Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-04
SEPTEMBER 4, 1910

MISS Cnerfy, SAID Bob Hart IN MS
smooth, serious tones, you're in on
your own terms. I've got strictly busi-
ness pasted in my hat and stenciled on
my makeup box. When / dream of
nights l always see a fiVe-room bunga-
low on the north shore of Long Island,
with a Jap cooking clam broth and
duckling in the kitchen, and me with
the title deeds to the place in my pom
gee coat pocket, swinging in a ham,
mock on the side porch, reading Stan
ley's Explorations into Africa And
nobody else around. You never was in
terested in Africa, were you, Miss
Cherry?"
mot any," said Cherry. what I'm
going to do with my money is to bank
1t. You can get 4 per cent on deposit.
Even at the salary I've been earning,
I've figured out that in ten years I'd
have an income of about $50 a month
just from the interest alone. Well, /
might invest some of the principal in a
little business-say, trimming hats or a
beauty parlor, and make more"
"Well,' said Hart, you've got the
proper idea ali right anyhow. There
are mighty few actors that amount to
anything at all who couldn't fix them
selves for the wet days to come If
they's save their money instead of
blowing it. I'm glad you've got the
correct business idea of it, Miss Cherry.
l think the same way; and l believe
this sketch will more than double what
both of us earn now when we get 1t
shaped up"
The subsequent history of mice Will
Play is the history of all successful
writings for the stage. Hart and Cher
ry cut it, pieced it, remodeled it, per-
formed surgical operations on the dia-
logue and business, changed the lines,
restored 'em, added more, cut 'em out,
renamed it, gave it back the old name,
rewrote it, substituted a dagger for the
pistol, restored the pistol-put the
sketch through all the known processes
of condensation and improvement.
They rehearsed 1t by the old-fash-
ioned boarding house clock in the rare
ly used parlor until its warning click
at five minutes to the hour would oc-
cur every time exactly half second
before the click of the unloaded re-
volver that Helen Grimes used in re-
hearsng the thrilling climax of the
sketch.
Yes, that was a thriller and piece
of excellent work. In the act a real
thirty-two caliber revolver was used
loaded with a real cartridge. Helen
Grimes, who is a western girl of de-
cidedly Buffalo Bilish skill and dar-
ing, is tempestuously in love with
Frank Desmond, the private secretary
and confidential prospective son-in-law
OF her father, Arapahoe Grimes, quar-
ter million dollar cattle king, owning
a ranch that, judging by the scenery,
is in either the Bad Lands or Amagan-
sett, L. I. Desmond lin private life
Bob Hart) wears puttees and Meadow
Brook hunt riding trousers, and gives
his address as New York, leaving you
to wonder why he comes to the Bad
Lands or Amagansett (as the case may
be), and at the same time to conjec-
ture mildly why a cattleman should
want puttees about his ranch with
secretary in 'em.
Well, anyhow, you know as well as
I do that we all Ike that kind of play,
whether we admit it or not-something
along in between "Bluebeard, Jr," and
"Cymbeline' played in the Russian.
There were only two parts and half
in "Mice Will Play" Hart and Cherry
were the two, of course; and the half
was a minor part always played by
stage hand, who merely came in once
in a Tuxedo coat and a panic to an
nounce that the house was surrounded
by Indians, and to turn down the gas
fire in the crate by the managers
orders.
There was another girl in the sketch
"a Fifth avenue society swelless-who
was visiting the ranch and who had
sirened Jack Valentine when he was
wealthy clubman on lower Third ave-
nue., before he lost his money. This
girl appeared on the stage only in the
Photographic state-Jack had her
Sarony stuck up on the mantel of the
Amagan-of the Bad Lands droring
room. Helen was Jealous of course.
And now for the thriller. Old Arapa-