New-York tribune., 1918-09-29
By Rebecca Drucker

interviewing people who do things
very we'll is often SO disappointing.
the secret of success you might ask
"How did you learn to write plays,
Ma, Megrue?" ?" only to receive the un-
satisfying reply, ~ never learned.
just kept fooling around with plays
until wrote one" Which is mani
festly not what one is after But the
knowledge that so many people are
waiting to be helped by the knowledge
one gains fortihcs one to persistence,
so insinuatcd the question in another
form. "But where did you learn the
rules, Mr.. Mcgruc? Surely you admit
there is technique of playwriting.
! Whose book on How to Write Plays
did you find most hclpful?'
Mr.. Megrue looked blank. "Whose
book? Oh, ycs-I did read one once.
The chap, l have forgotten who, said
that a play must have beginning, y
middle and an end. That it should be
interesting and entertaining and that
it should not transcend the bounds of
the probable. That reminded me Of
scenario that was once sent in to me
by friend. The author wrote: The
/ first is a wonderful comedy scene be-
tween the hero and his servant. Then
, the heroine enters and there follows a
wonderful love scene. Then the villain
enters and starts an intrigue to ruin
the hero's life Interesting, but not
Illuminating that's how the book
was"
Mr.. Megrue is large and breezy and
wrght-if you except the traditional
tobacco stained fingers. ] am glad he
retains that touch OF atmosphere as d
concession to the romanticsts. For the
rest, he is an average looking, blue
serge New Yorker the height of whose
brow would not arrest a second glance.
1t is not hard to believe him when he
assures one that he writes plays for
tho pleasure and profit of doing them,
with 10 ulterior motive Of reforming
anything or any one.
"a play, like a preacher, should first
of all be entertaining. And what is in
teresting is rooted in human nature
not in ethics. Jesse Lynch Williams
put it this way once. He said: mo one
is very much interested in hearing that
Jones is living happily with his wife
and three children. But if Jones is
known to have hurled brick at his
wife-cvery one is interested in the de-
tails Of that That is why the most
interesting plays are about wicked peo-
pie. The test Of a plays success, not
alone from the box Office standpoint, is
the number of people who see it. In
that sense believe that the poorest
play that achieves popularity has a
something in it that is superior to the
rarest closet drama it gets It's mes
sage over to the largest number Of
people. When a play is so exclusive
peals TO very small number Of people
its place is not in the theatre any more
because the theatre Is democratic. 1t
should be made into an essay OF
poem or circulated in prnt~but not
put on the stage, because the essence
of drama is its large appeal to all sorts
Of people. A playwright should frankly
write for box Office success, since that
means he is reaching the largest mum
Der of people"
Mr.. Megrue did not say this cynically
The rising quality of his own work
must be taken into account by the peo-
pie who disagree, "Under Cover"
"Wherc Poppies Bloom" and "Tcu for
Three" are three singularly unaliko
plays which prove that Mr.. Megrue
does not play solely to win. A. bidder
for popularity a very promising
young man is Mr.. Megrue
His rise as a playwright is still re-
cent and rapid enough to excite inter
est. Until four years ago Mr.. Megrue
read plays in Elisabeth Marburys
play -broking Office. He read thousands
Of them mostly bad ones until the
sight Of a play in manuscript made him
violently i'll. Off and ON he had an op-
portunity TO direct a production and