El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-09-29
ADJUSTMENTS.
Is a PIav WIN a Punch.

Is Play With a Punch.
Bought and Paid For" is a play
with a punch. AS presented by Charles
Richman and a capable company at
the FL PaSO theater Sunday night,
the punch lands SQuarely between the
eyes of the audience which is sent
home thinking seriously of the prob
lem presented by the play, with an
occasional SUbdued smoker for jim
ME Gilley and his Fanny.
When six persons undertake to en-
terrain an audience for an evening
they either get away with 1t or fan
utterly. The Brady company at the
FL PaSO Sunday night did the former
with a rush of splendid acting, fine
scenes and a proper balance of comedy
and pathOS which kept the opening
night crowd blowing hot and cold be-
tween tears and laughs. Charles
Richman is the Robert Stafford of
the play and ne looks, acts and
speaks the part so perfectly that he
is Stafford, and not Richman from
The play deals with the age-oId
problem of the marriage relation,
but it is presented in a new way
angle from the more or less shop
worn problem plays which have had
such run There is no eternal triangle,
no other man or other woman, no COM
plicatiOns of mistaken identities,
wrong rooms or the green eyed mon
sters. Robert Stafford, a millionaire
many times, marrieS Virginia Blaine,
$40 a week telephone girl at
hotel He feels the need of a COM
paniOn and she the need of a home
The marriage is not entirely money
match, for Stafford loves her as much
as it is possible for one who is in
love with himself can and she has
a finer feeling toward him than the
one q girl would have who had married
for money alone
He a masterful man in business,
81 ef moi ma -fn
home to BE the boss" as he ex-
presses It to her. Virginia is the
clinging vine type who asks nothing
more than to be bOssed and to be
cared for by big. strong man But
this mutual feeling must be based on
self respect, for Virginia is self
respecting woman of the highest type.
1t is at this point that the relation
breaks When he is sober Stafford
is all that she asks and she learns
to love him. But drunk-ugh, the
ugliness of his dual nature shows
in all of its baseness. Sober Stafford
is a big man-drunk he is a brute.
He had come home a number Of
times in that condition and the re-
sulting scenes had driven Virginia TO
the point of declaring herself for all
time He came home Intoxicated and
insisted upon her drinking with him
She refused but he forced her TO re-
main with him while he drank to the
baSeSt intOXicatiOn- His feeling for
her changes as he drinks until it
is the lowest in the gamut of the
human emotions While in this con-
ditiOn he tells her that he has bought
her and paid for her and that she is
his to do what he likes with her.
She left him the following day upon
his refusal to promise never to drink
again She resumes her work as shop
girl and Jimmie, the Nick" brings
them together again She agrees to re-
turn with him.
The first act is in Stafford's bachelor
a sfrr1a
sister, and the inevitable Jimmie in
vited there for dinner. It is at this
dinner that Stafford announces his en-
gagement to Virginia, at which he
drinks a toast to her. This scene limps
little, for it is so hurried that the
proper perspective is not given of the
relation between Stafford and Virginia
The second act is in the boudoir OF
Mrs. Stafford (Virginia) two wears
later She is plainly unhappy. not be-
cause of Stafford's lack of attention,
but because of his british passion when
drunk Richman does his best acting
in this scene, although the inclination
to take his maudlin drunken scene too |
lightly spoils the subtleness of the
scene. He demands that she drink with !
him. She refuses. but is forced to re-
main with him while he drinks himself (
into a man without self control Then !
comes the big scene, the climax of the I
play and the laying bare of the dual /
nature of the man. He becomes physic- !
any anu AlAOl ally DIuldl- ne KISS mat
he forces her to give him is all that is /
needed to inflame his base passion. She ]
retires to her room and the curtain falls !
as he is battering down her door
The fourth act brings the play to a /
happy ending. Although weakening,
Virginia makes fine stand on the
moral ground. Blundering Jimmie, the /
brotherinlaw, brings it about with one
Of his ideas. Thinking that Virginia
has sent for him, Stafford goes to the I
little flat where she is living with her
sister, and takes her back to the Stat
ford home in his car.
As Stafford. Richman has the voice !
the stage appearance and the magne-
-ism to make his part a real one Kath- I
een Mcdonnell. as Virginia, lacks in |
personal attractiveness. bSt more than
makes up in her splendid acting, |
in the big scene in the third |
let Her type fits the "clinging vine"
BART perfectly and she is a fine con- I
-rast to the big, strong Stafford. Will
lam Harrigan and Marie <Nordstrom. /
IS Jimmie Gilleym, the "hick" and his
whole sOuled. every day wife, furnish
he necessary contrasts to carry the
llay to its success. A French maid and
japanese servant complete the cast.