The Omaha morning bee., 1924-03-05

Horace Plunketl, lnen just iclui hSo
from a visit to the United States.
| I recall that during the course OF
| the talk Mrs. Shaw told story OF an
Irish lad sentenced to be hanged In
| the Tower for his revolutionary activi'
ties Before his execution they came
| to him and promised that II he would
give the authorities information re-
garding certain leaders in the move
ment his life would be spared. To
| this the lad. only about Is years OF
age, replied, Gentlemen, you are
wasting your time and mine
Mrs. Show quoted this speech with
great fire. How" she concluded.
can you conquer people with a
spirit like that?"
When we drifted away from the
Irish situation Mr.. Shaw and | had
chance for a talk about motion
pictures. To my surprise l learned
then that he was picture enthusiast.
He told me that there were two
people whose films he never missed
Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford.
Regarding the former, he was espec-
tally enthusiastic. l found. in fact.
that he was as familiar with Chap
| Inns work as am | myself.
| The affectionate courtesy Display
ed toward each other by the play
wright and his wife Is bound to i'm.
press any one familiar with some OF
Shaw's iconoclastic utterances upon
the domestic situation. Certainly the
atmosphere surprised me. The pair
did not address each other as Faith
er" and Mother" but, aside from
this failure, they seemed to be as
tolerant and contented and settled as
a hardware merchant of Topeka and
his wife.
Toward the latter part of the after
noon | saw Mr.. Shaw look frequently
at his wrist watch. Ultimately he
mentioned that he was due to deliver
lecture that evening.
And have you decided yet what
YOU are going to speak about!
queried Mrs Shaw when at last her
husband rose to depart for this en-.
gagement.
mot yet" he retorted: IT dare say
| shall decide on the platform"
I always think of Mr.. Shaw as he
looked when he made this reply. His
eyes, which are, I think, the clearest
and most living blue | ever saw, SO
erect and spare and vigorous-there
was so much spring in both face and
physique-that he seemed to me-
this man past middle age--the very
embodiment of electric youth.
l suppose that he had the same
expression of merry perversity when
on the following day he told news
paper reporter who called upon him
to learn the outcome of his converse.
ton with me, Everything Is all
right. There is only one difference
between Mr.. Goldwyn and me. Where
as he Is after art l am after money"
Whatever the explanation, Mr..
Shaw never came to America, nor
did he do any work for the Goldwyn
company. | was no more fortunate
in the result of my call upon Mr..
II. G. Wells. He. like Mr.. Shaw.
had me at his home in London for
tea Here. however, the conversa-
ton focused. not upon Ireland. but
upon India. direction determined
by the fact that young East Indian
was calling upon the author that
afternoon.
The foreigner was very earnest In
his expressions of admiration for Mr..
Wells Outlines of History" and 1t
was indeed a privilege to me. who
had just read this presentment of
history. to hear such first-hand COM
ments by both the author and a rep
resentative of that mellow ciyiliza-
ton which Mr.. Wells had compared
SO favorably with our = western
achievements.
During the course of this converse.
ton the Indian told the author that
no other English writer held SO high
a place in his country as the one
occupied by Mr. Wells Although the
latter must have spent many hours
OF his life in listening to similar trib-
utes. he responded to 1t as CRATE
fully as IL this were a fresh ex-
perience.
When we came to talk OF pictures
| suggested to Mr.. Wells that he
visit California and write some
stories for our company.
oh" said he, Il should like to
come, for l know l shoul enjoy the
California sunshine and meeting
Charlie Chaplin. The only trouble
with me Is that | never could write
on order. / haven't been able TO
do 1t for magazines or publishers
and | should certainly fail abjectly
when it came to doing IL for the
screen.'
I thereupon urged him to come to
California as my guest. look over the
situation. But, although I assured
him that such visit would leave
him perfectly free to decide whether
or not he cared to enter the picture
list. Mr.. Wells did not accept my In
vitation.
As I left his home that day I
remembered suddenly that 25 years
before, j. who had just been enter.
tanned by the most celebrated of the
younger English novelists. had wan
dered without home and without
money through these very London
streets. There was no self-congratu-
lation In that swift contrast of pres
ent and future, but there was deep
wonder Mt the mysterious flux OF life.
Another feeling dominated this
wonder. 1t was my gratitude to
the work which has so shaped and
colored my destiny. To motion pic
lures I owe all the wide range OF
contacts which have made up to me
for n boyhood handicapped by so
many unfavorable circumstances.
To 1t I owe also the greatest blessing
which can befall any one of us---an
mpersonal interest so Vivid and COM
:M