DON'T BE DIRTY

"Sex", "The Virgin Man", and "The Captive" have been found just too low-down for the New York Police Department to countenance. Managers of all three plays violently protest their innocence, and rejoice. Padlocking is better publicity than full page advertisements in every newspaper in New York. "The Drag", which is advertised as "the male captive" was allowed to run only two days in Bridgeport. From all accounts it contains little else but wise cracks on homo-sexuality, and is hardly on a higher level than the folk-literature in certain public places. But these two performances have made "The Drag" as famous as "Broadway", for instance, which has played to packed houses for three months. James Timoney, part owner, is seriously considering putting the play in Madison Square Garden--and he could probably draw a full house. The most cruel punishment which could be desired for the manager of "The Drag" would be to enforce an edict forbidding newspapers to mention ill-smelling drama at all.

The only criterion of whether or not a sex play is pernicious is good taste. And good taste is a criterion impossible to apply, not only because good taste and public taste differ. Good taste is too evanescent; it is impossible to say offhand what is and is not in good taste. Furthermore, a great deal of the most offensive drama and literature breathes a vociferous odor of sanctity. The strength magazines, and the "art" magazines reek with it. The manager of "The Drag" says he would show the play in a church, and asks censors to point out exactly what is wrong. He is unanswerable. It is no more possible to say that "The Captive" is on a higher level than "Sex" merely because it is in good taste, than to say that "The Boston Telegraph" is on a higher level than "The New York World" because "The Telegraph" considers its columns too chaste to contain news of the "Peaches" Browning's marital adventures.