The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-04-18

cuse me-" he replies, laughing, with an
air of immense relief, and hopping the
beads of Precipitation from his brow. 81
have not been well for the last few days
and sudden shock easily upsets my
nerves."
"Do playwris hts come in such great num-
tersp' l ask. DO they?" echoes Arthur
Lotto. pulling down pile of manuscripts
from the pigeonholes in the desk. do
theyP Look here, and here, and here
and l have bushels more at home" He
spreads the papers out and makes hay
with them in a way that says plainly:
There are plenty more where these came
from" "Mr. Lotto interviews the play
wrights. am always called away on press
ing business when q man or woman with
roll of manuscript looms up and asks for
the Manager" says Belasco with a
wicked twinkle in his eyes. 'If the plays
are typewriter l read them ALL remarks
Lotto. at is the hardest thing in the
world to get good play, and the man.
ager who refuses to look at amateur work
never knows when he is turning away
god among the dross. We have
not found any gold so far, but We may
strike it any day. You know the story of
the play that lay in A. NJ. Palmer's safe
for two years. One day, when an English
drama he had just prod uced had proved
an utter failure, Palmer took the first
manuscript that came to his hand on: of
his safe. 1t was Alabama
What are the faults of these ?' l ask.
singing out few of the Ms. that slrew
the desk. 1.-The same old faults, l sup
pose," says Lotto YEARLY. Wildly i'm
probable scenes, impossible situations,
people making entrances and exits aim
lessly; then the amateur dramatist will
insist on changing from a wood to the ex-
terror of an inn, then to an interior and
back to the wood, all in one act. II was
very well to jump about in that erratic
way in Shakepeare's time, when the only
scenery was a board with the inscription:
This is wood or This is an inn,' but
modern Suggesting will not stand H.
Now here's piece" and he singles out
bulky MS. "a young lady brought it
yesterday morning, and asked if she might
read her pay-it would not take many
minutes. There are seventyfour speak
ing characters in the first act, and after
she had read steadily for an hour and a
half. she grew quite confused and asked
for glass of water. We did not want
fainting lady on our hands, SO we prom
ised to read the play ourselves"
"This play must be from a woman, |
say, " selecting manuscript jauntily tied
with blue and yellow ribbon and trimmed
with little bows. Not at all; an officer
at the Preside sent it," says Mr.. Lotto,
laughing. THAT play is a war drama--a
cavalry war drama, and the officer (you
see his name on the title-page) orna-
mented it with blue and yellow because
they are the cavalry colors" "Shall you
act the war drama?" l ask, wondering
why editors insist that only women tie up
their manuscript with ribbon. 1T is
wildly. weirdly impossible" replies the
business manager decidedly. "a glance
at the tltle-page shows how unskilled q
playwright The author must be. The
drama is III four acts, and there are three
characters. Three people could not pos
sibly sustain the interest through four
acts
And this?" ask, selecting neat-look-
ing manuscript which somehow gives the
impression that the man who wrote It
is used to dsbbling in literature at is
from a clergyman at San Jose" says
Lotto. A clergyman! bless me! what
hold the drama must have on the public
mind for minister of the gospel to give
up his time TO writing play and sending
IL in all seriousness TO theatrical mana-
ger, in the hope that It will be produced
l am asked not to divulge the clergy