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260 HISTORICAL AND COSTUME PLAYS 6. It may be argued that the man who pays fifteen cents for his amusement is as well fitted to understand a story of ancient Rome as he is to understand the life and modes of thought of the men and women who hire an opera box by the season and who pay forty cents for a ham sandwich plus the environment of a fashionable hotel. This argument sounds reasonable, but the daily paper has made the milkman and the millionaire backdoor neighbors and the milkman thinks he understands the millionaire, which to him is quite sufficient. 7. Where costume stuff is written it will generally be found that the play of a mythical land will be better appreciated than one with a definite place and period. Here the author creates his own man- ners and customs and the spectator is not required to adjust him- self to custom as to adjust custom to himself. The King of Bolo- Bolo may act much as the actor w^ho plays the part will behave in real life, and so he seems real and of today, though the locale of the play may be any part of the globe so long as it is no part in par- ticular. 8. One thing to be remembered in writing costume plays is that a play that may ,be done at one of the producing centres is more apt to be taken for use than a play that might be given exact loca- tions with a brief travel. Cuba is nearer than Zululand, but it is easier to get the Zulu coloring in Florida than to go to Cuba for convincing exteriors. A few palm trees and some grass huts will be African enough, but you cannot find in Florida convincing exam- ples of Cuban architecture. Southern California will provide sat- isfactory substitutes for the South Sea Islands, the Arabian desert or India, but it has no Indian temples or Arabian mosques, and these must be built if they are to be used. 9. It should be remembered when the pictures on the screen are studied that it is necessary to go back of the picture itself to find a reason for production. One director knew of a hotel built in the pure Arabian style. He did not wait for Arabian stories to come in. He had the place photographed from several angles and sent these to an author with a request for three plays to fit these settings. When the stories were completed the photographs were returned, and by a system of markings each scene was written to fit the whole or some part of the places shown in the photographs. These hap- pened to be made in St. Augustine. When the pictures were re- leased and Arabian stories began to pour into the studio releasing them, the director was in California and all the stories were re- turned. 10. Directors frequently make use of chance locations in this way, getting their pictures cheaply and with a maximum of effect. Others will make stories regardless of expense if the idea pleases them. The best form of costume story is one in which the settings are simply written and yet which are capable of being given as lavish a production as the director may desire. The author gives the story.