The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-04-21

TAKE Mr.. McWade's place, for
Il example. Having. by habit,
measured nv standards by produc-
tions Of at least the grade OF
Bought and Paid For' and "The
Greyhound, I should say 1.-The
Llfer'' would not be worthy
second performauce-unless, in
deed, Joe Weber and Lew Fields
could persuade Dave Warfield to
return to burlesque and make us
rock with merriment over it. Yet
Mr.. McWade-a fine old actor,
who blends the mellowness of the
old school with the repression of
the modern in a manner that re-
minds US of Joseph Jefferson, Mrs.
Gilbert and Mrs, Charles Walcot-
asks us to take it seriously; and,
all said, I should not be utterly
dismayed to hear it had been ac-
cepted in that mood. After which
confession, ] can only tell you
what occurs. An old man (Robert
McWade) is serving a life sentence
in Sing Sing through miscarriage
of Justice. Still, he is having
good time of 1T, for he is prison
gardener and loves the work. In.
deed. when, after thirty years, he
learns that he has been pardoned,
he rebels at leaving! He cries a
good deal about his garden and
his daughter Mary, upon whom he
has never laid eyes. Then storm
"a very well stagemanaged' -
storm comes up; and, being more
agressively damp than No. 1885 s
tears, browns them into oblivion
for the moment The old man S
trouble is that New York does not
offer any crime that will get him
back to prison and his garden.
However, the worst of luck is
bound to change; Mary turns up
with a drunken husband; and, by
killing his intoxicated sonjn-law,
Mr. McWade is able TO break into
Sing Sing once again and end his
days in happiness.
Macklyn Arbuckle seems TO
havve come near the bullseve with
bit Of trIte, but genuine senti.
ment in "The Reform Candidate, -
His role is not the one that sup
plies the title, but an opposition
"boss. The scene is his office. to
WHICH inc IclDI III NohiNo
in panic. He has known Hoke from
childhood. but has always been at
odds with him. Now, however, he
is in a deep hole-has mortgaged
bis house and indeed, has appro-
priated $4,000 from the bank in
which he is employed in order to
spend il on his campaign. He
thinks it would do most good as
bribe to Hoke; and it looks as
though his opponent would take 1T.
Hoke has refused to run the risk Of
accepting il directly, but says that
anything found in his overcoat-or
in any receptacle hanging on its
hooks acceptable to him as
rightfully his own. While the can
didate is absent, getting the mon
ey, his wife calls on Hoke. / need
hardly say they are old friends,
though tho man conveniently
knows nothing of her marriage.
She tells the whole story of tho
anxieties of the wife of dishon
est candidate to Hoke; whereupon
he persuades her to hang her bag
on his coat hook. or course, tho
bad husband puts the stolen money
in it and. thereby. gives the star
his cue for a fine. fat and long
speech about honor, Riddles, home,
wife and all the other matters dear
to vaudeville audiences.
To people not suffering from that
form Of biiousness which is so es-
sentia TO the making Of a vaudc.
Vile appetite. the best points IN
"Thc Reform Candidate are the
humorous. earlier lines. Hoke sends
"A tin horn and drum To three
kids JAILED up in room with the
measles because they will "help