The Washington herald., 1911-05-14
THE WEEKS PLAYBILLS.

Belasco-'SThe Man from Home"
At last. THE Man From Home" For
| over three years local theater-goers have
been served with periodical reports Of
the excellence Of the first Of the Tark-
| ington-Wilson plays. a comedy that had
no difficulty in establishing the wonder
full record Of over 800 consecutive per-
formances in Chicago, and almost GOO in
New York. as we'll as breaking records
of twenty years standing in Boston and
Philadelphia, the former with twenty
six weeks Of success, and the latter with
eighteen capacity weeks. Tomorrow
night he comes. with his original cast
and trappings, scheduled to fill q weeks
engagement at the Belasco Theater, and
William Hodge will be seen in the role
Of Daniel voorhees, Pike.
Even though THE Man From Home
IS actually q stranger here, he has be-
come too universally known to require
any sort Of an Introduction. One need
simply say that he is In the very best
vein Of his authors, one Of whom has
Monsieur Beaucaire' to his credit, and
the other Of whom wrote 1.-THE Spenders."
More than that, though, he Is the first
joint creation of these two famous men.
They have never surpassed him in point
CT graceful, Infectious comedy, acted
amid delightful surroundings The chief
theme Of the play may be said to be
blow at snobbery. and it is a punch
that has been delivered with no uncer-
tain hand. International marriages of
the all too common barter and sale de-
scription furnish the means OF attack.
The story OF the play is a distinctly
novel and peculiarly attractive one, deal
ing as II does with a curious admixture
of American plainness and European
high life. The story runs briefly thus:
Horace and Ethel Simpson, natives Of
Kokomo. Ind, having been left orphans,
and with a comparatively large sum of
money at their individual commands de-
eide to live In Europe They are taken
up by q certain European class, who
use them for their own ends. fiatter
than, and otherwise cater to their van
ity. Both these young people become
Angiomaniacs Of the most impossible
order. Their affairs are left in the hands
OF Daniel Voorhees, Pike. q lawyer Of
Kokomo. He hears that Ethel has de-
cided to marry tho Hon. Almeric st.
Aubyn, the eldest son Of an impscunious
peer. the Earl Of Hawcastle. and i'm
mediately takes ship to Italy. where the
young people are living. with the idea
OF looking into the matter. He arrives
at q crucial moment. Ethel has prom
ised 10 marry the young man. and the
father demands the settlement Of three
quarters Of million IN payment for the
honor" his son 10 about to do her. She
believes the young man loves her for
herself.
It becomes Pixies business to chow the
precious pair up In their true colors, and
this he proceeds to do. In the piece
and the action thereof the authors have
interviewer some odd characters. such e.
. Russian nobleman. an ESCAPED Russian
convict. Q frippery old lady Of title. and
the local adherents Of hotel life upon the
Continent The fate Of the Russian convict,
who has escaped from eiberis, turns out
to Be intimately connected with the des-
tiuies Of both the Russion noblenAn and
the lady Of title. while the earl himself
turns out TO hsve been directly rsspon-
sihle Tor the fhte to which the convict
has ben ssntsneed. The details Of the
meuaee n which Pike ManQ these
Acherto ukneU1 tnci1sntD g 11gAt an1