Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-01-05

| hEAiN ~
pendent actors association of their
own, but lie was not successful.
These three, of course, could at
ford to be independent because peo-
pie would have gone to see them
had they appeared in a tent on a
vacant lot, but few others in the
| actors association were so fortu-
nate. And the producers and man
ayers did not fight back. They
merely offered the more important
of the rebels very fat contracts, so
that before long there were only
three or four rebels left.
This early lesson had such a dis
~couraging effect upon recalcitrant
| players that no attempt was made
to dispute the complete domination
of the producers association until
the Theatre Guild suddenly came
to life two years ago. The guild
was not formed to combat the the
atre trust. 1t has no such ambi-
tious idea. 1t hopes to get along
quite peaceably with that organiza-
tionN But it does want to be indie
| pendent, because it wants to pro-
duce the kind OF plays it's members
respect-the kind of plays that are
IN inspiration rather than an ordeal
to the acting profession.
! All of its members are not play
ers; some of them are scenic art
lists, authors or producers, who have
won high regulations in the COM
mercial theatre. But all OF them
| share in the financial interests of
the guild, and each one has one
vote in deciding its affairs. In other
words, 1t is a r cooperative So
ciety, with drama instead of grocer
les as its product. Each of the
members working in the production
is paid a living wage and each of
them receives a certain percentage
of the box Office receipts. according
to the value of his OF her part-the
important characters receiving
more than the smaller parts. 1t is
the only society of it's kind in the
world today. although its property
may be found among the various
players society of Queen Elizabeth's
time, including n in which Will
Shakespeare was a shareholder.
Guilds Struggles.
When the Theatre Guild organ
lied, its bank account contained
just $500. This, it decided, without
salaries, would be enough to pro-
duce a play, but not enough to nay
for a theatre. Fortunately Mr.. Otto
Kahn. who had a lease on the Gar
rick theatre. the little old-fashioned
playhouse on Thirty-fifth street just
off Broadway, became interested in
the Guilds purpose and donated the
| theatre to them for six weeks. If
| they made good they could pay him
a rental, he said, and If they failed
he would not charge them anything.
Well,at first, 1t looked as If Mr..
Kahn would be out a good deal of
money. The first play produced,
| B~enavente's Bonds of Interest" fail
ed, possibly because it was one of
those fatal vehicles a costume play,
or possibly because it received prac-
tically no advertising. The guild
could not afford to advertise. and SO
few people knew that the play was
in existence.
Undiscouraged, but a triie des-
perate, the committee on plays and
management, which meets every
Tuesday, met every day and tried to
find a new play to take the place of
the Benavente failure. This early
committee included Laurence Lang
ner, Phillip Moeller, Rollo Peters,
Helen Wesley, Helen Freeman.
Margaret Wycherly. Dudley Diggs
and Lee Simonson art director for
the Metropolitan Opera house.
II was in 4Ndb6iCi II )"
nally brought the committee the
play it wanted. One afternoon he
wa sin Brentano's feverishly going
over the plays on the bookshelves
when he came across John Fergu-
son" by st. John IRVINE.
"Ervine,' unused Langner, al
used to know that chap. Used to
be on thai debating society I attend
ed in London. Awfully clever. as
l recall"
A week later Mr.. IRVINE in Lon
don was surprised to receive a cable
from the New York Theatre Guild,
asking for his play. AS he explain
ed later Mr.. IRVINE had never
heard of the Theatre Guild
and he could not remember Mr..
Langner. but he decided that as his
play had failed c-onspicuously in
London, he would mot be greatly
hurt If It failed in New York. and
so he cabled back his acceptance.
This time the Guild managed 10
do some advertising and on the
opening night it had every promi-
nent dramatic critic in New York In
it's audience. AS a result, the next
morning, every paper contained a
glowing account of John lFergu-
son. with frequent references to
the splendid courage OF the guild in
thus supporting art in the face Of
certain financial ruin, This, while
gratifying, was not enc 'uraging.
Hence, it was with serious misgiv-
ing that the p ayers approached
tas theatre on the econd night, but
] thers they encountered a delightful
shock. For the line before the bcx