New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-18
By HAYWOOD BROUN.

Edgar Selwyn put such a spin on
Rolling Stones" that there was no
holding the play within the limits Of
any single dramatic form. In fact, Mr..
Selwyn demanded a certain scope by
calling the piece a melodramatic COM
edy. It went further than that. Begin
ming with a first act which threatened
tragedy, it sped through comedy, into
melodrama, past farce and finally
wound up just a show. 1t is a good
show
The stones rolled fastest in the third
act when two men tried TO rob safe,
only to give way TO burglar, who, in
turn, made his escape just in time to
allow a distinctly fourth party 10 be
arrested for the crime. The opening
of the safe was one of the most work
manly bits of burglary which has been
seen on the much beburgled American
stage.
The plot might have been a bit
simpler but for will. The best of
wills is subject TO difference of opin-
ions and this was an exceptional one.
Mr.. Hewctt Z manufactures of candy,
left his business to Jericho w. Braden,
a nephew, with the provision that he
must marry the testator's niece, pro-
vided she proved willing. Braden is
married and so he comes to Chicago
where the scenes Of the play are laid
under an assumed name IN order to
discover some way to get around the
will.
He goes to a boarding house kept by
an aunt of the girl he is supposed TO
marry. Here he meets Buck Ryder, an
impecunious boarder, who is about to
be dispossesSed. Braden's lawyers in
form the Brannigans, keepers of the
boarding house, that Braden is coming
East on a certain date. On that day
the train which is supposed to be car
rying him is wrecked. Since Braden's
name is not among the passengers who
were saved everybody decides that he
has been killed.
Buck Ryder, desperate at being
thrown out Of his lodgings, plans high
way robbery, common Chicago prac-
tice, as means of lettering MS
fortunes Unfortunately, he clumsily
selects a down-and-outer who is about
10 throw himself into the river. Learn
ing the condition of his victim, whose
name is Dave Fulton, Ryder brings
him back to the clearinghouse and
fetches him a meal from the ice-boX.
Discovered by the landlady, Ryder in
PRODUCES his chance acquaintance as
Braden. The landlady early in the
play was pictured as a hard woman,
but, fortunately, for the play, at this
point she proves dead easy and &C
cepts Fulton as Braden.
The two conspirators are also able TO
fool the lawyer in charge of the
Hewett estate, and they are placed in
charge of the candy business, which
they manage so well that their profits
leap far over the penny-apound mar
gin. The real Braden is employed by
the impostors. Norma Noggs, the
niece, will-bound, to marry Braden,
falls in love readily enough with Full
ton. The stones might have stopped
rolling then and there if the real heir
had not proved his identity to the
lawyer. Fearing that they are sus-
pected, Fulton and Ryder try to open
the safe.
Failing, they step aside to allow a
passing burglar to perform the Job.
which he does neatly. He also escapes
after a rousing fight. in which both his
foes are knocked out. The real Braden
then enters, and close behind him the
police, who arrest him on the COM
plant of the two frauds. In the last
act everything is untangled. Norma
takes her beau. regardless OF his name.
Ryder is made manager of the candy
shop. and Braden and Norma split the
business Ryder gets blonde bride
as well as a Job.
With a plot Of such magnitude upon
his hands, Mr.. Selwyn had time never
theless to de- elop his characters into
most interesting persons. Charles
Ruggles as Dave Fulton had the best
opportunity and he made the me of