BEHIND THE SCENES.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10741, 12 November 1928, Page 3

BEHIND THE SCENES.

EDGAR W A GLACE'S IIN SRi RATION.

- ■ HIS BUSY Vfli'JS. Jf Mr. Edgar Wallace wore asked how he finds it possible to write a million -words a year, he would replay: “Ask Mrs. Wallace.” She it p who listens 'to his plots (says - a “Daiy Mail” discusses them with him,> reads his manuscr.pts, tearches his books lor ideas lor plays, runs the plays, handles the money—in fact she is the business side of Edgar Wallace. ' While Mr. Wallace is dreaming in his study—that jS Ins own term lor thinking out plots faster than anyone else can-—lns wife it* manipulating a maze of figures, which represents the business operations of the most prolific authoWhen. I called. on Mrs. Wallace she tore herself away from her work and gave me a few secrets about hex husband. She gaid • “Of course, it is a busy life lor me. 1 have to read every word he has written, and I am probably the greatest Edgar Wallace fan. Edgar Wallace) lives fer his work and so do , IRtCiMOTION. “But let me tell you now that a never have any iaeas. 1 am a goon listener, and I hear all the plots and d scuss them with my husband belore they are moulded into stories. At meal times, in the evenings, m trains, wherever we are on holidays, wo are always talking about new plays and new novels. ‘'When I was. his secretary, in addition to alt this, I typed every word be dictated to me and then corrected the manuscripts afterwards. So you see I am steeped m Edgar Wallace. I don’t have to do the typewriting now. I have been promoted te looking after the plays and searching his old books for ideas for in#v plays. “One evening two years ago, when we were s’tting at home, my husband suddenly said, “I have a good idea for -a piay,’ and he there and then dictated 1 to me the play which became “The Squeaker.” He dictated it almost word for word it has been produced, even to the curtains between the scenei“l said at once): ‘That a tine story; write it down.’ But he sain he was too busy, and it was three months before it was written, it was lying about for two years, am I think he would have lost interest in it had I not whipped up his enthusiasm. I regard ‘The. Squeaker’ as h.s best play.” I asked Mrs. Wallace now her husband gained ail the information necessary to write ,his novels and short scones. She replied: - ‘Oh 1 he holds Jong conservations with omnibus poJicejnen, waiters, caretakers—anybody, in fact, he meets. When he is abroad on holiday he assimilates everything he sees with amazing rapidity. And wherever we are he takes an extra bedroom where he can work.

EX-BURGLAR ON THE STAIRS

“We have just returned from a holiday in Germany an Austr.a. 1 ■osfc him several times, and always discovered him talking to an eng nedriver or a conductor of a train. We nave the most amazing collection of visitors here. i am never surprised' to meet an ex-burg-lar on the sta.rs. “Work begins at home at seven in • the morning, and when a novel or play ha s to be delivered quickly typewriters begin to tuck < t four n the morning and ; o on i mil bedtime. Sometimes when my husband is really busy he will have a sleep hi the evening and get up a midnight and work all through ilie night He dictates very rapidly and lively lias to go back over anything he has written.” it was at the Apollo Theatre that I saw Mrs. Walace, attending to various matters in connection with the running of “The Squeaker.’ It 'seemed appropriate that __ t shorn! find her there, for. Mrs-. Wallace is the Edgar W allace behind the scenes.