MUSIC HALL MORALS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1650, 6 January 1914, Page 8

MUSIC HALL MORALS.

J§3gPARADf}XES ; Y; REALIfIES?W : tfjM R; 1 BERNARD SHAW'WhIS'I pp?;l*#4 CRITICS,, -■t^'W-ft g|Tliorcf da's-'been' a"'livoiy'. (•orrosponrdtncfv m -thn. London '"Tini'cs"..and the '.on: public. morals':"au(l SniusK.'-hnlls.Vwhieh arose' ' owing -toi tor-* .t.itiii'iinifli-criiiciscd performances at a music-hall. ■ . ..'.... .:,■,;,;,. _„,. i, f'h\ tliis discussion ' the, Bishops of 'London and Kensington and Mr. iWniml Shaw'have been the' 1 chief opponents. The nst result ■ is' , -to show .Mr." Bernard Shaw -that plain mm! who-can-'■ •not write 1 paradoxes and invert- normal things have, -no/.doubt- about Iho ordinary everyday requirements' of morality and public niorals. ■ '■■' -. ■-.. ■■■.■.■>■■;■•. J'l .*■■,,"Tlic muskxialls will-bo'all. thcibet--tor for'n- little healthy criticism ; ,: nnd -ho;.intend that they shall have : it,"; ■•, s : t,lO "fiai'y Mail." ■■: ? -:it.-''i.~J?Vf j"' ; "The Times" and Mr. Shaw; i&Wj gj ''The Tillies" 'said:— ■~.;<:■ ■ .... .■, ."^' e piiblisli to-day "a Mr. Uernard Shaw whirlr closes, so' .far as our columns are. concerned, the" controversy between him and the Bishop, of Kensington' as to • music-halls, the. duties of the'.'-Lord. Chamberlain",' and public morality.'.' '-."'-; ■' ■; ~-■ ■'■■■■

■."Mr. Shaw is amazed at tho inability, of tlie Bishop to understand the true .issup, . He is in a state .of 'dumb' despair'of making any Englishman understand what political principles mean-or even.persuading him that such a thing exists'; and Mr. Shaw' showers upon tho Bishop.paradoxes and-gibes, amusing if discursive,', about, evil sermons,, which 'may do frightful harm,' the placing of iho- Bible in the hands of tho laity, ,witch burning, tiio Anabaptists,' and divers.other matters quite aa relevant. ■At She close of the correspondence that section'of tho public which, from whatever point- of view, regards roiigionand ethics as die comer-stont , of human life .ij- bored with Mr.' Shaw's. . fireworks, .finds' his; jests puerile, his paradoxes iriechnuical ard monotonous, and his .vivacity a cover for looso reasoning. H;'.;?■"""; What is tho Answer? -:',*"\Ve have no wish to discuss in auy 'way the merits of the performance at the Palace Theatre of Varieties, or the riuestion of the interpolation of unauthorised incident's].that may he left for .the present to tho Lord Chamberlain to jdecide. .;■ "The point- to be noted with a little ;regrot is that in the animated controversy, neither of the chief disputants ..helps much to answer questions about [which every man and woman must have i an opinion. There is too often an air ' ■of unreality, in such discussions. Too many good people talk and writo as if ' ■ they wore a universal declension in mor- 1 ills, particularly in the theatre and tho ' ;music-hall; as if popular amusements ' ..werey.,- everywhere becoming coarse, ' ■loud, and . more or less impure. This ( .strain'of.,exaggeration may bo well ' meant.* ' It is not the loss unreal and ; unjust—unreal because altogether wide. • of tho truth ; unjust to ninny forms of dramatic entertainment nevor. more ' ■wholesome than now. -' ."Moral reformers nre not always ; istrong in ' their facts; their missilon sometimes hit friends as we!i aa foes. Exaggeration and unreality are, how- . ever, not all oil one side. "Of coursj;, it is not easy to dethio in . words the limit between the license of . th« tnio' artist and the devices dl the vulgar panderer to low passions," adds \ "Tho Times." "Most healthy -human j beings have, however, no difficulty in , knowing when 'that limit is overstepped, j The work of the true artist, oven if he stakes.; liberties, is always distinguish-, , • able , from the literature of erotic obsession in its many dorms, and from tho devices of those who think —and we fear rightly—that there are money aud good takings in what will shock. >-XZ£.. ,:Tho EJtsrnal Public. . ; fl- "While ihe Bishop of Kensington's t meaning is, on the whole, clenr. ho does j Mot answer, quite satisfactorily Ihe question. What is to be done? Mr. Shaw .would startle our readers ' by para- ' doses," continues "The Times." ''Lav- - ish in brilliant sayings, ho fails to in- ' ■struct or convince. lie leaves ono at a loss to know what lie means if not [ ■that everyone is to do as ho likes. Un- ; fortunately, anarchy all round settles ' nothing ' and condones ■ everything. : Everyone must settle, such a question , of conduct for himself, and fortunately, given a healthy mind,, fear neither of ' cant nor anti-cant, the latter in tlieso days fai tho riore potent, tho right an- ' swcr is generally forthcoming. 'The ■eternal public,' says Emerson, 'is al- ! ways ridlt'; and, given tho n«<?ssary ; control by police and officials, tne British, public may bo relied upon, in the '■ long run, to kec-p tho nitisic-halis de- ■ cent.". ■ ' *.;;/.:-.-; v: What Mr. Shaw Says,

',■:;■ Mr. Bernard Shaw writes-.— ;■■ "There- is no consensus of ci/inion as to what 18 objectionable and what is desirable- in theatrical entertainments. Mr. Butt's audiences are as big as tho Bishop's eongroaatkms, mul they pay him more than they pay the Bishop. If the Bishop may say to these pecple, 'Yon shall not- go to'the Palace Theatre, or, if you go'you shnll not seo -, hat yon like there, because I do not consider it good for you,' then those peoplti may say to the Bishop, Ton shall not preach the doctrine of the Atonement; for in CjSir opinion it. destroys all senso of moral responsibility.'

"1. need not ugain elaborate tho point; but I will point out something that the Bishop may not .have thought of,. in '.this connection. Soi only is art , ,' or reiigiau, a power for I'vil as ..well .as for good; but'-'ho self-same .exhibition or sermon that oll'oets ono man's salvation may affect another man's damnation. The placing of the Bible in tlu- hands of the laity by tho Protestant Catholics produced sroit- ro suits; but it also produced all the horrors that were predicted by .the Roman Catholics as "their reason for withholding it, from an epidemic of wiu-h-Uuniiug .to tho political excesses of tho Anabaptists and Puritans, and Ih'o soul , misery of 16th-century' Scotland.

;. "Thp oa-se_ against the freedom nf (he. Palace Theatre is as dust in the ■ bnlancc compared with th? case acaiust, .the freedom of the Bible Society. Is the. Bishop, having att'ack'crl the' Palace Tiic-atrp',/going to attack the Bible Society a fortiori? Of course- not, beoauso he ran see the overwhelming argument in favour- of scriptural freedom which- ho is unable, to pco in tho case of the theatre, because the. theatre is": the . Church's most formidable rival .iii ■'forming the minds and guiding the souls'of the people." .: ■iT'' : : ; Plain Man Speaks,' --.' '.j "I am .neither a w-arkiug playwright mir a .working Bishop; 1 am a professional ■:■ educator lieitlisr of the sexual nor of'the-religious emotions: but I do , profess to have a little logic, and simply, on.'the low ground nf lngic I am moved-to impugn Air. Bernard Shaw's most illogical letter," writes Dr. R. C. Mat-lie "in "Tho Tinier." .%".l)ocs Mr. Bernard Sluiw really mean to assert, .that.- among 'good citizens' thcro;,aro no general standards of good ■taste;vdeccney. and morality r Docs .Mr. -iilcrnanl'-Shiiw really mean to ■aflinii'.tlmt.iuiioii!; goad oitkons there is no'general agreement as lo what is objectionable or- suggestive r Does Mr. ticniiinl yShiUV- really mean to affirm thiit. in "iV question of public morals and prinrl'iast'c-iiH educator) and earnest man iivho is ■ working for the mora I welfare if-bis-ielloffsis not likelier to be a good

judge than a good mail? 'good citizens' consider _'6bjectioM.abl<3 and suggostiyo' ? .. "Religious tolmnco is ono thing, moral tolerance is another, and most good citizens am of the opinion that moral evils ; liable* to sprrad by a V™" ce-ss of moral infection to tho <k>trilucnti of tho physical and. mental health of the community ought to !>e condemned by Bishops and ought to bo suppressed by.the State where suppression is practicable. "Mr.. Shaw is welcome to repudiate all responsibility as lsis brother's keeper, m)t ho lias no right to complain if Bishops and most good citizoji-.i have ■moro social and brotherly instincts.' , "The Christian religion, is still tho religion of the greater part of the people of England to-day," says tho Bishop of London. "Wo have leanit tfl be wider in our toleration tlian sonwtimes we have been. The old lino tbafc all acting and dancing aro wrong and immoral fcas-beesi laid aside-—I. ' hope tor orer. If the world l.;as no standard tho Church has a. standard: and the Cimreh i.s strong onongh, if it \viil«?s up, to enforce the standard oik the ttorM."..,^.-. ■■ ■ ■ ' ;.