New-York tribune., 1918-03-10
Hartley Manners
Gets His Lines
From Real Life
Exchange of Vie,us With
Wife Provides Vast
Material

were " SCC q PCILO1 LndHCc O1 nap
mess" at the Criterion Theatre she
might possibly recognize q portrait Of
herself in one Of the characters in that
play. Perhaps she wouldn't, however
as most people are somewhat blind tc
their own eccentricities of character
1t is reasonably certain, however, that
all of her friends would recognize the
picture. AS a matter of fact several of
them who happen to be in New York at
the present time have done so and have
expressed their appreciation of its vera
city to playwright J. Hartley Manners
and his wife, Laurette Taylor.
All of which is by way of a
prelude to the general statement that
much Of the material in Mr.. Manners's
recent plays is the result of keen OBJ
servation on the part of himself and
Miss Taylor, little incidents in real life
which they noted in the days round of
activities and little quirks of character
which have been impressed on their
minds at various times. Mr. Manners
himself has often admitted this to his
friends and he has more than once paid
public tribute to the assistance he has
had from his wife in furnishing what
he has termed "sidelghts" on the char
acters in his plays.
One night last season when Miss
Taylor was playing at the Globe she
was in a sportive mood and took
time in her dressing room to entertain
group Of friends with a little imita-
ton of the peculiarities of the titled
Englishwoman before mentioned. She
had met her many times in social
way.
Some day Hartley is going to put
her in a play" she said when she had
finished.
And so it came to pass that when
Happiness" was being expanded from
one act into four phases" last fall Mr..
Manners wrote into the play the char
acter Of Miss Perkins which is played
with such high spirits and dash by
Lynn Fontanne. He has made her
restless and silly chatterbox of a New
York society girl, whereas the woman in
real life from whom she is drawn is
more mature person. However, accord
ing to Miss Taylor and to the acquain-
tances Of the lady in question, she talks
and acts precisely as does the original
model, who spends all of her waking
hours in jnceesant coDvoreo+;o, of +La
most inconsequential sort, asking in
Vulnerable questions which she never
waits to have answered and setting on
edge the nerves of every one with whom
she comes in contact unless they
possess saving sense of humor.
Both Mr.. Manners and Miss Taylor
have fallen into the habit of exchang-
ing Impressions of people whom they
meet in the course of the day when they
reach home at night after the theatre,
and if either one of them has noted
some little touch that might fit into one
OF the numerous plays which are always
being planned by the former and the
observation seems valuable it is iotted
down for future reference in book
kept for that purpose.
1t is generally known that much of
the detail in the famous second act of
'Out There" was more or less veraci-
Gus transcript of certain episodes which
came under their personal observation
IN base hospital in England during
Miss Taylor's season there in "Peg"
Several of the characters were actually |
drawn from life and the big tragic mo-
ment OF the play at the end Of the act !
was suggested by an episode which
actually occurred and which was told |
70 them by Suzanne Sheldon, an Ameri-
can actress who had served as a nurse
IN France and who had actually seen a
nurse singing a delirious soldier to
sleep with "Rock-a-Bye-B Baby" just as
little Annie Hudd did on the stage.
AS an instance Of the utilization of
material from real life in which Mr..
banners INDUCES, the case of certain
rather plump woman friend of the
family who lives in Philadelphia may
oe cited At dinner party one night
~ "oo pcIUR leased apOuC her lncrcaS-
ing weight and she suddenly became
rather tired Of the jibes that were be-
ing directed at her.
IL had glass eye or wooden
reg, she blurted out, mo one would
thlnk OF mentioning either, but people
nave no respect for the feelings of
lat person."
ihas line, just as it was spoken, i'm
pressed itself on the tablets of Mr..
"anhers's memory and it went into the
hfst act Of "The Harp Of Life" being
assigned 10 the character Of the middle
ased and conventional next door neigh
o'l. The play was produced in Phila-
"sipnia before it opened in New York
and On the occasion of it's premiere in
we former city the lady who had
originally made it occupied one Of the
"'sse boxes. When she heard it spoken
=" 'ne stage she laughed uproariously
0'ofed sway In the archives, too, is
isport Of conversation which will
probably be used one day either az
'~SUs In a Dlav or as "a vccn.In,~,,n IT,.