New-York tribune., 1913-12-31

THE CAST.
Jim Whitman. ................Ni william ho lse
BENJAMIN Hardcastlr. .......... scott toJpcr
Walter Harlcastlc. Nam Is. NlIsOi
James Porter. George y. Land
william Ackernan. Howard Iol 5In
Crowley. ev............ ...............T. j. MADDEN
Viola Xyinthrop. p............N Miss Gertrude Hitz
Eva Hardc astle. ....... Miss Reeva Greenwood
Mrs. Whitman. n................. Miss Ida Erf ION
Mrs IIardrastIc ... Miss Elizabeth Bdl r
Martha Hardcastle. ......... Miss Marie HAYNES
Kev. spealton. .............T Taylor carr III
Phil Hunt. ................'.''.''N \. =: Evans ~
, Asa Hardcastle ................. .Joseph ta'"J
Chicago. Dec. SO.-At the end of the
second act of Mr. Lawrence Whitmans
The Road to Happiness" which, after a
preliminary road tour, has been playing
with great success at the Garrick Thea
ire here. there is summer thunder
shower.
1t has beer an exciting day for all con-
ccrned. Benjamin Hardcastlc, the Vlilase
ogre. has accused his lovely stepdauShte"
Viola lust back from boarding school, OF
being the mother Of a foundlinB left Oh
his doorstep and forbidden her ever 10
da rken his door again. Young Jim WHIT
N,
ventor of spawn cures kind. thrifty driIy
humorous. the embodiment OF all the
characteristic AsIerican virtues-has Or
fercd her sheltcrNin his vine-covered COT
tagc. with himself and his invalid mother'
Here. too fees Niola's mother-laru-
castles III treated second wife, unaDi'
longer to endure his tyrannies Ana mere
brandishing his heavy cane, comes t"e
ogre himself.
They shan't 90 in there" he roars' As
the two tender females scurry past young
Whitmans protruding arm.
They're in" drawls the imperturDapIe
l.Iim. i'm Mr.. William Hodges best Man
from Home" manner made about ten
} years younger In Mr.. Tarkingtons play
as he closes the door himself and turns
| calmly To worry the batiled squire
! II is at this moment that the ram
/ comes. colncident with the delighted ap-
plause and the fall OF the curtain. NJ
: the first curtain call. the stage thuhde'
/ still continuing. the lovely \lola Hu''e'
I out from the housc-ncither the 'ooIHe
dove nor the primrose by the river
, brim have anything ''on' Miss Gertruue
HiIz's playing Of this ingenue part-uh-
| hooks tho canary's cage from the p's
I shade tree and hurrics the poor pro III
out OF the rain. At the second curtain"
oId Rill Ackerman. astride his old white
| horse senator. is seen trying TO beat the
storm home though the Senator coulu
not be whipped from his hatiooted walk
n the skies fell At the next curtaH''
Jim himself dashes out OF the 'ot'ase'
gathers up some window frames OH
which ne had been working. and dashes
in again. ninglng Here Shep' Here
Shepr' over his shoulder az he runs.
In goes the curtain again. the audi
once all but smelling the warm ram by
this time and seeing the dust blow down
the country road. Here. Shep. Here
Shcp,' calls Jim. There is a joyous bark
ing i'm the distance. and in a moment the
collie comes streaking in and through the
open door. Bang. goes the door-it is
the outside OF the house we see-do"h
slam the windows. and with lightning
flashing and thunder rolling. Viola ana
her mother watching through the panes.
honest Shcp still barking all safe in.
doors-down goes the curtain.
OF such simple material. genuinely felt
and intelligently worked out. Is Ihe
Road TO Happiness" made. There are
symbols like old Shep strcaking III AT
,be climax OF this well worked up sum-
mer shower-of which literary criticism
takes little account but which may be-
come on the stage irresistible. You can
not down such things You may say that
Ill hu X u. Hln
and timeworn. the irate father a joke,
the heroine a twitterlng marshmallow
and then old Shcp comes sueaking
through the rain. With him come the
homes that these unrelated units OF
city theatre audience knew In the coun-
try and little towns from which they
came the dogs they used TO have, long
forgotten summer showers sweeping out
of the southwest. the universal and ami
NAL instinct to get in out OF the rain.
You cannot measure the force Of such
things i'm mere stage lines" or ''situa-
tons" These apparently casual bits of
stage management have the force OF ten
thousand lines. They roar and thunder.
as il were. and in the twinkling OF an eye
turn five hundred strangers into friends.
The difference between Mr. Whitmans
play, as II is being presented here, and
many other rural dramas OF its kind is
that the author seems To have lived what
he liz writing about, and the players all
seem to believe thoroughly in what they
are doing The dog. the old horse, the
hen roosting on the rafters, the ginger
cookies thar Eva bakes for Jim-they
have :. cookie party. with lemonade. on
the front steps when Jim calls on Satur-
day night. and Jim fills his pockets with
them when they go 10 church together
Sunday morning-all these are the real
thing. not only the cookies. but the young
people themselves Not the familiar Be
Iasco realism and ngeniousness-croco-
die tears wept into the real soup, the
spotlight blazing on tine ingenues well
turned neck as she lisps her maiden
nrayer. but the background and feelings
OF those who have grown up in small
town and liked It.
Though all the players are good, the
general effect is. OF course. principally due
10 the performance of William Hodge IL
the piece were not written especially for
him. Il might well have been. For him,
AS the imperturbable Jim, 1t is stand
up-and-knock- down game throughout
The villains stand up, and Mr.. Hodge,
with his drawl and old hickory humor
and invincible efficiency, knocks them
down. This goes on continuously through
the play. There is the village ogre. be-
fore mentioned, a more dashing villain,
| with a checked suit. red tie and diamond
horseshoe pin; a stupid constable and a