A Book About the Theater by Brander Matthews

A BOOK
ABOUT THE THEATER

BY
BRANDER MATTHEWS

PROFESSOR OF DRAMATIC LITERATURE IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY; MEMBER
OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1916

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Copyright, 1916, by

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

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Published October, 1916

 

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TO AUGUSTUS THOMAS

My Dear Augustus:

Let me begin by confessing my regret that I cannot overhear your first remark when you receive this sheaf of essays, many of which are devoted to the subordinate subdivisions of the art of the stage. As it is, I can only imagine your surprise at discovering that this book, which contains papers dealing with certain aspects of the theater rarely considered to be worthy of criticism, is signed by the occupant of the earliest chair to be established in any American university specifically for the study of dramatic literature. I fancy I can hear the expression of your wonder that a sexagenarian professor should turn aside from his austere analysis of the genius of Sophocles and of Shakspere, of Molière and of Ibsen, to discuss the minor arts of the dancer and the acrobat, to chatter about the conjurer and the negro minstrel, to consider the principles of pantomime and the development of scene-painting. But I am emboldened to hope that your surprise will be only momentary, and that you will be moved to acknowledge that perhaps there may be some advantage to be derived from these deviations into the by-paths of stage history.

You are rather multifarious yourself; "like Cerberus, you are three gentlemen at once"; you have been a reporter, you have published a novel, you have painted pictures, you have delivered addresses—and you write plays, too. I think that you, at least, will readily understand how a student of the stage may like to stray now and again from the main road and to ramble away from the lofty temple of dramatic art to loiter for a little while in one or another of its lesser chapels. And you, again, will appreciate my conviction that these loiterings and these strollings may be as profitable as that casual browsing about in a library which is likely to enrich our memories with not a little interesting information that we might never have captured had we adhered to a rigorous and rigid course of study. You will see what I mean when I declare my belief that I have come back from these wanderings with an increased understanding of the theory of the theater, and with an enlarged acquaintance with its manifold manifestations.

Perhaps I ought to explain, furthermore, that these excursions into the purlieus of the playhouse began long, long ago. I gave a Punch and Judy show before I was sixteen; I performed experiments in magic, I blacked up as Tambo, I whitened myself as Clown, I played the low-comedy part in a farce, and I attempted the flying trapeze before I was twenty; and I was not encouraged by the result of these early experiences to repeat any of the experiments after I came of age. I think it was as a spinner of hats and as the underman of a "brothers' act" that I came nearest to success; at least I infer this from the fact—may I mention it without seeming to boast?—that with my partners in this brothers' act, I was asked if I would care to accept an engagement with a circus for the summer. As to the merits of the other efforts I need say nothing now; the rest is silence. When the cynic declared that the critics were those who had failed in literature and art, he overstated his case, as is the custom of cynics. But it is an indisputable advantage for any critic to have adventured himself in the practise of the art to the discussion of which he is to devote himself; he may have failed, or at least he may not have succeeded as he could wish; but he ought to have gained a firmer grasp on the principles of the art than he would have had if he had never risked himself in the vain effort.

With this brief word of personal explanation I step down from the platform of the preface to let these various essays speak for themselves. If they have any message of any value, I feel assured in advance that your friendly ear will be the first to interpret it. And I remain,

Ever yours,

Brander Matthews

Columbia University,

in the City of New York.

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CONTENTS

PAGE

• The Show Business1
• The Limitations of the Stage17
• A Moral from a Toy Theater37
• Why Five Acts?55
• Dramatic Collaboration77
• The Dramatization of Novels and the
  Novelization of Plays93
• Women Dramatists111
• The Evolution of Scene-Painting127
• The Book of the Opera153
• The Poetry of the Dance169
• The Principles of Pantomime185
• The Ideal of the Acrobat201
• The Decline and Fall of Negro-Minstrelsy217
• The Utility of the Variety-Show235
• The Method of Modern Magic251
• The Lamentable Tragedy of Punch and Judy271
• The Puppet-Play, Past and Present287
• Shadow-Pantomime, with All the Modern
  Improvements303
• The Problem of Dramatic Criticism319

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ILLUSTRATIONS

Le ballet de la reineFrontispiece

FACING PAGE

Upper half of Plate No. 1, the 'Miller and His Men'40

A group of the principal characters from
Pollock's juvenile drama, the 'Miller and His Men'42

Explosion of the mill. A back drop in the 'Miller and His Men'46

Plate No. 7, the 'Miller and His Men'48

Lower half of Plate No. 5, the 'Miller and His Men'52

The Roman Theater at Orange134

The multiple set of the French medieval stage134

The set of the Italian comedy of masks134

An outdoor entertainment in the gardens of
the Pitti Palace in Florence in the early sixteenth century136

The set for the opera of 'Persée' (as
performed at the Opéra in Paris in the seventeenth century)140

A prison (designed by Bibiena in Italy in the eighteenth century)140

The screen scene of the 'School for Scandal'
at Drury Lane in 1778144

A landscape set146

A set for the opera of 'Robert le Diable'146

The set of the last act of the 'Garden of Allah'148

A set for 'Medea'148

The set of 'Œdipe-Roi' (at the Théâtre Français)150

The set of the 'Return of Peter Grimm'150

Scenes from Punch and Judy274

Scenes from Punch and Judy (continued)276

Roman puppets. Greek and Roman puppets. Puppet of Java.290

A Sicilian marionette show292

A Belgian puppet. A Chinese puppet theater.
Puppet figure representing the younger Coquelin294

Puppets in Burma296

The puppet play of Master Peter (Italian)296

A Neapolitan Punchinella300

The broken bridge. Plan showing the construction of a
shadow-picture theater. A Hungarian dancer (a shadow picture)308

Shadow Pictures. The return from the Bois de
Boulogne. The ballet. A regiment of French soldiers310

Shadow Picture. The Sphinx I: Pharaoh passing in triumph312

Shadow Picture. The Sphinx II: Moses leading his people out of Egypt314

Shadow Picture. The Sphinx III: Roman warriors in Egypt316

Shadow Picture. The Sphinx IV: The British troops to-day

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