In 1902 Billboard, the theatrical trades paper, published the following on Clyde Fitch, America's premier playwright:

RESUME

Of the Career of Clyde Fitch, the Playwright

Clyde Fitch, the noted playwright, who has hurried to Berne, Switzerland, for treatment by a noted specialist on appendicitis, in hopes of avoiding an operation, has already accomplished the work of a lifetime, though he has not yet reached the turning post in years. Mr. Fitch's career has been a strenuous one, his rapidity as a playwright having elicited much comment. . . . His literary ability was in no way hereditary, his father having been an army officer who was greatly prejudiced against his son's ambition. . . . Finally, he brought about a compromise between himself and his father, in which it was agreed that if after three years he was not supporting himself with the pen, he should then put aside...