The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-01-01
WORK THAT PAYS.
12:s. RSiey nnd Miss Stone Draw
Handsome D from E'Ieys.

Playwri;inE is II profitable profession
ana one In the benefits of which women
arc coming 10 take their share. II re-
CURES answering effort and II large al
loWahcc OF patience t. win success in
writing for the stage. but the artistic
ana financial rc;ui!!S are well worth
waiting ana striving for. This is the
unanimous verdict OF the women who re-
Gently kave made admirable additions
10 dramatic literature.
One mus: hope and study and never
cease from en~dcavoring says Miss Mary
Stone, whose drarlatiZation of "a So
cial f~;iShWayman" has given her q
familiar name with the theatre going
public.
TO write a good play YOU must have
a professional knowledge of the stage,
adds Mrs. Madeline l.ucette Ryicy. au-
thor OF that phenomenal little comedy
"Christopher il" These two clever
pen-wGi!Gh agree on another impor-
tant point, namely, that twelve months
hard work is not u bill too much effort to
put into a play, whether 1t be a TRACE
dy gu comedy and quite as emrnatically
do both of them declare thai the pro-
duction of Il play need not be the result
of inspiration. Every morning. whc-
thcr moved by the desire or no. Mrs.
Ryley goes like u wcll-rcgula.ed bust
ness woman To the desk and there, for
50 many hours. she pa~inetakinEly and
perSistently c0nlpoScS. until stern dis
cipline prevails over reDcllious brains
that settle at last to the task IN hand
and the happy facility and interest is
gained.
My own method" explains Miss
Stone. lis simple enough. After. u
o'clock in til evening l get at my desk
and from then until 8 in the morning
am busy getting up what you may call
inspiration and writing steadily. l never
set pen To paper, however. until act,
scenes and the major portion of the
dialogue is mapped out clearly in my
mind. and though I've not mad any per-
sonal connection with the thcater |
hay always, since my earliest youth.
studied plays and stage methods as
Faithfully ms an actress. from my or
cllcStra chair.
THAI knowledge" continued Miss
Stone, sis simply indispensable and /
praticed first at dramati2ing the sto-
ries ] found In books. which is at once
very difficult and seemingly caSy work.
After abundant IN fruitless writing l
failed to hit the mark until with a play
made from Stanley Weyman's House
Of the Wolff earned the notice of a
web known actor II "a Social High
wayman" was put into my hand for
adaptation. Now u am at work on a
comedy of American life in plot and
treatment all my own. and though 1t
has taken years of course, TO work up
this far III the profession once the sue
cesflul vein is reached. the return Is the
richest and readiest a woman can earn.
Once on the stage and attracting good
audiences ones play literally becomcs
q little automatic money machine. earn
ing its authors income weekly. at the
rate of s per cent. on the receipts. in n
way the most popular book can never
do"
1t required five years of waiting. re-
writing. disappointment and renewed
hopes alternating, for Mrs. Ryley to per-
suadc her manager that "Chrlstopher.
Jr..' was ut length worth public ap-
prevail. The five cal had been prccc6-
ed by many others of rather fruit,ess
pen work and by all the laws governing
human nature this seemingly would-be
dramatist ought long ago to have reIin.
quished her ambitions. but since the