Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-09-23
Stop Thief" at the Newark,
Keeps Audience in Round
of Laughter.

Full OF breeziness and bright com
edy is stop. Thief" a three-act
satire on the present-day 'crook"
plays, from the pen of Carlyle Moore.
which inaugurated the season at the
Newark Theatre last night For a
laughter squirting vehicle its equal
has not been seen here in some time.
The play is conducive to the best
sort of popularity It makes straight
appeal-to ones funny bone"-and 1t
is answered by peals of laughter. Its
success is built on the fact that 1t Is
amusing, and it is amusing because
it is clever in it's story, in treatment
and in the brightness of its lines. 1t
has the added merit of creating mer-
riment without doing the slightest
violence to good taste.
With all its cleverness and bright
ness of lines, however, the play would
have fallen fiat in the hands of less
competent cast. The company, indiV-
idually and collectively, is clever and
does its own little share to assist In
the fun-making.
The plot, or rather the laughter
provoking incidents, are woven
around kleptomania. In utilizing this
as his theme the author has shown
a freshness of invention in the work
ing out of his plot that lends novelty
to the situations involving the char
acters, piqueing the curiosity OF an
audience as to how they Will nnally
extricate themselves from the pre-
dicaments in which they are placed.
The characters are made actually TO
fall from one situation into another,
and none of them Is out of difficulty
until the final curtain.
1teyI1 hn
piece is somewhat overdrawn, but
there never was a comedy or farce
staged vet that wasn't. There Is less
tagging of action in stop, Thief"
than in most farces, and, besides
even If 1t is a trife overdrawn, the
audience likes it because it is funny.
It's a show that can't very well be
described; one must see 1t to really
appreciate its value. If one has
crouch, then the Newark Ineatre 10
a good place to visit during this week,
because IL stop, Thief" can't cure
| 1t then the case is hopeless.
All three acts are laid in the recep-
| tion-room of the Carr homestead,
there being no change of scenery, ana
| the action continuing In the second
| and third acts just where 1t left off.
| At the outset William Carr, whose
daughter Joan Is about to wed James
| Quincy, mislays a ring that he had
purchased as present to his daugh-
| ter. A new maid who has just been
engaged steals the ring, placing the
empty box in Cluney's overcoat
pocket. He later finds 1t there. I'm
able to explain its presence, he con-
| fers with his friend DR.. Willouby,
and, at the latter's question, admits
that an uncle was q kleptomaniac.
Then he is told that he may have in
herited the tendency to steal.
Fearing that he might be tempted
to abstract some of the wedding pres
ents received by the bride-elect,
Quincy engages a detective to guard
them and to keep a close watch of
him. Before the latter arrives, how
ever the maid admits her f1ance,
real thief, into the household, and he
loses no time in pocketing everything
he can lay hands to. Being mistaken
for the hired sleuth, he is introduced
to the family by Cluney as a friend,
and Is permitted anywhere about the
premises.
Carr, the girls father is real
kleptomaniac, and when things begin
to disappear both he and Cluney be-
| lieve that in fit of the disease they
| took them. Finally the household is
| in turmoil.
Some time before the opening of the
piece a friend had borrowed con-
siderable amount from Carr, leaving
several bonds as security. When he
| finally gets to the house with the
money to redeem his security the
bonds cannot be found, and the
money with which he was to redeem
them is stolen from his pocket. He
| finally runs off and returns with a
squad of police with a search war
rant Other complications follow so
swiftly that 1t is impossible to mar
rate them in this space. Finally the
| girl and the thief are unmasked, but
they threaten to publish the fact that
Carr is a kelptomaniac and are al
lowed to go.
| Charles Brown, in the role of
| Quincy, was the chief funmaker He
| has his own idea of fun, and 1t is an
excellent one The brightness of his
| original work In this play is remark
able, and never failed last night to
attract unstinted applause. He has
| the faculty of carrying the part just
| far enough, and does not in the least
overdo it, In John Findlay, as Carr
I he had a worthy companion, and the
two proved a merry pair set in
story that is interesting and bright
and joy-making. John Webster, as
| the "crook," was clever in his own
/ peculiar style, and to him must go
| the honor of creating many of the
situations from which the audience
derived so much amusement and
merriment.
To enumerate the entire company
would take too much space. Sufhce
to say that it is a well-chosen cast,
each of whom knows what to do and
when to do 1t.