How A Play Is Made

Thk Register ha8 not spaee in whioh to teil how a play is made ; but Bronson Howard told all about it Monday evening in his del ghtlul lecture given in the Ladies' library building. His stay in Ann Arbor of a few months ended on Tuesday, and this lecture was given at the earneBt solicitation of a few friends. It is to be regretted that only a few persons heard it. No professional lecturer this season has gtven anything in Ann Arbor fuller of delicate humor and of ins'ruction. His le ture is entitled '' Autobingrunhy of a plav," and was delivered in 1886 in Harvard. It deals with the story ot his best known p!ay, " The Banker's D lUgh'er," and how the varit U3 charges were made in it in obeciience to !aws ot dramatic construction. In i's original form, as presented in 1873 in Chicago, it difiera very materially from the shape in which it now is presen'ed. Then it had to be adnpted to the English stage, which necessitated turther and very radical changes. Those who heard the lecture know considerable of the practical work of the playwright. Mr. Hward undoubtedly originated the mam plot, and he gave the play its principal literary features, but the details were the subject ot anxious and long cnsultation between author, literary attaché, and manager; whether the heroine should live or die, and which of the two men who loved her should be killed off, as well as a nuraber of minor items, were matters of cold blooded calculation between these three individuáis. lo the original form, the heroine dies in the last act , but in its present form, she lives and comes to love her husband, while her former lover, Harold, is k lied in the duel ; the laet two acts are changed almost entirely, and the quarrel scène is omitted frora the firstact. Tne charges were made in strict cornpliance with wbat are understood to be the laws of dramatic cnnstructin. In revealing the tricks of his trade, Mr. Howard afforded great amusement to his audience, and gave them a valuable insight into dramntic work.