Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-11

INTO 0famaJic form,
No waste, no carelessness, no irrespon-
gibility, no lack Of shrewdneSs about
Barrie He gave the public what was In
him and what McConnachie whispered
TO him; but he never gave 1t anything
he quite definitely did not think it would
like
A friend reproached him for not al
lowing the butler in The Admirable
Crichton" to retain his dominance over
the old aTistocracy and get away with
the girl. Barrie shook his head. The
stalls wouldn't stand it." he murmured.
But neither would Barrie (although that
whimsical and irresponsible other part
of himself he calls McConnacfie might
have. He always avoided anything
likely to disturb or cause CONSERVATION.
He has never been q disturber of the
peace of mind of accepted social con-
ventions and the social order. Scots are
cautious You find them all over the
world in the highest positions Of trust.
They are never among the rebels
One day Robertson Nicoll, fellow
Scot and the British Edward Box OF
his day, spotted an article of Barries
under a pseudonym in Scottish paper,
and got in contact with him. He want
ed personalities of Scottish divineS, done
with a humorous touch. for the famous
British Weekly which he edited. Barrie
supplied them. He was breaking ground
now toward the Aud LIGHT novels.
But his first book was put to catch
the cheap Shocker boom. A satirical af-
fair, called Better Dead" The market
registered barely q ripple when this con-
coction dropped into it. It did register
quite ripple a few months later. how
ever, when Barrie put out his first real
book, AUD LIGHT Idylls," sketching the
characters who were to reappear as nm
ished portraits in his next half dozen
books, introducing q new public to an
unfamiliar landscape.
Elder DisapprOved.
He poked fun at the old-fashioned
Presbyterians. following up the hint
given by the sstute editor of the Brit
ish Weekly. They didn't altogether like
it When a touring company took THE
Little Minister" up to BaTTie's own
home town, newspaper man inter-
viewed an Aud LIGHT elder, who OBJ
served:
"As a work Of art it has great de-
fects-wha ever heard OF Sicna woman
as Babbie? But it's wi the releegious
aspects that nm fault. The elders can
dae nae guild. Releegions no 3
subject to be jokin' ABBOT Fowke
tell me Mr.. Barrie's din q lot O. good
for Thrlms, but in view of this thing,
man, Am dootin' It. Am dootin' It.
Am Salriy 7ooOeln IL.
Three books published between 1887
and 1889 established Barrie His Win
dow in Thrums" especially captivated
people. story about an invalid
mother in little cottage and the death
of her hrst-born son and the ruin OF
her second born. An ordinary sort Of
story about entirely unpictureSque peo-
pie But critics asserted, and still as
sert, that nowhere In Anglo-Saxon lit
erature will you find q tale Of like
pathoS. His publishers had asked for
a happy end he refused 1t. He said.
at is a sadder book to me than it can
ever be to any one else" He thought
the public would be moved by it;
he thought it would succeed. 1t did.
Did Theatrical Criticisms.
He belonged to the Savage Club now,
akin to The Players of New York, and
he was doing some theatrical criticisms
and meeting playwTights and theater
people. He had become aware that o
successful play brought in more than
a successful book, besides entailing only
q fourth Of the work. Having scored
the biggest success 50 far with The
Little Minister" then, we md him, In
quick succession, collaborating with an
Australian editor ito whose periodical
he contributed) IN piece which died
after one matinee, and with Conan
Doyle (who had achieved fame the pre-
vious year with his first Sherlock
Holmes stories) in a comic opera. The
opera Topped, and Barrie consoled
Doyle by writing q parody of Sherlock
Holmes, entitled The Adventures Of
Two Collaborators" ON the ny leaf of
one Of his books and sending it to the
disconsolate Doyle.
Having learned the technical end Of
writing for the stage, Barrie now took
the housebook scenes from his book,
when Mans Single and wove them
into a farce comedy. It got over.
Original, fresh, unsubstantial, 1t made
the crowd laugh and it touched them.
It ran for over year. Barrie was 80.
Two years later he went to America,
where his popularity was rising-so
much 50 that pfrated editions of his
earlier. inadequately protected books
went on until his American publishers
put out a collected edition TO establish
his rights-and made q contact that
was 10 give new direction to his life.
He met Frohnen, the dynamic impEe-
ssrio who was to keep Barrie writing
plays when he really wanted to be
writing books Tor so he says for 16
years, and Maude Adams, In whom he
perceived the ideal Lady Babbie and
who found her biggest successes in
Barrie roles.
Welded Great Influence.
Frohmans first production for Barrie
IN New York was the dramatization of
1.-THE Little Minister" which ran 300
nights and crossed $375.000. These
three-Frohman, the exploiter; Barrie,
the creator, and Maude Adams the in
terpreter-were 70 have a great inf1u-
ence over the thea4er in England and
America through the next two decades.
Out Of his new theater contacts now
came q woman and romance. He had
asked his friend Jerome to find him a
leading lady-young. lovely, charming,
q genius and able TO flirt. Jerome sent
him Mary Ansen. That story begins as
an idyll, with Mary nursing him through
a serious Illness and wedding bells at
Kirriemuir following his convalescence
and ended II years later in the divorce
court
The world learned only the bar. fact
Of the divorce from the newspapers,
and this at q time when sensational
divorces we're meat and drink TO every
poplar paper. A group Of distinguished
sent a round robin" letter TO the
papers. They said they knew Barrie's
divorce was news and as such could
not be kept out but any playing up OF
the unfortunate case might shatter the
beloved genius, and they hoped the
editor. approaching the precious pos
session they all had in Barrie, would dc
Whateyer he could to protect him from
shock and pain. The editors rallied tc
q man and only the news Of the divorce
appeared, without details.
Enters Theater Weird.
He was launched In the theater now
He would fnke tea and lunch with actor.