Template:Did you know nominations/Magic (play)

Magic (play)

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Left to right: George Bernard Shaw, Hilaire Belloc, and G. K. Chesterton

... that George Bernard Shaw jokingly threatened to torture Hilaire Belloc if it would get G. K. Chesterton (pictured, left to right) to write his first play?

Source: I shall deliberately destroy your credit as an essayist, as a journalist, as a critic, as a Liberal, as everything that offers your laziness as a refuge, until starvation and shame drive you to serious dramatic parturition. I shall repeat my public challenge to you; vaunt my superiority; insult your corpulence; torture Belloc; if necessary, call on you and steal your wife's affections by intellectual and athletic displays, until you contribute something to British drama. (p.102)

ALT1: ... that George Bernard Shaw (pictured, left) praised G. K. Chesterton's (pictured, right) debut play Magic by saying it had "the Shakespearean touch"? Source: The Duke in Magic is much better than Micawber or Mrs. Wilfer, neither of whom can bear the footlights because, like piping bullfinches, they have only one tune, whilst the Duke sets everything in the universe to his ridiculous music. That is the Shakespearean touch. Is it grateful to ask for more? (pp. 106–107)
ALT2: ... that Magic is sometimes called G. K. Chesterton's (pictured, right) "one and only play" even though he wrote at least two others? Source: For "one and only play" and the play The Judgment of Dr. Johnson he wrote, see: Yet a bittersweet quality does attach to Magic for it was to prove G.K.C's one and only real play. (p. 107) and But "Magic" was Gilbert's one and only play. (p. 135)
For the play he wrote called The Surprise, see There was a later play, The Surprise, that Chesterton wrote in 1932, but it was not published until 1952 and was first staged a year later by Hull University Dramatic Society. (p. 33)
ALT3: ... that George Bernard Shaw (pictured, left) wrote Androcles and the Lion "to insult and taunt and stimulate" G. K. Chesterton (pictured, right) into writing his first play? Source: I want to insult and taunt and stimulate Gilbert with it. It is the sort of thing he could write and ought to write: a religious harlequinade. [Androcles and the Lion] (p. 103)
ALT4: ... that G. K. Chesterton (pictured, right) and his wife were nearly mobbed in the theater lobby by an adoring audience after the debut performance of his first play? Source: Gilbert and Frances were almost mobbed in the foyer, and at every interval were eagerly surrounded. (pp. 134–135)

Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Blanche Badcock

5x expanded by ThaesOfereode (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 7 past nominations.

ThaesOfereode (talk) 00:47, 1 October 2024 (UTC).

Review

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
Freely licensed: Used in article: Clear at 100px:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: The first hook seems most attractive and has been checked out thoroughly. It's the one that works best with the picture as I like the way that it identifies all the people. I haven't been able to run Earwig yet and want to do so as there's a lot of quotations and plot to consider. There are also some copy-editing niggles such as some Americanisms and the crooked lead image but I may take care of those myself pending the final review.
(<later>I've made a copy-editing pass and run Earwig and it's reasonably good to go now. Andrew🐉(talk) 07:46, 3 October 2024 (UTC)) Andrew🐉(talk) 19:26, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for the review, Andrew. I agree that the first hook is far and away the best one, with or without the image (though obviously much better with it). I would appreciate any and all copy-editing edits from you, especially for the Americanisms; I tried my best to conform to British English standards, but my eye for it is by no means perfect. Hopefully Earwig will be up and running shortly. ThaesOfereode (talk) 20:58, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

You're welcome. It was the centre/center spelling that caught my eye. I'm making a copy-editing pass through the article and addressing some pleonasm and other issues too. Feel free to push back if you disagree. Andrew🐉(talk) 21:30, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

All excellent suggestions/fixes; I have a tendency for unnecessary periphrasis. I pushed back on minor quibbles – mostly with the plot and character descriptions, having spent quite some time reading and re-reading the play – but I believe all the changes should still be well in line with British standards. ThaesOfereode (talk) 00:12, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

The Earwig score was 3% which is negligible. The extensive quotes and lengthy synopsis are debatable but I don't consider these to be show-stoppers and so we can move forward. Andrew🐉(talk) 07:43, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

Great, thanks! ThaesOfereode (talk) 11:58, 3 October 2024 (UTC)