Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: In Mizzoura | Page 3

Thomas's interesting prefaces suggest this limitation in him, whether it
be a psychic subject he is to handle or an historical period he is to cover.
His manner of cogitating a theme has always been in terms of the
theatre, and he is willing to curtail any part of his theme for a "point."
His explanation, therefore, of the growth of detail, while lacking in the
high seriousness of Poe's explanation how he conceived "The Raven,"
has nevertheless the same mathematical precision about it. In other
words, Thomas plays the theatre as Steinitz played chess, with certain
recognized openings and certain stated values to the characters. We
doubt whether, if the truth were told, many changes ever occur, once a
Thomas scenario is planned. His whole game is to capture as many of
his audience as he can by strategy, to checkmate them by any legitimate
theatrical move, regardless of tenability of subject, and in despite of

truth. Hence, when he fitted up "Arizona" in clothes to suit recent
Mexican complications, and called his play "Rio Grande," he found he
had lost the early sincerity of "Alabama," and his raciness was
swamped in an apparent sophistication which only added to his
artificial method of conceiving a plot.
He has, therefore, played the theatrical game with love for it, with
thorough understanding of it--and though political preferment in the
Democratic Party has been offered him many times, he has thus far not
deserted the theatre. As the years advance, he does not seem to lose any
of his dexterity; on the other hand, he does not show inclination to be
stirred in his plays by the social problems of the day. When "The
Witching Hour" showed a departure into realms of subtle psychology,
we thought Thomas, as a playwright, had passed into the realm of
wisdom; but his introduction to that play reveals the fact that, once, he
was press-agent for a thought-reader. So it was the "showman" aspect
of the subject which led him to read up on auto-hypnosis. It was not so
much conviction as picturesqueness which prompted him to write, in
1890, the one-act psychic sketch which afterwards became the longer
play. His enthusiasm was of considerable duration; it passed from one
play to another, and among his "subtle" pieces on the same theme were
"The Harvest Moon" and "As a Man Thinks."
Apart from these--the nearest approach of Thomas to the so-called
"intellectual" drama--and apart from the racy territorial pieces like
"Alabama," "In Mizzoura," "Arizona," and "Colorado," his plays came
from a desire to suit the eccentricities of "stars," like Lawrence D'Orsey
in "The Earl of Pawtucket" and "The Embassy Ball"--blood-cousins in
humour to _Dundreary_--or "On the Quiet" for the dry unctuousness of
William Collier. In these plays, his purpose was as deep as a sheet of
plate glass, as polished on the surface, and as quick to reflect the rays
of smiles.
What one may say of Augustus Thomas with truth is that by
temperament he is American; his dramas have a native atmosphere
about them. I have never read "The Capitol" or "The Hoosier Doctor,"
but it is easy to imagine his treatment of such themes. All of his work
bears the Thomas technique. He was more successful than Fitch in
dramatization; his "Colonel Carter of Cartersville," from F. Hopkinson
Smith's novel, and his "Soldiers of Fortune," from Richard Harding

Davis's story, were adequate stage vehicles,--whereas Fitch failed in his
handling of Mrs. Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth" and Alfred
Henry Lewis's "Wolfville Stories." And the reason for Thomas's
success is that he is better equipped for mosaic work in characterization,
than for large sweeps of personality. Not one of his plays contains a
dominant figure worth remembering afterwards for its distinguishing
marks. He has never painted a full portrait; he has only taken
snap-shots. His plays have been written as houses are built. More than
likely he approaches a subject as he approached "Oliver Goldsmith," as
"largely a scissors and paste-pot undertaking." But over it, when
finished, there is a high polish which denotes guaranteed workmanship.
That same care for finish which marks his plays marks his work with
the actors, at rehearsal, who have been selected by him with the
unerring eye of the illustrator.
It is significant that Thomas began his career as page boy in the 41st
Congress; that, after his railroad experience, he studied law; and that,
after his subordinate work with the newspapers, he became editor and
proprietor of the Kansas City Mirror. Since the death of Bronson
Howard, he has been regarded as the Dean of playwrights, and once
held the presidency of the Society of American Dramatists. Professor
Brander Matthews, Mr. William Gillette, and he represent the theatre in
the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

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