The Washington herald., 1908-01-03
PLANS PLAY DELUGE
Laura Jean Libbey Brings
Along Eighty Thrillers.
COMPLETES HER LIFE WORK
Writer of Passionate Fiction VIII
Descend Upon Copyright Division
She Desires go COpyright-Has Ana
bitlOn to BE a Dramafist.

Now Will the gallery gods IN their aeries
and the salesladies in the front rows
reach their apotheosis Of bliss Now will
melodrama be exalted 10 the highest pin
nacle of popular favor. and the managers
of the peoples theaters wear KohinOoTs
in their shirt fronts. Now will the tradi-
tonal villain of melodrama return 10 his
/ own, and revel in the misses that shall
assail him from every side. and now
viii the handsome. upright hero, after
many trials and tribulations, after cross
| ing many living bridges and evading
myriad pitfalls-aH in the space Of three
/ acts-rescue the heroine at the last mo-
ment, fling her into the tOnneau amid the
wild applause Of the house, and lcaping
into the drivers seat give the auto her
head and leap away for the parsons
house in the back drop, as the curtain
/ falls, and the ioorwalker's lady friend
turns to him. shifts the pepsin gum to
/ the left side. and remarks In dulcet tones
/ fraught with ecstasy.
Now say. Jim; amt that just gr-r-
randi
Wherefore this Danegyric to true art?
/ Why. on this day Of days. before the
/ clock has ehimed z. Laura Jean I5bbey
viii copyright some plays; no, no. one
/ play, not half a dozen plays nor yet
even a score of plays-but eighty-count
Iem.-eighty real plays.
Can you grasp what that means to
art? Can you evolve ia your amazement
what that means to the people? Can you
more than all else, for a moment grasp
what that means 10 the Golfers Of the
/ gentlemen VINO own the box offices?
Real Thrills on the Stage.
/ For quite a few years now Miss Libbey
/ has been known to fame only as the
author Of several books. They were good
books-they still are Thousands Of young
/ ladies, eyes aglow, lips parted in expecta-
/ ton, breath coming in gasps. have for
gotten the dignity of their first long
dresses while they pored in eager ex-
pectancy over those living pages, filed
" tn the adventures of Heloise, the dar-
1 i'm young shopgirl, who braves death
ana disgrace 10 save her lover from the
+ approaching, grasping. threatening bill
/ collector; or the mad escapades Of
+ Phyllis, the dispenser Of soda water who
/ poisons the villain in the last chapter
+ and releases the patient lover who has
/ been kept from her by his millionaire
father during the preceding thirty-six.
And now, those same characters, or
others equally interesting. viii walk the
I boards before the very eyes Of the one
/ time readers. and do in three short but
] all
required "a whole book for them to do in
t the past Moreover. there are to be
eighty varieties Of them-e-i-g-h-t-y
1 No, Miss L}bbey wouldn't divuIge the
titles, but the fact that she has already
had one play produced. the title OF which
is Parted on Her Bridal Tour" is a
/ sufficient whetting for any appetite at
tuned 10 true art In melOdrama WHY
I should not some Of these eighty new
plays, which are 10 be unlOaded into the
lap Of the waiting people as from a horn
of plenty, bear such apt and euphoniOus
titles as these: "Won from the Jaws OF
/ Death, Deserted In the Pullman" The
Billonaire's Bride, Her Wonderful
Love" An Automobile Elopement. ID
/ THE Golden Hair Of Angelina" When
/ Kaspar Stole a Kiss" But we forgot
that there are eighty Of them, so vel
give it up right here.
Has Them All with Her.
Mrs. Stilwell, who before her marriage
10 Van Mater Stilwen. Of Brooklyn. \
Y, was Laura Jean Libbey, is registered
AZ the Shoreham, and among her bag.
gage are sUndry bulky packages, which
contain those eighty plays They repre-.
sent. Mrs. StilweH says, her life work
and their revision and preparation fol
final publication and production have oc.
! cupied the last five years. Incidentally