Evening star., 1942-12-02
Douglas Started The Robe
As 5, 5,OOO-Word Story
Former Washington
Minister Tells of
Rise as Author

A 65-year-old man who once
preached to Washington congrega-
tions from the pulpit Of Lutheran
church sat in a Mayflower Hotel
suite and talked of his rise to fame
as author of The Magnificent OBJ
session" and the background of that
new book, The Robe" which has
taken a place with the No. / best
sellers.
DR.. Lloyd C. Douglas arrived yes
terday with his portable typewriter,
the baggage he would no more 60
without than his pants, because to
him writing in longhand is drudgery.
People have been awful good to
that book" he said of The Robe"
And then he told of how it hap
pened to be written.
For a long time he had wanted to
write some unconventional eouiva-
lent to the life of Christ. 1t was
firmly entrenched in the future files
of his mind, where he files every
thing that is worth filing because
what is bad he doesn't want to re-
member. He hoped by this work to
show the impact of Christ on the
people who knew Him.
From SaleSwoman'S Letter.
A little more than two years ago
A SaleSWoman in a Canton (OhioD
department store whom he never
had met wrote him a letter asking
If he ever had heard the story about
what became of the robe the Roman
soldiers gambled for at the base of
the cross. He had heard that story.
but he hadn't written about it, so he
got busy.
He had in mind a magazine story
and set out to write about 5000
words. The first thing he knew it
had gotten away from him and he
started to make it novel.
The Robe" he confessed. in
Volved lot of research and manv
problems. He knew the Holy Land
from his many years as a minis |
terial student, but when it came to
making the characters in the book
step down from cathedral windows
that was something else"
Il decided to streamline all dia-
logue," he related. TT would be
foolish to present the modern read /
ing public with book made up of !
tireSome old Roman verbs. When I .
began, I thought l was pretty we'll /
acquainted with the daily lives of /
the Romans, but I soon found out /
that was another breed of cats. So !
In order to make it readable l had to
show extreme diligence and draw
some fine lines"
Publisher Wrote "FiniS"
1t was the publishers who put an
end to The Robe"
There was no place TO quit in
writing this book" the author as
s,lred 1T could have gone on in
terminably"
DR. Douglas mas another confess
sion to make: The first part of The
Robe" is Roman map of Hitler'S
Europe, developed along the same
line, but in another century.
The partly bald, rotund author
thinks the secret of writing sue
cess is a full wastebaSket, which
results from lots of revision. He
goes to work daily at $50 am. and
quits at 2:30 pm.-promptly, no
matter if I'm IN the middle of a
paragraph"
His goal in the way of production
Is about 1000 words day This is
in addition to the part of the previ- /.
Gus days output which he finds on
rereading is so rough it needs
smoothing. Revision is the first
task each day, and then creative
writing follows.
DR.. Douglas left the ministry in
May, 1888, four years after The
Magnificent Obsession" was pub
lished, because correspondence re-
sulting from the book had grown so
heavy that he had to quit the pulpit
in order to attend to it. He settled
first in Massachusetts. where he
could be near his publisher. and
then, when his novels began to ap-
pear in the movies. he moved to
California to learn something about
the picture business.
Lectures Tonight.
Last night he lectured at the First
Congregational Church, Tenth and
G. streets NV. He will appear there
again at 8 pm. today and tomor-
row, using the general theme For
Impatient Idealists.'
AS he looks back on the years when
he served as pastor of the Lutheran
Memorial Church here from 1908-1l,
he thinks members of his flock
were pretty good sports"
"They must have put up with
lot" he said. Il don't think my
ministry here did much to speed up
human revolution. I did what I
thought was expected of me, but, If
I were to tackle the job Is years
later. suppose I'd do better job
DR.. Douglas always will have
tender feeling for Washington, he
assured 1t was here during his
;,t, H. colI l,ic 6rct ron,