Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-31
A HOODOOED PLAY

1.-The maddest man I ever saw" said Lee
Arthur, the dramatist, who was in Wash
| ington recently, was a playwright whose
name I'm not going to mention in connec-
| ton with this story, for the reason that II
| he ever saw 1t in type the mere sight OF II
might bring on q recurrence of the madness
| which seized him before.
"But 1 will say that he is one OF the most
conscientious playwrights in this country
| and one of the most able. He has rather
reputation as a slow worker, and he never
offers anything to a manager until ne mas
cut and trimmed and polished 1t Tor weeks
and months at a stretch.
"A year ago last November he received
an order from a New York manager TO rig
up play on a historical subject: He spent
| two months in crammng at the libraries IN
order to get the necessary atmosphere anu
| in visiting the sceneS-it was to De an Amer
| lean historical play-and then he charteren
| q warm, coy cottage up In New hocneile,
| N. Y, on the Long Island shore 10 eacAie
| the job Of writing the play.
He got to work on the actual writing
along toward the middle of January, ana
he toiled and shaved the 1ep LOT tHIee
| hard months before he Considered 1t MT Ior
| a reading to the manager. Even then ne
| backed and filled several times Wnen II
came 10 the point of his appointing DAY
| to read the play to the New YORK manager,
and had to go up to new tochele neai =,
J a dozen times to listen to changes tnat ne
had made before he finally reached the con-
clusion that he could submit his work 10 It's
reading.
| II went up to New Rochelle to accompany
| him down to the city on the DAY wheh u
was to read the play to the manager anu
| the latter's advisers, and even until the mo
ment when we boarded the local Tram He
| was on the verge of renigging on the reaa.
| ing until he had made some changes tnat
| had suggested themselves to him during the
| night. We were about half way 10 view
| York on the train, and he was JUST doout
| to pick up his hand-satchel TO get the sceue
| of the play out to read 1t to me again When
+ saw that he had become as pale as q
| ghost. .,,,, ,,r
| in his seat and then beginning TO Fusa'
frantically up and down the car.
| Il had seen him deposit the small hano-
| grip containing the manuscript OF the play
| on the seat directly in front OF U.S. put II
| wasn't there, nor was 1t anywhere IN TIE
| car We searched high and low for II, ano
| SO did the conductor, the breakman and
| the porter, but 1t was no use. Inc grip
had simply been picked up by somebody
| getting off at one of the earlier stations
| under the impression that it contained, per
| haps. money or jewelry or something else
1 valuable. The grip contained not only the
| completed copy Of the play, but the rougn
| draft and all Of the notes ne maze
and so his loss was bad one. we rusheo
L
| morning papers as soon as we got into Ne"
| York and advertised for the lost or stolen
| grip, offering reward Of 500 Tor It's return
| and promising to ask no questlons' put II
never turned up. The person who mad pick
| ed 1t I'D was apparently too sheeplsh over
| the action to care to face the distressed
| playwright.
THE manager had intended to give the
| play a late spring or early summer pro-
| duction if possible, but of course this was
| now impossible. The playwright told the
| manager that it would be at least two OF
| three months before he could collect IN his
| mind again all of the threads of the play
story and get it written again, and SO the
| production was postponed until the fall
1.-The playwright decided to go deep into
| the woods-it was then after the middle OF
| May-to write the play over again. He
| chose a spot away up in Maine, good
| many miles from a railroad, where friend
| had a comfortably furnished cabin which
| he placed at the playwright's disposal. The
| playwright had worked SO assiduously with
| pen during the cold months in getting the
| play ready that he became afflicted with
pen paralysis, and SO he took into the
| woods with him a new typewriter with
which to do his work After Juggling the
| machine for hundreds of miles, on rail-
! roads and steamboats, and across not a few
| portages. he finally dropped it overheard
| into a stream when he was not more than
| hundred yards from the cabin where he
vas to begin rewriting his hoodoo play.
| wasn't with him when he dropped the type
| writer, but afterward had talk with the
| guide who accompanied him, and even the
| things that the guide said about the play
| wright's language wouldn't be fit for publ
| cation. ..r..
| There was no such thing as fishing the
machine out of the deep hole into which 1t
| had fallen. So the playwright doubled on
| his tracks and broke out Of the Maine
| woods with all Of the speed he could make.
| this time going to suburb of Boston,
| where he engaged apartments and hired a
secretary to take the rewriting of the play
| at dictation.
| at wasn't until late in August or early
in September that he finished the mean job
| of trying to put together play from mem
Then he wrote down to the New York man.
| ager that he was due to appear in New
York at certain date to read the play.
But I'm not going to fetch 1t along
| with me-, he wrote to the manager I'm
| too much of a hoodoo for that. I'm going
| to ship the finished manuscript to you by
| express this evening, placing a valuation
| of $1,000 on tt don't care what the deuce
| the express charges come to, so long as
| the stuff reaches you-and then maybe I'll
have chance to get you In corner and
read the blamed thing to you-if don't get
run over or something on my way down
| from here
| well, he didn't get run over or anything.
but the play went wrong in the hands of
| the express company, $1,000 valuation or
no. / was in the New York managers Of
| flee on the day appointed for the reading
| of the play. The playwright rushed In with
a bright. CHEEKY expression and inquired If
| the play had arrived yet
I I'll have to leave the rest to your I'M
| agination. I've seen voodoo performances
| and snake ceremonies. but there was no
| action in them compared to the moves of
up with good many missing pages. In
| the express company's hands about a
| month later. and the company didn't make
good the valuation, either. By that time
| my friend was taking the resi- cure ~ %
Westminster sanitarium, as near bughouse
as man ever gets without needing a
straightjacket." "