Los Angeles herald., 1908-02-10

.......................... slslsie l.siuoh'
Ruth Clayton. the stranger from st; LOUIS w.,
School children, lynchers, guests. village band
BY sIDLE LAWRENCE
MOTHER truly rural drammer de-
n lighted the usual two big audi
"A ences at the Burbank yesterday
and will continue at that playhouse
through the week. The piece is called
Home Folks" which is bad name
for IT. and was written by c. 7. Dazey
author OF I'm old Kentucky" The
riof Wealth" and other plays more
or less familiar to local theater-g oers
Home Folks is by no means the
idyllic pastoral it's title might leau you
to expect. 1t is melodrama in coun,
try setting, with the usual assortment
of backwoods character types when
the several members of the Burbank
company portray with their usual ex-
cellence in this sort of roles. Inc nero
wears a blue flannel shirt and over
alls. One of the women strolls through
the four acts of the play sans both
shoes and stockings. The heroine is a
school teacher, with a scapegrace
brother. She comes from st. Louis and
wears civilized attire. The villain, OF
course, is modishly arrayed, as villains
in rural melodrama always have been
and probably always will be.
The Barrel Ballet
Apart from Maude Gilbert's bare feet
and ankles, the feature of the play
is a barrel ballet. presented by a hali
dozen bows whose clothes had been
stolen while they were enjoying the
delights of the "old swimming hole.
Then there is a kissing dance-not III
the least like the soul Kiss" or the
Merry Widow waltz; scene ~
which butter is nearly made on the
stage; in fact all the accepted TRICKS
Ia nrovide a rural atmosphere" with
the single exception of the live stock
Home Folks" are just plain folks
There isn't a dog, a COW, hen or any
other critter on the stage, though from
the wings early in the first act, comes
an unusually unconvincing cackle, sup
posed to herald the triumphant laying
of an egg by old Speckle.
The play was presented at the Bur
bank about a year ago and hence is nc
novelty for regular Burbank patrons
Its character types are amusing ano
its action proceeds with fair celerlty
until the last act. when the plot seems
suddenly to disintegrate However
the pieces are gathered up at the nm
ish. the villain is taken away to DE
propertly hanged and the hero takes
his girl into his arms, an example
which is promptly followed by two
other SWANS with their appointed
sweethearts.
one of the characters in the play
is a buxom widow with three suitors.
Two of them propose and are rejected
Ultimately she proposes to the third
who was too bashful to pop" by him
self, but who gratefully accepts the
widow when she offers herself. Those
earlier proposals are genuinely funny.
One of the suitors is the richest man m
the country. To the widow he says:
A Novel Proposal
"You can carve your name on my
tombstone any time you wish, right
under my first wife's. left room for
1t cause / thought of you when she
died"
The second sutton offers her the key
to his store door, but there's nothing
doing. Then the widow whispers coyly
to number three, and the rejected
suitors offer their congratulations.
Excellent work is done by John w
Burton as the capitalist lover; by Will
lis Marks as the storekeeper and by IL
]. CHM as the recipient of the widows
belated affections. Miss Royce is the
widow; Desmond, of course, the hero
Miss Hall, the heroine; Harry Mes
tayer, the scapegrace brother; Maud'
Gilbert, the barefoot girl; Henry
Stockbridge, a country hddler; A
Byron Beasley, the citified villain, ano
Elsie Esmond, a hired girl. Masters
Pete Clancy and Chandos Marks d.
very we'll as country boys, and there
are always Miss Gilbert's ankles anC
the barrel ballet to keep you interested
The Grand thriller this week is pre-
sented under the title why Girl
Leave Home" If they leave for tn
purpose of seeing this play they prob
ably will regret it, for a sillier, more in
ane thing hasn't been presented on tn
Grand stage in many months.
So far as Pearl Sherwood is concerned
Pearl is the young woman who leave
home in the play--the reasons for he
going are so many and SO cogent tina
one marvels how she was able to stan'
it as long as she did. AS matter o
fact, however, Pearl finally leaves hom
only because she can't help herself
She is first knocked unconscious by he
brother, is next chloformed by the wo
man proprietor of an establishment
euphoniously known as a road house,
and ultimately is carried out by the vii
lain who is bent upon her 'rooin." 1
is all unspeakably silly twaddle, blu
worse is to come.
Pearl is taken to this road house
and locked up in a room. The villain
still pursues her. He pursues he
around a table, behind chair, over
| .olding bed. That is PEARLS oppor
tunity she shuts up the bed with MI
Villain inside of it. Then the landlad.
enters. Pearl grabs her by the throa
and chokes her into insensibility. Sh
knows how to do this because he
brother has done the same by her in al
earlier act.
These two disposed of, only the negr
porter remains between Pearl and free
dom. She knocks him out by blow oil
| the head from a water pitcher an
makes her escape. Then she runs eigh
miles through the mud to the prison Ii
which her brother is confined, and ar
rives just in time to save his life.
| Such rot as why Girls Leave Home
| Is calculated to make men like Owel
Davies, Theodore Kremer or Hal Rel
blush for their profession. From tn