(a) Characters may be fitted with a story.

(b) A sequence of events may be fitted with characters.

(c) An interesting atmosphere may be expressed by characters and a sequence of events.

In other words, a narrative may be told by making either the characters or the events or the atmosphere peculiarly and particularly prominent.

It should be obvious that the special character of vaudeville makes the last-named—­the story of atmosphere—­the least effective; indeed, as drama is action—­by which I mean a clash of wills and the outcome—­no audience would be likely to sit through even twenty minutes of something which, after all, merely results in a “feeling.”  Therefore the very nature of the pure story of atmosphere eliminates it from the stage; next in weakness of effect is the story of character; while the strongest—­blood of its blood and bone of its bone—­is the story of dramatic events.  This is for what the stage is made and by which it lives.  To be sure, character and atmosphere both have their places in the play of dramatic action, but for vaudeville those places must be subordinate.

These last two ways of constructing a story will be taken up and discussed in detail later on, in their proper order; they are mentioned here to help make clear how a playwright gets an idea.

2.  Themes to fit Certain Players

It is not at all uncommon for a playlet writer to be asked to fit some legitimate star, about to enter vaudeville, with a playlet that shall have for its hero or its heroine the particular character in which the star has had marked success. [1] And often a man and wife who have achieved a reputation in vaudeville together will order a new playlet that shall have characters modeled on the lines of those in the old playlet.  Or, indeed, as I have know in many instances, three performers will order a playlet in which there must be characters to fit them all.  When a writer receives such an order it would seem that at least a part of his task is already done for him; but this is not the case, he still must seek that most important things—­a story.

[1] In precisely the same way writers of the full-evening play for the legitimate stage are forever fashioning vehicles for famous stars.  The fact that the chief consideration is the star and that the play is considered merely as a “vehicle” is one of the reasons why our plays are not always of the best.  Where you consider a personality greater than a story, the story is likely to suffer.  Can you name more than one or two recent plays so fashioned that have won more than a season’s run?

3.  Themes Born in the Mind of the Writer

The beginner, fortunately, is not brought face to face with this problem; he is foot-free to wander wherever his fancy leads.  And yet he may find in his thoughts a character or two who beg to serve him so earnestly that he cannot deny them.  So he takes them, knowing them so well that he is sure he can make them live—­and he constructs a story around them.