The evening world. Newspaper, November 14, 1908, Page 9

The Evening World Daily Magazine, Saturday, 4 - es QPXVDDRBOVDOINOGGHRGHSTOGSIOOOOPOHIHVOPWWDIOLH HHI’ PELE » David Belasco Declares That Molodraina 3 3 -- When the Serpent Entcred the Gard @ PVRPDHDPBLBDB DPOHBPHPHDPHPHOHVE HHH HHBPHOHEHEEPHPPKHPGHBHDPH BPE TC BHBPHBSDPH | ————— By Charles Darnton. ARDOU is dead! Long live melodram: As a matter of fact, melodrama is so very much alive in New York just at present that I sought out its American ruler to learn the reason. I found David Belasco in his workshop tinkering with aj} highly ornamental old Florentine lantern destined to| “break” a certain “I{ne’ in the Stuyvesant Theatre below. A younger man whose flowing tie and velvet | waistcoat proclaimed him an artist set the light of | other days on its tall standard, and the Gray Fox of | the Theatre, with a hand shading his eyes, squinted | up at it reflectively. Pieces of old velour, rich with the giories of the past, were brought up from the depths of a sagging pocket. A scrap of crimson was wrapped about the light blue pole, then a bit of rose. Good! Now for more prosate matters. But other relics in this theatrical | wurlosity shop halted us on our way to the door. Here was a dagger with which Kean had struck Tragedy to the heart. A jewelled snuff box that Fechter had carried was brought to Nght. Gleaming from its faded case ‘was a ring Charlotte Cushman had worn in more than one famous role. That silver buckle had adorned the hat of Adelaide Neilson. This leathern pouch had hung at Irving's side. One after another intimate tokens of departed greatness were exposed to the glare of 1908, only to be laid away Sn darkn rama of the present. Debauched Melodrama. “Melodrama is conspicuous on our Plage to-day," declared Mr. Belasco, because there Is. a dearth of good writ- ers. Manage! in their desperation, are forcing down the throats of people some- thing they don't care for. I don't think there is any rea] interest in melodrama at this time. It’s the ecsiest thing to mecure—that !s all Meloc outraged, debauch hibitions by half-naked dancers has con- tinued to run to sensationalism. But there will be a reaction. Managers who have exploited undraped dancers will be ashamed of themselves by this time next ¥ Exhibitions of that charac- ter cannot be excused on the plea of art. But I wish to make one exception. Th is one woman, Isadora Duncan, who needs no pardon. In her I saw only art. 1 listened her with my eyes. Years ago I saw that woman struggling reallz an ‘deal. She lved 1 bedroom on bread and wat id ow almost ragged. But she was sustatned by belief in f and in her work, A 8 y melodrantatt but it was dancing away from the sub- fect. The play was the thing, and ft was mecessary to lure Mr. Belasco back to it. ‘People demand the thoughtful, intel fectual play,” way. “They want the play of the hour, a has been | jee g d. It ts anything but! edifying. A season that began with ex-| he asserted in his mild, again. Then we went from the drama of the past to the melo- is a wide difference between real melo- drama and sensational melodrama.” “The difference between mental and mechanical melodrama?” “Yes,” answered Mr. Belasco, leaning forward tn his chair. “Mental melo-| drama is tie struggle of human nature or human passion expressed in words}! K | that voice the emotions, whereas mes chanical melodrama makes the scenery, not the actors, the story, There ts| lemand for mechanical melodrama to-day than there was a few years ago. | The people who used to flock to the} | cheaper theatres have grown tired of tt. It has been made ridiculous. The same Id ‘plots’ have been rigged up by the same set of authors. These authors ave written themselves out. Their old patrons know thelr old ‘plots’ by heart. They can't be fooled any longer. one time they didn’t care whether e train ran over the girl or the girl ran over the train, but now they demand @ reason for things. TI belleve there is great puble for the mechanical melo- drama with a big idea expressed intel- en But the old form of ‘thriller’ er attracts people as it once did. nat’s the test. The real pulse of eatre beat the masses. I find at by appealing to them I can please all the world. Little by little, 1t seemed to me, Mr. Belasco was coming to a defense of much-abused melodrama, 0 lk at a drama that deals with something they Adam and Eve to Blame. have r something that is close to them « hey understand. They want the play to be direct. They do not care to listen to secondary love stories. Forced ‘gags no longer amuse them. Their laughter fs roused by a situation, not by a that {s dragged in from outside. prefer to have the story told by a few people and set in a few scenes. The more simple the play the better they like it. They ask that © be given in 00d Without book pearls or flowers of speech that it has taken some n an hour to think out.” He paused for ‘a ent and uncon- rctously put his hair in disorder. Realism Without Buzz-Saws. ‘They demand ren n,"" he continued. ot buzz-saws, nor railway trains, nor raging storms, but the realism of life as they see it or read it every y. For, after all, life is melodrama, It is made up of violence. From the birth to the death aot the Lord Jesus Christ there Was melodrama, If the life of Christ Were not a sacred subject, and it were put in the form of drama on a New York stage to-da it would probably be condenined by some college bred fel- nd that an or w« low as sensational melodrama, There! (Copyright, 1907, by Robert W. Chambers.) SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS INSTALMENTS, Philip seiwyn baw je(t te army vecause Bis wife, Avixe, unjustly divorced him to gnarry Jack Kuthyen, @ cotillion leader, Re- turning \o New York, Philp fails in love With Eileen Errol, Ward of his brother-in- Taw, Austin Gerard, “Eileen loves Mhiltp, but Bot ehougn, suv says, to mursy him. ' Mer brother, Gerald, | Involved in debt and in Threatened disgrace by Hutiven and by & Philip pays the 4 deot. Alixe becomes insane. Philip pays tor ier ‘support wt ® Sanitarium, ‘Theaw expenditures use up alt his ready cash, He hears that Ruthven pians to divorce Aline, Poilip Uraatens Ww Ehoot Kuthven should the latter pursue sucn 4 course. Now that Alixe i# Insane Maillp dismisses the hope of marrying Eileen, drops Out of hiv old life and devotes Ningelf to Alle, Hileen ah, fosses her love for him, ‘and he Is forced to tel! her of the new bond which holds him to Alixe. Neerguarad Hays Orchilly, a meniber of t. At once he finds Minaelf nmity o; the set he hay Aven | # thyen turns CHAPTER XII, (Continued, Her Way. ‘OW, hunched up tn his chair, he be: been a blackguard, it was not for him to punish him—no, not even threat en to expose hil, ‘His own caste would take care of that; his own sort would manage such affaits, Meanwhile Neer- ward hud presumed to annoy them, and the society into which he had forced himself and which he had digestivet affected was vow, squid-like, slowly turning !txelf Inside out to expel him ase foreign substance from which such Unimportant nutrition as he had af forded had been vosmpletely extracted. ad about in the newspapers, | dramé suspens able for his ability to lead to a situa- under to support him as he rose, stu Pidly, looking about for his hat, he ¢ the dozen-odd sets at separate dinne ~read every item, every name, to the downtown to see what his lawy do the there remained the silghtest trace of a chance in the mat went he knew there could be none. squid had hadits will with him, not he | with the squid; and within him rose | again all the old hatred and fear of | these p to ¢ days for a while, then @ “By what law,” he demanded, an you defend the classics against the charge of being melodramatic? are better and more beautifully writ than the plays of to-day, of course, bu they are often guilty elo- drama began when the serpent entered the Garden of Eden, violent form when may even be said th and the serpent for 2 @Mgle that has become eternal in the What do we find in the pla Comedie Francaise? Violen seduction and it assumed a urder, nealse is vo the home of the classic play.” It was only natural that Sardou yet the Comeai ered should come next, and in view of Mr. Belasco's dramatic meth is his opinion of the master of a certain school was well worth hearing. Sard 1 was the greatest of all melo- | ts in the matter of carrying /' he said, “He was remark- tion, to reach a climax. But he was w 1 atom of soul, heart, poetry « true feeling. In the making of al/ curtain’ he stood alone he was! not eminently great. He was the dram- atist of the theatre, not of life, In dealin with violent emotions he | HE DDD? ® ® & ® ® den & BHDBHBSH FHCBHHBLE BS HHermeny 7B Nm the theatre getting clo fading away. horrible enough to auit him The Right Man. Money talks, and he wants full hard times have had a good effect upon the theatre. makes a dis- value recely ing gentleman took a sea here tn this country,” he is refusing to accept the The people hey want to sce the goods— think that's the expression,” “The public looks at the ‘The glamgur of and began a iinprobable It 1s fine that the Beanicteali nea ee we have so ded, dublously he can't afford stage With naked eyes. God help th am the Governor. November 14, BHH 3) % the makes no 1 to him wut, and the can't you of some ser you | the girl really loves you she will be will- ing to give up for your sake many lux- affection is returned, tell her of your urles she now enjoys. to do this you should be able to get \The only way t along on $2 a week, Does She Love Him? LOVE a girl who goes to my church me and yory months and believe your | away If she ts willing |love and ask her » also loves you. the state of but do not do er acquainted. ha young girl of nine- T@xpect ite: merry, her affections is to | this until you are b | Treating Her Unfairly. also loves me wealthy family and I Just the opposite. I earn a good salary, but cannot save much on account of my parents’ finan- standing. How much need before I get married? everything she desires. By the time you plan to marry, say tn years, when the young girl fs old enough to know whether or not sho really loves you, your financial pos!- probably be much better. your opinion of man 48 treating you very unfairly, and 1 advise you not to consent to his plan to Ss better to gly WAS engaged to a young man who often writes promised me a ring this me another young man who also loves her. How can 1 find out if she loyes me or |je tells me he doesn't want to keep com- What should I Go? Ask the young lady if you may call and after gaining her permission pay | It! her attentions. in the face of want to have anything to do with girls ants me to allow him when he feels like it and sta for a while. When you have krfown | to com Ruthven rang for a servant, When ne Neergard followed him’ with- out a word, smail eyes vacant, the molsture powdering the ridg nose, his red blunt hands dangling as he wa of his d, Behind him a lackey | In due time Neergard read about the | Orehil ball, There were three columns and seyeral pictures, te read all ..ere Was to read about—the minute lotails of Jewels and costumes, the sorts of stuffs served at supper, the cotillon, the fa- yors~then, turning back, he read about separate hostesses lo had entertained the various coteries and 5 before the b last period Then he rose, wearily, and started | rs could | Ward reinstating him in @ elub| had expelled him-to find out if r, But even as he} Phe | ple from whom he had desired tract full payment for the black f need he had endured, for the want, the squalor, the starvation he had passed through. Mut the reckoning left him where had started—save for the money they had used when he forced tt on them—| not thanking him, | column So he went to his wyers—ev y day By Robert W. Chambers, Author of ‘*4ne kung Tine’ and “A Fighting Chance PEDO HGH Y9OOODS ° 289D992H949H9 new pressure which he was beginning | case against the Slowitha Club, which would never come to a suit—he knew it now—never amount to ar among these archives of dead desir dead hopes, and of vengeance deferred sine die, he laid away the soiled news: And some day )e'd be patched up and, to to feel vaguely hostile to him in his business enterprise gotiations of loan cidental, but annoying; changes of pol- {cy Jn certain firms who no longer cared e as investment; veiled antagonism to him in organization of he had dared once to aspire to. And one day, sitting alone in his hitches in the ne- » perhaps ac- operate and have bis being in the and smaller afraid of Selws sequestration, ind came buck to itself, 8 petty functions were once more Bumed—!ts envious scheming, its covet- yus achleyerner achievement the meaner al fear of t @ mental lassitude that depressed him and left him drowsy in his great arm- grate—too drowsy and letters and him by his sec- 1 one uf them seemed to about aliena- something about Muthven, and a heavy ‘OUgnt unless other settie- was suggested as bad been—one sheer colossal paper with one column marked in a big blue pencilled oval, It was onl documents laid out for the strength about a boy and a girl who had run away and married because happened to be in love, their parents had prepared other plans for their separate disposal, imporlant~some eyed Selwyn The column that end dn type—a good deal of pother about a boy and a girl, after all, particularly as it their respective families the best of To dvess for dinner was an effort—a | the shadowy purely mechanical operation which was in with, money igo against had determined to 1 the girl's parents man aided him. was too tired | BY9e before Néergard’s iline ad 10 mweit was his mu Who disembarrassed duchesses would him of his heayy clothing and who laid laaed, breathing loudly epressed stupor prostration, were badly in ne thin red line could hold out shed pinafores. in spite of double leads and the runaways honeymoon without fear of parents, duchess, or 4 rescue charge from that thia, red and impeeunious line. It took Neergard all day to read that before he folded it among a forage, but physical and us in regard Yo b Meaningless (o him the hurriedly Attorneys—his own ven's-who forced their way the younger siste! mulate som. death lay on lim, mind and body, comprehended what was coming, he did not care world passed threatened, to ride off any lane aoa nently impatred or 0! lot of dusty | ~uncollected claims, a memo- He looked a: Kuthven, scarcely seeing |toward the end of the winter, less often, | randum of @ deal with Ruthven, note him. Finally he gathered his thick legy!for he hed less time now, and these wae! om 40 actress, aud the papers ia bis! pigeonholed ¥ week, then, document That she had beer on @ sea too stormy reck that might have salled safely arrower watere lie do ae did not know. Bus ne wants © Continued. Betty Vincent’s Advice on Courtship and Marriage Financial Difficulties. AM in love This young man t him everything will be al and he says t shall I do and me it him up entirely, for would make shown himsel @ good weak self. o hold you to an engage- ment which he does not wish to consider 99 « > © & Selwyn horriply mane his phys ere to begin the matter, © pretend and. wife's summer turn on reckoning would never Appose and compromise, wnted ering to be even if 4l condition, to for In that her etween ha: | expression | somebod | he has 19083 LOO HOO OX : Immortal Interviews =: 3 No. 3.—Cleopatra Tells How 5) 3 to Spin the Web of Infatuation _—- > patra, “Man is a creature of habit, and once he gets the bachelor habit It clings to him worse than the smoking By Helen Rowlan tf habit or the gambling habit or the love “ab AR, dear!” | napit, It gets into his system. D exclaimed! “and embitters it 1 added, “until Cleopatra, | nis heart becomes atrophied, so that fanning herself 1an-| wher you stt opposite him at dinner you guldly with a pea-I know perfectly well that he won't wate. cock feather a8 8h | tne ight playing on your hair because motioned me tO &) het be too busy watching the waiter seat beside her on) io see that he holds the Burgundy at the the edge of the| proper angle to keep from stirring up Sphinx. “What have | the seaiment 1 done now? | “And that when he sits next 3 “It ten’ t what) 9 cozy corner," appended Cleopatra, “he you've done NOW." | does it not in order to get a chance to 1 retorted, making | noid your hand, but in order to get @ Wale mowcare 'iSty mental not | chance to smoke. If Antony had been | a in of her Salome-like | ay, costume and beautifully tl oxide | sauiy, “i Mn IUs what you—er—began, some |. time ago. Weren't you the original ‘love | oi43, pirate?’ 1 added, delicately. Cleopatra laid down her peacock feather and sat up with an interested | J bachelor,” she continued nted pe stead of a married it have taken more than a sweet 1 bangles to have urvy and a few ex tue world topsy him ¢ mad for me Yes." I sighed, “but you must have had some wonderful charm to hold any man for all those years-even a married 1 that she repeated. “What's | | one ‘It's a new name," 1 explained, “for iedearsmenClandeel the woman who ith another | woman's husba matron has en sin down. | town offices who are ‘a menace’ to wives and homes edly, “I see! Ivs the v pens to come along When a man is loon ag tor lemptation Wt Phe rock t way when he ts search of adventure. Deg your par the ‘Other Womar declared Cleopatra scornfully, waving her pea: | sho is always to blame] when a man silps out of the 5! and narrow way and goes zig-aa along the downward patt’’— i “You don't understand!" I broke tn desperately. 1Us his stenographer” “Or his manicure,” Interrupted Cleo patra, “And if it weren't one of th it would be his charwoman, or th cook, or the applewoman at the corner I My dear,” and Cleopatra tuid pea- wy cock feather on my wrist impressive: ; ah na man has mad» up his mind His Feet All Over the Chairs. to be tempted he isn’t going to be thwarted by a little thing like the lack over toward me confidentially, ‘1t wasa’t mptation, ‘The Kind of husband my charm that held Antony.” can t d into a flirtation with| “What?” his stenographer would be sure to find £ Was Mm, else to lure him if he didn't jours cook! have a stenc You don't hear) “And my soups and sauces and pud- confirmed and hardened bachelors, “N85.” k suffering from the temptations and pit-| {J don't understand falls of office Mfe or being ensnared |, 1 made things more comfortable for by the siren of the key-board, do you?” |i than Octavia did. That's all!” exe i - xt plained Cleopatra nonchalantly. “I let Of course not,” I agreed, “because z him put his feet all over the c and a man who has passea his thirty-ffts | leave his pipe ashes on the carpet, and year and still remains @ Yachelor has) ioj1 on the best divans and lay his head a heert bound in triple brass and his on all the best sofa pillows and eat ears stopped to the song of sirens. | anything he wanted when he wanted it, Helen of ‘Troy and She-Who-Must-Be-| and pully the servants and go round Obeyed and Madame Pompadov without his collar. A man {3 exactly ne Lorelel would just be wasting like a cat; he doesn't become attached their time if they d to make goo-| to persons but to a place; he isn’t lo goo eyes at any siiagle man who has/|ing for a hourl, but for a comfortable ached—the—the Iron Age!” spot where he can throw things round “The-what?" Cleopatra stopped fan-| and do as he pleases—an¢ I made ning™!o gaze at me inquiringly. ‘gypt more cozy and inviting than he age, [explained, “when an un- Rome, When any man clings to a married man has more Interest in the) Woman for more than five years you ock market or the evening pager or a | MAY be sure that it isn't a grand pas- new brand of sauce than in the most, son but a good menu which has beautiful hourl living. The age when | anchored him; and if he spends more cquired cast-Iron opinioas"—— | time with bis stenographer than with “And no human feelings to speak of,""| his wife it ts not by henfinde cer ea He more faseinat but because he finds Middle-age!” 1 finished, “when you ber more comfortable”— ‘ nie 5) te “And soothing’ — can't lure him Into @ firtation or mat: | ee ee eae his digestion”— rim “And for his peace of And if any woman is looking for something soft and easy and Im- pressionable let her pass by the bache- lor, who already has all the com- forts of home. He Is hardened and cold 1 wise — But the married man,” I broke in Yes," sighed Cleopatra, “of all the hard things in this world the connrmed bachelor Is the hardest"— And the married man the easiest, { pur in, Of course,” replied Cleopatra, "A man, like any other animal, in order to bo tamed and trained properly, must be with a smile and a shrug as I rose to caught early-before he has gotten his) go, ‘is—otherwise!”’ second mental the answer “Or heard the call of the wild,” I s turning on us sudden! gested. “To—what?” I inquired w Or leased to And things for Him-| och cleopatra, but the Aplinx mer self and to sew on buttons and make! Winked one eye gravely and cont! coffee and mix a ra amily out over tne N cried the Sphinx, nia VERY variation of the skirt that gives a circular effect Is to be noted among the later designs, and this one 13 charm- ingly graceful and atiractive while it ts quite novel and gives exceedingly becom- ing lines. In the il- lustraiion broaccloth is trimmed with buttons and with stitching, but every sult: and every material is appropriate with trimming varied to suit individual needs and tases, although Duttons make a no- table feature of the season, are exceod- ingly handsome and linist, Lhe skirt in an extremely SM Are manner, The dart e front portion 4o absolutel, and snug ft with- fort, and ab De hada verted plats or join haobe as ised. The quant material ri for the inedium size {s 64 yards 44 or M1, 4 yards either 4 OF 2 inches wide Putiern No, G15T tin sizes for @ ‘ : » rt--Pattern No, 6157. . easure: xe pe & mail to THE EVENING WORLD MAY MANe enty-third street, New Three-Piece Sk ? Call or send by TON FASHION BUREAU, No. 18 Gast Ty York. Send W cenis in colp oF stamps for euch pattern ordered IMPORTANT—Write your naine and addres plasaly, -ud ale ways specify sige wanted