The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-02
A WOMAN PLAYWRIGHT
HOW MRS. BURNETT WRITES Nov
ELS AND DRAMATIzEs THEN.
Cellar Labyrinth Under Her London
House Responsible for "A
Lady of Quality"
New York Press.

Frances Hodgson Burnett, who has
achieved so great distinction as novelist
and a dramatist, does not write her books
with a view to dramatizing them later
She writes them, first, because she likes to,
and, second. because she feels that she has
something interesting and helpful to say.
If she builds play upon the novel AFTER
ward it is because she wishes to see ner
characters in actual flesh and blood NOV
ing on the stage.
Il could not write novel, she SAID, IL
/ worked with the view of making play
out of it afterwards. What belongs in a
novel often is quite out OF place in pay
and vice versa Novels are written, plays
are built. If I wrote d book as though
were a carpenter building house l should
fail surely and if 7 constructed play so
that it read never so intelligently on paper
it might not act at all. | have seen plays
in manuscript that were excellent reading
which, when put on the stage, were stupid
or ridiculous or altogether impossible. No,
indeed, when / write 1 write; when build
I build, and keep the two conceptions ap-
solutely distinct end apart.
1T does not take me long TO tell story
when once j have got my idea, but some
times l am months feeling about for what
i i
something / should write about, and yet
have only a glimmering of what it is until
it bursts upon me. Then ] sit down and
write. 1t was so with "A Lady of Quality.
l brooded over the germ of that for an en-
tire season. At last, when / saw what
was to do. / began, and in five weeks the
book was finished. There are three hum
dred pages with about two hundred words
on a page l wrote over sixty thousand
words, l believe.
II have lust finished another novel, Or
mond,' founded on one Of the characters in
"A Lady of Quality I was longer on that
1t took me nearly three months, working
from in the morning until in the after
noon. But. then, in Washington there are
distractions
1T is rather odd how I came to write "A
Lady of Quality 1t came out of my cell
lar, the cellar of my London house IN Port
land place. | went down to take Il look at
it one day, and discovered 1t was perfect
labyrinth. Instead of being. one or two
square rooms, as [ supposed, there was
apartment after apartment, in the manner
of ancient wine vaults. This series of caves,
as | called them, ended abruptly, just when
ore was beginning to fancy they would lead
on forever At the termination was mys-
ferrous wall, beyond which only the mag
nation might proceed. Mine proceeded be-
yond it often. Indeed, it was the GROWING
wonder of the cellar IN the minds Of all my
friends, for l tooh every one down; or
course as the first person told begged me
to take her She told others, and / soon
was famous for my cellar parties. Armed
with candles, we peered about those sub
terranean chambers like explorers in dear
old Mammoth Cave
SUGGESTED HER NOVEL.
"Often I found myself specializing as to
what might have happened down there un-
derneath my own house. If the ancient
walls could speak, what stories could they
tell! What place for crime! How well
they would afford hiding for the evidences!
Surprising a woman mad made away with a
lover and concealed his body there! That
was the idea. That was the beginning of
my book.
Now for the kind of woman and the cir
cumstances of her life. Was she wholly
bad? No, do not believe in total depravity.
The idea is too hideous. And while / am
realst, perhaps, in the sense that try to
make my characters true to life, rather
than to make them fanciful ideals, still l
will not believe that any one ever lived
without some good side, and that this good
side should not be shown clearly in describ-
ing the character. [ believe in hopefulness,
and mean to teach it. So my heroine, though
wicked enough, showed she developed
naturally and more clearly in my mind that
there was much to be said for her. / did
not shape the character consciously, but she
could not have been otherwise. l could not
have written if she had been.
when the story was done and the book
was liked l wished to see the people | had
drawn move about on the stage; presented
to the eye in actual flesh and blood. |
wished to build a play upon my story, but
that was much more difficult task than
to write the book. 1t always is so; but then
have perseverance and some dramatic in
Stinct and, with the aid of Steven Town
send who helped me with The First Cen
tleman of Europe and who, thanks to his
great experience, knows just what to do
1 finished the play. Mr.. Townsend and 1
how 4rrla1- cd npin
Lothian. who was with Mary Anderson so
long, arranged the American cast for me-
and l am satisfied no one could have done
the work better. have talked with each
member and have been to the rehearsals,
at first with fear and trembling, in tears
almost; but now am content. Particularly
am pleased with Julia Arthur. She is in
deed my ideal. I was so happy when 1
found that she really understood me that
l threw my arms around her and cried l
could have gone on my knees to her.
"Oh, it tries an author so to see how far
from his own conception of his handiwork
the characters often are when they appear
on the stage. l know at first could have
cried with vexation. There seemed to be so
many mistakes. so much misunderstand-
ing. Here something had been left out,
there something had been inserted that had
never entered my head. 1 wished the actors
to conform more to my own ideas, but the
moment / tried to have this done ] began
to learn the limitations and restrictions
of the stage. and, | confess, to appreciate
its possibilities more justly, too. 1t was a
hard lesson, and it hurt but now / think
| understand better. On the stage every
thing is focused.
ADVICE TO PLAYWRIGHTS.
1.-THE story one might occupy a week in
telling in a book must be told in three
hours in the theater. Everything, conse-
quently, must be condensed. Effects must
be heightened and brought our clearly,
verbal explanations must be left out al
most altogether, for the situations must
explain themselves. The appeal to the eye
must supply what in book often needs
elaborate explanation. A written chapter
may be told by g. gesture, a look, a tone
of the voice. The novelist cannot use these
things, but the actor can, and that he can
the playwright must bear constantly in
mind. The playwright has material to build
with, the novelist has to make his mater
ial, and when he has made it he can only
tell about it so that the reader may picture
1t in imagination 1t is quite beyond a writ
er to place his material in actual sight I'M
less he uses the stage.
II have learned much from Miss Arthur
She teaches me something every day.
have learned from her how the true artist on
the stage Is one who molds herself or him
self to the character knowing himself 50
control that he can adapt himself to fit OF
course, he must have an intelligent concern
ton of the character he is to take must IN
derstand 1t from all points of view hut in
his ability to mold himself there is some
thing more than intelligence; it is the possi-
bility to be the character with his own ner-
sonality left out entirely. L have studied