The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-11-08

Mr.. Jones has had many failures and
some notable successes. OF the latter 1.-The
Danclng Girl" Is the latest, and the most
brililant, and contains the best work he
has ever done. So New Workers have
every opportunity just now for forming
an estimate OF his ability as a playwright.
BUCHANAN.
Robert Buchanan is also fighter, but of
another order. He is podgy, specta-
cled. irascible little Scotchman. ready at
moments notice to plunge into fierce
newspaper warfare with all creation. His
most hated foes are the brothers Moore
George, author of "a Mummer's Wife,"
Confessions of Young Man. and other
erotic works, and Augustus, proprietor
and editor of The HdWk. In his constantly
recurring sguabbles with them he in
dulges in the grossest persona lities, but
cannot be said to always get the best OF
the contest. But apart from personal an
tipathles he loves fighting for its own
sake. He holds strong views on most sub
Jects under the sun and seeks ever oppor-
tunlty to make those views public. No
matter what topic may be occupying the
serious attention of the public q column
letter from Mr.. Buchanan, couched in Wig
orous sledge-hammer terms, may be conf
IDENTIFY looked for in the pages of the Daily
Telegraph. If the question be one of social
IHOTdllbS. lie IS sure 10 DC on the Sue OF
hberality and laxity, and he has. in par
ticular, the very strongest personal reasons
for desiring the passage of the much-dis-
cussed deceased wife's sister bill. He is
the sworn enemy of all the established
forms of religion, and at the same time
has had the temerity to take up the cudgels
against such scientific giant as Professor
Huxley in regard to scientific conclusions
arrived at.
Of all the dramatists under notice Mr..
Buchanan has the highest pretensIons to
literary distinction. The results of his
early moving of the muse stamp him a
poet of no mean order, and his subsequent
work as an essayist and novelist give him
high place among contemporary writer's.
But the temptations of the stage were too
strong to be withstood, and. as he does not
possess the special gifts of an original
playmaker, he has degenerated into an
adapter of French meiodramas and all
round dramatic hack. To recent charges
of literary theft he pleaded guilty, with an
assumption of bravado. why don't my
detractors steal, too, if they are dissatis-
fed?" was his retort.
''Mr. Buchanan's co-authorship of "The
English Rose" with that old warrior of
melodrama. George +. Simms, has proved
more profitable to him than any previous
effort"
SIMMs.
If the popularity of all the English dra-
matists of the day were put to the vote the
name of G. r. Simms would undoubtedly
come out long way ahead. He is essen
TALLY the playwright and poet of the
masses, and, whether as Dagonet of the
Referee and the Dagonet ballads, or as g.
r. Simms, part author of the long series
of melodramas which has given the
Adelphi theater its high place in the af-
fections of the lower middle classes, he is
dearly beloved by them. No writer of to-
day can so faithfully interpret the miseries
and joys of the London poor, or so humor-
ously portray the happy independence of
the coster and his sweetheart. He is a
ready versifier and has a happy turn of
humor, and if his pathos is sometimes of
the maudlin kind it is often human, and
is always calculated to appeal to the bet
ter emotions of the class for whom he
writes. AS a dramatist he needs the as
sistance of collaboration, and never works
without one. His name sounds most
Familiarity in connection with that of
Henry Petit, than whom no man has a
more intimate knowledge of stagecraft in
all its intricacies.
Personally Mr.. Simms is deservedly pop
ular among an extensive circle of &C.
quaintances Of all Classes. In appearance
he is a cross between the Rev. c. III. Spur
geon and the heir apparent. He has for
some years been troubled with SUPER
abundance of adipose tissue, which he has
lately been endeavoring to reduce by vio-
lent tricycle. exercise in Regent park. He
is also martyr to his liver-a fact which
he does not fail to dwell upon with hum
orous insistence in the columns of the
Referee every Sunday. Mr.. Simms enjoys
a large fortune-probably not less than
a quarter of million pounds-all of which
he has made by his pen. He travels a
good deal on the continent, and has for
many years been patron of the Old Ship,
the historic coaching tavern at Brighton.
When in London he lives in his handsome
residence In Regents park.
TRIsTRAN.
w. Outram Tristram, author of the
Haymarket success, "The Red Lamp" is
not so well known by name to Americans
as many dramatists who have less claim to
distinction. He is man of considerable
culture, and devotes a great deal of time to
historical research, the result of which he
has embodied in a series of powerful
novels, which have gained him no mean
renown in the literary world. AS a play
wright il is his delight to weave romantic
dramas out of hitherto neglected episodes
of English or classic history, and whether
or not he confne himself to themes of that
nature, he cannot fail to make many valu-
able contributions to the dramatic litera-
Mr. Tristram is stockily built man,
with a smooth-shaved, pugnacious face,
small, searching eyes and humorous
mouth. His individuality is very marked
and he is charming companion. His
strong antipathies, which he never at
tempts to conceal, lead him to advocate
the establishment of a kicking machine"
in Trafalgar square, to be operated by the
common hangman to the detriment of the
persons of those vaguely Objectionable
people who cannot be brought to look
through the agency of the present crude
forms of law. One of the author favorite
companions is Ned handsome and WON
derfully clever pedigree bulldog of mature
age, who, at the Haymarket theater last
season, played the role now being per-
formed nightly at the Lyceum theater in
JEROME.
"The Master of Woodbarrow," although
not particularly brilliant success in Lon
don, has made Jerome K. Jerome per-
soma grata to American playgoers. Mr..
Jerome may be said to have commenced
life as the funny young man of bank
holiday picnic party. The other young
men thought Mr.. Jerome so heart-break-
ingly humorous that, acting on their so
licitation and not without inward prompt
ings of his own, he wrote a funny book.
The enormous success achieved by that
peculiar literary production, Three
Men in Boat" more than justified the
predictions of the funny young mans
friends, and Mr.. Jerome, with plenty Of
money flowing into his pockets, began TO
look upon life more seriously. He now
wears his hair in a thin negIige bang, looks
thoughtful has his photographs in the
shop windows. and presides over the Play