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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV GILBERT AS PLAYWRIGHT Gilbert owes his first commission to write a play to Tom Robertson, who in 1866 brought him under the notice of Miss Herbert. Miss Herbert was then managing the St. James's Theatre and she asked Robertson to write her something suitable for a Christmas entertainment. As he was too pressed with work to comply with her request he suggested that she would do well to apply to W. S. Gilbert, the talented young author of the Bab Ballads, who had a strong dramatic bent and would undoubtedly make his mark in the theatrical world. As the result of this recommendation Miss Herbert arranged for an interview with Gilbert, the outcome of which was that Gilbert undertook to write the play required and deliver his manuscript within ten days. He chose for his subject the Elixir of Love, and wrote his play, which he called Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack, in eight days; it was produced after being rehearsed for ten days and enjoyed a five months' successful run. All the arrangements had to be made so hurriedly that the question of fees was not discussed till after Dulcamara had been produced and favourably noticed by the Press, when Mr. Emden, Miss Herbert's business- manager, sent for the author and asked what he expected to be paid for his work. Gilbert thought for a moment; it had taken him a week to write the play, and 20 for a week's work might be considered quite good pay; then heremembered the ten rehearsals; reckoning his time at i for each rehearsal he totted up the total to 30, and after a little more mental arithmetic and reflection he named thirty guineas as his fee. Oh, replied Emden, we never pay in guineas, make it thirty pounds; and Gilbert closed with the offer. After Emden had struck his bargain he turned to Gi...
| ISBN-13 | 9780217806862 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0217806864 |
| Weight | 0.30 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 9.00 x 6.00 x 0.20 In |
| List Price | $14.14 |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Pages | 82 pages |
| Publisher | |
| Published On | 2009-08-01 |
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