In this column, O'Brien proposes a Dramatic Author's Society and discusses why it is necessary. O'Brien discusses how a Dramatic Author's Society would ensure proper and fair compensation for playwrights, allowing for many to turn writing into a career and improving the quality of American theater while also making sure that writers are not cheated. O'Brien also argues that such a society is necessary for the enforcement of copyrights.
O'Brien mentions that a Philadelphia manager hired a stenographer to take down the lines of a play of his at Wallack's and then produced the drama at his own theater (2).
An electronic version of this text was previously available in CONTENTdm and has been migrated to Lehigh University's Digital Collections. Reconstruction of direct links to individual articles is in progress. In the meantime, browse issues of the Saturday Press in the Vault at Pfaff's Digital Collection. Page images of The New York Saturday Press were scanned from microfilm owned by Emory University, which was made from original copies held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Wallack’s Lyceum was located in Broadway near Broome Street. Its productions included original works by Pfaffians John Brougham, Stephen Ryder Fiske, and Fitz-James O’Brien.
