Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1907-09-01
An Hour with Anthony Hope

vTydB north windows of Anthony Hope
Hawkins house overlook the sunlt
| II green of Bedford square, and -the
fact fite in with the blithe, sweet man.
ner of the man, says James ODonnell
] Bennett in the Chicago Record Herald.
The number of his house is A. Across
the square Is the house of Forbes Robert
son. Its number Is %. There Is fur
Their Appropriateness in this fact for 1t
seems fitting that two Of the finest spirits
now adjoining and advancing English Gull
ture should be neighbors. Both are diff
fldent, delicate. high strung natures, and
both are men of profound convictions.
Both are given to writing and flushing
up when they are forced to talk ABOUT
themselves, but both would suffer great
deal, and endure much OF what they poth
loathe-which Is publicity-in behalf OF an
idea that they thought was really import
ant. I mean the vulgar publicity tnat
| siclSens and shames and tires man. Ii
they thought the idea was not important
| they would fight for their privacy and
doubtless succeed in convincing the world
| they were extremely weary OF life.
| Everything about Anthony Hope is In
| tensely characteristic of nobody but An
| thony Hope-the house, the pictures In 1t,
the books on the shelves, the manner OF
the man, his laugh, his smile, his curious
way OF seeming to drop out OF CONVEX
sation and then plunging suddenly back
| Into 1t when 1t takes turn that amuses
or interests him. his mournful silence, his
baff1ed attitude toward life as being
proposition that is too much for him. his
weary indifference to a great many mat
tiers that most people are passionately
concerned about and his swift gusts OF
solicitude about things that nobody else
cares particularly about. his Discrimination
to talk of himself and his pathetic will
ingness to talk of any other person under
heaven--these are points that make him
unlike other artistic notables I have OBJ
served. except, possibly. the Forbes Ro-
bertson who dwels across the square.
First as to the house. 1t Is one in long
row that runs along the south side OF the
square. There Is deadly sameness In all
the houses in that row and in others like
them that encircle the square and In
more of them that line Cover street
which extends northward out of the
square. The Duke of Bedford built them
ali, and ne never did eruesr thing.
They are four stories high, with fiat, I'M
adorned fronts of blackish brick. The
sole impression they convey Is OF serving
very we'll to keep off the rain and keep
out the SCOT, and of having served that
purpose for at least one dreary, weary
generation.
Within these houses are what you
make them. The conspicuous touch Of in
dividuality that Anthony Hope has be-
slowed upon the interior of No. Al Is the
turning of the drawing room into a bill
lizard room. Any man who could reconcile
his wife to that transformation must
possess enormous gifts of persuasion
Around this room, which looks extremely
gaunt with. the long white-draped table
as practically its only piece of furniture
were hung old prints of Johnson. Bos-
well, Sterne. Edmund Burke, Scott, Gar
rick and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Sir Josh
ua's portrait of johnson hung above the
mantel piece, with beaming Boswell on
his left and the foxlike countenance of
Sterne peering slyly out from the back
frame on his right. They were very fine
prints, and the owner. though he fore
bore to boast as book and print collectors
usually do, gazed at them fondly.
The presence of Sterne was significant,
| in view of some things he said later. At
| the other end of the room was full
| length portrait in oils of Mrs. Anthony
| Hope Hawkins, blonde. girlish, delicate
| In the dining room below was a portrait Of
the novelist, sitting, in tall hat and frock
| coat. on a park bench. The painter has
| caught with extraordinary fidelity the
benign look in the eyes and the quizzical
| half smile about the lips. 1t was pic
ture that kept drawing you back for one
more glance, and no sitter can ask that
| his portrait shall do more than that.
| Some Piranesis hung along the stair
way. The master of the house said they
were not good Impressions, but that they
served well enough to paper the wall II
1 one did not look too closely at them.
| Still even a dull Piranesi is richer In at
rnosphere and boldness than most mod
ems best work.
| Driven to 1t he talke Internationally
about 1.-THE Prisoner of Zenda." Had any
special circumstances ATTENDED the WITH
| ing of it? No. What had suggested the
story? Nothing extraneous to nimseir
| that he was aware OF.
q Zenda' is merely the ancient mistaken
identity theme" he said. THE who-e
story resolves itself into that In that
book the familiar device happens to De
raised to a higher power by the figure
being made, king The idea just came
to me one autumn afternoon. when l was
walking back to my chambers IN the
Temple. That was In November OF lesS.
II I should say that put In the odo
hours of the rest of that month on 1t l
should be implying that my legal prac-
| flee at that time was more extensive than
| n really was. Probably 1 wrote chap
| III.
ter day for twenty days something
| like that"
"And was the enormous success that
| followed a surprise?'
Incredibly so. I had been writing
some time and nothing had happened.
| The book was written In my chambers IN
| the Temple-in fact, Iidp't leave the bar
until Zenda' had begun to succeed"
I when reference was made to the trans
llations-that sure test of vitality In nc
! tion-into German, French, Italian. Span
ish and other European languages. he
said: Eyes, and there is one In Japanese.
It's amusing to see ones work translated
into Japanese; 1t looks Ike lot OF pic
lures Of little flowers" Though he Dad
never received a hint from actual life
for the narrative Of ''zenda"-he said that
twice-and had no knowledge OF the life
or the scenery of any German principal