If there were an Academy I should nail upon its doors the following beliefs:
That Al Jolson is more interesting to the intelligent mind than John Barrymore and Fanny Brice than Ethel;
That Ring Lardner and Mr Dooley in their best work are more entertaining and more important than James B. Cabell and Joseph Hergesheimer in their best;
That the daily comic strip of George Herriman (Krazy Kat) is easily the most amusing and fantastic and satisfactory work of art produced in America to-day;
That Florenz Ziegfeld is a better producer than David Belasco;
That one film by Mack Sennett or Charlie Chaplin is worth the entire œuvre of Cecil de Mille;
That Alexander’s Ragtime Band and I Love a Piano are musically and emotionally sounder pieces of work than Indian Love Lyrics and The Rosary;
That the circus can be and often is more artistic than the Metropolitan Opera House in New York;
That Irene Castle is worth all the pseudo-classic dancing ever seen on the American stage; and
That the civic masque is not perceptibly superior to the Elks’ Parade in Atlantic City.