New Britain herald., 1916-07-20
Play Royalties.

Must the profits of the successful playwright be relcgated to the cate gory of financial fables? The ap- praisal of the estate of Charles Klein suggests this distressing question. MT. Klein, who was lost with the Lusi- tania, was credited with drawing enormous sums in royalties. It was he who wrote "Thc Music MaSter," "The Lion and the Mouse" and Mag gie Pepper," and put into dramatic form the Potash and Perlmutter" tales of Montague Glass. All had long runs in New YOrl-the last-named cspeciallN-and were given at the same time in other cities by com panies organized for tho purpose. When their vogue on the road dimin- ishcd they were played in stock. It does not appear from the figures available that the writer received less than the customary recompense; 1n- deed, he probably received more. Thus in "The Music Master MT. Klein received six per cent. on the receipts up to $500O and nine per cent. on the receipts over that sum. This meant at the least $500 a week. perhaps nearly twice that while the play was at tho height of it's popu- larity. The percentage on "POtash and Perlmutter" was only two and a half up to $4OOO and five over that But in this case, of course, a portion of the profits had to go to the orig inal author.
 It Is true that on any computation the manager must have got the lions share. He assumed the respOnsi bilty he took the risk of failure, and his profits were doubtless we'll earned. They depended largely upon the cost of production, which is less in the case of plays of this kind than in that of great spCCtacles or musical comedies But if "POtash and Perl muttcr" alone made something like a million in a year, the return to all concerned must have been very great. Yet the amount due to MT. KIoin's estate at present is fixed at only $2O,- 900. The royalties from "The Music Master" are held to be of no value, since MT. Relasco has reserved it for the exclusive use of MT. WarfeId who may not appear in it again. Counting all the other plays by MT. Klein-and the list is a long one out of the net estate of s15766S only $44,S16 is credited to royalties: the largest item is life insurance policy of $100,00
 The moral from this may be drawn to suit the taste and fancy of the mOralizer It does not appear to be the cOngenital extravaganza or heed lessness of the artistic temperament MT, Klein was no "spender' or Thigh roller" He managed his affairs with ordinary prudence, so far as is known. Is the explanation of his compara- tive poverty to be found in the fact that his earnings wore exaggerated In the first place? Theatrical finance is sometimes hard to fathom. The enormous profits of a successful pro- auction may reside chiefly in the imagination of the passionate press agent The "star" usually has an adequate appreciation of the value of his or her services. and it exceeds all that the author expects In his rosiest dreams. The plaYright who gets a comfortable income may fairly re- gard himself IS fortunate. The in- stances where more than this came to him arc doubtless comparatively few. At the utmO Ost he cannot compete with the captains of industry in financial returns, let audiences crowd to tho box office as they may.