GONE MORE RIVER' SIR,—Alan Brien's grumpy notice of my play
One More River echoes the wails and accusations of a few of his fellow-critics. He damns it for being a Tory play with a Tory moral, and for using the same ingredients mixed in the plays of Mr. Wesker and Mr. Hall.
In fact, my play was not written the night before the general election but some three years ago. There is no moral. It is based on two true incidents which I witnessed during my time in the Norwegian mer- chant service on the West African run—both incidents concerned British ships and British crews. That the apprentice took command is fact, not propaganda. I'm not beating the drum for the Young Conserva- tives, the officer-class or anybody else. If your critic had really listened to the play I think he must have understood that my sympathy is for every man of the crew—officer, bos'n, seamen. It is a story, not a political manifesto.
That the play is a parody of The Long and the Short and the Tall—so your critic charges—is patently untrue. One More River was written, pub- lished and produced before Mr. Willis Hall's play was ever seen or heard.—Yours faithfully,
[Alan Brien writes : 'My grumpiness sprang en- tirely from disappointment. I accept Mr. Cross's claim that his Tory moral was unintentional, but the point is irrelevant. As long as the contestants are evenly matched, and the match fairly fought, I am willing to cheer the winner whatever his politics. My complaint was that Mr. Cross had fixed the result before the gong sounded and a crooked fight makes thin entertainment. Now that he has had the opportunity of seeing the plays of Mr. Wesker and Mr. Hall, I hope he will agree. I would like to add something which, in my disappointment, I slurred over—One More River is melodrama, but melodrama which is electric with a few thousand more volts than any other commercial shocker now on view in the West End.'—Editor, Spectator.]
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