New-York tribune., 1912-02-25
WO|On n CO
3 enao t I
al Ike CoIun1b1a a
The PLAYBROKER
Alice Kausor Describes Part She
PIavs in 2 Theatrical Season.


Those who think that a theatrical sea-
son covers the work only Of playw-ishts'
aetors, managers and audiences W.,h the
vorkirg contingent % scene painters, cos
tuners, etc, have left out one cf the most
important factors Of the whole comolna-
tion-the plsybroker. AS soon Wa" street
without It's Stockholders az Theatre Pow
without It's rlayhrc&Cr..
One Of the most rrom.~eEt OK these i'm
portant personaScs is Miss Alice Kauser,
who in her busy Office Was persuaded re-
Gently TO throw some light on side Of
things theatrical which is practically un-
known TO the public, tnas is. the work Of
the playbroker as Con- Ted in this coun-
try.
That tho playbroKc~ jves rot take only
an impassive part-th2, OF merely recei'-
jng manuscripts ard seEding them about
to various managers for possible accept
ence-at once became evident
'"The managers and -.."s come TO me,
asserted Miss Kause- i.~isfy.
you see this is the si.>aticn,' she went
on. 81 represent ETcI- "lany playwTignts'
. and | am in constant receipt Of the work OF
4 others who are training themselves to be-
come playwrights. ! I'D all manuscripts
myself and keen detailed ~cccrdS OF them
so that know as nearly az any one can
what sort Of work every available writer
OF plays is able to produce.
Now. theatrical managers have 50 many
theatres and so NAM actors under con-
tract to them tina ,-e vlaybroker becomes
a necessity. All Csr ,c2t-es, have TO b"
kept open and the p. y.-c 1ave to be fitted
with plays
AT the end o. rrn, ard often
during the seaso- ~.' ..t..s come to me
with their plans - a.. ,rt year. They
want a certain lind o.. ..'nedy for this
actor, or a drawing-ror .'y dealing with
a certain phase OF .ly for another.
For one Of their theatres they want a
spectacle with t1-,'y setting and subject.
and they ask me to fnd them what they
want
knowing the writer's as / do, l decide
who is most likely to be abe TO produce
what is desired, and to those whom / be-
Ileve appropriate ] submit the ideas that
are to be worked up.
I'm this way l usually get what is
wanted quickly and without difficulty.
Sometimes not, though. / have, for in
stance, been looking for a certain kind of
spectacular piece for three years, and any
number of play composers have prepared
scenarios but none has met the managers s
taste as yet"
THE inference is" said the interviewer,
that plays are not always spontaneously
written"
II cannot see that" she answered. "If
a certain type Of play is Indicated as de-
sirable to q playwright and he enthuses
over that iIea-whether the idea occurred
to him, TO the manager, or to that agent
matters little. Our foremost authors write
plays on subjects that they select, finish
entirely their plays and then submit them
TO managers This is what the most ia
nous playwrights of Europe do also"
That a playbroker has many activities
besides providing specially ordered plays
however, soon became evident
II watch the German. Austrian and Hun
garian stages for plays that might be OF
interest here explained Miss Kauser. Il
am the agent for Sudermann, Hauptmann,
echnitzler and all the leading playwrights
OF those countries, and have been respon-
sible for bringing over whatever Of their
works have been seen here. II was / who
brought about the first evening perform
snces OF Ibsen's plays in this country
Maeterliack's Blue Bird was also pro-
duced through my efforts
Il have had some amusing experiences
here with the works Of foreign playwrights
had great difficulty. for instance, with
the Blue Bird The managers were afraid
TO produce t. Ono of the leading New York
managers told me that II would give him
fun rights to do what he liked with the
ali opI al he faNrff fo stait btnocaIf he
would to use his own words. make Maeter-
linck famous! He assured me the dialogue
needed dramatizing
Another duty which falls on the play
broker Is that Of arranging selling prices
OF plays, percentages Of profits that the
author is 10 receive, etc.
Prices vary all the way from $50 advance
on royalties up 10 $1,000. The latter is un-
usually large. From 500 TO $1,000 is a good
average price for an author to get for his
manuscript. and. in addition to that, /
range for him percentage OF the gross
earnings that amounts TO 5, ~ and 10 per
cent. These are the usual percentages, ar
ranged according to the celebrity OF the
playwright An unknown author can get
only low rates. After he has had one sue
cessfub play on the boards his second COM
mands only a little more than the first.
With the third, however, his price goes up,
and after that he can begin TO command
what he wants Percentages. however,
rarely 30 above 70 per cent OF the gross
earnfnCs.
Besides attending to the authors royal
ties the playbroker, In the absence OF the
author. is present at rehearsals to repre-
sent him.
In my own case I am asked to attend
rehearsals Of, many plays l have nothing TO
90 with. 50 asito supply the rehearsal direc-
tors with the fresh eye that they need. !
never 80 10 the first rehearsals. wait
until the play Is well along toward compile
tor. Then can really Judge whether
thinss are going right or not"
IN this way the plsybrokers influence
aoss beyond the commercial activity Of a