No one, indeed, would be surprisced at the reptilian debut if a certain incident 1 a play should justly it truth Ig. that the crocodile!
be there in the absence of the slightest justifeation. "And, what ig more deplorable, the siege manager hag to star the monster and depend jon ita the chief attraction! As it turns out, the poor creature does lay} golden cigs, and the stage manager has to cling to its tail to keep his} head above, water This ig quite true so far as the degenerated Chinese stage is con-jeered, some one would say. But what about Mei Lan-fang? What] about the other celebrated stage} artists? Aren't they popularly} patronized by playgoers without the help of any crocodile? The pat retort to such a challenge is that Mell [Lan-fang and the other stars are, in 'a way, themselves crocodiles. "By, this T'do not mean to insult our theatrical idols. On the contrary, Jam rather paying them an unusual Jcompliment, because they are the few [Chinese actors to-day who can stand the competition of the reptilian! Jattraction. Ask any playgoer on his way to one of the fashionable Shanghat theatres and he will tell you that lhe is going to sce Mei Lan-fang, or IChi Lin-tung, oF some other "Prince Charming." "He may pretend to, be interested. in their singing and acting but, in his heart, he knows what really induces him to contribute the box-office. The play means little] to him. This, however, ie not because has no taste for drama, but because the drama has no taste for him. What the Chinese stage presents is nothing but the life of remote ages. [Time has changed, and the most common realities of our forefathers Ihave become as Greek to us as those:
Mars.
Old Repertoire Fading Repertoire of $00 Plays The old repertoire gradually lost its age-long spell, and new plays had to be presented to satisfy the play~ goers. Even the pure Peiping School could not but bow to the aspirations of the public, and its younger artists suchos Ouyang Vu-chien and Mei Lan-fang actually brought about in-ovations, put up some new "ancient-style costume plays," and rose popularity and distinction.
"The Shanghai School forged ahead its own way. "Tig first success was dependent onthe novelty of scenic leks. With the lapse of time, how: fever, the novelty ceased to be novel, and the producers were compelled to capitalize something else. Almost every thing that can be put upon the stage to attract people was brought (on, ranging from magic tricks, hypnotism, and circus thrills to the tap nee, the hula-hula dance of Hawaii and the "leg dance" d ta Broadway. Once T actually witnessed one of the "thrillers" biting off the head of a turtle and sprinkling its blood on the stagd At another time T heard some actors clad in gorgeous _cos-fumes of the Ming Dynasty style, singing the "Volga Boatman"!
Animals Featured The latest genius of the Shanghai! producers seems to have turned to the animal and reptilian kingdoms.
The Peiping repertoire claims no! Hess than eight hundred or more plays, of which about a quarter are frequently produced. Who, except those steeped in Chinese drama or accustomed to the din of its noisy orchestra, could ever have any clear Idea of the meaning of the fantastic spectacle on the stage, without expert interpreter sitting beside him Jand giving him all necessary explanations?
T have spent long years studying Chinese drama and, "in my most enthusiastic days, even appeared in amateur performances. Yet, sometimes when a rare, out-of-fashion play is being staged, I cannot make head or tall of it any more than Jo-gaping tyro in the pi, Ask the first ten playgoers fighting their way out after a Mei Lan-fang performance jand see how much they actually. understand. "All you can get out of them is probably nothing more than such vague remarks as "Mei Lan-fang is Very good," or "He is an angel on earth, isn't he?" Besides these, they can' only give you an evasive, This, of course, is not their fault. Nor is it Mel Lan-fang's. They have Jcome not to see the play, but to get good look at the Prnee: Charming. And they are satisfied to find him true to his reputation, In precisely
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.