New-York tribune., 1920-11-14
historic Successes and Failures of the New York Stage
Even the Most F.,
penenced roducer,
Not lnfalIble

Wiggs Of the Cabbage Patch :.
gone into hundreds of thousana. .'a
wise producer thought Mrs. w. w.
offered great possibilities ,or 81 y +.
stage, so Mrs. Wigs, linked ,';.s %
Lovely Mary, another story BY A,;sa u;sa
Hogan Rice, was dramat;z.S m
Mrs. Wiggs as the central-tb. wa y.
character Of the perform.s 'a'
, The multitudes who saw tbs s ~
version Of Mrs. Wigs of the ,.sF r.s
bage Patch have vague recoI,.' Ss''
ton OF Mrs. Wiggs, but the part ,s. ,ss.
stands out in memory, the part tsa' ,'a'
created roars of laughter at tn. 49, ~
Savoy Theater and made the ss"s ",
people go again and again, was N;,. M
Hazy, the secondary part, plavss
by Helen Lowell. There was no va. ~
to curb this part, and if tbev -
eliminated it altogether thew won,,
have killed the show. 1
The Story of 'sSllore Acr.ss
William Hodge made one Of h..
early successes in Mrs. W;oo,
Hodge was a character actor Of y.
James A. Herne school, and ths
anecdote is rendered by the no,y
financially and artisticaIIv snc..s.
full Mr.. Hodge.
Herne wrote 'shore Acres,s On.
OF the first great pastoral s,cc...s,
of the Amerian stage. Herp. ~,
an actor who could write play. p.
wrote many plays. but his fame resi-,
on "Shore Acres"
This play, according to Hodge. ~.
produced in Boston, with Hern. n
the leading role, an old man charsc
ter. In the original script Herue.
after the turmoil of the melodran,a
had come to a happy end, is alone on
the stage. The setting is the sitting
room Of a rural home. 1t is the nigb+
before Christmas, The childre, .na
the grown-ups have gone to bed
The stockings are hanging before the
crate fire, waiting for Santa
Claus"
The script called for Herne. The
las to go to bed, to remain silently
on the stage for three or four min.
utes. He goes to the windows AMI
tastens them. He tries the locks on
the door. He gazes about to see
everything is all right. Utter quiet
the solitude Of Christmas happi.
ness reigns. Then. with candle
lighted, he walks leisurely up the
atairs toward his attic room as the
curtain slowly descends.
Feared Audience Would Bolt
The owner of the show had in
sisted that the play end Immediately
after the denouement of the drama.
He insisted that the pantomime stip-
ulated in the script should be elm
mated. He argued that if Herne
were to have his way the audience
either would get restless and walk
out before the curtain came down
or would go to sleep. He wanted
quick curtain Immediately after the
story of the play had been brought
to an enlightening climax.
During the first presentations Of
Shore Acres" the owner of the pro-
duction was permitted to have bis
way, but Herne, stage genius and
skillful in all the tricks of the drama,
was not satisfied. He decided to
take his life in his hands" one
night, SO he secretly informed bis
associate players that he was going
TO end the play that night just as he
had written it.
A Sublime Finale
When the time came for the sched.
aled ending of the play the pro-
ducer was in the box Office. he
card the discharge of shotgun on
the stage and knew, if his orders
were being followed, that the play
should have ended minute later
He noted that no one had left the
theater, and after another minute de-
clded to investigate. He found
Herne producing the pantomins
for the performance. The
producing manager himself was
awed by the tensity of the situation.
The audience was rigid. Not sin
gle person moved. Not man or
woman had gone to sleep. Herne'
in the profound and gripping silepce