The Washington herald., 1915-05-11
HISTORY BUILDERS.
Bronson Howard's First Successful
PLAY.
" rit'cn ~ -~ssiy for The Washington Herald.
BY DIR. r.. J. EDW ARDS.

Mrttcn EN -rssiy for The Washington Herald
BY DIR. r. ). EDWARDS.
In a little cubbyhole OF an Office
which the late A. NJ. Palmer occupied
when he was the manager of Wal
lacks Theater. in New York. | found
him one afternoon when he had an
hour or two to spare. His Office was
A little room on the first floor of Il
private house which adjoined Wal
lacks Theater on th" rear, with which
the office was connected by what seem
ed to be an improvised passaCeway.
In the course of this conversation
with Mr.. Palmer | asked him whom
he regarded as the most successful of
American playwrights. He was pretty
competent to give an answer. lie had
gained great reputation as manager.
although il was through accident that
he became associated with the the
ater. Under his management there
were very brilliant successes at the
Union Square Theater and il was he
who produced the phenomenally sue
cessful play. The Two Orphans" He
also ventured to produce BARLEY
Campbelrs play. My Partner" thereby
changing Campbelrs i'll fortune-he
was poverty stricken when the play
was rroduced-so that Campbell be-
came enc of the richest of American
playwrights.
There isn't any doubt in my mind
about the man who can be justly de-
scribed as the most successful of
American playwrights." said Palmer.
He was Bronson Howard. II wasn't
luck with Howard either. He once
told me that after the ambition to
write plays mastered him. as il did
while he was reporter on New
York newspaper. he spent all his spare
time working out plots. developing
characters and writing plays simply
for the training and practice. He. OF
course. was a student of the drama
and visited theaters not so much for
the purpose of being entertained as
with the intent to study what is some
times called the technique Of writing
and of acting.
Howard came to me w;Ilc was
managing the Union Square Theater
with the manuscript of Il play which
he said had been produced in Chicago.
but hadn't been successful. ] asked
when it vas produced and he told me
about five years earlier than the time
of our conversation. He said. fur
thermore, that he was satisfied that
there was material in the play which
il handled properly would make il
successful He also told me that he
had worked for the better part of five
wears, whenever he could spare the
time, in rewriting the play. s;Iil pre-
serving the central idea. He had al
most entirely rewritten the dialogue.
He told me also that he had decided
to change the name. The play as pro-
duced in Chicago was called Iillian's
Lost Love He had changed the name,
he told me. to The Bankers Daugh-
ter and i said to him that il he had
improved the play as greatly as he had
the name there was no reason why
IL shouldn't prove successful. When
I read the manuscript l was satisfied.
as far as any manager can be salts
fed before a play is produced. that it
would be a go and that Howard woulc
be well rewarded for his patience. his
industry and his faith in the dramatic
value of the central idea of the play.
81 accepted II and produced il and
IL proved to be one of my great sue
cesses as a manager. From a BUST
ness point Of view. il was very profit
able to Howard and perhaps more
profitable in what II taught him than
in the actual return by way of royal
ties. It taught him when making con-
tracts afterward to insist that he
should have a rising scale Of royal
ties. That provision. think, probably