Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-20
''Tell Me, Mr.. Bernard Shawl
Continued From Third Page1

Der Sir Phillip Gibbs telling me how
surprised he was when taking the
dramatist over an aircraft base during
the war. to hear INN talking to the
men about their machines with the
/ knowledge of an expert mechanic. 1t
L is the same with the "talkies." Shaw
has studied the subject as carefully as
If 1t were his life work What be
doesn't know about voice reproduction
amounts to very little. For years he
has interested himself in gramophcne
records and other meJtiuds Of recording
speech. He said TO me:
The trouble is that the people who
ask amateurs to act or talk never eX-
plain to them the one important fact,
that is the speed at which they must
talk or act. Some years ago was asked
to act for the films, to give camera
interview. l was told that Conrad
|! and zsngwill had passed through the
ordeal and accepted the invitation.
While the camera was recording my
actions I came into a room, took of my
hat, sat down, took up my pen and
started to write. / performed all these
movements naturally as / was aecus-
toned to do each day. But when / saw
the result on the films! 1t was like
this"
Initiates Performances.
Z At this point in the conversation
Shaw rose from the couch on which he
had been sitting and initiated for my
benefit his performances as it appeared
on the film. 1t proved him to be as
brilliant an actor as he is a dramatlst.
His every gesture was an exaggeratton
that made one laugh; it was as If he
had been photographed by a slow
motion camera.
Il should have been told" he said,
sitting down again, Ito restrain my nat
n7NVHn1nntS doesn't
need to act for the films at all. One
only has to move slightly. Even ones
thoughts are turned by the camera into
movements. An actor has only to think
20 convey an impression on the screen"
Characteristically Shaw added: Il
don't suggest that the majority of Aim
stars are capable of thinking for them
2 selves. But a producer can tell them
= what to think"
Returning to the subject Of voice re-
z production Shaw said: THE success OF
that, too, depends on the speed at which
the disk is turning when the record is
being made. When 1t revolves slowly
the record catches the voice with great
exactitude and Immediately shows up
any dialect. In fact there's nothing
like a gramophone record for giving
man away A record, properly timed,
indicates clearly the gutter from which
Q man has sprung. At my home In the
country have a record / made some
time ago. When that record is played
glowly I can be heard talking broad
irish ] sound like an old heggar in the
I streets of Dublin. AS the speed in
ereases my voice gradually becomes nor
NAL, until you hear me as I am talking
now"
And now Shaw, who had a few min
utes before surprised me with perfect
piece of silent acting, gave vocal lIni-
tation of himself on gradually Speeded
UP gramophone, that, If he chose to
repeat 1t in public. would earn him
vast salary on the vaudeville stage.
yes" he repeated, "a gramophone
gives one away. asked Gerald Du
Maurier once If he had made record.
Z daren't he said. I'm too much of
o CockneyP"
The point Shaw wanted to impress
upon me was that one should speak
naturally and not shout into q micro
phone.
your own 'talkie,'" I said. was q
great success, wasn't it?"
Must Have Been Success.
"well. I did my best" replied Shaw.
ct more or less produced 1t myself. ]
put in that dialogue about Mussolini
purpoSely to prevent them from show
ing the film publicly. But they showed
it and don't mind. I gather they did
very well out of it. too, because shortly
afterward two truck loads of apparatus
drove up to my house and was asked
to make two more 'talkies' at 800 pounds
each. But I refused"
Have you seen many 'talkies'?"
1--WE seen some. One I thought was
perfectly acted and spoken. mean
the one Ramsay Macdonald made. He
was excellent He seemed to know just
what to do. No other man could have
done 1t as well, except Gladstone, had
he been alive today" said Shaw seri-
oukly. He would have made perfect
talkies."
There can be no doubt. 7 think, that
when the first "talkie" of Shaw play
"a made, the dramatist will himself as
eist in its production.
Did you produce The Apple Cart
ycurself?" I asked
IT interfered," he admitted. Il often
do. I dare say producers don't mind
my interference"
Another subject Shaw discussed with
me was the actual method of writing
from the writer's point of view. His
advice, I am confident, is of more use
to an aspiring author than any given
by correspondence college. But then,
not to hurt the feelings of those excel
lent institutions, I must add that every
body has not the advantage OF listening
while @. B. 8. pours words OF WISDOM
over his head Here, however, Is part
of his advice, given not so much because
/ imagine that my readers want to
write themselves (Arnold Bennett Is
always telling you what hard life 1t
ISL as because think it sheds a strong
light on that perseverance which In his
early days characterized the young
Shaw
IT dislike my early novels now" Shaw
told me, for they remind me OF the
way / shaved and shaved over them.
! wrote them in order to teach myself
TO write. Every day I set myself cer-
tain number OF pages to write, ana
however tired I was I completed my
task, sometimes even stopping In the
middle of a sentence. I thought, as
wrote them, chiefly of the writing. did
rot realize at the time that need not
have bothered quite so much about my
s':ie, which was adequate. Had both
sAd less about my style, the novels,
as novels, would probably have been
'kstter."
Foundation In Craft.
} And so today Shaw sees in his novels
the foundation of his craft. One
must" he said, learn to write f1rst.
:. Then, once you know your job, there Is
no need TO bother With 1t any more.
All you have 10 do is 70 say what you
have TO say without the bother of con-
sidering how to say It,"
II Bernard Shaw wants TO write
, play, he can do 1t in q reasonably short
time. because he Knows his job. And
he expects other people TO know their
. jobs. too.
, "A man once came to me with a piece
Of music he had written-a funeral
march" Shaw said. He told me 1t had
taken him ninG years TO write" Shaw
smiled as only Shaw can smile, mis-
~ fnId 6at