Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-07-01
,plv br. upon an Artificial restriction


Precisely So.
"And it il within tho power OF these
two companies to break the market when
ever they choose ?'
Undoubtedly, but they viii never do
II, for they would DO throwing away NIL.
lions Of pounds Of their own property
HOW TO WRITE A PLAY.
We hear OF the successful playrights,
because their works are produced. But
there is great army OF plsy-writers
whose PLAYS arc never produced, and
who are consequently unknown outside
OF their social circles. Any manager VIII
tell you he receives more MS. plays than
he has the time 10 read and examine. Ho
will also tell yon that the novice acts on
the assumption that mere cleyerness IN
writing bright dialogue or skill in elabo-
rating plot suflices in the production
Of dramstic work. Every play has to
suit the stage carpenter as well as tue
manager, aud be must never be lost sight
OF IN the course of the play. Probably
there is never play produced that is not
altered and rearranged by the expert
enced actor or stage manager at re-
hearsals or after the first night. Some OF
the best buanessis arranged after the re-
hearsals have commenced. There are
certain effects that can only be obtained
by watching the rehearsals. tits lmpos-
sible TO "tirne the dialogue for en-
frances and exits until rehearsals. VI
this the embryo drsmatist is blissfuily
ignorant. Taking the old plays as models
he writes long that modern audi
ences would not tolerate. tie does not
remember that there are certain mechAni-
cal impossibiIities, and consequently has
a "full set follow another. when front
scene enabling change IS necessary for
the purpose.
AS rule the best acting plays do not
read well, and Uice 0crsa. Manager
Palmer, of the Madison-Square Theatre,
initiated his series of authors matlnees
for the purpose of testing the works of
embryo dramatists, though these produc-
tons have only been made after the play
has been carefully read and rehearsed.
! The few that have lived beyond the ex-
perimental performance shows how dill
ficult il is to Judge OF dramatic work
until it is acted.
A CHESTNUT.
There is a prominent editor whose
! short stories in character dialogue have
made HIM fame and fortune. He devoted
valuable time to composing domestic
drama, which he finally submitted to
manager. After waiting several months
he received the Ms. with the stereotyped
! -. 10 rnuYaffnH r
raneomcnts would not permit tine pro-
duction, though he had read the play
with much interest. On opening the Ms.
roll the author found that several pages
be had deity glued together had not
been touched, conclusive evidence that
! the play had not been read.
| Another had three full acts in succession
| in one act, and the manager, glancing
| over the scenes, did not waste time TO
read the bulky manuscript, but summa-
rilv returned IT with the laconic common
tary, Impossible" A novelist found
that his tbree-act comedy OF contempt
rancous life would take three nights to
play as written.
Great skill in the deft retailing of
The "business" and incidents ia required
in COMPRISING the episode into an act
without any changes of scene. The front
scene is generally known rs a "csrpen-
ter" scene. from the fact that 1t il gene
rally made to enable the scene-shifters
10 change the full set behind. The
modern tendency is decidedly towards
the one scene TO the act though IN
melodramas, with many changes of
scene, the drops and front-scene are
necessary.
There is a future for the dramaiist in
this country, but the details of the stage
must be understood, and il the embryo
dramatic author cannot master such any
other way | advise him to seek the coun-
sci of stage manager or actor. 1t is be-
cause of the actor practical knowledge
of the technique OF the stage that as
rule plays written by actors are inyarla-
bly, succes siul even if Indifferent literary
compositions.
A TRAGEDIENNE's HOME.
The house stands upon the crown OF
the hill hundred and eighty feet above
the Hudson. The river lies, n narrow,
glittering belt, stretching out beyond
INTO the Tappan Zee. Upon the other
side the Palisades lift their gray battle
nIents, bare and scanned with rents, and
older by centuries thHn the Alps.
The Pines one would hardly I'M
agine it to be the home Of an actress
There is no turmoil here. The world
goss by another way. In all tins bcautl-
full Kbinelaud of America there is no
spot so quiet. it is almost lonely. 1t
possesses those peculiar characteristics
that make solitude tangible-the soft
green grass, the winding carriage-drive,
the leafy foot paths, the luxuriant vines,
and towering above them all, the dark
and colossal trees which give their name
TO the place. | look at them with awe,
and say to myself, surely they are like
the cedars of Lebanon i'll the Bible or
that tree in the dream that shell
tered all the fowls of the air In
It's branches, and the beasts Of the
field in It's shadow-sO immense are their
proportions. These trees it IL that make
the place seem lonely, for the summers
come and go, and the winters, and leave
no mark upon them, and the wind signs
perpetually in their branches. Every
thing is old and Of heavy growth. This
is one of the attractions Of The Pines.
Many of the modern places on the hud-
son are not beautiful because they lack age
in their strawberries and park. "Grey
stone" distant only short drive, the
home of Mr.. lilden, 30 famous in our
political world, gives nowhere any shell
ter for the eye. Magniiicently located
on tue brow Of the hill beyond Yonkers
it stands unblinking in the sun, an io-
mense pile of naked masonry. There IS
not tree about it. Its stables are
equally conspicuous, and its glass green
houses MAKE an rnsightiy blister that
cries aloud for covering.
Miss Morris's place and the property
adjacent was once the possession OF Ed
win Forrest. Often when l am in the
library think bow strange it seems to
know that in this very room the great
tragedian, SO long dead, had spent many
days ia thelatter part OF his life, and how
stranger yet is the fact that the property,
after changing hands many times in as
II i l..