow so heated, you ask me!\nOnly that I have sympathy for great\nartists, and Mr. Morris Gest has sym-\npathy too. He is sympathetic enough\nto speculate in them.\nRecently his thought have turned\ntowards the Russian theatre, although\nthe German theatre, titivated up by\nGeddes and Lady Diana Cooper, once\nclaimed his attention.\nHaving run the Moscow Art Thea-\ntre, Mr. Gest, approaching one of the\nDirectors with bated breath and whis-\npered humbleness, asks whether the\ngoods could be a little different next\ntime. Nemerovitch Dantchenko (one of\nthe directors) whose files are packed full\nwith every kind of theatrical goods,\nasks Mr. Gest to give it a name.\n44 Opera, Mr. Nemeovitch, is what I\nthought of \" Certainly, Mr, Gest,\na new kind of opera shall be with\nyou in a couple of months And a\nnew kind of opera, new to Mr. Gest,\nis forthcoming. It is new in the sense\nthat it seems new. Like the nuts to\nthe monkeys, When the monkeys\nsquabbled and there was a revolution in\nthat house, because there were twelve\nnuts in the morning and six in the\nafternoon, it was a Nemerovitch Dant-\nchenko who solved the difficulty by\ngiving them six nuts in the morning\nand twelve in the afternoon.\nHaving got hold of the new kind\nof opera, Mr. Gest calls on several\npeople to turn out a book of the\nwords, which does not appear in ordi-\nnary loose paper cover as the old li-\nbrettos have always appeared, but in a\nhandsome cloth bound book, price $ 3,\nprinted on fine paper, and containing\nthe words of five operas and operettas\ntranslated into English.\nI must say 1 rather like having a\ncopy, but Mr. Sayler's introductions I\n\n(i) See The Mask. July No. page 126."}, {"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "166", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.50", "texte": "do not like, because Mr. Sayler was\nborn to do much better and it grieves\nme to see a man paid to do his\nworst. What nonsense he writes I\nleave you to judge from these samples,\n1) 44 With 44 The Lyons Mai!\nHenry Irving curdled countless hearts\n2) 44 Ihe Russians summoned to\nAmerica by Maurice Gest 44 Curd-\nled \" and 44 Summoned \" are cheap\nand gaudy. But Madame Angot is\nof course glorious into whatever lan-\nguage she is translated :\nACT ONE\n(A Market Place, Buteux, Cadet,\nGuiilaume, Javotte, Th&ese; market\nwomen and men in holiday dress. Later,\nPomponnet and Babet).\nChorus. Where is he,\nThe happy one,\nThe favored one ?\nLet him now\nQuickly come\nFor his lovely bride...\nSee the birds\nHop about—\nOff the twig\nOn again.\nHere he waits eagerly\nFor his lovely bride.\n(Pomponnet appears at a window).\nMen. There he is! Pomponnet,\nare you ready ?\nPomponnet Yes, I am quite ready,—\nand so it goes on page after page.\nWould you like to hear the first\npage of 44 Lysistrata \" or Carmencita \"?\nRather let me offer you half a page\nof 44 Perichole\nThe Viceroy. The banns, the banns....\nCount Panatellas. The banns the\n<\nbanns,...\nDon Pedro. The banns, the hanns.,..\nPiquillo. Yes, yes, yes.\nChorus of Men. Yes, yes, yefr,\nFor certain Mr. Horace Wyndham\nwill run to the Rue de Rivoli imme-\ndiately, and buy a copy. And this\nMr. Gest, who has books like this\nbrought out, who summons the Rus-\nsians to America, from sheer love of\nthe art, of course; who comes to Eng-\nland, and announces in the 44 Eve-\nning Standard \" or some other paper,\nthat he is right out for religion, and\nthat he feels that, to make religion go\nwith a pop, he will take back the\nmost beaut'ful girl from England if he\nhas to walk across the street to get\nher, and finally secures Lady Diana\nCooper, this Mr. Gest is a man I par-\nticularly dislike; not in that he ad-\nmires Lady Diana Cooper as the most\nbeautiful lady in the world, or that\nhe loves art ; that would be all right\ntoo, if it were true; or that Lady\nDiana Cooper ushers him into the pre-\nsence of the baronesses and countes-\nses of London;—that is odd but never\nmind; what I dislike in him is that he\nis everlastingly pretending that he is\nmaking a great sacrifice, pretending that\nhe is doing it for the love of the\nthing. That is a definitely nasty trick\non America.\nIt does not matter to Europe be-\ncause Europe sees through such bad\npretending. Our own Mr. Cochran\nwould never stoop to bungle in that\nway: when he fools the public he\ndoes it so that none of us can see\nthrough it; and if Mr. Gest would\nonly learn his business and do that\ntoo, we would be readier to applaud.\nTo be thoroughly taken in, what mat-\nter ; but for a raw amateur to come\nup, winking with both eyes at once—\nwinking eight obvious winks—under\nour very noses, and then *' Watch me\ntake you in that is what is so\nappalling in the amateur Mr. Gest.\nYou will begin to suppose that I\ndislike everything that is American. I\ndo not; but most of what I see I\ndo dislike,\nAnd indeed I always very much\nlike the books of Barrett H. Clark,\nwho still concerns himself with the study\nof the drama. I have had his 44 Euro-\npean Theories of the Drama \" by me\nfor a number of years, and it wears\nwell. He must have given it away.\nI keep it somewhere near my table if\nthat explains what I mean ; and this\nnew book 44 The Study of the Mo-\ndern Drama \" looks to me as though\nit would also prove of use. The wri-\nter, now and again, tries to explain\nthe meaning of the dramas. He even\ntries to explain the dramatist, and I\nthink that he . will some day come to\nsee that that is a mistake. For instance,\nspeaking of Sirindberg, he refers to his\ndistorted view of life. What about\nthe distorted view of life of Tolstoi,\nGorki, Tchehov, Ibsen, Hoffmansthal,\nBecque, Brieux, Pirandello, cTAnnun-\nzio and Bernard Shaw ? The author\nseems to have a dislike for Strindberg,\nbut when writing about drama, you\nfirst read the play, or put it down.\nOr you listen to the play, or go out.\nBut you cannot get up and say, 44 I\ndo not approve of what this dramatist\nis saying \" because the dramatist is\nsaying nothing. He has created cha-\nracters in a certain situation, and he\nis a good dramatist in so far as he\nleaves ail his characters free, a bad\ndramatist in so far as he pulls their\nstrings.\nStrindberg, in \" The Father the\nplay Mr. Barrett falls foul of \" in\nthe pseudo-Socratic method \", has gi-\nven us that rare big thing a great play,\nand there can be no questions put about\nits author. One must accept such an\ninspiration and sit quiet, except for\nI he critical part of Mr. Clark's book,\nit is closely packed with good things,\nand I mean it very seriously when I\nsay, that no one studying drama can\npossibly do without it, because it is\nbound to prove so useful.\nI wish 1 could say as much for\nMr. Irving Pichel's \" Modern Thea-\ntres **, which concerns itself with the\nbuilding of theatres. The announce-\nment says that he sketches briefly the\nhistorical tradition of theatre building,\nand that is more or less correct, but\nhe sketches far too briefly.\nThe same announcement says that\nthere are over forty illustrations 44 ran-\nging from the Theatro Farnese of\nParma ** etc. (he spells the name of\nthis city 44 Palma \") but the book\ndoes not actually contain one illustra-\ntion of the Theatro Farnese. Two\nof the other designs are placed upside\ndown.\nHis statement that the turn-table\nstage was invented by Herr Lauten-\nschalger is careless in a writer who\nmust by this time be aware that it\nwas invented by the Japanese, since\nmany authoritative books tell us so.\nNow here are four books com'ng\nfrom America, all of them dealing with\nAmerica, and one of them very good.\nOne out of four is no mean average,\nbut I feel about Pichel and Stark\nYoung that they could do so very\nmuch better, and I hope they will not\nimagine because I have a pen in hand\nthat I am feeling at all superior to-\nwards them.\nI know how difficult it must be,\nespecially in America, to get a book\nup and to get a book out ; but I do\nreally believe that there is only one\nthing that Mr. Pichel and Mr. Young\nneed to do to make their books very\nmuch better indeed, and that is to\nwork four or five times as hard. I do\nnot know if it is worth it. It will\nnot bring them more money if they\ngive years of their lives to the prepa-\nration of a book : they will have to\nbe prepared to do without money.\nMr. Campbell's statement that tL\nAmericans have the habit of giving \\\npretty in sentiment: I do not ask cha-\nrity for such men as Stark Young and\nIrving Pichel . all I ask for them is\nfair pay from their generous money-\ngiving countrymen.\nIt would seem that the men in Ame-\nrica who are in absolute need of support"}, {"page_pdf": 51, "page_imprimee": "167", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.51", "texte": "are not the artists but the publishers.\nIt is not generally known that they are\npositively hard up, but I know it: I\nhold the proofs.\nInstead of sending over money to\nEngland for the bricks and mortar\nat Stratford-on-Avon, could not that\nhabit of giving be exercised somewhere\nin the neighbourhood of the hard-up\npublishers, so that they may be like\nour English publishers, solid once more,\nand in a position to pay the writers\nand artists a proper fee for sound\nwork ?\n\nLIFE OF WILLIAM GODWIN\nby Ford K. Brown. /. M. Dent &\nSons. /6/- net.\nI have always associated William God-\nwin with that play wherein Byron is\nthe chief character, Shelley and his\nwife acting as \"feeders\" of Byron,\nold Rogers as the sort of heavy father,\nSir Thomas Lawrence as a guest, and\nGodwin waving his banner at the end\nof Act I and Act V, and joining in\nwith everybody else as they shout\n44 Excelsior \".\nAs a walk on he is all right; playing\nthe principal role, he strikes me as\nawful.\nAnd here in this book he figures as\nthe hero.\nHe wrote a book on \" Political\nJustice \"—and another called 44 Caleb\nWilliams \", and there is a great deal\nin these books, so they say ; but there\nis ev'dently not sufficient to make one\nleap eagerly to the story of the life\nof William Godwin, and devour every\npage, as one does, for example, with\nthe life of Byron, or of Lamb.\nWilliam Godwin was always in\nfinancial difficulties, and had he been\nan extraordinary creature like Blake,\nfor example, the trouble would suit him\nto the ground. If you are in financial\ndifficulty, at least be a genius; but do\nnot be a very able man and then be\nin financial difficulties.\nBut when all this is said and done,\nthis book on Godwin contains a cer-\ntain amount of interesting information,\nabout Byron, Burke, Blake, Lamb,\nColeridge, Shelley, and that young lady\nwho ought to have a statue put up to\nher in Westminster Abbey I allude\nto Claire Claremont. There is some-\nthing so touching about this figure, that,\neven should it not be possible to find room\nfor her in Westminster Abbey, there\nought to be money enough to put an effigy\n**p in Tottenham Court Road. It would\nnot be too much to make a monument\nlarge enough to contain other figures—\nother women of that period. 1 never\nknow why it is that only our dear\nsingers and dancers are fortunate enough\nto be immortalized in a group! For\ninstance you remember that charming\ngroup Taglioni, Cerito, Grisi and Grahn\nby Chaion.\nWhy should not the Claremonts,\nwith Lady Byron, and Lady Caroline\nLamb, form just such another group.\n44 What did they do? \" people would\nask, looking at the group.\nOne would hesitate to reply, but\none would say they had such charming\nvoices.\n\"Did they sing?\"\n\" No, they did not sing\n\" Did they recite? \"\n\" No, they never recited \".\n\"What then did they do?\"\n\" Well, they just spoke.... said things,\nyou know \". One's reply would be as\nindefinite as the outlines of such a\nmonument and I almost think that\non the pedestal in low relief should be\nseen the figure of Godwin, with his\nbanner waving and its strange device.\n\nHENRY JACKSON O. M. : R. St.\nJ. Parry. Cambridge University Press\n/ 5 j-net.\nMAINLY PLAYERS: Bensonian\nMemories. Constance Benson.. Thornton\nButterworth Ltd. 21 /-\nAT a first glance it is not clear\nhow these two books are in any\nway related to one another; but a\nmore curious enquiry shows us some\nof the same personalities figuring on\nboth stages, while some that you are\nlooking for, expecting to see come on\nat any moment, do not come at all.\nIn certain books that you open you\nare right if you expect to find something\nabout Henry Irving, for example, or\nWilliam Poel or Mr. Bernard Shaw.\nNow Mr. Bernard Shaw does not enter\non to either of these two stages presi-\nded over by Lady Benson and Henry\nJackson, O. M. ; and Henry Irving,\nand Poel, do not appear at all on the\nstage of the latter.\nBut to my surprise I see Mr. A.\nE. W. Mason marching across both ;\nalso Mr. John Masefield. These are\nand are not theatrical figures. They\nboth are writers and certainly great\nfavourites, but not specially of the\ntheatre; yet they are sufficiently of it to\nencourage us to look for more theatiicals\nin the book of Henry Jackson, and\nfor more literature in Lady Benson's.\nIn her entertaining chit-chat one\nmisses certain names high in the lite-\nrary world ; but this is made up for\nby meeting one of the greatest names\nof all on the second page. We are\nin the presence of Algernon Charles\nSwinburne, it appears that Lady Ben-\nson's mother received a copy of his\npoems, evidently when they were both\nfairly young, and, after he gave them\nto her, he asked her if she liked them,\nand she wrote her opinion on a piece\nof paper and placed it in the book\nand gave it to him and this is what\nhe read :\n\" Your poems I've read, Mr. Swin-\nburne,\nBut I dont mean to read them again ;\nThey re a mixture of 4 roses, blood-\nsprinkled *,\nOf 4 blasphemy ', 4 riot and pain ' ;\nYour women are all 4 fallen angels ',\nWith 4mouths open ' 4 bloody and red '*\nThey are Gorgons, Medusas, and\nCirces,\nWhence ell Womanly virtues are fled\".\nSwinburne was delighted, says Lady\nBenson, and declared he would have\nthe lines printed in every copy of his\nworks.\nBut alas, after this apparition on\nPage 2 of the Memories, we come\nacross no first class literary figure.\nNow this is one of the funny things\nabout the book of Henry Jackson.\nAfter a tremendous talk about |Shake-\nspeare, we expected to find some men-\ntion of, let us say, Irving, or Wil-\nliam Poel, but not a word. How\ncan you go on talking about Shake-\nspeare and omit to recall the actor of\nthe age ? But this evidently is quite\nO. K., for here is Lady Benson men-\ntioning almost every actor of the age,\nand forgetting to drag in Mr. Barrie\nand Mr. Shaw.\nBut there are so many entertaining\nanecdotes in Lady Benson's book; for\ninstance, the delightful little story about\nJohn Masefield and the silver plate....\nthat of Marie Lloyd and the 44 kid\",\nand Tagore's impertinence about the\nEnglish acior.... the sayings of Her-\nbert Hoover, Gordon Selfridge and\nOscar Asche.... all make delectable\nreading,.... and through it all runs a\npathetic thread, the story of the lo-\nveable F. R. B.\nThere is a chapter about Mr. W.\nT. Stead, the great journalist, who\nwas a little down on the theatre. Peo-\nple should avoid being down on the\ntheatre for what happened to Mr.\nStead might happen to them. He once\nhad a visit from Mrs. Siddons who\nappeared to him at a Stance and ad-\nvised him to tell his daughter to con-\ntinue in her stage life. Whether Mrs.\nSiddons was having her revenge on a"}, {"page_pdf": 52, "page_imprimee": "168", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.52", "texte": "debased stage is not certain, but it\nlooks rather suspicious. 44 For later on \"\nsays Lady Benson, 44 Miss Stead did\nsome good work at the Old Vic,\nCannot you hear Mrs. Siadons laugh-\ning behind the arras ? 44 But, goes\non Lady Benson \", she eventually re-\nturned to her original work on her\nfather's magazine \". I like ghosts in\nplays and in real life, but in the cou-\nlisses, pas du tout.\nIt seems that spirits play all sorts of\npranks on the Old Vic.: single out\nthat theatre for their grim jests. It ap-\npears that Henry Irving is favourable\nto the Old Vic.... in spirit. For it\nseems that his ghost walks there in\nthe wings every now and then, and\nhas given tips and the like to the\nyoung enthusiasts there. It was announ-\nced somewhat solemnly a while ago.\nIt \"s a grim joke for these ghosts to\nbe playing, and on a nice harmless\ninstitution like the Old Vic. too.\nMrs. Siddons and Henry Irving of\nall people !\nTo turn again to the book on Henry\nJackson and to find hirn speaking of\nMr. A. E. W. Mason and of Mr.\nMasefield, and not a word of Stead\nor of Irving, nor of Swinburne either,\nis queer. R. L. Stevenson does figure\nthere. Jackson is not a great admirer\nof Stendhal, (none of them on that\nfloor are), but he says that Dickens\nmissed his vocation, which was to\nbe an actor, and I can imagine this\nmay be correct; but when he says\nRousseau, Shelley, and Byron were a\nbad lot, but that it is amusing to read\nabout them if one recognises they were\npoets, one feels that he is exaggerating\nif only because he sees the three in one\ngroup : —and then he supposes that Tre-\nlawney was a better sort, and he is\nglad that he has received a book\nwhich explains Shelley a little better\nto him, in that it 44 insists that Shelley\nwas never anything be'ter than a\nchild Yes, that is the floor right\nenough.... last r00m.... end of the pas-\nsage. He does not like John Mase-\nfield. He tried a collection of short\npieces by him, but he 44 did not catch\non These are the very words. He\nsays he is a foolish product of the\n19th century, alluding to himself, and\nthat he does not appreciate the great-\nness of Rupert Brooke. Back he comes\nto Byron ; 44 he must have been really\na very hateful person, treacherous, in-\nsincere, inordinately vain, a poseur—\nbut a very entertaining companion\nThese very great people, how mi-\nserably we treat them. Just because\nNursie forgot to cure the little beasts\nof some objectionable habits, instead\nof being humbly grateful that Nursie\ncured us of the very same habits, we\ncultivate that worse habit,., we stick\nout our tongues at them, we spit at\nthem, and we go on doing it until....\nwell, 1 forget how old Henry Jackson\nwas, but you can add to taste..,. Henry\nJackson O. M..,. leave it at that ...\nOld Maid. I should not put out my\ntongue now if he had not put his out\nat Byron. It's a beastly habit anyhow.\nLady Benson makes all good in\nsaying such charming things, and some-\ntimes deeply feels things about certain\nfriends of hers.\nThere are not very many people\nwho have written more understandingly\nabout Ellen Terry, although what she\nwrites are only scraps ; still, the scraps\nare good.\nAnd if she spells Isadora 44 Isidora \"\ntwice over, and calls W. B. Yeats\n44 Edmund \" Yeats, and refers to the\nfuturistic scenery introduced by Mr.\nPlayfair when he never had any such\nscenery on any stage of his, these are\nonly trifling faults after all.\n\nTHE JUDGE : a Play in four Acts\nby Maxim Gorky. P- Mcßride\n& Co. Neil) York. $ 1.50.\nOn the rare occasions when I enter\na theatre, I make sure that 44 the\n44 play will offer me a relief from the\n44 tragic realities with which our daily\n44 existence is filled \".\nThis extract is from Gorki's preface\nto his play, a play which is one of\nthe most tragic things unrelieved by\nany fancy that I have ever read.\nGorki adds that he 44 should wish\n44 our Theatre to be like the Pool of\n44 Siloam, from which one emerges re-\n-44 freshed and restored He does not\nlike theatre directors and their clever-\nness. Yet only a miraculously clever\ndirector could produce 44 The Judge \"\nso as to render it at all refresahing.\nThis book, like many another Knopf\nbook, is decked out with one of our\nEuropean borders.\nWhat a sad state of mind is that\nof certain American publishers who\nhave lately adopted the borders and\nother typographical touches used by\nthe Oxford University Press and the\nClarendon Press, and for the most part\nderived from European models.\nThese trifles have become so much\npart and parcel of the Oxford Books\nthat they suit those books: but for\nany American press to confess that its\nown type-founders cannot produce one\nman sufficiently cunning to contrive ori-\nginal borders and other typographical\ndecors seems a little ridiculous. Were\nI an American, I'd deride America for\ndenying its own men ordinary intelli-\ngence. I am perfectly certain that five\nor six American men could be found\nwho, under a master-printer like Mr.\nRogers for example, could invent a\nseries of borders and decors unmista-\nkeably American and good American.\nI am altogether in agreement with\nour cousins who believe that there are\nmany examples of Art and Craft which\ncan be exchanged by one country with\nanother—but when is America going\nto hand us back something genuinely\nof its own creation ?\nI am not a little tired of their pre-\ntended inability to do this.\n\nPUNCH AND JUDY by Dion\nClayton Calthrop. Dulau & Com-\npany Lid. 6/- net.\nI do not think that Mr. Calthrop\nhas improved on a book of the\nsame title which appeared in 1828\nwritten by Collier and illustrated by\nGeorge Cruickshank.\nPerhaps the author has been hur-\nried a little, for I notice he mentions\nseven or eight times the book of a\ncertain Monsieur Maguin, whereas the\nauthor he refers to is possibly Mon-\nsieur Magnin. If the slip had occur-\nred once, it would have been a prin-\nter s error ; occuring seven or eight\ntimes, it makes me wonder whether the\nbook by Magnin is in Mr. Calthrop's\npossession, or whether he has sent some-\none to the British Museum to look\nthings up. Most of the material seems\nto be taken from other books, which\nis, perhaps, the very best way, in some\npeople's opinion, to awaken an interest\nin one's self for 44 Punch and Judy\nbut not in ours.\nThe next book Mr. Calthrop writes\non this subject should I think contain\nmaterial which he himself has dis-\ncovered and of which everyone else is\nin ignorance.\n\nTHE VICTORIA AND ALBERT\nMUSEUM LIST OF ACCES-\nSIONS FOR 1924.\nTHIS year the Museum issues its\nCatalogue or List of Accessions\nfor 1924 containing some 21 ! theatrical\nentries or more, if you count as one\nitem the gift of many hundreds of play-\nbills, once the possession of Mrs. En-\nthoven.\nThere are a number of very inte-\nresting items in this List, amongst the\nmost interesting to us being the draw-\nings by Alfred Edward Chalon (1780-\n1860)."}, {"page_pdf": 53, "page_imprimee": "169", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.53", "texte": "This painter seems to have been\ncuriously drawn to the theatre, and\nmust have been always popping in to\ndraw the things that he saw on the\nstage. So that we have sketches of\nPotier, Frederick Lemaitre, Mile. Mars,\nMile. George, Pauline Viardot-Garciar,\nand twenty or thirty others. The Le-\nmaitre drawings should be particu-\nlarly interesting—especially the one of\nthe great actor as Othello, a part one does\nnot usually associate with Lemaitre.\nThere are a number of items under\nthe name Claude Lovat Fraser, and\nmany of these are called woodcuts\nwhich are not woodcuts at all, and I\nam sorry that they should have got\nthrough into this Catalogue as such.\nThey are pen drawings reproduced by\na mechanical process, and students\nmust be very careful not to be misled\nabout this. A woodcut to be a wood-\ncut, must be cut on wood. I have\nsometimes seen a linoleum cut called a\nwoodcut and I have even heard of\nthese things being passed on to the\npublic as woodcuts. It will not do.\nThis is the only slip I can find in\nan otherwise admirable list.\n\nSHORT HISTORY OF BRIS-\nTOL'S LITTLE THEATRE.\nMessrs Partridge & Love. Bristol.\nMESSERS Partridge & Love, ihe\nBristol Publishers, have kindly\nsent us a copy of their \" Short History\nof Bristol's Little Theatre \", a rather\npompous title to a practical booklet of\n43 pages. The time covered by this\nHistory is from 1923 to 1925, /e,\ntwo seasons at a small theatre in Bris-\ntol city, so that History is far too\nbig a word to use. It is the first we\nhave heard of this playhouse, but we\nhope to hear more of it by and bye.\nBristol, they say, is full of dull\npeople; but so they say of nearly all\nthe cities in England when you ask\nnews about the inhabitants and the\narts. Newcastle, Norwich, Bristol, Bir-\nmingham, etc, have they sympathy and\nunderstanding for the theatre and the\narts? 'They are fast asleep, dull\nprejudiced * is the report. When it's\npainting poesy, sculpture, what does\nit matter, for ...a few are enough to\nsupport these arts; but when it comes\nto music and to Theatre you must have\nthe crowd. And no crowds exist in\nBristol, Norwich, Newcastle and Bir-\nmingham etc;—no crowds hustling to\nsee the new play • ••• So we are told.\nShall we go round and enquire\nand see for ourselves at twelve of the\nprovincial centres if this be true ? It\nis an idea worth considering anyhow.\n\nEDITORIAL NOTES.\n\nTHE PARIS OPERA HOUSE.\nIN the January number of the \" Mu-\nsical Quarterly \", a publication which\noften contains a valuable historical ar-\nticle or two, was the entertaining story\nof the opening of Garnier's famous\nbuilding, the Paris Op era House, written\nby M. J-G Prod'homme.\nWe had supposed that Monsieur Rou-\nch£ was still director of this sad\nplace, but this can hardly be since\nhe is not mentioned. No one could\npossibly omit to make a reference to\nthis enthusiastic proprietor of one of the\nmost famous Perfumeries, Piver, for\nhe has used his profits on the scent to\ndo some good to Parisian Theatres\nDrama and Music. He has always\ntried to do his best, and has succeeded\nextraordinarily well where no success\nis as a rule possible.\nThe Opera House is a mistake, It\nis a middle class error of stupendous\nproportions: the triumphant dullness is\nnow and again broken in upon by a\nvulgarity which only corroborates our\nsuspicion that such dullness is sometimes\nnot even inoffensive.\nWho can assert that this Opera\nHouse is the tomb of the theatrical\nart when they know well that warnings\nare given to all artists not to come\nanywhere near such a trap?\nThose few composers, singers, design-\ners of imagination who have rashly\nentered this place have come away\nalive; some miracle preserved their life\nand prevented us from suspecting that\nthey had in any way conspired towards\nany condition of art.\nBut there are, (let us thank the comic\nmuse for this), other consolations to be\nfound in this tomb; there we may on\nany evening partake of as superb a\nfeast of snobbery and pretension as\never democracy has dished up. From\nthe outer doors to the back of the\nstage these two seraphim, the appointed\ndeputies of a Divine dullness too tired\nto call on the muses now become as\ntedious to the Parisian as they are to\nthe Londoner.\nIt is suggested that Dullness has bo-\ncome flat—this is but a canard; ne-\nver was she so rotund and never more\nfirmly seated on what she takes to be\na ho!y place—but which is something\ndifferent.\nThere she squats, this strange she-\nass. To all who enter passing to their\nloges and their circles, she gives the\ncue. One bray, and it is caught up\ncheerfully hy all those who entering\nhad till then even abandoned hope.\nThe most charming, the prettiest\nand the cleverest raise their voices,\nand in unison flatly damn the arts and\ncommon sense.\nThe Paris Opera House may in\ntime become antiquated: at present it\nis still one of the juvenile attractions.\nIt should not pass until the age itself\ngrows up: and when it passes, let no\nother Opera House be built until Opera\nand a reverence for it returns to\nEurope.\n\nA WORD OF THANKS.\nWE take this occasion of expressing\nour gratitude to those Directors\nof Archives, Museums and Libraries,\nmembers of Publishing Houses, Private\nCollectors and others who by their\ncourteous and generous assistance have\nfacilitated us in various ways in regard\nto some of the illustrations and other\nfeatures of this twelfth volume*\nIn the present number we are in-\ndebted to the courtesy of the Verlag\nUllstein, Berlin, for permission to re-\nproduce plate 13, to the Curator of\nthe National Gallery, London for Plate\n15, the De Gruyter Co. Berlin for\nPlate 17, the R. Istituto Geografico of\nItaly for Plate 18, and Comm. Leo\nS. Olschki for ihe old design on page\n158.\n\nFREDERICK HARRISON.\nTHE passing of Frederick Harrison is\nindeed sad ;—he was not only able*\nbut possessed and cultivated a natural\ncourtesy which was ever fresh.\nI remember he never shoved forward,\nwas always in his place ; not much of\nthe show man about him, and nothing\nof that appalling distorted figure, the\nimpresario.\nWhoever he worked under or in\npartnership with, it was their wish which\nseemed to count most for him.\nMay some young business managers\nof today and tomorrow understand the\nimmense value of such an example and\nfollow it. It would forward our stage\nmore than anything else."}, {"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "170", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192610-01.1.54", "texte": "LAST WORDS.\n\nSTANDARDIZED SPEECH.\nTN demanding a standardized speech\n* for the English Mr. St. John Ervine\nhas taken up an important cause to\nfight for—and may he win his fight is\nour sincere wish. Sloppy English speech\ndoes England great harm. 4< I can un-\nderstand English when Americans speak\nit but not when Britishers do \" is a phrase\noften heard in Ifaly.\n\nFESTIVAL'S £4,000 LOSS.\nVienna, Saturday (Sept. 4, 1926.\n44 The balance sheet of the Salzburg\n44 musical festival shows a loss of more\n44 that £4,000 because visitors would not\n44 attend the concerts and the fantastic\n44 theatrical Reinhardt productions. The\n44 operas, however, showed a profit \".\nThis report in the 44 Daily Mail \" is\ncuriously Anti-Reinhardt. Yet the same\njournal was very pro-Reinhardt when he\ninvaded London with imitation English\ngoods.\n\nSIR ORACLE SEES RED.\nTI ETURNING from Russia via America\nMr. Basil Dean the celebrated pro-\nducer writes articles in the London\nPress simply bursting with enthusiasm\nabout Moscow, He has a kind word to\nsay of Americans by whom we English\n44 are rapidly being outstripped and\nhe adds that 44 it seems a mistaken sort\nof kindness to conceal the fact when one\nsees the red light—surely then is the\ntime to shout \".\nThe time for shouting would seem\nto us long past. Not so to Mr. Dean,\nwho seems to be seeing red lights all\nthe time and who found his way into\nDrury Lane by the aid of that lamp,,.,\nand out of it within the year.\nMr. Dean opes his lips far too often\nto be effective in the role of Sir Oracle\n—and the result is that the dogs are in-\ncessantly barking at him.\nHe counts in our opinion for very\nlittle. He has brought little of value\nto our stage. He is an earnest man at\nbest, but what is that pray? There are\nat least three hundred and sixty five\nearnest men in the English Theatrical\nprofession,—but it must be admitted few\nof them stagger us by getting so rapidly\nin and out of Drury Lane Theatre, and\nnone ever get paid as he was £5OOO for\nthe double somersault.\n\nA GOOD STORY.\nTUTR, Norman Forbes tells an amusing\nIVI §tory about Sir Herbert Tree and\nMr, Claude Lowther, when the two actors\nwere staying with Lowther at his four-\nteenth century castle at Hurstmonceaux\nwith its famous peach garden. This is\nhow it goes:\n\" While we were enjoying ourselves\nin the gardens a large party of trippers\narrived on the scene. This was not a\nvisitors' day, but one of the party ap-\nproached our host and, raising his hat,\nsaid, 44 Excuse me, but are you Colonel\nLowther? \" To which Claude, with his\nlove of joking, immediately replied poin-\nting to Tree, 44 No; there is the colonel \".\nThe visitor then addressed Tree in\nthese words, 44 I am sorry, Colonel Low-\nther, to have brought my party here on\na non-visitors' day, but since we have\ncome from afar would you allow us to\nlook round your beautiful gardens be-\nfore we return? \".\n44 Certainly, \" said Tree, t4 arid pick\nas many peaches as you like and take\nthem away with you \".\nThis was too much far Claude, who\nadvanced and said, 44 Ladies and Gen-\ntlemen, Colonel Lowther deserves his\nreputation for being a princely host. He\nteaches me a real lesson in generosity.\nLet me introduce myself. lam Herbert\nBeerbohm Tree, of Her Majesty's Thea-\ntre. and I shall be delighted to place as\nmany boxes and stalls at your disposal\nas your party may require, now or at\nany time—you have only to write\".\nThis is quite in the London Tradi-\ntion. Actors since the time of Garrick,\nif not Burbage, have year in and year\nout played just such games when away\nin the country, ...Sothern, Irving and\nToole, Grossmith. And if on getting\nback they retell the story elaborating it,\ntelling what they would like to have\ndone and said in terms of gospel truth,\nwho is there would have it otherwise ?\nIsn't that the way Homer wrote the\nOdyssey? a little experience enlarged,\nhalf a fact and a lot of fancy.\nFor it is absurd to suppose that\nactors are quite as these stories would\nmake them out to be, evetf as the devil\nis never half as black as he is painted,\nnor Ulysses quite such a cad, or even\nPenelope quite so perfect.\n\nQUERIES & A N SW E R S .\n'THE population of an English town is\noften quoted to show us how little a\nvast number of people are able to do to\ngive themselves a firstclass playhouse.\nBut some way of discovering a town's\n44 artistic and theatrical public \" before\nusing numbers is our argument. We\ngive very rough estimates of the popu-\nlations of nine of our towns.\nLiverpool (about) 770,000\nManchester » 730,000\nNewcastle » 290,000\nSheffield » 480,000\nExeter » 63.000\nNorwich » 130,000\nLeeds » 460,000\nYork » 90,000\nCanterbury » 25,000\nA like rough estimate of some Ita-\nlian towns yields us these figures.\nRoma about 599,000\nMilano » 670,000\nNapoli » 700,000\nBologna » 110,000\nGenova » 270,000\nModena » 40,000\nThe question I want to ask is whe-\nther any steps are taken by the authori-\nties or citizens of the chief towns to\nascertain what percentage of people are\ntheatre-goers and lovers of art. Will some\nreader in any of these centres reply.\nI ask because in Milano they have\nmade such a calculation. They disco-\nvered in about 1906 when the population\nwas about 498,000 that they could count\n3000 people as lovers of art and theatre.\nOf these they calculated that;—\n1000 would spend £l6O a yean=£i6o 000\n1000 » » £4B » » £ 48',000\n1000 » » £36 » » ~£ 36,000\nSo that they discovered that they\ncould count on about £244*000 a ye.'\nfrom their art and theatre going pop\nlatton to support the Teatro alia Scale\nIt comes as no surprise then that a\nfew years ago this theatre could afford\nto spend £75,000 on reconstruction.\n\nMANN ERS & THE STAGE.\nTWTR. Osbert Sitwell has been rude to\nthe English Stage. I happen to be-\nlong to the English stage and\" yet I do\nnot feel offended. Mr. Sitwell said this:\nThe stage is in so deplorable a con-\ndition that, so far as I can see, the im-\nportance of broadcasting cannot be too\nstrongly emphasized. Actors and actres-\nses are so busy trying to be ladies and\ngentlemen and golfers that they have no\ntime left to pay attention to their jobs\nWell, what's the matter with that.\nIt can't be true, can it?\nSir Gerald du Maurier goes in a\ngood deal for golf and is a perfect gen-\ntleman and not a very bright actor. But\nhe does not try to be a gentleman, he\nis one: he does try to be an actor and\nis not as successful.\nBut there is Mr. Ainley: does he\ngolf, does he drop his H's, doesn't he\nknow how to say 44 Good morning\" or\neven ••goodbye\"? I should suppose he\ndid—and he is a very good actor.\nMr. Fred Terry is not a bad actor\nin his and is as gentlemanly as any\nsquire of 1830.\nWhat more does Mr. Sitwell want?\nAs a matter of fact your real gen-\ntleman is not quite as polished as he\nmight be. That is to be admitted. I\nam glad to find that Mr. Osbert Sitwell\nerrs in the right direction and has been\nnot a little rude. Such a blessing these\ndays with so much unnecessary distinc-\ntion, refainment and dignity strutting\nabout London; especially in the Strand.\nI am always bumping into perfection\nthese days and the consequent volley of\noaths reminds me strongly of my great\ngrandfather.\nOnce upon a time the Duke of Ar\ngyle..., but there is no space for more.\nThis last page is going to cause me trou-\nble some day. I am so often cut off at the\nvery moment when I am thinking of the\nwords I should use to frame my apology.\n\nJ. B.\nBy the bye who is Mr. Robert Hale?\nand Archie de Bear, who he? ...and what\ndoes Mr. Sitwell mean by inviting actors\nto lunch?—a bit o' grub is all we Rett's\nwant—lunch is the highest browed staff\nI ever heard of. A snack if you don't\nwant to be associated with the Sitwells\nis quite enough. But if one goes to\nlunch— to lunch, mark you, what does\nthat portend?\n\nAll Rights reserved. October T926.\nDirettore responsabile Antonio Maraini.\nTipografia Giuntinay Firenze."}]}