New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-05-16

pressed with the idea that people would pay money
to guy" his protege that he could not control
himself from spontaneous outbursts of laughter
while negotiating for bookings, but Armstrong;
freak" CHASTITY failure, and the next thing
! heard Of him was his success as playwright
Frank Craven, author of TOO Many Cooks"
says he had idea that this comedy would ever
the boards, claiming that he wrote it lust
for fun" or rather for the fun there was in it
for him in the process of making. Moreover,
Craven is insistent that he will write
other play until he Is provided with theme that
will mean as much fun as TOO Many Cooks"
while building it up.
That "TOo Many Cooks" has already made
Craven a rich man, with prospect Of royalties
from five companies during 19l4-I5, may may
not have added TO the fun of the thing. Never
theess, this actor-authOr's amazing success is re-
garded a serious matter by stage folk among
whom such miracles have been rare indeed in
cent years
George Broadhurst did not find a ready market
for his productions even after his first successful
play, "Why Smith Left Home" attracted the pub
lie all over the country. Not until William A.
Brady produced THE Man Of the Hour" and ex-
plotted it with five or six simultaneously organ
lied road companies did our producing managers
awaken, and then it was too late. Broadhurst
evidently determined that the gentlemen who
skeptcal when he most needed encourage
ment should not profit when he longer needed
them. Mr.. Brady has first call all Broadhurst
plays. of which, Bought and Paid For" has
already earned S25O,OOO.
A NEWSPAPER CONTEST DISCOVERS A PLAY
WRIGHT.
Martha Morton Mrs Conhem). who Is regarded
as Americas foremost woman playwright, entered
contest started by New York newspaper with
a view to discovering what then called
curtain raiser. Charles Frohman, who had just be-
gun TO produce for the stage, agreed to produce
the winning playlet. Miss Morton being declared
the winner, Immediately sought out by the
strical men, with the result that William H.
Crane accepted "The Merchant" the first four-act
play from her pen. This play had prolonged
vogue thirty years ago, and Mr. Crane has since
starred almost entirely in Miss Morton's plays
The Morton family kept crockery store on
West Fourteenth Street. Here theatrical prop"
men were wont to come for stage decorations, and
il was through this association that Martha and
her brother Michael who wrote "The Yellow
TicketO sspired to stage careers Michael was
an amateur actor and scored great success as
the Lord Chancellor in Gilbert and Sullivan's
"Iolanthe" but when his sister was hailed as a
successful playwright, Michael concluded that he,
too, must possess the divine spark for conquest
in the same field That he correct in this
view is evidenced by the fact that the plays from
his pen are now accepted here and abroad before
they are written.
Philip Bartholomae's first play was scheduled
for the storehouse within three days after the
premiere. In fact, it was only because the author
Of cover Night" had agreed personally 10 finance
the production that this comedy, which for
over year in New York. was permitted to con
tinue. Bartholomae IS now producing his plays
himself, and at least Of his later offerings,
when Dreams Come True" has yielded him large
profits while his first effort "Oyer Night" is still
q winner, and from its vogue with stock