He touched a page of the
manuscript with his finger. "There's a good place for it."

"Aren't you afraid it would sound a little--smug?" Canby asked timidly.
"The way we've got him now, Roderick seems to me to be always seeing
himself as a splendid man and sort of pointing it out to the--"

"Good gracious!" cried Potter, astounded. "Hasn't it got to be pointed
out? The audience hasn't got a whole lifetime to study him in; it's only
got about two hours. Besides, I don't see what you say; I don't see it
at all! It seems to me I've worked him around into being a perfectly
natural character."

"I suppose you're right," said Canby, meekly scribbling.

"Biblical quotations never do any harm to the box-office," Potter added.
"You may not get a hand on 'em, but you'll never get a cough, either."
He looked dreamily at the ceiling. "I've often thought of doing a
Biblical play. I'd have it built around the character of St. Paul.
That's one they haven't touched yet, and it's new. I wouldn't do it with
a beard and long hair. I wouldn't use much makeup. No. Just the face as
it is."

"You can do practically anything with a religious show," said Tinker.
"That's been proved. You can run in gambling and horse-racing and
ballys, and you'll get people into the house, night after night, that
think the theatre's wicked and wouldn't go to see 'Rip Van Winkle.' They
do a lot of good, too--religious shows--just that way."

"I think I'd play it in armour," Potter continued his thought, still
gazing at the ceiling. "I believe it would be a big thing."

"It might if it was touted right," said Tinker. "It all depends on the
touting. If you get it touted to the tank towns that you've got a play
with the great religious gonzabo, then your show's a big property. Same
if you get it touted for a great educational gonzabo. Or 'artistic.'
Get it touted right for 'artistic,' and the tanks'll think they like
it, even if they don't. Look at 'Cyrano'--they liked Mansfield and his
acting, but they didn't like the show. They said they liked the show,
and thought they did, but they didn't. If they'd like it as much as
they said they did, that show would be running like 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.'
Speaking of that"--he paused, coughed, and went on--"I'm glad you've got
the ingenue's part straightened out in this piece. I thought from the
first it would stand a little lengthening."

Potter, unheeding, dreamily proceeded: "In silver armour. Might silver
the hair a