New-York tribune., 1921-01-30
''Broken Wing
Airplane Thrill
Found in War

"Linked in tho brain by wondrous
Chain our thoughts arc hidden" A
Clint Of the sun, the fall OF drop OF
rain, is merely ore Of million ways
in which the chain is broken and the
thought springs forth, assumes body
and something new is created. Just
SO with a play-somcthing so slight.
SO zephyrlike is to be almost intang.-
bic. BY simple mental process it as
sumes a solidided form and thus is
created the genesis Of a play.
Take Tho Broken Wing" for cx-
ample, which is now running at the
Forty-cighth Street Theater. Paul
Dickey, co-author with Charles God
dard in the writing OF this dramatic
success, while trying to help mako the
world safe for democracy as member
Of the 1st Marine Flying Squadron
witnessed an accident 70 one of his
comrades in Belgium which gave him
brain fash which crystallized into An
idea fer this play. Here is the story
as Mr.. Dickey tells it:
"A Chicago boy returning with one
Of the marino squadrons after raid
over the German lines found it neccs-
sary to make a forced landing. The
big De IIaviland plane crashed over
CT its back into q bad smash-up on
the rocks. The observer was uuin-
jured. but the pilot received severe
conclusion OF the brain and = genera,
shaking up. He was taken to little
French hospital at Dunkirh, where,
from all outward appearances. he
seemed to be recovering rapidly Close
observation OF the case by tho sur
Seons showed rather strange de-
velopment. While he was regaining
his normal physical self, his brain sus-
tanned slight injury which absolutely
CIT off his memory and knowledge of
any past life. This form Of amnesia
| continued for some time, even after
! he had left the Dunkirk hospital and
was transferred to Calais.
During this period of his lapse of
| memory he fell very much in love with
little French nurse who had taken
care Of him. and the wife that he had
left in Chicago he had no recollection
of. Six weeks later this boys memory
was brought back in rather dramatic
manner. lie was sitting in a little
rest room in the hospital with num-
Der OF MS COrFaleSClnR comrades when
an old scratched record Of phonograpb
was playing a medley of old American
songs. He constantly made his COM
panions homesick by lifting the little
needle from the dial and placing it
back on the tracks of Home, Sweet
Home 1t was this little sector Of an
old photograph record that finally
linked together the broken chain of
his past and his memory closed up
! without a seam.
II lost no time in sending my part
ner, Mr.. Goddard, cablegram: Plane
crashes. Pilot amnesia. Forgets Chi
cago wife. Wants marry nurse Pho
nograph links up past l suggested in
letter that followed that ho give
the idea the once-over and if he thought
as we'll of it as l did to start ahead
and l would be with him after the
armistice. Mr.. Goddard met me on
my'return to the States with q scheme
we'll laid out. We decided to pick
Mexico for the locale and jumped down
to the border Immediately to complete
The Broken Wing The call Of q
whip-poorw to it's mate suggested the
tune of Over There and we decided
to use It in place of the phonograph
as means Of stimulating the fine
nerve cell to bridge the gulf Of the
past and tho preacnt. The Chicago
boy has since been happily reunited
with his family and he laughs over the
mishap which gave birth to The
Broken Wing"