The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-07-08
OUR NEW YORK LETTER
BRONSON HOWARD AND "SHENAN-
:DoAH," HIS WEALTH MAKING PLAY.
How He Sets Out to Make n Piece For the
Theater-The Smoking. Wheel Riding
Period of Preparation Is All Important.

successful revival at Chicago of "Shenan
doah, the war play written by Bronson
Howard, is more than pleasing to tina
dramatic author. As some one else Ia
said, Shenandoah" is almost old enough
10 vote, and Mr.. Howard made up hi
mind some time ago that no more royal
ties from its production were likely TO b.
| turned into his pocket But the presen
war seems TO have given new life TO thu
play, and there is probability, especial!
should the fighting be prolonged, tha
SHENANDOAH" renewed popularity may
last as long as its first.
In looks Bronson Howard is almost ex
actly the opposite of the popular notion
| of what playwright should be. He
doesn't wear long hair, he is not lacka
daisical in facial expression, and there Is
nothing eccentric in his dress In truth,
he seems more like a typical, hustling but
still conservative business man than a
dramatist. His scant locks and his thick
| mustache are closely trimmed; his ways
are not at all pretentious; his talk shows
no trace of self consciousness.
How Howard Writes a Play.
Bronson Howard began active life as a
newspaper man, but he never had a no.
ton of remaining in the journalistic line.
In fact, he had been Mt work as u reporter
not more than q few weeks before all his
associates knew that he aspired to dramat-
ic authorship He talked about it so con-
stantly that the boys sometimes guyed
him numerically, and he was continually
looking for dramatic situations One of
the first lessons he learned was that the
playwright must bo in thorough possession
of his plot, must understand the "busi-
ness he means to make use of absolutely,
and must have a clear conception of his
characters before he begins work at the
actual construction of his drama. The
story of his trials and failures before this
knowledge was fully recognized is an in
teresting one, but too long for relation
here. 1t may be said, however, that now
adays he habitually devotes q period of
months-often a full half year-to the
preparatory part of his work. The prepa-
ration of 1.-THE Henrietta" occupied two
full years
During the preparatory months Mr..
Howard does little but smoke and ride the
bicycle He learned To control the wheeled
steed in Honolulu, and he is very fond Of
a spin, though, as ] understand it, he is
no century run flend, and he rarely
scorChes. Mr.. Howard allows himsC-- TO
do no writing, properly SO called, T,,i!c il
the smoking, wheeling stage of play c1N-
struction. But the number of random
notes. of disjointed memoranda which lie
produces at such times is enormous. Ihc.e
notes consist of bright bits of dialogue,
situations briefly suggested, indications of
effective business" and scenery.
As rule, very little time is spent On
the plot. He once said that he could Icy
out the best plot no Is capable of devising
in three or four hours. In some cases his
plot has been formulated at the very be-
ginning of the preparatory months. In
others the plot has been left to the last,
and in nearly every instance half dozen
plots have been formulated, partially elab-
Grated and finally discarded as impractical
BILE before the plays actual writing has
been begun. This part of the work is al
ways much briefer than the preparatory
stage. One of his most successful produc-
tions was written in less than three
The Henrietta. y
A Word or Two About Methods.
Howard himself says he is the least
methodical, most untidy man alive, and
so he is in some respects. His desk, for
instance, generally presents most pictur-
esque appearance of confusion, and yet he
can always quickly find whatever he de-
sires to lay his hands on in the tangled
mass Of papers.
But he keeps all his notes and memo
randa that are of real value in the most or
derly fashion imaginable. Not the first
rough jottings these no invariably de.
stroys "a few days after making them. Be-
fore doing this, however, he goes over the
batch about to be burned up, examining
every scrap with the utmost care. AS the
examination progresses they are separated
into two piles, one of which is committed
to the flames without further ceremony.
What is written on the scraps in tho 9TH
er pile, however, is laboriously copied off
into small memorandum books forsfuture
reference.
These books are held TO be very precious
by our dramatist as well they may be, for
they contain the essence and substance of
his best thought and observation ever
since he began to have aspirations in the
playwriting line Each is bound in sub
stantial leather, and each bears letter of
the alphabet. Some time ago he had got
as far as a." and he may have run
through the alphabet by this time. Curl
ously enough, he enters all financial trans
actions of consequence, such as amount of
royalties received, and sometimes even ex-
pense accounts, I'm the same books, so that
they really form a sort OF history in detail
of his entire working life. One would
imagine such set Of books would need to
be carefully indexed in order TO make
them fully available for reference, and so
they are, but the index Is in Howard s
head, and his memory of the location of
each entry is so perfect that he can almost
always turn to exactly what he wants
without the slightest hesitation.
Mr. Howard is getting gray now--in
fact, it is almost proper to speak of his
hair as silvery, for the old time brown has
almost all been bleached out. There are
different opinions as to the artistic value
of his work, but none whatever as TO its
power of pleasing the American public.
Even those who criticise him most for the
use of old material and well tried situa
tions profess to see great improvement in
his later works over his earlier produc-
tions and admit that his dramatic sense