Life — January 25, 1900 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“The Degenerates.” r “Tho Degonerates ” had been tho first play of its kind to be produced in and imported from London, or it Mr. Bydney Grundy wero the only playwright who depicted English soctety as rotten and corrupt, wo might say that The Degener- ates” was purely an imaginative fabrio and a gross libel on a nation which supports tho Church of England and acknowledges Victoria as its virtuous sovereign. Many plays and playwrights bave shown us English socioty lifeasa mixturo of drunken- ness and brutality on tho part of its men, and sheer frivolity and unwomanliness on tho part of its women, with a contempt for fidelity and honesty glossed over by good clothes and smart speeches as tho distin- guishing featuro of both sexes, These plays have evoked no protest from the English press or public, so we must take thom as picturing with some degreo of accuracy tho life and viewsof at least a part of England's titled society. And what a picture it {81 Some ono has sald that a nation, rulod and led by an aristocracy which has reached the depths shown In the society plays best received in London to-day by the very people who are *LIPE « pictured In them, can seareoly hope to cope successfully with foes like the Boers, who lead simple lives untainted with the Baby- lonian debauchery of modern England. ‘This is doubtless overstating tho case, for thero is a saving remuant somewhero among tho British people that is bound to assert itself in the hour of need and save tho race, even though its present leaders may bo incompetent to do their duty, And wo Americans aro not exactly tho poople to throw tho first stones. Thero are certain tendencies in our own new-rich society which aro not precisely in tho direction of the highest morality, These ideas havo not—it is to be hoped—pene- trated vory deeply Into our national being, and our would-be aristocrats should be re- garded, perhaps, somewhat in tho light of precocious little boys and girls imitating tho vices of theirelders, Even the eagerness with which New Yorkers struggled over one another's shoulders to witness the first local presentation of a play heralded as was “Tho Degenorates,” and to gazo upon such a woman as Mrs, Langtry, need not necessarily bo taken as a sign of national deterioration, It is only another evidence that New York is populated largoly by porsons with more money than guod tuste, and of tho unexplainable curiosity shallow- minded women have about thelr unfor- tanato sisters—when the latter are prosperous, It has been sought to arouse interest fo “The Degenerates” by a discussion of whether or no the play depicted certain in- cidents in the private life of Mrs, Langtry— if there is such a thing. Why such a dis- cussion should create interest in tho play is diMenlt to imagine. Mrs, Langtry’s wares have been sufficiently long exposed in the market-place to require no depiction {na play to make them familiar, To rely on such methods of attraction Is perhaps the frankest confession that both the play and Mrs, Langtry lack legitimate and artis- tio merits, and that the whole transaction is, therefore, an offence against tho interests of true dramatic art. To use the stago and the art of the dramatist for the mero exploitation and exhibition of a notorious reputation is certainly a bad thing in tho view of those who regard tho theatre as something more than a cateh-penny fnsti- tution, * 6« ¢ RB, GRUNDY'S play is from tho old. recipe. Boclety persons, somo titled and all correctly clad, tho drawing-room atmosphero, lines which seem to be clever when spoken, but which refuse to stick in the momory, a risqué situation involving a woman's reputation— and there you are. In “Tho Degenerates ” tho society porsons aro a trifle moro brutally outspoken than usual, the main situation is even moro brutally risqué, the soowingly clever lines aro further apart and fower of them, but tho samo old irre- proachable atmosphere is in full evi- donce. Mrs, Langtry's acting has not deteri- orated with age, Not even bad wines do that, It lacks somo of the stiffoess which characterized it of yore, and sho introduces some vivacious little cat leaps and gestures which, while not gazullo-like in their grace, at least temper tho monotony of a method which was never too spontaneoux, Hercele- brated beauty, which was moro of mould and flguro than of color and expression, has not gono off as much as might havo been expected, and is quite suMfcient to a réle which is that of a mother of a girl of sixteen, Tho company that Mrs, Langtry has brought with her fs not a remarkably bril- lant ono, It contains one member, however, whom the Trust, which does not educate actors, should capture for its own uses, This {s Mr, Frederick Kerr, one of the few actors Now York has seen for a long time who can appear with the manners, speech and poiso of a well-bred man. It Is not likely that after tho first hunger of curtosity {s satisfed, Mrs. Langtry and “Tho Degenorates” will hold a New York stago fora very long time. We uro pretty well tired of the phase of English vice depicted by Mr. Grundy's play, and Mrs, Langtry 1s not exactly what might be called a novelty, Metcalfe, “4 BIRO'S-EYE VIEW OF LADYSMITH.” comicbooks.com