“PRETTY FACES AND LOOSE MORALS."

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 205, 6 October 1916, Page 5

“PRETTY FACES AND LOOSE MORALS."

A BISHOP ON STAGE REFORM. The Bishop of Northampton, preaers ing at the Actors Mass at the Catholic Stage Guild at the Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, London, said that when one considered the special difficulties of the theatrical profession, the wonder was not that so manyv'fell, but that so ' many were examples bf holy and devout living. The profession had attracted to itself in all ages the verycream of human talent and genius “We see in our own day, ’ he added, “how it is almost impossible to present great drama except at an almost ruinous cost, while quick fortunes are made by the inanities, the vulgarities and immoralities of the low picturehouse. ”

They could not hope, he said, for much from the Church by war, of rem edy, because the Church, um’oiinnately, bad been shunned by the modern generation, nor could they hope for much result from the pnb’ic censorship, which was shunned by the public and the profession alike. r ihey must look for the reform of the drama to the theatrical profession itsetr

He thought they ought to he able to look to the great managers for their assistance in this important -work of purifying the modern drama. It is up to them to offer the public not that which the depraved part or the public craves for, but that which the public ought to crave for. It is up to them to foster genuine talent, and protect it against the unfair competition of pretty faces and loose morals. It is up to them, and it will, in the long run, he to their personal advance, to make it possible for a good Christian to be a rood actor, and for a good actor to be a good Christian.