The Washington herald., 1912-11-24
BY MRS. H. G. De MILE.
Authors Representative and President Of
the De Mile Company.

Authors Representative and President Of
the De Mile Company.
-HE ideal method OF writing plays
would be for man and woman
to collaborate upon every one.
Then the Impressions Of life
which each sex receives at its own Pc
culiar angle would be combined in their
reflection in the play and would produce
q truer and more convincing effect Let
the two work together and their special
gifts, their separate views Of life, their
peculiar intuitions Of character would
combine tremendously to round out their
play into what every play ought to be: a
miniature presentation Of life.
Speaking generally, the man excels the
woman in the construction Of drama
and the woman excels the man in the
writing of dialogue. The chances are.
too, that the woman will not always
model her men characters in the full
spirit of masculinity and will sometimes
make them talk as real men never should
Conversely, men often fall to realize in
their women characters the subtle touches
of femfninity that the woman dramatist
puts up so irresistibly, and make them
say and do things that strike false notes.
OF course, there are exceptions in both
cases. The women in Clyde Fitch's
plays, for instance, are wonderfully true
and Iifelike, and the men IN Evelyn
Greenleaf Sutherland's plays are true as
steel.
But with or without masculine collab-
Grafton the possibilities Of dramatic au-
thorship as a career for American women
grow more inviting every year. And yet
such huge numbers OF them try to be
playwrights without having either the
necessary native gifts or the equally nee
essary training in technique, one hesitates
TO speak even this word Of encourage
meut Out Of a thousand aspirants for
dramatic honors not more than one
achieves the big success for which all
of them hope. A few are moderately
successful The rest have wasted their
time, their thought, their labor, and their
days of longing.
Granted the Unborn talent and the WILL
ingness to take advice and work hard.
the woman playwright has before her
nowadays bigger opportunities and the
likelihood of larger rewards than ever
before. A woman came to me two or
three years ago who was anxious to try
her hand at writing plays. She had a
good position at a fine salary, but the
work took all her time and II she yielded
to her desire to write she would have
to give It up and live on her savings. She
had enough to live on for one year, and
this she finally determined to do, In spite
of my earnest protests. During that
year she wrote a play that showed much
Ebility. One firm Of managers wanted
to produce It, but they insisted on a GER
tain change that in her opinion and
mine, would kill the play. 1 asked for
two days grace and took it to another
manager. assuring him it was worth his
while to give it immediate attention.
Within twenty-four hours he had signed
p contract with her, she agreeing to fol-
low his advice in the rewriting of the
play. For two years he kept her at
work on it. She agonized over it, she
wrote and rewrote, and wrote again.
But he would give her no quarter until
she had made it in every particular
what he thought it ought to be.
At last the play was produced and
her willingness to follow his advice.
her months and months of toll. had
their reward. The production WAS an
Instant success and the little woman au-
thor is on the high road to both fame and
fortune.
The collaboration Of Mary Roberts
Rinehart and Avery Hopwood Is an IN
stance Of the successful combination Of
the mans and the woman's ability and
point Of view. Seven Days" ran for
two seasons in New York. was played
on the road by five companies during one
season, by three during the next, and now.
released for stock, is making more than
good. 1t has earned for its co-authors
comfortable fortunes and 1t has given
them a reputation that insures from any
manager immediate serious consideration
of whatever they offer Mrs. Rinehart
Is one Of the most brilliant dialoguists
now writing. and Mr.. Hopwood is un-
usually ciear-sighted and insistent on
every item of construction.
The brilliant success Of Evelyn Green
leaf Sutherland and Marie Beulah Dix
with THE Road to Yesterday which
they wrote in collaboration. shows what
can be achieved by authors who are able
to present a fresh view Of an eternal
truth. The play won wide attention be-
cause its embodiment Of the old idea, put
into new and striking form. that ones
character and life are profoundly influ-
enced by the lives and characters of ones
ancestors. was Of the deepest interest to
every man and woman who saw 1t, Alice