The Indianapolis journal., 1902-01-27
The Purpose of clyde Fitch.

The Siyuc
CLYDE Fitch. the most prominent and pro-
life American writer of plays, after being
the subject Of critical article in Harper's
Weekly, has spoken the following words
I'm his own behalf to that paper, referring
at the beginning TO his adaptation from
the French OF "Sapho" and "The Marriage
Came"
ut is only fair to myself and to my work
done on the two plays TO say that my IN
tention and desire in both instances were
TO be faithful to the French original, and
TO have the outcome a resultant moral
TO the good. To put it mildly, L do not
seem to have created that impression eX-
actly in the minds of the public. From
their verdict and yours 1 have picked my
self up. pulled myself together and realized
my failure. i had thought L was taking a
building from one country and rebuilding
IL in another with the same stones, but
l discovered 1 had apparently pulled down
one structure and raised no other. BeHeve
me. no one regretted this more than l.
But 1 think have finally learned my les
son. L have learned another thing tnat
can't do and / have added il TO the list OF
things i sha' mt try TO do. What am try
ing TO do is to reflect life Of all kinds as l
see II. To write, first, plays that will in
terest and mean something; and after that,
amuse. / would rather entertain everybody
rndn OneDOQN. Anu Always anu III any NdSC
with a result 10 the good. l am trying
especially to reflect our own life or the
present, and TO get into the heart OF the
pictures made by the past. To DO this L
do not consider any detail too small, so
long as IL is not boring. Nor any method
wrong which / feel to be true. L am
naturally not always believed in, and l
do not always make myself clear. Some
times 1 think / am misunderstood through
laziness. To give one instance OF one t;rtl or
the other: In recent play of mine, The
Climbers something which l. meant 10 be
psycholOgically true was taken 10 be a
theatrical trick. A man who was dishonest
in business. but who loved his wife with
the really strong love that such weak ma
lures are capable of, is asked TO look that
wife in the face and. before a group OF
angry friends and relatives confess the
tent Of his crime, his disgracei l felt, and
1 still feel, the man couldn look INTO MS
wife's eyes and say the whole ugly truth
And dOuby he couldn't with the TO him
cruel environment of the outraged circle
holding back the sympathy OF his wlfe
from him. He would feel and cry out TO
her Let me tell you alone. if l must tell
II, and in the dark, in the dark when
ne could not see the heart-breaklng shame
grow upon ner face, nor see MS own guilty
face reflected in heI eyes The end OF this
sentence he would reiterate, grasping 1t,
too. on the impulse as means to put OFF
the ordeal. In the dark-later in the
dark he would tell her everything. But
there is no time To be lost if public scan
dal is TO be averted- The worst must be
known at once. The chief friend of them
all Is there. III is he who is to fight hard
est to save them. He knows the house
well, and besides he has seen that very
evening after dinner, the lights turned on
by the servant with the electric lever. He
stands beside this lever. He quickly seiZCs
the last sentence of the cOrnered guilty
man. anG before the latter think or
retract cries, Tell il in the dark, then:
and plunges the room in darkness. The
natural impulse OF that defaulter under
those circumstances would be 10 blurt out
with it; at least so / believe. Such was
his vacillating, impulsive nature. And for
the same reason the attempt to escape in
the dark. which was silly, futile! 1t was
another sudden impulse; had il been other
wise, he was far too sensible to have tried
IT, / developed that scene by taking the
place mentally. or trying to- of each one
OF the persons engaged in il. l did not
start with the sO-called dark scene
had no idea | going to do what 1 did
until reached the moment in my writing
when IL had TO be done-at least done that
way or not at all. AS II occurred to me-
so II would have occurred to the friend in
the play. And so il did, And knowing
this evolution of the scene 1 Cannot think
myself that il was "a theatrical trick
In all cases / try TO paint my persOnages
from the inside instead of the out, and to
cling 10 human nature as both my starting
point and my goal. This is what / want
TO do and am trying TO dO-in sentence
TO tell the truth in the theater. / am try
ing honestly. and my heart is in it, That's
all. except that l am glad of your belief
IN me-