"The public of the United States is demanding, and always will demand, the best theatrical entertainment that can be produced," declared Mr. George Arliss, in an interview for the CRIMSON recently. Mr. Arliss is now playing in Boston in "The Green Goddess."

"A great many people," he continued, "think that the public must be educated to understand and appreciate good drama. As a matter of fact, this is a gross misconception. The public is continually calling for the best. Some of the theatre guilds make the foolish mistake of announcing to the public that they are about to present something better than they have ever seen before. They then give plays which may be beautiful, but which were never intended to be acted. The result is complete failure.

"I wonder how long it will take people to realize that no man has ever tried to give the public 'something better' and has succeeded. Real classics are written more or less by accident. No author has ever decided to write a classic, and succeeded in producing one. Shakspere wrote for a living. He took old plots, and fitted them for the members of his company. That is one reason why his characters are so realistic; he drew from life. His works were full of genius not because he tried to make them so but because he could not help it. That is invariably what happens. A man is a genius because he does as well as he can, not because he tries to write a classic.

"There is a considerable controversy between people who think that the public must be educated to appreciate good drama, and those who think that the drama must be changed to suit the public taste. The latter is the better conception of the matter. The public is setting high standards, and the drama must live up to them. When I speak of 'drama' I refer not only to the legitimate stage, but also to the motion pictures, which, although they are at present on a lower standard than the stage, will overcome this handicap, and reach the artistic worth which they are aiming at. The motion pictures today are in the condition in which the stage was 15 or 20 years ago, when 'Ten Nights in a Bar-Room' and 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' were popular. These plays are gone today, and the second-rate motion pictures will be gone tomorrow. There is one thing that makes changes in the motion pictures very slow,--every picture must appeal to every class of audience. The film that is shown on Broadway must also be shown at the five-cent theatre in the country. On the other hand, the speaking play caters only to the more or less educated audiences in the larger cities, and therefore, can change with more freedom.

"After all," he concluded, "the thing that makes good drama is not only good writing, but sincerity. An author must tell the truth, if he wants to be successful. The public refuses to be fooled. The man who is sincere and truthful, and gives his real thoughts and feelings in such a way that the audience can really understand is a great genius, and it is this sincerity and truth that make genius, rather than a false attempt to copy a genius of the past."