Punch (90.1886)

278

PUNCH, OR- THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[June 12, 1886.

PAPER-KNIFE POEMS.

{By Our Special Boole-Marker.)
"THE DAWN OF THE SIXth CENTURY IN ENGLAND."

Here's the Second Edition, complete and compact,
In one volume, exhaustive, amusing, exact:
'Tis crowded with pictures—we've nothing hut praise
For Ashton's account of our grandfathers' days 1

"THE SILYER DIAL."
Miss Rowsell herein does most cleverly show
The quaint life in Strasbourg a long time ago ;
And. tells in three volumes of different length
An old-world romance of much interest and strength.
" "WEBSTER'S ROYAL RED-BOOK."
If you well read this Red Book, you '11 find an array

Of all kinds of Official and Court information :
'Tis the latest Edition—complete up to May—
"With latest revision and last emendation.
"NOTES FOR BOYS."
This Old Boy's notes give evidence
Of much uncommon common-sense.
"OLE BULL: A MEMOIR."

In excellent taste, it is well written too,
Possessing a virtue we find somewhat rare—
Mid Memoirs, of which we've enough and to spare-
It happens to be interesting and true!

" THE CHILCOTES."
Here Leslie Keith draws character, with wondrous
clever touch,

And tells the story skilfully,—'twill interesi you much!
"A PRINCESS OF JUTEDOM."
About this Gibbon, let me tell you all,
There is no symptom of Decline and Fall.'
You '11 find this latest work of busy pen
The best—and not too Scotch for Englishmen:
There's love and villainy—a subtle plot,

Well worked out. I might tell you-but I '11 not.

Instead, here's sage advice, pray heed it—
Go! Get the book at once, and read it!

AECHEE TJP !

MrW. Archer has fitted a quill dart, and, under cover of the Fort-
nightly, has taken a shot at London Theatrical Managers. He says,
in effect, why don't you gentlemen give your orders—not for your
theatres, with which you are sufficiently liberal, but for pieces by
competent English dramatists. As a dramatist, with much else to do
besides dramatising, I am inclined to agree with Mr. Aechek, who
would be a very fair critic, as critics go, but for certain exceptions,
which, having already stated that I am a dramatist, it is unnecessary
to specify. But bring it to a point:_ it is a matter of terms.
Manager says, " Yes, I won't make any difficulty about terms, ifl like
the piece when it's finished." Quiteso: but this isn't giving an order.
I don't say to my tailor, " I '11 pay you for the coat when it is done,
if I like it." Nor is it understood in the contract. The coat is tried
on again and again until it is made to fit, and then it is finished. If
managers would do this, it would be fair enough.

But what is a manager to do while the piece is being written ?
"What do I do when my new coat is being made ? Wear an old one.
Yes, the old piece may be worn out, and of the two or three new ones
which the dramatists have in hand—being made "to order "—not one
may be ready for production: for a play is not ready until it has
been thoroughly rehearsed. It is indeed true to say that no play
should be considered as completed until after it has been thoroughly
rehearsed. The written play, however good, is seldom the acted one.
What is read to the manager is never exactly what the manager,
author, and actors present to the public. A manager doesn't like
to buy a pig in a poke. Formerly it was different: though the
grumbling about French plays then was just as much as there is now.
Very few English dramatists can afford to write "on spec." Thosewho
can afford don't do it, as without the order and the certainty of their
production being accepted, half the spirit is taken out of their work.

Supposing a dramatist, under inspiration, writes a light comedy,
he looks round for the opening. Where ? Say he finds the chance;
he reads it. and the manager approves. Then comes the delicate
matter of terms," which, in France, is settled by the legal tariff of
the Dramatic Authors' Society, and thus half the difficulty is removed.

New and Appropriate Name foe the Ex-Khedive.
—Blackmail Pasha.

Suppose manager and author agree. Then, when can it he produced ?
Well, just at that moment out comes a big Parisian success. Manager
has seen it. It is "a big thing," a " certainty," " safe! " Manager
weighs the risk; the English author's piece being untried, may
prove a failure; the French piece is already a success, and will
start with a prestige. Manager cannot hesitate, and other managers
will snap it up. So he compromises. English author puts his original
piece aside, and undertakes to adapt the new French piece himself.
II faut vivre, of which he sees the necessity. _ The adaptation turns
out successful, and somehow that original piece of his, on looking
over it again, seems to have lost its first freshness. It has been
written on the chance, and the chance has gone by. I don't see
how to remedy the difficulty, which must always exist where there
is small confidence on the part of the manager, and 'nothing but
chance to encourage the dramatist.

If the terms here, as in France, were legally fixed, so that the
author would be relieved from haggling and bargaining, and were
there a Dramatic Authors' Society, like the French one, to enforce the
fulfilment of contracts, there would be some inducement for dra-
matists to write " on spec." ; but as this is not the case, the. drama-
tists become adapters, speculate on their own account in French
pieces, do journalists' work, write pot-boilers for magazines, and
have a turn at sharp dramatic criticism. " 0 cursed spite !" but it
isn't Mr. Aechek who has been born to set it right.

Fourth of .June at Eton.—Lovely day for it, last Friday. Every-
one delighted with " Civil Waeee," and Old Surly looked quite gay
and cheerful. The courteous Head-Master was presented by his
admirers with his own portrait, one of the Grosvenor Gems. As
it was the first that had ever been done of him, the donors thought of
inscribing it, " His First Form, presented by the Sixth Form and
Others." For a motto they had prepared thewell-known Shakspearian
quotation about " Grim-visaged Warre ;" but this was rejected in
favour of " The pomp and circumstance of glorious Waeee," which
was considered more in keeping with the accessories of the picture.