View source for Dramatists Regain $140,000 Royalties

''Dramatists Regain $140,000 Royalties'' is an article published in [[The New-York Times]] on 3 february 1910.


== Dramatists Regain $140,000 Royalties ==
[[File:the-new-york-times-1910-02-03-dramatists-regain-140000-royalties.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[The New-York Times]] (3 february 1910)]]

'''Money Fraudulently Withheld from Barrie, Doyle, and Hornung by London Agent.'''

'''REVEALED BY NEWS ITEM'''

'''Showed That "Raffles" Had Been Played In America More Times Than Reported by Bright.'''

Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.

LONDON, Feb. 2. — An extraordinary story of how Sir A. Conan Doyle, M. Barrie, E. W. Hornung, and other popular playwrights were defrauded of large amounts due them as royalties was related to-day before Justice Warrington in an action involving the estate of the late Addison Bright, a dramatic author' agent, who acted for the playwrights named.

Bright died in May, 1906. Shortly after Hornung saw a paragraph in a newspaper saying that his play "Raffles" had been presented more than a thousand times in America. He had received royalties for nothing like that number.

An investigation ensued, in which Barrie and Doyle took part, which resulted in the discovery that Bright had fraudulently retained $140,000 belonging to them. Of this sum $80,000 was due to Barrie, $40,000 to Doyle, and the rest to Hornung, all of which has since been paid by Bright's executors.

Addison Bright was for a long time the business agent and adviser of a small group of English playwrights that included Barrie, Doyle, Hornung, and for a time Stephen Phillips. At that period none of these authors had representatives in America, nor had Bright any actual agent here, although he sometimes had correspondence with a play broker in New York. Royalties due the authors he represented were usually sent to him by the American managers. He suffered a nervous breakdown some time before his death, and for a long period was a victim of melancholia.

Miss Elisabeth Marbury, the play agent, said last night that she was confident that Bright had not intentionally defrauded any of his clients. For a year or two before he died he had been physically incapable of attending to his business properly, and the non-payment of royalties was most likely due to carelessness in bookkeeping. Since his death, she said, all the money due the playwrights had been paid out of the estate, which was more than ample to meet the debts.

Edgar Selwyn of Selwyn & Co., also play agents and associated with Miss Marbury in the American Play Company, said that there was club gossip in London last Summer that Bright's accounts were not straight, but no definite stories were told. Bright, said Mr. Selwyn, was more than an agent for Barrie. He was a friend and confidential adviser, and was largely responsible for Barrie's turning to play writing.

Bright's partner for a time was a man named Hardy. who does not appear in this case. Golding Bright, Addison's brother, is Miss Marbury's London agent, handling her business in that country. 










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* [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Back to Conan Doyle]]