Writing for Vaudeville

A French workman who lived in the Valley of the Vire in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, is said to be vaudeville's grandparent. Of course, the child of his brain bears not...

"I became a writer," George Bernard Shaw once said, "because I wanted to get a living without working for it--I have since realized my mistake." Anyone who thinks that by writin...

To achieve success in any art the artist must know his tools and for what purposes they are designed. Furthermore, to achieve the highest success, he must know what he cannot do...

In every vaudeville theatre there is an Olio and, although the scene which it is designed to represent may be different in each house, the street Olio is common enough to be cou...

The word monologue comes from the combination of two Greek words, _monos_, alone, and _legein_, to speak. Therefore the word monologue means "to speak alone"--and that is often...

Before an experienced writer takes up his pencil he has formed definitely in his mind just what he is going to write about--that is the simple yet startling difference between t...

The word "two-act" is used to describe any act played by two people. It has nothing to do with the number of scenes or acts of a drama. When two people present a "turn," it is c...

It is very likely that in your study of "The German Senator" and "The Art of Flirtation," there has crossed your mind this thought: Both the monologue and the two-act are compos...

You have selected your theme, chosen your characters, thought out every angle of business, and mapped nearly all of your points, as well as your big laugh-lines: now you are rea...

The playlet is a very definite thing--and yet it is difficult to define. Like the short-story, painting as we know it today, photography, the incandescent lamp, the telephone, a...

The kind of playlet is largely determined by its characters and their surroundings, and on these there are practically no limits. You may have characters of any nationality; you...

Where does a playlet writer get his idea? How does he recognize a playlet idea when it presents itself to him? How much of the playlet is achieved when he hits on the idea? Thes...

What the dramatic is--no matter whether it be serious or comic in tone--requires some consideration in a volume such as this, even though but a brief discussion is possible and...

In the chapter on the germ idea we saw that the theme or subject of a playlet is a problem that must be solved with complete satisfaction. In this chapter we shall see how the p...

In this chapter the single word "character" must, of necessity, do duty to express three different things. First, by "characters," as used in the title, I mean what the programs...

If it is true that scenery is the habitation in which the playlet moves, that its problem is the heart beating with life, that the dramatic is the soul which shines with meaning...

In considering the "business" of the playlet, we have come to the place where it would seem that writing must be left behind and the function of the producer entered upon. For b...

While it is plain that no two writers ever have, nor ever will, go about writing a playlet in precisely the same way, and impossible as it is to lay down rules which may be foll...

If you were asked, "What is a one-act musical comedy?" you might answer: "Let's see, a one-act musical comedy is--is--. Well, all I remember is a lot of pretty girls who changed...

Unless you have a definite order to write a one-act musical comedy, it would seem, from the comparatively small part the writer has in the final effect, that the novice had bett...

The easiest thing in the world is to write a song; the most difficult, to write a song that will be popular. I do not mean a "popular" song, but a song everybody will whistle--f...

One question about song-writing is often asked but will never be settled: Which is more important, the music or the words? Among the publishers with whom I have discussed this q...

In the preceding chapters we saw how the elements of a popular song are nearly identical in music and in lyrics, no matter how the styles of songs may differ. In this chapter we...

It is in the hope of directing you to your market that this chapter is designed. But there is no form of writing for which it is more difficult to point out a sure market than f...

GRAVES. Yes. (TURNS TO DICTIONARY) That's all. (ELLEN, THOUGH CURIOUS, CONTINUES READING IN AN UNDERTONE TO HER FATHER, MARLIN AND JOHN. GRAVES OPENS THE DICTIONARY, STARTS AT S...

Yes; and many thanks. I'll do my best not to let you regret it.---Only, in the old fairy tale, you know, it always ended with the---the young man's marrying the---the rich old g...

While an understanding of how a vaudeville act is transformed from a manuscript into a commercial success may not be necessary to the writing of a good act, such a knowledge is...

Door C. Door L. 2nd E. leading below to cells. Windows in flat R. and L. showing two green lights in front of Station. Street backing, showing the other side of Street. Bench at...

Showing flat house with stoop. Time: The same evening. A small boy enters L. with bottle of milk, goes up steps door C., rings bell, clicker sounds, and he exits door C. MAGGIE...

Living room, bedroom, and kitchen can be seen. At rise, O'MARA and TOM are installing the dictagraph, on wall L. C. TOM is standing on chair L. C. He places the instrument--then...