Manchester High School - Somanhis Yearbook (Manchester, CT)

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SOMANHIS EVENTS — — 2s THE VALUE OF THE SPOKEN DRAMA Critics all over the world are telling us that the drama has deteriorat- ed and degenerated, and that it has fallen below its former high standard, that it has given up its place as the highest of all the arts, and has lost its popularity and public support because moving pictures and modern novels offer a cheap substitute; and they are right to a great extent. The actors are, for the most part, inferior to those of the past few decades, and tie plays put upon our modern stages are often not fit to be seen, Under such conditions is it any wonder that most of us have forgotten or are unmindful of the value of the spoken drama? But the fault lies within ourselves. Drama, unlike the other arts, must have public support in order to live. Consequently, the drama must give the public what it wants, and it is our own fault if we do not demand art instead of trash. The average person today thinks of the drama, not as an art, but as a form of entertainment; and so long as the public does think of it as such, that is all that it will be. Some few people will point out the drama as being of value because of its educational power. Take, for instance,, the morality play ‘‘Experience,” or a play like Booth Tarkington’s “Poldekin,” which opened in New York in the early part of April, and which emphasizes another phase of the educational value of the drama. The latter is a play, based on the absurdities of certain Bolshevik ideas, that can not help but react on all who see it as anti-Bolshevik propaganda; and herein lies the secret of the educational value of the drama. Under the guise of enter- tainment it entices thousands to listen to lectures on morality and great public questions which they would otherwise pass by unheeding. | This, however, is not what makes the drama of such vital importance to us. The true value of the spoken drama is not as an amusement or as an educational institution, but as the greatest of all the arts. First, above all else, drama is an art; not as many believe, simply a meeting place of the other arts,, but an art in itself. True, the drama does employ the services of artists, sculptors, dancers, and musicians as well as actors and playwrights; but when they have thus come together their individual- ity is lost. No longer do they appear as separate arts, but as one great art—the greatest of them all; an art based upon five all-important ele- ments: action, words, line, color, and rhythm. There is no art which can exist and not rely on one or more of these basic principles, and there is no other art except the drama which contains them all. The drama to- day, as it has been through all the centuries of the past, must be ac- knowledged, the greatest of all arts. When you have measured the value of beautiful pictures, wonderful statues, inspiring music, exquisite poetry and literary masterpices, and when you have added all these together and thrown in the art of the actor, then, and then only, can you estimate the true value of the spoken drama. Jut now let us look at the drama from an amateur’s point of view. Those who are interested or have looked into the matter claim that Com- munity Drama is of the greatest importance in social work. Louise Burleigi defines it in this way: ‘The Community Theater is a house of play which offers to every member of body politic active participation in) a ;com- mon interest.” Drama is the only art which has ever been or can ever be put on a democratic basis. It is the only art which needs great num- bers, and it is the only art in which uneducated masses can take part. All are needed, and when they are gathered together for amusement and recre- ation, a spirit of friendliness and neighborliness will grow, and continue to grow until the whole community is united in one great common in-

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20 -SOMANHIS EVENTS Bring diadems and fagots in their hands. To each they offer gitts after his will; Bread, kingdoms, stars, and sky that holds them all. l, in my pleached garden, watched the pomp, Forgot my morning wishes, hastily Took a few herbs and apples, and the Day Turned and departed silent. I, too late, Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn.” Since that time the Golden Stairs has been to me another poem on the Days, divinely beautiful. In Emerson's vision the Days offer gifts to man and pass judgments on his choices; in the vision of Burne-Jones the Days are a procession of Memories. How true to my own experiences the poem-picture is! As I review my life | see its Days, daughters of father Time, marching single in an endless file, coming, | know not whence, except from God above, and going, | know not whither, except through the dark portal of the tomb. In youth I looked jorward. Those were the days when the blue sky brought heaven near, and the gay bowers bloomed, and I made love like the doves, and furnished my nest like the swallow. Then came a day when I was conscious that shades of the prison house were closing about my spirit, and I heard a voice, Just heard, From some far shore, The final chorus sounding, I remember the day of my first bereavement, when my arm seemed bound with crepe.. I remember the day when at last | dropped the cypress spray of a great sorrow and my spirit sang again. Jj have had my days of joy, of doubt, of fear, of dream; I remember days that stand apart from all others. ’ remember one group of days so crowded with happy experiences that | cannot now assign to each day its due. I know that now I am beginning to look backward; my thoughts are too ready to fall into the formulas with which age begins to preach: ‘““When I was young,—ah, in those days,—we used to do so differently!’ The days of my youth seem as near and as real to me as yesterday; in fact the early days loom larger than today, as Burne- Jones suggests. I know, too, that there will come a day when my head shall wear the laurel wreath of the victor, or go crownless through the narrow por- tal of the grave. I see now that while each day I felt free to play or to keep silent as seemed good to me at the moment, I was not wholly free. Each day formed a part of a whole I did not plan and could not know. I real- ize that any day I might have met with accident through carelessness or wilfulness, but that I have been kept from falling by some gracious Prov- idence that will continue to guide my steps to the end. I admit that I have been an unprofitable servant. Many a day, with the fair gift of God in my hand, I have made no music; many a day I have communed with my own sad heart when I should have cheered my neighbor in his grief. But on the whole, life has been good—the stair has been golden. After twenty years with this picture in photograph only, I saw the original painting. The stairs are golden indeed! The whole canvas burns with the soft, subdued radiance of an Indian summer afternoon, when all the earth seems waiting for a revelation, As I sat long before it, something of the peace that passes understanding stole upon my spirit, a peace that glowed with joy when I discovered that the lowly portal did not give entrance to a darkened room, as I had thought, but to a hall whose. golden roof was upheld by polished shafts of precious marble. Perhaps, at last, what seemed to me the iron grating of a tomb may prove to be the pillars in the temple of my God.

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eo © SOMANHIS EVENTS terest. The world is already organized for co-operation in business. Peo- p-.e already know how to work together. The Community Theater is now teaching them to live and play together, and to obey the one social command ef Christ, “Love thy neighbor, as thyself.” Perey Mackaye goes one step farther. He shows how war is a method of “creating the national mind. Its method is organization—for compe- tition; the unifying of nations—against nations.” Then he goes on to show that what the world needs is not this, but a method for creating in- ternational mind: “a method of organization for co-operation: the harmon- izing of nations with nations—of communities with communities.” He believes that the method of social service in the Community Drama will fill this need, for Community Drama is organization for co-operation. Thus we see the drama as a great social redeemer and an organized institution standing for friendship and neighborliness, and opposed to that spirit which makes war possible. But no matter to what ends it 1s used we must always remember that the greatest value of the spoken drama rests upon the ‘fact that it is an art, sprung from the soul of the com- mon people and nourished by the principles of democracy through many long ages until at last it must be hailed, “The greatest of all art.” FRANCIS STRICKLAND, ’20. IVY ORATION Undergraduates: In a few days the class of 1920 will go forth into the world to assume greater responsibility than it has ever had before. Looking back over our four years in S. M. H. S. we can see many places where, if we as a class, or as individuals had decided differently, it would have been better not only for us but for our school. We therefore deem it a privilege at this time to leave with you a word of advice. “Labor omnia vincit” Labor conquers everything. This motto of the class of 1920 is indeed a good one. It was, however, far easier to select it for a motto than it has been to live up to it. Several of the members of the senior class during the past few weeks have expressed the thought that, if it were possible to begin their high school course over again, they would study harder. See to it, under classmen, that when you stand where we are standing today, there shall be no such regret in your hearts. Within a few days 1920 will no longer be members of the student body but will be counted among that larger body, the alumni. The reputation and standing of the school therefore now rests with you. During this year much has been accomplished in our school along the line of new organizations. We have at present a dramatic club which is a credit to the school. Not only the members of this club but the student body in general have received great benefit from the activities of this or- ganization. A boys’ debating club has been formed which has proven its worth to the school. For years S. M. H. S. has competed with other high, schools in athletics and has made a good showing for itself. This year we have twice been matched against other high schools in dual interscholastic debates, and have won in both. Underclassmen—It is your duty to see that these organizations continue and improve during the coming years. Our school need not be ashamed of the record it has made in athletics this year. Being left with nothing but new and green material we have developed a basketball, baseball, and track team, all of which have made