Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-06
oENEVIEvE WcToRIA--MAsoN ,
PLAYWR1GHTS USE
CURIOUS METHODS

To the man whose imagination rarely
scars above the commonplace, the crea-
tive faculty possessed by the artist,
whatever his place. in literature, painting
or music may be, must inevitably prove
source of wonderment.,
How Is it done? is doubtless the ques-
ton which again and again he is tempted
to ask of himself and others. Often as
he has heard of ideas in the air. he
would .fain know the precise method em-
ployed to catch them. flaywrights, nov
elists and poets are in his eyes people
hedged about by mystery, endowed by
scme inexplicable means with the, gift OF
reducing the irreducible to concrete form
But to the individual whose daily bread
and butter depend upon his carrying out
that operation successfully the answer to
the enigma comes more easily. For every
artist must have in him something of the
mechanic; must before he can arrive lat
anything like perfection, understand the
nature of the machinery upon which he
has to depend. M
This truth the dramatist is constrained
to recognize more forcibly and more
quickly than any of his fellow workers in
the field of art. Whatever the measure
of his creative power, there must always
be a certain familiarity with stage tech
nique to back it up. How, then, does he
set to work?
PROFESSOR waiter ftdltlBiis III AlS IcCciil-
ly published volume upon Shakespeare,
has very clearly denoted two methods,
either of which may be adopted. Refer
ring to the poet, he writes: His first
care was to get hold of a story that
might be shaped to the needs of the the
ater. 1t is possible, = no doubt, for a
dramatist to go another way to work. He
may conceive living characters, and de-
wise events to exhibit them; or he may
start with moral, philosophy of life,
an atmosphere, sentiment, and set his
puppets to express 1T. But Shakespeare
kept to the old road. The story came
first with him-as 1t came first with his
audience, as 1t comes first with every
child"
How Pinero Works
The advanced school of today appears
disposed to proceed on other lines. 1t
was Mr.. Pinero, IL we are not mistaken,
who some Years ago declared that his
first step in writing play was to imag-
inc number Of interesting characters
and then to give to each free rein to work
out his or her salvation as best beseemed.
Such process may obviously lead any
where--or nowhere. 2 Every writerso OF nc
tion knows, of. course, aithat charatsrs
often have a curious knack of shaping
their own destinies. 1t will hardly be
contended. however, that this is likely to
lead in the end to unity of design or of
expression. And without that particular
quality a play is apt to go very far
astray indeed. gt.t kS
Playwrights of another school will de-
vote themselves to the discovery of a
novel and effective situation, either as
platform of departure or as the culmin-
ating point of their piece. The late Henry
Pettitt, whose place as q manufacturer of
thrilling melodrama has never been filled,
used to tell how he sought and found
inspiration in the pages of the Illustrated
London News. BY diligent scrutiny OF
these he was certain sooner or later to
happen upon a picture out of which. with
the aid ofAa little reflection, would spring
series OF sensational Incidents. What
that picture was to- Henry Pettitt, a stray
paragraph In newspaper, a chance the
ory barely Insisted upon. may prove to
another writer. Julicious development Is
all that 1t requires. 1T must be remem-
bered, on the other hand, that 800 people