Omaha daily bee., 1909-02-28

CONFESSIONS OF HENRY A.. JONES
Tells His al 60 an Interviewer
Tn London.
LONDON, Feb. ~17.-(special Correspond
ence.) -Apropos OF the revival OF "The
Dancing Girl" at His Majesty's. Henry
Arthur Jones. its author, has been INDUCING
in some interesting confessions. lie is
now on his way to Egypt on the advice
OF his medical nan to shake off an attack
Of catarrh, which has been troubling him
for the last twelve months. Before going
there he consented to be interviewed.
"Play-writing is my sole hobby said
Jones. shut me Up in a room with a
packet OF foolscap. a pen and a bottle of
ink. and l am supremely happy
When the interviewer reminded him that
he had not included brains in the list of
his tools, the playwright admitted that he
thought R fair share OF that commodity
was necessary to the dramatist.
Strange as II may SEEM he continued,
II have never had the least desire to be
present at a rehearsal. The work OF pro-
duction is terribly firing to me-, and to
tell the truth, a really special gift is re-
quired.
II do most earnestly wish that a truer
understanding and wider recognition of
the complex and difficult conditions under
which the art Of the theater is pursued,
could be secured. 1t is an old story that
the dramas laws the dramas patrons
give but II only there were a better
appreciation of how heavily those laws
press upon us who looked to the stage for
a livelihood, It might be pleasanter for all
concerned. Theatrical enterprise is such
a touch-and-go affair. the mechanicism
Of the theater requires such careful and
delicate adjustment, that the slightest
hitch may serve to throw It out Of gear.
A false note by an actor. a mistaken ac-
tion of a scene shifter may cost a man
ager thousands of pounds
d
When asked If he could suggest any way
of removing or minimizing these difficult
ties. Jones said:
ut might facilitate matters II a plank
could be thrown across the auditorium,
and II seated th~ereon-they would find
1t hard to escape from the posltion-the
critics would watch a few OF the rehearsals
and learn thereby what author and pro-
Queer have to contend with. II there
were any prospect of my ideas being car
ried into effect. / would go even further
and lay it down as one, of the essential
conditions of the dramatic critics calling
that he should have written. personally
rehearsed and produced a play OF his own,
thus enabling him to Judge by experience
of the perlls that environ the dramatist's
career. ON the other hand, / for one,
confess that it is just those perils, those
difficulties, those severe conditions that
make the game worth playing. 1t possesses
a fascination only equalled. I am given to
understand, by mountain climbing
After saying that his next play would be
one OF serious interest, Jones continued:
"A touch Of variety gives color TO life,
and. having written a comedy in Dolly
Reforming Herself it is good to turn to
work of a stronger texture. Talking of
Dolly I have been taken to task In GER
tain quarters for the fact that there is
hardly a really pleasant person in the cast.
Now here I distinctly join issue with these
critics. Dolly is comedy in the real
meaning of the word, and to demand, as
so many people do nowadays. the introduc-
ton of a sentimental interest into comedy
is, I contend, wholly wrong. The vogue,
understand, has even extended to musical
comedy. Now II you must have a sentI-
mental interest. for goodness sake don't
ask the author to write a comedy, for the
two things are really incompatible.
Take Moliere's plays. for instance. Is
there a single parsonage among the lead
ing characters whom you can respect? How
about Tartuffe? How about Harpagon7
How about Monsieur Jourdain. and a score
more? Less important characters there
are, meritorious enough in their way. but
c%olorless and insipid.
.
Aristotle declared, and George Mere
dith has emphasized the axiom, that 'traR-
edy makes people better than they are.
and comedy worse II is the province of
the latter to attack the weaknesses, the
foibles. and the hypocrisles of mankind,
and II In doing so the dramatist allows
himself to lapse into sentimentality, he at
once betrays the cause II should be his one
aim to uphold. These are my beliefs, al
though l cannot promise always to act
up to them. After all. a man who does
not write according to fixed principles,
but as he feels things.
And that brings me to yet another
point continued Jones, namely, the at
titude of audiences and OF actors towards
the author. To my mind It is not suffici-
emily recognized that a thing wrong In IT.
self, and felt to be so by the audience or
actor, may be perfectly right as regards
the general scheme Of a play. Very rarely
Is allowance made for the circumstances.
As Sydney Grundy once declared. there
must be a kick In every place, yet the
presence of that kick may be fully justi-
fled. OF course, the great art Of the dra-
matists is to %contrive that the most glar-
ing OF his improbabilities and inconslst-
encies shall take place between the acts.
zone word more on a subject of consider
able importance. Is II not rather a pity that
under existing conditions a play which does
not hit the public taste at once-I mean on
It's first production-s practically doomed
to complete oblivion? Remember, its down.
fall may have been occassioned by some
well-nlgh trivial happening. some slight
occurrence quite apart from its merits. But
once damned. It is consigned forever TO
the limbo of things forgotten. Mistakes are
inevitable, even in the best regulated
theater-mistakes of policy. mistakes in
the matter Ct cast, mistakes in the man
ner Of production. II these had been absent,
how different might have been the fate of
the piece. Yet it never seems to enter the
minds Of those interested that an attempt to
rtverse the original verdict on appeal
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