.1,
i,
4v‘
Genes-systmuuwu
OW“ numb
w ”i m We!
‘ literature at Harvard Uni-
fm Nothing that he could have
a ll Wen of a great col-
4 4 Wthedremssgenuineiy
‘ at or the m sndstudrlns it
such. in s practical way. could
“I!“ the misuse of people in his
“I“! ll these words have done.
,i'of. fisher had to overcome se-
lflie double of s part of the public
by melts .4whsn he ’etarted the'
‘m Bis ten or twelve "grad-
ueiis" who have huh“. if not
overwhelming recognition. at least s
poblh production seem to be suiti-
goflt'in numbc to have converted
4’ the doubters to a too sanguine as-
‘pll'lllon for the school. This public
new. writes Prof. Baker, "demands
corhspondence courses. instruction
7 in the whole subject in a summer
school of six weeks, text books that
with one reading will put a would-be
playwright on Broadway—a dozen
’5 Wraith! or impossibilitlas."
Shortening the Difioult Reed.
. All that the head of the Workshop
4.;clsims it can do is to shorten the dif-
ifilimlt road of the playwright and
’Ehflp him to help himself. He must
,fm however, with a natural gift
4,!0r drunatic writing.
4 But who is Prof. Baker. and has be
shown evidence of an, endowment of
the sort? Or is he just one of the
numerous band who never see a play
but they feel an ability stirring with-
in themeelves to write it over and
make it better? Or has he. like Max
Reinhardt. a genius for production
capable of turning a pebble into a
lewel?
- The second question can be an-
swered offhand negatively. If Prof.
Baker possessed the producer's tal-
ent it may safely be assumed he
would have follow“ that advent-ire.
Yet even as one sets down this smug
conclusion recollection of the pro-
ducer employed year after year by
‘ Smith College girls comes to mind.
This man lives in New York but is
utterly strange to any dramatic or
literary set. If he was ever behind
the scenes of an operating theater
- it was casually. Yet judging by re‘
lulu this outsider, whose coaching is
confined to a few weeks as the col-
lege year is closing, seems to be litted
hr his job. And so it is necessary
to take back the remark about Prof.
Baker, who may be a born producer.
He is, they say, a "born" educator.
He has been successively instructor.
assistant professm- and professor of
English at Harvard. He was Hyde
lecturer at the Sorbonne in 1907- 08,
4.313%“ at other French universities
S
" . to save her adorable little soul
' financier as her spouse in his.
'4'; changing its point of view.
had to. It’ has seen women entering-
,4 'sll the professions that had been‘
' .msn monopolined for sons.
and has given several series of lec-
I
By FAY M. MOBLEY.
INCH! the time of David's Dora
(l'm speaking of David Cop-
perfield's Dora). who couldn't
add
up her butter and egg accounts, to
the time of Laurette Taylor, who
adds in the date in her bank book,
b , thus making her account more than
s. thousand dollars too much, the
World has clung persistently to that
clinging type of woman as typical of
her sex.
.4 /’it was the type sponsored by nov-
elists. poets and dramatists. It was
the type adopted universally by the
funmakers and featured in the funny
pages. Here it has been laughed at
jovially by many a business man.
whose wife in her little realm of the
family exohequer was Just as keen a
It is
the world old fallacy that woman,
being woman, cannot possibly have
I. "head for figures."
Women Can Add New.
But the world has recently been
It has
They are
filing lipidly in the banking busi-
ness. They are acting as buyers for
great mercantile houses. And now
"sf'group of them is invading the
7‘ financial world. The! ere the sales-
wmnsn of bonds, investment securi-
tie4e and the like. Here they form a
gill army, and in New York city
‘ their influence is being
39 felt. They are guiding not
More of their own sex but
,ottuheoppodte to safe and,
and the progress
m along this as well as other
,Snt the: is not necessary. It's
' pouible that it'll the natural
adjustment of conditions
the world by s subconscious
d m Sort or a “de' s in
begins. Ali’s right with the
sudden. Perhaps. but since
prove either explanation
4 investment of their money. .
e the much blamedC
4,694- let him atom which--
Harvard Workshop
Claims to Be Able
to Shorten the’
Dramatist’s Diffi-
cult Road.
tures at Lowell Institute. He has
edited books on the drama and writ-
ten several himself. Almost his first
book was on ‘beslcespeare's Develop-
m‘ontusnmmstm" (1901). Gradu-
sted from Harvard. he has been on
its faculty ever since. Prof. Baker is '
now 65 years of age.
In 19143 the Workshop began. From
the beginning it has depended almost
wholly on‘ itself. doing all the work
except for the making of scenery
flats and some of the bulky proper-
ties. It occupies the lower floor 01
Massachusetts Hall, one of the oldest
of the Harvard buildings. Students
are admitted in English 47 and 47A.
the two courses in playwriting. These
appear also in the curriculum of Rad‘
cliffs, the woman's college. To get
from the first group (41) to the sec-
ond group (47A) is by competition:
students in the former submitting
June 1 of each year manuscripts of
one act plays. Prof. Baker passes on
these and forms the next year‘s band
of aspiring playwrights out of the
winning men. And these ”deals
write the plays that are acted in the
theater of Massachusetts Hall in the
next term, put on the stage by the
director or his aids and criticized by
the classes.
Many Obstacles for Stage Writers.
In the subconsciousness of com-
mercial managers dwells the con-
viction that a man who cannot pro-
duce his plays—that is, select his
cast, rehearse the actors, inject at-
mosphere, regulate ,tunmndt
write a money making play. They
sometimes not contrary to this sub-
merged convlction. but when they
do and the piece fails they know
where to look for the reason of its
fnilure. This is why they would
rather put out a play by a theater
4 hack. a "carpenter~piaywright.” than
try to push a piece by a writer
who does not know the stage. Thus
it is that the new man with an idea
meets almost anew-mountable obsta-
cles and thus it is that plays are put
out which tread a familiar path. ‘
For managers 4 who have been
burned by failure shy at” the new
man and the new idea. In their lack
of 4cordiality to the man they show
sagacity. Almost invariably the au-‘
thor who does not know exits and
entrances, nor how to provide suf-
ficient time for his leading woman
tochmgehergowmwhodoesnot
know, in a word. the mechanism or
his piece. will father a failure. And
themansgerwhastopey costsofits
birth and its usual. /
It often happens that negotiations
which have gone so nu- ”between
manager and author as the discs-
sion ,of a contract for the production
'ofaplsyare baited and eomatim’ es
called off when to the manager's
question: ‘
“Will you put on the piece your-
seif?"4 - , ,. .
The author answers: “I would not
dare to undertake to do so because I
have had no experience."
The Countless Writers «Plays.
'}
There have been almost counties .
play writers in the world, but only. ‘
a half dozen playwrights. Shake~
'spea‘re heads the briefer list; he was
an actor '(if’ a. bad one) ; he knew
what an empty stage meant, and he
haddhe knack of repeating over'apd
over in his various pieces a popular
bit of business. Schiller collected
wonderful theatrical material, but he.
knew nothing about the theater and
couldn't write a play. Imagine what
Shakespeare would have made of
“The Death of Walienstein"!
Ibsen began at the bottom of the
stage managing ladder and knew all
about a theater, “front and back." be-
fore he wrote any of the plays we
know him by. How to account for
every minute of a. stage story was
as much a study to him as the art
of constructing a play. of which he
was past master. David Belasco
began as call boy. But it is unneces-
sary to multiply instances in order tb
prove that a man who wishes to be
a dramatist had better learn the art.
The Workshop Hes n Reel Stage.
The Workshop was started to do
for Harvard students what the actual
stage does for its play writers, some-
times at awful waste and loss. It has
been compared to the dramatic
schools by reason of the quasi inti-
mate stage, but it really aims to do
more than the latter and probably
does because it affords its pupils a
chance on a real stage.
Schools where acting is taught
have existed for a long time. ’but
they seem to be content'to furnish
the stage with‘ its "useful" people;
tew graduates have attained emi-
nence. The Workshop and similar
schools of play writing are of later
date. Already more pupils of Prof
Baker have been heard of than
might have been expected. The
reason for this is that the school
really teaches technic. But a better
reason for its existence is that it
does not stop at reiterating estabo
ilshed practices. Says Prof. Baker
in an article on “The 47 Workshop"
in the Century Magazine:
”The Workshop is not a place for
the mere systematisatlon of estab—
atter
nailed practice. Its very breath at.
life should be rebellious experimend
tatlon.
sorts and kinds bf muons a chance
can that breath be‘ kept sills-lug."
Play producing. {Wilt tall
stage design are learned by the nut
dents u Well ”1313* to write a ’ thansnogdlnaryaudlence. Thisone’
(,,
,
Onlvbyfeedinsinnewmao-
teri‘sl constantly and by giving, all
' holds no more—sicko represent a little
the stage in the auditorium cf Agas-
siziaouse. menus College. Here
thedressreheamaioftheplayis
to be given. Following it come two
performances before a public mails up
of about no persothe theater
nineteenth of critical-intelligence,
;.
Professor George P. Baker, Harvard.
play. The Harvard classes in the
latter branch of the shop meet three
times a Week. Other students—
those who are anxious to peflect
themselves in production and the
students who are going to play
parts—devote'as much free time as
they can to these duties- Rehearsals
gooninthe sameroomwbere
scenes are being painted and prop~
erties built. It is by the mingling
of activities and the clashing of
various branches. each one of im-
portance in the final result. that the
students get “the atmosphere."
Test of High Grade Criticism.
A W op play is rehearsolfor
two weeks and is then transferred to
is of students from Radciiife and
Harvard, members of the faculty of
both. colleges and friends of beta,
and members of the professions of
music. architecture. painting, litera-
ture.
Nowadays. when the Workshop
feels that it has proved itself it does
not admit an indiscriminate audi-
ence, but oifers membership as in a
club to those who are interested in
seeing plays not ready for the pro-
fessional stage and who come to per-
formances with a degree at regu-
larity. The ‘totsi cost of producing
a play at these two performances is
about 8350 and the audience by con-
tributions. for there is no meinber-e
ship fee, furnish the money.
1thbiy
Play?
As this audience is admittedly one
of critics who will write what they
think about the play and sign their
namestoiatheoccasionisvery
.fiflerent from the usual amateur
perfonnance. where everything has
to be lovely» This play is being trie1_
outexactlyasifamanagerysdcar-r
vied it down to Atlantic. City and put
it on before an iodides-en? gem of
,4tl4m4e slayer-s and a little band of
managers, actors, and other prefer
sicnalpeopie whom he basinvited to 4
seetheblrth. _Aband ofprofes-
eionai “knockers" this audience is
sometimes with reason called, ':: _'
What is done by a producer who
has invested; thousands of dollars in
a play after the Atlantic City tryout ,
may be nothing and may amount t)
pretty nearly a rewriting of the play.
Sequences of scenes are changed.
lines taken from one person and
given to another in the cast. new
lines are added: in fact. to‘the poor
author who is the only person who
thought his piece (as he wrote it)
has a chance. nothing but chaos
seems to be, present at the rehearsal
called next morning for a play that
proved to be hopeleess in its shape
of the night before.‘
, To accomplish this very thing, that
is to whip a piece into shape, is the
object of the public performances of
students’ plays on the Agassiz stage.
The signed criticisms and sugges-
tions. are turned in to the director.
who wastebaskets what among them
had been Written in order to show
the writer's cleverness and saves
what shows‘sincerity’and helpfulness.
This seemsan idealway to improve a
piece and its second performance is
suppded to show what can be ac-
complished by considering all perti-
nentsliggestions and adopting those
that, seem the best among them.
Practical managers do not call it
an ideal way. If they should adopt
it they say there would be just as
many ways of rewriting the play as
there were persons in the tryout
audience. The manager, stag-e direc-
tor, author, get together and if the
last named has the spark be best
knows the weaknesses of his piece
.and how to "correct them. Its ills
that were hidden from him all
through four weeks of rehearsal and
one or more dress rehearsals are new
as clear as day after the tryout. No
matter how seasoned a dramatist he
may be“ he has learned something
from this contact of his piece with a
public.
The aim of the director in asking
for criticism is to do for file piece
which comes out of the workshop
what these tllree interested individ-
uals seek to do for the piece tried out
at Atlantic City. Yonkers or any
other “dog” town.
that the same effect is produced.
The' difficuny is the author. Has the
youthful amateur been awakened to
visibn by contact with his public?
4
Women Who Made Success as Bond Seller
Aided by Common
Sense, Courage
and Some Humor,
But Especially by
Straight Think-
ing. "
New Yoax. Saturday.
These saieswomen. feeling assured,
of their position and future, have
formed a professional club. called the
Women's Bond Club.’,Its member-
ship is exclusive. limited to those
women who have proved themselves
capable and eiiicient in high grade
selling. At present there are only
twenty members, with live or six
candidates who seem to promise eli-
gibility in the course of six months.
The purpose of the organization is
partly social, partly educational. It
is a luncheon club and holds monthly
meetings. at which it enjoys promi-
nent financiers as speakers. At a
recent meeting Otto Kahn was the
guest of honor.
Miss Helen Merchant. who talked
about the club. is one of its most
enterprising members and a most
successful mleswomsn. she has
been with her house for four years
and for the last three has been- de-
vOting all the time that she could
spare from her eeiiing to the train-
ing of new workers in the field. She
says that her experience during that
time shows that one women in nu
trained proves a good seller. This is
the urns proportion of successful
salesmanship as that given for men
in Pies-eds book, “The Human Side
of Business.” It is' not a matter it
sex, she declares. but one of per-nor»
silty end capahiiity. ’
"in economics and We: col-
legs?“ (she a results blouses.)
"10'0" ‘she replied: “tut won the
queer port of it. I didn't take those
subjectsstnnbevondthsrecnired"'
courses. Nordidlhsvethebigi-
nessisikenviromns'ntlnmyhsme
___to educate rue—thee heme, you
linemniyfathadiedwhenfwsse
‘child. Itldnxhewever. thetfin-
berttedrthemmmm
endusofrommrmothsnwbomsn-
MPMM
‘4 investments S”: ‘Toeesseissmsru'uoeeotinoed,
‘fios'vesettohsveesrtsmw-
v
cations—straight thinking, common
sense. courage and a sense of hu-
mor." Her hazel eyes twinkled as
it’s. very necessary here, as well‘as
elsewhere," and I knew that she bad
a goodly share of it. She is a very
attractive young woman. rather
small. with all the charm of a. per-
fectly poised social leader.
Just then her telephone rang and
she carried on the most candid and .
businesslike yet gracious business
conversation I ever heard. Her cus-
tomer was thinking of selling and
rebuying.
"Have you thought of 6 per cent.
electric power bonds?" she asked:
"they are very good." Then after I.
pause: "Very well. I shall use my
own discretion."
She turned to me again. uShe was
. an impossible customer at first.” she
said. “I had to train her in the very
A B C's of investing. You frequently
have to train your clients—men and
women alike. " And then she added:
"Curiously enoqu school teachers
are often very hard to deal with.
Their minds are accustomed to work
requirement and inaugurated the
“system of training for saleswomen.
Sex Percentage is 60—40.
“What is the proportion of men
along certain lines. in which theyl‘and women in your clientele?" I
assume the ascendancy over younger
minds. This has a. tendency to make ~
them inflexible. not open to convic-
tion. They are not accustomed to
follow..but to lead." ,
Physicians. as a class. she said.
‘were‘ just the opposite. They're
easy listeners." she explained. and
save her reason for this. They have
to give so much of their time and
thought to questions of health that ,
their minds become satiat“ with the '
intricacies of physical ills. They are
only too eager. to be diverted. A dis.
cussion of investments interests them
Just sit a time when their whole 4
being is craving a new interest.
They are naturally open to convic-
tion... .v
This weakness on the part otmnny ‘
professional men—for it amounts to
a weakness—has been played upon
by many a huekster of bogus securi-
ties. It is at the bottom of much
of the unwise speculation that has
been crying aloud for Justice. ;
’ How Seleswomen Are Made.
Miss Merchant explained how
saleswomen are made: W they
must be possessed of those qualifica-
tions which she had mentioned as
asked.
“About 40 per cent. men and 60
per cent. mmen," she answered.
“All of us”—and she looked around
the large, pleasant room where three
or four other saleswomen were busy
at‘ their desks—or phones—“average,
anyway, 50 per cent. women among
our customers."
In contrast with this policy is that
of a. well known bond house which
furnishes its saleswomen with leads
and backs them up with the name of
its house, an old established one.
This plan, too, has its advantages.
judging from the great success of the
house’s champion saleswornan, lilies
Alexa Stirling of golfing fame.
Miss Stirling has easily duplicated
her progrem on the links in the
~field of-selling securities. I talked
with her "boss” as he called him if,
proud of his managerial capacity
' where such a. brilliant young woman
is concerned. He is A. B. Weller.
who has charge of theriiong Island
department.’ He said that women
Were making good, not only in the
field of selling investments but also
along. other financial lines. And I
thought immediately of was Vir-
«ginm D. H. Funnen, who is the as-
sistant. sea-etary of the Columbia
niecewyforsalesmanship. In ed- «Trust Company. ““ -,
ditlon they must have the person—
eliis'whicbenablesthemtogalnand
hold the attention and interest of
, their customers Then they must:
harnthefinsndblneldhaveagrssp4
of the conditions and influences that
.cpermmthntfienloihatthey,
csntalkcneverpphsseoftbosubt'
bliss Furman has her otficcs in
the beautiful new branch which that
bank as: established at- Forty’elshth‘;
street and Park avenue. She is the
presiding genius in the a tractive
English room. which has ar-
usually need and decorated as a
suitable banking home for the firemen
howeoerranseswelireimdediistof'7
Ifsoheknowsvhatsikhsgfi
betterthsnanydfrectororcriricm
tell him and he can presume m
medicine which shancuseis. Rot es
theother two.
The nine, then. of a. m
plhysistcsted by winnings.
themateurpiamu nuns.“
‘him, alga. mfessioual m
surelywllldoitishighlymbga
One comes back to a
perhaps unjust; humane-org
shop for playwritingnrslttcm
of acting. Agmdggtodthehrseg
fen _re_achingtheprofm¢ng§.
notaptto'bedistrcssinglyhm
bytechniceldetaligsuchsswdfing
on a. stage—like the no unsung-
_Yet the girl who begins raw in a
stock conipany will know fire on
the end of a slnglesasuflnnthe
- school of acting student other her
three or four year: course. m
011%. of course. may also" a. gin-a a:
real talent.
Hardest Form of PM.
Considering the ‘trernenrlnn pro-
portion of failures in m L11:
somehow reach the stage and con-
sidering also that of a. thousad plm
Written one only may read: its
stage, it is amazing that people gen-
erally think a. play is the Cam. 3:
all fictions to Write. It is the hardes-
lVbile the physical work of pom;
down a hundred pages of W has is
about one-sixteenth of that required
to write 300 hr 400 manuscript pages
of a novel the mental concentration
needed is at least sixteen hundred
times as great. It is posm’bie for a
novelist to write about or around
.his people and hold the interest of
readers; the minute a pie ...,;:t
does this he loses his audience. He
cannot describe anybody. he must
show everybody.
If The 47 Workshop and the my
little workshops it has engendered in
schools or elsewhere help incresse
the stock of playwrights they 599’:
no other excuse for amt-Eng. 21-:
making the road to product-on easier
for aspiring dramatkts is cross-3
enough. What has the Han-3rd
501100! of playwritins done slang
either line?
Mmufi-S the WW- ”who.
The first thing it fit! was 9 give
the public Edward Shah m ‘32:-
ration Neil." produced brim. Inn.
was theffist neWs militiamen:
the existence of a. plum school
in one of the great Winn.
Others followed from his pay “The
-ngger, " “Romance," in. to confirm
the first impression tint Lena was: a
writer for the stage with a no: of
melodramatic values. y: the hinting
bdween his debut and tm er W
Butler. the second d The Wake
shops writers accepted by the m.—
eral public, seven other Inns. at
It is doubtful ' Pupils have been attached to '—k.
able" plays This in a m m
thanayear, amoretlnnrw
record.
Edward Massey. files-o Pulse.
Hubert Osborne, ms. 1m and.
Miss Hinkiey have each ha 30-
fesaionai chances. The first two
have contributed exceflent can 3::
Plays; "good enough for Wine:
Miss Hinkley' s "The Gun Diges'
is scheduled by its purchaser, (fiver
rMorosco, for a production next sea.-
son, and the same “look attends
Hubert Osborne’s ”we lave."
under the direction at m
Belascot , ‘
plays besides those m
which were first seen as tho Wais—
shop stage are Balm use
Me, Xantippe." afterward used by
Manager Craig in Batu. m
Kinkead's "Common any.” a. popu-
lar piece, and bliss W The
End of the Bridge.“ ,
together are not so m. hat that,
serve to prove the Mohandas
plan. provided their trip to tho pro—
fessional stage Was short“ by the
school. And that it was I" per-
sons who have bad to an with
managers and produce-s rm bale-re.
Playwriting Can't n. Torr-k.
Nevertheless neither (Eb about
nor any other banana-unam-
tively the question. an plum:
he taught? An attempt hm it
thus was made by Wilton 1'. Price.
who lately died at lib mum
ican School of Playwflthsm its
founded in New York endgame
for a dozen years. Having-reed a
long term as dramatic and: all as
play reader for. two W
New York producers. Hr. Prune bad
apractical knowiedgeod'hssisspt
or sure to“go"innplsyhfg'klr€9
noonelnhisday. Bishoohan‘l'hs
Analysis of Play W21 and
Dramatic Principles” revealed that
he had profoundly at.“ his sub-
ject. fitthenamedmwmovhf—
wriglif‘" whom he made h set '8 3°
. learned. Many whomlohslpdbar
precept. criticism and :48!
{fluent
lot of palaver hm written and
printed every day about M M
playwrightnnndthe solicit”
cesdiil play gets his no- hto aE
ihepapersmoroensiyflnnm
w
Norwalk Chronicler