The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-11-07
WRITING A MELODRAMA,
How the Characters Must Be
Refined In to Talk to
the Point.
Playwright c. T. Darcy Talks of the
Revival of a Favorite
Enter tainment.

There is probably no one better qualified
to speak of the merits of melodrama than
the American author, C. T..Dazey, for has
he not written the most successful drama
of American life that has been seen in this
generation in ain Old kentucky? Not
since 1.-The Danites' has an American
melodrama met with such an enthusiastic
reception from the play-goers of this coun-
try. Mr. Darcy is IN the City for the pur-
pose of watching the final rehearsaIs of
his new play, "The War of Wealth, "
which will receive its first presentation
at the California Theater next Monday
evening.
He believes, with Mr.. Frohman and Mr..
Palmer, that the time is ripe for
melodrama, but he evidently arrived at
that conclusion long before either of the
aforementioned managers, for according
to his own statement he has been working
on THE War of Wealth" for nearly two
years. 1t took him one year to write "In
Old Kentucky and five years to dispose of
it. Even A. NJ. Palmer couldn't see
wherin it posses sed sufficient merit to war
rant its production, and Mr.. Darcy put it
back IN his trunk, as he had done many
tunes before with a sad and despairing sigh
when told by the managerial arbiters that
there was nothing in it." He found a
man at last with cash and courage and con-
fidence in Jacob Lift, and now Mr. Dazev
is IN affiuence and his manager is building
an immense fortune.
Good meiodroma" said he, sis a pic-
ture OF what most interests people-the
scenes and characters Of common life, the
emotions and passions which they them
selves have felt. The very grandeur and
solemnity of tragedy, with its kings and
princes, repel the common people; thew
wish to see mirrored the homely. common
scenes around them, to laugh and ween
| with people whom they recognize as nejph
bors and friends. Just as the daily paper.
with Its gosslpY accounts of thrillin q
| events OF contemporaneous interest, has
| hundreds of readers where the classics of
the library have one, so the melodrama
will continue to attract those who wish to
see reflex OF their daily life."
| In talking about the scope and action.
| he allowed his characters in framing n
play, Mr.. Darcy said: ut isn't possible to
let them do on the stage as they do in
novels. | may do so when | am planning
them out in my head, but not when | am
writing. at first l let them take their own
way and throw the reins on their necks,
but in writing | keep them tightly reigned
in. You must have definite object in a
| play, toward which the play is moving the
whole time, and the characters, therefore,
have to fall in line. You can't begin writ.
| ing a play and not know where YOU are
going. When Shakespeare began Mac
beth he knew he WIGS going to give study
OF ambition and that he would end in the
mans ruin There are only two endings
to any play, and the fact that it is a play
or novel demands an aim, a conclusion.
tragic or happy, and any other ending is
unsatisfactory. Final notes of interroga
are absurd.
''And, again, in the matter of dialogue il
would be quite impossible to transcribe
the ordinary everyday conversation
around one; IL would be horribly common
| place. You must be an impressionist, not
photographer. photo ,rapher instan-
| taneously gives you the individual spokes
In whirling cab Wheel an impressionist
| gives you blur hint, an idea Of wheel
in motion. So with the dramatist; he
must give you a general idea OF converse
ton. He must make his characters speak
| coiloquially, and as they might speak in
real life, for even in rea, life you often get
one line, although rarely, if ever three
that could be produced on the stage.
Every sentence in the play is carrying on
the whole play-it is one brick in the
building. Remember this, there is an i'm
| mense framework and skeleton behind the
dialogue. Every character has to be COLO
quail, has to stand out clear and vivid from
| the rest, and has, unconscious. to himself,
to carry on an immense scheme, while all
tie time he is unconsciously trending to a
climax three or four acts off. That is what
| play wright has to learn, and it requires
constant practice, for no one has any idea
OF the immense value of single syllable
where one will do instead of two. In de-
picting q character q playwright draws
upon the accumulated experience of life
time"