The billboard (Feb 1910)

Volanw XXII. No. 6. dNCmNATI—HEW YORK—CHICAGO Februazy 5, 1910 On Amusement Lif e _ . V-^ anHEnvlro] tm J. Herman Thuman. dramatic editor of the Cincinnati "Enquirer," and who recently returned from a jaunt through Europe, has been entertainlns the boys of the Pen and Pencil Club with an account of his expeclencea, "While I WW Mjournlnff In Farias" says Thuman. "I met a couple of most delightful young English girls who were studying art In the gaUeriCB of Louvre. I bad been clvan eatre through a Uam oC latioaaotloB of a mutual Mend ln lAhaon. and the slirla spared no pains to make it pleasant for me. As my visit drew near to Its close, they sprang the capping snr* prise-tar havliig their fMlMrr'ta sMii of and more than ordinary cultnra^ tatnc his aatomoblla aoiM the Channel and take the three of ua for a teir dais^ ontlng through Southern France. What with the associations, the' deUsbtMl,': Invigorating influence of the climate and the sense of having nothing to do fi>r .the time but pander to the tastes of my palate awakened by It aiU. I -enjoved 'lt InuMnaely. niere was mneh to be pleased with along the nwd.' 'i- sawmaar a gyvr caravan or camp by the roadside, clothed with all the glamour that my early childhood had thrown about them. The little truck farms are marvels In themselves, a patch of a few hundred square feet sometimes being suffi- elehtly prollflc to support a latm fWiiily, aiM> to .soMOft tlMmrvofr^^-a fortably. too.' ■ v - - "One day, as we were bowling along, the young ladles called my attention to a very old and very bent woman, who was Just on the point of assuming a larse burden in the form of a cone-shaped basket, .flUed with vegetables, whleh'slio lwd;taksn.firam.a cardsn at tbsrroadifas. Sho lwskst:.WM ao -hish that when she' Iwd fhstened Its strap handles over h«r shoaldorB 'aBa ttr^ght- WMd her knees so that H swung from her back, the bottom of It came within a few Inches of the ground as she wallced. .-■"'Poor thing!' exclaimed one of the girls. 'She must.be past sixty, and Jost' Im4c -at tlM'toad iOuiM cutjiat. It Is iabout all she can do to walk.' ' "At that moment, the obJeet oC our attention toOk a pipe from her pocket lighted it adroitly, and then, as ;tliO'smoke floatsd away bahfiid bsr ss from the stack of a locomotive, she tofthtr produced soaw' kBlttUlif 'aiaa'WOnt to work with the -needles as she Modded along. ■ "A few hundred yards flirther -aloa«; ■ wp .■passsd a- mUt, Unwroottafo, of the style occupied by this French agricultural peasantry;' sAd to'Whl«& the woman of the basket was undoubtedly bound. Before the door, his chair tilted back and his eyes closed in the most peaceful slumber, was a man, young of years and strong, of limb, and In all probability the old woman's son or son-tn-law. "The man of thomral districts la'Franco, like'the American Indian, makes the wonien-folk do all the arduous labor." wtthoat wreHmlnariss. rv*. cot » play X -warn tO' "•You're Mr. Hawks, arent you?*.be-i ""Yes." . " 'You're with Mr. Frohman?' " 'Yea*- " *Well. will you Introdvce me to Mr-. iVohmanT to read to him.' " 'I can't do that,' I replied. 'Why did you not S Frohman's play-reading bureau In Mew York?' "'Z-did^-lMli. It .was rejected. I dont h^ave tboao fUknn at It at an. I know It's a good play, and Fm quite sure Kr. SVOhman wonid give It a production It be would but give me a chance to read It to Jiim. That Is why I am on this ship. I came for no other purpose than to get to read the play to Mr. Frohman. and I approached you Srst, believing you would pavo Qm.ii^ formo.* ."I promised bUn r would spealc to Hr. Frohman a1>ont the mattM-. and I did -that very evening. " 'Well, he has certainly gone to a lot of trouble and expense.' reasoned Mr. Frohman. 'and I can hardly do less than have you at least look pver his play and let mo know wlutt you think of §1.* ■ ' ■' "X explained thto to the young man and he watt'to Ida •fltthn'MA immediately returned with the'manuscript. At the first .opportaalty. I lOOMd into it and, much to my surprise, it was Just about tlM wonit attoaapt'At play writing It bss ever been my mlsfoitnao to see. ^ ■ ■ "0£ uMims^ I did uiil istiiin tho ifWi^nttTrirt -ImfHHft*''T'j and wne n asec Its author asked die about It, as he did; many and many Umes dnrins tho next few days, I told him that we had not yet decided whetliar It was worthy of producUon or not. for I knew that if I told him the'tnittl iM wottld bother the lite out of us before we got to Iiiverpool. *i haadod'Us ploy bade to-hln lost as wo waia r^sdj to dMk, ttflbw htm that Ifr. Frohnmn Uked It but that he had more prodvetlons on band than he cared to handle already, and that the manuscript had better be sub- mitted elsewhere. "I simply could not refrain from these words of encouragement. I still bavo some sonsin Of pity left in me. if i have been a " About the most unemotional proposition on the map Is Charles Frohman, who has claims to be considered America's leading dramatic 'producer. His own actors hardly kAo'w him by sight. In some instances, and Broadway knows bim not at aU. Ho often oata. a bite la Reotor's after a performance, and it Is safe to say that not one person in one hundred knows that the quiet, commonplace looking little chap Is "the" Frohman of the stage. And his response to agitated greeting Is lust aa soft pedalish as is his appearance. Bvoiy now and then some frantic wol- comer gets him by the hand and an- nounces that he Is a long tost oonsln To which Frohman's Invariable response Is: "Well, what of It?" Over In Philadelphia the other day, though, Frohman really did meet a gentleman to whom he warmed. Years ago the pair had been warm friends, when both were boy.s, and they had not seen each other since. The I'hiladelphia man grabbed Frohman by the hand, and chortled over his old friend, and told him of his own success In life. "Come with me. Charley," said the Phlladelphian, leading Frohman down the street. He paused dramatically In front of a big business block. "There," said he, making a ehcat, "there; It's all mine, every sUck of It. I don't owe a dollar in the world, and my firm Is one of the greatest In Philadelphia. I think I can safely say that I have come up In the world since we knew each other thirty years ago." .ITrotaSMm said he was glad of it. "And, how about yourself?" asked the Phlladelphian. "8U11 out with a show?" But the budding young playwright knows that Frohman Is not "still out with a show." In fact, there is no man In the world who flnds It so dlillcult to dodge those who feel that they have not been given due consld- OTMlOB-by those OC a i^rodoflor's staff whose business it Is to read the aisjiuseripts''of pliers submitted. _ _ - Wells Hawks, now personal representative for Senator Reynolds, of I>resmland, Coney Island, and erstwhile press representative for Charles Frohman. tells of one of these playwrights, who was even more Importunate thaii-aiuf^'thO'Othofa, ' *Wr; Vrohnian was' on his way to Burope one time." says Hawks, "and I was accompanying him, as there were a lot of details pertinent to the opening of one of his London productions which he wanted me to attend to. We were probably two days at sea when a young chap approached me on Playwrights are not favored by scrub-ladles, or. at least, so it seems in Brooklyn. The latest, according to Corse Payton, Is one that Marie 'V. Fltsgerald tells on herself. By way of explanation^ Miss Fitzgerald, who Is known In newspaper, art and the- atrical circles, made her bow as a playwright January 31, when Mr. Payton presented Woman and Why at OSES of his Brooklyn theatzos. Miss ntagorald was sitting In the rear of the orchestra 'Watching the compaily rehearse and waiting for the stage- manager to bo fkoe to talk %lth her, as it was fOMitkor Aow. thoy WOro ro- hearsing. "Sure, ain't It too bad?" murmured one scrub-lady. "Sure, pfwat Is too bad, now, Mary Ann?" "Oh*, and she's such a folne young woman. Ah, ain't It turrible?" •'Tou^o 'lMioii drinking-again, Marr-'Aan.'' . . _ - "Ot alnt. She's so nlee.** And then there was a .dismal howL "Sure, she -wrote a play—one of them tbtags they're talking about. on the stolge," her co-worker replies. "Sure, that's all right. That's grand." "Ah. bat she's done It.** And tlm tho tiagio Hroih-lady mta4 holh. hands as If In supplication to hmmaL. 'lHuii, AsTd naka tlM;sraad wUla' She could wash and scrub foine. X know She OooHU AlaTt Sho gtandT Sho don't look crazy, nohow. Oh——'* and lUss VItsgwald .flow, .fiaartaig she would laugh so as to be heard. - . ' . Playwrli^ts.of tho goBttarasa^.tdtaBotleok . - "I ^rao picked out as an 'easy nuurk' by a swindler with a new game, when I -was'-on my way from the railroad station to the hotel this morning." said Blllle Ritchie, with the Vanity Fair Company. "I had Just left the station and was walking briskly along, when I saw a man, who looked for all the world like a country clergyman, approaching me. He was evidently on his way to the station and seemed In a harry to oatah.a ^ata. . Jnst tml laid my eyes on him, he stopped and picked up from tho sidewalk a fat pocketbook. Dear me,* said he, excitedly, 'some one must have lost this. What in the world will I do with it? It seems to contain a great deal of money. I haven't time to restore it to the owner. I am on my way to catch a train for home. My brother there lent ospoetsd to It**..: I . have only tea minutes. Would you mind taking It aihd restoring It to Its owner?* I told htm I would be glad to accommodate him, but despite his evident haste to catch his train he seemed reluctant to part with the pocketbook. There will be a large reward for the finder.' said. he. 'and I think I ought to have part M , of it. Xtm yon what yon d9. . . eavswM U* and -ni ghre tho porttst b ook to ygw 1 and you can have the rest of the reward, and*—bat Jost then be dropped the ? ' pocketbook and turning on his heel fled precipitately up the street. I turned to ascertain what had csused him to run and found that a headquarters detective had Just come out of the station. He and the country minister (?) had exchanged Jast one glance.IMn aio awtadlw Had. .The detoetlvo.pMcod ' up the pocketbook.' It';waa filled wflh Ohoote ot green paper ent the slao ot