Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-14
FIGMAN OFFERS
MIRTH PROvOKER
"MARY JONES' PA" is FULL OF
LAUGHTER
BURBANK COMPANY OPENS IN
"cAMEo KIRBY"
"FIorodora" Begins Second Week Be-
fore Packed House - General
News of Plays, Players
and Theaters
BY SHIRLEY OLYMPUS

|
was making his observations anent
| Mary James Pa play and character.
| And he just about summed up play
and character for himself, and for
| every other person who laughed until
| he was in the best humor of many
months, just because Hiram Perkins.
voyageur printer philosopher and
| father had gone away, had come back
and had proved himself more than a
vagabond and home-deserter.
If Edith Ellis had written-crammed
would be q better word-any more
! laughter into her clever comedy she
would have made it farce. AS it is
she has made Mary James Pa a
worthy successor of Hoyt's unforget-
table mirth-producers. 1t is near-farce
and in the hands of Max Figman and
most delightful entertainments Los
Angeles has been privileged to wei
come for many long day.
| MARY James Pa is the story of
q tramp printer who married a girl IL
years old. Hiram Perkins is one of
those present-day Rip Van Wrinkles,
| irresponsible, a jack of-all-trades and
master of at least three; witty, wise
and thoroughly likable. He wants to
see the world, and does. He girdles
| the globe, remaining away from home
and children something like nine years
When he returns suddenly the story
| begins. His wife. though more or less
| disgusted with his seeming lack or
manliness for deserting her, hires him
as her cook. She, in his absence, has
assumed control of the printing office
| from which a country newspaper IS
| issued She enters a political fight,
| not as a suffragette, but as an editor
| A critical moment comes. Her hus-
band, who is still unknown to all save
herself in his true relation to her.
steps in and aids her, winning the po-
litical battle. Village gossips get busy
and make trouble for the wife. In
the end, the cook-husband, who thinks
he stands in the way of his wife's hap
| piness, is about to leave her, and al
low another man to marry her.
Father love masters him and he
saves his own daughter from dis
graceful elopement. He has written
| a book the proceeds of which are ample
| to pay off certain mortgages on the
printing plant. When the Purity
| Brigade of citizens are about to take
| the cook-husband to a tar and feather
party" the wife acknowledges her
husband. In that instant she finds she
| has always loved the man, and he,
her. 1t is a pretty story, we'll told.
Give Max Figman any part and he
| will give good account of himself in
return. Supply him with such char
! acter as Hiram Perkins, and then put
| a bushel Of clever lines, culled though
! they may be from dozen masters OF
literature, into his mouth, and he will
pay three hours of the most mirthful
| interest anyone cares to collect. Max
Figman is young, clever, with man
ner all his own. What more can one
ask of a comedian? Henry Dixey, that
wonderful comedian would have clap
| ped his hands in delight and held his
sides in laughter had he seen Figman
play the part created by Dixey him
self. Nobody could have found fault
with Figman.
| It's hard to say whether Portia Per-
kins, the wife, or Mary Jane Perkins,
the little daughter, shares the honors
with Mr.. Figman. If Gretchen Hart
man, who plays Mary Jane, is really
a child, she is wonder, for she knows
as much about acting as many of her
sisters who are twice her age and have
a reputation on Broadway. There may
be nothing in a name, but there is
| something in the portrayal of the wife
| by Miss Helen Lackaye. She makes
| Portia Perkins the sort of woman any
man is proud Of One would naturally
| think a woman who runs a newspaper
and enters political campaigns more or
| less mannish. Not so with Miss Lack
| aye's Interpretation. She makes the
business woman a woman and a
mother, patient, capable and unde-
| niably likable. 1t may sound bit ful-
some to say Miss Lackaye is ideal, but
| Judging from the satisfaction she gave
| the audience, the adjective just about
| fits.
| John C. King as Barrett Sheridan,
| country politician and lawyer, is at
home in his character. He gets lot
| of sympathy. Ernest G. Warde IS
worthy of his fathers name. He ADDS
not a little bit to the family reputa-
| ton by his portrayal of narrow
minded, close-fisted understanding poll
| ticaI shyster Dorothy Phillips did ex-
actly what every other girl of sixteen
would do, and as Lucille Perkins she
| made good most decidedly. AS a mat
| ter of fact, every member of the cast
played his or her part in a most accep-
| table manner, adding to the general
excellence of the comedy as a whole.
| If it Is laughter the playgoer is seek
ing, MARY James Pa" should not be
missed.
AS walked out of the Burbank the
ater and on up the street after having
witnessed the first production of
"Cameo Kirby | was filled with two
distinct feelings. One was satisfac-
| ton: the other hope Satisfaction
heralded new play season of the Mo-
rosco stock house had opened to
standing-room house and had not been
made too much of by that genial press
person, Sidle Lawrence. Hope came
| from desire to see Kirby win his
| fight against great odds, for "Cameo"
is--or was-a gambler, and has all the
stigma of that profession" attached
to him, so he has much to do before he
can prove himself worthy of the one
good woman who has come into his
life.
It's the STORY of a gambler and a
girl is "Cameo Kirby" Impossible as
it may seem, the gambler is gentle
for the zest thereof. The girl is gen.
tlewoman of the realest southern sort.
That they should love with that pure,
uncomfortable affection which emo
bles is not strange, for they are really
equal after all.
Dainty, delightful. sparkling with
epigrams and telling a strangely COM
pelling love story, a story we all want
ed TO hear to the end just like the
General, sums up Cameo Kirby"
After all, LarlSin Bunce is right, for
he says "When the fool maker finished
YOU, Gene Kirby, he stopped work"
The chance estimate of Bunce. sue
cinct, frank and uncomplimentary,
seems to give keen insight of Kir-
by's character as he was introduced so
delightfully."- by A. Byron Beasley. Were
Cameo Kirby bit more empirical he