His swift jugglery with words is always manifest. To Alfred Sutro he sent this sentence notifying him that his play was to go into rehearsal: "The die is cast—but not the play."
Through his letters there shines his uncompromising rule of life. Writing to W. Lestocq, his agent in London, in reference to the English failure of "Years of Discretion," he said: "It is a failure, and that is the end of it. You can't get around failure, so we must go on to something else."
The number of available Frohman letters is not large. The following, gathered from various sources, will serve to indicate something of their character:
To an English author whose play, a weak one, was rapidly failing:
No; it is not the war that is affecting your business. It is the play—nothing else.
To Cyril Maude, whose penmanship is notably indecipherable:
I can't read your handwriting very well; but I wonder if you can read my typewriting. Just pretend I typed this myself.... Speaking of hits, Granville Barker arrived yesterday, and the city suddenly became terribly cold—awful weather. Barker will do well.
To Haddon Chambers:
Last night we produced "Driven" against your judgment. The press not favorable. But still I'm hoping.
To a colleague: