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foreign stars, the building of new theatres throughout the country, the American stage witnessed a development both in plays and players. The old-fashioned stock companies began to give way to the combination, and the stars were monopolized by a few managers who gradually controlled the chief playhouses. The drama thus became more of a business than an art. With an exception here and there, the really artistic plays are few. It is hardly fair to blame only the manager for present conditions; the public itself is at fault for patronizing what is unhealthy and unworthy. And public taste has admittedly changed. The theatre, in our large cities at least, has ceased to attract the cultured and representative element of former former decades. At the same time audiences seem to prefer plays on American themes by American authors. So many foreign masterpieces have proved costly failures on the American boards that managers are giving more thought to native themes, and at last the American drama may deserve and gain Denman gain recognition. Thompson's "The Old Homestead " was a native drama of genuine Amer

ican flavor.

Among American managers and playwrights to whom our drama is greatly indebted for artistic representation and an admirably equipped company, Augustin Daly (1899)

merits special mention. Around his theatres cluster the best traditions of the American stage. Other dramatists of distinction are Bartley Campbell (1843-1888), who wrote a number of successful plays; Bronson Howard (1842-1908), whose society drama, "Saratoga," was presented in Berlin; and James De Mille (1850-1893). Among others of similar ability are William Gillette, Clyde Fitch, David Belasco, H. G. Carleton, Charles H. Hoyt, with Epes Sargent (1812-1880), R. W. Bird (1803-1854), Joseph Stevens Jones (1811-1877), a voluminous writer, and George H. Boker (1823-1890).

Of our actors and actresses, may be mentioned John McCullough, Edwin Booth, Laurence Barrett, Joseph Jefferson, John Gilbert, Lester Wallack, W. J. Florence, E. A. Sothern, Richard Mansfield, James Lewis, John E. Owens, Mrs. Sefton, the Le Moynes, Fanny Morant, Fanny Davenport, with Ada Rehan, Mrs. Crabtree and

Maud Adams.

In 1889 an "American Academy of Dramatic Art" was founded in New York by Franklin Sargent to train pupils for the stage.

The history of the American drama. is as yet merely a record of plays and players. The great names are few. Present tendencies, with the hold of commercialism on the stage, are not very reassuring. Augustus Thomas,

ART, MUSIC AND THE DRAMA.

in his "As a Man Thinks" (1910), shows what a serious American dramatist can do. The popularity of "Get Rich Quick Wallingford" and "Excuse Me " (1910) tell the popular taste. If it is true that every country has the drama it deserves, America must await a broader spirit of culture and a more purified taste before its dramas can attain a higher place. And this can be said as truly of Ameri

461

can creative art and music-" the best is yet to be." *

Samuel Isham, History of American Painting (1905); Louis C. Elson, History of American Music; L. Taft, History of American Sculpture; s. G. W. Benjamin, American Art; Dunlap, History of American Theatre (1832); Ireland, Records of the New York Stage 1750-1860 (1891); Ritter, Music in America (1900); Wilson, Memorial History of the City of New York, vol. iv., chaps. v., xi., xvii. (1893); L. C. Elson, National Music of America and Its Sources (1900); Krehbiel, Music in America, in Lavignac's Music and Musicians, pp. 489-528 (1904); L. Gilman, Phases of Modern Music (1904).

SERIES TWENTY-ONE

LECTURES ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN TO ONE HUNDRED

AND TWENTY-SIX

The Development of Governmental Departments and Governmental Activities in Regulating Commerce and Industry, 1865-1916

118. The National Legislature

119. The National Executive Departments

120. The Judiciary

121. The Formation and Adoption of State Constitutions

122. Activities of the National Government in Regulating Commerce and In

dustry

123. State and Local Government Activity in Regulating Commerce and

Industry

124. History of Internal Improvements

125. The Conservation of Natural Resources

126. Civil Service Reform

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