The San Francisco call., 1897-06-20

has just been produced in this City, is the
seventh play of mine that has appeared
on the boards. Some of these l am proud
of and others-well, l am not quite so
proud Of"
He got up and walked TO the footlights
and stood there moment Ali was silent
save now and then the faint sound of a
hammer, the merry tune of whistler or a
snatch OF song from passing lips.
"This is inspiring! !" he exclaimed. ''How
could any one help loving it and
working for it and hoping for itP Ny
plays are part of my life. They are nothing,
even as 1 am nothing, compared with
creation as q whole, and yet they are
everything to me. And in the law of
nature nothing is lost. That is comfort
Ing, is 1t not2"
felt his spirit as it twined itself about
the ideal 1t loved. l felt it in the culver
of his well-modulated tones. a crushed
spirit is the weakest thing on God earth
"a conquering one the strongest l felt
his assurance OF victory-his str myth and
his confdencs-and my mind rose 10
grasp them.
~ write my plays" said the author, re-
suming his seat, very carefully, If am
deeply interested, and always with special
attention TO the minutest details. Before
| begin l have my exits and entrances
laid and the plot mapped out. [ write as
, the French do. l know what Mr.. Brown
will saw and what Mr.. Green will reply /;
when Mary will come in, and so on. Il is
| quite different from Dovel-writing, you
know. In a novel you would say: Mary
| crossed to the window and stood there
| crying In the play you have got to
| fashion your Mary so that there will be
apparently. nothing for her TO do but to
| go TO the window and weep. Her charac-
ter must conform to her actions, else there
| Is a discrepancy aud the character is a
| failure Even the minor characters must
be watched in that way. Every word they
speak must influence their actions, the
actions of the others and show plainly to
ell eyes just what they are.
But in writing a play" he went on,
zone must not only write out the dia-
logue and see that the natural things
evolve from causes, but one must write it
down III an explanatory way-clearIy, so
that the most stupid being on earth could
not fail to grasp the idea. One is not al
ways able to stage his own reductions
in fact it is very seldom his privilege,
wherefore 1t muss all be perfectly plain,
word for word, or it would all be failure.
Not" he said, laughing slightly, THAT
l meant to cast any reflections upon the
stage managers when l said that it must
be written for the s:upidest people on
earth. To the contrary. The stare-man-
ager has task before him compared
with which Noan's management of the
ark animals was an amateur farce. He
has 10 keep the animate and inanimate
things shifting places properly. The in
animate things are easy-alI you have to
do is to press the button for them; but
the actors have 10 be told again and again.
Then, when 1t doesn't work rig hit, there is
shower of tears from the ladies and tbs
gentlemen step to corner and say things.
while the stage -manaaer himseIf-oh. he
feels like seven different kinds of a
wretch"
How does it seem TO put play on the
stage and wait for the public to accept or
reject it2" asked.
Il can't explain. Like a mother would
feel whose only child stood upon a brink.
IN danger of falling every moment but