I.
There is interviewing and interviewing. How it comes out depends upon the interviewer and the interviewed. Every phase of the difficult art is shown in American journalism. Mr. Yates, in the “World,” has given us the best modern form of interviewing in “Celebrities at Home.” Mr. Blowitz, of the “Times,” and other foreign correspondents, have frequently shown England how admirably the American system fits a certain class of news. “The Pall Mall Gazette” has lately adopted the method of our cousins more in detail than has been hitherto popular with the London press. I have always held that interviewing, conducted with discretion and a sense of journalistic responsibility, would be a valuable and entertaining feature of English newspaper work.
I am prompted to these remarks by the contents of this chapter. Said Mr. Stephen Fiske, the dramatic editor of “The Spirit of the Times,” and the author of a clever book on England, “I am anxious to have Mr. Irving write a short story for our Christmas number. Wilkie Collins, as you know, is a constant contributor, and we have the assistance of some of the best pens, English and American. Irving has written for several English publications.”
“He has a wonderful amount of energy, and can do more mental work in a given time than any man I know; but when he is going to get an opportunity to sit down and write a Christmas story is more than I can tell.”
“I only want a personal reminiscence, an anecdote or two,” said Fiske; “but I must have him in the Christmas number.”
“Why don’t you interview him, with Christmas as the pivot of your interrogations?” I asked.
“He has been interviewed almost to death, I should think.”[32]
“Oh, no; I believe he likes it! I am sure he does when a really bright, clever fellow comes along and engages his attention. Though he does not say so, and, perhaps, has not thought about it, he is doing good every time he has a real earnest talk to a reporter about the stage and its mission. No actor ever set people thinking so much in England, and he is proving himself quite an art missionary on this side of the Atlantic.”
“That’s true,” said the dramatic editor; “but for my purpose I only want him to be simply entertaining,—a bit of personal history, apropos of Christmas.”
“Play the rôle of an interviewer, and write the stories yourself,” I suggested.
“I will,” said Fiske. “Your plan has this advantage,—I shall get the copy in proper time for the printer.”