A Thumb-nail Critique--The plays which, in the last two decades, have in the United States made the most money: “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” “Way Down East,” “The Old Homestead,” “Ben Hur,” and “Peg o’ My Heart.” The plays which, in the last two decades, have, in the United States, made the least money: “The Thunderbolt,” “Strife,” “The Three Daughters of M. Dupont,” “The Incubus,” and “General John Regan.” IX The unities of the Belasco drama: Time, place and (legal) action. X Constructive critic: One who builds up the newspaper’s theatrical advertising revenue. XI The producers of our two-dollar music shows are rapidly gobbling up all the vaudeville actors. This will immeasurably help vaudeville. XII The circuses will soon go into winter quarters. They cannot compete with the Drama Leagues. XIII The world may be divided thus: actors and dramatic critics. The only difference between them is that the former do their acting on a platform. XIV Shakespeare’s plays fall into two distinct groups: Those written by Shakespeare and those acted by Beerbohm Tree. XV Dramatic criticism: The theory that one is more interested in the devices with which a woman makes herself beautiful--cold creams, mascaro, false hair, eyebrow pencils, lip rouge, face powder, dental floss, whale-bone, curl papers, et cetera--than in the beautiful woman herself. XVI Something seemingly never remembered by dramatists when writing love scenes: the more a young woman really loves a man the less talkative, the more silent, she is in his presence.... Only women over thirty are chatty before the object of their affection. XVII The proficient actor is one who can completely immerse his own personality in the rôle he is playing. The star actor is one who can completely immerse the rôle he is playing in his own personality. XVIII Although it may have absolutely nothing to do with the case, I yet believe that, in a romantic stage rôle, no actress can possibly be convincing or persuasive if she is able in private life to eat tripe, chicken livers, calves’ brains or a thick steak. XIX Maurice Donnay, the talented gentleman of Gallic dramatic letters, observes, “The French dramatists treat of love because it is the only subject which every member of the audience understands, and a dramatist must, of course, appeal to the masses.” Which, in another way, may account for the great appeal and success in America of crook plays. XX When a critic refers to a male actor’s “authority,” the betting odds are generally thirty to one that what he has done is to mistake for that quality the aforesaid actor’s _embonpoint_. XXI