COLLEGE HAS DEADENING INFLUENCE ON CREATIVE ARTIST

A stirring appeal to American colleges as stepping stones towards a fuller development of the American drama was made by Mr. Walter Prichard Eaton '00, noted journalist and dramatic critic, in a recent intervew for the Crimson. Mr. Eaton was once dramatic critic of the New York Sun, and is now a free lance journalist and author. He also holds the position of instructor in the School of Journalism at Columbia University.

In a brief resume of the conditions surrounding a boy with any theatrical tallent in present day institutions of learning, Mr. Eaton gave a graphic description of the experiences of the average youthful dramatic enthusiast in his struggle to gain an education along the line of his chosen profession". Troubles for a young creative dramatist begin in the preparatory school", he declared. "There are two reasons why our secondary institutions offer no attraction for such a student. One is the prevailing tendency of all American preparatory schools to 'cut boys to pattern'. Now it can readily be seen what effect an atmosphere of this sort has on the young theatrical aspirant. He does not intend to be put to pattern. He wants an opportunity to train and develop his talent. So he immediately becomes labelled as a non-conformist, an experimenter, and finds no one to sympathize with his natural tastes. The second obstacle in the way of recognition by preparatory schools of the right of the creative artist is the all absorbing necessity of getting the boy into college. The rigid standard of entrance examinations makes it impossible to concentrate in any other field but those specified by the requirements and the boy has no choice but to follow suit. Surely the present day secondary school can have no place in its curriculum for the creative artist".

Even in the transfer from preparatory school to college there is according to Mr. Eaton, little gained in the way of a fuller recognition of the educational demands of a youth with dramatic instincts. "The colleges have sterilized more artists than they have ever made", he asserted. "There are two things essential to the creative artist experience with the material of his art and practice, and the acquisition of technique. He gets neither at the average university of today. His materials are life, and in college be secures an intimate acquaintance with nothing but books, being completely segregated from life and practice. The result is that he emerges at the end of his four years self-critical, an attitude fostered by the atmosphere of any university, and discouraged because so many other talented men, who did not have the opportunity of attending college, have already richer opportunties of association with life in the world about them. Many men have lost the chance of becoming great artists by going to college, and as the situation now stands no man with a brilliant genius for creative artistry should run so grave a risk of hampering his chances for a successful dramatic career as to attend college".

While deploring the present status of the drama in the universities, Mr. Eaton still clings to the higher institutions as the back-bone of the theatrical world of today. "In our colleges lies the future hope of the drama", he declared, and went on to dwell at length on the few evidences of a dramatic revival in American hails of learning. Foremost among these latter is the 47 Workshop at the University, given under the direction of Professor G. P. Baker '87. This is the pioneer course in dramatics among American colleges. Its object it not to study the drama as literature so much as to take it up as a practical art, recognizing the claim of the creative artist, and giving him this vehicle of practice and self expression. There has long been a lack of understanding and appreciation of the fundamental value and revolutionary character of the work he has been accomplishing, but it is coming to be more and more generally recognized now that the course is no fad, but has the basic idea of a new field to training and service such as can be found in very few places elsewhere. The 47 Workshop is the first course of practical dramatics which has been accorded regular academic credit on a common basis with other courses in the University, and great credit is due Professor Baker for his work in placing Harvard in the position of pioneer in the development of college dramatics.

Turning from a discussion of amateur dramatics to the general topic of the theatrical element in America, Mr. Eaton deplored the present attitude of the public towards the stage. "The theatrical condition of America today is almost pitiful", he said, declaring that the people at large have no more interest in the stage and are feeding on entertainment which is not calculated to test their intelligence in the slightest degree.

"The greatest menace to the drama is the motion picture", declared Mr. Eaton, "The country is getting for their entertainment something devoid of any appeal to their intelligence, which develops no serious though but is sated with surface and artificial emotionalism. The moving picture censorship cannot eradicate the underlying immorality of the silver sheet. It is just the 'movies'. Taking a different view-point, statistics show that children who regularly attend the movies invariably show less ability in their classroom work than those who don't make a regular practice of attending. They exhibit less power of concentration and often become, scatter-brained, due to the constant falsification and sentimentalization of life as it is represented in the movies".

One solution is offered by Mr. Eaton as a remedy for this state of affairs, namely the greater stimulation of dramatics in the various colleges. "There is no use in looking to the professional theatres", he declared. "Entertainment must come through an appeal to the intelligence of the audience, such as can never be found in the movies; and the best vehicle for the expression of this appeal is the spoken drama as presented by earnest amateurs".

Some interesting results as to the growth of college dramatics were disclosed in a recent circular to all the leading institutions of the country. Out of 400 colleges, 69 reported giving credit for amateur acting. Correlation between dramatics and the college curriculum was in force in 59 colleges, while in the last five years over 200 amateur plays have been given. It is a proof of the growing popularity of practical training in theatricals in the University that of the courses in dramatics now under way over two-thirds were instituted since 1915. There age several other famous dramatic centers, prominent among which are the School of Drama at Carnegie Institute of Technology and the amateur theatrical course at the University of North Carclina. These courses aim to give the student a practical knowledge of stage acting and artistry and arrange a series of plays given every so often for the benefit of the University or of neighboring towns, and all may be traced back to the impetus received from Professor Baker's 47 Workshop at Harvard.

These "Little Theatres" seem to Mr. Eaton to be the fore-runners of a great revival in dramatics among our institutions of learning. "It looks like a very hopeful start", he said. "I think it is pretty well established in the minds of education now that the study of the drama is not a fad. Particularly in the far West are people beginning to realize the importance of giving the creative artist a chance to follow his own bent. People realize that this is a mechanical and industrial age, and that none of us have much play for our creative instincts in the ordinary round of daily work".

"One cannot crush the creative instincts of men. They are bound to get it in their pleasure or leisure hours, and it is a question whether they are going to get it by the cheap, false, artificial motion-picture, or through the more elevated medium of the drama.

"The colleges cannot keep their hands on the pulse of the country better than by keeping their hands on the pulse of the artists. Behind Professor Baker's course lies a very fine conception of how Harvard can serve the country. The colleges can and must do a very large share in training men and women who are going to be competent to bring the drama into the community. They must-create-the artists who will carry the advantages of the theatre to the millions. Therefore it is in the promoting of theatricals throughout our institutions of learning that the future of our American drama lies".