The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1914-12-20

membering an old tale, wrote a play
IN which a son plans TO ayenge the
murder Of his father. He called II
Hamlet"
"PlaywTiting is the adjustment of
ioeaS to meet the limitations as we'll
as the requirements, of the timo in
which We are writing, of the stage,
the players and the audience" Mr..
Hamilton said. in effect. Our play,
The Big Idea" is a sample. Mr..
Thomas and l had the idea. He
wrote the first draft Of the first
act, and 1 wrote the last. We
took it to Boston TO produce it.
George Conan and his partner, Sam
Harris, were with us to help in the
production. The actors would come
on for a scene. Conan would sug-
gest that this line be stricken out
and the actor would suggest that
another line be put in. In one pace
Mr.. Conan showed us how much
more effective It would be to let the
characters shown in their facial eN-
preston and physical movement
about the stage what we Used q
speech of fifteen or twenty lines TO
explain. We accepted the change
because it was a great Improvement
When the scenery that we had or
dered came we found that the
GNNAAN EdAAAACA Adu SANNU NAS a pc
culiar set in which another set OF
actions than those suggested by our
own words or Mr.. Cohan's scene
would better carry out the idea.
And we adopted that. Mind, we
had started out with a totally diff
ferent conception. Then an actor
would suggest that a certain change
OF wording or action would be moro
natural to him-at least he could
RI. I.,
had in this way. And We saw that
he was right and adopted his sug-
gest on. So II was all the way
through. Suggestions were made by
everybody, from the call boy to the
owner Of the theater and az each of
them helped in the fitting together
Of the ideas, or did not do so. we
accepted or rejected it as the case
may be.
Authors Are Responsible But
''On the program you will see that
the play is by A. z. Thomas and
Clayton Hamilton-and We were the
responsible parties because we could
have rejected all the ideas suggested.
But we didn't We were play
wrights. please understand. 1t is
necessary that some one should be
held responsible for the writing of
the words and the suggestion of the
ideas. It is manifestly impossible
for the program to state that at a
certain point in the action twenty
lines were stricken from the manu-
script prepared by the authors and
Mr.. Cohan's suggestion of action
substituted; or that the scene paint
er's preparation of a special color
scheme or arrangement of detail
that we had not anticipated sug-
gested another change in another
Glendenning, our leading man.
thought he could better express the
idea of the play in certain words or
actions of his own Mt another point
in the working out of the plot. than
by the words and actions prescribed
by the authors. Therefore, ] say,
that playwright is exactly what the
author of a play must be, II he
wants TO play to even approximate
success. And he must begin his
''wrighting'' with the idea, by adj
tusting IL to the time, the stage, the
actors and the audiences, before he
can hope to get very far with the
writing"
II was at this point that the waiter
brought in the apple pie with an
extra large piece of cheese on the
side and If Mr. Hamilton said any
thing more on the subject did not
hear him. In fact I did not remem-
Der even that he had asked me 10
wait for him until ] CHANGED to see
q little bronze bull in the center OF
p large round table about which the
explorers and Adventures and writ
ers and statesmen and scientists who
are members OF that particular club
are accustomed TO gather during the
long winter evenings. I had noted
the bull when I entered the club
noted II because IL was so small and.
therefore, so easy to THROWN a
manner Of speaking, and yet so per-
feet a bull. And it was because there
was no suggestion of having INDUCED
himself in Mexican athletics that Mr..
Eamilton's conversation and his re-
quest came back to me. It is also
because Of that fact that I put the IN
terview up In this shape instead Of in
the manner OF the trained seal bounc-
ing a ball Of fact upon his versatile
and extraordinarily high forehead