Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-26

four acts by James Forbes, presented for
the first time in Los Angeles at the Mason
opera house Oct 25. 1909,
THE CAST
Mrs. Babbltt tt.............,..D Diana Huneker
Iuella Ann Dawson. Virginia Hamilton
Mrs. William Henry Dawson -,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Marion stephenson
william Henry Dawson, jr. .Robt Hamilton
Bill Crabb. ......,........L Lawrence sheehan
William Henry Dawson Guy Is; honilaI hi1li
Perez Gill. .........,.. .Emmett ohacN ..4
Beth Elliott. ............. miriam E.,,-
Franklyn Royce. .ChhOTd sd.4 stoLA
Martin Drury y........'.. ;DAliei q ,1 ~
A Conductor r............ William SchroeuSr
Bob Blake. .'''''''''' =. !, ~ a,,Sroiii ir
Ted Watts. ....,....... .JhIhes " O-.Si, = =
Julius us...............T Theodore kehrwald
.Jobn Kimbali, li,....,..... Guy B. Hoffman
Ben Cobb. ..-......... .Elhme't
RY FLORENCE BOsARD LAWRENCE
A man may be hero even though he
is attired in tweeds of the present day
instead of satins and laces of the ro-
mantle epoch. He may have a heart
for any danger and cover 1t with lhe
iallrtv carelessness of the professional
'trsveling man." AS swords and dag
gers are no longer in general use "hy
should he not take advantage or an
ever present weapon and put ms enemy
out of the game by the judicious use OF
cheering and intoxicating beverages?
Such is the plot of James FORBES
play, "The Travelling Salesman pre-
sented last night at the Mason. IL
shows the audience a view of this much
maligned class of men, the gay, light
hearted youngsters making the pest OF
a bad matter, the middle-aged one nan
inclined to a crouch because OF MS ap-
sence from the better creature comforts
offered in larger towns and more MOD
ern hotels, and the young married man
lamenting the fact that "he didn't hear
from home" and that ''it is the first
Christmas he has ever spent away from
the little woman"
Christmas day in that depressing
sample room of the Elite hotel Is quite
enough 10 make the merry toasts ana
the song, For He's a Jolly Good Eel
low" ring with hollow mockery, and
contagious atmosphere of gloom en-
velopes those four halpess mortals'
spending Christmas in this forlorn
place. The lady boarder complaining
to the office of the drunken revels.
which seem so little like revels to any
one of the members of the party, fur-
nishes a comedy mood that is delight
full. and throughout the play the SEN
timent of the piece is merely suggested,
and then Immediately some joke or
amusing situation relieves the threat
ened seriousness of the moment.
Epigrams are sprinkled through the
piece with a liberal hand and are with
out exception decidedly clever The Ia
ment of Watts upon the difficulty of
being understood in his ambition for
good behavior is well voiced when he
says: "Yes-us and the soubrettes,
when we are on the square nobody Will
believe us" Most of the wit is leveled
at the weaker sex, but the jokes are
r,Pf frYT, n fah
takes away the sting. There may be
some left in the remark one man makes
after listening to a rhapsody of an
other about the girl-not "a girl, but
the girl" he says, land this one is
different"
"Oh," replies the scoffer, they are
all different at first, but at the finish
they are all alike"
Mark Smiths impersonation of
Blake. the genial travelling salesman,
who develops real live hero traits, is
excellent. In fact, the characterize
tions of the four travelling men are
extremely truthful and simple and the
poker game with the jokes, stories and
mild "ioshing" is so literal that de-
votees of the game may enjoy every
pause, every gesture and even the
bluffing.
The two children in the play, Ma
rion Stevenson and Robert Hamilton.
are clever youngsters, and get good
ly share of the laughs whenever they
are on the stage. Diana Huneker i'm
personated the sharp-tongued and
good-hearted village gossip with de-
lightful effect, and Miriam Nesbitt
played the part of Beth Elliott in an
appealing and sincere manner.
The play offers no great moral prob
lem to be decided but it is a whole
some, refreshing view of one side Of
life which does not often appear to the
general public. and it opens the eyes
of the conventional theater-goer to the
fact that perhaps many classes of men
and women are more or less bad, not
because they want to be, but because
their environment, their occupation
and the opinion of other folk force