"Don't be too hard on her," responded a playwright who sat near by. "Consider how young she is."
"I deny that she is as young as you imply," retorted Frohman. "But I am bound to admit that she is certainly a stripling."
Frohman's mind worked with amazing swiftness. Here is an example:
At the formation of a London society called the West End Managers Association, Sir Charles Wyndham gave a luncheon at the Hyde Park Hotel to discuss and arrange preliminaries. Most of the London managers were present, including Frohman. There was a discussion as to what should be the entrance fee for each member. Various sums were discussed from £100 downward. Twenty-five pounds seemed to be the most generally accepted, when one manager said:
"Why should we not each give one night's receipts."
This was discussed for a little while, when Sir Charles said, "What do you say, Frohman?"
The American replied, "I would sooner give a night's receipts than £25."
There was a short silence, then everybody seemed to remember that he had at that moment a failure at his theater. The humor of it was hailed with a shout of laughter.
Just as he mixed sentiment in business so did Frohman infuse wit into most of his relations. He once instructed W. Lestocq, his London manager, to conduct certain negotiations for a new play with a Scotchwoman whose first play had made an enormous success in America, and whose head had been turned by it. The woman's terms were ten thousand dollars in advance and a fifteen-per-cent. royalty. When Lestocq told Frohman these terms over the telephone, all he said was this:
"Did you tell her not to slam the door?"