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A DRAMATIC CRITIC off his coat, and insists upon wrapping it around the slender figure of the girl against her pleased but earnest objections. On the left are a middle-aged married pair. The wife presently says, in a peevish tone, "Alexander, if you walked to the hall, you could send me an umbrella; " to which the husband promptly replies, " I 'd rather you 'd get wet." The deeper reasons of the law of the survival of dramas may not be laid down here and now, but a good negative work- ing-day rule of prediction can be furnished. It seems to be a part of the present order of things, at least in English-speaking coun- tries, that our dramas shall be ephemeral. Even the best of them are like insects, made to flaunt their little wings for a few hours in the sunshine of popular favor. The caprice of fashion deals out death with relentless speed to these plays. That they furnish the public with much enter- tainment is not to be questioned ; but they [ 44 ]
THE EPHEMERAL DRAMA have no essential beauty, or imposing breadth, or prevailing power to make their appeal potent beyond a year or less of life. " The best in this kind are but shadows," said the Dramatist of the World, in one of his remarkable expressions of doubt about the art of which he was Prime Min- ister and Master. The rule of negative prediction is simple enough : The play which never passes into literature; the play which, in "the cold permanency of print," cannot endure reading and reread- ing, has the sure seed of death within it. Out of a hundred contemporary dramas, ninety are flat and unprofitable on a first perusal, and ninety-and-nine are warranted to cause mental nausea at a second. Take Robertson's School, for instance, which was performed to delighted hundreds of thousands, in England and America, in the early seventies. Reading it deliberately to-day is like absorbing a gallon of weak, warmish eau sucree flavored with the juice [ 45 ]
- Page 13: NOTE The reader is informed of what
- Page 16 and 17: CONTENTS XVII. ADELAIDE NEILSON 1 5
- Page 19 and 20: REMINISCENCES OF A DRAMATIC CRITIC
- Page 21 and 22: INTRODUCTION and fascinating folk,
- Page 23 and 24: INTRODUCTION My equipment for my ta
- Page 25 and 26: II Spectacle, Farce, Melodrama, and
- Page 27 and 28: THE STAGE FIFTY YEARS AGO But what
- Page 29 and 30: THE STAGE FIFTY YEARS AGO men had c
- Page 31 and 32: THE STAGE FIFTY YEARS AGO with two
- Page 33 and 34: THE STAGE FIFTY YEARS AGO of the tr
- Page 35 and 36: THE STAGE FIFTY YEARS AGO a man of
- Page 37 and 38: THE STAGE FIFTY YEARS AGO bill of f
- Page 39 and 40: Ill The Worth and Impotence of Free
- Page 41 and 42: IMPOTENCE OF FREE CRITICISM hinting
- Page 43 and 44: IMPOTENCE OF FREE CRITICISM applaud
- Page 45 and 46: I IV Some Early Experiences and Mis
- Page 47 and 48: EXPERIENCES AND MISTAKES quent appl
- Page 49 and 50: EXPERIENCES AND MISTAKES outspoken
- Page 51 and 52: V Selwyn's Theatre and the Robert-
- Page 53 and 54: SELWYN'S THEATRE Sargent Curtis ; a
- Page 55 and 56: SELWYN'S THEATRE Colorado and the t
- Page 57 and 58: SELWYN'S THEATRE that of the life o
- Page 59 and 60: VI The Ephemeral Drama and the Endu
- Page 61: THE EPHEMERAL DRAMA culiar to their
- Page 65 and 66: VII The Great Dramatic QyiNQiJENNiU
- Page 67 and 68: DRAMATIC Q_UINQ.UENNIUM ton : first
- Page 69 and 70: DRAMATIC CtUINQ^UENNIUM — by clos
- Page 71 and 72: VIII William Warren, Comedian BOSTO
- Page 73 and 74: WILLIAM WARREN presented in the dra
- Page 75 and 76: WILLIAM WARREN Apropos of the large
- Page 77 and 78: WILLIAM WARREN must submit to a rec
- Page 79 and 80: WILLIAM WARREN voiced organ. There
- Page 81 and 82: WILLIAM WARREN depth and suggestive
- Page 83 and 84: WILLIAM WARREN through a vast galle
- Page 85 and 86: WILLIAM WARREN Senator from Massach
- Page 87 and 88: TRAINING FOR THE STAGE any other th
- Page 89 and 90: TRAINING FOR THE STAGE actors, and
- Page 91 and 92: TRAINING FOR THE STAGE not brought
- Page 93 and 94: TRAINING FOR THE STAGE rade;" Mr. M
- Page 95 and 96: TOOLE AND MATHEWS Mrs. Rousby, who
- Page 97 and 98: TOOLE AND MATHEWS rapidity against
- Page 99 and 100: TOOLE AND MATHEWS finesse, and dext
- Page 103 and 104: CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN figure and homely
- Page 105 and 106: CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN was great, the ac
- Page 107 and 108: CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN act, has been dis
- Page 109 and 110: CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN be so pronounced
- Page 111 and 112: CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN mendations " and
THE EPHEMERAL DRAMA<br />
have no essential beauty, or imposing<br />
breadth, or prevailing power to make their<br />
appeal potent beyond a year or less of life.<br />
" The best in this kind are but shadows,"<br />
said the Dramatist of the World, in one<br />
of his remarkable expressions of doubt<br />
about the art of which he was Prime Min-<br />
ister and Master. The rule of negative<br />
prediction is simple enough : The play<br />
which never passes into literature; the<br />
play which, in "the cold permanency of<br />
print," cannot endure reading and reread-<br />
ing, has the sure seed of death within it.<br />
Out of a hundred contemporary dramas,<br />
ninety are flat and unprofitable on a first<br />
perusal, and ninety-and-nine are warranted<br />
to cause mental nausea at a second. Take<br />
Robertson's School, for instance, which<br />
was performed to delighted hundreds of<br />
thousands, in England and America, in the<br />
early seventies. Reading it deliberately<br />
to-day is like absorbing a gallon of weak,<br />
warmish eau sucree flavored with the juice<br />
[ 45 ]
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