Omaha daily bee., 1909-09-19


A friend Of this department, who Is a
student OF the drama and is interested in
all that pertains to tho theater. writes Of
the late Clyde Fitch:
THE passing of Clyde Fitch removes a
figure from the theatrical world that has
withstood both praise and censure for a
good many years. There has always been
much Of truth In the in~tellectualist critics
who have condemned Mr.. F1tch's lack of
substance. but there is much to say for
his craftsmanship and the peculiar realism
Of which he was master.
He may not have been the inventor of
his method, but he was certainly the most
expert modern exponent of it.
Realism, or naturalism, or whatever II
might be called, means in a great many
cases mere sordidness or morbidlty. In
his case one hesltates to use such a term
because the quality to be described was
extremely wholesome and sound. He was
a realist because he spent his talent In
making his plays seem as near like actual
life as possible in the mechanical details.
IL was not a question of stage carpentry
exactly, but rather of atmosphere.
clyde Titch's plays were often the thin
nest threads Of thought, but they never
failed to have a wealth of little inconse-
$500 NhaA LUIGI bIlllES OF
recognition and applause from his audi
ences. This rather elusive quality is Illus
trated exactly in the passage in the last
act OF Truth In which It is insisted that
the heroine must have an orange on a
plate II she Is to look really sick. An
orange on a plate had absolutely nothing
to do with the play, 1t was not necessarily
a part OF the life of the people described,
II was just a trifle that made everybody
smile and say, How true to life that is
An audience filing out Of a theater after
hearing a Fitch play always talks about
a lot of little things that nave been said
or done on the stage. They are things
thai catch and hold attention for a moment
because OF their amusing and delightful
familiarity.
1t is just this sort Of pleasing detail
that has brought against Fitch a torrent
OF criticism for his '~thinness,' lack OF lmag-
nation, his 'dearth OF things to say Most
OF the criticism was quite reasonable and
justly severe, but at the same time the
work that Mr., Fitch did in this way has
been definitely impressed upon the Amerl-
can stage and 1t shows itself in every
American comedy written since Fitch be-
gan. George AIDE with all OF hts origin
ality and cleverness is a disciple OF Fitch
In his best comedies. In Mary James Pa
that was at the Boyd last week. the laugh
able party that was given in the last
act when the guests sans or the Banks
Of the Wabash, ETC., reminded one Of AIDE
and his middle west life, but more fund
amentally it was a trace Of the Fitch
style.
Blu It was not this mere expert crafts
manship that made his plays successful.
On q mere excuse for a plot he could build
up a series OF happenings that seemed
for some hidden skill to hold an audience
which could see through all the flimsiness
OF the dramatic structure. He was GER
tainly not without a keen native wit. What
could be more generously and yet sharply
funny than the remark Of Mrs. Perkins In
The Girl With the Green Eyes when she
sees the Apollo Belyidere? Yes, it's all
right. but give me Perkins
lie did nothing to make the American
drama great perhaps, but he did a great
deal toward making American playwrights
accurate and skillful in the little things
that give the color Of reality"
The New York Telegraph tells this story
OF how Clyde Fitch got in touch with
Charles Frohman:
To the struggling young dramatist who
believes that the world Is cold and the
atrical managers brutal, u study OF the
career OF the late Clyde Fitch must prove
stimulating, His foothold was not obtained
without many a slip and many a bruised