Evening star., 1913-02-09

the public (of which you are a part) what
it likes best. Then, in place of the regular
appliances they use IN shoeshops the reallzer
made use OF JlnmleS, CrOwbarS, and other
implements of that nature for the trying on
of the shoes. Gradually in this manner,
with the constant application of burlesque
and exaggeration, the righteousness of the
scene was built up. The suggestion for the
scene was made in ten words The scene
itself, when manufactured out of the sugges-
ton, played for fully twenty minutes.
THE activity of a realizer of music show
manuscripts may be perceived when
say that in one season have realized as many
as sixteen manuscripts. At one time, three
years ago, | realized five different music
shows at one time, putting them all into
stage form simultaneously. These five were
"The Yankee Girl "Old Dutch, "The Girl
and the Wizard" "The Jolly Bachelors
and Havana" The extent to which a
reallzer must sometimes go with a manu-
script (and my case IS not an exceptional
one, by any means) may be indicated in the
instance of the last named piece. When
started to put on Havana | found parts
of the adapted manuscript that literally de-
fed realization; so | practically fitted part
of the second act of "Nllle. MOdiste' into
one act and big part of the third act of an
old music play called "The Filibuster" into
another act. And nobody ever noticed the
difference! Havana" incidentally, by way
of emphasizing the curious realization trick,
will be remembered as huge success.
Where practised music show l1brettists
always write away below the theater play
ing time limit, leaving the work of finishing
and elaboration to the realizer, beginners
are always inclined to make their manu-
scripts twice as long as necessary. The
manuscript of beginner, if produced as
written, would take up five or six hours of
playing time. This seems always the case.
staged such manuscript eight years ago
in Chicago, and cut out forty-fve minutes
of the second act alone, and even then the
act was bit too long.
A realizer adventures with amateur man
uscripts are full of queer turns, as you may
readily believe. l recall once, when en-
ployed to realize a manuscript entitled "The
Time, The Place, and The Girl, the work
of two young college boys who were then
making their debut in professional musical
comedy, that discovered that the hbret
fists had laid the whole of one of their acts
in a cemetery, and that the comedy con-
sisted of making remarks about the graves
and the inscriptions on the tombstOnes. Of
course, in cases like this, the realizer has to
act as dramatic critic and playwright in
addition to his other duties. The entire act
had to be thrown out, and had to write a
new one to take its place.
On another occasion, when putting on a
show written by beginner, was compelled
to put the first act where the last act had
been, the second act in place of the first act,
and the third act in the former place of the
second act. And the show was much i'm
proved by the transposing process. Of
course, the plot was thus all tangled up; but
the very tangling of the original plot "a sad
affair it was) made it all the funnier.
What have attempted here is a multum
in baruo peep behind the scenes at phase
of theatrical work of which the layman rare
ly hears. And if, after this you may under
stand that the simple program phrase,
"Staged by" means something more than
it has hitherto been held to convey, | shall
believe that have accomplished my modest
purpose.