The Washington times., 1911-01-24
PULLMAN CARNIVAL
A HILARIOUS FARCE
Rupert Hughes Recalls Old
Hoyt Productions by
Unique Entertainment.

There is a peck of fun in a Pullman.
Any skeptic should engage a seat al
the Belasco Theater for the Overland
Limited, which leaves Chicago about
$50 every evening, and pulls up in Ne
vada about lG:45 o'clock. That is rather
a desolate region in which to land, but
If an evenings mirth is a sleep re-
storer the auditor can leave the theater
and go straight back to a Washington,
D. c., home and think with ghoulish
glee of the Iuckless mortals thus
stranded.
For this Pullman car farce, EXCUSE
Me-" provides all the fun of travelling
in tabloid form without any of its &C
companying discomfOrts
The tourist in Rupert Hughes land-of-
make-believe will meet the jolliest
crowd one could wish for travelling
companions. The most memorable fig
ure on the journey probably will be
ubiquitous porter who even lands in
the combination smoking and parlor
car of the second act by a clever stage
device.
Plot Never Missed.
About the only commodity the Pull
man does not carry is a plot, and that
Is hardly missed. Light entertainment
Of the haphazard kind is just what one
needs on a cross-country trip like this,
and the unexpected only is expected to
happen.
Next to that dusky and importunate
porter, he's really Willis Sweatnam of
minstrel fame, ones heart goes out, as
ones must to red-headed maidens, TO an
auburn -oung lady who had the mis-
fortune to come aboard with her pros
pectiVe husband without the fOrmallty
of a marriage ceremony.
1t was a long and a hard hunt for
minister. She wanted to go back home,
but he had to catch transport for a
three years stay in the Philippines and
he wouldn't hear of it. Once, at Ogden,
they almost had minister; in fact, they
kept his coat tail for a souvenir, but he
escaped.
Neither he Tor she could have been ex-
pected to know that the red-ticd neigh
Dor of The next berth was a clergyman,
for he had set out to disguise that very
fact. And, of course, when he started
on the gilded course of cocktails, cigar
cites, and mild profanity, and was even
accused by the conductor of being a
recognized the Rev. Walter Temple? No
one, of course, except SnoOzleums; in
deed, it was rather a wonder that he,
played by himself, did not suspect some
IIlnBSs lndI QOR ndQ tne intelligence or
two fiancees and of nine train conduc-
tors. His red-hafred owner said so.
Snoozleums Lost.
But poor old Snoozleums had troubles
all his own, so perhaps he overlooked
the fact. He wasn't used to travelling
in baggage cars or being smuggled
around in a porter's coat and that time
the young woman pulled the rope out on |
the Utah plains and brought the train
to a sudden stop because she thought
doggie had fallen overheard, must have
Jared poor Snoozleums as we'll as the
other passengers.
The red-haired young woman would
have made him back the train, too if
he hadn't produced the puppy. She had
him bufIaloed-that shouldn't be slang
in the West, where the buffaloes come
from-or, in plain Eastern parlance She
had that conductors goat. The audi
ence liked her for it. She was Miss Ann
Murdock. No one remembered having
seen her before, but here's wishing her
long stage career, for she is a mighty |
charming and winsome irgenue And |
she had red hair
There were others. James Lackave. a |
native son, rolled in with his SOO-pound |
1mpersonation of Jimmie Wellington, |
mainly noted for being the husband of !
Mrs. Jimmie Wellington, the horrid lady
who taught the minister's wife how TO |
smoke and was on the way to Reno to |
get divorce. John Wesley essayed !
the Harry Mallory Of the farce. the
fance of the red-headed young woman, |
who realIy--hut let's get on with the
story. There was an EngIishman \
missionary. a gambler, other prospective
divorces. and an array of conventional
farclcal types. who did unconventional
Things. j. r. HILDEBRAND