The Washington times., 1915-01-14
Rachel Crothers Explains Successful
Writing Of Plays For an Intelligent Public
SlV Works Mornings and Plays
Afternoons, and She Is Con-
fident She Knows What the
People Crave.

her plan must be rather efficient.
"Of course, such confidence In my
ability from one such as Henry Mil
Ter is an inspiration In itself. and
that is the best reward OF all-that
feeling Of confidence which one gets
from having open acknowledgment
Of ones ability"
How the Wheels Move.
or course, we were anxious 10 ask
just how the wheels went round
but we had a natural delicacy about
it. Some how or other the subject
came up, seemingly Of its own sc-
cord The processes by which Miss
CrOthers turns out successful plays
should be of interest to every aspir-
ing dramatist. indeed since she
thinks 80 highly Of the public. they.
too. should listen carefully to the
which Is such a tribute to them.
For three years." she said. Il
have followed much of the same plan
and l find that II works beautifully.
First Of all don't believe IN va
cations. Correspondingly. do not
which necessitate long vacations. I
work in the mornings and rest in
the afternoons. That means that
always work In the mornings, Of
course, unless ] am travelling, and
always rest In the. afternoons. Play
IL a better word than rest, for even
then ] do not really rest. The. per.
son who has his or her work at heart
and Is engaged In that work which 10
most pleasing to them. works all OF
the time, quite without effort"
Click! went the needle to back up
but that she was registering some-
where in her mind. just how a wom-
an acts when she knits'
Bad For Technique.
Long intervals between ones work
is bad for technique. for one should
not hope to succeed until all Of the
technical difficulties have been over
come, and have become almost auto
matte second nature. Then, and
then alone has one the skill and
real character. actual art to ones
skeleton background"
With an ever increasing wonder for
the simplicity OF II all. the inter-
viewer Immediately began to won.
der where Miss Crothers had found
tration" which netted her so much.
carefully bred. clock raised Only
child crept into the mind.
Al the FISK OF Deln& tnOu8nt I'm.
pertinent. We volunteered the infor-
nation that We were one Of five or
six. or something like that. and
added with airy indifference, Were
you an only child?"
For once and once only. We had
fired a question which was for the
instant, sufficient to rival the knit
ting. and the needles ceased their
conscientious clicking.
She's One of Nine.
NO" a smile and then q very
straight look. Il cannot say that
was. for ] was one of nine"
Perhaps our expression on accoun,
OF her seemingly remarkable &C.
complishment showed too plainly, OF
perhaps she Is Just nativcly and in.
hercntly honest, and did not wish tc
sail under any false colors, for she
calmly added:
But. you see. ! came in the first
batch. and did not knew the other:
so intimately. I was quite grown
and started along. you see"
We saw. And then as We made a.
dignified q farewell as was possible
in the face Of the knitting, We men
tally came right around to the origi
nal statements Of Miss CrothCrs.
For there Is no rule for being sue
cessful. not even when 1t takes int
consideration the environment Of {
large or a small family, no rule ex
cept excellence-frst, last. and al
ways!