COMEDY OR "COMEDIE"?

One of the most interesting of the many suggestions received by the trustees of the White Fund, for the disposal of the $5,000,000 left to the city of Boston is that the money should be used, in part at least, to establish a civic theatre, where a first class company could be maintained by the city to give popular play of the first rank.

The difficulties in the way of this plan are largely to be overcome in building the theatre and putting it on a solid foundation. The argument has been used that no theatre can thrive without the pressure of active competition; that the theatre-going public would soon lose interest in a publicly subsidized drama, with the idea in mind, in all probability or a glorified sort of hand concert on the Boston Common.

All these difficulties are typical of the kind always volunteered by the doubting Thomases and the Godfrey Glooms. Once the theatre is established and has begun to build up a reputation, a great part of these difficulties will vanish, removing the only clouds from a field of limitless possibilities. There is no question of the welcome such theatre would receive from the theatrical profession. Actors of the Barrymore calibre who have been forced to make use of totally inadequate vehicles in the past few years, would get the long looked for opportunity to play in roles of their own choosing. The public would have a standard by which to measure the private productions of Belasco, the Shuberts, the Theatre Guild, and the rest; forcing the managers to keep at their best level. The opportunity for the revival of old plays, classics, and above all the education of popular taste, although the latter is sometimes questioned as an advantage would at least have for the first time a thorough trial; and a school for training actors, so long the cry of the critics, could become a reality. All that Mr. Henry jewett has accomplished with his stock company, in spite of limited facilities, points to what could be done under conditions where money did not enter in.

A suggestion which presents the possibility of an American "Comedie Francaise", and endowed theatre with an opportunity to build up the great traditions of the French drama, is at least worthy of serious consideration.