Show l Home Iome Folk Folk Greet ree otto Otto Harbach 1 4 S Playwright Tells of Successes 4 e o Receives s Big Fortune in Royalties I By Harvey Hancock Hanco k IN JN 1891 a Utah youth seeking achievement I crossed tire great prairie of and Colorado On on n a rumbling livestock train r rain in a car caretaker taker of sheep He lie was earning earn earn- ing mg his Ins way way to college Knox Knos college at Galesburg Ill III Today this tilis youth thirty four thirty years more mature his name written upon two score musical musical mu mu- comedies and dramas the recipient re recipient recipient re- re of royalties on plays s that amount to thousands of dollars annually an annually an- an returned to Salt Lake In a luxurious Pullman car At the Hotel Utah he registered In a firm hand Otto Harbach New ew York City Little did Harbach know that destiny was to mold him into a aI I playwright when he fed led and watered wa wa- Jered those few hundred sheep at Bradys Brady's Island Neb He lie admitted that Monday morning He lie said that the same pens and antI buildings were standing at that sheep feeding station when he passed Friday as were there here thirty-four thirty years ears ago lit It recalled memories I BECOMES PROFESSOR I I After he he was graduated from fromI I Knox college Har Harbach ach had no Idea tl that hat at he would become a playwright He lie went to Whitman college Walla Walia Walla Valla Wash Vash as a professor of of English For seven seven years he taught then came camo his sabbatical leave eave of absence Attracted by the gaiety of ot New York and the splendor splendor splendor dor that that city has always s held for the uninitiated he e ent entered red Columbia Co- Co Columbia Co Co- lumbia college For a year ear he studied lIe He did not return to Walla Valla Walla VaIl and the he far West est The lure of the big big big- city the possibilities for success the study of t human humann n nature ture were far lar more attractive In New York especially for for- fora a play playwright playwright playwright wright and Harbach had secretly aimed to make male his livelihood that way after Columbia For a year ear he dabbled in the newspaper newspaper game I One night he met Brander Mattheas Matthea's Matthews Mat Mat- theas thea's famed dramatic critic on toe car as he was returning home He lie I was recognized from his Columbia college days das What hat are yOu OU doing now Matthews inquired self On the paper Harbach replied Dont stay there too loo long Matthews warned varned shaking his head Three years years years-that's that's enough Get mb Into a special line STARTS WRITING PLAYS Encouraged by Professor Profesor sor Matthews Matthews' Matthews Matthews' Matthews Matthews' Matth Matth- words Harbach branched into the dramatic c field He lIe did not re remain remain remain re- re main In the newspaper game more than two years before he started writing plays plas and nd having them set sei seito setto setto to music Harbach's first play wa was never produced It was sort of a wild wile West pioneer pIa play He attempted to get It over and rewrote it 8 sov eral times Vor For seven years he tried to succeed t then en he cast it asIde and started on another The Three Twins It scored a part success It Then followed Madame Sherry scored a tremendous success Harbach's Harbach's Har Har- bachs bach's collaborator in those plays plas and in several others other following was the late Th Thomas n lIos Hoschna From Madame Sherry to his I latest play Rose Marie Harbach has had unusual success with his dramatic w ri s Rose Marie isnow is isnow isnow now running in Chicago New York Boston and London and is estimated estimated esti estl matl mated d t to have hav dr drawn wn in New Kew York alone aln since it began its Us run last September Xo No Xo No 10 Nanette Nanette Nan Nan- ette one of Harbach's other me sate plays Is being played by b Jour four companies comI com corn panics in in the United States and one I In England where it i Is 15 having a sensational run BARS HIGHBROW LINE I The s secret cret o of ot Mr Harbach's success success suc sue cess probably lies In his statement that he writes pIa plays to interest the I public I r 1 let the highbrows write the ideal plays the plays fine lit literature literature lit lit- but I write the plays plays' that appeal to the the kind that will vili attract the public to the thea- thea I re reo If one didn't one c couldn't get geta I Ia a play produced In these days of hig high prices he commented I He lie e said that a It decade ago go a a musical comedy could be produced In New Kew York for around a week house Xo Now he said the theatre will J kick lck you jou OU out if you dont don't get more than a a. week A J musical comedy usually costs before belore it itis is put on the stage for the public x Discussing the tendency In In drama I in Jho he last five years ears he s said ld that there had been a move moe to write I p plays plas s In any fashion just so soI I they the would interest n ere He lie mentioned the theatre gui guild d and other experimenters experimenters 1 I menters that had been working on ideal stage theories t I CUTS DOWN ACTS But he commented the best playwrights are learning that the I well ell built Play constructed to be i produced in three or acts is isby isby I Iby by far the most successful ul The i least number of acts the better I IThe The greatest feat of a II playwright playwright play play- wright is to mesmerize the audience PlaY PlaY-j for a few hours sustain their in interest In- In terest iciest while the curtain Is down j In-j and make them feel that they are I in the pIa play and not sitting in the i i America theatre he ho said In there must be a at good amount t of f I humor 1 Mr Harbach will remain rem weeks In In Salt Lake for about two weeks visiting friends and relatives He is acI accompanied ac ac- acI ac- I I companied by his wife and four II I children I |