The San Francisco call., 1913-08-17

-Tne iuea or the play came 20 me-"
said Mr.. McGroarty, when was writ
ing the chapter called The Story of the
Missions in my book.
Again and again I was impressed
with the wonderful possibilities for
pageant drama. The bare narration OF
the events of those times is fraught
with deepest poetry, romance and
beauty from the very beginning to the
fall Of the franciscan missions in Cali
fornia- The idea obsessed me, and
could not rest until tried my hand at
It, The better part of three years was
consumed in the preparation, the writ
ing and the editing of the play. hope
had no esthetic principles to air nor
any preconceived historical thesis to
work out. trust that was filed with
the beauty of my message. and I have
reason to believe that such was the
case. At least others have found some
trace of that In the play which / saw
through the pages of history"
Certain authorities" said I, have
Informed us that a combination of the
pageant with the drama proper is an
artistic impossibility.
Certain authorities are sometimes
mighty. uncertain prophets" said Mr..
McGroarty. Besides, j didn't know
that they had ever said so, until my
play was completed and I found them
trying to account for it's success. How
ever. lay no claim to pioneering in a
new art form, for the task that / had
set myself was not to accomplish an
epoch in esthetics, but to write a story
and stage 1t. I saw before me only
the dramatic and picturesque elements
OF a wonderful series Of cohesive cpl
sodes. through which faith, valor. ro-
nance, truth, devotion and treachery
shone clearly, and the extraordinary
part of the matter Is not that new
Avo not 10 ort fap t4a fad
but that all this wealth OF material
had never been utilized by any other
writer. It's extraordinary that all the
literary ferrets failed even to strike a
scent of this wonderful story with its
glamorous romance, It's thrills and its
glory. Perhaps In the zeal to locate
The Great American Play they failed
TO seek elsewhere than In the compar
atively colorless pages OF New England
history and In the conuuests of the
east. Had they thought 1t worth while
to turn to the golden pages OF Call
fornia's history they would have found
their search for material more than re-
warded.
They made the mistake of ignoring
US. They thought that Bret Harte.
Joaquin Miller and Mark Twain had
exhausted our mines OF fiction and
poetry
Bret Harte," I reminded, might
fame and American literature had he
not taken his long trip abroad"
True enough" said McGroarty, and
had he remained at home he might
have anticipated my effort by several
decades and glorif7ed a period in Cali
fornia history with his inimitable PEN
M cGROARTY'S explanation of the
mi selection OF San Gabriel as the
AvA scene OF his completed mission
play interested me- 1t seemed curl
Gus that hfs choice should have fallen
on that almost dead and forgotten
adobe town. and so I asked him III he
had tried to hide his maiden effort
where like "the rose, it might blush
unseen"
No. 1t wasn't that" the author re-
Piled. I was anxious to give the play
an appropriate setting, and the old
mission % San Gabriel was ideal +
felt sure that the people would come
to see 1t II we had the right thing; and
II we didn't have the right thing, il
wouldn't matter much where it was
given. But they did come-for 422
performances-people from all over the
world They will come again next
year. and the year after that, and for
many year after you and I are dead
and forgotten.
The plays the thing and the play
must have story. The Mission play
has one of the greatest stories that I
have ever heard. The story Is not
mine, must say, but 1T is my com
pilation 1t is a true story, and its
evidences rof reality supply 1t with
much of its potency; but whether it
were you. or I, or any other man who
wove the story into a pageant drama,
he we're sure OF success
Tho reasons leading up to McGroar-
tvs consent to the. temporary removal
of his play from San Gabriel--a con-
sent reluctant at first. but now hearty
were given by the playwright.
1T was my original idea he said,
that the play should never leave the
locale for which 1t was designed and
in which 1t was first presented; but
your people here in San Francisco said
that we were selfish In keeping the
play always in San Gabriel. The argu-
ment was imposed on our belief that
even as Father Junipero Sierra had
journeyed from San Gabriel to his be-
loved Mission Dolores in the days OF
old, so should the reincarnated Sierra
journey. The argument was reason
able. and the management of the CO.
lumbia theater made 1t irresistible. so
here Is the Mission play on its Pilgrim
age to you.
Still another reason why San Fran
cisco folk are entitled to witness the
play that made history and has remade
1t in southern California Is that the fig
are Of Don Gaspar de Portola and the
discovery of San Francisco bay are
vitality important elements of the plot
Il have handled Portola as a large
figure in the story, and the narrative
OF the discovery OF this wonderful bay.
because both those features in my play
are historically significant and import
ant. I proposed to dramatize the stor~
of California. Certainly my drams
would not be complete without that
wonderfully colorful and dramatic his
torieal incident OF the finding OF the
greatest harbor in the world by swart
old Don Gaspar and his hardy crew.
.sThe incident which tested the rour-
age of the intrepid travellers is lived
over again in the Mission play with all
the thrilling action of that great event,
and the climax of the discovery Is
achieved with absolute historical ac-
curacy."
AS far as the actors, their costumery
and the general appointments of his
proposed local presentation of tho play
were concerned, Mr.. McGroarty assured
me of equal accuracy with the Incl
dents.
The actors in the play. said he. in