Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-10
SOON WILL WRITE
A WOMAN PLAY
"WlLL PLEASE MYSELF" SAYS
GEORGE BROADHURST
PLAYW WILL DISCARD
ADVICE OF CRITICS
viii Make Los Angeles His Home
This Winter, and May Super
wise Series of Produc-
tions Here
BY w. HERBERT BLAKE

"The critics have said tnat my best
plays were man-plays. L am gong
| " take them at their word. 1ne next
| play / write / snail write to please
/ myself. 1t Will be a serious drama,
| ana II VIII be a study OF women, or
ratner, OF woman. 1 have come TO live
IN Los Angeles Tor TINS purpose, and L
snall take the winter to 1t.
Thus outlining MS plans last night in
/ the onces OF the beIaSCo tneater,
/ George Broaahurst, playwright and
student OF plays, announced MS inten-
/ ton OF maAIng TINS city MS nome Tor
/ the coming SIX months. When the
Belasco Stock company puts on Its eX-
pected series OIL pays Irom MS pen,
as Ine management already has an
nOunCed it Wlu 90, Mr.. Broddhurst Will
dIrect the productions. Among these
il Is likely Lndt several new works Will
have tneIr initial tryout, ana among
them very possibly his drama OF Wom-
an, OF which ne frankly spoke last
night.
Discussion Was Candid
As he talked Mr. Broadhursr enacted
the theme or MS conV nVersaIion. one lis
tened, and one watched, too. In candid
discussion OF the conditions prevailing
on the American stage, ne spoke OF the
men who are its masCers-and servants
managerial, histrlonic and play-writ-
ing. he illustrated his descriptions
with attitude and gesture. 1t was
sort of long distance Introduction. And
one went away feeling that klaW and
Erlanger, the ShuDerts, Brady and
Brooks, were real men, not priced
trademarks, for one had met them-by
proxy.
Yes. 1 shall make Los Angeles my
home for the winter" said the play
wright, Il have work enough ahead
to make it something more than mere
holiday, too. A comedy for Grace
George and a new play for Lillian Rus
sell-the latter in collaboration with
George V. Hobart-are first on tae
docket. Then 1 shall write a play to
please myself. 1 shall write it first and
talk to the managers afterwards Tx
cept 'Wildfire, in none of my dramas
has the accent been on the woman. In
this play 1 will put it there. The
theme will be woman's moods and
ways. and 1 shall treat it from that
angle"
Asked as to the recent temper of
New York to new productions, Mr..
Broadhurst called the roll OF several
plays now running on Broadway. Some
of the plays which other parts OF the
country had crowned with unmistak-
able approval, such as Israel ZangWllls S
Melting Pot" were mentioned
Gotham Hard to Gauge
mo one can gauge New York, dra-
matically," he said. 1T is as true
there as elsewhere in America today
that the successful playWrights have
conquered every meaningless prejudice
and almost every nominal tradltlon py
their recent productions. 1t used to be
said that no play centering around nus
band and wife could win. Look at
ARIZONA rejected by one manager be-
cause it violated this supposed truism.
Look at The Thief which also did,
and in addition deliberately deceived
the audience during and up to the end
of the first act as to the real Grim
inal We heard it said that no play
dealing bluntly with political life
could succeed, and 1 half believed 1t |
when 1 wrote The Man of the Hour
There was an old prejudice against
bringing religion into a play. NOW
we have The Melting Pot and many
others. So it goes.
II have seen some fine productions in
New York recently, and some capable
casts, notably the one which has been
producing my Dollar Mark there. Yet
the more I see of New York casts the
more I think of the Belasco stock COM
pany. Your stock companies here are
marvelously well equipped and pro-
ductive of excellent acting.
Refusals Spell Success
"The New theater hopes to give US
the same thing on a somewhat larger
scale in New York, if it succeeds. l
see they have obtained Edward Shell
don's latest drama, which he calls The
Niger 1t should succeed, for 1t has
been refused by every New York man
ager. That is not sarcasm, but literal
truth and precedent, and you may
quote me to that effect"
Mr.. Broadhurst spoke good word
for the newer dramatic offerings and
voiced a frank and unhesitating con-
demnation of unclean plays.
"They do not live" was his simple
dismissal of the subject. They do
not live, except as pulpit and press un-
consciously combine to fan the public
curiosity about them by frantic con-
demnation. They pass from sight as
quickly as the diatribes of the fanat-
ical traducers of the theater, of whom
few remain today"
II is probable that the Belasco stock
company soon will produce Mr.. Broad
hurst's Man of the Hour" and it is
said that six others of his plays will
be presented from time to time. The
arrangements are not altogether COM
pleted as yet, but he admitted last night