St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-27
THE BOOKMAKER,"
The Comedy W hich Will Be Put
on for the First Time in Amer
lea at the ii arriS.

lea at the ii arrIS.
The new play which Nat c. Goodwin
puts on tonight, entitled "The Book
maker" is an English comedy in three
acts. written by J. W. Piggott. The
author has come all the way from Lon
don to superintend the production. and
IS now in Minneapolis. Mr.. Piggott is
a young man, who has already made
his mark as a playwright. as well as an
actor. having served in the latter capac-
ity in Wallack's great New York conf
pany for several seasons.
To GLOBE reporter yesterday Mr..
Pigott expressed the hope that the play
would ''gO" here. ut may be objected
to that it is too English he said. but
it is not more so than good many plays
that have made successes in this cOun-
try, l am encouraged too by the fact
that at its London presentation Amer
leans were most enthusiastic over 1t.
Mr.. Goodwin is great comedian. one
of the greatest. if not the greatest, IN
the country. and he will make the most
of his part"
"You know it is hard tr write an orig
inal play nowadays. The C.itits Will
discover that you stole it. / produced
play some time ago in London entitled
(which Wins?' The next day five crit
les in five papers named five different
sources from which l stole it. As a
matter OF fact. it was entirely original,
and not at all like the plays they said it
was taken from. The BOokmaker was
suggested to me ten years ago by
II. J. Barron, who is now dead.
We went to a mass meeting together
and he said as passed the corner where
% a L EhnnfInr
do most yOciferOusly OH the English
race courses, lone of those fellows
would make a great character in play"
The idea struck me fOrcibly, and l
worked hard 10 produce play in which
there should be a boO6maker, but not
race course, because a race course can
not be represented on the stage, The
bOokmaker, Sir Joseph Trent, is the
principal character. He has been jock
ey, boOkmaker and a general deYOtee
of the races. AT the opening of the
play he has received word from law
yer that he has fallen heir to a barOnetcy
and $4,000 through the decease OF
relative OF whom he knew nothing. The
scenes take place at the seat of Lord
Marlborough. where he is summoned to
meet the lawyer.
He falls in love with the lords daugh-
ter?
No. he doesn't fall in love, that is one
Of the innovations of the plot. He
stFaightens out the love affairs
of several other young people, but
he does not fall victim TO the divine
passion himself. There is a good deal
of opportunity for Mr.. GoodwIn's fun.
Some of it will be of a farcial order,
but he has one or two pathetic situa-
tons also, and dramatic scene where
his former wife, who has deserted him,
turns up" The dialogue of the
comedy, which is always highly
important in a comedy, is bright
and abOunds in good hits. which the
company now playing at the Harris
will unQuestiOnably make the most of.
In the cast Mr.. PigOtt, the author, plays
Lord Budleigh, an English swell, and
Miss Lisette LIE Baron, who is well
known here through her splendid work
as member of the ST. Paul Peoples
theateT stock company. will have the
role of Lady Jessie. the principal fe-
male part in the comedy.