164

MENCKEN, H.L. Group of 4 Typed Letters Signed, to [Arthur] Mann or [Joseph] Hergescheimer,

ON DECLINE OF THEATRE: "MOST PEOPLE GO TO SHOWS . . . NOT TO HEAR IDEAS" MENCKEN, H.L. Group of 4 Typed Letters Signed, to [Arthur] Mann or [Joseph] Hergescheimer, complaining that contemporary theater fails by attempting to express important ideas rather than pursuing the basic delights of romance, discussing his superstition relating to Fridays that fall on the 13th day of the month, and apologizing for being unable to help. Together 6 pages, oblong 8vo or 8vo, personal or "American Mercury" stationery; folds. (SFC) Baltimore, 20 January 1933; 2 August 1934; 18 April no year; New York, 8 August no year

20 January 1933, to Mann: ". . . I suggest that the public attitude toward stars may have had something to do with the decline of the theatre. After all, most people go to shows to see personalities, not to hear ideas. When the movies began to grab all the more appetizing stars the theatre suffered inevitable damage. Today it can show very few women comparable to even the third-raters of Hollywood. In this department the movie magnates were shrewd--they offered pulchritude and let talent take care of itself.
"My private belief is that the theatre has been greatly damaged by the effort to get ideas into it. For reasons that I was setting forth in one of my Prejudices books years ago, it is impossible to tackle a crowd of a thousand people with anything properly describable as ideas. Nevertheless, the theatre, after the Ibsen uproar, tried to hawk them, and the result was that it drove large numbers of people out of the house. . . .
"The case of O'Neill is perhaps typical. He started out in life as an extremely effective dramatist, but of late he has devoted himself to so-called ideas that would make even a school teacher laugh. They are taken gravely by a minority of innocent persons, but certainly anyone of genuine intelligence can see how hollow they are. I believe that if O'Neill turned to the proper business of the theatre, which is romance, he would drag a great many other dramatists along with him. . . .
"All of this, of course, is for your private eye only. I have been out of the theatre so long that my opinion is really worth nothing. . . . [T]he kind of people I commonly associate with, though most of them were regular theatre-goers fifteen or twenty years ago, never go the theatre now. Neither do they patronize the movies. They . . . do not seem to miss the theatrical entertainment that used to be so fascinating to them."
2 August 1934, to Hergesheimer: "My only superstition has to do with Friday the 13th. It has been an unlucky day in my family, and I confess that I always feel uncomfortable when it comes around. If I am ever hanged it will undoubtedly be on a Friday, for that is the chosen day in Maryland, and in all probability it will also be on the 13th. . . ."


  • Provenance:

    20 January 1933, to Mann: ". . . I suggest that the public attitude toward stars may have had something to do with the decline of the theatre. After all, most people go to shows to see personalities, not to hear ideas. When the movies began to grab all the more appetizing stars the theatre suffered inevitable damage. Today it can show very few women comparable to even the third-raters of Hollywood. In this department the movie magnates were shrewd--they offered pulchritude and let talent take care of itself.
    "My private belief is that the theatre has been greatly damaged by the effort to get ideas into it. For reasons that I was setting forth in one of my Prejudices books years ago, it is impossible to tackle a crowd of a thousand people with anything properly describable as ideas. Nevertheless, the theatre, after the Ibsen uproar, tried to hawk them, and the result was that it drove large numbers of people out of the house. . . .
    "The case of O'Neill is perhaps typical. He started out in life as an extremely effective dramatist, but of late he has devoted himself to so-called ideas that would make even a school teacher laugh. They are taken gravely by a minority of innocent persons, but certainly anyone of genuine intelligence can see how hollow they are. I believe that if O'Neill turned to the proper business of the theatre, which is romance, he would drag a great many other dramatists along with him. . . .
    "All of this, of course, is for your private eye only. I have been out of the theatre so long that my opinion is really worth nothing. . . . [T]he kind of people I commonly associate with, though most of them were regular theatre-goers fifteen or twenty years ago, never go the theatre now. Neither do they patronize the movies. They . . . do not seem to miss the theatrical entertainment that used to be so fascinating to them."
    2 August 1934, to Hergesheimer: "My only superstition has to do with Friday the 13th. It has been an unlucky day in my family, and I confess that I always feel uncomfortable when it comes around. If I am ever hanged it will undoubtedly be on a Friday, for that is the chosen day in Maryland, and in all probability it will also be on the 13th. . . ."

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