New Britain herald., 1919-12-23
FAMILY CUPBOARD
 SKELETONS RATTLE
Lyceum Players Appear in Good
 Selection-Local Men in Company
tBy Herald ReViewerD

Family skeletons rattle and jingle enough to satisfy the most enthusias- JIG scandal -monger in "The Family Cupboard,' which opened a weeks engagement at the I,yceum theater last evening. This sketch. dealing With scandal within supposedly lrreproachable family is well handled by the Lyceum Players and proves an interesting selection. It is not with out a well drawn moral that of for g1Veness and also that nonc is so pure and innocent that they can afford to scorn and scoff at any other.
 New Britain theatergoers will be additionally interested in this weeks play inasmuch as two local characters are on the stage Howard Wesche plays the part of Lawrence Winthrop, a foppish youth of society whose greatest asset is a. well developed and an ill concealed lisp. MT Wesche handles his part well and adds consid- erable humor to the production. George Campbell, listed on the pro- gram as c. George, takes the part of a. colored elevator boy, a minor part with some humorous lines.
 The story of "The Family Cup- board" deals with high society and the chorus girl who preys on the male members of society. It relates chiefly to the dom estic trials Of MT. and Mrs. Charles Nelson, played by Barrow LePaige and Hazel Stone re- spectively, and their son, Kenneth played by Claude Kimball. The Nel- sons have grown in worldly riches and social standing through the hard | work of the male member of the fam fly. But in the course of their social climbing Mrs. Nelson, her son, and for a time her daughter, devote their entire time to the gay social whirl, while the husband and father is working and working, piling up more wealth for them. As tho play starts 1}c domestic situation ill the Nelson family has reached that state where the husband and father is a stranger in his own home, his wi1e and son having too many outside diversions to pay any attention to him. His one ray of hope is his daughter, Alice, a ten der character well acted by Marion Coosan. Then begins the old, old story. Mrs. Nelson, too late, learns that she and her husband have drift ed apart but when there is a chance of their again returning to their old time happiness the son learns that his father, 8 stranger in his own house, has sought diversion from his busi- ness cares outside and for two years has been supporting a chorus girl named Kitty Clair, alias Kitty May. After the exposure the wife. spurns her husband and despite the efforts of their daughter and Mrs. Clement Harding, played by Mrs. Nina c.
 Gleason, to effect a reconciliation, the couple separate. From here on
 the plot thickens. Awakened to a, full realization of what he has done,
 MT. Nelson casts Kitty Clair aside and
 determines to make amends. The chorus girl, a part admirably played
 by Miss Margaret Leonard, angered at being thrown down, determines up- on revenge. She designs to meet Ken meth, NelSOn'S son, makes him learn to love her and when he does, by thus disgracing his father she hopes to get her revenge. Her plans works we'll
 but her revenge is not as sweet as she had hoped. For 8 time the audience is half inclined to pity the girl, and
 her impulses do not all seem bad but the author has so handled the stua-
 ton that in the end Kitty deserts the
 youth who has given up everything for her, loots his apartm ents and runs away with a vaudeville actor, Dick