The New York herald., 1922-03-26
Why They Fall.

HdNG DttI ctidtds W. w AtS O.-o |
Dramatists Go Wrong. Together
With the Sad Story of a Chorus
Girl Who Was All That She
Should Be-" Young dramatists go
wrong, we gather. because they give
the great American public what it
wants. and they do it for the wife
and kiddies.
Mrs. Watts believes, apparently,
that if a play is filed with "vapid
society talk, mawkish sentiment and
coarse innuendo' it is certain of
success in New York. 1t was by such
means that Cleve Harrod, whose
story she tells. arrived at promi-
nence and security. Cleve was viru-
lently afflicted from childhood with
authors itch. He began by writing
pieces of delicate fancy, and ended
by provoking Broadway to nudge
and snicker.
Basically, we suppose. there is
nothing wrong with Mrs. Watts's
thesis. Cleve's story, in general terms,
has been the story of thousands of
young men and women who wanted
to write. We believe those writer's
/ are very rare who said 10 them
\ selves when the litrary virus first
attacked them: I'm not going to
try to make anything fine; I'm go
ing about this writing business just
as 1 would about any other business
find a market and supply it,
But many come to that attitude
sooner or later. They reach a turn
ing point, and desert definitely and
consciously the idealistic pursuit of
/ literature, or they drift into easier
channels simply because the edge
of their criticism becomes
blunted. Most men ask less of
themselves spiritually as they grow
older. They become aware of their
own limitations and stop shooting
at the sun.
Cleve falls within the first class
1t was a dressmaker's bill for s24C
that shunted him off the path OF
literary righteousness. The things
; had been altered and couldn't be
returned. He expected TO have the
money TO pay for them and didn't
And so he sits down and writes
TO the theatrical producer who
several months before had Offered
, to take his play if he would make
certain changes in it. which Clev'
at the time had Indignantly de
clined to make.
j CIeye's marriage TO Sophy, the ex
5 chorus girl, is one of the most sur
3 prising we have encountered in re
: cent fiction. Apparently Cieve mar
: ried Sophy because he kissed her
i When he took her in his arms TO
the first time he was conscious tha
he did not love her, but chapte
or two later we find them goin
through the ceremony, and Soph
I settling down joyfully in her Harler
u fiat.
When we arrived at a chapter !
I which Mrs. Watts describes a week
end spent by the Harrods at Lon
: Island country house of social pre-
tensions we are amazed to fin
: Sophy, the ex-chorus girl, puzzle
and then shocked by the appearing
of the cocktails.
" Another gentleman in a dres
suit came into the room, but nc
: body introduced him to Soph
:, ! though he presently came up an
: offered her a dolls portion I
lemonade in a tiny glass on a ira
: just as if he were one of the famil
!, doing il for joke. She was abol
a to take it when quick as flash
70 lust like thdti-she recognized
& for one of those things they ca
q cocktails. She had seen Cleve hin
self mixing them-with Hquor!"
in BY such unreal touches as tn
ne Mrs. Watts spoils her story. If Y
ae found it hard to believe in Sophy
Id naivete we also found it hard
le take f-ieve seriously as a write