Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-09-07
DRAMATIC FOOTpADS.
MEN WHO FILcH AUTHORS BRAINS
AND sTEAL GREAT SITUATIONS.
Plays Built by Theatrical sneak-thieves
Some of the Vampires of the Pro-
fession-The producer

fession-The Producer.
Since the season opened up with such a
rush and the introduction of so many new
plays of more or less merit, | have been
rejecting upon the methods which some of
the spectators in theatrical wares adopt
to insure success for their productions and
to save a great deal of expense. At one
time it used to be the custom to give to
the author of piece the credit of con-
tumely attendant on success or failure. His
name was invariably paraded in the ad-
vance notices of the drama, and on as much
of the display printing as possible. Later
on it became the fashion to attribute to the
author all the faults and none of the beau
ties of the play, and still later on the
habitude was to ignore the author in the
hour of success altogether and never to
mention his name anywhere unless the
production was dire and disastrous spec
ulation.
Then came still more important and
sweeping change. The producer" assumed
all the responsibility, and received most of
the money and a good deal of the igno-
miny, if any accrued. The method Of the
producers" was to purchase play from
some native dramatist or to steal one from
some of the thousand and one foreign
sources, which could neither detect nor OBJ
ject to the robbery, and then to alter it so
as to render it pretty nearly unrecogniza-
BILE by its factors, and at the same time
agreeable to the authors. Then the au-
thor, if American, could never lay claim
to the piece nor obtain any credit for hay-
ing conceived it, because the producer"
would say: "My dear boy, show me any
thing in the third act or in the first that
is really yours. You see, all l got from
you was an idea, and l paid you for that !;
the treatment and presentation of the idea
in popular form have been mine, or
brought about by me solely. Therefore,
you cannot in honesty claim to be the au-
thor of the play"
This sounds very plausible, and might
be regarded by lots of fair-minded people
as Just and square. The author gave an
idea, for which he was paid; the clothes
in with it was wrapped up were thrown
away as worthless, to be sure. Still, it has
occurred to many such authors from time
to time, after they have seen the new garb
in which their idea was finally arrayed,
that those which had been discarded fitted
better and would have looked prettier on
the child But then this was only par
ent's fancy; the speculator-that is, the
man who was about to and did invest his
money in the idea-ought to know best,
and was entitled to his own way.
Granting all this to him as the 'produ-
GER" |, nevertheless, have ever felt that
he had no more right to be considered the
factor of the idea than the jeweler has to
be considered the factor of the pearl which
he sets in ring or bracelet. Indeed,
the producer" is not as much to the idea
as the fisherman is to the pearl he has
found, for the fisherman finds the oyster
that contains the pearl, whereas the ''pro-
ducer" has the idea brought right to him,
and very often does not know its value
when he sees it.
| have been very much amused from
time to time by the statements of these
"producers," who never miss chance of
letting the whole world know that the
piece was not worth quarter what they
gave for it until they took it home, went
over it, tore it apart, and completely trans
mogrifed it before hiring company and
putting it in rehearsal. Most of these
producers" to my personal knowledge,
cannot write three straight. sentences of
English; ay, and many of them cannot
nd 4
their ignorance or undertaking their
because have in my possession
at this moment letters from most OF them
which justifes my assertions.
They are queer lot OF fellows-full of
go, dash and enterprise. They have Sc
cured bank account by some means or
other, or they have the faith and friend
ship of some layman who is rich and is
willing to invest his surplus in theatricals,
which, as a rule, pay larger and earlier
dividends than even the preferred stocks
of the Central or cable roads.
The producer" has at his fingers ends
the tangible proofs of the wisdom of in
vesting in ordinarily paving theatrical
ventures, and when the producer" lays
his hands on good thing he demonstrates
his faith in it by telling the backer that
he will put up the play and his own ex-
perience against the other mans money,
and that they can thus share half and half
What could be fairer?
You will remark that the author is not
mentioned in large fiscal sense. Ger
tainly not. As a rule he receives few
hundred dollars for the play, with which
he can do little or nothing himself, and
which, he is told by the producer" is
only for the single idea it con-
tains. The author sells nine times out of
ten, and the producer" owns the play.
And then he begins to Improve" it.
Now, this is most interesting question,
aud shows up the average speculative
producer" in one of his most fancitul and
artistic lights. He knows that there is a
frst-rate idea in the play. He knows, also,
that unless he twists it around so as to
divest it of its original similitude he will
be compelled by the very force of circum-
stahces to take the author in" with him,
and by SO doing lose half, if not more of
his own Importance. He likewise knows,
or thinks he knows, that no play is fit to
be produced right from the first manu-
script; so he is doing the wise and the safe
thing in having the play overhauled and
in taking the sense Of the profession and
experts upon it.
Here is where the work begins. If he
be an actor land | am free to say that sew
eral of the latter-day producers have been,
and still are, bad actors), he will look
around for some person who has much
talent but little money, yet who desires to
star and who would make a suitable piece
if cast in the principal part.
Having found such person. "Mr. Pro-
ducer" has the play read, and read well
by this dawning star for the commercial
''ange," who IS so eager to make million
Of dollars for 81 900 that he stands ready
to. give up Immediately. After the read
ing i. may be thought good business to
hiie company and take the drama on
the road in an obscure region, so that its
merits may be made manifest for retention
and its weak spots and changeable scene
exposed to view.
If this be done the actor and the stage
are expected to do the work,
which, however, is suggested by the three
or four newspaper men, actors and authors
who are invited to see it with the avowed