The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-20

body else to provide an adequate dramatic
sented by Mrs Rice in the pages of her lit
tie books. However, the author OF the
stage version has preserved the original
flying extent, at the same time inventing
enough new action 10 make the production
effective from a dramatic viewpoint There
were noticeable crudities in the play, re-
sulting very likely. from an incomplete
knowledge of stagecraft on the part OF the
adapter, but. on the whole, the perform
ance proved very attractive by reason of its
abundance of color. its picturesqueness OF
situation and the simple, direct and clean
story which IL had TO tell.
The playwright took for her principal
theme the very brief story of Mr.. Stub
binss love affair with poor little Mis- Hazy
his courtship. marriage. fall from grace,
Punishment from the cabbage patch and-as
a newly invented sequel-his return TO the
quaint neighborhood to find that the gov
eminent had awarded him a pension that
would cause that dreaded word, work, 10
become a stranger to him in the future.
This Mrs. Flexner has used as the main
topic of the play, but she has attached to
it the pathetic story OF Lovey Aarys es-
cape with the little boy. Tommy from the
orphan asylum and the adoption of botn
by Mrs. Wigs, who discovers ere long that
the wee little chap Is the child of her own
The character of Mr.. Stubbins is all but
original with the dramatist, since this re-
doubtabe individual is only a feeting fig
ure in the book of "Lovey Mary" making
his way shiftlessly through two or three
pages with dissipated face and slice of
pumpkin pie. In the play Mr.. Stubbins be-
comes, along with Mrs. Wigs, central
figure. and so 1t was necessary for Mrs.
Flexner to write all of the lines that fall to
his share and TO build up the character
anew in her own way.
Tft company was large and OF high aver
age merit. The role Of Mrs. WiggS was
most admirably suited to the temperament
of Mrs. Madge Carr Cook. an actress who
has only too often been poorly cast in past
productions. Her manner of speech, with
the unmistakable Kentucky flavor, her
mannerisms, her appearance, her show OF
boundless good humor and great tender
heartedness were all pleasing and con-
cordant and never too far fetched or over
drawn. She made OF the optimistic Mrs.
Wigs a new and delightful stage character
and achieved a success that was most pro-
nounced. Lovey Mary was played by little
Mabel Taliaferro, one of the most artistic
young actresses on the American stage and
she realized the character to the minutest
detail. She was deliciously sweet and SYM
pathetic her entire portrayal being per-
feet gem that cannot soon be forgotten. An
excellent bit of Characterization was given
by Helen Lowell Mis- Hazy.-the actress
presenting one of the quar- 81 and most
humorously pathetic figures ever seen in a
play of any kind. 1t would have been hard,
indeed, to find any one better suited 10 the
part. The same may be said or Miss LII
Ian Lee, whose rendering of the disagree
able role of the spiteful Mrs. Eichorn was
just good in its way. Miss Anna Fields
was funny in the part of Mrs. Schultz,
Miss May McManus very natural as Asia
Wigs and Miss Beth Franklin acceptable,
II somewhat colorlesS, In the part or Miss
Lucy, the Christmas lady
The play is essentially womans play,
and the male characters are or secondary
consideration. although most of them were
in very competent hands last night. VIII
T. Hodge made the most of the role OF Mr..
Stubbins and kept the audience in roars of
laughter upon his first appearance. Argyle
Campbell, as Nilly Wigs, and Taylor Gran
vile, as the crippled Girls Hazy. gave pleas
ing interpretations of their parts. Thurston
Hall made rather impossible newspaper
man out of the role OF Mr.. Bob. but this
was as much the drematist's fault as his
own. The character OF Mr.. Wigs was well
taken by Oscar Eagle, TO whose excellent
stage management much of the success OF
the performance was due. The minor roles
were all in capable hands and the children
who appeared In the play were exception
ally well trained in their work, the two
little girls playing the part of the Wigs
children being unusually good for Juvenile
actresses.
The mounting of the play was all that
could have been desired. The first setting
showed the interior of Mrs. Wiggs's house,
with the tumble-down furniture, the poor
old wooden bedstead and the ''picter cards"
tackled up on the walls, and the setting for
ence a glimpse OF the famous cabbage
patch" near the railroad tracks on the
outskirts of Louisville, with Its settlement
of little tin-roofed shanties. Mrs. Wigs,
of the Cabbage Patch is surely a novelty
and deserves the success with which 1t
gagement of only one night in Indianapolis
was all too brief The play could have
easily run through three or four more per-
formances here to large audiences.