The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-11-07
WILL Nor WHITE APLAY.
lBiIl Nye, in Boston Globe.l

"Over the Garden Wall, etc, etc, who
 proposed the matter of writing a play
 jointly:
 HUDSON, Wis, Oct. B, 1885. Scott Marble, Esq
 Dear Sir: have just received your
 favor of yesterday, in which you asked me
 to unite with you in the construction of a
 new play.
 This idea has been suggested to me be-
 fore but not in such way as to inaugu-
 rate the serious tn ought which your let ter has stirred up 10 my seething mass of
 mind.
 l would like very much to unite with you in the erection of such a dramatic structure that people would cheerfully come to this country from Europe and
 board with US for months in oroer 10 see this every night.
 You will surely agree with me that somebody ought to write a play. Why 1t has not been done long ago cannot understand. A well-known comedian told me year ago that he hadn't been able to look into a paper for sixteen months. He could not even read over the proof of his own press notices and crit icisms to ascertain whether the printer had set them up as he wrote them or not, simply because it took all his spare time of the stage to examine the manuscripts of plays that had been submitted to him,
 But think we could arrange it so that we might together construct something m that line which would at least attract the attention of our families.
 Would you mind telling me, for in- stance, how you write play2 You have been in the business before, and you could tell me, of course, some of the sal tent points about 1t. Do you write it with typewriter, or do you dictate your thoughts to some one who does not re- sent being dictated to?
 Do you write play and then drama ii4e 1t. G dc vou %r;te the drama and then play on it2 Would it not be good idea to secure plot that would cost very little and then put the kibosh on it, or would you put up the lines first and then hang the plot or drama, or whatever it is, on the lines { Is it absolutely necessary to have prologue2 | Fso, what is a pro- logue3 Is it like catalogue?
 l have great many crude ideas, but you see am not practical. One of my crude ideas is to introduce into the play an artists studio This would not cost much, for we could borrow the studio evenings and allow the artist to use it daytimes. Then we would introduce mo the studio scene the arts:s liv- ing model. Everybody would be horri- fled, but they would go. They would 1 walk over each other to attend the drama, and we would do well. Our living model | "a cfH o(k l. l. mon wax, and if it worked well, we would | discharge other members of the com. pany and substitute wax. Gradually we | could get it down to where the company | would be wax, with the exception of a | jaDitor with feather duster
 But seriously, play, it seems to me should embody an idea Am 1 correct in that theory or not? It ought to convey some great thought, some maxim or aphorism, or some such thing as that How would it do to arrange play with the idea ofimpre ssing upon the audience that "the fool and his money are soon parted? ?" Are you using hero and heroine in your plays now? If SO would you mind writing their lives for them while arrange the details and remarks tor the young man who is discovered asleep on divan when the curtain rises, and who sleeps on through the play with his mouth slightly aJar, till the close the close of the play, not the close of his mouth-when it is discovered that he is dead. He then plays the cold remains n the closing tableau, and fills a new made grave at So per week.
 could also write the lines, think for he uk | fight summer cane and seersucker coat 90 tight that you can count his ver- ebrI. could write what he would say without great mental strain, think. 1 must avoid mental strain or my intellect night split down the back, and l would DC mental wreck, good for nothing but o strew the shores of time with myself.
 Various other crude ideas present themselves to my mind, but they need to DC clothed. You will say that this is un. necessary. know you will at once reply hat for the stage, the less you clothe an dea the more popular 1t will be, but 'ould not consent to have even a bare bought of mine making an appearance night after night before cultivated audi :nce.
 What do you think of introducing a .enuine case of smallpox on the stage :? : You say in your letter that what the American people clamor for is something catchy" That would be catchy, and | would also introduce itself
 l wish you would also tell me what lind of diet you confne yourself to while writing it. Do you live on a mixed diet 'r on your relatives? Would you soak : 'our head while writing play, or would 'ou soak your overcoat? l desire to ( snow all these things, because, Mir ( Marble, to tell you the truth, am as ig- ( iorant about this matter as the babe un- t 'orn. In fact, posterity would have to ,et up early Tn the morning to know less bout play-writing than have succeeded $ n knowing.
 If we gre to make kind O: comedy. [ ny idea would be to introduce something { acetious into the middle ot the comedy. No one will expect it, you sec. and it will