The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-16
ADJUSTMENTS
"The Man From Home"

Because a train was late it was after o'clock when the curtain rose last night at the Jefferson theatre for the perform
 ance of William Hodge and his company
 in "The Man From Home." When the
 man from Kokomo, with his slow drawl
 and his shrewd philosophy, stepped on the
 stage to try his wits against a handful
 of rotten nobility, intent on consummat-
 ing the sale of a title to an American
 heiress, who was also from Kokomo and
 his ward, the wait seemed well worth
 while.
 .fThe Man From Home" is a fine grip
 ping sort of play, and just the kind that
 appeals to the native born of this coun-
 try. for it is vigorous satire on snobs and it's theme, that of title buying by
 the rich young women of the United Estates, is one on which nearly every
 body holds an opinion. Booth Tarkineton and Harry Leon Wilson, co-authors of he
 play, did not spare foreign nobility when
 they set to work. In fact, it is seldom
 that even this class, whose follies have
 proved an easy mark for the dramatists
 of all lands, has received such a severe
 I1oWtNtlt II tue lInS lSu
 aritsocracy was heavily scored, the Rus
 sian aristocracy fared better, for it was
 represented by one of the most admirable
 characters in the play, grand duke
 who is travelling incognito and becomes
 a very good friend of the man from h.
 diana
 Daniel Voorhese Pike is a young lawyer
 of that Indiana town whose name has been the inspiration of vaudeville per formers ever since Kokomo was first tossed over the footlights in jest, soon to
 be done to death in stale quips without number. Pike is an admirable American type the sort of man some of our Amer ican novelsts have drawn extremely well in their books, although Fhe has not been seen quite 50 often on the stage in a
 guise that would make him easily recog nizable. Pike has been made the guar dian of young heiress who has travel2d much and lived abroad until the name of her little home town has become an aver
 sion. She has some lofty notions of being
 a grand lady, dream that bids fair to
 come true in short order when she falls into the hands of an impecunious family of English aristocrats who need the
 money Miss Ethel Granger Simpson IS
 the Indiana heiress and she positively shudders every time Kokomo is men toned. She would erase that vulgar town
 from the tablet of her memory.
 Great is Miss Ethel Granger-Simpson s chagrin, therefore. when her lanky guard ian, srnacking of the soil and quite care less in his use of American idioms. ap- pears on the scene for the purpose of making a little investigation before giv- ing his consent to the marriage of his ward to the scion of Newcastle. who of fers to bestow his tawdry title and his 30 cent person on the young woman in consideration of large settlement. When Pike tells Ethel that he has kept
 her picture a long time and there is a significant pause, it is easy to surmise that the guardian Is also to be the lover In four very interesting and unusually well written acts, Pike saves the life of Russian reyolutionist, discovers that his unknown acquaintance of an Italian ho- l tel is in reality a Russian grand duke opens the eyes of the heiress to the worth | lessress of her would-be connections and proves to her his own stirling manhood. ] Thoroughly cured of her title hunting mania Miss Ethel Granger-Simpson. who 1 took on the hyphen just for effect and is really very lovable young person when you get to know her, decides that Koko-
 mo and Kokomo ways are not so bad after all. At the close of his labors in | Italy Guardian Pike sees where he will
 have a lifetime job as husband of the I repentant heiress.
 | II was a pleasure to study MT. Hodges S
 quiet but effective methods as Albert Pike 1 He seemed a character out of life as | it is known in the state which has been so highly productive of quaint types. His drawling tones never failed to carry con
 yiction and his wits were equal to every emergency. Such thing as brain storm seemed far removed from his scheme of life. Although tired by the strenuous efforts made to reach the the
 atre In time for a performance. he gave