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Robert Edmond Jones, Non-UplifterBy Frances Powell Fineman.Robert Edmond Jones does not demur at being judged the foremost scenic artist in the American theatre because oi his work for “Till Eulenspeigel ” of the Russian Ballet, “The Happy Ending,” “Good Gracious Annabel” and “A Successful Calamity.” Nor is he underconfident of the result of his work as director of the Torrance negro plays to be presented shortly by Mrs. Emilie Hapgood. But he balks at uplifting.“All these little theatre, and elevating the drama, and inside reform movements,” Mr. Jones remarked, “are utter nonsense. They are mere fads, and very tiresome.I have 110 patience with them at all.”We were slightly nonplussed. We had planned an uplift article, and our stage certainly seemed to be set for one. 1 he house was within sight of the Square. I he studio was a great double-roomed affair done in ultra-Chinese with couches, cushions, hangings, vases, and heavy chains of beads in all the shades of all the reds, greens, blues, and yellows. On the Chinese desk stood a Chinese ink-bottle stuck with a tall quill pen in flaming orange and indigo. Mr. Jones himself wore a soft green lounging robe and a soft golden beard, sat on a purple velvet couch, and looked like King Argimenes—uncrowned in Greenwich Village instead of in the fields of Babylon.We didn’t learn till much later that he is not one of the Californians, but a Mayflower New Englander, that despite the ageing dignity of the beautiful beard, he is not yet thirty, that he doesn't work in the u-C studio, but in a bare little all-white bed-room, and that next to the Hindoo god and the curious crystal on his working table rests a snapshot of his farm up home.So we insisted.“But don’t you think that Josef Urban, for instance, might use his talents to better advantage in serious drama than inthe Follies?”“Not at all,” Mr. Jones responded vigorously. “For my own part, I’d much rather paint the sets for ‘Love o’ Mike’ than for a play of Strindberg’s. I’d have far more opportunity to give free play to my imagination, and to arouse that of my audience. Think of the countless possibilities for the scenic artist in the extravagances of our musical comedies—and then think of what he can do with a strike scene or a slum set for a realistic drama.”We thought, and the cause of uplift seemed hopeless. Mr. Jones’ next sentence almost demolished it.“I heartily disapprove of realism in the theatre,” was the 42 cc. remark. “ I think that all forms of realistic and super-realistic staging should, as far as possible, be eliminated.” (N.B. for Mr. Belasco: No names were mentioned by Mr. Jones). It gives no leeway to the imagination of the audience, and it confines the work of the decorator. The stage should create not an illusion but an allusion. It should represent not the minute replicas of the realities, but only enough to awaken in the minds of the audience a certain visualization which will still have wide scope for personal interpretation.”Our uplifting instinct took heart again at the magic word “should.”“Percy Mackaye created this allusion admirably,” Mr. Jones continued, “in his ‘Masque of Saint Louis,' when the lips of the two huge figures representing gods, were seen to move, while behind the scenes, great choruses chanted the responses, giving the scene an immensity and dignity otherwise impossible.“However, do not think that I wish to overrate the position of the decorator. Indeed, I think that the decorator has been given an enormous amount of unnecessary publicity. Josef Urban, Lee Simonson,and myself among others, have all been put into the limelight quite too conspicuously for the work that has been done in the field.”“Perhaps you are just now coming into your own,” we ventured nicely.“But that is just the difficulty. You see, it is not fair to the play to put it into the hands of various persons, representing diverse opinions as producer, actor, decorator and so forth—with each one coming into his own particular own at a particular time,-and so putting all the others into the background for that time.”“Ah, Gordon Craig,” we said, with the authoritative note of assurance in our voice, while we added a point to the credit side of uplift.“Yes, Craig—among others,” Mr. Jones was casual as he put us in our place. “This idea of a one-man direction—the director working on all phases of presentation, acting, decorating, music, dancing—this, you know, has been put into effect very successfully by Granville Barker, in England, and Max Reinhardt on the Continent. I believe that this is the only solution of the problem of the complication in the production of plays today. A director should be so trained as to be an authority on all matters pertaining to production.”“But are there many men who could qualify?” we asked, and added subtly, “you, as director of the Torrance plays, however—”“Not any,” Mr. Jones admitted, like a man, “but there is no reason why there shouldn’t be. Yes, I am putting on the Torrance plays myself, in addition to my regular work as scene painter, I am managing all other matters as well. I believe this will be the first occasion in America in which a large production will be put on under a single direction.“It is all secret,” Mr. Jones confided confidentially, when we pleaded to be told about the plays. “You may know, perhaps, that there is to be a negro company, but aside from that, neither Mrs. Hapgood nor myself is letting a word of it out. We are going to surprise New York!”The vastness of the mere ambition astounded us of itself. But we were not to be swerved from our purpose.Uplift stuff?” we guessed.Uplift? No, indeed.” He laughed. “ Didn’t I say that we are going to surprise New York?”So Mr. Jones had the last word after all—he is not an uplifter.t ii 1A capital idea, developed with rare good humor is found in “The Clock,” the Bluebird Photoplay in which Franklyn Farnum and Agnes Vernon are presented at The Rialto this week.The musical portion of the programme this week divides honors fairly with the pictures, aided to a marked degree by some novel light and color effects devised by Mr. Rothapfel.“The Dipper,” a comedy based on a poem by Walt Mason, surpasses the average humorous film both in the beauty of its scenes and the romantic quality of its story.The popular portrayer of Latin characters, George Beban, will be seen at the Strand Theatre next week in “The Bond Between,” a photo-drama of which he is the author as well as the star. Victor Moore will be seen for the first time in his latest and funniest comedy entitled “His Military Figure.”
Newspaper Details
New York Columbia Spectator
New York, New York, US
Fri, Mar 30, 1917
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
GB 20 Dec 2018
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