"A Publicized Reply Letter" - 1949
海白先生： 拜诵大作。 敬悉先生对于 「如此人生」之演出非常失望。 殊深抱歉。 （见上期海白先生一文）同人等不是以演剧为生活。 未尝研究艺术，祇本练习国语之热诚， 用戏剧为勉励之工具。 毅然登台表演。 明知非欲卖艺， 故不收入场券，欢迎侨胞参观。 演剧之夕，幸蒙侨胞拥护，惠临指导，演剧之后，复屡收朋友之恭维。同人等不敢自满。 盖 “招满损， 谦收益”。 古有明训，且根据求学之志愿， 深望 “抛砖引玉”， 由此次之表演。 可以获致极大之补助。 是以特请先生于三月八号星期二晚八时半驾临女青年会之课室。 公开讨论演剧成功秘诀。 同人等将齐集敬听伟论。 幸勿吝玉，耑侯评安。
女青年会国语社社员敬约
三月一号星期二晚
国语社暨邝莲真先生：
蒙国语社不弃，约鄙人到贵会 “指教”，本来这张请帖是给我个人的，今先生竟 “要求” 刊登在太平洋周报上，实在有点不明白。 鄙人因工作时间问题，分身无术，所以不能亲到贵会，不得已乃借秃笔为代表，向先生略陈一二。
第一点，不收入场券来演剧, 确是一场好意，鄙人觉得是无可非议。 但如果用不收入场券的牌子来阻挡别人的批评，这是鄙人所不敢赞同的。 须知做一件与公众有关系的事，会有良好的结果，但同时亦会有不良的收获。 如果对公众演出一幕不良的话剧， 观众可能得到一个坏的印象, 以为所有的话剧都不过如是。这一来对话剧的前途不免会有阻碍，且加以在报章上他人的和自己的种种“恭维”， 更会增加公众对话剧的怀疑。 鄙人不欢喜在被恭维之际而加拨冷水。 实在这是使公众明白真实情形的唯一办法, 想不到这会引诸位的不满。 其实我对于那篇文字也有不满意的地方， 因为编辑先生把我的许多形容词都删去了。 随意举个例子来说，我的题目本来是 “哀哉 「如此人生」！” 的， 在登载的时候，却只是平平的 「如此人生」了。
尚有一点， 就是成功之没有秘诀是孩童皆知的道理。 如果是有的话，不外是干，干，干三个字。 这一点我想诸位自然早已知道的， 但诸位竟说出要鄙人公开讨论演剧成功秘诀的话来。 我不敢说是思想幼稚，我想这不过是一时怒火攻心，急不择言吧。 我用来批评的准绳，已经在那篇文字的末段中明确的指出，实在没有再加以解释的需要。
诸位今次以 “抛砖引玉” 的手法向鄙人抛出砖来， 结果虽不能 “引玉”，但引出了这封信，希望不以此为向诸位抛砖回敬。 此祝国语 进步
海白
再者， 今次，我将此信 “要求” 刊出在报章上，不是报复之旨，我不过以为先生既要求公开，本报的读者看来一定也希望知道事情的结果。 我为了生意的厉害关系着想，不得不将此信刊登，以满足读者的好奇心而已。 故希见谅为要，以后如有给我个人的信，寄往周报转交便是。
白又及
Mr. Haibai: I have read your great work. I understand that you are very disappointed with the performance of "Such A Life". I am deeply sorry. (See Mr. Haibai’s article in the previous issue). My associates and others do not make a living from acting and have never studied art. They are passionate about practicing Mandarin, using drama as a tool of encouragement, and they resolutely went on stage to perform. Knowing that we did not want to do performing art, so we did not charge admission tickets. Overseas Chinese are welcome to visit. On the night of the performance, we were fortunate to have the support of the overseas Chinese who came to guide me. After the performance, I received compliments from friends again and again. My fellow colleagues dare not be complacent because we know “complacency brings failure, humbleness brings benefits.” These are explicit teachings from ancient times. Moreso, based on the desire to study, I deeply hope to "attract good ideas to be emerged", so this performance is the result. We can obtain great assistance. Therefore, I would like to invite you to come to the YWCA classroom at 8:30 pm on Tuesday, March 8th, to openly discuss the secrets to success in drama acting. My colleagues will all gather to listen to your great talk. I am grateful that you would not be ungenerous with your virtues, so I deliberately write this letter for your comment on it.
Respectfully inviting you,
Club member of YWCA Mandarin Class
Tuesday Night, March 1st
Ms. Guang Lianzhen of Mandarin Society:
Thanks to the kind gesture of the Mandarin Society for inviting me to come to your association for "advice". Originally, this invitation was sent for me personally, but now you have actually sent a "request" to have it be published in The Pacific Weekly, I really don't understand. Due to my working hours, I am not able to come to the meeting in person, so I have no choice but to use my bald pen as a representative to express my opinion to you about a few matters.
Firstly, it is indeed a good intention to perform a play without charging admission tickets, and I think it is justifiable. But if you take the label of not charging admission tickets to prevent criticisms from others, this is something I humbly dare not agree with. It should be noted that doing something related to the public will have good results, but it will also have bad gains. If a bad play is performed to the public, the audience may get a bad impression and think that all plays are nothing more than that. This will inevitably hinder the future of straight plays, while the various "compliments" from others and oneself in newspapers will further increase the public's skepticism of dramas.
I don't like to add cold water when it is being complimented. In reality, this is the only way for the public to understand the true situation. I did not expect that this would cause dissatisfaction among you. In fact, I was not satisfied with that article because the editor deleted many of my adjectives. Just to give you a random example. My original title was "A Las, ‘Such A Life’!" When it was published, it was just plainly “Such A Life”. Another point is that every child knows that there is no secret to success. If there is one, it is nothing more than three words: work, work, work. I think you all already know this, but you actually said you want me to openly discuss the secret of success in acting. I dare not say that it is childish thinking. I think it is just a moment of anger that rushed to speak without careful selection of words. The criteria I used for criticism have been clearly stated in the last paragraph of that article, and there is really no need to explain it further.
This time you took the approach of "throwing bricks to attract jade" and threw bricks at me. Although the result did not "attract jade", it led to this letter. I hope this will not be taken as retaliation for throwing bricks back at you. Best wishes for your progress in Mandarin.
Haibai
Furthermore, this time, I "requested'' that this letter be published in the newspaper. Not for revenge, I just thought that since you had requested it to be published, the readers of this newspaper must also want to know the outcome of the matter. For the sake of business, I have to publish this letter to satisfy readers' curiosity. I hope you will forgive me. If you have any personal letters for me in the future, please send them to the weekly newspaper for forwarding delivery.
With another mention, Bai