The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-03

pest original American play
 Pity the judges who read these manuscripts. If all the plays were as lacking in merit as mine, theirs must have been a sorry task indeed. The only consolation derive from the memory of that play competition lies In the fact that the prize winning play proved to be a sensational de- fence of lynch law in the South and has never had a stage representation, as all managers consulted agreed that no audience on earth would tolerate such a reyolting story as that nar- rated in this play.
 But once having written a play, even a play that had been rejected, was no longer immune. determined to write other plays. Winter and summer spent hours dreaming plots and writing dialogue. When I had finished my second play, I approached Otis Skinner, to whom confided my hope that the role of the hero would appeal to his artistic instincts. In the corner of a cafe, he abandoned himself to my mercy for nearly two hours while I eXpatlated upon the plot and read part of the manuscript. If someone we both knew approached our table, I hastily hid the manuscript under the tablecloth, for even at that early stage of my career as a play wright, had horror of being caught red handed with the manu- script of an unacted play. MT. Skinner perceived my embarrassment at once, and each time I hid the play as some one approached he would say:
 Yes, I agree with you that the climate of Hawaii is delightful. hope to go there next summer
 Then the alarm having subsided as the visitor departed, he would re- sume wearily:
 Well, our hero was about to be shot. How does he get out of the fix?'
 And I remember that as I explain ed, the actor remarked:
 'Ah, that is your grand climax That scene should not be in your sec ond act but at the end of your third act
 But there are only three acts to the play Mir Skinner
 Then you should write another act A good play should be in four acts. Here your hero is about to be shot as a spy-why, if he is shot your play ends. You have no play. There fore you save him. How? An, that trick must be the climax of the play. Write 1t all over again. my dear sir, and then I will tell you what I think of itI
 Good, kind Otis Skinner. You have never played my play, but you gave up two hours of your valuable time to showing wherein I had vast ed two months. Never mind, your advice was good.
 T selected Henry Miller as the star of my third play. We sat up very late on various occasions discussing the plot, and he afterward wrote me many courteous notes explaining why he could not produce the play, Yet I have only sentiments of the deepest gratitude to him for refusing to ac- cept my manuscript. Tn those days I was much discouraged I thought | it dreadfully unfair of MT. Miller to prefer a Henry Arthur Jones play ! when mine was available. But gent | ly. and courteously Mir. Miller side- stepped all overtures, and at last I concluded my play must be bad. l read 1t over again recently, and now I understand why Mir, Miller declined. It Is indeed positively and emphatical- | ly bad.
 When I began to write my fourth | play I concluded to create a star role for woman as statistics proved there are more feminine stars in America than there are male stars. 1 argued that therefore the chances of accept ance were correspondingly greater Mary Mannering had the honor of be- ing the first star to whom l sent my l fourth play. Miss Mannering must have liked my play, for she has never | returned 1t. Fortunately I retained several other copies, and was thus 1 supplied with ammunition to use in other directions. In justice to Miss Mannering I should add that the lady | wrote me three beautiful notes, each expressing her regret that she had not found time to read the play but would surely do so in the near future The play undoubtedly lies buried ir the bottom of trunk at some storage warehouse, and, for all care, long may it remain there.
 "Henrietta Crosman liked this play but regretted that other engagements prevented her from considering any new plays. William A. Brady read Il l for his wife, Grace George, and re- turned it with note, which read ir part as follows:
 I like your play but I am weary of these Revolutionary danes on the stage. I lost a lot of money on z Betsy Ross play and don't care to dal 1 ly further with the heroines of the Revolution
 "Inasmuch as the play treated ot l Dolly Madison, MT. Brady was quite l justified, from his point of view, 1T this objection, Another eminent stal returned the play with the statemen that she would never play the rolt of a married woman, as her husband who was also her manager, preferred to have her play young girl parts.
 "The fifth play I wrote was inspir ed by another play contest. Curses or these contests-they bob up so fire
 quently to distract ones attention tha one cannot expect to do serious work Moreover, they increase immeasura l ply the crop of new manuscripts anC
 make it far more difficult for author
 with real plays to secure hearing
 You see by this time l was beginnin!