The Washington times., 1929-06-07
GLEANINGSI
AND ,
SCREENINGS
By ANDREW Il KEl.LEY

legitimate theater, seems good
time to inquire what has be-
come Of the old-fashioned-but
still effective--art of press
agentry
In New York the business of
wooingI space in the theatrical
columns is still faithfully prac-
tieed by agents and company
managers directly under the
producers eye and presumably
called upon from time to time
for printed accounting. On the
road--accepting Washington as. a
typical city-plays and musical
comedies are generally left to
sell themselves after the open
ing performance.
/ am moved to make this in
dictment because the New York
Theater Guild is just now under
printed and voiced attack with
the sincerity Of its aims and
purposes challenged by rival
commercial managers. With the
merit of these arguments ! have
no particular concern and they
are pertinent only as applying
to an organization which makes
a better job of selling its plays
to the play-going public than
any which has visited Wishing
ton in recent seasons.
Immediately I sense a demand
for a bill of particulars. What
does the Theater Guild do which
other touring attractions do not
do just as well? What superior
publicizing is peculiar to the
guild organization? Are you
fooled by the art for arts sake
propaganda which d IS guises
something no different than the
average commercial venture IN
the theater?
I can answer in the case of
Eugene O'Neilps Strange Inter-
lude" and the Theater Guild
repertory company that no at
fractions playing Washington in
the season which has passed
into history were as skillfully
managed to intrigue the interest
of dramatic desks and play
goers. "Interlude" had the bene-
fit of a preliminary campaign
directed by Arthur Ryan and
Bernard Simon, two agents
thoroughly equipped to give any
thing and everything of printed
interest in connection with their
theater product. They could and
did discuss Eugene O'Neill and
his works with the necessary
enthusiasm to compel attention.
The arrival of the play on
Christmas week did not end the
activity of the advance agents.
This desk received germane and
readable items concerning an
terlude" during the entire seven
days of the engagement. The
company manager was also a
fruitful source of news con-
cerning the guild actors and
their activities.
1t is impossible to disregard
also the business booming lee
lures of Kenneth MacGowanaand
others, the mail order cam
paigns, the preliminary work to
build up subscription interest
and the close contact kept with
dramatic desks. / think the
Guild is as commercial as most
competitors and the $4.40 top
scale for "Interlude" is proof
of it. But it is impossible to
smile away the fact that the
New York Theater Guild knows
how to sell what it has to offer.
At the risk of being placed
permanently on the T. P. R. o.
A. Theatrical Press Representa-
tives of America) blacklist l
carry the specifications further:
1. Over a full season l am
unable to recall three visits or
telephone calls from company
managers offering a bit of news
of his footlight chums.
2. Although this personal
column is printed daily not one
story was submitted by a COM
pany manager as possibly
worthy of type. (House mana
gers are excepted.)
3. Company managers were in
accessible and displayed little in
terest when found concerning
news affecting members of their
company.
4: The general policy seemed
to be, business will be good or
bad as the attraction warrants,
and I'll not bother the news
papers.
5. City desks and the regular
news columns were either re-
garded as too difficult to reach
or suspicious of genuine news
stories. At any rate, they were
persistently ignored.
If this appears as an unjust
attack on theatrical salesman
ship, more's the pity. 1t is
simply turning the light on a
stagnation or lack of stimula-
tion, characteristic of the method
pursued by the average touring
attraction which stops off in
Washington. It's as non-pro-
ductive of news as a star cham
ber meeting of one of Ivy Lees
corporations.