Page:The Newspaper and the Historian.djvu/381

 xiii.

were reversed and “ one London newspaper paid as much as £200 a year for early intelligence of what was to be presented at the theatres.” 120 But, while dramatic criticism has now come

to be an important feature of the press, it furnishes the historian one of his most troublesome problems. This is in part owing to

the difficulties inherent in such criticism. The critic is limited by the policy of the editor towards the theater, by his assumed

tacit obligation to theater managers, by his personal relations with actors, and frequently by his own efforts in playwriting and

in acting There has long been a feeling on the part of theater managers that the receipt of complimentary tickets by a newspaper carries

with it an implied obligation to give a favorable notice of the play seen.121 “ We are on no new ground ,” says Lucas, “ when we find an actor-manager quarreling with a dramatic critic,” and he cites the case of Charles J. Mathews, the actor, who in

1853 wrote to the Morning Post that, after admitting its repre sentative as usual, he had met with what he deserved in con

sequence. Last season, he says, he had protested against what he considered unfair criticism. Now, with “ every respect and goodwill ” towards the editor personally, he can not allow his

critic to be admitted again. A caustic letter from the editor says,

" You meant that you would never give him free tickets. Frankly, I do not see that thatmatters one straw . I should as soon dream of uttering a ' threat' to induce you to give him a free ticket as I would to oblige you to take off your hat to him .” 122 But when a newspaper has refused complimentary tickets and instructed its critic to purchase them, the theater manager has sometimes refused to sell them to any representative of the paper.

The result has more than once been prolonged litigation, with decisions unfavorable to the newspaper. The case of Life us. Klaw and Erlanger in 1907 turned on the refusal of the theater 120 Thomas Catling, My Life's Pilgrimage, p. 356. 12 C. T. Congdon complains of the amusement mongers who think that newspapers are specially printed for their use. “ The whole bad business of puffery was upon a much lower basis not a great many years ago ; and the manager of a theater, for the consideration of a free admission, thought himself entitled to the occupation of as many columns as he cared to fill.”

Reminiscences of a Journalist (1880), p. 312. 122 R. Lucas, Lord Glenesk and the “ Morning Post,” pp. 164 - 165.