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'ixon

3i0G0,0C)0 CHeel Author Vlho Made

ortune Now Is PennilessEarned, Lived and Lost $1,250,000 in 27 Years, During

•Which He Wrote 21 Novels, Nine Plays, Six MotionPictures; First Book a Sensational Suc-

' nl I 9;Sss, Published by Page./ /•N.^ChcLn-i&tlt. ^ fj^b^^ "1 have written 21 novels, nine plays''and six motionpictures in 27 years and have made $1,250,000 and livedit up and lost it, and find myself penniless at the ageof 70 years," declared Thomas Dixon, noted southernwriter and native of Cleveland county. North Carolina,in an e-;:Iusive interview given me on a recent date

•"What was your first book?" I»sked of him.

"Tho Leopard's Spots," he said,"and that book not only made meBidLo III© Oilier uay on a ieCiurB aiiu tiiat uuuk not oniy m&do me,

tour. And for a period of more 'l>ut it established Doubledyithan threo hours I sat with him I^aso publlsliJng company."and heard him tell the Interest- But 1 had better let Mr. DlxonIng story of his literary career and tell this interesting and exciting

, his rise to fame. literary story:), The white-haired author de- "When I was in the legislaturejdared that he had sold over 6,- of North Carolina in tho year000,000 copies of his books, and 1886, I met Walter Hines Page,that nobody else in tho South had Ho was tho founder of Theevpr HnrtA Hiaf Tr« a "PnlAlrvUever done that. Ho bcilcves thattho Income from those books hasbeen larger than the income of anyother American author.

"I wrote a trilogy of bookswhich have averaged a sale of amillion copies each," stated Mr.Dlxon, "and another book which

Chronicle, a Raleigh newspaper,of which ho himself was the editorMr. Pago and I became goodfriends while In Raleigh.

"In the year 1900 I wrote TheLeopard s Spots, That was myfirst effort. And 1 had a very unusual experience. That first novelwas practically accepted by two.L/iAuii, aim Biiuiner uouk wnicn "a.-i piaeucaiiy accepted by two

. ran approximately S0p,0.0_0, copies." ^'oiiblishlng_ houses before I could

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^get it out of the hands of one oftiiBm. ^

I "I sent two copies of tho script^ono to Bobbs-Merrill Com-

I Pany, of Indianapolis, and thomain cony to Walter Hines Page

'"•^3 with the

Tnrk in New,Tork. Mr. Page immediately read♦w -overIt that ho sat up ail night to finish

It, and then next morning holacked one chapter. It was break-last, time, and ho wanted his.morning cup of coffee.

•'Ho started across tho streetand as he walked along ho was80 enpossed in that last chapterthat ho was trying to snatch it

'I® through thocrowded streets."At this time a trolley-car '

approached, and he did notee® it. This t r o 11e y-carknocked down 'WaUer HinesPage and nearly killed him;and in my library in NewTork I still have that originalmanuscript of The Leopard'sSpots stained with the bloodof Walter ..Hines Page."Mr. Page sent me a wire of ac

ceptance and asked me to cometo New York Immediately to discuss a contract. Then I at once.wrote tho Indianapolis companyand told them that my novel hadalready beeh accepted, and theyimmediately returned it to me. (Ithink they would have acceptedIt too). That book was the resultof 20 years' study and of a life-time which I had lived. And I

to say, that from thepublishing standpoint, It was WaJ-

Page, a native pf n.ystate, who first discovered me.

book paid me $100,-000. This enabled me to stop Icf^-tiirlng and .give my v' ''a life

•.vTIflnsr "TlTat book eventualiyi i.old moro than a million coplea."

At fhls point, I asked. Mr. Dixonihis (juesUon:

"Jlr. Dixon, there !a a .Tery In-j terpsting story abroad to the ef-i Teot that you practically wrote

•nut your own scale of royaltiest in Mr. Page's office. Tour read-jers would liko to have that affirmed or denied. If this is true,I am sure It would lend a great

j deal of color to this interview toj have you delineate that account."' "As I Just said, Mr. Pago wired;me to come to New Tork to dis-^ cuss the contract with him. Ofcourse, I went up immediately. He

'made out the contract, and when'w'e came to the question of rayal-; ties, I said. 'Page, do you mind; giving me a sliding scale of royal-I tes?' •

"He laughed and said, "What isj-our idea?'"I said, 'This book Is gong to

BCll 100,000 copies.'"He said, "Tou hear these stories

but they are Just stories. Booksdon't sell 100,000 copies. All theseatorics that publishers get out areJust stories. If his book sells 25,-000 copies, you will have an enor-moug success.'

"I said'to Mr. Page, 'Tou don'tmind my making out the slidingscale, do you "We will take 26,-OOO copies on the basis of 10 percent,'

Il-e-said, 'A1 right. That's fine.Just take this blank sheet of paperpnd make out your slide.'

"I wrote out my own sliding, 'Ecnle of terms. And I wrote out

10 per cent for the first 25,000,That means that I got 10 per centof the retail price of the first25,000 books that were sold.

"Then I fixed 12 1-2 per cent forthe next 25,000 and 15 per cent forthe next 15,000 and 20 per centfor all over 75,000. Twenty percent was the limit that any publisher had ever paid up to that;tlme.

" 'Fine' said Mr. Page. And heHnghed at me.

"I said, 'All right, I will makeyou laugh on the other side ofyour face when you begin to sendme those royalties,'

"He said, 'Tou can't make melaugh too hard, because when Imake money for you, I makemoney for the firm,'

"He said, 'Frankly, I tell you,Dixon, this boolc will eel! 25,000copies; but you are too late.Thomas Nelson Page has alreadybeat you to it.'

"I said, 'No, Page, he has not.Thomas Nelson Page has written the aentimenta.! view of the

, .South, and I have w.ritten thepainful, realistic view of things.And I am a bette editor of publicopinion than you are. This bookwill sell over 100,000 copies,'

"He laughed again. I said, Ti will laugh when you send me

tJio.se royalty checks.' And every^ime he would send me a big

icr and say, lla, na, too; -we go',

just as much as you did.' (For thepublisher realized almost asmuch net profit out of the bookag I got from the same book, asits author)."

"Would you mind tracing for ushow this urge for literary creationcame upon you, and something ofits developments,"

"While I was at Wake . Forestcollege." he said, "I was one oftwo students who established theWake Forest Student Magazine, 1edited it for two years. I wrotestories and editorials also for Itduring that time.

"I made up my mind thateventually I was going to bea writer, but that it wanwisest for me to live first, 1decided not to write until Iwas full of years and experi^ence. I wanted to succeed,fail and fight and have thebattles of life. . I carried thatplan out. I did not write myfirst novel until I was 40 years

/old."There was one thing I deter

mined to develop and I was working on that for a period of 20years. That was the story of thecrucifixion of the South. The storyof the South put to torture—andI lived through it."

"A great many Southerners•n'ould he interested, Mr. Dixon, Inknowing what determined you 'nthe production of your famoustrilogy of books?"

"Well," he said, "the thing thatdetermined me on that'was an Incident that happened In Bostonwhile I was a pastor there. Mywhole literarp career was .shapedby it. Justine D. Fulton, a verydistinguished Baptist preacher,went South on a tour of six weeks,and from the Pullman windowsand the hotel lobbies saw theSouth.

"At that time the bloody oh.'rtIwas constantly waved as a political' issue,, and I was in the home ofWilliam Hoyle Garrison. Fultonwent down to study.the South, andwhen he returned he made aspeech In Tremont Temple In thecity of Boston.

"I was in that temple that eve-' nlng. ' In the speech Mr. Fulton: said 'Brethren .before God, I am; telling yoir something. The o.nly

way to save this nation from hellIs for Northern mothers to rearmore children than Southernmothers.'

"I laughed out loud. He stoppedthe speech. In a short time hecame down and said to me, 'Whoare you? What do you mean bybreaking up my lecture. I aald,'I laughed out loud because Ithought you were sb funnv ' I_said, '•fou were the funnlc-F man;I ever saw In all my life. I havenever seen a Confederate flag.What has been said is not so, and]I will answer It one day.' j

"My books are the answer, libetran mv studlea then. It was

juu&L ttutJiurs Jmve

ficult time in becoming established. Many of them have written and written for years andyears, only to have their manuscripts rejected and their hopesdashed to earth. I recall thatmany of the leading Americanwriters today worked without encouragement for six, ten or fifteenyears. I should like to ask you ifyou had the usual difficulty ofaspiring authors in getting recognition?" J

"No, I had a very unusual experience. For while it Is true thatmost writers have to battle andstrive and wait for years andyears, as I-have Just told you thevery first novel I ever wrote waspractically accepted by two publishing houses—and was finallygobbled up by the Doubledy-PageCompany which sent me a wire tohurry to New York to sign thecontract. y

"I have said that the Leopard's Spots was my firstnovel. That was written Inthe year 1900. It was published In the year 1901. Thenfor 27 years, without a break, 'I was producing and sellingconstantly, and in that periodof time I did enougji writingto bring me $1,250,000. '

"Tliat I lived this Vf> andlost the rest of it is beside the

•question. The point is that Imade this money In this time—thus piling up a-record for

-monetary achievement thathad never been equalled, Ithink, by any other Amerlcailauthor, North or Sout'n.'"So you see I- buckled down to

real literary effort the flrk yearin this century. At once I beganmaking money. That first bookpaid me $100,000, which enabledme to stop lecturing and give n\wwhole life to writing. Up to dateover a million copies have beensold of that first book.

"The trilogy of books whichmade me famous were, as youknow, the Leopard's Spots,the Clasman, the Traitor.Those three books averaged

about one million copies each—the Clansman slightly out- '

• selling any of the others. TheOne "Woman sold about 90,000copies and prov ed to bequite a success when It appeared."'

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"The Leopard's Spots gave memy first big success. It broughtme Immediate position. Then Ibegan writing for the stage, and 1first dramatized the Clansman."

"Mr. Dixon," I questioned, "didyou find that writing was a mostdifficult thing for you to performor was literary creation a Joy toyou?" . . ,

"It was both," he said, "a Joyand a difficulty.' I' 'never writeuntil I am so full of the subjectthat I can't keep my hands off'ofIt, and that always gives a certain

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' ' ' XX^V-X •:"--^-.i:- •'

'̂'XXi'-k4-"'-

Thomas Dixon (shown at left as he appears today), Tar Heel author fromCleveland county, who wrote The Leopard's Spots and a score of other novels,gives credit for his "discovery" to Walter Hines Page (shown at right as he appeared when he %oas head of Doubleday, Page & Company, publishers of Dixon'sbooks.) He accepted for publication Dixon's_ first ruovel, of which 100,000 copieswere sold. Page also was a Tar Heel. He died while serving as U. S. ambassadorto London. , ' . ,r ,'After I have completed my pre- published in the year 1935.

parations," he went on, "which "After I have written my matc-" rial down with a pencil and re-take a great deal longer than the

actual writing, (I worked a yearon the notes of the Leopard's^pots and wrote that book in sixtydays. I worked a year on thenotes of the Clansman,; It waswritten in thirty days.),.' . ,After 1 have completed my preparations, which take a great deallonger than the actual writing. Iwrite 17 hdurs a day apd neveropen a letter or do anything except that one .thing until it Isfinished. ' , , \

"I do my best work with thatemotional concentration which ischaracteristic of any artistic ef-fort. I write with a big old pen-cil. Under the urge of production

write very rapidly."My wife has worn out four]

vised it and after my wife has put Iit in form, I revise it again beforet submit it to the publishers: andof course I revise it for the press."

"Do you find that your greatesteffort is put, forth under highemotional pressure?" X wondered.

"Yes. I have written my successful books only In that sort ofway."

"Just how much writing, I said,"have you done, Mr. Dixon?"

"I have written 23 novels, nineplays and six motion pictures thathave been produced. And I amstill writing." ^

"Will you recall, . off-hand," Isaid, "some of the plays yolt have

—the Clansman especially havvbeen plcturized and known lo t;public as The Birth of a Nation

"The Clansman, as you km

, th« the Ma,njn Gray, the E

was a' great success. The Or

Woman a modernate success. 1Played, myself, for one whole yearin the Sins of the Krthcr."

I asked, "and wl rt were thenames of the novels > .-u have wr..-tcnV"

"In all," he answered, "I ha% rwritten 21 novels. Some of the"that come quickest to mind ai>The Leopard's Spots the Ciansmn:(The Birth of a Nation), th'Traitor, Comrades, the Root cEvil, the Life Worth Livinc, t? fSins of the Father, the South-':the A'Jetim, the Foolish A'.:,the Fall of a Nation, the Way ,Man, A Man of the People

i.i. :• a rallier, XkvER T0LT> FATJIKR.fanciful name. : He went on to say that he andIMIKIIITHD FROM 310THER. • }Theodore Roosevelt formed a closo

*\My mother used to read The| attachment, the one for the other,Saturday Evening Post. I do not And th|it ho supported him forremember a time when that mapra- . the governorship of New York,

, zino was not in. our home. Sheread magazines, books, fiction,poetry and everything else thatcame her way.

"It is my opinion that I got myliterary flavor and blend from mymother.

"We moved back to Shelby fromthe farm, and my recollection be^gins with an old-fashioned whitehouse on the corner in Shelby. Itis. not there now. My father livedthere for a number of years. Igrew to be nine years old, and thenwe moved- to another farm."

have been a great preacher, j Myown father used to hear him years

voted for him for vice presidentof the United States and^ voted forhim again when he* was electedPresident.

He said that he never told hisfather, so long aa.^he lived, thathe had voted for a Republican.He said he had better sense thanto tell his father.

But he did go on to say that hewas interested in the Rooseveltfamily, that when he supportedRoosevelt for the governorship, hewas throwing himself behind the

A^rrTcan itTc. Dlxon must, f^at movement that Tdore was elected President of the

I United- States that one of the

ago, and ho Jolt that Impression If"featon him. So it waa a natural thing:for mo to ask Tom Dixon for his Sn.f Vtiawappraisal of his brother A. C. And, knewthis is what he said:

country and in England, togetherwith his great evangelistic Impactupon this nation, one would naturally arrive at the conclusion thathe must have been a great preacher." ' .

^"PASSION FOB WORK."'T am very sure it would be in-

" tercsting to your friends," I said,"and your readers, both 'old andnew, if you would tell them howyou are spending the afterglow ofa life that has been somewhatlong and full of unusual achievement and attainment."

! "I am spending It," he ^d, "inan endless passion for work—fornew thought and new ideas and

" new achievement."

I recalled at this point that hehad been engaged in a speakingtour through the middle west

it was my pleasure to hear himdeliver this lecture, and I recall

; now the striking manner In which; he went about his presentation,and some of the things he said.

For instance, he was talkingabout President Roosevelt. Hewent back to the time when hehad gone, as a young man fromNorth Carolina, to New York city.There, he said, he became inte\r-'

"I have always thought he was; He is a great believer in Frank-one of the greatest preachers that Hn D. Roosevelt. He does notthe countfv ever produced. I also mince words. He says, frankly,feel that he was the greatest that Mr. Roosevelt is staging aevangelist of the day. He was my revolution. That behind what Mr.big brother, my ideal and I loved; Roosevelt is doing is nothing morehim. And naturally I am preju-; nor less than a re-dlstribution cf

' diced. But when one considers; wealth. He says that it is histhe churches he held. in . this j opinion that this country is going

to snap out of it under that peerless leader.

Probably because Mr. Dixon,himself, had written so manybooks—I asked him, at this point,what .he thought of modern-day,literature—such as is coming from:the presses of the country each{day of the year. And this is what'he s^d:MODERN lilTERATURB.

"I think that a lot of it is unspeakably filthy. I cannot understand how the publishers print it,and I don't understand why people buy It."

"The world, as you have knownit," I said, "is it a better, a bap-pie^r and a saner wo^ld today thanwhen you first knew it?"

"Yes, I think it is."" ~ encouraged him,

'n"/ .nTwnl "sShing'oJ your home today.".md south for the HRA. Indeed, , ^ wonderful hometn he«r Wm' ^ork dty f^T 25 years on

Riversidfi Drive."I have my library there, In

which I spend endless hours -^ofstudy and work. My son liveswith us. My daughter is on theroad lecturing most of the time.She has a lovely home in Switzerland."

At this point, I remembered thata Major Dixon is running for theestcd in public and civic welfat^-e governorship of Alabama on the

and, to his amMcment, New Deal platform. And so Iyoung man by the name Theo-Dixon if Ibis young mandore Roosevelt, and a Republican. related to hi mowas interested in the same thing. i- nenhAw"

o'Sirs hAS »

now and that you plan to releaseit for publication In' the ' year19357" ,

"Yes. I think It will 1)e mymost important book. I can hardly keep my hands off it. I havebeen working on it for six months.I am going to make it cover theperiod from slavery into which Iwas born. Any man who has livedas long and as fully as I haveshould certainly be able to saysomething that would interest awide range of human beings.

"The Utle of that book is to be:The Story of a Minister's Son,dedicated to the black sheep ofthe flock, by one of them."

The other day, sometime afterMr. Dixon had returned to NewYork ^ity, I had a piece of fanmail in which the writer asked mefor Mr. Dixon's New York address.

That brings up an Interestinglittle bit of coincidence: For Instance, while I was talking to Mr.Dixon, he made the remark thatduring certain months of the'latelamented depression he had beenwithout carfare in the city of NewYork.

Mr. iOixon went on from myhome to Durham where he delivered a lecture. It so happenedthat I was in Durham a few dayslater. It ^further so happened thatI talked with a man who hadtalked with Thomas Dixon whileMr. Dixon was in that city.

HAS CHANGED ADDRESS. .

Thomas Dixon should have toldthis man that unless he got a financial break, he was going toeither lose his New York home, orbe compelled to sub-let it andseek more modest quarters.

Now, it so happened, that whenI returned home from that weekend trip, I had\a letter on mydesk from Mr. Dixon, with a brandnew address on it—^written in ink.

The surmise, then, is this: thatsince I have had two letters fromMr. Dixon from this new address,he did not get the financial breakhe was so sorely in need of, and*consequently, is out of his NewYork home—at least temporarily.

One who knows Mr. Dixon,either through his books or personally, will wish that the greatsoutherner may get some good financial breaks yet. ^ And anyonewho knows him would be disposedto believe that if he lived longenough to see his autobiographyon the market^ he will recoup hisfortune again.

For Mxr Dixbn does not think interms of age:^ He says he has noconsciousness of 'age. He movesabout, yet, with the agility of ayoung man. The old-time firestill sparkles In his eyes. He haslived—is still living and to use hisown phraseology:^

"If I should die tomorrow, 1should wave a happy farewell tothis world, and say, 'I have lived:I shall live again.'"

.1 :vQT a mlilioTi each."

In reply to a questionDixon said six ot his booksare still selling and availableto the public, these beinsTThe Leopard's Spots, his firstnovel; The Clansman, TheSoutherner^ The Man in Gray,The Sua Virgin, and TheHarding Tragedy.

The grand total of sales ofall the Thomas Dixon booksis above five million . copies,- .he said."Would you release some little

foreward about your^ autobiography which is now in the stateof production?" I suggested.

"I think I will make it my mostimportant book. As I see it nowI can hardly keep my hands offof it while I am on this lecturetour. I have already been working on it for six months.

"I keep saying to myself, Toucan't do it yet. Tou must do some 'more work.' I am going to make \it over the period from, In jwhich I was born, up to the;present time. /Three million and^five hundred thousand slaves werein the South when 1 was born.None of them were ever hungry orwithout clothes or shelter; but Ihave lived to see 17,000,000 ofpeople hungry, friendless andhouseless and many of them starving. to death. ,, i •

"This is the period of my lifeI am going to cover, I am going tomake it, of course, an Intimaterevelation of my own soul. I ex- \pect to make the history of the |development of the human soulthe basis of the story. I have, tnmy, last year^ become again most.interested in the study of the IBible. I made a new study of thejbook from a spiritual point offview, and I am going to embodythat into the history of the devel-[opment of religion in the LJnited •States." • I

"You think then, Mr. Dixon," I;went on, "that your autobiography, ;which you think will be your best,effort, will reach the public in i1935?"-

"That Is my plan as of today, iAnd my fingers are itchingbtrning ersd tingling to be ;ng on ' ' manuscript right '

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