Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-16
MEDICAL.
UNDERWRITERS.
READING OF PLAYS.
MIR. w. H. Crane Talks of the Diff
Guilty in Getting Good One.

Guilty in Getting Good One.
81 believe 1 read more plays than any
man on the stage" said Mr.. W. II. Crane
the other day. Il am always on the look
out for a good play and 1 will pay good
money for it. OF course the most of the
plays I read are valueless, but | read them
in the hope that 1 may find something
good. A play to attract the attention of
an audience must have in it something OF
human interest that will appeal to the
masses. 1t must not be purely literary,
for then it will be over the heads of the
middle class. and it is that class that the
actor appeals to. When the highly cuI
tured man goes to the theater he puts
himself for the time being on a level with
the masses, and the same sentiment that
appeals to them appeals to him. He may
take exceptions to the literary quality of
the play, but the elements of heart inter-
est affect him just as forcibly as they do
his neighbor, who perhaps never went be-
yond a grammar school in his education.
Literary men rarely write good plays.
Iney conceive impossible plots and their
dialogue is such that no human beings
would ever use. | had a funny experience
once. a man who is one of the most bril-
liant writers in this country, a professor
In one of the first colleges, was EMPLOYED
10 reWrlte an act of a play for me- When
ne brought his work, completed as he
the Veriest drivel l ever read. l took it and
analyzed it to him, and asked him if he
ever heard any set of people talk as he
nad written. He admitted that he had not
then asked him why he had submitted
such stuff was the cardinal principle of
play should be a plausibility in action
and speech. He didn't know Now lust
lhlrk OF literary man being put in such
position as that
DO you know" he continued CHAT
newspaper men DO not, as general thing
write good plays? l don't know WHY it is
lor one would naturally think that man
accustomed 10 see every phase of life and
TO meet and talk with peopIe of e,,ar1r -
IRON those in the highest position 70 III
pesGar on the streets or the criminal in
tie uoch VINO Is trained to look for the
inotiNes Oh people and the causes of events
such man, L say, one would natnraII,,
thlnk, could easily become a dramatict
ana write good play. But tell me. if Won
successful plays? -''9i
L am on the lookout for good nIax,s OH
uhe time L am willing to pay wen for a
pay that will satisfy me / dom go
mne.nef the author is one of established
iepula tfon or absolutely unknown That
mas been my policy ever since I have bal
company or my own. By the wav | re-
member how hard / had to work before
reached the point when 1 could head INV
own company, and l wonder if some of the
Younger actors who now complain of the
work they have to do in playing. Derhans
Two or three parts in a season realize what
we fellows who Were raised in the stock
companies had to do. Why, when I was
getting no salary, simply working for nv
Keep, have many time sat up until ;
O'CLOCK in the morning with a Wet towel
wrapped around my head studying part
so as to be dead letter perfect at the re-
hearsal at 10 O'Clock. I remember the first
time | played in Washington, it was with
the Holman Opera Company and I played
the Doctor in the opera of THE Elixir of
Love" then 1 did Sally come up black
face song and dance, then l sang Beppo in
the third act of Fra Diavolo" and fin
ally played the clown in a pantomime, all
i'll one night. 1t was that hard work that
gave me whatever of ability 1 possess to-
day.
Mr.. Crane has a wide acquaintance in
Washington, and during his recent engage
ment here was the recipient of many social
courtesies. He had half hours pleasant
chat with the President at the White House
he was given a lunch by Assistant Secre-
tary of State Hill, and was given din
ner by General Miles and other army and
navy officers. He is a splendid raconteur,
and is a delightful companion at the table.