ABSTRACT
Some playwrights try to follow patterns in a reviewers work. One can add up the number of plays a certain critic liked according to gender, race, sexual preference, and subject matter, and try to calculate some kind of meaningful configuration. A Harvard-educated man, with the distinctive qualities of a Boston Brahmin, Beacon Hill bred, he was tall, with a shock of white hair, and a stern, but gentle manner. His criticism was always wise and constructive without being patronizing, and without pandering to any kind of current tastes. Playwrights would read his column in an attempt to rewrite their plays, to discover where the problems were. Playwrights remember fragments of mixed, good, and rave reviews of their work — if they read them.
