Americans

Thursday, October 19th., New York.

Lunch at Harper's, with chief members of staff including Major Lee, under presidency of Colonel George Harvey. I liked Harvey. Quiet, ruminative, accustomed to power and so on. Good laugh. Good story.

George Brinton McClellan Harvey (1864 - 1928) was anAmerican diplomat, journalist, author, administrator for electric rail construction and owner and editor of several newspapers, all positions that brought him great wealth. Having accumulated a fortune, he purchased the North American Review in 1899. In 1901 he also purchased Harper's Weekly, which he edited until 1913. He was president of Harper and Company until 1915. Despite retiring from Harper's Weekly as editor in 1913, he returned in 1918 to use it as a medium for attacking the policies of  Woodrow Wilson, despite the two having previously been friends. In 1918, he established The North American Review's War Weekly, later called Harvey's Weekly, which bitterly denounced the Wilson administration. Following the election of Warren G. Harding on March 4, 1921, Harvey became the United States ambassador to Great Britain from 1921 until 1923.

T.B.Wells came to fetch me in a taxi. Very heavy rain. We called at Brevoort-Lafayette for Frank Craig who is to illustrate my articles, and for whom Wells had an inordinate admiration. I thought he said: "Clean, wholesome," which is just what Craig is. The clean young governing-class Englishman to perfection. I liked him much; but I doubt his views in art.

Frank Craig 1874–1918 was a painter of genre, of contemporary and medieval historical subjects, and illustrator. Born at Abbey Wood, Kent, he studied at Lambeth School of Art and Cook's School, Fitzroy Street; a pupil of E. A. Abbey at the R.A. Schools 1895–8, and exhibited regularly at the R.A. from 1895 to 1916. Worked as an illustrator for The Graphic from 1895 and for other periodicals. Illustrated the poems of Rudyard Kipling. Member of the R.O.I. and National Portrait Society. Died of tuberculosis at Cintra, near Lisbon, 9 July 1918.

Lunch was at Lawyers Club in a private room thereof. Rex Beach one of the best settlers there. Nice athletic youngish man. Then I was taken to Harper's office - two Elevateds, and shown over it. Old style building for America.
Humorous serial sold for £2000 to Phillips.
Then to Waldorf where a room had been obtained, and to bed for 45 minutes after a bath. Considering I had only 1 hour's sleep at most in night on train, I was doing pretty well.

Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York

Still heavy rain off and on. We drove to Republic Theatre (Belasco) to see "The Woman" by William C. de Mille. Telephone girl play. Melodrama plot. Essentially childish. Nevertheless, in spite of too much talk in 1st act, I was not really bored. It appealed to the child in me.

The director William Churchill de Mille, the older brother of Hollywood legend Cecil B. DeMille was born in Washington, D. C., on July 25, 1878. After graduating from Columbia University, W.C. became a successful Broadway playwright. One of his most successful plays was "The Woman," which opened at the Republic Theatre on September 19, 1911. "The Woman" was a political thriller entailing confrontation, negotiations, calumnies, and double dealing. W.C.'s handling of points of view is unique in that he allows each of the characters' voices to come through clearly, without prejudice, so the audience is not tipped to which ones are right or wrong. He constantly turns the tables on the audience, forcing them to redefine their perceptions of the characters, as no character in the play is innocent, the heroes and villains in politics proving to be one and the same.

Guggenheim pointed out to me at theatre. Looked like a little grocer.