Newspapers / Shelby Daily Star (Shelby, … / Jan. 11, 1929, edition 1 / Page 3
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Hatcher Hughes, Rising Genius From Hills Of Cleveland County Spots In Life Of Native Play wright Are Told. Mountain Ideas. (Mayme Moore Sifford In Charlotte Observer.) In those years before the turn of the century, there was a little boy In the far reaches of Cleveland county In North Carolina; a little boy who had hit upon the grim resolution of spending the remain der of his days in a cave hidden away in the Blue Ridge mountains. During the ten years of his exist ence how often he had watched the mountaineers descending from their haunts selling apples and chestnuts. They were a simple rug ged people who held a wild, weird beauty for the boy. They suggested romance, freedom, escape from the evenness of life on his father's farm. At length, he answered the fascination and determined to fol low them'back into the hills. A partner was almost necessary to j the scheme so he recruited a ehum v ho shared the same enthusiasm for adventure and revolt Together they planned how they wo. Id ab sent themselves from civilian t ion ! and live upon hunting and fishing such as the mountains would sure ly provide. mena Deserted ll-.m. A date was about to be fixed for this momentous denari-v' •, -r the chum suddenly declared in fav or of a special bread of his mo..]- | er's making, which he feared would 1 be wanting in the mountain retreat The favorite bread proved to be a formidable and crashing opposi tion. The long-anticipaTd fight to nature had to be abandoned. The boy was Idft alone with his scheme for living by the gun and the rod He might have dared it n’ene had he not been disconsolate over the fact that his abilities as a hunter were miserably dwarfed by an eld er brother's superior marksman-1 ship—a brother who co"!d twenty five times and return home with BEFORE YOU START to buy Sinclair gas and oil make it a ? point to do some comparing. Go! around to the differ ent filling stations and note qualities and prices. No use of considering one without the other. Then come here and we’ll leave it to your judgment as to whether Sinclair is not the best and the most truly economi cal. Cleveland Oil Co. Distributors twenty-five quail ih his bag. Such was the discouragement of young Hatcher Hughes when he re rigned himself again to the pon derous lessons of the local country school. He would endure society. His own rebellion had failed. For tunately, however, there was very soon opportunity to participate in another. The pupils murmured against the prim and principal teacher who was presuming to make their speed adhere to grammati cal rules. .They rose up in a body voicing implacable hatred for rules, especially those out of that detest able Harvey's English grammar, and walked out. Mr. Hughes is in clined to forget who was the victor in that conflict. Most likely, it was Harvey. Made Ills Own Way. Two years of high school follow ed and then he presented himself at the University cf North Carolina accompanied by his father's corn pit o disapproval. Young Hughes had broken away from the estab lished principle of all good Bap tists and 11 esbytenetts attending a roihaous college, and had taken up at •<:).<• 'of those supposedly theistic in itotions. The trustees of the nni vs'ity not unaware cl this gener uMy adopted prejudice sftived to make their school, irreproachable from the moral point of view. For ore thing the railroad was not per mihc'd to run past the university bri’chnyr, since it was unquestion ably a devi. e to lure the young peo ple to temptation and misconduct in the faraway cities. Consequently, the nearest town, Durham, was twelve mules away and that dis tance had to be accom ished, for the met part, by waiving. For Hughes it always meant walking. :;is f ' cr h d refused to support him r.t a mn rch*',rus school. It v.rs in his freshman year on one cf there walks to Durham that Hatcher H”~',es, playwright, au thor and professor, saw r play for the first t me in his life. A road company was given Owen Davis’ flickering thriller of that era, "Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl." Indeed Ecrtha and her duplicate, Nellie, the beautiful cloak model were precepts in the theater that season and many seasons to fol low. Yet the amount of dramatic edification there maidens of heroic virtue is generously left undeter mined. Ben Greet Players. Following upon this savoury spec tacle of Bertha came Een Greet's Shakesperian company for a series of out-of-door performances. Young Hughes had never read the poet. These productions in the open air impressed him, but it was not un til his sophomore year that he cas ually picked up "Romeo and Jul iet.” A discovery! Within less than six months time he had read out side of class work the entire thirty two plays and all the poems and sonnets. It was an era of discovery. That devastating Victorian. Robert Browning was examined. The new ly-heralded Kipling proved to be excellent reading. Even the indefin able Bernard Shaw demanded in vestigation. The Shaw whose "Man and Superman” had so recently been produced. The Shaw whom the world was considering Just a trifle Indecent. Most important of all. Hatcher Hughes discovered that he himself wanted to write. . The realization came in a short story which he call ed, "When Bunkum Went Dry.” A well directed thrust it was at the current prohibition agitation in the state. To the young writer's aston ishment, The Observer was willing to publish it, and, what is more, pay twenty dollars for the privilege. Twenty dollars! It was an unheard-of sum to him wl^had so recent'y put to work an ambi tion. Well-Keyed Satire. The story proceeded to evoke widespread attention throughout the state. It made the author re cipient of numerous letters express ing enjoyment at the well-keyed satire emanating from the wits of Bunkum county who cast a dry vote only when their minds were blissfully freed from that com promising soberness. It naturally followed that Hughes became an editor on the university magazine and later editor-in-chief. In this office he contributed num erous articles, essays and short stories. The latter form he delight ed in where he could abandon at times the narrative passage and give away to pure dialogue. It was at once apparent to him that his secret desire was to write for the theatre. As a senior he collaborated with another classman in his first at tempt of the dramatic form. The experiment was a farce based on a Greek formula with a high resound ing title best translated as “Man From the Machine.” Its purpose was to hold up to gentle ridicule the characters and habits of the faculty members. Hughes himself acted the head of the German de partment Suffice to say, it was ex traordinarily successful entertain ment with the students. As for the faculty—well, they acquiesced in its favor save one irascible member, who, unaccustomed to his dignity being made light of, drily remark ed that the piece was very good providing it was done only at inter vals of twenty years. Heroines A Teacher. Upon completing his senior term Hatcher Hughes was immediately appointed an instructor a; the uni versity with courses in composition and literature for freshmen and sophomores. The disadvantage of it was. that a large number of the students who w<*re not compelled to be under his supervision had known him as a classmate the previous year. A problem! Where was to be found enough professorial dignity to sustain him at the first meeting of that class. Mr. Hughes is always remindful of the episode. It was comparable to an actor's iirst night.-laboriously lie had prepared a lecture with which to put them in a mirge of impressions for an hour. And to avoid the hazards of a! super-abundance of time he had fortified himself with generous por tions of Paradise Lost for discus sion f^e mounted .the platform to the accompaniment of sympathetic silence. He spoke. Fifteen minutes passed. The odious fact was upon him that he had utterly exhausted his elaborate notes. In the emerg ency he called in the mast reliable of time-consumers. He instructed the students to open their books and read the sonorous passages. ". . . farewell (porn-led a sopho more's voice) farewell happy field-; Where joy forever dwells; hail, hor rours, hail Infernal world, and thou profound - est hell Receive t'.y new For the Miltonic “possessor” the drowsy voice substituted ‘professor.1 Pandamonium had been sighted. The class bro':e into a riot of laughter, > and there, too vanished the young instructor’s painful em barrassment. From that time on the class was his because of a simple and informal attitude. Stories Rejected. Outside of his teaching he con tinued to write. More short stories he attempted—and pretentious ones they were—which he c .ered to Harper's Magazine. They were rec ognized by rejection slips and promptly returned. Whereupon. Hughes kindly led the well-mean ing. though misguided, manuscripts to the cloisters of a trunk, far away from the harshness and brusqueries of life on an editor’s desk. He as sures .is now that nis was an act of high-minded charity both to the editors and to the stories. Some time later he made a ven ture into the novel. It treated of conditions in the reconstruction period following the Civil war. Here he was back with the scene he knew so well, with characters of whom he could give an honest portrayal. He had grown up with the saga of the war and its aftermath. He had learned so vividly the harrowing accounts of the Ku Klux Klan’s op position to the carpet baggers; of his father's mistaken identification with those drunken members, who undisguised, weht oulto hang one "Pukey” Bickerstaff for giving evi dence to the despised carpet bag gers. The intoxicated avengers,had arranged everything, even the rope around the culprit’s neck and then gone off leaving him standing on the collapsable platform. A chance passer-by cut down the fuming Bickerstaff who immediately ar raigned liis enemies before the law. The elder Hughes was saved from the penitentiary only by -an alibi establishing the fact that he was not present ut the hanging. Becrmes Playwright. In the year 1909 Hatcher Hughes came to New York and to Colum bia. With that university his name has been associated ever since. At last, that compelling fascination for plays and play writing was to find an outlet. Once in New York he could explore and study for him self the theatre — the theatre to which Bertha had been the "melo drammer” introduction. " Within a few years—1914 to be precise—Mr. Hughes had succeeded in establishing at Columbia a course in practical play writing. This course, though some years younger than Professor Baker’s ”47 Work j LET ME « QUOTE YOU | PRICES ON 1 BURGLARY i HOLD-UP | | AND j ROBBERY ! . INSURANCE. j i ! CHAS. A. HOEY j i N. LaFayette St. ! 1 Phone 658. shop.” is definitely a pioneer. Even today, play writing Is comparatively an Innovation In the college cur riculum. To Professor Hughes, then, goes vast credit for putting to prac tice his principles of play crafts manship as lonj ago as fourteen years. American developments, especial ly those educational, move with such astounding rapidity it is dif ficult to recapture an accurate pic ture of conditions as they existed wheat the World War begun. One truth is, that the theatre then was not as intelligently regarded as It is today; certainly not In the col lege classroom. Thus viewing the j theatre from the academic point oi l view one can readily appreciate the uncultivated field Professor Hughes J turned to when he inaugurated Ills] course. Quite naturally the war brought an interruption insomuch as Pro fessor Hughes himself saw action at the front. Not content as a cap tain in the 80th division cn this side, he saw to it that he was trans ferred to the ambulance service on the other side. Study In Classes. By 1019 the class whirl) Profes sor Hughes calls the Preparation of Manuscripts. To this group belong the advanced students .who have shown distinct promise in the first me. From the fifty to sixty stud ents who elect playwriting each year he estimates that on nil aver age there are five or six'plays that might be offered to Broadway man agers for a reading. This fact in it self indicates that college men and women are adopting the theatre for study as they would science or philosophy. One r.ccd only athnd a meeting of ‘.he class to find illustration ol what Professor Hughes accom plishes with the students. The hour is generally devoted to an- pen dis cussion of a current play on Broad way. A close analysis is made of each act (with not an infrequent al lusion to the Giant Ibsen's fechnl- I que>, supplemented by a process of comparison and contrast with past productions of the same genre. And a stimulus for constructive argu ment is provided by the happy cir cumstances that the students have the New *York drama close at hand which enables them to bring to the class Individual reactions and criti cisms. Shorten Apprenticeship. The Instinctive question one asks is: what are the requirements of this course? “At least one full length play," Professor Hughes will reply to you in his kind and direct manner, “and before that, I like them to work out a scenario to clarify their own ideas as to the development of the plot." “But, Professor Hughes, can you actually teach them how to set down a play?" “No, but there surely is a certain amount of dramatic technique that can be taught which will shorten the period of apprenticeship. That is the objective of this course. Per haps, then, fewer trunks will be employed to lodge hopeless manu scripts. I don’t believe any teacher can make a dramatist. Those, who have real success in playwriting have it largely because of their own talent and initiative. Those who would write should know every side of the theatre. Here, I try to make the course as practical as possible by having the students be come familiar with many phases of stage production.” - And this familiarity, we learned afterward, is made possible by a student group known as the Morn ingside Players. This organisation existed before the war, later be came defunct, and then was re-es tablished for the purpose of test ing those dramatic pieces which Professor Hughes considers worthy of a try-out before footlights. It goes without saying that these play ers lend invaluable aid to the young author by holding up to view the difficulties and merits in his script, which he could never so clearly visualize from a number of read ings. Mrs. Fiske Bays Play. After Professor Hughes had un dergone the usual deluge of ques tions from anxious, .voung play wrights concerning their scenarios, the difficulties of bringing down that first act curtain, that elusive "big scene" that was supposed to be in the second act, et cetera, we got him aside and inquired about his own writlifgs. "Oh, I’ve never stopped writing, he returned, wttli his warm gray eyes sending out a twinkle assuring the Inquisitor that another question was in order. "When did you have a play first produced?" "A short while after I returned from the war, In 1920 I wrote tn collaboration villi Elmer Hlce Wake Up, Jonathan.' The interest for me In that piece was chiefly psychological. We fashioned as a satire on the egoism of the success ful man. I took it to Harrison Gray Flske for a reading. He accepted it in behalf of Mrs Fiske for produc tion ’ At this juncture the professor couldn't resist a comment on the gcnerbsity of that famous actress The script, it seems, allotted a Con siderable portion of the speeches to the husband. Jonathan. Mrs. Piske would not allow (lie part to be cut down in deference to t er Those who are at all cognizant of a play wright . despair over a star's whims and firm aids w.'.l appreciate Mrs, Fiske' magnanimous stand in the matter: "And the next play. Professor Hughes?" "Hell Bent For Heaven.” At last wc were on the favorite* topic. "Hell Bent For Heaven-," the play by which we best know Hatch er Hughes of Columbia; the play that brought the award of the Pu litzer prize. He conceived the idea of writing it, so he explained, a* far back as the summer of 1916. It was during a trip on horseback through the mountains of North Caro’lna, tlio.se same mountains that v.xre to have been :• a refuge j Iron ."-ciety for the boy of ten. A ! flood \ os on. The French Broad; river had overflowed its banks. Tri butary streams werC torrents. "It rained," continued Professor Hughes distinctly at home with his description, "it rained thirty-nine days and nights, just lacking one, EXECUTOR S NOTICE. Having qualilled as executors of the will of T. H. Bridges, late of Cleveland county. North Carolina, this is to notify all persons hav ing claims against the estate of the said deceased to present them to the undersigned on or before the 21st day of December. 1929, or this notice will be pleaded In bar of their recovery. All persons Indebt ed to the said estate will please malte Immediate payment. JOHN L. BRIDGES. GEO. O. BRIDGES. Execu tors of T. H. Bridges. Dec'd. Influenza Much Milder This Year Than In 1918 But Vicks Laboratories Again Operating Night and Day to Supply Record-Making De mand. Although the type of flu this year is not so serious as In 1918, health authorities are urging every body to treat evtn the slightest cold at the start, as colds lower the resistance and make the body an easy prey to bronchitis or pneu monia. An interesting response to this warning has been the phenomenal call for Vicks VapoRub, the extern al treatment which proved so help ful in the 1918 epidemic. In spite of vastly increased ca pacity, the Vicks laboratories are once more operating all night long and are now producing 432,000 Jars dally. A substantial part of this in crease is attributed to the wide I spread use of Vicks as a preventive. MORE Issac Shelby ] Is Used In Cleveland County Than Any Other Two Flours that are Sold In This Section. Dependable Goodness Avd Wholesomeness Are The Reasons. '% ■ Eagle Roller Mill Company i believe, of the Biblical forty. Petty fears fanned themselves into a feeltng of general catastrophe amongst the mountaineers. Nature who was supposed to be d^ndable had failed them. A religious ferver swelled Into fanaticism. God was displaying Ills ^contempt and anger. "Such was the spectacle I had for my play," continued Professor Hughes. "I presented it from the skeptical and atheistical point of view; this manner of treatment ob vloualy heightening the dramatic values " But then in transferring the mountaineer and his superstition to the stage did you not have to give up a great deal of the flavor of his dialectic speech? ‘That is an interesting point," (Continued on page nine > NOTICE OK SALE OF LAND. Under.and by virtue ot the au thority conferred by deed of trust by Y. W. Blanton and wire, Bessie Blanton, to toe First National Bank of Durham. N. C., trustee, dated the 15th day of December! 1527. and rreorded in book 150, page 40, Cleveland county registry, the First National Bank of,Dur ham, N. C . trustee, will on January 26 1029, at 12 o'clock tl at the court house door m Cleve land county, sell at public auction tor cash to the highest bidder the following described property: Being the western portion of lot No. 22 of the B F. Curtis proper)y ns shown by plat of property which is recorded in office of register of deeds for Cleveland county, N. C. in book of plats 1. page 57, refer ence, to which is made for a more ft.ll and complete description of ! said property: Beginning at a stake on the north edge ot Elm street, 100 feet south 83 degs 20 mins, west of in tersection of Park View street, with Elm street: thence with the north edge of Eim street south 83 degs. 20 mins west 81 feet to a stone on west edge of Oak street; thence north 3 deRs. east 76 feet to a stake: corner of lot No. 21; thence with line of lot No. 21 north 87 degs. 6 mins, east 61 feet to center ot gar age; thence through center ot septic tank south 3 degs. 25 mins, west 70 feet to the place ot begin ning. The aforesaid property is the same as that conveyed to Y. W Blanton by deed of record In of fice of register of deeds for Cleve land county, N. C. In book 3. W, page 161. This sale is made on account of default In the payment of the In debtedness secured by the said deed of trust. This the 19th day of December, 1928. 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A Srw Fertilizer Honk—FREE Our valuable book “Low Cost Cotton” will help you malse a better crop. It is free. Aak for Book No. 2 or tear out this a<l and mail it with your name and address on the margin. ^ Chilean Nitrate of Soda EDUCATIONAL BUREAU 220 Profewinnsl Bldg., R*l«igh, N. C. In writing plratn refer to Ad No. A-63 rs STAR EVERY OTHER MY S2.58 PER YEIW WIFIf 4 BAN^STANDARf) K^yBOARp On Display At UNDERWOOD TYPEWRITER COMPANY 21 W. 4 St., Charlotte, N. C. Telephone No. H-3232
Shelby Daily Star (Shelby, N.C.)
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Jan. 11, 1929, edition 1
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