I gather that last Tuesday's conference on decency on the
stage, attended by representatives of the Theatrical Managers' Association, as well as of the Lord Chamberlain, the Home Office, the L.C.C. and other bodies, was almost disconcert- ingly unanimous. The one thing which the theatrical man- agers, apparently, want above all things is to rid the stage of all indelicacy. (What, it may reasonably be asked has hindered them from doing it?) Mr. Herbert Morrison, in his speech, observed that he had not realised he was being invited to attend a Puritan gathering. Mr. E. M. Forster, I see, depre- cates the pother being made about the business, and says that people who like nude shows should be left to go and see them, and people who, like himself, don't should stay away. It is not quite so simple as that Of course, if there is no such thing as good and bad, or right and wrong, or moral standards at all, there is no more to be said—though I am sure that is not Mr. Forster's view. The question is whether, particularly in war-time, it is a wholesome thing to induce young soldiers in their early twenties, who by the nature of their calling are deprived much more than normally of women's society, to pay their money to see women stripping themselves, or already stripped, on a music-hall stage. Making all allowance for some exaggerated criticisms, I find it hard to think it is.
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