The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-07
ADJUSTMENTS
Get Rich Quick Wallingford"

"Get-Rich- Quick Wallingford," com edy drama of American life, which was presented for the first time in Birming- lam at the Jefferson theatre last night is quite the best work George M. Co- han has yet done as a playwright and producer
 The play is based on the popular stories of George Randolph Chester, which are woven about the adventures of one J. Ru- fins Wallingford confidence man, and ms accomplace, Horace Daw, known as .Rlackie." Mr Conan has written play,
 However, which makes much more out ot
 the characters of Wallingford and Daw
 than their creator has seen fit to make
 for MT. Chester has not yet reformed ms
 fascinating rogues, while in the play potn
 become such fine chaps that our adnhrd-
 ton for their good qualities knows no bounds, and we depart with strong sense
 of having had our heart strings tuggeo
 once or twice in a way that the origlhal
 Wallingford and his pal have never been
 able to duplicate.
 J. Rufus Wallingford and Blackle
 Daw descend upon Battlesburg, somno-
 lent town of the middle west, brimful or schemes of trimming hoobs They start n atters off with rush. Wallingford IS sbortly the hero of the hour and hls stu pendous plans for the upbuilding of Bat tesburg dazzle the simple but not al- together witless villagers, fully as much as the arch schemer hoped they would do Of course J. Rufus had not the slightest notion of ever developing ms proposed carpet tack factory and his in- terurban trolley line into anthing more substantial than hot air, but there is young woman in Battlesburg who is a stenographer and later becomes the pri- vate secretary of J. Rufus Wallingford. She has a quiet, positive way about her and she soon begins to believe in the nobility of J. Rufus so strongly that his lcng dormant conscience is aroused on.
 tie eve of the proposed flight of Wal
 lmgford and Daw, who has also become smltten with a village maiden, trolley line magnate comes into the palatial of fees of Wallingford and offers him an even s1O00O00 for his trolley line right of way.
 That is the turning point. Neither Wal lirgford nor "Blackie" Daw has any fur- ther desire to be a crook. They become ! AS honest as the day is long. They marry those two fine girls, whose love and con idence first sowed the seeds of their rt generation; they make Battlesburg a | bustling city with public buildings, two | all the appurrenances of a modern me- | tropolis Even the trolley line is built, | fer you can see a car pass now and then I m the background, sharply outlined | against the twinllling lights of the new | and greater Battlesburg, the creation of | Walingford's fertile mind and the instrl- I mcnt of his salvation.
 | It is just here that the playwright has l dcne his finest and best work The ] 11 cta picture of the wonderful change wrought
 in Battlesburg and with the newly risen l ely gleaming magnificently in the dis | tance. On the lawn of Walingford' s pretty home the former magnates of the
 village, now millonaires in correct even 1 ;lg attire, are brought out one by one the former reporter, now theatrical
 riagnate and newspaper publisher, with 1 lis bejeweled wife, late a hustler of | dishes at the village hotel; the poor law | yer, now a great corporation attorney.
 the former hotel clerk, become wonderful l business man and head of that great and 1 fourlshing carpet tack factory, started as 1 {, myth, and others who have been trans | formed by the genius of Wallingford into | inillonaires with a milionare's club | numbering 40 members. Final happy
 touch, all these people, together with the
 wives of Walingford and Daw. are in- | tTOuuced 10 d uetectiNe, man WnO mas | known both men when they were crooks
 and now congratulates them with all his
 heart on their reformation.
 Then, with a few minutes of musing together on the lawn. Wallingford and | 'Blackie" both deciding over their cigars that it takes a smart man to be a crook, but a smart man is a foo; for being a crook, the curtain falls on
 a drama that seems to be just about right"
 The company is excellent A nun Der of interesting and chiefly hum
 orous types are introduced but all are
 delineated in faithful and realistic manner John Webster is well suited
 to play the part of Wallingford. His Isuavity, his winning manners and his good looks were in pleasing evidence while his ability as an actor made his
 performance delightful. Ethel Hunt as the girl whom Wallingford falls in love with, played with quiet direct ness, enhanced by womanly charm, that was very effective, while William H Forestelle as Horace Jaw was an able
 second to MT. Webster. Marjorie Eos ter as "Blackie's" sweetheart Jay. c Yorlse as Edward Lamb, the head clerk John D. O'Hara as c. w. Battles, ricli- est man in town; Florence Dunlap as
 Bessie Meers, head waitress; James H
 Manning as Andy Dempsey, hotel land
 lord. James c. Mark, with an extreme | ly funny makeup, as the mayor O. Pattlesburg; Abner Symmons as Henry Quigg, coal and ice magnate, and oth
 CTS whom lack of space forbids te
 mention. contributed to capital per formance. .
 "Get-Rich Quick WaiIingford" will be presented at the Jefferson agair