Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-04
SHAW AND HIS P|ETY
The Playwright Declares That
He is Misrepreserted.
MRS. SHAW is MUCH AFRAID
Fears That Her Famous Hubby Will
Be Run Over by Notorious.
DISLIKES BRITISH NEWSPAPERS
But He Gets Used to Them, He Saws,
Just Like the Cold Weather
and Fog.
DIsLIKEs BRITISH NEWSPAPERS

Whatever may be his individual opinion
no one denies that Bernard Shaw is one
or the foremost men of England.
For fortnight or so past Mr. Shaw has
! been more than usually prominent, because
of the interest aroused by THE Doctors
Dilemma his newest play. 1t was to talk
| with him about this play that l went to
| see him in his fiat in Adelph Terrace. Mr..
Shaw's home is at the top of big old
| fashioned house that dates back to the time
| of the French revolution. On the lower
floors are the premises of the New Reform
Club, from which a winding stairway leads
| TO the Shaw menage. Part way up the
stairway, however, l found myself stopped
| by little wooden gate such as is used to
| keep babies from falling downstairs On
| the gate was a plate that read Mrs Ber-
| nard ShaW-please ring, and when l had
! runs servant came tripping down the
| stairs, unlocked the little gate, and led me
| up into a great drawing room that looks
| out through three big windows over the
Embankment and the gray Thames, and is
| adorned with all sorts of interesting furni-
| ture and ornaments.
Mrs. Shaw Fears Motorbusss.
On the wall at my elbow was sketch by
Rodin presented to Nine. Shaw and 1
was on the point of starting a tour of
| exploration to seek further treasures in the
| hioiS iCiiotc SoIIleiS Vi TIE room Wnen
Nine. Shaw herself appeared to tell me her
| husband would be free to see me in Just
| three minutes
Mrs. Shaw is gracious lady. who con-
| fessed to me her fear of motor omnibuses.
| Every time Mr.. Shaw is DELAYED in coming
| home l am in a panic for fear one has run
| over him., said she, and seemed naively
| pleased and encouraged when l suggested
| that man who had written his plays ought
| to be able to look out for motor omnibus
| moment later Bernard Shaw himself
came into the room, a tall, thin man,
straight and quick in movement. Like
! everybody else, he resembles his photo
| graphs. His red beard struggling and
| hecked with white, and his big white teeth
were to me the most striking things about
| his appearance, except brilliant blue silk
pocket. and that, of course, not as
| they say in England, "a permanency.' At
| ter he had Shaken hands with me he esta b.
! lished himself in the classic British atti-
| thrust out behind him to be warmed and
when he had thanked me for my compli-
ments on his play, he commenced to talk.
An Irish Brogue.
AS a talker Bernard Shaw is unique He
needs no drawing out; one has merely to
suggest topic, and. quick as a flash. he
| commences to give his views about it in
his slight brogue-for, as every one knows
Bernard Shaw is an Irishman. OF course,
what he says is wonderfully interesting
| that goes without telling.
The first thing Mr.. Shaw talked about
was his new play ITS easier to write
and to understand than my other plays"
said he. In the others 1 have had to get
my audience worked up over normal people
in normal circumstances; in The Doctor s
! Dilemma l introduce what 1 have avoided
| before-sickness and death, subjects that
always work on peoples emotions. It's
like man writing a novel. If he murders
baby early in the book he arouses the
| feelings of his readers much more easily
than If he depends on normal events
| Tell me, Mr.. Shaw l broke in, lis the
reporter in the play who behaves like such
a fool in the scene where the artist dies
| is?"
Mr.. Shaw nodded. Yes, he's real. His
mistake when the doctor tells him Dubedat +
| the artist is dying of tuberce is lust
such a one as reporter would make You
| remember he asks, is it spelled ''cubical'
or ''cubicle'' doctor?' Just what an Eng
| llsh newspaper man would do He's a
good-natured, well7meaning chap; but he's
fool The incident of his suggesting to
| interview the artists widow five minutes
| after her bereavement on how it feels to
be widow is founded fact, as are
some other incidents in The Doctors Di-
lemma A few years ago, when Mrs Pat
| rick Campbell's husband died in South At
| RIGA, leading London paper sent a man
| upon the instant to interview her OF
course, she didn't see him. and next morn
l
of the death actually expressed grieved
surprise at her lack of hospitality"
Dislikes the Press.
| Mr.. Shaw clearly is not partial to tho
| press. His attitude, however, is easy to
| understand. for the English newspapers
| are mainly responsible for the creation of
| what may be called the SHAW tradition. ;"
mythical character which has grown up
like Father Christmas or John Bull. 1t is
a real part of the life Of England to in
| dulge in periodical outbursts about some
thing Bernard Shaw has said or written
If Mr.. Shaw were represented as giving
utterance to opinions not marked by bad
| taste and irreverence, the British public
would feel quite as thoroughly robbed of
their birthright as if Father Christmas
| should be presented to them in a black
| frock coat and top hat or John Bull were
! to appear before them in the tulle skirts
| Of a balerina.
| 1 asked Mr. Shaw how he felt about it,
| ITS annoying to be misrepresented so per-
sistently," said he, but one gets used to
| 1t, just as one gets used to cold weather
! and the London fog. You see, people have
! got an idea in their heads that 1 am a
| witty person and an unkind person, but
| I'm not Still, people think So and when
| ever they want anything witty unkind
said they make the traditional Bernard
| Shaw say It,"
Does any one in the world really UNI
| derstand your I asked.
Mr.. Shaw smiled nOncommittally. AT
| he.
| The Bernard Shaw 1 met is as serious
| a man as can be found in England, taking
| the world himself and his place in the
world with hardly smile. let alone a
laugh.
It's my business he said, ito find out
| what people want said, and then say 1t for
| them. There are many persons who are
| disseminated with things as they are. and
! yet can't put into words or even into
| thoughts what seems wrong I've just got
| to find out what these people want said
| and say 1t for them. That's what I'm here
| for" and Mr.. Shaw looked down at me
! earnestly as he paced up and down on the
| hearth rug.
Bernard Shaw has been attacked lately
| for something he said in the course of a
| lecture of his called Some Repairs to Re-
! lgion," and 1t was Of these attacks that
| he spoke next.
Talks on Religion.
| "The really religious people are not angry
! with me when talk about religion-its the
| irreligious people who mind The congrega-
| ton at the City Temple, one of the most
| religious organizations in London, was 1e
| lighted with the lecture delivered to them,
and SO were the pious people Of Birming-
| ham. It's the irreligious man who reads a