uilt I try to build another
author."

"No successful theatrical producer ever died rich. He must make money
for everybody but himself."

"Great stage successes are the plays that take hold of the masses, not
the classes."

* * *

Frohman could always reach the heart of a situation with a pithy phrase
or reply. On one of the rare occasions when he attended a public dinner
he sat at the Metropolitan Club in New York with a group of men
representing a variety of interests. He condemned a certain outrageously
immodest Oriental dancer, who, at the moment, was shocking New York.

"She must have a nasty mind to dance like that," said Frohman.

"Don't be too hard on her," responded a playwright who sat near by.
"Consider how young she is."

"I deny that she is as young as you imply," retorted Frohman. "But I am
bound to admit that she is certainly a _stripling_."

* * *

Frohman's mind worked with amazing swiftness. Here is an example:

At the formation of a London society called the West End Managers
Association, Sir Charles Wyndham gave a luncheon at the Hyde Park Hotel
to discuss and arrange preliminaries. Most of the London managers were
present, including Frohman. There was a discussion as to what should be
the entrance fee for each member. Various sums were discussed from L100
downward. Twenty-five pounds seemed to be the most generally accepted,
when one manager said:

"Why should we not each give one night's receipts."

This was discussed for a little while, when Sir Charles said, "What do
you say, Frohman?"

The American replied, "I would sooner give a night's receipts than L25."

There was a short silence, then everybody seemed to remember that he had
at that moment a failure at his theater. The humor of it was hailed with
a shout of laughter.

* * *

Just as he mixed sentiment in business so did Frohman infuse wit into
most of his relations. He once instructed W. Lestocq, his London
manager, to conduct certain negotiations for a new play with a
Scotchwoman whose first play had made an enormous success in America,
and whose head had been turned by it. The woman's terms were ten
thousand dollars in advance and a fifteen-per-cent. royalty. When
Lestocq told Frohman these terms over the telephone, all he said was
this:

"Did you tell her not to slam the door?"

* * *

Frohman would always have his joke in London, as this incident shows:

He had just arrived in town and went to a bank in Charin