The sun., 1916-12-17
N. SHAW WROTE A LETTER.
A.A nlnanA ourney 81 "Trsassrs
Island" Get II.

Probably no one In New York to-
day 10 more interested in the possible
ity Of . visit from George Bernard
Shaw to the United States than Ed,
mund 0urney. the Squire TreIdtcncy
or Treasure Island at the Punch and
Judy Theatre. For there L. probably
no man In this country to-day who Is
better acquainted with Shaw.
II was about eleven years ago that
Mr.. Quincy appeared In . Shaw play
for his FIRST time. Captain Brass
bounds Conversion" Il was. with Ellen
Terry In the cas- II nj during this
engagement that Miss Terry cele-
brated the hftieth anniversary Of her
stage career.
Next Mr.. Quincy played Dr.. Bienk.
tnsop In THE Doctors Dilemma" and
among his most cherished possessions
10 . presentation copy Of the play in
book form with this ny leak inscription:
ITO Edmund Gfrney. who has made
more out Of the character Of DR.. BIenk.
tnsop than I did. q. Bernard shaw"
This engagement was followed by
Shaw's Man and Superman." John
Bulls Other Island" you Never Can
Tell and 'Pygmaiion." It was a. Ed
vurd DooHttle, the dustman. in the
latter that Quincy scored the hit Of
the piece both in England and Amer
lea.
Relative to the rehearsals OF "Pyg-
malion." Shaw wrote Mr.. Quincy the
following letter. the occasion being a
little tilt between Sir Herbert Tree and
i the v,vltar.
10 Adelphi Terrace.
London. w. c.
March 8. 1914.
DEAR GCRNEY Your last act has all
gone to the dickens. Possibly you share
my opinion and would like TO be forth
ned with my reasons.
In the first &C. your whole ecene Il
played oil the point Of your being one OF
the undeserving poor. You get the very
last nch out Of II. and the slightest at
tempt to come back to II In the last act
would be quite fatal. When it Is al
luded to there u be no emphasis
whatever on Il: YOU must play the
act altogether on your melancholy
downfall a. q captive of middle class
morality. When you come on the stage
Higgins will be somewhere-God knows
where n II ever gets settled at all IL
will probably be settled by Mrs. Camp.
WILL out " IIluSt Il'N 'Dtf'f VII tNat
for however much she settles II. Hi0-
gins will forget all about IL and turn up
In whatever spot destiny may lead him
to. The point for you Is that no matter
where he iS. even II he's In the middle
OF the stalls (and he's Just as lik ~ to
be there as anywhere else). 20 straight
up to him and have II out with him
about the clothes-close UP. nose to nose
with him-and make II clear that you
apA anita phttyippe ~ thu nrAaAnna ~
Mrs. Higgins. | don't now where she
will be. but you can ask Bell before you
20 on. From the moment she speaks to
you you must adapt your manner to her
presence and throw yourself. with In
stinctive good manners and the gal
lantry that has made you a slave to
women all your life. on her sympathy.
want II to be clear that the dustman
has much more social talent than any
body present. Ho and the Colonel are
the two considerats gentlemen present
but the Colonel 10 = bit stin and con-
vsntional. while Doolittle is a born genius
At the game.
Take no notice OF Hfo oins at all. ex-
cept In the speeches which are directly
addressed to him. and make the most of
your melancholy charm. lie particu-
larly careful to do nothing that Sir
Herbert tells you. because Sir Herbert
thhn ~ ~" - yoN0 W "" "
and ] know better. II the dustman is
perfectly natural and sincere and un-
conscious OF his being a comic char
acter. he will he enormously entertain
ing. II he tries on the comic dustman
for q ne will he n bore and a
failure the audience will guffaw at him
for the irst three minutes and then get
tired Of him.. II Sir Herbert. who has
the best intsntione In the world toward
you. tries 10 set you wrong on this point.
pull this letter out Of you pocket and
make him read 1t. lie IL quite clever
enough to see that ! am right. for I need
not keep up the p~retence that all this
business Of turning round m bawling
out the words deserved n undeserved
and * on has been your own doing.
Play the part your own way n It will
come right. The truth Is that / not
only cast you for the part. but I wrote
the part for YOU /: so you may trust your
self In It without any hesitation. Sir
Herbert. like most tragedians. thinks