Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-03-01
SCENE FROM "PAID IN FULL"
"Paid In FULL, March 5.

"Paid In Full, March S.
Concerning the great American play
paid in Full" which was at the JEFF
ferson Theater in Portland last week,
tile Argus had the following comment:
Paid in Full by Eugene Walter,
play which ran two years in New
York and which was presented at the
jefferson theater earlier this season,
returned to Portland Friday night and
was presented again at the Jefferson
with an exceptional cast.
The play is written about the theme
of the Seventh COMMANDMENT Thou
shalt not steal' and it touches the
main moral issues in American life to-
day from the standpoint of the average
man more vitality than any play which
has ever. been presented in this city.
1t is then story of a man who believes
that the world owes him, living, and
with a brain full of seething Socialism
and greed, nc tries to collect the debt
from the pocket of his employer. 1t is
story that is alive and walking up
and down the streets of every Ameri
can city and it his been told from the
inside in paid in Full by seven char
acters and in four acts. There is tri-
umpllant vindication of goodness and
mercy and last act that clinches fast
the moral by a denouement tragic with
the inevitable.
'Paid in Full' is Eugene Walters
first real success, although he had
written 1.-THE Undertow'' and Scar
gent James previously, both of which
failed to find favor. He has since writ
ten two remarkable successes. There
are three companies playing "The
WOLF on tour and '"The Easiest Way
is at present the biggest dramatic sue
cess in New York. Mr.. Walter is a re-
cruit from newspaper ranks and he has
the Photographic eye of a good police
reporter There is in all his writings
a simplicity, a deadly cumulative and
tragic truth-telling naturalism that
grips the interest He has boiled down,
condensed, compacted, digested all the
PHILOSOPHERS of egotismF~ from Carl
Marx to- Bernard Shaw into his Joe
Brooks, the $1S-a-week clerk who hated
the life he led, his employer and his
associate because his friend got a raise
in salary and he did not. He contrast
ed Lard - pirates and sea pirates and
made pirate bold of Captain Williams.
hard man of evil repute who is Joe's
employer, and has given him much
pure gold of character stored away
inside his barnacled timhers He has
made "Jimsy" Smith the stand by Of
the T,rooks household, a six-foot ideal
of faithful love in selfish world, and
an exponent of optimism and deliber-
ate Groilery. He has made Emma, the
wife Of Joe Brooks, with her courage
and cheer a wholesome heroine to find
i'll 81 problem play, and these, with the
irritating mother law, the ingenue
small sister and the Japanese valet tell
the whole story of the play.
The action of the first act takes
place in the Brooks home in a Harlem
flat, with Joe Brooks spouting Social
ism and the cause of the down trodden
masses The second act takes place
in the Brooks apartment in an up
town hotel, where Emma has blocmed
into new youth and happiness with
Joes sudden prosperity, where the
discovery of his theft is made known
and where he reveals the full despica-
bic meanness of his nature by accusing
his wife of having been the cause of
his crime, and, as the climax of his
selflshness, demanding of her the price
of his safety through Capt Williams
fondnoss. The third act is in Capt.
Williams apartment, rugged up like a.
ship, with port and starboard lights,
pilot wheel and souvenirs of all the
world-a stage picture that cannot be
forgotten, with unique dramatic value.
Concerning the company which was
seen at the Jefferson Friday night,
there can he only the highest praise.
Miss Clara Blandick, who is remem-
bered as the leading woman with
kyrle Bellew in "Raffles.' offered a
characterization of Emma Brooks
which was without a flaw. Scott Coop
er, who has played in stock in this city,
was Capt. Williams and he made the
role Of the bluff old sea dog a living,
breathing personality. George Backus
| carried away the sympathy of the au-
dience as the loveable "Jimsy' Smith,
Lionel Adams as Joe Brooks was cred
liable in a role which would tax the
capacity of any actor and the remain
| der of the cast offered we'll nigh per-
| feet portraitures of the types they rep
| resented"
paid in F1ll' will be at the Augusta
Opera house Friday evening, March 5.