The Savannah morning news., 1900-12-16

addressing hts public through the stage.
10 D. perhaps The acceptance 81 this theory
that has Induced SO many 81 our mana
gers recently % place upon their boards
dramaiizationf Of popular novels Very
often these book-rlays are tho very worst
form OF dramatic art The workmanship
O. Of the crud. 80 bot the drawing quality
O. there "a ause the novelist has supplied
the trademark
was interviewed the other day as
90 my opinion on novel-dramas and
whether they had come 70 stay Il seem-
ed very rIour 90 mc that the sale 81 the
novel Itself is TIE prime factor. THE novel
thar has not achieved that subtle some
thing known AS "the vogue" Is not or
Itself a valuable thiug 90 tho theaicr
However clever story. unless by a.
enormous sale il has attracted the general
public The resulting pioy would depend
entirely upon It's own merit, which is
not the case whore the drawing quality
has been previously supplied boy the road
ing public remember when 'rrilhy' was
first hrough; one as play The novel hhd
had a wondcrfu. run The play was very
unlike the novel Without roine into 1,s
merits as a drarna may venture 20 OBJ
serve that tire hvuuouc theme which u
exploited would never have been granted
by the theatcr-golng public but for the
novel AS Go wna. the play was a huge
SUCCESS. let che critics decide themselves
how good or how poor play Richard
Caryc" is The public IS attncted TO the
theater for reasons already explained. The
same applies 10 David Harum." But very
much better plays than either have been
pronounced failures. Enough they were
derived from much better stories
The playwright Who takes a book that
has won the advcnutious aid OF a hum
dred editions TO make Il a successful
play Is very much ike the ahle-bodied
man who lights q cripple II he whips
the cripple be- gels no credit and u tho
cripple whips him he O. everlasungly d.s-
eraced The late Mr. Steele Mackayc. tho
author OF Hazel Kirke." and 10 his day
rs well known a dramstiat inventor as
any who ever wrote for the stage, once
projected tho aphorism thar plays are
not writtcp-thej are rewritten. This Is
true 20 a very large extent, Tor IN no
other form 81 literature are cause ana
eject so experimental
Il Is astonishing hs- an apparently
trlnlnr lncldfnt can make or mar the
financial value 81 the pay The ringing
down % che curtain an instant zoo soon
or an instant TOO late has many time
decided the success or failure OF pro-
duct.on. The late Dion Boucicault. rec
osnized master ~ siagecraf. has many
a time waited AZ the wings on the urst
rtrht of bis play. ard when the puh o.
enthusiasm ran highest At the climax
Of a certain aet. has himself had che cur-
tain rung down with the noise % APP
plause cchoing through tho theatre and
the actors hewildcrcd by having their
superf0us lines cut withou; warning Bur
De felt that be had caught the public az
that moment and could not take any
chance OF losing them OF course. enc
expunged lines were deemed unimpor-
tant compared 10 the real climax which
lad been selected by the audience.
And while on the subject OF the audi
once. it g. remarkable. az the late Frank
Mayo, once observed how Jealous an au-
dicnce is of lts own part In a perform
auoe must he taken into every Sc
cret with the drimat.Ht Tie, the drama
list. may confuse. hcwildcr and mystify
che characters IN the play as much ne
he poascs hut the auditor must b. Tin
the know al the time And 10 Is nice
point 20 adjust how nls,-- GO leave to che
Intuition Of an audience and how much
20 explain 10 detail Many tine point
has been Hpollsd by studious marginal
notes. az 81 we're, which a quick witted
auditor has Resented while on the other
aana many a Nould-bo subtlety has MISS