Shop Girl to Playwright

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 10, 27 January 1937, Page 14

Shop Girl to Playwright

Romance of Dodie Smith A former London department etore giri, Miss Dodie Smith, created a W^t End stage record this week, when her fourth produced play, "Call It a Day," had its 480th perforntance at the Globe Theatre. No play by a woman has ever had so long a run in England, Miss Smith 's success and fame have come in five years. Her four plays have all been successes. Three of them have also been New; York hits, and the fourth is soon-to be produced there. Five years ago she worked for a small wage in a department store in Tottenham Gourt Road, and lived in lodgings. Today she has a beautifully decorated modern flat in a new bloek overlooking Regents Park, a car, a cottage in the country, and a manage*. Her earnings have at . times — "but not for long," she adds — reached £400 and £500 a week. "I have made a lot of money," Miss Smith told an interviewer this week, "but not nearly as much as I am reputed tp have made. When a play is playing to capacity, one makes £100 to £150 a week. Then there are foreign productions and film rights, of course. But there is also income-tax. For every £100 that I earn in the United States, I actually receive £45. " When asked what success had brought that she valued most, Miss Smith said: "Freedom first; freedom to do the work I like. I love the country, so I am glad I am able t# have a car and my cottage. I love the theatre— first nights are my hobby — and only in the last few years have I been able to alford tha theatre," ... " _ "