{"numero_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_sha256": "9377c8084b0faf1a49b3b5989f549df9f51db9464c7d0ba6cdf25851247c1fce", "source_tei": "https://github.com/Princeton-CDH/bluemountain-transcriptions/blob/main/periodicals/bmtnaau/issues/1928/04_01/bmtnaau_1928-04_01.tei.xml", "source_mets": "https://github.com/pulibrary/BlueMountain/blob/main/metadata/periodicals/bmtnaau/issues/1928/04_01/bmtnaau_1928-04_01.mets.xml", "url_numero": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01", "articles": [{"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c002", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c002", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.2", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.1.1", "debut_caractere": 260, "fin_caractere_exclue": 771, "texte": "THEATRES FOR ALL. SOME CONSI-\nDERATIONS ON THE NEW THEA-\nTRE AT WELWYN, GERMAN ARCHI-\nTECTS AND THE REGRETTABLE\nRESULTS OF \" SWANK by Craig.\nA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL AND A\nSHAKESPEAREAN FIGURE IN\nREAL LIFE by C. Clutterbuck.\nHOW LORD BYRON CAME TO RULE\nOVER ENGLAND, by John Balance.\nHOAX AND HUMBUG, AND \"THE\nPEOPLE'S ART by Everard Plumb-\nline.\nPAMPHLETS, THEIR DELIGHTS AND\nTHEIR USES, by H. P.\nTHE PRETTY THEATRE, . AND SOME\nFURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON FA-\nVOURITES, \" FAVOURS \" AND KINDRED\nMATTERS, by X. Y. Z."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c003", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c003", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.3", "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": 1, "page_imprimee": "couv. 1", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.1", "debut_caractere": 773, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1093, "texte": "ILLUSTRATIONS\nA 1657 SCENIC DESIGN OF SPRING TRIUMPHING OVER WINTER.\nA RARE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY DESIGN FOR THEATRE MECHA-\nNISM. THREE VIEWS OF GERMAN THEATRES. THE SITE OF THE OLD\nTEATRO SANT'ANGELO, VENEZIA. PORTRAITS OF TWO SEVENTEENTH\nCENTURY LOVERS OF THEATRICALS, AND THE ARMS OF THE ACADEMY\nTO WHICH THEY BELONGED."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c004", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c004", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.4", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.1.2", "debut_caractere": 572, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1106, "texte": "LITERARY CONTENTS.\nBRITISH J. S Page 49\nTHEATRES FOR ALL Craig 51\nSHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL . . . ' . . . C. Clutterbuck 53\nALOYSIUS HORN Q. E. D 54\nHOW LORD BYRON CAME TO RULE OVER ENG-\nLAND . . . . . . . ... John Balance . . . . .56\nDO AND DON'T Allen Carrie 57\nHOAX AND HUMBUG ....... Everard Plumbline . . . .63\nPAMPHLETS ' . H. P. 66\nSHAKESPEARE IN ITALY J. S . 71\nTHE '« BUT... BUT \", \" 1... I \" SCHOOL . . . Yoo-No-Hoo 73\nTHE PRETTY THEATRE . . . . . . X. Y. Z. . . . . .74\nSHORT EXTRACTS. BOOK REVIEWS. EDITORIAL NOTES. LAST WORDS."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c005", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c005", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.5", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.1.2", "debut_caractere": 1108, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1740, "texte": "ILLUSTRATIONS.\nLA PRIMAVERA TRIONFANTE as recorded by . . Carlo Corsi. . . Plate 8, Face 49\nA 17th CENTURY DESIGN FOR STAGE MECHANISM Anon. . . . ■ 9, \"68\nVIEW OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE THEATRE IN\nHAMBURG 1825 . . . . . . . Karl Friedrich Schenkel \"10, \" 72\nTWO VIEWS OF THE INTERIOR OF THE KONIG-\nLICHEN THEATRE, BERLIN Karl Friedrich Schenkel • 11, precede 73\nTHE SITE OF THE TEATRO SANT'ANGELO, VE-\nNEZIA Anon. . . . \"12, Face 76\nMELCHIOR ZOPPIUS . . . . . . . Anon, 59\nTHE ARMS OF THE ACCADEMIA GELATI OF BO- |\nLOGNA ......... Anon. . . . . . .61\nCARDINAL BARBERINI Anon. ...... 69\nHead and Tail Pieces from old and modern Designs."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c006", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c006", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "[48]", "page_fin": "[48]", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.6", "titre_corps": "LA PRIMA VERA TRIONFANTE DELL'INVERNO\" SCENE 7", "titre_sommaire": "LA PRIMA VERA TRIONFANTE DELL'INVERNO\" SCENE 7", "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": "[48]", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.4", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 583, "texte": "As performed in 1657 at the Teatro delle Feste in the Royal Palace at Torino. The\nperjorrnance, a \" Gran Balletto was given on February 10 th to celebrate the Birth-\nday of Madame Reale. It was written by Don Gabriele Orengiano with music\ncomposed by Francesco Farmello and with \" machines \" by the engineer Quadri.\nCarlo Corsi, who was present as graphic reporter, made some dozen or so records of\nthe scenes and costumes such as we see here, while Tommaso Borgogno described each\nevent with his Pen. Ihis is the first time to OUT knowledge that the design has ever\nbeen reproduced."}, {"page_pdf": 4, "page_imprimee": "[48]", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.4", "debut_caractere": 611, "fin_caractere_exclue": 658, "texte": "LA PRIMA VERA TRIONFANTE DELL'INVERNO\" SCENE 7."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c007", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c007", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "[48]", "page_fin": "[48]", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.6.1", "titre_corps": "[Illustration sans titre]", "titre_sommaire": "[Illustration sans titre]", "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": "[48]", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.4", "debut_caractere": 601, "fin_caractere_exclue": 609, "texte": "Plate 8."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c008", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c008", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "[49]", "page_fin": "50", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.7", "titre_corps": "BRITISH", "titre_sommaire": "BRITISH", "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": "[49]", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.5", "debut_caractere": 16, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1440, "texte": "BRITISH\n\nTHE notion that Art is international, is, theoretically and spiri-\ntually, a fine idea. Practically it is bosh and something more.\nAnd particularly true is this of the Theatre and of the\nDramatic Art.\nThe more national these are kept the better.\nTo begin with let us take the Dramatists. There is Moliere;—\nout of France, except when brought over as an occasional guest, he\nis out of place: Shakespeare out of England is also quite out of place.\nIbsen in Scandinavia is not only reasonable but a reality. Anywhere\nelse he merely ceases to be Ibsen. So is it with btnndberg.\nMusic is more of a universal language, and so composers may with\n• far less loss to their work wander irom country to country being inter-\nnational and interpreted incorrectly. It goes.\nA tune which had to be translated would be impossible, and to\ntranslate a good play is next to impossible—and unsatisfactory.\nThe Strindberg play in London was a recent example of this.\nAnd there is also another argument why Art cannot be interna-\ntional.\nSuppose five nations each to have a theatre, a drama and a tra-\ndition, and each to have developed these until they each have remark-\nable playwrights, actors, producers, singers, to send abroad.\nExchange visits of picked companies could then be arranged. And\n.we too might then be proud to use the word international. We should\nsend over our picked English team to play the Russian, German, Italian"}, {"page_pdf": 6, "page_imprimee": "50", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.6", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 606, "texte": "or French teams. Something gained for Britain. We have so sug-\ngested for years.\nBut conceive the other thing—the thing as it is.\nConceive the German teams, Dramatic and Operatic; the Russian\nteams, Dramatic, Operatic and Ballet; and the French Dramatic team\ncoming to us, playing us off the field, and we unable to return the\ncompliment:... yet this is being done year after year.\nWhat then ?\nNot until our British teams are trained up so as to be able to play\nbetter, and a real sense of patriotism helps to establish companies fit\nto compete with the Foreigner, can we use the word international.\n\nJ. S."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c010", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c010", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "51", "page_fin": "53", "image_debut": 7, "image_fin": 9, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.8", "titre_corps": "THEATRES FOR ALL : NOTES ON THE NEW THEATRE AT WELWYN", "titre_sommaire": "THEATRES FOR ALL : NOTES ON THE NEW THEATRE AT WELWYN", "signature_source": "CRAIG", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 7, "page_imprimee": "51", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.7", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3102, "texte": "THEATRES FOR ALL\nNOTES ON THE NEW THEATRE AT WELWYN.\nBY CRAIG.\nOSKAR Kaufmann is one of the mo-\ndern Theatre architects whose work\ninterests me, for the reason that he is never\nover-serious when setting out to design a\nnew playhouse and generally manages\nto improvise something original and, I\nthink, quite refreshing. Never is he so\noriginal as to annoy those of us who look\nto find a few familiar signs that we are\nin a worldly theatre, though I suppose he\ncould, if we wished, and if he so wished,\ndesign us something just as good as the\nTheatre of Dyonisus in Athens: all that\nis needed to achieve that being the old\nAthenian conditions of life, laws, wisdoms\nand ignorances.\nAnd why 1 speak of Oskar Kaufmann,\nrather than of the gifted Hans Poelzig,\nand Max Littmann, two of the men\nmost famous for building good theatres in\nGermany,- is because he is more theatre-\nlike and the others a little less theatre-like.\nThey are more serious and less sincere,\nand they do not seem to me to possess so\nmuch exact Theatre sense as Kaufmann.\nAnd why I refer to any Germans at\nall is because our new Theatre at Wel-\nwyn, though externally it look quite Bri-\ntish, internally has a distinctly German\nappearance. The Germans have influen-\nced Louis de Soissons and A. W. Ken-\nyon, the architects who, under almost\nimpossible conditions, have produced some-\nthing more or less modern to look at and\nrather too thin to look quite well.\nThe requirements of those who paid for\nit were the usual English requirements.\n\" We want an auditorium which will com-\npletely satisfy the dual purpose of a cinema\nand theatre—and which can be used for\nconcerts, lectures and public meetings O;\nmaximum of efficiency and mimimum\nof cost\nWhat Vitruvius, Inigo Jones, Bramante\nor Bernini would have said and done on\nreading such farcical conditions can be\nimagined.\nAnd, as a few people in Welwyn are\nsaying that the two architects, de Soissons\nand Kenyon, have played for safety, it\ncannot be amiss to remind them that it\nis quite otherwise and that the architects\nwere very rash indeed, for they actually\ntook on the job. 1 wouldn't have done\nso, had those crippling conditions been\nimposed on me ; for they amount to this :\n\" Do five things at once,—and do them\nfor the price paid for doing one of them \".\nThese conditions have crippled what might\neasily have been a real achievement.\nA dozen reproductions of photographs\nand plans of this Theatre-Cinema-Concert-\nLecture-Hall and Public Meeting-place\nappeared with an article in the April\nnumber of that best of magazines the\n\" Architectural Review \" and should be\nstudied. The writer of the article, Mr. Ro-\nnald Orfeur, is surprised at the spectacle\nof a small town of 6,500 inhabitants with\na combined cinema and theatre capable\nof seating 1,100 persons : it strikes him\nat first sight as \"a rash and foolish ven-\nture of the promoters of the Garden\nCity of Welwyn.\nThe words \" Rash and foolish ven-\nture \", applied to the attempt to build a\ngood theatre with plenty of money, are\nwild and whirling words; but it was rash\n\n(i) That is a quintuple purpose, not a dual one."}, {"page_pdf": 8, "page_imprimee": "52", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.8", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3267, "texte": "and foolish to venture without plenty of\nmoney.\nAs there is no word in the article to\nsay what the building cost I have to\nguess : and I guess that it cost very little\nfor such a building.\n1 would suggest that a small com-\nmunity stands in no need of such a swag-\nger looking place. In great centres it s\nas well to build sumptuous theatres and\nbuild them without bothering about the\ncost. Great centres can afford that. And\nwhen Welwyn becomes a great City it\nwill be easily able to afford to build a\nnew Theatre. 1 am inclined to think that\nwhat it should have done was to have\nbuilt a first class temporary playhouse for\nits 6,500 inhabitants and enlarge and\ndecorate it ten to fifteen years later.\nThis haste to over-decorate, this use\nof too costly materials is wrong: but may\nbe it was not the architects' fault: it\nseems to me that it was their misfortune,\nfor they were asked to provide a place\nfor public meetings, a concert hall, a lec-\nture hall, a cinema.\nHad they been asked to put up a\ntheatre they could have done it for pro-\nbably a fifth of the cost: a good-sized\nstage would have then been possible in-\nstead of the inadequate affair they have\nbeen forced to limit themselves to.\nYes, it seems to me to have been the\nfault of the Committee that this Theatre-\nCinema-Concert-Lecture-Hall and Public-\nMeeting place has turned out to be a\npretentious thing instead of a genuine thing.\nGrab-all gets nothing, give-all reaps and\ngathers in what he will, and the promo-\nters of Welwyn City seem to be on\nthe grab.\nHundreds of small towns have had\ntheatres of their own. In Italy, for exam-\nple, without troubling to hunt with care,\nwe find:\nSpello Population (0 about 5.000 one theatre.\nOroieto \" \" « \"\nSchio ■ \" 8.300 \"\nPescia * 6,200\nPoggibonsi \" \" 4,600 two theatres\nVetoli * \" 4000 two theatres\nCasalmaggiore \" \" 4000 one theatre\nCasalpursterlengo * \" 5,500 n\nCamerino * \" 4,300 » \"\nBudrio \" \" 2,400 had two or\nthree theatres.\nRocigo R v' 7270 two theatres\nftleti n R 9600 one theatre\nPotenza Picena '' B 3200\nMontopoli Valdarno * n 1000 n '\nMestrl * \" 4500 two theatres\nMira w n 1500 two theatres\nand one could cite a hundred or two more.\nAnd even places with smaller popu-\nlations have their Theatres.\nRoccaraso Population 750 \\\nRoccabianca * 490 §\nRongio \" 160> one theatre apiece\nRossa \" 140 i\nMontemenaco w . 360 j\nand I could name forty or fifty others.\nSome of these theatres are naturally\nvery small, but all are adequate : others\nare admirable in every way. All I wish\nto point out is that if you want a theatre\nyou can have one, and for a very small\ncost, so long as you don't worry about\nunessential swank in appearances.\nThe Committee at Welwyn have had\n\" appearances \" on the brain; and a nice,\nsolid, practical, stuck-up, thorough kind\nof swanky thing it is : but none the less\nswanky.\nAnd if other small towns in England\nare going to wait until they can afford to\nindulge in this American thing it will be a\npity.\nLet us have big barns well construc-\nted, or, finely constructed theatres ; all we\nneed is a place to act in and a comfor-\ntable place to sit in.\nAnd there is another thing to avoid,\n....the influence of German effects.\n\n(0 The population figures are taken from books pu-\nblished about the time the buildings were erected."}, {"page_pdf": 9, "page_imprimee": "53", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.9", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1231, "texte": "English architects must not bother\ntheir heads about what Germany is doing\nin theatre building, because Germany spends\na great deal of money on a theatre, so\nthe two cases are quite different.\nAnd it is useless to bother about\nwhat France does, or Russia, or Japan.\nThink fr get all the foreign plans\nout or your heads. The moment they\npop in again, out with them.\n'I hen think freely. Don't fuss about\nwhat you've seen before in England.\nYou' ve seen Drury Lane Theatre: you've\nseen the designs of the old Imperial Theatre.\nWell, you'll not have half a million to\nbuild with, so skip the remembrance of\nthose places and think for yourself and\nthink of the Drama, the actors, the stage\nmanagers and of the good old Public.\nDon't bother about Vitruvius, Serlio,\nPalladio, Piermarini or Sfondrino. Use\nthem, but don't bother about them.\nKeep on thinking for yourselves and\nof us.\nYes—you might think of us and our\nwork which has to be done in your theatre ;\nthink of the performers and not of the\nCommittee. Think of the way to do us\nproud, and that will please the spectators\nwhen the curtain goes up ; and finally\nthe Committee will see that it's to their\ninterest to have let you have your own\n. way.\nBut do have away of your own."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c012", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c012", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "53", "page_fin": "54", "image_debut": 9, "image_fin": 10, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.9", "titre_corps": "SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL : STRATFORD UPON AVON PICKFORD'S EXPRESS EXCURSION", "titre_sommaire": "SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL : STRATFORD UPON AVON PICKFORD'S EXPRESS EXCURSION", "signature_source": "C. CLUTTERBUCK", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 9, "page_imprimee": "53", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.9", "debut_caractere": 1233, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3201, "texte": "SHAKESPEARE\nFESTIVAL\nSTRATFORD UPON AVON\nPICKFORD'S EXPRESS EXCURSION\n\nLUNCHEON on outward journey.\nDINNER on return journey.\nExcellent reserved seat at Theatre for after-\nnoon performance or \" AS YOU LIKE IT \".\nINCLUSIVE CHARGE 18/6.\n(Actual Announcement a Daily Paper).\nDIRT cheap I call it \" said my neighbour\nto me, as we sat on two comfortable\nchairs outside the Festival House at Stratford-\nupon-Avon, listening to the music as it filtered\nout through the windows and under the doors.\nHe was smoking one of the largest pipes I\nhave ever seen in action. \" Dirt cheap \" he\nrepeated; \" first we had luncheon fit for a King,\ndid'nt we, in a railway carriage fit for a\nprincess; then we arrive at this pretty country\nplace and we get out and we sit outside one\nof the prettiest theatres one could wish to\nfind. We shall get a cup, o' tea, that's\nextra I grant we shali then take a stroll ;\nwe can skip seeing old Shake's birth-spot,\nand in the evening we get once more into a\ntrain fit for a ducheSs and we feed like a\nd00k.... the dinner is worth a guinea at least.\nI've sampled it already three times, for I've been\nup and down seeing these Shake: Festive\nshows day by day, since they started and I\ntell you again its dirt cheap at 18/6, and\nthat's the inclusive charge \".\nI will admit straight off that I was in\nextasies. Why?... because here was a real\nShakespearean figure entertaining me in the\nfresh air, (the play meantime going on within)\nand no one to annoy us with quotations, no\nhappy phrases, just the real live brutal\nShakespearean figure I wanted to see, to\nconvince me onoe more of the harmfulness\nof all that this Stratford man conceived,\nwrote, and we, to our eternal shame be it\nsaid, published.\n\"1 he fellow went on about his dirt cheap\ntrip until I fell asleep. He fell asleep too.\nIn my sleep I dreamed of a production of\n\" As You - Like It \" such as you will\nnever see, nor I again, unless chance brings\nit back to me. It was a dream of immense"}, {"page_pdf": 10, "page_imprimee": "54", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.10", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2326, "texte": "forests, and the lightest foliage and poesy, the\nforest people who came and went all looked\nand talked Shakespeare.... the other Shake-\nspeare, not the brutal one. They were all kinds\nof people; Hamlet was there quite gay for once,\nand Benedict, and Petruccio, and Falstaff, all\nsinging Shakespeare, so it seemed to me.\nThe title-of the play, \"As you like it\",\nwas cut on all the trunks of the largest trees;\nthe words \" to-day, to-night, to-morrow \"\nhung on floating pinions, of orange, pink and\nsilver.... one saw them through the tree tops,\nthey seemed floating from the highest boughs.\nThe sounds of organs playing now and again,\nof trumpets and even of jazz afar off, reached\nme; afar off it sounded delicious. 1 slept through\nit all and woke to hear once more how dirt\ncheap it all was. \" For \" said my compa-\nnion, \" its like the canister and the two china\nornaments you get with the pound o' tea:\nthat's how 1 figure it out. I've been dreaming\nabout something mixed up like that; I was in\na big canister splashing about in the tea\ntell yer, I was near drowned, and then sud-\ndenly I seemed to be wafted up on to the\ntop of a train and all the people on it were\nfunny and laughing and singing \" Its cheap,\ncheap, its cheap at any price and as you\nheard I woke up saying just that, that's it...\ndirt cheap, and I say it again.\" So, thoroughly\nawakened, he and I stood up and went to\nhave a cup o' tea at the \" Arkfloaters arms \".\nThere I listened once more to a more\ndetailed account of the cheapness of this trip;\nand to think that this disagreable lout, this\nglorious horror, was a genuine Shakespearean\nfigure, and that he didn't mince his words\nor make them acceptable to the nicest ear,\nbut belched on, and spluttered about the\ncheapness of it all. How far healthier, I\nthought, than when all this brutality is made\nagreeable, and even pathetic and winning.\nThen and then only Shakespeare is indeed\nvery unpleasant; and my memory went back\nto certain performances of Shakespeare's\n'Richard 111 ', \" Iago\" and \"Caliban\"\nwhere the actors had been dastardly enough\nto attempt to win our sympathy.\nBut it s not to obtain such a privilege\nthat we pay 18/6 to Pickford's of Cock-\nspur Street; we pay for the day's Excursion,\nthe grub, the change of air, and the good\ncompany... my neighbour for instance.\n\nC. CLUTTERBUCK."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c013", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c013", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "54", "page_fin": "55", "image_debut": 10, "image_fin": 11, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.10", "titre_corps": "ALOYSIUS HORN", "titre_sommaire": "ALOYSIUS HORN", "signature_source": "Q. E. D", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 10, "page_imprimee": "54", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.10", "debut_caractere": 2328, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4439, "texte": "ALOYSIUS HORN\n\nBUT this is not the man.\nThis is a story about a young man called\nAlfred Aloysius Dash and that's all I know\nof his name, and that's the only mistake in\nthe whole book.\nFor Horn won't do. When a man is\npast seventy, as this young man is, it won't\ndo to be pretending that his name is Horn\nwhen it's\n. If he were twenty-five, this young man,\nand he still in trade and on his River still\nthe lovely Muni; or were he telling us tales\nabout a dozen people we all know well, and\nshowing off his own wit and their dullness ;\nwere he at any pains to be unkind, were he\na child of flesh and blood more than he is a\nspirit of soil and running water, it would no\ndoubt be quite pleasant to him (and sufficient\nfor us) to become for a while a part in a\nplay, one A. A. Horn; but I can't think it's\na happiness for him to solidify into anything\nlike Horn, to be Horn at seventy and write\nof Horn at the age of twenty-five .... for he\nwasn't Horn when he was twenty-five, so\nHorn is insufficient for us.\nFor that young fellow, backed by the\nplace where he lived, is a blaze of beauty.\nAfrica West Africa, is the place, and\nthere his friend Little Peru, a sparkling\nlittle fellow like a nice new ring, joins him.\nBoys at school in England, they come together\nagain as young men, both between twenty\nand twenty-five or thereabouts; and, when\nthey meet, a thrilling tale quickens and\nsimply knocks most tales into limbo.\nThe only story 1 can compare with it\nand several tried to pop in and claim kinship\nis Defoe's \" Captain Singleton\nYou will remember that it's one of Defoe's\nbest, and is about a fellow who took to the\nhigh seas, there to become, by force of cir-\ncumstance, a dastardly pirate, and who had\na friend called William.\nDefoe had about as many years as Alfred\nAloysius Dash when he took to romancing, ie,\ntelling one he after another, each one being\nmore full of truth than is most people's daily\nconversation wherever it is to be heard. It is\nonly called romancing just because it is so true.\n\n\"Khe, Li{e a\"d Iforks of Alfred Aloysius Horn edited by\nEtheireda Lewis. Jonathan Cape. Price 7/6 net."}, {"page_pdf": 11, "page_imprimee": "55", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.11", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4098, "texte": "Now this Singleton tale is nearly all about\nAfrica. Singleton starts from Zanzibar\nwhich is on the east coast and passes across\n.central Africa with a big group of black\nfriends, and they come across an Englishman\non the banks of a little river I recognized\nhim at once although that was two hundred\nyears ago —; but 1 had to. wait for Alfred\nAloysius's book to do so.\nSingleton emerged out on the west side\nof Africa just about on the same spot where\nAlfred Aloysius lived his glorious life.\nBut what Defoe fails to do is to picture\nthe white light, the blaze of colour in sun-\nshine, and the joy of all the hours.\nFor though Defoe's years were somewhere\nabout the same number as those of Alfred\nAloysius, the Londoner of 1720 had lived\nthrough a far harder time for there is no\nharder life than that which is lived in London\nscribbling political rubbish for thirty-five years.\nElephant hunting is but a fancy game to that;\nand so it came to pass that Defoe was very\nold when he took to romancing as another\nless hefty would have taken to drink; but\nwhen Alfred Aloysius took to writing, though\npeering back through seventy years of life, he\nwas still quite a boy.\nHe took to writing for us because a very\nlovely lady happened to buy one of his\ngridirons. Alfred Aloysius was at that time\nin the habit of making all sorts of wire-\nwork things needed in houses, and these\nhe took around and sold, now and again\nsold well and now and again failed to sell.\nA list of how much he made and sold\nin three years between the age of sixty-five\nand sixty-nine might not impress anyone, but\nI, for one, would like to have that list, because\nit's hard lists which are so terrible in this\nromance, which romance, as I have said, is\nso deliciously and delicately true.\nThis lovely lady to whom Alfred Aloy-\nsius sold a gridiron had the heart of a saint\nand the sense of one too. She edits his book\nfor him. One could not wish a better editor\nfor, like every good editor, she refuses to\nobtrude and lies hid in the tall grass; only\nthe elephants come forth, trumpet and glisten\nand are gone; and the gorillas howl at dawn\nmaking \"a sound that throws all new-comers\ninto a shiver. A yell you'd never be pre-\npared for in fifty years\", and \" only the\nriver seems safe '*.\nThat river is called Muni River, and\nMuni means \" you shake as you dance ''.\nThoughts of the Charleston, of Black\nBottom and of Jazz recur as one reads, but\nthe poor follies we call Charleston, Jazz\nand Black Bottom are things done in fogs,\nto electric light, in Hotels in London.\nThey were once good things, I dare swear,\nbefore the great Ass got hold of them and,\nuprooting them from their natural soil, shipped\nthem dead to Paris and to London and\nBerlin to poison us all.\nThat they have poisoned over a million\npeople I will wager what you like.\nIn Alfred Aloysius's book you get all you\nneed of proof to guarantee that this is so.\nDid anyone doubt it? may one ask for the\nfiftieth time what the dickens the European\nauthorities mean by allowing the things to be\nimported, thus preventing all that's worth\nwhile in music and dance to flourish in our\nold land? Yes, one may ask and ask\neven a hundred and five times, and still get\nno reply.\nShakespeare is no bad stuff for us, too;\none may ask a thousand times why the\ntrash served up in Theatres is encouraged\n(not discouraged anyhow and thus stopped\nby common sense of the Theatre public) and\nthe English bouquet of drama thrown aside\nas useless. \" Stratford-upon-Avon \", you\nsay say it twice so that the laugh may\nbe a hearty one.\nAlfred Aloysius's book is a tonic; a\ntonic of sunshine and youth: and it has in it\nbesides all the thrill of old transpontine melo-\ndrama if you want that thrill.\nI do I never can have too much of it.\nIs it understandable still to Londoners? it\nwas so yesterday. But what is still understand-\nable by them? is it only money?\nI sought last month to find enthusiasm,\nthe genuine article, in a young Londoner I\nmet in Roma; not one scrap of it in him;\nand here it comes to me through an old\nyouth of seventy in Johannesburg and as fresh\nas daisies.\n\nQ. E. D."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c015", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c015", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "56", "page_fin": "57", "image_debut": 12, "image_fin": 13, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.11", "titre_corps": "HOW LORD BYRON CAME TO RULE OVER ENGLAND", "titre_sommaire": "HOW LORD BYRON CAME TO RULE OVER ENGLAND", "signature_source": "John Balance", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 12, "page_imprimee": "56", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.12", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3966, "texte": "HOW LORD BYRON CAME TO RULE\nOVER ENGLAND\n\n'' Poetry is the safety valve of my passions but\nI wish to act what I write Benjamin Disraeli.\nWHAT would have happened had Lord\nByron survived Missolonghi and, re-\nturning to England, had entered political life\nand led the Conservative party?\nAs often as this has been speculated on,\nso often have the majority of Englishmen\nbeen seen to shake their heads and shudder\nat the mere notion of such a calamity, and\nbeen heard saying that it was unthinkable\nthat a wild man, an eccentric, should have\nbecome leader of any party, and quite pre-\nposterous that he should have become the\nleader of the Conservatives .... it v/as unthink-\nable to them.\nIt seems to have occurred to very few,\nif indeed to any, that Lord Byron actually\ndid return to England and, in the likeness of\nDisraeli, led the Conservative party, became\nPrime Minister, governed the Realm, and\ncreated Queen Victoria .... \" perhaps the\nonly person in this world left that I do love \"\n.... Empress of India.\nLord Byron was only a man and unable\nto perform any metamorphosis of the ancient\nkind described by the Arabians, by Ovid\nand by the Gypsies. But he could do a\ngood deal by the aid of the Imagination.\nThe Imagination is something: it can destroy\nand it can create, and in Byron's case it\ncreated.\nIn the end it created Benjamin Disraeli,\nthat vivid young spark, that spirited being,\nwho straightway began to haunt Kensington\nGore where dwelt the lovely Lady Blessington,\nthe last European woman seen by Byron as\nhe sailed away from Italy to Greece.\nThe tale as retold by Mr. Meynell and\nM. Maurois becomes a vision of that old\nstory, \"His second time on earth\": should\nit have not yet been admitted, it will not\nsurely now be denied.\nIt is so obvious that I suppose one of\nour writers of thrilling and semi-mystical\nnovels has used the notion long ago and I\nhave not come across the volume.\n\" All the women were on my side is\nDisraeli's gay cry at the end, at which end\nhe had the Queen of England, his Empress\nof India, more than on his side. And I\nthink, had I written this tale, I would have\nheaded one of my last chapters, \" Lord Byron\nwins the heart of Queen Victoria \", and I am\nvery sorry I have not the talent to write it.\nI would probably have tried to do it in the\nmanner of M. Maurois.\nBut really, I do not know which of the\ntwo volumes, M. Maurois's or Mr. Meynell s,\ni like best. I like both so well ; and this\nsays much for the former; for we all know\nhow good the Meynell book was in 1905\nwhen first it appeared, and, now that time\nhas tested it, it's every bit as good.\nLike you I am one of the sworn admi-\nrers of all that makes up Byron. Prose,\nverse, ideas, rough and tumble, cool and\ntidy, sentiment satire rage con-\ntempt the blackguard and the gentleman.\nYou can't fight a pack of rascals except\nyou can bully them: you can't cope with\nrats except in the bull-terrier way: and if\nasked by a courtezan to see which of the\ntwo can be trickiest, you can't evade the\nchallenge on the plea that you are a gentle-\nman. In the slums you don't wear white\nkid gloves; and if drawn on in a cul de\nsac you shoot first or you are a fool.\nMay be not much of this is in the En-\nglish gentleman's creed. So, while he may\ntolerate Byron as a member of an aristocracy\nwhich he holds had gone to seed, he can\nonly feel contempt for him as a man, (being\nso unlike himself) and, what is more, finds him\nbut a very inferior poet.\nLucky angel, to harbour such contempt\nand such views and still be quite a gentle-\nman. Of course no gentleman ever was seen\nwith a courtezan, or, being seen, ever behaved\notherwise than as a little god.\nBut Byron was everywhere, and he was\na bit of everything.\nWherever he was and whatever be was,\nseldom was he out of place. Mistakes,\n\n(i) Disraeli, by Andre Maurois. John Lane. Price 12/6,\nwith 2 Illustrations.\n77/<? Man Disraeli (a revised edition) by Wilfred Meynell.\nHutchinson & Co. Price 7/6. with 16 Illustrations."}, {"page_pdf": 13, "page_imprimee": "57", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.13", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2332, "texte": "blunders, and worse, he made and acknow-\nledged but never sat down to explain\nthem away for eight or ten years. A minute\nwas all he felt such follies deserved.\nBut they who considered themselves his\nbetters as in some details at some rare\nand accidental moment they positively were—\ncould not bear to part with the discovery so\nrapidly: they would linger on these chance\nmoments when virtue shone in them for one\nhalf hour in twenty years, and would, Narcis-\nsus-like, gaze and gaze at that lovely half hour\nuntil they persuaded themselves that their\nwhole lives were one long streak of shining\nvirtue.\nSo as to establish this clearly in the\npublic mind they would give some hours\nevery day of their lives to establishing just\nthe opposite anent Lord Byron.\nAt the end of fifty years (and the poet\ndead for forty of them) they did firmly establish\nboth untruths.\nHad they failed, and had England stood\nfairly and squarely to Byron ....surely the\n-soundest Englishman of the last hundred\nyears.... when it came to the year 1914 Eng-\nland would have been able single-handed\nto tackle and lick the five other nations which\nheckled her.\nI am thinking unpolitically and only of\nthe spirit of Byron, which I hold is the spirit\nof old England.\nByron actually placed in power might\nhave led to confusion; only \" might have \";\nnothing more certain can be said. But the\nspirit of Byron in and behind the wiser,\ncooler, heads of our great statesmen, that\nwould have produced such a nation of free\nand powerful men that alliances with or help\nfrom America would have been not only\nunnecessary, but utterly out of the question.\nThat is why I so respect all that goes to\nmake up Byron.\nWhether today his spirit is returning, I\ncannot say. There are all the terrible\n\" faults\" which accompany and must ac-\ncompany the spirit of man at its hardiest,\nwhich we would have to accept, and I take\n' it we cannot stomach faults of any kind.\nCecil Rhodes was someone but he had faults:\nCaesar too: Cromwell presumably had none.\nThe day will come when we shall cry\nout for a man, faults and all, and find none\nto oppose to our enemies, because every\nJack-man of us will be a perfect, utterly\ndevoted, good little gentleman, that deluded\nlittle being who helped Mr. Bowdler to cas-\ntrate Shakespeare and is now actually pleased\nwith his work.\n\nJohn Balance."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c017", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c017", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "57", "page_fin": "58", "image_debut": 13, "image_fin": 14, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.12", "titre_corps": "DO AND DONT", "titre_sommaire": "DO AND DONT", "signature_source": "Allen Carric", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 13, "page_imprimee": "57", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.13", "debut_caractere": 2334, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3725, "texte": "DO AND DON T.\n\nTHERE is much to be said for the stage\nreforms suggested by those who believe\nso gloomily in Don i.\nI don't.\n1 believe entirely in Do—and so do you.\nA reform which begins and ends in saying\n\" don't \", \" refrain from \" cut \" \" oblite-\nrate has ended before it has begun.\nConsider some minor questions such as :\nShall there he a proscenium ?\nShall there be footlights?\nShall actors paint their faces ?\nIn all these matters the reformers rap out\na snappy little No.\nBut artists.... if they want to better things....\nanswer the questions generally with a \" Yes \".\nYes : there shall be a proscenium. \" Why\nnot ? \" Sir H. Beerbohm Tree would have\nasked; and Tree was very much of an artist\nby temperament.\nExactly :—\" why not ? \"\nWhat is meant is this:\nLet there be a proscenium, but let us see\nall the reasons why there should not be one,\nand we can then get at the root of the\ntrouble.\nThe root of the trouble with the British\nStage mind is this :—lt is for any old pro-\nscenium or against any old proscenium: it has\nnot yet got beyond that point. It is unaware\nthat one hundred and eighty of them are pro-\nbably valueless and twenty of them very va-\nluable : it is unaware oh this for it thinks there\nis but one proscenium, ie the one they've\nalways seen. So it is with the Apron stage.\nI recall the dull way in which we in\nEngland have always handled that idea, the\napron stage."}, {"page_pdf": 14, "page_imprimee": "58", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.14", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3530, "texte": "The apron stage in itself is all right.\nIt is nothing very much, but for all that\nit is quite all right as an idea and it has at\nleast twenty-three variations ...the English stage\nmind knows of only one.\nIf asked, are you for or against apron stages,\nno one in his theatrical senses would say\n\" against them \". One would first to\ncorrect the notion of \"an apron stage \" to\n\" apron stages \" and study the matter and\ndefine clearly to oneself what apron stages\nwere, - are, and can be, and why one is in\nfavour of the five best and how it is that one\nrejects the other eighteen.\nThe mental efforts made by the reformers\nin London to cope merely with this little prob-\nlem have been puerile.\nIf you recall the stage of the Savoy\nTheatre in the time of Granville Barker, you\nwill remember that an apron stage was\nthrown out over the orchestra. Mr. Poel\nhas also used one ; others are recorded, and\nsome are still used. But what do they all\namount to ? An extra bit of stage added to\nthe front of the existing stages, that is all:\nand that extra bit, formless, rather senseless,\nand not particularly useful.—Merely a bit of\nextra stage fixed on to the front.— That sort\nof thing has to end.\nAnd so will the Do and Schools\nhave to end too.\nWhat matters on a stage is not always\nwhat you do or don't do but always how\nyou do and how you don't do.\n\" Cut the play \" cries Producer Do—\nand uses scissors, and is looked upon as a\nman of action, a practical man, the saviour\nof the stage.\n\" Leave the play intact\" murmurs Pro-\nducer Don't, and is considered a highbrow\nand an unpractical fool.\nBoth Do and Don't are out of it, for both\nare wrong.\nThe mere act of cutting away parts of a\nplay, or leaving the play intact is of small im-\nportance. What matters is the Way a play\nis cut.\n\"There's no time to stop and consider that\"\ncries Mr. Napoleon Do, and he is wrong ;\nfor there is time, and the time as just for\nconsidering. if\nThe first months are for that. Nothing\nelse must fill any of the days of those first\nmonths but that.\nShould the same Napoleon Do arrive at\na definite conclusion that he won t cut a single\nline of the play, something is really doing\nthen; but your stage Napoleons cut a bit\ntoo quickly; they consider it solves all prob-\nlems. ,\n\" What can't be understood, what can t\nbe spoken, what cant get into two and a\nhalf hours, can't interest us,—cut it \". That s\nNapoleon Do's notion and a very fearful\none. Yes, full of fear.\nAnd it's the wrong one into the bargain.\nThe producer's task is to face difficulties,\nnot to cut his way through them. His busi-\nness is to make the audience understand the\npassages \"no one can understand\", to make\nthe actors speak what \" can t be spoken \\\nmake the audience willing to sit in their\nseats three or even four hours listening when\nthe work \" can't be compressed into two and\na half hours and to make us all interested.\nAnd merely leaving a play intact won't\ndo that any more than will cutting it to pieces.\nOnly a special kind of brains can do\nthat. Only restless brains, only ever working\npeople who never grow tired, who never can\nbe idle, can do that.\nAnd these are neither of the family of\nDo or of Don't; they are of the small but\nactive family of genius and talent.\nI know that genius is an awful family name,\nbut it's the only one which matters a rap in\nthe theatre or in any other work.\nAll else spells ruin.—not merely commer-\ncial ruin but worse than that, ....National ruin.\nIncidentally Drury Lane Theatre today is\nactually helping to ruin the nation.\n\nAllen Carric."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c019", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c019", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "59", "page_fin": "59", "image_debut": 15, "image_fin": 15, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.13", "titre_corps": "MELCHIOR ZOPPIO", "titre_sommaire": "MELCHIOR ZOPPIO", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 15, "page_imprimee": "59", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.15", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 357, "texte": "MELCHIOR ZOPPIO.\nMelchior Zoppio was the founder of the Accademia Gelati of Bologna and wrote six or more\nplays, some of which were performed in the special private Theatre constructed about 1589 in\nhis house in Via Maggiore.\nIt was, (after the Teatro in the Sala del Podest&), the most ancient Theatre in Bologna. In 1671\nall records of this theatre cease."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c021", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c021", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "61", "page_fin": "61", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.14", "titre_corps": "THE ARMS OF THE ACCADEMIA GELATI OF BOLOGNA", "titre_sommaire": "THE ARMS OF THE ACCADEMIA GELATI OF BOLOGNA", "signature_source": "C", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 17, "page_imprimee": "61", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.17", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1772, "texte": "THE ARMS OF THE ACCADEMIA GELATI OF BOLOGNA.\nC.\nThe Accademia Gelati of Bologna was founded\nin 1588 by Melchior Zoppio. (See pg, 59).\nThe members of this Academy of Amateurs\nwere some of the most talented men of the age\nand the province.\nIt was not -a collection of amateurs as we\nunderstand the word today; people, that is, who\nget up theatricals; but amateurs who created\nplays, wrote music, designed scenes, built thea-\ntres ; in fact some of the most cultured men of\nthe day and some of the wealthiest; and all con-\ntributed as lovers of the art of theatres towards\nthe hundreds of productions given under the au-\nspices of the Academy of which the Arms are\nshown here.\nAmong the members we find, for example,\nthe names of Cardinal Barberini, Count Ridolfo\nCampeggi, Count Carlo Bentivogli, Senator Ber-\nlingiero Gessi, Marchess V. Malvezzi, Agostino\nMitelli, Cardinal F. Boncompagni, Prospero Bo-\nnarelli, Giovanni Capponi, and many others.\nIn order to understand rather better what an\nAmateur is, we must study the records a little,\nand there wre shall learn in a short time that the\ntrue amateur has always preferred a far higher\nstandard than he does at present.\nWhen amateurs today will build a theatre to\nholci three thousand persons, designed by no less\na man than Sir Edwin Lutyens, in some house\nmore or less as stately as the Palazzo Barberini;\nwill invite poets, painters, and musicians to col-\nlaborate in half a dozen \" dramas with music\nand when all is ready will invite some three thou-\nsand guests to enjoy the performances, then and\nthen only shall we be able to feel that we have\none amateur worthy of the title.\nFor it was something to be an amateur\na lover of the arts then. Today it is merely\na rather silly waste of much time and a few ha'\npence."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c023", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c023", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "63", "page_fin": "66", "image_debut": 19, "image_fin": 22, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.15", "titre_corps": "HOAX AND HUMBUG : CONSIDERATIONS ON \"THE PEOPLE'S ART\"", "titre_sommaire": "HOAX AND HUMBUG : CONSIDERATIONS ON \"THE PEOPLE'S ART\"", "signature_source": "Everard Plumbline", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 19, "page_imprimee": "63", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.19", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4043, "texte": "HOAX AND HUMBUG\nCONSIDERATIONS ON \"THE PEOPLE'S ART\"\n\n\"QUITE SUCCESSFUL\"\n¥T is so difficult to be quite successful and\n1 at the same time quite right. Those who\nhover around the quite successful, will ask\nthemselves, \" Am 1 right? is she quite right?\nis it quite all right?\" And the answer\ncomes up quickly or slowly but in utmost\nsilence on to the screen of their minds, No.\nTHE DAISY-EYED MOOD.\n\"nnHE Cinema is quite successful.\n\"J. I refer to its material success. It is called\n\"the People's Art\" by the people: yet the\npeople do not care a rap whether it be called,\nproved or stigmatized an art. 1 hat it is\nno art need not even be demonstrated—every\nexperiment made, every show given, tends\nto strengthen the case against the possible\nexistence of any Cinematographic Art. But\nit is actually the People's \" Art \" and it is for\nthis reason a success. What more can it want?\nIt would be asking too much if the Cinema\nshould ask for absolution of its sins on the\nplea that it has none: it would be something\na little more than too much if it began to\nwrangle and bluster with the priest who re-\nfused it absolution on that score. Yet some-\nthing like this daisy-eyed mood is creeping\nover the Cinema.\nPretty sound in nerve and limb, there is\na cog loose somewhere.\nIt is asking for things it may not have.\nThis pass to the Elysian Fields, for example.\nIt asks to have its passport vised for this\nplace which it has heard of.\nThe official is refusing hundreds of such\ndemands, but the Cinema in all its furs comes\nup smilingly, with the smile which says\n\" Wait — just you wait, you people, you'll\nsee 1 shall get through It is a strange\nbluffish smile. The Cinema in all its furs\nstops at the table where the official scribbles,\nand asks for its Passport to be vised,\nThere is a long pause while the wretched\nman hunts in the Passport: forwards and\nbackwards he hunts to find where the* lady\nhas come from, and as he hunts a hundred heads\ncome closer; and closer up come the heads of\nMiss Pickford, the Misses Talmadge, with\nHarlan, Tearle, Ford, O' Brien, Cody, Ince,\nFairbanks, Menjou, Bunny Griffiths, the sisters\nGish, Hays, Buster Keaton, Pola Negri,\nSchenk and Henning, Pabst and Wagner,\nGreta Garbo, Warner, Jannings, Lloyd and\nde Mille. There are thousands asking in gentle\nor in authoritative tones \" What's going on\n—why this hitch? — who's stopping the\nway? — what's up? \"\nAlas, the game is up. The passport is\nbeing returned to the Cinema in all its furs,\nand the immense crowd who expected to go\non to the boat are turned aside and have to\ngo back home. There is no pass for every\nbody to every land.\nThere are some things some people may\nnot have.\nFor example, I would like to sing. I\nsee no reason why I should not be allowed\nto sing; and when I am informed that 1 may\nnot sing because song is not in me, because\nI cannot sing, I feel as though I had been\nsingled out by fate as the one being on earth\nto be persecuted. It's because I can do\neverything else but sing. I can skate, I can\nride a bicycle, a tricycle : I can ski, I can\nswim, I can scull, I can walk a tight-rope.\nI can draw caricatures for the penny papers,\nI can whistle too and I can control a Kodak.\nBut besides all this I can drive a car, I can\nmend the electric light when there's a break-\ndown in my house, I can turn a lathe, I can,\nin short, do hundreds of things, and I can\nmake, and do make, money out of them all.\nI calculate that my income from these ac-\ncomplishments alone amounts to thirty-seven\nthousand pounds a year: — then, why, why\nmay I not sing? I could double my income\n\nU Art Cinematographiquc by P. Mac-Orlan, A.\nBeaucler, C. Dullin, Dr. R. Allendy, Andr<§ Maurois,\nE. Vuillermoz, Andre Lang, Andr6 Berge, L. Pierre-\nQuint, Mme. G. Dulac, L. Landry, A. Gance. (Librairie\nFelix Alcan). 3 Volumes. Price 12 francs each.\nClose-Up. No. 6. December 1927. Published by\nPool, Riant Chateau, Territet, Switzerland. Price 14/-\n~ yearly.\nLillian Gish, an interpretation, by Edward Wagen-\nknecht. University of Washington Chap Books. Price 65 cents."}, {"page_pdf": 20, "page_imprimee": "64", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.20", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4301, "texte": "if 1 could sing. Why may I not be allowed\nto sing and coin money? It's a shame.\nThe answer could never become clear to\nme even if it were shouted at me and so\nhow can any answer why the Cinema is\nrefused a passport to the Elysian Fields of\nArt be clear to all the good fellows and\ngirls who have asked for one?\nIt must be admitted that they nearly all\naccepted the refusal in the proper spirit,\ndid as I say, and turned and went back\nhome; but some few stayed to argue it out,\nand it was as I listened to these, that I came\nto the conclusion above mentioned, that, while\nthe Cinema is pretty sound in nerve and\nlimb, there is a cog loose somewhere. It is\nperhaps too successful is it so, I wonder?\nIt is indeed difficult to be quite so suc-\ncessful and at the same time quite all right.\nSOME BOOKS ON THE CINEMA\nIN these books which lie on my table, \" L'Art\nCinematographique \"Lillian Gish\" and\n\" Close up \", it is not the public voice we\nhear; it is the voice of those who, hovering\naround the quite successful, ask themselves,\n\"Is the Cinema after all quite .. all.. right? \"\nTHE CINEMA YEAR BOOK\nAvery few of those writers put the ques-\ntion in those modified forms so familiar\nto our ears, such as \"Le cinema est-il un\nart? \" and \" What is it that makes a fine\nartist? Can animals act?\". They never\nask \"Is the Cinema quite all right? \" They\nsidetrack their finer doubts and fears, and,\nputting feeble questions to us, they instantly offer\nplausible replies; a conscienceless proceeding.\nAnd it is because all these writers are\ntalking as no man in his senses has a right\nto talk, and it is because they know it, that\nI tell them one and all they are humbugs.\nHow long the cinema will last no one\ncan tell; but let us hope that the humbug\nabout it won't last very much longer.\nI am particularly fond of some Cinema\nwho isn't? Except for a few very obvious de-\nfects (defects it has not yet noticed for itself\nand which no one has yet pointed out) I\nfind it perfect of its kind. But it has no\nrelationship whatever with the Arts any\nmore than the mosquito who alights on your\nnose when you are asleep has any relationship\nwith you.\nAnd as I am fond of some Cinema I take\nit I am one with the public. I pav for it, I\nenjoy it; I go more and more seldom as it\ngrows more and more but I am not\ngoing to point out any of its obvious defects\nto the public. The public knows them\nalready, and the public has long ago decided\nthat it doesn't mind them.\nBut if these obvious defects are nothing\nto us, the more subtle defects of the hovering\nadmirers are a good deal. Unless these •\nadmirers stop their talk about it being an\nArt, the Cinema and its workers will suffer.\nThe best book on the Cinema is called\n\"The Film Year Book\": that's as straight\nas a die. In its 1927 volume it begins thus:\n\" The United Kingdom is easily our most\nimportant foreign market\". A few lines .\nfurther on we read, \" The gross in-tafae of\nall motion picture houses is about sixty times\ngreater than all legitimate houses combined\".\nThat's the stuff. On the same page we\nget more of it: \" Ten years ago there Were\n1,500 theatres all over the country (U.S.A.)\nin which a touring legitimate attraction could\nplay. Today there are less than 500 houses\nwhich ploy legitimate shows. This included\nthe houses playing pictures five days Weekly\nand a show for one night. Here is striding\nevidence of the effect of motion pictures on\nthe legitimate stage \".\nNow what have you to find fault with\nm that? Its straight, it's real; not a word\nabout Art; it's what I like and you like.\nAnd the whole volume, which consists of ~\n976 pages and only costs about 10/-, is just\nlike that. You are told ordinary things that\nyou'd like to know in a plain way: \"that\nthe gross intake at all motion picture houses\nis about 60 times greater than all legitimate\nhouses combined ; and when wishing to\ndiscover what is the gross intake (what it was\nin 1925 for example), you turn to page 5\nand you can learn that it amounted to\n£130,000,000; in words, a hundred and\nthirty million pounds. to know\nhow this money is spent you can discover -\nthat on the same page. Out of every hundred\ndollars, 25 goes to the \"performers\", 10 to\nthe Directors, camera men and assistants \",\n10 to the Sceneries and stories\", 19 to\nthe sets, 20 to the \" studio, management,"}, {"page_pdf": 21, "page_imprimee": "65", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.21", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4142, "texte": "cutting, assembling and titling of the film\nand so on down to 3 dollars which is split\nup between \" costumes, gowns and so forth\nI like the last touch: \"so forth \" receiving\na portion of 3 dollars in every hundred\ndollars is only just and fair.\nBut I must not linger on this my favourite\nbook on the Cinema, nor can I give any\nmore time to \" L'Art Cinematographique \",\nwhich is all hoax.\nMISS LILLIAN GISH\n1\"0 the booklet on Lillian Gish I would like\nto devote time because she is a great\nfavourite, and you and I could surely have\nlost our heads and signed her vise — you\nwould have done so anyhow, and we can\nbut agree with the author that \" she is com-\n_ pletely a being of lyric loveliness, even to\nher very name \".\nBut even though I may not linger, I can\nsympathize with Edward Wagenknecht in\nthat he has failed in the attempt to treat the\n_ theme as it deserves.\nInstead of interpreting Miss Gish, he\ntalks about the arts. In his first page he is\ninto it: — \"a Corot cannot be mistaken for\na Millet or a Van Dyck for a Frans Hals\";\non page 2 \" Chaucer or Fielding or Conrad\nare \" there \" visibly and incontrovertibly\n\" there \"in every line they Wrote \".\nThis, as you have rightly suspected, is\nthe old plea that personality, though it always\ngets in the way of artists and their arts,\nhas a perfect right to swamp acting.\nOn the same page 2 he is at me with\nthe names of Salvini, Sarah Bernhardt, Garrick\nand Zola.\nAnd he now begins to wax furious with\nme for no reason at all, and so on his third\npage he rushes up with Miss Keanne Eagels,\nwith one Colton, with Galsworthy and with\nGeorge Arliss. And in the next half dozen\npages he is at me again with Hergesheimer,\nNathan, Griffith and Mary Garden. Then,\nfinally, he pauses and quietly utters the name\nHomer.\n\" And Lillian \" (he forgets himself for\na moment forgetting the words Miss Gish)\n\" could do it\" (I forget what it is she could\ndo but it's something marvellous) \" if her\nmanagers Would give her the chance could\nleave behind her \" pictures of the floating\nworld which might Well live as long in the\nimaginations of men as Homer s portrait of\nNausicaa... \".\nThat's where I regret the existence of\nthose who hover around the cinema.\nI had never supposed for a moment that\nthe splendid Miss Gish, who, as I have noted\nabove, receives about 500,000 dollars per\nyear, could want \" a chance \" after that.\nYet how difficult it must be for those\nwho are quite successful.\n\"CLOSE-UP\"\nWITH \" L'Art cinematographique\" and\n\" Lillian Gish \" is this third booklet\nor Journal. \" Close-up\nIt tells me that the big men whose doings\nare so spendidly recorded in that favourite\nwork of mine, \" The Film Year Book \"\n(U.S.A.) have no doubts and no fears, and\nit says that the artistic filmers have. The\nfearless directors or managers actually cut the\nlovely films which are made for them by the\nmore artistic filmers Pabst, Murnan, Grune,\nCavalcanti and other men of talent.\nThere again I cannot see why the great\nbosses should not cut if they think fit, seeing\nhow successfully they do it, and taking into\nconsideration that in 1925 £ 130,000,000\ncame in to them, and that really fair shares were\npaid out to the performers and the producers.\nIf these people were in receipt of no\nfunds, if they sat in a motor car but eight\ntimes in a year and those cars ordinary\ntaxicabs; if they gave up all thought of mo-\nnetary profit for the sake of their beloved\nCinema, I could well understand this objection\nto being cut and applaud their firm refusal\nto work if their film were mishandled after it\nleft their hands. \" Is it fair\" asks Mr.\nMacpherson in \" Close up\", \" to mutilate\nthese mens work?\" up he drags some names\nof men in the arts who never have permitted\nand presumably never will permit their art to\nbe tampered with, — Epstein, John, Sitwell,\nGide, and Thomas Mann. So it is farcical\nto call them as witnesses for the defence.\nThe Arts have developed slowly: it was\nfor the pleasure of practising that the first\nartists were allowed to go on and waste their\ntime if they so chose. No one stopped them.\nIn time they rather came to like the arts,\nlater on they came to love them: but it took"}, {"page_pdf": 22, "page_imprimee": "66", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.22", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1200, "texte": "some five hundred years for the world to\ndiscover that these things deserved the title\n\" Fine arts \". That once won, (think of it,\nMiss Gish, five hundred years), a very few\npeople were with them once and for ever:\nbut on that point only.\nDo not suppose, Miss Gish, that \" the\nPeople\" bothered very much about what\nHomer or Heine ever wrote. Just a few\nhundreds out of many million people liked\nor still like —to read the things—that was all.\nAnd what is so difficult for the hoverers\nto understand (I return to those who hover\naround the quite successful portals of the\nCinema Palace) is that Heine, Homer,\nBeethoven, Goethe, Shakespeare and the\nothers must never be compared with you,\nMiss Gish, or with Sarah Bernhardt or\nTommaso Salvini.\nYou all deserve all you get—the more\nmoney you make the happier we shall all be—\nand we all hope you will understand what a\nblessing it is to be able to get so much and\nhope that you will put by something for a rainy\nday.\nSo give some of it to the hoverers, asking\nthem at the same time to raise no more\ndoubts and fears by their books and pamph-\nlets, but to write you up properly, courage-\nously, and with all the pep they have in them.\n\nEverard Plumbline."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c025", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c025", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "66", "page_fin": "68", "image_debut": 22, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.16", "titre_corps": "PAMPHLETS", "titre_sommaire": "PAMPHLETS", "signature_source": "H. P", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 22, "page_imprimee": "66", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.22", "debut_caractere": 1202, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3042, "texte": "PAMPHLETS\n\nSOME DEFINITIONS.\n✓\nBUT what, exactly, is a Pamphlet?\nJohn Power in his \" Handy Book about\nBooks\", 1870, gives us this definition:\n\" PAMPHLET (print.) Any work\nthat does not exceed five sheets octavo is\ncalled a pamphlet. Savage. Did. The\nderivations suggested for this word are par\nun filet, held together by a thread ; or palme\nfeuillet, as leaves to be held in the hand- \" -\nBut I suppose that a Pamphlet may be\nsomething more than five sheets octavo, and\nis almost any unbound little book a little\nwork, an opuscolo as the Italians call\npamphlets.\nBut while an opuscolo, if it be issued\nin Italy, will almost always appear stitched.\nwith a single thread and nearly always in a\npaper jacket, in other lands it sometimes\ncomes out like an ironclad. The notion\nthat it is only a trifle has suddenly overcome\nthe author with dismay and he hastens to turn\nit into a tome.\nIn France a pamphlet is called a brochure\nand also an opuscule this derived directly\nfrom Italy.\nMr. W. H. Fowler in his \" Dictionary of\nModern English Usage \" (1926) tells us that:\n\" Pamphlet and Brochure mean the\nsame thing\" and that \"we only need the\nEnglish word \" the sense ' a few leaves\nof printed matter stitched together' has\nalways belonged in English to Pamphlet\n' Dans sa brochure appelee en\npamphlet' quoted in French Dictionary from\nVoltaire. \"\nSo that a Pamphlet is an Opuscolo and\na Brochure, ie a small work of a few leaves\nstitched together.\nDELIGHTFUL THINGS\n11 seems to me that pamphlets are very\ndelightful things for their size, for the\npossibilities offered to the writer and the\nprinter, for the pleasantness offered the reader,-\nfor the price and for the publisher; and f\ncannot understand how it is that many more\npamphlets are not issued, since to issue a\nwhole book is ninety times out of a hundred\nan infernal nuisance all round."}, {"page_pdf": 23, "page_imprimee": "67", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.23", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3999, "texte": "A book costs far too much time, labour\nand money to produce; it costs the purchaser\ntoo much; it is often wearisome to a writer;\nit is bulky and too heavy to the reader, the\nbookseller and the postman; takes far too\nmuch room in a bookshelf; is very often\nunreadable; takes up too much of our time\nif we read it at all; and it is really not very\noften worth while reading three hundred pages\nwhen the whole content of the book could have\nbeen compressed to thirty and issued as a\npamphlet.\nI know fifty or sixty books on the Theatre,\nits theories, its architectures, its history, its\nmachines and its actors which, if condensed\nand issued as pamphlets, would have served\nus far better than do the books.\nFor the truth is that scholars (even some\nof the best) are apt to collect what has been\nwritten about Theatres from other books and\nserve it up to us in a new binding, and vainly\ndo we search through its three hundred pages\nfor something new some spark of life, some\nsensible words upon some problem that has\npuzzled us and which could be unravelled\nfor us in thirty stitched pages.\nMR. W. J. LAWRENCE\nMR. W. J. Lawrence writes articles which\nappear in magazines; but were I a\npublisher 1 would make a contract with\nMr. Lawrence to allow me to issue all he\nwrites in pamphlet form, and then, if he\ncared, after two or three years had gone by,\n'to make up a book from ten of the pamph-\nlets, well and good.\nMr. Lawrence sets out to do his work\ngracefully. He deals in historical subjects but\nhe manages to avoid the over solemnity some-\ntimes associated with the historian.\nHe knows his theatre well and has issued\narticles in magazines, one on Stage-lighting,\nanother on Prosceniums, a third on Sceneries,\nand always is he entertaining.\nRecently the Harvard University Press\nU. S. A. made up a volume from sixteen\nw?f these articles ....which I should have pre-\nferred to get one at a time in pamphlet\nform, for a whole volume proves too much.\nTo issue pamphlets may not strike you\nas very desirable, but believe me, in thea-\ntrical things, it is the best way to do the\nwork.\nTHEATRE PAMPHLETS\nI do not know whether Pamphlets are increa-\nsing in number in England and France.\nI do not think sufficient are issued in Italy.\nBut once upon a time hundreds fluttered\nforth. And most collectors and students will\nadmit that some of their most precious pos-\nsessions are these little opuscoli.\nNaturally the life of some little-known\nperformer of the 17th or 18th century when\nprepared nowadays can all be contained\nwithin twenty or thirty pages. For example,\nthere is Caterina Gabrielli, one of the most\ndelightful if one of the most wayward of per-\nformers of the ! Bth century. No book exists\ndealing thoroughly with her career. But any\nday an opuscolo on her could be stitched\ntogether, and I fear that instead of this we\nshall be cursed with a whole book on her,\npadded with opinions and suppositions.\nWhen we search in the big books to\ndiscover something about certain people we\ntoo often find the same paragraphs repeated\nby each author, and there an end.\nAnd there are certain theatres about which\nno one writes more than a few words, and\nthose words mostly incorrect.\nWhere are the books on :\n1. The Old Opera House at Bayreuth:\n2. The rebuilding of the Teatro Filar-\nmonica in Verona.\n3. The Teatro della Vigna, Genova.\n4. The private Theatres of the Due\nd'Orleans in Paris ?\nPamphlets are not evidently thought se-\nriously about by publishers, for, if a valuable\npamphlet does appear, it is never sufficiently\nadvertised.\nOften enough the writers issue them\nthemselves for what publisher can be\nexpected to understand sufficiently well the\nimmense value of these opuscoli packed full\nof the information so difficult to procure.\nI would that some one publisher would\nmake a speciality of issuing pamphlets and\nnothing else. I think he would make a\nfortune before long.\n\n(i) \" Pre-restoratio7i Stage Studies price 23/- net, and\nissued in England by Mr. Milford at the Oxford University\nPress."}, {"page_pdf": 24, "page_imprimee": "68", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.24", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3518, "texte": "NINE PAMPHLETS\nNINE pamphlets recently issued have come\nmy way dealing with the stage. Not all\nof them genuine pamphlets because two of them\nwere extracted from the Stage Year Book\n(an excellent publication, by the way); and\nyet these two should assuredly have been issued\nas pamphlets, and not have been hidden in\na book of reference and so lost to most of us.\nThese are the names of the nine booklets:\n1. \"II TEATRO ROMANO DI OSTIA\nGuido Calza; pages 32. Illustrations 19.\n2. \"THEWORLD'S OLDEST PLAYBILLS\".\nW. j. Lawrence; pages 8. Illustrations, 9.\n3. \"THE STORY OF SADLER'S WELLS\".\nAustin Brereton; pages 8. Illustrations, 8.\n4. \" SHAKESPEARE AND SPIRITUAL\nLIFE \". J. Masefield; pages 32.\n5. \" THE COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE AND\nTHE ROMAN COMEDY\". Walter Starkie;\npages 22.\n6. \" CHARLIE CHAPLIN \". Robert Florey;\npages 84. Illustrations, 40.\n7. \"FROM HENRY V. TO HAMLET\".\nHarley Granville Barker; pages 29.\n.8. \" SHAKESPEARE IN INDIA \". C. J.\nSisson; pages 26. Illustrations, 4.(l)\n9. \"THE BACCHIC ELEMENT IN SHAKE-\nSPEARE'S PLAYS\".\nV ery agreable it is to hold in the hand this\nlittle opuscolo on the Theatre at Ostia and to\nknow that the author is not going to trouble\nyou with fifteen or sixteen chapters on fifteen\nor sixteen other ruins of Roman Theatres in\nAsia Minor, in Africa and in England in\norder to prove something unimportant about\nthe Ostia Theatre. Thus he is far more\nlikely to be read than even Herr Schmiten-\nstein s ponderous three volumes on \" Roman\nExcavations in three continents \".\nMr. Masefield s beautiful little Romanes\nLecture, though only 32 brief pages, will be\neasier and more happily read in its pamphlet\nform than were it included in a 300 page\nvolume of collected Romanes Lectures.\nThe Charlie Chaplin pamphlet serves\nentirely to bring this popular comedian To us\nin the quietest and most interesting way.\nBooks, even magazines, nowadays talk of\nMr. Charles Chaplin, coupling his name with\nthat of /Eschylus or telling of the historic\nmeeting between \" this grand artist and that\nother supreme artist Miss Pickford \".\nIt doesn't matter a fig to Chaplin what\nwe call him so long as the Public loves\nhim and calls him its darling, but the snob-\nbery of Mr. Charles instead of plain Charlie\nis not a little wearisome.\nAnd it is because these iittle booklets\ncan reach the big public that they are va-\nluable and excellent.\nUnfortunately, if the big public got hold\nof No. 9, \" The Bacchic Element in Shake-\nspeare's Plays\", it wouldn't know what to.\nmake of it. In fact, the pamphlet on Chaplin\nis the only one of the nine which would\ndelight that public. But four or five of the\nothers would please some two thousand\npeople, or two might please ten times that\nnumber. And all are within everyone's\nmeans for 9d, 1/'- or 2/- apiece.\nAnd this is important.\nLITTLE COST: LITTLE LOSS:\nSUCH books cost us little, cost the publishers\nlittle and cost the writers a little; and\nif all lose on it, very little is lost. Whereas\na book of three hundred pages costs time\nand labour and that is lost: costs a hundred\npounds or so to issue and that is lost: and\ncosts the purchasers 10/- apiece and that \"\nis lost.\nWith very big and very expensive works\ncontaining perhaps twelve to fifteen large\nplates ana eight or ten pages of letter-press\nand costing about £5 a copy, it's another\nmatter: they are not a loss to anyone. They-\nare made for only five hundred people at\nmost; and to these people, who can well\nafford them, they are but Pamphlets de luxe.\n\n(i) Repriuted in « The Mask » Vol. XIII.\n\nH. P."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c027", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c027", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.17", "titre_corps": "A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY DESIGN FOR THEATRE MECHANISM", "titre_sommaire": "A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY DESIGN FOR THEATRE MECHANISM", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.1.25", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 487, "texte": "A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY DESIGN FOR THEATRE MECHANISM.\n\nThat mechanism when it acts as a servant to the Drama and Opera can but be helpful is nozu no longer doubted. This is not to be wondered at because\nit was already realized in the 17 th century. This design for a rather elaborate mechanism was made some time about 1635-45 possibly for some\nof the operas given in Venezia. It is one of the most elaborate records of such devices we have seen. Is it perhaps the work of Giacomo Torelli?"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c028", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c028", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.17.1", "titre_corps": "[Illustration sans titre]", "titre_sommaire": "[Illustration sans titre]", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.1.25", "debut_caractere": 505, "fin_caractere_exclue": 513, "texte": "Plate 9."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c029", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c029", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "69", "page_fin": "69", "image_debut": 27, "image_fin": 27, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.18", "titre_corps": "CARDINAL FRANCESCO BARBERINI", "titre_sommaire": "CARDINAL FRANCESCO BARBERINI", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 27, "page_imprimee": "69", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.27", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 818, "texte": "CARDINAL FRANCESCO BARBERINI.\nCardinal Francesco Barberini was born in 1597 and died in 1679, and was an Amateur, and amatore\nof Theatricals.\nIn 1634 he inaugurated on February 6th the private theatre which Bernini constructed for him\nin his Palazzo Barberini in Roma, which held three thousand spectators.\nThe piece performed was a Dramma musicale called \" S. Alessio \" for which the Cardinal had\nwritten the libretto and Stefano Landi the music. The scenes were designed by a certain A. S.\n(Ie Andrea Sacchi) who had designed the remarkable Festa of the Piazza Navone given on Fe-\nbtuary 25 th of the same year on the instigation of Cardinal Antonio Barberino.\nThis genuine Amateur, Cardinal Francesco, formed a library of sixty thousand volumes and was\na member of the Ac.cademia Gelati of Bologna (see pp. 59, 61)."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c031", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c031", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "71", "page_fin": "72", "image_debut": 29, "image_fin": 30, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.19", "titre_corps": "SHAKESPEARE IN ITALY", "titre_sommaire": "SHAKESPEARE IN ITALY", "signature_source": "J. S", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 29, "page_imprimee": "71", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.29", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3656, "texte": "SHAKESPEARE\nIN ITALY.\n\nALTHOUGH this booka) is not a new one—\nit appeared in 1916—to me it is quite\nnew and possibly to you too.\nIt is one of the most important books on\nShakespeare which has appeared for the last\nfifty years. I will, on consideration, add\nthat, provided it were well known and well\nread, it would already have proved to be the\nmost important book on Shakespeare.\nThere are several reasons which make it\neminent.\nOne of these is that, for once, we see\nShakespeare in a reasonable light.\nThe world is queer about it's Shakespeare.\nVery queer.\nEither it damns him in French with Voltaire\nor it raves about him in American and En-\nglish without knowing exactly why it raves.\nWhat still has to be done is to come to\nunderstand him, and this understanding is\nmade easier for us by the light shed upon\nhis work during the nineteenth century by\nthe Italians.\nWe in England assuredly do not un-\nderstand him: when we do, look out for\nOld England again....it will be a great day.\nThe light which the Italians played upon\nShakespeare was not a harsh search light,\nwith that terrible hissing noise which some-\ntimes precedes the illumination.\nIn the Italy of the nineteenth century the\ndefects in Shakespeare were observed, admit-\nted and accepted. In England they were\nseen, and either denied flatly or explained\naway or they were not seen at all,\nVoltaire saw the defects and made a great\nfuss, knowing that all over Europe, and in\nEngland especially, people would be pertur-\nbed. They were. For years Voltaire's con-\ntempt did its work.\nEven in Italy we read that it made an\nattempt to prevail over intelligence. But\nItaly is a queer ancient place with a people\nfar too experienced in life and too easy with\nart to be fooled by a dozen Voltaires.\nThe Italians began to hear of Shakespeare\nin 1726 —in that year he is first mentioned\nby them .... but it was not till the end of the\ncentury and well into the next that they came\nto appreciate —as late as 1846. Modena,\nthe most popular as well as the best Italian\nactor of the age, had to lower the curtain\nduring the very first scene of \" Othello\"\nbecause, as he dryly puts it, \" the public\nwas taken ill \".\nWhy? Because during the scene between\nlago and Roderigo outside Brabantio's house,\nwhere lago shouts \"what ho, Brabantio!\nSignior Brabantio, ho! \" the audience began\nto whisper among themselves \"what is it\nis it a tragedy—or a farce? \" and when Bra-\nbantio appeared on the balcony half asleep\nin disordered attire, they began to titter and\nlaugh; then an uproar followed and the\ncurtain descended to a storm of hisses and\nhowls.\nTen years later, at the very same theatre,\nwe read that Ernesto Rossi \" avenged his\nmaster Modena by playing Othello with real\nsuccess \".\nThe Italian Public was a sane Public,\neven as the Italian letterati who discovered\nShakespeare were sane men.\nAt first came a decided no from both\nthese elements: later on it is t/es; if prejudiced\nit did not hug its prejudices obstinately.\nIf Italians will not take to an idea or a poet\nwithout first knowing what it is they are to\ntake to, they will not for long remain stubbornly\ntight-mouthed towards anything possible for\nthem to understand, and they cultivate their\npowers of understanding all things.\nThe exaggeration of Shakespeare was\ndisliked by them, and it is still disliked.\nEnglishmen ask that it be explained away,\nand that all be made seemly and neat.\n\" Tidy the man up and we will accept\nhim \" is practically the English verdict.\nAmerica is inclined to echo England\nin this attitude and verdict.\n\n(i) Shakespeare in Italy by Lacy Collison-Morley. The\nShakespeare Head Press. Stratford-upon-Avon. Price 7/6."}, {"page_pdf": 30, "page_imprimee": "72", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.30", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3299, "texte": "\" In most ordinary everyday accents are\nhis Words delivered, it seemed quite natural\neveryday speech is what some critic wrote\nof a recent revival in America of one of the\ngreat tragedies.\nThat is the aim —to meet the puoac s\nwishes and to allay their trembling suspicions,\nto quiet their fears.\nOf course this will not do for Shakespeare.\nShakespeare is a rock on which some boats\nwill be split; and, unless we are soon going\nto acknowledge the existence of that rock,\nthere is trouble ahead for quite a number of\npersons who, denying the report, assert thai\nthere aint no sich a thing.\nHis exaggeration, his lack of taste, these\ntwo things were felt by the Italians.\n(The very name Shakespeare seems to\nhave been a real trouble to Italians, who,\nsince 1726 have tried it several ways.\nThus we get the following: Sasper:\nScespir: (which the author of this book calls\n\" one of the cleverest of the Italian repro-\nductions of the sound of the name ); Seck-\npaire corrected under errata to Seckspaire:\nSakespir and jhakespeare).\nHis genius, however, slowly emerged and\nwas soon at work; but for all this the exag-\ngeration and the lack of taste were still\nacknowledged to be there.\nI suppose English writers have dwelt on\nthese two defects. I have not read anything\nby an Englishman which made me conscious\nthat these defects were there but were to be\ncondoned.\nIn Italy they linked his name to that of\nDante, at the same time failing not to point\nout the faults and extravagances of their own\npoet.\nSoon came writers who imitated Shake-\nspeare ; Monti, Alfieri, Manzoni amongst\nothers. May be they even imitated some\nof his faults. Later came translators, and\nthen before long actors came to play him,\nSalvini as \" Othello \", Rossi as \" Ham-\nlet \" and \" Lear Ristori as \" Lady\nMacbeth \" were performances which all\nItaly of forty years ago remembers. The\ndefects were there still no one ironed out\nthe creases, no Bowdler was tolerated for an\ninstant but the sane Italian spirit, undistur-\nbed, let the defects pass and responded to the\nimmense qualities which burned so brightly\non the stage.\nI saw Zacconi, the most celebrated living\nItalian actor of Shakespeare, in 1923 performing\nKing Lear. ~\nThe performance was remarkable, but the\naudience was superb.\nI spoke with some of the spectators\nbetween the acts. Gravely and quietly they\nreferred to the genius of this Shakespeare: ,\nling ered a while upon the deep philosophical\naspect of the work, of the noble lines;\nalluded to the strange figure of Edgar as\nPoor Tom: were very grave, very quiet, not\napologetic but not enthusiastic; but when\nthey returned to their seats for Act IV they\nwent with rapidity quietly gravely and\nrapidly, soon were in dead silence, and at\nthe end gave such a reception as I have\nnever heard in a theatre—and 1 have heard\na few receptions.\nThat evening no one excused Shakespeare;\nno one attacked him; no one said \" but\ndamn it all, it was a bore **; everyone\nadmitted the faults and then passed through\ninto the wonders.\nThis book brings this very clearly to the .\nmind: and it is because it does this that I\nfind it to be the most important publication\non Shakespeare which has appeared these\nfifty years.\nIt is therefore one of the most important\nbooks on England—for Shakespeare it seems\nto me is England.\n\nJ. S."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c033", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c033", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "72", "page_fin": "72", "image_debut": 30, "image_fin": 30, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.20", "titre_corps": "AN ENGLISH WORD ON SHAKESPEARE AND OUR THEATRES", "titre_sommaire": "AN ENGLISH WORD ON SHAKESPEARE AND OUR THEATRES", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 30, "page_imprimee": "72", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.30", "debut_caractere": 3301, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3630, "texte": "AN ENGLISH WORD\nON SHAKESPEARE\nAND OUR THEATRES.\nHOWEVER LAUDABLE I N\nITSELF IT MAY BE TO\nGIVE A FEW PERFORMAN-\nCES OF SHAKESPEARE IN\nTHE WATERLOO ROAD, IT\nIS IN REALITY THE BITTER-\nEST COMMENT ON THE\nTASTE OF LONDON PLAY-\nGOERS, AND A GLARING\nEXPOSURE OF OUR\nNATIONAL CONTEMPT\nFOR SHAKESPEARE\nON THE STAGE.\nHENRY ARTHUR JONES.\nO"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c034", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c034", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_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": 31, "image_fin": 31, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.21", "titre_corps": "EXTERIOR OF THE THEATRE IN HAMBURG 1825", "titre_sommaire": "EXTERIOR OF THE THEATRE IN HAMBURG 1825", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 31, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.31", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 88, "texte": "EXTERIOR OF THE THEATRE IN HAMBURG 1825.\n(Architect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel).\nPlate 10."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c035", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c035", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_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": 33, "image_fin": 33, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.22", "titre_corps": "INTERIOR OF THE KONIGLICHEN THEATRE, BERLIN looking towards the Stage", "titre_sommaire": "INTERIOR OF THE KONIGLICHEN THEATRE, BERLIN looking towards the Stage", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 33, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.33", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 70, "texte": "INTERIOR OF THE KONIGLICHEN THEATRE, BERLIN\nlooking towards the Stage."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c036", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c036", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_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": 33, "image_fin": 33, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.23", "titre_corps": "THE INTERIOR OF THE KONIGLICHEN THEATRE, BERLIN looking towards the auditorium", "titre_sommaire": "THE INTERIOR OF THE KONIGLICHEN THEATRE, BERLIN looking towards the auditorium", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 33, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.33", "debut_caractere": 72, "fin_caractere_exclue": 196, "texte": "THE INTERIOR OF THE KONIGLICHEN THEATRE, BERLIN\nlooking towards the auditorium\nArchitect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel.\nPlate 11."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c037", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c037", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "73", "page_fin": "74", "image_debut": 35, "image_fin": 36, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.24", "titre_corps": "THE \"BUT... BUT\" \"I... I\" SCHOOL", "titre_sommaire": "THE \"BUT... BUT\" \"I... I\" SCHOOL", "signature_source": "Yoo No Hoo", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 35, "page_imprimee": "73", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.35", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3702, "texte": "THE \"BUT... BUT\"\n\"I... I\" SCHOOL\n\nI am one of the many admirers of the books\nby A. E. W. Mason. I am more than\nthat, for I read, enjoy and also buy his boQks:\nit's a sufficient • guarantee of my sentiments,\nI think. Still more, I note his development\n- with pleasure, and he's no beginner and has\nbeen writing for some thirty years.\n\" The Villa Rose \", \" The House of the\nArrow \" and the recent \" No other Tiger \"\nall contain the elements I enjoy in a thriller.\nI have read five or six others by this writer,\nand, in his \" The Winding Stair \", found\nsomething more than the thrilling : there is a\nlove scene in that book.\nHe hasn't the same facility for coming to\n- Hecuba as Dr. Conan Doyle has, so that\nthe reader must give a whole day to one\nof his stories, or three or four spare evenings:\nhe is then sure of being satisfied by Mr.\nMason. I am also pretty sure that his sto-\nries bear re-reading. I have read \" The\n4. Villa Rose \" twice and \" Miranda \" twice.\nBut what is it I wonder which makes me\nlauph when one of his characters begins to\n\" but—but \" and \" I—l \" ? If it weren't\nthat his stories have given me so many happy\nhours I should not laugh ; I should close the\nbook, look out to sea and ponder a little\nI cannot close my Mason, but I may pon-\nder a bit.\nAnd I thought that the type of man and\nwoman who once did this lingering on their\nbuts and ifs had long since passed away.\n- You thought so too. Do—do you really think\nso ? is all I can ask ; I never heard any but\nvery shoshy men and shishy women uttering\nthese double buts.\nOn the §tage however there used to be\ndozens,\n\\\nI don't mean that play-writers gave the\nperformers these hesitating sort of ways, I mean\nthat the actors themselves employed the\ndodge.\nUnless I commit a great error Sir Gerald\nDu Maurier still employs it. Am I right in\nsupposing that the blighty thing first breathed\non the boards.\nI believe the English actors use it to\nexpress intense agitation or deep emotion: and,\nsince it goes down, since even Mr. Mason\nconsiders it sufficiently tasty to offer it quite\noften to his readers, 1.... well I suppose it\ndoes express something peculiarly English.\nBut what ? Someone there is who must\nknow all about it, what it stands for, how it\nwas originally used and who first used it, for\nit is certainly popular with—with a large\ngroup. ... . .\nI can imagine it is supposed to be expres-\nsive of a certain delicacy which dreads to\nhurt and so hesitates to speak : be this as it\nmay, it gets upon my nerves immediately I\nsee it in a book or hear it on the stage. Is\nit still being employed, this trick ?\nIs it, as I have ventured to suppose, a.\nproduct of the stage, invented so as to slow\ndown just as stress is to be laid on a word,\nand have the writers caught the trick from\nthe stage ?\nI grant that it's one of the things which\nmakes the quite modern artist, be he writer,\npainter or musician, furious to the extent of\nbranding the user of it as a rotten bad writer\nor actor.\nThe quite modern artist possibly consi-\nders me crazily behind the times to linger\nand discuss this oddity.\nI have the fullest sympathy with his point\nof view, but I for one will not give up my\nMason, and, as I have said, Mason indulges in\nthese double buts and ifs. I should lose too\nmuch. Were faults to dictate divorce we\nshould be lonely sort of people with empty\nshelves.\nBecause of faults must I forswear my\nJacobs, my Doyle and my Darlington ? I will\nnot shun Blake for sixty faults nor give up\nmy Defoe for all his ; in short, 1 can't follow\nthese wonderful courageous modern men who\nI am to believe are quite willing to give up\neven Shakespeare because he puns horridly\nin the improper places.\nBut what if Defoe and Mason were of"}, {"page_pdf": 36, "page_imprimee": "74", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.36", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 408, "texte": "my calling? what if they were theatre fel-\nlows ? Ah, then I grant you I would appear\nto cast them off indeed—and , lo the\nswift turn of the wheel, then the moderns\nwould all pounce on me and tear me to\npieces as an intolerable and insufferable prig.\nWhat a lark it all seems, what a fantastic,\npitiful, and useless lark it sometimes seems.\n—lf it were real.... but is it? 1f.... if I only\nknew.\n\nYoo No Hoo."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c040", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c040", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "74", "page_fin": "76", "image_debut": 36, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.25", "titre_corps": "THE PRETTY THEATRE", "titre_sommaire": "THE PRETTY THEATRE", "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": 36, "page_imprimee": "74", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.36", "debut_caractere": 410, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3876, "texte": "THE PRETTY THEATRE\n\nPART V(1)\nAmour amour\nOh belle oiseau\nChante chante\nChante toujours.\nONE cannot write the history of the Pretty\nTheatre in less than twenty-five volumes,\nand indeed, to do it full justice, it deserves\nthirty, for five volumes alone would have to\nbe devoted to the portraits of those who\nhave made the Pretty Theatre what it is\nthe dancers, singers, actresses who were so\ncharming: the hangers-on who were so ne-\ncessary, the intermediaries who were so adroit,\nand the rest who were so much in the\nway.\nI may have time to compose these\nvolumes if, as 1 hope to do, I inherit some\n£ 50,000 from a rich and, at present, un-\nknown great aunt or uncle who left Europe\nsixty years ago and made a fortune in Brazil\nand has left me a slice of that fortune.\nIt will mean purchasing five or six\nthousand drawings, engravings, miniatures of\nthe ladies and gentlemen who best represent\nthis Pretty Theatre.\n1 possess only a hundred or so, and it is\nnot enough. For there is not one Prettiness\nonly, there are legions. Five volumes would\nnot cover it, fifty would not, nor five hundred.\nPis the great weed—a weed so popular that\nit is more often than not taken for the flower.\nExquisite, Enchanting, Perfect, Divine; these\nare but a few of the ejaculations uttered in\nits presence. And yet it is only the Pretty ...\nat times pretty vulgar.\nThen how come to realise the power of\nthis trifle unless we show it in all its finery ?\nPuritans—they who for the moment ut-\nterly despise the Pretty—have ever disparaged\nit—or rather her. Yet you have only to see\nher for a moment to change your mind, unless\nyou too happen to be pretty and in the same\nTheatre or Dancing Academy.\nAssemble the old Gods from high Olympus\nand pray them to perform for you some im-\nmortal play with music of the spheres and\ndances of the Hours or Seasons. Even as\nthese are shaking your soul, lifting it from\nearth, will come a pretty thing posing as a\ngoddess, and, in a few steps of the old dance\nafter a few notes of the old song you, the\nGods and all will be utterly charmed; you\nwill find yourself begining to speak French;\nyou will utter the old familiar words, Racis-\nsante—charmante—-charmante. Amour amour\noh belle oiseau ...\nThe old Gods know how to control their\nstage, if not their feelings, so that this mo-\nmentary ebullition will not wreck the perfor-\nmance of the whole piece: after it is over it\nwill be in vain for any of you to send round\nand enquire after the health of the pretty\ngoddess.\nShe will have been garrotted by them\nsilently and thrown into the ditch.\nEven the Due de Richelieu must stay\nwhere he is in his stall in the Theatre of the\nimmortals on the other side of Styx.\nBut to descend again to the Theatre of\nEurope: the Due de Richelieu, the Prince\nde Soubise, the Prince Carignan, Fitz James,\nd'Henin, de Vasse, de Jarente, de la Borde,\nde Harlay, Barrymore, de Saint Lubin, these\nand a whole host of such as these deserve\nto have their portraits in the five volumes\nbecause, if the Pretty Theatre's existence did\nnot exactly depend upon them, (though it be\nmade for them) they were always quite ready\nto lend a finger in the applause or a thou-\nsand francs for a carriage to take home one\nof the Pretty.\nThey lavished immense sums upon these\npretty people and so their place in the book\nis an important one: their place in that Thea-\ntre is both before and behind the curtain.\n\n(i) Preceding chapters of the series appeared in The\nMask Vols X, XI, XII."}, {"page_pdf": 37, "page_imprimee": "75", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.37", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4358, "texte": "Crudely stated, they haunted the theatre\nnot so much for the sake of the Drama, the\nMusic or the Dance as for the actresses, the\n.singers and the dancers; and, crudely stated,\neven the French today are shocked at this.\nThere is not a shock in it, except per-\n. haps when the statement is crudely made as\nI make it here. The attraction towards that\nwhich is pretty is a weakness and we should\nhave no weaknesses—how true that is to\nthose who have none. But a weakness for\nprettiness is one thing; a strong delight in it\nis another. The actresses, dancers, singers\n■laid themselves out for I'amour, properly paid\namour: were the gentlemen to whisper back,\n\"Oh I don't know, ask Mama!\"?\nYes, I would like to devote at least one\nvolume of the five to the paintings, drawings\nand engravings which show us the salesmen\nand saleswomen, the purchasers and the goods.\nWhat were the goods? Genius? no, I\nthink not, for you cannot buy genius. Ta-\nlent?.,. that too is not necessarily for sale,\nfor how take home 15,000 francs' worth of\nTheatrical genius or talent in a coach.\n* The Duke of Grafton could buy a drawing\nfrom Rolandson for £1 or £5, but he\ncouldn't buy some of John Kemble's\ngenius; he must go and see it at work in a\nTheatre—he has only to pay a very small\nsum, a few shillings, and share what is be-\nfore him with two thousand other admirers\nand remain seated quietly in the stalls or in\nthe boxes.\nBut then Kemble is not to be found in\nthe Pretty Theatre.\nNo, the Pretty Theatre is quite another\nthing, and you can give a lift in your coach\nor motor-car to that which is sold in it, the\nwhich we have come to call \" favours \".\nThese are sold by \" favourites \".\nAlthough a true favour is something\ngiven, is a kindness beyond what is due and\nis not to be sold, in the Pretty Theatre fa-\nvours were and are sold by the million. And\nthe picture which best illustrates this is that\nby J. M. Moreau le Jeune called \" La Loge\na I'Opera \". 0)\nIt represents the sale of a ballet dancer.\nNow whether it be wrong or right, illegal\nor legal, serious or comic to sell people (or\nyourself if you have no mere fausse to assist\n%\nin the transaction) is not the question; but\nwhat has always been highly ridiculous is to\ncall the sale a favour.\nIt is a sale and nothing else; so if any\nsuch sale take place, it should take place on\nthe ancient basis of the slave traffic, on a\nfrankly unrespectable basis ; a hard deal or\nnothing. The Memoirs of dancers never\ndeal frankly with this phase of their art.\nIf you are sold or sell yourself you are\na slave, and damme, slaves, being sold people,\ncannot possibly put on airs. Yet these airs\nhave been put on, the virtuous airs, the airs\nof one bestowing favours, the giver's airs, the\nairs of one who simply could not possibly be\nsold, the \"quite innocent \" airs, the indignation\nairs at the mere suggestion, the pathetic airs,\nthe airs of the lady, the womanly airs, the\nnoble-woman airs, religious airs, above all\nthe airs of the independent but quite respec-\ntable lady.\nAll these are airs, not actualities.\nFor the actually independent lady is as\ngenuine as is a square deal: what she says\nand does is done squarely in fact and\nthere is no other way to describe it like\na lady.\nBut the Pretty Theatre is not concerned\nwith ladies or with things square but only\nwith things fair—unfairly fair perhaps: a hard\ndeal is, in the eyes of the bartering group\nwhich runs the principal side show of the Pretty\nTheatre, a fantastic notion from the country.\nAsk Mademoiselle du The what she\nthinks of a square deal: whether she is open\nfor sale on a square basis, and you will be\nlaughed at for your pains. Bui she soon\nstops laughing to explain, and in an elaborate\ntissue of lies, that she is a pure woman, she\nsays; misrepresented; she admits she has had\nseventy-five lovers, but these, she explains,\ndidn't love her as she loved them, or did\nlove her, and anyhow, she cries, \" a predo-\nminant trait in my character is fidelity\nanyhow.\"\nFidelity is rare in anyone, so rare is it\nthat those who possess it and cherish it de-\nserve too well of the whole world for that\nworld to listen to trulls like the Pretty Ma-\ndemoiselle du The talking about her predomi-\nnant trait.\nI adore Mademoiselle du The; 1 am\nwriting a small \" Life\" of this able Fille\nd'Opera, vendeuse d' amou which I shall add\n\n(i) See 14 The Mask\", Vol, X PI. 20."}, {"page_pdf": 38, "page_imprimee": "76", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.38", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1093, "texte": "as an appendix to these chapters. No one\ncould possibly appreciate her qualities more\nthan 1— : but I protest against the attempt\nto gull me. If she pose as High Priestess\nof the Art of the Dance, I am off: if she\nheckle me on the subject of molality, I am\ngone. Igo to find a priest who is better\nfitted than is a prostitute to utter the word\nmorality. Yet, bless your heart, molality is\none of the lady's favourite themes. First she\nkicks her toe up to the ceiling, then she drinks\nher champagne steadily for two hours, and at\nlast she launches into her pet topic, her mo-\nrality and the immorality of the others.\nOh Mademoiselle du The, I m simply\nshocked at you. I am afraid you are des-\ntined to be turned out of the Pretty Theatre\nfor you are neither flesh, fish nor good red\nherring. You are a little fool, and we all\nthought you so awfully clever—so kind—-so\nbig-hearted: whereas one of the unnamed little\npigs de iOpera, true to her colours, discreet\nand loyal in her amours, is, to quote the\nbard, a very different thing by far to the lump\n— 7 j ~\nof iniquity big pigs are.\n\nX. Y. Z."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c041", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c041", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "76", "page_fin": "76", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.26", "titre_corps": "A WORD ABOUT THE THEATRE", "titre_sommaire": "A WORD ABOUT THE THEATRE", "signature_source": "SACHA GUITRY", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 38, "page_imprimee": "76", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.38", "debut_caractere": 1095, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2828, "texte": "A WORD ABOUT THE THEATRE\nby SACHA GUITRY, ACTOR AND PLAYWRIGHT.\nExtract from an Interview which appeared in the\no '* Italian Mail*', May 1928. o\n1 cannot, however, but deplore the enormous changes that\nhave lately been taking place with regard to owners\nof theatres and impresarios. In the past a theatre company\nwas one big happy family, in which the director was not\nonly business manager, chief executive and legislative official,\nhut the owner of the theatre, and often the author of the\nplays. At the head of the five leading theatres we had some\nof the most remarkable men of the day—men who devoted\nall their lives, talent and activities to the pursuit of their\nart. To-day the director of a company is often a very\nable business man who looks upon the whole concern as\na potentially profitable business, and there is consequently\nlittle of thai close friendly relationship that used to prevail.\nTherefor, in my opinion, all lovers of the stage should\nendeavour to restore some of the happy conditions that\nused to prevail in the theatre fifty years ago. Fifty years\nago a manager of a company came in time to know every\nsingle member of the cast as well as if they belonged to\nthe same family. There was an esprit de corps and a\nclose relationship between promoter, actors and actresses\nthat is usually absent to-day. For months all these people\nwere thrown together in a manner that is almost impossible\nnowadays. They toured the country together, lived the\nsame life, shared the same pleasures, successes and set-\nbacks, while jealousy was practically nonexistent. To-day\nthere is much less of this personal contact, and the pro-\nducer is very often unknown to the general body of the\ncompany which the manager has engaged."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c042", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c042", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "76", "page_fin": "76", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.27", "titre_corps": "FLESH, BLOOD AND MARIONETTES", "titre_sommaire": "FLESH, BLOOD AND MARIONETTES", "signature_source": "J. S", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 38, "page_imprimee": "76", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.38", "debut_caractere": 2830, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4967, "texte": "FLESH, BLOOD AND\nMARIONETTES\nJ. S.\nA NINETEENTH CENTURY NOTE\nTHE actors appear to me like a iot or wrong-headed\nlunatics pretending to be sane. 1 heir malice\nstitched with white threads. They are disguised and ugly •\nTo look at them breeds in my melancholy soul thoughts\nof murder and suicide, -such is my anger and my loathing\nof their transparent pretences. There is a taint of subtle\ncorruption in their blank voices, in their blinking eyes, in\ntheir grimacing faces, in the false lignt, in the fah-e pas-\nsion, in the words that have been learned by heart. But\n1 love a marionette-show. Marionettes are beautiful,\nespecially those of the old kind with wires, thick as my\nlittle finger, coming out of the top of the head. Their\nimpassibility in love, in crime, in mirth, in sorrow,—-i*\nheroic, superhuman, fascinating. Their rigid violence when\nthey fall upon one another to embrace or to fight is sim-\nply a joy to behold. I never listen to the text mouthed\nsomewhere out of sight by invisible men who are here\ntoday and rotten tomorrow. I love the marionettes that\nare without life, and that come so near to being im-\nmortal ! \"\nJoseph Conrad in a letter to R. B. Cunning-\nhame Graham, dated 6 December 1897,\n\" Joseph Conrad Life and Letters \" by\nG. JeanAubry, 213.\nAN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY NOTE\n11 I ATER on, a good while after my marriage, I went to\nI—* many shows on that boulevard [du Temple], The\none I saw and enjoyed most was that of the puppets of Carlo\nPerico. These marionnettes were so well made and so dexte-\nrously manipulated that they sometimes achieved a perfect\nillusion. My daughter, who was six years old at most, and\nwhom I took with me, had no doubt at first of their being\nalive. When I told her the contrary, 1 remember taking her\na few days later to the Com6die where my box\nwas fairly remote from tbe stage. • And those, Mamma ,\nshe said to me, ' are they alive? \"\nThe Memoirs of Mme Elisabeth Louise\nVigee-Le Brun. translated\nby Gerard Shelley, 1927. Page 32.\nAND A TWENTIETH CENTURY NOTE\nCONRAD and Mme. Vig£e Le Brun may be right.\nNow all that remains to be done is for the Actors\nto prove them wrong. J. S."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c044", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c044", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_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": 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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.28", "titre_corps": "SITE OF THE TEATRO SANT' ANGELO : VENEZIA 1677-1759", "titre_sommaire": "SITE OF THE TEATRO SANT' ANGELO : VENEZIA 1677-1759", "signature_source": "C", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 991, "texte": "SITE OF THE TEATRO SANT' ANGELO. VENEZIA 1677-1759.\nC.\n\nIN an interesting booklet from which this print is taken, the\npalace marked here by a star is the Casa Barocci, and,\nsays the booklet, it was \" edificata sulVarea del teatro S. An-\ngelo And this may prove to be exact and therefore worth\nrecording.\nMy plans of Venezia 1779-1840 and others do not do more\nthan indicate that the Teaitro was on the Grand Canal be-\ntween the two water-ways here shown. When shall we disco-\nver the original plans of this very interesting playhouse\nwhich was destroyed in 1759? Any day now, it seems, since\nthe long sought plan of the Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo of\nVenezia came to \" The Mask \" only yesterday, and equally\nvaluable plans of the Teatro Pergola, Firenze and of the\nTeatro degli Intronati, Siena came at the same time.\nHow strange that in all these years no one thought to\nlook in at the Soane Museum, London and see whether any\nItalian items were to be found there. He would have fouud\nsome."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c045", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c045", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_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": 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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.28.1", "titre_corps": "[Illustration sans titre]", "titre_sommaire": "[Illustration sans titre]", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.39", "debut_caractere": 1008, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1017, "texte": "Plate 12."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c046", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c046", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "77", "page_fin": "91", "image_debut": 41, "image_fin": 55, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29", "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": "77", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6049, "texte": "BOOK REVIEWS.\n\nFOREIGN OR BRITISH\nGOODS... WHICH?\nM There is little doubt that what I have\ncalled \" Producer s Theatre \" is likely\nto increase its power 99. Ivor Brown.\nMR. Ivor Brown who is the well\nknown critic of the \" Manchester\nGuardian considers the late Louis\nCalvert, son of the Manchester Calvert,\nto have been \" a superb actor \". I\nshould have called him an able actor,\nand I think that is what a producer\nof ability would call him.\nSo that when Mr. Brown tells us\nthat the Producer's theatre is likely to\nincrease its power we may be sure of\nthis ; that it will be a theatre full of\nthe ablest actors, for the superb Keans\nor Talmas are not easily found or se-\ncured, and it is, I think, an error to\ntake the adequate to be the superlatively\ngood.\nBut I do not intend to linger over\nproducers and their work here but\nover Mr. Brown and his work.\nMr. Brown has been a good critic\nfor many years in London as well as\n- in Manchester, and to be a good critic\nin London for as many weeks is a feat\nfew ever achieve\nHe is a student and level-headed ;\nlike the good actor he has no feelings, or\nrather he allows them but littl i licence.\nIt is only when a book like Stani-\nslawsky's \"My Life in Art\" reaches\nhim that he almost seems to kneel.\nHe calls him very justly \" one of\nthe greatest theatrical artists of all time •\nWell, I rather fancy Stanislawsky\nmyself. He shares with Reinhardt and\nAntoine an admiration which I cannot\nsummon up for the best of good\nCalverts, Piteoffs or Bensons.\nBut he is a Russian even as Antoine\nis a Frenchman and Reinhardt a\nGerman ; and somehow or other I\nsuspect that the day is over and gone\nwhen, if we are Englishmen, we can\nafford ourselves to waste another hour\ngazing too lovingly at any foreign\ngoods whatever. Art may be Inter-\nnational ; and any nation which first\nsupports and is proud of its best talent\nin the Theatre can assuredly look\nInternationally at the Theatre. Till\nit does this it may not.\nAt present we praise too often in\nStanislawsky and Reinhardt what we\nignore in our own men: and it is for\nthis reason that our theatre has fallen\nto fifth place and the Russian and\nGerman have the first and second.\nIs not that a good enough reason\nwhy we should pause, consider a\nmoment and then drop it?\nDrop what?\nAdmiration of the Foreigner, simul-\ntaneously with indifference towards\nour own men and refusal to support\nthem.\nLet us remember this:— that we\nEnglish may not be so awfully clever,\nbut we should be quite clever enough\nto stop underestimating any of our\nTheatre men who are as able as\nReinhardt and Stanislawsky, and\nMeyerhold.\nAre we still too shy to come\ntogether and create as good a theatre\nas Reinhardt's or these three of\nMoscow ?\nWeil, the answer is to a great\nextent given in this book. We may\nfeel that Mr. Brown can be guilty of\nexcessive humility when in the presence\nof Stanislawsky's book, or represen-\ntatives of the great man himself, but\nhe has in this book made ample\namends to himself. He has expressed\nthe firm conviction that the English\nAuthor, English Actor and English\nProducer can work together and no\nother critic has expressed this better.\nAnd I would add that to this trio\nwe must add the dramatic critic.\n1 am quite sure that Mr. Brown is\nright: and 1 am as sure that his book\nwill do a certain amount of definite\ngood.\nIt is an exceptional thing to be able\nto say this of a work which is only in\nthe nature of a review of a situati: n;\nbut then it reviews the matter so\nsteadily and wiih such a fine sense of\nthe courtesies, that I feel I do not\noverstate but rather understate its\nvalue.\nYes, English Art and England are\nto be our thought now. Now there\nis indeed no more time to spare for\noccupying our thoughts with any fo-\nreign developments: we have always\nhad ideas enough of our own, ideas\nwhich are not solely the realists' or\nthe expressionists' or any ists; and they\nare ideas which have always embraced\nthose of the author, actor, producer,\ncritic, historian and archeologist, architect\nand musician.\nThese ideas have been borrowed\nwholesale by our Russian and German\nfriends. Remember that make a\nnote of it, for it's true.\nThe producers' ideas have never\nbeen small ones; they never excluded\nauthor, actor or anyone, except when\nauthors and actors have been rude\nand slammed the door on our ideas.\nBut 'tis sometimes impossible to get\nour friends to understand that we\nmean well ; and possibly this has an-\ntagonized the author and actor so\nviolently against the producer.\nThis book by Mr. Brown goes far\nto remove this misunderstanding.\nPARTIES OF THE PLAY by Ivor\nFrown. Ernest Benn. Price S/6.\n\nSTAGE DECORATION by Shel-\ndon Cheney with 256 Illustrations.\nThe John Day Company, New York•\nPrice $ 10.00.\nMR. Sheldon Cheney is not like\nthe usual compiler of theatre\nbooks ; he has worked in a theatre,\nand he has kept in touch with those\nworking there,-so that you will not\nfind in his book any hing which an-\nnoys because of its ignorance of the\nreal Theatre.\nMr. Cheney is one of the ten or\nfifteen men who, for the last twelve\nyears, have been closely observing what\nis going on in the Theatres of Eu-\nrope and America. He has been keen\nto issue a few books but he is far\nkeener watching developments. He is\none of the few students of the mo-\ndern phases of the Theatre who have\nbegun to lake a serious delight in\nconnecting them back with the ancient\nphases.\nBut there are two ways of doing\nthis, and Mr. Cheney prefers the bet-\nter way—the ordinary one being to\nannounce \" New stuff in European\nTheatre discovered to be 2000 years\nold Possibly this is the way I\nshould write were I a proper sort of\njournalist and unacquainted with the\n\" Manchester Guardian \", or rather\nunaware of what it stands for.\n1 would go it, were 1.... in short, were\nI paid to. How delicious to be paid\nto do the easy thing and to grow rich\ndoing it easily;—why bother? Why\nfuss around resisting temptation ; why\nhave ideals which don't pay and which\nare merely so many bad habits. Why\nbe like the London Correspondent in\nthe \" Review of Reviews \" Dialogue"}, {"page_pdf": 42, "page_imprimee": "78", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.42", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6753, "texte": "upon 41 Lord Rothermere's great ven-\nture \" (see 44 Review of Reviews\nMarch-April No.) who talks of 44 the\nglory of the British Press \", its 44 in-\ndependence \", glowering and growling\nat Lord Rothermere aud the Berrys\nand the others, cursing at the new\nand so forth.\nAnd so it is quite odd to find this\nAmerican student, who is also a jour-\nnalist, abstaining from flashy headlines\nand doing his best with all his heart.\nWe often suppose that an Ameiican\ncannot resist the sensational, but here\nis one who does resist it.\nHis book deals with ancient and modern\ndecors; these he reproduces for us; from\nthe three thousand made by the Bi-\nbienas he selects three ; from the rem-\nnants left by the Romans and Greeks\nhe takes but six or seven items; from\nthe middle ages as many, and so on\ndown to the present day. Here he\nselects more, for he rightly supposes\nthat his readers will want to see more\nmodern than ancient work.\nNot only do his researches lead him\nto pick cut sceneries which fitted into\nany stage, but also whole stages into\nwhich everything else had to fit, such\nas the Olimpico at Vicenza and Co-\npeau s stage—stages which were more\nor less scenes in themselves.\nIn short, the book is a review a\nshort quick review —of what has been\ndene about decors since the time of\n/Eschylus.\nIt is, at the same time, [an appen-\ndix to Dr. Nicoll's 44 The Develop-\nment of the Theatre \" issued towards\nthe end of last year.\nthat volume it goes to prove\nthat the people who want their stages\nempty of all sceneries have been so\nfew that they have at no time pre-\nvailed over those who held the more\nsensible notion, that of having all the\ndecors you want. It shows that plenty\nof decors can be austere and distin-\nguished without any rabid display of\npuritanisni.\nIt shows that actors and authors all\nthe world over have always welcom-\ned as a gay ally the d&or which\nhelped things along.\nIt shows that never once has the\ndecorator dreamed of seizing the reins\na fear recently expressed by a few\ncritics.\nIt shows that when Decors reached\ntheir most fantastic development, the\nactors or singers were always equal to\nthe situation, enjoyed working in the\nmiast of such delightful surroundings,\nana frever felt they were in any way\nbeing pushed out by these decors.\nin ract, if the book had been made\nonly to prove this, it would succeed :\nbut it will achieve more, for it will\nhelp us to understand something still\nrather vague to many of us: re, the\nvast difference between the man of\nthe theatre, the dilettante snd the\ntheorist.\nThe work of all three is to be\nfound side by side, and Mr. Cheney\nleaves you to discern which is which.\nIt was a courteous thing to do, for\nit allows those of us who know a\nthing or two to show how clever we\ncan be.\n\nRACHEL by James Agate. Gerald\nHowe Ltd. Price 3/6.\nORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT\nOF LIGHT OPERA by Sterling\nMackinlay M. A. Hutchinson & Co.\nPrice 21/- net.\nWITH all the pretty tunes by Offen-\nbach, Lecocq and Sullivan ring-\ning in his eais, Mr. Mackinlay takes\nup his pen, keeps his head—or rather\nhis seat and—gets through to the end of\nhis book of 292 pages apparently\nwithout once going out for a drink—\na drink of music. He must be a\nstoic.\nFor it seems to me that to write\nabout enchantment and go on writing\nand not turn aside, not fling pen and\npaper to the winds and not become\nenchanted, is a feat to be achieved\nonly with the exercise of great self-\ncontrol.\nAnd the result is that he is able to\nhand us one of the most delightful\ntheatre books that has been written\nfor ever so long.\nI regret to see my old friend Lovat\nFraser's name omitted from the careful\nreport on 44 The Beggar's Opera \" and\nI hardly think Mr. Mackinlay is right\nwhen he states on page 63 that 44 in\nMonteverdi s earlier days permanent\ntheatres did not exist any more than\npermanent orchestras \". Of the or-\nchestras I can say nothing, but assu-\nredly some permanent theatres existed\nin Italy and we have records of a few\nof these.\nBuontalenti built his Teatro de' Me-\ndici in Florence in 1583; that is to\nsay> when Monteverdi was sixteen\nyears old; and in 1578 the Teatro\nOlimpico at Vicenza was being built.\nIn 1560, seven years before Monte-\nverdi was born, Bartolommeo Neroni\nerected il Teatro in Siena, and Man-\nt°va and Ferrara had their theatres\ntoo by that time. In Mantova, for\nexample, in the year 1608 Vianini the ar-\nchitect built 44 The New Ducai Thea-\ntre \" especially for the 44 Arianna \" of\nMonteverdi, and this New Theatre\nwas necessary because in 1591 the\nTeatro in the Corte Vecchio had\nbeen burnt, and it's not possible to\nburn a theatre which don't exist.\nBut except for a rare few errors\ndropped by the author to save our\nfaces, the book sparkles with erudition\nand charm, and I am eager to get a\nglimpse of another of his books, 44 Gar-\ncia the Centenarian and his Times\nMr. Mackinlay is not one of those\nauthors who writes books on subjects\nwhich have been already exhausted ;\nhe takes a new road when he sets cut\nto naake a book, and I wish a few\nmore historians of the Theatre would.\nfollow his example, as I for one am\ntired of new books on Rachel, Gar-\nrick, the Greek Stage, Shakespeare\nand his Fellows, and the rest of it.\nUntil Mr. Mackinlay gave us this book,\nhe tells us that 44 no history of Light\nOpera had been written\nSo the laurels to Mr. Mackinlay,\nfor he is one of the few English-\nmen who are really doing something\nto help our countrymen to a better\nknowledge of the Theatre.\nI said just now that I was tired of\nnew books on Rachel and others; but\nI discover 1 am not,—not when I get\na really good one, and Mr. Agate's\nlittle book on Mile. Jelid re Rachel\n(though he don't give us her real\nname) is entirely delightful.\nThe booklet of 80 pages could not\npossibly be better done.\nThe author discerns Rachel's place\nin the midst of a revolutionary move-\nment and makes her position clear to\nus ....that she was a reactionary, and\nso splendid a one, that the age took her\nto be in ihe very van of revolution.\nAgate tells us the story of her ca-\nreer and sketches in something of her\namours.\nHer amours interest me because, like\nyou, 1 have quite a sniffy dash of cu-\nriosity in me ; and besides this I am\nalways eager to discover in the hun-\ndred lives of actresses one who had\nno amours. Good actresses, I mean.\nSo far 1 have not made much head-\nway but I shall go on. Adrienne\nLecouvreur and Mrs Oldfield stand\nout as considerable ladies by the side\nof many of their sisters and Rachel\ncertainly does not.\nShe was a guttersnipe, like grand\nold Edmund Kean ; and so it follows\nas the night the day Mile. Georges was\na bit jealous of her : 44 I have been\nas big an actress as Rachel \" she\nsaid Victor Hugo, 44 and as great a\nwhore , and one hears her saying it\nand sees her as she says it."}, {"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "79", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6641, "texte": "Rachel was certainly no great lady,\nbut that was not her fault. You need\nhouses for training and disciplining such\nbits of genius like Rachel, and, till you\n.provide them, you mustn't go and see\nthe Rachels act and damn their cha-\nracters as you come out after a\ngood cry.\nIn the East I am told they provide\nsuch houses— which is all to the good.\nAs ror Rachel, she had no way of\nmanaging herself and at the same time\nremaining a valuable actress of genius\n—at least she found no way.\nOne of her friends took her to\ntask—an old friend, a Mme.\nwho wrote her that she was broken-\nhearted to learn from all the reports\nthat she was behaving outrageously ;\nshe told her to break off her liason or,\nshe said, 44 you will fall\nNow she didn t fall; she continued\nto rise, and she rose to be one of the\ngreatest actresses of the age. For all\nthis, Mme Ristori who was as great\n(if not greater!) rose without such as-\nsistance.\nRachel rather loved the underworld.\nShe loved V^ron—44 a blackguard\nMr. Agate calls him. He was; and,\nas she was a doxy, so they were well\nmatched. She treated him as badly\nas he treated her. If she did not sur-\npass him in dastardliness it was only\nthat he got in first with it. Had he\nfailed tof she would have certainly not\nfailed to score.\nThe story as told by Mr. Agate is\na delight.\nI admit that curiosity is a low vice\nand so we who read with pleasure\nare all of us en famille with Veron\nand Rachel; —let us not be rude to\ntbern lest they combine and serve us\nwith our deserts.\nI have said that Rachel was no\ngreat lady ; yet she behaved better to\nall her lovers than many another such\nguttersnipe has done, for 44 on her\ndeath-bed she had the generosity to\nsend back to their writers all their\nlove-letters *\\\nThere is much about money in\nthese brief eighty pages.\nBy the way, I hope Mr. Agate\nwill some day give us a big volume\non this actress, for no one could do it\nbetter, and there must be some six hun-\ndred people who would treasure such\na volume, packed with historical data,\nreplete with illustrations, and issued at\nthree guineas. Rachel deserves some-\nthing de luxe.\nShe also des rves all Mile. George's\nhustling. 4# What keePs Rachel in\nthe public eye \" said Georges 44 is\nthe champagne she drinks, the life\nshe leads. and the moneyed fools who\nflock round her. Let her lead a de-\ncent life for a couple of months and\nnobody will remember that she exists \".\nNot that Rachel thought that of\nherself, She was full of outraged in-\nnocence : 44 if \" she wrote, 44 if, for\none moment, I thought how gravely\nCalumny had injured me in your re-\ngard.,.. 44 and so forth.\nThe others ....they were open to\nher criticism, herself an injured lamb.\nIn this respect the actresses have\nthe pull over their brothers. Edmund\nKean could never have posed as ah\ninjured lamb.\nBut the women do : it's most extraor-\ndinary.\nLook in all those books, the 44 Re-\nminiscences \"or 44 Life \", books by wo-\nmen performers, and you will note\nthat they begin by saying that they\nintend, for the first time in the His-\ntory of the World, to tell the truth\nabout themselves and their amours\nand before twenty pages are gone we\nsee that all they intend to do is to\nwhitewash themselves while telling lies\nabout everyone else.\nRachel did one excellent good thing\nshe abstained from writing such a\nbook. And so the luckiest thing hap-\npens to her:—Mr. Agate writes it\nfor her.\n\nTHE COMPLETE WORKS OF\nSIR JOHN VANBRUGH Edited\nby Bonamy Dobree and Geoffrey\nWebb. Four volumes. The None-\nsuch Press London W. C. Price\n£3.3.0 (only 1300 sets issued).\nIF you want a fine book admirably\ncomposed, excellently well printed,\nperfectly edited, and bound as well as\na book can be bound, here you have\none —or rather four: and four persons\nhave conspired to make it a fine book.\nVanbrugh, Dobr£e, Webb, Meynell\nassisted by his composi'ors and printers\nall laboured to make these British Plays\na model of how to do it.\nSome day I hope they will com-\nbine again and give us the works and\nletters of Sir George Etherege. His\nletters are, I believe, as yet unpub-\nlished, and rest in the British Mu-\nseum.\nEtherege is the man of all those\nplaywriters of the Restoration age. Not\neven Congreve deserves better of us.\nAnd Etherege is the very man for Mey-\nnell, Dobr£e and Webb.\nThese volumes' pages measure 10 x\n7 */2 inches : it is a large format fitting\nto this architect-dramatist who built\nlargely and wrote with his elbows.\nThe work could not be possibly\nbetter edited or more clearly arranged.\nEach play is preceded by a page, or\nthree or four, of its Theatrical His-\ntory, and followed by some pages of\nTextual Notes and some Explanatory\nNotes.\nIn this Vanbrugh it's impossible not\nto find all you search for and to find\nit at once.\nBesides the three volumes of Plays,\nis one volume of Vanbrugh's Letters\nwith an able and not too long Intro-\nduction by Mr Webb, wherein, alas,\nhe tells me what 1 feared, . ..that of\nthe New Opera House, Vanbrugh* s\ngreat theatre in the Hay market, very\nlittle is known respecting its architecture\nexcept that the acoustics were defective\n—and that we are too often told about\nmost play and opera houses.\nTo those of us who would so much\nlike to know all about this Hay mar-\nket building the information is de-\npressing.\nHas a proper search been made for\nthe original drawings ?\nHave people hunted in the obvious\nplaces those museums and collections\nwhich we pass daily in our walks and\nfail to note, merely because we know\nthem so well from the outside.\nOf some of Vanbrugh's huge spraw-\nling Country Houses for the nobility,\nwe are given reproductions of plans or\nviews—and they help to adorn these\nbooks.\nDid Vanbrugh never make a draw-\ning worth preserving—with something\nspirited ? Was he dull ?\nVanbrugh and Juvarra lived pre-\ncisely at the same time. Both were\narchitects, both worked in theatres :\nas architects each loved to sprawl\nand to build the largest of country\nhouses for wealthy and grandiose pa-\ntrons : but whereas Juvarra poured out\nthousands of pen and ink and wash\ndrawings of projects for houses, chur-\nches, theatres, sceneries, it would seem\nthat Vanbrugh hardly made one.\nNo one of his sketches is in these\nvolumes. Again I ask, where are these\nsketches and the more careful draw-\nings?.,. so that we may prove how much\nmore brilliant Vanbrugh was than he\nseems.\nI must admit a powerful drawing\ngets me: I wonder whether Van ever\ndrew anything for the Duchess of\nMarlborough when she WJS getting\nsnappish. I see my Juvarra doing that :\nI see the easy fingers creating wonders\nwith the pen of Sarah Jenning, that\n41 wicked woman of Marlb. \" and 1\nsee the wicked woman utterly spell-\nbound."}, {"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "80", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6639, "texte": "In fact I see Juvarra a very greal\nsuccess in the England of Queen Anne,\nwhereas Vanbrugh wasn't. He buill\n—he wrote but I wouldn't call ali\nthat any more of a success than old\nCharing Cross Bridge was a success,\nor the plays of Baife's better half.\nThat is mere getting on.\nVanbrugh was, in short, a ponde-\nrously dull activity, and the only thing\nwhich may have been lively was\nhis Opera House of which we know\nnothing.\nWhat a pity we do not know more\nof that Opera Flouse poor old Van.\nBut in spite of this, his Letters are\nreplete with information priceless to\nthis Historian of the Stage.\nWritten in his lop boots and ob-\nviously with a chisel, they may sprawl\nand clatter, but the information is\nthere, and this renders these volumes\nworth every penny they cost, and they\ncost practically nothing about 16/- a\nvolume.\nI don't know how the publishers\ncan issue volumes so superbly accou-\ntred at such a price.\n\nREPRESENTA TIVE WOMEN. A\nSeries published by Gerald Home Ltd.\n23 Soho Square, London. 3/6 each.\nIF one may judge of any series of\nvolumes by the first two which\ncome to hand, then one can say of\nthis series that ii is very interesting.\nThe two volumes which reached\nme were on Rachel U) and Mary\nShelley.\nBeing dramatically bent, I mean\nbent down to the grindstone of the\ndramatic world, one naturally welcomes\nwith the usual grimace another book\non the stage Rachel came as an\naccursed blessing ; but «• Mary Shel-\nley \" one promised oneself most hear-\ntily one would not read. That comes\nof being too particularly of the\nI heatre; one means no disrespect to\nother walks of life, least of all the\nLiterary walk of Poets and their wives,\nbut one has no time to wander ;\none must keep to one's path, up and\ndown and up and down it again.\nCram alley !\nYet there is ever a half hour to spare\nwhen one is allowed off, and I then\nalways look around in case a poet or\na painter, an essayist or some other\nfree man is wandering near by, and\nthen 1 join him for my half hour of\nfreedom.\nAnd so it was that I came to pick\nup this volume on Mrs Shelley, and\nI read it with interest from page I to\npage 91 : all these books are but a\nfew pages in length. Excellent I\nFor the first time it was made quite\nclear to me who was this same Mary\nShelley and who was Claire and who\nHarriet, Mrs Clairmont and Jane Wil-\nliams ; for, though I already knew five\nor six books about Shelley and his\nfriends, I had never once received a\nclear statement as to who W3S who in\nthis circle.\nMr. Richard Church is as clear a\na writer as any I know,\nBeing so far away from London I\nhave to admit that it is the first lime\nI have come across his name : doubt-\nless he is occupied writing down for\nus the lives of all those other persons\nabout whom their biographers have\nconfused us.\n1 would give much for Mr. Church\nto write the life of Anne Oldfield,\nMrs. Bellamy and Mademoiselle du\nTh 6 presuming that Mr. Agate is\nnot going to do so.\nThe 1 ives of actresses are seldom\nclearly written ; one rambles on and\none has to be sympathetic or go to\nsleep : and that is why I'd like to\nhave Mr. Church's booklets on these\nladies, for then all would be clear\nfor the first time.\nBut here I am supposing Mr. Church\nto have plenty of time to spare, and\nwilling to \" suffer love *# for these\nladies and write the lives of the thirty\nmost representative performers that have\nlived.\nI suggest among others Isabella An-\ndreini, Adrienne Lecouvreur, Ann Old-\nfield, Mrs. Bellamy, Clairon, Duche-\nnois, Mars, Mrs. Barry, Mile, du Th£,\nRistori, Fraule.n Jagemann, Miss Wal-\nstcin, Theresa Imer, La Gabrielli, La\nbarberina, Salle, Dervieux, Deschamps\nor Le . Due, Dugazon, Prevost, Du\nPare, de Maupin, Champmesl£, Charke,\nRaucourt and Sancta Stella.\nMr. Church turns - away—he does\nnot like the look of the company ; he\nfeels a little out of it; may be this is\nbecause he feels that he must have\nsome fine figure of a poet such as\nShelley walking in and out of his pic-\nture to make the task worth his while.\nIf so, then he will have Goethe with\nthe Jagemann, Racine with the Champ-\nmesle, Moli£re with Du Pare, Frede-\nrick the Great with La Barberina, the\nMargrave of Arispach with Clairon\nand Voltaire with Adrienne. As for\nIsabella Andreini, she is surrounded by\nthe most brilliant men of the age and\nwas, 1 have ever supposed, one of the\nmost admirable women of her time.\nBut no one has made it clear to me\nwhat any of these women actually\nwere, did, thought, felt or saw, for I\ndo not read French, German or Ita-\nlian with any ease, and besides, only\nMr. Agate or Mr. Church could make,\nit all clear in eighty p&gcs.\nThough I have yet to read the\neighty page booklets by Mr. Sackviile\nWest, Francis Birrell and Miss Ada *\nHarrison' on Aphra Behn, La Du-\nchesse du Maine and Cristina di Sve-\nzia, I look forward with eagerness to\nfind them as good as these first two.\n0) Fy James Agate, reviewed on pg. 78.\n\nSCENES AND SILHOUETTES\nby D. L. Murray. Jonathan Cape.\nPrice 9/- net.\n0\nREPRINTED from \"The Times\",\n\" The Nation \" and •• The\nAthenaeum and other magazines,\nthese papers on scenic things and\nthings political, historical, literary and\necclesiastical make up a very readable\nbook of three hundred pages or more,\nwhich Mr. Cape has printed and\nbound to perfection, and all for nine\nshillings.\nThe volume reaches us rather late\nin the day but better late than never,\nfor Mr. Murray is one of the critics\nin England who take the Theatre and\nits Drama seriously, and, who in doing\nso, do not depress us too much.\nHe is generally pretty right in what\nhe says; for example, when he protests\nagainst the method employed by Jessner\nwhen producing Shakespeare's Ri-\nchard 111.\nMr. Murray is forced to witness\nthis production, (which was given in\nBerlin and was a quite famous pro-\nduction) through a report of it, and\non the strength or weakness of\nthis report to report Jessner and\nhis cause aright to the unsatisfied. It\nstands to reason that he cannot do '\nthat. The report Mr. Murray pro-\nnounces on is that by Mr. MacGowan\nand Mr. Jones of America who did\nsee the production as they rushed\nthrough Europe seeing dozens of pro-\nductions in eight or ten lands in a\nvery short space of time.\nThe thing is not fair on Jessner of\ncourse, but let us accept it as fair and\nsre what Mr. Murray has to complain\n• • • . Jessner's complaint (if\nhe ever made one) is unheeded and\nquite right too fair play is always\nour motto and the critics seldom\nget fair play. I m a critic myself.\nWell, Mr. Murray says that Jessner's\nmethod buries Shakespeare's play \" in\na shroud of emotional symbolism\nand but *' little of the delicate interplay '\nof character and motive is left \", and"}, {"page_pdf": 45, "page_imprimee": "81", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.45", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6643, "texte": "he doesn t like this and he is quite\nright.\nSo right is he, and he some five\nhundred miles from the spot where\n,the show took place, that it will occur\nto you that a new era is dawning for\ndramatic critics. Why doesn't the\ncritics Circle of London employ some\nable enthusiast like MacGowan and an\nable draughtsman like Mr. Jones to\nattend the last four rehearsals of every\npiece: to write and print a vivid\naccount of the methods employed,\nthe effect aimed at and achieved, and\nbroadcast this round to the eighty or\nninety Dramatic Critics of England in\ngood time and let these men pro-\nnounce on the report seated by their\nfireside. The best of the original\nsketches for the production could be\ntelegraphed and sent round to them\nall and thus they would not be\nforced to wear themselves out attending\nevery first night merely for the sake\nof the alibi.\nAnd for the first time in their careers\nthey could consider themselves a little.\nIf Mr. Murray hadn't summed up\nat a distance so accurately about\nJessner without seeing the show I\nwould not dream of suggesting this,\nfor I should have known that my\nsuggestion would have been taken for\nfantastic and unpractical theorizing.\nBui since he has done so well with\nso little to go on, why shouldn't we\nall have a try at it that way.\nMr. Murray is I think right. This\nmethod of stagery does do great harm\nto Shakespeare's plays. The Shake-\nspeare wonders dwindle and disappear.\nAnd no one in his senses wants that.\nNow as everyone of the people who\nscramble to get a seat to see Shake-\nspeare played night after night in our\nLondon are in their senses the\npassionate rush to see and hear his\npiays proves it all of us are and\nmust be against any and every method\nof production but the right one.\nNow what is that?\nI don't want to take your mind and\nMr. Murray's mind off that point so I\nwill say no more on it for the moment,\nmerely promising Mr. Murray my\nundying support and cooperation if\never he can evolve such a method\nand put it in writing, or even point\nto such a method. It will long ago\nhave appealed to the people who\ncrowd in their millions to hear and to\nsee the lovely works of Shakespeare\nperformed.\nIt has presumably been tried, this\n44 right way \". I take it it can't have\nbeen slurred over. I happen to know\nthe right way. Only I would like to\nhear Mr. Murray explain to us all\nwhat that way is. It's not to be\neasily explained, I admit, but it's\nexplainable.\nIt's not Irving's way, not Poel's\nway, not Barker's way; not the Old\nVic way or the Playfair way, and\nit s not the Thorndike-Casson or\nBridges Adams way; it cannot be any\nof these ways for they have recently\nbeen tried and tried again.\nIt must be a far more popular way\nthan all these and at the same time a\nway which will satisfy the spirit of\nShakespeare.\nSo tell us what is this RIGHT\nway, Mr Murray.\nThe author of this pleasant book\nis less happy when he comes to write\nof Lord Byron. Quoting from 44 Man-\nfred \" he sums him up:\n\" This should have beenanoble creature....\n• . • . . * as it is\nIt is an awful chaos—light and darkness\nAnd mind and dust and passions and pure\nthoughts\nMix}d} and contending zuithout end or\norder—\nAll dormant or destructive: he will\nperish \".\nand, adds Mr. Murray, 44 That is all\nwe C3n say of Byron as a man\nMy Lord Bishop of Durham, Herbert\nHensley Henson, in his noble essay on\nByron is able by the grace of God to\nsay more:\n'* Praise and blame are alike unfit-\n-44 ting in presence of a career so enig-\n-44 rnatic and so mighty. Give me\n44 leave to adapt his own words\" about\n44 his favourite among the ancients,\n11 A!cibiade3, and apply them to\n\" himself:\n- Yet upon the whole it may be\n44 doubted, whether there be a name\n44 of modern times which comes to us\n44 with such a general charm as that\n44 of Byron. Why? I cannot answer:\n44 who can? \"\nMr. Murray is almost one of our\nbest critics, and I expect that before\nlong he will be quite one of our best.\n\nSIXTEEN DESIGNS FOR THE\nTHEATRE by Albert Rulherston.\nOxford University Press. Price four\nand a half guineas net.\n\nMR. Rutherston'S book is not cheap.\nIt is perfectly printed on the\nvery best paper and quite worth its\nfour and a half guineas. It doesn't set\nout to be a popular book, only 475\nnumbered copies are for sale, and I\nonly hope that, out of the £ 2297\nwhich will come in if every copy be\nsold, the admirable artist will get a\nproper share.\nAs a rule the artist gets far too\nlittle.\nWe suppose him roiling in wealth.\nWe say 44 look at this,—here's his\nbook just out—costs four and a half\nguineas. There are 475 copies: that\nmeans £ 2297 on a rough calculation.\nFancy Rutherston getting all that\nNow follow me a moment.\nSuppose the cost of making this\nfine book, its paper, its collotypes, its\nprinters, its binding and binders take\n£ 500 of that sum. Suppose another\n£ 500 goes to the trade, ie, is split\nup in small percentages to the book-\nsellers, book-forwarders, bookc-arriers\nand book-carriers' horses, to the book\nboomers and any book bunkumites\nwho are hanging around.\nThen deduct £ 250 for copies not\nsold but sent 44 for favour of review \".\nThis all mounts up ; it reaches the\nsum of £ 1250 :that we will say only\nleaves about £ 1 000 over. The Oxford\nUniversity Press takes something—l\ndon't want to suppose how little,- so\nthat what's over for our poor artist ?\nBelieve me, jolly little.\nThere are sixteen designs in the\nbook, fourteen for costumes and two\nfor scenes,\nThe costumes are charming and char-\nmingly drawn in. They lean towards\nthe pictorial rather than the dramatic.\nIf I see a sketch for a costume I want\nto be able to say at once without\nlooking at any index 44 That's for\n44 Macbeth , yes, and for the porter\nin Macbeth : or 44 that's for Laertes in\nAct V. of Hamlet\". I should be puz-\nzled to guess correctly about these Ru-\ntherston costumes.\nAs for the two scenes, I should be\nas much at sea. What play or opera\nthey could be for I could not guess.\nBut believe me, they are most beau-\ntiful scenes, and quite the thing for a\nfine theatre—if we had one fine enough.\nThey are just' right for a ballet, per-\nhaps one would do for a play by\nShakespeare, but not 44 for Androcles\nand the Lion '* as one of them is\nlabelled.\nThere is another thing I dislike:\n44 to hang in folds \" says the direction\nof the designer.\nNever would I allow any artist as\nfine as this one to spoil his own work\nby attempting to be courteous in this\ntragic way to our difficult stage.\nI would have asked Mr. Ruther-\nston to allow the scenes to be hung\nwithout one crease -to do what he\nliked to them but not to kill them\nbecause he felt it was 4i best to be on\nthe safe side \".\nAfter they had been used I would"}, {"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "82", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.46", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6368, "texte": "have hung them round my studio under\nslabs of glass and turned my studio\ninto one of the most decorative artist s\nfoyers conceivable.\nI would never have allowed them\nto vanish.\nLet us thank the Oxford University\nPress that it has reproduced them\nboth as large folding plates—for they\nare two of the loveliest scenes the\nBritish Stage has to boast of.\n\nE. G. C.\n\nTHE COMIC AND THE REA-\nLISTIC IN ENGLISH DRAMA\nby John B. Moore. Unioersity of\nChicago Press. Price dollars 2.\nTO Mr. Moore the thought of\nunalleviated five-act comic drama\nis essentially unpractical. Mr. Moore's\ntheory is that it is so, and theoretically\nI am tempted to side with Mr. Moore\ntill I remember that I have seen a\nthree and a half hours comic drama\nunrelieved by anything at all grim or\ngrey or even realistic and I am no\nlonger on Mr. Moore's side.\n1 leave my theory with him while\nI stop to ruminate once more on what\n1 enjoyed in a theatre no longer than\nfour years ago.\nI regret the labour given by Mr.\nMoore to the preparation of this little\nwork: 1 regret the work itself: because\nI know that if he had lived in an age or\neven in a land where real people were\ntrained in the right way and not\nin the wrong way, trained to feel,\nto see, to think and to know a\nvery great deal before they were\nallowed to begin to write a book, I\nfeel that Mr. Moore would have by\nthis time taken up some other job or\nwritten something with imagination in it.\nMr. Moore' 9 book lacks all imagi-\nnation. He is like a hundred others\nwho are writing books, and writing\nthem on Dramatic or Theatrical themes.\nI can't blame Mr. Moore but I curse\nthe syslem which has killed his book\nfor him,\nAmerican or English Universities\nwhich have no mother wit in their\ncomposition are wretched institutions\nand are doing a great deal of harm.\nCommonsense, where are you that\nyou cannot force an entry into such\ninstitutions and rouse them to better\naction? You are growing weak, Com-\nmonsenre I\nBut it s Mr. Moore's fault, not\nours cries the Institution, 44 we can't\nhelp it if one of our scholars is a fool\nBut Mr. Moore is no fool he is\na clever man, a most industrious man,\nand an excellent example of fidelity.\nHad I been in your University of\nChicago I would have roused Lucifer\nor Apollo, the Muses nine or even\nthe ordinary deuce in Mr. Moore,\nand damm6, you've allowed him to\nbe dull just because you yourselves\nhadn't any understanding of the impor-\ntance of training the imagination.\nWhy, a jockey couldn't be taught\nhow to ride if he were put through\nsuch a wretched systematic non-training\nas almost all your institutions put their\nmen through.\nBut go it, Mr. Moore don't be\ndown-hearted: one big fall helps a\nlot, and we wish you well at your\nnext fence.\nThere is a little book by a certain\nJames Rhoades published by John Lane\ncalled 44 The Training of the Imagina-\ntion '. It consists of forty pages of\ntext and is the size of a ready reckoner.\nIt is the printed version of an ad-\ndress delivered in 1885 to an audience\nconsisting exclusively of public school\nmasters.\nRhoades confesses to some misgivings\nabout publishing it. But men searching\nto get to grips with a real method of\nexplaining the wonders they have come\nacross in their research and studies\nneed have no misgiving about getting\nthis shilling book, for those who\nhave not been lucky in getting help\ntowards that imaginative state into which\nit has pleased God to call the happier\nones will find there nearly all they\nwant and lack.\n\nSHADOWS OF THE OLD\nBOOKSELLERS by Charles Knight,\nwith Preface by Stanley Unwin.\nPeter Davies Ltd. Price 6/- net.\n441T is recorded that the manuscript of\n* Robinson Crusoe passed through\nthe whole trade before it could find a\npurchaser \".\nTHIS brief fact extracted from one\nof the essays in this most agreable\nvolume is vivid, is it not?\nSuppose a work of equal merit by\nSir James Barrie for example; suppose\nit should have to drag round London\nto find any publisher interested enough\nto pay a few pounds for it, would not\nthe dailypapers appear with indignant\nheadlines ?\n44 SIR. J. M. BARRIE INSULTED\nGREA T A UTHOR'S WORK\nREJECTED BY /5 PUBLISHERS.\nSOCIETY OF AUTHORS TAKES ACTION.\nDe Foe was nearly sixty years of age\nwhen Robinson Crusoe was being\nshunted from publisher to publisher.\nHow is it th<it he was treated in this\nway while, to Sir James, the town\npays reverence and fat percentages?\nWell, you will learn more of this\nmatter in this book: you will learn\nhow the great writers of those days„\nbehaved: something of the dignity of\ntheir calling comes out as you grope\namong the shadows of these old\nbooksellers.\nThe story of Samuel Richardson,\nprinter, ...one of our writers not afraid\nto work for a living and write for his\nlife, is told here delightfully as the\nage in which he lived reveals itself,\nshowing us that dear Old\nwhich even now had best be our\nmodel for the future if we are to\nhave any future worth considering.\nAmerican methods are bully; for\nAmerica they are just the finest pos-\nsible: but for England I should say\nthey were harmful.\nGrace, even the rudest grace, is any\nday more becoming to England than\nthe bully methods of the States: and\nto follow the European, and, where\npossible, the British tradition in all\nthings is not unbecoming, nor so stupid\nneither; to attempt to adopt the Ame-\nrican lack of tradition is to flirt with\nbankruptcy.\nTo render England bankrupt should\nbe the very last wish of any whb\nremember its ancient grace and com-\nmonsense. But who does?\nThis is what you will be continually\nreminded of if you sit in the corner of\none of our old bookseller's shops and\ncommune even but slightly with its -\nshadows.\n\nHA WKERS AND WALKERS\nIN EARLY AMERICA by Ri-\nchardson Wright• 68 Illustrations.\nLippincott Co. John St• Adelphi;\nLondon. Price 2] j- net.\nTHAT old Yankee jingle which\ngoes\nCharles the First hawked and walked\nHalf an hour after his head was cut off**\nand which refers to a trick act which\nCharlie Chaplin put into one of his\nfilms, testifies to us how original\nAmerica can be.\nBut this book deals not with celebri-\nties so famous as Charlie the first: it\noffers us every kind of Hawker, all\nsorts of Walkers omitting Walker,\nLondon.\nHere for the first time we get a\nglimpse of things which no one in\nEurope ever suspected existed:— The\nYankee Pedlar, The Artist as an\nItinerant, Terpsichore Perambulant, the\nnursemaid dancer, presumably. Chap"}, {"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "83", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6655, "texte": "Books, Street cries, and one and all\nso original.\n44 Scissors to grind J\nJingle, Jingle, goes the Bell\nAny Razors or Scissors,\nOr Penknives to grind?\nI'll engage that my work\nShall be done to your mind\nand above the verse is a little wood-\ncut which, unless you are ridiculously\ninclined to credit England for all the\nchap-book cuts, you will acknowledge\nas genuinely American.\nBut even if you are not in search\nof originality, you can find in this book\na good deal which will interest you,\nprovided Hawking and Walking takes\nyou. If not, then riding and driving\nor sailing down rivers perhaps: and\nthis volume has some pleasant designs\nof coaches, boats, et cetera.\nA reproduction of an American\nstage-coach is particularly interesting\neven though it may, for all I know,\nresemble line for line a French stage\n- coach.\nThere is a chapter on Circus and\nTheatre which will please some of our\nreaders, and any Little Theatre can\nlearn from it exactly what to do, if\nthey have only a company of eight\nactors and wish to perform Sheridan's\n44 Pizarro \" which has in it from seven-\nteen to twenty-five characters.\nMr. Sol Smith, the well known\nAmerican actor, will show them\nhow to do it; —hi? speciality was\nLittle Theatres and Big Plays. He'd\n' take six to ten parts himself, give two\napiece to some three or four others,\nand ring up the curtain. His actors\nwould each get about two dollars for\nan evening's show if there were two\ndollars to spare.\nHis roles in 44 Pizarro\" were:\n1. High Priest of the Sun\n2. Almagro a Spanish officer\n3. Blind Man\n4. Sentinel\n5 Valverde, secretary, and,\n6. Guards.\nNot six guards perhaps, only two,\nhis right side and his left side: but\nSol Smith had ideas; not the ideas\nof Reinhardt or Dantchenko, but what\nthe public would recognize as good\nold Smith ideas .... ideas which had\nbeen in the family for centuries.\nBut if you like what you read in\nvMr. Wright's book about So! Smith\nget down your 44 Romance of the\nAmerican Theatre \" by M. C. Craw-\nford and you'll find more about him\nthere, for Miss Crawford supplies us\nas a rule with what the other Hi-\nstorians of American Theatres are apt\nto pass over; but I have often\nmeant to ask this authoress why she\ndates Rachel's death as falling on\nJanuary sth.\n\nTHE BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRE\n{La Morte Amoureuse) by Iheophile\nGautier. Translated by Paul Hookham.\nA. M. Philpoi Ltd, Price 5/-\nAS I read no French, this transla-\ntion delights me, for too seldom\nare Gautier's writings handed on to\nus group of outcasts, we monoton-\ngued.\nNeither' do I know much about\nthis French writer, who was born in the\nPyranees and died in unhappy circum-\nstances in Paris. So that the Intro-\nduction by M. Gustave Rudler is\nhighly pleasing—all but the old fib.\nIt has been spotted in three different\nbooks reviewed or quoted from in\n44 The Mask\" in the last five years\nso you will already know the fib I am\ncoming to is that of the red waistcoat. It\nwas a pink waistcoat. But I won't\nrepeat what others have said but will\nonly draw your attention to the remarks\nabout said waistcoat on Page 171 of\nthe last volume of 44 The Mask \".\nGautier was twenty-five years of\nage when he wrote these pages which\nappear to be so easily imagined and\nwritten, about one who might not love\nyet did so love: who, dwelling in the\ndusk and in coldness dreams his way\ninto another existence.\nTo read at fifty what this young\nman wrote at twenty-five is to me of\nparticular importance, for we were\nborn on the same day, August 31 st,\nhe in 181 1, I in 1878. I am twenty-\nfive years older than he today,\nand, adding the difference of dates\nwhich is sixty-seven years, I am by\nthis calculation ninety-two years older.\nThis has more to do with the\nenjoyment of this tale than it may at\nfirst appear to have. I think that no\nyoung man could enjoy this tale quite\nso well as 1 have done. I delighted to\nsee the daring of twenty-five, yet the\nease and distinction with which he\nadvanced, the prodigal way in which\nhe poured all the resources of his rich\nimagination into this tale about nothing\nin particular.\nAre such young men being born\nthese days ? any Ganders. Hugos, Du-\nmas or de Mussets? 1 his is not a\nparticularly sane age into which any\nyoung genius should be invited to step.\nEighteen hundred and eleven was after\nall 1811.\nThe world still had farms and far-\nmers; it was obliged therefore to yield\nus fresh milk and good eggs; it still baked\ngood sweet bread—and what butter and\nwhat cheeses 1 Horse 3 came prancing into\nthe world unafraid of the competition\nof cog wheels, their fathers and uncles\nstill champing about Blenheim and\nRamillies, the youngsters getting ready\nto draw the chariots in the Procession\nat the Christening of the King of\nRome, after which parade, off to win\nsome spur pricks at Borodino.\nAt such a time genius delights to\nbe born, and Gautier shows his de-\nlight. Listen how he begins his tale:\nyou would never guess that anyone\ncould begin a tale as he does, that is\nto say, in the right way.\n44 You ask me, brother, if I have\nloved ; yes. It is a strange and terrible\nstory, and although I am sixty-six years\nold, I scarcely dare to stir the ashes\nof that memory.\"\nHow much the translation loses for\nme I will not thank any one to tell\nme: I am quite happy as I am: I am\ngrateful to Mr. Paul Hookham (spite\nof a name which he should never use\nin his work any more) and I think\nthat there can be few better translators\nliving.\n\n44 V/OLFGANG AMADEUS MO-\nZART\" by Dyneley Hussey. Kegan\nPaul & Co London. Price 7/6 net.\nA Pleasant Tittle volume about the\nusual tragedy.\nIt is not a book for those few men\nand women who can recognize genius\nand appreciate the arts : it is for the\npublic and costs seven and six-pence.\nIn it the public will learn all about\nthe great musician who, thanks to the\npublic, was \" a prophet without ho-\nnour \", I quote from the author.\nMeditating even briefly upon the\nenchanting music of this Maestro, won-\nder soon is roused that the public was\npermitted to destroy him so soon. He\ndied at thirty-five. He had but half\ndone his work ; it was good work ;\nwhy permit the public to destroy him ?\nFor it was not those with appreciation\nwho let him die ; they were merely\nhelpless; it was the others—the public.\nTo day the same scandal is permit-\nted ; musicians, painters, writers, archi-\ntects, are all pestered to death ; when\nwill the silly waste, the tragic stupi-\ndity, be controlled ? artists are not any\nmore numerous to-day than yesterday.\nIt is easily within the power of\nmankind to encourage the growth of\nall artists instead of tormenting them.\nGreat and small should all be preser-\nved, encouraged, developed, allowed\nto do their work, ....Why not ?"}, {"page_pdf": 48, "page_imprimee": "84", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6747, "texte": "Why n0t.... there is no reply.\nBut the reason they are killed off\n(and I don't exaggerate) is that works\nof art need as much sustenance as\npuppies. I have two puppies, and the\nmother, a rough and tumble dog, does\nher best. She had eight, and only\ntwo have survived. But even there\nthe two get bumped and terrified to\ndeath by her savage old way. She\nis a dear old dog, lovable and fierce.\nBut she is only a dog. You are men\nand women, and all these puppies,\nthese artists of yours, are in daily ter-\nror of what is coming next; either\nyou put one of your feet on them, or\nyou sit on them, and, finding they are\ndead, you eat their bodies.\nI suggest that it is time for the\nwhole matter, a spiritual matter, a matter\naffecting the souls of millions of people\nto be enquired into. If you fail\nto enquire into this your own soul,\nmay you be eternally damned is my\nsincere and hearty wish after reading\nthis life of Mozart.\n\nDr. CHARLES BURNEY'S CON-\nTINENTAL TRAVELS 1770-\n1772. Compiled by Cedric Howard\nGlover. Blackie and Son. Price 10/6.\nNOT as valuable to the student as\nthe whole Burney reprint would\nhave been, this book of extracts will\ndoubtless prove very entertaining to a\nwider public.\nBurney's records are interesting and\noften very exact, but his statement\nthat the 1770 Theatre in Milano had\na hundred boxes in each of its five\nrows puzzles me. If he refers to the\nTeatro Ducale, a hundred is incorrect,\nfor that playhouse had about thirty-six\nin each row, and 1 cannot suppose he\nrefers to any other. 1 never yet came\nacross any theatre, old or new, with a\nhundred boxes in each row. He also\nmentions a Palazzo Simonetto : it should\nbe Simonetta, the palace of the surprising\necho.\nSound, music, singing, opera, all\nthese set the old man travelling around\nFrance and Italy, and everywhere\nstops he goes to the theatre ; for,\non the continent, it has been a tradi-\ntion for many centuries to include opera\nas part and parcel of the term Thea-\ntre : their theatre is in two parts, Tea-\ntro Lirico and Teatro di Prcsa.\nIn England not long since a bright\nlad asked in the columns of the press\nwhether one can quite justly include\nopera as part of the theatre:.... it's\nthe fog which gets into the brains of\npeople who ask questions like this.\nBut to Dr. Burney again.\nWhen he visits a theatre he follows\nGeorge Jean Nathan's advice and looks\non it as a theatre before the curtain\nrises on the Drama or the Opera. So\nhe takes stock of the place and puts\ndown what strikes him as to the size,\neffect, customs of the special theatre\nhe is in : and, when correct, as he is\nmore often than not, he is of great\nvalue to us today.\nWith the travel records of La Lande\nand de Brosses, Goethe and Smart,\nlie forms a small mine of information\nuseful to architects who complain of\nnot being able to find sufficient infor-\nmation about the 1 heatre construction\nof Italy.\n44 The Mask \" has vdone much to\nsupply all the valuable information its\nsmall amount of space will permit of,\nas 1 know by reading 41 The Mask\nand I am grateful to those who have\ntaken such trouble in this matter, and in\nan age when people seem so indifferent.\nBurney was not a good traveller so\nhe often was most uncomfortable, and\nquite unnecessarily so. This puts me\nagainst a bock of travels unless it be\nalso a book of hairsbreadth adventures ;\nand Burney doesn't travel for ad-\nventures ; he travels for the arts, and\nshould go a bit more easily to quite\nplease us as we read.\nHe has a number of wise reports to\nmake on Melastasio, and amusing ones\non the splendour of the wax lights at\nthe Naples Theatre which are 44 too\nmuch for the aching si ght \".\nWell worth reading, after all, these\nextracts, and the book is a very nicely\nprinted book.\n\nADVERTISEMENT DESIGN by\nR. P. Gossop. Chapman and Hall\nLtd. Price 21 /- net.\nNEVER were so many good books\nbeing issued as now on this sub-\nject of Pictorial Advertisement and\nthe value of Design to the Advertiser.\nOur author, Mr. Gossop, (a very\nable artist) concerns himself mainly\nwith British work, crowding one good\ndesign after another into his pages,\nsome being in the most brilliant co-\nlours, and makes of the volume a thing\nworth having merely to look at. It is\npeculiarly entertaining to have a look\nat the hoardings for the first time al-\nthough we have passed them daily for\na year.\nBut the value of the book is to\nadvertisers. Here they have a refe-\nrence book of the best kind. With\nthe 44 Studio \" publications it forms\nalmost an Encyclopaedia of modern\nadvertising possibilities.\nBy the way, isn't it time the Thea-\ntre managers moved forward in this\nmatter of Design 7 If the Natural\nHistory Museum can use such a design\nas that facing page 147 and the-\nUnderground Railways employ Mr.\nPaul Woodroffe as they did in 1926,\nand other Railways get a design from\nR. P. Gossop, whose plate (face\npage 108) is delightful, and the Royal\nMail Line employ Mr. Taylor (face\npage 112), surely the Theatre can do\nas well if not better than all these.\nBut they should first go to consult Mr.\nGossop so as to do it thoroughly.\nThere are dozens of artists for the\nadvertiser to select from.\nT. C. Derrick designs very pretty\nthings, and Fred Pegram is always\ndelightful. E. McKnight Kauffer is\nvivid, as all London should know by\nthis time.\nWhat does the 1 heatre want ?\n....pretty, delightful or vivid ?—it as\noften as not selects an ineffective de-\nsign.\nPerhaps it doesn't quite grasp the\nworth of these things. I take it that\n£ 100.0.0 would not be too much\nto pay the artist for a really good\ndesign. .. though a clever youngster\nshould be happy to get £ 1 5.0.0.\nIt's so often this doubt about the\nprice and who to ask which damps\nthe gunpowder..., and thus the Thea-\ntre fails to get quite as good as it\ndeserves to get.\nMr. Selfridge has been one of the\nmen who understood what it meant to\npay artists well and to secure the best\nartists. It is so important: in fact,\nit is after all the first and essential\npoint : that is why I mention it here.\n\nACCESSIONS LIST 1926 of the\nDepartment of Engraving, Illustration\nand Design. Victoria and Albert\nMuseum, Issued 1927,\nTHIS department of the famous Mu-\nseum at South Kensington is al-\nways adding a little to its collection\nof Theatrical designs for scenes and\ncostumes or theatrical subjects. I count\nsome forty entries in this list, among\nwhich are some scene designs by the\nTelbins, William Telbin the elder\n(1813-1873), William Telbin the youn-\nger, and Henry Telbin (1840-1865)\nbrother of the younger felbm: a num*\nber of costume designs by Charles\nRickelts A. R. A., and two designs\nby Albert Rutheraton, one by Not man\nWilkinson : a scale model by George\nSneringham : a scene design by Clark-\nson Stanneld and a design for an Act-\ndrop used at Drury Lane Theatie"}, {"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "85", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.49", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6700, "texte": "when it was rebuilt and reopened\nin 1922.\nI should like to see in the collec-\ntion a few examples of the Theatre\nwork of Claus Richter who exhibited\nat the International Theatre Exhibition\nin London, for his work is serviceable.\n1 hat word means a good deal used\nhere. Many artists dash off very pretty\nor strikingly ugly unserviceable designs.\nI find that the Russians, Polunin, Gout-\ncharova and Larionov, are among the\nnumber.\nDesigns by Richter are always of\nservice to the stage and understandable\nby those who work on a stage ; but\nthen Richter was an actor.\n\nIL GROTTESCO NELUARTE E\nNELL A LETTERATURA by\nGino Gori. Alberto Stock. Roma.\nPrice lire 24.\nHAVING written this interesting\nlit lie book on a streak which\nruns through the Arts and Letters,\nSignor Gori asks Signor Massimo\nBontempelli for a Preface. And Si-\ngnor Bontempelli talks of the Ci-\nnema.\n44 The Cinema is our language'1 he\nsays. He wondeis how it is that\nSignor Gori hasn't understood that the\ngrotesque (which Signor Gori says is\nnow apparently empty) has in the\n44 Cinematografica dell'Arte \" an \"am-\nbiente propizio\", that is, a favourable\nfield or setting.\nI fully expect to hear someone\nshortly telling shoemakers that it's\nabsurd to complain of the scarcity of\nleather because the age of the cinema-\ntograph offers the very finest film from\nwhich bedroom slippers can be simply\nreeled off by the million.\nThis Ci nema has got on to every-\none's nerves and critics are beginning\nto write with their nerves since it\nwould appear that, by using the brains,\nit is impossible to find anything good\nto be said about the Cinema.\n\nTHEATRE. Essays on the Arts of\nthe Theatre Edited by Edith J. R.\nIsaacs. Little Brown & Co. Boston.\nPrice $ 4.50.\nFOR my part I should have sup-\nposed that the Theatre was not a\nshop, not a stores : but it becomes a\nstores if several arts are sold there to\nthe public and if the public is slyly\nspoiled and given what it whimpers or\nblusters for.\nIn that case those who look after\nthat sort of I heatre are right to as-\nsume that role of retailer or purveyer,\nwhich comes naturally to Mr. Seifridge\nwithout any assumption.\nBut if the Theatre be something\nmore than a stores,—if it be like a\nPicture Gallery or a Library, which are\nm ade with some sense of dignity for\ntheir two uses, then it will also like\nto preserve that old sense, a universal\nsense, and will not claim to house more\nthan one art, and that art its own.\nThe Theatre had best only aim to be\nsomething like a Library or a Picture Gal-\nlery: I mean by that, it had best not\naspire or be making any steps to be-\ncome more than these : it may not be\nreaching to the solemnity of a Univer-\nsity, or of a Church. If ever it did\nso it woul i still have to remember that\nUniversities and Churches have for\nsome reason avoided the Stores idea.\nThe Church has held but one thing\nReligion: Universities but one thing—\nLearning.\nA church which had gone in for\nselling metal work and carpets, bro-\ncades and looking glasses on the steps\nof its altar would have been a huge\nsuccess.... for five years. After that,\nor after fifteen or twenty, it would\nhave crumbled. A University which\nshould indulge in Public display of any\nkind would have also soon fallen.\nYet the Theatre, for some unknown\nreason, has been content to do what\nneither Church, University, Gallery\nnoi Library thought in any way fit.\nIt edges up, snuggles up to the side\nof the big Stores. Funny things are\nsold across the footlights or at the\nstage door. M Here's an idea '' says\nsome prize-fighter to the manager weary\nwith rehearsing actors. 44 Come and\ntalk it over in the pub \" replies the\nmanager, or 44 in the club \", ....it's\nabout the same thing only not so jolly.\nAnd the Prize fighter begins: 14 My\nidea is that you engage me and Mike\nBilkins for your old Covent Garden\nTheatre and that we make a regular\nstunt of it There his idea stops :\nbut the manager actually engages him.\nand Covent Garden Theatre was turned\ninto a prize fighters' ring.\n44 But my idea \" says Fraulein Ja-\ngermann to the Duke at Weimar\n(Goethe being out of earshot) is to\nappear in a play with a poodle\n44 Capital idea \" cries August the hun-\ndredth—and the Royal Theatre is tur-\nned into a foolery.\n44 I have always had the idea \" says\na solemn impresario to a group of\npressmen round his table 44 to make a\ngreat Review or Parade of a hundred\nof the loveliest girls.... 44 Go no\nfurther, Boss—it's GREAT \" cry the\npressmen.\nAnd so on and so on and so on»\nAny old thing has done for the Thea-\ntre it would seem, and any old thing\nwon't do.\nAnd so it is a good sign to find in\nthis book written by a dozen or so\nAmericans, edited by the lady who\nedits the 44 Theatre Arts Monthly a\nseries of essays which show a desire\nto limit, to some extent, this wholesale\ntraffic in any old thing.\nFor we must. remember that the\ni heatre is the house of one thing only\nand that is the Drama. Lyric or\nProse Drama, Mimo-drama, Marion-\nnette Drama (this but a small affair\nfor children, of course) and that's\nabout all.\nI don t like seeing the Theatre even\nused as an Odeum or as a Dancing\nHall : but where Dancing and Ora-\ntory come into the Drama without ob-\ntruding themselves (and they both do\ncome into it) then place can be found\nboth for Dancer and Orator.\nIt would indeed be a dangerous\nstate for the Theatre to get into if the\nDramatist ever began to feel that he\nwas being crowded out of the Playhouse\nby a pack of prize fighters, poodles,\ndancers and orators. But he has his\nstaunch allies, and whether he write his\nplays, compose his operas or invent his\nmimo-dramas, the Dramatist will al-\nways be able to count on the Manager-\nProd ucer who is master of the House\nand who sees that j all things are\nready for the reception of the Drama.\nBut there is another person to fear\nand that is the amateur. If thirty\namateur notion-mongers, scenic fellows,\nactors, producers, were to push or\ninsinuate their way in through the stage\ndoor there would have to be thoughts\nof revolution.\nAnd the so-called old-fashioned part\nof the professional theatre senses all\nthese dangers. That is why the pro-\nfession is unable to move and do very\nmuch. It just holds its breath, does\nnot stir, and tragically hopes against\nhope. It knows.\nThe so-called New Movement which\nis represented by this book of Mrs\nIsaacs must now do something to un-\nderstand this. It must be a friend to\nthe so-called old-fashioned professional\ntheatre.\nHow that can be done is both hard\nto discover and as easy as to say 4; Here\nwe are again\nNo one questions any longer the\nability (up to a certain point) and the\ngenius (far beyond that point) of the\nNew Movement.\nAnd in Germany, in Russia, in\nHolland and in Poland, in Ireland and"}, {"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "86", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6713, "texte": "in odur plcxes where clher and grea-\nter troubles show them the futility of\ntussmg about this Theatre trouble, the\ngenius and ability of the New Move-\nment has made good friends with the\nso-called old-fashioned group, and all\nare now united.\nIt would be well if in America and\nEngland, in France and Italy, in Spain\nand in Belgium the so-called old-fas-\nhioned Theatre and the newer artists,\nactors, dramatists and ail could join\nhands, meet, and realize that they\nhave but one common enemy, and\nthat is the outsider who would like to\nuse their house for his prize-fights, ci-\nnemas, dances and other purposes, and\nthat as their destiny is to uuite, it\nwere all to the geed to do so without\nany more delay.\n\nMOLIERE'S PLAYS\nAND THIRTEEN OTHERS.\nWHY do playwriters fail to foil w\nthe Moliere tradition and\nfollow it exactly too ?\nI should better understand their fai-\nlure if plays had been failures\non the boards.\nBut here is the excellent Rann\nKennedy with thirty years of practical\nexperience as actor, producer and play-\nwright, running counter to the whole tra-\ndition of the stage and glorying in it.\nAnd here is Arthur Schnitzler writing\na little masterpiece again, a long mo-\nnologue made for Ruth Draper and a\nproducer who feels equal to the task,\nand calling it a novelette. I don't\nblame either of them; I only continue\nto wonder what can have come over\nplaywrights to leave their citadel, open\nthe gates, and ask for sudden death\nat the hands of the public, the actors,\nthe producers and all.\nThe se thirteen 0) plays are all very\ndifferent : and scrne are distinctly bel-\nter than others ; but one and all de-\nsert the strong position taken for them\nby the Commedia dell'Arte and for-\ntified by Moli^re.\nIt is not surprising then if today the\nProducer is asked to take a lead, for\nhe will assuredly do his best to re-\ntake the fortified place and give it\nback to the genuine dramatists. I hat is\npretty certain, I think.\nIn order to realize what has been\nlost you have only to buy the Plays\nby Moli&re issued at 95 cents by\nBoni & Liveright in their Modern Li-\nbrary.\nYou will immediately discover that\nthe translation is a poor one—the names\nof the translators are not given ; and\nyou will, if you follow my advice,\ngive away this 95 cents' worth to a\nhospital and you will purchase a copy\nof Wall's translation, issued by Bell\nand Sons ; it is in their Bohn Series.\nI his is presuming you read French\nuneasily.\nTo read Moliere uneasily does not do.\nBetter the imperfections of a good trans-\nlation so that you can go along quickly\nthan a jerky voyage through the ori-\nginal.\nAnd when you read these plays\nyou will see what it is that constitutes\na good play.\nThere is no one to equal Moliere in\nthe making up of a good play. He\nhas studied in that ancient school\nwhich ordered the writer to 44 cut it\ndown to half and leave nothing out \" :\nthat to begin with. Then he has re-\nmembered a wise saying, 44 Do not give\ntoo fine a point to your wit \". He\nhas never forgotten the old joke, 44 Cut\nthe cackle and come to the 'osses \". In\nfact he reverences the stage, the au-\ndience and the craft of playmaking\nand never quarrels with B. G. Lulli\nwho is fond of productions. Playwrights,\nplease copy.\nBut there is one of these thirteen\nplays I wish to pick out from the\nrest. Not because it is a better play\nthan the rest, but because it is de-\nliberately less of a play than the\nothers.\nIt is a series of episodes, and no\nstage manager, no producer can fail\nto appreciate the compliment paid him\nby the author, who, without indulging in\nlaudation of the producer's craft, docs\noffer him a hundred opportunities and\noffers them courteously.\nHis piece is called 44 Casanova \" :\na fantastic chronicle in seven Episodes\nwiih a Prologue and an Epilogue \".\nWere I a producer, I must admit I\nshould prefer to work upon a sketch,\na scenario or a play like one by Mache-\nlovskovsky where .no stage directions\nof modem ed tions are to be found.\n(The stage directions of Machelov-\nskovsky are all of them inserted by\npeople since he wrote the plays and\nare not worth a fig.).\nBut next to a blank cheque of th s\nkind I must say (were 1 a producer)\nI'd enjoy such a series of incidents as\nMr. Gribble offers me, for 1 should\nfeel 1 had a sympathetic collaborator\nwho would never haggle about the\nwords and would even (willingly) insert\nnew phrases where they might seem ne-\ncessary as the Episodes began to take\nshape on the Stage.\nMr. Gribble certainly makes a ges-\nture which the producer must not far!\nto respond to. It is a friendly and\ncourteous nod in his direction.\n(I) PLAYS by MOLIERE. Boni &\nLiveright. 95 cents.\nAfA .S A A/S6W Ay Charles Lee. Dent\n(ft Sons //-\nBANNS OF MARRIAGE by\nCharles Lee. .Sows //-\nPETER & PAUL by H. F. Rubins-\ntein, Benn Ltd. priee not given.\nEXODUS by 11. F. Rubinstein <# Hal-\ncott Glover Benn Ltd. price not given.\nSHAKESPEARE by H. F. Rubins-\ntein & Clifford Bax Benn Ltd. \"\nERA ULEIN ELSE by Arthur\nSchnitzler Philpot Ltd, 5/-\nPEERS WOODMAN by Ber?iard\nGutlbert, THE MOON RISES HIGH\nby Herman Ould and THE ONE ETER-\nNAL THING by A. G. Berrisfotd Black-\nwell, Oxford 3/6 each.\nPLAYS FOR IHREE PLAYERS\nby C. R. Kennedy. University of Chi-\ncago Press 12/6.\nCASANOVA by G. D. Gribble. Jtout-\nedg* 5l -\n\nI WANT TO BE HAPPY by\nWilliam Plait. Melhuen &P Co,\nPrice 3/6,\nA MAN'S DAY ON EARTH by\nWilliam Piatt. Bale Sons, price 3/6.\nWHEN the Englishman is very En-\nglish he is often very young.\nMr. Platt is a teacher—and just\nthe very man to teach, for he is kind\nand he is patient and he is young and\nno one would ever be frightened of\nhim. There again, when the young\nEnglishman is very English he easily\ngets frightened.\nAnd Mr. Piatt's book may frighten\nhim, but he won't read it: he'll read -\nMr. Piatt's face and listen to his mu-\nsic, and he'll go out and play hockey\nwith Willie Plait and be quite uncon-\nscious that this man of past sixty-five\nis educating him to be a fine fellov.\nPiatt has genius : he has chosen to\nput thst rather into his life and the\ndaily task of helping others than into '\nany old books which, after all, he\ndoesn t like. He's bookish but he\ndoesn't r ally like books : he likes the\nopen road and the earth. And in his\nsecond book about a day on that\nearth he rushes through with it so as\nto get out and breathe the fresh air\nand play more games and make eve-\nryone happy.\nHappiness is his theme and he ra-\nces on and doesn't even bother to note\nhow unhappy he has made me by a\ncaricature of a much loved master of\nmine, a man who never bothered (ap-\nparently) to make his pupils happy,\nwho never was out of the stuffy at-\nmosphere of a theatre and who frigh-\ntened us all to death.\nThrough and through he was kind- *\nness itself, but he didn't look it:"}, {"page_pdf": 51, "page_imprimee": "87", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.51", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6693, "texte": "whereas Piatt both iooks it and\nis it.\nBut fancy describing Irving as \"a\nbadly dressed actor *\\talking in a shop\nto a tailor who was \" adamant \",\n\" pleading \" with this tailor for \" a\nlittle more credit \", the tailor \" refu-\nsing to listen \" and finally \" sent him\naway \".\nThis of Irving, who was never badly\ndressed, never pleaded, commanded\nalways :—with whom no one durst be\n\" adamant \" lest they became foolish ;\nand who was never \" refused\nAs for \" sent away I feel like\nsending Piatt away, only I once met\nhim with a group of artists and so-\ncialists up Hampstead way and thought\nhe looked what in England used to\nbe called \" an old dear \".\nPiatt, as a matter of fact, is an im-\nmensely able man, and all he does in\nthis life is to attempt to hide this\nand to bring out the ability of others\n\nSEPT COMEDIES DO MO YEN\nAGE. Illustrated. Editions Spes. Paris.\nPrice Frs 1\nCOMEDIES by Holberg,. Humphrey\nMilford. Oxford University Press.\nPrice not given.\nAS THEY SEEMED TO ME by\nUgo Ojetti, Translated by Henry\nFurst, Introduction by D' Annunzio.\nMethuen Price 6/-.\nTHE ADVENTURES OF FIVE\nHOURS by Sir Samuel Tufa. Holden.\nPrice 7/6.\nFIFTY YEARS OF SPOOF by\nArthur Roberts. John Lane. Price 12/6.\nTHE ALCHEMIST by Ben Jonson.\nCambridge University Press. Price 2/6.\nB|| J JIJ| „ J,, pißim—l—WW I lIIIWW ■IIIHIM «N^RNRwR—-rrrimr—————\nTHOUGH I know better editions of\nthese \"Sept Comedies\" I don't know\nbetter comedies. These are real stage\nplays plays made by actors or actor\nauthors, or by writers who were taught\nby proper experience how to stop\nwasting words and (a very vulgar trick)\nhow to get laughs. I'm very sorry to\nhave to descend in these days of Me-\nthuselah to blithe pithy matters, but the\nmain thing for a play writer to do if he\nwish to die a play-Wright is to come\nstraight to the point and make it.\nThen make another: allow two minutes\nbetween the more dazzling points, but\nfill these minutes in with a few sparks\nhere and there. Keep this up for an\nhour, and you'll die a playwright sure\nenough, my son.\nOf course old Holberg was a play-\nwiight he died in 1754, in Soro.\nAnd when ycu see Johannes Poulsen\nplaying Erasmus Montanus you 11 think\nHolberg wrote it for him. And in a\ncertain sense he did. He wrote it for\nan actor (ie a man who can act), not\nfor clever people who mumble and\nfidget; and, Poulsen being born ACTOR,\nit follows, as the evening the afternoon,\nhe wrote it for Poulsen.\nHolberg was not as good at a play\nas was the author of \" Paihelin, \" but\nhe will do : he belongs to the great\nschool the school of l'm\nnot sure I like using the word great in\nthis connection because school\nis anything but great, It's no more\ngreat than is a big bush of roses\nit's like a bush of roses goes on\nand on and is a!l right in all weathers:\nout come the roses punctually to a\nday up goes the curtain and pat\ncomes the first bud of a laugh or a\ngreat burst of blossom right away.\nHolberg is here translated for us by\nCampbell and Schenck and very well\nthey have done him. It's not a book\nthat came out this year; it appeared\nin 1914; but there was not a moment\nin that year to risk the safety of De-\nmocracy by reading any damn fool\nplays.\nNow is the moment when no other\nrisk is worth while—and may Demo-\ncracy be shattered is my very heart-\nfelt wish. Playing these plays would\nhelp to shatter it; —it would be a\nsure sign that all was up with that\nhumbug if all the really good and\ngenuine plays had long runs 0).\n\" Holberg's sense of fact was pictu-\nresque, rather than profound\" writes\nCampbell in his Introduction '• <nd\nwhat profounder does any but a fa-\ntuous world ask for?\nIT is because Signor Ugo Ojetti U so\npicturesque that he is so profound.\nIn his rapid sketches of people as he\nsaw them he enchants the reader. He\nis a vivid writer, and has eyes that\nlook into and through things. He can\nsee through to the Mother of Duse.\nDuse has only to help him a very\nlittle. He can see through to Gari-\nbaldi while speaking with his wife.\nHe sees Puccini, D'Annunzio, Lloyd\nGeorge and King Victor Emanuel.\nHe saw well this last man—a very\ngreat man, surely never drawn more\nperfectly than Signor Ojetti has done\nin a few lines.\nAnd he can see into Voronoff and\nZola.\nEveryone of the forty four essays\non people, places or things written of\nin this delightful book is good, and\nsome are beautiful. The translations\nby Mr. Henry Furst are perfect, and\nGabriele D'Annunzio's introduction, in\nthe form of a letter written to his old\nforeign legionary Furst, is to me as\ncharming and full of lovely things as\nD'Annunzio himself has always been\nexcept to the cynical or to the egoist.\nI don't know whether this has been\na \"best seller\", this little book; but\nI know that if 1 wanted to give a\nfriend many delightful hours I would\ngive him a copy of this book by\nOjetti.\nI should feel far less certain of giving\nmy friend any delight at all if I were\nto offer him a copy of \" The Adven-\nture of Five Hours\" by old friend\nSam Tuke.\nBut I would risk taking him to see\nthat play if I knew where to get\nseats for it: for I feel that it's\nplayable.\nPepys loved it and swore it to be\n\"in one word the best for variety\netc. etc. that ever I saw \". The rum\nfellow even read the play three years\nlater and found it better than\n\" Othello \", wrote that \" Othello \"\nwas \" a mean thing \" after Sara\nTuke's play.\nAnd this shows that when acted it\ncan be good. For, when reading it\nin 1666, Pepys recalled what the\nactors had done and how, and all the\nrest of the show: without that to help\nthe reader I much doubt if any but\nthe exemplary ones could get past the\nfirst three pages and live. But it's a\nnicely printed, nicely bound book, and\nif there was a Big Theatre Movement\n(a thing Europe and America stand\ngreatly in need of) I could hope that\none Big Theatre would try it out at\na rehearsal.\nAs for the Little Theatre Move-\nment, which only acts as bait for spe-\nculators, I would say \" leave it alone \".\nMr. Arthur Roberts knows what I\nmean. —He has written a book so\nfull of commonsense, and states so\nclearly what he thinks of the decay\nof personality that I'm sure the public\nwhich loved to see and hear Roberts\nwill never be gulled by this Little\nTheatre Movement. Aias, it's the\nlittle wriggle itself which will be gul-\nled and swallowed up.\nArthur Roberts has the great gift\npossessed by Moli&re and Holberg:\nhe can make his points at once. It\nseems to be out of fashion, this di-\nrectness; whereas the other thing is\nadored \" it's as easy as lying \".\nTo make your point directly is the\nmost difficult thing to do; it needs\npersonality and again personality and\nthen a vast experience.\n\n(i) There's another play would help\ntoo called 4 Der Snob of which I\nhope to write later."}, {"page_pdf": 52, "page_imprimee": "88", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.52", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6692, "texte": "And 1 can understand how it was\nthat Arthur Roberts made his points\nat once on a stage; but how it is he\ndoes it in a book, like any thorough\ntrained journalist would do it, must\nhave staggered as well as delighted\nhis countless admirers.\nThe book is full of sound sense\nwell writ and hilarius. It never\nflags. It begins and ends brilliantly\nand is up to the mark all the time.\nIf only the learned Ben Jonson had\npossessed one eighth of the personality\nof Arthur Roberts his 44 Alchemist\nwould not have sent me to sleep.\nI admit that this is a famous play,\nbut there you are it's like one of\nthe famous plays of our days, famous\nbecause fogies have said it s wonderful.\nAnd it's not wonderful; it's able,\nand it is well writ in a scholarly way;\nbut no one in his senses ever asks a\nplaywright to be scholarly.\nWhat we want is something actable\nsomething lively, 44 Othello,' or\n44Tartuffe\": and then anything less\nseems a miss-fire.\nHave I your wink, William of\nThe Mermaid, that Ben Jonson was\na missfire? have I yours, Jean Poque-\nlin ? All right.\n\nTHE ENGLISH DRAMA by H.\nF. Rubinstein. Benn Ltd. Price 6d.\nI think there are no books being is-\nsued which are half as good for\nthe price as these sixpenny books.\nMr. Rubinstein seems to agree with\nMr. Ivor Brown that the producer is\nat last going to be asked to prove\nwhat use he can be to the Drama,\nand,— provided he is not asked to\nproduce gorgeous spectacles for thirty-\ntwo guineas—l daresay the producer\ncan and will prove of service.\nI believe Mr. Rubinstein unintentio-\nnally misinterprets Mr. Brown when\nhe says that be has 44 shown how\n....the failure of the supply of fresh\ndrama automatically raises the status of\neither actor or producer \", I think\nMr. Brown means something more\nthan that.\nBesides, there has been no failure\nto supply fresh drama. Never have so\nmany dramas been written as in re-\ncent years... many of them first-rate.\nAll they lacked was a theatre under\na producer with singleness of purpose,\nto carry them across the rather turbulent\nfootlights.\nNo ship would set out with eight\nor more different fellows telling the\ncaptain that he didn't know how to steer\nand that they did know. And this\nhas been going on now for too many\nyears. The one man who can un-\ndoubtedly steer the theatrical ship is\nthe producer. And for twenty years\nthe producers in Germany and in Rus-\nsia have steered well. Reinhardt and\nStanislawsky for example.\nWe have lost those twenty years,\nwondering whether we really could or\ncould not trust Craig.\nWe came at last to trust Barker but\nwe backed out of it. Then we trusted\nDrinkwater * and Dean—but we feel\nrather doubtful as to the issue. I sup-\npose it's timidity on our part. It cer-\ntainly is not very long-sighted of us.\nSuggested :—that we wake up and\ndo the thing properly by trusting all\nour best men and giving them plenty\nof opportunity of doing all they can.\nAnything else is fast becoming ri-\ndiculous.\n\nFRANCOIS VILLON by D. B.\nWyndham Lewis. Peter Davies.\nPrice 10/6.\nON LOVE, Stendhal Chatto &\nWindus. Price 7/6.\nLA CHANSON DE MA VIE by\nYvette Guilbert. Grasset (Paris);\nPrice Francs 12.\n\nI would like to take the last book,\nfirst, but I have nothing to say of\nit which has not been said better by\nall the best writers of France. So I\nwill do the unexpected and start at\nthe beginning with the book on Villon,\nAt the first glance at the book I\nfelt sorry to think that any writer\non 44 The Daily Mail \" should, during\nhis off hours, write about a prodigal,\nan unashamed prodigal who was a\npoet, a cut-throat and so on.\nIt gave me a shock at first.\nBut by the time I reached page I 1 5\nI was relived to find our popular hu-\nmourist splashing on the white-wash\npresumably lest one million of the old\ncrowd should chance to come across\nthe book.\nAnd thus it falls out that he comes\nto speak of Villon's passion for Ka-\ntherine de Vausselles being 44 undoubt-\nedly the nearest thing to a pure and\nsteadfast love \".\nVillon in collar and cuffs, spats, and\ntopper, approving and disapproving\nand playing down to the 44 pure and\nsteadfast\" lovers of Bond Street is\njust the sort of picture one expects\nfrom our D. B. W. L.\nBut, as a matter of fact, Wyndham\nLewis has written a very serious book\nabout a dev'lish serious subject, and,\nwhile making it one of the most enter-\ntaining historical novels of the season,\nhas never forgotten that what he is\nwriting of is or rather was all true; so\nhe has at the same time made it\nexact.\nVillon was made so strangely that\nit's a wonder he lived so long, battled-\nthrough, and found time to write\nmuch. But then he could write well\nand that was everything. It was easy\nthen to live long and battle along.\nBut he certainly was made strangely.\nMr. Lewis knows him far better than\n1 do; but for all this, when I came to\npage 143 and read Mr. Lewis's\nreading of 44 Que sais je plus? Quoy?\nLes gaiges ravoir\" for some reason\n1 actually had the audacity to differ\nfrom Villon's historian. I apologize,\nfirst for he must know: but, guessing,\n1 find a simpler solution.\n44 There is \" writes Mr. Lewis,\n\" undoubted evidence in the Ballade\nde Blois, if it is examined again with\nattention, of a coolness between Villon\nand his host: the whole Envoi becomes\na humble and apologetic plea for pardon\nfor some offence, and in the line\nQue sais je plus ? Quoy ? Les gaiges ravoir,\nthere is crystal-clear showing that\nVillon had had his wage stopped\nfor some solecism or misdemeanour.\nHad he broken out suddenly at table\nwith an oath or a too ripe story from\nthe Trou Perrette? Had he burst at\nlength into the mincing, exclusive\ncircle of little . literary men and\nblackened a poetic eye ? Had he\nhad trouble with the seneschals, or\ncreated a scandal in the servants' hall,\nor attempted gallantry with my Lady's\nmaids? He had offended the Duke,\nit is obvious, and the Duke had cut\noff his stipend.\nNow I see it quite differently. To\nme Villon is only doing in verse what\nLeonardo da Vinci did in prose, and\nMartinelli the actor did in doggerel,\nand every artist was expected to do.\nLeonardo's patron was the Duke of\nMilano, and this prince was of the\nusual kind, rich and brainless, feeling-\nless, forgetful. Leonardo wanted to\nbe paid, and for that pay he had to\nwrite an entertaining letter.\nMartinelli the actor had as his Pa-\ntron Henry IV of France and that\nprince was all humanity, able and rich\ntoo, but none the less forgetful; deli-\nberately so; it was expected of patrons;\ni and it was to him that Martinelli\nwrote some brilliantly stupid jingles\nt asking to be paid.\nIn short, every artist who could\n, talk or write brilliantly and who had\na dash of genius in him always did\n, write and ask to be paid.\n\\ So that it by no means follows that"}, {"page_pdf": 53, "page_imprimee": "89", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.53", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6754, "texte": "Villon had \" offended the Duke \" or\nhad \"broken out suddenly at table\".\nIt s an excellent reading of the part,\nI admit, but it s too spectacular.\n\" Dear Sir, I am tired of waiting\n\" any longer for payment due to me\n\" for those camel hair brushes which\nyou purchased at my shop last cen-\n\" tury is what impatient colour-men\nwrite to the Princely artists of our day;\nbut there has been no quarrel; merely\ndeliberate forgetfulness on the part of\nthe artist.\nAnd theoretically how right of the\nartist. Liberated from the old servi-\ntude he has today become a Prince,\nand puts on the airs which our princes\nof today have no use for.\nIt s all he has to put on, poor\nart st; isn t he welcome to the airs ?\n(By the way, you who live in\nshire near Stroud, you really ought to\npay up your last two years' subscription\nto 44 Ihe Mask\"; for I hear from\nFlorence that your princely way is\ncausing hard workers some extra little\nbit of stress, so do pay).\nThe Duke of Milano in 1500, and\nCharles Duke of Orleans in 1457\nprobably had no notion who was paid\nor why anyone wanted money. They\nnever were paid—they never were in\nwant of monies. I think they were\nrather stupid.\nHenry IV was quite different; but\nthen Henry was a man generous and\ngood to all and on the whole not ex-\ntravagant, not wasteful like so many\nprinces.\nIt was of Mr. Wyndham Lewis I\nmeant to write; he is extravagant and\ngenerous; he gives us 355 closely\npacked pages, excellently printed, on\none of the most interesting subjects\nanyone who wants a thrill could\nwish for.\nHe gives us the life of Villon\nwhich was tragic and well run,\nconsidering he had the brains of a\nPoet of Genius and the blood and\nbone of a rogue: and he gives us a\ntranslation of nearly all Villon's poems:\nthese he mixes in with the History.\nShall I blame Mr. Lewis for his\nsentimentalities? I assuredly won't for\nI can't. Villon himself was amongst\nother things a sentimentalist: power he\nhad, but sometimes unexpectedly gives\nat the knees. At least so I suppose,\nfor I only think 1 know him.\nI would like to know as much\nabout him as Mr. Lewis must know.\nMr. Belloc in his excellent Preface\nsays that \" if you desire one word to\nuse as an antithesis to the word senti-\nmental use the word Villon\". And\nI suppose his meaning is clear; but\ncuriously enough it is the one weakners\nI would allow Villon.\nAnd I would allow it to Stendhal\nwho writes \" On Love \" as well as he\nwrites on Cimarosa or Milano.\nAnd indeed how write on love or\nmoney without being sentimental.\nWhat can arouse shallow emotions\nmore surely than Vamour or f argent.\nAnd why this new London craze\nfor being free from one more littleness.\nWhat foolery it i 3 to be incessantly\nfussing about the absense of trifles.\nWhy should Villon be free from\nsentimentality: good heavens, the thing\nwon t bite him. Mr. Belloc's phrase\nreminds me of the \" whatever you can\nsay about the man he never borrowed\na pennyor \" one thing we can\nfirmly state about her and that is she\nnever powdered \".\nAnd if he had borrowed a million\npennies, or she had powdered and\nrouged what then ?\nWell, London was, London is, and\nyet I hope London will not for ever\nbe the home of old noodles. But if\nyou desire one word to use as an\nantithesis to the word noodle use the\nword Belloc. And if you are fishing\nfor words with which to express per-\nfection in good plain bookmaking, utter\nthe four words Peter Davies Chatto\nWindus.\nP.S. And did it ever occur to\nanyone that Yvette Guilbert would be\nthe one person living to tell us exactly\nwhat Villon was—and what he means:\nand what Stendhal was and what he\nmeant?\n\nE. H. G. C.\n\nMORE P L A YS . (0\nTHIS author of 44 The Scarlet Lady \"\nis the other Turner—not the\nauthor of 44 The man who ate the\nPopomack\" whose name is W. J.\nTurner: this one is John Hastings\nTurner. And lam wondering if there\nisn't just time just time to change.\nIt's only a matter of one of them cal-\nling himself Renrut or Isherwood,\nRabchick or Giles or any other old\nname. But for two young writers of\nplays both to be called Turner will\nnot do.\nWhy this shyness, J. H., and why\nare you so shy, W. J.? how strange\nthat each should be a J.\nW. J. Turner is but thirty-nine years\nof age, J. H. Turner is only thirty-\nsix, so it doesn't matter a scrap which\nagrees to go on with the name Turner\nand which takes a new name. They\nwon't lose anything yet, but later on,\nif they continue both to write plays\nas J. Turner, it will tell against one\nor both of them. It's not in nature.\nThe Scarlet Lady is one of Mr. J.\nH. 1 urner's best although I rather\nfear that after a few nights, the lady\nAlicia would bore the theatre-goers.\nShe's not scarlet... She's only playing.\nHer trick is all right; it's she herself\nis so ordinary. I crave for some cha-\nracters in our plays who are not like\nthe mentalities we manage to avoid,\nand Alicia is a Mr, Turner\n».\nisn t.\n\" II Roveto \" by Angelo Nasalli\nRocca is a little play in three acts\nwhich has been played in 1923 by\nVirgilio Talli's Company in the big\nTeatro Comunale built by Antonio\nBibiena; - but this is nothing against\nit. For it was quickly selected by the\nCompany Caio-de-Riso as the very\nthing they wanted, and it has toured\nItaly for a long time,\nIt stands to reason that this, the\nthird play by our author, is a good\none; for Italian audiences do not go\nto the Theatre to see poor plays.\nNasalli Rocca doesn't waste time\ndreaming: nor polishing subtleties, nor\nlooking for too difficult themes: he is\na play writer who gives the public a\nplay which pleases it and at the same\ntime gives his actors an opportunity to\nperform it well or ill. Some play\nwriters make it impossible for actors to\nfail in their plays: this is no compli-\nment to the actors; it leaves them no-\nthing to do.\nOtway, for example, in his \" Ve-\nnice Preserved \" leaves it to the actors\nto do well or ill, and Otway's Tragedy\nis not only the best of the five reprin-\nted by the Oxford University Press in\ntheir World Classics, but has been the\nmost popular. It's emotional stuff, and\nall the better for that, for without it\nDrama is non-existent.\nThe \"No\" plays, three of which\nMrs. Marie C. Stopes reprints for us\nfrom a book she made in 1913, are\nas emotional as the Otway play or as\nthat by Signor Rocca. The quality of\nthe emotion is the thing interesting to\ncompare. Japan, from our English\n\n(i) The Scarlet Lady by John Hastings\nTurner. Blackwell. Price 3/6.\n\" Jl Roveto \" by A. M. Nasalli Rocca.\nStamp. Bodoniana. Parma. Price 6 lire.\nFive Restoration Tragedies. No.\nCCCXIII of the World Classics, Oxford\nUniversity Press. Price 2/-net.\nPlays of old Japan. Translated by\nMarie C. Stopes, with a Preface by\nBaron Kato, Eclipse Press. London.\nPrice 3/6.\nThe plays of Georg Buchner; tran-\nslated by Geoffrey Dunlop. Gerald Howe\nLtd. Price 7/6."}, {"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "90", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6615, "texte": "point of view, offers in the \"No a\nseries of quite unactable plays: yet\nstrange to say they have held the stage\nfor centuries and the Japanese are no\nfools. The No plays are as far from\nTchehov, from Ibsen and from Pinero\nas the moon is from the earth. But\nthere is one good thing to be said for\nPinero—his plays are really admirably\nadapted to the requirements and re-\nsources of amateur actors.\nThe book of the words of George\nBiichner's \" Danton has reached us\nsome years late for the photographs\nand designs of Reinhardt's production\nwe saw yeetrs ago. It is a propaganda\nplay and written to catch the conscience\nof the king—but when Reinhardt did\nit it was the production which was\nthe thing. Reinhardt was very sorry\nand apologized to-the Geiman Society\nof Authors, sending a £SOO donation\nand explaining and explaining that it\ncouldn't be helped. €J The poet died\nat twenty-four years of age, but assu-\nredly these three plays of his show\ngreat promise, and Mr. Dunlop s trans-\nlations are very ably done. Some of the\ndesigns showing how Reinhardt treated\nthe piece would have been well placed\nin this edition, which is well printed,\ncharmingly bound and inexpensive.\n\nTHE STAR OF PICCADILLY by\nLewis Melville. Hutchinson & Co.\nPrice 21 /-.\nENEMIES OF SOCIETY by Charles\nKingston. Stanley Paul & Co.\nPrice 12/6.\nSOUVENIRS DU VIEUX-CO-\nLOMBIER by Berthold Mahn.\nClaude Avelinet Paris. Price 90\nfrancs.\nSOME STUDIES IN BALLET\nby Arnold Haskell. Lamley & Cc.\nPrice 21 /- net\nALTHOUGH we would have sup-\nposed that old Q's life would\nhave furnished Mr. Melvilie with\ncountless documents, one more interest-\ning than the other, it does not seem\nthat there was much for this most en-\ntertaining'writer to go upon. Old Q's\nexistence was almost a round of dull\nevents. His friendship, his wagers,\nhis flirtations, his liaisons, his reputation\nwe hear of in this book, but the whole\nlife amounts to little compared with,\nlet us say, tie life Mrs. Jordan or\nLad)7 Hamilton's career. It is dull; and,\nwhat is more, there's no thread con-\nnecting his wagers, his friendships, his\nliaisons and his flirtations, and so his\nreputation, suffers. It was a bad re-\nputation, now become no better than\nit should have been.\nTruly difficult for a Michael Angelo\nor a Casanova to live up to the com-\nmon repute.\nOne hears too much of a Michael\nAngelo, and so, in a Piccadilly way,\ndoes one hear too much of old Q.\nAngelo survives it; Queensbury falls\nflat.\nIt is not Mr. Melville's fault for we\nknow how well he can string together facts\nwhich are interesting about such figures\nas Nell Gwyn or Beau Brummel.\nHis historical works on these and\nother like people become romances.\nWith old Q he had nothing to string\ntogether or he could have done it.\nMr. Charles Kingston in his \" Ene-\nmies of Society \" has an amazing mass\nof very good material, and very well\nhe handles it. His are true tales.\nThat touching the Famous Jewel Theft\nby Mr. and Mrs. Torpey is very\npleasing: and The Murder of Madame\nLaurent is most thrilling.\nThere are eighteen tales in all,\ntwelve to fourteen of which are all you\ncould possibly wish for.\nThe author is apt to use coinic\nphrases now and again which somehow\nfail in their effect of heightening the\nmelodramatic tension.\nMore successful when detailing the\nincidents of a robbery, he is only\nsurpassed by Mason of \" The Villa\nRose \" when it's a murder because he\nis tied to his facts.\n. Some good illustrations, mostly por-\ntraits by Spy, of Rufus Isaacs, Sir. H.\nB. Poland and Sir Frank Lockwood\nadd something to the book.\nAnd Aubrey Hammond's drawing\nof \" Old Q \" which 1 had almost for-\ngotten to mention almost makes me\ncurious again about that old Piccadilly\nLord. Aubrey Hammond is apt in his\ndesigning; that's because he's an artist;\nbut you are never made too conscious\nof this in his popular work,—and it is\ngrowing more and more popular, and\na very good thing too.\nThe fifty-five drawings which M.\nMahn has collected to together so as\nto show he remembers the Theatre\nVieux Colombier of Paris merely\nshow me that he never even saw it.\nHe was looking at himself, admiring\nthe point of his pencil or his pen;\nbut what Copeau was really trying\nhard to do is not in any way recorded.\nCompare M. Mahn with a good\ndraughtsman recorder of theatricals—\nwith Daumier or with Callot or with\nCruickshank or twenty others whose\nnames occur to you.\nThese men were keen to record an\nincident, a place, a scene, a bit here\nand a bit there — a reality every time.\nM. Mahn records nothing; he makes\nno effort to; he just scribbles.\nThe book does Copean an injustice.\nCopeau may not be a great actor or\na great producer, but he was ever a\nvery serious man trying to do his level\nbest at this Theatre Vieux Colombier.\nI would have liked to possess fifty-\nfive designs showing us the stage during\nrehearsals, Copeau at work there;\nJouvet discipling around him, and all\nthe other assistants busy at their work.\n—And everyone was very busy, very\nkeen; the work was serious.\nM. Mahn turns it all to frolh.\nAnd so 1 prefer a hundred times\nmore Mr. Arnold L. Haskell s\nof some of the Russian ballet danceis,\nwhich is issued sumptuously.\nHis records are photographs around\nwhich he writes, and both his opinions\nand photographs are interesting.\nAlicia Markova as photographed by\nRaphael is enchanting—and, what is\nmore, it's a good record.\nIn much that he says Mr. Haskell\nis very right, and if there had cniy\nbeen an English Ballet to write about\nthis author's critical faculties and en-\nthusiasm for dancing would have had a\nproper chance. As it is we can't bs\nexpected any longer to be enthusiastic\nabout a group of foreigners who have\ngiven us quite the wrong notions of\ndancing.\nWe mustn't dance that way. No-\nthing resembling Mentchiova or Pavlova\nmust be our model. English dances\nsay one thing, Russian another.\nWould you have our coming Shake-\nspeare writing plays to the model\nTchehov offers? Are we so utterly\ntongue-tied, brain-frozen, leg-bound\nand blind thai, we must ape the fo-\nreigner.\nI know we are not. What on\nearth makes us do it?\n\nA LONDON OMNIBUS. Chatto\n& Windus. Price 2/6-net.\nTHIS LONDON, ITS TAVERNS,\nHAUNTS AMD MEMORIES. by\nR. 7. Hopkins. Cecil Palmer. Price\nI 0/6- net.\nOOK not for whales in the\nL-i Euxine Sea, or expect great\nmatters where they are not to be\nfound is the quotation which starts\nthis booklet, though indeed 'tis a small\nwhale, this Omnibus, and in its innards\nall the little fishes swimming about ;\n1 it-bits and Wbite-baits all about\nFeasts \", \" Pickwick \", u The Ber-\nners Street Hoax\" and The Strand,\nand Clubs of Old London. It's well \"\nworth its two and sixpence."}, {"page_pdf": 55, "page_imprimee": "91", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.55", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4504, "texte": "And after this snack, suppose you\nstill feel hungiy for more London,\nMr. Hopkins is ready for you. With\nhis napkin over his left arm he will\nsee to all you require—the tip, 10/6,\nfirstt being usual.\nIn his book 1 discovered what may\ninterest you all; and that is that Bir-\nrell and Garnett the booksellers in\nGerard Street are the son of the au-\nthor of 44 Obita Dicta \" and the Gar-\nnett who wrote 44 Lady into Fox \".\nMr. Hopkins has a good chapter\non Shakespeare's public house, the\nplace near the Globe Theatre which\nhe popped into to escape from Burbage.\nMr. Hopkins might have given us an\nindex, but that's about the only fault\n1 can find with his entertainment.\n\nLIFE AND LETTERS. A New\nLiterary Monthly, Edited by Desmond\nMacCarthy. Published at 10 Great\nQueen Street, Kingsway, London.\nSubscription, 14/- per annum.\n-v\nFOR the first of June (and hereafter to\nbe published on the , first Tuesday\nin each month) was announced the first\nnumber of this new literary magazine.\nEdited by Mr. Desmond MacCarthy,\nthe magazine should within a few\nmonths become popular, for the watch-\nword of the magazine will be Variety.\nLIFE AND LETTERS is not out\nto tire anyone except the Editor and\nhis staff, and they seem intent on ma-\nking this new publication distinguished\nand intellectual, and this would be\nenough to damn it right away if the\nEditoi's mind intended merely to rest\nthere.\nHis wish is to give energy to the\nintellectuality and to put life into the\ndistinction. It is a sensible notion.\nAnd full of that same variety promi-\nsed, is the announcement that there\nwill be 44 sometimes A Carnival Num««.\nher in which well known writers will\nbe masked in pseudonyms\nThis naturally appeals to 44 The\nMask\", which has been one ridicu-\nlous Carnival number since 1908, with\nan occasional plainclothes figure mo-\nving in and ont amongst the maskers\njust to give it a touch or two of so-\nber black and to watch the diamonds\nbeing pocketed.\nAmong future contributors, of 44 Life\nand Letters \" we find the names of\nMiss Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey-\nSantayana, Logan Pearsali Smith,\nRoger Fry and Max Beerbohm.\nWe wish 44 Life and Letters \" a\ngreat time, and we ase quite sure that\nthe Public is going to have a maga-\nzine that will be wide awake.\n\nTHE TAMING OF THE SHREW,\nWilliam Shakespeare. Cambridge\nUniversity Press. Price 6/- net.\nTHE new Cambridge Shakespeare\nis admirable, but the Stage Hi-\nstory of each Play which ends every\nvolume needs a little attention from\nsomeone who . remembers some of the\nbest of good things and can help Mr.\nHarold Child in his research.\nWe naturally wonder if 44 The Ta-\nming of the Shrew\" has been pro-\nperly dealt with for 44 The Merchant\nof Venice \" wasn't.\nWe too should need some assistance\nin the stage history of the 44 Shrew \"\nand so we refrain from criticising Mr.\nChild. But in his Stage History of\n44 The Merchant of Venice\" he has\nforgotten to state that Ada Rehan\nacted Portia in a memorable produc-\ntion by Augustin Daly ; and in telling\nus of the production in 1875 when\nEllen Terry played Portia under the\nBancroft's management at the Prince\nof Wales's Theatre, he omits to remind\nus that it was to Mr. E. W. Godwin\nthat the production owed its ideas.\nReaders of 44 The Mask \" will have\nread Mr. Godwin's article which was\nreprinted in the first volume, that for\n1908. They may even have read it\nwhen it was originally published as\nearly as 1875 in 44 The Architect\".\nThis was the very year in which he\ncarried out some of his ideas for this\nplay in the Prince of Wales's Theatre,\nPractice and Theory going hand in\nhand.\nIf Herr Smackenheun cr M. Lofsky\nhad produced it as brilliantly as did\nGodwin, their work would have been\nremembered by Mr. Child and doubt-\nless praised.\nIt is getting more and more a habit\n(a very bad one) to forget the artist\npioneer when a Britisher: be he dead\nor living it is the foreigner who is\nmade more of. And the thing has\ngone on so long that it is, I think,\nquite time that our British journals did\nsomething to put things in their right\nplace.\nThe fatuous adulation of late and\ntoo late poured out on William Blake\nbecause (strange reason) death has\nticked off a hundred years to his credit,\nshould sicken everyone; and not only\nthat, it should persuade to better\nthings.\nWe hope the Cambridge Editors so\nmanage that no more such serious\nomissions occur in the next 44 Stage\nHistories \" of the Plays.\nThis said, what can be said of these\nvolumes but that they come as near\nperfection as anyone could possibly wish."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c048", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c048", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "77", "page_fin": "77", "image_debut": 41, "image_fin": 41, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.2", "titre_corps": "FOREIGN OR BRITISH GOODS... WHICH?", "titre_sommaire": "FOREIGN OR BRITISH GOODS... WHICH?", "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": "77", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 15, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4607, "texte": "FOREIGN OR BRITISH\nGOODS... WHICH?\nM There is little doubt that what I have\ncalled \" Producer s Theatre \" is likely\nto increase its power 99. Ivor Brown.\nMR. Ivor Brown who is the well\nknown critic of the \" Manchester\nGuardian considers the late Louis\nCalvert, son of the Manchester Calvert,\nto have been \" a superb actor \". I\nshould have called him an able actor,\nand I think that is what a producer\nof ability would call him.\nSo that when Mr. Brown tells us\nthat the Producer's theatre is likely to\nincrease its power we may be sure of\nthis ; that it will be a theatre full of\nthe ablest actors, for the superb Keans\nor Talmas are not easily found or se-\ncured, and it is, I think, an error to\ntake the adequate to be the superlatively\ngood.\nBut I do not intend to linger over\nproducers and their work here but\nover Mr. Brown and his work.\nMr. Brown has been a good critic\nfor many years in London as well as\n- in Manchester, and to be a good critic\nin London for as many weeks is a feat\nfew ever achieve\nHe is a student and level-headed ;\nlike the good actor he has no feelings, or\nrather he allows them but littl i licence.\nIt is only when a book like Stani-\nslawsky's \"My Life in Art\" reaches\nhim that he almost seems to kneel.\nHe calls him very justly \" one of\nthe greatest theatrical artists of all time •\nWell, I rather fancy Stanislawsky\nmyself. He shares with Reinhardt and\nAntoine an admiration which I cannot\nsummon up for the best of good\nCalverts, Piteoffs or Bensons.\nBut he is a Russian even as Antoine\nis a Frenchman and Reinhardt a\nGerman ; and somehow or other I\nsuspect that the day is over and gone\nwhen, if we are Englishmen, we can\nafford ourselves to waste another hour\ngazing too lovingly at any foreign\ngoods whatever. Art may be Inter-\nnational ; and any nation which first\nsupports and is proud of its best talent\nin the Theatre can assuredly look\nInternationally at the Theatre. Till\nit does this it may not.\nAt present we praise too often in\nStanislawsky and Reinhardt what we\nignore in our own men: and it is for\nthis reason that our theatre has fallen\nto fifth place and the Russian and\nGerman have the first and second.\nIs not that a good enough reason\nwhy we should pause, consider a\nmoment and then drop it?\nDrop what?\nAdmiration of the Foreigner, simul-\ntaneously with indifference towards\nour own men and refusal to support\nthem.\nLet us remember this:— that we\nEnglish may not be so awfully clever,\nbut we should be quite clever enough\nto stop underestimating any of our\nTheatre men who are as able as\nReinhardt and Stanislawsky, and\nMeyerhold.\nAre we still too shy to come\ntogether and create as good a theatre\nas Reinhardt's or these three of\nMoscow ?\nWeil, the answer is to a great\nextent given in this book. We may\nfeel that Mr. Brown can be guilty of\nexcessive humility when in the presence\nof Stanislawsky's book, or represen-\ntatives of the great man himself, but\nhe has in this book made ample\namends to himself. He has expressed\nthe firm conviction that the English\nAuthor, English Actor and English\nProducer can work together and no\nother critic has expressed this better.\nAnd I would add that to this trio\nwe must add the dramatic critic.\n1 am quite sure that Mr. Brown is\nright: and 1 am as sure that his book\nwill do a certain amount of definite\ngood.\nIt is an exceptional thing to be able\nto say this of a work which is only in\nthe nature of a review of a situati: n;\nbut then it reviews the matter so\nsteadily and wiih such a fine sense of\nthe courtesies, that I feel I do not\noverstate but rather understate its\nvalue.\nYes, English Art and England are\nto be our thought now. Now there\nis indeed no more time to spare for\noccupying our thoughts with any fo-\nreign developments: we have always\nhad ideas enough of our own, ideas\nwhich are not solely the realists' or\nthe expressionists' or any ists; and they\nare ideas which have always embraced\nthose of the author, actor, producer,\ncritic, historian and archeologist, architect\nand musician.\nThese ideas have been borrowed\nwholesale by our Russian and German\nfriends. Remember that make a\nnote of it, for it's true.\nThe producers' ideas have never\nbeen small ones; they never excluded\nauthor, actor or anyone, except when\nauthors and actors have been rude\nand slammed the door on our ideas.\nBut 'tis sometimes impossible to get\nour friends to understand that we\nmean well ; and possibly this has an-\ntagonized the author and actor so\nviolently against the producer.\nThis book by Mr. Brown goes far\nto remove this misunderstanding.\nPARTIES OF THE PLAY by Ivor\nFrown. Ernest Benn. Price S/6."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c049", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c049", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "77", "page_fin": "78", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.3", "titre_corps": "STAGE DECORATION by Sheldon Cheney", "titre_sommaire": "STAGE DECORATION by Sheldon Cheney", "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": "77", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.41", "debut_caractere": 4609, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6049, "texte": "STAGE DECORATION by Shel-\ndon Cheney with 256 Illustrations.\nThe John Day Company, New York•\nPrice $ 10.00.\nMR. Sheldon Cheney is not like\nthe usual compiler of theatre\nbooks ; he has worked in a theatre,\nand he has kept in touch with those\nworking there,-so that you will not\nfind in his book any hing which an-\nnoys because of its ignorance of the\nreal Theatre.\nMr. Cheney is one of the ten or\nfifteen men who, for the last twelve\nyears, have been closely observing what\nis going on in the Theatres of Eu-\nrope and America. He has been keen\nto issue a few books but he is far\nkeener watching developments. He is\none of the few students of the mo-\ndern phases of the Theatre who have\nbegun to lake a serious delight in\nconnecting them back with the ancient\nphases.\nBut there are two ways of doing\nthis, and Mr. Cheney prefers the bet-\nter way—the ordinary one being to\nannounce \" New stuff in European\nTheatre discovered to be 2000 years\nold Possibly this is the way I\nshould write were I a proper sort of\njournalist and unacquainted with the\n\" Manchester Guardian \", or rather\nunaware of what it stands for.\n1 would go it, were 1.... in short, were\nI paid to. How delicious to be paid\nto do the easy thing and to grow rich\ndoing it easily;—why bother? Why\nfuss around resisting temptation ; why\nhave ideals which don't pay and which\nare merely so many bad habits. Why\nbe like the London Correspondent in\nthe \" Review of Reviews \" Dialogue"}, {"page_pdf": 42, "page_imprimee": "78", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.42", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2746, "texte": "upon 41 Lord Rothermere's great ven-\nture \" (see 44 Review of Reviews\nMarch-April No.) who talks of 44 the\nglory of the British Press \", its 44 in-\ndependence \", glowering and growling\nat Lord Rothermere aud the Berrys\nand the others, cursing at the new\nand so forth.\nAnd so it is quite odd to find this\nAmerican student, who is also a jour-\nnalist, abstaining from flashy headlines\nand doing his best with all his heart.\nWe often suppose that an Ameiican\ncannot resist the sensational, but here\nis one who does resist it.\nHis book deals with ancient and modern\ndecors; these he reproduces for us; from\nthe three thousand made by the Bi-\nbienas he selects three ; from the rem-\nnants left by the Romans and Greeks\nhe takes but six or seven items; from\nthe middle ages as many, and so on\ndown to the present day. Here he\nselects more, for he rightly supposes\nthat his readers will want to see more\nmodern than ancient work.\nNot only do his researches lead him\nto pick cut sceneries which fitted into\nany stage, but also whole stages into\nwhich everything else had to fit, such\nas the Olimpico at Vicenza and Co-\npeau s stage—stages which were more\nor less scenes in themselves.\nIn short, the book is a review a\nshort quick review —of what has been\ndene about decors since the time of\n/Eschylus.\nIt is, at the same time, [an appen-\ndix to Dr. Nicoll's 44 The Develop-\nment of the Theatre \" issued towards\nthe end of last year.\nthat volume it goes to prove\nthat the people who want their stages\nempty of all sceneries have been so\nfew that they have at no time pre-\nvailed over those who held the more\nsensible notion, that of having all the\ndecors you want. It shows that plenty\nof decors can be austere and distin-\nguished without any rabid display of\npuritanisni.\nIt shows that actors and authors all\nthe world over have always welcom-\ned as a gay ally the d&or which\nhelped things along.\nIt shows that never once has the\ndecorator dreamed of seizing the reins\na fear recently expressed by a few\ncritics.\nIt shows that when Decors reached\ntheir most fantastic development, the\nactors or singers were always equal to\nthe situation, enjoyed working in the\nmiast of such delightful surroundings,\nana frever felt they were in any way\nbeing pushed out by these decors.\nin ract, if the book had been made\nonly to prove this, it would succeed :\nbut it will achieve more, for it will\nhelp us to understand something still\nrather vague to many of us: re, the\nvast difference between the man of\nthe theatre, the dilettante snd the\ntheorist.\nThe work of all three is to be\nfound side by side, and Mr. Cheney\nleaves you to discern which is which.\nIt was a courteous thing to do, for\nit allows those of us who know a\nthing or two to show how clever we\ncan be."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c050", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c050", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "78", "page_fin": "79", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.4", "titre_corps": "RACHEL by James AgateORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHT OPERA by Sterling Mackinlay", "titre_sommaire": "RACHEL by James AgateORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHT OPERA by Sterling Mackinlay", "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": "78", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.42", "debut_caractere": 2748, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6753, "texte": "RACHEL by James Agate. Gerald\nHowe Ltd. Price 3/6.\nORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT\nOF LIGHT OPERA by Sterling\nMackinlay M. A. Hutchinson & Co.\nPrice 21/- net.\nWITH all the pretty tunes by Offen-\nbach, Lecocq and Sullivan ring-\ning in his eais, Mr. Mackinlay takes\nup his pen, keeps his head—or rather\nhis seat and—gets through to the end of\nhis book of 292 pages apparently\nwithout once going out for a drink—\na drink of music. He must be a\nstoic.\nFor it seems to me that to write\nabout enchantment and go on writing\nand not turn aside, not fling pen and\npaper to the winds and not become\nenchanted, is a feat to be achieved\nonly with the exercise of great self-\ncontrol.\nAnd the result is that he is able to\nhand us one of the most delightful\ntheatre books that has been written\nfor ever so long.\nI regret to see my old friend Lovat\nFraser's name omitted from the careful\nreport on 44 The Beggar's Opera \" and\nI hardly think Mr. Mackinlay is right\nwhen he states on page 63 that 44 in\nMonteverdi s earlier days permanent\ntheatres did not exist any more than\npermanent orchestras \". Of the or-\nchestras I can say nothing, but assu-\nredly some permanent theatres existed\nin Italy and we have records of a few\nof these.\nBuontalenti built his Teatro de' Me-\ndici in Florence in 1583; that is to\nsay> when Monteverdi was sixteen\nyears old; and in 1578 the Teatro\nOlimpico at Vicenza was being built.\nIn 1560, seven years before Monte-\nverdi was born, Bartolommeo Neroni\nerected il Teatro in Siena, and Man-\nt°va and Ferrara had their theatres\ntoo by that time. In Mantova, for\nexample, in the year 1608 Vianini the ar-\nchitect built 44 The New Ducai Thea-\ntre \" especially for the 44 Arianna \" of\nMonteverdi, and this New Theatre\nwas necessary because in 1591 the\nTeatro in the Corte Vecchio had\nbeen burnt, and it's not possible to\nburn a theatre which don't exist.\nBut except for a rare few errors\ndropped by the author to save our\nfaces, the book sparkles with erudition\nand charm, and I am eager to get a\nglimpse of another of his books, 44 Gar-\ncia the Centenarian and his Times\nMr. Mackinlay is not one of those\nauthors who writes books on subjects\nwhich have been already exhausted ;\nhe takes a new road when he sets cut\nto naake a book, and I wish a few\nmore historians of the Theatre would.\nfollow his example, as I for one am\ntired of new books on Rachel, Gar-\nrick, the Greek Stage, Shakespeare\nand his Fellows, and the rest of it.\nUntil Mr. Mackinlay gave us this book,\nhe tells us that 44 no history of Light\nOpera had been written\nSo the laurels to Mr. Mackinlay,\nfor he is one of the few English-\nmen who are really doing something\nto help our countrymen to a better\nknowledge of the Theatre.\nI said just now that I was tired of\nnew books on Rachel and others; but\nI discover 1 am not,—not when I get\na really good one, and Mr. Agate's\nlittle book on Mile. Jelid re Rachel\n(though he don't give us her real\nname) is entirely delightful.\nThe booklet of 80 pages could not\npossibly be better done.\nThe author discerns Rachel's place\nin the midst of a revolutionary move-\nment and makes her position clear to\nus ....that she was a reactionary, and\nso splendid a one, that the age took her\nto be in ihe very van of revolution.\nAgate tells us the story of her ca-\nreer and sketches in something of her\namours.\nHer amours interest me because, like\nyou, 1 have quite a sniffy dash of cu-\nriosity in me ; and besides this I am\nalways eager to discover in the hun-\ndred lives of actresses one who had\nno amours. Good actresses, I mean.\nSo far 1 have not made much head-\nway but I shall go on. Adrienne\nLecouvreur and Mrs Oldfield stand\nout as considerable ladies by the side\nof many of their sisters and Rachel\ncertainly does not.\nShe was a guttersnipe, like grand\nold Edmund Kean ; and so it follows\nas the night the day Mile. Georges was\na bit jealous of her : 44 I have been\nas big an actress as Rachel \" she\nsaid Victor Hugo, 44 and as great a\nwhore , and one hears her saying it\nand sees her as she says it."}, {"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "79", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3379, "texte": "Rachel was certainly no great lady,\nbut that was not her fault. You need\nhouses for training and disciplining such\nbits of genius like Rachel, and, till you\n.provide them, you mustn't go and see\nthe Rachels act and damn their cha-\nracters as you come out after a\ngood cry.\nIn the East I am told they provide\nsuch houses— which is all to the good.\nAs ror Rachel, she had no way of\nmanaging herself and at the same time\nremaining a valuable actress of genius\n—at least she found no way.\nOne of her friends took her to\ntask—an old friend, a Mme.\nwho wrote her that she was broken-\nhearted to learn from all the reports\nthat she was behaving outrageously ;\nshe told her to break off her liason or,\nshe said, 44 you will fall\nNow she didn t fall; she continued\nto rise, and she rose to be one of the\ngreatest actresses of the age. For all\nthis, Mme Ristori who was as great\n(if not greater!) rose without such as-\nsistance.\nRachel rather loved the underworld.\nShe loved V^ron—44 a blackguard\nMr. Agate calls him. He was; and,\nas she was a doxy, so they were well\nmatched. She treated him as badly\nas he treated her. If she did not sur-\npass him in dastardliness it was only\nthat he got in first with it. Had he\nfailed tof she would have certainly not\nfailed to score.\nThe story as told by Mr. Agate is\na delight.\nI admit that curiosity is a low vice\nand so we who read with pleasure\nare all of us en famille with Veron\nand Rachel; —let us not be rude to\ntbern lest they combine and serve us\nwith our deserts.\nI have said that Rachel was no\ngreat lady ; yet she behaved better to\nall her lovers than many another such\nguttersnipe has done, for 44 on her\ndeath-bed she had the generosity to\nsend back to their writers all their\nlove-letters *\\\nThere is much about money in\nthese brief eighty pages.\nBy the way, I hope Mr. Agate\nwill some day give us a big volume\non this actress, for no one could do it\nbetter, and there must be some six hun-\ndred people who would treasure such\na volume, packed with historical data,\nreplete with illustrations, and issued at\nthree guineas. Rachel deserves some-\nthing de luxe.\nShe also des rves all Mile. George's\nhustling. 4# What keePs Rachel in\nthe public eye \" said Georges 44 is\nthe champagne she drinks, the life\nshe leads. and the moneyed fools who\nflock round her. Let her lead a de-\ncent life for a couple of months and\nnobody will remember that she exists \".\nNot that Rachel thought that of\nherself, She was full of outraged in-\nnocence : 44 if \" she wrote, 44 if, for\none moment, I thought how gravely\nCalumny had injured me in your re-\ngard.,.. 44 and so forth.\nThe others ....they were open to\nher criticism, herself an injured lamb.\nIn this respect the actresses have\nthe pull over their brothers. Edmund\nKean could never have posed as ah\ninjured lamb.\nBut the women do : it's most extraor-\ndinary.\nLook in all those books, the 44 Re-\nminiscences \"or 44 Life \", books by wo-\nmen performers, and you will note\nthat they begin by saying that they\nintend, for the first time in the His-\ntory of the World, to tell the truth\nabout themselves and their amours\nand before twenty pages are gone we\nsee that all they intend to do is to\nwhitewash themselves while telling lies\nabout everyone else.\nRachel did one excellent good thing\nshe abstained from writing such a\nbook. And so the luckiest thing hap-\npens to her:—Mr. Agate writes it\nfor her."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c051", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c051", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "79", "page_fin": "80", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.5", "titre_corps": "THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SIR JOHN VANBRUGH Edited by Bonamy Cobrée and Geoffrey Webb", "titre_sommaire": "THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SIR JOHN VANBRUGH Edited by Bonamy Cobrée and Geoffrey Webb", "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": "79", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.43", "debut_caractere": 3381, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6641, "texte": "THE COMPLETE WORKS OF\nSIR JOHN VANBRUGH Edited\nby Bonamy Dobree and Geoffrey\nWebb. Four volumes. The None-\nsuch Press London W. C. Price\n£3.3.0 (only 1300 sets issued).\nIF you want a fine book admirably\ncomposed, excellently well printed,\nperfectly edited, and bound as well as\na book can be bound, here you have\none —or rather four: and four persons\nhave conspired to make it a fine book.\nVanbrugh, Dobr£e, Webb, Meynell\nassisted by his composi'ors and printers\nall laboured to make these British Plays\na model of how to do it.\nSome day I hope they will com-\nbine again and give us the works and\nletters of Sir George Etherege. His\nletters are, I believe, as yet unpub-\nlished, and rest in the British Mu-\nseum.\nEtherege is the man of all those\nplaywriters of the Restoration age. Not\neven Congreve deserves better of us.\nAnd Etherege is the very man for Mey-\nnell, Dobr£e and Webb.\nThese volumes' pages measure 10 x\n7 */2 inches : it is a large format fitting\nto this architect-dramatist who built\nlargely and wrote with his elbows.\nThe work could not be possibly\nbetter edited or more clearly arranged.\nEach play is preceded by a page, or\nthree or four, of its Theatrical His-\ntory, and followed by some pages of\nTextual Notes and some Explanatory\nNotes.\nIn this Vanbrugh it's impossible not\nto find all you search for and to find\nit at once.\nBesides the three volumes of Plays,\nis one volume of Vanbrugh's Letters\nwith an able and not too long Intro-\nduction by Mr Webb, wherein, alas,\nhe tells me what 1 feared, . ..that of\nthe New Opera House, Vanbrugh* s\ngreat theatre in the Hay market, very\nlittle is known respecting its architecture\nexcept that the acoustics were defective\n—and that we are too often told about\nmost play and opera houses.\nTo those of us who would so much\nlike to know all about this Hay mar-\nket building the information is de-\npressing.\nHas a proper search been made for\nthe original drawings ?\nHave people hunted in the obvious\nplaces those museums and collections\nwhich we pass daily in our walks and\nfail to note, merely because we know\nthem so well from the outside.\nOf some of Vanbrugh's huge spraw-\nling Country Houses for the nobility,\nwe are given reproductions of plans or\nviews—and they help to adorn these\nbooks.\nDid Vanbrugh never make a draw-\ning worth preserving—with something\nspirited ? Was he dull ?\nVanbrugh and Juvarra lived pre-\ncisely at the same time. Both were\narchitects, both worked in theatres :\nas architects each loved to sprawl\nand to build the largest of country\nhouses for wealthy and grandiose pa-\ntrons : but whereas Juvarra poured out\nthousands of pen and ink and wash\ndrawings of projects for houses, chur-\nches, theatres, sceneries, it would seem\nthat Vanbrugh hardly made one.\nNo one of his sketches is in these\nvolumes. Again I ask, where are these\nsketches and the more careful draw-\nings?.,. so that we may prove how much\nmore brilliant Vanbrugh was than he\nseems.\nI must admit a powerful drawing\ngets me: I wonder whether Van ever\ndrew anything for the Duchess of\nMarlborough when she WJS getting\nsnappish. I see my Juvarra doing that :\nI see the easy fingers creating wonders\nwith the pen of Sarah Jenning, that\n41 wicked woman of Marlb. \" and 1\nsee the wicked woman utterly spell-\nbound."}, {"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "80", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 914, "texte": "In fact I see Juvarra a very greal\nsuccess in the England of Queen Anne,\nwhereas Vanbrugh wasn't. He buill\n—he wrote but I wouldn't call ali\nthat any more of a success than old\nCharing Cross Bridge was a success,\nor the plays of Baife's better half.\nThat is mere getting on.\nVanbrugh was, in short, a ponde-\nrously dull activity, and the only thing\nwhich may have been lively was\nhis Opera House of which we know\nnothing.\nWhat a pity we do not know more\nof that Opera Flouse poor old Van.\nBut in spite of this, his Letters are\nreplete with information priceless to\nthis Historian of the Stage.\nWritten in his lop boots and ob-\nviously with a chisel, they may sprawl\nand clatter, but the information is\nthere, and this renders these volumes\nworth every penny they cost, and they\ncost practically nothing about 16/- a\nvolume.\nI don't know how the publishers\ncan issue volumes so superbly accou-\ntred at such a price."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c052", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c052", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "80", "page_fin": "80", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.6", "titre_corps": "REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN", "titre_sommaire": "REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN", "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": "80", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 916, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4879, "texte": "REPRESENTA TIVE WOMEN. A\nSeries published by Gerald Home Ltd.\n23 Soho Square, London. 3/6 each.\nIF one may judge of any series of\nvolumes by the first two which\ncome to hand, then one can say of\nthis series that ii is very interesting.\nThe two volumes which reached\nme were on Rachel U) and Mary\nShelley.\nBeing dramatically bent, I mean\nbent down to the grindstone of the\ndramatic world, one naturally welcomes\nwith the usual grimace another book\non the stage Rachel came as an\naccursed blessing ; but «• Mary Shel-\nley \" one promised oneself most hear-\ntily one would not read. That comes\nof being too particularly of the\nI heatre; one means no disrespect to\nother walks of life, least of all the\nLiterary walk of Poets and their wives,\nbut one has no time to wander ;\none must keep to one's path, up and\ndown and up and down it again.\nCram alley !\nYet there is ever a half hour to spare\nwhen one is allowed off, and I then\nalways look around in case a poet or\na painter, an essayist or some other\nfree man is wandering near by, and\nthen 1 join him for my half hour of\nfreedom.\nAnd so it was that I came to pick\nup this volume on Mrs Shelley, and\nI read it with interest from page I to\npage 91 : all these books are but a\nfew pages in length. Excellent I\nFor the first time it was made quite\nclear to me who was this same Mary\nShelley and who was Claire and who\nHarriet, Mrs Clairmont and Jane Wil-\nliams ; for, though I already knew five\nor six books about Shelley and his\nfriends, I had never once received a\nclear statement as to who W3S who in\nthis circle.\nMr. Richard Church is as clear a\na writer as any I know,\nBeing so far away from London I\nhave to admit that it is the first lime\nI have come across his name : doubt-\nless he is occupied writing down for\nus the lives of all those other persons\nabout whom their biographers have\nconfused us.\n1 would give much for Mr. Church\nto write the life of Anne Oldfield,\nMrs. Bellamy and Mademoiselle du\nTh 6 presuming that Mr. Agate is\nnot going to do so.\nThe 1 ives of actresses are seldom\nclearly written ; one rambles on and\none has to be sympathetic or go to\nsleep : and that is why I'd like to\nhave Mr. Church's booklets on these\nladies, for then all would be clear\nfor the first time.\nBut here I am supposing Mr. Church\nto have plenty of time to spare, and\nwilling to \" suffer love *# for these\nladies and write the lives of the thirty\nmost representative performers that have\nlived.\nI suggest among others Isabella An-\ndreini, Adrienne Lecouvreur, Ann Old-\nfield, Mrs. Bellamy, Clairon, Duche-\nnois, Mars, Mrs. Barry, Mile, du Th£,\nRistori, Fraule.n Jagemann, Miss Wal-\nstcin, Theresa Imer, La Gabrielli, La\nbarberina, Salle, Dervieux, Deschamps\nor Le . Due, Dugazon, Prevost, Du\nPare, de Maupin, Champmesl£, Charke,\nRaucourt and Sancta Stella.\nMr. Church turns - away—he does\nnot like the look of the company ; he\nfeels a little out of it; may be this is\nbecause he feels that he must have\nsome fine figure of a poet such as\nShelley walking in and out of his pic-\nture to make the task worth his while.\nIf so, then he will have Goethe with\nthe Jagemann, Racine with the Champ-\nmesle, Moli£re with Du Pare, Frede-\nrick the Great with La Barberina, the\nMargrave of Arispach with Clairon\nand Voltaire with Adrienne. As for\nIsabella Andreini, she is surrounded by\nthe most brilliant men of the age and\nwas, 1 have ever supposed, one of the\nmost admirable women of her time.\nBut no one has made it clear to me\nwhat any of these women actually\nwere, did, thought, felt or saw, for I\ndo not read French, German or Ita-\nlian with any ease, and besides, only\nMr. Agate or Mr. Church could make,\nit all clear in eighty p&gcs.\nThough I have yet to read the\neighty page booklets by Mr. Sackviile\nWest, Francis Birrell and Miss Ada *\nHarrison' on Aphra Behn, La Du-\nchesse du Maine and Cristina di Sve-\nzia, I look forward with eagerness to\nfind them as good as these first two.\n0) Fy James Agate, reviewed on pg. 78."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c053", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c053", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "80", "page_fin": "81", "image_debut": 44, "image_fin": 45, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.7", "titre_corps": "SCENES AND SILHOUETTES by D. L. Murray", "titre_sommaire": "SCENES AND SILHOUETTES by D. L. Murray", "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": "80", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.44", "debut_caractere": 4881, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6639, "texte": "SCENES AND SILHOUETTES\nby D. L. Murray. Jonathan Cape.\nPrice 9/- net.\n0\nREPRINTED from \"The Times\",\n\" The Nation \" and •• The\nAthenaeum and other magazines,\nthese papers on scenic things and\nthings political, historical, literary and\necclesiastical make up a very readable\nbook of three hundred pages or more,\nwhich Mr. Cape has printed and\nbound to perfection, and all for nine\nshillings.\nThe volume reaches us rather late\nin the day but better late than never,\nfor Mr. Murray is one of the critics\nin England who take the Theatre and\nits Drama seriously, and, who in doing\nso, do not depress us too much.\nHe is generally pretty right in what\nhe says; for example, when he protests\nagainst the method employed by Jessner\nwhen producing Shakespeare's Ri-\nchard 111.\nMr. Murray is forced to witness\nthis production, (which was given in\nBerlin and was a quite famous pro-\nduction) through a report of it, and\non the strength or weakness of\nthis report to report Jessner and\nhis cause aright to the unsatisfied. It\nstands to reason that he cannot do '\nthat. The report Mr. Murray pro-\nnounces on is that by Mr. MacGowan\nand Mr. Jones of America who did\nsee the production as they rushed\nthrough Europe seeing dozens of pro-\nductions in eight or ten lands in a\nvery short space of time.\nThe thing is not fair on Jessner of\ncourse, but let us accept it as fair and\nsre what Mr. Murray has to complain\n• • • . Jessner's complaint (if\nhe ever made one) is unheeded and\nquite right too fair play is always\nour motto and the critics seldom\nget fair play. I m a critic myself.\nWell, Mr. Murray says that Jessner's\nmethod buries Shakespeare's play \" in\na shroud of emotional symbolism\nand but *' little of the delicate interplay '\nof character and motive is left \", and"}, {"page_pdf": 45, "page_imprimee": "81", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.45", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3918, "texte": "he doesn t like this and he is quite\nright.\nSo right is he, and he some five\nhundred miles from the spot where\n,the show took place, that it will occur\nto you that a new era is dawning for\ndramatic critics. Why doesn't the\ncritics Circle of London employ some\nable enthusiast like MacGowan and an\nable draughtsman like Mr. Jones to\nattend the last four rehearsals of every\npiece: to write and print a vivid\naccount of the methods employed,\nthe effect aimed at and achieved, and\nbroadcast this round to the eighty or\nninety Dramatic Critics of England in\ngood time and let these men pro-\nnounce on the report seated by their\nfireside. The best of the original\nsketches for the production could be\ntelegraphed and sent round to them\nall and thus they would not be\nforced to wear themselves out attending\nevery first night merely for the sake\nof the alibi.\nAnd for the first time in their careers\nthey could consider themselves a little.\nIf Mr. Murray hadn't summed up\nat a distance so accurately about\nJessner without seeing the show I\nwould not dream of suggesting this,\nfor I should have known that my\nsuggestion would have been taken for\nfantastic and unpractical theorizing.\nBui since he has done so well with\nso little to go on, why shouldn't we\nall have a try at it that way.\nMr. Murray is I think right. This\nmethod of stagery does do great harm\nto Shakespeare's plays. The Shake-\nspeare wonders dwindle and disappear.\nAnd no one in his senses wants that.\nNow as everyone of the people who\nscramble to get a seat to see Shake-\nspeare played night after night in our\nLondon are in their senses the\npassionate rush to see and hear his\npiays proves it all of us are and\nmust be against any and every method\nof production but the right one.\nNow what is that?\nI don't want to take your mind and\nMr. Murray's mind off that point so I\nwill say no more on it for the moment,\nmerely promising Mr. Murray my\nundying support and cooperation if\never he can evolve such a method\nand put it in writing, or even point\nto such a method. It will long ago\nhave appealed to the people who\ncrowd in their millions to hear and to\nsee the lovely works of Shakespeare\nperformed.\nIt has presumably been tried, this\n44 right way \". I take it it can't have\nbeen slurred over. I happen to know\nthe right way. Only I would like to\nhear Mr. Murray explain to us all\nwhat that way is. It's not to be\neasily explained, I admit, but it's\nexplainable.\nIt's not Irving's way, not Poel's\nway, not Barker's way; not the Old\nVic way or the Playfair way, and\nit s not the Thorndike-Casson or\nBridges Adams way; it cannot be any\nof these ways for they have recently\nbeen tried and tried again.\nIt must be a far more popular way\nthan all these and at the same time a\nway which will satisfy the spirit of\nShakespeare.\nSo tell us what is this RIGHT\nway, Mr Murray.\nThe author of this pleasant book\nis less happy when he comes to write\nof Lord Byron. Quoting from 44 Man-\nfred \" he sums him up:\n\" This should have beenanoble creature....\n• . • . . * as it is\nIt is an awful chaos—light and darkness\nAnd mind and dust and passions and pure\nthoughts\nMix}d} and contending zuithout end or\norder—\nAll dormant or destructive: he will\nperish \".\nand, adds Mr. Murray, 44 That is all\nwe C3n say of Byron as a man\nMy Lord Bishop of Durham, Herbert\nHensley Henson, in his noble essay on\nByron is able by the grace of God to\nsay more:\n'* Praise and blame are alike unfit-\n-44 ting in presence of a career so enig-\n-44 rnatic and so mighty. Give me\n44 leave to adapt his own words\" about\n44 his favourite among the ancients,\n11 A!cibiade3, and apply them to\n\" himself:\n- Yet upon the whole it may be\n44 doubted, whether there be a name\n44 of modern times which comes to us\n44 with such a general charm as that\n44 of Byron. Why? I cannot answer:\n44 who can? \"\nMr. Murray is almost one of our\nbest critics, and I expect that before\nlong he will be quite one of our best."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c054", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c054", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "81", "page_fin": "82", "image_debut": 45, "image_fin": 46, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.8", "titre_corps": "SIXTEEN DESIGNS FOR THE THEATRE by Albert Rulherston", "titre_sommaire": "SIXTEEN DESIGNS FOR THE THEATRE by Albert Rulherston", "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": 45, "page_imprimee": "81", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.45", "debut_caractere": 3920, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6643, "texte": "SIXTEEN DESIGNS FOR THE\nTHEATRE by Albert Rulherston.\nOxford University Press. Price four\nand a half guineas net.\n\nMR. Rutherston'S book is not cheap.\nIt is perfectly printed on the\nvery best paper and quite worth its\nfour and a half guineas. It doesn't set\nout to be a popular book, only 475\nnumbered copies are for sale, and I\nonly hope that, out of the £ 2297\nwhich will come in if every copy be\nsold, the admirable artist will get a\nproper share.\nAs a rule the artist gets far too\nlittle.\nWe suppose him roiling in wealth.\nWe say 44 look at this,—here's his\nbook just out—costs four and a half\nguineas. There are 475 copies: that\nmeans £ 2297 on a rough calculation.\nFancy Rutherston getting all that\nNow follow me a moment.\nSuppose the cost of making this\nfine book, its paper, its collotypes, its\nprinters, its binding and binders take\n£ 500 of that sum. Suppose another\n£ 500 goes to the trade, ie, is split\nup in small percentages to the book-\nsellers, book-forwarders, bookc-arriers\nand book-carriers' horses, to the book\nboomers and any book bunkumites\nwho are hanging around.\nThen deduct £ 250 for copies not\nsold but sent 44 for favour of review \".\nThis all mounts up ; it reaches the\nsum of £ 1250 :that we will say only\nleaves about £ 1 000 over. The Oxford\nUniversity Press takes something—l\ndon't want to suppose how little,- so\nthat what's over for our poor artist ?\nBelieve me, jolly little.\nThere are sixteen designs in the\nbook, fourteen for costumes and two\nfor scenes,\nThe costumes are charming and char-\nmingly drawn in. They lean towards\nthe pictorial rather than the dramatic.\nIf I see a sketch for a costume I want\nto be able to say at once without\nlooking at any index 44 That's for\n44 Macbeth , yes, and for the porter\nin Macbeth : or 44 that's for Laertes in\nAct V. of Hamlet\". I should be puz-\nzled to guess correctly about these Ru-\ntherston costumes.\nAs for the two scenes, I should be\nas much at sea. What play or opera\nthey could be for I could not guess.\nBut believe me, they are most beau-\ntiful scenes, and quite the thing for a\nfine theatre—if we had one fine enough.\nThey are just' right for a ballet, per-\nhaps one would do for a play by\nShakespeare, but not 44 for Androcles\nand the Lion '* as one of them is\nlabelled.\nThere is another thing I dislike:\n44 to hang in folds \" says the direction\nof the designer.\nNever would I allow any artist as\nfine as this one to spoil his own work\nby attempting to be courteous in this\ntragic way to our difficult stage.\nI would have asked Mr. Ruther-\nston to allow the scenes to be hung\nwithout one crease -to do what he\nliked to them but not to kill them\nbecause he felt it was 4i best to be on\nthe safe side \".\nAfter they had been used I would"}, {"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "82", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.46", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 360, "texte": "have hung them round my studio under\nslabs of glass and turned my studio\ninto one of the most decorative artist s\nfoyers conceivable.\nI would never have allowed them\nto vanish.\nLet us thank the Oxford University\nPress that it has reproduced them\nboth as large folding plates—for they\nare two of the loveliest scenes the\nBritish Stage has to boast of.\n\nE. G. C."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c055", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c055", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "82", "page_fin": "82", "image_debut": 46, "image_fin": 46, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.9", "titre_corps": "THE COMIC AND THE REALISTICS IN ENGLISH DRAMA by John B. Moore", "titre_sommaire": "THE COMIC AND THE REALISTICS IN ENGLISH DRAMA by John B. Moore", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "82", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.46", "debut_caractere": 362, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3459, "texte": "THE COMIC AND THE REA-\nLISTIC IN ENGLISH DRAMA\nby John B. Moore. Unioersity of\nChicago Press. Price dollars 2.\nTO Mr. Moore the thought of\nunalleviated five-act comic drama\nis essentially unpractical. Mr. Moore's\ntheory is that it is so, and theoretically\nI am tempted to side with Mr. Moore\ntill I remember that I have seen a\nthree and a half hours comic drama\nunrelieved by anything at all grim or\ngrey or even realistic and I am no\nlonger on Mr. Moore's side.\n1 leave my theory with him while\nI stop to ruminate once more on what\n1 enjoyed in a theatre no longer than\nfour years ago.\nI regret the labour given by Mr.\nMoore to the preparation of this little\nwork: 1 regret the work itself: because\nI know that if he had lived in an age or\neven in a land where real people were\ntrained in the right way and not\nin the wrong way, trained to feel,\nto see, to think and to know a\nvery great deal before they were\nallowed to begin to write a book, I\nfeel that Mr. Moore would have by\nthis time taken up some other job or\nwritten something with imagination in it.\nMr. Moore' 9 book lacks all imagi-\nnation. He is like a hundred others\nwho are writing books, and writing\nthem on Dramatic or Theatrical themes.\nI can't blame Mr. Moore but I curse\nthe syslem which has killed his book\nfor him,\nAmerican or English Universities\nwhich have no mother wit in their\ncomposition are wretched institutions\nand are doing a great deal of harm.\nCommonsense, where are you that\nyou cannot force an entry into such\ninstitutions and rouse them to better\naction? You are growing weak, Com-\nmonsenre I\nBut it s Mr. Moore's fault, not\nours cries the Institution, 44 we can't\nhelp it if one of our scholars is a fool\nBut Mr. Moore is no fool he is\na clever man, a most industrious man,\nand an excellent example of fidelity.\nHad I been in your University of\nChicago I would have roused Lucifer\nor Apollo, the Muses nine or even\nthe ordinary deuce in Mr. Moore,\nand damm6, you've allowed him to\nbe dull just because you yourselves\nhadn't any understanding of the impor-\ntance of training the imagination.\nWhy, a jockey couldn't be taught\nhow to ride if he were put through\nsuch a wretched systematic non-training\nas almost all your institutions put their\nmen through.\nBut go it, Mr. Moore don't be\ndown-hearted: one big fall helps a\nlot, and we wish you well at your\nnext fence.\nThere is a little book by a certain\nJames Rhoades published by John Lane\ncalled 44 The Training of the Imagina-\ntion '. It consists of forty pages of\ntext and is the size of a ready reckoner.\nIt is the printed version of an ad-\ndress delivered in 1885 to an audience\nconsisting exclusively of public school\nmasters.\nRhoades confesses to some misgivings\nabout publishing it. But men searching\nto get to grips with a real method of\nexplaining the wonders they have come\nacross in their research and studies\nneed have no misgiving about getting\nthis shilling book, for those who\nhave not been lucky in getting help\ntowards that imaginative state into which\nit has pleased God to call the happier\nones will find there nearly all they\nwant and lack."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c056", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c056", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "82", "page_fin": "82", "image_debut": 46, "image_fin": 46, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.10", "titre_corps": "SHADOWS OF THE OLD BOOKSELLERS by Charles Knight", "titre_sommaire": "SHADOWS OF THE OLD BOOKSELLERS by Charles Knight", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "82", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.46", "debut_caractere": 3461, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5625, "texte": "SHADOWS OF THE OLD\nBOOKSELLERS by Charles Knight,\nwith Preface by Stanley Unwin.\nPeter Davies Ltd. Price 6/- net.\n441T is recorded that the manuscript of\n* Robinson Crusoe passed through\nthe whole trade before it could find a\npurchaser \".\nTHIS brief fact extracted from one\nof the essays in this most agreable\nvolume is vivid, is it not?\nSuppose a work of equal merit by\nSir James Barrie for example; suppose\nit should have to drag round London\nto find any publisher interested enough\nto pay a few pounds for it, would not\nthe dailypapers appear with indignant\nheadlines ?\n44 SIR. J. M. BARRIE INSULTED\nGREA T A UTHOR'S WORK\nREJECTED BY /5 PUBLISHERS.\nSOCIETY OF AUTHORS TAKES ACTION.\nDe Foe was nearly sixty years of age\nwhen Robinson Crusoe was being\nshunted from publisher to publisher.\nHow is it th<it he was treated in this\nway while, to Sir James, the town\npays reverence and fat percentages?\nWell, you will learn more of this\nmatter in this book: you will learn\nhow the great writers of those days„\nbehaved: something of the dignity of\ntheir calling comes out as you grope\namong the shadows of these old\nbooksellers.\nThe story of Samuel Richardson,\nprinter, ...one of our writers not afraid\nto work for a living and write for his\nlife, is told here delightfully as the\nage in which he lived reveals itself,\nshowing us that dear Old\nwhich even now had best be our\nmodel for the future if we are to\nhave any future worth considering.\nAmerican methods are bully; for\nAmerica they are just the finest pos-\nsible: but for England I should say\nthey were harmful.\nGrace, even the rudest grace, is any\nday more becoming to England than\nthe bully methods of the States: and\nto follow the European, and, where\npossible, the British tradition in all\nthings is not unbecoming, nor so stupid\nneither; to attempt to adopt the Ame-\nrican lack of tradition is to flirt with\nbankruptcy.\nTo render England bankrupt should\nbe the very last wish of any whb\nremember its ancient grace and com-\nmonsense. But who does?\nThis is what you will be continually\nreminded of if you sit in the corner of\none of our old bookseller's shops and\ncommune even but slightly with its -\nshadows."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c057", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c057", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "82", "page_fin": "83", "image_debut": 46, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.11", "titre_corps": "HAWKERS AND WALKERS IN EARLY AMERICA by Richardson Wright", "titre_sommaire": "HAWKERS AND WALKERS IN EARLY AMERICA by Richardson Wright", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "82", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.46", "debut_caractere": 5627, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6368, "texte": "HA WKERS AND WALKERS\nIN EARLY AMERICA by Ri-\nchardson Wright• 68 Illustrations.\nLippincott Co. John St• Adelphi;\nLondon. Price 2] j- net.\nTHAT old Yankee jingle which\ngoes\nCharles the First hawked and walked\nHalf an hour after his head was cut off**\nand which refers to a trick act which\nCharlie Chaplin put into one of his\nfilms, testifies to us how original\nAmerica can be.\nBut this book deals not with celebri-\nties so famous as Charlie the first: it\noffers us every kind of Hawker, all\nsorts of Walkers omitting Walker,\nLondon.\nHere for the first time we get a\nglimpse of things which no one in\nEurope ever suspected existed:— The\nYankee Pedlar, The Artist as an\nItinerant, Terpsichore Perambulant, the\nnursemaid dancer, presumably. Chap"}, {"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "83", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2239, "texte": "Books, Street cries, and one and all\nso original.\n44 Scissors to grind J\nJingle, Jingle, goes the Bell\nAny Razors or Scissors,\nOr Penknives to grind?\nI'll engage that my work\nShall be done to your mind\nand above the verse is a little wood-\ncut which, unless you are ridiculously\ninclined to credit England for all the\nchap-book cuts, you will acknowledge\nas genuinely American.\nBut even if you are not in search\nof originality, you can find in this book\na good deal which will interest you,\nprovided Hawking and Walking takes\nyou. If not, then riding and driving\nor sailing down rivers perhaps: and\nthis volume has some pleasant designs\nof coaches, boats, et cetera.\nA reproduction of an American\nstage-coach is particularly interesting\neven though it may, for all I know,\nresemble line for line a French stage\n- coach.\nThere is a chapter on Circus and\nTheatre which will please some of our\nreaders, and any Little Theatre can\nlearn from it exactly what to do, if\nthey have only a company of eight\nactors and wish to perform Sheridan's\n44 Pizarro \" which has in it from seven-\nteen to twenty-five characters.\nMr. Sol Smith, the well known\nAmerican actor, will show them\nhow to do it; —hi? speciality was\nLittle Theatres and Big Plays. He'd\n' take six to ten parts himself, give two\napiece to some three or four others,\nand ring up the curtain. His actors\nwould each get about two dollars for\nan evening's show if there were two\ndollars to spare.\nHis roles in 44 Pizarro\" were:\n1. High Priest of the Sun\n2. Almagro a Spanish officer\n3. Blind Man\n4. Sentinel\n5 Valverde, secretary, and,\n6. Guards.\nNot six guards perhaps, only two,\nhis right side and his left side: but\nSol Smith had ideas; not the ideas\nof Reinhardt or Dantchenko, but what\nthe public would recognize as good\nold Smith ideas .... ideas which had\nbeen in the family for centuries.\nBut if you like what you read in\nvMr. Wright's book about So! Smith\nget down your 44 Romance of the\nAmerican Theatre \" by M. C. Craw-\nford and you'll find more about him\nthere, for Miss Crawford supplies us\nas a rule with what the other Hi-\nstorians of American Theatres are apt\nto pass over; but I have often\nmeant to ask this authoress why she\ndates Rachel's death as falling on\nJanuary sth."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c058", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c058", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "83", "page_fin": "83", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.12", "titre_corps": "THE BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRE by Theophile Gautier", "titre_sommaire": "THE BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRE by Theophile Gautier", "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": "83", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 2241, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5398, "texte": "THE BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRE\n{La Morte Amoureuse) by Iheophile\nGautier. Translated by Paul Hookham.\nA. M. Philpoi Ltd, Price 5/-\nAS I read no French, this transla-\ntion delights me, for too seldom\nare Gautier's writings handed on to\nus group of outcasts, we monoton-\ngued.\nNeither' do I know much about\nthis French writer, who was born in the\nPyranees and died in unhappy circum-\nstances in Paris. So that the Intro-\nduction by M. Gustave Rudler is\nhighly pleasing—all but the old fib.\nIt has been spotted in three different\nbooks reviewed or quoted from in\n44 The Mask\" in the last five years\nso you will already know the fib I am\ncoming to is that of the red waistcoat. It\nwas a pink waistcoat. But I won't\nrepeat what others have said but will\nonly draw your attention to the remarks\nabout said waistcoat on Page 171 of\nthe last volume of 44 The Mask \".\nGautier was twenty-five years of\nage when he wrote these pages which\nappear to be so easily imagined and\nwritten, about one who might not love\nyet did so love: who, dwelling in the\ndusk and in coldness dreams his way\ninto another existence.\nTo read at fifty what this young\nman wrote at twenty-five is to me of\nparticular importance, for we were\nborn on the same day, August 31 st,\nhe in 181 1, I in 1878. I am twenty-\nfive years older than he today,\nand, adding the difference of dates\nwhich is sixty-seven years, I am by\nthis calculation ninety-two years older.\nThis has more to do with the\nenjoyment of this tale than it may at\nfirst appear to have. I think that no\nyoung man could enjoy this tale quite\nso well as 1 have done. I delighted to\nsee the daring of twenty-five, yet the\nease and distinction with which he\nadvanced, the prodigal way in which\nhe poured all the resources of his rich\nimagination into this tale about nothing\nin particular.\nAre such young men being born\nthese days ? any Ganders. Hugos, Du-\nmas or de Mussets? 1 his is not a\nparticularly sane age into which any\nyoung genius should be invited to step.\nEighteen hundred and eleven was after\nall 1811.\nThe world still had farms and far-\nmers; it was obliged therefore to yield\nus fresh milk and good eggs; it still baked\ngood sweet bread—and what butter and\nwhat cheeses 1 Horse 3 came prancing into\nthe world unafraid of the competition\nof cog wheels, their fathers and uncles\nstill champing about Blenheim and\nRamillies, the youngsters getting ready\nto draw the chariots in the Procession\nat the Christening of the King of\nRome, after which parade, off to win\nsome spur pricks at Borodino.\nAt such a time genius delights to\nbe born, and Gautier shows his de-\nlight. Listen how he begins his tale:\nyou would never guess that anyone\ncould begin a tale as he does, that is\nto say, in the right way.\n44 You ask me, brother, if I have\nloved ; yes. It is a strange and terrible\nstory, and although I am sixty-six years\nold, I scarcely dare to stir the ashes\nof that memory.\"\nHow much the translation loses for\nme I will not thank any one to tell\nme: I am quite happy as I am: I am\ngrateful to Mr. Paul Hookham (spite\nof a name which he should never use\nin his work any more) and I think\nthat there can be few better translators\nliving."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c059", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c059", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "83", "page_fin": "84", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.13", "titre_corps": "\"WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART\" by Dyneley Hussey", "titre_sommaire": "\"WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART\" by Dyneley Hussey", "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": "83", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.47", "debut_caractere": 5400, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6655, "texte": "44 V/OLFGANG AMADEUS MO-\nZART\" by Dyneley Hussey. Kegan\nPaul & Co London. Price 7/6 net.\nA Pleasant Tittle volume about the\nusual tragedy.\nIt is not a book for those few men\nand women who can recognize genius\nand appreciate the arts : it is for the\npublic and costs seven and six-pence.\nIn it the public will learn all about\nthe great musician who, thanks to the\npublic, was \" a prophet without ho-\nnour \", I quote from the author.\nMeditating even briefly upon the\nenchanting music of this Maestro, won-\nder soon is roused that the public was\npermitted to destroy him so soon. He\ndied at thirty-five. He had but half\ndone his work ; it was good work ;\nwhy permit the public to destroy him ?\nFor it was not those with appreciation\nwho let him die ; they were merely\nhelpless; it was the others—the public.\nTo day the same scandal is permit-\nted ; musicians, painters, writers, archi-\ntects, are all pestered to death ; when\nwill the silly waste, the tragic stupi-\ndity, be controlled ? artists are not any\nmore numerous to-day than yesterday.\nIt is easily within the power of\nmankind to encourage the growth of\nall artists instead of tormenting them.\nGreat and small should all be preser-\nved, encouraged, developed, allowed\nto do their work, ....Why not ?"}, {"page_pdf": 48, "page_imprimee": "84", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 919, "texte": "Why n0t.... there is no reply.\nBut the reason they are killed off\n(and I don't exaggerate) is that works\nof art need as much sustenance as\npuppies. I have two puppies, and the\nmother, a rough and tumble dog, does\nher best. She had eight, and only\ntwo have survived. But even there\nthe two get bumped and terrified to\ndeath by her savage old way. She\nis a dear old dog, lovable and fierce.\nBut she is only a dog. You are men\nand women, and all these puppies,\nthese artists of yours, are in daily ter-\nror of what is coming next; either\nyou put one of your feet on them, or\nyou sit on them, and, finding they are\ndead, you eat their bodies.\nI suggest that it is time for the\nwhole matter, a spiritual matter, a matter\naffecting the souls of millions of people\nto be enquired into. If you fail\nto enquire into this your own soul,\nmay you be eternally damned is my\nsincere and hearty wish after reading\nthis life of Mozart."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c060", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c060", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "84", "page_fin": "84", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.14", "titre_corps": "Dr. CHARLES BURNEY'S CONTINENTAL TRAVELS 1770-1772 Compiled by Cedric Howard Glover", "titre_sommaire": "Dr. CHARLES BURNEY'S CONTINENTAL TRAVELS 1770-1772 Compiled by Cedric Howard Glover", "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": "84", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 921, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3717, "texte": "Dr. CHARLES BURNEY'S CON-\nTINENTAL TRAVELS 1770-\n1772. Compiled by Cedric Howard\nGlover. Blackie and Son. Price 10/6.\nNOT as valuable to the student as\nthe whole Burney reprint would\nhave been, this book of extracts will\ndoubtless prove very entertaining to a\nwider public.\nBurney's records are interesting and\noften very exact, but his statement\nthat the 1770 Theatre in Milano had\na hundred boxes in each of its five\nrows puzzles me. If he refers to the\nTeatro Ducale, a hundred is incorrect,\nfor that playhouse had about thirty-six\nin each row, and 1 cannot suppose he\nrefers to any other. 1 never yet came\nacross any theatre, old or new, with a\nhundred boxes in each row. He also\nmentions a Palazzo Simonetto : it should\nbe Simonetta, the palace of the surprising\necho.\nSound, music, singing, opera, all\nthese set the old man travelling around\nFrance and Italy, and everywhere\nstops he goes to the theatre ; for,\non the continent, it has been a tradi-\ntion for many centuries to include opera\nas part and parcel of the term Thea-\ntre : their theatre is in two parts, Tea-\ntro Lirico and Teatro di Prcsa.\nIn England not long since a bright\nlad asked in the columns of the press\nwhether one can quite justly include\nopera as part of the theatre:.... it's\nthe fog which gets into the brains of\npeople who ask questions like this.\nBut to Dr. Burney again.\nWhen he visits a theatre he follows\nGeorge Jean Nathan's advice and looks\non it as a theatre before the curtain\nrises on the Drama or the Opera. So\nhe takes stock of the place and puts\ndown what strikes him as to the size,\neffect, customs of the special theatre\nhe is in : and, when correct, as he is\nmore often than not, he is of great\nvalue to us today.\nWith the travel records of La Lande\nand de Brosses, Goethe and Smart,\nlie forms a small mine of information\nuseful to architects who complain of\nnot being able to find sufficient infor-\nmation about the 1 heatre construction\nof Italy.\n44 The Mask \" has vdone much to\nsupply all the valuable information its\nsmall amount of space will permit of,\nas 1 know by reading 41 The Mask\nand I am grateful to those who have\ntaken such trouble in this matter, and in\nan age when people seem so indifferent.\nBurney was not a good traveller so\nhe often was most uncomfortable, and\nquite unnecessarily so. This puts me\nagainst a bock of travels unless it be\nalso a book of hairsbreadth adventures ;\nand Burney doesn't travel for ad-\nventures ; he travels for the arts, and\nshould go a bit more easily to quite\nplease us as we read.\nHe has a number of wise reports to\nmake on Melastasio, and amusing ones\non the splendour of the wax lights at\nthe Naples Theatre which are 44 too\nmuch for the aching si ght \".\nWell worth reading, after all, these\nextracts, and the book is a very nicely\nprinted book."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c061", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c061", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "84", "page_fin": "84", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.15", "titre_corps": "ADVERTISEMENT DESIGN by R. P. Gossop", "titre_sommaire": "ADVERTISEMENT DESIGN by R. P. Gossop", "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": "84", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 3719, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5976, "texte": "ADVERTISEMENT DESIGN by\nR. P. Gossop. Chapman and Hall\nLtd. Price 21 /- net.\nNEVER were so many good books\nbeing issued as now on this sub-\nject of Pictorial Advertisement and\nthe value of Design to the Advertiser.\nOur author, Mr. Gossop, (a very\nable artist) concerns himself mainly\nwith British work, crowding one good\ndesign after another into his pages,\nsome being in the most brilliant co-\nlours, and makes of the volume a thing\nworth having merely to look at. It is\npeculiarly entertaining to have a look\nat the hoardings for the first time al-\nthough we have passed them daily for\na year.\nBut the value of the book is to\nadvertisers. Here they have a refe-\nrence book of the best kind. With\nthe 44 Studio \" publications it forms\nalmost an Encyclopaedia of modern\nadvertising possibilities.\nBy the way, isn't it time the Thea-\ntre managers moved forward in this\nmatter of Design 7 If the Natural\nHistory Museum can use such a design\nas that facing page 147 and the-\nUnderground Railways employ Mr.\nPaul Woodroffe as they did in 1926,\nand other Railways get a design from\nR. P. Gossop, whose plate (face\npage 108) is delightful, and the Royal\nMail Line employ Mr. Taylor (face\npage 112), surely the Theatre can do\nas well if not better than all these.\nBut they should first go to consult Mr.\nGossop so as to do it thoroughly.\nThere are dozens of artists for the\nadvertiser to select from.\nT. C. Derrick designs very pretty\nthings, and Fred Pegram is always\ndelightful. E. McKnight Kauffer is\nvivid, as all London should know by\nthis time.\nWhat does the 1 heatre want ?\n....pretty, delightful or vivid ?—it as\noften as not selects an ineffective de-\nsign.\nPerhaps it doesn't quite grasp the\nworth of these things. I take it that\n£ 100.0.0 would not be too much\nto pay the artist for a really good\ndesign. .. though a clever youngster\nshould be happy to get £ 1 5.0.0.\nIt's so often this doubt about the\nprice and who to ask which damps\nthe gunpowder..., and thus the Thea-\ntre fails to get quite as good as it\ndeserves to get.\nMr. Selfridge has been one of the\nmen who understood what it meant to\npay artists well and to secure the best\nartists. It is so important: in fact,\nit is after all the first and essential\npoint : that is why I mention it here."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c062", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c062", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "84", "page_fin": "85", "image_debut": 48, "image_fin": 49, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.16", "titre_corps": "ACCESSIONS LIST 1926 of the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design", "titre_sommaire": "ACCESSIONS LIST 1926 of the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design", "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": "84", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.48", "debut_caractere": 5978, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6747, "texte": "ACCESSIONS LIST 1926 of the\nDepartment of Engraving, Illustration\nand Design. Victoria and Albert\nMuseum, Issued 1927,\nTHIS department of the famous Mu-\nseum at South Kensington is al-\nways adding a little to its collection\nof Theatrical designs for scenes and\ncostumes or theatrical subjects. I count\nsome forty entries in this list, among\nwhich are some scene designs by the\nTelbins, William Telbin the elder\n(1813-1873), William Telbin the youn-\nger, and Henry Telbin (1840-1865)\nbrother of the younger felbm: a num*\nber of costume designs by Charles\nRickelts A. R. A., and two designs\nby Albert Rutheraton, one by Not man\nWilkinson : a scale model by George\nSneringham : a scene design by Clark-\nson Stanneld and a design for an Act-\ndrop used at Drury Lane Theatie"}, {"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "85", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.49", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 564, "texte": "when it was rebuilt and reopened\nin 1922.\nI should like to see in the collec-\ntion a few examples of the Theatre\nwork of Claus Richter who exhibited\nat the International Theatre Exhibition\nin London, for his work is serviceable.\n1 hat word means a good deal used\nhere. Many artists dash off very pretty\nor strikingly ugly unserviceable designs.\nI find that the Russians, Polunin, Gout-\ncharova and Larionov, are among the\nnumber.\nDesigns by Richter are always of\nservice to the stage and understandable\nby those who work on a stage ; but\nthen Richter was an actor."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c063", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c063", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "85", "page_fin": "85", "image_debut": 49, "image_fin": 49, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.17", "titre_corps": "IL GROTTESCO NELL'ARTE E NELLA LETTERATURA by Gino Gori", "titre_sommaire": "IL GROTTESCO NELL'ARTE E NELLA LETTERATURA by Gino Gori", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "85", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.49", "debut_caractere": 566, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1603, "texte": "IL GROTTESCO NELUARTE E\nNELL A LETTERATURA by\nGino Gori. Alberto Stock. Roma.\nPrice lire 24.\nHAVING written this interesting\nlit lie book on a streak which\nruns through the Arts and Letters,\nSignor Gori asks Signor Massimo\nBontempelli for a Preface. And Si-\ngnor Bontempelli talks of the Ci-\nnema.\n44 The Cinema is our language'1 he\nsays. He wondeis how it is that\nSignor Gori hasn't understood that the\ngrotesque (which Signor Gori says is\nnow apparently empty) has in the\n44 Cinematografica dell'Arte \" an \"am-\nbiente propizio\", that is, a favourable\nfield or setting.\nI fully expect to hear someone\nshortly telling shoemakers that it's\nabsurd to complain of the scarcity of\nleather because the age of the cinema-\ntograph offers the very finest film from\nwhich bedroom slippers can be simply\nreeled off by the million.\nThis Ci nema has got on to every-\none's nerves and critics are beginning\nto write with their nerves since it\nwould appear that, by using the brains,\nit is impossible to find anything good\nto be said about the Cinema."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c064", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c064", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "85", "page_fin": "86", "image_debut": 49, "image_fin": 50, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.18", "titre_corps": "THEATRE. Edited by Edith J. R. Isaacs", "titre_sommaire": "THEATRE. Edited by Edith J. R. Isaacs", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "85", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.49", "debut_caractere": 1605, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6700, "texte": "THEATRE. Essays on the Arts of\nthe Theatre Edited by Edith J. R.\nIsaacs. Little Brown & Co. Boston.\nPrice $ 4.50.\nFOR my part I should have sup-\nposed that the Theatre was not a\nshop, not a stores : but it becomes a\nstores if several arts are sold there to\nthe public and if the public is slyly\nspoiled and given what it whimpers or\nblusters for.\nIn that case those who look after\nthat sort of I heatre are right to as-\nsume that role of retailer or purveyer,\nwhich comes naturally to Mr. Seifridge\nwithout any assumption.\nBut if the Theatre be something\nmore than a stores,—if it be like a\nPicture Gallery or a Library, which are\nm ade with some sense of dignity for\ntheir two uses, then it will also like\nto preserve that old sense, a universal\nsense, and will not claim to house more\nthan one art, and that art its own.\nThe Theatre had best only aim to be\nsomething like a Library or a Picture Gal-\nlery: I mean by that, it had best not\naspire or be making any steps to be-\ncome more than these : it may not be\nreaching to the solemnity of a Univer-\nsity, or of a Church. If ever it did\nso it woul i still have to remember that\nUniversities and Churches have for\nsome reason avoided the Stores idea.\nThe Church has held but one thing\nReligion: Universities but one thing—\nLearning.\nA church which had gone in for\nselling metal work and carpets, bro-\ncades and looking glasses on the steps\nof its altar would have been a huge\nsuccess.... for five years. After that,\nor after fifteen or twenty, it would\nhave crumbled. A University which\nshould indulge in Public display of any\nkind would have also soon fallen.\nYet the Theatre, for some unknown\nreason, has been content to do what\nneither Church, University, Gallery\nnoi Library thought in any way fit.\nIt edges up, snuggles up to the side\nof the big Stores. Funny things are\nsold across the footlights or at the\nstage door. M Here's an idea '' says\nsome prize-fighter to the manager weary\nwith rehearsing actors. 44 Come and\ntalk it over in the pub \" replies the\nmanager, or 44 in the club \", ....it's\nabout the same thing only not so jolly.\nAnd the Prize fighter begins: 14 My\nidea is that you engage me and Mike\nBilkins for your old Covent Garden\nTheatre and that we make a regular\nstunt of it There his idea stops :\nbut the manager actually engages him.\nand Covent Garden Theatre was turned\ninto a prize fighters' ring.\n44 But my idea \" says Fraulein Ja-\ngermann to the Duke at Weimar\n(Goethe being out of earshot) is to\nappear in a play with a poodle\n44 Capital idea \" cries August the hun-\ndredth—and the Royal Theatre is tur-\nned into a foolery.\n44 I have always had the idea \" says\na solemn impresario to a group of\npressmen round his table 44 to make a\ngreat Review or Parade of a hundred\nof the loveliest girls.... 44 Go no\nfurther, Boss—it's GREAT \" cry the\npressmen.\nAnd so on and so on and so on»\nAny old thing has done for the Thea-\ntre it would seem, and any old thing\nwon't do.\nAnd so it is a good sign to find in\nthis book written by a dozen or so\nAmericans, edited by the lady who\nedits the 44 Theatre Arts Monthly a\nseries of essays which show a desire\nto limit, to some extent, this wholesale\ntraffic in any old thing.\nFor we must. remember that the\ni heatre is the house of one thing only\nand that is the Drama. Lyric or\nProse Drama, Mimo-drama, Marion-\nnette Drama (this but a small affair\nfor children, of course) and that's\nabout all.\nI don t like seeing the Theatre even\nused as an Odeum or as a Dancing\nHall : but where Dancing and Ora-\ntory come into the Drama without ob-\ntruding themselves (and they both do\ncome into it) then place can be found\nboth for Dancer and Orator.\nIt would indeed be a dangerous\nstate for the Theatre to get into if the\nDramatist ever began to feel that he\nwas being crowded out of the Playhouse\nby a pack of prize fighters, poodles,\ndancers and orators. But he has his\nstaunch allies, and whether he write his\nplays, compose his operas or invent his\nmimo-dramas, the Dramatist will al-\nways be able to count on the Manager-\nProd ucer who is master of the House\nand who sees that j all things are\nready for the reception of the Drama.\nBut there is another person to fear\nand that is the amateur. If thirty\namateur notion-mongers, scenic fellows,\nactors, producers, were to push or\ninsinuate their way in through the stage\ndoor there would have to be thoughts\nof revolution.\nAnd the so-called old-fashioned part\nof the professional theatre senses all\nthese dangers. That is why the pro-\nfession is unable to move and do very\nmuch. It just holds its breath, does\nnot stir, and tragically hopes against\nhope. It knows.\nThe so-called New Movement which\nis represented by this book of Mrs\nIsaacs must now do something to un-\nderstand this. It must be a friend to\nthe so-called old-fashioned professional\ntheatre.\nHow that can be done is both hard\nto discover and as easy as to say 4; Here\nwe are again\nNo one questions any longer the\nability (up to a certain point) and the\ngenius (far beyond that point) of the\nNew Movement.\nAnd in Germany, in Russia, in\nHolland and in Poland, in Ireland and"}, {"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "86", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 706, "texte": "in odur plcxes where clher and grea-\nter troubles show them the futility of\ntussmg about this Theatre trouble, the\ngenius and ability of the New Move-\nment has made good friends with the\nso-called old-fashioned group, and all\nare now united.\nIt would be well if in America and\nEngland, in France and Italy, in Spain\nand in Belgium the so-called old-fas-\nhioned Theatre and the newer artists,\nactors, dramatists and ail could join\nhands, meet, and realize that they\nhave but one common enemy, and\nthat is the outsider who would like to\nuse their house for his prize-fights, ci-\nnemas, dances and other purposes, and\nthat as their destiny is to uuite, it\nwere all to the geed to do so without\nany more delay."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c065", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c065", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "86", "page_fin": "86", "image_debut": 50, "image_fin": 50, "pages_selon": "pagination imprimée relevée dans le METS Blue Mountain (ORDERLABEL) ; [n] = page sans folio restituée", "url_article": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.19", "titre_corps": "MOLIERE'S PLAYS AND THIRTEEN OTHERS", "titre_sommaire": "MOLIERE'S PLAYS AND THIRTEEN OTHERS", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "86", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 708, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5233, "texte": "MOLIERE'S PLAYS\nAND THIRTEEN OTHERS.\nWHY do playwriters fail to foil w\nthe Moliere tradition and\nfollow it exactly too ?\nI should better understand their fai-\nlure if plays had been failures\non the boards.\nBut here is the excellent Rann\nKennedy with thirty years of practical\nexperience as actor, producer and play-\nwright, running counter to the whole tra-\ndition of the stage and glorying in it.\nAnd here is Arthur Schnitzler writing\na little masterpiece again, a long mo-\nnologue made for Ruth Draper and a\nproducer who feels equal to the task,\nand calling it a novelette. I don't\nblame either of them; I only continue\nto wonder what can have come over\nplaywrights to leave their citadel, open\nthe gates, and ask for sudden death\nat the hands of the public, the actors,\nthe producers and all.\nThe se thirteen 0) plays are all very\ndifferent : and scrne are distinctly bel-\nter than others ; but one and all de-\nsert the strong position taken for them\nby the Commedia dell'Arte and for-\ntified by Moli^re.\nIt is not surprising then if today the\nProducer is asked to take a lead, for\nhe will assuredly do his best to re-\ntake the fortified place and give it\nback to the genuine dramatists. I hat is\npretty certain, I think.\nIn order to realize what has been\nlost you have only to buy the Plays\nby Moli&re issued at 95 cents by\nBoni & Liveright in their Modern Li-\nbrary.\nYou will immediately discover that\nthe translation is a poor one—the names\nof the translators are not given ; and\nyou will, if you follow my advice,\ngive away this 95 cents' worth to a\nhospital and you will purchase a copy\nof Wall's translation, issued by Bell\nand Sons ; it is in their Bohn Series.\nI his is presuming you read French\nuneasily.\nTo read Moliere uneasily does not do.\nBetter the imperfections of a good trans-\nlation so that you can go along quickly\nthan a jerky voyage through the ori-\nginal.\nAnd when you read these plays\nyou will see what it is that constitutes\na good play.\nThere is no one to equal Moliere in\nthe making up of a good play. He\nhas studied in that ancient school\nwhich ordered the writer to 44 cut it\ndown to half and leave nothing out \" :\nthat to begin with. Then he has re-\nmembered a wise saying, 44 Do not give\ntoo fine a point to your wit \". He\nhas never forgotten the old joke, 44 Cut\nthe cackle and come to the 'osses \". In\nfact he reverences the stage, the au-\ndience and the craft of playmaking\nand never quarrels with B. G. Lulli\nwho is fond of productions. Playwrights,\nplease copy.\nBut there is one of these thirteen\nplays I wish to pick out from the\nrest. Not because it is a better play\nthan the rest, but because it is de-\nliberately less of a play than the\nothers.\nIt is a series of episodes, and no\nstage manager, no producer can fail\nto appreciate the compliment paid him\nby the author, who, without indulging in\nlaudation of the producer's craft, docs\noffer him a hundred opportunities and\noffers them courteously.\nHis piece is called 44 Casanova \" :\na fantastic chronicle in seven Episodes\nwiih a Prologue and an Epilogue \".\nWere I a producer, I must admit I\nshould prefer to work upon a sketch,\na scenario or a play like one by Mache-\nlovskovsky where .no stage directions\nof modem ed tions are to be found.\n(The stage directions of Machelov-\nskovsky are all of them inserted by\npeople since he wrote the plays and\nare not worth a fig.).\nBut next to a blank cheque of th s\nkind I must say (were 1 a producer)\nI'd enjoy such a series of incidents as\nMr. Gribble offers me, for 1 should\nfeel 1 had a sympathetic collaborator\nwho would never haggle about the\nwords and would even (willingly) insert\nnew phrases where they might seem ne-\ncessary as the Episodes began to take\nshape on the Stage.\nMr. Gribble certainly makes a ges-\nture which the producer must not far!\nto respond to. It is a friendly and\ncourteous nod in his direction.\n(I) PLAYS by MOLIERE. Boni &\nLiveright. 95 cents.\nAfA .S A A/S6W Ay Charles Lee. Dent\n(ft Sons //-\nBANNS OF MARRIAGE by\nCharles Lee. .Sows //-\nPETER & PAUL by H. F. Rubins-\ntein, Benn Ltd. priee not given.\nEXODUS by 11. F. Rubinstein <# Hal-\ncott Glover Benn Ltd. price not given.\nSHAKESPEARE by H. F. Rubins-\ntein & Clifford Bax Benn Ltd. \"\nERA ULEIN ELSE by Arthur\nSchnitzler Philpot Ltd, 5/-\nPEERS WOODMAN by Ber?iard\nGutlbert, THE MOON RISES HIGH\nby Herman Ould and THE ONE ETER-\nNAL THING by A. G. Berrisfotd Black-\nwell, Oxford 3/6 each.\nPLAYS FOR IHREE PLAYERS\nby C. R. Kennedy. University of Chi-\ncago Press 12/6.\nCASANOVA by G. D. Gribble. Jtout-\nedg* 5l -"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c066", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c066", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "86", "page_fin": "87", "image_debut": 50, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.20", "titre_corps": "I WANT TO BE HAPPY by William PlaitA MAN'S DAY ON EARTH by William Platt", "titre_sommaire": "I WANT TO BE HAPPY by William PlaitA MAN'S DAY ON EARTH by William Platt", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "86", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.50", "debut_caractere": 5235, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6713, "texte": "I WANT TO BE HAPPY by\nWilliam Plait. Melhuen &P Co,\nPrice 3/6,\nA MAN'S DAY ON EARTH by\nWilliam Piatt. Bale Sons, price 3/6.\nWHEN the Englishman is very En-\nglish he is often very young.\nMr. Platt is a teacher—and just\nthe very man to teach, for he is kind\nand he is patient and he is young and\nno one would ever be frightened of\nhim. There again, when the young\nEnglishman is very English he easily\ngets frightened.\nAnd Mr. Piatt's book may frighten\nhim, but he won't read it: he'll read -\nMr. Piatt's face and listen to his mu-\nsic, and he'll go out and play hockey\nwith Willie Plait and be quite uncon-\nscious that this man of past sixty-five\nis educating him to be a fine fellov.\nPiatt has genius : he has chosen to\nput thst rather into his life and the\ndaily task of helping others than into '\nany old books which, after all, he\ndoesn t like. He's bookish but he\ndoesn't r ally like books : he likes the\nopen road and the earth. And in his\nsecond book about a day on that\nearth he rushes through with it so as\nto get out and breathe the fresh air\nand play more games and make eve-\nryone happy.\nHappiness is his theme and he ra-\nces on and doesn't even bother to note\nhow unhappy he has made me by a\ncaricature of a much loved master of\nmine, a man who never bothered (ap-\nparently) to make his pupils happy,\nwho never was out of the stuffy at-\nmosphere of a theatre and who frigh-\ntened us all to death.\nThrough and through he was kind- *\nness itself, but he didn't look it:"}, {"page_pdf": 51, "page_imprimee": "87", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.51", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 797, "texte": "whereas Piatt both iooks it and\nis it.\nBut fancy describing Irving as \"a\nbadly dressed actor *\\talking in a shop\nto a tailor who was \" adamant \",\n\" pleading \" with this tailor for \" a\nlittle more credit \", the tailor \" refu-\nsing to listen \" and finally \" sent him\naway \".\nThis of Irving, who was never badly\ndressed, never pleaded, commanded\nalways :—with whom no one durst be\n\" adamant \" lest they became foolish ;\nand who was never \" refused\nAs for \" sent away I feel like\nsending Piatt away, only I once met\nhim with a group of artists and so-\ncialists up Hampstead way and thought\nhe looked what in England used to\nbe called \" an old dear \".\nPiatt, as a matter of fact, is an im-\nmensely able man, and all he does in\nthis life is to attempt to hide this\nand to bring out the ability of others"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c067", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c067", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "87", "page_fin": "88", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.21", "titre_corps": "SEPT COMEDIES DO MOYEN AGECOMEDIES by HolbergAS THEY SEEMED TO ME by Ugo OjettiTHE ADVENTURES OF FIVE HOURS by Sir Samuel TukeFIFTY YEARS OF SPOOF by Arthur RobertsTHE ALCHEMIST by Ben Jonson", "titre_sommaire": "SEPT COMEDIES DO MOYEN AGECOMEDIES by HolbergAS THEY SEEMED TO ME by Ugo OjettiTHE ADVENTURES OF FIVE HOURS by Sir Samuel TukeFIFTY YEARS OF SPOOF by Arthur RobertsTHE ALCHEMIST by Ben Jonson", "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": "87", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.51", "debut_caractere": 799, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6693, "texte": "SEPT COMEDIES DO MO YEN\nAGE. Illustrated. Editions Spes. Paris.\nPrice Frs 1\nCOMEDIES by Holberg,. Humphrey\nMilford. Oxford University Press.\nPrice not given.\nAS THEY SEEMED TO ME by\nUgo Ojetti, Translated by Henry\nFurst, Introduction by D' Annunzio.\nMethuen Price 6/-.\nTHE ADVENTURES OF FIVE\nHOURS by Sir Samuel Tufa. Holden.\nPrice 7/6.\nFIFTY YEARS OF SPOOF by\nArthur Roberts. John Lane. Price 12/6.\nTHE ALCHEMIST by Ben Jonson.\nCambridge University Press. Price 2/6.\nB|| J JIJ| „ J,, pißim—l—WW I lIIIWW ■IIIHIM «N^RNRwR—-rrrimr—————\nTHOUGH I know better editions of\nthese \"Sept Comedies\" I don't know\nbetter comedies. These are real stage\nplays plays made by actors or actor\nauthors, or by writers who were taught\nby proper experience how to stop\nwasting words and (a very vulgar trick)\nhow to get laughs. I'm very sorry to\nhave to descend in these days of Me-\nthuselah to blithe pithy matters, but the\nmain thing for a play writer to do if he\nwish to die a play-Wright is to come\nstraight to the point and make it.\nThen make another: allow two minutes\nbetween the more dazzling points, but\nfill these minutes in with a few sparks\nhere and there. Keep this up for an\nhour, and you'll die a playwright sure\nenough, my son.\nOf course old Holberg was a play-\nwiight he died in 1754, in Soro.\nAnd when ycu see Johannes Poulsen\nplaying Erasmus Montanus you 11 think\nHolberg wrote it for him. And in a\ncertain sense he did. He wrote it for\nan actor (ie a man who can act), not\nfor clever people who mumble and\nfidget; and, Poulsen being born ACTOR,\nit follows, as the evening the afternoon,\nhe wrote it for Poulsen.\nHolberg was not as good at a play\nas was the author of \" Paihelin, \" but\nhe will do : he belongs to the great\nschool the school of l'm\nnot sure I like using the word great in\nthis connection because school\nis anything but great, It's no more\ngreat than is a big bush of roses\nit's like a bush of roses goes on\nand on and is a!l right in all weathers:\nout come the roses punctually to a\nday up goes the curtain and pat\ncomes the first bud of a laugh or a\ngreat burst of blossom right away.\nHolberg is here translated for us by\nCampbell and Schenck and very well\nthey have done him. It's not a book\nthat came out this year; it appeared\nin 1914; but there was not a moment\nin that year to risk the safety of De-\nmocracy by reading any damn fool\nplays.\nNow is the moment when no other\nrisk is worth while—and may Demo-\ncracy be shattered is my very heart-\nfelt wish. Playing these plays would\nhelp to shatter it; —it would be a\nsure sign that all was up with that\nhumbug if all the really good and\ngenuine plays had long runs 0).\n\" Holberg's sense of fact was pictu-\nresque, rather than profound\" writes\nCampbell in his Introduction '• <nd\nwhat profounder does any but a fa-\ntuous world ask for?\nIT is because Signor Ugo Ojetti U so\npicturesque that he is so profound.\nIn his rapid sketches of people as he\nsaw them he enchants the reader. He\nis a vivid writer, and has eyes that\nlook into and through things. He can\nsee through to the Mother of Duse.\nDuse has only to help him a very\nlittle. He can see through to Gari-\nbaldi while speaking with his wife.\nHe sees Puccini, D'Annunzio, Lloyd\nGeorge and King Victor Emanuel.\nHe saw well this last man—a very\ngreat man, surely never drawn more\nperfectly than Signor Ojetti has done\nin a few lines.\nAnd he can see into Voronoff and\nZola.\nEveryone of the forty four essays\non people, places or things written of\nin this delightful book is good, and\nsome are beautiful. The translations\nby Mr. Henry Furst are perfect, and\nGabriele D'Annunzio's introduction, in\nthe form of a letter written to his old\nforeign legionary Furst, is to me as\ncharming and full of lovely things as\nD'Annunzio himself has always been\nexcept to the cynical or to the egoist.\nI don't know whether this has been\na \"best seller\", this little book; but\nI know that if 1 wanted to give a\nfriend many delightful hours I would\ngive him a copy of this book by\nOjetti.\nI should feel far less certain of giving\nmy friend any delight at all if I were\nto offer him a copy of \" The Adven-\nture of Five Hours\" by old friend\nSam Tuke.\nBut I would risk taking him to see\nthat play if I knew where to get\nseats for it: for I feel that it's\nplayable.\nPepys loved it and swore it to be\n\"in one word the best for variety\netc. etc. that ever I saw \". The rum\nfellow even read the play three years\nlater and found it better than\n\" Othello \", wrote that \" Othello \"\nwas \" a mean thing \" after Sara\nTuke's play.\nAnd this shows that when acted it\ncan be good. For, when reading it\nin 1666, Pepys recalled what the\nactors had done and how, and all the\nrest of the show: without that to help\nthe reader I much doubt if any but\nthe exemplary ones could get past the\nfirst three pages and live. But it's a\nnicely printed, nicely bound book, and\nif there was a Big Theatre Movement\n(a thing Europe and America stand\ngreatly in need of) I could hope that\none Big Theatre would try it out at\na rehearsal.\nAs for the Little Theatre Move-\nment, which only acts as bait for spe-\nculators, I would say \" leave it alone \".\nMr. Arthur Roberts knows what I\nmean. —He has written a book so\nfull of commonsense, and states so\nclearly what he thinks of the decay\nof personality that I'm sure the public\nwhich loved to see and hear Roberts\nwill never be gulled by this Little\nTheatre Movement. Aias, it's the\nlittle wriggle itself which will be gul-\nled and swallowed up.\nArthur Roberts has the great gift\npossessed by Moli&re and Holberg:\nhe can make his points at once. It\nseems to be out of fashion, this di-\nrectness; whereas the other thing is\nadored \" it's as easy as lying \".\nTo make your point directly is the\nmost difficult thing to do; it needs\npersonality and again personality and\nthen a vast experience.\n\n(i) There's another play would help\ntoo called 4 Der Snob of which I\nhope to write later."}, {"page_pdf": 52, "page_imprimee": "88", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.52", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1049, "texte": "And 1 can understand how it was\nthat Arthur Roberts made his points\nat once on a stage; but how it is he\ndoes it in a book, like any thorough\ntrained journalist would do it, must\nhave staggered as well as delighted\nhis countless admirers.\nThe book is full of sound sense\nwell writ and hilarius. It never\nflags. It begins and ends brilliantly\nand is up to the mark all the time.\nIf only the learned Ben Jonson had\npossessed one eighth of the personality\nof Arthur Roberts his 44 Alchemist\nwould not have sent me to sleep.\nI admit that this is a famous play,\nbut there you are it's like one of\nthe famous plays of our days, famous\nbecause fogies have said it s wonderful.\nAnd it's not wonderful; it's able,\nand it is well writ in a scholarly way;\nbut no one in his senses ever asks a\nplaywright to be scholarly.\nWhat we want is something actable\nsomething lively, 44 Othello,' or\n44Tartuffe\": and then anything less\nseems a miss-fire.\nHave I your wink, William of\nThe Mermaid, that Ben Jonson was\na missfire? have I yours, Jean Poque-\nlin ? All right."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c068", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c068", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "88", "page_fin": "88", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.22", "titre_corps": "THE ENGLISH DRAMA by H. F. Rubinstein", "titre_sommaire": "THE ENGLISH DRAMA by H. F. Rubinstein", "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": "88", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.52", "debut_caractere": 1051, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2923, "texte": "THE ENGLISH DRAMA by H.\nF. Rubinstein. Benn Ltd. Price 6d.\nI think there are no books being is-\nsued which are half as good for\nthe price as these sixpenny books.\nMr. Rubinstein seems to agree with\nMr. Ivor Brown that the producer is\nat last going to be asked to prove\nwhat use he can be to the Drama,\nand,— provided he is not asked to\nproduce gorgeous spectacles for thirty-\ntwo guineas—l daresay the producer\ncan and will prove of service.\nI believe Mr. Rubinstein unintentio-\nnally misinterprets Mr. Brown when\nhe says that be has 44 shown how\n....the failure of the supply of fresh\ndrama automatically raises the status of\neither actor or producer \", I think\nMr. Brown means something more\nthan that.\nBesides, there has been no failure\nto supply fresh drama. Never have so\nmany dramas been written as in re-\ncent years... many of them first-rate.\nAll they lacked was a theatre under\na producer with singleness of purpose,\nto carry them across the rather turbulent\nfootlights.\nNo ship would set out with eight\nor more different fellows telling the\ncaptain that he didn't know how to steer\nand that they did know. And this\nhas been going on now for too many\nyears. The one man who can un-\ndoubtedly steer the theatrical ship is\nthe producer. And for twenty years\nthe producers in Germany and in Rus-\nsia have steered well. Reinhardt and\nStanislawsky for example.\nWe have lost those twenty years,\nwondering whether we really could or\ncould not trust Craig.\nWe came at last to trust Barker but\nwe backed out of it. Then we trusted\nDrinkwater * and Dean—but we feel\nrather doubtful as to the issue. I sup-\npose it's timidity on our part. It cer-\ntainly is not very long-sighted of us.\nSuggested :—that we wake up and\ndo the thing properly by trusting all\nour best men and giving them plenty\nof opportunity of doing all they can.\nAnything else is fast becoming ri-\ndiculous."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c069", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c069", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "88", "page_fin": "89", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.23", "titre_corps": "FRANCOIS VILLON by D. B. Wyndham LewisON LOVE, StendhalLA CHANSON DE MA VIE by Yvette Guilbert", "titre_sommaire": "FRANCOIS VILLON by D. B. Wyndham LewisON LOVE, StendhalLA CHANSON DE MA VIE by Yvette Guilbert", "signature_source": "E. H. G. C", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 52, "page_imprimee": "88", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.52", "debut_caractere": 2925, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6692, "texte": "FRANCOIS VILLON by D. B.\nWyndham Lewis. Peter Davies.\nPrice 10/6.\nON LOVE, Stendhal Chatto &\nWindus. Price 7/6.\nLA CHANSON DE MA VIE by\nYvette Guilbert. Grasset (Paris);\nPrice Francs 12.\n\nI would like to take the last book,\nfirst, but I have nothing to say of\nit which has not been said better by\nall the best writers of France. So I\nwill do the unexpected and start at\nthe beginning with the book on Villon,\nAt the first glance at the book I\nfelt sorry to think that any writer\non 44 The Daily Mail \" should, during\nhis off hours, write about a prodigal,\nan unashamed prodigal who was a\npoet, a cut-throat and so on.\nIt gave me a shock at first.\nBut by the time I reached page I 1 5\nI was relived to find our popular hu-\nmourist splashing on the white-wash\npresumably lest one million of the old\ncrowd should chance to come across\nthe book.\nAnd thus it falls out that he comes\nto speak of Villon's passion for Ka-\ntherine de Vausselles being 44 undoubt-\nedly the nearest thing to a pure and\nsteadfast love \".\nVillon in collar and cuffs, spats, and\ntopper, approving and disapproving\nand playing down to the 44 pure and\nsteadfast\" lovers of Bond Street is\njust the sort of picture one expects\nfrom our D. B. W. L.\nBut, as a matter of fact, Wyndham\nLewis has written a very serious book\nabout a dev'lish serious subject, and,\nwhile making it one of the most enter-\ntaining historical novels of the season,\nhas never forgotten that what he is\nwriting of is or rather was all true; so\nhe has at the same time made it\nexact.\nVillon was made so strangely that\nit's a wonder he lived so long, battled-\nthrough, and found time to write\nmuch. But then he could write well\nand that was everything. It was easy\nthen to live long and battle along.\nBut he certainly was made strangely.\nMr. Lewis knows him far better than\n1 do; but for all this, when I came to\npage 143 and read Mr. Lewis's\nreading of 44 Que sais je plus? Quoy?\nLes gaiges ravoir\" for some reason\n1 actually had the audacity to differ\nfrom Villon's historian. I apologize,\nfirst for he must know: but, guessing,\n1 find a simpler solution.\n44 There is \" writes Mr. Lewis,\n\" undoubted evidence in the Ballade\nde Blois, if it is examined again with\nattention, of a coolness between Villon\nand his host: the whole Envoi becomes\na humble and apologetic plea for pardon\nfor some offence, and in the line\nQue sais je plus ? Quoy ? Les gaiges ravoir,\nthere is crystal-clear showing that\nVillon had had his wage stopped\nfor some solecism or misdemeanour.\nHad he broken out suddenly at table\nwith an oath or a too ripe story from\nthe Trou Perrette? Had he burst at\nlength into the mincing, exclusive\ncircle of little . literary men and\nblackened a poetic eye ? Had he\nhad trouble with the seneschals, or\ncreated a scandal in the servants' hall,\nor attempted gallantry with my Lady's\nmaids? He had offended the Duke,\nit is obvious, and the Duke had cut\noff his stipend.\nNow I see it quite differently. To\nme Villon is only doing in verse what\nLeonardo da Vinci did in prose, and\nMartinelli the actor did in doggerel,\nand every artist was expected to do.\nLeonardo's patron was the Duke of\nMilano, and this prince was of the\nusual kind, rich and brainless, feeling-\nless, forgetful. Leonardo wanted to\nbe paid, and for that pay he had to\nwrite an entertaining letter.\nMartinelli the actor had as his Pa-\ntron Henry IV of France and that\nprince was all humanity, able and rich\ntoo, but none the less forgetful; deli-\nberately so; it was expected of patrons;\ni and it was to him that Martinelli\nwrote some brilliantly stupid jingles\nt asking to be paid.\nIn short, every artist who could\n, talk or write brilliantly and who had\na dash of genius in him always did\n, write and ask to be paid.\n\\ So that it by no means follows that"}, {"page_pdf": 53, "page_imprimee": "89", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.53", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3592, "texte": "Villon had \" offended the Duke \" or\nhad \"broken out suddenly at table\".\nIt s an excellent reading of the part,\nI admit, but it s too spectacular.\n\" Dear Sir, I am tired of waiting\n\" any longer for payment due to me\n\" for those camel hair brushes which\nyou purchased at my shop last cen-\n\" tury is what impatient colour-men\nwrite to the Princely artists of our day;\nbut there has been no quarrel; merely\ndeliberate forgetfulness on the part of\nthe artist.\nAnd theoretically how right of the\nartist. Liberated from the old servi-\ntude he has today become a Prince,\nand puts on the airs which our princes\nof today have no use for.\nIt s all he has to put on, poor\nart st; isn t he welcome to the airs ?\n(By the way, you who live in\nshire near Stroud, you really ought to\npay up your last two years' subscription\nto 44 Ihe Mask\"; for I hear from\nFlorence that your princely way is\ncausing hard workers some extra little\nbit of stress, so do pay).\nThe Duke of Milano in 1500, and\nCharles Duke of Orleans in 1457\nprobably had no notion who was paid\nor why anyone wanted money. They\nnever were paid—they never were in\nwant of monies. I think they were\nrather stupid.\nHenry IV was quite different; but\nthen Henry was a man generous and\ngood to all and on the whole not ex-\ntravagant, not wasteful like so many\nprinces.\nIt was of Mr. Wyndham Lewis I\nmeant to write; he is extravagant and\ngenerous; he gives us 355 closely\npacked pages, excellently printed, on\none of the most interesting subjects\nanyone who wants a thrill could\nwish for.\nHe gives us the life of Villon\nwhich was tragic and well run,\nconsidering he had the brains of a\nPoet of Genius and the blood and\nbone of a rogue: and he gives us a\ntranslation of nearly all Villon's poems:\nthese he mixes in with the History.\nShall I blame Mr. Lewis for his\nsentimentalities? I assuredly won't for\nI can't. Villon himself was amongst\nother things a sentimentalist: power he\nhad, but sometimes unexpectedly gives\nat the knees. At least so I suppose,\nfor I only think 1 know him.\nI would like to know as much\nabout him as Mr. Lewis must know.\nMr. Belloc in his excellent Preface\nsays that \" if you desire one word to\nuse as an antithesis to the word senti-\nmental use the word Villon\". And\nI suppose his meaning is clear; but\ncuriously enough it is the one weakners\nI would allow Villon.\nAnd I would allow it to Stendhal\nwho writes \" On Love \" as well as he\nwrites on Cimarosa or Milano.\nAnd indeed how write on love or\nmoney without being sentimental.\nWhat can arouse shallow emotions\nmore surely than Vamour or f argent.\nAnd why this new London craze\nfor being free from one more littleness.\nWhat foolery it i 3 to be incessantly\nfussing about the absense of trifles.\nWhy should Villon be free from\nsentimentality: good heavens, the thing\nwon t bite him. Mr. Belloc's phrase\nreminds me of the \" whatever you can\nsay about the man he never borrowed\na pennyor \" one thing we can\nfirmly state about her and that is she\nnever powdered \".\nAnd if he had borrowed a million\npennies, or she had powdered and\nrouged what then ?\nWell, London was, London is, and\nyet I hope London will not for ever\nbe the home of old noodles. But if\nyou desire one word to use as an\nantithesis to the word noodle use the\nword Belloc. And if you are fishing\nfor words with which to express per-\nfection in good plain bookmaking, utter\nthe four words Peter Davies Chatto\nWindus.\nP.S. And did it ever occur to\nanyone that Yvette Guilbert would be\nthe one person living to tell us exactly\nwhat Villon was—and what he means:\nand what Stendhal was and what he\nmeant?\n\nE. H. G. C."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c070", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c070", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "89", "page_fin": "90", "image_debut": 53, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.24", "titre_corps": "MORE PLAYS", "titre_sommaire": "MORE PLAYS", "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": "89", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.53", "debut_caractere": 3594, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6754, "texte": "MORE P L A YS . (0\nTHIS author of 44 The Scarlet Lady \"\nis the other Turner—not the\nauthor of 44 The man who ate the\nPopomack\" whose name is W. J.\nTurner: this one is John Hastings\nTurner. And lam wondering if there\nisn't just time just time to change.\nIt's only a matter of one of them cal-\nling himself Renrut or Isherwood,\nRabchick or Giles or any other old\nname. But for two young writers of\nplays both to be called Turner will\nnot do.\nWhy this shyness, J. H., and why\nare you so shy, W. J.? how strange\nthat each should be a J.\nW. J. Turner is but thirty-nine years\nof age, J. H. Turner is only thirty-\nsix, so it doesn't matter a scrap which\nagrees to go on with the name Turner\nand which takes a new name. They\nwon't lose anything yet, but later on,\nif they continue both to write plays\nas J. Turner, it will tell against one\nor both of them. It's not in nature.\nThe Scarlet Lady is one of Mr. J.\nH. 1 urner's best although I rather\nfear that after a few nights, the lady\nAlicia would bore the theatre-goers.\nShe's not scarlet... She's only playing.\nHer trick is all right; it's she herself\nis so ordinary. I crave for some cha-\nracters in our plays who are not like\nthe mentalities we manage to avoid,\nand Alicia is a Mr, Turner\n».\nisn t.\n\" II Roveto \" by Angelo Nasalli\nRocca is a little play in three acts\nwhich has been played in 1923 by\nVirgilio Talli's Company in the big\nTeatro Comunale built by Antonio\nBibiena; - but this is nothing against\nit. For it was quickly selected by the\nCompany Caio-de-Riso as the very\nthing they wanted, and it has toured\nItaly for a long time,\nIt stands to reason that this, the\nthird play by our author, is a good\none; for Italian audiences do not go\nto the Theatre to see poor plays.\nNasalli Rocca doesn't waste time\ndreaming: nor polishing subtleties, nor\nlooking for too difficult themes: he is\na play writer who gives the public a\nplay which pleases it and at the same\ntime gives his actors an opportunity to\nperform it well or ill. Some play\nwriters make it impossible for actors to\nfail in their plays: this is no compli-\nment to the actors; it leaves them no-\nthing to do.\nOtway, for example, in his \" Ve-\nnice Preserved \" leaves it to the actors\nto do well or ill, and Otway's Tragedy\nis not only the best of the five reprin-\nted by the Oxford University Press in\ntheir World Classics, but has been the\nmost popular. It's emotional stuff, and\nall the better for that, for without it\nDrama is non-existent.\nThe \"No\" plays, three of which\nMrs. Marie C. Stopes reprints for us\nfrom a book she made in 1913, are\nas emotional as the Otway play or as\nthat by Signor Rocca. The quality of\nthe emotion is the thing interesting to\ncompare. Japan, from our English\n\n(i) The Scarlet Lady by John Hastings\nTurner. Blackwell. Price 3/6.\n\" Jl Roveto \" by A. M. Nasalli Rocca.\nStamp. Bodoniana. Parma. Price 6 lire.\nFive Restoration Tragedies. No.\nCCCXIII of the World Classics, Oxford\nUniversity Press. Price 2/-net.\nPlays of old Japan. Translated by\nMarie C. Stopes, with a Preface by\nBaron Kato, Eclipse Press. London.\nPrice 3/6.\nThe plays of Georg Buchner; tran-\nslated by Geoffrey Dunlop. Gerald Howe\nLtd. Price 7/6."}, {"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "90", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1174, "texte": "point of view, offers in the \"No a\nseries of quite unactable plays: yet\nstrange to say they have held the stage\nfor centuries and the Japanese are no\nfools. The No plays are as far from\nTchehov, from Ibsen and from Pinero\nas the moon is from the earth. But\nthere is one good thing to be said for\nPinero—his plays are really admirably\nadapted to the requirements and re-\nsources of amateur actors.\nThe book of the words of George\nBiichner's \" Danton has reached us\nsome years late for the photographs\nand designs of Reinhardt's production\nwe saw yeetrs ago. It is a propaganda\nplay and written to catch the conscience\nof the king—but when Reinhardt did\nit it was the production which was\nthe thing. Reinhardt was very sorry\nand apologized to-the Geiman Society\nof Authors, sending a £SOO donation\nand explaining and explaining that it\ncouldn't be helped. €J The poet died\nat twenty-four years of age, but assu-\nredly these three plays of his show\ngreat promise, and Mr. Dunlop s trans-\nlations are very ably done. Some of the\ndesigns showing how Reinhardt treated\nthe piece would have been well placed\nin this edition, which is well printed,\ncharmingly bound and inexpensive."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c071", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c071", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "90", "page_fin": "90", "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.25", "titre_corps": "THE STAR OF PICCADILLY by Lewis MelvilleENEMIES OF SOCIETY by Charles KingstonSOUVENIRS DU VIEUX-CO-LOMBIER by Berthold MahnSOME STUDIES IN BALLET by Arnold Haskell", "titre_sommaire": "THE STAR OF PICCADILLY by Lewis MelvilleENEMIES OF SOCIETY by Charles KingstonSOUVENIRS DU VIEUX-CO-LOMBIER by Berthold MahnSOME STUDIES IN BALLET by Arnold Haskell", "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": "90", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 1176, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6050, "texte": "THE STAR OF PICCADILLY by\nLewis Melville. Hutchinson & Co.\nPrice 21 /-.\nENEMIES OF SOCIETY by Charles\nKingston. Stanley Paul & Co.\nPrice 12/6.\nSOUVENIRS DU VIEUX-CO-\nLOMBIER by Berthold Mahn.\nClaude Avelinet Paris. Price 90\nfrancs.\nSOME STUDIES IN BALLET\nby Arnold Haskell. Lamley & Cc.\nPrice 21 /- net\nALTHOUGH we would have sup-\nposed that old Q's life would\nhave furnished Mr. Melvilie with\ncountless documents, one more interest-\ning than the other, it does not seem\nthat there was much for this most en-\ntertaining'writer to go upon. Old Q's\nexistence was almost a round of dull\nevents. His friendship, his wagers,\nhis flirtations, his liaisons, his reputation\nwe hear of in this book, but the whole\nlife amounts to little compared with,\nlet us say, tie life Mrs. Jordan or\nLad)7 Hamilton's career. It is dull; and,\nwhat is more, there's no thread con-\nnecting his wagers, his friendships, his\nliaisons and his flirtations, and so his\nreputation, suffers. It was a bad re-\nputation, now become no better than\nit should have been.\nTruly difficult for a Michael Angelo\nor a Casanova to live up to the com-\nmon repute.\nOne hears too much of a Michael\nAngelo, and so, in a Piccadilly way,\ndoes one hear too much of old Q.\nAngelo survives it; Queensbury falls\nflat.\nIt is not Mr. Melville's fault for we\nknow how well he can string together facts\nwhich are interesting about such figures\nas Nell Gwyn or Beau Brummel.\nHis historical works on these and\nother like people become romances.\nWith old Q he had nothing to string\ntogether or he could have done it.\nMr. Charles Kingston in his \" Ene-\nmies of Society \" has an amazing mass\nof very good material, and very well\nhe handles it. His are true tales.\nThat touching the Famous Jewel Theft\nby Mr. and Mrs. Torpey is very\npleasing: and The Murder of Madame\nLaurent is most thrilling.\nThere are eighteen tales in all,\ntwelve to fourteen of which are all you\ncould possibly wish for.\nThe author is apt to use coinic\nphrases now and again which somehow\nfail in their effect of heightening the\nmelodramatic tension.\nMore successful when detailing the\nincidents of a robbery, he is only\nsurpassed by Mason of \" The Villa\nRose \" when it's a murder because he\nis tied to his facts.\n. Some good illustrations, mostly por-\ntraits by Spy, of Rufus Isaacs, Sir. H.\nB. Poland and Sir Frank Lockwood\nadd something to the book.\nAnd Aubrey Hammond's drawing\nof \" Old Q \" which 1 had almost for-\ngotten to mention almost makes me\ncurious again about that old Piccadilly\nLord. Aubrey Hammond is apt in his\ndesigning; that's because he's an artist;\nbut you are never made too conscious\nof this in his popular work,—and it is\ngrowing more and more popular, and\na very good thing too.\nThe fifty-five drawings which M.\nMahn has collected to together so as\nto show he remembers the Theatre\nVieux Colombier of Paris merely\nshow me that he never even saw it.\nHe was looking at himself, admiring\nthe point of his pencil or his pen;\nbut what Copeau was really trying\nhard to do is not in any way recorded.\nCompare M. Mahn with a good\ndraughtsman recorder of theatricals—\nwith Daumier or with Callot or with\nCruickshank or twenty others whose\nnames occur to you.\nThese men were keen to record an\nincident, a place, a scene, a bit here\nand a bit there — a reality every time.\nM. Mahn records nothing; he makes\nno effort to; he just scribbles.\nThe book does Copean an injustice.\nCopeau may not be a great actor or\na great producer, but he was ever a\nvery serious man trying to do his level\nbest at this Theatre Vieux Colombier.\nI would have liked to possess fifty-\nfive designs showing us the stage during\nrehearsals, Copeau at work there;\nJouvet discipling around him, and all\nthe other assistants busy at their work.\n—And everyone was very busy, very\nkeen; the work was serious.\nM. Mahn turns it all to frolh.\nAnd so 1 prefer a hundred times\nmore Mr. Arnold L. Haskell s\nof some of the Russian ballet danceis,\nwhich is issued sumptuously.\nHis records are photographs around\nwhich he writes, and both his opinions\nand photographs are interesting.\nAlicia Markova as photographed by\nRaphael is enchanting—and, what is\nmore, it's a good record.\nIn much that he says Mr. Haskell\nis very right, and if there had cniy\nbeen an English Ballet to write about\nthis author's critical faculties and en-\nthusiasm for dancing would have had a\nproper chance. As it is we can't bs\nexpected any longer to be enthusiastic\nabout a group of foreigners who have\ngiven us quite the wrong notions of\ndancing.\nWe mustn't dance that way. No-\nthing resembling Mentchiova or Pavlova\nmust be our model. English dances\nsay one thing, Russian another.\nWould you have our coming Shake-\nspeare writing plays to the model\nTchehov offers? Are we so utterly\ntongue-tied, brain-frozen, leg-bound\nand blind thai, we must ape the fo-\nreigner.\nI know we are not. What on\nearth makes us do it?"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c072", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c072", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "90", "page_fin": "91", "image_debut": 54, "image_fin": 55, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.26", "titre_corps": "A LONDON OMNIBUSTHIS LONDON, ITS TAVERNS HAUNTS AND MEMORIES by R. T. Hopkins", "titre_sommaire": "A LONDON OMNIBUSTHIS LONDON, ITS TAVERNS HAUNTS AND MEMORIES by R. T. Hopkins", "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": "90", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.54", "debut_caractere": 6052, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6615, "texte": "A LONDON OMNIBUS. Chatto\n& Windus. Price 2/6-net.\nTHIS LONDON, ITS TAVERNS,\nHAUNTS AMD MEMORIES. by\nR. 7. Hopkins. Cecil Palmer. Price\nI 0/6- net.\nOOK not for whales in the\nL-i Euxine Sea, or expect great\nmatters where they are not to be\nfound is the quotation which starts\nthis booklet, though indeed 'tis a small\nwhale, this Omnibus, and in its innards\nall the little fishes swimming about ;\n1 it-bits and Wbite-baits all about\nFeasts \", \" Pickwick \", u The Ber-\nners Street Hoax\" and The Strand,\nand Clubs of Old London. It's well \"\nworth its two and sixpence."}, {"page_pdf": 55, "page_imprimee": "91", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.55", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 667, "texte": "And after this snack, suppose you\nstill feel hungiy for more London,\nMr. Hopkins is ready for you. With\nhis napkin over his left arm he will\nsee to all you require—the tip, 10/6,\nfirstt being usual.\nIn his book 1 discovered what may\ninterest you all; and that is that Bir-\nrell and Garnett the booksellers in\nGerard Street are the son of the au-\nthor of 44 Obita Dicta \" and the Gar-\nnett who wrote 44 Lady into Fox \".\nMr. Hopkins has a good chapter\non Shakespeare's public house, the\nplace near the Globe Theatre which\nhe popped into to escape from Burbage.\nMr. Hopkins might have given us an\nindex, but that's about the only fault\n1 can find with his entertainment."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c073", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c073", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "91", "page_fin": "91", "image_debut": 55, "image_fin": 55, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.27", "titre_corps": "LIFE AND LETTERS. Edited by Desmond MacCarthy", "titre_sommaire": "LIFE AND LETTERS. Edited by Desmond MacCarthy", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 55, "page_imprimee": "91", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.55", "debut_caractere": 669, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2246, "texte": "LIFE AND LETTERS. A New\nLiterary Monthly, Edited by Desmond\nMacCarthy. Published at 10 Great\nQueen Street, Kingsway, London.\nSubscription, 14/- per annum.\n-v\nFOR the first of June (and hereafter to\nbe published on the , first Tuesday\nin each month) was announced the first\nnumber of this new literary magazine.\nEdited by Mr. Desmond MacCarthy,\nthe magazine should within a few\nmonths become popular, for the watch-\nword of the magazine will be Variety.\nLIFE AND LETTERS is not out\nto tire anyone except the Editor and\nhis staff, and they seem intent on ma-\nking this new publication distinguished\nand intellectual, and this would be\nenough to damn it right away if the\nEditoi's mind intended merely to rest\nthere.\nHis wish is to give energy to the\nintellectuality and to put life into the\ndistinction. It is a sensible notion.\nAnd full of that same variety promi-\nsed, is the announcement that there\nwill be 44 sometimes A Carnival Num««.\nher in which well known writers will\nbe masked in pseudonyms\nThis naturally appeals to 44 The\nMask\", which has been one ridicu-\nlous Carnival number since 1908, with\nan occasional plainclothes figure mo-\nving in and ont amongst the maskers\njust to give it a touch or two of so-\nber black and to watch the diamonds\nbeing pocketed.\nAmong future contributors, of 44 Life\nand Letters \" we find the names of\nMiss Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey-\nSantayana, Logan Pearsali Smith,\nRoger Fry and Max Beerbohm.\nWe wish 44 Life and Letters \" a\ngreat time, and we ase quite sure that\nthe Public is going to have a maga-\nzine that will be wide awake."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c074", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c074", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "91", "page_fin": "91", "image_debut": 55, "image_fin": 55, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.29.28", "titre_corps": "THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, William Shakespeare", "titre_sommaire": "THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, William Shakespeare", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 55, "page_imprimee": "91", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.55", "debut_caractere": 2248, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4504, "texte": "THE TAMING OF THE SHREW,\nWilliam Shakespeare. Cambridge\nUniversity Press. Price 6/- net.\nTHE new Cambridge Shakespeare\nis admirable, but the Stage Hi-\nstory of each Play which ends every\nvolume needs a little attention from\nsomeone who . remembers some of the\nbest of good things and can help Mr.\nHarold Child in his research.\nWe naturally wonder if 44 The Ta-\nming of the Shrew\" has been pro-\nperly dealt with for 44 The Merchant\nof Venice \" wasn't.\nWe too should need some assistance\nin the stage history of the 44 Shrew \"\nand so we refrain from criticising Mr.\nChild. But in his Stage History of\n44 The Merchant of Venice\" he has\nforgotten to state that Ada Rehan\nacted Portia in a memorable produc-\ntion by Augustin Daly ; and in telling\nus of the production in 1875 when\nEllen Terry played Portia under the\nBancroft's management at the Prince\nof Wales's Theatre, he omits to remind\nus that it was to Mr. E. W. Godwin\nthat the production owed its ideas.\nReaders of 44 The Mask \" will have\nread Mr. Godwin's article which was\nreprinted in the first volume, that for\n1908. They may even have read it\nwhen it was originally published as\nearly as 1875 in 44 The Architect\".\nThis was the very year in which he\ncarried out some of his ideas for this\nplay in the Prince of Wales's Theatre,\nPractice and Theory going hand in\nhand.\nIf Herr Smackenheun cr M. Lofsky\nhad produced it as brilliantly as did\nGodwin, their work would have been\nremembered by Mr. Child and doubt-\nless praised.\nIt is getting more and more a habit\n(a very bad one) to forget the artist\npioneer when a Britisher: be he dead\nor living it is the foreigner who is\nmade more of. And the thing has\ngone on so long that it is, I think,\nquite time that our British journals did\nsomething to put things in their right\nplace.\nThe fatuous adulation of late and\ntoo late poured out on William Blake\nbecause (strange reason) death has\nticked off a hundred years to his credit,\nshould sicken everyone; and not only\nthat, it should persuade to better\nthings.\nWe hope the Cambridge Editors so\nmanage that no more such serious\nomissions occur in the next 44 Stage\nHistories \" of the Plays.\nThis said, what can be said of these\nvolumes but that they come as near\nperfection as anyone could possibly wish."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c075", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c075", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "91", "page_fin": "93", "image_debut": 55, "image_fin": 57, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.30", "titre_corps": "EDITORIAL NOTES : APRIL: MAY: JUNE", "titre_sommaire": "EDITORIAL NOTES : APRIL: MAY: JUNE", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 55, "page_imprimee": "91", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.55", "debut_caractere": 4506, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6024, "texte": "EDITORIAL NOTES.\nAPRIL: MAY: JUNE\n\nPUBLIC OPINION.\nNURSE CAVELL FILM.\nTHE value of Public Opinion in\nEngland will soon become nil if\nit continues to express itself so stupidly\nas it did in the cases of the Nurse\nCavell Film and the Royal Oafa affair.\nYou can't put it down to the Berry\nPress. The Daily Telegraph and the\nother wide awake journals do their best\nto repeat what their million readers are\nsaying, and so there was an outcry\nagainst 44 the high-handed ways \" of\nSir Austen Chamberlain with the Films\nalthough he is never high-handed; and\nthere was some harm done to the fee-\nling of goodwill between nations which\nis doing its best to expand a little.\nAnd this became quite evident when\nLord Birkenhead wrote a letter to the\n44 Daily Telegraph \".\nThe unfortunate thing is that in\nEngland everyone is encouraged, in\na quiet unobtrusive way, to hold the\nwrong opinion and to express it without\nconsidering the harm it may do\nCommon-sense that rare thing\nis getting more and more rare.\nBut there is common-sense in Lord\nBirkenhead's letter, which runs:\n44 SIR,—In the discussions which are\nproceeding upon this subject it appears\nto me that the decisive considerations\nare being rather surprisingly ignored.\nThe question is not whether the Ger-\nman Government have any right to\nrequest a censorship over the British\nfilm. Most evidently they have no\nsuch right.\n44 The question is not whether our\npresent system—such as it is—or cen-\nsorship is satisfactojy. Very likely it\nis not. The question is not whether"}, {"page_pdf": 56, "page_imprimee": "92", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.56", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6526, "texte": "any films heretofore exhibited in Ger-\nmany have been calculated to give\noffence in Allied countries.\n44 The issues (for there are two) cut\nfar deeper.\n44 The first is: Is it in the interests of\npeace and internadonal goodwill that\nwe should perpetuate by public exhi-\nbition those incidents of the war which\nmost embitter its memories? Do we\ndesire, or do we not desire, that a new\nera of peace should dawn in Europe ?\n44 Do we, or do we not, desire by\nevery means in our power to increase\nthat mutual good feeling which must\nbe established in Europe unless all\nalike are to perish in ruin? Do we\nserve any useful purpose by exaspera-\nting and humiliating a Government\nwhich has shown by its repudiation of\nthe Hohenzollern dynasty its opinion\nof that dynasty and of its works?\n44 Is it really our wish that while at-\ntempting to complete the Locarno\nedifice, Baralong films, true or false,\nshould be exhibited in Germany; and\nNurse Cavell films in the Allied\ncountries ?\n44 I should myself have thought it was\na commonplace that every man and,\nstill more, every woman, of good in-\ntention, who does not wish to see his\nson or her son involved in another\nwar, would strive by every effort to put\naway the memory of these old unhappy\nthings in the effort to establish a new\nand more humane relationship.\n44 We are told that the existence in\nLondon of a statue to the heroic and\nincomparable woman whom it comme-\nmorates for ever, is inconsistent with\nthese views. It is not. A dignified\nmemorial to the immortal dead has as\nlittle relation to the incidents of a\nhectic film as a classical picture of the\ncrucified Jesus to the attempt to com-\nmercialise His anguish for the purposes\nof Hollywood.\n44 The second point seems to me to\nbe even more decisive. What would\nNurse Cavell herself have said about\nthis proposal? The true purposes of\nthis sainted woman—her only message\nto the world are engraved on her\nmemorial:\n44 4 Patriotism is not enough. I must\nhave no hatred or bitterness for anyone'.\n44 Does anyone suppose that the woman\nwho, at the very moment of her agony,\ncould speak like this, would permit her\ndeath to be commercialised with the\ncertain result that the bitter memories\nassociated with it would be kept alive\nand fertilised so as to prevent the sweet\nrestoration of friendship and good re-\nlationship between the nations of the\nworld?\n44 And what is the object of this\nadventure, oyer the frustration of which\nwe are invited to shed tears? Is it\nto preach a Holy message? Are the\nprofits to be devoted to some charitable\npurpose? Will they establish founda-\ntion scholarships to train a new gene-\nration of women to the Nurse Cavell\nstandards?\n44 Or are they intended to bring in\nprofit to the producer and those asso-\nciated with him? If this, indeed, be\nthe purpose, is it decent so to exploit\nthe agony and the sacrifice of the\nnoblest woman whom the war pro-\nduced? And so to exploit it in cir-\ncumstances which, as I have shown,\nmake it almost certain that nothing in\nthe world could have seemed more\nhorrible to that brave, proud, and\nsensitive nature? \"\nLORD Birkenhead has understood well\nand of course always speaks well ;\nand it is therefore a hundred to one that\nno one ever stopped talking to listen.\nPublic Opinion in England today\nstrikes us as not unlike Public opinion\nin Italy was before Mussolini became a\nnecessity,\n44 But we have no Mussolini \".\nExactly : but we have a Birken-\nhead.\n\nMORE SALZBURG.\nTHE disciples of Salzburg are going it.\nOne more, Mr Charles Ricketts,\nseems to be added to the number.\nHe has had the same idea as Salzburg\nhas had,—to do a Mystery Play in a\nCathedral.\nSomehow one would have thought\nthat an Englishman would make a short\nlist of the 44 stunts \" which Salzburg,\nBayreuth and Moscow go in for, and\nwould deliberately avoid repeating one\nof them. One supposes that the very\nfact of Salzburg or Moscow or Lisbon\ndigging up a nice old custom like this,\nwould be sufficient to put every artist\noff it. 44 Leave it to Salzburg \" one\nhad imagined would be the notion.\nOn the contrary, our artists, on hear-\ning Diaghilev has done Posh does a\nbit of posh three years later : on per-\nceiving that Reinhardt does Pish they\nmust peddle a bit of pish too—after\nanother pause of three more years.\nIt is as 44 old English \" as 44 old\nGerman this notion of Miracle and\nMystery plays done in churches—but\nReinhardt got in first with it this cen-\ntury and it seems puerile to come\ntoddling after in this way.\n44 The Coming of Christ \" written\nby John Masefield is sure to have\nbeen nobly written. Ricketts is sure to\ndress it well and the Cathedral in which\nit's performed will do the rest.\nBut the whole idea is what is so\npuerile, for it's only the ghost of an idea..\n\no R . A . D . A . o\nG. B. S. DOING HIS BEST TO KEEP\nBRITISH ARTISTS UNEMPLOYED. ~\nTHERE is an Academy of Dramatic\nArt in London—a Royal Aca-\ndemy of Dramatic Art. You go there\nby paying; you come out; you get an\nengagement if you can, and you are\nforgotten.\n,The directors, who ever they be,\nmust be exceedingly stupid. One proof\nof this ia, they have no knowledge of\nhow to get adequate teachers of Bri-\ntish birth (or how to keep these they\ndo get).\nThe Academy could be first class;\nit is not even fifth class.\nThey have now secured a Russian\n— presumably one who was left over\nwhen \" Arccs \" was raided. — Mr.\nGeorge Bernard Shaw recommended\nthis Russian.\nWe don't like the idea at all\nand, although theoretically we are all\nfor peace, we'd like to see all the\npupils troop out of this fifth class\nRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art\nand refuse to return until British in-\nstructors were given them —and none\nbut the very best. There are dozens\nof these idle today.\nIt is preposterous to allow foreigners\ninto the Royal Acadeuiy of Dramatic\nArt, and it is unlike Mr. Bernard\nShaw to act in the way he has done,\nbecause Mr. Shaw has never yet been\nridiculous,\n\nWHEN YOU HEAR....\nWhen you hear them bells go tingle\ntingle tingle.... American Song.\nWHEN YOU HEAR people talking\nrubbish about the unpracticality\nof the artist and his extravagance when\nproducing a play, remind them that in\n1924 a Wembly Pageant produced by\na man who was in no sense a Theatre\nartist cost £ 100,000 to produce, and\nwas run at a loss of £ 60,000.\nWHEN YOU HEAR people like\nMr. 1 om Douglas saying that 44 an\nactor does not go on to the stage ne-\ncessarily to raise the prestige of thea-\ntrical art, but primarily to earn a\nliving remind them that Irving, Kcan\nand Garrick deny this—and that every\ngood actor does so today,"}, {"page_pdf": 57, "page_imprimee": "93", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.57", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6972, "texte": "WHEN YOU HEAR young actors\nboasting they have gone on the stage\nsolely to raise the prestige of Theatrical\nArt put them down for young fools,\nat least admit it's no worse a\nboast than that of 44 the popular young\nactor\" Mr. Tom Douglas.\n1 hat the silly boast that 44 Art for\nArt s sake leads to failure\" should\nhave been accepted and printed by\nthe 44 Daily Mail \" is curious; for, if\nyou were to offer the 44 Daily Mail\"\nan article, by a journalist asserting that\nto strive to do the best according to\nthe best rules of journalism would lead\nto failure, the 44 Daily Mail\" would\nreject it with indignation.\n\nHO S T A N D GUEST.\nA SLIP BY\" THE TIMES'*.\nIN reviewing Mr. Ivor Brown's sen-\nsible book 44 Parties of the Play \",\na writer in 44 The Times Literary\nSupplement seemed as though bent\ns upon trying to undo the good Mr. Brown\nhad achieved by the moderation and\ngood sense of his attitude, by calling\non the ashes of the coals—by telling\nhim that in his book he 44 had not\ndistinguished clearly enough between a\nproducer who is an ally, a collaborator,\nan interpreter, and the new giant who\nclaims an absolute throne. The first is\na man with whom a dramatist may\n, treat ; the second is an enemy whom\nhe must destroy \". Etcetera.\nIn short, this writer again forgets the\n* old-time bond which exists between\nsuch collaborators as producer and dra-\nmatist, when they are friends—and\nalmost seemed eager to proclaim to\nthe world the impossibility that in En-\nglish friendship could exist. It is a bad\nthing to attempt to make enemies of\nmen who can be friends.\n* Our Theatre belongs sometimes to\none and sometimes to the other and\nsometimes to a third, to the actor ....it\nwas stupid then of this writer in the\nLiterary Supplement to attempt once\nmore to embroil these friends.\nThere is another bond between\nthem and that too he forgot.. . the\nbond of host and guest.\nIf a man is a dramatist and the theatre\nhis own he is in his own house and\ncan please himself whether he behave\nlike a surly old curmudgeon or a like-\nable host. But if the theatre is not\none's own one is a guest.\nIn the House of Moli&re, is\nthe host: in Burbage's Theatre Shakes-\npeare was a guest.\nSomeone must be host and the rest\n*guest3 ; we think this stands to reason\nand should never be forgotten.\nIt is a strange thing to find an En-\nglishman making a slip in such a mat-\nter, this fine point of good manners ;\nfor, without boasting over-much of our-\nselves, we can admit that the English\ngentleman is a real host and his guests\nnever forget that it is his house and\nnot theirs.\nYet here we have the good old\n44 Times *, and its anything but good\nold contributor, mildly suggesting l hat,\nwhether the house be his or no, the\nplaywright should behave like a boor,\nclaim the place as his, and that the critics\nand playgoers must stand at his side and\nsupport him in his boonshness and kick\nup a rumpus in a house not his own.\nNot a little Bolchevistic this idea, and\none which will therefore only appeal\nto a small section of Londoners. What\nis the 44 Times \" thinking of ?\nNo; the rule is this about the Thea-\ntre.- Whoever is the master of the\nhouse, whoever is the owner or holds\nthe lease, is host: here he collects his\nfamily ; re, his actors, scenic men, me-\nchanics and stage hands (1).\nHe then invites as a guest a play-\nwriter or a composer, or someone who\nis may be too much occupied to be\none of his family (and there you have\nit) for some cause which the play writer\nis powerless to alter.\nAnd the guest is an honoured guest\nif he be Shaw, Barrie, Pinero or any\nother playwright, but he is a guest.\nLet us hope that he will always\ntake a pleasure in remembering this, as\nindeed mo3t playwriters in the past have\never done. And so, even if the producer\nbe that terrible thing, a 44 new giant \",\nso greatly feared by the writer in\n44 The Times Literary Supplement \",\nand if he is the host, he will, we doubt\nnot, try to make everyone comfortable\nand at their ease. Have giant hosts\nalways failed ? Have the pigmies done\nbetter every time ?\n\nTHE AMATEUR STAGE IN\no GREAT BRITAIN, o\nIS THIS AMATEUR STAGE A\nGOOD OR A BAD THING }\nLET the question be clearly ans-\nwered :\nIn a land where the professional\nstage is doing its duty and making use\nof its best brains, forwarding the best\nnotions, playing the lesszr known and\nsometimes best dramatists, plays, expe-\nrimenting and yet preserving the very\nbest traditions, a merely earnest ama-\nteur stage of any large proportions\nwould be practically an impossibility.\nBut where the professional stage\nprefers to build and repose on all the\nminor conventions at the expense of\nthe ancient traditions, and practically\nbans all that can be produced by the\nbest brains, then the Amateurs thrive,\nthey increase by thousands; Drama\nLeagues crop up all around them and\nSocieties are formed and something is\nat last doing in a little way—at a\nvery great cost.\nIhe aim of almost every Amateur\nis to become a professional ; first he\nstrives to be criticised as one, then to\nbeat the professionals hollow, and lastly\nto quietly but firmly seize the strongholds\nof the stage one after another.\nFrom five thousand amateurs it is\nnot impossible for forty or fifty of them\nto emerge as excellent professional ac-\ntors, and from these may possibly de-\nvelope one man of genius.\nThis decides us. We are on the\nside of the Amateurs, since in En-\ngland professionalism has elected to side\nwith too much that is drab and dull.\nSince the professional stage refuses\nto help itseh, it must be helped ; since\nit prefers to be negative in its clubs\nand 44 don't know \" this and 44 don't\nknow \" tother, the Amateur Stage,\nwith its preference to be up and\ndoing, is decidedly to be encouraged.\nIt will know and it will try to know\nmore and to do better and better.\nThe most professional organ of the\nAmateurs is a journal known as 44 The\nAmateur Stage \", and is published\neach mouth at the price of 6d a copy\nat 44 The New Scala Theatre \", Char-\nlotte Street, Loudon W. I.\nWe learn in its columns about the\ndoings of men and women of whose\nwork we ought to have been told by\nthe professionals.\nWe get notes on Stage Craft, on\nDancing, on the craft of the Producers\nbesides other interesting topics. Ar-\nticles on French Comedy and on how\nto organize Amateur Societies ; on\nGrand Opera, on advanced Make-up,\non Progress and Cooperation, on the\nBarrel Organ, on Stage Noises, by Sir\nBarry Jackson, James Glover, Julius\nHarrison, C. S. Parsons and many others.\nThe 44 Amateur Stage \" is not\nhighbrow: if anything it is a shade\ntoo like the usual run of journals.\nThe usual stage publication too often\ndiscredits the intelligence of the actor,\nproducer and playywright: and this\nwill not do. 1 hese men without any\ngreat effort can reveal quite as great\nintelligence as any other men of culture :\nso that not to recognize and profit by\nthis intelligence is a grave error, and\none with far-reaching results.\n<0 Read iv hat Sac ha Guitry said only\nthe other day: see page 76."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c076", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c076", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "91", "page_fin": "92", "image_debut": 55, "image_fin": 56, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.30.1", "titre_corps": "PUBLIC OPINION : NURSE CAVELL FILM", "titre_sommaire": "PUBLIC OPINION : NURSE CAVELL FILM", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 55, "page_imprimee": "91", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.55", "debut_caractere": 4541, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6024, "texte": "PUBLIC OPINION.\nNURSE CAVELL FILM.\nTHE value of Public Opinion in\nEngland will soon become nil if\nit continues to express itself so stupidly\nas it did in the cases of the Nurse\nCavell Film and the Royal Oafa affair.\nYou can't put it down to the Berry\nPress. The Daily Telegraph and the\nother wide awake journals do their best\nto repeat what their million readers are\nsaying, and so there was an outcry\nagainst 44 the high-handed ways \" of\nSir Austen Chamberlain with the Films\nalthough he is never high-handed; and\nthere was some harm done to the fee-\nling of goodwill between nations which\nis doing its best to expand a little.\nAnd this became quite evident when\nLord Birkenhead wrote a letter to the\n44 Daily Telegraph \".\nThe unfortunate thing is that in\nEngland everyone is encouraged, in\na quiet unobtrusive way, to hold the\nwrong opinion and to express it without\nconsidering the harm it may do\nCommon-sense that rare thing\nis getting more and more rare.\nBut there is common-sense in Lord\nBirkenhead's letter, which runs:\n44 SIR,—In the discussions which are\nproceeding upon this subject it appears\nto me that the decisive considerations\nare being rather surprisingly ignored.\nThe question is not whether the Ger-\nman Government have any right to\nrequest a censorship over the British\nfilm. Most evidently they have no\nsuch right.\n44 The question is not whether our\npresent system—such as it is—or cen-\nsorship is satisfactojy. Very likely it\nis not. The question is not whether"}, {"page_pdf": 56, "page_imprimee": "92", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.56", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3423, "texte": "any films heretofore exhibited in Ger-\nmany have been calculated to give\noffence in Allied countries.\n44 The issues (for there are two) cut\nfar deeper.\n44 The first is: Is it in the interests of\npeace and internadonal goodwill that\nwe should perpetuate by public exhi-\nbition those incidents of the war which\nmost embitter its memories? Do we\ndesire, or do we not desire, that a new\nera of peace should dawn in Europe ?\n44 Do we, or do we not, desire by\nevery means in our power to increase\nthat mutual good feeling which must\nbe established in Europe unless all\nalike are to perish in ruin? Do we\nserve any useful purpose by exaspera-\nting and humiliating a Government\nwhich has shown by its repudiation of\nthe Hohenzollern dynasty its opinion\nof that dynasty and of its works?\n44 Is it really our wish that while at-\ntempting to complete the Locarno\nedifice, Baralong films, true or false,\nshould be exhibited in Germany; and\nNurse Cavell films in the Allied\ncountries ?\n44 I should myself have thought it was\na commonplace that every man and,\nstill more, every woman, of good in-\ntention, who does not wish to see his\nson or her son involved in another\nwar, would strive by every effort to put\naway the memory of these old unhappy\nthings in the effort to establish a new\nand more humane relationship.\n44 We are told that the existence in\nLondon of a statue to the heroic and\nincomparable woman whom it comme-\nmorates for ever, is inconsistent with\nthese views. It is not. A dignified\nmemorial to the immortal dead has as\nlittle relation to the incidents of a\nhectic film as a classical picture of the\ncrucified Jesus to the attempt to com-\nmercialise His anguish for the purposes\nof Hollywood.\n44 The second point seems to me to\nbe even more decisive. What would\nNurse Cavell herself have said about\nthis proposal? The true purposes of\nthis sainted woman—her only message\nto the world are engraved on her\nmemorial:\n44 4 Patriotism is not enough. I must\nhave no hatred or bitterness for anyone'.\n44 Does anyone suppose that the woman\nwho, at the very moment of her agony,\ncould speak like this, would permit her\ndeath to be commercialised with the\ncertain result that the bitter memories\nassociated with it would be kept alive\nand fertilised so as to prevent the sweet\nrestoration of friendship and good re-\nlationship between the nations of the\nworld?\n44 And what is the object of this\nadventure, oyer the frustration of which\nwe are invited to shed tears? Is it\nto preach a Holy message? Are the\nprofits to be devoted to some charitable\npurpose? Will they establish founda-\ntion scholarships to train a new gene-\nration of women to the Nurse Cavell\nstandards?\n44 Or are they intended to bring in\nprofit to the producer and those asso-\nciated with him? If this, indeed, be\nthe purpose, is it decent so to exploit\nthe agony and the sacrifice of the\nnoblest woman whom the war pro-\nduced? And so to exploit it in cir-\ncumstances which, as I have shown,\nmake it almost certain that nothing in\nthe world could have seemed more\nhorrible to that brave, proud, and\nsensitive nature? \"\nLORD Birkenhead has understood well\nand of course always speaks well ;\nand it is therefore a hundred to one that\nno one ever stopped talking to listen.\nPublic Opinion in England today\nstrikes us as not unlike Public opinion\nin Italy was before Mussolini became a\nnecessity,\n44 But we have no Mussolini \".\nExactly : but we have a Birken-\nhead."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c078", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c078", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "92", "page_fin": "92", "image_debut": 56, "image_fin": 56, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.30.2", "titre_corps": "MORE SALZBURG", "titre_sommaire": "MORE SALZBURG", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 56, "page_imprimee": "92", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.56", "debut_caractere": 3425, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4726, "texte": "MORE SALZBURG.\nTHE disciples of Salzburg are going it.\nOne more, Mr Charles Ricketts,\nseems to be added to the number.\nHe has had the same idea as Salzburg\nhas had,—to do a Mystery Play in a\nCathedral.\nSomehow one would have thought\nthat an Englishman would make a short\nlist of the 44 stunts \" which Salzburg,\nBayreuth and Moscow go in for, and\nwould deliberately avoid repeating one\nof them. One supposes that the very\nfact of Salzburg or Moscow or Lisbon\ndigging up a nice old custom like this,\nwould be sufficient to put every artist\noff it. 44 Leave it to Salzburg \" one\nhad imagined would be the notion.\nOn the contrary, our artists, on hear-\ning Diaghilev has done Posh does a\nbit of posh three years later : on per-\nceiving that Reinhardt does Pish they\nmust peddle a bit of pish too—after\nanother pause of three more years.\nIt is as 44 old English \" as 44 old\nGerman this notion of Miracle and\nMystery plays done in churches—but\nReinhardt got in first with it this cen-\ntury and it seems puerile to come\ntoddling after in this way.\n44 The Coming of Christ \" written\nby John Masefield is sure to have\nbeen nobly written. Ricketts is sure to\ndress it well and the Cathedral in which\nit's performed will do the rest.\nBut the whole idea is what is so\npuerile, for it's only the ghost of an idea.."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c079", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c079", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "92", "page_fin": "92", "image_debut": 56, "image_fin": 56, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.30.3", "titre_corps": "R . A . D . A", "titre_sommaire": "R . A . D . A", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 56, "page_imprimee": "92", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.56", "debut_caractere": 4728, "fin_caractere_exclue": 5884, "texte": "o R . A . D . A . o\nG. B. S. DOING HIS BEST TO KEEP\nBRITISH ARTISTS UNEMPLOYED. ~\nTHERE is an Academy of Dramatic\nArt in London—a Royal Aca-\ndemy of Dramatic Art. You go there\nby paying; you come out; you get an\nengagement if you can, and you are\nforgotten.\n,The directors, who ever they be,\nmust be exceedingly stupid. One proof\nof this ia, they have no knowledge of\nhow to get adequate teachers of Bri-\ntish birth (or how to keep these they\ndo get).\nThe Academy could be first class;\nit is not even fifth class.\nThey have now secured a Russian\n— presumably one who was left over\nwhen \" Arccs \" was raided. — Mr.\nGeorge Bernard Shaw recommended\nthis Russian.\nWe don't like the idea at all\nand, although theoretically we are all\nfor peace, we'd like to see all the\npupils troop out of this fifth class\nRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art\nand refuse to return until British in-\nstructors were given them —and none\nbut the very best. There are dozens\nof these idle today.\nIt is preposterous to allow foreigners\ninto the Royal Acadeuiy of Dramatic\nArt, and it is unlike Mr. Bernard\nShaw to act in the way he has done,\nbecause Mr. Shaw has never yet been\nridiculous,"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c080", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c080", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "92", "page_fin": "93", "image_debut": 56, "image_fin": 57, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.30.4", "titre_corps": "WHEN YOU HEAR..", "titre_sommaire": "WHEN YOU HEAR..", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 56, "page_imprimee": "92", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.56", "debut_caractere": 5886, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6526, "texte": "WHEN YOU HEAR....\nWhen you hear them bells go tingle\ntingle tingle.... American Song.\nWHEN YOU HEAR people talking\nrubbish about the unpracticality\nof the artist and his extravagance when\nproducing a play, remind them that in\n1924 a Wembly Pageant produced by\na man who was in no sense a Theatre\nartist cost £ 100,000 to produce, and\nwas run at a loss of £ 60,000.\nWHEN YOU HEAR people like\nMr. 1 om Douglas saying that 44 an\nactor does not go on to the stage ne-\ncessarily to raise the prestige of thea-\ntrical art, but primarily to earn a\nliving remind them that Irving, Kcan\nand Garrick deny this—and that every\ngood actor does so today,"}, {"page_pdf": 57, "page_imprimee": "93", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.57", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 607, "texte": "WHEN YOU HEAR young actors\nboasting they have gone on the stage\nsolely to raise the prestige of Theatrical\nArt put them down for young fools,\nat least admit it's no worse a\nboast than that of 44 the popular young\nactor\" Mr. Tom Douglas.\n1 hat the silly boast that 44 Art for\nArt s sake leads to failure\" should\nhave been accepted and printed by\nthe 44 Daily Mail \" is curious; for, if\nyou were to offer the 44 Daily Mail\"\nan article, by a journalist asserting that\nto strive to do the best according to\nthe best rules of journalism would lead\nto failure, the 44 Daily Mail\" would\nreject it with indignation."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c081", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c081", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "93", "page_fin": "93", "image_debut": 57, "image_fin": 57, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.30.5", "titre_corps": "HOST AND GUEST : A SLIP BY \"THE TIMES\"", "titre_sommaire": "HOST AND GUEST : A SLIP BY \"THE TIMES\"", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 57, "page_imprimee": "93", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.57", "debut_caractere": 609, "fin_caractere_exclue": 4027, "texte": "HO S T A N D GUEST.\nA SLIP BY\" THE TIMES'*.\nIN reviewing Mr. Ivor Brown's sen-\nsible book 44 Parties of the Play \",\na writer in 44 The Times Literary\nSupplement seemed as though bent\ns upon trying to undo the good Mr. Brown\nhad achieved by the moderation and\ngood sense of his attitude, by calling\non the ashes of the coals—by telling\nhim that in his book he 44 had not\ndistinguished clearly enough between a\nproducer who is an ally, a collaborator,\nan interpreter, and the new giant who\nclaims an absolute throne. The first is\na man with whom a dramatist may\n, treat ; the second is an enemy whom\nhe must destroy \". Etcetera.\nIn short, this writer again forgets the\n* old-time bond which exists between\nsuch collaborators as producer and dra-\nmatist, when they are friends—and\nalmost seemed eager to proclaim to\nthe world the impossibility that in En-\nglish friendship could exist. It is a bad\nthing to attempt to make enemies of\nmen who can be friends.\n* Our Theatre belongs sometimes to\none and sometimes to the other and\nsometimes to a third, to the actor ....it\nwas stupid then of this writer in the\nLiterary Supplement to attempt once\nmore to embroil these friends.\nThere is another bond between\nthem and that too he forgot.. . the\nbond of host and guest.\nIf a man is a dramatist and the theatre\nhis own he is in his own house and\ncan please himself whether he behave\nlike a surly old curmudgeon or a like-\nable host. But if the theatre is not\none's own one is a guest.\nIn the House of Moli&re, is\nthe host: in Burbage's Theatre Shakes-\npeare was a guest.\nSomeone must be host and the rest\n*guest3 ; we think this stands to reason\nand should never be forgotten.\nIt is a strange thing to find an En-\nglishman making a slip in such a mat-\nter, this fine point of good manners ;\nfor, without boasting over-much of our-\nselves, we can admit that the English\ngentleman is a real host and his guests\nnever forget that it is his house and\nnot theirs.\nYet here we have the good old\n44 Times *, and its anything but good\nold contributor, mildly suggesting l hat,\nwhether the house be his or no, the\nplaywright should behave like a boor,\nclaim the place as his, and that the critics\nand playgoers must stand at his side and\nsupport him in his boonshness and kick\nup a rumpus in a house not his own.\nNot a little Bolchevistic this idea, and\none which will therefore only appeal\nto a small section of Londoners. What\nis the 44 Times \" thinking of ?\nNo; the rule is this about the Thea-\ntre.- Whoever is the master of the\nhouse, whoever is the owner or holds\nthe lease, is host: here he collects his\nfamily ; re, his actors, scenic men, me-\nchanics and stage hands (1).\nHe then invites as a guest a play-\nwriter or a composer, or someone who\nis may be too much occupied to be\none of his family (and there you have\nit) for some cause which the play writer\nis powerless to alter.\nAnd the guest is an honoured guest\nif he be Shaw, Barrie, Pinero or any\nother playwright, but he is a guest.\nLet us hope that he will always\ntake a pleasure in remembering this, as\nindeed mo3t playwriters in the past have\never done. And so, even if the producer\nbe that terrible thing, a 44 new giant \",\nso greatly feared by the writer in\n44 The Times Literary Supplement \",\nand if he is the host, he will, we doubt\nnot, try to make everyone comfortable\nand at their ease. Have giant hosts\nalways failed ? Have the pigmies done\nbetter every time ?"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c082", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c082", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "93", "page_fin": "93", "image_debut": 57, "image_fin": 57, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.30.6", "titre_corps": "THE AMATEUR STAGE IN GREAT BRITAIN : IS THIS AMATEUR STAGE A GOOD OR A BAD THING?", "titre_sommaire": "THE AMATEUR STAGE IN GREAT BRITAIN : IS THIS AMATEUR STAGE A GOOD OR A BAD THING?", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 57, "page_imprimee": "93", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.57", "debut_caractere": 4029, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6972, "texte": "THE AMATEUR STAGE IN\no GREAT BRITAIN, o\nIS THIS AMATEUR STAGE A\nGOOD OR A BAD THING }\nLET the question be clearly ans-\nwered :\nIn a land where the professional\nstage is doing its duty and making use\nof its best brains, forwarding the best\nnotions, playing the lesszr known and\nsometimes best dramatists, plays, expe-\nrimenting and yet preserving the very\nbest traditions, a merely earnest ama-\nteur stage of any large proportions\nwould be practically an impossibility.\nBut where the professional stage\nprefers to build and repose on all the\nminor conventions at the expense of\nthe ancient traditions, and practically\nbans all that can be produced by the\nbest brains, then the Amateurs thrive,\nthey increase by thousands; Drama\nLeagues crop up all around them and\nSocieties are formed and something is\nat last doing in a little way—at a\nvery great cost.\nIhe aim of almost every Amateur\nis to become a professional ; first he\nstrives to be criticised as one, then to\nbeat the professionals hollow, and lastly\nto quietly but firmly seize the strongholds\nof the stage one after another.\nFrom five thousand amateurs it is\nnot impossible for forty or fifty of them\nto emerge as excellent professional ac-\ntors, and from these may possibly de-\nvelope one man of genius.\nThis decides us. We are on the\nside of the Amateurs, since in En-\ngland professionalism has elected to side\nwith too much that is drab and dull.\nSince the professional stage refuses\nto help itseh, it must be helped ; since\nit prefers to be negative in its clubs\nand 44 don't know \" this and 44 don't\nknow \" tother, the Amateur Stage,\nwith its preference to be up and\ndoing, is decidedly to be encouraged.\nIt will know and it will try to know\nmore and to do better and better.\nThe most professional organ of the\nAmateurs is a journal known as 44 The\nAmateur Stage \", and is published\neach mouth at the price of 6d a copy\nat 44 The New Scala Theatre \", Char-\nlotte Street, Loudon W. I.\nWe learn in its columns about the\ndoings of men and women of whose\nwork we ought to have been told by\nthe professionals.\nWe get notes on Stage Craft, on\nDancing, on the craft of the Producers\nbesides other interesting topics. Ar-\nticles on French Comedy and on how\nto organize Amateur Societies ; on\nGrand Opera, on advanced Make-up,\non Progress and Cooperation, on the\nBarrel Organ, on Stage Noises, by Sir\nBarry Jackson, James Glover, Julius\nHarrison, C. S. Parsons and many others.\nThe 44 Amateur Stage \" is not\nhighbrow: if anything it is a shade\ntoo like the usual run of journals.\nThe usual stage publication too often\ndiscredits the intelligence of the actor,\nproducer and playywright: and this\nwill not do. 1 hese men without any\ngreat effort can reveal quite as great\nintelligence as any other men of culture :\nso that not to recognize and profit by\nthis intelligence is a grave error, and\none with far-reaching results.\n<0 Read iv hat Sac ha Guitry said only\nthe other day: see page 76."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c083", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c083", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "94", "page_fin": "94", "image_debut": 58, "image_fin": 58, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.31", "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": 58, "page_imprimee": "94", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.58", "debut_caractere": 0, "fin_caractere_exclue": 7156, "texte": "LAST WORDS.\n\nTHINGS ARE BEGINNING\nTODAWN.\nHenry A. Lytton\".\nWE came across an advertisement'\nof Ogee Grease Paints which are\nmanufactured by Osborne, Ganett and\nCo Ltd. London and are a British in-\ndustry, and, on the advertisement, a\ntestimonial from Mr. Henry A. Lytton\nwhose 44 Jack Point \"in 4 4 The Yeomen\nof the Guard \" is a master piece. This\ntestimonial ran as follows :\n\" Dear Sirs, 1 have given the Ogee\nGrease-paints a leally good trial, and\nfind them in every way superior to the\nbest German makes.\nYours very truly,\n\noA QUEST ION. o\no R.' S. V. P. o\n11 Comes up like thunder... crost the bay\nWILL the Royal Academy of Dra-\nmatic Art, admittedly the princi-\npal training centre for young professio-\nnals, inform us why a Russian, M. Ko-\nmisarjevsky, is regularly employed to\ntrain British Artists when many able\nBritish men and women are seeking\nwork?\"\nThis question was asked by \"I he\nAmateur Stage \" last month and it taps\nthe nail 011 the head that time, we think.\nThe rumble of thunder afar off\ndoesn't mean that a storm will burst -\nbut it might. A storm, even a little\none, which would burst over the Royal\nAcademy of Dramatic Art would be very\ndesirable.\nIt's a first-rate place run in a tenth-\nrate manner.\nIf our readers are eager to know why,\nwe will inform them in onr next issue.\nIt is un-British in having placed\nM. Komisarjevsky in a position only to\nbe filled by an Englishman—if an En-\nglishman pass the Academy's examina-\ntion or answer to its requirements.\nBut what does the Academy re-\nquire ? That we shall lay before you very\nsoon.\n\no MADAME YVETTE GUILBERT. o\nWE were delighted to read of Ma-\ndame Yvette Guilbert's triumph\nin London—her tenth, or is it her twelfth,\ntriumph there. She never fails so how\ncan she do anything but triumph. She\nis all that one looks to in a fine woman\nwho walks in the theatric fields—in\ngloves too.\nBut she might go with gloves or\nfor she is and will be ever the\nexample' for every other woman on every\nstage to follow.\nAs an expression, as a voice, a face,\n—in her immense reserve—and in her\nabandon, she is ever first-class.\nAnd as a woman of intelligence a\nof character we think there have not bee11\nmany such on the European stage for a\ncentury or two.\nMr. Hubert Griffiths wrote very\nwell of her in the 44 Evening Standard\na journal which, by the way, shows a\nmarked wish to see things bettered 011\nthe British Stage.\nThis has given a great deal of plea-\nsure to a number of people.\n\n—ni-M.i-i.TTOfrTimrTi r I »- \" ■inf wi\nSYMPATHY AND DISCRIMINATION\nLAND OF THE PILGRIM'S PRIDE AND\nMR MENCKEN AND MR G. J. NATHAN,\nThe Mask\nFlorence, Italy\nThe Editor,\n{protest against a slight, 110 doubt\ninadvertent mistake on your part.\nThe recommendation of 44 Land of the\nPilgrim's Pride \". by George Jean Na-\nthan. I do not feel competent to cri-\nticize your approval of his books on the\ntheatre. But this miscellany pretends to\ntreat of my country and the manners of\nmy countrymen.... Perhaps you are no!\nfamiliar with actual America. Then be-\nlieve me, Mencken and Nathan present\nno adequate picture. Their confirmed\nattitude admits neither of sympathy nor\nof discrimination. Everything is deplo-\nrable, else they would have no material.\nIn a world, and particularly a na-\ntion, where all that is beautiful should\nbe exclusively sought lor, I resent such\ndiligence in pursuit ot the unlovely, the\nmerely pathetic.\nRespectfully yours\nG. L. WATSON\nLondon.\n\nO THE MASK'S RfePLY. O\nSir :\nAs you give 110 address we cannot\nthank you privately for your com-\nmunication to us of your opinion of\nMr. Nathan's picture of America, so are\nforced to do so at the expense of one\nmore bit of reclame for \" Land of the\nPilgrim's Pride \".\nThis will be all to the good all round.\nFor you don't like the book, and others\nwill no,w have a fresh opportunity of\nagreeing with you, for, on reading what\nyou have written, they will assuredly\nbuy it.\nWe like Mr. Nathan and Mr. Menc-\nken : —Mr. Nathan for his ability and\nhis good sense in fighting for a better\nthatre without compromising : Mr. Menc-\nken for his friendship to Mr. Nathan,\n. ..for, to tell the truth, we do rather\nspecialize in Theatre, and so we have\nnot had time to study Mr. Mencken's\nwritings.\nIf what Mr. Nathan writes of Ame-\nrica be not true, then he is a most as-\ntounding paradox ; for all he writes of\nTheatre is especially true.\nIt is just that we admire him for.\nNow how can a man so straight about\nTheatre be so crooked about America ?\nHow can he so suddenly change ? Is it\npossible, we mean. If, as you say, his at-\ntitude admits of neither sympathy nor\ndiscrimination from you, than we can only\nsuppose that Mr. Nathan never wrote\n44 The Land if Pilgrim's Pride \" ; for\nto feel sympathy towards him and to\ndiscriminate in regard to his work is\nwhat we are sure you would best like to\ndo—being an American.\nAmericans are as full of sympathy\nand discrimination as any other people,\nand you must admit that these two vir-\ntues are in the ascendant today.\nWe all sympathize with our own\nland : it's power and its glory.\nThe power and glory of Money, for\nexample; when have any of us failed to ,\nsympathize with people who possess too\nmuch of it ! And we try. we honestly\nbelieve, to discriminate about our po-\nverty—if we happen to be poor.\nI am a poor man \" says the mil-\nlionaire, —44 comparatively poor \" he\nadds with great discrimination.\n44 I am rich \" cries the beggar wa-\nving his last bit of shirt in the air to\nthe birds. No one of course is near by\nor he would hide under the hedge;\n44 but I wish I had a couple of dollars V\nsays be. It shows lhat he knows some-\nthing.\nYes, these two virtues, sympathy\nand discrimination, are in the ascen-\ndant, and it must make us all proud\nand not a little moved, when we realize\nto the full that we are all of us really\non the side of the virtuous angels.\nDo we, do you, speak ill of Mr. Na-\nthan ? No, Sir, you are discriminate\nand full of sympathy spite of a seeming\nharshness.\nAnd after all you write without ma-\nlice and you are an idealist.\nYou seek in this world, you say,\nonly for all that is beautiful.\nWe are sure you do. Well, take it from\nus that Nathan is just like you there,\nand make it up, and, if you are a poor\nman, give one shilling to found the true\nand good American Theatre and the gift\nwill bring much luck to things that Na-\nthan will in ten years time from now\nsay he was wTong in finding a single\nfault with in America. Even as Dickens\nsaid ....when he could pause to recover\nhis voice -between his sobs at that fa-\nmous banquet in New York.\nAnd you will remember that Dic-\nkens spoke without discrimination when\nfirst he damned your country.\nWe are entirely of your mind, wo\nwant to see all that is beautiful in the\nworld and to sit 011 what isn't —in our-\nselves.\nWe take it that is what you mean,\nand are, sincerely, Sir,\nYours faithfully,\nThe Editor.\n\nA WORD OF THANKS.\nWE have to offer our thanks to\nDr. Torre for his courtesy in\nallowing us to reproduce the design on\nPlate 6.\n\nMR. ALFRED BISHOP.\n■■■■■! ■ ■■■■ 1, mm -r.TMIBBIJ,. ! 1 mi\nWE very much regret to hear of the\ndeath ol Mr, Alfred Bishop, one\not the ablest of English actors and a\ndear old gentleman."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c084", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c084", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "94", "page_fin": "94", "image_debut": 58, "image_fin": 58, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.31.1", "titre_corps": "THINGS ARE BEGINNING TODAWN", "titre_sommaire": "THINGS ARE BEGINNING TODAWN", "signature_source": "Henry A. Lytton", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 58, "page_imprimee": "94", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.58", "debut_caractere": 13, "fin_caractere_exclue": 528, "texte": "THINGS ARE BEGINNING\nTODAWN.\nHenry A. Lytton\".\nWE came across an advertisement'\nof Ogee Grease Paints which are\nmanufactured by Osborne, Ganett and\nCo Ltd. London and are a British in-\ndustry, and, on the advertisement, a\ntestimonial from Mr. Henry A. Lytton\nwhose 44 Jack Point \"in 4 4 The Yeomen\nof the Guard \" is a master piece. This\ntestimonial ran as follows :\n\" Dear Sirs, 1 have given the Ogee\nGrease-paints a leally good trial, and\nfind them in every way superior to the\nbest German makes.\nYours very truly,"}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c086", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c086", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "94", "page_fin": "94", "image_debut": 58, "image_fin": 58, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.31.2", "titre_corps": "A QUESTION. R.S.V.P", "titre_sommaire": "A QUESTION. R.S.V.P", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 58, "page_imprimee": "94", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.58", "debut_caractere": 530, "fin_caractere_exclue": 1564, "texte": "oA QUEST ION. o\no R.' S. V. P. o\n11 Comes up like thunder... crost the bay\nWILL the Royal Academy of Dra-\nmatic Art, admittedly the princi-\npal training centre for young professio-\nnals, inform us why a Russian, M. Ko-\nmisarjevsky, is regularly employed to\ntrain British Artists when many able\nBritish men and women are seeking\nwork?\"\nThis question was asked by \"I he\nAmateur Stage \" last month and it taps\nthe nail 011 the head that time, we think.\nThe rumble of thunder afar off\ndoesn't mean that a storm will burst -\nbut it might. A storm, even a little\none, which would burst over the Royal\nAcademy of Dramatic Art would be very\ndesirable.\nIt's a first-rate place run in a tenth-\nrate manner.\nIf our readers are eager to know why,\nwe will inform them in onr next issue.\nIt is un-British in having placed\nM. Komisarjevsky in a position only to\nbe filled by an Englishman—if an En-\nglishman pass the Academy's examina-\ntion or answer to its requirements.\nBut what does the Academy re-\nquire ? That we shall lay before you very\nsoon."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c088", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c088", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "94", "page_fin": "94", "image_debut": 58, "image_fin": 58, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.31.3", "titre_corps": "MADAME YVETTE GUILBERT", "titre_sommaire": "MADAME YVETTE GUILBERT", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 58, "page_imprimee": "94", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.58", "debut_caractere": 1566, "fin_caractere_exclue": 2453, "texte": "o MADAME YVETTE GUILBERT. o\nWE were delighted to read of Ma-\ndame Yvette Guilbert's triumph\nin London—her tenth, or is it her twelfth,\ntriumph there. She never fails so how\ncan she do anything but triumph. She\nis all that one looks to in a fine woman\nwho walks in the theatric fields—in\ngloves too.\nBut she might go with gloves or\nfor she is and will be ever the\nexample' for every other woman on every\nstage to follow.\nAs an expression, as a voice, a face,\n—in her immense reserve—and in her\nabandon, she is ever first-class.\nAnd as a woman of intelligence a\nof character we think there have not bee11\nmany such on the European stage for a\ncentury or two.\nMr. Hubert Griffiths wrote very\nwell of her in the 44 Evening Standard\na journal which, by the way, shows a\nmarked wish to see things bettered 011\nthe British Stage.\nThis has given a great deal of plea-\nsure to a number of people."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c090", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c090", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "94", "page_fin": "94", "image_debut": 58, "image_fin": 58, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.31.4", "titre_corps": "SYMPATHY AND DISCRIMINATION : LAND OF THE PILGRIM'S PRIDE AND MR MENCKEN AND MR G. J. NATHAN", "titre_sommaire": "SYMPATHY AND DISCRIMINATION : LAND OF THE PILGRIM'S PRIDE AND MR MENCKEN AND MR G. J. NATHAN", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 58, "page_imprimee": "94", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.58", "debut_caractere": 2455, "fin_caractere_exclue": 3415, "texte": "—ni-M.i-i.TTOfrTimrTi r I »- \" ■inf wi\nSYMPATHY AND DISCRIMINATION\nLAND OF THE PILGRIM'S PRIDE AND\nMR MENCKEN AND MR G. J. NATHAN,\nThe Mask\nFlorence, Italy\nThe Editor,\n{protest against a slight, 110 doubt\ninadvertent mistake on your part.\nThe recommendation of 44 Land of the\nPilgrim's Pride \". by George Jean Na-\nthan. I do not feel competent to cri-\nticize your approval of his books on the\ntheatre. But this miscellany pretends to\ntreat of my country and the manners of\nmy countrymen.... Perhaps you are no!\nfamiliar with actual America. Then be-\nlieve me, Mencken and Nathan present\nno adequate picture. Their confirmed\nattitude admits neither of sympathy nor\nof discrimination. Everything is deplo-\nrable, else they would have no material.\nIn a world, and particularly a na-\ntion, where all that is beautiful should\nbe exclusively sought lor, I resent such\ndiligence in pursuit ot the unlovely, the\nmerely pathetic.\nRespectfully yours\nG. L. WATSON\nLondon."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c091", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c091", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "94", "page_fin": "94", "image_debut": 58, "image_fin": 58, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.31.5", "titre_corps": "THE MASK'S REPLY", "titre_sommaire": "THE MASK'S REPLY", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 58, "page_imprimee": "94", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.58", "debut_caractere": 3417, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6843, "texte": "O THE MASK'S RfePLY. O\nSir :\nAs you give 110 address we cannot\nthank you privately for your com-\nmunication to us of your opinion of\nMr. Nathan's picture of America, so are\nforced to do so at the expense of one\nmore bit of reclame for \" Land of the\nPilgrim's Pride \".\nThis will be all to the good all round.\nFor you don't like the book, and others\nwill no,w have a fresh opportunity of\nagreeing with you, for, on reading what\nyou have written, they will assuredly\nbuy it.\nWe like Mr. Nathan and Mr. Menc-\nken : —Mr. Nathan for his ability and\nhis good sense in fighting for a better\nthatre without compromising : Mr. Menc-\nken for his friendship to Mr. Nathan,\n. ..for, to tell the truth, we do rather\nspecialize in Theatre, and so we have\nnot had time to study Mr. Mencken's\nwritings.\nIf what Mr. Nathan writes of Ame-\nrica be not true, then he is a most as-\ntounding paradox ; for all he writes of\nTheatre is especially true.\nIt is just that we admire him for.\nNow how can a man so straight about\nTheatre be so crooked about America ?\nHow can he so suddenly change ? Is it\npossible, we mean. If, as you say, his at-\ntitude admits of neither sympathy nor\ndiscrimination from you, than we can only\nsuppose that Mr. Nathan never wrote\n44 The Land if Pilgrim's Pride \" ; for\nto feel sympathy towards him and to\ndiscriminate in regard to his work is\nwhat we are sure you would best like to\ndo—being an American.\nAmericans are as full of sympathy\nand discrimination as any other people,\nand you must admit that these two vir-\ntues are in the ascendant today.\nWe all sympathize with our own\nland : it's power and its glory.\nThe power and glory of Money, for\nexample; when have any of us failed to ,\nsympathize with people who possess too\nmuch of it ! And we try. we honestly\nbelieve, to discriminate about our po-\nverty—if we happen to be poor.\nI am a poor man \" says the mil-\nlionaire, —44 comparatively poor \" he\nadds with great discrimination.\n44 I am rich \" cries the beggar wa-\nving his last bit of shirt in the air to\nthe birds. No one of course is near by\nor he would hide under the hedge;\n44 but I wish I had a couple of dollars V\nsays be. It shows lhat he knows some-\nthing.\nYes, these two virtues, sympathy\nand discrimination, are in the ascen-\ndant, and it must make us all proud\nand not a little moved, when we realize\nto the full that we are all of us really\non the side of the virtuous angels.\nDo we, do you, speak ill of Mr. Na-\nthan ? No, Sir, you are discriminate\nand full of sympathy spite of a seeming\nharshness.\nAnd after all you write without ma-\nlice and you are an idealist.\nYou seek in this world, you say,\nonly for all that is beautiful.\nWe are sure you do. Well, take it from\nus that Nathan is just like you there,\nand make it up, and, if you are a poor\nman, give one shilling to found the true\nand good American Theatre and the gift\nwill bring much luck to things that Na-\nthan will in ten years time from now\nsay he was wTong in finding a single\nfault with in America. Even as Dickens\nsaid ....when he could pause to recover\nhis voice -between his sobs at that fa-\nmous banquet in New York.\nAnd you will remember that Dic-\nkens spoke without discrimination when\nfirst he damned your country.\nWe are entirely of your mind, wo\nwant to see all that is beautiful in the\nworld and to sit 011 what isn't —in our-\nselves.\nWe take it that is what you mean,\nand are, sincerely, Sir,\nYours faithfully,\nThe Editor."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c092", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c092", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "94", "page_fin": "94", "image_debut": 58, "image_fin": 58, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.31.6", "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": 58, "page_imprimee": "94", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.58", "debut_caractere": 6845, "fin_caractere_exclue": 6971, "texte": "A WORD OF THANKS.\nWE have to offer our thanks to\nDr. Torre for his courtesy in\nallowing us to reproduce the design on\nPlate 6."}]}, {"article_id": "bm-bmtnaau-1928-04-01-c094", "article_bluemountain": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01#c094", "volume": "bmtnaau_1928-04_01", "ocr_source": "OCR Blue Mountain (ALTO), transcription TEI : lignes lb/@facs", "texte_sans_correction": true, "page_debut": "94", "page_fin": "94", "image_debut": 58, "image_fin": 58, "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=bmtnaau192804-01.2.31.7", "titre_corps": "MR. ALFRED BISHOP", "titre_sommaire": "MR. ALFRED BISHOP", "signature_source": "", "controle": "bornes données par la structure logique METS/ALTO de Blue Mountain (blocs ALTO de chaque constituant)", "pages": [{"page_pdf": 58, "page_imprimee": "94", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.58", "debut_caractere": 6973, "fin_caractere_exclue": 7156, "texte": "MR. ALFRED BISHOP.\n■■■■■! ■ ■■■■ 1, mm -r.TMIBBIJ,. ! 1 mi\nWE very much regret to hear of the\ndeath ol Mr, Alfred Bishop, one\not the ablest of English actors and a\ndear old gentleman."}]}], "pages_ocr_originales": [{"page_pdf": 1, "page_imprimee": "couv. 1", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.1", "texte": "THE MASK\nVOLUME FOURTEEN. NUMBER TWO\nAPRIL- M | Y - J U N E\nANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION EDITION DE LUXE\nTEN SHILLINGS J|pß|cOk TWENTY SHILLINGS\n(POST FREE) ii'OS'l ' ' I\n° °\nTWO & A HALF DOLLARS FIVE DOLLARS\nFOR AMERICA FOR AMERICA\nADDRESS: BOX 444. FLORENCE. ITALY.\n\nTHEATRES FOR ALL. SOME CONSI-\nDERATIONS ON THE NEW THEA-\nTRE AT WELWYN, GERMAN ARCHI-\nTECTS AND THE REGRETTABLE\nRESULTS OF \" SWANK by Craig.\nA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL AND A\nSHAKESPEAREAN FIGURE IN\nREAL LIFE by C. Clutterbuck.\nHOW LORD BYRON CAME TO RULE\nOVER ENGLAND, by John Balance.\nHOAX AND HUMBUG, AND \"THE\nPEOPLE'S ART by Everard Plumb-\nline.\nPAMPHLETS, THEIR DELIGHTS AND\nTHEIR USES, by H. P.\nTHE PRETTY THEATRE, . AND SOME\nFURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON FA-\nVOURITES, \" FAVOURS \" AND KINDRED\nMATTERS, by X. Y. Z.\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\nA 1657 SCENIC DESIGN OF SPRING TRIUMPHING OVER WINTER.\nA RARE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY DESIGN FOR THEATRE MECHA-\nNISM. THREE VIEWS OF GERMAN THEATRES. THE SITE OF THE OLD\nTEATRO SANT'ANGELO, VENEZIA. PORTRAITS OF TWO SEVENTEENTH\nCENTURY LOVERS OF THEATRICALS, AND THE ARMS OF THE ACADEMY\nTO WHICH THEY BELONGED."}, {"page_pdf": 2, "page_imprimee": "couv. 2", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.2", "texte": "THE MASK. APRIL-JUNE 1928\n■ IMIWI Jmi mi i■■ i ui n L_ . F I I Jl--1 ■'«\n<3\nNOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS. The Editor is always glad to consider articles and illustrations from\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 Mask Box 444, Florence, Italy.\n\nLITERARY CONTENTS.\nBRITISH J. S Page 49\nTHEATRES FOR ALL Craig 51\nSHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL . . . ' . . . C. Clutterbuck 53\nALOYSIUS HORN Q. E. D 54\nHOW LORD BYRON CAME TO RULE OVER ENG-\nLAND . . . . . . . ... John Balance . . . . .56\nDO AND DON'T Allen Carrie 57\nHOAX AND HUMBUG ....... Everard Plumbline . . . .63\nPAMPHLETS ' . H. P. 66\nSHAKESPEARE IN ITALY J. S . 71\nTHE '« BUT... BUT \", \" 1... I \" SCHOOL . . . Yoo-No-Hoo 73\nTHE PRETTY THEATRE . . . . . . X. Y. Z. . . . . .74\nSHORT EXTRACTS. BOOK REVIEWS. EDITORIAL NOTES. LAST WORDS.\n\nILLUSTRATIONS.\nLA PRIMAVERA TRIONFANTE as recorded by . . Carlo Corsi. . . Plate 8, Face 49\nA 17th CENTURY DESIGN FOR STAGE MECHANISM Anon. . . . ■ 9, \"68\nVIEW OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE THEATRE IN\nHAMBURG 1825 . . . . . . . Karl Friedrich Schenkel \"10, \" 72\nTWO VIEWS OF THE INTERIOR OF THE KONIG-\nLICHEN THEATRE, BERLIN Karl Friedrich Schenkel • 11, precede 73\nTHE SITE OF THE TEATRO SANT'ANGELO, VE-\nNEZIA Anon. . . . \"12, Face 76\nMELCHIOR ZOPPIUS . . . . . . . Anon, 59\nTHE ARMS OF THE ACCADEMIA GELATI OF BO- |\nLOGNA ......... Anon. . . . . . .61\nCARDINAL BARBERINI Anon. ...... 69\nHead and Tail Pieces from old and modern Designs."}, {"page_pdf": 4, "page_imprimee": "[48]", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.4", "texte": "As performed in 1657 at the Teatro delle Feste in the Royal Palace at Torino. The\nperjorrnance, a \" Gran Balletto was given on February 10 th to celebrate the Birth-\nday of Madame Reale. It was written by Don Gabriele Orengiano with music\ncomposed by Francesco Farmello and with \" machines \" by the engineer Quadri.\nCarlo Corsi, who was present as graphic reporter, made some dozen or so records of\nthe scenes and costumes such as we see here, while Tommaso Borgogno described each\nevent with his Pen. Ihis is the first time to OUT knowledge that the design has ever\nbeen reproduced.\n\nTHE MASK\n1928^\n\nPlate 8.\n\nLA PRIMA VERA TRIONFANTE DELL'INVERNO\" SCENE 7."}, {"page_pdf": 5, "page_imprimee": "[49]", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.5", "texte": "1 9 0 8 19 2 8\n\nBRITISH\n\nTHE notion that Art is international, is, theoretically and spiri-\ntually, a fine idea. Practically it is bosh and something more.\nAnd particularly true is this of the Theatre and of the\nDramatic Art.\nThe more national these are kept the better.\nTo begin with let us take the Dramatists. There is Moliere;—\nout of France, except when brought over as an occasional guest, he\nis out of place: Shakespeare out of England is also quite out of place.\nIbsen in Scandinavia is not only reasonable but a reality. Anywhere\nelse he merely ceases to be Ibsen. So is it with btnndberg.\nMusic is more of a universal language, and so composers may with\n• far less loss to their work wander irom country to country being inter-\nnational and interpreted incorrectly. It goes.\nA tune which had to be translated would be impossible, and to\ntranslate a good play is next to impossible—and unsatisfactory.\nThe Strindberg play in London was a recent example of this.\nAnd there is also another argument why Art cannot be interna-\ntional.\nSuppose five nations each to have a theatre, a drama and a tra-\ndition, and each to have developed these until they each have remark-\nable playwrights, actors, producers, singers, to send abroad.\nExchange visits of picked companies could then be arranged. And\n.we too might then be proud to use the word international. We should\nsend over our picked English team to play the Russian, German, Italian"}, {"page_pdf": 6, "page_imprimee": "50", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.6", "texte": "or French teams. Something gained for Britain. We have so sug-\ngested for years.\nBut conceive the other thing—the thing as it is.\nConceive the German teams, Dramatic and Operatic; the Russian\nteams, Dramatic, Operatic and Ballet; and the French Dramatic team\ncoming to us, playing us off the field, and we unable to return the\ncompliment:... yet this is being done year after year.\nWhat then ?\nNot until our British teams are trained up so as to be able to play\nbetter, and a real sense of patriotism helps to establish companies fit\nto compete with the Foreigner, can we use the word international.\n\nJ. S."}, {"page_pdf": 7, "page_imprimee": "51", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.7", "texte": "THEATRES FOR ALL\nNOTES ON THE NEW THEATRE AT WELWYN.\nBY CRAIG.\nOSKAR Kaufmann is one of the mo-\ndern Theatre architects whose work\ninterests me, for the reason that he is never\nover-serious when setting out to design a\nnew playhouse and generally manages\nto improvise something original and, I\nthink, quite refreshing. Never is he so\noriginal as to annoy those of us who look\nto find a few familiar signs that we are\nin a worldly theatre, though I suppose he\ncould, if we wished, and if he so wished,\ndesign us something just as good as the\nTheatre of Dyonisus in Athens: all that\nis needed to achieve that being the old\nAthenian conditions of life, laws, wisdoms\nand ignorances.\nAnd why 1 speak of Oskar Kaufmann,\nrather than of the gifted Hans Poelzig,\nand Max Littmann, two of the men\nmost famous for building good theatres in\nGermany,- is because he is more theatre-\nlike and the others a little less theatre-like.\nThey are more serious and less sincere,\nand they do not seem to me to possess so\nmuch exact Theatre sense as Kaufmann.\nAnd why I refer to any Germans at\nall is because our new Theatre at Wel-\nwyn, though externally it look quite Bri-\ntish, internally has a distinctly German\nappearance. The Germans have influen-\nced Louis de Soissons and A. W. Ken-\nyon, the architects who, under almost\nimpossible conditions, have produced some-\nthing more or less modern to look at and\nrather too thin to look quite well.\nThe requirements of those who paid for\nit were the usual English requirements.\n\" We want an auditorium which will com-\npletely satisfy the dual purpose of a cinema\nand theatre—and which can be used for\nconcerts, lectures and public meetings O;\nmaximum of efficiency and mimimum\nof cost\nWhat Vitruvius, Inigo Jones, Bramante\nor Bernini would have said and done on\nreading such farcical conditions can be\nimagined.\nAnd, as a few people in Welwyn are\nsaying that the two architects, de Soissons\nand Kenyon, have played for safety, it\ncannot be amiss to remind them that it\nis quite otherwise and that the architects\nwere very rash indeed, for they actually\ntook on the job. 1 wouldn't have done\nso, had those crippling conditions been\nimposed on me ; for they amount to this :\n\" Do five things at once,—and do them\nfor the price paid for doing one of them \".\nThese conditions have crippled what might\neasily have been a real achievement.\nA dozen reproductions of photographs\nand plans of this Theatre-Cinema-Concert-\nLecture-Hall and Public Meeting-place\nappeared with an article in the April\nnumber of that best of magazines the\n\" Architectural Review \" and should be\nstudied. The writer of the article, Mr. Ro-\nnald Orfeur, is surprised at the spectacle\nof a small town of 6,500 inhabitants with\na combined cinema and theatre capable\nof seating 1,100 persons : it strikes him\nat first sight as \"a rash and foolish ven-\nture of the promoters of the Garden\nCity of Welwyn.\nThe words \" Rash and foolish ven-\nture \", applied to the attempt to build a\ngood theatre with plenty of money, are\nwild and whirling words; but it was rash\n\n(i) That is a quintuple purpose, not a dual one."}, {"page_pdf": 8, "page_imprimee": "52", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.8", "texte": "and foolish to venture without plenty of\nmoney.\nAs there is no word in the article to\nsay what the building cost I have to\nguess : and I guess that it cost very little\nfor such a building.\n1 would suggest that a small com-\nmunity stands in no need of such a swag-\nger looking place. In great centres it s\nas well to build sumptuous theatres and\nbuild them without bothering about the\ncost. Great centres can afford that. And\nwhen Welwyn becomes a great City it\nwill be easily able to afford to build a\nnew Theatre. 1 am inclined to think that\nwhat it should have done was to have\nbuilt a first class temporary playhouse for\nits 6,500 inhabitants and enlarge and\ndecorate it ten to fifteen years later.\nThis haste to over-decorate, this use\nof too costly materials is wrong: but may\nbe it was not the architects' fault: it\nseems to me that it was their misfortune,\nfor they were asked to provide a place\nfor public meetings, a concert hall, a lec-\nture hall, a cinema.\nHad they been asked to put up a\ntheatre they could have done it for pro-\nbably a fifth of the cost: a good-sized\nstage would have then been possible in-\nstead of the inadequate affair they have\nbeen forced to limit themselves to.\nYes, it seems to me to have been the\nfault of the Committee that this Theatre-\nCinema-Concert-Lecture-Hall and Public-\nMeeting place has turned out to be a\npretentious thing instead of a genuine thing.\nGrab-all gets nothing, give-all reaps and\ngathers in what he will, and the promo-\nters of Welwyn City seem to be on\nthe grab.\nHundreds of small towns have had\ntheatres of their own. In Italy, for exam-\nple, without troubling to hunt with care,\nwe find:\nSpello Population (0 about 5.000 one theatre.\nOroieto \" \" « \"\nSchio ■ \" 8.300 \"\nPescia * 6,200\nPoggibonsi \" \" 4,600 two theatres\nVetoli * \" 4000 two theatres\nCasalmaggiore \" \" 4000 one theatre\nCasalpursterlengo * \" 5,500 n\nCamerino * \" 4,300 » \"\nBudrio \" \" 2,400 had two or\nthree theatres.\nRocigo R v' 7270 two theatres\nftleti n R 9600 one theatre\nPotenza Picena '' B 3200\nMontopoli Valdarno * n 1000 n '\nMestrl * \" 4500 two theatres\nMira w n 1500 two theatres\nand one could cite a hundred or two more.\nAnd even places with smaller popu-\nlations have their Theatres.\nRoccaraso Population 750 \\\nRoccabianca * 490 §\nRongio \" 160> one theatre apiece\nRossa \" 140 i\nMontemenaco w . 360 j\nand I could name forty or fifty others.\nSome of these theatres are naturally\nvery small, but all are adequate : others\nare admirable in every way. All I wish\nto point out is that if you want a theatre\nyou can have one, and for a very small\ncost, so long as you don't worry about\nunessential swank in appearances.\nThe Committee at Welwyn have had\n\" appearances \" on the brain; and a nice,\nsolid, practical, stuck-up, thorough kind\nof swanky thing it is : but none the less\nswanky.\nAnd if other small towns in England\nare going to wait until they can afford to\nindulge in this American thing it will be a\npity.\nLet us have big barns well construc-\nted, or, finely constructed theatres ; all we\nneed is a place to act in and a comfor-\ntable place to sit in.\nAnd there is another thing to avoid,\n....the influence of German effects.\n\n(0 The population figures are taken from books pu-\nblished about the time the buildings were erected."}, {"page_pdf": 9, "page_imprimee": "53", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.9", "texte": "English architects must not bother\ntheir heads about what Germany is doing\nin theatre building, because Germany spends\na great deal of money on a theatre, so\nthe two cases are quite different.\nAnd it is useless to bother about\nwhat France does, or Russia, or Japan.\nThink fr get all the foreign plans\nout or your heads. The moment they\npop in again, out with them.\n'I hen think freely. Don't fuss about\nwhat you've seen before in England.\nYou' ve seen Drury Lane Theatre: you've\nseen the designs of the old Imperial Theatre.\nWell, you'll not have half a million to\nbuild with, so skip the remembrance of\nthose places and think for yourself and\nthink of the Drama, the actors, the stage\nmanagers and of the good old Public.\nDon't bother about Vitruvius, Serlio,\nPalladio, Piermarini or Sfondrino. Use\nthem, but don't bother about them.\nKeep on thinking for yourselves and\nof us.\nYes—you might think of us and our\nwork which has to be done in your theatre ;\nthink of the performers and not of the\nCommittee. Think of the way to do us\nproud, and that will please the spectators\nwhen the curtain goes up ; and finally\nthe Committee will see that it's to their\ninterest to have let you have your own\n. way.\nBut do have away of your own.\n\nSHAKESPEARE\nFESTIVAL\nSTRATFORD UPON AVON\nPICKFORD'S EXPRESS EXCURSION\n\nLUNCHEON on outward journey.\nDINNER on return journey.\nExcellent reserved seat at Theatre for after-\nnoon performance or \" AS YOU LIKE IT \".\nINCLUSIVE CHARGE 18/6.\n(Actual Announcement a Daily Paper).\nDIRT cheap I call it \" said my neighbour\nto me, as we sat on two comfortable\nchairs outside the Festival House at Stratford-\nupon-Avon, listening to the music as it filtered\nout through the windows and under the doors.\nHe was smoking one of the largest pipes I\nhave ever seen in action. \" Dirt cheap \" he\nrepeated; \" first we had luncheon fit for a King,\ndid'nt we, in a railway carriage fit for a\nprincess; then we arrive at this pretty country\nplace and we get out and we sit outside one\nof the prettiest theatres one could wish to\nfind. We shall get a cup, o' tea, that's\nextra I grant we shali then take a stroll ;\nwe can skip seeing old Shake's birth-spot,\nand in the evening we get once more into a\ntrain fit for a ducheSs and we feed like a\nd00k.... the dinner is worth a guinea at least.\nI've sampled it already three times, for I've been\nup and down seeing these Shake: Festive\nshows day by day, since they started and I\ntell you again its dirt cheap at 18/6, and\nthat's the inclusive charge \".\nI will admit straight off that I was in\nextasies. Why?... because here was a real\nShakespearean figure entertaining me in the\nfresh air, (the play meantime going on within)\nand no one to annoy us with quotations, no\nhappy phrases, just the real live brutal\nShakespearean figure I wanted to see, to\nconvince me onoe more of the harmfulness\nof all that this Stratford man conceived,\nwrote, and we, to our eternal shame be it\nsaid, published.\n\"1 he fellow went on about his dirt cheap\ntrip until I fell asleep. He fell asleep too.\nIn my sleep I dreamed of a production of\n\" As You - Like It \" such as you will\nnever see, nor I again, unless chance brings\nit back to me. It was a dream of immense"}, {"page_pdf": 10, "page_imprimee": "54", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.10", "texte": "forests, and the lightest foliage and poesy, the\nforest people who came and went all looked\nand talked Shakespeare.... the other Shake-\nspeare, not the brutal one. They were all kinds\nof people; Hamlet was there quite gay for once,\nand Benedict, and Petruccio, and Falstaff, all\nsinging Shakespeare, so it seemed to me.\nThe title-of the play, \"As you like it\",\nwas cut on all the trunks of the largest trees;\nthe words \" to-day, to-night, to-morrow \"\nhung on floating pinions, of orange, pink and\nsilver.... one saw them through the tree tops,\nthey seemed floating from the highest boughs.\nThe sounds of organs playing now and again,\nof trumpets and even of jazz afar off, reached\nme; afar off it sounded delicious. 1 slept through\nit all and woke to hear once more how dirt\ncheap it all was. \" For \" said my compa-\nnion, \" its like the canister and the two china\nornaments you get with the pound o' tea:\nthat's how 1 figure it out. I've been dreaming\nabout something mixed up like that; I was in\na big canister splashing about in the tea\ntell yer, I was near drowned, and then sud-\ndenly I seemed to be wafted up on to the\ntop of a train and all the people on it were\nfunny and laughing and singing \" Its cheap,\ncheap, its cheap at any price and as you\nheard I woke up saying just that, that's it...\ndirt cheap, and I say it again.\" So, thoroughly\nawakened, he and I stood up and went to\nhave a cup o' tea at the \" Arkfloaters arms \".\nThere I listened once more to a more\ndetailed account of the cheapness of this trip;\nand to think that this disagreable lout, this\nglorious horror, was a genuine Shakespearean\nfigure, and that he didn't mince his words\nor make them acceptable to the nicest ear,\nbut belched on, and spluttered about the\ncheapness of it all. How far healthier, I\nthought, than when all this brutality is made\nagreeable, and even pathetic and winning.\nThen and then only Shakespeare is indeed\nvery unpleasant; and my memory went back\nto certain performances of Shakespeare's\n'Richard 111 ', \" Iago\" and \"Caliban\"\nwhere the actors had been dastardly enough\nto attempt to win our sympathy.\nBut it s not to obtain such a privilege\nthat we pay 18/6 to Pickford's of Cock-\nspur Street; we pay for the day's Excursion,\nthe grub, the change of air, and the good\ncompany... my neighbour for instance.\n\nC. CLUTTERBUCK.\n\nALOYSIUS HORN\n\nBUT this is not the man.\nThis is a story about a young man called\nAlfred Aloysius Dash and that's all I know\nof his name, and that's the only mistake in\nthe whole book.\nFor Horn won't do. When a man is\npast seventy, as this young man is, it won't\ndo to be pretending that his name is Horn\nwhen it's\n. If he were twenty-five, this young man,\nand he still in trade and on his River still\nthe lovely Muni; or were he telling us tales\nabout a dozen people we all know well, and\nshowing off his own wit and their dullness ;\nwere he at any pains to be unkind, were he\na child of flesh and blood more than he is a\nspirit of soil and running water, it would no\ndoubt be quite pleasant to him (and sufficient\nfor us) to become for a while a part in a\nplay, one A. A. Horn; but I can't think it's\na happiness for him to solidify into anything\nlike Horn, to be Horn at seventy and write\nof Horn at the age of twenty-five .... for he\nwasn't Horn when he was twenty-five, so\nHorn is insufficient for us.\nFor that young fellow, backed by the\nplace where he lived, is a blaze of beauty.\nAfrica West Africa, is the place, and\nthere his friend Little Peru, a sparkling\nlittle fellow like a nice new ring, joins him.\nBoys at school in England, they come together\nagain as young men, both between twenty\nand twenty-five or thereabouts; and, when\nthey meet, a thrilling tale quickens and\nsimply knocks most tales into limbo.\nThe only story 1 can compare with it\nand several tried to pop in and claim kinship\nis Defoe's \" Captain Singleton\nYou will remember that it's one of Defoe's\nbest, and is about a fellow who took to the\nhigh seas, there to become, by force of cir-\ncumstance, a dastardly pirate, and who had\na friend called William.\nDefoe had about as many years as Alfred\nAloysius Dash when he took to romancing, ie,\ntelling one he after another, each one being\nmore full of truth than is most people's daily\nconversation wherever it is to be heard. It is\nonly called romancing just because it is so true.\n\n\"Khe, Li{e a\"d Iforks of Alfred Aloysius Horn edited by\nEtheireda Lewis. Jonathan Cape. Price 7/6 net."}, {"page_pdf": 11, "page_imprimee": "55", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.11", "texte": "Now this Singleton tale is nearly all about\nAfrica. Singleton starts from Zanzibar\nwhich is on the east coast and passes across\n.central Africa with a big group of black\nfriends, and they come across an Englishman\non the banks of a little river I recognized\nhim at once although that was two hundred\nyears ago —; but 1 had to. wait for Alfred\nAloysius's book to do so.\nSingleton emerged out on the west side\nof Africa just about on the same spot where\nAlfred Aloysius lived his glorious life.\nBut what Defoe fails to do is to picture\nthe white light, the blaze of colour in sun-\nshine, and the joy of all the hours.\nFor though Defoe's years were somewhere\nabout the same number as those of Alfred\nAloysius, the Londoner of 1720 had lived\nthrough a far harder time for there is no\nharder life than that which is lived in London\nscribbling political rubbish for thirty-five years.\nElephant hunting is but a fancy game to that;\nand so it came to pass that Defoe was very\nold when he took to romancing as another\nless hefty would have taken to drink; but\nwhen Alfred Aloysius took to writing, though\npeering back through seventy years of life, he\nwas still quite a boy.\nHe took to writing for us because a very\nlovely lady happened to buy one of his\ngridirons. Alfred Aloysius was at that time\nin the habit of making all sorts of wire-\nwork things needed in houses, and these\nhe took around and sold, now and again\nsold well and now and again failed to sell.\nA list of how much he made and sold\nin three years between the age of sixty-five\nand sixty-nine might not impress anyone, but\nI, for one, would like to have that list, because\nit's hard lists which are so terrible in this\nromance, which romance, as I have said, is\nso deliciously and delicately true.\nThis lovely lady to whom Alfred Aloy-\nsius sold a gridiron had the heart of a saint\nand the sense of one too. She edits his book\nfor him. One could not wish a better editor\nfor, like every good editor, she refuses to\nobtrude and lies hid in the tall grass; only\nthe elephants come forth, trumpet and glisten\nand are gone; and the gorillas howl at dawn\nmaking \"a sound that throws all new-comers\ninto a shiver. A yell you'd never be pre-\npared for in fifty years\", and \" only the\nriver seems safe '*.\nThat river is called Muni River, and\nMuni means \" you shake as you dance ''.\nThoughts of the Charleston, of Black\nBottom and of Jazz recur as one reads, but\nthe poor follies we call Charleston, Jazz\nand Black Bottom are things done in fogs,\nto electric light, in Hotels in London.\nThey were once good things, I dare swear,\nbefore the great Ass got hold of them and,\nuprooting them from their natural soil, shipped\nthem dead to Paris and to London and\nBerlin to poison us all.\nThat they have poisoned over a million\npeople I will wager what you like.\nIn Alfred Aloysius's book you get all you\nneed of proof to guarantee that this is so.\nDid anyone doubt it? may one ask for the\nfiftieth time what the dickens the European\nauthorities mean by allowing the things to be\nimported, thus preventing all that's worth\nwhile in music and dance to flourish in our\nold land? Yes, one may ask and ask\neven a hundred and five times, and still get\nno reply.\nShakespeare is no bad stuff for us, too;\none may ask a thousand times why the\ntrash served up in Theatres is encouraged\n(not discouraged anyhow and thus stopped\nby common sense of the Theatre public) and\nthe English bouquet of drama thrown aside\nas useless. \" Stratford-upon-Avon \", you\nsay say it twice so that the laugh may\nbe a hearty one.\nAlfred Aloysius's book is a tonic; a\ntonic of sunshine and youth: and it has in it\nbesides all the thrill of old transpontine melo-\ndrama if you want that thrill.\nI do I never can have too much of it.\nIs it understandable still to Londoners? it\nwas so yesterday. But what is still understand-\nable by them? is it only money?\nI sought last month to find enthusiasm,\nthe genuine article, in a young Londoner I\nmet in Roma; not one scrap of it in him;\nand here it comes to me through an old\nyouth of seventy in Johannesburg and as fresh\nas daisies.\n\nQ. E. D."}, {"page_pdf": 12, "page_imprimee": "56", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.12", "texte": "HOW LORD BYRON CAME TO RULE\nOVER ENGLAND\n\n'' Poetry is the safety valve of my passions but\nI wish to act what I write Benjamin Disraeli.\nWHAT would have happened had Lord\nByron survived Missolonghi and, re-\nturning to England, had entered political life\nand led the Conservative party?\nAs often as this has been speculated on,\nso often have the majority of Englishmen\nbeen seen to shake their heads and shudder\nat the mere notion of such a calamity, and\nbeen heard saying that it was unthinkable\nthat a wild man, an eccentric, should have\nbecome leader of any party, and quite pre-\nposterous that he should have become the\nleader of the Conservatives .... it v/as unthink-\nable to them.\nIt seems to have occurred to very few,\nif indeed to any, that Lord Byron actually\ndid return to England and, in the likeness of\nDisraeli, led the Conservative party, became\nPrime Minister, governed the Realm, and\ncreated Queen Victoria .... \" perhaps the\nonly person in this world left that I do love \"\n.... Empress of India.\nLord Byron was only a man and unable\nto perform any metamorphosis of the ancient\nkind described by the Arabians, by Ovid\nand by the Gypsies. But he could do a\ngood deal by the aid of the Imagination.\nThe Imagination is something: it can destroy\nand it can create, and in Byron's case it\ncreated.\nIn the end it created Benjamin Disraeli,\nthat vivid young spark, that spirited being,\nwho straightway began to haunt Kensington\nGore where dwelt the lovely Lady Blessington,\nthe last European woman seen by Byron as\nhe sailed away from Italy to Greece.\nThe tale as retold by Mr. Meynell and\nM. Maurois becomes a vision of that old\nstory, \"His second time on earth\": should\nit have not yet been admitted, it will not\nsurely now be denied.\nIt is so obvious that I suppose one of\nour writers of thrilling and semi-mystical\nnovels has used the notion long ago and I\nhave not come across the volume.\n\" All the women were on my side is\nDisraeli's gay cry at the end, at which end\nhe had the Queen of England, his Empress\nof India, more than on his side. And I\nthink, had I written this tale, I would have\nheaded one of my last chapters, \" Lord Byron\nwins the heart of Queen Victoria \", and I am\nvery sorry I have not the talent to write it.\nI would probably have tried to do it in the\nmanner of M. Maurois.\nBut really, I do not know which of the\ntwo volumes, M. Maurois's or Mr. Meynell s,\ni like best. I like both so well ; and this\nsays much for the former; for we all know\nhow good the Meynell book was in 1905\nwhen first it appeared, and, now that time\nhas tested it, it's every bit as good.\nLike you I am one of the sworn admi-\nrers of all that makes up Byron. Prose,\nverse, ideas, rough and tumble, cool and\ntidy, sentiment satire rage con-\ntempt the blackguard and the gentleman.\nYou can't fight a pack of rascals except\nyou can bully them: you can't cope with\nrats except in the bull-terrier way: and if\nasked by a courtezan to see which of the\ntwo can be trickiest, you can't evade the\nchallenge on the plea that you are a gentle-\nman. In the slums you don't wear white\nkid gloves; and if drawn on in a cul de\nsac you shoot first or you are a fool.\nMay be not much of this is in the En-\nglish gentleman's creed. So, while he may\ntolerate Byron as a member of an aristocracy\nwhich he holds had gone to seed, he can\nonly feel contempt for him as a man, (being\nso unlike himself) and, what is more, finds him\nbut a very inferior poet.\nLucky angel, to harbour such contempt\nand such views and still be quite a gentle-\nman. Of course no gentleman ever was seen\nwith a courtezan, or, being seen, ever behaved\notherwise than as a little god.\nBut Byron was everywhere, and he was\na bit of everything.\nWherever he was and whatever be was,\nseldom was he out of place. Mistakes,\n\n(i) Disraeli, by Andre Maurois. John Lane. Price 12/6,\nwith 2 Illustrations.\n77/<? Man Disraeli (a revised edition) by Wilfred Meynell.\nHutchinson & Co. Price 7/6. with 16 Illustrations."}, {"page_pdf": 13, "page_imprimee": "57", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.13", "texte": "blunders, and worse, he made and acknow-\nledged but never sat down to explain\nthem away for eight or ten years. A minute\nwas all he felt such follies deserved.\nBut they who considered themselves his\nbetters as in some details at some rare\nand accidental moment they positively were—\ncould not bear to part with the discovery so\nrapidly: they would linger on these chance\nmoments when virtue shone in them for one\nhalf hour in twenty years, and would, Narcis-\nsus-like, gaze and gaze at that lovely half hour\nuntil they persuaded themselves that their\nwhole lives were one long streak of shining\nvirtue.\nSo as to establish this clearly in the\npublic mind they would give some hours\nevery day of their lives to establishing just\nthe opposite anent Lord Byron.\nAt the end of fifty years (and the poet\ndead for forty of them) they did firmly establish\nboth untruths.\nHad they failed, and had England stood\nfairly and squarely to Byron ....surely the\n-soundest Englishman of the last hundred\nyears.... when it came to the year 1914 Eng-\nland would have been able single-handed\nto tackle and lick the five other nations which\nheckled her.\nI am thinking unpolitically and only of\nthe spirit of Byron, which I hold is the spirit\nof old England.\nByron actually placed in power might\nhave led to confusion; only \" might have \";\nnothing more certain can be said. But the\nspirit of Byron in and behind the wiser,\ncooler, heads of our great statesmen, that\nwould have produced such a nation of free\nand powerful men that alliances with or help\nfrom America would have been not only\nunnecessary, but utterly out of the question.\nThat is why I so respect all that goes to\nmake up Byron.\nWhether today his spirit is returning, I\ncannot say. There are all the terrible\n\" faults\" which accompany and must ac-\ncompany the spirit of man at its hardiest,\nwhich we would have to accept, and I take\n' it we cannot stomach faults of any kind.\nCecil Rhodes was someone but he had faults:\nCaesar too: Cromwell presumably had none.\nThe day will come when we shall cry\nout for a man, faults and all, and find none\nto oppose to our enemies, because every\nJack-man of us will be a perfect, utterly\ndevoted, good little gentleman, that deluded\nlittle being who helped Mr. Bowdler to cas-\ntrate Shakespeare and is now actually pleased\nwith his work.\n\nJohn Balance.\n\nDO AND DON T.\n\nTHERE is much to be said for the stage\nreforms suggested by those who believe\nso gloomily in Don i.\nI don't.\n1 believe entirely in Do—and so do you.\nA reform which begins and ends in saying\n\" don't \", \" refrain from \" cut \" \" oblite-\nrate has ended before it has begun.\nConsider some minor questions such as :\nShall there he a proscenium ?\nShall there be footlights?\nShall actors paint their faces ?\nIn all these matters the reformers rap out\na snappy little No.\nBut artists.... if they want to better things....\nanswer the questions generally with a \" Yes \".\nYes : there shall be a proscenium. \" Why\nnot ? \" Sir H. Beerbohm Tree would have\nasked; and Tree was very much of an artist\nby temperament.\nExactly :—\" why not ? \"\nWhat is meant is this:\nLet there be a proscenium, but let us see\nall the reasons why there should not be one,\nand we can then get at the root of the\ntrouble.\nThe root of the trouble with the British\nStage mind is this :—lt is for any old pro-\nscenium or against any old proscenium: it has\nnot yet got beyond that point. It is unaware\nthat one hundred and eighty of them are pro-\nbably valueless and twenty of them very va-\nluable : it is unaware oh this for it thinks there\nis but one proscenium, ie the one they've\nalways seen. So it is with the Apron stage.\nI recall the dull way in which we in\nEngland have always handled that idea, the\napron stage."}, {"page_pdf": 14, "page_imprimee": "58", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.14", "texte": "The apron stage in itself is all right.\nIt is nothing very much, but for all that\nit is quite all right as an idea and it has at\nleast twenty-three variations ...the English stage\nmind knows of only one.\nIf asked, are you for or against apron stages,\nno one in his theatrical senses would say\n\" against them \". One would first to\ncorrect the notion of \"an apron stage \" to\n\" apron stages \" and study the matter and\ndefine clearly to oneself what apron stages\nwere, - are, and can be, and why one is in\nfavour of the five best and how it is that one\nrejects the other eighteen.\nThe mental efforts made by the reformers\nin London to cope merely with this little prob-\nlem have been puerile.\nIf you recall the stage of the Savoy\nTheatre in the time of Granville Barker, you\nwill remember that an apron stage was\nthrown out over the orchestra. Mr. Poel\nhas also used one ; others are recorded, and\nsome are still used. But what do they all\namount to ? An extra bit of stage added to\nthe front of the existing stages, that is all:\nand that extra bit, formless, rather senseless,\nand not particularly useful.—Merely a bit of\nextra stage fixed on to the front.— That sort\nof thing has to end.\nAnd so will the Do and Schools\nhave to end too.\nWhat matters on a stage is not always\nwhat you do or don't do but always how\nyou do and how you don't do.\n\" Cut the play \" cries Producer Do—\nand uses scissors, and is looked upon as a\nman of action, a practical man, the saviour\nof the stage.\n\" Leave the play intact\" murmurs Pro-\nducer Don't, and is considered a highbrow\nand an unpractical fool.\nBoth Do and Don't are out of it, for both\nare wrong.\nThe mere act of cutting away parts of a\nplay, or leaving the play intact is of small im-\nportance. What matters is the Way a play\nis cut.\n\"There's no time to stop and consider that\"\ncries Mr. Napoleon Do, and he is wrong ;\nfor there is time, and the time as just for\nconsidering. if\nThe first months are for that. Nothing\nelse must fill any of the days of those first\nmonths but that.\nShould the same Napoleon Do arrive at\na definite conclusion that he won t cut a single\nline of the play, something is really doing\nthen; but your stage Napoleons cut a bit\ntoo quickly; they consider it solves all prob-\nlems. ,\n\" What can't be understood, what can t\nbe spoken, what cant get into two and a\nhalf hours, can't interest us,—cut it \". That s\nNapoleon Do's notion and a very fearful\none. Yes, full of fear.\nAnd it's the wrong one into the bargain.\nThe producer's task is to face difficulties,\nnot to cut his way through them. His busi-\nness is to make the audience understand the\npassages \"no one can understand\", to make\nthe actors speak what \" can t be spoken \\\nmake the audience willing to sit in their\nseats three or even four hours listening when\nthe work \" can't be compressed into two and\na half hours and to make us all interested.\nAnd merely leaving a play intact won't\ndo that any more than will cutting it to pieces.\nOnly a special kind of brains can do\nthat. Only restless brains, only ever working\npeople who never grow tired, who never can\nbe idle, can do that.\nAnd these are neither of the family of\nDo or of Don't; they are of the small but\nactive family of genius and talent.\nI know that genius is an awful family name,\nbut it's the only one which matters a rap in\nthe theatre or in any other work.\nAll else spells ruin.—not merely commer-\ncial ruin but worse than that, ....National ruin.\nIncidentally Drury Lane Theatre today is\nactually helping to ruin the nation.\n\nAllen Carric."}, {"page_pdf": 15, "page_imprimee": "59", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.15", "texte": "MELCHIOR ZOPPIO.\nMelchior Zoppio was the founder of the Accademia Gelati of Bologna and wrote six or more\nplays, some of which were performed in the special private Theatre constructed about 1589 in\nhis house in Via Maggiore.\nIt was, (after the Teatro in the Sala del Podest&), the most ancient Theatre in Bologna. In 1671\nall records of this theatre cease."}, {"page_pdf": 17, "page_imprimee": "61", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.17", "texte": "THE ARMS OF THE ACCADEMIA GELATI OF BOLOGNA.\nC.\nThe Accademia Gelati of Bologna was founded\nin 1588 by Melchior Zoppio. (See pg, 59).\nThe members of this Academy of Amateurs\nwere some of the most talented men of the age\nand the province.\nIt was not -a collection of amateurs as we\nunderstand the word today; people, that is, who\nget up theatricals; but amateurs who created\nplays, wrote music, designed scenes, built thea-\ntres ; in fact some of the most cultured men of\nthe day and some of the wealthiest; and all con-\ntributed as lovers of the art of theatres towards\nthe hundreds of productions given under the au-\nspices of the Academy of which the Arms are\nshown here.\nAmong the members we find, for example,\nthe names of Cardinal Barberini, Count Ridolfo\nCampeggi, Count Carlo Bentivogli, Senator Ber-\nlingiero Gessi, Marchess V. Malvezzi, Agostino\nMitelli, Cardinal F. Boncompagni, Prospero Bo-\nnarelli, Giovanni Capponi, and many others.\nIn order to understand rather better what an\nAmateur is, we must study the records a little,\nand there wre shall learn in a short time that the\ntrue amateur has always preferred a far higher\nstandard than he does at present.\nWhen amateurs today will build a theatre to\nholci three thousand persons, designed by no less\na man than Sir Edwin Lutyens, in some house\nmore or less as stately as the Palazzo Barberini;\nwill invite poets, painters, and musicians to col-\nlaborate in half a dozen \" dramas with music\nand when all is ready will invite some three thou-\nsand guests to enjoy the performances, then and\nthen only shall we be able to feel that we have\none amateur worthy of the title.\nFor it was something to be an amateur\na lover of the arts then. Today it is merely\na rather silly waste of much time and a few ha'\npence."}, {"page_pdf": 19, "page_imprimee": "63", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.19", "texte": "HOAX AND HUMBUG\nCONSIDERATIONS ON \"THE PEOPLE'S ART\"\n\n\"QUITE SUCCESSFUL\"\n¥T is so difficult to be quite successful and\n1 at the same time quite right. Those who\nhover around the quite successful, will ask\nthemselves, \" Am 1 right? is she quite right?\nis it quite all right?\" And the answer\ncomes up quickly or slowly but in utmost\nsilence on to the screen of their minds, No.\nTHE DAISY-EYED MOOD.\n\"nnHE Cinema is quite successful.\n\"J. I refer to its material success. It is called\n\"the People's Art\" by the people: yet the\npeople do not care a rap whether it be called,\nproved or stigmatized an art. 1 hat it is\nno art need not even be demonstrated—every\nexperiment made, every show given, tends\nto strengthen the case against the possible\nexistence of any Cinematographic Art. But\nit is actually the People's \" Art \" and it is for\nthis reason a success. What more can it want?\nIt would be asking too much if the Cinema\nshould ask for absolution of its sins on the\nplea that it has none: it would be something\na little more than too much if it began to\nwrangle and bluster with the priest who re-\nfused it absolution on that score. Yet some-\nthing like this daisy-eyed mood is creeping\nover the Cinema.\nPretty sound in nerve and limb, there is\na cog loose somewhere.\nIt is asking for things it may not have.\nThis pass to the Elysian Fields, for example.\nIt asks to have its passport vised for this\nplace which it has heard of.\nThe official is refusing hundreds of such\ndemands, but the Cinema in all its furs comes\nup smilingly, with the smile which says\n\" Wait — just you wait, you people, you'll\nsee 1 shall get through It is a strange\nbluffish smile. The Cinema in all its furs\nstops at the table where the official scribbles,\nand asks for its Passport to be vised,\nThere is a long pause while the wretched\nman hunts in the Passport: forwards and\nbackwards he hunts to find where the* lady\nhas come from, and as he hunts a hundred heads\ncome closer; and closer up come the heads of\nMiss Pickford, the Misses Talmadge, with\nHarlan, Tearle, Ford, O' Brien, Cody, Ince,\nFairbanks, Menjou, Bunny Griffiths, the sisters\nGish, Hays, Buster Keaton, Pola Negri,\nSchenk and Henning, Pabst and Wagner,\nGreta Garbo, Warner, Jannings, Lloyd and\nde Mille. There are thousands asking in gentle\nor in authoritative tones \" What's going on\n—why this hitch? — who's stopping the\nway? — what's up? \"\nAlas, the game is up. The passport is\nbeing returned to the Cinema in all its furs,\nand the immense crowd who expected to go\non to the boat are turned aside and have to\ngo back home. There is no pass for every\nbody to every land.\nThere are some things some people may\nnot have.\nFor example, I would like to sing. I\nsee no reason why I should not be allowed\nto sing; and when I am informed that 1 may\nnot sing because song is not in me, because\nI cannot sing, I feel as though I had been\nsingled out by fate as the one being on earth\nto be persecuted. It's because I can do\neverything else but sing. I can skate, I can\nride a bicycle, a tricycle : I can ski, I can\nswim, I can scull, I can walk a tight-rope.\nI can draw caricatures for the penny papers,\nI can whistle too and I can control a Kodak.\nBut besides all this I can drive a car, I can\nmend the electric light when there's a break-\ndown in my house, I can turn a lathe, I can,\nin short, do hundreds of things, and I can\nmake, and do make, money out of them all.\nI calculate that my income from these ac-\ncomplishments alone amounts to thirty-seven\nthousand pounds a year: — then, why, why\nmay I not sing? I could double my income\n\nU Art Cinematographiquc by P. Mac-Orlan, A.\nBeaucler, C. Dullin, Dr. R. Allendy, Andr<§ Maurois,\nE. Vuillermoz, Andre Lang, Andr6 Berge, L. Pierre-\nQuint, Mme. G. Dulac, L. Landry, A. Gance. (Librairie\nFelix Alcan). 3 Volumes. Price 12 francs each.\nClose-Up. No. 6. December 1927. Published by\nPool, Riant Chateau, Territet, Switzerland. Price 14/-\n~ yearly.\nLillian Gish, an interpretation, by Edward Wagen-\nknecht. University of Washington Chap Books. Price 65 cents."}, {"page_pdf": 20, "page_imprimee": "64", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.20", "texte": "if 1 could sing. Why may I not be allowed\nto sing and coin money? It's a shame.\nThe answer could never become clear to\nme even if it were shouted at me and so\nhow can any answer why the Cinema is\nrefused a passport to the Elysian Fields of\nArt be clear to all the good fellows and\ngirls who have asked for one?\nIt must be admitted that they nearly all\naccepted the refusal in the proper spirit,\ndid as I say, and turned and went back\nhome; but some few stayed to argue it out,\nand it was as I listened to these, that I came\nto the conclusion above mentioned, that, while\nthe Cinema is pretty sound in nerve and\nlimb, there is a cog loose somewhere. It is\nperhaps too successful is it so, I wonder?\nIt is indeed difficult to be quite so suc-\ncessful and at the same time quite all right.\nSOME BOOKS ON THE CINEMA\nIN these books which lie on my table, \" L'Art\nCinematographique \"Lillian Gish\" and\n\" Close up \", it is not the public voice we\nhear; it is the voice of those who, hovering\naround the quite successful, ask themselves,\n\"Is the Cinema after all quite .. all.. right? \"\nTHE CINEMA YEAR BOOK\nAvery few of those writers put the ques-\ntion in those modified forms so familiar\nto our ears, such as \"Le cinema est-il un\nart? \" and \" What is it that makes a fine\nartist? Can animals act?\". They never\nask \"Is the Cinema quite all right? \" They\nsidetrack their finer doubts and fears, and,\nputting feeble questions to us, they instantly offer\nplausible replies; a conscienceless proceeding.\nAnd it is because all these writers are\ntalking as no man in his senses has a right\nto talk, and it is because they know it, that\nI tell them one and all they are humbugs.\nHow long the cinema will last no one\ncan tell; but let us hope that the humbug\nabout it won't last very much longer.\nI am particularly fond of some Cinema\nwho isn't? Except for a few very obvious de-\nfects (defects it has not yet noticed for itself\nand which no one has yet pointed out) I\nfind it perfect of its kind. But it has no\nrelationship whatever with the Arts any\nmore than the mosquito who alights on your\nnose when you are asleep has any relationship\nwith you.\nAnd as I am fond of some Cinema I take\nit I am one with the public. I pav for it, I\nenjoy it; I go more and more seldom as it\ngrows more and more but I am not\ngoing to point out any of its obvious defects\nto the public. The public knows them\nalready, and the public has long ago decided\nthat it doesn't mind them.\nBut if these obvious defects are nothing\nto us, the more subtle defects of the hovering\nadmirers are a good deal. Unless these •\nadmirers stop their talk about it being an\nArt, the Cinema and its workers will suffer.\nThe best book on the Cinema is called\n\"The Film Year Book\": that's as straight\nas a die. In its 1927 volume it begins thus:\n\" The United Kingdom is easily our most\nimportant foreign market\". A few lines .\nfurther on we read, \" The gross in-tafae of\nall motion picture houses is about sixty times\ngreater than all legitimate houses combined\".\nThat's the stuff. On the same page we\nget more of it: \" Ten years ago there Were\n1,500 theatres all over the country (U.S.A.)\nin which a touring legitimate attraction could\nplay. Today there are less than 500 houses\nwhich ploy legitimate shows. This included\nthe houses playing pictures five days Weekly\nand a show for one night. Here is striding\nevidence of the effect of motion pictures on\nthe legitimate stage \".\nNow what have you to find fault with\nm that? Its straight, it's real; not a word\nabout Art; it's what I like and you like.\nAnd the whole volume, which consists of ~\n976 pages and only costs about 10/-, is just\nlike that. You are told ordinary things that\nyou'd like to know in a plain way: \"that\nthe gross intake at all motion picture houses\nis about 60 times greater than all legitimate\nhouses combined ; and when wishing to\ndiscover what is the gross intake (what it was\nin 1925 for example), you turn to page 5\nand you can learn that it amounted to\n£130,000,000; in words, a hundred and\nthirty million pounds. to know\nhow this money is spent you can discover -\nthat on the same page. Out of every hundred\ndollars, 25 goes to the \"performers\", 10 to\nthe Directors, camera men and assistants \",\n10 to the Sceneries and stories\", 19 to\nthe sets, 20 to the \" studio, management,"}, {"page_pdf": 21, "page_imprimee": "65", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.21", "texte": "cutting, assembling and titling of the film\nand so on down to 3 dollars which is split\nup between \" costumes, gowns and so forth\nI like the last touch: \"so forth \" receiving\na portion of 3 dollars in every hundred\ndollars is only just and fair.\nBut I must not linger on this my favourite\nbook on the Cinema, nor can I give any\nmore time to \" L'Art Cinematographique \",\nwhich is all hoax.\nMISS LILLIAN GISH\n1\"0 the booklet on Lillian Gish I would like\nto devote time because she is a great\nfavourite, and you and I could surely have\nlost our heads and signed her vise — you\nwould have done so anyhow, and we can\nbut agree with the author that \" she is com-\n_ pletely a being of lyric loveliness, even to\nher very name \".\nBut even though I may not linger, I can\nsympathize with Edward Wagenknecht in\nthat he has failed in the attempt to treat the\n_ theme as it deserves.\nInstead of interpreting Miss Gish, he\ntalks about the arts. In his first page he is\ninto it: — \"a Corot cannot be mistaken for\na Millet or a Van Dyck for a Frans Hals\";\non page 2 \" Chaucer or Fielding or Conrad\nare \" there \" visibly and incontrovertibly\n\" there \"in every line they Wrote \".\nThis, as you have rightly suspected, is\nthe old plea that personality, though it always\ngets in the way of artists and their arts,\nhas a perfect right to swamp acting.\nOn the same page 2 he is at me with\nthe names of Salvini, Sarah Bernhardt, Garrick\nand Zola.\nAnd he now begins to wax furious with\nme for no reason at all, and so on his third\npage he rushes up with Miss Keanne Eagels,\nwith one Colton, with Galsworthy and with\nGeorge Arliss. And in the next half dozen\npages he is at me again with Hergesheimer,\nNathan, Griffith and Mary Garden. Then,\nfinally, he pauses and quietly utters the name\nHomer.\n\" And Lillian \" (he forgets himself for\na moment forgetting the words Miss Gish)\n\" could do it\" (I forget what it is she could\ndo but it's something marvellous) \" if her\nmanagers Would give her the chance could\nleave behind her \" pictures of the floating\nworld which might Well live as long in the\nimaginations of men as Homer s portrait of\nNausicaa... \".\nThat's where I regret the existence of\nthose who hover around the cinema.\nI had never supposed for a moment that\nthe splendid Miss Gish, who, as I have noted\nabove, receives about 500,000 dollars per\nyear, could want \" a chance \" after that.\nYet how difficult it must be for those\nwho are quite successful.\n\"CLOSE-UP\"\nWITH \" L'Art cinematographique\" and\n\" Lillian Gish \" is this third booklet\nor Journal. \" Close-up\nIt tells me that the big men whose doings\nare so spendidly recorded in that favourite\nwork of mine, \" The Film Year Book \"\n(U.S.A.) have no doubts and no fears, and\nit says that the artistic filmers have. The\nfearless directors or managers actually cut the\nlovely films which are made for them by the\nmore artistic filmers Pabst, Murnan, Grune,\nCavalcanti and other men of talent.\nThere again I cannot see why the great\nbosses should not cut if they think fit, seeing\nhow successfully they do it, and taking into\nconsideration that in 1925 £ 130,000,000\ncame in to them, and that really fair shares were\npaid out to the performers and the producers.\nIf these people were in receipt of no\nfunds, if they sat in a motor car but eight\ntimes in a year and those cars ordinary\ntaxicabs; if they gave up all thought of mo-\nnetary profit for the sake of their beloved\nCinema, I could well understand this objection\nto being cut and applaud their firm refusal\nto work if their film were mishandled after it\nleft their hands. \" Is it fair\" asks Mr.\nMacpherson in \" Close up\", \" to mutilate\nthese mens work?\" up he drags some names\nof men in the arts who never have permitted\nand presumably never will permit their art to\nbe tampered with, — Epstein, John, Sitwell,\nGide, and Thomas Mann. So it is farcical\nto call them as witnesses for the defence.\nThe Arts have developed slowly: it was\nfor the pleasure of practising that the first\nartists were allowed to go on and waste their\ntime if they so chose. No one stopped them.\nIn time they rather came to like the arts,\nlater on they came to love them: but it took"}, {"page_pdf": 22, "page_imprimee": "66", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.22", "texte": "some five hundred years for the world to\ndiscover that these things deserved the title\n\" Fine arts \". That once won, (think of it,\nMiss Gish, five hundred years), a very few\npeople were with them once and for ever:\nbut on that point only.\nDo not suppose, Miss Gish, that \" the\nPeople\" bothered very much about what\nHomer or Heine ever wrote. Just a few\nhundreds out of many million people liked\nor still like —to read the things—that was all.\nAnd what is so difficult for the hoverers\nto understand (I return to those who hover\naround the quite successful portals of the\nCinema Palace) is that Heine, Homer,\nBeethoven, Goethe, Shakespeare and the\nothers must never be compared with you,\nMiss Gish, or with Sarah Bernhardt or\nTommaso Salvini.\nYou all deserve all you get—the more\nmoney you make the happier we shall all be—\nand we all hope you will understand what a\nblessing it is to be able to get so much and\nhope that you will put by something for a rainy\nday.\nSo give some of it to the hoverers, asking\nthem at the same time to raise no more\ndoubts and fears by their books and pamph-\nlets, but to write you up properly, courage-\nously, and with all the pep they have in them.\n\nEverard Plumbline.\n\nPAMPHLETS\n\nSOME DEFINITIONS.\n✓\nBUT what, exactly, is a Pamphlet?\nJohn Power in his \" Handy Book about\nBooks\", 1870, gives us this definition:\n\" PAMPHLET (print.) Any work\nthat does not exceed five sheets octavo is\ncalled a pamphlet. Savage. Did. The\nderivations suggested for this word are par\nun filet, held together by a thread ; or palme\nfeuillet, as leaves to be held in the hand- \" -\nBut I suppose that a Pamphlet may be\nsomething more than five sheets octavo, and\nis almost any unbound little book a little\nwork, an opuscolo as the Italians call\npamphlets.\nBut while an opuscolo, if it be issued\nin Italy, will almost always appear stitched.\nwith a single thread and nearly always in a\npaper jacket, in other lands it sometimes\ncomes out like an ironclad. The notion\nthat it is only a trifle has suddenly overcome\nthe author with dismay and he hastens to turn\nit into a tome.\nIn France a pamphlet is called a brochure\nand also an opuscule this derived directly\nfrom Italy.\nMr. W. H. Fowler in his \" Dictionary of\nModern English Usage \" (1926) tells us that:\n\" Pamphlet and Brochure mean the\nsame thing\" and that \"we only need the\nEnglish word \" the sense ' a few leaves\nof printed matter stitched together' has\nalways belonged in English to Pamphlet\n' Dans sa brochure appelee en\npamphlet' quoted in French Dictionary from\nVoltaire. \"\nSo that a Pamphlet is an Opuscolo and\na Brochure, ie a small work of a few leaves\nstitched together.\nDELIGHTFUL THINGS\n11 seems to me that pamphlets are very\ndelightful things for their size, for the\npossibilities offered to the writer and the\nprinter, for the pleasantness offered the reader,-\nfor the price and for the publisher; and f\ncannot understand how it is that many more\npamphlets are not issued, since to issue a\nwhole book is ninety times out of a hundred\nan infernal nuisance all round."}, {"page_pdf": 23, "page_imprimee": "67", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.23", "texte": "A book costs far too much time, labour\nand money to produce; it costs the purchaser\ntoo much; it is often wearisome to a writer;\nit is bulky and too heavy to the reader, the\nbookseller and the postman; takes far too\nmuch room in a bookshelf; is very often\nunreadable; takes up too much of our time\nif we read it at all; and it is really not very\noften worth while reading three hundred pages\nwhen the whole content of the book could have\nbeen compressed to thirty and issued as a\npamphlet.\nI know fifty or sixty books on the Theatre,\nits theories, its architectures, its history, its\nmachines and its actors which, if condensed\nand issued as pamphlets, would have served\nus far better than do the books.\nFor the truth is that scholars (even some\nof the best) are apt to collect what has been\nwritten about Theatres from other books and\nserve it up to us in a new binding, and vainly\ndo we search through its three hundred pages\nfor something new some spark of life, some\nsensible words upon some problem that has\npuzzled us and which could be unravelled\nfor us in thirty stitched pages.\nMR. W. J. LAWRENCE\nMR. W. J. Lawrence writes articles which\nappear in magazines; but were I a\npublisher 1 would make a contract with\nMr. Lawrence to allow me to issue all he\nwrites in pamphlet form, and then, if he\ncared, after two or three years had gone by,\n'to make up a book from ten of the pamph-\nlets, well and good.\nMr. Lawrence sets out to do his work\ngracefully. He deals in historical subjects but\nhe manages to avoid the over solemnity some-\ntimes associated with the historian.\nHe knows his theatre well and has issued\narticles in magazines, one on Stage-lighting,\nanother on Prosceniums, a third on Sceneries,\nand always is he entertaining.\nRecently the Harvard University Press\nU. S. A. made up a volume from sixteen\nw?f these articles ....which I should have pre-\nferred to get one at a time in pamphlet\nform, for a whole volume proves too much.\nTo issue pamphlets may not strike you\nas very desirable, but believe me, in thea-\ntrical things, it is the best way to do the\nwork.\nTHEATRE PAMPHLETS\nI do not know whether Pamphlets are increa-\nsing in number in England and France.\nI do not think sufficient are issued in Italy.\nBut once upon a time hundreds fluttered\nforth. And most collectors and students will\nadmit that some of their most precious pos-\nsessions are these little opuscoli.\nNaturally the life of some little-known\nperformer of the 17th or 18th century when\nprepared nowadays can all be contained\nwithin twenty or thirty pages. For example,\nthere is Caterina Gabrielli, one of the most\ndelightful if one of the most wayward of per-\nformers of the ! Bth century. No book exists\ndealing thoroughly with her career. But any\nday an opuscolo on her could be stitched\ntogether, and I fear that instead of this we\nshall be cursed with a whole book on her,\npadded with opinions and suppositions.\nWhen we search in the big books to\ndiscover something about certain people we\ntoo often find the same paragraphs repeated\nby each author, and there an end.\nAnd there are certain theatres about which\nno one writes more than a few words, and\nthose words mostly incorrect.\nWhere are the books on :\n1. The Old Opera House at Bayreuth:\n2. The rebuilding of the Teatro Filar-\nmonica in Verona.\n3. The Teatro della Vigna, Genova.\n4. The private Theatres of the Due\nd'Orleans in Paris ?\nPamphlets are not evidently thought se-\nriously about by publishers, for, if a valuable\npamphlet does appear, it is never sufficiently\nadvertised.\nOften enough the writers issue them\nthemselves for what publisher can be\nexpected to understand sufficiently well the\nimmense value of these opuscoli packed full\nof the information so difficult to procure.\nI would that some one publisher would\nmake a speciality of issuing pamphlets and\nnothing else. I think he would make a\nfortune before long.\n\n(i) \" Pre-restoratio7i Stage Studies price 23/- net, and\nissued in England by Mr. Milford at the Oxford University\nPress."}, {"page_pdf": 24, "page_imprimee": "68", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.24", "texte": "NINE PAMPHLETS\nNINE pamphlets recently issued have come\nmy way dealing with the stage. Not all\nof them genuine pamphlets because two of them\nwere extracted from the Stage Year Book\n(an excellent publication, by the way); and\nyet these two should assuredly have been issued\nas pamphlets, and not have been hidden in\na book of reference and so lost to most of us.\nThese are the names of the nine booklets:\n1. \"II TEATRO ROMANO DI OSTIA\nGuido Calza; pages 32. Illustrations 19.\n2. \"THEWORLD'S OLDEST PLAYBILLS\".\nW. j. Lawrence; pages 8. Illustrations, 9.\n3. \"THE STORY OF SADLER'S WELLS\".\nAustin Brereton; pages 8. Illustrations, 8.\n4. \" SHAKESPEARE AND SPIRITUAL\nLIFE \". J. Masefield; pages 32.\n5. \" THE COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE AND\nTHE ROMAN COMEDY\". Walter Starkie;\npages 22.\n6. \" CHARLIE CHAPLIN \". Robert Florey;\npages 84. Illustrations, 40.\n7. \"FROM HENRY V. TO HAMLET\".\nHarley Granville Barker; pages 29.\n.8. \" SHAKESPEARE IN INDIA \". C. J.\nSisson; pages 26. Illustrations, 4.(l)\n9. \"THE BACCHIC ELEMENT IN SHAKE-\nSPEARE'S PLAYS\".\nV ery agreable it is to hold in the hand this\nlittle opuscolo on the Theatre at Ostia and to\nknow that the author is not going to trouble\nyou with fifteen or sixteen chapters on fifteen\nor sixteen other ruins of Roman Theatres in\nAsia Minor, in Africa and in England in\norder to prove something unimportant about\nthe Ostia Theatre. Thus he is far more\nlikely to be read than even Herr Schmiten-\nstein s ponderous three volumes on \" Roman\nExcavations in three continents \".\nMr. Masefield s beautiful little Romanes\nLecture, though only 32 brief pages, will be\neasier and more happily read in its pamphlet\nform than were it included in a 300 page\nvolume of collected Romanes Lectures.\nThe Charlie Chaplin pamphlet serves\nentirely to bring this popular comedian To us\nin the quietest and most interesting way.\nBooks, even magazines, nowadays talk of\nMr. Charles Chaplin, coupling his name with\nthat of /Eschylus or telling of the historic\nmeeting between \" this grand artist and that\nother supreme artist Miss Pickford \".\nIt doesn't matter a fig to Chaplin what\nwe call him so long as the Public loves\nhim and calls him its darling, but the snob-\nbery of Mr. Charles instead of plain Charlie\nis not a little wearisome.\nAnd it is because these iittle booklets\ncan reach the big public that they are va-\nluable and excellent.\nUnfortunately, if the big public got hold\nof No. 9, \" The Bacchic Element in Shake-\nspeare's Plays\", it wouldn't know what to.\nmake of it. In fact, the pamphlet on Chaplin\nis the only one of the nine which would\ndelight that public. But four or five of the\nothers would please some two thousand\npeople, or two might please ten times that\nnumber. And all are within everyone's\nmeans for 9d, 1/'- or 2/- apiece.\nAnd this is important.\nLITTLE COST: LITTLE LOSS:\nSUCH books cost us little, cost the publishers\nlittle and cost the writers a little; and\nif all lose on it, very little is lost. Whereas\na book of three hundred pages costs time\nand labour and that is lost: costs a hundred\npounds or so to issue and that is lost: and\ncosts the purchasers 10/- apiece and that \"\nis lost.\nWith very big and very expensive works\ncontaining perhaps twelve to fifteen large\nplates ana eight or ten pages of letter-press\nand costing about £5 a copy, it's another\nmatter: they are not a loss to anyone. They-\nare made for only five hundred people at\nmost; and to these people, who can well\nafford them, they are but Pamphlets de luxe.\n\n(i) Repriuted in « The Mask » Vol. XIII.\n\nH. P."}, {"page_pdf": 25, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.25", "texte": "A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY DESIGN FOR THEATRE MECHANISM.\n\nThat mechanism when it acts as a servant to the Drama and Opera can but be helpful is nozu no longer doubted. This is not to be wondered at because\nit was already realized in the 17 th century. This design for a rather elaborate mechanism was made some time about 1635-45 possibly for some\nof the operas given in Venezia. It is one of the most elaborate records of such devices we have seen. Is it perhaps the work of Giacomo Torelli?\n\nTHE MASK\n1928.\n\nPlate 9."}, {"page_pdf": 27, "page_imprimee": "69", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.27", "texte": "CARDINAL FRANCESCO BARBERINI.\nCardinal Francesco Barberini was born in 1597 and died in 1679, and was an Amateur, and amatore\nof Theatricals.\nIn 1634 he inaugurated on February 6th the private theatre which Bernini constructed for him\nin his Palazzo Barberini in Roma, which held three thousand spectators.\nThe piece performed was a Dramma musicale called \" S. Alessio \" for which the Cardinal had\nwritten the libretto and Stefano Landi the music. The scenes were designed by a certain A. S.\n(Ie Andrea Sacchi) who had designed the remarkable Festa of the Piazza Navone given on Fe-\nbtuary 25 th of the same year on the instigation of Cardinal Antonio Barberino.\nThis genuine Amateur, Cardinal Francesco, formed a library of sixty thousand volumes and was\na member of the Ac.cademia Gelati of Bologna (see pp. 59, 61)."}, {"page_pdf": 29, "page_imprimee": "71", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.29", "texte": "SHAKESPEARE\nIN ITALY.\n\nALTHOUGH this booka) is not a new one—\nit appeared in 1916—to me it is quite\nnew and possibly to you too.\nIt is one of the most important books on\nShakespeare which has appeared for the last\nfifty years. I will, on consideration, add\nthat, provided it were well known and well\nread, it would already have proved to be the\nmost important book on Shakespeare.\nThere are several reasons which make it\neminent.\nOne of these is that, for once, we see\nShakespeare in a reasonable light.\nThe world is queer about it's Shakespeare.\nVery queer.\nEither it damns him in French with Voltaire\nor it raves about him in American and En-\nglish without knowing exactly why it raves.\nWhat still has to be done is to come to\nunderstand him, and this understanding is\nmade easier for us by the light shed upon\nhis work during the nineteenth century by\nthe Italians.\nWe in England assuredly do not un-\nderstand him: when we do, look out for\nOld England again....it will be a great day.\nThe light which the Italians played upon\nShakespeare was not a harsh search light,\nwith that terrible hissing noise which some-\ntimes precedes the illumination.\nIn the Italy of the nineteenth century the\ndefects in Shakespeare were observed, admit-\nted and accepted. In England they were\nseen, and either denied flatly or explained\naway or they were not seen at all,\nVoltaire saw the defects and made a great\nfuss, knowing that all over Europe, and in\nEngland especially, people would be pertur-\nbed. They were. For years Voltaire's con-\ntempt did its work.\nEven in Italy we read that it made an\nattempt to prevail over intelligence. But\nItaly is a queer ancient place with a people\nfar too experienced in life and too easy with\nart to be fooled by a dozen Voltaires.\nThe Italians began to hear of Shakespeare\nin 1726 —in that year he is first mentioned\nby them .... but it was not till the end of the\ncentury and well into the next that they came\nto appreciate —as late as 1846. Modena,\nthe most popular as well as the best Italian\nactor of the age, had to lower the curtain\nduring the very first scene of \" Othello\"\nbecause, as he dryly puts it, \" the public\nwas taken ill \".\nWhy? Because during the scene between\nlago and Roderigo outside Brabantio's house,\nwhere lago shouts \"what ho, Brabantio!\nSignior Brabantio, ho! \" the audience began\nto whisper among themselves \"what is it\nis it a tragedy—or a farce? \" and when Bra-\nbantio appeared on the balcony half asleep\nin disordered attire, they began to titter and\nlaugh; then an uproar followed and the\ncurtain descended to a storm of hisses and\nhowls.\nTen years later, at the very same theatre,\nwe read that Ernesto Rossi \" avenged his\nmaster Modena by playing Othello with real\nsuccess \".\nThe Italian Public was a sane Public,\neven as the Italian letterati who discovered\nShakespeare were sane men.\nAt first came a decided no from both\nthese elements: later on it is t/es; if prejudiced\nit did not hug its prejudices obstinately.\nIf Italians will not take to an idea or a poet\nwithout first knowing what it is they are to\ntake to, they will not for long remain stubbornly\ntight-mouthed towards anything possible for\nthem to understand, and they cultivate their\npowers of understanding all things.\nThe exaggeration of Shakespeare was\ndisliked by them, and it is still disliked.\nEnglishmen ask that it be explained away,\nand that all be made seemly and neat.\n\" Tidy the man up and we will accept\nhim \" is practically the English verdict.\nAmerica is inclined to echo England\nin this attitude and verdict.\n\n(i) Shakespeare in Italy by Lacy Collison-Morley. The\nShakespeare Head Press. Stratford-upon-Avon. Price 7/6."}, {"page_pdf": 30, "page_imprimee": "72", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.30", "texte": "\" In most ordinary everyday accents are\nhis Words delivered, it seemed quite natural\neveryday speech is what some critic wrote\nof a recent revival in America of one of the\ngreat tragedies.\nThat is the aim —to meet the puoac s\nwishes and to allay their trembling suspicions,\nto quiet their fears.\nOf course this will not do for Shakespeare.\nShakespeare is a rock on which some boats\nwill be split; and, unless we are soon going\nto acknowledge the existence of that rock,\nthere is trouble ahead for quite a number of\npersons who, denying the report, assert thai\nthere aint no sich a thing.\nHis exaggeration, his lack of taste, these\ntwo things were felt by the Italians.\n(The very name Shakespeare seems to\nhave been a real trouble to Italians, who,\nsince 1726 have tried it several ways.\nThus we get the following: Sasper:\nScespir: (which the author of this book calls\n\" one of the cleverest of the Italian repro-\nductions of the sound of the name ); Seck-\npaire corrected under errata to Seckspaire:\nSakespir and jhakespeare).\nHis genius, however, slowly emerged and\nwas soon at work; but for all this the exag-\ngeration and the lack of taste were still\nacknowledged to be there.\nI suppose English writers have dwelt on\nthese two defects. I have not read anything\nby an Englishman which made me conscious\nthat these defects were there but were to be\ncondoned.\nIn Italy they linked his name to that of\nDante, at the same time failing not to point\nout the faults and extravagances of their own\npoet.\nSoon came writers who imitated Shake-\nspeare ; Monti, Alfieri, Manzoni amongst\nothers. May be they even imitated some\nof his faults. Later came translators, and\nthen before long actors came to play him,\nSalvini as \" Othello \", Rossi as \" Ham-\nlet \" and \" Lear Ristori as \" Lady\nMacbeth \" were performances which all\nItaly of forty years ago remembers. The\ndefects were there still no one ironed out\nthe creases, no Bowdler was tolerated for an\ninstant but the sane Italian spirit, undistur-\nbed, let the defects pass and responded to the\nimmense qualities which burned so brightly\non the stage.\nI saw Zacconi, the most celebrated living\nItalian actor of Shakespeare, in 1923 performing\nKing Lear. ~\nThe performance was remarkable, but the\naudience was superb.\nI spoke with some of the spectators\nbetween the acts. Gravely and quietly they\nreferred to the genius of this Shakespeare: ,\nling ered a while upon the deep philosophical\naspect of the work, of the noble lines;\nalluded to the strange figure of Edgar as\nPoor Tom: were very grave, very quiet, not\napologetic but not enthusiastic; but when\nthey returned to their seats for Act IV they\nwent with rapidity quietly gravely and\nrapidly, soon were in dead silence, and at\nthe end gave such a reception as I have\nnever heard in a theatre—and 1 have heard\na few receptions.\nThat evening no one excused Shakespeare;\nno one attacked him; no one said \" but\ndamn it all, it was a bore **; everyone\nadmitted the faults and then passed through\ninto the wonders.\nThis book brings this very clearly to the .\nmind: and it is because it does this that I\nfind it to be the most important publication\non Shakespeare which has appeared these\nfifty years.\nIt is therefore one of the most important\nbooks on England—for Shakespeare it seems\nto me is England.\n\nJ. S.\n\nAN ENGLISH WORD\nON SHAKESPEARE\nAND OUR THEATRES.\nHOWEVER LAUDABLE I N\nITSELF IT MAY BE TO\nGIVE A FEW PERFORMAN-\nCES OF SHAKESPEARE IN\nTHE WATERLOO ROAD, IT\nIS IN REALITY THE BITTER-\nEST COMMENT ON THE\nTASTE OF LONDON PLAY-\nGOERS, AND A GLARING\nEXPOSURE OF OUR\nNATIONAL CONTEMPT\nFOR SHAKESPEARE\nON THE STAGE.\nHENRY ARTHUR JONES.\nO"}, {"page_pdf": 31, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.31", "texte": "EXTERIOR OF THE THEATRE IN HAMBURG 1825.\n(Architect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel).\nPlate 10.\n\nTHE MASK\n1928"}, {"page_pdf": 33, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.33", "texte": "INTERIOR OF THE KONIGLICHEN THEATRE, BERLIN\nlooking towards the Stage.\n\nTHE INTERIOR OF THE KONIGLICHEN THEATRE, BERLIN\nlooking towards the auditorium\nArchitect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel.\nPlate 11.\n\nTHE MASK\n1928"}, {"page_pdf": 35, "page_imprimee": "73", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.35", "texte": "THE \"BUT... BUT\"\n\"I... I\" SCHOOL\n\nI am one of the many admirers of the books\nby A. E. W. Mason. I am more than\nthat, for I read, enjoy and also buy his boQks:\nit's a sufficient • guarantee of my sentiments,\nI think. Still more, I note his development\n- with pleasure, and he's no beginner and has\nbeen writing for some thirty years.\n\" The Villa Rose \", \" The House of the\nArrow \" and the recent \" No other Tiger \"\nall contain the elements I enjoy in a thriller.\nI have read five or six others by this writer,\nand, in his \" The Winding Stair \", found\nsomething more than the thrilling : there is a\nlove scene in that book.\nHe hasn't the same facility for coming to\n- Hecuba as Dr. Conan Doyle has, so that\nthe reader must give a whole day to one\nof his stories, or three or four spare evenings:\nhe is then sure of being satisfied by Mr.\nMason. I am also pretty sure that his sto-\nries bear re-reading. I have read \" The\n4. Villa Rose \" twice and \" Miranda \" twice.\nBut what is it I wonder which makes me\nlauph when one of his characters begins to\n\" but—but \" and \" I—l \" ? If it weren't\nthat his stories have given me so many happy\nhours I should not laugh ; I should close the\nbook, look out to sea and ponder a little\nI cannot close my Mason, but I may pon-\nder a bit.\nAnd I thought that the type of man and\nwoman who once did this lingering on their\nbuts and ifs had long since passed away.\n- You thought so too. Do—do you really think\nso ? is all I can ask ; I never heard any but\nvery shoshy men and shishy women uttering\nthese double buts.\nOn the §tage however there used to be\ndozens,\n\\\nI don't mean that play-writers gave the\nperformers these hesitating sort of ways, I mean\nthat the actors themselves employed the\ndodge.\nUnless I commit a great error Sir Gerald\nDu Maurier still employs it. Am I right in\nsupposing that the blighty thing first breathed\non the boards.\nI believe the English actors use it to\nexpress intense agitation or deep emotion: and,\nsince it goes down, since even Mr. Mason\nconsiders it sufficiently tasty to offer it quite\noften to his readers, 1.... well I suppose it\ndoes express something peculiarly English.\nBut what ? Someone there is who must\nknow all about it, what it stands for, how it\nwas originally used and who first used it, for\nit is certainly popular with—with a large\ngroup. ... . .\nI can imagine it is supposed to be expres-\nsive of a certain delicacy which dreads to\nhurt and so hesitates to speak : be this as it\nmay, it gets upon my nerves immediately I\nsee it in a book or hear it on the stage. Is\nit still being employed, this trick ?\nIs it, as I have ventured to suppose, a.\nproduct of the stage, invented so as to slow\ndown just as stress is to be laid on a word,\nand have the writers caught the trick from\nthe stage ?\nI grant that it's one of the things which\nmakes the quite modern artist, be he writer,\npainter or musician, furious to the extent of\nbranding the user of it as a rotten bad writer\nor actor.\nThe quite modern artist possibly consi-\nders me crazily behind the times to linger\nand discuss this oddity.\nI have the fullest sympathy with his point\nof view, but I for one will not give up my\nMason, and, as I have said, Mason indulges in\nthese double buts and ifs. I should lose too\nmuch. Were faults to dictate divorce we\nshould be lonely sort of people with empty\nshelves.\nBecause of faults must I forswear my\nJacobs, my Doyle and my Darlington ? I will\nnot shun Blake for sixty faults nor give up\nmy Defoe for all his ; in short, 1 can't follow\nthese wonderful courageous modern men who\nI am to believe are quite willing to give up\neven Shakespeare because he puns horridly\nin the improper places.\nBut what if Defoe and Mason were of"}, {"page_pdf": 36, "page_imprimee": "74", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.36", "texte": "my calling? what if they were theatre fel-\nlows ? Ah, then I grant you I would appear\nto cast them off indeed—and , lo the\nswift turn of the wheel, then the moderns\nwould all pounce on me and tear me to\npieces as an intolerable and insufferable prig.\nWhat a lark it all seems, what a fantastic,\npitiful, and useless lark it sometimes seems.\n—lf it were real.... but is it? 1f.... if I only\nknew.\n\nYoo No Hoo.\n\nTHE PRETTY THEATRE\n\nPART V(1)\nAmour amour\nOh belle oiseau\nChante chante\nChante toujours.\nONE cannot write the history of the Pretty\nTheatre in less than twenty-five volumes,\nand indeed, to do it full justice, it deserves\nthirty, for five volumes alone would have to\nbe devoted to the portraits of those who\nhave made the Pretty Theatre what it is\nthe dancers, singers, actresses who were so\ncharming: the hangers-on who were so ne-\ncessary, the intermediaries who were so adroit,\nand the rest who were so much in the\nway.\nI may have time to compose these\nvolumes if, as 1 hope to do, I inherit some\n£ 50,000 from a rich and, at present, un-\nknown great aunt or uncle who left Europe\nsixty years ago and made a fortune in Brazil\nand has left me a slice of that fortune.\nIt will mean purchasing five or six\nthousand drawings, engravings, miniatures of\nthe ladies and gentlemen who best represent\nthis Pretty Theatre.\n1 possess only a hundred or so, and it is\nnot enough. For there is not one Prettiness\nonly, there are legions. Five volumes would\nnot cover it, fifty would not, nor five hundred.\nPis the great weed—a weed so popular that\nit is more often than not taken for the flower.\nExquisite, Enchanting, Perfect, Divine; these\nare but a few of the ejaculations uttered in\nits presence. And yet it is only the Pretty ...\nat times pretty vulgar.\nThen how come to realise the power of\nthis trifle unless we show it in all its finery ?\nPuritans—they who for the moment ut-\nterly despise the Pretty—have ever disparaged\nit—or rather her. Yet you have only to see\nher for a moment to change your mind, unless\nyou too happen to be pretty and in the same\nTheatre or Dancing Academy.\nAssemble the old Gods from high Olympus\nand pray them to perform for you some im-\nmortal play with music of the spheres and\ndances of the Hours or Seasons. Even as\nthese are shaking your soul, lifting it from\nearth, will come a pretty thing posing as a\ngoddess, and, in a few steps of the old dance\nafter a few notes of the old song you, the\nGods and all will be utterly charmed; you\nwill find yourself begining to speak French;\nyou will utter the old familiar words, Racis-\nsante—charmante—-charmante. Amour amour\noh belle oiseau ...\nThe old Gods know how to control their\nstage, if not their feelings, so that this mo-\nmentary ebullition will not wreck the perfor-\nmance of the whole piece: after it is over it\nwill be in vain for any of you to send round\nand enquire after the health of the pretty\ngoddess.\nShe will have been garrotted by them\nsilently and thrown into the ditch.\nEven the Due de Richelieu must stay\nwhere he is in his stall in the Theatre of the\nimmortals on the other side of Styx.\nBut to descend again to the Theatre of\nEurope: the Due de Richelieu, the Prince\nde Soubise, the Prince Carignan, Fitz James,\nd'Henin, de Vasse, de Jarente, de la Borde,\nde Harlay, Barrymore, de Saint Lubin, these\nand a whole host of such as these deserve\nto have their portraits in the five volumes\nbecause, if the Pretty Theatre's existence did\nnot exactly depend upon them, (though it be\nmade for them) they were always quite ready\nto lend a finger in the applause or a thou-\nsand francs for a carriage to take home one\nof the Pretty.\nThey lavished immense sums upon these\npretty people and so their place in the book\nis an important one: their place in that Thea-\ntre is both before and behind the curtain.\n\n(i) Preceding chapters of the series appeared in The\nMask Vols X, XI, XII."}, {"page_pdf": 37, "page_imprimee": "75", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.37", "texte": "Crudely stated, they haunted the theatre\nnot so much for the sake of the Drama, the\nMusic or the Dance as for the actresses, the\n.singers and the dancers; and, crudely stated,\neven the French today are shocked at this.\nThere is not a shock in it, except per-\n. haps when the statement is crudely made as\nI make it here. The attraction towards that\nwhich is pretty is a weakness and we should\nhave no weaknesses—how true that is to\nthose who have none. But a weakness for\nprettiness is one thing; a strong delight in it\nis another. The actresses, dancers, singers\n■laid themselves out for I'amour, properly paid\namour: were the gentlemen to whisper back,\n\"Oh I don't know, ask Mama!\"?\nYes, I would like to devote at least one\nvolume of the five to the paintings, drawings\nand engravings which show us the salesmen\nand saleswomen, the purchasers and the goods.\nWhat were the goods? Genius? no, I\nthink not, for you cannot buy genius. Ta-\nlent?.,. that too is not necessarily for sale,\nfor how take home 15,000 francs' worth of\nTheatrical genius or talent in a coach.\n* The Duke of Grafton could buy a drawing\nfrom Rolandson for £1 or £5, but he\ncouldn't buy some of John Kemble's\ngenius; he must go and see it at work in a\nTheatre—he has only to pay a very small\nsum, a few shillings, and share what is be-\nfore him with two thousand other admirers\nand remain seated quietly in the stalls or in\nthe boxes.\nBut then Kemble is not to be found in\nthe Pretty Theatre.\nNo, the Pretty Theatre is quite another\nthing, and you can give a lift in your coach\nor motor-car to that which is sold in it, the\nwhich we have come to call \" favours \".\nThese are sold by \" favourites \".\nAlthough a true favour is something\ngiven, is a kindness beyond what is due and\nis not to be sold, in the Pretty Theatre fa-\nvours were and are sold by the million. And\nthe picture which best illustrates this is that\nby J. M. Moreau le Jeune called \" La Loge\na I'Opera \". 0)\nIt represents the sale of a ballet dancer.\nNow whether it be wrong or right, illegal\nor legal, serious or comic to sell people (or\nyourself if you have no mere fausse to assist\n%\nin the transaction) is not the question; but\nwhat has always been highly ridiculous is to\ncall the sale a favour.\nIt is a sale and nothing else; so if any\nsuch sale take place, it should take place on\nthe ancient basis of the slave traffic, on a\nfrankly unrespectable basis ; a hard deal or\nnothing. The Memoirs of dancers never\ndeal frankly with this phase of their art.\nIf you are sold or sell yourself you are\na slave, and damme, slaves, being sold people,\ncannot possibly put on airs. Yet these airs\nhave been put on, the virtuous airs, the airs\nof one bestowing favours, the giver's airs, the\nairs of one who simply could not possibly be\nsold, the \"quite innocent \" airs, the indignation\nairs at the mere suggestion, the pathetic airs,\nthe airs of the lady, the womanly airs, the\nnoble-woman airs, religious airs, above all\nthe airs of the independent but quite respec-\ntable lady.\nAll these are airs, not actualities.\nFor the actually independent lady is as\ngenuine as is a square deal: what she says\nand does is done squarely in fact and\nthere is no other way to describe it like\na lady.\nBut the Pretty Theatre is not concerned\nwith ladies or with things square but only\nwith things fair—unfairly fair perhaps: a hard\ndeal is, in the eyes of the bartering group\nwhich runs the principal side show of the Pretty\nTheatre, a fantastic notion from the country.\nAsk Mademoiselle du The what she\nthinks of a square deal: whether she is open\nfor sale on a square basis, and you will be\nlaughed at for your pains. Bui she soon\nstops laughing to explain, and in an elaborate\ntissue of lies, that she is a pure woman, she\nsays; misrepresented; she admits she has had\nseventy-five lovers, but these, she explains,\ndidn't love her as she loved them, or did\nlove her, and anyhow, she cries, \" a predo-\nminant trait in my character is fidelity\nanyhow.\"\nFidelity is rare in anyone, so rare is it\nthat those who possess it and cherish it de-\nserve too well of the whole world for that\nworld to listen to trulls like the Pretty Ma-\ndemoiselle du The talking about her predomi-\nnant trait.\nI adore Mademoiselle du The; 1 am\nwriting a small \" Life\" of this able Fille\nd'Opera, vendeuse d' amou which I shall add\n\n(i) See 14 The Mask\", Vol, X PI. 20."}, {"page_pdf": 38, "page_imprimee": "76", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.38", "texte": "as an appendix to these chapters. No one\ncould possibly appreciate her qualities more\nthan 1— : but I protest against the attempt\nto gull me. If she pose as High Priestess\nof the Art of the Dance, I am off: if she\nheckle me on the subject of molality, I am\ngone. Igo to find a priest who is better\nfitted than is a prostitute to utter the word\nmorality. Yet, bless your heart, molality is\none of the lady's favourite themes. First she\nkicks her toe up to the ceiling, then she drinks\nher champagne steadily for two hours, and at\nlast she launches into her pet topic, her mo-\nrality and the immorality of the others.\nOh Mademoiselle du The, I m simply\nshocked at you. I am afraid you are des-\ntined to be turned out of the Pretty Theatre\nfor you are neither flesh, fish nor good red\nherring. You are a little fool, and we all\nthought you so awfully clever—so kind—-so\nbig-hearted: whereas one of the unnamed little\npigs de iOpera, true to her colours, discreet\nand loyal in her amours, is, to quote the\nbard, a very different thing by far to the lump\n— 7 j ~\nof iniquity big pigs are.\n\nX. Y. Z.\n\nA WORD ABOUT THE THEATRE\nby SACHA GUITRY, ACTOR AND PLAYWRIGHT.\nExtract from an Interview which appeared in the\no '* Italian Mail*', May 1928. o\n1 cannot, however, but deplore the enormous changes that\nhave lately been taking place with regard to owners\nof theatres and impresarios. In the past a theatre company\nwas one big happy family, in which the director was not\nonly business manager, chief executive and legislative official,\nhut the owner of the theatre, and often the author of the\nplays. At the head of the five leading theatres we had some\nof the most remarkable men of the day—men who devoted\nall their lives, talent and activities to the pursuit of their\nart. To-day the director of a company is often a very\nable business man who looks upon the whole concern as\na potentially profitable business, and there is consequently\nlittle of thai close friendly relationship that used to prevail.\nTherefor, in my opinion, all lovers of the stage should\nendeavour to restore some of the happy conditions that\nused to prevail in the theatre fifty years ago. Fifty years\nago a manager of a company came in time to know every\nsingle member of the cast as well as if they belonged to\nthe same family. There was an esprit de corps and a\nclose relationship between promoter, actors and actresses\nthat is usually absent to-day. For months all these people\nwere thrown together in a manner that is almost impossible\nnowadays. They toured the country together, lived the\nsame life, shared the same pleasures, successes and set-\nbacks, while jealousy was practically nonexistent. To-day\nthere is much less of this personal contact, and the pro-\nducer is very often unknown to the general body of the\ncompany which the manager has engaged.\n\nFLESH, BLOOD AND\nMARIONETTES\nJ. S.\nA NINETEENTH CENTURY NOTE\nTHE actors appear to me like a iot or wrong-headed\nlunatics pretending to be sane. 1 heir malice\nstitched with white threads. They are disguised and ugly •\nTo look at them breeds in my melancholy soul thoughts\nof murder and suicide, -such is my anger and my loathing\nof their transparent pretences. There is a taint of subtle\ncorruption in their blank voices, in their blinking eyes, in\ntheir grimacing faces, in the false lignt, in the fah-e pas-\nsion, in the words that have been learned by heart. But\n1 love a marionette-show. Marionettes are beautiful,\nespecially those of the old kind with wires, thick as my\nlittle finger, coming out of the top of the head. Their\nimpassibility in love, in crime, in mirth, in sorrow,—-i*\nheroic, superhuman, fascinating. Their rigid violence when\nthey fall upon one another to embrace or to fight is sim-\nply a joy to behold. I never listen to the text mouthed\nsomewhere out of sight by invisible men who are here\ntoday and rotten tomorrow. I love the marionettes that\nare without life, and that come so near to being im-\nmortal ! \"\nJoseph Conrad in a letter to R. B. Cunning-\nhame Graham, dated 6 December 1897,\n\" Joseph Conrad Life and Letters \" by\nG. JeanAubry, 213.\nAN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY NOTE\n11 I ATER on, a good while after my marriage, I went to\nI—* many shows on that boulevard [du Temple], The\none I saw and enjoyed most was that of the puppets of Carlo\nPerico. These marionnettes were so well made and so dexte-\nrously manipulated that they sometimes achieved a perfect\nillusion. My daughter, who was six years old at most, and\nwhom I took with me, had no doubt at first of their being\nalive. When I told her the contrary, 1 remember taking her\na few days later to the Com6die where my box\nwas fairly remote from tbe stage. • And those, Mamma ,\nshe said to me, ' are they alive? \"\nThe Memoirs of Mme Elisabeth Louise\nVigee-Le Brun. translated\nby Gerard Shelley, 1927. Page 32.\nAND A TWENTIETH CENTURY NOTE\nCONRAD and Mme. Vig£e Le Brun may be right.\nNow all that remains to be done is for the Actors\nto prove them wrong. J. S."}, {"page_pdf": 39, "page_imprimee": "n. p.", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.39", "texte": "SITE OF THE TEATRO SANT' ANGELO. VENEZIA 1677-1759.\nC.\n\nIN an interesting booklet from which this print is taken, the\npalace marked here by a star is the Casa Barocci, and,\nsays the booklet, it was \" edificata sulVarea del teatro S. An-\ngelo And this may prove to be exact and therefore worth\nrecording.\nMy plans of Venezia 1779-1840 and others do not do more\nthan indicate that the Teaitro was on the Grand Canal be-\ntween the two water-ways here shown. When shall we disco-\nver the original plans of this very interesting playhouse\nwhich was destroyed in 1759? Any day now, it seems, since\nthe long sought plan of the Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo of\nVenezia came to \" The Mask \" only yesterday, and equally\nvaluable plans of the Teatro Pergola, Firenze and of the\nTeatro degli Intronati, Siena came at the same time.\nHow strange that in all these years no one thought to\nlook in at the Soane Museum, London and see whether any\nItalian items were to be found there. He would have fouud\nsome.\n\nTHE MASK\n1928\n\nPlate 12."}, {"page_pdf": 41, "page_imprimee": "77", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.41", "texte": "BOOK REVIEWS.\n\nFOREIGN OR BRITISH\nGOODS... WHICH?\nM There is little doubt that what I have\ncalled \" Producer s Theatre \" is likely\nto increase its power 99. Ivor Brown.\nMR. Ivor Brown who is the well\nknown critic of the \" Manchester\nGuardian considers the late Louis\nCalvert, son of the Manchester Calvert,\nto have been \" a superb actor \". I\nshould have called him an able actor,\nand I think that is what a producer\nof ability would call him.\nSo that when Mr. Brown tells us\nthat the Producer's theatre is likely to\nincrease its power we may be sure of\nthis ; that it will be a theatre full of\nthe ablest actors, for the superb Keans\nor Talmas are not easily found or se-\ncured, and it is, I think, an error to\ntake the adequate to be the superlatively\ngood.\nBut I do not intend to linger over\nproducers and their work here but\nover Mr. Brown and his work.\nMr. Brown has been a good critic\nfor many years in London as well as\n- in Manchester, and to be a good critic\nin London for as many weeks is a feat\nfew ever achieve\nHe is a student and level-headed ;\nlike the good actor he has no feelings, or\nrather he allows them but littl i licence.\nIt is only when a book like Stani-\nslawsky's \"My Life in Art\" reaches\nhim that he almost seems to kneel.\nHe calls him very justly \" one of\nthe greatest theatrical artists of all time •\nWell, I rather fancy Stanislawsky\nmyself. He shares with Reinhardt and\nAntoine an admiration which I cannot\nsummon up for the best of good\nCalverts, Piteoffs or Bensons.\nBut he is a Russian even as Antoine\nis a Frenchman and Reinhardt a\nGerman ; and somehow or other I\nsuspect that the day is over and gone\nwhen, if we are Englishmen, we can\nafford ourselves to waste another hour\ngazing too lovingly at any foreign\ngoods whatever. Art may be Inter-\nnational ; and any nation which first\nsupports and is proud of its best talent\nin the Theatre can assuredly look\nInternationally at the Theatre. Till\nit does this it may not.\nAt present we praise too often in\nStanislawsky and Reinhardt what we\nignore in our own men: and it is for\nthis reason that our theatre has fallen\nto fifth place and the Russian and\nGerman have the first and second.\nIs not that a good enough reason\nwhy we should pause, consider a\nmoment and then drop it?\nDrop what?\nAdmiration of the Foreigner, simul-\ntaneously with indifference towards\nour own men and refusal to support\nthem.\nLet us remember this:— that we\nEnglish may not be so awfully clever,\nbut we should be quite clever enough\nto stop underestimating any of our\nTheatre men who are as able as\nReinhardt and Stanislawsky, and\nMeyerhold.\nAre we still too shy to come\ntogether and create as good a theatre\nas Reinhardt's or these three of\nMoscow ?\nWeil, the answer is to a great\nextent given in this book. We may\nfeel that Mr. Brown can be guilty of\nexcessive humility when in the presence\nof Stanislawsky's book, or represen-\ntatives of the great man himself, but\nhe has in this book made ample\namends to himself. He has expressed\nthe firm conviction that the English\nAuthor, English Actor and English\nProducer can work together and no\nother critic has expressed this better.\nAnd I would add that to this trio\nwe must add the dramatic critic.\n1 am quite sure that Mr. Brown is\nright: and 1 am as sure that his book\nwill do a certain amount of definite\ngood.\nIt is an exceptional thing to be able\nto say this of a work which is only in\nthe nature of a review of a situati: n;\nbut then it reviews the matter so\nsteadily and wiih such a fine sense of\nthe courtesies, that I feel I do not\noverstate but rather understate its\nvalue.\nYes, English Art and England are\nto be our thought now. Now there\nis indeed no more time to spare for\noccupying our thoughts with any fo-\nreign developments: we have always\nhad ideas enough of our own, ideas\nwhich are not solely the realists' or\nthe expressionists' or any ists; and they\nare ideas which have always embraced\nthose of the author, actor, producer,\ncritic, historian and archeologist, architect\nand musician.\nThese ideas have been borrowed\nwholesale by our Russian and German\nfriends. Remember that make a\nnote of it, for it's true.\nThe producers' ideas have never\nbeen small ones; they never excluded\nauthor, actor or anyone, except when\nauthors and actors have been rude\nand slammed the door on our ideas.\nBut 'tis sometimes impossible to get\nour friends to understand that we\nmean well ; and possibly this has an-\ntagonized the author and actor so\nviolently against the producer.\nThis book by Mr. Brown goes far\nto remove this misunderstanding.\nPARTIES OF THE PLAY by Ivor\nFrown. Ernest Benn. Price S/6.\n\nSTAGE DECORATION by Shel-\ndon Cheney with 256 Illustrations.\nThe John Day Company, New York•\nPrice $ 10.00.\nMR. Sheldon Cheney is not like\nthe usual compiler of theatre\nbooks ; he has worked in a theatre,\nand he has kept in touch with those\nworking there,-so that you will not\nfind in his book any hing which an-\nnoys because of its ignorance of the\nreal Theatre.\nMr. Cheney is one of the ten or\nfifteen men who, for the last twelve\nyears, have been closely observing what\nis going on in the Theatres of Eu-\nrope and America. He has been keen\nto issue a few books but he is far\nkeener watching developments. He is\none of the few students of the mo-\ndern phases of the Theatre who have\nbegun to lake a serious delight in\nconnecting them back with the ancient\nphases.\nBut there are two ways of doing\nthis, and Mr. Cheney prefers the bet-\nter way—the ordinary one being to\nannounce \" New stuff in European\nTheatre discovered to be 2000 years\nold Possibly this is the way I\nshould write were I a proper sort of\njournalist and unacquainted with the\n\" Manchester Guardian \", or rather\nunaware of what it stands for.\n1 would go it, were 1.... in short, were\nI paid to. How delicious to be paid\nto do the easy thing and to grow rich\ndoing it easily;—why bother? Why\nfuss around resisting temptation ; why\nhave ideals which don't pay and which\nare merely so many bad habits. Why\nbe like the London Correspondent in\nthe \" Review of Reviews \" Dialogue"}, {"page_pdf": 42, "page_imprimee": "78", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.42", "texte": "upon 41 Lord Rothermere's great ven-\nture \" (see 44 Review of Reviews\nMarch-April No.) who talks of 44 the\nglory of the British Press \", its 44 in-\ndependence \", glowering and growling\nat Lord Rothermere aud the Berrys\nand the others, cursing at the new\nand so forth.\nAnd so it is quite odd to find this\nAmerican student, who is also a jour-\nnalist, abstaining from flashy headlines\nand doing his best with all his heart.\nWe often suppose that an Ameiican\ncannot resist the sensational, but here\nis one who does resist it.\nHis book deals with ancient and modern\ndecors; these he reproduces for us; from\nthe three thousand made by the Bi-\nbienas he selects three ; from the rem-\nnants left by the Romans and Greeks\nhe takes but six or seven items; from\nthe middle ages as many, and so on\ndown to the present day. Here he\nselects more, for he rightly supposes\nthat his readers will want to see more\nmodern than ancient work.\nNot only do his researches lead him\nto pick cut sceneries which fitted into\nany stage, but also whole stages into\nwhich everything else had to fit, such\nas the Olimpico at Vicenza and Co-\npeau s stage—stages which were more\nor less scenes in themselves.\nIn short, the book is a review a\nshort quick review —of what has been\ndene about decors since the time of\n/Eschylus.\nIt is, at the same time, [an appen-\ndix to Dr. Nicoll's 44 The Develop-\nment of the Theatre \" issued towards\nthe end of last year.\nthat volume it goes to prove\nthat the people who want their stages\nempty of all sceneries have been so\nfew that they have at no time pre-\nvailed over those who held the more\nsensible notion, that of having all the\ndecors you want. It shows that plenty\nof decors can be austere and distin-\nguished without any rabid display of\npuritanisni.\nIt shows that actors and authors all\nthe world over have always welcom-\ned as a gay ally the d&or which\nhelped things along.\nIt shows that never once has the\ndecorator dreamed of seizing the reins\na fear recently expressed by a few\ncritics.\nIt shows that when Decors reached\ntheir most fantastic development, the\nactors or singers were always equal to\nthe situation, enjoyed working in the\nmiast of such delightful surroundings,\nana frever felt they were in any way\nbeing pushed out by these decors.\nin ract, if the book had been made\nonly to prove this, it would succeed :\nbut it will achieve more, for it will\nhelp us to understand something still\nrather vague to many of us: re, the\nvast difference between the man of\nthe theatre, the dilettante snd the\ntheorist.\nThe work of all three is to be\nfound side by side, and Mr. Cheney\nleaves you to discern which is which.\nIt was a courteous thing to do, for\nit allows those of us who know a\nthing or two to show how clever we\ncan be.\n\nRACHEL by James Agate. Gerald\nHowe Ltd. Price 3/6.\nORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT\nOF LIGHT OPERA by Sterling\nMackinlay M. A. Hutchinson & Co.\nPrice 21/- net.\nWITH all the pretty tunes by Offen-\nbach, Lecocq and Sullivan ring-\ning in his eais, Mr. Mackinlay takes\nup his pen, keeps his head—or rather\nhis seat and—gets through to the end of\nhis book of 292 pages apparently\nwithout once going out for a drink—\na drink of music. He must be a\nstoic.\nFor it seems to me that to write\nabout enchantment and go on writing\nand not turn aside, not fling pen and\npaper to the winds and not become\nenchanted, is a feat to be achieved\nonly with the exercise of great self-\ncontrol.\nAnd the result is that he is able to\nhand us one of the most delightful\ntheatre books that has been written\nfor ever so long.\nI regret to see my old friend Lovat\nFraser's name omitted from the careful\nreport on 44 The Beggar's Opera \" and\nI hardly think Mr. Mackinlay is right\nwhen he states on page 63 that 44 in\nMonteverdi s earlier days permanent\ntheatres did not exist any more than\npermanent orchestras \". Of the or-\nchestras I can say nothing, but assu-\nredly some permanent theatres existed\nin Italy and we have records of a few\nof these.\nBuontalenti built his Teatro de' Me-\ndici in Florence in 1583; that is to\nsay> when Monteverdi was sixteen\nyears old; and in 1578 the Teatro\nOlimpico at Vicenza was being built.\nIn 1560, seven years before Monte-\nverdi was born, Bartolommeo Neroni\nerected il Teatro in Siena, and Man-\nt°va and Ferrara had their theatres\ntoo by that time. In Mantova, for\nexample, in the year 1608 Vianini the ar-\nchitect built 44 The New Ducai Thea-\ntre \" especially for the 44 Arianna \" of\nMonteverdi, and this New Theatre\nwas necessary because in 1591 the\nTeatro in the Corte Vecchio had\nbeen burnt, and it's not possible to\nburn a theatre which don't exist.\nBut except for a rare few errors\ndropped by the author to save our\nfaces, the book sparkles with erudition\nand charm, and I am eager to get a\nglimpse of another of his books, 44 Gar-\ncia the Centenarian and his Times\nMr. Mackinlay is not one of those\nauthors who writes books on subjects\nwhich have been already exhausted ;\nhe takes a new road when he sets cut\nto naake a book, and I wish a few\nmore historians of the Theatre would.\nfollow his example, as I for one am\ntired of new books on Rachel, Gar-\nrick, the Greek Stage, Shakespeare\nand his Fellows, and the rest of it.\nUntil Mr. Mackinlay gave us this book,\nhe tells us that 44 no history of Light\nOpera had been written\nSo the laurels to Mr. Mackinlay,\nfor he is one of the few English-\nmen who are really doing something\nto help our countrymen to a better\nknowledge of the Theatre.\nI said just now that I was tired of\nnew books on Rachel and others; but\nI discover 1 am not,—not when I get\na really good one, and Mr. Agate's\nlittle book on Mile. Jelid re Rachel\n(though he don't give us her real\nname) is entirely delightful.\nThe booklet of 80 pages could not\npossibly be better done.\nThe author discerns Rachel's place\nin the midst of a revolutionary move-\nment and makes her position clear to\nus ....that she was a reactionary, and\nso splendid a one, that the age took her\nto be in ihe very van of revolution.\nAgate tells us the story of her ca-\nreer and sketches in something of her\namours.\nHer amours interest me because, like\nyou, 1 have quite a sniffy dash of cu-\nriosity in me ; and besides this I am\nalways eager to discover in the hun-\ndred lives of actresses one who had\nno amours. Good actresses, I mean.\nSo far 1 have not made much head-\nway but I shall go on. Adrienne\nLecouvreur and Mrs Oldfield stand\nout as considerable ladies by the side\nof many of their sisters and Rachel\ncertainly does not.\nShe was a guttersnipe, like grand\nold Edmund Kean ; and so it follows\nas the night the day Mile. Georges was\na bit jealous of her : 44 I have been\nas big an actress as Rachel \" she\nsaid Victor Hugo, 44 and as great a\nwhore , and one hears her saying it\nand sees her as she says it."}, {"page_pdf": 43, "page_imprimee": "79", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.43", "texte": "Rachel was certainly no great lady,\nbut that was not her fault. You need\nhouses for training and disciplining such\nbits of genius like Rachel, and, till you\n.provide them, you mustn't go and see\nthe Rachels act and damn their cha-\nracters as you come out after a\ngood cry.\nIn the East I am told they provide\nsuch houses— which is all to the good.\nAs ror Rachel, she had no way of\nmanaging herself and at the same time\nremaining a valuable actress of genius\n—at least she found no way.\nOne of her friends took her to\ntask—an old friend, a Mme.\nwho wrote her that she was broken-\nhearted to learn from all the reports\nthat she was behaving outrageously ;\nshe told her to break off her liason or,\nshe said, 44 you will fall\nNow she didn t fall; she continued\nto rise, and she rose to be one of the\ngreatest actresses of the age. For all\nthis, Mme Ristori who was as great\n(if not greater!) rose without such as-\nsistance.\nRachel rather loved the underworld.\nShe loved V^ron—44 a blackguard\nMr. Agate calls him. He was; and,\nas she was a doxy, so they were well\nmatched. She treated him as badly\nas he treated her. If she did not sur-\npass him in dastardliness it was only\nthat he got in first with it. Had he\nfailed tof she would have certainly not\nfailed to score.\nThe story as told by Mr. Agate is\na delight.\nI admit that curiosity is a low vice\nand so we who read with pleasure\nare all of us en famille with Veron\nand Rachel; —let us not be rude to\ntbern lest they combine and serve us\nwith our deserts.\nI have said that Rachel was no\ngreat lady ; yet she behaved better to\nall her lovers than many another such\nguttersnipe has done, for 44 on her\ndeath-bed she had the generosity to\nsend back to their writers all their\nlove-letters *\\\nThere is much about money in\nthese brief eighty pages.\nBy the way, I hope Mr. Agate\nwill some day give us a big volume\non this actress, for no one could do it\nbetter, and there must be some six hun-\ndred people who would treasure such\na volume, packed with historical data,\nreplete with illustrations, and issued at\nthree guineas. Rachel deserves some-\nthing de luxe.\nShe also des rves all Mile. George's\nhustling. 4# What keePs Rachel in\nthe public eye \" said Georges 44 is\nthe champagne she drinks, the life\nshe leads. and the moneyed fools who\nflock round her. Let her lead a de-\ncent life for a couple of months and\nnobody will remember that she exists \".\nNot that Rachel thought that of\nherself, She was full of outraged in-\nnocence : 44 if \" she wrote, 44 if, for\none moment, I thought how gravely\nCalumny had injured me in your re-\ngard.,.. 44 and so forth.\nThe others ....they were open to\nher criticism, herself an injured lamb.\nIn this respect the actresses have\nthe pull over their brothers. Edmund\nKean could never have posed as ah\ninjured lamb.\nBut the women do : it's most extraor-\ndinary.\nLook in all those books, the 44 Re-\nminiscences \"or 44 Life \", books by wo-\nmen performers, and you will note\nthat they begin by saying that they\nintend, for the first time in the His-\ntory of the World, to tell the truth\nabout themselves and their amours\nand before twenty pages are gone we\nsee that all they intend to do is to\nwhitewash themselves while telling lies\nabout everyone else.\nRachel did one excellent good thing\nshe abstained from writing such a\nbook. And so the luckiest thing hap-\npens to her:—Mr. Agate writes it\nfor her.\n\nTHE COMPLETE WORKS OF\nSIR JOHN VANBRUGH Edited\nby Bonamy Dobree and Geoffrey\nWebb. Four volumes. The None-\nsuch Press London W. C. Price\n£3.3.0 (only 1300 sets issued).\nIF you want a fine book admirably\ncomposed, excellently well printed,\nperfectly edited, and bound as well as\na book can be bound, here you have\none —or rather four: and four persons\nhave conspired to make it a fine book.\nVanbrugh, Dobr£e, Webb, Meynell\nassisted by his composi'ors and printers\nall laboured to make these British Plays\na model of how to do it.\nSome day I hope they will com-\nbine again and give us the works and\nletters of Sir George Etherege. His\nletters are, I believe, as yet unpub-\nlished, and rest in the British Mu-\nseum.\nEtherege is the man of all those\nplaywriters of the Restoration age. Not\neven Congreve deserves better of us.\nAnd Etherege is the very man for Mey-\nnell, Dobr£e and Webb.\nThese volumes' pages measure 10 x\n7 */2 inches : it is a large format fitting\nto this architect-dramatist who built\nlargely and wrote with his elbows.\nThe work could not be possibly\nbetter edited or more clearly arranged.\nEach play is preceded by a page, or\nthree or four, of its Theatrical His-\ntory, and followed by some pages of\nTextual Notes and some Explanatory\nNotes.\nIn this Vanbrugh it's impossible not\nto find all you search for and to find\nit at once.\nBesides the three volumes of Plays,\nis one volume of Vanbrugh's Letters\nwith an able and not too long Intro-\nduction by Mr Webb, wherein, alas,\nhe tells me what 1 feared, . ..that of\nthe New Opera House, Vanbrugh* s\ngreat theatre in the Hay market, very\nlittle is known respecting its architecture\nexcept that the acoustics were defective\n—and that we are too often told about\nmost play and opera houses.\nTo those of us who would so much\nlike to know all about this Hay mar-\nket building the information is de-\npressing.\nHas a proper search been made for\nthe original drawings ?\nHave people hunted in the obvious\nplaces those museums and collections\nwhich we pass daily in our walks and\nfail to note, merely because we know\nthem so well from the outside.\nOf some of Vanbrugh's huge spraw-\nling Country Houses for the nobility,\nwe are given reproductions of plans or\nviews—and they help to adorn these\nbooks.\nDid Vanbrugh never make a draw-\ning worth preserving—with something\nspirited ? Was he dull ?\nVanbrugh and Juvarra lived pre-\ncisely at the same time. Both were\narchitects, both worked in theatres :\nas architects each loved to sprawl\nand to build the largest of country\nhouses for wealthy and grandiose pa-\ntrons : but whereas Juvarra poured out\nthousands of pen and ink and wash\ndrawings of projects for houses, chur-\nches, theatres, sceneries, it would seem\nthat Vanbrugh hardly made one.\nNo one of his sketches is in these\nvolumes. Again I ask, where are these\nsketches and the more careful draw-\nings?.,. so that we may prove how much\nmore brilliant Vanbrugh was than he\nseems.\nI must admit a powerful drawing\ngets me: I wonder whether Van ever\ndrew anything for the Duchess of\nMarlborough when she WJS getting\nsnappish. I see my Juvarra doing that :\nI see the easy fingers creating wonders\nwith the pen of Sarah Jenning, that\n41 wicked woman of Marlb. \" and 1\nsee the wicked woman utterly spell-\nbound."}, {"page_pdf": 44, "page_imprimee": "80", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.44", "texte": "In fact I see Juvarra a very greal\nsuccess in the England of Queen Anne,\nwhereas Vanbrugh wasn't. He buill\n—he wrote but I wouldn't call ali\nthat any more of a success than old\nCharing Cross Bridge was a success,\nor the plays of Baife's better half.\nThat is mere getting on.\nVanbrugh was, in short, a ponde-\nrously dull activity, and the only thing\nwhich may have been lively was\nhis Opera House of which we know\nnothing.\nWhat a pity we do not know more\nof that Opera Flouse poor old Van.\nBut in spite of this, his Letters are\nreplete with information priceless to\nthis Historian of the Stage.\nWritten in his lop boots and ob-\nviously with a chisel, they may sprawl\nand clatter, but the information is\nthere, and this renders these volumes\nworth every penny they cost, and they\ncost practically nothing about 16/- a\nvolume.\nI don't know how the publishers\ncan issue volumes so superbly accou-\ntred at such a price.\n\nREPRESENTA TIVE WOMEN. A\nSeries published by Gerald Home Ltd.\n23 Soho Square, London. 3/6 each.\nIF one may judge of any series of\nvolumes by the first two which\ncome to hand, then one can say of\nthis series that ii is very interesting.\nThe two volumes which reached\nme were on Rachel U) and Mary\nShelley.\nBeing dramatically bent, I mean\nbent down to the grindstone of the\ndramatic world, one naturally welcomes\nwith the usual grimace another book\non the stage Rachel came as an\naccursed blessing ; but «• Mary Shel-\nley \" one promised oneself most hear-\ntily one would not read. That comes\nof being too particularly of the\nI heatre; one means no disrespect to\nother walks of life, least of all the\nLiterary walk of Poets and their wives,\nbut one has no time to wander ;\none must keep to one's path, up and\ndown and up and down it again.\nCram alley !\nYet there is ever a half hour to spare\nwhen one is allowed off, and I then\nalways look around in case a poet or\na painter, an essayist or some other\nfree man is wandering near by, and\nthen 1 join him for my half hour of\nfreedom.\nAnd so it was that I came to pick\nup this volume on Mrs Shelley, and\nI read it with interest from page I to\npage 91 : all these books are but a\nfew pages in length. Excellent I\nFor the first time it was made quite\nclear to me who was this same Mary\nShelley and who was Claire and who\nHarriet, Mrs Clairmont and Jane Wil-\nliams ; for, though I already knew five\nor six books about Shelley and his\nfriends, I had never once received a\nclear statement as to who W3S who in\nthis circle.\nMr. Richard Church is as clear a\na writer as any I know,\nBeing so far away from London I\nhave to admit that it is the first lime\nI have come across his name : doubt-\nless he is occupied writing down for\nus the lives of all those other persons\nabout whom their biographers have\nconfused us.\n1 would give much for Mr. Church\nto write the life of Anne Oldfield,\nMrs. Bellamy and Mademoiselle du\nTh 6 presuming that Mr. Agate is\nnot going to do so.\nThe 1 ives of actresses are seldom\nclearly written ; one rambles on and\none has to be sympathetic or go to\nsleep : and that is why I'd like to\nhave Mr. Church's booklets on these\nladies, for then all would be clear\nfor the first time.\nBut here I am supposing Mr. Church\nto have plenty of time to spare, and\nwilling to \" suffer love *# for these\nladies and write the lives of the thirty\nmost representative performers that have\nlived.\nI suggest among others Isabella An-\ndreini, Adrienne Lecouvreur, Ann Old-\nfield, Mrs. Bellamy, Clairon, Duche-\nnois, Mars, Mrs. Barry, Mile, du Th£,\nRistori, Fraule.n Jagemann, Miss Wal-\nstcin, Theresa Imer, La Gabrielli, La\nbarberina, Salle, Dervieux, Deschamps\nor Le . Due, Dugazon, Prevost, Du\nPare, de Maupin, Champmesl£, Charke,\nRaucourt and Sancta Stella.\nMr. Church turns - away—he does\nnot like the look of the company ; he\nfeels a little out of it; may be this is\nbecause he feels that he must have\nsome fine figure of a poet such as\nShelley walking in and out of his pic-\nture to make the task worth his while.\nIf so, then he will have Goethe with\nthe Jagemann, Racine with the Champ-\nmesle, Moli£re with Du Pare, Frede-\nrick the Great with La Barberina, the\nMargrave of Arispach with Clairon\nand Voltaire with Adrienne. As for\nIsabella Andreini, she is surrounded by\nthe most brilliant men of the age and\nwas, 1 have ever supposed, one of the\nmost admirable women of her time.\nBut no one has made it clear to me\nwhat any of these women actually\nwere, did, thought, felt or saw, for I\ndo not read French, German or Ita-\nlian with any ease, and besides, only\nMr. Agate or Mr. Church could make,\nit all clear in eighty p&gcs.\nThough I have yet to read the\neighty page booklets by Mr. Sackviile\nWest, Francis Birrell and Miss Ada *\nHarrison' on Aphra Behn, La Du-\nchesse du Maine and Cristina di Sve-\nzia, I look forward with eagerness to\nfind them as good as these first two.\n0) Fy James Agate, reviewed on pg. 78.\n\nSCENES AND SILHOUETTES\nby D. L. Murray. Jonathan Cape.\nPrice 9/- net.\n0\nREPRINTED from \"The Times\",\n\" The Nation \" and •• The\nAthenaeum and other magazines,\nthese papers on scenic things and\nthings political, historical, literary and\necclesiastical make up a very readable\nbook of three hundred pages or more,\nwhich Mr. Cape has printed and\nbound to perfection, and all for nine\nshillings.\nThe volume reaches us rather late\nin the day but better late than never,\nfor Mr. Murray is one of the critics\nin England who take the Theatre and\nits Drama seriously, and, who in doing\nso, do not depress us too much.\nHe is generally pretty right in what\nhe says; for example, when he protests\nagainst the method employed by Jessner\nwhen producing Shakespeare's Ri-\nchard 111.\nMr. Murray is forced to witness\nthis production, (which was given in\nBerlin and was a quite famous pro-\nduction) through a report of it, and\non the strength or weakness of\nthis report to report Jessner and\nhis cause aright to the unsatisfied. It\nstands to reason that he cannot do '\nthat. The report Mr. Murray pro-\nnounces on is that by Mr. MacGowan\nand Mr. Jones of America who did\nsee the production as they rushed\nthrough Europe seeing dozens of pro-\nductions in eight or ten lands in a\nvery short space of time.\nThe thing is not fair on Jessner of\ncourse, but let us accept it as fair and\nsre what Mr. Murray has to complain\n• • • . Jessner's complaint (if\nhe ever made one) is unheeded and\nquite right too fair play is always\nour motto and the critics seldom\nget fair play. I m a critic myself.\nWell, Mr. Murray says that Jessner's\nmethod buries Shakespeare's play \" in\na shroud of emotional symbolism\nand but *' little of the delicate interplay '\nof character and motive is left \", and"}, {"page_pdf": 45, "page_imprimee": "81", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.45", "texte": "he doesn t like this and he is quite\nright.\nSo right is he, and he some five\nhundred miles from the spot where\n,the show took place, that it will occur\nto you that a new era is dawning for\ndramatic critics. Why doesn't the\ncritics Circle of London employ some\nable enthusiast like MacGowan and an\nable draughtsman like Mr. Jones to\nattend the last four rehearsals of every\npiece: to write and print a vivid\naccount of the methods employed,\nthe effect aimed at and achieved, and\nbroadcast this round to the eighty or\nninety Dramatic Critics of England in\ngood time and let these men pro-\nnounce on the report seated by their\nfireside. The best of the original\nsketches for the production could be\ntelegraphed and sent round to them\nall and thus they would not be\nforced to wear themselves out attending\nevery first night merely for the sake\nof the alibi.\nAnd for the first time in their careers\nthey could consider themselves a little.\nIf Mr. Murray hadn't summed up\nat a distance so accurately about\nJessner without seeing the show I\nwould not dream of suggesting this,\nfor I should have known that my\nsuggestion would have been taken for\nfantastic and unpractical theorizing.\nBui since he has done so well with\nso little to go on, why shouldn't we\nall have a try at it that way.\nMr. Murray is I think right. This\nmethod of stagery does do great harm\nto Shakespeare's plays. The Shake-\nspeare wonders dwindle and disappear.\nAnd no one in his senses wants that.\nNow as everyone of the people who\nscramble to get a seat to see Shake-\nspeare played night after night in our\nLondon are in their senses the\npassionate rush to see and hear his\npiays proves it all of us are and\nmust be against any and every method\nof production but the right one.\nNow what is that?\nI don't want to take your mind and\nMr. Murray's mind off that point so I\nwill say no more on it for the moment,\nmerely promising Mr. Murray my\nundying support and cooperation if\never he can evolve such a method\nand put it in writing, or even point\nto such a method. It will long ago\nhave appealed to the people who\ncrowd in their millions to hear and to\nsee the lovely works of Shakespeare\nperformed.\nIt has presumably been tried, this\n44 right way \". I take it it can't have\nbeen slurred over. I happen to know\nthe right way. Only I would like to\nhear Mr. Murray explain to us all\nwhat that way is. It's not to be\neasily explained, I admit, but it's\nexplainable.\nIt's not Irving's way, not Poel's\nway, not Barker's way; not the Old\nVic way or the Playfair way, and\nit s not the Thorndike-Casson or\nBridges Adams way; it cannot be any\nof these ways for they have recently\nbeen tried and tried again.\nIt must be a far more popular way\nthan all these and at the same time a\nway which will satisfy the spirit of\nShakespeare.\nSo tell us what is this RIGHT\nway, Mr Murray.\nThe author of this pleasant book\nis less happy when he comes to write\nof Lord Byron. Quoting from 44 Man-\nfred \" he sums him up:\n\" This should have beenanoble creature....\n• . • . . * as it is\nIt is an awful chaos—light and darkness\nAnd mind and dust and passions and pure\nthoughts\nMix}d} and contending zuithout end or\norder—\nAll dormant or destructive: he will\nperish \".\nand, adds Mr. Murray, 44 That is all\nwe C3n say of Byron as a man\nMy Lord Bishop of Durham, Herbert\nHensley Henson, in his noble essay on\nByron is able by the grace of God to\nsay more:\n'* Praise and blame are alike unfit-\n-44 ting in presence of a career so enig-\n-44 rnatic and so mighty. Give me\n44 leave to adapt his own words\" about\n44 his favourite among the ancients,\n11 A!cibiade3, and apply them to\n\" himself:\n- Yet upon the whole it may be\n44 doubted, whether there be a name\n44 of modern times which comes to us\n44 with such a general charm as that\n44 of Byron. Why? I cannot answer:\n44 who can? \"\nMr. Murray is almost one of our\nbest critics, and I expect that before\nlong he will be quite one of our best.\n\nSIXTEEN DESIGNS FOR THE\nTHEATRE by Albert Rulherston.\nOxford University Press. Price four\nand a half guineas net.\n\nMR. Rutherston'S book is not cheap.\nIt is perfectly printed on the\nvery best paper and quite worth its\nfour and a half guineas. It doesn't set\nout to be a popular book, only 475\nnumbered copies are for sale, and I\nonly hope that, out of the £ 2297\nwhich will come in if every copy be\nsold, the admirable artist will get a\nproper share.\nAs a rule the artist gets far too\nlittle.\nWe suppose him roiling in wealth.\nWe say 44 look at this,—here's his\nbook just out—costs four and a half\nguineas. There are 475 copies: that\nmeans £ 2297 on a rough calculation.\nFancy Rutherston getting all that\nNow follow me a moment.\nSuppose the cost of making this\nfine book, its paper, its collotypes, its\nprinters, its binding and binders take\n£ 500 of that sum. Suppose another\n£ 500 goes to the trade, ie, is split\nup in small percentages to the book-\nsellers, book-forwarders, bookc-arriers\nand book-carriers' horses, to the book\nboomers and any book bunkumites\nwho are hanging around.\nThen deduct £ 250 for copies not\nsold but sent 44 for favour of review \".\nThis all mounts up ; it reaches the\nsum of £ 1250 :that we will say only\nleaves about £ 1 000 over. The Oxford\nUniversity Press takes something—l\ndon't want to suppose how little,- so\nthat what's over for our poor artist ?\nBelieve me, jolly little.\nThere are sixteen designs in the\nbook, fourteen for costumes and two\nfor scenes,\nThe costumes are charming and char-\nmingly drawn in. They lean towards\nthe pictorial rather than the dramatic.\nIf I see a sketch for a costume I want\nto be able to say at once without\nlooking at any index 44 That's for\n44 Macbeth , yes, and for the porter\nin Macbeth : or 44 that's for Laertes in\nAct V. of Hamlet\". I should be puz-\nzled to guess correctly about these Ru-\ntherston costumes.\nAs for the two scenes, I should be\nas much at sea. What play or opera\nthey could be for I could not guess.\nBut believe me, they are most beau-\ntiful scenes, and quite the thing for a\nfine theatre—if we had one fine enough.\nThey are just' right for a ballet, per-\nhaps one would do for a play by\nShakespeare, but not 44 for Androcles\nand the Lion '* as one of them is\nlabelled.\nThere is another thing I dislike:\n44 to hang in folds \" says the direction\nof the designer.\nNever would I allow any artist as\nfine as this one to spoil his own work\nby attempting to be courteous in this\ntragic way to our difficult stage.\nI would have asked Mr. Ruther-\nston to allow the scenes to be hung\nwithout one crease -to do what he\nliked to them but not to kill them\nbecause he felt it was 4i best to be on\nthe safe side \".\nAfter they had been used I would"}, {"page_pdf": 46, "page_imprimee": "82", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.46", "texte": "have hung them round my studio under\nslabs of glass and turned my studio\ninto one of the most decorative artist s\nfoyers conceivable.\nI would never have allowed them\nto vanish.\nLet us thank the Oxford University\nPress that it has reproduced them\nboth as large folding plates—for they\nare two of the loveliest scenes the\nBritish Stage has to boast of.\n\nE. G. C.\n\nTHE COMIC AND THE REA-\nLISTIC IN ENGLISH DRAMA\nby John B. Moore. Unioersity of\nChicago Press. Price dollars 2.\nTO Mr. Moore the thought of\nunalleviated five-act comic drama\nis essentially unpractical. Mr. Moore's\ntheory is that it is so, and theoretically\nI am tempted to side with Mr. Moore\ntill I remember that I have seen a\nthree and a half hours comic drama\nunrelieved by anything at all grim or\ngrey or even realistic and I am no\nlonger on Mr. Moore's side.\n1 leave my theory with him while\nI stop to ruminate once more on what\n1 enjoyed in a theatre no longer than\nfour years ago.\nI regret the labour given by Mr.\nMoore to the preparation of this little\nwork: 1 regret the work itself: because\nI know that if he had lived in an age or\neven in a land where real people were\ntrained in the right way and not\nin the wrong way, trained to feel,\nto see, to think and to know a\nvery great deal before they were\nallowed to begin to write a book, I\nfeel that Mr. Moore would have by\nthis time taken up some other job or\nwritten something with imagination in it.\nMr. Moore' 9 book lacks all imagi-\nnation. He is like a hundred others\nwho are writing books, and writing\nthem on Dramatic or Theatrical themes.\nI can't blame Mr. Moore but I curse\nthe syslem which has killed his book\nfor him,\nAmerican or English Universities\nwhich have no mother wit in their\ncomposition are wretched institutions\nand are doing a great deal of harm.\nCommonsense, where are you that\nyou cannot force an entry into such\ninstitutions and rouse them to better\naction? You are growing weak, Com-\nmonsenre I\nBut it s Mr. Moore's fault, not\nours cries the Institution, 44 we can't\nhelp it if one of our scholars is a fool\nBut Mr. Moore is no fool he is\na clever man, a most industrious man,\nand an excellent example of fidelity.\nHad I been in your University of\nChicago I would have roused Lucifer\nor Apollo, the Muses nine or even\nthe ordinary deuce in Mr. Moore,\nand damm6, you've allowed him to\nbe dull just because you yourselves\nhadn't any understanding of the impor-\ntance of training the imagination.\nWhy, a jockey couldn't be taught\nhow to ride if he were put through\nsuch a wretched systematic non-training\nas almost all your institutions put their\nmen through.\nBut go it, Mr. Moore don't be\ndown-hearted: one big fall helps a\nlot, and we wish you well at your\nnext fence.\nThere is a little book by a certain\nJames Rhoades published by John Lane\ncalled 44 The Training of the Imagina-\ntion '. It consists of forty pages of\ntext and is the size of a ready reckoner.\nIt is the printed version of an ad-\ndress delivered in 1885 to an audience\nconsisting exclusively of public school\nmasters.\nRhoades confesses to some misgivings\nabout publishing it. But men searching\nto get to grips with a real method of\nexplaining the wonders they have come\nacross in their research and studies\nneed have no misgiving about getting\nthis shilling book, for those who\nhave not been lucky in getting help\ntowards that imaginative state into which\nit has pleased God to call the happier\nones will find there nearly all they\nwant and lack.\n\nSHADOWS OF THE OLD\nBOOKSELLERS by Charles Knight,\nwith Preface by Stanley Unwin.\nPeter Davies Ltd. Price 6/- net.\n441T is recorded that the manuscript of\n* Robinson Crusoe passed through\nthe whole trade before it could find a\npurchaser \".\nTHIS brief fact extracted from one\nof the essays in this most agreable\nvolume is vivid, is it not?\nSuppose a work of equal merit by\nSir James Barrie for example; suppose\nit should have to drag round London\nto find any publisher interested enough\nto pay a few pounds for it, would not\nthe dailypapers appear with indignant\nheadlines ?\n44 SIR. J. M. BARRIE INSULTED\nGREA T A UTHOR'S WORK\nREJECTED BY /5 PUBLISHERS.\nSOCIETY OF AUTHORS TAKES ACTION.\nDe Foe was nearly sixty years of age\nwhen Robinson Crusoe was being\nshunted from publisher to publisher.\nHow is it th<it he was treated in this\nway while, to Sir James, the town\npays reverence and fat percentages?\nWell, you will learn more of this\nmatter in this book: you will learn\nhow the great writers of those days„\nbehaved: something of the dignity of\ntheir calling comes out as you grope\namong the shadows of these old\nbooksellers.\nThe story of Samuel Richardson,\nprinter, ...one of our writers not afraid\nto work for a living and write for his\nlife, is told here delightfully as the\nage in which he lived reveals itself,\nshowing us that dear Old\nwhich even now had best be our\nmodel for the future if we are to\nhave any future worth considering.\nAmerican methods are bully; for\nAmerica they are just the finest pos-\nsible: but for England I should say\nthey were harmful.\nGrace, even the rudest grace, is any\nday more becoming to England than\nthe bully methods of the States: and\nto follow the European, and, where\npossible, the British tradition in all\nthings is not unbecoming, nor so stupid\nneither; to attempt to adopt the Ame-\nrican lack of tradition is to flirt with\nbankruptcy.\nTo render England bankrupt should\nbe the very last wish of any whb\nremember its ancient grace and com-\nmonsense. But who does?\nThis is what you will be continually\nreminded of if you sit in the corner of\none of our old bookseller's shops and\ncommune even but slightly with its -\nshadows.\n\nHA WKERS AND WALKERS\nIN EARLY AMERICA by Ri-\nchardson Wright• 68 Illustrations.\nLippincott Co. John St• Adelphi;\nLondon. Price 2] j- net.\nTHAT old Yankee jingle which\ngoes\nCharles the First hawked and walked\nHalf an hour after his head was cut off**\nand which refers to a trick act which\nCharlie Chaplin put into one of his\nfilms, testifies to us how original\nAmerica can be.\nBut this book deals not with celebri-\nties so famous as Charlie the first: it\noffers us every kind of Hawker, all\nsorts of Walkers omitting Walker,\nLondon.\nHere for the first time we get a\nglimpse of things which no one in\nEurope ever suspected existed:— The\nYankee Pedlar, The Artist as an\nItinerant, Terpsichore Perambulant, the\nnursemaid dancer, presumably. Chap"}, {"page_pdf": 47, "page_imprimee": "83", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.47", "texte": "Books, Street cries, and one and all\nso original.\n44 Scissors to grind J\nJingle, Jingle, goes the Bell\nAny Razors or Scissors,\nOr Penknives to grind?\nI'll engage that my work\nShall be done to your mind\nand above the verse is a little wood-\ncut which, unless you are ridiculously\ninclined to credit England for all the\nchap-book cuts, you will acknowledge\nas genuinely American.\nBut even if you are not in search\nof originality, you can find in this book\na good deal which will interest you,\nprovided Hawking and Walking takes\nyou. If not, then riding and driving\nor sailing down rivers perhaps: and\nthis volume has some pleasant designs\nof coaches, boats, et cetera.\nA reproduction of an American\nstage-coach is particularly interesting\neven though it may, for all I know,\nresemble line for line a French stage\n- coach.\nThere is a chapter on Circus and\nTheatre which will please some of our\nreaders, and any Little Theatre can\nlearn from it exactly what to do, if\nthey have only a company of eight\nactors and wish to perform Sheridan's\n44 Pizarro \" which has in it from seven-\nteen to twenty-five characters.\nMr. Sol Smith, the well known\nAmerican actor, will show them\nhow to do it; —hi? speciality was\nLittle Theatres and Big Plays. He'd\n' take six to ten parts himself, give two\napiece to some three or four others,\nand ring up the curtain. His actors\nwould each get about two dollars for\nan evening's show if there were two\ndollars to spare.\nHis roles in 44 Pizarro\" were:\n1. High Priest of the Sun\n2. Almagro a Spanish officer\n3. Blind Man\n4. Sentinel\n5 Valverde, secretary, and,\n6. Guards.\nNot six guards perhaps, only two,\nhis right side and his left side: but\nSol Smith had ideas; not the ideas\nof Reinhardt or Dantchenko, but what\nthe public would recognize as good\nold Smith ideas .... ideas which had\nbeen in the family for centuries.\nBut if you like what you read in\nvMr. Wright's book about So! Smith\nget down your 44 Romance of the\nAmerican Theatre \" by M. C. Craw-\nford and you'll find more about him\nthere, for Miss Crawford supplies us\nas a rule with what the other Hi-\nstorians of American Theatres are apt\nto pass over; but I have often\nmeant to ask this authoress why she\ndates Rachel's death as falling on\nJanuary sth.\n\nTHE BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRE\n{La Morte Amoureuse) by Iheophile\nGautier. Translated by Paul Hookham.\nA. M. Philpoi Ltd, Price 5/-\nAS I read no French, this transla-\ntion delights me, for too seldom\nare Gautier's writings handed on to\nus group of outcasts, we monoton-\ngued.\nNeither' do I know much about\nthis French writer, who was born in the\nPyranees and died in unhappy circum-\nstances in Paris. So that the Intro-\nduction by M. Gustave Rudler is\nhighly pleasing—all but the old fib.\nIt has been spotted in three different\nbooks reviewed or quoted from in\n44 The Mask\" in the last five years\nso you will already know the fib I am\ncoming to is that of the red waistcoat. It\nwas a pink waistcoat. But I won't\nrepeat what others have said but will\nonly draw your attention to the remarks\nabout said waistcoat on Page 171 of\nthe last volume of 44 The Mask \".\nGautier was twenty-five years of\nage when he wrote these pages which\nappear to be so easily imagined and\nwritten, about one who might not love\nyet did so love: who, dwelling in the\ndusk and in coldness dreams his way\ninto another existence.\nTo read at fifty what this young\nman wrote at twenty-five is to me of\nparticular importance, for we were\nborn on the same day, August 31 st,\nhe in 181 1, I in 1878. I am twenty-\nfive years older than he today,\nand, adding the difference of dates\nwhich is sixty-seven years, I am by\nthis calculation ninety-two years older.\nThis has more to do with the\nenjoyment of this tale than it may at\nfirst appear to have. I think that no\nyoung man could enjoy this tale quite\nso well as 1 have done. I delighted to\nsee the daring of twenty-five, yet the\nease and distinction with which he\nadvanced, the prodigal way in which\nhe poured all the resources of his rich\nimagination into this tale about nothing\nin particular.\nAre such young men being born\nthese days ? any Ganders. Hugos, Du-\nmas or de Mussets? 1 his is not a\nparticularly sane age into which any\nyoung genius should be invited to step.\nEighteen hundred and eleven was after\nall 1811.\nThe world still had farms and far-\nmers; it was obliged therefore to yield\nus fresh milk and good eggs; it still baked\ngood sweet bread—and what butter and\nwhat cheeses 1 Horse 3 came prancing into\nthe world unafraid of the competition\nof cog wheels, their fathers and uncles\nstill champing about Blenheim and\nRamillies, the youngsters getting ready\nto draw the chariots in the Procession\nat the Christening of the King of\nRome, after which parade, off to win\nsome spur pricks at Borodino.\nAt such a time genius delights to\nbe born, and Gautier shows his de-\nlight. Listen how he begins his tale:\nyou would never guess that anyone\ncould begin a tale as he does, that is\nto say, in the right way.\n44 You ask me, brother, if I have\nloved ; yes. It is a strange and terrible\nstory, and although I am sixty-six years\nold, I scarcely dare to stir the ashes\nof that memory.\"\nHow much the translation loses for\nme I will not thank any one to tell\nme: I am quite happy as I am: I am\ngrateful to Mr. Paul Hookham (spite\nof a name which he should never use\nin his work any more) and I think\nthat there can be few better translators\nliving.\n\n44 V/OLFGANG AMADEUS MO-\nZART\" by Dyneley Hussey. Kegan\nPaul & Co London. Price 7/6 net.\nA Pleasant Tittle volume about the\nusual tragedy.\nIt is not a book for those few men\nand women who can recognize genius\nand appreciate the arts : it is for the\npublic and costs seven and six-pence.\nIn it the public will learn all about\nthe great musician who, thanks to the\npublic, was \" a prophet without ho-\nnour \", I quote from the author.\nMeditating even briefly upon the\nenchanting music of this Maestro, won-\nder soon is roused that the public was\npermitted to destroy him so soon. He\ndied at thirty-five. He had but half\ndone his work ; it was good work ;\nwhy permit the public to destroy him ?\nFor it was not those with appreciation\nwho let him die ; they were merely\nhelpless; it was the others—the public.\nTo day the same scandal is permit-\nted ; musicians, painters, writers, archi-\ntects, are all pestered to death ; when\nwill the silly waste, the tragic stupi-\ndity, be controlled ? artists are not any\nmore numerous to-day than yesterday.\nIt is easily within the power of\nmankind to encourage the growth of\nall artists instead of tormenting them.\nGreat and small should all be preser-\nved, encouraged, developed, allowed\nto do their work, ....Why not ?"}, {"page_pdf": 48, "page_imprimee": "84", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.48", "texte": "Why n0t.... there is no reply.\nBut the reason they are killed off\n(and I don't exaggerate) is that works\nof art need as much sustenance as\npuppies. I have two puppies, and the\nmother, a rough and tumble dog, does\nher best. She had eight, and only\ntwo have survived. But even there\nthe two get bumped and terrified to\ndeath by her savage old way. She\nis a dear old dog, lovable and fierce.\nBut she is only a dog. You are men\nand women, and all these puppies,\nthese artists of yours, are in daily ter-\nror of what is coming next; either\nyou put one of your feet on them, or\nyou sit on them, and, finding they are\ndead, you eat their bodies.\nI suggest that it is time for the\nwhole matter, a spiritual matter, a matter\naffecting the souls of millions of people\nto be enquired into. If you fail\nto enquire into this your own soul,\nmay you be eternally damned is my\nsincere and hearty wish after reading\nthis life of Mozart.\n\nDr. CHARLES BURNEY'S CON-\nTINENTAL TRAVELS 1770-\n1772. Compiled by Cedric Howard\nGlover. Blackie and Son. Price 10/6.\nNOT as valuable to the student as\nthe whole Burney reprint would\nhave been, this book of extracts will\ndoubtless prove very entertaining to a\nwider public.\nBurney's records are interesting and\noften very exact, but his statement\nthat the 1770 Theatre in Milano had\na hundred boxes in each of its five\nrows puzzles me. If he refers to the\nTeatro Ducale, a hundred is incorrect,\nfor that playhouse had about thirty-six\nin each row, and 1 cannot suppose he\nrefers to any other. 1 never yet came\nacross any theatre, old or new, with a\nhundred boxes in each row. He also\nmentions a Palazzo Simonetto : it should\nbe Simonetta, the palace of the surprising\necho.\nSound, music, singing, opera, all\nthese set the old man travelling around\nFrance and Italy, and everywhere\nstops he goes to the theatre ; for,\non the continent, it has been a tradi-\ntion for many centuries to include opera\nas part and parcel of the term Thea-\ntre : their theatre is in two parts, Tea-\ntro Lirico and Teatro di Prcsa.\nIn England not long since a bright\nlad asked in the columns of the press\nwhether one can quite justly include\nopera as part of the theatre:.... it's\nthe fog which gets into the brains of\npeople who ask questions like this.\nBut to Dr. Burney again.\nWhen he visits a theatre he follows\nGeorge Jean Nathan's advice and looks\non it as a theatre before the curtain\nrises on the Drama or the Opera. So\nhe takes stock of the place and puts\ndown what strikes him as to the size,\neffect, customs of the special theatre\nhe is in : and, when correct, as he is\nmore often than not, he is of great\nvalue to us today.\nWith the travel records of La Lande\nand de Brosses, Goethe and Smart,\nlie forms a small mine of information\nuseful to architects who complain of\nnot being able to find sufficient infor-\nmation about the 1 heatre construction\nof Italy.\n44 The Mask \" has vdone much to\nsupply all the valuable information its\nsmall amount of space will permit of,\nas 1 know by reading 41 The Mask\nand I am grateful to those who have\ntaken such trouble in this matter, and in\nan age when people seem so indifferent.\nBurney was not a good traveller so\nhe often was most uncomfortable, and\nquite unnecessarily so. This puts me\nagainst a bock of travels unless it be\nalso a book of hairsbreadth adventures ;\nand Burney doesn't travel for ad-\nventures ; he travels for the arts, and\nshould go a bit more easily to quite\nplease us as we read.\nHe has a number of wise reports to\nmake on Melastasio, and amusing ones\non the splendour of the wax lights at\nthe Naples Theatre which are 44 too\nmuch for the aching si ght \".\nWell worth reading, after all, these\nextracts, and the book is a very nicely\nprinted book.\n\nADVERTISEMENT DESIGN by\nR. P. Gossop. Chapman and Hall\nLtd. Price 21 /- net.\nNEVER were so many good books\nbeing issued as now on this sub-\nject of Pictorial Advertisement and\nthe value of Design to the Advertiser.\nOur author, Mr. Gossop, (a very\nable artist) concerns himself mainly\nwith British work, crowding one good\ndesign after another into his pages,\nsome being in the most brilliant co-\nlours, and makes of the volume a thing\nworth having merely to look at. It is\npeculiarly entertaining to have a look\nat the hoardings for the first time al-\nthough we have passed them daily for\na year.\nBut the value of the book is to\nadvertisers. Here they have a refe-\nrence book of the best kind. With\nthe 44 Studio \" publications it forms\nalmost an Encyclopaedia of modern\nadvertising possibilities.\nBy the way, isn't it time the Thea-\ntre managers moved forward in this\nmatter of Design 7 If the Natural\nHistory Museum can use such a design\nas that facing page 147 and the-\nUnderground Railways employ Mr.\nPaul Woodroffe as they did in 1926,\nand other Railways get a design from\nR. P. Gossop, whose plate (face\npage 108) is delightful, and the Royal\nMail Line employ Mr. Taylor (face\npage 112), surely the Theatre can do\nas well if not better than all these.\nBut they should first go to consult Mr.\nGossop so as to do it thoroughly.\nThere are dozens of artists for the\nadvertiser to select from.\nT. C. Derrick designs very pretty\nthings, and Fred Pegram is always\ndelightful. E. McKnight Kauffer is\nvivid, as all London should know by\nthis time.\nWhat does the 1 heatre want ?\n....pretty, delightful or vivid ?—it as\noften as not selects an ineffective de-\nsign.\nPerhaps it doesn't quite grasp the\nworth of these things. I take it that\n£ 100.0.0 would not be too much\nto pay the artist for a really good\ndesign. .. though a clever youngster\nshould be happy to get £ 1 5.0.0.\nIt's so often this doubt about the\nprice and who to ask which damps\nthe gunpowder..., and thus the Thea-\ntre fails to get quite as good as it\ndeserves to get.\nMr. Selfridge has been one of the\nmen who understood what it meant to\npay artists well and to secure the best\nartists. It is so important: in fact,\nit is after all the first and essential\npoint : that is why I mention it here.\n\nACCESSIONS LIST 1926 of the\nDepartment of Engraving, Illustration\nand Design. Victoria and Albert\nMuseum, Issued 1927,\nTHIS department of the famous Mu-\nseum at South Kensington is al-\nways adding a little to its collection\nof Theatrical designs for scenes and\ncostumes or theatrical subjects. I count\nsome forty entries in this list, among\nwhich are some scene designs by the\nTelbins, William Telbin the elder\n(1813-1873), William Telbin the youn-\nger, and Henry Telbin (1840-1865)\nbrother of the younger felbm: a num*\nber of costume designs by Charles\nRickelts A. R. A., and two designs\nby Albert Rutheraton, one by Not man\nWilkinson : a scale model by George\nSneringham : a scene design by Clark-\nson Stanneld and a design for an Act-\ndrop used at Drury Lane Theatie"}, {"page_pdf": 49, "page_imprimee": "85", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.49", "texte": "when it was rebuilt and reopened\nin 1922.\nI should like to see in the collec-\ntion a few examples of the Theatre\nwork of Claus Richter who exhibited\nat the International Theatre Exhibition\nin London, for his work is serviceable.\n1 hat word means a good deal used\nhere. Many artists dash off very pretty\nor strikingly ugly unserviceable designs.\nI find that the Russians, Polunin, Gout-\ncharova and Larionov, are among the\nnumber.\nDesigns by Richter are always of\nservice to the stage and understandable\nby those who work on a stage ; but\nthen Richter was an actor.\n\nIL GROTTESCO NELUARTE E\nNELL A LETTERATURA by\nGino Gori. Alberto Stock. Roma.\nPrice lire 24.\nHAVING written this interesting\nlit lie book on a streak which\nruns through the Arts and Letters,\nSignor Gori asks Signor Massimo\nBontempelli for a Preface. And Si-\ngnor Bontempelli talks of the Ci-\nnema.\n44 The Cinema is our language'1 he\nsays. He wondeis how it is that\nSignor Gori hasn't understood that the\ngrotesque (which Signor Gori says is\nnow apparently empty) has in the\n44 Cinematografica dell'Arte \" an \"am-\nbiente propizio\", that is, a favourable\nfield or setting.\nI fully expect to hear someone\nshortly telling shoemakers that it's\nabsurd to complain of the scarcity of\nleather because the age of the cinema-\ntograph offers the very finest film from\nwhich bedroom slippers can be simply\nreeled off by the million.\nThis Ci nema has got on to every-\none's nerves and critics are beginning\nto write with their nerves since it\nwould appear that, by using the brains,\nit is impossible to find anything good\nto be said about the Cinema.\n\nTHEATRE. Essays on the Arts of\nthe Theatre Edited by Edith J. R.\nIsaacs. Little Brown & Co. Boston.\nPrice $ 4.50.\nFOR my part I should have sup-\nposed that the Theatre was not a\nshop, not a stores : but it becomes a\nstores if several arts are sold there to\nthe public and if the public is slyly\nspoiled and given what it whimpers or\nblusters for.\nIn that case those who look after\nthat sort of I heatre are right to as-\nsume that role of retailer or purveyer,\nwhich comes naturally to Mr. Seifridge\nwithout any assumption.\nBut if the Theatre be something\nmore than a stores,—if it be like a\nPicture Gallery or a Library, which are\nm ade with some sense of dignity for\ntheir two uses, then it will also like\nto preserve that old sense, a universal\nsense, and will not claim to house more\nthan one art, and that art its own.\nThe Theatre had best only aim to be\nsomething like a Library or a Picture Gal-\nlery: I mean by that, it had best not\naspire or be making any steps to be-\ncome more than these : it may not be\nreaching to the solemnity of a Univer-\nsity, or of a Church. If ever it did\nso it woul i still have to remember that\nUniversities and Churches have for\nsome reason avoided the Stores idea.\nThe Church has held but one thing\nReligion: Universities but one thing—\nLearning.\nA church which had gone in for\nselling metal work and carpets, bro-\ncades and looking glasses on the steps\nof its altar would have been a huge\nsuccess.... for five years. After that,\nor after fifteen or twenty, it would\nhave crumbled. A University which\nshould indulge in Public display of any\nkind would have also soon fallen.\nYet the Theatre, for some unknown\nreason, has been content to do what\nneither Church, University, Gallery\nnoi Library thought in any way fit.\nIt edges up, snuggles up to the side\nof the big Stores. Funny things are\nsold across the footlights or at the\nstage door. M Here's an idea '' says\nsome prize-fighter to the manager weary\nwith rehearsing actors. 44 Come and\ntalk it over in the pub \" replies the\nmanager, or 44 in the club \", ....it's\nabout the same thing only not so jolly.\nAnd the Prize fighter begins: 14 My\nidea is that you engage me and Mike\nBilkins for your old Covent Garden\nTheatre and that we make a regular\nstunt of it There his idea stops :\nbut the manager actually engages him.\nand Covent Garden Theatre was turned\ninto a prize fighters' ring.\n44 But my idea \" says Fraulein Ja-\ngermann to the Duke at Weimar\n(Goethe being out of earshot) is to\nappear in a play with a poodle\n44 Capital idea \" cries August the hun-\ndredth—and the Royal Theatre is tur-\nned into a foolery.\n44 I have always had the idea \" says\na solemn impresario to a group of\npressmen round his table 44 to make a\ngreat Review or Parade of a hundred\nof the loveliest girls.... 44 Go no\nfurther, Boss—it's GREAT \" cry the\npressmen.\nAnd so on and so on and so on»\nAny old thing has done for the Thea-\ntre it would seem, and any old thing\nwon't do.\nAnd so it is a good sign to find in\nthis book written by a dozen or so\nAmericans, edited by the lady who\nedits the 44 Theatre Arts Monthly a\nseries of essays which show a desire\nto limit, to some extent, this wholesale\ntraffic in any old thing.\nFor we must. remember that the\ni heatre is the house of one thing only\nand that is the Drama. Lyric or\nProse Drama, Mimo-drama, Marion-\nnette Drama (this but a small affair\nfor children, of course) and that's\nabout all.\nI don t like seeing the Theatre even\nused as an Odeum or as a Dancing\nHall : but where Dancing and Ora-\ntory come into the Drama without ob-\ntruding themselves (and they both do\ncome into it) then place can be found\nboth for Dancer and Orator.\nIt would indeed be a dangerous\nstate for the Theatre to get into if the\nDramatist ever began to feel that he\nwas being crowded out of the Playhouse\nby a pack of prize fighters, poodles,\ndancers and orators. But he has his\nstaunch allies, and whether he write his\nplays, compose his operas or invent his\nmimo-dramas, the Dramatist will al-\nways be able to count on the Manager-\nProd ucer who is master of the House\nand who sees that j all things are\nready for the reception of the Drama.\nBut there is another person to fear\nand that is the amateur. If thirty\namateur notion-mongers, scenic fellows,\nactors, producers, were to push or\ninsinuate their way in through the stage\ndoor there would have to be thoughts\nof revolution.\nAnd the so-called old-fashioned part\nof the professional theatre senses all\nthese dangers. That is why the pro-\nfession is unable to move and do very\nmuch. It just holds its breath, does\nnot stir, and tragically hopes against\nhope. It knows.\nThe so-called New Movement which\nis represented by this book of Mrs\nIsaacs must now do something to un-\nderstand this. It must be a friend to\nthe so-called old-fashioned professional\ntheatre.\nHow that can be done is both hard\nto discover and as easy as to say 4; Here\nwe are again\nNo one questions any longer the\nability (up to a certain point) and the\ngenius (far beyond that point) of the\nNew Movement.\nAnd in Germany, in Russia, in\nHolland and in Poland, in Ireland and"}, {"page_pdf": 50, "page_imprimee": "86", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.50", "texte": "in odur plcxes where clher and grea-\nter troubles show them the futility of\ntussmg about this Theatre trouble, the\ngenius and ability of the New Move-\nment has made good friends with the\nso-called old-fashioned group, and all\nare now united.\nIt would be well if in America and\nEngland, in France and Italy, in Spain\nand in Belgium the so-called old-fas-\nhioned Theatre and the newer artists,\nactors, dramatists and ail could join\nhands, meet, and realize that they\nhave but one common enemy, and\nthat is the outsider who would like to\nuse their house for his prize-fights, ci-\nnemas, dances and other purposes, and\nthat as their destiny is to uuite, it\nwere all to the geed to do so without\nany more delay.\n\nMOLIERE'S PLAYS\nAND THIRTEEN OTHERS.\nWHY do playwriters fail to foil w\nthe Moliere tradition and\nfollow it exactly too ?\nI should better understand their fai-\nlure if plays had been failures\non the boards.\nBut here is the excellent Rann\nKennedy with thirty years of practical\nexperience as actor, producer and play-\nwright, running counter to the whole tra-\ndition of the stage and glorying in it.\nAnd here is Arthur Schnitzler writing\na little masterpiece again, a long mo-\nnologue made for Ruth Draper and a\nproducer who feels equal to the task,\nand calling it a novelette. I don't\nblame either of them; I only continue\nto wonder what can have come over\nplaywrights to leave their citadel, open\nthe gates, and ask for sudden death\nat the hands of the public, the actors,\nthe producers and all.\nThe se thirteen 0) plays are all very\ndifferent : and scrne are distinctly bel-\nter than others ; but one and all de-\nsert the strong position taken for them\nby the Commedia dell'Arte and for-\ntified by Moli^re.\nIt is not surprising then if today the\nProducer is asked to take a lead, for\nhe will assuredly do his best to re-\ntake the fortified place and give it\nback to the genuine dramatists. I hat is\npretty certain, I think.\nIn order to realize what has been\nlost you have only to buy the Plays\nby Moli&re issued at 95 cents by\nBoni & Liveright in their Modern Li-\nbrary.\nYou will immediately discover that\nthe translation is a poor one—the names\nof the translators are not given ; and\nyou will, if you follow my advice,\ngive away this 95 cents' worth to a\nhospital and you will purchase a copy\nof Wall's translation, issued by Bell\nand Sons ; it is in their Bohn Series.\nI his is presuming you read French\nuneasily.\nTo read Moliere uneasily does not do.\nBetter the imperfections of a good trans-\nlation so that you can go along quickly\nthan a jerky voyage through the ori-\nginal.\nAnd when you read these plays\nyou will see what it is that constitutes\na good play.\nThere is no one to equal Moliere in\nthe making up of a good play. He\nhas studied in that ancient school\nwhich ordered the writer to 44 cut it\ndown to half and leave nothing out \" :\nthat to begin with. Then he has re-\nmembered a wise saying, 44 Do not give\ntoo fine a point to your wit \". He\nhas never forgotten the old joke, 44 Cut\nthe cackle and come to the 'osses \". In\nfact he reverences the stage, the au-\ndience and the craft of playmaking\nand never quarrels with B. G. Lulli\nwho is fond of productions. Playwrights,\nplease copy.\nBut there is one of these thirteen\nplays I wish to pick out from the\nrest. Not because it is a better play\nthan the rest, but because it is de-\nliberately less of a play than the\nothers.\nIt is a series of episodes, and no\nstage manager, no producer can fail\nto appreciate the compliment paid him\nby the author, who, without indulging in\nlaudation of the producer's craft, docs\noffer him a hundred opportunities and\noffers them courteously.\nHis piece is called 44 Casanova \" :\na fantastic chronicle in seven Episodes\nwiih a Prologue and an Epilogue \".\nWere I a producer, I must admit I\nshould prefer to work upon a sketch,\na scenario or a play like one by Mache-\nlovskovsky where .no stage directions\nof modem ed tions are to be found.\n(The stage directions of Machelov-\nskovsky are all of them inserted by\npeople since he wrote the plays and\nare not worth a fig.).\nBut next to a blank cheque of th s\nkind I must say (were 1 a producer)\nI'd enjoy such a series of incidents as\nMr. Gribble offers me, for 1 should\nfeel 1 had a sympathetic collaborator\nwho would never haggle about the\nwords and would even (willingly) insert\nnew phrases where they might seem ne-\ncessary as the Episodes began to take\nshape on the Stage.\nMr. Gribble certainly makes a ges-\nture which the producer must not far!\nto respond to. It is a friendly and\ncourteous nod in his direction.\n(I) PLAYS by MOLIERE. Boni &\nLiveright. 95 cents.\nAfA .S A A/S6W Ay Charles Lee. Dent\n(ft Sons //-\nBANNS OF MARRIAGE by\nCharles Lee. .Sows //-\nPETER & PAUL by H. F. Rubins-\ntein, Benn Ltd. priee not given.\nEXODUS by 11. F. Rubinstein <# Hal-\ncott Glover Benn Ltd. price not given.\nSHAKESPEARE by H. F. Rubins-\ntein & Clifford Bax Benn Ltd. \"\nERA ULEIN ELSE by Arthur\nSchnitzler Philpot Ltd, 5/-\nPEERS WOODMAN by Ber?iard\nGutlbert, THE MOON RISES HIGH\nby Herman Ould and THE ONE ETER-\nNAL THING by A. G. Berrisfotd Black-\nwell, Oxford 3/6 each.\nPLAYS FOR IHREE PLAYERS\nby C. R. Kennedy. University of Chi-\ncago Press 12/6.\nCASANOVA by G. D. Gribble. Jtout-\nedg* 5l -\n\nI WANT TO BE HAPPY by\nWilliam Plait. Melhuen &P Co,\nPrice 3/6,\nA MAN'S DAY ON EARTH by\nWilliam Piatt. Bale Sons, price 3/6.\nWHEN the Englishman is very En-\nglish he is often very young.\nMr. Platt is a teacher—and just\nthe very man to teach, for he is kind\nand he is patient and he is young and\nno one would ever be frightened of\nhim. There again, when the young\nEnglishman is very English he easily\ngets frightened.\nAnd Mr. Piatt's book may frighten\nhim, but he won't read it: he'll read -\nMr. Piatt's face and listen to his mu-\nsic, and he'll go out and play hockey\nwith Willie Plait and be quite uncon-\nscious that this man of past sixty-five\nis educating him to be a fine fellov.\nPiatt has genius : he has chosen to\nput thst rather into his life and the\ndaily task of helping others than into '\nany old books which, after all, he\ndoesn t like. He's bookish but he\ndoesn't r ally like books : he likes the\nopen road and the earth. And in his\nsecond book about a day on that\nearth he rushes through with it so as\nto get out and breathe the fresh air\nand play more games and make eve-\nryone happy.\nHappiness is his theme and he ra-\nces on and doesn't even bother to note\nhow unhappy he has made me by a\ncaricature of a much loved master of\nmine, a man who never bothered (ap-\nparently) to make his pupils happy,\nwho never was out of the stuffy at-\nmosphere of a theatre and who frigh-\ntened us all to death.\nThrough and through he was kind- *\nness itself, but he didn't look it:"}, {"page_pdf": 51, "page_imprimee": "87", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.51", "texte": "whereas Piatt both iooks it and\nis it.\nBut fancy describing Irving as \"a\nbadly dressed actor *\\talking in a shop\nto a tailor who was \" adamant \",\n\" pleading \" with this tailor for \" a\nlittle more credit \", the tailor \" refu-\nsing to listen \" and finally \" sent him\naway \".\nThis of Irving, who was never badly\ndressed, never pleaded, commanded\nalways :—with whom no one durst be\n\" adamant \" lest they became foolish ;\nand who was never \" refused\nAs for \" sent away I feel like\nsending Piatt away, only I once met\nhim with a group of artists and so-\ncialists up Hampstead way and thought\nhe looked what in England used to\nbe called \" an old dear \".\nPiatt, as a matter of fact, is an im-\nmensely able man, and all he does in\nthis life is to attempt to hide this\nand to bring out the ability of others\n\nSEPT COMEDIES DO MO YEN\nAGE. Illustrated. Editions Spes. Paris.\nPrice Frs 1\nCOMEDIES by Holberg,. Humphrey\nMilford. Oxford University Press.\nPrice not given.\nAS THEY SEEMED TO ME by\nUgo Ojetti, Translated by Henry\nFurst, Introduction by D' Annunzio.\nMethuen Price 6/-.\nTHE ADVENTURES OF FIVE\nHOURS by Sir Samuel Tufa. Holden.\nPrice 7/6.\nFIFTY YEARS OF SPOOF by\nArthur Roberts. John Lane. Price 12/6.\nTHE ALCHEMIST by Ben Jonson.\nCambridge University Press. Price 2/6.\nB|| J JIJ| „ J,, pißim—l—WW I lIIIWW ■IIIHIM «N^RNRwR—-rrrimr—————\nTHOUGH I know better editions of\nthese \"Sept Comedies\" I don't know\nbetter comedies. These are real stage\nplays plays made by actors or actor\nauthors, or by writers who were taught\nby proper experience how to stop\nwasting words and (a very vulgar trick)\nhow to get laughs. I'm very sorry to\nhave to descend in these days of Me-\nthuselah to blithe pithy matters, but the\nmain thing for a play writer to do if he\nwish to die a play-Wright is to come\nstraight to the point and make it.\nThen make another: allow two minutes\nbetween the more dazzling points, but\nfill these minutes in with a few sparks\nhere and there. Keep this up for an\nhour, and you'll die a playwright sure\nenough, my son.\nOf course old Holberg was a play-\nwiight he died in 1754, in Soro.\nAnd when ycu see Johannes Poulsen\nplaying Erasmus Montanus you 11 think\nHolberg wrote it for him. And in a\ncertain sense he did. He wrote it for\nan actor (ie a man who can act), not\nfor clever people who mumble and\nfidget; and, Poulsen being born ACTOR,\nit follows, as the evening the afternoon,\nhe wrote it for Poulsen.\nHolberg was not as good at a play\nas was the author of \" Paihelin, \" but\nhe will do : he belongs to the great\nschool the school of l'm\nnot sure I like using the word great in\nthis connection because school\nis anything but great, It's no more\ngreat than is a big bush of roses\nit's like a bush of roses goes on\nand on and is a!l right in all weathers:\nout come the roses punctually to a\nday up goes the curtain and pat\ncomes the first bud of a laugh or a\ngreat burst of blossom right away.\nHolberg is here translated for us by\nCampbell and Schenck and very well\nthey have done him. It's not a book\nthat came out this year; it appeared\nin 1914; but there was not a moment\nin that year to risk the safety of De-\nmocracy by reading any damn fool\nplays.\nNow is the moment when no other\nrisk is worth while—and may Demo-\ncracy be shattered is my very heart-\nfelt wish. Playing these plays would\nhelp to shatter it; —it would be a\nsure sign that all was up with that\nhumbug if all the really good and\ngenuine plays had long runs 0).\n\" Holberg's sense of fact was pictu-\nresque, rather than profound\" writes\nCampbell in his Introduction '• <nd\nwhat profounder does any but a fa-\ntuous world ask for?\nIT is because Signor Ugo Ojetti U so\npicturesque that he is so profound.\nIn his rapid sketches of people as he\nsaw them he enchants the reader. He\nis a vivid writer, and has eyes that\nlook into and through things. He can\nsee through to the Mother of Duse.\nDuse has only to help him a very\nlittle. He can see through to Gari-\nbaldi while speaking with his wife.\nHe sees Puccini, D'Annunzio, Lloyd\nGeorge and King Victor Emanuel.\nHe saw well this last man—a very\ngreat man, surely never drawn more\nperfectly than Signor Ojetti has done\nin a few lines.\nAnd he can see into Voronoff and\nZola.\nEveryone of the forty four essays\non people, places or things written of\nin this delightful book is good, and\nsome are beautiful. The translations\nby Mr. Henry Furst are perfect, and\nGabriele D'Annunzio's introduction, in\nthe form of a letter written to his old\nforeign legionary Furst, is to me as\ncharming and full of lovely things as\nD'Annunzio himself has always been\nexcept to the cynical or to the egoist.\nI don't know whether this has been\na \"best seller\", this little book; but\nI know that if 1 wanted to give a\nfriend many delightful hours I would\ngive him a copy of this book by\nOjetti.\nI should feel far less certain of giving\nmy friend any delight at all if I were\nto offer him a copy of \" The Adven-\nture of Five Hours\" by old friend\nSam Tuke.\nBut I would risk taking him to see\nthat play if I knew where to get\nseats for it: for I feel that it's\nplayable.\nPepys loved it and swore it to be\n\"in one word the best for variety\netc. etc. that ever I saw \". The rum\nfellow even read the play three years\nlater and found it better than\n\" Othello \", wrote that \" Othello \"\nwas \" a mean thing \" after Sara\nTuke's play.\nAnd this shows that when acted it\ncan be good. For, when reading it\nin 1666, Pepys recalled what the\nactors had done and how, and all the\nrest of the show: without that to help\nthe reader I much doubt if any but\nthe exemplary ones could get past the\nfirst three pages and live. But it's a\nnicely printed, nicely bound book, and\nif there was a Big Theatre Movement\n(a thing Europe and America stand\ngreatly in need of) I could hope that\none Big Theatre would try it out at\na rehearsal.\nAs for the Little Theatre Move-\nment, which only acts as bait for spe-\nculators, I would say \" leave it alone \".\nMr. Arthur Roberts knows what I\nmean. —He has written a book so\nfull of commonsense, and states so\nclearly what he thinks of the decay\nof personality that I'm sure the public\nwhich loved to see and hear Roberts\nwill never be gulled by this Little\nTheatre Movement. Aias, it's the\nlittle wriggle itself which will be gul-\nled and swallowed up.\nArthur Roberts has the great gift\npossessed by Moli&re and Holberg:\nhe can make his points at once. It\nseems to be out of fashion, this di-\nrectness; whereas the other thing is\nadored \" it's as easy as lying \".\nTo make your point directly is the\nmost difficult thing to do; it needs\npersonality and again personality and\nthen a vast experience.\n\n(i) There's another play would help\ntoo called 4 Der Snob of which I\nhope to write later."}, {"page_pdf": 52, "page_imprimee": "88", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.52", "texte": "And 1 can understand how it was\nthat Arthur Roberts made his points\nat once on a stage; but how it is he\ndoes it in a book, like any thorough\ntrained journalist would do it, must\nhave staggered as well as delighted\nhis countless admirers.\nThe book is full of sound sense\nwell writ and hilarius. It never\nflags. It begins and ends brilliantly\nand is up to the mark all the time.\nIf only the learned Ben Jonson had\npossessed one eighth of the personality\nof Arthur Roberts his 44 Alchemist\nwould not have sent me to sleep.\nI admit that this is a famous play,\nbut there you are it's like one of\nthe famous plays of our days, famous\nbecause fogies have said it s wonderful.\nAnd it's not wonderful; it's able,\nand it is well writ in a scholarly way;\nbut no one in his senses ever asks a\nplaywright to be scholarly.\nWhat we want is something actable\nsomething lively, 44 Othello,' or\n44Tartuffe\": and then anything less\nseems a miss-fire.\nHave I your wink, William of\nThe Mermaid, that Ben Jonson was\na missfire? have I yours, Jean Poque-\nlin ? All right.\n\nTHE ENGLISH DRAMA by H.\nF. Rubinstein. Benn Ltd. Price 6d.\nI think there are no books being is-\nsued which are half as good for\nthe price as these sixpenny books.\nMr. Rubinstein seems to agree with\nMr. Ivor Brown that the producer is\nat last going to be asked to prove\nwhat use he can be to the Drama,\nand,— provided he is not asked to\nproduce gorgeous spectacles for thirty-\ntwo guineas—l daresay the producer\ncan and will prove of service.\nI believe Mr. Rubinstein unintentio-\nnally misinterprets Mr. Brown when\nhe says that be has 44 shown how\n....the failure of the supply of fresh\ndrama automatically raises the status of\neither actor or producer \", I think\nMr. Brown means something more\nthan that.\nBesides, there has been no failure\nto supply fresh drama. Never have so\nmany dramas been written as in re-\ncent years... many of them first-rate.\nAll they lacked was a theatre under\na producer with singleness of purpose,\nto carry them across the rather turbulent\nfootlights.\nNo ship would set out with eight\nor more different fellows telling the\ncaptain that he didn't know how to steer\nand that they did know. And this\nhas been going on now for too many\nyears. The one man who can un-\ndoubtedly steer the theatrical ship is\nthe producer. And for twenty years\nthe producers in Germany and in Rus-\nsia have steered well. Reinhardt and\nStanislawsky for example.\nWe have lost those twenty years,\nwondering whether we really could or\ncould not trust Craig.\nWe came at last to trust Barker but\nwe backed out of it. Then we trusted\nDrinkwater * and Dean—but we feel\nrather doubtful as to the issue. I sup-\npose it's timidity on our part. It cer-\ntainly is not very long-sighted of us.\nSuggested :—that we wake up and\ndo the thing properly by trusting all\nour best men and giving them plenty\nof opportunity of doing all they can.\nAnything else is fast becoming ri-\ndiculous.\n\nFRANCOIS VILLON by D. B.\nWyndham Lewis. Peter Davies.\nPrice 10/6.\nON LOVE, Stendhal Chatto &\nWindus. Price 7/6.\nLA CHANSON DE MA VIE by\nYvette Guilbert. Grasset (Paris);\nPrice Francs 12.\n\nI would like to take the last book,\nfirst, but I have nothing to say of\nit which has not been said better by\nall the best writers of France. So I\nwill do the unexpected and start at\nthe beginning with the book on Villon,\nAt the first glance at the book I\nfelt sorry to think that any writer\non 44 The Daily Mail \" should, during\nhis off hours, write about a prodigal,\nan unashamed prodigal who was a\npoet, a cut-throat and so on.\nIt gave me a shock at first.\nBut by the time I reached page I 1 5\nI was relived to find our popular hu-\nmourist splashing on the white-wash\npresumably lest one million of the old\ncrowd should chance to come across\nthe book.\nAnd thus it falls out that he comes\nto speak of Villon's passion for Ka-\ntherine de Vausselles being 44 undoubt-\nedly the nearest thing to a pure and\nsteadfast love \".\nVillon in collar and cuffs, spats, and\ntopper, approving and disapproving\nand playing down to the 44 pure and\nsteadfast\" lovers of Bond Street is\njust the sort of picture one expects\nfrom our D. B. W. L.\nBut, as a matter of fact, Wyndham\nLewis has written a very serious book\nabout a dev'lish serious subject, and,\nwhile making it one of the most enter-\ntaining historical novels of the season,\nhas never forgotten that what he is\nwriting of is or rather was all true; so\nhe has at the same time made it\nexact.\nVillon was made so strangely that\nit's a wonder he lived so long, battled-\nthrough, and found time to write\nmuch. But then he could write well\nand that was everything. It was easy\nthen to live long and battle along.\nBut he certainly was made strangely.\nMr. Lewis knows him far better than\n1 do; but for all this, when I came to\npage 143 and read Mr. Lewis's\nreading of 44 Que sais je plus? Quoy?\nLes gaiges ravoir\" for some reason\n1 actually had the audacity to differ\nfrom Villon's historian. I apologize,\nfirst for he must know: but, guessing,\n1 find a simpler solution.\n44 There is \" writes Mr. Lewis,\n\" undoubted evidence in the Ballade\nde Blois, if it is examined again with\nattention, of a coolness between Villon\nand his host: the whole Envoi becomes\na humble and apologetic plea for pardon\nfor some offence, and in the line\nQue sais je plus ? Quoy ? Les gaiges ravoir,\nthere is crystal-clear showing that\nVillon had had his wage stopped\nfor some solecism or misdemeanour.\nHad he broken out suddenly at table\nwith an oath or a too ripe story from\nthe Trou Perrette? Had he burst at\nlength into the mincing, exclusive\ncircle of little . literary men and\nblackened a poetic eye ? Had he\nhad trouble with the seneschals, or\ncreated a scandal in the servants' hall,\nor attempted gallantry with my Lady's\nmaids? He had offended the Duke,\nit is obvious, and the Duke had cut\noff his stipend.\nNow I see it quite differently. To\nme Villon is only doing in verse what\nLeonardo da Vinci did in prose, and\nMartinelli the actor did in doggerel,\nand every artist was expected to do.\nLeonardo's patron was the Duke of\nMilano, and this prince was of the\nusual kind, rich and brainless, feeling-\nless, forgetful. Leonardo wanted to\nbe paid, and for that pay he had to\nwrite an entertaining letter.\nMartinelli the actor had as his Pa-\ntron Henry IV of France and that\nprince was all humanity, able and rich\ntoo, but none the less forgetful; deli-\nberately so; it was expected of patrons;\ni and it was to him that Martinelli\nwrote some brilliantly stupid jingles\nt asking to be paid.\nIn short, every artist who could\n, talk or write brilliantly and who had\na dash of genius in him always did\n, write and ask to be paid.\n\\ So that it by no means follows that"}, {"page_pdf": 53, "page_imprimee": "89", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.53", "texte": "Villon had \" offended the Duke \" or\nhad \"broken out suddenly at table\".\nIt s an excellent reading of the part,\nI admit, but it s too spectacular.\n\" Dear Sir, I am tired of waiting\n\" any longer for payment due to me\n\" for those camel hair brushes which\nyou purchased at my shop last cen-\n\" tury is what impatient colour-men\nwrite to the Princely artists of our day;\nbut there has been no quarrel; merely\ndeliberate forgetfulness on the part of\nthe artist.\nAnd theoretically how right of the\nartist. Liberated from the old servi-\ntude he has today become a Prince,\nand puts on the airs which our princes\nof today have no use for.\nIt s all he has to put on, poor\nart st; isn t he welcome to the airs ?\n(By the way, you who live in\nshire near Stroud, you really ought to\npay up your last two years' subscription\nto 44 Ihe Mask\"; for I hear from\nFlorence that your princely way is\ncausing hard workers some extra little\nbit of stress, so do pay).\nThe Duke of Milano in 1500, and\nCharles Duke of Orleans in 1457\nprobably had no notion who was paid\nor why anyone wanted money. They\nnever were paid—they never were in\nwant of monies. I think they were\nrather stupid.\nHenry IV was quite different; but\nthen Henry was a man generous and\ngood to all and on the whole not ex-\ntravagant, not wasteful like so many\nprinces.\nIt was of Mr. Wyndham Lewis I\nmeant to write; he is extravagant and\ngenerous; he gives us 355 closely\npacked pages, excellently printed, on\none of the most interesting subjects\nanyone who wants a thrill could\nwish for.\nHe gives us the life of Villon\nwhich was tragic and well run,\nconsidering he had the brains of a\nPoet of Genius and the blood and\nbone of a rogue: and he gives us a\ntranslation of nearly all Villon's poems:\nthese he mixes in with the History.\nShall I blame Mr. Lewis for his\nsentimentalities? I assuredly won't for\nI can't. Villon himself was amongst\nother things a sentimentalist: power he\nhad, but sometimes unexpectedly gives\nat the knees. At least so I suppose,\nfor I only think 1 know him.\nI would like to know as much\nabout him as Mr. Lewis must know.\nMr. Belloc in his excellent Preface\nsays that \" if you desire one word to\nuse as an antithesis to the word senti-\nmental use the word Villon\". And\nI suppose his meaning is clear; but\ncuriously enough it is the one weakners\nI would allow Villon.\nAnd I would allow it to Stendhal\nwho writes \" On Love \" as well as he\nwrites on Cimarosa or Milano.\nAnd indeed how write on love or\nmoney without being sentimental.\nWhat can arouse shallow emotions\nmore surely than Vamour or f argent.\nAnd why this new London craze\nfor being free from one more littleness.\nWhat foolery it i 3 to be incessantly\nfussing about the absense of trifles.\nWhy should Villon be free from\nsentimentality: good heavens, the thing\nwon t bite him. Mr. Belloc's phrase\nreminds me of the \" whatever you can\nsay about the man he never borrowed\na pennyor \" one thing we can\nfirmly state about her and that is she\nnever powdered \".\nAnd if he had borrowed a million\npennies, or she had powdered and\nrouged what then ?\nWell, London was, London is, and\nyet I hope London will not for ever\nbe the home of old noodles. But if\nyou desire one word to use as an\nantithesis to the word noodle use the\nword Belloc. And if you are fishing\nfor words with which to express per-\nfection in good plain bookmaking, utter\nthe four words Peter Davies Chatto\nWindus.\nP.S. And did it ever occur to\nanyone that Yvette Guilbert would be\nthe one person living to tell us exactly\nwhat Villon was—and what he means:\nand what Stendhal was and what he\nmeant?\n\nE. H. G. C.\n\nMORE P L A YS . (0\nTHIS author of 44 The Scarlet Lady \"\nis the other Turner—not the\nauthor of 44 The man who ate the\nPopomack\" whose name is W. J.\nTurner: this one is John Hastings\nTurner. And lam wondering if there\nisn't just time just time to change.\nIt's only a matter of one of them cal-\nling himself Renrut or Isherwood,\nRabchick or Giles or any other old\nname. But for two young writers of\nplays both to be called Turner will\nnot do.\nWhy this shyness, J. H., and why\nare you so shy, W. J.? how strange\nthat each should be a J.\nW. J. Turner is but thirty-nine years\nof age, J. H. Turner is only thirty-\nsix, so it doesn't matter a scrap which\nagrees to go on with the name Turner\nand which takes a new name. They\nwon't lose anything yet, but later on,\nif they continue both to write plays\nas J. Turner, it will tell against one\nor both of them. It's not in nature.\nThe Scarlet Lady is one of Mr. J.\nH. 1 urner's best although I rather\nfear that after a few nights, the lady\nAlicia would bore the theatre-goers.\nShe's not scarlet... She's only playing.\nHer trick is all right; it's she herself\nis so ordinary. I crave for some cha-\nracters in our plays who are not like\nthe mentalities we manage to avoid,\nand Alicia is a Mr, Turner\n».\nisn t.\n\" II Roveto \" by Angelo Nasalli\nRocca is a little play in three acts\nwhich has been played in 1923 by\nVirgilio Talli's Company in the big\nTeatro Comunale built by Antonio\nBibiena; - but this is nothing against\nit. For it was quickly selected by the\nCompany Caio-de-Riso as the very\nthing they wanted, and it has toured\nItaly for a long time,\nIt stands to reason that this, the\nthird play by our author, is a good\none; for Italian audiences do not go\nto the Theatre to see poor plays.\nNasalli Rocca doesn't waste time\ndreaming: nor polishing subtleties, nor\nlooking for too difficult themes: he is\na play writer who gives the public a\nplay which pleases it and at the same\ntime gives his actors an opportunity to\nperform it well or ill. Some play\nwriters make it impossible for actors to\nfail in their plays: this is no compli-\nment to the actors; it leaves them no-\nthing to do.\nOtway, for example, in his \" Ve-\nnice Preserved \" leaves it to the actors\nto do well or ill, and Otway's Tragedy\nis not only the best of the five reprin-\nted by the Oxford University Press in\ntheir World Classics, but has been the\nmost popular. It's emotional stuff, and\nall the better for that, for without it\nDrama is non-existent.\nThe \"No\" plays, three of which\nMrs. Marie C. Stopes reprints for us\nfrom a book she made in 1913, are\nas emotional as the Otway play or as\nthat by Signor Rocca. The quality of\nthe emotion is the thing interesting to\ncompare. Japan, from our English\n\n(i) The Scarlet Lady by John Hastings\nTurner. Blackwell. Price 3/6.\n\" Jl Roveto \" by A. M. Nasalli Rocca.\nStamp. Bodoniana. Parma. Price 6 lire.\nFive Restoration Tragedies. No.\nCCCXIII of the World Classics, Oxford\nUniversity Press. Price 2/-net.\nPlays of old Japan. Translated by\nMarie C. Stopes, with a Preface by\nBaron Kato, Eclipse Press. London.\nPrice 3/6.\nThe plays of Georg Buchner; tran-\nslated by Geoffrey Dunlop. Gerald Howe\nLtd. Price 7/6."}, {"page_pdf": 54, "page_imprimee": "90", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.54", "texte": "point of view, offers in the \"No a\nseries of quite unactable plays: yet\nstrange to say they have held the stage\nfor centuries and the Japanese are no\nfools. The No plays are as far from\nTchehov, from Ibsen and from Pinero\nas the moon is from the earth. But\nthere is one good thing to be said for\nPinero—his plays are really admirably\nadapted to the requirements and re-\nsources of amateur actors.\nThe book of the words of George\nBiichner's \" Danton has reached us\nsome years late for the photographs\nand designs of Reinhardt's production\nwe saw yeetrs ago. It is a propaganda\nplay and written to catch the conscience\nof the king—but when Reinhardt did\nit it was the production which was\nthe thing. Reinhardt was very sorry\nand apologized to-the Geiman Society\nof Authors, sending a £SOO donation\nand explaining and explaining that it\ncouldn't be helped. €J The poet died\nat twenty-four years of age, but assu-\nredly these three plays of his show\ngreat promise, and Mr. Dunlop s trans-\nlations are very ably done. Some of the\ndesigns showing how Reinhardt treated\nthe piece would have been well placed\nin this edition, which is well printed,\ncharmingly bound and inexpensive.\n\nTHE STAR OF PICCADILLY by\nLewis Melville. Hutchinson & Co.\nPrice 21 /-.\nENEMIES OF SOCIETY by Charles\nKingston. Stanley Paul & Co.\nPrice 12/6.\nSOUVENIRS DU VIEUX-CO-\nLOMBIER by Berthold Mahn.\nClaude Avelinet Paris. Price 90\nfrancs.\nSOME STUDIES IN BALLET\nby Arnold Haskell. Lamley & Cc.\nPrice 21 /- net\nALTHOUGH we would have sup-\nposed that old Q's life would\nhave furnished Mr. Melvilie with\ncountless documents, one more interest-\ning than the other, it does not seem\nthat there was much for this most en-\ntertaining'writer to go upon. Old Q's\nexistence was almost a round of dull\nevents. His friendship, his wagers,\nhis flirtations, his liaisons, his reputation\nwe hear of in this book, but the whole\nlife amounts to little compared with,\nlet us say, tie life Mrs. Jordan or\nLad)7 Hamilton's career. It is dull; and,\nwhat is more, there's no thread con-\nnecting his wagers, his friendships, his\nliaisons and his flirtations, and so his\nreputation, suffers. It was a bad re-\nputation, now become no better than\nit should have been.\nTruly difficult for a Michael Angelo\nor a Casanova to live up to the com-\nmon repute.\nOne hears too much of a Michael\nAngelo, and so, in a Piccadilly way,\ndoes one hear too much of old Q.\nAngelo survives it; Queensbury falls\nflat.\nIt is not Mr. Melville's fault for we\nknow how well he can string together facts\nwhich are interesting about such figures\nas Nell Gwyn or Beau Brummel.\nHis historical works on these and\nother like people become romances.\nWith old Q he had nothing to string\ntogether or he could have done it.\nMr. Charles Kingston in his \" Ene-\nmies of Society \" has an amazing mass\nof very good material, and very well\nhe handles it. His are true tales.\nThat touching the Famous Jewel Theft\nby Mr. and Mrs. Torpey is very\npleasing: and The Murder of Madame\nLaurent is most thrilling.\nThere are eighteen tales in all,\ntwelve to fourteen of which are all you\ncould possibly wish for.\nThe author is apt to use coinic\nphrases now and again which somehow\nfail in their effect of heightening the\nmelodramatic tension.\nMore successful when detailing the\nincidents of a robbery, he is only\nsurpassed by Mason of \" The Villa\nRose \" when it's a murder because he\nis tied to his facts.\n. Some good illustrations, mostly por-\ntraits by Spy, of Rufus Isaacs, Sir. H.\nB. Poland and Sir Frank Lockwood\nadd something to the book.\nAnd Aubrey Hammond's drawing\nof \" Old Q \" which 1 had almost for-\ngotten to mention almost makes me\ncurious again about that old Piccadilly\nLord. Aubrey Hammond is apt in his\ndesigning; that's because he's an artist;\nbut you are never made too conscious\nof this in his popular work,—and it is\ngrowing more and more popular, and\na very good thing too.\nThe fifty-five drawings which M.\nMahn has collected to together so as\nto show he remembers the Theatre\nVieux Colombier of Paris merely\nshow me that he never even saw it.\nHe was looking at himself, admiring\nthe point of his pencil or his pen;\nbut what Copeau was really trying\nhard to do is not in any way recorded.\nCompare M. Mahn with a good\ndraughtsman recorder of theatricals—\nwith Daumier or with Callot or with\nCruickshank or twenty others whose\nnames occur to you.\nThese men were keen to record an\nincident, a place, a scene, a bit here\nand a bit there — a reality every time.\nM. Mahn records nothing; he makes\nno effort to; he just scribbles.\nThe book does Copean an injustice.\nCopeau may not be a great actor or\na great producer, but he was ever a\nvery serious man trying to do his level\nbest at this Theatre Vieux Colombier.\nI would have liked to possess fifty-\nfive designs showing us the stage during\nrehearsals, Copeau at work there;\nJouvet discipling around him, and all\nthe other assistants busy at their work.\n—And everyone was very busy, very\nkeen; the work was serious.\nM. Mahn turns it all to frolh.\nAnd so 1 prefer a hundred times\nmore Mr. Arnold L. Haskell s\nof some of the Russian ballet danceis,\nwhich is issued sumptuously.\nHis records are photographs around\nwhich he writes, and both his opinions\nand photographs are interesting.\nAlicia Markova as photographed by\nRaphael is enchanting—and, what is\nmore, it's a good record.\nIn much that he says Mr. Haskell\nis very right, and if there had cniy\nbeen an English Ballet to write about\nthis author's critical faculties and en-\nthusiasm for dancing would have had a\nproper chance. As it is we can't bs\nexpected any longer to be enthusiastic\nabout a group of foreigners who have\ngiven us quite the wrong notions of\ndancing.\nWe mustn't dance that way. No-\nthing resembling Mentchiova or Pavlova\nmust be our model. English dances\nsay one thing, Russian another.\nWould you have our coming Shake-\nspeare writing plays to the model\nTchehov offers? Are we so utterly\ntongue-tied, brain-frozen, leg-bound\nand blind thai, we must ape the fo-\nreigner.\nI know we are not. What on\nearth makes us do it?\n\nA LONDON OMNIBUS. Chatto\n& Windus. Price 2/6-net.\nTHIS LONDON, ITS TAVERNS,\nHAUNTS AMD MEMORIES. by\nR. 7. Hopkins. Cecil Palmer. Price\nI 0/6- net.\nOOK not for whales in the\nL-i Euxine Sea, or expect great\nmatters where they are not to be\nfound is the quotation which starts\nthis booklet, though indeed 'tis a small\nwhale, this Omnibus, and in its innards\nall the little fishes swimming about ;\n1 it-bits and Wbite-baits all about\nFeasts \", \" Pickwick \", u The Ber-\nners Street Hoax\" and The Strand,\nand Clubs of Old London. It's well \"\nworth its two and sixpence."}, {"page_pdf": 55, "page_imprimee": "91", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.55", "texte": "And after this snack, suppose you\nstill feel hungiy for more London,\nMr. Hopkins is ready for you. With\nhis napkin over his left arm he will\nsee to all you require—the tip, 10/6,\nfirstt being usual.\nIn his book 1 discovered what may\ninterest you all; and that is that Bir-\nrell and Garnett the booksellers in\nGerard Street are the son of the au-\nthor of 44 Obita Dicta \" and the Gar-\nnett who wrote 44 Lady into Fox \".\nMr. Hopkins has a good chapter\non Shakespeare's public house, the\nplace near the Globe Theatre which\nhe popped into to escape from Burbage.\nMr. Hopkins might have given us an\nindex, but that's about the only fault\n1 can find with his entertainment.\n\nLIFE AND LETTERS. A New\nLiterary Monthly, Edited by Desmond\nMacCarthy. Published at 10 Great\nQueen Street, Kingsway, London.\nSubscription, 14/- per annum.\n-v\nFOR the first of June (and hereafter to\nbe published on the , first Tuesday\nin each month) was announced the first\nnumber of this new literary magazine.\nEdited by Mr. Desmond MacCarthy,\nthe magazine should within a few\nmonths become popular, for the watch-\nword of the magazine will be Variety.\nLIFE AND LETTERS is not out\nto tire anyone except the Editor and\nhis staff, and they seem intent on ma-\nking this new publication distinguished\nand intellectual, and this would be\nenough to damn it right away if the\nEditoi's mind intended merely to rest\nthere.\nHis wish is to give energy to the\nintellectuality and to put life into the\ndistinction. It is a sensible notion.\nAnd full of that same variety promi-\nsed, is the announcement that there\nwill be 44 sometimes A Carnival Num««.\nher in which well known writers will\nbe masked in pseudonyms\nThis naturally appeals to 44 The\nMask\", which has been one ridicu-\nlous Carnival number since 1908, with\nan occasional plainclothes figure mo-\nving in and ont amongst the maskers\njust to give it a touch or two of so-\nber black and to watch the diamonds\nbeing pocketed.\nAmong future contributors, of 44 Life\nand Letters \" we find the names of\nMiss Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey-\nSantayana, Logan Pearsali Smith,\nRoger Fry and Max Beerbohm.\nWe wish 44 Life and Letters \" a\ngreat time, and we ase quite sure that\nthe Public is going to have a maga-\nzine that will be wide awake.\n\nTHE TAMING OF THE SHREW,\nWilliam Shakespeare. Cambridge\nUniversity Press. Price 6/- net.\nTHE new Cambridge Shakespeare\nis admirable, but the Stage Hi-\nstory of each Play which ends every\nvolume needs a little attention from\nsomeone who . remembers some of the\nbest of good things and can help Mr.\nHarold Child in his research.\nWe naturally wonder if 44 The Ta-\nming of the Shrew\" has been pro-\nperly dealt with for 44 The Merchant\nof Venice \" wasn't.\nWe too should need some assistance\nin the stage history of the 44 Shrew \"\nand so we refrain from criticising Mr.\nChild. But in his Stage History of\n44 The Merchant of Venice\" he has\nforgotten to state that Ada Rehan\nacted Portia in a memorable produc-\ntion by Augustin Daly ; and in telling\nus of the production in 1875 when\nEllen Terry played Portia under the\nBancroft's management at the Prince\nof Wales's Theatre, he omits to remind\nus that it was to Mr. E. W. Godwin\nthat the production owed its ideas.\nReaders of 44 The Mask \" will have\nread Mr. Godwin's article which was\nreprinted in the first volume, that for\n1908. They may even have read it\nwhen it was originally published as\nearly as 1875 in 44 The Architect\".\nThis was the very year in which he\ncarried out some of his ideas for this\nplay in the Prince of Wales's Theatre,\nPractice and Theory going hand in\nhand.\nIf Herr Smackenheun cr M. Lofsky\nhad produced it as brilliantly as did\nGodwin, their work would have been\nremembered by Mr. Child and doubt-\nless praised.\nIt is getting more and more a habit\n(a very bad one) to forget the artist\npioneer when a Britisher: be he dead\nor living it is the foreigner who is\nmade more of. And the thing has\ngone on so long that it is, I think,\nquite time that our British journals did\nsomething to put things in their right\nplace.\nThe fatuous adulation of late and\ntoo late poured out on William Blake\nbecause (strange reason) death has\nticked off a hundred years to his credit,\nshould sicken everyone; and not only\nthat, it should persuade to better\nthings.\nWe hope the Cambridge Editors so\nmanage that no more such serious\nomissions occur in the next 44 Stage\nHistories \" of the Plays.\nThis said, what can be said of these\nvolumes but that they come as near\nperfection as anyone could possibly wish.\n\nEDITORIAL NOTES.\nAPRIL: MAY: JUNE\n\nPUBLIC OPINION.\nNURSE CAVELL FILM.\nTHE value of Public Opinion in\nEngland will soon become nil if\nit continues to express itself so stupidly\nas it did in the cases of the Nurse\nCavell Film and the Royal Oafa affair.\nYou can't put it down to the Berry\nPress. The Daily Telegraph and the\nother wide awake journals do their best\nto repeat what their million readers are\nsaying, and so there was an outcry\nagainst 44 the high-handed ways \" of\nSir Austen Chamberlain with the Films\nalthough he is never high-handed; and\nthere was some harm done to the fee-\nling of goodwill between nations which\nis doing its best to expand a little.\nAnd this became quite evident when\nLord Birkenhead wrote a letter to the\n44 Daily Telegraph \".\nThe unfortunate thing is that in\nEngland everyone is encouraged, in\na quiet unobtrusive way, to hold the\nwrong opinion and to express it without\nconsidering the harm it may do\nCommon-sense that rare thing\nis getting more and more rare.\nBut there is common-sense in Lord\nBirkenhead's letter, which runs:\n44 SIR,—In the discussions which are\nproceeding upon this subject it appears\nto me that the decisive considerations\nare being rather surprisingly ignored.\nThe question is not whether the Ger-\nman Government have any right to\nrequest a censorship over the British\nfilm. Most evidently they have no\nsuch right.\n44 The question is not whether our\npresent system—such as it is—or cen-\nsorship is satisfactojy. Very likely it\nis not. The question is not whether"}, {"page_pdf": 56, "page_imprimee": "92", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.56", "texte": "any films heretofore exhibited in Ger-\nmany have been calculated to give\noffence in Allied countries.\n44 The issues (for there are two) cut\nfar deeper.\n44 The first is: Is it in the interests of\npeace and internadonal goodwill that\nwe should perpetuate by public exhi-\nbition those incidents of the war which\nmost embitter its memories? Do we\ndesire, or do we not desire, that a new\nera of peace should dawn in Europe ?\n44 Do we, or do we not, desire by\nevery means in our power to increase\nthat mutual good feeling which must\nbe established in Europe unless all\nalike are to perish in ruin? Do we\nserve any useful purpose by exaspera-\nting and humiliating a Government\nwhich has shown by its repudiation of\nthe Hohenzollern dynasty its opinion\nof that dynasty and of its works?\n44 Is it really our wish that while at-\ntempting to complete the Locarno\nedifice, Baralong films, true or false,\nshould be exhibited in Germany; and\nNurse Cavell films in the Allied\ncountries ?\n44 I should myself have thought it was\na commonplace that every man and,\nstill more, every woman, of good in-\ntention, who does not wish to see his\nson or her son involved in another\nwar, would strive by every effort to put\naway the memory of these old unhappy\nthings in the effort to establish a new\nand more humane relationship.\n44 We are told that the existence in\nLondon of a statue to the heroic and\nincomparable woman whom it comme-\nmorates for ever, is inconsistent with\nthese views. It is not. A dignified\nmemorial to the immortal dead has as\nlittle relation to the incidents of a\nhectic film as a classical picture of the\ncrucified Jesus to the attempt to com-\nmercialise His anguish for the purposes\nof Hollywood.\n44 The second point seems to me to\nbe even more decisive. What would\nNurse Cavell herself have said about\nthis proposal? The true purposes of\nthis sainted woman—her only message\nto the world are engraved on her\nmemorial:\n44 4 Patriotism is not enough. I must\nhave no hatred or bitterness for anyone'.\n44 Does anyone suppose that the woman\nwho, at the very moment of her agony,\ncould speak like this, would permit her\ndeath to be commercialised with the\ncertain result that the bitter memories\nassociated with it would be kept alive\nand fertilised so as to prevent the sweet\nrestoration of friendship and good re-\nlationship between the nations of the\nworld?\n44 And what is the object of this\nadventure, oyer the frustration of which\nwe are invited to shed tears? Is it\nto preach a Holy message? Are the\nprofits to be devoted to some charitable\npurpose? Will they establish founda-\ntion scholarships to train a new gene-\nration of women to the Nurse Cavell\nstandards?\n44 Or are they intended to bring in\nprofit to the producer and those asso-\nciated with him? If this, indeed, be\nthe purpose, is it decent so to exploit\nthe agony and the sacrifice of the\nnoblest woman whom the war pro-\nduced? And so to exploit it in cir-\ncumstances which, as I have shown,\nmake it almost certain that nothing in\nthe world could have seemed more\nhorrible to that brave, proud, and\nsensitive nature? \"\nLORD Birkenhead has understood well\nand of course always speaks well ;\nand it is therefore a hundred to one that\nno one ever stopped talking to listen.\nPublic Opinion in England today\nstrikes us as not unlike Public opinion\nin Italy was before Mussolini became a\nnecessity,\n44 But we have no Mussolini \".\nExactly : but we have a Birken-\nhead.\n\nMORE SALZBURG.\nTHE disciples of Salzburg are going it.\nOne more, Mr Charles Ricketts,\nseems to be added to the number.\nHe has had the same idea as Salzburg\nhas had,—to do a Mystery Play in a\nCathedral.\nSomehow one would have thought\nthat an Englishman would make a short\nlist of the 44 stunts \" which Salzburg,\nBayreuth and Moscow go in for, and\nwould deliberately avoid repeating one\nof them. One supposes that the very\nfact of Salzburg or Moscow or Lisbon\ndigging up a nice old custom like this,\nwould be sufficient to put every artist\noff it. 44 Leave it to Salzburg \" one\nhad imagined would be the notion.\nOn the contrary, our artists, on hear-\ning Diaghilev has done Posh does a\nbit of posh three years later : on per-\nceiving that Reinhardt does Pish they\nmust peddle a bit of pish too—after\nanother pause of three more years.\nIt is as 44 old English \" as 44 old\nGerman this notion of Miracle and\nMystery plays done in churches—but\nReinhardt got in first with it this cen-\ntury and it seems puerile to come\ntoddling after in this way.\n44 The Coming of Christ \" written\nby John Masefield is sure to have\nbeen nobly written. Ricketts is sure to\ndress it well and the Cathedral in which\nit's performed will do the rest.\nBut the whole idea is what is so\npuerile, for it's only the ghost of an idea..\n\no R . A . D . A . o\nG. B. S. DOING HIS BEST TO KEEP\nBRITISH ARTISTS UNEMPLOYED. ~\nTHERE is an Academy of Dramatic\nArt in London—a Royal Aca-\ndemy of Dramatic Art. You go there\nby paying; you come out; you get an\nengagement if you can, and you are\nforgotten.\n,The directors, who ever they be,\nmust be exceedingly stupid. One proof\nof this ia, they have no knowledge of\nhow to get adequate teachers of Bri-\ntish birth (or how to keep these they\ndo get).\nThe Academy could be first class;\nit is not even fifth class.\nThey have now secured a Russian\n— presumably one who was left over\nwhen \" Arccs \" was raided. — Mr.\nGeorge Bernard Shaw recommended\nthis Russian.\nWe don't like the idea at all\nand, although theoretically we are all\nfor peace, we'd like to see all the\npupils troop out of this fifth class\nRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art\nand refuse to return until British in-\nstructors were given them —and none\nbut the very best. There are dozens\nof these idle today.\nIt is preposterous to allow foreigners\ninto the Royal Acadeuiy of Dramatic\nArt, and it is unlike Mr. Bernard\nShaw to act in the way he has done,\nbecause Mr. Shaw has never yet been\nridiculous,\n\nWHEN YOU HEAR....\nWhen you hear them bells go tingle\ntingle tingle.... American Song.\nWHEN YOU HEAR people talking\nrubbish about the unpracticality\nof the artist and his extravagance when\nproducing a play, remind them that in\n1924 a Wembly Pageant produced by\na man who was in no sense a Theatre\nartist cost £ 100,000 to produce, and\nwas run at a loss of £ 60,000.\nWHEN YOU HEAR people like\nMr. 1 om Douglas saying that 44 an\nactor does not go on to the stage ne-\ncessarily to raise the prestige of thea-\ntrical art, but primarily to earn a\nliving remind them that Irving, Kcan\nand Garrick deny this—and that every\ngood actor does so today,"}, {"page_pdf": 57, "page_imprimee": "93", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.57", "texte": "WHEN YOU HEAR young actors\nboasting they have gone on the stage\nsolely to raise the prestige of Theatrical\nArt put them down for young fools,\nat least admit it's no worse a\nboast than that of 44 the popular young\nactor\" Mr. Tom Douglas.\n1 hat the silly boast that 44 Art for\nArt s sake leads to failure\" should\nhave been accepted and printed by\nthe 44 Daily Mail \" is curious; for, if\nyou were to offer the 44 Daily Mail\"\nan article, by a journalist asserting that\nto strive to do the best according to\nthe best rules of journalism would lead\nto failure, the 44 Daily Mail\" would\nreject it with indignation.\n\nHO S T A N D GUEST.\nA SLIP BY\" THE TIMES'*.\nIN reviewing Mr. Ivor Brown's sen-\nsible book 44 Parties of the Play \",\na writer in 44 The Times Literary\nSupplement seemed as though bent\ns upon trying to undo the good Mr. Brown\nhad achieved by the moderation and\ngood sense of his attitude, by calling\non the ashes of the coals—by telling\nhim that in his book he 44 had not\ndistinguished clearly enough between a\nproducer who is an ally, a collaborator,\nan interpreter, and the new giant who\nclaims an absolute throne. The first is\na man with whom a dramatist may\n, treat ; the second is an enemy whom\nhe must destroy \". Etcetera.\nIn short, this writer again forgets the\n* old-time bond which exists between\nsuch collaborators as producer and dra-\nmatist, when they are friends—and\nalmost seemed eager to proclaim to\nthe world the impossibility that in En-\nglish friendship could exist. It is a bad\nthing to attempt to make enemies of\nmen who can be friends.\n* Our Theatre belongs sometimes to\none and sometimes to the other and\nsometimes to a third, to the actor ....it\nwas stupid then of this writer in the\nLiterary Supplement to attempt once\nmore to embroil these friends.\nThere is another bond between\nthem and that too he forgot.. . the\nbond of host and guest.\nIf a man is a dramatist and the theatre\nhis own he is in his own house and\ncan please himself whether he behave\nlike a surly old curmudgeon or a like-\nable host. But if the theatre is not\none's own one is a guest.\nIn the House of Moli&re, is\nthe host: in Burbage's Theatre Shakes-\npeare was a guest.\nSomeone must be host and the rest\n*guest3 ; we think this stands to reason\nand should never be forgotten.\nIt is a strange thing to find an En-\nglishman making a slip in such a mat-\nter, this fine point of good manners ;\nfor, without boasting over-much of our-\nselves, we can admit that the English\ngentleman is a real host and his guests\nnever forget that it is his house and\nnot theirs.\nYet here we have the good old\n44 Times *, and its anything but good\nold contributor, mildly suggesting l hat,\nwhether the house be his or no, the\nplaywright should behave like a boor,\nclaim the place as his, and that the critics\nand playgoers must stand at his side and\nsupport him in his boonshness and kick\nup a rumpus in a house not his own.\nNot a little Bolchevistic this idea, and\none which will therefore only appeal\nto a small section of Londoners. What\nis the 44 Times \" thinking of ?\nNo; the rule is this about the Thea-\ntre.- Whoever is the master of the\nhouse, whoever is the owner or holds\nthe lease, is host: here he collects his\nfamily ; re, his actors, scenic men, me-\nchanics and stage hands (1).\nHe then invites as a guest a play-\nwriter or a composer, or someone who\nis may be too much occupied to be\none of his family (and there you have\nit) for some cause which the play writer\nis powerless to alter.\nAnd the guest is an honoured guest\nif he be Shaw, Barrie, Pinero or any\nother playwright, but he is a guest.\nLet us hope that he will always\ntake a pleasure in remembering this, as\nindeed mo3t playwriters in the past have\never done. And so, even if the producer\nbe that terrible thing, a 44 new giant \",\nso greatly feared by the writer in\n44 The Times Literary Supplement \",\nand if he is the host, he will, we doubt\nnot, try to make everyone comfortable\nand at their ease. Have giant hosts\nalways failed ? Have the pigmies done\nbetter every time ?\n\nTHE AMATEUR STAGE IN\no GREAT BRITAIN, o\nIS THIS AMATEUR STAGE A\nGOOD OR A BAD THING }\nLET the question be clearly ans-\nwered :\nIn a land where the professional\nstage is doing its duty and making use\nof its best brains, forwarding the best\nnotions, playing the lesszr known and\nsometimes best dramatists, plays, expe-\nrimenting and yet preserving the very\nbest traditions, a merely earnest ama-\nteur stage of any large proportions\nwould be practically an impossibility.\nBut where the professional stage\nprefers to build and repose on all the\nminor conventions at the expense of\nthe ancient traditions, and practically\nbans all that can be produced by the\nbest brains, then the Amateurs thrive,\nthey increase by thousands; Drama\nLeagues crop up all around them and\nSocieties are formed and something is\nat last doing in a little way—at a\nvery great cost.\nIhe aim of almost every Amateur\nis to become a professional ; first he\nstrives to be criticised as one, then to\nbeat the professionals hollow, and lastly\nto quietly but firmly seize the strongholds\nof the stage one after another.\nFrom five thousand amateurs it is\nnot impossible for forty or fifty of them\nto emerge as excellent professional ac-\ntors, and from these may possibly de-\nvelope one man of genius.\nThis decides us. We are on the\nside of the Amateurs, since in En-\ngland professionalism has elected to side\nwith too much that is drab and dull.\nSince the professional stage refuses\nto help itseh, it must be helped ; since\nit prefers to be negative in its clubs\nand 44 don't know \" this and 44 don't\nknow \" tother, the Amateur Stage,\nwith its preference to be up and\ndoing, is decidedly to be encouraged.\nIt will know and it will try to know\nmore and to do better and better.\nThe most professional organ of the\nAmateurs is a journal known as 44 The\nAmateur Stage \", and is published\neach mouth at the price of 6d a copy\nat 44 The New Scala Theatre \", Char-\nlotte Street, Loudon W. I.\nWe learn in its columns about the\ndoings of men and women of whose\nwork we ought to have been told by\nthe professionals.\nWe get notes on Stage Craft, on\nDancing, on the craft of the Producers\nbesides other interesting topics. Ar-\nticles on French Comedy and on how\nto organize Amateur Societies ; on\nGrand Opera, on advanced Make-up,\non Progress and Cooperation, on the\nBarrel Organ, on Stage Noises, by Sir\nBarry Jackson, James Glover, Julius\nHarrison, C. S. Parsons and many others.\nThe 44 Amateur Stage \" is not\nhighbrow: if anything it is a shade\ntoo like the usual run of journals.\nThe usual stage publication too often\ndiscredits the intelligence of the actor,\nproducer and playywright: and this\nwill not do. 1 hese men without any\ngreat effort can reveal quite as great\nintelligence as any other men of culture :\nso that not to recognize and profit by\nthis intelligence is a grave error, and\none with far-reaching results.\n<0 Read iv hat Sac ha Guitry said only\nthe other day: see page 76."}, {"page_pdf": 58, "page_imprimee": "94", "url_page": "https://bluemountain.princeton.edu/bluemtn/?a=d&d=bmtnaau192804-01.1.58", "texte": "LAST WORDS.\n\nTHINGS ARE BEGINNING\nTODAWN.\nHenry A. Lytton\".\nWE came across an advertisement'\nof Ogee Grease Paints which are\nmanufactured by Osborne, Ganett and\nCo Ltd. London and are a British in-\ndustry, and, on the advertisement, a\ntestimonial from Mr. Henry A. Lytton\nwhose 44 Jack Point \"in 4 4 The Yeomen\nof the Guard \" is a master piece. This\ntestimonial ran as follows :\n\" Dear Sirs, 1 have given the Ogee\nGrease-paints a leally good trial, and\nfind them in every way superior to the\nbest German makes.\nYours very truly,\n\noA QUEST ION. o\no R.' S. V. P. o\n11 Comes up like thunder... crost the bay\nWILL the Royal Academy of Dra-\nmatic Art, admittedly the princi-\npal training centre for young professio-\nnals, inform us why a Russian, M. Ko-\nmisarjevsky, is regularly employed to\ntrain British Artists when many able\nBritish men and women are seeking\nwork?\"\nThis question was asked by \"I he\nAmateur Stage \" last month and it taps\nthe nail 011 the head that time, we think.\nThe rumble of thunder afar off\ndoesn't mean that a storm will burst -\nbut it might. A storm, even a little\none, which would burst over the Royal\nAcademy of Dramatic Art would be very\ndesirable.\nIt's a first-rate place run in a tenth-\nrate manner.\nIf our readers are eager to know why,\nwe will inform them in onr next issue.\nIt is un-British in having placed\nM. Komisarjevsky in a position only to\nbe filled by an Englishman—if an En-\nglishman pass the Academy's examina-\ntion or answer to its requirements.\nBut what does the Academy re-\nquire ? That we shall lay before you very\nsoon.\n\no MADAME YVETTE GUILBERT. o\nWE were delighted to read of Ma-\ndame Yvette Guilbert's triumph\nin London—her tenth, or is it her twelfth,\ntriumph there. She never fails so how\ncan she do anything but triumph. She\nis all that one looks to in a fine woman\nwho walks in the theatric fields—in\ngloves too.\nBut she might go with gloves or\nfor she is and will be ever the\nexample' for every other woman on every\nstage to follow.\nAs an expression, as a voice, a face,\n—in her immense reserve—and in her\nabandon, she is ever first-class.\nAnd as a woman of intelligence a\nof character we think there have not bee11\nmany such on the European stage for a\ncentury or two.\nMr. Hubert Griffiths wrote very\nwell of her in the 44 Evening Standard\na journal which, by the way, shows a\nmarked wish to see things bettered 011\nthe British Stage.\nThis has given a great deal of plea-\nsure to a number of people.\n\n—ni-M.i-i.TTOfrTimrTi r I »- \" ■inf wi\nSYMPATHY AND DISCRIMINATION\nLAND OF THE PILGRIM'S PRIDE AND\nMR MENCKEN AND MR G. J. NATHAN,\nThe Mask\nFlorence, Italy\nThe Editor,\n{protest against a slight, 110 doubt\ninadvertent mistake on your part.\nThe recommendation of 44 Land of the\nPilgrim's Pride \". by George Jean Na-\nthan. I do not feel competent to cri-\nticize your approval of his books on the\ntheatre. But this miscellany pretends to\ntreat of my country and the manners of\nmy countrymen.... Perhaps you are no!\nfamiliar with actual America. Then be-\nlieve me, Mencken and Nathan present\nno adequate picture. Their confirmed\nattitude admits neither of sympathy nor\nof discrimination. Everything is deplo-\nrable, else they would have no material.\nIn a world, and particularly a na-\ntion, where all that is beautiful should\nbe exclusively sought lor, I resent such\ndiligence in pursuit ot the unlovely, the\nmerely pathetic.\nRespectfully yours\nG. L. WATSON\nLondon.\n\nO THE MASK'S RfePLY. O\nSir :\nAs you give 110 address we cannot\nthank you privately for your com-\nmunication to us of your opinion of\nMr. Nathan's picture of America, so are\nforced to do so at the expense of one\nmore bit of reclame for \" Land of the\nPilgrim's Pride \".\nThis will be all to the good all round.\nFor you don't like the book, and others\nwill no,w have a fresh opportunity of\nagreeing with you, for, on reading what\nyou have written, they will assuredly\nbuy it.\nWe like Mr. Nathan and Mr. Menc-\nken : —Mr. Nathan for his ability and\nhis good sense in fighting for a better\nthatre without compromising : Mr. Menc-\nken for his friendship to Mr. Nathan,\n. ..for, to tell the truth, we do rather\nspecialize in Theatre, and so we have\nnot had time to study Mr. Mencken's\nwritings.\nIf what Mr. Nathan writes of Ame-\nrica be not true, then he is a most as-\ntounding paradox ; for all he writes of\nTheatre is especially true.\nIt is just that we admire him for.\nNow how can a man so straight about\nTheatre be so crooked about America ?\nHow can he so suddenly change ? Is it\npossible, we mean. If, as you say, his at-\ntitude admits of neither sympathy nor\ndiscrimination from you, than we can only\nsuppose that Mr. Nathan never wrote\n44 The Land if Pilgrim's Pride \" ; for\nto feel sympathy towards him and to\ndiscriminate in regard to his work is\nwhat we are sure you would best like to\ndo—being an American.\nAmericans are as full of sympathy\nand discrimination as any other people,\nand you must admit that these two vir-\ntues are in the ascendant today.\nWe all sympathize with our own\nland : it's power and its glory.\nThe power and glory of Money, for\nexample; when have any of us failed to ,\nsympathize with people who possess too\nmuch of it ! And we try. we honestly\nbelieve, to discriminate about our po-\nverty—if we happen to be poor.\nI am a poor man \" says the mil-\nlionaire, —44 comparatively poor \" he\nadds with great discrimination.\n44 I am rich \" cries the beggar wa-\nving his last bit of shirt in the air to\nthe birds. No one of course is near by\nor he would hide under the hedge;\n44 but I wish I had a couple of dollars V\nsays be. It shows lhat he knows some-\nthing.\nYes, these two virtues, sympathy\nand discrimination, are in the ascen-\ndant, and it must make us all proud\nand not a little moved, when we realize\nto the full that we are all of us really\non the side of the virtuous angels.\nDo we, do you, speak ill of Mr. Na-\nthan ? No, Sir, you are discriminate\nand full of sympathy spite of a seeming\nharshness.\nAnd after all you write without ma-\nlice and you are an idealist.\nYou seek in this world, you say,\nonly for all that is beautiful.\nWe are sure you do. Well, take it from\nus that Nathan is just like you there,\nand make it up, and, if you are a poor\nman, give one shilling to found the true\nand good American Theatre and the gift\nwill bring much luck to things that Na-\nthan will in ten years time from now\nsay he was wTong in finding a single\nfault with in America. Even as Dickens\nsaid ....when he could pause to recover\nhis voice -between his sobs at that fa-\nmous banquet in New York.\nAnd you will remember that Dic-\nkens spoke without discrimination when\nfirst he damned your country.\nWe are entirely of your mind, wo\nwant to see all that is beautiful in the\nworld and to sit 011 what isn't —in our-\nselves.\nWe take it that is what you mean,\nand are, sincerely, Sir,\nYours faithfully,\nThe Editor.\n\nA WORD OF THANKS.\nWE have to offer our thanks to\nDr. Torre for his courtesy in\nallowing us to reproduce the design on\nPlate 6.\n\nMR. ALFRED BISHOP.\n■■■■■! ■ ■■■■ 1, mm -r.TMIBBIJ,. ! 1 mi\nWE very much regret to hear of the\ndeath ol Mr, Alfred Bishop, one\not the ablest of English actors and a\ndear old gentleman.\n\nAll Rights reserved. June 1928.\nDirettore responsabile Antonio Mar ami. '\nTipografia Giuntina, Firenze."}]}