Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-02-22

part that he Is most Interesting. With
Ruth Chatterton. who plays the saucy
Judy" Mr.. Miller spent weeks and hours
not that Miss Chatterton lacks creative
rover. for she has 1t In plenty, but that
Mr.. Miller's ripe experience tells him in
tutively where to shade and where to
accentuate. Once where Miss Chatterton
had long speech-a sort of denunctation
working gradually up to climax. he SAID:
When you go home sit down to your
plano and sing that speech: raise your
voice half tone with each part OF IT
then you'll get It exactly. And Miss Chat
terton tried humming 1t at once and found
that 1t gave exactly the effect Mr.. Miller
wanted, and being something Of singer.
she found how to take breath between
the proposition in the speech and to con-
serve her breath for the strong and ex-
cited climax at the end.
soNG-wRITERs' CONTEST. wash
ington Is to have a song-writers'
contest at the American Theater. 1914
Vile and motion pictures will be shown
in conjunction with the novelty. The
rules governing the contest are as fol-
lows:
Every contestant must enter with a
song that Is not over six months old.
Contestant must have written the lyric
or melody of the song which he or she
sings.
Each contestant must furnish his or
her own pianist: two verses and three
choruses will be the limit for partici-
pants; no encores allowed under any cir
cumStanceS.
any song-writer using boosters or
vaudeville artists in the contest to join
in the chorus of his or her song will
be disqualified.
Publishers can enter as many con-
testants as they care to, but each writer
OF eli on, htc, hnr- Cnn0
two writers of the same firm can sing
the same song.
The contest will be decided by original
ity. simplicity of melody and lyric, de-
livery. action and enunciation Of the
singers.
WHY SHAW WRITES PREFACES.-
George Bernard Shaw. the author Of
"Fanny's First Play" writes long and
exhaustive prefaces for every play he
produces and publishes. In one of his
drou explanations he says:
There is a foolish and self-contradic-
tory opinion prevalent that an author
should allow his works to speak for
themselves. and that he who appends
and pref1xes explanations to them is like
ly to BE as. bad an artist as the painter
cited BY Cervantes who wrote under his
picture what it was lest there should
be any mistake about 1t. The pat retort
to this thoughtless comparison Is that
the painter invariably does SO label his
picture. What is an art catalogue but a
series of statements that this Is Vale
of East, this is the School of Athens,
this is Chill October. this is the Prince
of Wales and SO on.
1.-THE reason most dramatists do not
publish their plays with prefaces is that
they cannot write them, the business OF
the intellectually conscious philosopher
and skilled critic being no part of the
playwright's craft. Naturally, making a
virtue Of their incapacity. they either re-
pudiate prefaces as shameful, or else.
with a modest air, request some popular
critic to supply one, as much as to say:
Were / to tell the truth about myself
I must needs seem vainglorious; were I
to tell less than the truth I should do
myself an injustice and deceive my read
ers.'
Now what I say is. why should get
another man to praise me when I can
praise myself? I have no disabilities to
plead. Produce me your best critic and
will criticise his head off. AS to phi
losophy, I taught my critics the little
they know in my 'Quintessence Of Ibsen-
ISM and now they turn their guns-the
guns I loaded for them-on me and pro-
claim that / write as If mankind had in
telleet without will, or heart, as they CT