The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-10-29

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to call herself, answers to that def
nition4 "Springtime" is one of Fred
eric Thompson's best productions, and
Nell does it credit.
"Springtime'' is laid in Louisiana,
and the time of the play is 1915. On
the day succeeding the opening of the
play, General Andrew Jackson, ignor-
ant of the cessation of the war of 1912.
Orleans To think of such a thing is
10 think of marching troops. of flying
cannon shells, of slow moving but
none the less effective warships, of
martial bands of music. of devastation.
of inhunlanity. But Spring time" treats
of none of these. 1t is not war play.
it is a love story. Bloodshed and
square-jawed Andrew Jackson furnish
only the suggestion of background.
The girls name is Madeleine de Va
lette. The boy is Gilbert Steele, the
son Of a rich American planter. The
Louisiana French in those days hated
Americans NJ. de Va1ette was no ex-
ception to the rule. The girl-who was
17-had never known lover. but
one had been furnished ready made to
her. N. Raoul de Valctte. her cousin,
l,oI h
before she had ceased to care for dolls.
Gilbert Steele first met and started to
love pretty Madeleine on the day of
her Introduction to the middle-aged
cousin, the readymade lover. OF
course, having arranged the marriage
of Raoul, the old gentleman was dis
traught one evening to discover that
the promised bride had run away Not
person in the household had the
slightest suspicion that the maiden
had met and instantly loved Gilbert
Steele and that she had followed him
as he rode away on his horse to join
Captain VOLTS sharpshooters in the
attack on New Orleans Old NJ De
Valette has recourse to family GUS
tom hundreds Of years old. which fur
nishs the reason for all the subsequent
actions of the play.
1.-The Circus Man, Klaw & Erlanger
and Joseph Brooks production of Eu
gene Presbrey's characterization of Hol-
man Days novel. is booked to- open in
Boston next month. The play has
made a good impression on the road,
Maclyn Arbuckle. who plays the part
of Fighting" Hinle Look. is happily
cast, with a very strong supporting
company.
Extremes meet in the play-Texas
and Maine. il is an encounter between
a rough and ready circus man and a
has had his training handling wagon
shows. There are more than fifty of
these small circuses now on the road.
The two big wagon outfits in the south
are the NJ. l.. Clark show from Alex
andria, La, and the Ernest Haag
show from Shreveport, La Clark has
been at it for 25 years and has a 40
wagon show. The Molly Bailey wagon
circus is known to every man. woman
and child in Texas. She has been
travelling these since 1855 and never cot
outside the state She has the same
show and the same performers she had
Ii years ago The principal players are
her own five sons and two daughters.
who play in the band and double in
the ring acts
In Mr.. Presbrey's play, the circus
man who has been the head of a show
of this sort for 20 years has been
bought out by the syndicate. He goes
home to visit his folks. His troubles
begin as soon as he strikes the town
and continue until he runs the village
just the same as he ran his circus.