The San Francisco Dramatic Review (1908)

i6 THE SAN FRANOSCO DRAMATIC REVIEW June 6, 1914 I Mack Takes a Few Minutes Off to Write a Letter to Mr. Critic Willard Mack is iiavintr lots of fnii these days. He is playing ever) night, rehearsing with the .Mcazai company every morning. ])la}, ing three matinees a week, rcliearsing sketches in tiic afternoon, .selling .sketches while dining in the evening, and in the few hours left of the twenty-four is either putting the finishing touch to a play or thinking out a new one. As for sleep he has forgotten all about that. The other day, to round out a full measure of work, he wrote a letter to Mr. Sherwin, a New York critic, who took occasion to rap one of the Mack sketches in a review of Kick in, in the New York Globe, as follows: ■■Till' piece is founiled on tliat alisur.l ."spirit of snobhislines.s wliioh causes Noitli- erners to attribute a mystic 'aristocracy' to everybody who distorts the language in the fa.sliioii supposed to prevail south of the Mason and Dixon line, tlie .spirit whicli enables every soda clerk from Atlanta to pose as an aristocrat and a fire-eater, and permits every choru.s Rirl in New York to bleat pitiful yarns about the mo'gage on the old plantation. Such rulibisli is quite unworthy of an actor or Mr. Keenan'.s laliber." As Mack's letter fairly reflects his personality and is good reading, we reproduce it. It is : San Francisco (Horrible! horrible! so far from New Vazek ),Ms.y '4. 1914. My dear Mr. Sherwin : The above article which you wrote several days ago, has just reached me, and as it is quite imi)0ssiblc for me to reach you in return through the columns of the New York press, I am therefore obliged to take this means and to pay for so doing. Mr. Sherwin, you hurt me, you hurt me deeply. ■\\'hen I wrote that little play of Vindication, both Mr. Keenan and myself felt almost positive tliat we had something for the enter- tainment of vaudeville patrons that was a bit out of the ordinary; some- thing that was just a cut above the usual. Mr. Keenan accepted the i)lay without a moment's hesitation (the poor imbecile), and Martin Beck and the Keith theatres gave him a big price to play it (the dear old goats), and after producing it at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York, a year ago (you see, Louis, you were late again), and playing it continuously from Coast to Coast, in every large city of the United States and Canada, we bring it back to you, Mr. Sherwin, and you tell us it is unreal. Oh, why didn't you see it at the Fifth Avenue a year ago and spare us this shame! No, no; but with the cunning of an oyster pirate you cruelly delay your verdict, wait until poor Keenan has made all this money with it, pleased a million theatregoers with it, made some little reputation for me with it, and then — then shoot your sniper's criticism at us when we are out in tht open and the trenches behind us. I am desolated. Keenan can't be found. I have wired and written him to no purpose. The last seen of him was on a suburban train headed for Mt. Vernon, with a copy of your ar- ticle in one hand and a shotgun in the other—and so on your head be it. I am sorry you choose to poke fun at this little effort of mine, Mr. Sher- win. I am truly sorry. I had been taught, from my earliest recollection, that while the epoch in American his- tory during the period of 1861-65 was one which it were better we should forget, still it was marked by sucli glorious deeds of heroism, self-.sacn- fice and deep-seated love of princii)le that, while we might attempt to obHt- erate the cause and the horrors at- tendant, we never could deny the re- spect and honor due the names of the men who staked their lives against the stronger power and the unwritten law of "might is right." I am not a Southerner, and while, as I remarked above, the.'^e things are better forgotten, still T cannot con- ceive how any man who lives and ha> lived north of the Mason-Dixon line can afford to ridicule or sneer at even the stage jjortrayal of the few living monuments that remain to tell us of what has gone before. And what of all the plays of this period tliat we have seen? What of Mr. Keenan as Buck Warren in The Warrens of Vir- ginia ? What of Augustus Thomas' .Alabama? 1 grant you I am assum- ing considerable when 1 mention the gentleman who wrote these plays in connection with my ]ioor effort, but I chance ui)on them now merely to serve my memory in assisting my claim. You could have panned the play some other way, Mr. Sherwin. Miglit have said it was badly put together, or not together at all; said anything you liked—and I would not have felt justified in replying had you not sneered at the image of what repre- sents to a great many .American people the last of the truly great heroes this country has ever known. I am a sentimental devil, ain't I, Louis? -Vnd I am writing this so I'll get a lot of advertising, am I not? No, I am not. Broadway doesn't know me, perhaps never will; and then again, you can't tell. One thing is certain, Louis. If ever I do get a play produced in New York, be there opening night—oh ! \k there, Louis— because if you rap it, I'll start on my trip to Fgypt the next day, secure in the knowledge that the dear old royal- ties will follow me. Another thing, Louis. Why is it that in nearly all your criticisms you refer so constantly to soda elerks? Why this ea.sy familiarity with life around the fountain? What did you say you did before coming to New York? "Oh, now quit it, Alack. Let the boy alone." And now, Mr. Sher- win, please remember we can't all be intellectual; we can't all of us fall for the works of Maeterlinck, Suder- man or even Brieux. Some of us still like American things done in an Amer- ican way. Some of us are just natural- born roughneeks, and we can't get away from it (Gol darn it!). Re- member, a man can have such a high brow tiiat sometimes his friends think a toupee looks better. And, in con- clusion, Louis, I want to tell you something. I am coming to New York soon (now, don't laugh; I have to come for a job) and I am bringing you the cutest little present. It's a nice new derby hat, size 6. Oh, don't tell me it won't fit you! Too large! Now you are hurting me again. Yours still hopeful, Willard M.\ck ACKERMANN QUIGLEY LITHOGRAPHING CO. 115-121 'WEST 5TH ST., KANSAS CITY, MO. Carry in Stock Ziarg'e Complete Iiines of Paper for MXTSICAi; COMEDT, TARCi: COHEEDT, DRAMA, SXJRAI. DRAMA, MINSTREI., ETC. Complete NEW IiINE of FICTORIAI. IJTHOORAPH PAPER for UNCLE TOM'S CABIN 'WRITE FOR II.I.VSTRATED CATAI.OaUE AND PRICES ON SPECIAi; EN- GRAVED BI.OCK AND TTPE 'WORK Special Disconnt allonred for Cash on larg'e orders Stock Paper OUR NEW TWO-COLOR TYPE POSTERS Are Exceptionally Attractive 'Write for Prices and Samples Marie Connelly Ingenue Ed. Redmond Stock Co.^n^ Sacramento How the Finishing Touches Were Put on The Argyle Case Harriet b'ord, who wrote The -Ar- gyle* Case for Robert Hilliard, in co- o])cration with Harvey J. O'Higgins, the magazine writer, and William J. Burns, tells iiow she read the com- pleted manuscript to the detective at midnight in a 1 Miiladelphia hotel. "The first two acts were interrupted by half a dozen operatives, who tijitoed in at intervals to make whispered reports and obtain instructions. The sensa- tional third act in the counterfeiters' den was punctuated by frecjuent long- distance calls. And all through the last act the energetic sleuth was bustling about packing his grip. W^hen the final 'tag' was reached, I'urns was putting on his overcoat. Lighting a fresh cigar, he paused with his hand on the door knob, and in his (|uick, in- cisive way shot back a rapid-fire sug- gestion that straightened out a tech- nical point of construction that had caused both Air. O'Higgins and my- self many hours of anxious consulta- tion. The next instant he was gone. But amid all the distractions of the evening he had picked out the one vital thing that was essential and im- portant. It threw a new light on the common-sense mental processes that enalilcd him to solve great affairs and Government service. Robert Hilliard, who acts the detective .Asche Kayton so naturally, was Our valued helper when he put the play into rehearsal. His long experience, knowledge of ■Stagecraft and sense of dramatic values are apparent in scores of details that help make a symmetrical per- formance. He also introduced a great deal of comedy business. As The Ar- gyle Case was originally played dur- ing the first month on the roa<!, be- fore it was taken into New York, the dictograi)h was explained and talked about. But its practical workings were not clearly demonstrated. This was a defect that Air. Hilliard was quick to recognize. So he discarded an expensive stage setting and had a new one built—a double scene show- ing the counterfeiters' plant, and the old attic next door where the dicto- graph operatives, with receivers clamped to their ears, are taking down every word of incriminating conversation. That gave a punch to the scene and satisfied public curiosity about a device that brings many crimi- nals to conviction, and the validity of which as evidence has been estab- lished in the courts in the AIcNamara conspiracy and other famous cases. There are few big criminal or political investigations nowadays in wliich this cunning little tell-tale does not figure. Another thrill was added to the play by Air. Hilliard when he introduced the Roneophone, which reproduces 111 the last act the actual voice of John -Argyle's murderer, which has been previously recorded over the dicto- graph wires. The effect is startling and dramatic." George Alooser has sold his interest in the Kolb and Dill musical company, now playing at the American Alusic Hall in Chicago, in A Peck of Pickles, to John A. AVillaston, who will direct the affairs of the organization in the future. Howard Fogg, the erstwhile El Paso manager, is in Portland, at Oaks Park, in charge of the Don Carlos Dog Show. Fogg says the show is a great big money maker, and the actors can't join any union; so there is no trouble.