ure in which few
theaters can afford to engage. At one time large profits were made from
so-called "10, 20, 30-cent stock companies" that spent a week in town
and gave two performances daily, but the class of patronage attracted by
such shows is now supporting the new vaudeville theater and the moving
picture houses. So the academy is becoming more and more a purely
first-class theater.

'One great difficulty with which the trustees have had to contend is how
to steer a course between the Syndicate and the Shuberts. The Syndicate
refuses to book in a house open to other agencies, and the Shuberts can
offer few but musical shows. In fact, neither side seems prepared to
supply enough attractions. So altogether this matter seems at present
almost hopeless of solution as long as the prevailing dearth of plays
and actors and surfeit of theaters make it well-nigh impossible for
one-night stands to fare well. In practice both sides to the controversy
have been tried and found wanting.'

This Northampton fact of the possession of a town theater tells us at
once that the measure of financial support of a civic theater involved
in the ownership of a theater building is the least vital and efficient
step toward the end in view. It is an effort that looks out for the mere
shell. It puts the town in the position of a benevolent landlord toward
a real estate investment that happens to fall in the artistic class. And
such a class of investment requires further equipment to cope with the
equipment of less benevolent foreign landlords holding similar property.
Unless civic responsibility develops beyond this comparatively helpless
position, no such improvement of the situation as may lead to dramatic
growth may result from this foundation. At the same time, even this
meager measure of civic control of the dramatic situation has bettered
Northampton's chances in the matter of drama. It has shielded the town
from utter helplessness against dramatic deterioration through receiving
whatever outside commercial managements may choose to offer. It has
enabled the town to choose for itself to some degree and most notably to
gain access to a higher class of independent dramatic entertainment than
would otherwise be open to it.

But even in the act of thus looking out for the mere shell of a civic
theater, the difficulties incident to a partial reform of the dramatic
situation appear. They are the difficulties incident both to the
current dram