... SIR,--In answer to your correspondent Expectant, and for the information of all who may have taken an interest in my sincere effort to test the oft-repeated contention of managers that there are no good plays to be found amongst the MSS. of new writers, by a challenge to produce my play, I beg to give the replies to my letter wnicn appeared in TH* stage of the 5th inst., which letter I ...

... SAPHO AND THE STAGE. Sir,-- In your issue of June 28 I notice that in tho Chit-Chat columns of your valuable paper you mention Miss Nethrr- sole and Miss Gallatin as the two legiti mate Saphos. Please allow me to remind you that I am the original English Sapho, and no doubt the only legitimate one. The version by George G. Collingham will be produced by Hardie and Von Leer (who have secured ...

... CONCERT AND ORATORIO ARTISTS. SIR,--The very able and comprehensive letter by Mr. Charles Manners under this heading ought perhaps to have been entitled A National Opera House, the case for which he puts so convincingly, and with the authority of a practical singer-manager. Unfortunately, this is an educational factor whose institution in our miUSC, inougn vory oueu uiuuicu, hub fallen ...

... WORDS FROM THE DRAMATISTS. SIR,--It seems to me that Mr. Neville Doone has written about the most sensible letter you have published on this subject. If would-be dramatists would only look at the matter from a business point of view they might not feel quite so self-satisfied, but they would certainly not have so much to complain of. The man who runs a theatre is very nice a man who keens a ...

... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. WORDS FROM DRAMATISTS. Sir-- -If Mr. Pound had not disclaimed any wish to be cruel to the aspiring dramatists who may or may not be geniuses, and about whom he expounded the truth in his letter of last week, one might be pardoned for oonoluding that his amiable intention was rather to be cruel only to be kind-- a negative lorm of kindness that is not too often ...

... Sin; Kindly allow me to sujrgest throngli Jour influential medium, Tkk Staob, that uthors should unite in establishing a play reading forum. Ieni'lnn and provincial managers, or their deputies, also Press rewvi- eutatives and others interested in dramatio progress, could he invited to morning and afternoon readings of new plays, twice weekly or continuously daring a season. The invi tation ...

... . Sin, Mr. Charles Manners's admirable and plucky letter in a recent if.sue of The Staok deserves the unstinted thanks of the whole musical profession. At last we have a man in the front rank of artists who has the manly courage to speak out and back his opinions upon what is now-a-days a perfect curse to strangeling professionals. I am resident in a provincial town of sQme note supposed ...

... . Sib, Comedy managers oil tour coii- tinually complain of bad business. Then why do so maiiv of them play the same curtain-raiser. Tho first piece is a serious part of hia sixpen'orth or ehillin^pworth to the calleryitf or the pittite, and when one company follow another in a town with the samo introductory item, does he not naturally say, Oh I have seen that piecc, aiul stay away? There was ...

... SIR.--I have read with amusement ami much interest some of the letters on this subject which have boen kmdly published In your columns. Surely they should bo called Views of the Faddists. Mr. Neville Donne has written a good, sensible letter, and Mr. Forshaw has contributed a letter that, for sheer nonsense, takes the cake. The question resolves lieeii i i' An the budding dramatists to ...

... Sib, I have for some time past watched with great interest the correspondence in your columns concerning aspiring play wrights, and, really, it seems to me that there is a great deal of fuss about nothing. l)o the gentlemen who complain of refuted genius really possess the talent they would lead one to believe is theirs Really, one's credulity gets somewhat shaken when read ing specimens of ...

... . SIR,--There is no greater and common source of mischief to the actor, both an concerns his art and his sharo in the world's work, than ill-conducted or indolent rehearsing. The art of actiug is so long and difficult that, as Colley Cibber assures us, tho period during which an actor can achieve his highest excellence must in most capes necessarily be very short. For, in addition to ...

... . PROSPECTS OF STOCK. SIR,--In the Theatrical Gossip of your contemporary, the Era, last week the writer takes umbrage at a letter written by Mr. Robert Courtneidgo to the Clarion suggesting a return to tho stock company system. I have not had an opportunity of rootl ing this letter, but it seoms much to have upset tho Wellington Stroet organ. Why? I do not see that the stock regime is bo ...