New-York tribune., 1919-06-29
By Rebecca Drucker


Atlantic City is the great proving
ground for American plays. During
war time Washington, with its huge
musement-seeking transient popula-
ton, ran it close second. A small
and regular number are tried out on
Baltimore, New Haven, Trenton and
other outlying sections, but none of
them compete with Atlantic City,
Managers make theatre reservations
here year ahead, even when they have
no play in contemplation for trying
out. This is partly due to the fact
that Atlantic City audiences, being
gathered from many parts of the
country, form a type of audience
closer to that of New York than can
be found anywhere else. And also
because Atlantic City, having come to
pride itself on it's connoisseurship, as
sures we'll filled house to any sort of
play.
tryout has little value to man.
Ager as an indication of the success the
play will have in New York. The YER
dict of Baltimore, Washington or At
lantic City is easily reversed by New
York The tryout serves merely as
working demonstration of the play.
The difference between a script and a
production is frequently startling. ANY
one Of dozen unexpected obscurities
lie between. No matter how smoothly
written the play is, visual demonstra-
ton Will bring out startling differences
between the reading of a: play and
the playing. Scenes that crackle on
paper drag in production. Stage direc-
tons written down are insufficient or
clumsy. A three-act play that has gone
through four weeks of rehearsal is
suddenly found on opening night to
take only an hour and a half Of playing
time instead of the usual two and a
half hours. 1t needs to be bolstcred up
with incident. Or the demonstration
proves leading player unsuited to the
part. Or it proves itself no play at all.
Disappointed playwrights have long
had no reticence about making known
the fact that more plays are ruined in
tryout than ever reach Broadway And
one is uncertain whether to deny them
this consolation, since it is we'll known
that only the most powerful authors
can restrain a manager from ndulg-
ing his passion for tinkering with a
play during the trying out season. The
frenzy is dormant in preliminary re-
hearsals, but reaches its crest in the
final week of tryout-when nothing
in the play is sacred from the man.
ayers pruning knife. In the final week.
when the nerves of the director, au-
thor and manager are worn thin and
the vitality of the play seems very low.
play doctor is frequently called in
to operate. A few of the most success
full playwrights in the country form the
group which commonly does this res
cue work. Among them are George M.
Cohan, George V. Hobart, Charming
Pollock, Edgar Sclwyn, George Broad
hurst and Willard Mack. Sometimes
their names appear on the programme
as collaborators; often they do not.
Whether or not the version they make
is finally used they share in the roy
alties.
1t is not strange that the anxiety
and shiftings of viewpoint attendant
on the proving of the piece may finally
cause the manager to lose his per-
spective about his play. He finally
casts 1t to the public very much as a
sacrifice to the lions. There are some
strange stories .of faith lost in plays
that afterward made hugo successes.
The classic example is that Of "Within
the Law" by Bayard Veiler, which
brady first produced in Chicago. Its