Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-17

over again and it seemed much more inter.
esting and better than it did in the original
manuscript The money I got seemed to
be q great deal and felt that my vocation
in life was fixed and indeed I have been
writing from that day to this.
The conversation here drifted to MrA
Burnetr's characters and asked her
whether she invented her characters and
situations or took them from real life. She
replied that she did both and she told me
that the heroine of "That Lass O'Lowrie's''
which many suppose to- have been taken
from real life was almost altogether an
ideal creation. 'The character" she said,
"was suggested by a strong. handsome woman
among the miners in the English town
where I lived with my parents before
came to America / was very little girl
when I saw her but she made great i'm
preston upon me and she was queen
among the rough people with whom she
associated. I suppose all characters are
suggested by something, but only one or
two of them have been taken from people
in real life and these are notably Little Lord
| Fauntleroy and Lawrence Arbuthnot, In
Through One Administration.
Always Was y Great Reader. .a
'T read nearly everything could get my
hands on when girl. I could never keep
away from books, and was often punished
| when was child for my impoliteness for
looking into books and stealing page of
reading at time when visitors were pres
ent, pretending all the time to be interested
in the conversation. I have always been
very fond of novels, and I think my favor
ties are Dickens and Thackd dary. 80.
81 can't tell when I did not read. DOM
| think ever learned my letters, or to read
by learning to spell as most children do,
| and my first remembrance of reading is that
stood one day when was just three years
old at my grandmother's knee and out Of
her brown speckled leather Bible read these
words: when Jesus was born in Bethle-
| hem of Judea' It is strange I should re-
member them, but do remember them, and
they are my first memory Of reading any
thing out of book. y,
"Yes, it has" was the reply. "It has had
very large circulation and I have made
much out of its dramatization." "a
Plays Pay Better Than Novels.
II suppose that play writing pays much
better than novel writing?"
| eyes, successful play brings in . large
and immediate income, and 1t continues to
be profitable for . long time. Little Lord
q
| but the receipts from it there were nothing
| like those of the United States. Most Of
| my plays have done very we'll, and though
do not like play writing as well as story
writing. it is 50 profitable that I cannot
give it up" ....
"Give me some idea Of the difference be-
tween play writing and story writing, Mrs
Burnett?" said L
'They are very great I can assure you, -
WAS the reply. 'sYou have to write tor two
different audiences and the circumstances
of reading your stories are different In
plsywriting there is no chance for any SUBJ
tie touches of art or thought. Everything
has to be of the broadest and plainest kind.
Your points must be such as to strike the
audience right between the eyes and they
must be understood without reason or in
tellectual e1ertion. All the pretty things
you are proud Of in your stories, such as
the analyses of character, the subtle under
tones Of thought, and the words which you
want your readers to imagine between the
lines, have to be cut out and you have to
say lust what you mean so plainly that he
who gallops can read. In writing play
compose it in the shape of q story, and then
go over it and remodel it and rewrite it for
the stage"
A Doctor on the Stage.
The conversation here turned to Mrs.
Burnett's new play, 'sThe Showman's
Daughter" which she brought out in
London last season, but which appeared
Just at the time of the death of the Duke of
Clarence. This death threw all London
into mourning, and it practically ruined the
theater business of the city for the season.
On account of it Mrs Burnett withdrew her
play from the stage. She told me most
int cxorr Of har or onfor rhnr,,
she found in the person of a well known
young physician in London, and who, she
SAYS, seems to be made for her play.
This young man belongs to one of the
good families of England, and he was born
with passion Tor the stage. After he had
finished his schooling he wanted to make
acting his profession, and be did plav some
parts in the provinces. His family objected
to such an extent that he gave
up the stage, and at his mothers
request studied medicine, and graduated
with such honors that he was made fellow of
the Royal College of Surgeons, and valu-
able practice was offered him in Australia.
He could have made good living IN Lon
don, but he still longed for the stage, and
Mrs. Burnett, becoming acquainted with
him through her London physician, asked
him to act as manager of her theatrical
business He had this position when Mrs.
Burnett took her sick boy, Lionel, over to
Europe, and he met her at southampton
and travelled with her to the continent.
Made Hit on His First Night.
During this trip Lionel took great fancy
to the young doctor, and the love OF the
two was mutual, for the young man went
with Lionel and stayed with him in the
mountains, acting as his resident physician
until he died When this new play was
put on the stage Mrs. Burnett had great
trouble in getting person for the principal
part. She tried several of the noted old
man actors of London, but none of them
were successful in it, ard she finally asked
the young surgeon to attempt it.
Assoon as she saw his makeup she ex-
claimed: "That is just what want" and
when she heard him render the part she
was delighted. He was reluctant to attempt
the character in London, where the critics
are so merciless in their treatment of new
actors, but at Mrs. Burnett's urgent solici-
tation he appeared in it and came out under
the assumed name of ''Mr. Will Dennis"
name which he took from Washington
lawyer At his first night he created
great sensation. The critics of all the great
papers praised him, and his acting was the
sensation of stage circles. Mr.. Will Dennis
is still a young man and is fine looking
fellow. FRANK G. CARPENTER.