VOL. III, No. 26.

ΤΗ

HE THEATRE: AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE OF DRAMA, MUSIC, ART AND LITERATURE-Published every week from October to May, and as a monthly during the summer, at No. 42 West Twenty-third Street, New York.

The price of yearly subsbription to THE THEATRE is four dollars in advance. The editor solicits contributions from the readers of THE THEATRE, and suggests that old play-bills, and scraps relating to the stage, notes, news and items appertaining to the different arts, would be acceptable. It is the desire of the editor to establish a widely-circulated magazine, and to further that end every good idea will be acted upon so far as possible. Care is always taken not to needlessly destroy valuable manuscript. All articles appearing in THE THEATRE are written especially for it unless credited otherwise.

ENTRE NOUS.

WITH this number THE THEATRE completes its third volume. Twenty-six of the regular issues make a book averaging considerably more than five hundred pages; each years subscription, therefore, brings to the reader over one thousand pages of bright and entertaining matter relating to the stage, and art, and all its ramifications. A glance at the table of contents that goes out with this issue will show that it has been contributed to by some of the most thoughtful people of the day.

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THERE has never been an issue of THE THEATRE that did not contain something of value for the reader-something that would be worth reflecting upon. There never has been an issue of THE THEATRE that did not contain an article or an item worthy of being preserved in the library; and there never has been an issue of THE THEATRE that indicated other than the fact that the editor has endeavored to win the friendship of the people who have at heart the art which can be the strongest factor for the formation of a disseminating good-will and intelligence which can be found on earth to-day. The power of the influence of the stage is hardly realized; it is not

WHOLE NO. 78.

even the greatest actor who is best able to understand it. The laws of cause and effect here should be as palpable as the falling of nine bricks by the cause of one. If it is appreciated how vast are the results of any action or movement, no matter how slight, and how much is put to the stake on the carrying out of the apparently inconsequent impulse, it will perhaps be understood how far-reaching a single performance of a play may be on the minds of an audience. A good play may excite a suggestion, an idea, an impulse in one person, which changes the whole course of that person's life, and that life cannot thread its way through the web of humanity without carrying a vibratory action which will be a sensitive plate on which millions upon millions of others stand and are influenced. Any art is a teacher of public good or of public bad. The theatrical art exerts itself easier. The boy in the gallery, the blackleg in the pit, the woman who neglects her home, the man who neglects his wife, the wayward son, the falling woman, the lady and the gentleman, the student of all arts, the ambitious and the honorable-all meet here on this common ground to find entertainment. What shall that entertainment be? Ah, this is the question, and it is with this that THE THEATRE has much to do. At least it is what the editor of THE THEATRE Would like to take in hand more seriously. It is difficult to be thoroughly independent in this sort of journalism. To be, that needs money-for that will purchase anything!

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You say it wont? I say it will. It will purchase happiness. Do good to others and you will be done good by. Money would make THE THEATRE the handsomest and best magazine in the world! It could be independent of all advertising and free

to say exactly what it thought. I can write as many sweet and pleasant things in this department as I choose; and from the people of whom I write nothing is ever heard, but let me say one single thing-one honest belief, which may be critical of man or play, and within twenty-four hours it is flashed back to me in a way calculated to reduce the receipts of the paper. What is the reason of this? I will tell you. It is because the average manager is a speculator.

He knows

no more about stage art than he knows how to enter a gentleman's drawing-room and conduct himself at his table. His thoughts only work when he chews his tooth-pick. The condition of his pocket-book regulates his stage. The good in art he would relegate to the mausoleum of forgotten things, if he could profit by the bad. It is the Irvings, the Dalys, the Palmers, and the Wallacks, upon whom the intellectual study must gyrate. But even they, alas! are not entirely free. What they wish to do is dependent on patronage, and here we are coming upon that other necessityan appreciative public.

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IN New York, especially, it would seem as if the intellectual development would be sufficiently large to guarantee a good patronage for a first-class play. A more charming performance could hardly be devised than 'Elaine" at the Madison Square Theatre. But it is a fair estimate to say that not nine-tenths of the people who saw it had ever read Tennyson. The people in New York who can thoroughly enjoy the exquisite stage art, and the rendering of the poem, which made "Elaine" notable are very few. The people in this city who have the time to read, don't read, and the people who do read and are students of art can seldom afford to go to the theatre as they would like. What about our young people? The youngsters who have never seen one of the old comedies? Why, there must be thousands every year graduating from schools and starting out in life, who

have never seen the pieces which are such sweet recollections for their fathers and grandfathers! Yet put on an old comedy at Wallack's and there are not enough people in the house to pay for the trouble. Put on "The Silver King," and the house won't be large enough to hold them. The truth is that people want excitement. There is very little home civilization now-a-days, since the gilded radiator took the place of the grate fire, and the center-table was pushed into the corner. The old comforts begot a desire for an interchange of thought, and young and old discussed those things which promoted a desire to see the best of everything, and to cultivate those things which would be valuable adjuncts to their private study. In truth, these delights obtain in a far greater measure in other cities.

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MR. CHARLES E. L. WINGATE, the intelligent dramatic critic of the Boston Journal, has issued the first volume of the "Playgoer's Year Book." This one is a record of the stage for the past year in Boston, and, presumably, Mr. Wingate will publish a similar work every year. It contains a narrative of the plots of all the new plays and operas, histories of each work, analyses of the plays and acting, the full casts, and a complete record of the year which introduces many valuable biographical sketches, portraits, and illustrations of plays. The author expresses his hope that, by means of "The Playgoer's Year Book" those interested in the progress of theatricals will be able to preserve, in convenient form all that there is worth remembering and worthy of preservation as reference. There are two editions-paper and board covers. The price of the latter is one dollar, and I advise every reader of THE THEATRE who is collecting a library of theatrical data to send to Mr. Wingate for a copy. While the first volume is good, the next will be better, for the author will find that now, since he has shown to Boston people how really important such a work is, he will receive proper assistance from every quarter.