The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-09-08
Easy to Sell a
.Hay,' RluIt Not :,
j in Right Place
Waterbury American.)

Ntr
Undertaking. To place it with a
Management that will produce it
Worthily and exploit it to, its inner
most value, is quite another matter,
says Alice Kauser in the Mirror. Inc
demand for plays-Amerlcan plays
has become more and more extern
sve. There is a sound and insist
ent market for them. Outside OF the
well-established arrangements, there
are a score of others, besides the ac-
tors and actresses who Hope through
the purchase of a play to hoist them
selves to StardOn. From all these
quarters comes the demand for plays.
s To my mind. the agents real worth
lies in the selection of managers and
stars. A play sold to a certain man
sger, or actor or actress manager is
sure TO fail; sold to another, q diff
ferent story might be told. From
SPINE managers, critics and p1aygoers
dema Hd@a- play of~-real I'M rinSic
call Literary play-as if the
drama were not the highest express
sion of art. Hegel said it was more
than a century ago! From other
managers less is expected; perhaps
because these managers have pro
duced plays of Indifferent quality;
sometime hitting the popular fancy,
som etfmes missing it entirely, be-
cause they have produced plays of
unQuestionable character with I'M
questionable intent; or musical COM
ediss of the type supposed to suit the
mood of the tired business man..
In the hands of these managers,
masterpiece of Maeterlinck, Pinero, or
Rostand would fare badly! Even the
value of the play would not be fully
Any work of art requires PROPER
surroundings The Venus de Milo
would be q grotesque exhibition in
Harlem fat; SISTER Beatrice" on
Eighth Avenue would be a. desecra-
ton Extreme examples are pur-
pusely selected.
The work of the agent is not sim
ply the sale of plays; it is interest
ing managers in new ideas and new
authors. and in pointing out to au-
thors what the respective wants or
etars and managers may be. BY
this Is not meant that horrible tailor
making of plays for stars that 10
years ago seemed to be the only re-
source OF American authors. Man
ayers and stars have come to real
ize more and more that they must
vary their dramatic wares. They
cannot, year after year, produce the
same kind Of play. So, too the
agent, Ii he or she is a real agent,
tendencies and developments of art,
using the word In its broadcast mean
ing. And above all else, the cour-
age of playwrights to do the best
that is in them must be kept up.
They must not be allowed to do work
that is just good or that is good
enough These mistakes are as
great as that implied by the oft-heard
phrase: 1T Is too good for the pub
lie" That theory is a fallacy in
vented. by mediocre minds to cover
their own impotence
: CouIdn't Sell 'sThe Blue Bird"
The agent should never be afraid
to show a manager, provided he is
the proper manager, the highest type
of play, IL he has the honor of pos
sessing one For three years L tried
10 sell The Blue Bird My endeav-
crs began much before its Russian
production, and two. years, before the
English one Three managers, among
the limited number who could pro-
duce play OF this caliber, saw its
saorsnehs outlay and heavy running
expenses: the second could not make
his partner share in his, enthusiasm,
and the third wanted SUCH changes
IN theFwording Of the text as Maeter-
rnck could not accept The quail
ries of the play. therefore, were not
ignored by all managers. as it has
been said.
Again. recently I saw paragraph
regarding "Kismet." 1t was stated
IN the United States, and that all the
Leading managers refused it. "Kis-
met was not peddled about in Amer
ica- It was shown to one manager
only previously to it's London produc-
ton, and that manager was ready to
take it. but he insisted on too long
an interval before production The
play then was held awaiting the Lon
don verdict This much in justice to
eur managers judgment.
No Direct Appeal
The difficulty Of the playwrights
art, outside of the essential technical
craftsmanship that some do not easily
acquire, Is the fact that it's appeal
, is not direct from playwright to critic
or playgoer. 1t is seen through the
intermediary of the actor, a living per-
sonality, that may excite sympathy in
some and dislike in others. The ar
chitect exhibits his plans the sculptor
sets up his statue; the novelist, essay
fst short-story writer has his work
printed; and the finished product, is
Ready for public criticism. He has
zritten play-granted, a fine play,
OF even a great play, but that is not
the end of his labors. He must find
z manager. who will, so to speak, col
aaborate with him in the essential
able background has to be cast. How
many plays have we all seen that
have failed because of miscasting!
Their name Is legion.
= Managers have been abused indis-
eriminately. They have been accused
81 being Commercial They are no
more commercial than are picture
dealers Their profession must pay
Precisely like any other profession
TOR instance, that of a clergyman If
IL does not pay, they are neither man.
ayers. picture-dealers or clergyman
they are dilettantes amateurs. Now
adays no one ever accuses Shakes
peare of having been a commercial
manager, nor Moliere either for that
natter, in producing plays at the right
Moment, when the minds of the pros
rective hearers were ready and in
sympathy. No one finds fault with
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes,
Shakespeare, Moliere, or Schiller for
writing plays with definite purpose
in view; and - leaving the, Greeks
apart-for a distinct personality. For
these masters-the demi-gods of the
guild of playwrig hts-knew their craft
perfectly-know its possibilities and it's
limitations They knew that it was
not sufficient that a plays should be a
masterpiece; it had to be acted to
demonstrate whether it was a work of
genius or not. That no actor can
make a play is truism. That many
an actor has destroyed a play is still
truer. Therefore, to select the man
ager or the star agho sHili best under
tfe most vital and imperative task of
lie agent.