The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-05
A QUESTION AS TO PLAYS.
WRITER'S WHO THINK THEIR IDEAS
ARE PIDFERED.

NDhs ~ Use VI - SeTtbih fboouo IN n n
other Play Than His-Charaes that
Are Made Against Managers and Actors.
An interesting question has recently been
raised by the declaration Of q well-known actor
that he intends 10 prevent By law the per-
Torrance OF q certain play announced for the
coming season. on the ground that one OF its
principal incidents was taken from q play
which he bought from another dramatist. HE
play was submitted to q manager and re.
turned to its author. who subsequently sold
II TO its present owner. The latter says that
one particular episode more than any other led
him TO buy IL. Exactly the same incident IL
found In the play 10 which he objects. and
which Ia announced to be BY the person who
acted a. reader when the original work was
submitted TO the manager. Now the actor
wants to know how this resemblance came to
exist and as he has not been satisfied by The
explanations given. he proposes to prevent the
performance Of the play BY Injunction. He
implies that unjustifable use was made OF the
original incident by somebody who read the
play before II came into his hands, and he
maintains that the association Of q man who
examined his drama with the other work con-
tanning the same situation gives him tenable
grounds for dlsputlng the right to use the
scene. The statement comes from the other side
that.the play objected to was written several
years before the other was submitted. and that
any resemblance between them, II IL really
exists. must be accidental.
The incident may not seem to the public
to be worth 90 much discussion as IL has
aroused. but Il serves to show how much an
effective situation Is appreciated by anybody
who gets hold OF one. or thinks he has done
80. The situation that Is most noticed Ia the
one relied on to thrill. interest or amuse the
audience. as the case may be. One scene
which created such an effect has been known
to make o play successful. When an author
or an actor. therefore, has come into the pos
session OF such q scene, he hates to have others
get the advantage Of It as we'll. 30 he tries to
protect It from imitation II he can. and when
the imitation becomes too oloee. he can pro-
tect his rights by law. Both of the actors who
are concerned In the present affair. as we'll as
tho managers and the authors Of the plays.
rely greatly on the originality and anticipated
effectiveness Of the incident involved. and each
side lie prepared to fight for its rights. The
incident centres about q duel in which the
hero Of the play. deprived Of his weapon. lie OF
the mercy Of his opponent. The man Is about
to be worsted when he spies o weapon attached
to q suit OF armor. SEEKING II, he succeeds in
defeating his antagonist. The episode is prob
ably quite brief. and persons unac1uainted
with such matters might wonder why 1t was
JnOuRnU worth Wuuo W maxi ouCh u lubb VOL
It. But II they were dramatlsts. actors or man
ayers they would look at the matter in quito o
different light.
The question has q broader interest. To
every man who writes a play and sends 1t to o
manager 1t suggests the possibility Of a SINH
lar experience. Nearly every manager who
produces plays on a large scale has O person Of
experience in his Office who reads the plays
submitted. gives an opinion on them and isa
s ssEaSiisRSe n9d If aflS'dds ecIIsl t@nff Is proBab ~ n 1os
ffPpel; S ~Sst n t sRfd c %ooi a d sn S1en0 Se d S5i !
reads nobody knows; but he e supposed 70
cspted on. the strength Of his ,reeommenda,
ton merely, although one might be rejected
tty Of cases the play reader merely advises.
In the cogrse, Of his work q great many plays
S Spe sbs SR %opsh h1s o eserts of bes sGm 81 1 sRSR
others may be the work Of authors Of rePuta-
ton A manager who has 3S nov GS practically re- re.
the tBeO Shs snS S'y we're = tfhes a play submitted to-
subseGuently be Used In ali or IN part after Il
had. been refused by, the manager on the
Iesdsr's accommodates or even on his W
1T would be absurd to suppose" he said.
T rthss q play @SyuI sen not to b e r ssp,ieetlS S SsfS }h roa
theft. No manager could afford to appropriate
any part OF 1t even II he wanted to. and I 1t
s Tf5S fSRH 81 6R0s well IF }HsSs n d faS Ssis 9 e5Rss
eially q they we're well-known English drama
tsIhsii n9 %o %Spla ac s00B Be- be so Es%ttedf0di fhs sSs sqG an 2
writer finds that he has o grievance against a
theatre Or an actor for Q me !; use Sc or T, What he
highly probable that the manager knew moth:
Ins about Il. II any unfair use wa made Of
wh9 had access 70 the manuscript,
THE charge that the play reader has un,
have been: + they were highly successful
RRlsy w " 81 # III Is 5 3St p 4saas4s IN that Tt they You'd 9Ss1
were not playwrlghts at all, It is not likely
that they would ever have been chosen for
They viii pF2PabiT remember any Eeally, strIk-
Parltlve merit ip every play they read. Those
that are obviously worthless never advance to
ss9e Ike WoFk sta Witch Il i bass sS1 aSdsr D tSeiT so thes
there is any that does not contain some scene.
character. sHGgestion; or situati91 which is
that the memory:of such scenes might remain
wrote a play Of his own That would, seem
likely enough to happen In any case. whether
E mSn be wTOt eoRP ISisfIi sOS 81 the Or u RSs@ ~ ma aeafi
believed that the fruits Of their work had been
t 6he ine slIdieGttly Of * t&is sh sin @d1 toof pia seeI% ast Wfn:
ter. An author wrote q play In which a fight
takes place. The hero Is, OF course. to be VIC
torlous. In order to avoid the sight Of the
fight and to give the scene an elemento Of novelty
and additional suspense, the playwright made
the hero smash the lamp In order to put the
villain to a disadvantage 4p. the strange room.
The men were heard s~cuf1in9 and struggling
in the dark. Finally the fight was stopped by
1t was seen by their light that the hero. was
The victor. The play. Containing this situa-
the season the same manager produced a melo-
drama, containing, the Identical situation.
This play happened not to be a success. But
all that was novel in Il was this one, episode.
1ttook the freshness on the authQr'g play when
Il was later produced in Now York, eNow. II
happened that this particular play was. very
much In need OF every possible help. so II dis
tressed the dramatist to find that the ono in
cldent on which he had been counting for his
chief effect had already been discounted by a
previous use.
HE swore all kinds Of vengeance against the
manager. The latter protested that he had
known nothing OF this situation until his play
was submitted.