THE NEW YORK IDEA

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Langdon Mitchell

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LANGDON MITCHELL

(Born Philadelphia, Pa., February 17, 1862)

The performance of "The New York Idea" at the LyricTheatre, New York, on November 19, 1906, was one of the rare,distinguished events in the American Theatre. It revealed thefact that at last an American playwright had written a dramacomparable with the very best European models, scintillatingwith clear, cold brilliancy, whose dialogue carried with it anexceptional literary style. It was a play that showed a vitalitywhich will serve to keep it alive for many generations, which willmake it welcome, however often it is revived; for there is a universalimport to its satire which raises it above the local, socialcondition it purports to portray. And though there is nothingof an ideal character about its situations, though it seems to beall head, with a minimum of apparent heart, it none the less isuniversal in the sense that Restoration comedy is universal. Itpresents a type of vulgarity, of sporting spirit, that is common inevery generation, whether in the time of Congreve and Wycherley,whether in the period of Sheridan or Oscar Wilde. Its wit isnot dependent on local colour, though ostensibly it is writtenabout New York. On its first presentment, it challenged goodwriting on the part of the critics. High Comedy always doesthat—tickles the brain and stimulates it, drives it at a pace notusually to be had in the theatre. Is it comedy or is it farce, thecritics queried? Is Mr. Mitchell sincere, and does he flay the evilhe so photographically portrays? Does he treat the sacred subjectof matrimony too flippantly? And should the play, in orderto be effective, have a moral tag, or should it be, what on thesurface it appears to be, a series of realistic scenes about peoplewhom one cannot admire and does not want to know intimately?Some of the writers found the picture not to their liking—that isthe effect good satire sometimes has when it strikes home. Yetwhen Grace George revived "The New York Idea" in a spirit sodifferent from Mrs. Fiske's, nine years after, on September 28,[Pg 600]1915, at the Playhouse, New York, the Times was bound to makethe following confession: "A vast array of American authorshave turned out plays innumerable, but not one of them hasquite matched in sparkling gayety and wit this work of LangdonMitchell's. And the passing years have left its satire stillpointed. They have not dimmed its polish nor so much asscratched its smart veneer."

The play was written expressly for Mrs. Fiske. Its hard,sharp interplay of humour was knowingly cut to suit her hard,sharp method of acting. Her interpretation was a triumph ofhead over heart. Grace George tried to read into CynthiaKarslake an element of romance which is suggested in the text,but which was somewhat over-sentimentalized by her soft portrayal.There is some element of relationship between "The NewYork Idea" and Henry Arthur Jones' "Mary Goes First;" thereis the same free air of sporting life, so graphically set forth in"Lord and Lady Algy." But the American play is greater thanthese because of its impersonal strain.

In a letter to the present Editor, Mr. Mitchell has brokensilence regarding the writing of "The New York Idea." Neverbefore has he tried to analyze its evolution. He says: