The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-09-18
A PLAY WRITING CONTEST.

article this week written by a man who
served as one of the judges in a play
writing contest arranged by a magazine
of wide circulation. : The article is a
criticism of the plays submitted Out
of hundred there were only ten, the
writer declares, that were at all pos
sible as plays, and these ten were by no
means remarkable. The prize offered
by the magazine was not a sum Of
money, but the production of the play
in one of the New York theaters, and
the writer admits that because of this
it is possible that the most capable
amateur playwrights did not submit
plays. Moreover, the magazine de-
manded that every manuscript sub
mitted be accompanied by a check for
a years subscription, and this, the
writer thinks, is possibly another rea-
son why the better class of playwrights
refused to submit their manuscripts,
since by so doing they would help to
promote an advertising scheme.
But even considering these circum-
stances the judge of the contest evil
IDENTIFY believes that the manuscripts
sent in are a fair enough criterion Of
the ability of unknown playwrights to
make the outlook for the American
greatest fault he has to find with the
plays submitted is that the playw2ights
have written about people of whom
they have only a cursory knowledge.
Each of the ninety hopeless plays be-
longed in one of two classes, those that
purported to be truthful representa-
lions of New, .York's smart set-and
these invariably included a nobleman-
and those which represented rural life.
Those plays, the scenes of which were
laid in New York, were written, as
rule, by residents. of Western towns,
who. even though they might have
made occasional visits to New York,
could not by any means catch the at
mosphere of that portion. of the town
concerning which they wrote. AS for
the depictors Of rural life, the writer
states that the plots were not original,
the characters unreal.
Perhaps the opinion of this judge of
a play writing contest would not be so
discouragingly conclusive were 1t not
strengthened by many other unmis-
TAXA HE SiQnc Of WnaIx IN
America. Every spring witnesses an
exodus of theatrical managers to Eu-
rope who hope to secure the American
rights to plays written by foreigners.
There are few American playwrights
that American managers depend upon,
but only a few, and at least one of
vogue upon which the managers now
rely. The playwright who has done
most for national drama is Augustus
Thomas, and the chief reason for this
is that his plays are thoroughly Amer
lean in tone. Smart sets are cosmo-
politan sets and the playwright who
attempts to put the members of such a
set behind the footlights must offer
something very clever indeed else he
cannot hope for success, and even
should he attain such success. the
character of his play must of neces-
sity be too frothy to insure the play
long life. AS for rural life only a
genius can picture this without run
ming the risk of caricaturing.
So the ambitious playwright who
persists in depicting the doings of the
| smart set or who devotes his time to
writing plays of the "b'gosh" charac-
ter can hope for little attention from
the managers. That Frenchman who
said that the skeleton of every play
was a pantomime said wise thing.
Now pantomime must be unmistak-
able, something the majority of people
will recognize at a glance. The Amer
lean playwright who will take for his
skeleton some important phase of
American life, past or modern, the sig
nificance of which the bulk of the
American people will Immediately rec
ognize, and who will clothe it in good
and significant English, stands an ex-
cellent chance of being recognized, as
the great American playwright whom
this country will delight to honor.