PREFATORY NOTE



ing. "If the business increases sufficiently," he
wrote, " they will keep it on and give it a chance!
If by the middle of next week the business is not
good, it will be taken off in three weeks! It will
be a dreadful blow to me, and a discouragement
which I do not like to face in my present tired
condition. . . ." Later on in the month, at the
same time that his manager was discussing the
possibilities of taking off " The Truth ", a proposal
was made that the play be given at special mati-
nees. "I fear this will kill it!" wrote Mr. Fitch,
"I am worn out and bitterly disappointed.
Frohman does it in London in March, but this is
what counted for me."
  The career of the play, after this disastrous
record, is of an entirely different nature, for it
would seem that, from the moment it was pre-
sented in London, it began to be reckoned as one
of Mr. Fitch's technical triumphs. He went to
London for the opening of "The Truth ", and the
day after the first performance he wrote: "There
was not a hiss nor a boo.  But they cheered
and cheered and shouted 'Bravo' after every act;
and at the end kept it up, and then began calling
for me. I had decided not to go out, so finally the
manager came before the curtain and said -'Mr.
Clyde Fitch is not in the house.' I was behind
a box curtain: Tempest is wonderful."



vi