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[Illustration: AUGUSTUS THOMAS]
(Born, St. Louis, Mo., January 8, 1859)
It is not a new thing for a dramatic author to write prefaces to hisplays. We are fortunate in possessing a series of personal opinions inthis form that constitute a valuable asset in determining individualattitude and technical purpose. Read Schiller's opening remarks to"The Robbers," Victor Hugo's famous opinions affixed to "Cromwell" andhis equally enlightening comments introducing "Hernani," and you canjudge the value autobiographically and philosophically.
The American dramatist has not been given, as a general rule, to suchself-examination; he has contented himself with supplying the fashionsof the day in the theatre, and has left to the ubiquitous press-agentthe special prerogative of whetting public curiosity as to what mannerof man he is and as to the fabric from which his play has been cut.There has been no effort, thus far, on the part of literary executors,in the cases, for example, of Bronson Howard or James A. Herne, topreserve the correspondence of these men, so much of which dealt withthe circumstances surrounding them while writing or the conditionsaffecting them while rehearsing. These data would be invaluable inpreserving a perspective which the modern historian of the Americantheatre so wofully lacks.
All the more significant, therefore, is the edition of Mr. AugustusThomas's works, now being issued by Messrs. Samuel French. Thus farthe "autobiographies" of six plays have been prepared by the dramatistin a charming, reminiscent vein. The present Editor is privileged tomake use of one, describing the evolution of "In Mizzoura," and thisinclusion removes from him the necessity of commenting too lengthilyon that play, for fear of creating an anti-climax.
Read consecutively, the prefaces suggest Mr. Thomas's mentalequipment, his charm and distinction of personality, the variety ofhis experiences which have given him a man's observation of people andof things. The personalia are dropped in casually, here and there, notso much for the purpose of specific biography, as to illustrate theincentives which shaped his thought and enriched his invention as aplaywright. His purpose in writing these forewords is just a littledidactic; he addresses the novice who may be befuddled after readingvarious "Techniques of the Drama," and who looks to the establishedand successful dramatist for the secrets of his workshop. Theseprefaces reveal Thomas as working more with chips than with wholeplanks from a virgin forest. He confesses as much, when he talks of"Mrs. Leffingwell's Boots." It was "salvage," he writes, "it was themarketing of odds and ends and remnants, utterly useless for any otherpurpose." Yet, with the technical dexterity, which is Mr. Thomas'sstrongest point, he pieced a bright comedy picture together—a verypopular one, too. In the course of his remarks, he says, "When I hadthe art department on the old St. Louis Republican—" "There is anavenue of that name [Leffingwell] in St. Louis, near a hill where Iused to report railroad strikes." Similar enlightening facts dot thepreface to "In Mizzoura," suggesting his varied employment in theexpress and railroad business. Thus, with personal odds and ends,we can build a picture of Thomas before he started on his regularemployment as a playwright, in 1884, with "Editha's Burglar", inconjunction with Mrs. Franc